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Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257
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Effect of loading direction on interaction of two pre-existing open

and closed flaws in a rock-like brittle material
Mahtab Alitalesh a, Mahmoud Yazdani a,⇑, Ahmadali Fakhimi a,b, Marjan Naeimabadi a
a
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
b
Department of Mineral Engineering, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM, USA

Received 17 December 2018; received in revised form 11 April 2019; accepted 14 April 2019
Available online 28 May 2019

Abstract

Investigations of the growth, interaction, and coalescence of cracks are important because they help to provide tools for the more
realistic modeling of rock masses containing low persistence discontinuities and better estimations of the strength and stiffness of a rock
material. Understanding the coalescence mechanism is useful for justifying the mechanism of continental crustal deformation, evaluating
the structural failure of slopes with rock bridges, and analyzing the stability of tunnels when a mode I or mix mode failure mechanism is
involved. The evaluation of crack growth can provide valuable information about the mechanism for the formation of new geological
structures, and the formation, evolution, and growth of faults. This paper reports the results of diametrical compression tests on rock-
like disk-shaped specimens. Each specimen contained two pre-existing open or closed flaws. The growth, interaction, and coalescence of
the pre-existing flaws were investigated both physically and numerically. A hybrid bonded particle-finite element system was used in the
numerical simulation. The results of the physical and numerical studies were in good agreement. In particular, the induced crack patterns
showed close agreement in the physical and numerical tests. Digital microscope image processing was used in the physical tests to study
the dislocations along the initial flaws. It was shown that wing crack formation was responsible for the failure of the specimen when flaws
were inclined with respect to the loading direction. The crack growth and linkage were shown to be affected by the friction between faces
of the flaws. In addition, the slip distributions at the flaws surfaces were illustrated and examined to understand the crack propagation
mechanism. The effects of the flaws on the disk failure loads were assessed both numerically and experimentally as well.

Keywords: Pre-existing flaws; Brazilian disk; Fracture mechanics; Crack propagation; Coalescence; Bonded particle simulation

1 Introduction seismology, and geology. The design of retaining structures

The engineering properties of a rock mass cannot be
determined using only the rock matrix because discontinu-
ities and fractures drastically affect its behavior. Investiga-
tions of the crack initiation, propagation, and coalescence
in rocks lead to better evaluations of the engineering prop-
erties and overall behaviors of rock masses. In general,
studies of crack propagation and coalescence provide valu-
able knowledge about rock masses that is applicable to
many scientific fields, including geotechnical engineering,
earth science, petroleum engineering, mining engineering,
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: myazdani@modares.ac.ir (M. Yazdani).
and tunnels, assessment of rock slope stability, and predic-
tion of the flow paths within rock masses are some exam-
ples of the significance and application of the results of
crack growth investigations in geotechnical engineering.
Moreover, investigations of the interaction and coalescence
of cracks provide insight on the initiation and evolution of
faults (Willemse, Peacock, & Aydin, 1997; Martel & Boger,
1998; Vermilye & Scholz, 1999; Kim, Peacock, &
Sanderson, 2003; Grant & Kattenhorn, 2004). It should
be noted that the faulted structures and jointed rock masses
found in the field are more complex than those seen in
experimental observations. Nevertheless, a combination
of field observations, numerical models, and experimental
studies on natural and model rocks can provide valuable

