Mechanical Characteristics and Mechanism of Granite Subjected to Coupling Effect of Acidic Corrosion and Freeze-Thaw Cycles

The typical climatic and environmental conditions in Central Asia are major natural factors causing local rock masses to face considerable risks of damage due to constant freeze-thaw cycles. In addition, these are exacerbated by the dense acidic environments in certain industrialized areas, such as Northern Sinkiang, China. To provide local engineering design with workable solutions, it is crucial to analyze the mechanical performance of rock masses and its mechanisms under the coupling action of corrosive acid and freeze-thaw cycles. In this study, granite samples from the northern Tien Shan Mountains near Urumchi, Xinjiang Province, as well as two kinds of sandstone samples for comparison, were subjected to different soaking conditions, including nitric acid soaking at various pH values. One or both of the freeze-thaw cycle tests and uniaxial compression test were then executed. Speculations regarding the mechanism of the performance of granite rock masses under the action of corrosive acid and freeze-thaw cycles were developed based on the results of these tests. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were implemented to demonstrate the feasibility of the speculated mechanism. In this paper, the identification of the white crumb-like substance as SiO2 gel were confirmed.