• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.65-76
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• 2009

Little attention has been paid to Brazilian test for the estimation of uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of rocks as an indirect method despite high availability of civil engineering parameters. This paper employed Brazilian test value to estimate two parameters of igneous rocks (granite, andesite, rhyolite) of Korea. High reliability of Brazilian test has been supported by the conclusions drawn from point load test and Schmidt hammer strike values. It has also been found that this method can be applied easily and rapidly to the estimation of uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of rock cores when direct tests are not available.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.643-662
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• 2018

One of the methods for investigation of mechanical behavior of materials is numerical simulation. For simulation, its need to model behavior is close to real condition. PFC is one of the rock mechanics software that needs calibration for models simulation. The calibration was performed based on simulation of unconfined compression test and Brazilian test. Indeed the micro parameter of models change so that the UCS and Brazilian test results in numerical simulation be close to experimental one. In this paper, the effect of four micro parameters has been investigated on the uniaxial compression test and Brazilian test. These micro parameters are friction angle, Accumulation factor, expansion coefficient and disc distance. The results show that these micro parameters affect the failure pattern in UCS and Brazilian test. Also compressive strength and tensile strength are controlled by failure pattern.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 2019

The elastic modulus is an important parameter to characterize the property of rock. It is common knowledge that the strengths of rocks are significantly different under tension and compression. However, little attention has been paid to the bi-modularity of rock. To validate whether the rock elastic moduli in tension and compression are the same, Brazilian disc, direct tension and compression tests were conducted. A horizontal laser displacement meter and a pair of vertical and transverse strain gauges were applied. Four types of materials were tested, including three types of rock materials and one type of steel material. A comprehensive comparison of the elastic moduli based on different experimental results was presented, and a tension-compression anisotropy model was proposed to explain the experimental results. The results from this study indicate that the rock elastic modulus is different under tension and compression. The ratio of the rock elastic moduli under compression and tension ranges from 2 to 4. The rock tensile moduli from the strain data and displacement data are approximate. The elastic moduli from the Brazilian disc test are consistent with those from the uniaxial tension and compression tests. The Brazilian disc test is a convenient method for estimating the tensile and compressive moduli of rock materials.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.131-146
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• 2008

Many attempts have been made to determine the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of regular specimens of rock indirectly. But little experimental work has been done to find above two parameters using Brazilian test value up to date. This paper employs Brazilian test value to estimate uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of sedimentary (sand stone, shale) and metamorphic (gneiss) rocks. High reliability of Brazilian test has been supported by the established conclusions drawn from point load test and Schmidt hammer strike values. It has also been found that this method can be applied easily and rapidly to the estimation of uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of rock cores when direct tests are not available.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.165-178
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• 2020

This paper investigates the effect of the jaw's curvature, also known by contact angle and jaw arc central angle (2α), of the Brazilian test apparatus on indirect tensile strength of various rock types. That's why, ten rock samples including limestone, marble, skarn, granite, diorite, and granodiorite were collected from some quarries in different provinces of Iran. Petrographic, mineralogical and textural investigations were performed using thin section analyses. Physical properties of the selected rock samples namely dry and saturated unit weights, porosity, water absorption, and specific gravity were determined for the rock samples. In addition, Brazilian tensile strength at different 2α angles (i.e., 2α = 0°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 45°, and 60°) were determined for the rocks in the laboratory. Results show that the parameter for the rocks is between 3.81 MPa at 2α=0° and 54.76 MPa at 2α=60°. This means that Brazilian tensile strength increased with increasing 2α angle from 0° to 60°. Also, it was found that the highest change rate of the Brazilian tensile strength occurs in range of 2α=15°-30° for most studied rock samples. In some tested samples, the parameter is decreased only at 2α = 60°. The values of Brazilian tensile strength of the rocks tested by flat and standard jaws are near to each other.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.349-358
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• 2021

The Brazilian test has been widely used to determine the indirect tensile strength of rock, concrete and other brittle materials. The basic assumption for the calculation formula of Brazilian tensile strength is that the elastic moduli of rock are the same both in tension and compression. However, the fact is that the elastic moduli in tension and compression of most rocks are different. Thus, the formula of Brazilian tensile strength under the assumption of isotropy is unreasonable. In the present study, we conducted Brazilian tests on flat disk-shaped rock specimens and attached strain gauges at the center of the disc to measure the strains of rock. A tension-compression bi-modular model is proposed to interpret the data of the Brazilian test. The relations between the principal strains, principal stresses and the ratio of the compressive modulus to tensile modulus at the disc center are established. Thus, the tensile and compressive moduli as well as the correct tensile strength can be estimated simultaneously by the new formulas. It is found that the tensile and compressive moduli obtained using these formulas were in well agreement with the values obtained from the direct tension and compression tests. The formulas deduced from the Brazilian test based on the assumption of isotropy overestimated the tensile strength and tensile modulus and underestimated the compressive modulus. This work provides a new methodology to estimate tensile strength and moduli of rock simultaneously considering tension-compression bi-modularity.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2020

