Numerical simulations on the structural heterogeneity and fracture bias effect of three-point bending specimen

Abstract

Granite is a common surrounding rock in tunnels, nuclear waste repositories, and other underground engineering. It is essential to investigate granite’s mechanical behavior and fracture mechanism at the mesoscale. In this paper, the three-point bending model considering granite meso-heterogeneity was constructed, and the three-point bending test and acoustic emission (AE) simulation were carried out under different crack sizes and porosities, different prefabricated fracture offset distances, and bedding conditions. The results show that large-size mineral particles and intrinsic fractures mainly determine the sample’s crack propagation pattern. As the prefabricated crack’s deviation distance increases, the sample’s peak load, fracture energy, number of AE events, and internal damage range all gradually rise. The sample’s crack propagation path has a distinct step shape due to bedding, and tensile fractures primarily occur in the through-layer crack, whereas shear fractures mainly occur at the bedding plane. The specimen’s surface crack’s fractal dimension is positively associated with the cumulative acoustic emission energy during the fracture process. The conclusion of the research can offer a theoretical foundation for analyzing the stability of the surrounding rock.