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2019.04.003
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 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257
information to assist in understanding the behavior, frac-
turing, and faulting of a rock mass. These techniques have
been used by many researchers (Pollard, 1987; Pollard &
Aydin, 1988; Aydin, 2000). With excessive rock shearing,
the coalescence of cracks intensifies, and new geological
features form. Field studies have shown that the formation
of a simple fault zone is due to the coalescence of slipping
flaws at various levels (Kim et al., 2003).
Generally, it has been reported that two types of cracks
start from the tips of pre-existing flaws, i.e., wing and sec-
ondary cracks. Wing cracks are initiated by tension and are
usually found to be the first cracks to appear. They are also
called primary cracks. The cracks that appear after tensile
wing cracks are usually referred to as secondary cracks.
These secondary cracks can be caused by shear or tension.
Since the work by Bombolakis (1975), who reported the
initiation and propagation of wing cracks from a pre-
existing flaw under a uniaxial compression test, extensive
research have been performed on the growth, propagation
and coalescence of pre-existing cracks in natural rocks
(Ingraffea & Heuze, 1980; Martinez, 1999; Huang, 1999;
Chen, Kemeny, & Harpalani, 1992; Li, Chen, & Wang,
2005; Schulson, Iliescu, & Renshaw, 1999; Petit &
Barquins, 1988) and model materials (Reyes, 1991; Reyes
& Einstein, 1991; Shen, Stephansson, Einstein, &
Ghahreman, 1995; Bobet, 1997, 2000; Bobet & Einstein,
1998; Sagong & Bobet, 2002; Wong & Einstein, 2009;
Liu, Liu, Huang, Wei, & Lei, 2016; Mughieda &
Alzo’ubi, 2004). A Brazilian disk under diametrical com-
pression loading is interesting and easy to use in tests to
study crack propagation and measure the fracture tough-
ness of rock under static or dynamic loadings (e.g.,
Ayatollahi & Aliha, 2008; Ke, Chen, & Tu, 2008; Al-
Shayea, 2005; Khan & Al-Shayea, 2000; Ghazvinian,
Nejati, Sarfarazi, & Hadei, 2013). Some researchers have
used disk-shaped specimens under diametrical compression
loading to investigate crack growth and propagation.
Haeri, Shahriar, Marji, and Moarefvand (2014b) assessed
the growth, propagation, and coalescence of three pre-
existing flaws in disk specimens by conducting experimen-
tal tests. In their research, the physical tests were also
numerically simulated. Another study investigated the
crack propagation from a Z-shaped pre-existing flaw in a
Brazilian disk under diametrical compression loading
(Haeri, Shahriar, Marji, & Moarefvand, 2014a).
Many researchers have used experimental, analytical
and numerical methods to study crack propagation and
interaction. In particular, with the increase in computa-
tional power, some researchers have concentrated on
the numerical modeling of crack growth and interaction.
Ingraffea and Wawrzynek (2001) briefly described the
development of numerical methods for the simulation
of crack growth and propagation. Several numerical
methods and computer programs such as the finite ele-
ment method (FEM) (Dai, Chen, Iqbal, & Xia, 2010;
Dai, Xia, Zheng, & Wang, 2011; Dai, Wei, Xu, Ma, &
Yang, 2015), discrete element method (DEM) (Haeri
243
et al., 2014a, 2014b), cracking particle method (CPM)
(Rabczuk & Belytschko, 2004; Rabczuk, Zi, Bordas, &
Nguyen-Xuan, 2010), Phase Field Model (PFM) (Zhou,
Zhuang, Zhu, & Rabczuk, 2018; Zhou, Rabczuk, &
Zhuang, 2018; Zhou, Zhuang, & Rabczuk, 2018; Zhou
& Xia, 2019), peridynamics (PD) and dual-horizon peri-
dynamics (DH-PD) methods (Ren, Zhuang, Cai, &
Rabczuk, 2016; Ren, Zhuang, & Rabczuk, 2017;
Rabczuk & Ren, 2017), meshfree methods (Amiri,
Anitescu, Arroyo, Bordas, & Rabczuk, 2014) and
remeshing techniques (Areias, Rabczuk, & Dias-da-
Costa, 2013; Areias, Msekh, & Rabczuk, 2016; Areias,
Reinoso, Camanho, César de Sá, & Rabczuk, 2017;
Areias & Rabczuk, 2017) have been developed and used
to model the fracturing patterns in specimens. The use of
the DEM for modeling a geomaterial as a collection of
discrete particles was first introduced by Cundall and
Strack (1979) and then developed and implemented using
the particle flow code (PFC) (Itasca Consulting Group,
1999). This method has been successfully applied and
used by several researchers (Shimizu, Hart, & Cundall,
2004; Konietzky, 2002; Cook & Jensen, 2002).
