The research on rock damage mechanisms during loading has a significant reference value for the deformation damage issues in the rock engineering industry. In this paper, Electrohydraulic Servo Material Test System MTS815 and PCI-2 based AE System were utilized for uniaxial compression tests of granite specimens and acoustic emission monitoring tests during the compression respectively. According to the test data, there is a well defined correspondence between the curves of acoustic emission count rate with time and stress-strain curves of rock. Moreover, from the stress-strain curves, the characteristics of brittle fracture have been showed. Four stages were identified, namely compression stage, linear elastic stage, weakening stage and failure stage. There are also four stages in acoustic emission count rate with time curves: quiet period, slow growth period, intense growth period and attenuation period. Based on the acoustic emission data and the Weibull distribution, two different damage variables were derived describing the damage evolution of rock during loading. In addition, the corresponding constitutive equations have been deduced. The conclusions of this paper can provide references for the issues of the rock deformation and the damage during loading.

Based on the assumption that rock strength follows the log normal distribution statistically, this paper establishes a damage constitutive model of rock under uniaxial stress conditions in combination with the Mohr–Coulomb strength criterion and damage mechanical theory. Experiments were carried out to investigate the damage evolution process of rock material, which can be categorized into nondamaging, accelerated growth, constant-speed, similar growth, and speed-reducing growth stages. The evolution process had a good corresponding relationship with the rock stress-strain curves. Based on the statistical damage constitutive model proposed in this paper, a numerical fitting analysis was conducted on the uniaxial compression testing data of laboratory sand rock and on experimental data from other literature, in order to validate the rationality of the constitutive equation and the determination of its parameters and to analyze the effect of internal friction variables on damage variables and compression strength. The research outcomes presented in this paper can provide useful reference for the theory of rock mechanics and for rock engineering.

Through studying the mechanics, energy, and deformation features of rock under uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading, the findings are as follows: (1) under cyclic loading and unloading, the curve of stress and strain for loading and unloading in every cycle was not superposition reciprocally but formed an acutifoliate hysteresis loop. The distribution of the hysteresis loop became denser with the cycles and moved toward the direction of strain increasing. (2) The area of the hysteresis loop indicated the inner damage degree of rock. And the hysteresis energy accumulated was stronger; the damage of rock was more serious. Furthermore, the hysteresis energy grew linearly along with load, and the hysteresis energy accumulated had a trend exponential growth with cycle continuing. (3) The elasticity modulus grew in the form of logarithm as a whole. In each cycle, elasticity modulus for unloading was greater than that for loading. When it exceeded a certain value, elasticity modulus for reloading was less than elasticity modulus for unloading. (4) The cyclic loading and unloading had a strength impact that was gradually stronger and stronger as the cycle went on the sample of rock.

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With the development of coal mining and the continuous expansion of mining intensity, large dip angle comprehensive mechanized coal mining as an important development direction and goal has become a worldwide research topic in the coal industry. The working face faces many production problems that need to be solved, such as the large-angle downhill mining, the large-angle uphill mining, and other complicated geological conditions (such as skew, anticline, and fault). In view of the above problems, with the specific conditions of Xinji No. 2 Mine, through the physical similarity simulation, the research on the roof movement law of the fully mechanized mining face under the mining conditions of large dip angle (depression angle and elevation angle are more than 40° and 20°, respectively) is studied. The distribution law of abutment pressure, movement law, and distribution range of water-conducting fracture zone after mining are emphasized. Meanwhile, the paper analyzes and compares the related mining pressure law of inclined longwall fully mechanized mining face under general conditions, forming a systematic, comprehensive, and scientific understanding of the law of mining pressure under such conditions. This achievement is of great significance to the prevention and control of water, support design, safety production, environmental improvement, improvement of enterprise efficiency, and advancement of coal science and technology.

During loading and unloading test, various rocks manifest different stress values of elastic-plastic transformation. This study proposes to include axial pressure increment ratio in the conventional triaxial compression test to evaluate different variables (nominal elastic modulus, nominal Poisson's ratio, strain, and energy). The relationships among various factors including variables, the stress level of initial confining stress and axial pressures, were analyzed by analyzing the stress-strain plot record obtained from testing various rocks. The extreme value point of the deformation parameter, also known as the elastic-plastic threshold, was analyzed. In addition, the elastic-plastic thresholds were later used as unloading points during the unloading tests. Under the same confining condition, different rocks demonstrated different unloading levels. Furthermore, a linear correlation was observed between unloading levels and changing confining pressures, and the gradient is mainly related to the types of rocks. During the unloading tests of rocks, the rational unloading level is recommended to be no higher than the stress level at the elastic-plastic threshold under the corresponding confining pressure. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 3164 2 of 15 and the unloading level has no significant effect on the energy evolution process. Zhang [11] and Zhu [12] considered that the unloading stress level mitigated possible damage within rocks during the unloading damage stage. Regarding the initial axial pressure of unloading, Liu et al. [13] selected 50% of the conventional triaxial compressive strength and the corresponding confining pressure, whereas other researchers often adopted 60% and 80% [14][15][16], 70% [17][18][19][20], 80-90% [21], and 15-90% [22]. Most researchers selected 80% of the peak strength as the loaded axial pressure in unloading tests [23][24][25][26]. Details of studies discussed above can be viewed in Table 1. However, mentioned studies failed to consider the effects of the initial axial pressure during exploring the effects of unloading on rock failures.

Roadways supported by bolts contain support structures that are built into the rock surrounding the roadway, referred to as reinforced rocks in this paper. Using physical model simulation, the paper investigates the bearing characteristics of the reinforced rock under different bolt parameters with incrementally increased load. The experimental results show that the stress at the measurement point inside the structure varies with the kinetic pressure. The stress increases slowly as the load is initially applied, displays accelerated growth in the middle of the loading application, and decreases or remains constant in the later stage of the loading application. The change in displacement of the surrounding rock exhibits the following characteristics: a slow increase when the load is first applied, accelerated growth in the middle stage, and violent growth in the later stage. There is a good correlation between the change in the measured stress and the change in the surrounding rock displacement. Increasing the density of the bolt support and the length and diameter of the bolt improves the load-bearing performance of the reinforced rock, including its strength, internal peak stress, and residual stress. Bolting improves the internal structure of the surrounding rocks, and the deterioration of the surrounding rock decreases with the distance between the bolt supports.

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