Investigations of Crack Expansion in Marble Having a Single Pre-existing Hole: Experiment and Simulations
YANG Sheng-qi
LU Chao-hui
QU Tao
Abstract：Un-iaxial compression tests on marble were performed with an SEM real-time obser-vation system. Crack initiation, expansion and development around a pre-existing hole in the marble sample were photographed and analyzed under different loads. The results show that cracks initiate from the end of the part near a tension stress concentration field of the pre-exist-ing hole. The crack then expands toward the boundary softening area along the direction of loading or along the boundary of a crystal grain. Rock failure process analysis numerical simu-lations were carried out on rocks with two different heterogeneity indexes. Again, the expan-sion appears to involve two kinds of crystal grains. The experimental crack expansion relation-ship agrees with the simulated results. Effects of crystal and size heterogeneity on crack expan-sion are discussed. It is shown that the expansion path of cracks strongly depends upon hetero-geneity of the material.
Keywords：Rock mechanicsmarbleheterogeneitycrackSEMnumerical simulation
Publication Date：2009-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 774-781 )