# Damage Statistical Empirical Model for Fractured Rock under Freezing-Thawing Cycle and Loading

Authors: Yifan Chen; Hang Lin; Yixian Wang; Yanlin Zhao
Journal: Geofluids
 (2020)

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## Abstract

The natural rock mass prevailingly exists in the form of a fractured rock mass, and freezing-thawing failure of the fractured rock mass is also frequently encountered during geotechnical projects in cold regions. The previous researches and reports in freezing-thawing field principally focused on intact rocks, while rock joints and fractures were rarely considered, which causes great inconvenience to the safety design and stability assessment of engineering. In response to the special climatic conditions of cold regions, the freezing-thawing damage and degradation mechanism of fractured rock were studied in this paper based on existing laboratory experiments and damage mechanics theory. Primarily, a brief review of the progressive damage process of rock in the conventional triaxial compression experiment was given, as well as the determination methods of four characteristic stresses in the prepeak curve. Then, from the microcosmic perspective, the maximum tensile strain yield criterion was used to reflect the microunit strength which was assumed to statistically satisfy the Weibull distribution, deriving the damage evolution equation of fractured rock under the freezing-thawing cycle and load conditions and quantificationally describing the damage evolution law. Consequently, the statistical empirical constitutive relation of fractured rock considering freezing-thawing and loading damages was established. Ultimately, by combining the existing conventional triaxial compression experimental data of freezing-thawing single fractured rocks with the determination methods of characteristic stresses, the relevant constitutive parameters were solved, and the theoretical constitutive relation curves of the fractured rock after freezing-thawing cycles were obtained, which were compared with the experimental results to verify the validity of the established empirical constitutive relation. The study findings can provide a theoretical basis for revealing the freezing-thawing failure mechanism of the fractured rock mass to some extent.


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## Body

## 1. Introduction

China is one of the countries with the largest cold region distribution, accounting for about 75% of the total land area of the country, where an increasing number of rock mass projects have been launched in cold regions driven by national policies in recent years [1–4]. In cold regions, the macroscopic damage, frost heave failure, and instability caused by the freezing-thawing cycle of fissure water under alternating temperature changes are considered as the main weathering process of rock mass [5–7], which has a decisive influence on the stability of rock mass [8–11]. Therefore, the researches on the mechanism of damage and degradation of rock mass under the freezing-thawing cycle condition are of great significance for engineering construction in cold regions [12–14], which have attracted the attention of numerous experts and scholars [15–17]. For example, Mutlutürk et al. [18] proposed an attenuation function model to describe the integrity loss of the freezing-thawing rock materials. Tan et al. [19] conducted research on the strength change of granite after freezing-thawing cycles. Besides, Wang et al. [20], Liu et al. [21], Luo et al. [22], and Zhou et al. [23] have studied the dynamic mechanical responses of freezing-thawing rock from different aspects, and the achievements on other rock properties have also been made [24, 25]. In respect of the constitutive model of rock, Zhang established the freezing-thawing and loading coupling damage evolution equation and damage constitutive model based on the failure and deformation characteristics of red sandstone [26, 27]. Fang et al. [28] proposed a method to solve the constitutive model parameters of random freeze-thaw cycles. According to the internal state variables theory, Wang et al. [29] established a general thermomechanical water migration-coupled plastic constitutive model of rock subjected to freezing-thawing.These researches have detailedly discussed the damage theory, microstructure, and macromechanical properties of freezing-thawing rocks, as well as the influencing factors, through theoretical derivation and laboratory experiments, which undoubtedly deepen the recognitions and understandings of the freezing-thawing mechanism of rock. Unfortunately, all of those were carried out on intact rocks, with less relevance with fractured rocks, which is the majority of natural rock mass and widely distributed in cold regions. Additionally, the current focus of freezing-thawing fractured rock mostly locates in the crack extension mechanism [30–34], while the freezing-thawing constitutive relation is seldom investigated.The task of this study is to establish the empirical freezing-thawing constitutive relation of fractured rock from the perspective of damage statistics. In this paper, the progressive failure process of rock in the conventional triaxial compression experiment was firstly reviewed, and the determination methods of four characteristic stress values were listed, which can be applied to accurately calculate the elastic modulus of rock. Secondly, based on the damage statistics theory and Lemaitre strain equivalence principle, the evolution equation and empirical constitutive relation of loading and freezing-thawing damages for fractured rock were deduced by the macroscopic phenomenological damage mechanics method, as well as the constitutive parameter expressions. Finally, on the basis of the existing conventional triaxial experimental results of single fractured rocks under freezing-thawing cycle and loading conditions, the damage statistical empirical constitutive curves of fractured rocks after a specific freezing-thawing cycle were obtained, which presents a great consistency with experimental results, verifying the validity of the established empirical constitutive relation.


