Seminar

Rock fracture mechanics has been widely applied in solving rock engineering problems such as shale-gas exploitation, underground excavation and slope stability assessment, etc. Therefore, it is of great significance to understand fracture mechanical properties of rocks. Mode I fracture toughness is one of the most important fracture mechanical properties of rocks which indicates the capability of rocks to resist crack initiation and propagation. The International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) proposed a new suggested method for determining the mode I static fracture toughness using semi-circular bend specimen in 2014. Since granite is one of the most common igneous rocks in Hong Kong as well as throughout the world, the fracture mechanical properties, including mode I fracture toughness, micro-cracks evolution, fracture process zone development, crack propagation speed, fracturing surface morphology of Hong Kong granite will be experimentally studied based on static semi-circular bend test. In addition, the fracture mechanical properties of granite are largely influenced by its microscopic properties such as mineral composition, texture (grain size and shape, grain size distribution) and micro-defects, etc. The influencing mechanism of microscopic properties on fracture mechanical properties will be further demonstrated. The research will not only contribute to rock engineering planning, design and construction, but also provide guidance for further numerical studies.