Damage Characteristics of Thermally Deteriorated Carbonate Rocks: A Review

This review paper summarizes the recent and past experimental findings to evaluate the damage characteristics of carbonate rocks subjected to thermal treatment (20-1500 degrees C). The outcomes of published studies show that the degree of thermal damage in the post-heated carbonate rocks is attributed to their rock fabric, microstructural patterns, mineral composition, texture, grain cementations, particle orientations, and grain contact surface area. The expressive variations in the engineering properties of these rocks subjected to the temperature (>500 degrees C) are the results of chemical processes (hydration, dehydration, deionization, melting, mineral phase transformation, etc.), intercrystalline and intergranular thermal cracking, the separation between cemented particles, removal of bonding agents, and internal defects. Thermally deteriorated carbonate rocks experience a significant reduction in their fracture toughness, static-dynamic strength, static-dynamic elastic moduli, wave velocities, and thermal transport properties, whereas their porous network properties appreciate with the temperature. The stress-strain curves illustrate that post-heated carbonate rocks show brittleness below a temperature of 400 degrees C, brittle-ductile transformation at a temperature range of 400 to 500 degrees C, and ductile behavior beyond this critical temperature. The aspects discussed in this review comprehensively describe the damage mechanism of thermally exploited carbonate rocks that can be used as a reference in rock mass classification, sub-surface investigation, and geotechnical site characterization.

Automated summary

This paper summarizes recent findings on the damage characteristics of carbonate rocks subjected to thermal treatment. The results show that the degree of thermal damage is influenced by factors such as rock fabric, microstructural patterns, mineral composition, texture, grain cementations, particle orientations, and grain contact surface area. The engineering properties of these rocks change significantly at temperatures above 500 degrees C, due to chemical processes, thermal cracking, separation between cemented particles, removal of bonding agents, and internal defects. Thermally deteriorated carbonate rocks experience a reduction in fracture toughness, static-dynamic strength, elastic moduli, wave velocities, and thermal transport properties, while their porous network properties increase with temperature. The findings of this study can be used as a reference for rock mass classification, sub-surface investigation, and geotechnical site characterization.