A Constitutive Model of Time-Dependent Deformation Behavior for Sandstone

Considering sandstone’s heterogeneity in the mesoscale and homogeneity in the macroscale, it is very difficult to describe its time-dependent behavior under stress. The mesoscale heterogeneity can affect the initiation and propagation of cracks. Clusters of cracks have a strong influence on the formation of macroscale fractures. In order to investigate the influence of crack evolution on the formation of fractures during creep deformation, a time-dependent damage model is introduced in this paper. First, the instantaneous elastoplastic damage model of sandstone was built based on the elastoplastic theory of rock and the micro-heterogeneous characteristics of sandstone. A viscoelastic plastic creep damage model was established by combining the Nishihara model and the elastoplastic damage constitutive model. The proposed models have been validated by the results of corresponding analytical solutions. To help back up the model, some conventional constant strain rate tests and multi-step creep tests were carried out to analyze the time-dependent behavior of sandstone. The results show that the proposed damage model can not only reflect the time-dependent viscoelastic deformation characteristics of sandstone, but also provide a good fit to the viscoelastic plastic deformation characteristics of sandstone’s creep behavior. The damage model can also reproduce the propagation process of mesoscopic cracks in sandstone upon the damage and failure of micro-units. This research can provide an effective tool for studying the propagation of microscopic cracks in sandstone.