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  1. ; ; ( , 56th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium)
    ABSTRACT:

    Due to rock mass being commonly subjected to compressive or shear loading, the mode II fracture toughness is an important material parameter for rocks. Fracturing in rocks is governed by the behavior of a nonlinear region surrounding the crack tip called the fracture process zone (FPZ). However, the characteristics of mode II fracture are still determined based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), which assumes that a pure mode II loading results in a pure mode II fracture. In this study, the FPZ development in Barre granite specimens under mode II loading was investigated using the short beam compression (SBC) test. Additionally, the influence of lateral confinement on various characteristics of mode II fracture was studied. The experimental setup included the simultaneous monitoring of surface deformation using the two-dimensional digital image correlation technique (2D-DIC) to identify fracture mode and characterize the FPZ evolution in Barre granite specimens. The 2D-DIC analysis showed a dominant mixed-mode I/II fracture in the ligament between two notches, irrespective of confinement level on the SBC specimens. The influence of confinement on the SBC specimens was assessed by analyzing the evolution of crack displacement and changes in value of mode II fracture toughness. Larger levels of damage in confined specimens were observed prior to the failure than the unconfined specimens, indicating an increase in the fracture resistance and therefore mode II fracture toughness with the confining stress.

     1. INTRODUCTION

    The fracturing in laboratory-scale rock specimens is often characterized by the deformation of the inelastic region surrounding the crack tips, also known as the fracture process zone (FPZ) (Backers et al., 2005; Ghamgosar and Erarslan, 2016). While the influence of the FPZ on mode I fracture in rocks has been extensively investigated, there are limited studies on FPZ development in rocks under pure mode II loading (Ji et al., 2016; Lin et al., 2020; Garg et al., 2021; Li et al., 2021).

     
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  2. ; ; ; ; ( , Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering)
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  3. ; ; ( , 55th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium)
    null (Ed.)
    Fracturing in brittle rocks exhibits a significant nonlinear region surrounding the crack tip called the fracture process zone (FPZ). In this study, the evolution of the FPZ under pure mode II loading using notched deep beam under three-point loading was investigated. The experimental setup included the simultaneous monitoring of surface deformation using the two-dimensional digital image correlation technique to characterize various crack characteristics such as its type and FPZ evolution in Barre granite specimens. Both displacement and strain approaches of the two-dimensional digital image correlation were used to identify the mode of fracture under pure mode II loading. Both approaches showed that the crack initiation occur under mode I despite the pure mode II loading at the notch tip. The displacement approach was used for characterizing the evolution of the FPZ which analyzed the crack tip opening displacement and crack tip sliding displacement to identify the transition between the three stages of FPZ evolution, namely, (a) elastic stage, (b) formation of the FPZ, and (c) the macro-crack initiation. The results showed that the evolution of the FPZ of mode I fracture under pure mode II loading is similar to cases of pure mode I loading of the same rock. 
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    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available
  4. ; ; ( , 54th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium)
    null (Ed.)
    Fracturing in brittle rocks with an existing crack results in the development of a significant nonlinear region surrounding the crack tip called the fracture process zone. Various experimental and numerical studies have shown that the crack tip parameters such as the crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) and the fracture energy are critically important in characterizing the fracture process zone. In this study, numerical simulations of rock specimens with a center notch subjected to three-point bending were conducted using the extended finite element method (XFEM) along with the cohesive zone model (CZM) to account for fracture process zone. The input parameters of CZM such as the elastic and critical crack opening displacements were first estimated based on the results of three-point bending tests on the center notched Barre granite specimens. Displacements were measured using the two dimensional digital image correlation technique and used to characterize the evolution of the fracture process zone and estimate the parameters of the cohesive zone model. The results from the numerical simulations showed that CZM provided a good agreement with experimental data as it predicted all three stages of cracking from fracture process initiation to macro-crack growth. 
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    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available