Numerical simulation of fracture in rocks

The processes of localized deformation band formation and crack generation in brittle-plastic materials are simulated numerically in various loading conditions. The patterns of cracking and strain localized band for a sandstone specimen in compression and are obtained. To describe inelastic behavior of pressure-sensitive materials, the mathematical tools and concepts of plasticity theory are employed. In the computations the Nikolaevskii model with a non-associated flow rule is used. In the course of "plastic" deformation damages, are accumulated. Macrocrack opening and material fracture are described explicitly. For this purpose the node-splitting technique is used and the free-surface conditions are given on newly formed boundaries. This provides self-acting account of crack generation for the entire calculation area in the course of deformation. The use of the considered approaches in describing the behavior of a rock specimen as an ideal homogeneous medium allows a good agreement of fracture patterns as well as of various types of stress-strain dependences with the experimental findings. In order to describe in detail the behavior peculiarities of heterogeneous porous and cracked materials, it is necessary to give due consideration for their structural features and crack growth.