A note on the fracture propagation and time-dependent behavior of rocks in uniaxial tension

Specimens of Berea sandstone, Barre granite, Tennessee marble, and Valder limestone were tested at various strain rates under uniaxial tension. The strengths increased with strain rates but the rates of increase and the shapes of postfailure region of the complete load-deformation curves varied. Sequential pictures were also taken along the complete load-deformation curves of Berea sandstone and Tennessee marble tested under uniaxial tension. Final fracture resulted from coalescence of cracks and ‘advanced’ cracks along more or less a single plane.