## 2. Progressive Damage Process of Rock in Conventional Triaxial Compression Experiments

During the conventional triaxial compression experiments, the damage process of rock is usually accompanied by crack closure, initiation, extension, and transfixion [35–38] (see Figure 1), and the development of internal cracks is closely associated with the mechanical properties of the rock itself, which can be divided into the following stages:
(1)
Stage I: Closure stage—the crack closure stressσccFigure 1
The axial stress-strain and volumetric strain curves of rock progressive damage.The initial defects inside the rock continuously shrink under the action of load, and the axial stress-strain curve (see the blue curve in Figure1) presents the shape of “convex downward” and “concave upward.” The corresponding characteristic stress at the end of this stage is termed as the closure stress σcc, which is generally determined by the crack volumetric strain method [39]. With respect to this method, however, Peng et al. [35] pointed out that it was strongly dependent on the accurate estimation of elastic parameters (elastic modulus E and Poisson’s ratio μ). Figure 1 makes it clear that E is closely related to σcc, resulting in certain difficulties in the application of volumetric strain method. In this case, the axial strain response method was proposed by considering the nonlinearity of initial stage in axial stress-strain curve, which can not only avoid the dependence on elastic parameters but also eliminate the influence of subjective factors.
(2)
Stage II: Linear elasticity stage—the crack initiation stressσciFurther closure of the initial cracks emerges in this stage, but there is no crack extension or new crack development. The corresponding axial stress-strain curve is shown as an inclined straight line, whose slope is defined as the elastic modulusE (see Eq. (1)), and the terminal stress is known as the crack initiation stress σci. In most cases, σci is considered as approximately 0.4~0.5 times to the peak stress [40].
(1)E=σci−σccεci−εcc,where εci is the crack initiation strain and εcc is the crack closure strain.
(3)
Stage III: Stable extension stage of cracks—the crack damage stressσcdThe initial cracks begin to extend, new cracks gradually develop, and the mechanical performances of rock continuously degrade. On the other hand, obvious deviation from the straight line of the axial stress-strain curve can be observed, and an inflection point appears on the volumetric strain curve (see the red curve in Figure1), which means the occurrence of rock damage. Therefore, the stress corresponding to the inflection point is regarded as the damage stress σcd.
(4)
Stage IV: Unstable extension stage of cracks—the peak stressσpThe microcracks are interconnected to form a network, and the macrofractures begin to appear and interpenetrate, accompanied by energy release. At the end of this stage, both the rock bearing capacity and axial stress-strain curve reach the maximum, i.e., peak stressσp.


