JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 88, NO.

Btt, PAGES 9485-9492, NOVEMBER t0, 1983

A Microcrack Model for the Deformation

and Failure of Brittle Rock

L. S. COSTIN

Sandia National Laboratories

A continuummodelderivedfrom the mechanicsof tensilemicrocracksis presentedwhichdescribes the

deformationof brittle rock. The model employsthe assumptionthat stressand time-dependentmicro-
crack growth is responsiblefor the inelasticdeformation.Microcrack growth is assumedto occurby two
mechanisms:stress-induced crack growth (time independent)and stresscorrosion(stressand time depen-
dent). From the analysisof individual cracksa criterion for the initiation of damage(crack growth) is
derived.This resultsin the specificationof initial and subsequentdamagesurfacesin stressspacewhich
are similar to yield surfacesin the theory of plasticity.When the stressstateis below the damagesurface,
no stress-induced crack growth can take place. For stressstateson the damagesurface,crack growth
accompaniesany increasein loading, thus expanding the damage surface.By generalizingthe results
obtainedfrom the analysisof singlecracks,a continuumdescriptionof the behaviorof an ensembleof
cracksin an otherwiseelasticbody is derived.The resultingconstitutiveequationis essentiallyelasticbut
accountsfor material behavior due to microcrack growth through the inclusion of an internal state
variable which is a measureof the crack state.The form of the evolutionaryequation for the crack state
parameteris determinedfrom the fracture mechanicsanalysisof singlecracksand experimentalresults
on time-dependentcrack growth in rock. Model simulationsof quasi-staticuniaxial and triaxial com-
pressiontestsare presented,and the resultsare comparedto the resultsof a similar laboratory test on
Westerlygranite.

INTRODUCTION alizing the behaviorof a singlefractureto that of a random

Time- and stress-dependentdeformation and fracture of ensembleof microcracks. A furtherresultof this approachis
rock are phenomenawhich are important in many practical that a "yield"conditionarisesnaturallyfrom the analysisof
situations.The closureof undergroundexcavations,the failure tensilecrackgrowthand,thus,doesnot haveto be specified
of mine pillars, and the long-term motion along faults are independently,as is usuallydonein elastic-plastic
models.In
examplesof time- and stress-dependent effectswhich must be thiscaseyieldoccurswhenthe materialreaches the damage
threshold where internal stressesare sufficient to cause micro-
consideredin the design of such structuresas nuclear waste
repositories,storagecavernsfor compressed gasor oil, and in crack growth. Finally, by castingthe microcrackmodel into a
situ oil shale retorts. In order to gain a sufficientunderstand- continuumframework,a constitutivelaw is providedwhich
describes the inelastic deformation of brittle rock.
ing of inelasticdeformationin brittle rock for modeling and
predictionof the long-term responseof subsurfacestructures, MECHANICSOF MICROCRACKGROWTH
it is necessaryto investigatethe basic micromech•inismsof
deformation and to relate these mechanisms to characteristic Time-Independent Behavior
macrOscoPic
(continuum)
rockproperties. In this section, we will consider the conditions for initiation
In the past few years,the nucleationand growth of tensile of microcrackgrowth in the absenceof stresscorrosion or
microcracks has been established as a dominant mechanism in othertime-dependent
processes.
Time-dependent
crackgrowth
the short-term deformation and failure of brittle rock under will be discussed in a later section.
compressiveloading [Hallbauer et al., 1973; Tapponnierand In a polycrystallinemediumlike rock, nonhydrostaticcom-
Brace,1976; Wawersikand Fairhdrst,1970; Wawersikand pressive loads generate local tensile stresses.These local
Brace, 1971]. Microcrack growth is also important in creep stresses generallyarisefrom material propertymismatchesbe-
deformation of brittle rock where .•time-dependent crack tweengrainsor from contactstresses betweengrainswith ir-
growth occursby a stresscorrosionmechanism[Andersonand regular grain boundariesI-Wawersik,1968; Tapponnierand
Grew, 1976; Martin, 1972; Waza et al., 1980; Sano et al., 1981; Brace, 1976]. It is these local, concentrated,tensile fields
Costin and Holcomb, 1981]. In this paper, a continuum model whichleadto the nucleation and growthof microcracks. The
derivedfrom the mechanicsof tensilemicrocracksis presented microcracksare predominantlyorientedparallel to the direc-
which describesthe deformation of brittle rock. The purpose tion of greatestprincipalcompressive stressor, equivalently,
of this model is to demonstrate,quantitatively,that most of as shownin Figure 1, in directionsperpendicularto the direc-
the well-known continuum behavior of brittle rock under tionsof tensiledeviatoricstressI-Tapponnier
and Brace,1976;
monotonic or constant (creep)loading can be interpreted in Wawersik and Brace, 1971]. Since these microcracksare ten-
termsof tensilecrack growth.The presentmodel is uniquein sile in nature(modeI opening)and are, for the most part,
that the dependenceof crack growth on the applied stresses alignedwith the principaldirectionsof the appliedstresses,
it
and time is deriveddirectlyfrom fracturemechanicsprinciples seemsnatural to assume,for modeling purposes,that on
applied to individual microcracks.The evolution of a popu- average,
the localtensilestress
fieldsactingon individual
lation of cracksin a material elementis specifiedby gener- crackshavethe sameorientationand are proportional in
magnitudeto the positiveprincipaldeviatoricstresses
(Figure
1).
This paperis not subjectto U.S. copyright.Publishedin 1983by In order to derive the conditions for initiation of microcrack
the AmericanGeophysicalUnion.
growth,it is usefulto examinethe stressfield actingnear the
Paper number 3B1273. tip of an isolatedcrack in a linear elasticbody. For coordi-
9485
9486 COSTIN'. A MICROCRACK MODEL FOR DEFORMATION OF BRITTLE Roche

