Investigation of the Energy Evolution of Tectonic Coal under Triaxial Cyclic Loading with Different Loading Rates and the Underlying Mechanism

Abstract

It is of great significance to ascertain the mechanical characteristics and deformation laws of tectonic coal that is under complex stress conditions for safe production, but the targeted research in this area is still insufficient at present. This paper performed triaxial tests under cyclic multi-level loading at different rates by using an MTS-815 Rock Mechanics Testing System. The strain characteristics, elastic modulus and energy evolution were obtained in order to explore the effects of the mechanism of loading rate on the evolution of deformation and energy parameters of tectonic coal. The results showed that the irreversible strain and plastic energy increased exponentially with the increase in the deviatoric stress, but the growth rate decreased with the increase in loading rate. Furthermore, the elastic strain increased linearly and the growth rate was essentially unaffected by the loading rate. During the compaction stage, the variation of each parameter was not sensitive to the loading rate; during the elastic and damage stage, the rate increase inhibited secondary defect propagation and improved rock strength. In addition, the stepwise and cumulative energy ratio was defined in order to describe the energy distribution during cyclic loading and unloading. It was found that the decrease in the loading rate was beneficial to the transformation of the total energy into plastic energy. The elastic modulus was the most sensitive to sample damage, but the energy density evolution was able to be used to describe the deformation damage process of tectonic coal in more detail. These findings provide important theoretical support for the tectonic coal deformation law and action mechanism in the damage process that occurs under complex stress conditions.

Energy Evolution and Damage Mechanism of Fractured Sandstone with Different Angles

“…The process of rock deformation and failure is a process of energy input, accumulation, dissipation and release; therefore, the research on the failure mechanism of rock is mostly based on thermodynamic theory [10][11][12][13]. A large number of experiments have been carried out to study the energy conversion mechanism in the processes of rock deformation and failure.…”

Advances in Multifield and Multiscale Coupling of Rock Engineering

“…Gao et al [2] performed triaxial tests under cyclic multi-level loading at different rates using an MTS-815 Rock Mechanics Testing System. The strain characteristics, elastic modulus, and energy evolution were obtained in order to explore the effects of the mechanism of loading rate on the evolution of deformation and energy parameters of tectonic coal.…”

An Experimental Investigation of the Gas Permeability of Tectonic Coal Mineral under Triaxial Loading Conditions

“…Malan tectonic coal is soft and fragile, making it difficult to prepare raw coal samples. The homogenous briquette coal sample facilitates the analysis of variables in the test process, which was widely employed to investigate the coupled hydro-mechanical properties of coal seams [3,[23][24][25][26]. Therefore, the briquette coal samples, instead of raw coal samples, were employed to conduct the test.…”