Evaluation of brittle fracturing in the sedimentary rock through laboratory analysis and computer simulation

critical characteristic to estimate the responses of rock strata under
stress. In this paper, laboratory tests analysis and numerical
modelling are used to analyse and replicate intact rock materials.
Laboratory and petrographical analyses were undertaken to
characterise the brittle response to the uniaxial loading of selected
sedimentary samples. Complementary numerical modelling of
virtual uniaxial compression tests is carried out using 3DEC
software. These models were developed through a Grain Based
Model capable of reproducing brittle failure of rocks, for which
Voronoi 3D tessellation was generated. Failure mechanisms
observed in laboratory and non-linear behaviour due to fracture
propagation have been reproduced. Virtual modelling of intact rock
with Discrete Element Code would allow, in combination with
Discrete Fracture Networks, the numerical analysis of rock mass
scale effects and anisotropy through Synthetic Rock Mass (SRM)
modelling.