This assumptionappearsto be valid until very dose to the

ultimate failure stress[Tapponnier and Brace, 1976]. As the
rock approachesfailure,cracksbegin to interact,finally form-
ing macrocracksand faults. However, for the purposesof
modeling progressivedamage, the point at which individual
cracks begin to interact significantlyis consideredto be the
onset of failure, and the development of faulting and other
suchfeaturesis consideredto be postfailurebehavior.
For a brittle rock subjectedto nonhydrostaticcompressive
loads, the applied stressfield can be describedas the sum of
the mean compressivestress(aAA/3< 0) and the deviatoric
stress.Thus the total stressintensity factor associatedwith
each microcrackmay be consideredas the sum of the contri-
butions of these two stresses.First, there is a negativestress
Fig. 1. Schematicdiagramof the relationshipbetweenlocal stresses intensitydue to the hydrostaticcomponentof the stressfield.
and applied stresses. Second,there is a positive stressintensity due to the local
tensilestresscreatedduring deviatoricloading.Note that here,
as in the remainderof this paper, the usual engineeringsign
nates (r, 0) centeredat the crack tip (Figure 2), the stress
conventionis used;that is, tensionis positiveand compression
perpendicularto the crack line can be expressed as [West-
is negative.
ergaard, 1939; Paris and Sih, 1965]
The hydrostatic component is proportional to the mean
Ki stressand is independentof orientation with respectto the
ay- (2zrr)l/2
fy(O)
+'" (1) stressfield. To preservethe simplicity of the analysis,it is
whereKt is the stressintensityfactor and is a measureof the assumedthat the cracks are penny shapedwith a radius a.
stresssingularityat thecracktip.Thefunction f•(0)isa known Thus the stressintensityfactor due to the hydrostaticcompo-
functionof the angle 0. The higher-ordertermsin r arc left off' nent of the stressfield can be expressedas
becausewc arc consideringonly a region very dose to the 2a•A
crack tip wherethe singularterm will dominate.Equation (1) Kn= • (•ra)
1/2 (3)
shows that the near crack tip stressfield can bc completely
specifiedby determiningthe value of Kt. Thus K• is a single where Kn is alwaysnegativeunder compressive loadingand
parameterdescriptionof the near crack tip field and contains actsas an inhibitingfactor to crack growth.
all the information essentialto the descriptionof the stress The deviatoriccomponentof the stressintensityfactor is
somewhat more difficult to estimate since it arises from local
field, such as external loading, crack dimension, and body
geometry.For an infinite body subjectedto tensile stressa tensilestressesin the regionsurroundingthe crack.The mag-
and containinga crack of length 2a, K• may bc expressedas nitude of theselocal tensilefieldsis proportional to the mag-
[Paris and Sih, 1965] nitude of the tensilecomponentsof the principal deviatoric
stress.The principaltensiledirectionsare assumedto be the
Kt = o'(•ra)
1/2 (2) same as those of the deviatoric stress(Figure 1). Thus the
in finite bodies,Kt has the same general form, modified by deviatoricportionof the stressintensityfactoris proportional
multiplying coefficientsto accountfor specimengeometry. to the applieddeviatoricstress;however,it is alsoa function
of crack orientation relative to the stress field. Therefore the
As a crackedbody is loaded, Kt increasesuntil a critical
value is reached when the crack begins to propagate. This stressintensitydue to the tensileprincipal deviatoricstress
critical value of Kt is designatedKtc, the fracture toughness, componentin the ith direction,Si,is approximately
and is assumedto be a material property. Thus for any crack Ks,• f•l(y)S,(•ra)
•/2 (4)
in an elasticbody, K t can be computed;and if K t > K tc, the
crack will extend. Here, it is appropriate to commenton the wheref is a proportionalityfactor betweenthe local tensile
fact that in this paper we are dealing with the behavior of stressand the applieddeviatoricstressSi and •(7) is an orien-
microcracks,whereas,the fracture toughnessconceptswe are tation factor dependingin the angle 7 betweenthe crack
normal and the tensile field direction.
applyinghereare usuallyonly appliedto macrocrackgrowth.
Several recent studieshave focusedon determiningthe frac- Equation(4) is not quite complete,however,sincewe must
also account for the fact that the local tensile field is limited in
ture toughnessof different rocks as a function of crack length
[Schmidtand Lutz, 1979; Costin, 1981; Schmidtand lngraffea,
1978]. The results of these studies indicate that the fracture
toughnessconceptcan be appliedto crackson the microscale.
However,the magnitudeof K/c may be somewhatdifferentfor
a microcrack than for a macrocrack in the same rock due to
y
differencesin the relative size of the near crack tip process
zone.

In determiningthe stressintensity factor for an individual

microcrackin a givenrock, it is assumedhere that the crack is
isolatedfrom neighboringcracks.Thus the spatial extent of
perturbationsin the stressfield due to neighboringcracksis
assumedto be small comparedto distancesbetweencracks. Fig. 2. Crack tip coordinates.
 COSTIN.'A MICROCRACKMODELFORDEFORMATION
OF BRITTLEROCK 9487

