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

Xiang Fan, P. H.S.W. Kulatilake, Xin Chen, Ping Cao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

The ratio of crack initiation stress to the uniaxial compressive strength (SCI,B/SUC,B) and the ratio of axial strain at the crack initiation stress to the axial strain at the uniaxial compressive strength (SA,S CI,B /SA,S UC,B 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: SCI,B/SUC,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°, A,S CI,B /SA,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 A,S CI,B /SA,S UC,B and β; however, the average A,S CI,B /SA,S UC,B seems to slightly decrease with increasing k. The variability of A,S CI,B /SA,S UC,B is found to increase with k. Based on the cases studied in this work, A,S CI,B /SA,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 SCI,B/SUC,B. The highest variability of ± 0.12 for A,S CI,B /SA,S UC,B is obtained for k=0.8. For the remaining k values the variability of A,S CI,B /SA,S UC,B can be expressed within ± 0.05. This finding is very similar to the finding obtained for the variability of SCI,B/SUC,B.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)638-645
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Central South University
Volume22
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2015

Keywords

  • PFC model
  • axial strain at crack initiation stress S
  • crack initiation stress (S)
  • jointed rock
  • multi flaws
  • uniaxial loading

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering
  • Metals and Alloys

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