Micromechanical study of loading rate effects between a hole and a crack

Abstract

The interactions between defects are important in rocks. The micromechanical interactions between a circular hole and a pre-existing crack under uniaxial compression with different loading rates are investigated by the discrete element method (DEM). The crack initiation, crack propagation, and crack coalescence at different loading rates are studied. The loading rates influence the primary as well as secondary cracks. Both the primary and secondary cracks disturb the stress field and displacement field. The DEM simulation explains the initiation position of the primary and secondary cracks. The evolution of the displacement field and the stress field at different loading rates is analyzed. A new displacement field type is observed. The hole is easier to be broken by compression at higher loading rates while it tends to be broken by the coalescence crack at lower loading rates. The high loading rates lead to shielding effects of the hole on the pre-existing crack.