directions.In this case,F(7) is assigneda nominal value which

extent. As the crack begins to grow, the tensile stressis re-
representsthe statisticalaverageorientation and tensilefield
lieved. Therefore the crack driving force must depend on two
strengthover somefinite region.
length parameters:the crack length a and the size of the ten-
sile region d. Assumingpenny-shaped cracks,the deviatoric Damagesurface. In order to move from the analysisof the
componentof the stressintensityfactor can be approximated behavior of individual cracksto a continuum theory, only one
by additional assumptionis required. We assume that an en-
sembleof microcrackscontainedin someregionof the body
Ks.-- Si F(Y)Ota)
•/2 (5) behaves in a manner similar to an individual crack. That is,
' •t d
the equation describingthe responseof an ensembleof cracks
where the stressrelief due to crack growth is assumedto be is identical in form to the equation which describesthe re-
linear in a and the proportionality and orientation factors sponse of a singleisolatedcrack (equation(9)) exceptthat now
have been combinedinto F(y). In general,it can be expected a representsa measureof mean crack size.The other parame-
that the relaxation of the tensilestresswith crack growth will ters must also be thought of as averagevaluesassociatedwith
be more complexthan the linear function usedhere; however, the continuum response.As with the singlecrack case,we can
a detailed analysisof this problem resulting in a more com- considerthat there are three ensemblesof cracks in a given
plex relaxationfunctionis probablyunwarrantedin this early region, each aligned with one of the three principal stress
stageof model development.The fact that relaxationoccursis directions.Thus a becomesa vector,ai(i = 1, 2, 3), the compo-
the important concept,not the exact functionalform. In fact, nents of which representa measure of the crack size in the
inclusionof a more complexrelaxationfunctionwill not sig- three principal stressdirections.For example, ai is the crack
size measure of the ensemble of cracks whose normals are
nificantlyalter the major resultsderivedfrom the model.
The extent of the local regionsof tensionis related to some aligned with the ith principle stressdirection. Further, a takes
microstructuralfeaturesuchas grain size,but it must also be a on the character of a state variable describing the state of
function of the applied loads. As deviatoric loading increases, crack damage in the material. The parameter F(•,) takes care
it is expectedthat both the extent of the tensileregionsand of transformingthe real situation of more or less randomly
their magnitudewill increase.For simplicitywe assumethat oriented cracks (in the virgin material) to the idealizationof
crackspreferentiallyorientedto the principal stressdirections.
As a sampleof rockis loadedin deviatoriccompression, it
Sido
d=S'• (6) initially responds elastically. When the externally applied
loads reach a sufficientmagnitude,the stressintensity factor
where So is somenominal thresholdstressand do is the mini-
associatedwith the most favorablyorientedcracksreachesthe
mal tensilestressinfluencedistance,probably of the order of
critical value,and thesecracksbeginto grow. This is the point
the grain size. Both So and do may be consideredmaterial
where damage begins to accumulate.Letting K t = Ktc, the
parameters.Combining(5) and (6) yields
fracturetoughnessfor a microcrack,in (9) and rearrangingthe
terms,we derive the followingexpression
Ks.=-
, Si-
so)
a F(yX•ta)
•/2
(7)
Equation(7) has the featurethat onceKs, = Ktc, the crack 1 akk_(k,2F(7nKtc
Y•=S,+3-• )'•i)TMSoai)=0 (10)
+•oo
will growin a stablemannerin orderto maintainequilibrium. where Y•= 0 (i = 1, 2, 3) is a surfacein stressspacethat repre-
This is a necessaryrequirement,sinceit is well known that sentsthe condition of crack growth for cracks,ai, with nOr-
microcrackswhich extendundercompressive loadingdo so in mals in the ith principal stressdirection.Equation (10) might
a stable manner. The fact that tensile stress relief occurs as a be thought of as being similar to a yield condition in the
resultof crackgrowthmakesthispossible.
Further,it should theory of plasticity exceptthat here Y•= 0 representssurfaces
be notedthat evenduringstablegrowth,all crackspropagate of constantdamageinsteadof surfacesof constantplasticpo-
by smalljumpsto thenextequilibriumposition.Thesejumps tential. It is alsointerestingto note that (10) has a form similar
in crackgrowth
release
smallamounts
ofelastic
energy
in the to a Coulomb-Mohr yield condition exceptthat F(7) is now a
form of acoustic emissions.Thus even though the crack stress orientation coefficient instead of the frictional coefficient
growthprocesshasbeenmodeled ascontinuousandsmooth associated with the Coulomb-Mohr criterion. The function of
according
to (7), it in no way meansthat acousticemissions crack sizeappearingin (10),
are ruled out or neglected.
The total stressintensityfactor applied to an isolated •tKtc So
microcrackis, then, the sum of two components: Siø(ai)
--2F(7)(rtai)
•/2+•oo
ai (11)
Kt = K• + Ks, (8) servesas a memory function in that it remembersthe maxi-
mum crack sizeachieved.Figure 3 showsa plot of the damage
or
surfacesin mean stress/deviatoricstressspace.As seenin the
figure, the initial damage surfacewith a• = ai0 (initial crack
Kt=- (ga)
1/2 + Si-•00 ]
a F(y) (9) size)is a straightline with interceptS•ø(a•o). Once crack
growth occurs,a increasesas dictatedby (10); thus subsequent
It shouldbeemphasized
that Si represents
theprincipaldevia- surfaces
are alsostraightlineswith intercepts
S•ø(a•).
This,of
toric stress in the ith direction. If more than one deviatoric course,assumesthat F(7) is constantfor constantdamage.F(•,)
stresscomponentexertsan influenceon a givencrack,then beingconstantfor constantdamageis quite reasonable;how-
F(•,)may be usedto sortout the influence eachhason the ever, F(7) will undoubtedly change with increasingdamage
crack.Thisis equivalentto assuming
that eachcrackis orient- because cracks with less favorable orientations will be ac-
ed with its normal along one of the three principal stress tivated as the stressincreasesthuschangingthe mean orienta-
9488 COSTIN: A MICROCRACKMODEL FORDEFORMATIONOF BRITTLEROCK

