A PHASE FIELD METHOD TO SIMULATE CRACK NUCLEATION AND CRACK PROPAGATION IN ROCK-LIKE MATERIALS

In the phase field method, by defining a continuous distribution function to approximate discontinuous cracks, a variational-based energy minimization framework was established to obtain the governing equations of the physical field. As an outstanding feature, it allows describing crack nucleation and branching without any prescription of the shape, size and orientation of the cracks, thus providing a very robust numerical framework for crack propagation simulation. In this paper, rock specimens containing two parallel cracks with different rock bridge angles are simulated under uniaxial compression condition to investigate crack nucleation and propagation configuration with the phase field method. The simulation results are compared with the experimental data, showing that the phase field method, as a new numerical technique in rock mechanics community, works quite satisfactorily in simulating the cracks nucleation and propagation of rock-like materials under the considered loading paths. Meanwhile, perspectives would be envisaged that the phase field method has important engineering significance in stability and durability analysis of rock structures.