ON MESOCRACK DAMAGE OF BRITTLE ROCKS AND ITS TIME-DEPENDENT CHARACTERISTICS
脆性岩石的细观裂纹损伤及其时效特征

Based on the mesodamage tests of some brittle rocks under monotonic loading and creep condition, this paper investigates on the formation and development of mesocracks and their damage effects, as well as the mesocrack damage characteristics in the fracture process zone of a main crack. It is shown that the mesocrack is not only fundamental to the damage of brittle rocks, but also evidently time-deependent. On the basis of the test results, the paper relates the geometrical parameters of mesocracks with the macromechanical variables together. Thus a mesocrack damage model is proposed and verified herein for brittle rocks under monotonic loading and creep condition.