Engineering Geology 121 (2011) 135149

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Engineering Geology
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / e n g g e o

Engineering properties of quartz mica schist

Xiao-Ping Zhang a, b, c, Louis Ngai Yuen Wong b,, Si-Jing Wang c, Geng-You Han c
a b c

State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Block N1, Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore Key Laboratory of Engineering Geomechanics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Quartz mica schist, which is a highly anisotropic metamorphic rock, usually presents a geotechnical challenge in construction projects. To ensure a safe and economical design, a comprehensive in situ and laboratory investigation scheme is necessary for projects to be built in quartz mica schist. In this study, such a comprehensive laboratory study of the engineering behavior of quartz mica schist has been carried out. The Pwave velocity tests, tensile and uniaxial compressive strength tests, and creep deformation tests conducted on specimens with differently oriented schistose planes all reveal the strong anisotropic characters of the rock. The relevant crack-initiation stress and crack-damage stress analysis in uniaxial compression test, which has not been previously applied to studying schistose rock, has been performed in the present study. When loading is parallel to schistose planes, crack initiation stress and crack damage stress are lower than those in other loading directions. As the compressive loading is applied parallel to schistose planes, local tensile stresses are preferentially induced normal to the relatively weak schistose planes. Cracks are thus easier to develop than in any other loading directions. Since schistose plane orientation is one of the key factors to control the formation of macro-cracks and hence failures of unloading test specimens, these engineering geological characters should be taken into consideration in engineering design. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 4 November 2010 Received in revised form 20 April 2011 Accepted 28 April 2011 Available online 10 May 2011 Keywords: Quartz mica schist Schistose planes Anisotropy Unloading test Uniaxial creep test

1. Anisotropic behavior introduction Out of the three generic categories of rocks, metamorphic rocks usually display the highest degree of anisotropy (Ramamurthy, 1993). Quartz mica schist, which is a common type of metamorphic rock, has a widespread distribution in the world, including Scottish Highlands, Norway, Sweden, China, India, Bohemia, Saxony, Brittany, the Alps, Himalayas, and many parts of North America. The geotechnical challenges associated with quartz mica schist has been reported in many rock engineering projects, such as the Anamur dam site in Turkey (Ozsan and Karpuz, 1996), the foundation of the underground power house of the Nathpa-Jhakri hydroelectrical project in Kinnaur District, Himachal Paradesh in India (Behrestaghi et al., 1996). Due to the inherent relatively weak nature of the schistose planes, landslides occurring in schistose rocks are frequently reported. Examples include a slow slide near Pos Selim of Malaysia (Malone et al., 2008), large, slow-moving landslides at Clyde Dam reservoir of New Zealand (Macfarlane, 2009), the reactivation of a large, ancient landslide in DanBa County, Sichuan Province of China (Li et al., 2007; Yin et al.,

2008). Despite the challenge of characterizing the mechanical behavior of schistose rocks due to their strong material anisotropy, a comprehensive understanding of the anisotropic strength and deformation properties of rocks is necessary for a safe and reliable design of engineering projects, dealing either with inherent intact rock anisotropy from an exploratory borehole or induced rock anisotropy due to in situ fracturing (Ramamurthy, 1993). 2. Anisotropic behavior Experimental studies of anisotropic rocks typically rst involve preparation of rock specimens with planes of weakness inclined at different angles with the applied compressive loading direction as shown in Fig. 1(a). The strength anisotropy of various rock types other than the quartz mica schist has been extensively studied in compression tests, e.g. Donath (1964), Chenevert and Gatlin (1965), McLamore and Gray (1967), Hoek (1968), Attewell and Sandford (1974), and Brown et al. (1977) on shales and slates, Horino and Ellickson (1970), Rao (1984) and Al-Harthi (1998) on sandstones, Ramamurthy et al. (1988) on phyllites, Pomeroy et al. (1971) on coal, Allirot and Boehler (1979) on diatomite, Tien and Tsao (2000) on articial material, Deklotz et al. (1966), Akai (1971), McCabe and Koerner (1975), Behrestaghi et al. (1996), Nasseri et al. (1997), Nasseri et al. (2003), and Singh et al. (2001) on gneisses and schists. A review of the aforementioned work

Corresponding author. Tel.: + 65 67905290. E-mail addresses: jxhkzhang@163.com (X.P. Zhang), lnywong@ntu.edu.sg, lnywong@gmail.com (L.N.Y. Wong), wangsijing@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn (S.J. Wang), gengyouhan@mail.igcas.ac.cn (G.Y. Han). 0013-7952/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enggeo.2011.04.020

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Fig. 1. (a) Prismatic or cylindrical rock specimen under uniaxial compression; (b) Variation of unaxial compression strength (UCS) with the weakness plane orientation(after Ramamurthy, 1993); (c) Brazilian tensile test.