## 3. Damage Statistical Empirical Constitutive Relation of Fractured Rock under Freezing-Thawing Cycle and Loading

### 3.1. Damage Evolution Equation of Intact Rock under Loading

From the microscopic view, the failure of the rock microunit shows a certain randomness, which can be described by a statistical method [41, 42]. Assuming the microunit strength satisfies the maximum tensile strain yield criterion and the damaged microunits obey the Weibull statistical distribution [43], the probability density function Pε is expressed as follows:
(2)Pε=mεmεεmm−1e−ε/εmm,where ε is the microstrain and m and εm are both Weibull parameters, wherein m reflects the brittle properties of rock and εm represents the macroscopic mean strength of the rock.During loading, the number of damaged microunitNd can be calculated by Eq. (3).
(3)Nd=∫0εNPεdε=N∫0εmεmεεmm−1e−εεmmdε=−Ne−εεmm0ε=N1−e−εεmm,where N is the total number of microunit.If making the loading damage variable of rockDL defined as the ratio of the damaged microunit number to the total microunit number (DL=Nd/N), the rock damage evolution equation can be gained as follows:
(4)DL=1−e−ε/εmm.


### 3.2. Damage Evolution Equation of Intact Rock under Freezing-Thawing Cycle and Loading

In the process of the freezing-thawing cycle, due to the repeated occurrence of water-ice phase transformation and the uneven shrinkage and expansion of mineral particles, cracks rapidly develop and extend, which affects the microstructure of rock and is macroscopically manifested as the degradation response of mechanical properties. Such a progressive failure caused by the accumulation of microdamage can be represented by the freezing-thawing damageDF‐T. As previously described, rock damage occurs once the applied load is greater than the value of σcd. Hence, according to the macroscopic phenomenological damage mechanics method, the elastic modulus of rock after freezing-thawing cycles En can be used as the reference of damage measurement to describe DF‐T [26] (see Eq. (5)).
(5)DF−T=1−EnE0,where E0 is the elastic modulus of fresh rock.From the definitions of damage variables (see Eqs. (4) and (5)), the mechanical properties of rocks are degraded by the freezing-thawing cycle and load in different approaches and resulting in a coupling effect, in which case the coupling damage D can be derived as shown in Eq. (6) underpinned by the generalized damage variable [44].
(6)D=DL+DF−T−DLDF−T.Substituting Eqs. (4) and (5) into Eq. (6), D can be recast as:
(7)D=1−EnE0e−ε/εmm.Obviously,D=DL before the freezing-thawing cycle treatment to rocksEn=E0;D=DF−T while no load is applied (ε=0). According to the Lemaitre strain-equivalence principle [45], the constitutive relation of rock damage under conventional triaxial compression condition is:
(8)σ1=E0ε11−D+2μσ3.Combining Eq. (7) and Eq. (8), the empirical constitutive relation of rock damage under the freezing-thawing cycle and loading conditions can be obtained:
(9)σ1=Enε1e−ε/εmm+2μσ3,where σ1 and σ3 are the maximum and minimum principal stresses, respectively; ε1 is the maximum principal strain.At the peak of the stress-strain curve, the derivative at the peak equals to 0 (see Eq. (10)), and the expressions of m and εm can be derived (see Eqs. (11) and (12)).
(10)ε1=εpdσ1dε1=0,(11)m=1lnEnεp/σp−2μσ3,(12)εm=εpm1/m.Figure2 demonstrates that both m and εm have significant influences on the shape of the theoretical stress-strain curve. However, it is interesting to note that no matter how m or εm changes, the linear part of curves all coincide, which indicates that the influence of the two is mainly reflected in the other stages except the linear elastic stage. Besides, the greater the m or εm, the higher the curve peak. For different values of m, the postpeak curves all intersect at one point (see Figure 2(a)), while they keep parallel when the values of εm are changing (see Figure 2(b)).Figure 2
The variations of the theoretical curve with different values ofm and εm.
(a)
Different values ofm(b)
Different values ofεm


