Mechanical characterization of intact rock under polyaxial static-dynamic stress states

Accurate assessment of mechanical behaviour of rock is essential for safe and efficient design of structures on or within rock mass particularly under harsh in-situ stress conditions. Insights from rock engineering practices have revealed that rockbursts can occur at various scales and at any time during mining activities. These violent failure phenomena can be triggered by quasi-static stress redistribution resulting from mining activities as well as dynamically induced loads from seismic events. Moreover, the mechanical behaviour of rock has proven to differ under static and dynamic stress conditions, showing rate-dependent characteristics. Hence, this study aims to thoroughly investigate the triggers that can lead to rockburst events and provide insights into the brittle fracturing process under various stress conditions. To achieve this, a comprehensive set of static and dynamic laboratory tests was conducted on coal samples. The static experiments were conducted under uniaxial and triaxial conditions where the samples were tested at the confining pressures up to 20 MPa. For the dynamic tests, the samples were first pre-stressed uniaxially, biaxially and polyaxially at different ranges of static stresses up to 30 MPa hydrostatically and non-hydrostatically. Then, the high impact velocity up to 21.5 m/s was applied along the maximum stress direction to provide dynamic loading. The influences of loading condition, strain rate and confinement on the mechanical behaviour of coal were investigated. The fracturing process of samples based on their uniaxial, biaxial and polyaxial pre-stressing conditions and various strain rates were analysed to confirm the significant role of loss of confinement and strain rate in severe high-energy fragmentation of coal or so-called “rockburst” under both static and dynamic loadings.