1.Key Laboratory of Intelligent Perception and Ecological Restoration of River and Lake Health, Ministry of Education, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, Hubei, China
2.School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, Hubei, China
Cold shock induces substantial thermal stress in hot dry rock (HDR), effectively promoting fracturing and enhancing permeability within HDR reservoirs. To elucidate the impact of cold shock on the fracture properties and damage characteristics of HDR, cyclic loading-unloading three-point bending tests were performed on granite specimens subjected to high-temperature cooling(at 400 ℃, utilizing both water and liquid nitrogen as cooling) agents. These tests employed varying upper load limits(80%, 85% and 90% of the peak load). The study analyzed the variation in type Ⅰ fracture toughness in relation to the cooling methods and upper load limits, and further examined the 3D topography and microstructural features of the fracture surfaces. The findings indicate that, in comparison to water cooling, liquid nitrogen cooling results in a more pronounced reduction in the Mode Ⅰ fracture toughness of granite relative to its natural state, with the maximum reduction reaching 47.95%. Additionally, a linear relationship was observed between type Ⅰ fracture toughness and the upper load limit for granite in both its natural state and under different cooling methods, wherewith fracture toughness increasing as the upper load limit rises. When the upper load limit ranges from 85% to 90%, there is a significant increase in the fracture surface roughness of granite subjected to both water cooling and liquid nitrogen cooling. Post high-temperature cooling, the internal crack propagation mode in granite transitions from transgranular to intergranular. The fracturing of granite under varying cooling methods and cyclic loading-unloading is attributed to the synergistic effect of the inhomogeneous thermal expansion of internal mineral particles and external loads, resulting in the formation of through-cracks that predominantly contribute to specimen failure. This study examines the mechanical properties and fracture characteristics of granite under the combined influence of high-temperature cold shock and cyclic loading. The findings offer theoretical support for the application of cyclic fracturing technology in enhancing HDR reservoir stimulation.
干热岩地热资源(HDR)作为一种新型清洁能源,一般分布在地表以下3~10 km,因其资源量丰富、分布广等特点受到广泛关注(季科等,2021;马铭等,2025)。干热岩地热资源的开采主要采用水力压裂技术,将原本低孔隙和低渗透的地下深层岩体转变为更适宜流体运移的地热储集层,从而显著提升地热资源开发效能(许天福等,2018;马双泽等,2025)。然而,水力压裂会诱发微型地震,造成环境污染等问题(Pearson,1981)。采用循环水力压裂和液氮压裂不仅会大幅降低污染,还能在压裂中逐步释放储层内部积聚的能量,从而有效抑制微型地震的发生(Li et al,2021;薛熠等,2025)。此外,在地热资源开采中处于相同高温的花岗岩置于不同温度的冷却介质快速冷却时,由于热冲击效应引发的内部应力场分布差异,使原有裂隙进一步扩展,导致岩石断裂韧度下降(郤保平等,2020)。因此,研究循环压裂在不同冷却作用下对岩石Ⅰ型断裂特性的演化规律具有重大意义。
近年来,众多学者对高温岩石Ⅰ型断裂韧度开展了多方面研究。岩石Ⅰ型断裂韧度的下降幅度随温度的升高而增大(黄彦华等,2023;Jing et al,2024)。当热处理温度达到600 ℃时,岩石的Ⅰ型断裂韧度会发生显著下降(Mahanta et al,2016;Talukdar et al,2018;Chen et al,2023)。关于高温循环方式,无论是水冷冲击还是液氮冷冲击,均会加剧岩石内部损伤,导致Ⅰ型断裂韧度持续下降(张帆等,2023;薛熠等,2025)。此外,高温还会导致岩石内部矿物变化,进一步破坏岩石内部结构的完整性,从而削弱岩石断裂抵抗能力(左建平等,2013;Zhang et al,2018)。然而,以上研究主要关注温度、循环模式和微观角度等对岩石Ⅰ型断裂韧度的影响,关于Ⅰ型断裂韧度的变化机制研究仍显不足。针对该问题,部分学者从机理层面指出岩石内部较大的温度梯度产生的热应力和岩石的不均匀膨胀是高温岩石Ⅰ型断裂韧度显著降低的主要原因(Wong et al,2020;范晓冬等,2021)。结合干热岩地热开采工程实际可知,循环压裂技术是强化地热开采效率的关键手段,而干热岩储层岩体长期处于高温加热与冷冲击循环的复杂环境中。因此,有必要对花岗岩的力学特性和断裂特征开展进一步研究,通过系统分析岩石在不同加载条件下的变形和强度演化规律,进而揭示其宏观断裂破坏机制。为了准确地评价循环压裂对干热岩储层地热开采效率的强化作用,有必要对高温加热和冷冲击循环作用下花岗岩的力学特性和断裂特征开展进一步研究。目前,国内外学者针对循环加卸载下岩石力学特性的研究已积累了部分成果。循环加卸载中岩石的荷载大小、弹性模量和泊松比等参数会随循环次数、荷载条件和环境等因素发生显著变化,其中荷载上限和荷载幅值是影响岩石疲劳寿命的主要因素(葛修润等,2003;陈旭等,2022;Xue et al,2024;侯国庆等,2025)。关于岩石损伤与破坏特征,循环加卸载不会改变岩石的脆性破坏模式,在高温作用下会进一步促进其内部裂纹发育(刘亮等,2020;Li et al,2023;Lü et al,2024)。岩石的能量演化中弹性能与耗散能会随循环次数呈现动态转化,不同加载路径对岩石能量耗散也存在显著影响(陈旭等,2022;Song et al,2022)。综上所述,目前针对高温岩石Ⅰ型断裂韧度及循环荷载下岩石力学特性的研究已取得一定进展,但相关研究主要集中在变形、破坏模式、能量演化和损伤程度等方面。对于高温加热与冷冲击循环耦合作用下岩石Ⅰ型断裂韧度及循环荷载响应特性的系统研究较少,有必要进一步开展系统试验,从而为干热岩储层循环压裂工艺优化、地热开采效率提升及工程灾害防控提供科学参考。综上所述,高温冷冲击和循环加卸载对岩石的力学性质和断裂特征产生了显著影响。
