Experimental Study on Deformation and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Arch Roadway under Different Unloading Rates

The essence of roadway excavation is a process of unloading at the periphery, and the influence of unloading paths on surrounding rock damage is directly related to the selection of support design and construction technology. The real stress state of surrounding rock is often affected by different excavation conditions in the actual construction process. Therefore, a testing system of excavation and unloading model was developed to simulate the unloading process of the arch roadway under different excavation conditions. Small hollow cylindrical specimens used in this experiment were made of cement mortar. The load at the inner cavity of specimens was removed under the constant action of external pressure and axial force to simulate the real excavation unloading process. The deformation, the failure modes, and the acoustic emission evolution characteristics at the inner of specimens were obtained under unloading conditions using the strain and acoustic emission monitoring systems. The experimental results indicate that deformation laws of surrounding rock were similar under different unloading rates and initial geostresses, but failure modes and acoustic emission characteristics were quite different. Compared with that of slow unloading, the damage of surrounding rock under rapid unloading mainly accumulated after unloading, and it is easier to induce rockburst after unloading. As initial geostress increased, the occurring time of the main fracture may be delayed relatively, and the phenomenon that the distribution range of peak frequency expanded and the amplitude rose gradually can be regarded as the precursor information of the main fracture occurring. This study can be used to provide experimental support for the failure and supporting design of surrounding rock in deep underground engineering.

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