FAILURE
indicating that the material was beginningto dilate. Dilation
can be attributed to the growth of microcracks;thus the defi-
nition of yield by Brace et al. [1966] roughly correspondsto
O •
• SUBSEQUENT
DAMAGE
SURFACE ours (equation (10)). Figure 4•showsa plot of the data from
S i(aoc)
J • ac>a>aø Brace et al. [1966] in mean stress/deviatoricstress(S• = Sx =
S2) space.The data fall along a straight line, as predictedby
si(>o) a INCREASING
the model (equation(10)).Using a least squaresfit to the data,
S•(a) F(7) and S•ø(aio)
weredetermined
to be 2.13 and 18.9MPa,
respectively.By assumingthat the initial mean crack lengthis
• •INITIAL DAMAGE of the order of 1.0 mm [Tapponnierand Brace, 1976] and that
K•cisapproximately
1.0MPax//-•,
theratioSo/do
wasdeter-
S?(a
o)
..•,.......••F
1 SURFACE mined from (11) to be 5740 MPa/m.
There is someuncertaintyas to how the valueof K•c should
be determined.Sincethe microcracksare essentiallypropagat-
- O'kk/3
ing throughsinglecrystals,it might seemmost appropriateto
Fig. 3. Initial and subsequent
damagesurfaces. use the singlecrystal value of K•c. However, most rocks are
madeup of severalmineralsand microcracksgrowingin the
tion of the activecracks[Kranz, 1979]. Thereforethe linesof various grains have different orientations.Also, many cracks
constantdamagein Figure 3 shouldincreasein slopeas initiate and grow along grain boundaries.Thus the fracture
increases.
However,sincethereis no explicitway, as yet, of toughnessderived from a macrocrack propagating through
determininghow the mean crack orientationchangeswith many grains and grain boundaries would probably give a
increasingdamage, it will be assumed,for the remainder of more representativeaveragevalue of K•c. In addition,there is
thispaper,that F(7) is constant. a secondproblem to be dealt with when determiningan ap-
On unloadingfrom a damagedstate,ai doesnot change, propriate value of fracture toughnessfor microcrackgrowth.
resultingin a memory of the previousmaximum dcviatoric For most rocks the fracture toughnessapparently decreases
stressstate.This effectis observedexperimentally
by i*ccording with decreasingcrack length [Ouchterlony,1980]. For crack
acousticemissionsas the rock is loaded.Initially, relatively lengthsin the rangeassociatedwith microcracks(• 1 mm), the
few emissionsare recorded,indicatingno significantcrack fracture toughnessmay be as low as 30% of the fracture
growth. When a critical stresslevel is reached,emissionsin- toughnessmeasuredusinglarge cracks[Schmidtandlngraffea,
creaseand continueat a high rate until unloadingoccurs. 1978]. The fracture toughnessof Westerly granite, as deter-
During unloadingand reloading,emissions are substantially mined
frommacrocrack•propagation
experiments,
isapproxi-
reduced until the previous maximum stressis reached, at mately 2.0-2.6 MPax/m [Schmidtand Lutz, 1979]. Thus
which point the emissionrate picksup to its previoushigh extrapolating this value down to the microcrack range in a
level [Kurita and Fujii, 1979;Haimsonand Kim, 1977].This manner similar to Schmidt and lngraffea [1978], a fracture
phenomenon,usually referred to as the Kaiser effect,illus- toughness
ofapproximately
1.0MPa-x•wasdetermined
to
trates the result obtainedfrom (10): that the rock remembers be a reasonable value for use in the model. The fact that the
the previousmaximumstressstatethroughthe mechanismof fracturetoughnessmay increasesomewhatas the microcracks
changingmicrocrackstates. growshouldhavelittle effecton the model.For the rangeof
Braceet al. [1966] havedoneextensivetestingof Westerly microcrackgrowthexpectedin mostbrittle rock (• 2-6 mm)
granitein statesof triaxialstress.In thesetests, the changein fracturetoughness is negligible.
all stresses
beingcompressive (negative).Typically,a confining Failurecriterion. In additionto the initial yieldpoints,the
pressureis appliedfirst, then os is increasedcomprcssivclylocusof failure pointsis also shownin Figure 4. The failure
until the samplefails,the confiningpressure (ox = o:) remain- curve is well representedby a straightline, but its slopeis
ing constant.A yieldpoint wasdefinedas the point wherethe somewhatsteeperthan that of the initial damagesurface.This
volumestrainfirstdeviatesfrom the elasticcompression line, is expectedsince the mean orientation of the active cracks
(F(y))is changingas the rock proceeds from initial damageto
350
failure[Kranz, 1979;Braceand Bombolakis, 1963].Thusthe
i i i i i i i i
subsequent damage surfacesshould increase in slopeuntil the
300 -
WESTERLY
GRANITE final damage surfacematches the failure curve. The failure
250 - DATA
OF
BRACE
et
al. • _ surface,then, representsa surfaceof critical crack density
where cracksbegin to interact and form macrocracks,which
200- _ ultimately lead to structuralfailure.
Unfortunately,we have no way of determiningexplicitly
150- _

how the crack orientationchangeswith increasingdamage;

thus we have chosena slightlydifferentway to representthe
100 /S•(ac
ø
_

process.For our initial modeling effort, presentedhere, we

assumethat F(•) is a constant determinedby the initial
50 ß INITIAL
F=
S?(a
2.18
YIELD