(3)三点弯曲试验。本试验使用ETM305D微机控制电子万能试验机对SCB试样进行常规三点弯曲试验,以确定高温冷却后花岗岩的峰值荷载。为了便于准确放置试样,预先在试样中轴线上绘制基准标记线,确保试样发生均匀断裂。试验中轴向力采用位移控制加载,试样发生断裂产生的主裂纹在断裂面上左右两侧的最大偏转距离小于等于0.05D(Kuruppu et al,2014)。试验采用准静态加载,恒定位移速率为0.1 mm/min,以确保裂纹尖端断裂过程区(FPZ)充分发展(Zhang et al,2018)。如图5所示,设定当试样达到断裂破坏或在200次加卸载循环后,循环加卸载试验终止,进行循环加卸载试验的荷载下限统一设定为150 N。定义每次循环的荷载与峰值荷载的比值为荷载上限,当荷载上限超过90%时,试样在达到荷载上限前经常断裂破坏。反之,当荷载上限低于80%时,试样往往难以发生断裂破坏(葛修润等,2003)。因此,本文选择80%、85%和90%荷载上限,对SCB试样进行循环加卸载三点弯曲试验,整个试验过程均在室温下进行。为确保试验结果的准确性,每种工况均进行3次重复性试验,并取平均值进行分析。
2 试验结果
2.1 常规荷载—位移曲线
图6所示为不同冷却方式下花岗岩常规轴向荷载—位移曲线。SCB试样经高温—冷却后,荷载—位移曲线均经历压实阶段、线弹性阶段、临近峰值强度阶段和峰后破坏这4个阶段(Shao et al,2021)。由图6可知,峰后荷载—位移曲线均快速跌落,说明天然状态和经高温冷却处理后花岗岩均呈脆性破坏的特征。花岗岩试样在天然状态下峰值荷载为2 021 N,不同冷却方式下试样的峰值荷载较天然状态下均显著降低。经液氮冷却和水冷却后花岗岩试样的峰值荷载分别为1 059 N和1 091 N,相较于天然状态下分别降低47.60%和46.02%。这是由于天然状态下花岗岩内部矿物颗粒相对致密,经液氮和水强力冷冲击作用后,花岗岩内部产生显著的温度梯度,进而导致大量热裂纹产生,使花岗岩的峰值荷载相较天然状态显著降低。液氮冷却后的试样内部矿物胶结界面发生低温脆化,新生微裂纹呈各向异性扩展,这种热冲击损伤过程最终引发试样贯通性破坏,其破坏程度大于水冷却方式(黄中伟等,2021)。
如图10所示,当荷载上限从80%增加至85%时,天然状态、水冷却和液氮破坏所需的循环次数分别降低了106次、31次和28次;当荷载上限从85%增加至90%时,天然状态、水冷却和液氮破坏所需的循环次数分别降低了81次、34次和27次。随着荷载上限的增大,花岗岩破坏时所需的循环次数呈明显减少趋势,天然状态下荷载上限对花岗岩的断裂韧度的影响最显著。高温冷冲击使花岗岩内部产生大量微裂纹,导致热损伤加剧,内部积累的塑性变形增大,使其在相对较少的循环次数下即可达到疲劳破坏的临界值。当循环荷载上限达到90%时,天然状态、水冷却和液氮冷却后对花岗岩断裂破坏所需的循环次数趋于一致,循环荷载对花岗岩的断裂破坏起主导作用。综上所述,热损伤和荷载上限引起的微裂纹变化对花岗岩断裂特征的影响不是孤立存在的,这2种行为之间的竞争关系可能导致对断裂特征的不同影响。Chen et al(2020)也证实裂纹诱导损伤和断裂均受到岩石本身特性和循环加卸载方式的影响且较为复杂,本文只研究荷载上限和冷却方式对花岗岩Ⅰ型断裂的影响。
图13所示为不同冷却方式下常规三点弯曲试验后花岗岩断裂面扫描电镜图像。由图13(a)可以看出,天然状态下花岗岩内部平整,只存在少量的微裂纹和微孔隙,裂纹扩展以穿晶模式为主且扩展长度有限。由图13(b)和图13(c)可以看出,经高温冷却后试样矿物颗粒与颗粒间胶结物的变化使结构水脱出晶格,导致孔隙压力的变化,对花岗岩的物理和力学性质产生显著影响(左建平等,2013;Zhang et al,2018)。钠长石和石英颗粒中均出现沿晶裂纹,石英晶界在高温下产生热应力导致变形,引发晶体交界处开裂(王嘉敏等,2023)。此时,岩石内部产生的裂纹形式主要为沿晶裂纹和穿晶裂纹,矿物结构中交叉分布的裂纹导致结构完整性显著降低,严重影响花岗岩的断裂力学性能(邓龙传等,2021)。因此,相较于天然状态,水和液氮可以通过微孔隙和微裂纹侵入花岗岩体内部,使得矿物颗粒之间的内聚强度进一步被减弱,裂纹贯穿长石和石英等矿物颗粒。相较于水冷却,液氮冷却的花岗岩内部产生更长的微裂纹和更大直径的微孔隙。
3 断裂机理分析
400 ℃高温冷却循环加卸载共同作用下花岗岩微观破坏机制如图14所示。天然状态下花岗岩呈现致密的矿物颗粒结构和有限的原生裂纹发育[图14(a)]。在高温冷却过程中,因花岗岩内部矿物颗粒热膨胀系数差异引发非均匀膨胀,促使晶间裂隙扩展,当局部热应力超过矿物强度极限时,岩石基质内萌生新生微裂纹(杨圣奇等,2021)[图14(b)]。花岗岩经历循环加卸载作用后,其内部矿物晶体间的原生孔隙发生压缩闭合,导致晶体颗粒间产生显著的相互作用力。在外部荷载作用下,晶间接触区域形成新生微裂纹,同时晶体内部原生裂纹发生渐进式扩展,虽然矿物颗粒本体保持完整,但试样最终破坏主要由集中于矿物颗粒胶结界面的沿晶裂纹所主导[图14(c)]。随着循环加卸载试验的持续进行,新生微裂纹在矿物晶体内部持续萌生并相互贯通。同时,热致裂纹在荷载作用下进一步扩展延伸,不同尺度的裂纹通过渐进式扩展最终相互连接,形成主导试样宏观破坏的贯通性裂纹网络(Wang et al,2021)[图14(d)]。
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