Wancheng Zhu

Wancheng Zhu
Northeastern University (Shenyang, China) | NEU · Department of Mining Engineering at School of Resource and Civil Engineering

PhD

About

271
Publications
63,302
Reads
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7,526
Citations
Introduction
Rock mechanics for underground mining, in particular, the rock damage and failure under multiphysical geologic condition and dynamic disturbance are studied, based on which the associated rock failure mechanism related to the mining-induced hazards is clarified.
Additional affiliations
July 2014 - December 2014
University of Western Australia
Position
  • Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellow
Description
  • supported by Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellowship
December 2013 - March 2014
University of Western Australia
Position
  • Senior Research Scholar
Description
  • supported by CSC
January 2013 - January 2013
The University of Manchester
Position
  • Professor
Description
  • visiting for the international cooperative project with Professor Qingming Li
Education
March 1998 - July 2001
Northeastern University (Shenyang, China)
Field of study
  • Rock Mechanics
September 1995 - March 1998
Northeastern University (Shenyang, China)
Field of study
  • Rock Mechanics
September 1991 - July 1995
Northeastern University (Shenyang, China)
Field of study
  • Mining Engineering

Publications

Publications (271)
Article
The long-term stability of jointed rock masses is usually dominated by fault activation, which may be triggered by the dynamic disturbance generated by blasting during mining activities, leading to the occurrence of disasters such as landslides in open-pit and rockbursts in deep mining. The initial stress and dynamic disturbance are key factors tha...
Article
Full-text available
Core fracture identification plays a pivotal role in rock mass quality evaluation. To evaluate rock mass quality automatically based on drill rock cores, we proposed and compared direct and indirect methods for segmenting, locating fractures and calculating dip angles according to the digital images of rock cores. We tested these methods on three t...
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This paper presents a modified relationship between small and large strain convergence by applying a small (residual) dilation angle, which behaves accurately for rock mass with the strain-softening behavior and complex dilatancy model. The modified relationship extends its applicability to a more general two- and three-dimensional excavation probl...
Article
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Time-dependent, chemically assisted crack propagation behavior in rocks is fundamental to understanding the long-term stability of civil engineering structures. In this study, we investigated the propagation of primary and secondary cracks in macrofractured sandstone in distilled water (pH = 5.6) and in an aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid (HCl...
Article
Rockburst prevention is an urgent task in deep-rock engineering, as support systems alone are often insufficient for resisting high geostresses. Cutting slots in surrounding rock can directly reduce the circumferential stress of a tunnel, but it also destroys rock integrity and reduces rock mass strength, which leads to a contra-indication for usin...
Article
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The displacement response of landslides to external influencing factors varies according to different creep stages. However, most traditional models ignored this variation and yielded low prediction accuracy especially for mutational displacements of acceleration deformation. To overcome this drawback, this study utilized the spatio-temporal associ...
Article
Backfilling the pillar to form a pillar-backfill collaborative bearing structure is the key to cut and fill method. The pillar-backfill bearing system is also an important support structure to maintain the stability of the underground stope. This paper analyzed the load-bearing capacities and failure modes of the backfilled pillars through biaxial...
Article
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With the excavation of underground opening, the roof rock block may fall under external dynamic disturbance. In this paper, the roof rock mass was simplified as a rock block system composed of trapezoidal rock blocks. A series of experiments and numerical simulations were performed to study the sliding process of the key block under the horizontal...
Article
Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) fracturing technology has the potential for shale reservoir stimulation. Most studies have predominantly focused on the fracture morphology of shales after SC-CO2 fracturing, while the alterations in shale pore structure have rarely been investigated. Here, CO2 adsorption, liquid nitrogen (N2) adsorption, and m...
Article
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The axial loading in rockbolts changes due to stress redistribution and rheology in the country rock mass. Such a change may lead to debonding at rockbolt to grout interface or rupture of the rockbolt. In this study, based on laboratory experiments, ultrasonic guided wave propagation in fully grouted rockbolt under different pull-out loads was inve...
Article
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Coupled coal–gas interaction in coal seams is crucial to the efficient recovery of Coalbed methane (CBM), and carbon dioxide-enhanced CBM (CO2-ECBM). Coal is physically deformed and damaged during gas extraction/injection and permeability enhancement in coal seams, which might alter the reservoir properties of coalbeds in terms of coal diffusivity...
Article
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The spatial characteristics of discontinuity traces play an important role in evaluations of the quality of rock masses. Most researchers have extracted discontinuity traces through the gray attributes of two-dimensional (2D) photo images or the geometric attributes of three-dimensional (3D) point clouds, while few researchers have paid attention t...
Article
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Pillar rockburst is an unstable pillar failure and one of the most hazardous problems in the underground mining engineering of deep hard-rock mines. In order to study the mechanism of unstable pillar failure, laboratory tests, numerical simulation, and theoretical analysis are adopted. The disc spring group was used to realize the soft loading func...
Article
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Crack initiation, propagation, and coalescence are important for the understanding of rock mass behavior. In this paper, we use an improved numerical manifold method (NMM) that can stimulate the initiation, propagation, and coalescence of many cracks simultaneously to model the continuous–discontinuous deformation of granite under uniaxial and conf...