o)=18.9MPa
_
damagesurface(Figure4). Then all subsequent damagesur-
facesare parallelto the initial surface,as shownin Figure3.
Oo 5•) 1•0 11•i02•0 250
I ,
300 I 4•)O 450
350 I 5OO Failure occurswhenthe crackdensityin any directionreaches
-1/3 •kk (MPa) a critical value ac.However,in light of the assumptionthat
Fig. 4. Initial damageand failure curvesfor Westerlygranite from F(7) is constant,ac must be a functionof the mean stress.If
the data of Brace et al. [1966]. thiswerenot so,the failurecurvewouldalsobe parallelto the
 COSTIN:A MICROCRACKMODEL FORDEFORMATION
damagecurves.The functionaldependenceof ac on the mean
stresscan be rationalizedby the fact that the applicationof
hydrostaticstresscan delay the onsetof failure by stabilizing
weak regionsand making the coalescence of microcracksinto
faults more difficult. The variation of critical crack density
with stresscan be representedempiricallyby
ac= a•o+ ba•,•,
3
(12)
whereacois the crack densityassociatedwith the interceptof
the failure curve as shown in Figure 4, and b is a constant
(b _<0) which can be determinedfrom the slopeof the failure
curve in conjunctionwith (11). It should be emphasizedthat
failure, as defined in the context of the model, is the point
where crack interaction begins.In general,this will be some-
what beforethe point at which structuralfailure occursby the
coalescenceof cracks into a fault zone. However, in triaxial
tests up to modest pressures(100 MPa), the point of crack
interactionis very closeto the point of true failure (ultimate
stress).Thus the failure curve derived from these tests can be
used to calibrate the model.
Time-DependentBehavior
In the presenceof a chemicallyactive environment,such as
water vapor, cracks can grow under subcritical conditions,
Kt < Kw. This is especiallytrue in rocks with a high silica
content [Andersonand Grew, 1976]. In experimentson glass
!-Wiederhornand Bolz, 1970], pure quartz [Martin, 1972], and
rocks [Henry et al., 1977; Waza et al., 1980] it has been
shown that the rate of crack growth is related to the applied
stressintensityfactor. This relationshipcan be describedap-
proximately
by
Oa
gressivecracking.In addition, void spaceis created in the
0-•= Fet•' Kt> 0 (13) material when microcracksopen up under the action of the
local tensilestresses.
where F and/9 are material parameterswhich are functionsof
environmental conditions, principally temperature and the
partial pressureof water vapor. In contrastto glass,the crack
velocity curvesof rock do not show the classicthree-region
structure [Wiederhorn and Bolz, 1970; Waza et al., 1980].
Also, there is no indication that a minimum stress threshold
for stress corrosion exists in rock. Thus it is assumed that for
K t > 0 some degree of stresscorrosion is taking place, al-
thoughcrackgrowthratesmay be veryslow(lessthan 10-8
m/s)for Kt < «Ktc.
By combining(9), (10), and (13), the crack parameter a• can
be determined as a function of both stress state and time. At
any given stressstate the nominal stressintensity applied to
cracksorientedin the ith principal stressdirectionis given by
(9). Thus the crack growth due to applied stressescan be
determined from (10) (if the damage threshold has been ex-
ceeded)and the crack growth rate can be computedfrom (9)
and (13).
Summary
Before proceeding to the next section, we would like to
summarizethe microstructuralaspectsof the model discussed
above.The model is an attempt to describethe physicalpro-
cessof microcrack growth in deformingrock in terms of a
parameter which can then be used as a state variable in for-
mulating a constitutive law. The essentialphysical concepts
involved are that local tensile stresses are created when an
inhomogeneous
material is loadedin nonhydrostaticcompres-
OF BRITTLEROCK 9489
sionand that theselocal tensilestresses
are responsible
for the
propagation of microcracks.The criterion used to determine
whencrackswill propagateis that the stressintensityfactor,
which describesthe magnitudeof the stressfield around the
crack tip, reachesa critical value. If the appliedstresswere
fixed and the tensilestressglobal,crack propagationat the
critical point would be unstable.However, becausethe tensile
stresses are local,crackpropagationrelievesthesestresses,
and
thusthe crackpropagates in sucha way asto maintainequi-
librium with the appliedstresses (equation(10)).The major
assumptions involvedin (10) are that the scalingof the local
stressfieldis proportionalto the appliedstressesand that the
stressrelief due to crack growth is a linear function of the
crack length. Both of theseassumptionsare somewhatarbi-
trary. However, the fact that the physicalconceptsof local
stress fields and crack-induced stress relief are included in the
model is important, whereas the exact functional form that
theseconceptstake is probablylessimportant.
CONSTITUTIVEEQUATION
In theprevioussectionwederiveda meansof describing the
microcrackdamagethat occursin rock during deformation
(equations(10), (12), and (13)) in termsof a crack damage
parameter.In thissectionwe will describehow sucha param-
eter can be incorporated into a constitutive law which then
describes
the deformationof brittle rock under a varietyof
loadingconditions.In the virgin material,beforeany micro-
crack growth has occurred, the stress-strainrelation can be
representedadequately by a linear-elastic law, where the
effect of the preexistingmicrocracksis includedin the initial
moduli. Once crack growth occurs,deformationbecomesnon-
linear,andtheeffective
modulicontinually
changedueto pro-
To accountfor thesetwo mechanisms,
the total straincan be decomposed
into two parts:onepart,
ecm,due to the deformationof the crackedelasticmatrix, and
a secondpart,ecv,dueto the openingof thesecracks,creating
void space:
/•total
._.Ecm
_[_
/•cv (14)
During inelasticdeformation,only cracksof certainorienta-
tions will participatein the growth process.Thus an initially
isotropicdistributionof microcrackswill slowlychangeto an
orthotropicdistributionas the deformationproceeds.In most
practical applicationsin rock mechanics,all three principal
stressesare compressivewith a3 < a2 _<a•, resulting in S•,
S2 > 0, and S• < 0. Thus cracks will grow predominantly
parallel to the a• direction.In the simplestcaseof practical
interest,
a2 = a•, the distribution
of microcracks
will become
axisymmetricabout the a• axis,and thereforethe material can
be modeled adequatelyas transverselyisotropic [Rudnicki,
1977].
The cracked matrix strain gemcan be determined from the
usualequationsof elasticity.The principalstrainsare givenby
0.1
e•m=__ R•2a2 - R•3a3 (15a)
E•
0' 2
e2½m=--- R2•0'• -- R230'3 (15b)
E2
0'3
e3cm= •- R3•0'• -- R320'2 (15c)
E3
9490 COSTIN' A MICROCRACKMODEL FORDEFORMATION
OF BRITTLEROCK

whereE• are the Young'smoduliand Ro are modulion the where T• is the local tensile stressapplied to the crack and is
order of Poisson'sratio dividedby Young'smodulus.Of the derivedfrom (9) as
elasticmoduli in (15) only the El are functionsof crack den-
sity.Thisisbecause
themoduliRo areessentially
ratiosof two
moduli (v/E) each of which is affectedto nearly the same so
T•=• + Si-•oo ]F(7) T•_>0
(ai-ao) (21)
degreeby crack growth. For an initial Poisson'sratio of and ki are elasticmoduli which are related to the stiffnessof
v < 0.3 and an isotropiccrackdistribution,the ratio vie will the material around the crack. Becauseki is essentiallya
be unaffectedby crack growth [Budianskyand O'Connell, Young'smodulusfor the material around the crack,it should
1976]. As the crack distributionbecomesanisotropicdue to be degradedwith crack growth in the sameway as El. Note
preferredgrowthorientations,
Ro may changeslightly,but that (21) has (ai- ao) insteadof just ai as appearsin (9). This
thesechanges
will be of secondordercomparedto changes
in is becausethe tensileopeningforce doesnot affect the virgin
the other moduli. Since v < 0.3 for most brittle rock, the ratios cracks.The effectof openingforceson the initial crack distri-
Ro canbe assumed
to be independent
of crackgrowthand bution is included in the initial moduli.
can be determinedfrom the initial elasticmoduli of the virgin By combining(14)-(20), the total principal strains can be
material,Eo and Vo.Therefore written as

R = R0 = vo/Eo (16)
ai
el=Eo[1 - R(akk
-(Dia/ci)] - O'i)
"['•i
riDia i= 1,2,3
The remainingmoduli El are strongfunctionsof crackden-
sity. Budianskyand O'Connell[1976] have shownthat the (22)
elasticmoduli of a crackedelasticsolidhave the generalform
For most casesof practical interest,such as triaxial compres-
E
• = 1-- (17) sion, where the principal stressdirectionsdo not changerela-
Eo c tive to material directionsduring the deformation,T3 = 0 and
where g is a characteristic linear crack dimension and c is a the variation in E3 is due to crackswith normalsin the 1, 2
combination of elastic constants and crack distribution coef- plane. Also, prior to damagingin any direction,Di = 0; thus
ficients. (22) are alsovalid for the initial elasticbehavior.
Beforeproceedingfurther,it is convenientto introducea COMPARISON OF THEORY WITH EXPERIMENTS
nondimensionalcrack parameter ON WESTERLY GRANITE

In order to compare the theory developedhere with rock

Di- ac
ai--- ao
ao
(18)
behavior measuredin the laboratory, uniaxial and triaxial
tests were simulated using model parametersevaluated for
whereao and ac are the initialandcriticalvaluesof the crack Westerly granite. The appendix lists the valuesof the elastic
parametera. Thus 0 <_D <_1 wherethe two extremesrepre- moduli and other parametersused in the calculations.The
sentvirginandfailedmaterial,respectively. A similarparame- damageand failure conditionsshownin Figure 4 were usedto
ter wasintroducedby GradyandKipp [1980] to representthe
evaluate damage criterion parameters(equation(10)) and the
extentof damagein a fracturedbodywith D beinginterpreted critical crack density(equation(12)).
as the volume fraction of material that can no longer support
tensilestress.Using D as the internal state variable repre- Quasi-StaticUniaxial and Triaxial Compression
sentingtheextentof crackdamage,theeffective
elasticmoduli Two model simulations of quasi-staticcompressiontests
can be written as
were performed: a uniaxial test and a triaxial test with 100-
MPa confining pressure.Both tests being performed on dry
Ei=Eoi(1--Di3•
i=1,2,3 (19)
Westerlygraniteat a sufficiently
rapidstrainrate(10-3 s-1)
that time-dependenteffectswere neglected.The uniaxial test
The coefficients
cecan be determinedexperimentallyby noting
the reduction in modulus that occurs at failure. Ultrasonic
simulationis shownin Figure 5 and comparedto the experi-
mental resultsof Brace et al. [ 1966]. The strongdilation of the
measurementsmade during triaxial testson rock indicate that
material near failure is accuratelycharacterizedas is the axial
the axial modulusE3 is only slightlyaffectedbecausethe ma-
stress-strain behavior.A similar comparisonis made in Figure
jority of cracks are oriented parallel to the 3 direction. The
6 for the triaxial test at 100-MPa confiningpressure.Because
transversemoduli are more severelyaffected,being reduced
the initial elasticmodulus Eo includesthe effectof the initial
20-40% of their original value. Thus the value of ci can be
estimatedto be in the range 2.5-10, dependingon the severity WESTERLY GRANITE
of crack growth in that particular direction. Pc = O
The strain due to crack openingcan be estimatedfrom the
results of Walsh [1965] and Kachanov [1980]. The volume

2501
• ; • • 250
createdby crack openingmust be proportionalto the tensile • 200 • 200
• '• THEORY,,,,%
stressappliedto the crackand alsoproportionalto a3 (or D3).
Since the model assumesthat the cracks are predominantly •• / // •• 150 EXPERIMENT
• ½•oo
oriented with their normals in the principal stressdirections,
81cv+ 82cv+ 83cvmust reflectthe void volume created.There-
fore, elcvmust have the followingform • 1GO[
••EXPERIMEN
• iEXPE7
5oF/.
0•
0
i

AXIAL
•
I
i
2

STRAIN
i
3

- •3(10'3)
•
4 5
.
VOLUME
5o
0
-3

STRAIN
-2 -1

- •kk(10-3)
0 I 2

Fig. 5. Comparisonof modelpredictionwith experimental resultsof

gicv
_.•iDi3 (20) Braceet al. [1966] for a uniaxialteston Westerlygranite.
 COSTIN' A MICROCRACKMODEL FOR DEFORMATIONOF BRITTLE ROCK 9491

WESTERLY GRANITE
Pc = 100 MPa test history.The computationalresultsshownin Figure 7 are
dividedinto threeregions.At the highstrainrates,•3 > 10-•
s-•, the predictedfailuresare rate independent
because load-
• 1OOO
,oo•XPERIME•
, 1OOO]
••• - ""
ing occursso rapidly that the stresscorrosionmechanismhas
little time to act. Thus crack growth is entirely stressinduced.
\/ 1'; ' At strainratesin therange10-9 _•g3--•10-• stress
corrosion
•l•400•
/.•.•.THEORY
• • , EXPERIMENT.
i/ • ¾ 4ooh ",,•,/ becomesincreasinglydominant, leading to a progressivede-
creasein strengthwith decreasingstrain rate. Finally, at •3 •
m
0•
0.000 0.010
. ,
0.020
m
01
]
I I
/
Z I
completelyrelax the local tensilestresses
-3 -1 I 3
'THEOR, 10-9 , the loadingrate is so slow that stresscorrosioncan
5
I
which drive the crack
7

