Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Cold Regions Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/coldregions

A statistical model for predicting the triaxial compressive strength of MARK

transversely isotropic rocks subjected to freezethaw cycling

Helin Fua,b, Jiabing Zhanga,b, , Zhen Huanga,b, Yue Shia,b, Wei Chena,b
a
School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410075, China
b
National Engineering Laboratory for Construction Technology of High Speed Railway, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410075, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Freezethaw damage to rock masses is one of the most signicant durability problems in many regions world-
Transversely isotropic rocks wide. This study conducts triaxial compression tests to experimentally investigate the strength properties of
Freezethaw cycles freezethawed core samples of Carboniferous slates with bedding angles of 30, 45, 60, and 75 under dierent
Triaxial compressive strength conning pressures. The triaxial compressive strength decreases as the number of freezethaw cycles increases,
Statistical model
continuously increases with increasing conning pressure, and initially decreases and then increases as the
Sliding failure
bedding angle increases from 30 to 75. Additionally, to satisfy the requirements of engineering projects in cold
regions, a statistical model is proposed to predict the triaxial compressive strength of freezethawed transversely
isotropic rocks based on the single discontinuity theory. In this model, the cohesive strength and angle of in-
ternal friction of the discontinuity are assumed to be functions of the number of freezethaw cycles. The validity
and accuracy of this model are veried by comparing the results of the proposed model with those of the
experiments. It is found that the model can correctly describe the inuences of the number of freezethaw cycles,
conning pressure, and bedding plane orientation on the triaxial compressive strength of freezethawed
transversely isotropic rocks.

1. Introduction safety of rock engineering projects.

Freezethaw cycling, a phenomenon in which a material undergoes
alternating freezing and thawing because of variations in the external
environmental temperature around the freezing point, most commonly
occurs in cold regions at high altitudes (Chen et al., 2004; Yu et al.,
2015; Yang et al., 2016). The strength properties of rock deteriorate
signicantly due to the recurrent freezing and thawing processes, which
may lead to serious disasters in construction projects (e.g., Zhang et al.,
2004; Grossi et al., 2007). In addition, the strength properties of
transversely isotropic rock depend on the conning pressure and or-
ientation of the bedding planes (Singh et al., 2015). It is essential that
the inuences of the number of freezethaw cycles, conning pressure,
and bedding plane orientation on the triaxial compressive strength of
transversely isotropic rocks are investigated. Therefore, statistical pre-
diction models, which are used to describe the strength properties of
transversely isotropic rocks subjected to freezethaw cycling, must be
constructed to improve rock engineering design techniques and the
Considerable eorts has been made by various researchers to in-
vestigate the inuence of freezethaw cycling on the mechanical
properties of rocks (Altindag et al., 2004; Yang et al., 2010; Yavuz,
2011; Bayram, 2012; Crdenes et al., 2012; Jamshidi et al., 2013;
Khanlari et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2015; Ismail and Mustafa, 2016;
Jamshidi et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2016). Altindag et al. (2004) con-
ducted uniaxial compression tests, Brazilian splitting tests, and point
load tests on freezethaw inuenced ignimbrite, and reported the in-
uence of freezethaw cycling on the mechanical properties of ignim-
brite. Tan et al. (2011) investigated the eect of freezethaw cycling on
the mechanical properties of biotite granite using uniaxial and triaxial
compression tests. They found that the elastic modulus, compressive
strength and cohesive strength decayed exponentially with the number
of freezethaw cycles. Bayram (2012) developed a statistical model to
estimate the reduction in the uniaxial compressive strength of lime-
stones after freezethaw cycling. Ismail and Mustafa (2016) experi-
mentally investigated various rock index properties, including the dry

Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410075, China.
E-mail address: zhang_jb1@sohu.com (J. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2017.11.003
Received 3 May 2017; Received in revised form 14 September 2017; Accepted 3 November 2017
Available online 07 November 2017
0165-232X/ 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
H. Fu et al.
Table 1
Basic physical properties of the Carboniferous slates.
Rock Dry Natural Saturation
density (g/ water water
cm3) content (%) absorption (%)
Carboniferous slate 2.59 0.47 1.76
density, ultrasonic velocity, point load strength, and slakedurability
test indexes, after freezethaw cycles and proposed a statistical model.
Wang et al. (2016) investigated the physical properties of sandstone
specimens, including the density, porosity, Pwave velocity, uniaxial
compressive strength, and deformation modulus, subjected to free-
zethaw cycling. In addition, a corresponding prediction model of
mechanical degradation was developed. Most studies have focused on
experiments and prediction models for isotropic rocks, and anisotropic
rocks have seldom been studied.
Anisotropic rocks, especially transversely isotropic rocks, are fre-
quently encountered in underground engineering, and their mechanical
properties exhibit inherently anisotropic and directional dependency.
The mechanical behaviors of transversely isotropic rocks have been
extensively studied by various researchers, and some corresponding
models have been developed in detail (e.g., Jaeger, 1960; Tien and Kuo,
2001; Tien et al., 2006; Lee and Pietruszczak, 2008; Saeidi et al., 2014;
Asadi and Bagheripour, 2015; Singh et al., 2015; Tan et al., 2015). The
single discontinuity theory proposed by Jaeger (1960), which considers
sliding failure along the discontinuity through the intact material, has
been widely applied to predict the strength behavior of transversely
isotropic rocks. Jaeger's theory was further developed, modied and
validated by researchers through many laboratory and in situ ob-
servations. However, little attention has been paid to the development
of prediction models of transversely isotropic rocks to study strength
deterioration induced by freezethaw cycling. This research gap was
the motivation for the research outlined below. Due to the naturally
weak planes that exist in transversely isotropic rocks, the strength
Fig. 1. Scheme of the testing procedure.
Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248
deterioration induced by freezethaw cycling could be much more
serious and complicated, thereby requiring special attention and in-
vestigation.
Porosity (%)
A series of experiments was conducted in this study to examine the
inuences of the number of freezethaw cycles, conning pressure, and
bedding plane orientation on the triaxial compressive strength of
3.46
Carboniferous slate specimens. Based on the experimental results, a
statistical model was developed to predict the triaxial compressive
strength of transversely isotropic rocks subjected to freezethaw cy-
cling.
2. Experimental procedures and results
2.1. Experimental material and procedure
The Carboniferous slate material used in this study was cored at the
Guanjiao tunnel of the XiningGeermu Railway in China. Several large
rock chunks were rst obtained at the project location, and the intact
rock was cut using special machines to avoid any damages to the rock.
Then, the rock chunks were rmly clamped onto the tilting pedestal of a
drilling machine at dierent orientations of apparent bedding to facil-
itate coring at specic orientations. Cylindrical specimens with dia-
meters of 50 mm and heights of 100 mm were obtained by boring,
cutting, and polishing the slate chunks according to the suggested
methods and standard requirements of ISRM (ISRM, 2007). The ends of
each specimen were ground to within 0.05 mm of at and parallel to
each other. The deviations in the diameters and heights of the speci-
mens were < 0.3 mm, and the vertical deviation was < 0.25. Thirty-
two samples were prepared for each bedding orientation (30, 45, 60,
and 75); in total, 128 samples were prepared. The physical properties
of the Carboniferous slates were determined and are listed in Table 1.
The samples were tested under dierent conditions, including var-
ious numbers of freezethaw cycles, conning pressures, and bedding
plane orientations, and the detailed procedures of testing and con-
ditioning are illustrated in Fig. 1. The number of applied freezethaw
cycles was 0, 10, 20, or 30 cycles. For each number of applied
238
H. Fu et al. Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248

Fig. 2. (a) The automatic freezethaw cycling apparatus (TDS300). (b) The temperature control schematic diagram for each freezethaw cycle.

Fig. 3. Equipment used in the compression experiments.

Fig. 4. Typical failure patterns of the investigated slate

under triaxial compression.