Article
Understanding the mechanical properties and failure process of cemented paste backfill (CPB) is fundamental for the backfill design in underground mining. In this research, physical and mechanical tests were conducted on CPB having different hardening times. The volumetric water content (VWC) was used to reflect the CPB hardening process because it...
Article
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Dagushan Iron Mine is a large-scale open-pit mine. In this mine, the belt conveyors residing in the rock slope are employed for ore haulage. However, after the − 210 m bench was excavated, many fractures occurred in one of the roadways placing the belt conveyors. In this paper, this engineering case was introduced in detail and the fracturing mecha...
Article
During opening construction, the accumulated wall displacement and the developing excavation damaged zone are the results of stress redistribution and inelastic behavior induced by both the microcracking damage and the irreversible plastic deformation. The current approach to predict ground response to excavation disturbance is usually based on the...
Article
The 3D reconstruction of rock joint surfaces is crucial for quantifying rock joints. Through the uniform discretization of 2D and 3D rock joints, it was determined that both the climbing angles along the shear direction and the projection lengths of the consecutive ascending/descending segments follow normal distributions. This statistical distribu...
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In the mine production process, pre-established geological models should be updated in a timely manner based on new geologic and mining data. Three-dimensional (3D) geological models of different engineering schedules can effectively visualize the spatial distribution of the ore body in real time, displaying changes in its structure and occurrence...
Article
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In this study, a one-part alkali-activated slag (AAS) composed of ground-granulated blast furnace slag, desulfurized gypsum, and hydrated lime is proposed as alternative to cement for the production of cemented fine tailings backfill (CFTB), which is an environmentally friendly binder consisting of 93.72 wt.% industrial solid waste. Results show th...
Article
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During underground mining excavation, dynamic disturbances (e.g., blasting) may accelerate rock creeping and induce the unstable failure. It is crucial to properly quantify the impact of dynamic disturbances on creeping behavior to understand the long-term effects of underground excavation on rock media. A damage-based creep model was established i...
Article
Supercritical CO2 (SC–CO2) would be a potential substitute for water-based fracturing fluid widely used in the present hydraulic fracturing of shale reservoirs. However, the field application of SC-CO2 fracturing is still in its infancy. Laboratory experiments are crucial for understanding the effects of various fracturing parameters and validating...
Article
Full-text available
In order to explore the influence of dynamic disturbance on creep behavior of rock, the creep damage evolution in rock under the dynamic disturbance are reproduced with creep damage model. In this model, the constitutive law of rock under combined creep and dynamic loading condition is implemented based on elastic damage principle and Norton-Bailey...
Article
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A new numerical procedure for calculating the excavation response of the Mohr–Coulomb rock mass considering strain-softening behavior is proposed in this article. In this method, the plastic zone of the strain-softening rock mass is divided into the sufficient small plastic concentric annulus with constant radial stress increment, where the stress...
Article
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Anchor technology has become an irreplaceable geotechnical engineering reinforcement measure. To clarify anchorage effects and investigate the three-dimensional (3D) crack propagation process of bolted jointed rock masses, a series of physical model tests and 3D numerical simulations were performed, and optimal anchoring conditions of jointed rock...
Article
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In order to reveal the load transfer mechanism during cascading pillar failure, compressive tests on treble-pillar specimens were conducted under soft and stiff loading conditions, where the stiffness of the test machine was adjusted with a disc spring group. Experimental results showed that the load transfer behavior of treble-pillar specimen coul...
Article
Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC–CO2) is a promising fracturing fluid with unique properties, making it well-suited for unconventional reservoir stimulation. Laboratory experiments are essential for determining hydraulic parameters prior to field trials. The fracturing apparatus thus plays a primary and indispensable role in evaluating SC-CO2 fract...
Article
An improved grain-based numerical manifold method (NMM) is developed to investigate deformation and damage of intact rocks at the meso‑scale. The grain boundaries are embedded into the numerical manifold method using a random Voronoi tessellation technique to approximate the microstructure of rocks at the meso‑scale. To enhance efficiency, an impro...
Article
Full-text available
Accurate predictions of the surface deformation caused by underground mining are crucial for the safe development of underground resources. Although surface deformation has been predicted by artificial intelligence (AI) methods, most AI models are established based on the relationships between surface deformation and influential factors. The lack o...
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The quantitative characterization of time-dependent and -independent deformation and fracturing of rock is crucial to reveal the short-term and long-term instability mechanisms of structural rocks. In the present paper, we conduct uniaxial constant strain rate and stress-stepping creep tests on double-notched sandstone samples with different rock b...
Article
Uniaxial compressive tests were performed on Y-jointed granite specimens to explore how intersecting rough joints affect the strength, failure mode, and precursory damage characteristics of the jointed rock mass. The mechanical properties, joint dip angles, and joint roughness of the specimens were measured prior to the tests, then the loading stre...
Article