In this study the split ring (SR) test was investigated for its applicability to the measurement of the tensile strength of rock specimen of NX size. The concept of the SR test is the same as the half ring (HR) test (Choi et al., 2019) except that the expected fracture plane is perpendicular to the loading direction. Because of this perpendicularity, however, it was believed that the SR test could be more accurate than the HR test. Like the HR specimen, the SR specimen is a curved prismatic bar with a uniform section. Appealing to a basic bending theory in strength of materials, the tensile strength for the special bar can be calculated analytically. Numerical simulations using LS-DYNA revealed, as expected, that the strength errors were 1% and 5% for the tensional and compressional SR tests, respectively, which were much lower than that (12%) of the HR test. To identify the performance of the two SR tests, laboratory experiments were conducted. The HR and Brazilian tests were also performed for comparison. The experiments showed that the ratios of the tensional and compressional SR to Brazilian strengths were 1.2~1.4 and 1.1~1.2, respectively, which are too small compared to empirical values in ordinary bend tests. Consequently, it is concluded that the SR test is not appropriate for use in tensile strength test of rock specimen of NX size. But the ratio of the HR to Brazilian strengths was within 1.7~2.0 for both the previous and present studies, showing a good consistency in their test results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.343-351
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• 2018

Brazilian disc test is one of the most widely used experiments in the literature of geo-mechanics. In this work, the pre-holed concrete Brazilian disc specimens are numerically modelled by a two-dimensional discrete element approach. The cracks initiations, propagations and coalescences in the numerically simulated Brazilian discs (each containing a single cylindrical hole and or multiple holes) are studied. The pre-holed Brazilian discs are numerically tested under Brazilian test conditions. The single-holed Brazilian discs with different ratios of the diameter of the holes to that of the disc radius are modelled first. The breakage load in the ring type disc specimens containing an internal hole with varying diameters is measured and the crack propagation mechanism around the wall of the ring is investigated. The crack propagation and coalescence mechanisms are also studied for the case of multi-holes' concrete Brazilian discs. The numerical and experimental results show that the breaking mechanism of the pre-holed disc specimens is mainly due to the initiation of the radially induced tensile cracks which are growth from the surface of the central hole. Radially cracks propagated toward the direction of diametrical loading. It has been observed that for the case of disc specimens with multiple holes under diametrical compressive loading, the breaking process of the modelled specimens may occur due to the simultaneous cracks propagation and cracks coalescence phenomena. These results also show that as the hole diameter and the number of the holes increases both the failure stress and the crack initiation stress decreases. The experimental results already exist in the literature are quit agree with the proposed numerical simulation results which validates this simulation procedure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.67-75
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• 2000

The numerical simulation of Brazilian fracture toughness test is carried out using PFC code and the influence parameters are analyzed such as shape of loading plane, size of Brazilian disc and unit panicle of model, loading angle and loading rate. The flattened Brazilian disc is adopted for applying uniform load. The range of loading angle(2$\alpha$) necessary to induce the tensile crack at disc center and to obtain the load-displacement curve giving the critical load for the stable crack propagation is shown as 20$^{\circ}$~40$^{\circ}$. In condition that the loading angle is 20$^{\circ}$, the mode-I fracture toughness is evaluated almost constant in the range of particle size less than I mm and loading rate less than 0.01 mm/s. This range of influence parameters seems appropriate condition for the tensile crack initiation at disc center and the control of stable crack propagation, which can give the reliance in evaluation of fracture toughness by Brazilian test.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.320-328
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• 2000

The numerical simulation of Brazilian fracture toughness test is carried out using PFC code and the influence parameters are analyzed such as shape of loading plane, size of Brazilian disc and unit particle of model, loading angle and loading rate. The flattened Brazilian disc is adopted for applying uniform load. The range of loading angle(2$\alpha$) necessary to induce the tensile crack at disc center and to obtain the load-displacement curve giving the critical load for the stable crack propagation is shown as 20°∼40°. In condition that the loading angle is 20°, the mode-I fracture toughness is evaluated almost constant in the range of particle size less than 1 mm and loading rate less than 0.01㎜/s. This range of influence parameters seems appropriate condition for the tensile crack initiation at disc center and the control of stable crack propagation, which can give the reliance in evaluation of fracture toughness by Brazilian test.