Abstract:

In analyzing intact rock strength, an important factor is heterogeneity. At the grain-scale, intact crystalline rock consists of a variety of mineral grains of different sizes and shapes. These features give rise to the micro-scale heterogeneity. A three dimensional Grain Based universal distinct element Model (3D-GBM) was developed to generate a deformable polyhedral grain-like structure to simulate the microstructure of brittle intact rock. The geometric heterogeneity is introduced into 3D-GBM by capturing the mineral grain size distribution. A geometric sorting coefficient is used to account for the degree of geometric heterogeneity. A number of rock-like samples are generated using a 3D-GBM realization methodology with different sorting coefficients. The effect of micro-scale geometric heterogeneity on the rock strength is explored by investigating the relationship between micro-scale behaviors and macro-scale responses. The observed characteristics of stress distribution and cracking behaviors are discussed.

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