• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.4
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• pp.497-505
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• 2018

Three points bending flexural test was modeled numerically to study the crack propagation in the pre-cracked beams. The pre-existing edge cracks in the beam models were considered to investigate the crack propagation and coalescence paths within the modeled samples. The effects of particle size on the single edge-notched round bar in bending test were considered too. The results show that Failure pattern is constant by increasing the ball diameter. Tensile cracks are dominant mode of failure. These crack initiates from notch tip, propagate parallel to loading axis and coalescence with upper model boundary. Number of cracks increase by decreasing the ball diameter. Also, tensile fracture toughness was decreased with increasing the particle size. In the present study, the influences of particles sizes on the cracks propagations and coalescences in the brittle materials such as rocks and concretes are numerically analyzed by using a three dimensional particle flow code (PFC3D). These analyses improve the understanding of the stability of rocks and concretes structures such as rock slopes, tunnel constructions and underground openings.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.663-673
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• 2018

In this study, the effect of particle size on the cracks propagation and coalescence or cracking pattern of the edge notched disc specimens are investigated. Firstly, calibration of PFC3D was performed using Brazilian experimental test output. Then micro parameters were used to build edge notched disc specimen. The horizontal wall of the assembly is let to move downward with a standard low speed of 0.016 m/s. The numerical results show that the tensile cracks are dominant failure pattern for the modeled discs. These tensile cracks initiate from the pre-existing notch tip and propagate parallel to the loading direction then interact with the upper boundary of the modeled specimen. As the size of the balls (ball diameter) decrease the number of tensile cracks increase. The tensile fracture toughness of the samples also decreases as the particle size increases. Understanding the crack propagation and crack coalescence phenomena in brittle materials such as concretes and rocks is of paramount importance in the stability analyses for engineering structures such as rock slopes, underground structures and tunneling.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.373-381
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• 2018

Hollow center cracked disc (HCCD) in Brazilian test was modelled numerically to study the crack propagation in the pre-cracked disc. The pre-existing edge cracks in the disc models were considered to investigate the crack propagation and coalescence paths within the modelled samples. The effect of particle size on the hollow center cracked disc (HCCD) in Brazilian test were considered too. The results shows that Failure pattern is constant by increasing the ball diameter. Tensile cracks are dominant mode of failure. These crack initiates from notch tip, propagate parallel to loading axis and coalescence with upper model boundary. Number of cracks increase by decreasing the ball diameter. Also, tensile fracture toughness was decreased with increasing the particle size. In this research, it is tried to improve the understanding of the crack propagation and crack coalescence phenomena in brittle materials which is of paramount importance in the stability analyses of rock and concrete structures, such as the underground openings, rock slopes and tunnel construction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.927-935
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• 2018

The mechanical behavior of the brittle material samples containing the internal and edge cracks are studied under direct shear tests. It is tried to investigate the effects of stress interactions and stress intensity factors at the tips of the pre-existing cracks on the failure mechanism of the bridge areas within these cracks. The direct shear tests are carried out on more than 30 various modeled samples each containing the internal cracks (S models) and edge cracks (E models). The visual inspection and a low power microscope are used to monitor the failure mechanisms of the tested samples. The cracks initiation, propagation and coalescences are being visualized in each test and the detected failure surfaces are used to study and measure the characteristics of each surface. These investigations show that as the ratio of the crack area to the total shear surface increases the shear failure mode changes to that of the tensile. When the bridge areas are fixed, the bridge areas in between the edge cracks have less strength than those of internal cracks. However, the results of this study show that for the case of internal cracks as the bridge area is increased, the strength of the material within the bridge area is decreased. It has been shown that the failure mechanism and fracture pattern of the samples depend on the bridge areas because as the bridge area decreases the interactions between the crack tip stress fields increases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 1987

Stress intensity factors are computed by the boundary element method employing the multiregion technique along with the double-point concept. To demonstrate the validity of the current method, the stress intensity factors of the well-known simple models such as a slanted edge crack and an arcular crack are determined, in advanced, which are proved to be in good agreement within 5% with the pre-existing solutions. Z-shaped cracks are analyzed with various branch crack lengths and branching angles.