Mechanical behaviour of medium-grained sandstones exposed to differential cyclic loading with distinct loading and unloading rates

This work aims to investigate the mechanical behaviour of medium-grained sandstones under cyclic loading with different loading/unloading rates. This type of cyclic loading is called differential cyclic loading (DCL) and is considered for testing rock behaviour. In the experiments, constant amplitude and multi-level cyclic loadings were performed. Three loading modes were designed to consider different relationships between loading and unloading rates. Axial strain evolution and energy dissipation were analysed for different loading/unloading rates and maximum cyclic load level. The correlations between P-wave velocities and strengths of rocks deduced from this research are compared with existing published data. The relationships between final strength and axial strain at failure under different loading patterns were also discussed and a rough assessment of the remaining fatigue life is introduced using the predicted value by fitting the axial peak strain. (C) 2022 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study investigates the mechanical behavior of medium-grained sandstones under cyclic loading with different loading/unloading rates, using a testing method called differential cyclic loading. The experiments analyze the axial strain evolution and energy dissipation for different loading/unloading rates and maximum cyclic load level. The correlations between P-wave velocities and rock strengths are compared with existing data, and the relationships between final strength, axial strain at failure, and loading patterns are discussed. A rough assessment of the remaining fatigue life is also introduced.