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The influence of water on the shear behaviors of intact sandstone

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Abstract

The shear behavior of rock is markedly affected by the presence of water. To study the influence of water on the shear behaviors of rock, a series of direct shear tests were conducted on intact sandstone specimens with different water soaking durations (from dried to saturated) under three levels of normal stresses. Before direct shear tests were performed, water absorption experiments were conducted to guide the different levels of water saturation required for the direct shear tests. The influences of water on shear stress-shear strain responses and peak and residual shear strength envelopes were investigated. The results show that soaking duration significantly impairs the peak and residual shear strengths and other shear properties (e.g., cohesion, friction angle and shear stiffness). The reductions in fracture energy and friction coefficient and the chemical and corrosive deterioration are the main mechanisms for the decrease of intact sandstone’s shear strength. A novel observation is that the failure patterns of specimens are sensitive to different water distributions. The results provided in this study reveal that the stability of rock engineering is affected by changes in water levels.

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Funding

This project was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2017YFC1503102) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41941018, 51874065 and U1903112).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, Liaoning, China

    Xin Liang, Shibin Tang, Chunan Tang & Jiaxu Wang

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  1. Xin Liang
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  2. Shibin Tang
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  3. Chunan Tang
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  4. Jiaxu Wang
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Correspondence to Shibin Tang.

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Liang, X., Tang, S., Tang, C. et al. The influence of water on the shear behaviors of intact sandstone. Bull Eng Geol Environ 80, 6077–6091 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-021-02315-1

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