indicates that the failure strength is the highest at either = 0 or 90 and is the lowest when varies from 20 to 40 . TheU-shape, shoulder-shape and wavy-shape of the curves between the uniaxial compressive strength and the orientation angle reect the different types of anisotropies of the rock (Figure 1b). However, many research studies (Martin and Chandler, 1994; Meglis et al., 1995; Diederichs, 2000; Diederichs et al., 2004; Wong and Einstein, 2009a, b, c) indicate that one has to resort to the crack initiation, propagation, interaction, and eventual coalescence processes in addition to the macroscopic strength in order to satisfactorily characterize and assess the rock mass behavior and performance. In other words, crack initiation stress (ci) and crack damage stress (cd) are two important stress thresholds besides uniaxial compressive peak strength (f) to describe the progressive failure of rock specimens. These three stress thresholds associated with quartz mica schist have been systematically studied in the present research. The effect of schistosity on the tensile strength of metamorphic rocks is also extensively studied by many researchers. Berenbaum and Brodie (1959), Hobbs (1963), and Chaberlain et al. (1976) study the effect of schistose plane orientation on the Brazilian tensile strength of different metamorphic rocks (Figure 1c). Broch and Franklin (1972) and Broch (1983) study the point load strength anisotropy of metamorphic rocks. They observe that the tensile strength of metamorphic rocks increases as the orientation angle changes from 0 to 90 with respect to the direction of tension. In the present study, a comprehensive investigation of the engineering behavior of quartz mica schist has been performed. These rocks were obtained from the eastern sector of the Tethys, which is

located at the boundary of the Eurasian plate and the Indian plate. The main objectives of the present investigation are as follow: i. To study the transverse anisotropic behavior of quartz mica schist in terms of tensile and compressive strength, especially the stress thresholds ci, cd and f under different schistose plane orientations. ii. To study the unloading reaction of quartz mica schist under a true triaxial stress state. iii. To study the deformation characteristics of quartz mica schist of different schistose plane orientations in creep test. 3. Geology of the site and rocks tested In the present study, the quartz mica schist sample was collected from the exploration adit of the DanBa hydroelectrical power project in DanBa county, Dadu River drainage area, Sichuan Province of China. This project envisages the construction of an underground powerhouse in weak quartz mica schist, involving a 13 m diameter of head race tunnel, which has a length over 3 km. The quartz mica schist belongs to the Silurian-Carboniferous MAO county group. Since the rock is weak and is subjected to a high local crustal stress (the measured maximum principal stress is 1620 MPa) (Zhang, 2010), measuring the engineering geological responses of the rock is one of the key issues of the DanBa hydroelectrical power project for the evaluation of the stability of underground excavation. A 3m-diameter exploration adit, which was 298 m long, was excava-ted for survey and sampling purposes. Rose diagrams

Fig. 2. Rose diagram of strike of (a) schistose planes and (b) faults.

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corresponding to the strike of the schistose planes (Figure 1 (a)) and the fault planes (Figure 2 (b)) were constructed based on the measurements obtained in the adit. From these plots, it can be seen that the general strike of the faults were similar to that of the schistose planes. Since the number of faults was relatively few, under the high local crustal stress condition, the instability of underground excavation was mostly controlled by the strength of quartz mica schist. To better characterize the properties of the rock, petrography, X-ray diffraction and P-wave velocity measurements were implemented. Three types of mechanical experiments, namely tensile and compressive test, true triaxial unloading test and uniaxial creep test, were subsequently carried out. 4. Specimen preparation The rock blocks retrieved from the site (a distance of 246 m measured from the adit entrance) were trimmed with their sides perpendicular to each other. Special frames were tted to the base of

the conventional laboratory drilling machine to facilitate coring at different angles. More than thirty cylindrical specimens of length-todiameter ratio equal to 2 (50 mm diameter) at different orientations of (0 , 30 and 90 ) were cored for P-wave velocity measurements, uniaxial compression tests and creep tests. The edge faces of the cylindrical cores were then polished. Some of the prepared specimens were rst oven-dried at 105 C for 24 h and later kept in desiccators for cooling. They were considered as dry specimens. Vacuum sealing drainage method was adopted to saturate the rest of the specimens. The axial strain (axial) and lateral strain (lateral) under uniaxial compression were measured by either electrical resistance strain gages or extensometers. They were arranged in the middle height of the cylindrical specimen as four pairs on the north, east, south and west sides of the specimen (Figure 3). In addition, more than 20 cylindrical specimens of length-to-diameter ratio equal to 0.6 (50 mm diameter) of different schistose plane orientations of (0, 30 and 90) were cored for Brazilian test. Four prismatic specimens (approximate dimensions of 150 60 30 mm)

Fig. 3. Experimental setup for strain measurements (a) extensometer, (b) electrical resistance strain gage, and (c) schematic illustration.

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Fig. 5. Schematic illustration of P-wave velocity test.

Fig. 4. Thin section of quartz mica schist under cross-polarized light (eld of view 2.61 1.96 mm).

with different schistose plane orientations were prepared for the truetriaxial unloading test. 5. Physical properties In this study, the quartz mica schist is a coarse-grained rock with a well-dened schistose texture. The microscopic view of a thin section of the rock observed under cross-polarized light is shown in Fig. 4. For a detailed quantitative and semi-quantitative mineralogical composition analysis of schistose rocks, the X-ray diffraction powder method has been adopted. The test results are presented in Table 1. Quartz (4060%), mica (3050%) and plagioclase (115%) are the major rock constituent minerals. Various physical properties including dry and wet density, saturated water content, specic gravity, and porosity, were determined for quartz mica schist in general accordance with ISRM (1972). The mean values obtained by averaging more than ten measurements for each property are presented in Table 2. The P-wave velocity tests were conducted on cylindrical specimens (50 mm diameter, 100 mm length), as shown in Fig. 5. The P-wave velocity, Vp, depends on the elastic properties of the rock material (Goodman 1989), which in turn are controlled by its mineralogical composition and orientation (Guyader and Denis 1986). P-wave

