Progressive failure of new modelling material with a single internal crack under biaxial compression and the 3-D numerical simulation

Abstract A new rock-like resin has been developed after extensive formula research. This resin is completely transparent and low temperature brittle. Its tension-compression ratio can reach 1/6.6 in the −10 to −15 °C temperature range. It can simulate many kinds of engineering rocks. Specimens are made with a single internal crack. The progressive failure processes of specimens under uniaxial and biaxial compressions are investigated. The uniaxial failure process of specimens is divided into four stages. Some forms of secondary cracks, like anti-wing cracks in biaxial test, have never been reported in previous studies. 3-D numerical simulation is carried out using FLAC3D. A new elastic-brittle constitutive model is developed in the simulation. Superfine element division is also required. The uniaxial and biaxial numerical results of the new method possess an excellent consistency with experiment results in this paper.