Although extensive studies have been performed on the
growth, propagation, and coalescence of pre-existing flaws
in natural rock and rock-like materials, further investiga-
tion is still needed. Most of the previous studies have con-
centrated on the growth of a single central straight crack
inserted in Brazilian disk-shaped specimens. It appears that
further study on the growth, propagation, and coalescence
of multiple pre-existing flaws in Brazilian disks under dia-
metrical compression is still needed.
In this study, the growth and propagation of cracks
were experimentally investigated by conducting laboratory
tests on disk specimens containing two pre-existing open or
closed flaws. The specimens were diametrically loaded in
compression, and the crack propagation and coalescence
were investigated using a digital microscope imaging sys-
tem. The physical tests were also numerically simulated.
For the numerical modeling, the CA2 computer program
was used (Fakhimi, 2004) which is a hybrid bonded
particle-finite element code. The results of the physical
and numerical tests are here reported and discussed.
2 Methodology
All of the laboratory specimens were made of molded
gypsum and were in the shape of disks with 100 mm diam-
eter and 50 mm thickness. Two open or closed flaws were
generated within each specimen as described in the next
section. A schematic representation of a specimen is pro-
vided in Fig. 1. In this figure, F1 and F2 refer to the first
and second pre-existing flaws, respectively. The lower and
upper tips of each flaw are identified by T1 and T2. Each
10 mm long flaw was inserted at a constant distance (c)
from the center of the disk (Fig. 1). In all of the specimens,
c was a constant equal to 5 mm and the distance between
the two flaws, which is known as the ligament length,
244 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of disk specimen containing two pre-
existing open or closed flaws under diametrical compression loading.
was 10 mm. Therefore, the pre-existing flaws were inserted
in the interior third of the disk area. Note that b in Fig. 1
denotes the inclination angle of the flaws with respect to the
loading direction. Five different b values of 0°, 30°, 45°,
60°, and 90° were used in this work.
3 Sample preparation for physical tests
Molded gypsum was produced as a model material by
mixing water and gypsum powder at a mass ratio of 1:3.
To reduce the amount of bleeding (i.e., migration of water
to the top of the fluid mix), diatomic earth was added to the
mixture at a mass ratio of 1:35 (diatomic earth to water).
Fig. 2. Casting disk-shaped gypsum specimens containing two pre-existing flaws: (a) placement of silicon tape to create closed flaws and (b) placement of
1 mm thick steel slims to create open flaws.
First, the water and diatomic earth were mixed for 20 s.
Then, the gypsum powder was gradually added to the mix-
ture, which was mixed for 2 min. Subsequently, the gypsum
mixture was poured into molds that already contained suit-
able steel slims or silicon tape to create specimens with pre-
existing open or closed flaws, respectively (Fig. 2). The
molds containing the gypsum mixture were vibrated for
4 min to eliminate the air trapped within the mixture. Then
the molds were placed on a flat level surface to provide
specimens with a uniform thickness. The steel slims and sil-
icon tape were carefully removed after approximately
6 min and 8 min, respectively. After approximately 1 h,
the specimens were removed from the molds and left for
a day at room temperature. Finally, the specimens were
oven dried at 50 °C to achieve a constant weight. The spec-
imens were carefully prepared to have a diameter of (100
± 1) mm and thickness of (50 ± 1) mm. Two pre-existing
flaws were created in each specimen with a length of
10 mm that passed through the specimen thickness. The
1 mm thick steel slims were used to create flaws with a
1 mm opening, while the 0.05 mm thick silicon tape was
applied to create closed flaws. The dried specimens were
polished using sand papers (#80, #400, and #2000) to
remove any rippling. This assisted in providing specimens
with a desirable uniform thickness.
The mechanical properties of the modeled gypsum spec-
imens were determined by conducting appropriate stan-
dard laboratory tests. The uniaxial compressive strength
(qu), indirect tensile strength (rt), elastic modulus (E),
