Tensile strength and failure behavior of rock-mortar interfaces: Direct and indirect measurements

The tensile strength at the rock-concrete interface is one of the crucial factors controlling the failure mechanisms of structures,such as concrete gravity dams.Despite the critical importance of the failure mechanism and tensile strength of rock-concrete interfaces,understanding of these factors remains very limited.This study investigated the tensile strength and fracturing processes at rock-mortar interfaces subjected to direct and indirect tensile loadings.Digital image correlation(DIC)and acoustic emission(AE)techniques were used to monitor the failure mechanisms of specimens subjected to direct tension and indirect loading(Brazilian tests).The results indicated that the direct tensile strength of the rock-mortar specimens was lower than their indirect tensile strength,with a direct/indirect tensile strength ratio of 65%.DIC strain field data and moment tensor inversions(MTI)of AE events indicated that a significant number of shear microcracks occurred in the specimens subjected to the Brazilian test.The presence of these shear microcracks,which require more energy to break,resulted in a higher tensile strength during the Brazilian tests.In contrast,microcracks were predominantly tensile in specimens subjected to direct tension,leading to a lower tensile strength.Spatiotemporal monitoring of the cracking processes in the rock-mortar interfaces revealed that they show AE precursors before failure under the Brazilian test,whereas they show a minimal number of AE events before failure under direct tension.Due to different microcracking mechanisms,specimens tested under Brazilian tests showed lower roughness with flatter fracture surfaces than those tested under direct tension with jagged and rough fracture surfaces.The results of this study shed light on better understanding the micromechanics of damage in the rock-concrete interfaces for a safer design of engineering structures.

Acoustic emission activity in directly tensile test on marble specimens and its tensile damage constitutive model

For understanding acoustic emission （AE） activity and accumulation of micro-damage inside rock under pure tensile state, the AE signals has been monitored on the test of directly tension on two kinds of marble specimens. A tensile constitutive model was proposed with the damage factor calculated by AE energy rate. The tensile strength of marble was discrete obviously and was sensitive to the inside microdefects and grain composition. With increasing of loading, the tensile stress-strain curve obviously showed nonlinear with the tensile tangent modulus decreasing. In repeated loading cycle, the tensile elastic modulus was less than that in the previous loading cycle because of the generation of micro damage during the prior loading. It means the linear weakening occurring in the specimens. The AE activity was corresponding with occurrence of nonlinear deformation. In the initial loading stage which only elastic deformation happened on the specimens, there were few AE events occurred; while when the nonlinear deformation happened with increasing of loading, lots of AE events were generated. The quantity and energy of AE events were proportionally related to the variation of tensile tangent modulus. The Kaiser effect of AE activity could be clearly observed in tensile cycle loading. Based on the theory of damage mechanics, the damage factor was defined by AE energy rate and the tensile damage constitutive model was proposed which only needed two property constants. The theoretical stress-strain curve was well fitted with the curve plotted with tested datum and the two property constants were easily gotten by the laboratory testing.

An Analytical Method for Predicting Direct Tensile Creep Fracture in Brittle Solids Containing Initial Microcracks

The tensile creep fracture behaviors in brittle solids are of great significance for the safety evaluation of brittle solid engineering.However,micromechanics-based tensile creep fracture behavior is rarely studied.In this study,a micromechanics-based method for predicting direct tensile creep fractures is presented.This method is established by combining the suggested expression of the mode-I stress intensity factor,the subcritical crack growth law,and the relationship between wing crack length and axial strain.This suggested mode-I stress intensity factor is formulated by the use of the basic theory of fracture mechanics under different loading modes.The rationality of the proposed tensile creep fracture model is verified by comparing with the experimental results.The correspondences of time-dependent axial strain,strain rate,wing crack length,and crack velocity are plotted under constant stress and stepping stress during tensile creep fracture.The effects of the initial crack size,inclination angle and density on the crack initiation stress,tensile strength,tensile creep fracture time,steady-state strain rate,initial strain,crack coalescence strain,and failure strain are discussed.

