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Crack initiation stress and strain of jointed rock containing multi-cracks under uniaxial compressive loading: A particle flow code approach

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Abstract

The ratio of crack initiation stress to the uniaxial compressive strength (S CI,B/S UC,B) and the ratio of axial strain at the crack initiation stress to the axial strain at the uniaxial compressive strength \(\left( {S_{A,S_{CI,B} } /S_{A,S_{UC,B} } } \right)\) were studied by performing numerical stress analysis on blocks having multi flaws at close spacing’s under uniaxial loading using PFC3D. The following findings are obtained: S CI,B/S UC,B has an average value of about 0.5 with a variability of ± 0.1. This range agrees quite well with the values obtained by former research. For joint inclination angle, β=90°, \(S_{A,S_{CI,B} } /S_{A,S_{UC,B} }\) is found to be around 0.48 irrespective of the value of joint continuity factor, k. No particular relation is found between \(S_{A,S_{CI,B} } /S_{A,S_{UC,B} }\) and β; however, the average \(S_{A,S_{CI,B} } /S_{A,S_{UC,B} }\) seems to slightly decrease with increasing k. The variability of \(S_{A,S_{CI,B} } /S_{A,S_{UC,B} }\) is found to increase with k. Based on the cases studied in this work, \(S_{A,S_{CI,B} } /S_{A,S_{UC,B} }\) ranges between 0.3 and 0.5. This range is quite close to the range of 0.4 to 0.6 obtained for S CI,B/S UC,B. The highest variability of ± 0.12 for \(S_{A,S_{CI,B} } /S_{A,S_{UC,B} }\) is obtained for k=0.8. For the remaining k values the variability of \(S_{A,S_{CI,B} } /S_{A,S_{UC,B} }\) can be expressed within ± 0.05. This finding is very similar to the finding obtained for the variability of S CI,B/S UC,B.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Xiang Fan  (范祥) & Ping Cao  (曹平)

  2. Rock Mass Modeling and Computational Rock Mechanics Laboratories, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Xiang Fan  (范祥) & P. H. S. W. Kulatilake

  3. School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Xin Chen  (陈新)

Authors
  1. Xiang Fan  (范祥)
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  2. P. H. S. W. Kulatilake
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  3. Xin Chen  (陈新)
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Correspondence to Xin Chen  (陈新).

Additional information

Foundation item: Project(11102224) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project(201206370124) supported by the China Scholarship Council, China

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Fan, X., Kulatilake, P.H.S.W., Chen, X. et al. Crack initiation stress and strain of jointed rock containing multi-cracks under uniaxial compressive loading: A particle flow code approach. J. Cent. South Univ. 22, 638–645 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-015-2565-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-015-2565-z

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