• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 1996.03a
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• pp.1-10
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• 1996

Fracture toughness of rock materials, which generally violate the fundamental assumptions of LEFM, often depends on the specimen size and test method employed. Hence, a standardized procedure for testing and data interpretation for determining fracture toughness of rock materials is required. Special attention has been given by the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) to the difficulties in obtaining true fracture mechanics parameters for the wide variety of rock materials. (omitted)

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.86-94
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• 2009

A three dimensional rock joint element was developed considering fracture mechanics and subcritical crack growth to simulate non-linear behavior and the progressive failure of rock joints. Using this 3-D joint element, joint shear tests of rock discontinuities were simulated by a numerical method. The asperities on the joint surface began to fail at stress levels lower than the rock fracture toughness and continued progressively due to subcritical crack growth. As a result of progressive failing in each and every asperity, the joint showed non-linear stress-time behavior including stress hardening/softening and the reaching of a residual stress.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.315-327
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• 1999

Rock fracture mechanics has been widely applied to blasting, hydraulic fracturing, rock slope and many other practical problems in rock engineering. But a measuring method for the fracture toughness of rock, one of the mort important parameters in fracture mechanics as an intrinsic property of rock, has not been yet well established. To obtain mode I rock fracture toughness, the more favorable disc-typed specimens such as CCNBD, SCB, chevron-notched SCB and BDT were used in this study. Rock fracture toughness under mixed-mode and mode II conditions was measured by using the STCA applied to the CCNBD specimen. Size effects such as specimen thickness, diameter and notch length on fracture toughness were investigated. From the mixed-mode results, fracture envelops were obtained by applying various regression curves. The mixed-mode results were also compared with three mixed-mode failure criteria. In each fracture toughness test, acoustic emission was measured to get the data for determining the load levels of different crack propagation patterns.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.79-93
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• 2006

It is well known that acoustic emission (AE) is indicator of rock fracturing or damage as rock is brought to failure under the uniaxial compressive loads. In this paper, an experimental study on the source location of acoustic emission on the cylindrical specimens of granite under uniaxial compression test was made. The AE source location was made by measuring the six channel AE data. Comparing to this experiment, the numerical method is applied to model the initiation and propagation of fracture by AE using a numerical code, RFPA (Realistic Failure Process Analysis). This code incorporates the mesoscopic heterogeneity in Young's modulus and rock strength characteristic of rock masses. In the numerical models, values of Young's modulus and rock strength are realized according to a Weibull distribution in which the distribution parameters represent the level of heterogeneity of the medium. The results of the simulations show that RFPA can be used not only to produce acoustic emission similar to those measurements in our experiments, but also to predict fracturing patterns under uniaxial loading condition.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.237-247
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• 2001

In this study, the fracture mechanics model as well as the elastic model was reviewed theoretically and four field case studies were conducted to investigate the feasibility of fracture mechanics model for hydraulic fracturing test. There was a difference between the result by fracture mechanics model and the one by elastic model. And the smaller initial crack length is, the larger the difference is. It is considered that the fracture mechanics model can be applied to the specific case of which the crack length is known. In this study, the rock tensile strength is measured using fracture mechanics model, brazilian test and elastic model. The measured tensile strength by the fracture mechanics model is the largest and the elastic model is the smallest. This result is due to the size effect of the each test. And the tensile strength from the elastic model for hydraulic fracturing test can be used to estimate the in-situ rock tensile strength.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.481-495
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• 2015

Many hydropower stations in southwest China are located in regions of brittle rock mass with high geo-stresses. Under these conditions deep fractured zones often occur in the sidewalls of the underground caverns of a power station. The theory and methods of fracture and damage mechanics are therefore adopted to study the phenomena. First a flexibility matrix is developed to describe initial geometric imperfections of a jointed rock mass. This model takes into account the area and orientation of the fractured surfaces of multiple joint sets, as well as spacing and density of joints. Using the assumption of the equivalent strain principle, a damage constitutive model is established based on the brittle fracture criterion. In addition the theory of fracture mechanics is applied to analyze the occurrence of secondary cracks during a cavern excavation. The failure criterion, for rock bridge coalescence and the damage evolution equation, has been derived and a new sub-program integrated into the FLAC-3D software. The model has then been applied to the stability analysis of an underground cavern group of a hydropower station in Sichuan province, China. The results of this method are compared with those obtained by using a conventional elasto-plastic model and splitting depth calculated by the splitting failure criterion proposed in a previous study. The results are also compared with the depth of the relaxation and fracture zone in the surrounding rock measured by field monitoring. The distribution of the splitting zone obtained both by the proposed model and by the field monitoring measurements are consistent to the validity of the theory developed herein.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 2009

Numerical analysis of the progressive failure of a rock slope was conducted using a 3-D rock joint element considering fracture mechanics and subcritical crack growth of asperities in the rock joints. Even though the stress state in the rock slope is not changing, the elapse of time causes subcritical crack growth to break asperities in the joints. The increase of broken asperities causes failure of joints in the rock slope and the increase of failed joints results in failure of a jointed rock slope. As a result, the progressive failure of a jointed rock slope due to the gradual breaking of small asperities along joints generated by subcritical crack growth occurs at a lower stress than if rock failure occurred by exceeding the static strength or fracture toughness.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.3 s.62
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• pp.209-217
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• 2006

Literatures on the fracture mechanics and damaged zone of rocks were studied to estimate the excavation and blasting damaged zone for rapid tunneling. Fracture mechanics were applied to explain fracture mechanism and to estimate damaged zone and seemed to be applicable for controlling the fractures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.129-137
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• 2000

This paper presents groundwater flow characteristics in discontinuous rock mass using fracture network program(NAPSAC) by statistical approach. Equivalent permeability coefficients are estimated from borehole data around Mabuk test tunnel site and fracture map on the arch of the tunnel. The reliability of fracture network model is obtained from determination of input data for statistical fracture network analysis from the real data(data of fracture network, data of hydraulic tests). The variation of permeability and mean anisotropic permeability coefficients are calculated from the realized model by increasing the size. As a result of analysis, a strong anisotropy of permeability is observed according to the direction of the fracture sets around the test tunnel.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.2
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• pp.283-296
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• 2020

The coupled hydro-mechanical loading conditions commonly occur in the geothermal and petroleum engineering projects, which is significantly important influence on the stability of rock masses. In this article, the influence of flaw inclination angle of fracture behaviors in rock-like materials subjected to both mechanical loads and internal hydraulic pressures is experimentally studied using the 3-D X-ray computed tomography combined with 3-D reconstruction techniques. Triaxial compression experiments under confining pressure of 8.0 MPa are first conducted for intact rock-like specimens using a rock mechanics testing system. Four pre-flawed rock-like specimens containing a single open flaw with different inclination angle under the coupled hydro-mechanical loading conditions are carried out. Then, the broken pre-flawed rock-like specimens are analyzed using a 3-D X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning system. Subsequently, the internal damage behaviors of failed pre-flawed rock-like specimens are evaluated by the 3-D reconstruction techniques, according to the horizontal and vertical cross-sectional CT images. The present experimental does not only focus on the mechanical responses, but also pays attentions to the internal fracture characteristics of rock-like materials under the coupled hydro-mechanical loading conditions. The conclusion remarks are significant for predicting the rock instability in geothermal and unconventional petroleum engineering.