A micromechanics-based elastoplastic damage model for quasi-brittle rocks

N. Xie (1) , Q.-Z. Zhu (2) , L.-H. Xu (1) , J. F. Shao (1)

1 LML - Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille - FRE 3723
2 MSME - Laboratoire de Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle

This paper presents a micromechanics-based elastoplastic damage model for quasi-brittle rocks under a compressive stress state. The plastic strain is considered to be related to frictional sliding along microcracks, and it is coupled inherently with damage evolution. By following a homogenization procedure, we determine the free energy of the matrix-cracks system. The thermodynamic force associated with the inelastic strain contains a back stress, which controls material hardening. Next, in order to determine plastic flow and crack propagation, we propose a Coulomb-type friction criterion, which is used as the plastic yielding function, and a damage criterion based on strain energy release rate. These thermodynamic formulations with a micro-macro scale change allow reducing significantly the number of model parameters, as compared to phenomenological models. Our model is applied to simulate triaxial compression tests on two sets of diabase samples. The first sample set is cored from a fresh diabase rock mass, and the second from a slightly weathered one. Comparisons between numerical predictions and test data are presented.

Domaines: Mécanique des solides [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des solides [physics.class-ph]

N. Xie, Q.-Z. Zhu, L.-H. Xu, J. F. Shao. A micromechanics-based elastoplastic damage model for quasi-brittle rocks. Computers and Geotechnics, 2011, 38 (8), pp.970-977. ⟨hal-00749199⟩