Abstract
Many physical processes in the field of rock physics are influenced by
the presence of fractures and microcracks. Therefore, intact rock
samples are often used for reproducible experimental studies, and cracks
are artificially created by various methods. For this, one possibility
is the use of thermal treatments. In this work, twelve thermal
treatments, differing in the applied maximum temperature and the applied
cooling condition (slow versus fast cooling) are experimentally studied
for dry Bianco Carrara marble under ambient conditions. Two sizes of
cylindrical core samples are investigated to identify a potential size
effect. As effective quantities on the core-scale, the bulk volume, the
bulk density, and the P- and S-wave velocities, including shear wave
splitting, are examined. To obtain a three-dimensional insight into the
mechanisms occurring on the micro-scale level, micro X-Ray Computed
Tomography (micro-XRCT) imaging is employed. For both cooling
conditions, with increasing maximum temperature, the bulk volume
increases, and the propagation velocities significantly drop. This
behavior is amplified for fast cooling. The bulk volume increase is
related to the initiated crack volume as micro-XRCT shows. Based on
comprehensive measurements, a logarithmic relationship between the
relative bulk volume change and the relative change of the ultrasound
velocities can be observed. Although there is a size effect for fast
cooling, the relationship found is independent of the sample size. Also
the cooling protocol has almost no influence. A model is derived which
predicts the relative change of the ultrasound velocities depending on
the initiated relative bulk volume change.