Poisson’s ratio (t), and fracture toughness values of modes
I and II (KI and KII) for the molded gypsum were
determined to be 38.5 MPa, 7.0 MPa, 8.5 GPa, 0.25,
0.25 MPa
m1/2, and 0.26 MPa
m1/2, respectively
(Alitalesh, Naeimabadi, & Yazdani, 2018).
4 Experimental test setup
The testing apparatus was a 200 t compression testing
machine equipped with a 10 t load cell to record loads with
 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257
greater accuracy. The vertical displacement was recorded
using a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) with
an accuracy of 0.01 mm. A digital microscope was utilized to
record videos from the front of the specimen during the load-
ing process as shown in Fig. 3. This digital microscope had
software equipped with measurement tools, which assisted
in adjusting the disk between the loading platens at any arbi-
trary direction and made it possible to measure the angles,
lengths, and areas. For each value of b (the angle of the
pre-existing flaws with respect to the loading direction),
the disk was adjusted between the two loading platens to
achieve a suitable direction. Five different values of b (i.e.,
0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°) were considered. To ensure the
repeatability of the failure pattern, three specimens with a
fixed b value were tested. In total, 30 tests were conducted
on specimens with open and closed flaws.
5 Numerical simulation
In this study, the CA2 code, which is a 2D hybrid
discrete-finite element computer program (Fakhimi, 2004)
was used to simulate the mechanical behavior of the phys-
ical specimens. Rock was modeled as a bonded particle sys-
tem (Potyondy & Cundall, 2001). The bonded particle
domain consisted of several circular cylinders or disks that
interacted through normal and shear springs at the contact
points. The cylinders were bonded to each other at the con-
tact points to withstand the deviatoric stresses (Fakhimi &
Gharahbagh, 2011).
The micromechanical constants of a contact point
included the normal (kn) and shear (ks) spring constants,
normal (nb) and shear (sb) bonds, and friction coefficient
(l). To more realistically simulate the behavior of the con-
tact points in a quasi-brittle material, a softening bond
behavior was added to the model. The details of this soft-
ening model, in which a normal bond at a contact point is
Fig. 3. Loading machine and digital microscope located in front of specimen (left). Adjustment of the flaws’ inclination angle with respect to the loading
direction (45°) using the software (right).
245
allowed to decrease linearly after the peak tensile contact
load, are presented in Fakhimi & Galouei, 2015. The
micromechanical parameter associated with contact soften-
ing was denoted by knp , which was the slope in the post-
peak region of the normal force-normal displacement
between two cylinders in contact. In addition to the above
parameters, the genesis pressure (r0) for the initial com-
paction of the specimen was needed. Walls were generated
at the contact points of the two domains to help define the
interaction between the finite element and discrete element
(bonded particle) domains. Note that the walls loads were
transferred to the finite element grid in CA2; the domain
surrounding the bonded particle system was deformable,
which was more realistic than a model with rigid walls.
Hence, in CA2, the loads could be directly applied to the
walls or to finite element domain, which helped to avoid
using servo-controlled walls. More details on the CA2
computer program can be found in Fakhimi, 2004;
Fakhimi & Gharahbagh, 2011; Fakhimi & Villegas, 2007.
The CA2 numerical model was calibrated to replicate
the macroscopic mechanical properties of the physical
specimen. As a result of this calibration process (Fakhimi
& Villegas, 2007), the micromechanical parameters were
obtained as listed in Table 1. A genesis pressure of
0.45 GPa was needed for the sample preparation. The radii
Table 1
The micro-mechanical constants for the numerical simulation.
Parameter Definition Value
kn (GPa) Normal spring constant of a contact 18.3
ks (GPa) Shear spring constant of a contact 3.66
nb (N/m) Normal bond of a contact 6068
sb (N/m) Shear bond of a contact 12 136
l Friction coefficient of a contact 0.4
knp (GPa) Slope of the softening line 0.61
r0 (GPa) Genesis pressure 0.45
246 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257

