Mechanical Properties and Failure Modes of Thick-Walled Cylinder Granites with Different Apertures under Triaxial Compression

Abstract

Roadway excavation changes the original equilibrium stress state of the rock mass, resulting in the loading and unloading of the surrounding rock near the free surface. After the excavation, the tangential stress increases and the radial stress decreases, which mainly cause deformation and collapse of the roadway. In order to study the strength characteristics of the surrounding rock after the excavation, one effective way is to carry out triaxial compression tests on small surrounding rock samples. Therefore, this paper focuses on the triaxial compression mechanical propertiesof thick-walled cylinder granites with an electrohydraulic, servo-controlled rock mechanics testing system (MTS-815). It studies how different pore sizes and confining pressures affect the triaxial compressive strength (TCS), deformation, and failure modes of granite samples. The results are as follows: (1) Under triaxial compression, the stress-strain curves have no obvious yield stage, and the peak TCS increases with the confining pressure (σ3). When σ3 is low, there is little difference in the TCS between the complete specimen and the thick-walled cylinders. When σ3 reaches 30 MPa∼40 MPa, the TCS of samples with apertures of 15 mm and 20 mm are obviously lower. The σ3 has an obvious influence on the elastic modulus of thick-walled cylinder granites. (2) Shearing and splitting are the main failure modes under triaxial compression. When σ3 is low, shear failure appears. As σ3 reaches 30 MPa∼40 MPa, split failure occurs. The area of the fracture surface increases with σ3. (3) As σ3 grows, the influence parameter (m) of the three-dimensional Hoek-Brown criterion increases. Under the same σ3, the value of m presents a decreasing trend from the outer wall to the inner wall, which means the bearing capacity keeps getting lower and lower. As a result, the inner wall is most likely to be damaged. The theoretical analysis results agree well with the tests.