An innovative test method for mechanical properties of sandstone under instantaneous unloading confining pressure

With the increase of underground engineering construction depth, the phenomenon of surrounding rock sudden failure caused by supporting structure failure occurs frequently. The conventional unloading confining pressure (CUCP) test cannot simulate the plastic yielding and instantaneous unloading process of supporting structure to rock. Thus, a high stress loading-instantaneous unloading confining pressure (HSL-IUCP) test method was proposed and applied by considering bolt’s fracture under stress. The wall thickness of confining pressure plates and the material of bolts were changed to realize different confining pressure loading stiffness (CPLS) and lateral maximum allowable deformation (LMAD). The superiority of HSL-ICPU method is verified compared with CUCP. The rock failure mechanism caused by sudden failure of supporting structure is obtained. The results show that when CPLS increases from 1.35 to 2.33 GN/m, rock’s peak strength and elastic modulus increase by 25.18% and 23.70%, respectively. The fracture characteristics change from tensile failure to tensile-shear mixed failure. When LMAD decreases from 0.40 to 0.16 mm, rock’s residual strength, peak strain, and residual strain decrease by 91.80%, 16.94%, and 21.92%, respectively, and post-peak drop modulus increases by 140.47%. The test results obtained by this method are closer to rock’s real mechanical response characteristics compared with CUCP.