239
H. Fu et al.
Fig. 5. Stressstrain curves of the A1 samples.
freezethaw cycles, the samples were divided into four groups (A1 to
A4) according to the four bedding orientations. A1, A2, A3, and A4
indicate the samples with bedding angles of 30, 45, 60 and 75, re-
spectively. Each group was further subdivided into four sub-groups
according to the applied conning pressures (0, 5, 10, and 20 MPa), and
two samples were tested for each sub-group.
All the samples were water saturated before the freezethaw cycle
tests. Articial freezethaw cycle tests were carried out using an au-
tomatic freezethaw testing apparatus (as shown in Fig. 2a), in which
the temperature could be varied from 40 to 25 C with an accuracy
of 0.5 C. Each freezethaw cycle comprised a 12 h freezing period,
after the test container temperature reached the preset value ( 20 C),
and a 12 h thawing period, during which the samples were immersed in
water at 20 C; thus, one freezethaw cycle lasted for 24 h (as shown in
Fig. 2b). In this study, the triaxial compressive strength of the samples
at dierent conning pressures (0 MPa, 5 MPa, 10 MPa, and 20 MPa)
was determined after the desired number of cycles.
240
Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248
The uniaxial compression experiments were conducted using a
DNS100 electromechanical universal testing machine at the Central
South University, Changsha, China (as shown in Fig. 3a). This testing
system consists of a loading frame with a 100 kN capacity (force mea-
surement precision of 0.5%, force measurement range from 0.4%
F.S. (Full Scale) to 100% F.S., and displacement resolution of
0.001 mm) and a data acquisition unit. Each sample was vertically
compressed at a rate of 0.15 mm/min until failure, and loaddisplace-
ment responses were recorded by a data acquisition system. The triaxial
compression experiments were performed using an INSTRON1346
servocontrolled testing system at the same laboratory (as shown in
Fig. 3b). This testing system consists of a loading frame with a 2000 kN
capacity (the force measurement precision of 0.5% and maximum
conning pressure of 140 MPa). The axial deformation of the sample
was measured using a linear variable dierential transducer (LVDT).
Samples were vertically compressed at a rate of 0.15 mm/min until
failure.
H. Fu et al. Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248

Table 2
Peak strength values of the Carboniferous slates for dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles, conning pressures, and bedding plane orientations.

Number of freezethaw cycles Sample A1 (30) Sample A2 (45)

0 MPa 5 MPa 10 MPa 20 MPa 0 MPa 5 MPa 10 MPa 20 MPa

0 36.5 61.3 73.2 106.1 19.5 34.1 41.3 66.7

38.7 57.9 80.4 113.3 22.0 32.3 45.3 61.9
10 26.9 41.5 56.6 90.9 14.6 24.8 33.8 57.6
26.1 47.8 60.2 82.9 13.9 27.4 37.2 52.8
20 22.4 35.8 47.2 77.1 12.2 23.5 30.8 51.5
20.8 38.4 51.0 73.5 13.1 21.7 32.4 49.5
30 20.4 31.6 43.7 73.8 11.3 19.9 28.7 48.7
18.3 34.6 46.1 67.2 10.4 21.3 30.3 45.9

Number of freezethaw cycles Sample A3 (60) Sample A4 (75)

0 MPa 5 MPa 10 MPa 20 MPa 0 MPa 5 MPa 10 MPa 20 MPa

0 18.9 32.6 42.3 62.3 24.9 45.1 58.9 81.6

19.5 29.4 38.7 58.9 27.1 41.8 54.3 83.2
10 14.1 23.3 34.5 51.8 19.8 33.5 45.8 73.7
15.3 26.3 33.1 54.2 18.6 36.9 48.2 69.2
20 11.2 22.5 29.4 48.5 17.5 32.2 44.3 64.1
12.0 21.1 32.1 49.8 16.4 29.9 41.9 67.5
30 10.3 19.5 28.0 45.9 15.0 26.9 40.2 63.3
11.3 20.3 29.1 48.0 14.3 28.7 37.9 61.9