### 3.3. Constitutive Relation Establishment of Fractured Rock under Freezing-Thawing Cycle and Loading

According to the definition of the coupling damage variable,D=0 can be deduced for the initial intact rock, which means no macro- or microdefects inside the rock. If regarding the macroscopic fractures as a kind of damage, the fractured rocks can be considered as rocks with certain initial damage D0, which can also be measured by the elasticity modulus of fractured rocks EC and intact rocks E0 (see Eq. (13)).
(13)D0=1−ECE0.As previously described, the Weibull parametersm and εm are in close connection with the shape of the theoretical stress-strain curve (see Figure 2), and their values are easily influenced by the elasticity modulus of rocks (see Eqs. (11) and (12)). Therefore, the influence of macroscopic fractures on the curve can be considered by introducing Eqs. (14) and (15).
(14)m=m01−D0,(15)εm=ε01−D0.Thus, Eq. (7) can be rewritten as:
(16)D=1−EnE0exp−εε0EC/E0m0EC/E0.The expression of the corresponding empirical constitutive relation, as well asm0 and ε0, can be recast as:
(17)σ1=Enε1exp−εε0EC/E0m0EC/E0+2μσ3,(18)m0=E0EClnEnεp/σp−2μσ3,(19)ε0=E0ECεpm1/m.In the case ofD0=0 (i.e., EC=E0), Eqs. (16) and (17) will be transformed into Eqs. (7) and (9), which illustrates the great applicability of this empirical constitutive relation.


## 3.1. Damage Evolution Equation of Intact Rock under Loading

From the microscopic view, the failure of the rock microunit shows a certain randomness, which can be described by a statistical method [41, 42]. Assuming the microunit strength satisfies the maximum tensile strain yield criterion and the damaged microunits obey the Weibull statistical distribution [43], the probability density function Pε is expressed as follows:
(2)Pε=mεmεεmm−1e−ε/εmm,where ε is the microstrain and m and εm are both Weibull parameters, wherein m reflects the brittle properties of rock and εm represents the macroscopic mean strength of the rock.During loading, the number of damaged microunitNd can be calculated by Eq. (3).
(3)Nd=∫0εNPεdε=N∫0εmεmεεmm−1e−εεmmdε=−Ne−εεmm0ε=N1−e−εεmm,where N is the total number of microunit.If making the loading damage variable of rockDL defined as the ratio of the damaged microunit number to the total microunit number (DL=Nd/N), the rock damage evolution equation can be gained as follows:
(4)DL=1−e−ε/εmm.


## 3.2. Damage Evolution Equation of Intact Rock under Freezing-Thawing Cycle and Loading

In the process of the freezing-thawing cycle, due to the repeated occurrence of water-ice phase transformation and the uneven shrinkage and expansion of mineral particles, cracks rapidly develop and extend, which affects the microstructure of rock and is macroscopically manifested as the degradation response of mechanical properties. Such a progressive failure caused by the accumulation of microdamage can be represented by the freezing-thawing damageDF‐T. As previously described, rock damage occurs once the applied load is greater than the value of σcd. Hence, according to the macroscopic phenomenological damage mechanics method, the elastic modulus of rock after freezing-thawing cycles En can be used as the reference of damage measurement to describe DF‐T [26] (see Eq. (5)).
(5)DF−T=1−EnE0,where E0 is the elastic modulus of fresh rock.From the definitions of damage variables (see Eqs. (4) and (5)), the mechanical properties of rocks are degraded by the freezing-thawing cycle and load in different approaches and resulting in a coupling effect, in which case the coupling damage D can be derived as shown in Eq. (6) underpinned by the generalized damage variable [44].
(6)D=DL+DF−T−DLDF−T.Substituting Eqs. (4) and (5) into Eq. (6), D can be recast as:
(7)D=1−EnE0e−ε/εmm.Obviously,D=DL before the freezing-thawing cycle treatment to rocksEn=E0;D=DF−T while no load is applied (ε=0). According to the Lemaitre strain-equivalence principle [45], the constitutive relation of rock damage under conventional triaxial compression condition is:
(8)σ1=E0ε11−D+2μσ3.Combining Eq. (7) and Eq. (8), the empirical constitutive relation of rock damage under the freezing-thawing cycle and loading conditions can be obtained:
(9)σ1=Enε1e−ε/εmm+2μσ3,where σ1 and σ3 are the maximum and minimum principal stresses, respectively; ε1 is the maximum principal strain.At the peak of the stress-strain curve, the derivative at the peak equals to 0 (see Eq. (10)), and the expressions of m and εm can be derived (see Eqs. (11) and (12)).
(10)ε1=εpdσ1dε1=0,(11)m=1lnEnεp/σp−2μσ3,(12)εm=εpm1/m.Figure2 demonstrates that both m and εm have significant influences on the shape of the theoretical stress-strain curve. However, it is interesting to note that no matter how m or εm changes, the linear part of curves all coincide, which indicates that the influence of the two is mainly reflected in the other stages except the linear elastic stage. Besides, the greater the m or εm, the higher the curve peak. For different values of m, the postpeak curves all intersect at one point (see Figure 2(a)), while they keep parallel when the values of εm are changing (see Figure 2(b)).Figure 2
The variations of the theoretical curve with different values ofm and εm.
(a)
Different values ofm(b)
Different values ofεm


