Disintegration Characteristics and Fractal Features of Red Sandstone During Drying–Wetting Cycles

Abstract

Samples of different initial particle sizes were made by red sandstone collected from Zhuzhou of Hunan Province, and the laboratory tests of slaking were carried out in order to study the influence of samples with different initial particle sizes for disintegration. Then, the distribution of particle size was researched after disintegration during drying–wetting cycles, and the variation rules of slake durability index and fractal dimension were studied based on the tests. Results show that the percentage of each particle group changes along with cycle times, the percentage of each particle group changes along with particle size, and the cumulative percentage of each group changes along with particle size. Changes were all consistent after the samples with different initial particle sizes disintegrating. Meanwhile, the slake durability index has a close exponent correlation with the cycle times. Moreover, the initial particle sizes of samples have a certain influence on the slake durability index and fractal dimension. Bigger the initial particle size of samples is, the smaller the slake durability index will be, and the larger the fractal dimension will be gotten, and the faster the disintegration rate becomes. While the smaller the initial particle size of samples is, the larger the slake durability index will be, and the smaller the fractal dimension will be gotten, and the slower the disintegration rate becomes.