Mechanisms and experimental study of directional thermal shock fracture of granite under bidirectional horizontal loading

Abstract The study of the mechanism of thermal shock directional fracture of rocks under bidirectional horizontal stress is important for the application of directional thermal shock fracture technology. With the engineering background of the thick igneous roof overlying the coal seam, we conducted high temperature thermal shock directional fracture tests on granite under different horizontal loads to investigate the fracture mechanism. The results show that during the directional thermal shock of granite, the heating rate of borehole surrounding rock experienced three stages of rapid increase, rapid decrease and slowly decrease. AE tests were used to characterize the typical features of rocks during thermal shock fracture: the appearance of macrocracks in the specimen was accompanied by sharp increases in the cumulative AE count and the sudden drops in b-value. The experimental results show that thermal shock can create macroscopic directional fractures within the rock. Within a certain range of horizontal stress difference, the expansion direction of thermal shock cracks could be released locally from geological stress control, i.e. expanding along the direction of the minimum horizontal dominant stress. This provides completely new thinking for the cutting of hard roof and the directional fracturing of rock. In addition, directional thermal shock caused modifications in the distribution of stress in borehole surrounding rocks. We have established a model for stress distribution around the borehole rock and given the calculation formula for the initiation stress of the rock. The studies provide significant theoretical guidance for the industrial application of directional thermal shock fracturing technology.