Modeling of the indirect tensile test for inhomogeneous granite using a digital image-based numerical method

Abstract

A digital image based numerical modeling method is presented in this paper. Actual microstructure and inhomogeneity of granitic rocks are extracted from digital image of rock material crosssections. They are incorporated into existing numerical methods to examine the rocks response under different loading conditions. Digital image processing algorithms are first developed to identify and classify the internal inhomogeneous distribution of the main rock minerals in digital image format. Then, the main rock mineral distributions are transferred into vector data. These vector data are incorporated into the existing numerical modeling software FLAC. Finally, in the FLAC program, Mohr-Coulomb plastic model are adopted to examine the Brazilian indirect tensile test and try to show effect of main rock minerals on the propagation of tension zone along the loading axis. The numerical results of homogeneous and inhomogeneous cases are compared. The results show the effects of different granite minerals on the failure progress associated with the Brazilian indirect tensile tests. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd.