Mode I fracture toughness determination with straight notched disk bending method

A new method called the straight notched disk bending method is developed for mode I fracture toughness determination using rock cores. Disk specimens of andesite and marble having a single straight edge notch were subjected to three-point bending loads. Dimensionless stress intensity factor estimations and fracture toughness tests were conducted for different notch lengths, span lengths, thicknesses and diameters of the cylindrical rock specimens. Stress intensity factors were computed by three-dimensional finite element modeling and the results were presented for a wide range of specimen geometrical parameters. Results of experiments were compared to the results of well-known mode I fracture toughness testing methods. For specimens having thickness equal to the radius, mode I fracture toughness was lower and close to the results obtained by semi-circular bending method. When thickness was increased and doubled, mode I fracture toughness increased and approached to the value found by the suggested cracked chevron notched Brazilian disk method. Advantages of the new method included easy specimen preparation and testing procedure, stiffer specimen geometry, smaller fracture process zone, and flexibility of the specimen geometry for the investigation of the size effect behavior.