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Tensile behavior of layered rock disks under diametral loading: experimental and numerical investigations

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Abstract

The tensile strength and cracking behavior of layered rocks in a tensile stress field are one of the most significant characteristics of rock masses, which may strongly affect the stability of rock structures. The study presented here investigated the effect of layer spacing and inclination angle on the indirect tensile strength, crack development, failure pattern, and contact force chain of layered disks under diametral loading using experimental and numerical investigations. Numerous experimental models made from plaster were examined under diametral loading, and a two-dimensional Particle Flow Code (PFC2D) was adopted for in depth simulation of the failure process. Both numerical and experimental results were found to be in great agreement and showed that the increase in the layer orientation up to 15° results in the peak in the tensile strength followed by a decrease. Specimens with the spacing ratio (SR) of 0.5 and 0.1 showed the highest and lowest tensile and compressive stresses at the disk center, respectively. Moreover, the numerical analysis indicated the formation of three failure pattern types: TL, PB, and TL-PB. Tensile cracks mainly formed in the direction of diametral loading, and their maximum number formed at 15° and SR = 0.5. Additionally, the shear ones formed in a conjugate system and had negligible numbers. The analysis of the contact force chain showed that the layers do not affect the compressive force chain at α < 45° but at higher angles, the stronger layers transfer compressive force. However, when α ranges from 0° to 30°, tensile forces are distributed in stronger layers, and with an increase in α, the concentration of these forces in these layers diminishes and the forces are reoriented in the direction of diametral loading.

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Abbreviations

ISRM:

International society for rock mechanics

TL:

Through layer fracture pattern

PB:

Parallel to layer fracture pattern

TL-PB:

Mixed fracture pattern

PFC:

Particle flow code

FJ-BPM:

Flat-jointed bonded-particle model

DEM:

Discrete element method

SR:

Spacing ratio

UCS:

Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa)

E :

Modulus of elasticity (GPa)

σ t :

Tensile strength (MPa)

ν :

Poisson’s ratio

E c :

Particle modulus of elasticity (GPa)

\(\overline{\lambda }\) :

Radius multiplier

φ Fj :

Friction coefficient of flat-joint bonds

σ t -Fj :

Tensile strength of flat-joint bonds (MPa)

c Fj :

Cohesion coefficient of flat-joint bonds (MPa)

\({t}_{l}\) :

Thickness of the layers (mm)

t :

Disk thickness (mm)

\(\overline{E}_{c}\) :

Elastic modulus of flat-joint bonds (GPa)

k n :

Normal stiffness of ball contacts (N/m)

k s :

Shear stiffness of ball contacts (N/m)

R max :

Maximum radius of balls (mm)

R min :

Minimum radius of balls (mm)

\(\overline{k}_{s}\) :

Shear stiffness of flat-joint bonds (N/m)

\(\overline{k}_{n}\) :

Normal stiffness of flat-joint bonds (N/m)

σ xx , σ yy, σ xy :

Stress tensor components in global coordinate x,y (MPa)

α :

Layer inclination angle (◦)

D :

Disk diameter (mm)

P :

Applied load at the failure of the disk (N)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois St, Golden, CO, 80401, USA

    Mostafa Asadizadeh, Mehrdad Imani & Ahmadreza Hedayat

  2. Department of Mining Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

    Saeed Khosravi

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Soheil Abharian

  4. Department of Mining Engineering, Hamedan University of Technology, Mardom Street, Hamedan, 65155-579, Iran

    Jamshid shakeri & Nima Babanouri

  5. Department of Mining and Explosives Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, 65409, USA

    Taghi Sherizadeh

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Asadizadeh, M., Khosravi, S., Abharian, S. et al. Tensile behavior of layered rock disks under diametral loading: experimental and numerical investigations. Granular Matter 25, 21 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-023-01311-4

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