A Fracture-Surface in Igneous Rock

Fracture toughness measurements on igneous rocks using a high-pressure, high-temperature rock fracture mechanics cell

A sound knowledge of mechanical properties of rocks at high temperatures and pressures is essential for modelling volcanological problems such as fracture of lava flows and dike emplacement. In particular, fracture toughness is a scale invariant material property of a rock that describes its resistance to tensile failure. A new fracture mechanics apparatus has been constructed enabling fracture...

A new brittleness index for estimation of rock fracture toughness

Assessment of the correlation between rock brittleness and rock fracture toughness has been the subject of extensive research works in the recent years. Unfortunately, the brittleness measurement methods have not yet been standardized, and rock fracture toughness cannot be estimated satisfactorily by the proposed indices. In the present study, statistical analyses are performed on some data col...

Rock Fracture Image Segmentation Algorithms

Since rock fracture is a key property for different rock engineering applications, rock fracture measurement is often carried out in classifying the rock mass. Most geo-mechanics models (e.g. finite element) are of the equivalent continuum type in which fractures are represented not individually, but by their influence on a large element of the rock mass. Elastic modulus, for example, is obtain...

Direct Estimation of the Fractal Dimensions of a Fracture Surface of Rock

A direct determination of the fractal dimensions of a fracture surface is essential for a better understanding of its complete topographic characteristics. In this paper, a laser profilometer is employed to measure the topography of a rock’s fracture surface. With the use of the triangular prism surface area and projective covering methods, the resultant data set enables us to directly determin...

A deformed alkaline igneous rock – carbonatite complex from the 3 Western Sierras Pampeanas