Fracture Damage Evolution Research Articles

Experimental Study on Energy Release Mechanism and Crack Propagation Evolution of Sandstone under True Triaxial Loading

The instability of hard and brittle rock often leads to disastrous consequences in underground engineering. Under various surrounding rock pressure conditions, in situ stress induces corresponding deformation and damage to the floor post-mining. Therefore, it is crucial to examine the effects of mining under different confining pressures on rock disturbance, damage characteristics, and their distribution. Consequently, triaxial loading experiments under varying intermediate principal stress conditions were conducted on red sandstone specimens, using an acoustic emission monitoring system to track energy changes during rock damage and failure. This approach aids in studying crack generation, propagation, and fracture damage evolution. The results indicate that rock deformation results in axial compression and dilatancy, aligned with the direction of minimum and intermediate principal stresses. Ductility in rock failure becomes more pronounced with increased stress, primarily manifesting as shear failure. Internal cracks in the specimen lead to stress concentration and marked plastic deformation under compression, yet do not result in macroscopic surface cracks. The fracture angle θ of specimens post-failure generally exceeds 45° and varies with stress changes; at consistent burial depths, the angle of the sandstone failure surface increases with intermediate principal stress. This paper preliminarily establishes the informational linkage between rock failure and energy release, analyzing the rock samples over time and space. This research offers insights for analyzing and mitigating sudden rock instability.

The mechanical response characteristics of sapphire under dynamic and quasi-static indentation loading

Sapphire is widely used as optical materials and substrate materials due to its excellent physical and chemical properties. The mechanism of crack propagation and fracture damage evolution has important significance for improving the manufacturing quality and application performance of sapphire parts. In this study, dynamic and quasi-static indentation tests have been performed on the c-plane and a-plane of sapphires by Hopkinson pressure bar tester and continuous indentation tester, respectively. The crack propagation path in sapphire has been captured by High-speed camera and the crack velocity has been calculated. The crack propagation and fracture damage evolution has been analyzed based on the fracture morphology of specimen. It was found that the bearing capacity of sapphire is related to the loading velocity, while the crack propagation is affected by the crystal orientation. Under the indentation loading, the cracks in sapphire first propagate steadily, and then the cracks begin to propagate uncontrollably after reaching the critical conditions, where the crack propagation velocity obviously increases, typically from 204 m/s to 1006 m/s (dynamic indentation) or from 0.0032 m/s to 820 m/s (quasi-static indentation). And the crack propagation velocity depends on the loading speed at stable stage. The r-planes of sapphire are weaker than other crystal planes and are prone to crack propagation.