velocities were measured normal to the schistose planes ( = 90 ), parallel to the schistose planes ( = 0 ) and inclined to the schistose planes ( = 30 ), under dry and saturated conditions respectively (Table 3). The mean value was obtained by averaging more than six measurements in each group. P-wave velocities obtained parallel to the schistose planes ( = 0 ) were the largest as compared to other orientations in both the dry and saturated conditions. P-wave velocities obtained at = 30 were higher than those normal to the schistose planes ( = 90 ) in dry condition, while in saturated condition, both = 30 and = 90 had P-wave velocities close to each other. The former was 2877.05 m/s s d and the latter was 2890.75 m/s. The Vp /Vp ratio was also computed and shown in Table 3. The ratio was the largest for = 90 and the smallest for = 0, while the ratio for = 30 was intermediate. When P-wave propagated normal to the schistose planes ( = 90 ), the presence of water can signicantly increase the velocities. For P-wave propagating along the schistose planes, the presence of water only had a slight inuence on the wave velocity. 6. Mechanical properties A comprehensive understanding of the mechanical behavior of quartz mica schist involves a thorough determination and evaluation of a number of strength index properties such as tensile strength, uniaxial compressive strength, long-term strength, deformation moduli, and unloading reaction at different loading orientations and stress levels. 6.1. Tensile and compression tests 6.1.1. Brazilian test The average tensile strength of the Brazilian tests for = 0 , 30 , 90 were 1.151 MPa, 2.421 MPa and 3.431 MPa respectively. The tensile strength (t) of quartz mica schist increased as increased from 0 to 90 . The similar trend was observed by Hobbs (1963), Chaberlain et al. (1976) and Behrestaghi et al. (1996) for different

Table 1 Mineralogical composition of quartz mica schist determined by the X-ray diffraction powder method. No. Distance from the adit entrance 0 80 m 168 m 246 m 293 m Minerals (%) Quartz 41.1 59.5 52.3 54.4 56.2 Plagioclase 9.2 1.2 9.6 1.5 15.4 Mica 48.7 38.8 37.5 43.4 27.9 Clay 1.0 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.5

No.0 No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4

Table 3 P-wave velocities of quartz mica schist. Velocities (m/s) Degree 90

d ) Dry (Vp s Saturated(Vp ) s d Vp /Vp

Table 2 Physical properties of quartz mica schist. Dry density g/cm3 2.779 Saturated density g/cm3 2.797 Saturated water content (%) 0.621 Specic gravity 2.816 Porosity (%) 1.31

30

Maximum Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average Maximum Minimum Average

1572.50 685.00 1262.70 4595.50 3957.00 4308.22 2150.80 1798.20 1911.88

4077.40 1867.80 2890.75 5306.10 4675.00 4958.92 3565.00 2443.80 2877.05

/ / 2.29 / / 1.15 / / 1.50

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anisotropic rocks. One of the unique features of schistose rock was that the tensile strength was maximum when the tensile stress was induced parallel to the schistose planes ( = 90 ), while reaching a minimum when the tensile stress was induced perpendicular to the schistose planes ( = 0 ). The tensile strengths corresponding to schistose planes oriented at other orientations were between these two values. Fig. 6a shows the cracked specimens of = 0 after subjected to the Brazilian test. Fig. 6b shows the hand sketches of the cracks observed on the front and back sides of the specimens. Similarly, Fig. 7a and b show the specimens of = 90 . When the compressive loading direction was parallel to the schistose planes ( = 0 ), except specimens B3-1 and B3-2, the induced cracks generally passed through the disk center (Figure 6b). These cracks were typically straight and generally continuous along the loading direction, i.e. along the schistose planes. When the compressive loading direction

Fig. 7. (a) Quartz mica schist specimens ( = 90) after Brazilian test (front faces only). (b) Hand sketches of cracks in quartz mica schist specimens ( = 90) after Brazilian test (front and back faces).

was perpendicular to the schistose planes ( = 90 ), the induced cracks were less continuous and appeared to have an en echelon arrangement upon close inspection. 6.1.2. Uniaxial compression test The rock specimens tested for the uniaxial compressive deformational behavior are of a diameter 50 1 mm and a length 100 2 mm. The uniaxial loading rate applied was 0.002 mm/s. Both the axial strain (axial) and lateral strain (lateral) in the specimen were recorded as the specimens were loaded. For a cylindrical specimen subjected to an axial loading, with or without a conning stress, and under small strains, the volumetric strain v is given by: v = V=V axial + 2lateral 1

where V is the change of specimen volume, and V is the original volume of the specimen. Crack volumetric strain is calculated as follows. First the elastic volumetric strains are calculated using the elastic constants, which are obtained from the linear portion of stress strain curves, by the following relation:
Fig. 6. (a) Quartz mica schist specimens ( = 0) after Brazilian test (front faces only). (b) Hand sketches of cracks in quartz mica schist specimens ( = 0) after Brazilian test (front and back faces).

V=Velastic = 1 3 12 =

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Fig. 8. Stressstrain diagram obtained from a DanBa quartz mica schist specimen with schistose planes oriented perpendicular to loading direction.

where Velastic is the elastic part of specimen's volume change, 1 is axial loading stress, 3 is conning stress, E is the elastic module, and is the Poisson ratio. Then the crack volumetric strain is determined by subtracting the elastic volumetric strain from the total measured volumetric strain. By plotting the axial, lateral and the calculated volumetric strains versus the applied axial stress, the rock specimen's path of failure can be traced. Two sets of deformation curves of the DanBa quartz mica schist under uniaxial compression are shown in Fig. 8 (loading direction perpendicular to schistose planes) and Fig. 9 (loading direction parallel

to schistose planes), from which the crack-initiation stress (ci) and crack-damage stress (cd) can be determined (Martin and Chandler, 1994). The different stages of crack development are shown in Fig. 8. To our best understanding, the relevant crack-initiation stress and crackdamage stress analysis has not been attempted on schistose rocks. Our study will hence be the rst on this rock type. Crack-initiation stress (ci), which is determined from the crack volumetric strain-axial strain curve, is dened as the axial stress at which dilation commences, i.e. the onset of negative value on the calculated crack volumetric curve. Crack-damage stress (cd) is the

Fig. 9. Stressstrain diagram obtained from a DanBa quartz mica schist specimen with schistose planes oriented parallel to loading direction.

