Investigations on Structural Evolution Characteristics during Crack
Self-Healing of Damaged Rock Salt
Abstract
To study the mechanism and process characteristics of self-healing of
salt rock damage, the shear test was used to conduct initial damage to
the samples. Then, the experiment of self-healing recovery damaged salt
rock is designed. Computed Tomography (CT) tests, Scanning Electron
Microscope (SEM) tests and theoretical analyses have been performed to
study the characteristics of recovery of the damage salt rock during
self-healing. The experimental results showed that the crack of the
damaged salt rock have a good healing effect after short-term (such as 7
days) immersion in saturated brine. But in this healing process, brine
has two mechanisms of action. When the soaking time is less than the
threshold, the mechanism of brine action is softening, which leads to
the decrease of recovery rate of the salt rock. However, while the
soaking time exceeds the threshold, the mechanism of brine action is
healing and recovery.