Mechanical properties of porous rock media subjected to temperature effect

The modeling materials are employed to fabricate porous physical models for rock based on the statistical distribution features of pores in natural rock. A series of uniaxial compressive tests on the physical models with varied porosities are carried out under temperature effect. The influences of pores and temperature on the mechanical properties of porous physical models are investigated, including compressive strength, elastic modulus and Poisson00092;s ratio. The evolution law of microscopic porous structure subjected to temperature effect is probed using the CT scanning technique. The results indicate that with the increase of temperature, the compressive strengths of physical models with the same porosity basically rise. The bigger porosity weakens the effect of temperature on the compressive strength. The elastic moduli of physical models with the same porosity present a declining trend with rising temperature. The influence of pores on Poisson00092;s ratio becomes inconspicuous with the temperature rise. The temperature-induced changes of geometric form and quantity of pores in physical models are the main intrinsic factors which lead to the diverse macroscopic mechanical properties of physical models. The temperature of 150℃ seems to be the threshold temperature which induces different mechanical properties of the porous physical models. The research reveals the effect mechanism of temperature on the macroscopic mechanical properties and microscopic evolution of porous structure of the physical models.