X.P. Zhang et al. / Engineering Geology 121 (2011) 135149 Table 4 Stress thresholds of quartz mica schist specimens. Specimen condition No. f (MPa) cd (MPa) ci (MPa) ci/f cd/f Remarks Dry 90 A8 24.5 14.5 9.1 0.37 0.59 1 A11 26.0 18.8 10.2 0.39 0.72 1 A12 31.4 25.3 14.5 0.46 0.81 1 0 A17 38.7 13.0 11.3 0.29 0.34 2 A18 36.0 14.1 9.4 0.26 0.39 1 A31 41.0 10.7 7.5 0.18 0.26 1 30 A20 17.5 4.6 4.5 0.26 0.26 2 A22 13.0 9.0 7.4 0.57 0.69 2 A25 21.4 14.9 12.4 0.58 0.7 2 Saturated 90 A5 10.6 10.6 4.8 0.45 1.00 2 A6 5.3 1.7 / / 0.32 2 0 A16 21.8 9.5 7.1 0.33 0.44 1 A19 31.2 8.1 5.9 0.19 0.26 2 30 A21 6.7 6.0 4.2 0.63 0.90 1

141

A29 6.3 5.1 4.9 0.78 0.81 1

Remark 1: the deformation strain is measured by extensometers. Remark 2: the deformation strain is measured by electrical resistance strain gages.

stress level at which the axial strain begins to depart away from linearity. The loads above this stress level result in damage to the material that cannot be further tolerated under a permanent load. The axial stress level where the total volumetric strain reversal occurs marks the crack-damage stress (cd). Following the procedures mentioned above, crack-initiation stress (ci), crack-damage stress (cd) and peak strength (f) of 15 specimens were determined (Table 4). The data suggested that when loading is parallel to the schistose planes ( = 0 ), the cracks initiate at an earlier stage compared with those in other loading directions. For dry specimens, the values of ci/f is in the range of 0.180.29, which is much lower than 0.260.58 ( = 30 ) and 0.37 0.46 ( = 90 ). For saturated specimens, loading in different directions have similar results. The crack damage also occurred at an earlier stage when loading is parallel to the schistose planes ( = 0 ) as compared with other loading directions. This phenomenon might be attributed to the unique feature of schistose rock, which is associated with a very small tensile strength normal to schistose planes. When uniaxial compression loading is applied parallel to the schistose planes, tensile stresses are preferentially induced normal to the weak schistose planes. Cracks are thus easier to form than in any other loading directions. The variation in damage thresholds (with respect to UCS) can possibly be related to the rock texture and fabric. In a perfectly homogenous solid, the onset of crack initiation is expected to be coincident with specimen failure since the crack density will instantaneously reach the critical level once the crack initiation threshold is reached. In heterogeneous materials, additional crack accumulation or incremental crack extension beyond ci is however necessary to achieve specimen rupture. The average stress thresholds of DanBa quartz mica schist (for dry specimens) and some other rock types reported in the literature (Brace et al., 1966; Bieniawski, 1967; Fonseka et al., 1985; Martin, 1993; Hatzor and Palchik, 1997) are listed in Table 5. For polycrystalline rocks such as granite, quartzite and marble, the ratio of ci/f varies from 0.36 to 0.40,

while the ratio of cd/f is consistently between 0.80 and 0.85. In a clastic sedimentary rock such as sandstone, the ratio ci/f is typically larger than 0.50, although this varies. Limestone, a chemical precipitate (Martin, 1993), has a very low damage initiation stress as compared to the ultimate strength. The ratio of ci/f for Potash is only 0.20, but its ratio of cd/f is very high. As a transverse anisotropic intact rock, quartz mica schist exhibits a wide range of ci/f and cd/f ratio, spanning from 0.24 to 0.47 and from 0.33 to 0.71 respectively. 6.1.3. Discussion of mechanical properties The anisotropy behavior of the quartz mica schist is clearly displayed in our uniaxial compressive strength (c) results, i.e. the UCS values vary with the angle () between the applied compressive loading and the schistose plane orientation in both dry and saturated conditions (Table 6). The Brazilian tensile strength (t) was also found to vary with the loading angle. However, its trend of variation is different from that of c. Consequently, ratios of t/c which vary greatly from 0.042 to 0.140 are obtained. This means that it is challenging to establish a correlation between the UCS and Brazilian tensile strength in the present study. In addition to the uniaxial compressive strength (c), Table 6 also contains data of the Young's modulus (E) and Possion ratio () obtained from the uniaxial compressive test. The Young's modulus (E) (secant modulus) and Poisson ratio () were calculated from the stress level at 50% of c. c is found to increase with E as varies. In the plots of stress values versus as shown in Fig. 10, V-shape curves can be seen clearly for c in both dry and saturated conditions, as well as for ci and cd in dry condition. The curves of Young's modulus (E) also display a similar V-shape, while the curves of Pwave velocity do not display such a trend (Figure 11). The P-wave velocity decreases as increases. In this case, the strength and Young's modulus will not be proportional to the P-wave velocity, the former two thus cannot be readily correlated with the P-wave velocity as shown in some prior researches (Kahraman, 2001; Yasar and Erdogan, 2004; Kilic and Teymen, 2008).

