Study on the mechanical properties of granite responses of cyclic heating and water cooling considering microcosmic and energy

Abstract

Investigating the coupling effects of temperature levels and heating-water cooling cycles on the physical and mechanical responses of HDR (hot dry rock) is a vital issue during the exploitation of geothermal energy. In this study, the physical properties of granite specimens were measured first after each heating and water-cooling cycle. Then, uniaxial compressive tests were conducted on those granites to obtain their mechanical properties. With the increase in heating temperature (T) and cycles of heating and water cooling (N), P-wave velocity, uniaxial compression strength (UCS), and elastic modulus (E) showed a decreasing tendency, and the decrease of those four properties corresponding to T variation is greater than N variation. Due to the α-β phase transition of quartz happening at 573°C, the density UCS and E of granite decreased rapidly when the heating temperature increased from 450°C to 600°C at N = 1. With the increase of T and N, the failure mode of granite gradually changes from tensile failure to shear failure and, finally, comminute failure. The failure mechanism of granite gradually transfers from brittleness-dominated to ductility-dominated due to accumulated thermal damage. Finally, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to determine the damage mechanism of cyclic heating-cooling. The micro test results show that the high-temperature treatment changes the mineral composition and the microcracks number of the granite and finally affects the macroscopic physical and mechanical properties. The study conclusions of this manuscript are important for exploiting geothermal resources.