This work aims to investigate and analyse the mechanism of rock failure under high-voltage electropulses in order to evaluate and increase the efficiency of high-voltage pulse technology in geological well drilling, tunnel boring, and other geotechnical engineering applications. To this end, this paper discusses the equivalent circuit of electric pulse rock breaking, the model of shock wave in electro channel plasma, and, particularly, the model of rock failure in order to disclose the rock failure process when exposed to high-voltage electropulse. This article uses granite as an example to present an analytical approach for predicting the mechanical behaviour of high-voltage electropulses and to analyse the damage that occurs. A numerical model based on equivalent circuit, shock wave model, and elasto-brittle failure criterion is developed for granite under electropulse to further examine the granite failure process. Under the conditions described in this study, and using granite as an example, the granite is impacted by a discharge device (Marx generator) with an initial voltage U0 that is 10 kV and a capacitance F that is 5 µF before it begins to degrade at about 40 µs after discharge, with the current reaching its peak at approximately 50 µs. The shock wave pressure then attains a peak at about 70 µs. Dense short cracks form around granite and the dominant cracks grow to an average length of about 20 cm at around 200 µs. The crack width dcr is predicted to be approximately 1.6 mm. This study detects dense cracks in a few centimetres surrounding the borehole, while around seven dominant cracks expand outward. The distribution of the length of the dominating cracks can be inhomogeneous because of the spatial heterogeneity of granite’s tensile strength, however the heterogeneity has an insignificant effect on the crack growth rate, total cracked area, or the number of main cracks. The mechanism of rock failure under electropulse can be well supported by the findings of numerical simulations and analytical studies.

A semi-analytical solution for forecasting the soil behavior induced by lightning strikes is of great engineering significance to calculate the radius of the soil plastic zone. In this paper, a simplified two-stage method is employed to solve the shock wave pressure and the radius of the soil plastic zone. The solution is verified against experimental data. Using the present model, the major factors dominating the shock wave pressure and the radius of the soil plastic zone are investigated. The results show that (1) the radius of the soil plastic zone (rp) induced by lightning decreases monotonically with cohesion (c) and internal friction angle (φ), while c has a better effect on soil properties than φ does; (2) increasing the initial radius of the plasma channel (ri0) can reduce the pressure (P) and increasing ri0 has a nonnegligible effect on rp; with ri0 increasing by 100%, the radius of the soil plastic zone increases by 47.9–59.7%; (3) the plasma channel length (L) has a significant influence on P and rp, especially when L is at a relatively low level; (4) the rp induced by lightning decreases exponentially with attenuation coefficient (a); (5) the wavefront time is a major factor while the half-value time is a minor factor for the shock wave pressure induced by plasma explosives.

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