AXIAL
STRAIN
- •3 VOLUME
STRAIN
- •kk(10'3)
growth. Thus even slowerloading will produceno changein
Fig. 6. Comparisonof modelpredictionwith experimentalresults how the crack densitydevelops,resultingin a thresholdstress
of Braceet al. [1966] for a triaxial test on Westerlygraniteat 100- below which the rock will not fail.
MPa confiningpressure. Also shown in Figure 7 are the results of several uniaxial
compressiontestsconductedon Westerlygranite (L. S. Costin,
crack distribution, it is somewhatdependenton pressure(see unpublisheddata, 1982). The specimensused in these tests
the appendix).At higher pressuresthe cracksare closeddown were immersedin distilled water for 2 weeksprior to testing.
so the initial elasticresponseof the material is somewhatstiff- Just prior to testing the specimenswere jacketed with non-
er. In general,the agreementbetweenthe model calculations porousplastic.The jacketswere sealedonto steelcapsat each
and the experimentalresultsis good. The model overpredicts end. The end caps had a small hole in the center which was
the initial compressionof the material before dilation begins; connectedto a water reservoir so that the specimenwas not
however, the extent of dilation is well modeled. allowed to dry during the test. The range of strain rates was
producedby varying the displacementrate of the loading ram
Failure Stress Versus Strain Rate from test to test. The results of these tests show that within the

In order to demonstratethe time-dependentnature of the
model, quasi-statictests performed at various loading rates
were simulated.The values of the parametersdescribingthe
stresscorrosion crack growth rate (equation (13)) were esti-
mated from crack velocity versusKz curvesfor brittle rock
given by Waza et al. [1980] and Swanson[1982] and are
shownin the appendix.
As noted earlier, in uniaxial tests,the point of crack interac-
tion (model failure) is very close to the point at which the
specimenfails. Thus the model should be able to predict the
failure stress as a function of strain
Figure 7 shows the computed uniaxial failure stressof wet
Westerlygraniteover a rangeof strainrates.The computation
was performed using the parameterslisted in the appendix
except that the critical crack density was slightly higher in
order to match the failure stressof the granite used in our
experiments.Becausethe computationwas performedby al-
lowing the load to build up at a fixed rate, the strain rate
shownin Figure 7 is the averagestrain rate for the entire test.
The strain rate did not vary by more than 15-20% over the
WESTERLY
(WET, UNCONFINED)
400.0
300.0
_ /EXPERIMENT
200.0 _
range of strain rates used,the failure stressdecreaseslinearly
with the logarithm of the strain rate. Although much ad-
ditional testing is required to determine whether the model
predictionsat the extremesof strain rate are in accord with
true rock behavior, there is someevidenceto suggestthat the
thresholdstresspredictedat very slow loading ratesdoesexist,
at leastfor somerock types[Sano et al., 1981].
COMMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS
rate for uniaxial tests. In this paper it has beendemonstratedthat the behaviorof
brittle rock under deviatoriccompressive loading can be accu-
rately characterizedby a continuummodel basedon the me-
chanicsof tensilemicrocracks.The analysisof the behavior of
discretecracksin an inhomogeneous solid under compressive
loadingleadsdirectlyto the type of inelastic"yielding"that
has often been observedexperimentally[Brace et al., 1966;
Teufel, 1981-1.In addition, the state of microcrackingwas
shownto be dependenton stresshistoryin a way which is in
agreementwith resultsof acousticemissionstudies[Haimson
and Kirn, 1977;Kurita andFujii, 1979]. Finally, the fundamen-
tal characterizationof the evolution of cracking as a result of
GRANITE
the appliedstresshistoryallowsa continuumconstitutivede-
scriptionto be constructedwhich is in agreementwith ob-
servedbehavior.In particular,the strongdilatancyof brittle
rockin the postyieldregimeis predictedasis the development
of orthotropic response(transverselyisotropicin the sym-
metriccase,a• - a2) due to the discretedirectionalnature of
crack growth.

STRESS One problemwith the model which has not as yet been
4-INDUCED.•JL4__
CRACK STRESSCORROSION
CRACK
GROWTH >11•
FULLY
RELAXED
CORROSION STRESS
CRACKING addressed is the predictedbehavioron unloading.In the elas-
GROWTH

100.0
tic model presentedhere, unloadingwould proceedalong a
straight-linepath to the origin.It is clearthat thisis not what
happensin real rock. Somepermanentstrainremainson un-
0.0
-2.0
I
0.0
I
2.0 4.0
I I
6.0
I
8.0 10.0
I
12.0
I
14.0
I
16.0
loading.In addition,on reloading,the modelresponse would
-LOG STRAIN RATE
be elastic,and no hysteresis would be predicted,also at odds
Fig. 7. Comparisonof model predictionwith experimentalresults
with observedbehavior [Holcornb,1981]. Future efforts will
for uniaxialfailure strengthof Westerlygraniteover a rangeof strain attemptto includeboth the plasticunloadingand hysteretic
rates. behavior into the microstructural model.
9492 COSTIN: A MICROCRACK MODEL FOR DEFORMATION OF BRITTLE ROCK