2.2. Experimental results and analysis
The typical failure patterns of the tested rock samples with dierent
bedding plane orientations are presented in Fig. 4. Notably, macro-
scopic fractures can be observed along the bedding planes (A1, A2, A3,
and A4). Hence, the samples undergo sliding failure along the bedding
planes through the intact material during the entire loading process.
The stressstrain curves of the A1 samples are presented in Fig. 5.
The samples were named according to the following rule: taking T105
MPa1 as an example, the rst part of the name indicates the number
of freezethaw cycles (i.e., 10 in this example), the middle part denotes
the applied conning pressure (5 MPa in this case), and the last part is
the nth number of the sample in the group (1st in this example).
As shown in Fig. 5, during the entire loading process, each
stressstrain curve contains ve dierent phases: the compaction phase,
the elastic phase, the plastic yielding phase, the failure phase, and the
residual strength phase. The axial strain corresponding to the peak
strength increases with increasing conning pressure. For example, in
the case of 10 freezethaw cycles (as shown in Fig. 4b), the axial strain
at the peak strength is 6.2, 6.9, 7.2, and 7.7 for conning
pressures of 0, 5, 10, and 20 MPa, respectively. The axial strain at peak
strength decreases as the number of freezethaw cycles increases. For
instance, under a conning pressure of 5 MPa, the axial strain at the
peak strength is 7.1 without any freezethaw cycles (as shown in
Fig. 5a), 6.9 after 10 freezethaw cycles (as shown in Fig. 5b), 6.6
after 20 freezethaw cycles (as shown in Fig. 5c), and 6.4 after 30
freezethaw cycles (as shown in Fig. 5d). Table 2 summarizes the ex-
perimental results for all tested samples.
Similar to some records in the literature (Tan et al., 2011; Bayram,
2012), the experimental results indicate that rock deterioration occurs
during repeated freezethaw cycles, which leads to a decrease in
triaxial compressive strength as the number of freezethaw cycles in-
creases (as shown in Fig. 6). The mechanism for this phenomenon is
that Carboniferous slates are characterized by relatively higher porosity
(approximately 3.5%) and high water absorption at saturation (ap-
proximately 1.8%). Specically, the pore water expands by approxi-
mately 9% when frozen. This expansion causes large tensile stress
concentrations and damage in microvoids and microcracks. During
thawing, the water inside the rock melts, the frostheaving force gra-
dually releases, and the pore water ows through the fractured mi-
cropores. In this case, rock deterioration gradually increases as the
number of freezethaw cycles increases (Tan et al., 2011; Liu et al.,
2015).
The relationship between the triaxial compressive strength and the
conning pressure for a certain number of freezethaw cycles and
various bedding orientations is illustrated in Fig. 7. Notably, the triaxial
compressive strength of the samples continuously increases with in-
creasing conning pressure (Geng et al., 2016).
The inuence of the bedding orientation on the triaxial compressive
strength is shown in Fig. 8. Similar to a typical transversely isotropic
rock, the triaxial compressive strength initially decreases and then in-
creases as the bedding angle increases from 30 to 75. Approximately
equivalent trends are observed for dierent numbers of freezethaw
cycles and dierent conning pressures.
3. Statistical prediction model of the compressive strength of
transversely isotropic rocks under freezethaw cycling
3.1. Statistical prediction model of the compressive strength of transversely
isotropic rocks under freezethaw cycling
As shown in Fig. 9a, a triaxial compressive strength criterion for
transversely isotropic rocks based on sliding failure along a dis-
continuity was proposed by Jaeger (1960). According to Mohr's stress
circle, the normal stress and shear stress acting on the discontinuity
can be expressed as follows:

241
H. Fu et al.
Fig. 6. Inuence of freezethaw cycling on the triaxial compressive strength for dierent conning pressures.
1 1
= 2 (1 + 3) + 2 (1 3) cos 2
= 1 (1 3) sin 2
2 (1)
where is the angle between the direction of the minor principal stress
and the discontinuity and 1 and 3 are the major and minor principal
stresses at failure, respectively. Based on the conventional MohrCou-
lomb strength criterion, the following condition holds for sliding failure
along a discontinuity:
2(c + 3 tan )
1 3 =
(1 tan cot ) sin 2
where c and are the cohesive strength and internal friction angle of
the discontinuity, respectively.
Eq. (2) reveals that the triaxial compressive strength of the trans-
versely isotropic rocks is a function of the orientation of the bedding
plane with respect to the principal stresses, the cohesive strength and
the internal friction angle of the discontinuity, and the magnitude of the
Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248
principal stresses.
According to Jaeger's theory, the failure patterns of transversely
isotropic rocks with various bedding angles under triaxial compressive
loading can be classied into two categories. First, if the bedding angle
is in the range of 0 1 or 2 90, the failure patterns
exhibit nonsliding failure under triaxial compression. In this case, the
strength of the transversely isotropic rock is dominated by the rock
materials and is not inuenced by the discontinuity. Second, if the
bedding angle is in the range of 1 2, sliding failure occurs
along the discontinuity; thus, the strength of the transversely isotropic
rock is controlled by the discontinuity (Tien and Kuo, 2001). To un-
(2)
derstand the failure characteristics of transversely isotropic rocks, the
critical bedding angles, 1 and 2, of sliding failure along the dis-
continuity are determined in the next step.
As shown in Fig. 9b, point O is the origin, and point B is the center of
Mohr's stress circle. Line BD describes the strength envelope of the in-
tact rock, and C is the tangent point between line BD and Mohr's stress
circle. Line EH indicates the strength envelope of the discontinuity, and
242
H. Fu et al. Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248