Table 5 Stress thresholds of different rock types. Stress threshold/MPa Dolomite Hatzor and Palchik (1997) ci cd f ci/cd ci/f cd/f 85 102 117 0.83 0.73 0.87 Potash Limestone Granite Quartzite Bieniawski (1967) 80 180 224 0.44 0.36 0.80 114 241 283 0.47 0.40 0.85 Marble Fonseka et al. (1985) 32 70 84 0.46 0.38 0.83 Sandstone Brace et al. (1966) 121 170 234 0.71 0.52 0.73 DanBa Quartz Mica Schist Present study = 90 11.3 19.5 27.3 0.58 0.41 0.71 = 30 8.1 9.5 17.3 0.85 0.47 0.55 = 0 9.4 12.6 38.6 0.75 0.24 0.33

Martin (1993)

6.5 8.5 16 0.76 0.41 0.53

12 56 60 0.21 0.20 0.93

142 Table 6 Mechanical properties of quartz mica schist. Parameters t (MPa) Dry 90 30 0 3.431 2.421 1.151 c (MPa) Dry 38.57 17.30 27.30 Saturated 26.50 6.50 7.95 E(GPa) Dry 13.85 3.19 4.72 Saturated 7.58 1.47 1.69

X.P. Zhang et al. / Engineering Geology 121 (2011) 135149

Dry 0.334 0.270 0.212 Saturated 0.213 0.222 0.291

t/ c Dry 0.089 0.140 0.042

6.2. True-triaxial unloading test The rock mass that is located in the vicinity of the free boundary of an underground excavation is under a polyaxial stress state, in which the radial stress has reduced, but the tangential stress has increased as compared with the original stress state before excavation. Consequently, cracking and even failure can happen near the rock surface when the tangential stress is sufciently high. To simulate such effect, a true triaxial unloading test was performed to examine the different failure models under different stress states and schistose plane orientations. The true triaxial unloading machine (Figure 12), which was developed by the China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China (He et al., 2010), was adopted to achieve an abrupt unloading process on one loading face (Figure 13). Three AE (acoustic emission) transducers were employed to investigate the AE characteristics of quartz mica schist under a true-triaxial dynamic unloading condition (Figure 14). The six surfaces of specimen were daubed with a thin lm of grease to reduce the friction effect of end faces. 6.2.1. Specimen description Fig. 15 shows the schematic sketches of four specimens 246-1, 246-2, 246-3 and 246-4, with different schistose plane orientations. The dimensions and P-wave velocity test results of the four specimens are listed in Table 7. According to the P-wave velocity test results for prismatic specimens in Section 5, the P-wave velocity is the highest along the schistose planes. P-wave velocities obtained for = 30 are higher than those of = 90 in dry condition. The same pattern is also observed in Table 7. Along the schistose planes, i.e. parallel to the thickness in specimen 246-1, parallel to the width in specimen 246-2, parallel to the thickness in specimen 246-3, and parallel to the length in specimen 246-4, the P-wave velocities are 4326.4 m/s, 4993.1 m/s, 4441.9 m/s and 3364.5 m/s respectively, which are the largest as compared to other orientations. From the present study, determination of the P-wave velocity is found to be an efcient method to help

Fig. 11. Variation of different Young's modulus (E) and P-wave velocities (vp) with .

reveal the orientation of schistose planes, in particular for specimens in which the schistose plane orientation is not conspicuous to unaided eyes. 6.2.2. Test procedures and results In the present experiment, the prismatic specimens were rst loaded to an initial triaxial stress state. The loading rate was in the range of 0.10.5 MPa/s and the loads were rst increased proportionally until the stress in all three directions reached the pre-dened minimum principal stress. The minimum stress direction was then kept constant, while the loads in the other two directions were increased until they reached the pre-dened intermediate principal stress. Finally, the load on the vertical direction was increased to the expected maximum principal stress while the loads in the other two directions were kept constant. After suddenly removing the lateral pressure from one surface of the rock specimen while keeping the conning pressures in the other two directions constant, the specimen was at a possible stage of macro failure. However, if the rock specimen did not fail after unloading for a period of about 30 min, the load in the vertical direction was increased gradually until failure occurred. The stress paths, as well as the cumulative AE energy, for the four specimens are presented in Fig. 16. The test process of specimen 246-1 is described as follows, as in Fig. 16a. First, the stresses in three principal stress directions were increased to about 8 MPa at the roughly same rate. The minimum principal stress was then kept constant while the maximum and the intermediate principal stresses were increased to about 10 MPa. Following this, the intermediate principal stress was also kept constant and the maximum principal stress was increased and

Fig. 10. Variation of different stress values with .

Fig. 12. Sketch of the dropping system for load bar and loading plate 1 Pressure head; 2 Load cell; 3 Rock specimen; 4 Loading plate; 5 Dowel steel; 6 Cylinder; 7 Base plate; 8 Support frame (He et al., 2010).

