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Investigating the effect of water quenching cycles on mechanical behaviors for granites after conventional triaxial compression

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Abstract

Granites are inevitably subjected to the effects of repeated water quenching in the process of geothermal energy exploitation. To gain a greater understanding of the mechanical responses and cracking mechanisms of granites affected by quenching cycling, conventional triaxial compression tests were conducted involving granite samples after high temperature treatment (150–750 °C) with multiple water quenching cycles (1–15). The findings indicated that, when the heating temperature values or quenching cycles increase, both the longitudinal wave velocity and bulk density declined, while both the mass loss and volume increase rates were enhanced. The peak intensity of diffraction for quartz exhibited a reduction of 61.38% and 27.25%, respectively. Gradually enhanced thermal damage against the increase in temperature values or quenching cycles resulted in a loose matrix structure within the granite samples with complicated crack networks. With increasing number of cycles, the peak strength exhibited a negative linear decrease, and the reduction in peak strength with increasing temperature could be divided into two stages, with a threshold temperature value of 450 °C, while the peak axial strain experienced an exponential increasing trend. Both the elastic and secant moduli decreased with the temperature and number of cycles due to primary thermal damage accumulation in the granite, and the post peak rock brittleness weakened. As the temperature levels and quenching cycles were increased, the cohesion respectively decreased by 44.12–56.99% and 27.07–36.55%, due to the weakened bonding force between mineral grains, while the Poisson's ratio increased. Defining the crack damage stress (maximum volumetric strain) as the initial yield position, variations in the plastic shear strain and subsequent strength characteristics were analysed. Both the subsequent cohesion and internal friction angle increased with the plastic shear strain but decreased with both the temperature and number of cycles. At a low temperature level, typical oblique or V-shaped shear cracks, traversing the whole sample height, resulted in ultimate sample failure, while at a larger temperature level or a larger number of cycles, the sample was characterized by progressive failure of the loose matrix structure generated by 3D crack networks, rather than large penetrating macro cracks.

Article highlights

  • Effects of confining pressure on mechanical responses for granites after quenching cycling

  • Subsequent yield strength characteristics of thermally treated granites

  • Crack development mechanisms and ultimate failure modes using micro CT technique

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Data availability

All data used during this study are available from the corresponding author by request.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52174092, 51904290, 52004272, 52104125), Engineering Research Center of Development and Management for Low to Ultra-Low Permeability Oil & Gas Reservoirs in West China, Ministry of Education, Xi’an Shiyou University (KFJJ-XB-2020-6, KFJJ-XB-2020-7), and the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (2022JQ-304), is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Qian Yin, Jiangyu Wu, Zheng Jiang, Haijian Su, Hongwen Jing & Xiaowei Gu

  2. Engineering Research Center of Development and Management for Low to Ultra-Low Permeability Oil & Gas Reservoirs in West China, Ministry of Education, Xi’an Shiyou University, Xi’an, 710065, China

    Qian Yin & Chun Zhu

  3. School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Chun Zhu

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  1. Qian Yin
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Correspondence to Chun Zhu.

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Yin, Q., Wu, J., Jiang, Z. et al. Investigating the effect of water quenching cycles on mechanical behaviors for granites after conventional triaxial compression. Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. 8, 77 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-022-00388-0

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