Numerical study on full-field stress evolution and acoustic emission characteristics of rocks containing three parallel pre-existing flaws under uniaxial compression

A linear parallel bond model combined with Weibull distribution to take into account the mechanical heterogeneity of brittle rocks is used to investigate the cracking behavior, acoustic emission (AE) characteristics and full-field stress evolution of rocks containing three parallel pre-existing flaws under uniaxial compression. The intact model is calibrated to the macro mechanical properties of rocks obtained from laboratory tests. The numerical results indicate that the presence of three parallel pre-existing flaws weakens the mechanical properties of rocks. As the flaw inclination increases, uniaxial compression strength shows a trend of first decreasing and then increasing, and the elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio are roughly increasing. The displacement localization zones chronologically formed around pre-existing flaws can interact with each other, and the damage or fracture processes of pre-cracked samples are complicated. And the tensile stress in x direction concentrates around pre-existing flaws. As the flaw inclination increases, the tensile stress concentration area at the end of the pre-existing flaws in the x direction also changes, at the same time, the area of the tensile stress concentration area in the y direction gradually decreases. And AE events with high fracture intensity are located in the macroscopic shear zone or split zone.

Automated summary

A linear parallel bond model combined with Weibull distribution is used to investigate the cracking behavior and stress evolution of rocks containing three parallel flaws under uniaxial compression. The presence of flaws weakens the mechanical properties of rocks and leads to tensile stress concentration around the flaws. The interaction of displacement localization zones formed around flaws complicates the damage or fracture processes of pre-cracked samples.