## 3.3. Constitutive Relation Establishment of Fractured Rock under Freezing-Thawing Cycle and Loading

According to the definition of the coupling damage variable,D=0 can be deduced for the initial intact rock, which means no macro- or microdefects inside the rock. If regarding the macroscopic fractures as a kind of damage, the fractured rocks can be considered as rocks with certain initial damage D0, which can also be measured by the elasticity modulus of fractured rocks EC and intact rocks E0 (see Eq. (13)).
(13)D0=1−ECE0.As previously described, the Weibull parametersm and εm are in close connection with the shape of the theoretical stress-strain curve (see Figure 2), and their values are easily influenced by the elasticity modulus of rocks (see Eqs. (11) and (12)). Therefore, the influence of macroscopic fractures on the curve can be considered by introducing Eqs. (14) and (15).
(14)m=m01−D0,(15)εm=ε01−D0.Thus, Eq. (7) can be rewritten as:
(16)D=1−EnE0exp−εε0EC/E0m0EC/E0.The expression of the corresponding empirical constitutive relation, as well asm0 and ε0, can be recast as:
(17)σ1=Enε1exp−εε0EC/E0m0EC/E0+2μσ3,(18)m0=E0EClnEnεp/σp−2μσ3,(19)ε0=E0ECεpm1/m.In the case ofD0=0 (i.e., EC=E0), Eqs. (16) and (17) will be transformed into Eqs. (7) and (9), which illustrates the great applicability of this empirical constitutive relation.


