Experiments on rockburst proneness of pre-heated granite at different temperatures: Insights from energy storage, dissipation and surplus

Abstract

Many underground engineering projects show that rockburst can occur in rocks at great depth and high temperature, and temperature is a critical factor affecting the intensity of rockburst. In general, temperature can affect the energy storage, dissipation, and surplus in rock. To explore the influence of temperature on the energy storage and dissipation characteristics and rockburst proneness, the present study has carried out a range of the uniaxial compression (UC) and single-cyclic loading–unloading uniaxial compression (SCLUC) tests on pre-heated granite specimens at 20 °C–700 °C. The results demonstrate that the rockburst proneness of pre-heated granite initially increases and subsequently decreases with the increase of temperature. The temperature of 300 °C has been found to be the threshold for rockburst proneness. Meanwhile, it is found that the elastic strain energy density increases linearly with the total input strain energy density for the pre-heated granites, confirming that the linear energy property of granite has not been altered by temperature. According to this inherent property, the peak elastic strain energy of pre-heated granites can be calculated accurately. On this basis, utilising the residual elastic energy index, the rockburst proneness of pre-heated granite can be determined quantitatively. The obtained results from high to low are: 317.9 kJ/m 3 (300 °C), 264.1 kJ/m 3 (100 °C), 260.6 kJ/m 3 (20 °C), 235.5 kJ/m 3 (500 °C), 158.9 kJ/m 3 (700 °C), which are consistent with the intensity of actual rockburst for specimens. In addition, the relationship between temperature and energy storage capacity (ESC) of granite was discussed, revealing that high temperature impairs ESC of rocks, which is essential for reducing the rockburst proneness. This study provides some new insights into the rockburst proneness evaluation in high-temperature rock engineering. • The temperature does not change the pre-heated granite possess the linear energy storage law. • The peak strain energy of pre-heated granite is quantitatively calculated using the linear energy storage law. • The rockburst proneness of pre-heated granite at different temperatures can be accurately evaluated by the A EF . • The rockburst proneness of pre-heated granite initially increases and then decreases with the temperature increasing. • The rockburst proneness of pre-heated granite at 300 °C is the highest.