Experiments of Brittle-Plastic Transition and Instability Modes of Juyongguan Granite at Different Temperatures and Pressures

Three groups of experiments on brittle-plastic transition and instability modes of granite were performed in a triaxial vessel with solid pressure medium at high temperature and high pressure. The results of experiments show that brittle faulting is the major failure mode at temperature <300℃, but crystal-plastic deformation is dominate at temperature >800℃, and there is a transition with increasing temperature from semi-brittle faulting to cataclastic flow and semi-brittle flow at temperatures of 300～800℃. So, temperature is the most influential factor in brittle-plastic transition of granite and confining pressure is the second factor. The results also show that progressive failure of granite occurs at lower pressure or high temperature where there is crystal plasticity, and sudden instability occurs at room temperature and high pressure (>300MPa) or high temperature and great pressure(550℃600MPa ～650℃700MPa), and a broad regime of quasi-sudden instability exists between the T-P condition of progressive failure and sudden instability. So, instability modes of granite depend simultaneously on the pressure and temperature.