Numerical simulation of Brazilian disk rock failure under static and dynamic loading

A numerical simulator based on RFPA (Rock Failure Process Analysis) is used to study the deformation and failure process of a Brazilian disk of heterogeneous rock when subjected to static and dynamic loading conditions. In this simulator, the heterogeneity of rock is considered by assuming that the material properties of elements conform to a Weibull distribution; an elastic damage-based law that considers the strain-rate dependency is used to describe the constitutive law at mesoscopic scale; and a finite element program is employed as a basic stress analysis tool. The simulator is firstly validated by simulating the dynamic spalling of a homogeneous rock bar and by comparing with the theoretical and experimental results. Then, the failure process of a Brazilian disk of rock subjected to static and dynamic loading is numerically simulated, and the numerical results are compared with the available experimental results. Particular attention is given to the typical failure patterns of the rock disk when the incident compressive stress waves with different amplitudes are applied. The numerical simulation also identifies the failure mechanisms of rock during dynamic failure processes that are closely related to the propagation of the stress wave.