Fig. 7. Inuence of the conning pressure on the triaxial compressive strength for dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles.

it intersects Mohr's stress circle at points F and G. According to the sine number of freezethaw cycles. The prediction model is as follows:
theorem, the bedding angles 1 and 2 can be calculated as follows:
2(cn + 3 tan n )
1 3 1 + 3 1 3 =
2
c cot + 2
(1 tan n cot ) sin 2 (6)
=
sin sin(2 ) (3) where cn and n are the cohesive strength and angle of internal
friction of the discontinuity under n freezethaw cycles, respectively.
1 (1 + 3 + 2c cot ) sin
1 = + arcsin
2 2
1 3
(4)
3.2. Determination of model parameters cn and n
1 (1 + 3 + 2c cot ) sin
2 = + arcsin According to the experimental results of the triaxial compression
2 2 2
1 3
(5)
test conducted after dierent number of freezethaw cycles, the cohe-
The above observations suggest that the single discontinuity cri- sive strength cn and angle of internal friction n can be determined by
terion proposed by Jaeger (1960) can eectively consider the inuence linear regression as shown in Fig. 10. By mathematically transforming
of the bedding plane. Nevertheless, some limitations exist for this cri- Eq. (6), the following expression can be obtained:
terion in analyses of rock after freezethaw cycling. In this study, a Y = X tan n + cn (7)
statistical model is developed to predict the triaxial compressive
strength of transversely isotropic rocks considering freezethaw cy- where Y = (1 3) sin cos and X = 1cos + 3sin .
2 2

cling. Two parameters, cn and n, are proposed as functions of the To achieve better linear and discrete point tting, the square of the

243
H. Fu et al. Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248

Fig. 8. Inuence of the bedding plane orientations on triaxial compressive strength for dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles.

Fig. 9. (a) Schematic diagram of Jaeger's

theory. (b) Mohr's stress circle and strength
envelopes for the rock matrix (BD) and dis-
continuity (EH); c and are the cohesion and
the angle of internal friction of the dis-
continuity, respectively; and c0 and 0 are the
cohesive strength and the internal friction angle
of the intact rock, respectively.

244
H. Fu et al. Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248

Fig. 10. Determination of parameters cn and n from triaxial compression tests after applying dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles (the black squares represent experimental results,
and the black solid line corresponds to the result of the linear regression analysis).

Table 3 ordinate value of the regression line.

Parameters cn and n after dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles. The minimum deviation is determined by calculating the partial
derivatives of Q(cn, tann) with respect to cn and tann and setting
Parameter Number of freezethaw cycles
them to zero:
0 10 20 30
Q Q
= 0, =0
cn (MPa) 6.54 4.83 4.15 3.59 cn tan n (9)
n () 20.4 19.1 17.9 17.4
Solving Eq. (9), the expressions for cn and n can be calculated as
follows:
deviation between the experimental data yi and the corresponding or-
N N
dinate value of the regression line should be minimized: 1 tan n
cn = yi xi n
N i=1 N i=1
N N
Q (tan n , cn ) = i2 = (yi xitan n cn )2 N x i yi x i yi
= tan1
i=1 i=1 (8) N x i 2 ( x i )2 (10)

where xi and yi are the experimental values for each specimen, and i is Clearly, Fig. 10 shows that the cohesive strength cn and internal
the deviation between the experimental data and the corresponding friction angle n are aected by the number of freezethaw cycles, and

