The effect of freezing temperature on the attenuation characteristics of stress waves in water-saturated granite in freezing environments

The investigation of stress wave propagation in frozen rock masses is of great significance for dynamic stability analysis of rock masses in cold regions. This paper investigates the attenuation of stress waves in water-saturated granite with different freezing temperatures. The water-saturated granite was frozen at different temperatures (−2°C, −10°C, −20°C, −30°C) and then impacted with different pendulum angles at those temperatures. The amplitude attenuation ratio, wave velocity and spectrum of stress waves in frozen granite were investigated. The effects of freezing temperature on the propagation coefficients (attenuation coefficient and wave number) and phase velocity of stress waves were investigated. Furthermore, the effects of the pendulum angle on the amplitude attenuation ratio, wave velocity, propagation coefficient and phase velocity at different freezing temperatures were discussed. The results show that the amplitude attenuation ratio of stress waves decreases as the temperature decreases. The wave velocity increases as the temperature decreases. The Fourier amplitudes of both the incident wave and the reflected wave decrease as the temperature decreases. The attenuation coefficient and wave number decrease sharply and then decrease slightly as the temperature decreases. The phase velocity increases as the temperature decreases. The amplitude attenuation ratio, wave velocity, phase velocity and propagation coefficients approximately keep constant under different pendulum angles. The present investigation can be applied to predict the amplitude attenuation and energy dissipation of stress waves within rock masses in freezing environments.