In deep geoengineering, including geothermal development, deep mining, and nuclear waste geological disposal, high temperature significantly affects the mineral properties of rocks, thereby changing their porous and mechanical characteristics. This paper experimentally studied the changes in mineral composition, pore structure, and mechanical characteristics of pyroxene granite heated to high temperature (from 25 °C to 1200 °C). The results concluded that (1) the high-temperature effect can be roughly identified as three stages: 25–500 °C, 500–800 °C, 800–1200 °C. (2) Below 500 °C, the maximum diffracted intensities of the essential minerals are comparatively stable and the porous and mechanical characteristics of granite samples change slightly, mainly due to mineral dehydration and uncoordinated thermal expansion; additionally, the failure mechanism of granite is brittle. (3) In 500–800 °C, the diffraction angles of the minerals become wider, pyroxene and quartz undergo phase transitions, and the difference in thermal expansion among minerals reaches a peak; the rock porosity increases rapidly by 1.95 times, and the newly created pores caused by high heat treatment are mainly medium ones with radii between 1 μm and 10 μm; the P-wave velocity and the elastic modulus decrease by 62.5% and 34.6%, respectively, and the peak strain increases greatly by 105.7%, indicating the failure mode changes from brittle to quasi-brittle. (4) In 800–1200 °C, illite and quartz react chemically to produce mullite and the crystal state of the minerals deteriorate dramatically; the porous and mechanical parameters of granite samples all change significantly and the P-wave, the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), and the elastic modulus decrease by 81.30%, 81.20%, and 92.52%, while the rock porosity and the shear-slip strain increase by 4.10 times and 11.37 times, respectively; the failure mechanism of granite samples transforms from quasi-brittle to plastic, which also was confirmed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

To make sure the integrity and stability of surrounding rock structure during blasting excavation of important structural planes in deep underground caverns, two kinds of fine blasting methods, timing sequence control fracture blasting network and notch blast hole, are innovatively combined and the formation of cracks between smooth blasting holes with different delay initiation and different shapes of primary blast holes (PBHs) are compared and analyzed. The results show that when the delay initiation time between the successive explosion holes is greater than or equal to the transverse wave of the PBH propagates to the target blast hole (TBH), the concentrated stress along the connection direction of the hole on the wall of the TBH is larger than the other directions of the hole wall. After the TBH is detonated, cracks will preferentially expand along the connection direction of the blast holes. If the PBH is the notch blast hole, more explosive energy will be directed to the wall of the TBH so that the hole wall along the connection direction of the blast holes will be subjected to greater tension stress before the initiation of the TBH. In this way, the interval between successive holes can be increased and the efficiency of blasting excavation of rock mass can be improved accordingly.

In view of the influence of blasting excavation in the deep burial underground powerhouse on the dynamic disturbance and blasting vibration of side wall and surrounding rock, the blasting vibration test method is often used for on‐site monitoring and control. Taking the blasting excavation of the high side wall of an underground powerhouse of a hydropower station as the engineering background, a long‐term blasting vibration test is carried out on the site. The measuring points are arranged along the elevation direction and horizontal direction of the high side wall of the powerhouse. Through analyzing and comparing the blasting vibration velocity values extracted from a large number of on‐site measured data in the elevation direction, an interesting phenomenon is found. The measured vibration velocity of the rock anchor beam in the area far away from the blasting is greater than that in the area near the blasting, and the vibration velocity after the casting of the rock anchor beam is greater than that before the casting. In order to avoid the randomness and contingency of the measured data, based on the blasting parameters, loading quantity, and rock mechanical characteristics used in the field, the elevation effect of the numerical model of the underground powerhouse is established by using the dynamic finite element software. By comparing the numerical simulation and the on‐site monitoring of the elevation direction vibration velocity at the same location, it is found that the two have the same law, which verifies the reliability of the numerical calculation model. By changing the elevation and horizontal distances to select the measuring points in the numerical model, the propagation curve of the blasting vibration of the high side wall of the underground powerhouse in the elevation direction is obtained and the wave propagation phenomenon and the local elevation amplification effect of blasting vibration velocity in the side wall of the powerhouse are found. By means of changing the morphology characteristics of the rock anchor beam, a numerical calculation model of the rock anchor beam before casting is established, and the blasting vibration velocity in the elevation direction of the same measuring point as the original model is extracted. The analysis and comparison results show that the “whiplash effects” caused by the reflection superposition of the convex morphology characteristics of the rock anchor beam on the blast wave and the vibration response of the rock mass at the step part is the main factor for the elevation effect. The fluctuation phenomenon of the vibration velocity in the elevation direction is caused by the natural frequency and the main vibration mode of the high side walls, and the reflection superposition of the convex geomorphology characteristics of the rock anchor beam will aggravate this fluctuation phenomenon. Therefore, in the construction of deep underground powerhouses, attention should be paid to the blasting construction and support design of the rock anchor beam.