Macro- and Micromechanical Behaviors and Energy Variation of Sandstone under Different Unloading Stress Paths with DEM
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21, Issue 8
Abstract
Various mechanical responses of rocks under a complex stress state have attracted the attention of engineers. A hollow cylinder torsional apparatus (HCA) was constructed using the discrete element method (DEM). A series of conventional triaxial compression tests under different confining pressures and a complex stress path test with torsion were conducted. The numerical results are consistent with laboratory and theoretical findings, which indicates that the microscopic parameters of the DEM sandstone specimens were correct and reasonable. Based on the HCA DEM specimen, the macro–micromechanical response of sandstone specimens under four typical unloading stress paths were studied, and variations in the strain energy density, strain energy, and dissipated energy of sandstone specimens were obtained. These results could provide a reference for the study of the mechanical properties of unloaded sandstone in geotechnical engineering.
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Acknowledgments
The work presented in this paper was financially supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41831278 and 51679071), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2015CB057903), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20171434).
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International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21 • Issue 8 • August 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 22, 2020
Accepted: Mar 15, 2021
Published online: May 19, 2021
Published in print: Aug 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Oct 19, 2021
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