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Fig. 13. Stress state (a) before and (b) after unloading.

adjusted to 16 MPa. It took about 40 min to reach the target stress state of 1 = 16 MPa, 2 = 10 MPa and 3 = 8 MPa, which closely resembled the in situ stress state. The stress state was retained for about 30 min, before removing one of the horizontal loading plates, which corresponded to an abrupt release of the intermediate principal stress 2. Due to the unloading of the intermediate stress, the maximum principal stress dropped slightly. The latter was immediately adjusted to 16 MPa manually. The largest surface of specimen (corresponding to the intermediate principal stress) was then exposed for about 65 min to allow for the observation of its change under the stressed condition. No macro failure was observed during that time interval. The vertical load was then increased gradually until failure occurred. When the load increased to 46 MPa, the cumulative AE energy rapidly increased, indicating that the macro failure has occurred. Under the in situ stress state of 1 = 16 MPa, 2 = 10 MPa and 3 = 8 MPa, the sudden removal of the intermediate principal stress did not immediately lead to the macro failure in specimen 246-1. Therefore, much higher stress states were further simulated in three subsequent tests. For specimen 246-2, as presented in Fig. 16b, it took about 58 min to reach the target stress state of 1 = 38 MPa, 2 = 23 MPa and 3 = 19 MPa. Such a stress state was retained for about 20 min, before removing one of the horizontal loading platens which corresponded to an abrupt release of the intermediate principal stress 2. A slight uctuation of the maximum principal stress occurred just before unloading. Macro failure was observed on the exposed surface after

unloading. The cumulative AE energy rapidly increased just before unloading, indicating that the macro failure had already occurred in the stress state of 1 = 38 MPa, 2 = 23 MPa and 3 = 19 MPa before unloading. The loadingunloading histories of specimens 246-3 and 246-4 were given in Fig. 16c and d, which had stress paths similar to that of specimen 246-1. An abrupt release of 2 did not lead to macro failure of specimen, until the maximum principal stress increased to about 80 MPa. The cumulative AE energy increased rapidly, implying that the macro failure had already occurred. 6.2.3. Acoustic Emission (AE) accumulated energy The AE accumulated energy release and stress path of specimens 246-1, 246-2, 246-3 and 246-4 are also presented in Fig. 16. A signicant amount of energy was released at the initial stage of loading, which is also a common phenomenon observed in different geomaterials. The pre-existing microcracks, defects, and voids within the rock are likely to be the preferential location for the development of new cracks under loading. Three representative stages of AE behavior similar to those observed in granitic rocks (Montoto et al., 1981) and limestone (He et al., 2010), were also observed for the quartz mica schist in the present study. At the low stress level (stage 1), the AE energy release associated with each loading step was at a relatively low level. The AE inactivity at stage 1 implies a balance period for the test specimen after loading, in which micro-pores and microcracks are weakly

Fig. 14. Positions of the AE transducers (He et al., 2010).

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Fig. 15. Schematic illustration of specimens (a)246-1, (b)246-2, (c)246-3, and (d)246-4 for true-triaxial unloading test.

Table 7 Dimensions and P-wave velocities of true-triaxial unloading test specimens. Specimen / Along length Along width Along thickness 246-1 Dimensions (mm) 150.77 62.01 31.15 P-wave velocity (m/s) 1673.4 1260.4 4326.4 246-2 Dimensions (mm) 150.29 60.24 30.10 P-wave velocity (m/s) 1929.3 4993.1 1348.4 246-3 Dimensions (mm) 150.29 60.33 28.92 P-wave velocity (m/s) 1844.05 1415.1 4441.9 246-4 Dimensions (mm) 150.39 60.29 30.29 P-wave velocity (m/s) 3364.5 1864.6 1827.0

Fig. 16. Stress path and accumulated AE energy for specimens (a)246-1, (b)246-2, (c)246-3, (d)246-4.

X.P. Zhang et al. / Engineering Geology 121 (2011) 135149 Table 8 Stress state right before unloading and right before macro failure. Specimen Stress state 1/MPa 2/MPa 3/MPa 246-1 1 16 10 8 2 46 0 8 246-2 1 38 23 19 2 38 23 19 246-3 1 38 20.5 18 2 80 0 18 246-4 1 39 22 19 2 80 0 19

145

Note: Stress State 1 indicates stress state before unloading, and Stress state 2 indicates stress state before macro failure.

activated (He et al., 2010). In stage 2, right after unloading, i.e. removal of 2, the amount of AE energy release signicantly increased. If the specimen had not failed right after unloading, the vertical stress (1) was then increased in a stepwise manner. The AE energy release was also in phase with the stepwise increase of 1. This should be related to the stress redistribution and the change of boundary conditions such as the appearance of one free specimen surface upon unloading. Eventually, in stage 3, the maximum AE energy release occurred when the rock specimen collapsed. This phase of substantial AE energy release, which typically occurred within a period of 10 to 100 s, was associated with the crack interaction and eventual coalescence generated by the abrupt change of stress distribution. 6.2.4. Discussion The above described stress state before unloading and the stress state before macro failure of the four specimens tested in the present study were listed in Table 8. Except for the macro failure of specimen 246-2, which occurred at the initial triaxial stress state, the remaining three specimens collapsed in response to a re-application of the maximum principal stress after unloading. Therefore, the macro failure of these three specimens actually occurred under a biaxial compression stress state. Fig. 17Fig. 20 contain the photos of the four specimens before and after the unloading tests. The failure modes are found to be dependent on schistose plane orientation. In specimen 246-1 (Figure 17), the orientation of the dominant cracks is 60 70 , which are approximately along the schistose planes. In specimen 246-2 (Figure 18), the orientation of the dominant cracks are also along the schistose planes. Since the included angle between the unloading surface and schistose planes is small, it is relatively favorable for wedges to slide along the plane, leading to the preferential occurrence of macro failure even under a lower triaxial stress state (Table 8). In specimen 246-3, which has the same schistose plane orientation as that of specimen 246-1,

the orientation of the single macro crack is about 65 (Figure 19). Specimen 246-4 (Figure 20) has vertically oriented schistose planes. Squeeze-out failure occurred on one side of the specimen. Close examination of the failure mode of the four specimens revealed that the failure of the specimens is closely associated with the schistose planes. As a unique feature of schistose rock, schistose planes, which have a relatively low bonding strength between each other, are the preferential crack development locations. The latter lead to crack coalescence and eventually macro specimen failure. In particular, the stress state before macro failure is signicantly inuenced by the schistose plane orientation of the specimen. Small included angle (specimen 246-2) between the unloading face and schistose planes is the preferential conguration to fail.