245
H. Fu et al. Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248

discontinuity. Therefore, the bedding angle must satisfy the following

relation: 1 2. The bedding angles 1 and 2 can be calculated
by Eqs. (4) and (5) if the parameters cn and n, as well as the ex-
perimentally derived values of 1 and 3, are known. After dierent
numbers of freezethaw cycles, the parameters cn and n can be
obtained according to Table 3. Additionally, 1 and 3 can be de-
termined from uniaxial compression experiments of transversely iso-
tropic rocks with bedding angles of 0, and the results of these tests,
after dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles, are listed in Table 4. The
bedding angles 1 and 2 for dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles
are listed in Table 5. Table 5 shows that 1 continuously decreases as
the number of freezethaw cycles increases, and 1 is always < 30. In
addition, the range of 2 is only 0.9 for all the tested numbers of free-
zethaw cycles, and 2 is always > 75. Therefore, it is reasonable to
assume that all the samples with dierent bedding angles experience
failure along a discontinuity in this paper.
Fig. 11. Relationships between the number of freezethaw cycles and the parameters cn
and n. 4. Model verication and illustration

Table 4
To verify the adaptability and accuracy of the empirical model, the
The uniaxial compressive test results after dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles experimental results and the predicted values of the triaxial compres-
(bedding angles of 0). sive strength were compared using the following two parameters, as
shown in Fig. 12.
Serial numbers Number of freezethaw cycles

0 10 20 30 1) Relative errors

1 49.3 38.5 32.5 29.3 cal exp

= 100%
2 50.5 36.7 34.8 31.3 exp (13)
Mean 49.9 37.6 33.65 30.3
where cal and exp are the predicted and experimental values of the
triaxial compressive strength, respectively.
Table 5
Bedding angles 1 and 2 after dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles.
2) Average relative errors
Bedding angle Number of freezethaw cycles N
cal exp
exp
0 10 20 30 i=1
= 100%
N (14)
1/ 28.4 26.9 25.4 24.6
2/ 82.0 82.2 82.5 82.9 where N is the total number of data points.
Fig. 12 shows the triaxial compressive strength curves calculated
using the proposed model and the experimental results for dierent
the tting results are listed in Table 3. The cohesive strength and in- numbers of freezethaw cycles and conning pressures. The values of
ternal friction angle decrease substantially as the number of free- the relative errors and the average relative errors between the experi-
zethaw cycles increases. Compared to the values of the cohesive mental and predicted results are shown in Table 6, and the total average
strength and internal friction angle of the samples that did not undergo relative errors is 5.18%, which veries the accuracy of the model
freezethaw cycling, the samples that underwent 30 cycles freezethaw proposed in this study. Additional, the inuences of the number of
have 44.9% and 15.1% lower cohesive strengths and internal friction freezethaw cycles, conning pressure, and bedding plane orientation
angles, respectively. Furthermore, the respective relationships between on the triaxial compressive strength of transversely isotropic rocks are
the number of freezethaw cycles and the parameters cn and n are correctly described by this proposed model. In addition, the proposed
illustrated in Fig. 11. Exponential functions are adopted to t the ex- model is based on the single discontinuity theory and experimental
perimental results: results. Moreover, the parameters of the proposed model are physically
cn = 3.214 + 3.315e0.068n (11) signicant. Therefore, the statistical model is applicable for evaluating
freezethaw damage and the strength of transversely isotropic rocks in
n = 15.8 + 4.6e0.037n (12) the future.

where n is the number of freezethaw cycles. 5. Summary and conclusions

3.3. Limitations of the proposed model In this paper, a series of triaxial experiments was conducted using
Carboniferous slates with dierent bedding plane orientations. Samples
The statistical model assumes that rock failure occurs along a were subjected to dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles and dierent

