The Influence of Materials Structure on the Main Features of the Fracture Process in Rocks: Discrete Elements Method and Laboratory Experiment

A computer model of fracture of the heterogeneous materials (including rocks) based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is proposed. We used the bonded particle model (BPM), various modifications of which are widely used in the study the fracture process. The material is modeled by a set of spherical particles (simulating polycrystalline grains) connected by bonds placed at the points of particle contacts (simulating grain boundaries). In BPM model, the initiation of cracks was determined by the bonds breakage, and their propagation is provided by the coalescence of many broken bonds. Computer experiments were carried out for the materials with different features (various grain mechanical properties and sizes, various mechanical properties of the grain boundaries), in order to find out the influence of these parameters on local stresses and the defect formation. Calculations were held in the MUSEN software. Cylindrical samples were filled with spherical particles of the same or different radii. The parameters of materials for grains and bonds (grain boundaries) were taken corresponding to granite, quartz, orthoclase, oligoclase, and glass. The sample was placed in a virtual press, in which the lower plate was stationary, and the upper plate moved towards the lower one at a constant velocity until the sample was destroyed. The calculation of the maximum local stresses showed that the homogeneity of material leads to greater space heterogeneity of local stresses and vice versa, heterogeneity contributes to their greater uniformity. Comparison with the results of laboratory experiments on rock deformation showed that the proposed model of polycrystalline materials realistically describes some features of their destruction when the main processes occur along the grain boundaries. These features include the brittle nature of homogeneous materials fracture and the presence of nonlinear elasticity (plasticity) for ones that were more heterogeneous. For heterogeneous materials, the model demonstrates a two-stage character of fracture process, when at the first stage the accumulation of defects occurs uniformly over the sample, and at the second stage – the formation and growth of the fracture site.