6.3. Uniaxial creep tests The long-term deformation and stability of the rock mass is one of the major concerns in underground excavation projects. Creep tests were also performed in the present study to obtain the relevant deformation characters. Creep tests were performed on three specimens, which were of schistose plane orientation = 0 , 30 and 90 respectively. The preparation of specimens was described in Section 4. A multi-step loading procedure (Cristescu, 1989, Maranini and Brignoli, 1999 and Ma and Daemen, 2006), in which the axial stress was stepwisely increased until specimen failure occurred, was adopted. After each load increment, the specimen was allowed to creep for a certain period (3 to 7 days in the present study) until the strain reached a stable value, during which deformations were continuously monitored. The load increments were 5 MPa for specimens 246-4 and 24619, and 3 MPa for specimen 246-27. As discussed in Section 2 and with reference to the UCS values listed in Table 4, the strength of specimen 246-27 ( = 30 ) would be expected to be lower than those of specimens 246-4 ( = 90 ) and 246-19 ( = 0 ). Therefore, different magnitudes of load increment were chosen for the specimens. For specimen 246-27, the load increment was 3 MPa for each loading step, while for specimens 246-4 and 246-19, the load increments were 5 MPa. The room temperature was kept at 21 1.5 C in all tests in order to satisfy the requirement of small strain monitoring. In the creep deformation experiment, the total measured strain is made up of instantaneous strain and creep strain. Fig. 21 shows the axial strain-time curves for the three tested specimens. The rst applied step load was 10 MPa for both specimens 246-4 ( = 90 ) and 246-19 ( = 0 ). The resultant instantaneous axial strain of the former (0.331%) was much larger than that of the latter (0.048%). The loads of

Fig. 17. Photos of specimen 246-1 (a) before and (b) after test (1 is the front face for unloading, 2, 3, 4 are respectively the right, back and left faces, 5 and 6 are respectively the top and bottom faces.).

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Fig. 18. Photos of specimen 246-2 (a) before and (b) after test (refer to Fig. 17 for face labels).

Fig. 19. Photos of specimen 246-3 (a) before and (b) after test (refer to Fig. 17 for face labels).

Fig. 20. Photos of specimen 246-4 (a) before and (b) after test (refer to Fig. 17 for face labels).

10 MPa were then kept constant for 112.5 h and 88.5 h for specimen 246-4 and specimen 246-19 respectively. The resultant axial creep strain of the former was about 0.004%, and that of latter was about 0.011%. After the axial strains in these two specimens have reached a stable value, the axial loads were then increased to 15 MPa, i.e. an increment of 5 MPa. The above loading cycle was repeated until

failure occurred. For the same magnitude of load increment, the resultant total axial strain in specimen 246-4 was much larger than that in specimen 246-19. This could be accounted for by the different schistose plane orientation in these two specimens. Specimen 246-4 was loaded perpendicular to the schistose planes, which favored the closure of existing micropores and microfractures associated with the

X.P. Zhang et al. / Engineering Geology 121 (2011) 135149 Table 11 Strains of specimen 24627 ( = 30) at various stress levels. Stress/MPa Time (hours) Axial Total strain (%) Creep strain (%) Creep strain/Total strain Total strain (%) Creep strain (%) Creep strain/Total strain 3 119.9 0.195 0.001 0.51% 0.145 0.000 0.00% 6 119.5 0.229 0.011 4.80% 0.192 0.002 1.04% 9 167.8 0.266 0.006 2.26% 0.369 0.026 7.05% 12 167.9 0.307 0.011 3.58% 0.704 0.117 16.62%

147

15 / / / / / / /

Lateral

Fig. 21. Axial strain-time curves relations of specimens 246-4, 246-19 and 246-27.

schistose planes. This effect was less signicant in specimen 246-19, in which the loading was parallel to the schistose planes. As shown in Tables 9, 10 and 11, the axial creep strain of each increment load increased as the load increased in the three specimens. Up to the step loads just before failure (15 MPa for specimen 246-4, 12 MPa for specimen 246-27, 25 MPa for specimen 246-19), the total axial strain of specimen 246-4 ( = 90 ) was the largest, and that of specimen 246-19 ( = 0 ) was the smallest. The total axial strain of specimen 24627 ( = 30 ) was the intermediate. Fig. 22 shows the lateral strain-time curves for the three tested specimens. Tables 9, 10 and 11 show that the lateral creep strain of each increment load all increased as the load increased in the three specimens. Up to the step loads just before failure (15 MPa for 246-4, 12 MPa for 246-27, 25 MPa for 246-19), the total lateral strain of 246-19 ( = 0) was the largest, and that of 246-4 ( = 90) was the smallest, the total lateral strain of 246-27 ( = 30) was the intermediate. In addition to the absolute magnitude of the creep strain values, the ratios of creep strain to total strain associated with each load increment of the three specimens were also calculated (Tables 9, 10, and 11). In the low stress levels corresponding to the rst or second step, the ratios of the creep strain to total strain, both axial and lateral, of the three

