Effect of strain rate on mechanical response and failure characteristics of horizontal bedded coal under quasi-static loading

Strain rock burst is one of the main types of rock bursts. Studying the mechanical response and acoustic emission characteristics of coal under quasi-static loading is significant to control and prevent strain rock bursts. In this paper, coal’s strength, deformation, energy evolution, and failure characteristics were analyzed with different strain rates under quasi-static loading. The strength characteristics of coal show a strain rate effect to a certain extent and the elastic modulus decreases first and then increases with stain rate increasing. Moreover, the elastic strain energy of coal samples always accounts for a high proportion before failure and the failure of coal presents a combined failure mode of tensile and shear under the dominance of tensile failure. The contribution of the shear failure to coal failure increases correspondingly when strain rate increases. Under quasi-static loading, There is a range where the strain rate effect does not appear, named as strain rate effect invisible area. The high static loading stress, and direct action of high strain rate loading should be avoided to reduce the risk of rock burst, especially for isolated coal pillars. The research achievements deepen the understanding of strain rock burst and provides critical support for the prevention of strain rock burst induced by high static loading.