## 4. Verification of Empirical Constitutive Relation

To verify the validity and accuracy of the established empirical constitutive relation, the conventional triaxial compression experimental results under the freezing and thawing cycle and loading conditions of sandstone-like specimens (intact rock and single fractured rock) in the literature [46] were used, wherein the data with the confining stresses of 2, 4, and 6 MPa (σ3=2,4,and6MPa) under 0, 20, 40, and 60 freezing and thawing cycles (n=0,20,40,and60) were utilized to obtain the specific theoretical stress-strain curves. The specimens are shown in Figure 3, and the corresponding physical and mechanical parameters are presented in Table 1. All the fracture length is 30 mm, and the dip angles are 30°, 60°, and 90°, denoted as A4, A5, and A6, respectively.Figure 3
Experimental rock specimens [46].Table 1
Physical and mechanical parameters of specimens and sandstone [46].
MaterialDensityρ(g/cm3)ModulusE (GPa)Poisson ratioμCompressive strengthσc (MPa)Tensile strengthσt (MPa)Cohesionc (MPa)Internal friction angleφ (°)Specimens1.9311.20.1238.008.4511.4036Sandstone2.318.560.1930.246.278.9341The characteristic stresses of intact rock and different fractured rocks are shown in Table2, wherein σcd was gained by volumetric strain method, σcc was determined by axial strain response method, σp was directly obtained from the axial stress-strain curve, σci approximated to 0.4~0.5σp, and the elasticity modulus E was calculated by Eq. (1). Taking the experimental result of intact rock under the conditions of σ3=2MPa and n=0 as an example, the specific procedures of determining σcc were illustrated.
(1)
For a given axial stress-strain curve (see the red curve in Figure4), σcd can be gained by the volumetric strain method, and the corresponding εcd can be located, which point was denoted as Pcd (5.11, 50.91)(2)
Connecting the originO with Pcd to obtain the expression of the line: ε=0.1σ (see the green curve in Figure 4)(3)
Solving the strain differenceΔε between the red curve and green curve, plotting the Δε~ε curve (see the blue curve in Figure 4), and the stress corresponding to the maximum of Δε is just the crack closure stress of this rock: σcc=9.26MPa. And the same goes for the other curvesTable 2
The characteristic stresses of intact rock and different fractured rocks under different confining stresses and freezing and thawing cycle.
n=0σ3/MPaWσ3/MPaA4σccσciσcdσpσccσciσcdσp29.2627.5250.9161.1624.1217.8425.1239.64411.7334.2056.5975.99417.7124.2132.353.8619.8935.3566.8178.5569.5121.4035.9947.56σ3/MPaA5σ3/MPaA6σccσciσcdσpσccσciσcdσp210.5115.9131.0135.3629.4521.1439.6746.97410.9416.3030.1436.2344.5423.3445.3351.86613.7818.4734.7541.05615.8725.7155.3757.13n=20σ3/MPaWσ3/MPaA4σccσciσcdσpσccσciσcdσp25.6526.7545.2159.4523.0514.8317.632.9649.1827.3247.3260.7149.1016.4527.436.56617.6129.9949.3766.65610.2217.4326.3138.74σ3/MPaA5σ3/MPaA6σccσciσcdσpσccσciσcdσp24.3011.0214.6224.49211.4319.8536.5844.1244.3814.9421.9033.2146.2222.1043.3249.1168.8918.9434.2142.08621.9125.5146.3156.68n=40σ3/MPaWσ3/MPaA4σccσciσcdσpσccσciσcdσp27.2524.3628.7654.1322.5910.6516.8423.67415.4525.6741.2357.0549.1018.8324.3141.84615.9828.4646.9363.2568.7017.2725.1638.38σ3/MPaA5σ3/MPaA6σccσciσcdσpσccσciσcdσp24.7010.2318.0422.7328.6218.4330.8440.95411.5612.6719.3228.1548.8421.4239.1047.6067.9817.9227.4439.82617.8823.2445.2951.64n=60σ3/MPaWσ3/MPaA4σccσciσcdσpσccσciσcdσp29.2719.3135.8742.9225.2110.979.7524.37413.1725.3943.3156.4346.9914.0417.8231.21613.0425.5945.6556.86610.0316.3224.2836.27σ3/MPaA5σ3/MPaA6σccσciσcdσpσccσciσcdσp23.917.8712.5017.4928.2718.4027.2140.8943.5910.5717.4723.4946.8815.4928.4634.4267.2512.2823.9227.2969.5524.6532.5154.77Figure 4
The axial strain response method to determine the crack closure stressσcc.Similar to intact rocks, both theσcd and σp increase with the increase of σ3, but decrease with the growing of cycle number n, while no obvious variation law of σcc or σci can be observed. By substituting the relevant parameters into Eqs. (18) and (19), the m0 and ε0 of each curve can be solved (see Table 3), and therefore, the theoretical curves can be obtained (see Figures 5–7).Table 3
The values ofm0 and ε0 for each experimental curve.
σ3=2MPan=0WA4A5A6n=20WA4A5A6m06.532.564.533.83m04.001.383.992.28ε08.5248.336.668.35ε06.9027.4012.6313.13n=40WA4A5A6n=60WA4A5A6m03.394.132.893.02m03.174.771.313.47ε019.2737.599.2910.05ε09.6785.2416.1113.69σ3=4MPan=0WA4A5A6n=20WA4A5A6m04.226.7420.647.42m04.288.394.4710.68ε08.6915.9117.6444.59ε011.6316.4627.8837.14n=40WA4A5A6n=60WA4A5A6m03.591.713.517.77m02.862.916.421.95ε07.4530.4835.8141.68ε08.9217.9828.6326.95σ3=6MPan=0WA4A5A6n=20WA4A5A6m02.362.428.518.33m02.0110.593.698.33ε011.4151.0912.6118.53ε017.2924.1017.4724.48n=40WA4A5A6n=60WA4A5A6m02.932.523.024.86m03.262.413.563.85ε08.8540.9129.6221.31ε08.2840.7115.5864.09Figure 5
The conventional triaxial compression experimental data of rocks confined by 2 MPa under freezing and thawing cycle condition.
(a)
Freezing and thawing 0 cycle(b)
Freezing and thawing 20 cycles(c)
Freezing and thawing 40 cycles(d)
Freezing and thawing 60 cyclesFigure 6
The conventional triaxial compression experimental data of rocks confined by 4 MPa under freezing and thawing cycle condition.
(a)
Freezing and thawing 0 cycle(b)
Freezing and thawing 20 cycles(c)
Freezing and thawing 40 cycles(d)
Freezing and thawing 60 cyclesFigure 7
The conventional triaxial compression experimental data of rocks confined by 6 MPa under freezing and thawing cycle condition.
(a)
Freezing and thawing 0 cycle(b)
Freezing and thawing 20 cycles(c)
Freezing and thawing 40 cycles(d)
Freezing and thawing 60 cyclesIn accordance with Figures5–7, a comprehensive comparison between the experimental and theoretical curves was made. First of all, a general agreement of the two can be observed, the variation trend is basically consistent, the liner parts of curves agree well or keep parallel, and the peaks also coincide, which prove the validity and rationality of established empirical constitutive relation. But it is important to recognize that the linear elastic stage of the theoretical curve emerges at the beginning for this empirical constitutive relation cannot describe the nonlinear characteristic of the closure stage. As a result, the experimental data with no obvious closure stage are in greater agreement with the theoretical curves, while those with obvious closure stage greatly deviate from theoretical curves before peak, such as the experimental data of A6 under the conditions of σ3=2MPa and N=60 (see Figure 5(d)). In addition, it is assumed that the rock microunits do not bear loads after damage in this paper, that is, the residual strength is not considered. Therefore, the postpeak stage of theoretical curve differs greatly from experimental results.


