An Elastoplastic Damage Model for Sandstone Considering the Compaction Effect and Freeze-Thaw Action

The freeze-thaw (F-T) cycle is one of the weathering factors that can cause rapid deterioration of the mechanical properties of rocks and threaten the stability and durability of rock engineering in cold regions. To study the influence of F-T action on the mechanical and deformation characteristics of sandstone, triaxial compression tests were performed under four confining pressures (0, 1, 3, and 5 MPa) and five F-T cycles (0, 40, 80, 120, and 160). The experimental results show that the stress-strain curves of the sandstone after F-T cycles can be divided into four phases: compaction, elasticity, strain-hardening, and postpeak failure. According to the deformation behaviors of the sandstone with various F-T cycles, an elastoplastic damage constitutive equation was established considering the compaction effect and F-T action. The model parameters were determined, and the theoretical curves were calculated. The comparisons with theoretical and experimental stress-strain curves demonstrate that the formulated constitutive equation can reflect the key deformation stages and mechanical behaviors of sandstone with different F-T cycles. Because the damage variable is introduced in establishing the model, the proposed model can also provide a quantitative description of the macrodamage, which agrees well with the microdamage of the sandstone after many F-T cycles measured by acoustic emission (AE) technology. The formulated constitutive equation in this paper can well describe the experimental deformation curves of sandstone with various F-T cycles and is easy to embed into numerical analysis software. The results can provide a certain theoretical reference for the evaluation of the durability and stability of rock engineering structures impacted by F-T-induced damage in cold regions.