APPENDIX: MODEL PARAMETERS FOR WESTERLY GRANITE Costin, L. S., Static and dynamic fracture behavior of oil shale,
ASTM Spec.Tech. Publ., S,TP745, 169-184, 1981.
Damage Initiation Costin, L. S., and D. J. Holcomb, Time-dependentfailure of rock
under cyclicloading, Tectonophysics, 79, 279-296, 1981.
1 Grady, D. E., and M. E. Kipp, Continuum modeling of explosive
Si+3-• akk
=Siø(aø) fracture in oil shale, lnt. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech.Abstr.,
17, 147-157, 1980.
F(y) = 2.13 Haimson, B.C., and K. Kim, Acousticemissionand fatigue mecha-
nismsin rock, in Proceedingsof the First Conferenceon Acoustic
Siø(ao)- 18.9MPa i=1,2,3 Emission/Microseismic Activity in GeologicStructuresand Materi-
als, edited by H. R. Hardy and F. W. Leighton, pp. 35-55, Trans
Crack Evolution Tech Publications,Clausthai,Germany, 1977.
Hallbauer, D. K., H. Wagner, and N. G. W. Cook, Some observations
•:Ktc So concerningthe macroscopicand mechanicalbehavior of quartzite
specimensin stiff, triaxial compressiontests, lnt. J. Rock Mech.
2F(yX•ra•)
•/2+•oo
ai=Siø(a•) Min. Sci. Geomech.Abstr., 10, 713-725, 1973.
Henry, J.P., J. Paquet, and J.P. Tancrez, Experimentalstudy of crack
1
propagationin calciterocks, lnt. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech.
Siø(ai)
--Si+3F(y) Abstr., 14, 85-91, 1977.
Holcomb, D. J., Memory, relaxation and microfracturingin dilatant
S•ø(a•)
> Siø(ao) rock, J. Geophys.Res.,86, 6235-6248, 1981.
Kachanov, M. L., Microcrack model for rock inelasticity, Ph.D.
d = Fe•tø K• > 0 thesis,Brown Univ., Providence, R. I., 1980.
Kranz, R. L., Crack growth and developmentduring creep of Barre
K•c- 1.0MPax/• granite, lnt. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech.Abstr., 16, 23-35,
1979.
So/do= 5740 MPa/m Kurita, K., and N. Fujii, Stressmemory of crystallinerock in acoustic
emission,Geophys.Res. Lett., 6, 9-12, 1979.
ao -- 0.001 m Martin, R. J., Time-dependentcrack growth in quartz and its appli-
cation to the creepof rocks,J. Geophys.Res.,77, 1406-1419, 1972.
F - 1.0 x 1O- 9 m/s Ouchterlony, F., Review of fracture toughnesstestingof rock, Rep. DS
1980:15, Swed. Detonic Res. Found., Stockholm, Sweden, 1980.
//= 10.0
(MPax//-•)
-• Paris, P. C., and G. C. Sih, Stressanalysisof cracks, ASTM Spec.
Tech. Publ., STP 391, 30-81, 1965.
Failure
Rudnicki, J. W., The effectof stress-induced anisotropyon a model of
brittle rock failure as localization of deformation,paper presented
a½
=ao+/• 3 at the 18th U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Colo. Sch. of
Mines, Keystone, Colo., 1977.
Sano, O., I. I to, and M. Terada, Influence of strain rate on dilatancy
a½o= 0.0034 m and strength of Oshima granite under uniaxial compression,J.
Geophys.Res.,86, 9299-9311, 1981.
b = - 3.8 x 10- s m/MPa Schmidt, R. A., and A. R. Ingraffea, On the prediction of tensile
strengthof rock from fracture toughnessor effectivesurfaceenergy,
Elastic Constants Rep. SAND-77-0408, Sandia Nat. Lab., Albuquerque,N.M., 1978.
Schmidt,R. A., and T. J. Lutz, K•c and Jtc of Westerlygranite--
R = vo/Eo Effects of thicknessand in-plane dimensions,ASTM Spec. Tech.
Publ., STP 687, 166-182, 1979.
Vo--' 0.25 Swanson,P. L., Subcritical fracture measurementsin rock using a
relaxationtechnique,J. Geophys.Res.,submitted,1982.
E o - 58,600MPa at Pc -0 Tapponnier, P., and W. F. Brace, Development of stress-induced
microcracksin Westerly granite, lnt. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geo-
E o - 71,000MPa at Pc- 100 MPa mech.Abstr., 13, 103-112, 1976.
c• = c2 = 5.0 Teufel, L. W., Mechanical properties of anhydrite and polyhalite in
quasi-statictriaxial compression,Rep. SAND81-0858, Sandia Nat.
c3 = 10.0 Lab., Albuquerque,N.M., 1981.
Walsh, J. B., The effect of cracks on the compressibilityof rock, J.
Geophys.Res., 70, 381-389, 1965.
Wawersik, W. R., Detailed analysis of rock failure in compression
tests,Ph.D. thesis,Univ. of Minn., Minneapolis, 1968.
Wawersik, W. R., and W. F. Brace, Post-failure behavior of a granite
c• = 5.0 and diabase,Rock Mech., 3, 61-85, 1971.
Wawersik,W. R., and C. Fairhurst, A study of brittle rock fracturein
Acknowledgments.The author wishesto thank D. J. Holcomb for laboratory compressionexperiments, lnt. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
his helpful discussionsin the course of this work. This work was Geomech.Abstr., 7, 561-575, 1970.
supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE- Waza, T., K. Kurita, and H. Mizutani, The effect of water on the
AC04-76-DP00789. ,
subcritical
crackgrowthin silicaterocks,Tectonophysics,
67, 25-
34, 1980.
REFERENCES Westergaard,
H. M., Bearingpressures
andcracks,J. Appl.Mech.,61,
Anderson,O. L., and P. Grew, Stresscorrosiontheory of crack prop- A49-53, 1939.
agation with applicationsto geophysics,
Rev. Geophys.SpacePhys., Wiederhorn,
S.M., andL. D. Bolz,Stress
corrosion
andstaticfatigue
15, 77-104, 1976. of glass,J. Am. Ceram.Soc.,53, 543-548, 1970.
Brace, W. F., and E.G. Bombolakis,A note on brittle crack growth
in compression,J. Geophys.Res.,68, 3709-3713, 1963. L. S. Costin, Geomechanics Division 1542, Sandia National Labo-
Brace,W. F., B. W. Paulding, and C. Scholz,Dilatancy in the fracture ratories,Albuquerque,NM 87185.
of crystallinerocks,d. Geophys.Res., 71, 3939-3953, 1966. (ReceivedSeptember27, 1982;
Budiansky,B., and R. J. O'Connell, Elastic moduli of a crackedsolid, revised March 21, 1983;
lnt. d. SolidsStruct., 12, 81-97, 1976. acceptedJuly 12, 1983.)