During underground mining, rock deformation may be time-dependent and is reflected in rheological behavior. These changes may be also accelerated by dynamic disturbances, such as rock blasting, which can trigger mining-induced hazards such as rockburst and a falling roof. A combined double-rock sample was analyzed to clarify the rockburst mechanism...
Article
Full-text available
In order to study the instability and load transfer mechanism among multiple parallel pillars during underground mining, compressive tests on single- and treble-pillar specimens were conducted under soft loading condition with adjustable stiffness. Disc spring group was used to realize the adjustable stiffness of the test machine. Experimental resu...
Preprint
Full-text available
The axial loading in rockbolts changes due to stress redistribution and rheology in the country rock mass. Such a change may lead to debonding at rockbolt to grout interface or rupture of the rockbolt. In this study, based on laboratory experiments, ultrasonic guided wave propagation in fully grouted rockbolt under different pull-out loads was inve...
Article
The dynamic disturbance is one of the major reasons to trigger rock block sliding along the discontinuities of roof rock mass during the mining excavation. A self-developed test machine was used in this study to investigate the sliding instability of an isosceles trapezoid rock block triggered by dynamic disturbance. The sliding displacement, strai...
Article
Backfilling is a common practice in the mining industry and the backfilling performance plays a significant role in supporting the surrounding rock mass. To evaluate the backfilling performance, an experimental apparatus has been developed to understand how backfill affects the compressive strength of sandstone specimens in the laboratory. Pebbles...
Article
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The stability of a rock joint was often dominated by one or more major asperities along the slip surface with a large bearing capacity to resist instability. In this study, direct shear tests were performed on artificial split rock joints. The shear failure mechanism of major asperities was revealed and a physical model was developed to describe th...
Article
Micro-cracks are known to greatly affect the mechanical properties of granite and subcritical crack growth (SCG) is considered to be the main mechanism of brittle creep in rocks, including granite. Here, we provide new uniaxial compressive strength and creep experiments for Lanhélin granite, and a new multi-crack numerical model to explain the expe...
Article
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The stable supply of iron ore resources is not only related to energy security, but also to a country’s sustainable development. The accurate forecast of iron ore demand is of great significance to the industrialization development of a country and even the world. Researchers have not yet reached a consensus about the methods of forecasting iron or...
Article
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The scale effect of rock joint shear behavior is an important subject in the field of rock mechanics. There is yet a lack of consensus regarding whether the shear strength of rock joints increases, decreases, or remains unchanged as the joint size increases. To explore this issue, a series of repeated and enlarged numerical joint models were establ...
Article
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The AE energy radiated from rock microfractures is widely used to understand the rock failure process. However, the radiation energy of AE sources is usually inaccurately quantified because of imprecise knowledge of the radiation pattern associated with the tensile angle. Based on theoretical calculations, we quantify the radiation energy of the AE...
Article
Cemented paste backfill (CPB) is broadly used for underground backfilling, improving the mechanical performance through the modification of its composition and, therefore, its microstructure and characteristics. In order to assess the applicability of ultrasonic waves to better comprehend relations among composition-microstructure-characteristics;...
Article
As a stress wave propagates in rock, the amplitude of the stress wave will attenuate, and the waveform will dissipate, which can be equivalently characterized by the stress wave propagation in a viscoelastic material. The stress wave propagation may induce rock damage when the stress is greater than the rock strength. In this study, viscoelastic wa...
Article
Quasi-brittle fracture properties of a medium-grain sandstone with an average grain size G around 0.3 ∼ 0.4 mm were investigated under three-point-bending (3-p-b) conditions. In total, 95 specimens were tested with the beam width W varying from 10 to 300 mm, or the specimen-size/grain-size ratio from 30 to 900. 45 medium-sized specimens (W = 30, 60...
Article
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Tight oil reservoirs are complex geological materials composed of solid matrix, pore structure, and mixed multiple phases of fluids, particularly for oil reservoirs suffering from high content of in situ pressurized water found in China. In this regard, a coupled model considering two-phase flow of oil and water, as well as deformation and damage e...
Article
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Numerical simulation is a commonly used method for investigating rock failure. However, the numerical model is usually insufficient to predict real rock damage and failure because of rock microstructural heterogeneity. In fact, rock damage can be quantified using acoustic emission (AE) data. The aim of this study is to simulate and predict the fail...
Article
Mining activities have become increasingly common in cold or permafrost regions. However, there is limited information regarding the behavior of cemented tailings backfill (CTB) cured under freezing conditions. This paper was aimed to assess the coupled effects of temperature and binder content on the mechanical and physical properties of frozen CT...
Article
The stability graph is an empirical approach to predicting stope performance based on the geometric dimensions of stopes and the geotechnical conditions of the surrounding rock mass. Stability graph is commonly used to design and estimate the stability of open-stope mines and underground openings. Most engineers calculate the rock stress factor by...
Article
When underground openings are excavated in weak rocks under a high overburden, large deformation and squeezing problems may take place. This paper generalizes the finite strain theoretical solution of Vrakas and Anagnostou (Int J Numer Anal Meth Geomech 2014; 38(11): 1131–1148) for the ground squeezing response to ela