Crack Initiation Behaviors of Granite Specimens Containing Crossing-Double-Flaws with Different Lengths under Uniaxial Loading

Crack initiation is an important stage in the failure process of rock masses. In this paper, crack initiation behaviors (crack initiation model, crack initiation location, crack initiation angle, and crack initiation stress) of granite specimens containing crossing-double-flaws with different lengths were investigated using PFC2D software. Crack initiation models were all tensile wing cracks, which did not exactly initiate from the main flaw with a length of 30 mm. They can initiate from the secondary flaw with a length 20 mm at α of 30° (included angle between main flaw and horizontal direction) and β of 90° (included angle between main and secondary flaws) and from main and secondary flaws at α of 30° and β of 60°. These were mainly induced by the superposition of stress fields around the main and secondary flaws as β varied from 0° to 90°, especially the tensile force concentration zones superposition. The tensile forces concentration zone around flaw shrank towards flaw tips with the increase of flaw’s inclinations measured horizontally. Under stress field superposition effects, the crack initiation stress decreased firstly and then increased with β at α of 30° and 45°. Crack initiation locations were close to flaw tips but not restricted to them. The distances between crack initiation locations and flaw tips, and the crack initiation angles depended on the flaw where first macrocracks initiated from. Microdisplacement field distributions of granite specimens to reveal the mesomechanism of crack initiation behaviors were discussed.

Numerical simulation of the interaction between a crack and an inclusion

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose the interaction integral method combing with a XFEM-based local mesh replacement method to evaluate both the stress intensity factors (SIFs) and T-stress at the crack tip near a circular inclusion. Design/methodology/approach Special attention is pay to the effect of T-stress on crack initiation angle in 2D composite medium. The generalized maximum tangential stress criterion is employed during the simulation which simultaneously involves the effects of the mixed-mode SIFs, the T-stress and a physical length scale rc (the size of the fracture process zone). Findings It is shown that T-stress could affect the crack initiation angle significantly for mixed-mode conditions. Varies types of material mismatch are also considered and their influences on T-stress are given quantitatively. Originality/value The proposed numerical method allows a considerable flexibility for such problems and provides a basic framework for quasi-static crack growth in materials containing complex interfaces.

Predictions of fracture load, crack initiation angle, and trajectory for V-notched Brazilian disk specimens under mixed mode I/II loading with negative mode I contributions

In this paper, first the fracture load, the crack initiation angle and the crack trajectory are experimentally measured for the round-tip V-notched Brazilian disk specimen made of polymethyl-methacrylate under compressive-shear loading. Then, the fracture load and the crack initiation angle are predicted by using the extended finite element method on the basis of the linear cohesive crack criterion. The fracture trajectory of the round-tip V-notched Brazilian disk specimens is also estimated by means of the extended finite element method and the incremental methods. Both the experimental observations and the theoretical fracture models indicate that although the notch bisector line is under compressive-shear loading, one half of the notch border still sustains tensile stresses and fracture takes place from this half. A very good agreement is shown to exist between the theoretical predictions and the experimental results for various notch opening angles and different notch radii.