Micromechanical Model for Simulating the Fracture Process of Rock

Abstract

A micromechanical model is proposed to study the deformation and failure process of rock based on knowledge of heterogeneity of rock at the mesoscopic level. In this numerical model, the heterogeneity of rock at the mesoscopic level is considered by assuming the material properties in rock conform to the Weibull distribution. Elastic damage mechanics is used to describe the constitutive law of meso-level elements, the finite element method is employed as the basic stress analysis tool and the maximum tensile strain criterion as well as the Mohr-Coulomb criterion is utilized as the damage threshold. A simple method, similar to a smeared crack model, is used for tracing the crack propagation process and interaction of multiple cracks. Based on this model, a numerical simulation program named Rock Failure Process Analysis Code (RFPA) is developed. The influence of parameters that include the Weibull distribution parameters, constitutive parameters of meso-level elements and number of elements in the numerical model, are discussed in detail. It is shown that the homogeneity index is the most important factor to simulate material failure with this model. This model is able to capture the complete mechanical responses of rock, which includes the crack patterns associated with different loading stages and loading conditions, localization of deformation, stress redistribution and failure process. The numerical simulation of rock specimens under a variety of static loading conditions is presented, and the results compare well with experimental results.