Surface crack evolution patterns in freeze-thaw damage of fissured rock bodies

To explore the effects of freeze‒thaw cycles on the mechanical properties and crack evolution of fissured sandstone,biaxial compression experiments were carried out on sandstone subjected to freeze‒thaw cycles to characterize the changes in the physical and mechanical properties of fissured sandstone caused by freeze‒thaw cycles.The crack evolution and crack change process on the surface of the fissured sandstone were recorded and analysed in detail via digital image technology(DIC).Numerical simulation was used to reveal the expansion process and damage mode of fine-scale cracks under the action of freeze‒thaw cycles,and the simulation results were compared and analysed with the experimental data to verify the reliability of the numerical model.The results show that the mass loss,porosity,peak stress and elastic modulus all increase with increasing number of freeze‒thaw cycles.With an increase in the number of freeze‒thaw cycles,a substantial change in displacement occurs around the prefabricated cracks,and a stress concentration appears at the crack tip.As new cracks continue to sprout at the tips of the prefabricated cracks until the microcracks gradually penetrate into the main cracks,the displacement cloud becomes obviously discontinuous,and the contours of the displacement field in the crack fracture damage area simply intersect with the prefabricated cracks to form an obvious fracture.The damage patterns of the fractured sandstone after freeze‒thaw cycles clearly differ,forming a symmetrical"L"-shaped damage pattern at zero freeze‒thaw cycles,a symmetrical"V"-shaped damage pattern at 10 freeze‒thaw cycles,and a"V"-shaped damage pattern at 20 freeze‒thaw cycles.After 20 freeze‒thaw cycles,a"V"-shaped destruction pattern and"L"-shaped destruction pattern are formed;after 30 freeze‒thaw cycles,an"N"-shaped destruction pattern is formed.This shows that the failure mode of fractured sandstone gradually becomes more complicated with an increasing number of freeze‒thaw cycles.The effects of freeze‒thaw cycles on the direction and rate of crack propagation are revealed through a temperature‒load coupled model,which provides an important reference for an in-depth understanding of the freeze‒thaw failure mechanisms of fractured rock masses.

PROBABILISTIC MODELING OF BRITTLE FRACTURE WITH PRIOR DUCTILE CRACK EXTENSION

A computation framework for brittle fracture which incorporates weakest link statistics and a microme- chanics model reflecting reflecting local damage of the material is described.The Weibull stress W emerges as a probabilistic fracture parameter to define the condition leading material failure. Unstable crack propa- gation occurs at a critical value of W which may be attained paior to or following some amount of duc- tile crack extension. A realistic model of ductile crack growth using the computation cell methodology is used to define the evolution of near tip stress fields during crack extension. An application of proposed framework to predict the measured geometry and ductile tearing effects on the statistical distributio of fracture toughness for the pipe line steel welded joint is described.

A SELF-SIMILAR CRACK EXPANSION METHOD FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL CRACKS IN AN INFINITE OR SEMI-INFINITE MEDIUM

The Self-Similar Crack Expansion (SSCE) method is used to calculate stress intensity factors for three-dimensional cracks in an infinite medium or semi-infinite medium by the boundary integral element technique, whereby, the stress intensity factors at crack tips are determined by calculating the crack-opening displacements over the crack surface. For elements on the crack surface, regular integrals and singular integrals are precisely evaluated based on closed form expressions, which improves the accuracy. Examples shaw that this method yields very accurate results for stress intensity factors of penny-shaped cracks and elliptical cracks in the full space, with errors of less than 1% as compared with analytical solutions. The stress intensity factors of subsurface cracks ate in good agreement with other analytical solutions.

Nonequilibrium Statistical Nature of Intergranular Brittle Fracture in Polycrystal

The brittle fracture probability and reliability are obtained in terms of dislocation mechanism of microcrack evolution. The statistical distribution functions and statistical deviations of elongation, strength, plastic work, crack extension force, fracture foughness, critical and crack length, can be derived in a unified fashion.

Dynamic fracture behavior of rock under impact load using the caustics method

We studied the dynamic fracture mechanical behavior of rock under different impact rates. The fracture experiment was a three-point bending beam subjected to different impact loads monitored using the reflected caustics method. The mechanical parameters for fracture of the three-poim bending beam specimen under impact load are analyzed. The mechanism of crack propagation is discussed. Experimental results show that the dynamic stress intensity factor increases before crack initiation. When the dynamic stress intensity factor reaches its maximum value the crack starts to develop. After crack initiation the dynamic stress intensity factor decreases rapidly and oscillates. As the impact rate increases the cracks initiate earlier, the maximum value of crack growth velocity becomes smaller and the values of dynamic stress intensity factor also vary less during crack propagation. The results provide a theoretical basis for the study of rock dynamic fracture.

Research on the Mechanism and Prevention of Rockburst at the Yinxin Gold Mine

The occurrence and nature of shaft rockburst in the Yinxin gold mine are recorded and analyzed. Rockburst happens along an obvious south-north orientation. The ground and surrounding rock stresses are measured in this mine. The research indicates that the directivity of rockburst is closely related to geological structure and to abnormal distri-bution of ground stress in some parts of the mining area. The mechanism of past rockbursts is discussed based upon the theory of fracture mechanics. Some rockburst release measures and their execution in the Yinxin Gold Mine are de-scribed. These measures have been successful in eliminating rockburst.

