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Experimental study on cracking behaviour of moulded gypsum containing two non-parallel overlapping flaws under uniaxial compression

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Abstract

Failure of rock mass that is subjected to compressive loads occurs from initiation, propagation, and linkage of new cracks from preexisting fissures. Our research investigates the cracking behaviour and coalescence process in a brittle material with two non-parallel overlapping flaws using a high-speed camera. The coalescence tensile crack and tensile wing cracks were the first cracks to occur from the preexisting flaws. The initiation stresses of the primary cracks at the two tips of each flaw were simultaneous and decreased with reduced flaw inclination angle. The following types of coalescence cracks were identified between the flaws: primary tensile coalescence crack, tensile crack linkage, shear crack linkage, mixed tensile-shear crack, and indirect crack coalescence. Coalescence through tensile linkage occurred mostly at pre-peak stress. In contrast, coalescence through shear or mixed tensile-shear cracks occurred at higher stress. Overall, this study indicates that the geometry of preexisting flaws affect crack initiation and coalescence behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 41572310, 41272351), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grants XDB10030301, XDB10030304). The first author is thankful for the support provided by the CAS-TWAS Presidential Fellowship, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Lekan Olatayo Afolagboye, Jianming He & Sijing Wang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lekan Olatayo Afolagboye

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  1. Lekan Olatayo Afolagboye
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  2. Jianming He
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  3. Sijing Wang
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Correspondence to Lekan Olatayo Afolagboye.

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Afolagboye, L.O., He, J. & Wang, S. Experimental study on cracking behaviour of moulded gypsum containing two non-parallel overlapping flaws under uniaxial compression. Acta Mech. Sin. 33, 394–405 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-016-0624-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-016-0624-9

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