Coupling Effects of Strain Rate and Low Temperature on the Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Frozen Water-Saturated Sandstone

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors carried out quasi-static and dynamic tests on sandstone with a freezing module, which are constrained at a temperature range of -1℃to 20℃ and a strain rate range of 10-5s^-1to 200s^-1. The paper is the relevance to the scope of journal. Doubtful or controversial arguments were not detected in the paper. The paper has original content and worthy for publication in the journal. I can recommend it for a possible publication after major revision. Following comments must be considered carefully before this recommendation.

1. Freeze-thaw cycle experiments are common, but it is doubtful that obvious mechanical deterioration can be obtained after only one freeze action. The author needs to make a reasonable explanation. There are some references may cite:

Study on the Influence of Freeze–Thaw Weathering on the Mechanical Properties of Huashan Granite Strength, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 2021, 54: 4741-4753

Research on the effect of pore characteristics on the compressive properties of sandstone after freezing and thawing, Engineering Geology, 2021, 0(0)

2. Please explain why the freezing rate is set as 5℃/min.

3. FIG. 10 does not give the scale, from which it is difficult to judge the size of sandstone broken particles.

4.  How many samples are there in each test? If there is only one, is the result reliable?

5. Kindly provide some recommendations for future studies. I also recommend editing your paper according to the instructions for authors in the journal website.

Author Response

请参阅附件。

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Manuscript ID: water-1981932

Title: Coupling effects of strain rate and low temperature on the dynamic

mechanical properties of frozen water-saturated sandstone

The paper presents an interesting paper related to strain rate and low temperature on the dynamic mechanical properties of frozen soil. The following notes were outlined:

1.     Page 2 – line 63: Please indicate the range of temperature in this study.

2.     Page 2 – line 73: “the dynamic strength of frozen rock decreased when the temperature was below a limit value”, why?

3.     Page 3: The “Objectives of study” and “scope” should be illustrated at the end of the “Introduction”.

4.     Page 5 – line 165: The “displacement rate” used is small, why ?

5.     Page 6 – line 190: “The peak strength declined 2.26% in the temperature range of -5℃~-10℃.”, why ?

6.     In Fig. 13, why does the wave velocity increase with temperature ?

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The maunscipt was carefully prepared and can be accepted in the current form

Author Response

Thank you very much for your comments.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Accept in present form