Experimental Investigation on the Tensile and Fracture Properties of Burst-Prone Coal under Quasistatic Condition

Abstract

To study the tensile and fracture properties of the specimen under the quasistatic loading, the Brazilian disc splitting method and the notched semicircular bend (NSCB) method were used to test the tensile properties of coal specimens, and the fracture properties of NSCB specimens with different notch depths were tested and analyzed. The applicability of plane strain fracture toughness KIC and J-integral fracture toughness in evaluating the fracture properties of coal specimens was discussed. The influence of notch depth on the fracture toughness measurement of the NSCB specimen was studied. Combined with the surface strain monitoring of specimens during loading and the industrial CT scanning image of damaged specimens, the deformation characteristics of coal specimen under loads and the distribution law of crack after failure were analyzed. The results show that the NSCB test is suitable for measuring the tensile strength of a coal specimen; when the dimensionless notch depth is β = 0.28, the dispersion of plane strain fracture toughness KIC of the NSCB specimen is the smallest. Besides, the plane strain fracture toughness of coal is obviously affected by the notch depth and dimensionless stress intensity factor. The J-integral fracture toughness can be used to effectively evaluate the fracture performance of specimens.