which shows their relatively good agreement. The physical

and numerical Brazilian test results for specimens with a
diameter of 100 mm and thickness of 50 mm also showed
good agreement. The physical and numerical tensile
strengths were 7.0 MPa and 6.6 MPa, respectively. The
physical properties of the experimental and numerical spec-
imens are listed in Table 2.
Similar to the physical situation, each numerical speci-
men had a diameter of 100 mm and contained two pre-
existing open or closed flaws. Each flaw was 10 mm long.
The pre-existing open flaws were created by deleting cylin-
ders in the numerical specimen. On the other hand, the
closed flaws were generated using the smooth joint (Ivars,
Fig. 4. Stress–strain curves for physical and numerical specimens (uniaxial Potyondy, Pierce, & Cundall, 2008) logic in CA2. The
compression test). smooth joint was assumed to have a friction coefficient of
f = 0.1. The numerical test setup, including the bonded
particle system, loading platens (made of the finite element
Table 2
Comparison of mechanical properties of physical and numerical
grid), and applied boundary conditions, is shown in Fig. 5.
specimens. To simulate loading, the upper platen was moved down-
Parameter Experiment CA2
ward with a velocity of 108 m per numerical cycle while
the bottom part of the lower platen was fixed in both the
Elastic modulus (GPa) 8.5 8.7
Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa) 38.5 40.3
x and y directions. The interaction of the finite element
Indirect tensile strength (MPa) 7.0 6.6 domain and the bonded particle system was modeled using
Poisson’s ratio 0.25 0.28 normal and shear springs similar to those for contact
points of the particles. The mathematical details for model-
ing of this interaction were reported in Fakhimi, 2009.
of the cylinders were assumed to have a uniform random
distribution within a range of 0.2–0.25 mm. Following 6 Crack growth and coalescence in specimens containing
the calibration of the bonded particle system, a uniaxial open flaws
compression test of a specimen with a width of 100 mm
and height of 250 mm was conducted. The physical and The specimens containing double open flaws were called
numerical stress–strain curves are compared in Fig. 4, DO-b (D refers to the existence of double flaws, O indicates

Fig. 5. Geometry and boundary conditions of CA2 model of disk containing two pre-existing flaws.
 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257 247

that they were open, and b is the flaw inclination angle with experimental and numerical damaged specimens contain-
respect to the loading direction). Specimens with five values ing open flaws are shown in Fig. 6. In Fig. 6(b), the red
for the inclination angle of the open flaws with respect to and blue lines show the tensile and shear microcracks,
the loading direction (b = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°) were respectively. A microcrack in CA2 is a line passing through
tested, experimentally and numerically. Pictures of the a contact point that is perpendicular to a line connecting
the centers of cylinders that have completely lost their bond
strength at the contact point. The green lines in these fig-
ures show partially damaged contacts, i.e., the contacts
which are deforming in their post-peak regime, but have
not completely lost their bond strength. Note that in gen-
eral, there was a good agreement between the damage pat-
terns in the physical and numerical specimens.
When the pre-existing flaws had an inclination angle of
b = 0°, there was a pure opening mode of fracturing. New
cracks were initiated and propagated from the specimen
loading points and tips of the flaws, which resulted in the
DO-0 DO-0
diametric splitting of the specimen. When the flaws’ direc-
tion deviated from the loading direction, wing cracks could
be initiated from the tips of the flaws (i.e., b = 30°, 45°, and
60°). At b = 30°, because of new crack initiation and prop-
agation, a linkage between F1 and F2 can be observed.
This coalescence is due to the linkage between a wing crack
initiated from T1 of F1 and a secondary crack is initiated
from T2 of F2. The sequences of new crack initiation
and propagation and the final linkage can be observed in
DO-30 DO-30
Fig. 7. In Fig. 7(d), it is evident that the last crack that
was initiated is the secondary crack from T2 of F2. Note
that the growth of the secondary crack and the coalescence
of the two flaws were reasonably well simulated by the CA2
bonded particle model. In the case of DO-45, a secondary
crack is initiated from T2 of F2, but the linkage could not
be fully developed between the two flaws. In the case of
DO-60, only one of the flaws (F1) directly participated in
DO-45
the disk fracturing. At b = 90°, new cracks were initiated
DO-45
at points far from the tips in the physical test. In this case,
similar to the DO-60 situation, only one of the flaws
became connected to the newly developed cracks. In sum-
mary, the test results suggested that the loading direction
had a major impact on the induced cracks and the type
of cracks that were developed.

