Abstract
The moisture content is a critical factor tightly related to rock deformation and its failure process since it leads to a significant change in the physicomechanical properties of rock during the underground engineering construction. As a result, engineering construction accidents take place frequently. To figure out the influence of the moisture content on the physicomechanical properties of water‐bearing rock and then effectively avoid engineering accidents, multiple tests including the uniaxial compression test, Brazilian splitting test, and the acoustic emission (AE) test were carried out in this study. The experimental results showed that the water absorption rate of the sandstone gradually stabilizes after 5 h, and its uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength, and elastic modulus all decline with the increase of the moisture content. Compared to the dry state of the sample, the reduction amplitudes of the elastic modulus, compressive strength, and tensile strength of water‐saturated rock samples can reach up to 27.3%, 35.2%, and 38.1%, respectively. It indicates that the tensile strength is more sensitive to the softening effect of the moisture. Through the AE test, it can be found that the internal state of water‐saturated rock samples is greatly changed; the compressive strength of rock samples drops, so the rock can be damaged after absorbing less energy. Thus, moisture shows a certain softening effect on rock. The research results are expected to provide a basis for underground engineering construction and rock fracture and failure.
Highlights
How to safely, efficiently, environmental-friendly, and scientifically mine coal resources has been a research focus for scholars all over the world [1, 2]
In the occurrence environment of rock involved in underground engineering, water is naturally existing, and rock deformation is generally related to the moisture content of the rock. erefore, exploring the mechanical properties of rock on different moisture conditions is of engineering significance [3,4,5,6]
By conducting the loading and unloading tests on sandstone with different moisture contents, Pan et al [7] analyzed the relationships of the moisture content with the compressive strength and elastic modulus of sandstone
Summary
Environmental-friendly, and scientifically mine coal resources has been a research focus for scholars all over the world [1, 2]. Many scholars have carried out studies on the influence of water on mechanical properties of rock. E aforementioned research results greatly improve our understanding of the evolution law of AE energy during rock failure These studies basically aimed at dry rock and rock with different gradients of moisture contents while rarely involving natural and water-saturated rock. Erefore, this study carried out the uniaxial compression test, Brazilian splitting test, and AE test on rock samples on three typical moisture conditions (i.e., dry, natural, and water-saturated state) after selecting the typical sandstone. Exploring the influence of rock samples on moisture condition on mechanical properties of rock is expected to provide a guidance for underground engineering construction and rock failure in coal mines
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