Crack evolution behavior of rocks under confining pressures and its propagation model before peak stress

The understanding of crack propagation characteristics and law of rocks during the loading process is of great significance for the exploitation and support of rock engineering.In this study,the crack propagation behavior of rocks in triaxial compression tests was investigated in detail.The main conclusions were as follows:1)According to the evolution characteristics of crack axial strain,the differential stress?strain curve of rocks under triaxial compressive condition can be divided into three phases which are linear elastic phase,crack propagation phase,post peak phase,respectively;2)The proposed models are applied to comparison with the test data of rocks under triaxial compressive condition and different temperatures.The theoretical data calculated by the models are in good agreement with the laboratory data,indicating that the proposed model can be applied to describing the crack propagation behavior and the nonlinear properties of rocks under triaxial compressive condition;3)The inelastic compliance and crack initiation strain in the proposed model have a decrease trend with the increase of confining pressure and temperature.Peak crack axial strain increases nonlinearly with the inelastic compliance and the increase rate increases gradually.Crack initiation strain has a linear relation with peak crack axial strain.

Fracture initiation and propagation in intact rock—A review

The initiation and propagation of failure in intact rock are a matter of fundamental importance in rock engineering. At low confining pressures, tensile fracturing initiates in samples at 40%-60% of the uniaxial compressive strength and as loading continues, and these tensile fractures increase in density, ultimately coalescing and leading to strain localization and macro-scale shear failure of the samples. The Griffith theory of brittle failure provides a simplified model and a useful basis for discussion of this process. The Hoek-Brown failure criterion provides an acceptable estimate of the peak strength for shear failure but a cutoff has been added for tensile conditions. However, neither of these criteria adequately explains the progressive coalition of tensile cracks and the final shearing of the specimens at higher confining stresses. Grain-based numerical models, in which the grain size distributions as well as the physical properties of the component grains of the rock are incorporated, have proved to be very useful in studying these more complex fracture processes.

FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF COMPLEX 3D STATIC AND DYNAMIC CRACK PROPAGATION BY EMBEDDING COHESIVE ELEMENTS IN ABAQUS

This study proposes an algorithm of embedding cohesive elements in Abaqus and develops the computer code to model 3D complex cragk propagation in quasi-brittle materials in a relatively easy and efficient manner. The cohesive elements with softening traction-separation relations and damage initiation and evolution laws are embedded between solid elements in regions of interest in the initial mesh to model potential cracks. The initial mesh can consist of tetrahedrons, wedges, bricks or a mixture of these elements. Neither remeshing nor objective crack propagation criteria are needed. Four examples of concrete specimens, including a wedgesplitting test, a notched beam under torsion, a pull-out test of an anchored cylinder and a notched beam under impact, were modelled and analysed. The simulated crack propagation processes and load-displacement curves agreed well with test results or other numerical simulations for all the examples using initial meshes with reasonable densities. Making use of Abaqus＇s rich pre/post- processing functionalities and powerful standard/explicit solvers, the developed method offers a practical tool for engineering analysts to model complex 3D fracture problems.

Some remarks on the engineering application of the fatigue crack growth approach under nonzero mean loads

The well-known fatigue crack growth （FCG） curves are two-parameter dependents. The range of the stress intensity factor AK and the load ratio R are the parameters normally used for describing these curves. For engineering purposes, the mathematical representation of these curves should be integrated between the initial and final crack sizes in order to obtain the safety factors for stresses and life. First of all, it is necessary to reduce the dependence of the FCG curves to only one parameter. AK is almost always selected and, in these conditions, considered as the crack driving force. Using experimental data from literature, the present paper shows how to perform multiple regression analyses using the traditional Walker approach and the more recent unified approach. The correlations so obtained are graphically analyzed in three dimensions. Numerical examples of crack growth analysis for cracks growing under nominal stresses of constant amplitude in smooth and notched geometries are performed, assuming an identical material component as that of the available experimental data. The resulting curves of crack size versus number of cycles （a vs. N） are then compared. The two models give approximately the same （a vs. N） curves in both geometries. Differences between the behaviors of the （a vs. N） curves in smooth and notched geometries are highlighted, and the reasons for these particular behaviors are discussed.