246
H. Fu et al.
Fig. 12. Comparison between the experimental and predicted values of the triaxial compressive strength of Carboniferous slate after certain numbers of freezethaw cycles (the symbols
indicate laboratory test results, and the lines indicate the predictions).
conning pressures to develop a statistical model to predict the triaxial
compressive strength of freezethawed transversely isotropic rocks.
The laboratory test results showed that the stressstrain curves ex-
hibited ve phases from the beginning of loading to failure, including
the compaction, elastic, plastic yielding, failure, and residual strength
phases. The axial strain corresponding to the peak load increased with
increasing conning pressure and decreased as the number of free-
zethaw cycles increased. The triaxial compressive strength of free-
zethawed Carboniferous slates was greatly aected by the number of
freezethaw cycles, conning pressure, and bedding plane orientation.
The triaxial compressive strength decreased as the number of free-
zethaw cycles increased and increases continuously with increasing
conning pressure. Additionally, the triaxial compressive strength ex-
hibited a strong relation to the bedding plane orientation (when the
bedding angle increased from 30 to 75, the triaxial compressive
strength rst decreased and then increased).
Based on the single discontinuity theory, a statistical prediction
model was proposed by assuming that the two parameters cn and n
247
Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248
are functions of the number of freezethaw cycles. Compared with the
experimental results, it was found that the predictions from this sta-
tistical prediction model can eectively reproduce the inuence of the
number of freezethaw cycles, conning pressure, and bedding plane
orientation on the triaxial compressive strength of freezethawed
transversely isotropic rocks.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the nancial support of the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51578550 and
51538009), the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young
Scholars of China (Grant No. 51508181), and the SelfInnovation
Research Projects of the Central South University (Grant No.
2017zzts153). The authors also wish to thank very much the anon-
ymous reviewers and Editors, whose constructive comments and im-
provements are helpful for the revision of this study.
H. Fu et al. Cold Regions Science and Technology 145 (2018) 237248

Table 6
Parameters and for dierent numbers of freezethaw cycles.

Number of freezethaw cycles Relative errors (%) Relative errors (%)

Sample A1 (30) Sample A2 (45)

0 MPa 5 MPa 10 MPa 20 MPa 0 MPa 5 MPa 10 MPa 20 MPa

0 16.09 3.31 5.23 5.27 6.61 8.21 4.25 4.77

9.49 2.91 5.53 2.85 5.50 2.16 7.56 6.14
10 3.89 3.47 2.12 5.18 2.17 1.81 6.72 4.57
7.08 11.76 5.21 6.88 7.31 10.01 6.62 9.39
20 4.19 2.48 3.79 2.34 1.31 8.91 4.15 0.69
3.18 10.07 5.83 4.23 8.09 0.91 3.29 6.05
30 10.29 1.78 0.75 7.80 6.26 1.49 5.09 0.04
0 11.74 5.95 5.09 1.85 7.22 3.19 10.86
Average relative errors (%) 5.49 5.10

Number of freezethaw cycles Relative errors (%) Relative errors (%)

Sample A3 (60) Sample A4 (75)

0 MPa 5 MPa 10 MPa 20 MPa 0 MPa 5 MPa 10 MPa 20 MPa

0 1.59 10.62 6.69 2.90 18.87 7.06 6.89 0.73

1.53 1.10 5.01 5.59 9.04 1.27 2.77 1.82
10 0 4.13 2.00 6.66 11.71 2.23 2.55 3.42
7.84 10.54 3.94 0.82 19.11 8.66 3.90 5.41
20 3.16 7.60 7.15 5.33 4.76 8.36 6.59 4.93
3.71 0.44 5.94 0.74 12.01 0.10 0.44 2.59
30 0.33 1.08 5.81 7.44 9.72 3.71 2.26 0.41
9.15 4.21 0.28 0.62 15.28 4.16 5.80 2.92
Average relative errors (%) 4.19 5.92
Total average relative errors (%) (5.49 + 5.10 + 4.19 + 5.92)/4 = 5.175

