Journal
ROCK MECHANICS AND ROCK ENGINEERING
Volume 45, Issue 5, Pages 739-751Publisher
SPRINGER WIEN
DOI: 10.1007/s00603-011-0205-y
Keywords
Indirect tensile strength; Brazilian test; RFPA method; Diametral loading of rock discs
Funding
- Australian Postgraduate Award/UQRS
- Golder Geomechanics Centre
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Indirect tension tests using Brisbane tuff Brazilian disc specimens under standard Brazilian jaws and various loading arcs were performed. The standard Brazilian indirect tensile tests caused catastrophic, crushing failure of the disc specimens, rather than the expected tensile splitting failure initiated by a central crack. This led to an investigation of the fracturing of Brazilian disc specimens and the existing indirect tensile Brazilian test using steel loading arcs with different angles. The results showed that the ultimate failure load increased with increasing loading arc angles. With no international standard for determining indirect tensile strength of rocks under diametral load, numerical modelling and analytical solutions were undertaken. Numerical simulations using RFPA(2D) software were conducted with a heterogeneous material model. The results predicted tensile stress in the discs and visually reproduced the progressive fracture process. It was concluded that standard Brazilian jaws cause catastrophic, crushing failure of the disc specimens instead of producing a central splitting crack. The experimental and numerical results showed that 20A degrees and 30A degrees loading arcs result in diametral splitting fractures starting at the disc centre. Moreover, intrinsic material properties (e.g. fracture toughness) may be used to propose the best loading configuration to determine the indirect tensile strength of rocks. Here, by using numerical outcomes and empirical relationships between fracture toughness and tensile strength, the best loading geometry to obtain the most accurate indirect tensile strength of rocks was the 2 alpha A = 30A degrees loading arc.
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