## 5. Conclusions

Since the existing researches on the constitutive relations of freezing-thawing rock materials have rarely considered rock fractures, the evolution equation and empirical constitutive relation of freezing-thawing and loading damages for fractured rock were derived by using the statistical method and damage mechanics theory. And the following conclusions can be drawn:(1)
According to the extension law of rock cracks, the prepeak stress-strain curve can be divided into four stages: closure stage, linear elasticity stage, stable extension stage of cracks, and unstable extension stage of cracks, respectively, corresponding to the four characteristic stresses. The determination method of each was briefly reviewed, which is conducive to accurately calculate the elastic modulus of rocks. Besides, both the crack damage stress and peak stress increase with the increase of confining stress, but decrease with the growing of cycle number, while no obvious variation law of the crack closure stress or crack initiation stress can be concluded(2)
By combining the macroscopic phenomenological method with microscopic statistical method, the coupling damage evolution equation of the freezing-thawing cycle and load was established. On this basis, the equation parameters were modified by considering the rock fractures, and the empirical constitutive relation of freezing-thawing and loading damages for fractured rock was derived in combination with the Lemaitre strain equivalence hypothesis(3)
Underpinned by existing conventional triaxial compression experimental data under freezing and thawing cycle and loading conditions of single fractured sandstone-like specimens, the specific empirical constitutive curves were obtained based on the determination methods of characteristic stresses and damage evolution equation parameter expressions, which were then compared with the experimental results. The theoretical curves are generally consistent with the experimental data, demonstrating the validity of the established empirical constitutive relation, which has important practical guiding significance for the construction of geotechnical engineering in cold region



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