References
Altindag, R., Alyildiz, I.S., Onargan, T., 2004. Mechanical property degradation of ig-
nimbrite subjected to recurrent freezethaw cycles. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41
(6), 10231028.
Asadi, M., Bagheripour, M.H., 2015. Modied criteria for sliding and non-sliding failure
of anisotropic jointed rocks. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 73, 95101.
Bayram, F., 2012. Predicting mechanical strength loss of natural stones after freezethaw
in cold regions. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 8384, 98102.
Crdenes, V., Monterroso, C., Rubio, A., 2012. Eect of freezethaw cycles on the bending
strength of roong slate tiles. Eng. Geol. 129130, 9197.
Chen, T.C., Yeung, M.R., Mori, N., 2004. Eect of water saturation on deterioration of
welded tu due to freezethaw action. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 38, 127136.
Geng, Z., Chen, M., Jin, Y., et al., 2016. Experimental study of brittleness anisotropy of
shale in triaxial compression. J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng. 36, 510518.
Grossi, C.M., Brimblecombe, P., Harris, I., 2007. Predicting long term freezethaw risks
on Europe built heritage and archaeological sites in a changing climate. Sci. Total
Environ. 37, 273281.
I.S.R.M, 2007. The complete ISRM suggested methods for rock characterization, testing
and monitoring: 19742006. In: Ulusay, R., Hudson, J.A. (Eds.), Suggested Methods
Prepared by the Commission on Testing Methods. International Society for Rock
Mechanics, Compilation Arranged by the ISRM Turkish National Group, Ankara,
Turkey, pp. 628.
Ismail, I., Mustafa, F., 2016. A prediction model for uniaxial compressive strength of
deteriorated pyroclastic rocks due to freezethaw cycle. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 120,
134140.
Jaeger, J.C., 1960. Shear failure of anisotropic rock. Geol. Mag. 97, 6572.
Jamshidi, A., Nikudel, M.R., Khamehchiyan, M., 2013. Predicting the long-term dur-
ability of building stones against freezethaw using a decay function model. Cold
Reg. Sci. Technol. 92, 2936.
Jamshidi, A., Nikudel, M.R., Khamehchiyan, M., 2016. Evaluation of the durability of
Gerdoee travertine after freezethaw cycles in fresh water and sodium sulfate solu-
tion by decay function models. Eng. Geol. 202, 3643.
Khanlari, G., Sahamieh, R.Z., Abdilor, Y., 2015. The eect of freezethaw cycles on
physical and mechanical properties of Upper Red Formation sandstones, central part
of Iran. Arab. J. Geosci. 8, 59916001.
Lee, Y.K., Pietruszczak, S., 2008. Application of critical plane approach to the prediction
of strength anisotropy in transversely isotropic rock masses. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 45, 513523.
Liu, Q.S., Huang, S.B., Kang, Y.S., et al., 2015. A prediction model for uniaxial com-
pressive strength of deteriorated rocks due to freezethaw. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol.
120, 96107.
Saeidi, O., Rasouli, V., Vaneghi, R.G., et al., 2014. A modied failure criterion for
transversely isotropic rocks. Geosci. Front. 5, 215225.
Singh, M., Samadhiya, N.K., Kumar, A., et al., 2015. A nonlinear criterion for triaxial
strength of inherently anisotropic rocks. Rock Mech. Rock. Eng. 48, 13871405.
Tan, X.J., Chen, W.Z., Yang, J.P., et al., 2011. Laboratory investigations on the me-
chanical properties degradation of granite under freezethaw cycles. Cold Reg. Sci.
Technol. 68, 130138.
Tan, X., Konietzky, H., Frhwirt, T., et al., 2015. Brazilian tests on transversely isotropic
rocks: laboratory testing and numerical simulations. Rock Mech. Rock. Eng. 48 (4),
13411351.
Tien, Y.M., Kuo, M.C., 2001. A failure criterion for transversely isotropic rocks. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 38, 399412.
Tien, Y.M., Kuo, M.C., Juang, C.H., 2006. An experimental investigation of the failure
mechanism of simulated transversely isotropic rocks. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 43,
11631181.
Wang, P., Xu, J.Y., Liu, S., et al., 2016. A prediction model for the dynamic mechanical
degradation of sedimentary rock after a long-term freezethaw weathering: con-
sidering the strain-rate eect. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 131, 1623.
Yang, Y.G., Lai, Y.M., Li, J.B., 2010. Laboratory investigation on the strength character-
istic of frozen sand considering eect of conning pressure. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol.
60, 245250.
Yang, Y.G., Gao, F., Lai, Y.M., et al., 2016. Experimental and theoretical investigations on
the mechanical behavior of frozen silt. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 130, 5965.
Yavuz, H., 2011. Eect of freezethaw and thermal shock weathering on the physical and
mechanical properties of an andesite stone. Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ. 70, 187192.
Yu, J., Chen, X., Li, H., et al., 2015. Eect of freezethaw cycles on mechanical properties
and permeability of red sandstone under triaxial compression. J. Mt. Sci. 12 (1),
218231.
Zhang, S.J., Lai, Y.M., Zhang, X.F., et al., 2004. Study on the damage propagation of
surrounding rock from a coldregion tunnel under freezethaw cycle condition.
Tunn. Undergr. Space Technol. 19, 295302.

248