Creep behavior is one of the most important mechanical behaviors of coal. In the present study, we systematically carried out a series of creep experiments of briquette samples under triaxial compression and gas pressure. The experimental results showed that the creep deformation characteristics of coal were related to deviatoric stress and gas pressure. The accelerating creep stage initiated when the deviatoric stress reached or exceeded the yield stress until failure took place. In contrast, when the deviatoric stress was less than the yield strength, only transient and steady creep stage occurred. Besides, gas pressure played a positive role in the creep process of coal. The axial strain of coal slightly increased with gas pressure (range from 0.13 to 0.40 MPa) when the effective triaxial stress remained constant. For example, in the steady creep stage (σ 1 = 9 MPa, p = 0.13 MPa), the axial strain of sample S 1 is 2.710% and that of sample S 2 is 3.361%, that is, coal samples with high gas pressure have higher axial strain. Moreover, gas pressure has two main effects on the mechanical behavior of coal. One is that the coal adsorbs gas molecules resulting in swelling strain and swelling stress, and the other is that the gas pressure may compress the coal particles. Considering the swelling stress and gas pressure, we intensively studied the effective stress formula of coal containing gas. Then, the effective stress was taken into consideration in the nonlinear Nishihara creep model. Furthermore, the tertiary creep factor n was introduced in the nonlinear model to control the creep deformation evolution with time so that the nonlinear model could accurately describe the full creep stage of coal. In contrast, due to the lack of such a controlling parameter, the Nishihara model failed to reproduce the accelerating creep stage.
K E Y W O R D Scoal, creep model, effective stress, gas pressure, swelling stress, triaxial compression
| INTRODUCTIONCreep behavior is one of the fundamental mechanical properties of coal or rock, associated with the stability of many buildings and underground structures in mining and rock engineering, such as roadways, tunnels, and dams. It is important to have a precise understanding of the creep or timedependent behavior of coal or rock, which may prevent coal 502 | ZHANG et Al.
Highlights• The coupling effect of triaxial stress and gas pressure on coal was investigated. • The gas pressure played a positive role in the creep process of coal. • The effective stress of gas-filled coal was intensively studied. • The effective stress was considered in the nonlinear Nishihara creep model of coal, which could accurately reproduce the three creep stages, especially the accelerating creep stage.How to cite this article: Zhang L, Li X-C, Gao J-X, An Z-X, Yang X-H, Nie B-S. Creep characteristics and constitutive model of coal under triaxial stress and gas pressure. Energy Sci Eng. 2020;8:501-514. https ://doi.