Evolution of defects and deformation mechanisms in different tensile directions of solidified lamellar Ti-Al alloy

Two-phaseγ-TiAl/α_(2)-Ti_(3)Al lamellar intermetallics have attracted considerable attention because of their excellent strength and plasticity.However,the exact deformation mechanisms remain to be investigated.In this paper,a solidified lamellar Ti-Al alloy with lamellar orientation at 0°,17°,and 73°with respect to the loading direction was stretched by utilizing molecular dynamics(MD)simulations.The results show that the mechanical properties of the sample are considerably influenced by solidified defects and tensile directions.The structure deformation and fracture were primarily attributed to an intrinsic stacking fault(ISF)accompanied by the nucleated Shockley dislocation,and the adjacent extrinsic stacking fault(ESF)and ISF formed by solidification tend to form large HCP structures during the tensile process loading at 73°.Moreover,cleavage cracking easily occurs on theγ/α_(2)interface under tensile deformation.The fracture loading mechanism at 17°is grain boundary slide whereas,at 73°and 0°,the dislocation piles up to form a dislocation junction.

Effect of discrete fibre reinforcement on soil tensile strength

The tensile behaviour of soil plays a significantly important role in various engineering applications. Compacted soils used in geotechnical constructions such as dams and clayey liners in waste containment facilities can suffer from cracking due to tensile failure. In order to increase soil tensile strength, discrete fibre reinforcement technique was proposed. An innovative tensile apparatus was developed to deter- mine the tensile strength characteristics of fibre reinforced soil. The effects of fibre content, dry density and water content on the tensile strength were studied. The results indicate that the developed test apparatus was applicable in determining tensile strength of soils. Fibre inclusion can significantly in- crease soil tensile strength and soil tensile failure ductility. The tensile strength basically increases with increasing fibre content. As the fibre content increases from 0% to 0.2%, the tensile strength increases by 65.7%. The tensile strength of fibre reinforced soil increases with increasing dry density and decreases with decreasing water content. For instance, the tensile strength at a dry density of 1.7 Mg/m^3 is 2.8 times higher than that at 1.4 Mg/m^3. It decreases by 30% as the water content increases from 14.5% to 20.5%. Furthermore, it is observed that the tensile strength of fibre reinforced soil is dominated by fibre pull-out resistance, depending on the interracial mechanical interaction between fibre surface and soil matrix.

Exploring an eco-friendly approach to improve soil tensile behavior and cracking resistance

Soil tensile strength is a critical parameter governing the initiation and propagation of tensile cracking.This study proposes an eco-friendly approach to improve the tensile behavior and crack resistance of clayey soils.To validate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed approach,direct tensile tests were employed to determine the tensile strength of the compacted soil with different W-OH treatment concentrations and water contents.Desiccation tests were also performed to evaluate the effectiveness of W-OH treatment in enhancing soil tensile cracking resistance.During this period,the effects of W-OH treatment concentration and water content on tensile properties,soil suction and microstructure were investigated.The tensile tests reveal that W-OH treatment has a significant impact on the tensile strength and failure mode of the soil,which not only effectively enhances the tensile strength and failure displacement,but also changes the brittle failure behavior into a more ductile quasi-brittle failure behavior.The suction measurements and mercury intrusion porosimetry(MIP)tests show that W-OH treatment can slightly reduce soil suction by affecting skeleton structure and increasing macropores.Combined with the microstructural analysis,it becomes evident that the significant improvement in soil tensile behavior through W-OH treatment is mainly attributed to the W-OH gel's ability to provide additional binding force for bridging and encapsulating the soil particles.Moreover,desiccation tests demonstrate that W-OH treatment can significantly reduce or even inhibit the formation of soil tensile cracking.With the increase of W-OH treatment concentration,the surface crack ratio and total crack length are significantly reduced.This study enhances a fundamental understanding of eco-polymer impacts on soil mechanical properties and provides valuable insight into their potential application for improving soil crack resistance.