Towards fully automatic modelling of the fracture process in quasi-brittle and ductile materials:a unified crack growth criterion

Fully automatic finite element(FE) modelling of the fracture process in quasi-brittle materials such as concrete and rocks and ductile materials such as metals and alloys,is of great significance in assessing structural integrity and presents tre-mendous challenges to the engineering community. One challenge lies in the adoption of an objective and effective crack propagation criterion. This paper proposes a crack propagation criterion based on the principle of energy conservation and the cohesive zone model(CZM) . The virtual crack extension technique is used to calculate the differential terms in the criterion. A fully-automatic discrete crack modelling methodology,integrating the developed criterion,the CZM to model the crack,a simple remeshing procedure to accommodate crack propagation,the J2 flow theory implemented within the incremental plasticity framework to model the ductile materials,and a local arc-length solver to the nonlinear equation system,is developed and im-plemented in an in-house program. Three examples,i.e.,a plain concrete beam with a single shear crack,a reinforced concrete(RC) beam with multiple cracks and a compact-tension steel specimen,are simulated. Good agreement between numerical predictions and experimental data is found,which demonstrates the applicability of the criterion to both quasi-brittle and ductile materials.

STUDY ON DYNAMIC J-INTEGRAL OF MECHANICAL HETEROGENEOUS WELDED JOINT

Welded joint is a mechanical heterogeneous body, and mechanical heterogeneity has great effect on dynamic fracture behaviour of welded joints. In the present investigation, dynamic response curve and dynamic J-integral of practical undermatched welded joint and whole base and whole weld three-point-bend (TPB) models containing longitudinal crack are com- puted. Dynamic J-integral is evaluated using virtual crack extension (VCE) method and the computation is performed using MARC finite element code. Because of the effect of inertia, dynamic load response curve of computed model waves periodically. Dynamic J-integral evaluated by VCE method is path independent. The effect of inertia has little influence on dynamic J-integral curve. The value of dynamic J-integral of undermatched welded joint is lower than that of whole base metal and higher than that of whole weld metal. The results establish the foundation of safety evaluation for dynamic loaded welded structures.

A NEW METHOD TO DETERMINE THE R-CURVE OF CERAMICS-FRACTURE GRATING METHOD

The etching technique of the single-lined zero-thickness specimen grating is applied to the surface of the SiC fiber toughening Si3N4 ceramic composite specimen. The position of the crack and the crack length during the process of crack extension when the load is applied and gradually increased can be determined by recording the output voltage value of the Wheatstone bridge in which the ceramic specimen with the fracture grating on is located. The crack-growth-resistance(R-curve) of this material is thus obtained.

THE DETERMINATION OF THE RESIDUAL STRESS DURING THE FATIGUE CRACK EXTENDSION

The distribution law of the lateral residualstress at the welding seam is determinated by meansofcuttingthespecimen. Becausetocutthespecimencansimulateapproximatelytheex tension ofthe fatiguecrack,through measuring thestressreleased and calculating the distri bution oftheresidualstressthelaw isfound thattherateofthefatiguecrackextensionisaf fected bytheresidualstress.

SELF-SIMILAR CRACK EXPANSION METHOD FOR THE STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR ANALYSIS

The Self-Similar Crack Expansion (SSCE) method is proposed to evaluate stress intensity factors at crack tips, whereby stress intensity factors of a crack can be determined by the crack opening displacement over the crack, not just by the local displacement around the crack tip. The crack expansion rate is estimated by taking advantage of the crack self-similarity. Therefore, the accuracy of the calculation is improved. The singular integrals on crack tip elements are also analyzed and are precisely evaluated in terms of a special integral analysis. Combination of these two techniques greatly increases the accuracy in estimating the stress distribution around the crack tip. A variety of two-dimensional cracks, such as subsurface cracks, edge cracks, and their interactions are calculated in terms of the self-similar expansion rate. Solutions are satisfied with errors less than 0.5% as compared with the analytical solutions. Based on the calculations of the crack interactions, a theory for crack interactions is proposed such that for a group of aligned cracks the summation of the square of SIFs at the right tips of cracks is always equal to that at the left tips of cracks. This theory was proved by the mehtod of Self-Similar Crack Expansion in this paper.

Effect of Substructure on Toughness of Lath Martensite/Bainite Mixed Structure in Low-Carbon Steels

The quantitative analysis of substructure in the martensite/bainite mixed structure, which is obtained from low-carbon NiCrMoV steels under different cooling conditions, was made by means of optical microscope （OM）, scanning electron microscope （SEM）, electron backscatter diffraction （EBSD）, and transmission electron microscope （TEM）, in order to research the effect on toughness. The test results indicate that the toughness of the steel is en- hanced with the decrease in the packet and block size under the condition of the same prior austenite grain size mixed with different ratios of martensite and bainite while the lath width is about 0.38μm. The calculation shows that both the packet and block boundaries have the same hindering effect on crack extension. Furthermore, the effect of the block width on impact energy is much larger than that of the packet. Therefore, the block can be used as microstruc- tural substructure to affect the toughness in low-carbon martensite steels, suggesting that the block size is ＂the effective grain size＂ for controlling toughness.