Experimental investigation of environmentally affected cracking during indentation testing of Anroechter sandstone

Environmental effects on cracking have important implications in geoengineering applications, such as mechanized tunnel construction. The time required and the cost of excavation could be reduced by employing techniques such as special cutting fluids that lower the strength of the rock.

At first contact, the cutting tool acts as an indenter, penetrating the rock surface and causing distributed brittle damage and subsequently localized deformation. We performed indentation tests using blunt indenters, mimicking a section of a standard cutting disk, on unconfined cylindrical Anroechter sandstone specimens using a servo-hydraulic press. The loading rate was varied over two orders of magnitude. A first set of experiments was performed at room temperature and humidity; in a second, specimens had their top surface wetted with water during indentation. Preliminary results show that in the presence of water, the peak indentation force is reduced by approximately 13%. The short duration of the tests (a few minutes) and the relatively low porosity of the sample material (approximately 10%) suggest a fast-acting weakening mechanism. Currently, we are focusing our efforts on understanding the effect of wetting fluid chemistry on peak indentation pressure and exploring the interplay with loading rate.