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Thermal Influence on Mechanical Properties of Granite: A Microcracking Perspective

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Abstract

The particle mechanics method is used to simulate the process of thermally induced micro- and macrocracks in granite, to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for temperature-dependent mechanical properties. The numerical results are quantified and compared with existing results from other experimental data in the literature. The results indicate that heating generally reduces the compressive and tensile strengths of granites, first because of increasing thermal stresses, and second because of the generation of tensile microcracks. Rock mechanical properties are reduced in specimens subjected to heating–cooling cycles, solely because of the increase in density of thermally induced tensile microcracks. The presence of a thermal gradient induces the formation of macrocracks, which propagate from relatively cool to relatively warm areas. It is also observed that the boundary condition of the specimen can also affect the development of microcracks.

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Abbreviations

\(A\) :

Area of the parallel bond cross-section

\(C\) :

Specific heat

\(F^{\text{n}}\) :

Normal force carried by the bond

\(k^{\text{n}}\) :

Parallel bond normal stiffness

\(K\) :

Thermal conductivity

\(l_{\text{p}}\) :

Length of the thermal pipe p

\(L\) :

Pipe length

\(m\) :

Thermal mass

\(n\) :

Number of pipes for a single reservoir

\(N_{\text{b}}\) :

Number of disks in the volume of interest

\(N_{\text{p}}\) :

Number of pipes in the volume of interest

\(Q\) :

Power in a pipe

\(Q_{\text{v}}\) :

Intensity of heat source

\(R\) :

Disk radius

\(\Delta R\) :

Radius change

\(T_{i}\) :

Temperature at the reservoir i of the pipe

\(T_{j}\) :

Temperatures at the reservoir j of the pipe

\(\Delta T\) :

Temperature change

\(V_{\text{b}}\) :

Disk volume

\(\alpha_{\text{t}}\) :

Coefficient of linear thermal expansion associated with the disk

\(\eta\) :

Thermal resistance per unit length

\(\phi\) :

Porosity

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41272279) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. 8152020). I thank Dr. Lanru Jing from the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden and Prof. Er-xiang Song from Tsinghua University for fruitful discussions and constructive comments. Prof. Alasdair Skelton from Stockholm University is acknowledged for English editing. An anonymous reviewer is acknowledged for the valuable comments.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Zhihong Zhao

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Zhao, Z. Thermal Influence on Mechanical Properties of Granite: A Microcracking Perspective. Rock Mech Rock Eng 49, 747–762 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-015-0767-1

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