Ultrasonic method to evaluate the residual properties of thermally damaged sandstone based on time–frequency analysis

Evaluation of the residual properties of thermally damaged rocks is of vital importance for rock engineering. For this study, uniaxial compression experiments and ultrasonic tests were conducted on sandstone specimens which experienced temperature treatments of different levels, including 25, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000°C. Time–frequency analysis methods were applied to evaluate the deformation and strength properties of sandstone after being exposed to high temperature, confirming the effectiveness of the ultrasonic evaluation method. Linear correlations between the peak stress, deformation modulus and the longitudinal wave velocity confirm the effectiveness of ultrasonic time-domain properties in estimating the deformation behaviour of the thermally damaged sandstone. Synchronisation in the change of the peak stress and the kurtosis of frequency spectrum as temperature rises, defined in this paper to describe the spectrum distribution, as well as the centroid frequency, demonstrates the feasibility of ultrasonic frequency-domain properties in estimating the residual strength of the thermally damaged sandstone. The results have certain guiding significance for rock engineering in a high-temperature environment.