On the pressure dependence of strength of rocks and the coulomb fracture criterion

Abstract The observed microfracturing before faulting in rocks provides a basis for a physical model for the internal friction and the cohesive stress of the Coulomb criterion. Based on recent experimental results in the literature, the applicability of the Coulomb criterion is reexamined. The pressure dependence of strength of brittle rocks can be predicted approximately by the Coulomb criterion using measured values of sliding friction, except for a low-pressure region for certain rocks and near the brittle-ductile transition pressure. Deviation at low pressure seems to be explained either by the effect of cracked state or by different fracture mechanisms at low confining pressures, and deviation near the transition pressure is attributed to the increase of local yielding or fracturing before faulting.

[1]  William C. Maurer,et al.  Shear Failure of Rock Under Compression , 1965 .

[2]  W. Brace,et al.  Electrical resistivity changes in saturated rocks during fracture and frictional sliding , 1968 .

[3]  Variation of the Elastic wave Velocities of Rocks in the Process of Deformation and Fracture under High Pressure , 1960 .

[4]  Kiyoo Mogi,et al.  Study of Elastic Shocks Caused by the Fracture of Heterogeneous Materials and its Relations to Earthquake Phenomena , 1962 .

[5]  J. Byerlee.  Brittle-ductile transition in rocks , 1968 .

[6]  E. C. Robertson.  EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE STRENGTH OF ROCKS , 1955 .

[7]  F. Rummel,et al.  Brittle Fracture of Rocks , 1972 .

[8]  J. C. Jaeger,et al.  Fundamentals of rock mechanics , 1969 .

[9]  C. Scholz,et al.  Dilatancy in the fracture of crystalline rocks , 1966 .

[10]  John A. Franklin,et al.  Developments in triaxial testing technique , 1970 .

[11]  James D. Byerlee,et al.  Frictional characteristics of granite under high confining pressure , 1967 .

[12]  H. C. Heard.  Chapter 7: Transition from Brittle Fracture to Ductile Flow in Solenhofen Limestone as a Function of Temperature, Confining Pressure, and Interstitial Fluid Pressure , 1960 .

[13]  Kiyoo Mogi,et al.  Pressure Dependence of Rock Strength and Transition from Brittle Fracture to Ductile Flow. , 1966 .

[14]  J. Handin,et al.  On the Coulomb‐Mohr failure criterion , 1969 .

[15]  C. H. Scholz,et al.  Experimental study of the fracturing process in brittle rock , 1968 .

[16]  M. Paterson,et al.  Experimental deformation of serpentinite and its tectonic implications , 1965 .

[17]  S. Murrell,et al.  The Effect of Triaxial Stress Systems on the Strength of Rocks at Atmospheric Temperatures , 1965 .

[18]  W. R. Wawersik,et al.  Post-failure behavior of a granite and diabase , 1971 .

[19]  S. Matsushima.  On the Deformation and Fracture of Granite under High Confining Pressure , 1960 .

[20]  Evert Hoek,et al.  Rock fracture under static stress conditions , 1965 .

[21]  J. Handin,et al.  Experimental Deformation of Sedimentary Rocks Under Confining Pressure: Tests at Room Temperature on Dry Samples , 1957 .

[22]  J. C. Jaeger,et al.  The Mechanical Properties of an Interlocked Low-Porosity Aggregate , 1968 .

[23]  C. Scholz.  THE ROLE OF MICROFRACTURING IN ROCK DEFORMATION , 1970 .

[24]  J. C. Jaeger.  The frictional properties of joints in rock , 1959 .

[25]  E. Orowan,et al.  Chapter 12: Mechanism of Seismic Faulting , 1960 .

[26]  J. Byerlee.  Reply [to “Comment on ‘On the Coulomb-Mohr failure criterion’ by John Handin”] , 1969 .

[27]  Kiyoo Mogi,et al.  Fracture and flow of rocks , 1972 .