specimens were relatively small. When the load was further increased, the ratios of lateral creep strain to lateral total strain increased rapidly, which were much larger than those of the axial counterpart. The contribution of creep was more signicant in lateral deformations than in axial deformations for quartz mica schist. Based on the experimental ndings, rheological models are typically assembled to represent macroscopic stressstrain-time behavior phenomenologically (Blair, 1969). Simple rheological models are available to describe various material behavior, which includes ideal linear elastic, perfectly plastic behavior; viscoelastic steady-state creep behavior (Maxwell material); viscoelastic transient behavior (Kelvin-Voight material) and elastic viscoplastic behavior etc.. In this unaxial multistep loading creep experiment, creep strains under different schistose plane orientations were carefully studied. The total measured strain is made up of instantaneous strain and creep strain. Generalized Kelvin's model (Figure 23), which contains an elastic element (representing the instantaneous strain response) and a viscoelastic element (representing the creep strain response), was chosen in the present study to describe the creeping behavior of the quartz mica schist. The creep equation is expressed as follows:   E 0 2t + 0 1e E1 E2

t =

Table 9 Strains of specimen 2464 ( = 90) at various stress levels. Stress/MPa Time (hours) Axial Total strain (%) Creep strain (%) Creep strain/Total strain Total strain (%) Creep strain (%) Creep strain/Total strain 10 112.5 0.335 0.004 1.19% 0.184 0.009 4.89% 15 102.5 0.396 0.019 4.80% 0.641 0.267 41.65% 20 / / / / / / /

where t is the duration of loading, is the strain, 0 is the load, E1 and E2 are the elastic moduli of the two springs, is the viscosity coefcient of the viscous dashpot. By choosing appropriate parameters E1, E2 and , the strain-time curves shown in Fig. 21 and Fig. 22 were matched against the generalized Kelvin's model. Details of the curve-matching process are described by Han et al. (2010). The hence obtained parameters for the three specimens at different loading levels are summarized in Table 12 based on the curve-matching results as shown in Fig. 24.

Lateral

Table 10 Strains of specimen 24619 ( = 0) at various stress levels. Stress/MPa Time (hours) Axial Total strain (%) Creep strain (%) Creep strain/Total strain Total strain (%) Creep strain (%) Creep strain/Total strain 10 88.5 0 .059 0.011 18.64% 0.075 0.000 0.00% 15 121.0 0.088 0.015 17.05% 0.217 0.058 26.73% 20 99.4 0.118 0.016 13.56% 0.586 0.176 30.03% 25 122.0 0.160 0.037 23.13% 1.383 0.360 26.03% 30 0.8 0.226 0.059 26.11% 3.223 1.256 38.97%

Lateral

Fig. 22. Lateral strain-time relations of specimens 246-4, 246-19 and 246-27.

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Fig. 23. Generalized Kelvin's model.

In conclusion, from the present experimental studies, the axial and lateral creep strains increased as the load increased. The contributions of creep were more signicant in lateral deformations than in axial deformations for quartz mica schist. The total strain values before specimen failure were found to be dependent on the loading direction. The generalized Kelvin's model parameters obtained in present study can be used to predict the creep strain under different stress levels.

Creep test shows that the axial and lateral creep strains increased as the load increased. The contributions of creep were more signicant in lateral deformations than in axial deformations for quartz mica schist.

7. Conclusions The anisotropic behavior of schistose rocks has been identied and studied by many researchers. However, very few systematic laboratory tests were performed in a coherent manner to study the strength and deformational responses of schistose rocks in tensile, uniaxial compressive, unloading and long term stress states under different schistose orientations. In this paper, a comprehensive study has been carried out to characterize the DanBa quartz mica schist. The important ndings are summarized below. DanBa quartz mica schist is a coarse-grained rock with a welldened schistose texture, which contains quartz, mica and plagioclase as the major constituent minerals. P-wave velocity tests suggest that this is a highly anisotropic rock. In dry rock specimens, the P-wave velocity is the highest parallel to the schistose planes ( = 0 ), which is more than three times of that measured normal to the schistose planes ( = 90 ). Tensile and uniaxial compressive tests on specimens loaded at different orientations also reveal the strong anisotropic characters. Under uniaxial compression, which is parallel to the schistose planes, cracks initiate and damage at an earlier stage than those in other loading directions. As the compressive loading is applied parallel to the schistose planes, local tensile stresses are preferentially induced normal to the relatively weak schistose planes. Cracks are thus easier to develop than in any other loading directions. Schistose plane orientation is one of the key factors to control the development of macro-cracks and hence failure modes of unloading test specimens. It implies that when the angle between the unloading surface (corresponding to the heading face, sidewall and arch crown surface of an underground excavation) is small, failure can favorably occur along the schistose planes at a low stress state.

Table 12 Generalized Kelvin's model parameters of quartz mica schist. / 90 0 Load/MPa 10 15 10 15 20 25 3 6 9 12 E1/GPa 3.02 3.98 29.20 20.64 19.57 20.29 1.66 2.78 3.47 4.06 E2/GPa 332.23 81.08 42.35 101.01 134.23 65.96 21.51 39.45 142.99 70.31 /(GPah) 8408.84 280.38 46.08 209.75 280.34 217.89 13.24 162.25 534.03 788.89 Specimen 246-4 246-19

30

246-27 Fig. 24. Creep test and Generalized Kelvin's model curves of (a) 246-4 ( = 90), (b) 246-19( = 0 ), (c) 246-27( = 30 ).

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The total strain values before specimen failure were found to be dependent on the loading direction. The generalized Kelvin's model parameters obtained in present study can be used to predict the creep strain under different stress levels. Acknowledgments This work was supported by the Open Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under grant NO. Z110808. The triaxial unloading test was conducted in the State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineering. Many thanks are given to Prof. M. C. He, Prof. D. J. Li, Dr. W. Nie, and Dr. C. Cheng for their kind help. References
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