Effect of Frost Heave on Internal Structure and Mechanical Behavior of Rock Mass at Low Temperature

Long Jiang; Yuanfang Cheng; Zhongying Han; Qingchao Li; Qi Gao; Chuanliang Yan; Zhang

doi:10.6180/jase.201812_21(4).0004

Effect of Frost Heave on Internal Structure and Mechanical Behavior of Rock Mass at Low Temperature

Long Jiang¹ , Yuanfang Cheng This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.¹ , Zhongying Han¹ , Qingchao Li¹ , Qi Gao¹ , Chuanliang Yan¹ and Jincheng Zhang²

¹School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, Shandong, 266580, P.R. China
²SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Beijing, 100728, P.R. China

Received: April 23, 2018
Accepted: July 11, 2018
Publication Date: December 1, 2018

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.201812_21(4).0004

ABSTRACT

Frost heaving plays an important role in improving the internal structure and mechanical behavior of rock mass, but little effort has been devoted to addressing this concern. In this paper, a series of pore structure, uniaxial compression experiments and mesoscopic numerical analyses were conducted to explore the frost heaving mechanisms and mechanical behaviors of rock mass. In these tests, the compactness, P-wave velocity, compressive strength, elastic modulus and brittleness of frozen sandstone increased significantly; and the permeability and permeability coefficient decreased by several orders of magnitude with temperature dropping. The experimental results indicate that cryogenic freezing can significantly improve the internal structure and strength characteristics of sandstone. In reservoir simulation, it may be instructive for forming complex fracture networks, which helps to provide more channels for oil and gas seepage and migration, thus improving the fracturing performance. In addition, the meso-damage constitutive model were successfully integrated into Abaqus to simulate the damage evolution of rock mass, which has quite promising future for solving the trans-scale progressive failure of rock mass. The study provides a basic reference for the design and maintenance of cold region engineering and cryogenic reservoir stimulation.

Keywords: Rock Mass, Low Temperature, Frost Heaving, Pore Structure, Mechanical Behavior, Mesoscopic Numerical Simulation

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