Modelling of anisotropic damage in brittle rocks under compression dominated stresses

Abstract

A new model for describing induced anisotropic damage in brittle rocks is proposed. Although phenomenological, the model is based on physical grounds of micromechanical analysis. Induced damage is represented by a second rank tensor, which is related to the density and orientation of microcracks. Damage evolution is related to the propagation condition of microcracks. The onset of microcrack coalescence leading to softening behaviour is also considered. The effective elastic compliance of the damaged material is obtained from a specific form of Gibbs potential. Irreversible damage-related strains due to residual opening of microcracks after unloading are also captured. All the model's parameters could be determined from conventional triaxial compression tests. The proposed model is applied to a typical brittle rock. Comparison between test data and numerical simulations shows an overall good agreement. The proposed model is able to describe the main features related to induced microcracks in brittle geomaterials. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.