7 Crack growth and coalescence in specimens containing

DO-60 closed flaws
DO-60

The specimens containing double closed flaws were

called DC-b (D refers to the existence of double flaws, C
indicates that those were closed, and b is the flaw inclina-
tion angle with respect to the loading direction). Similar
to the open flaw situation, five values for the flaws’ inclina-
tion angle with respect to the loading direction (b = 0°, 30°,
45°, 60°, and 90°) were used in the physical and numerical
DO-90 DO-90 tests. Pictures of the experimental and numerical damaged
specimens are shown in Fig. 8. When the pre-existing
closed flaws were tested at b = 0°, there was a pure opening
(a) (b)
mode of fracturing similar to that with open flaws. When
Fig. 6. Induced cracks in specimens containing pre-existing open flaws: (a) the flaws’ direction deviated from the loading direction,
experimental and (b) numerical results. wing cracks were initiated from the tips of the flaws
248 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257
(a) (b)
Pmax 0.997Pmax
Fig. 7. New crack initiation and propagation sequences in DO-30 specimen: (a) initiation of a new wing crack from T2 of F1, (b) initiation of a new wing
crack from T1 of F1 and propagation of step (a) initiated crack, (c) initiation of a wing crack from T1 of F2 and further propagation of cracks initiated in
steps (a) and (b), and (d) initiation of an oblique secondary crack from T2 of F2 and further propagation of previously initiated cracks (Pmax is peak load).
(b = 30°, 45°, and 60°). At b = 30°, similar to the speci-
mens with open flaws, a linkage between F1 and F2 could
be observed; the coalescence was due to the linkage of a
wing crack initiated from T1 of F1 and a secondary crack
initiated from T2 of F2. Although the global pictures of the
DO-30 and DC-30 damaged specimens were similar, the
details were not identical. This was realized by studying
the crack propagation sequences, and linkage, and applied
loads shown in Figs. 7 and 9. Compared with the specimen
with open flaws (Fig. 7), it appears that the crack initiation
and propagation in the specimen with closed flaws mostly
occurred from the specimen ends along the vertical diame-
ter, and induced microcracks around the flaws did not
appear until there was substantial global softening of the
material.
We believe that the interaction of the flaws’ surfaces
were responsible for the delayed and reduced induced
microcracks when specimens with closed flaws were tested.
In the cases of DC-45, DC-60, and DC-90, only one of the
flaws directly participated in the disk fracturing. Note that
in the specimens with closed flaws, the wing cracks had a
greater tendency to pass through the flaws’ ends. This
was particularly the case in the physical tests, which could
be attributed to the frictional resistance along the closed
flaws. A comparison of the induced cracks in the physical
and numerical tests suggested that the bonded particle
model was successful in simulating the physical test results.
8 Discussion
The types of newly initiated cracks and coalescence
patterns for the specimens with open and closed flaws
are shown in Figs. 10 and 11, respectively. These figures
were obtained using digital microscope image processing
and the interpretation of the CA2 results. Coalescence
between pre-existing flaws (open and closed) was only
observed at b = 30°. Coalescence occurred as a result
of the linkage between the wing crack growth from T1
of F1 and an oblique secondary crack initiated from
T2 of F2 (Figs. 10 and 11). In the cases of DO-30,
DO-45, DO-60, DC-30, DC-45, and DC-60, the wing
crack initiation and propagation, together with the dia-
(c) (d)
0.977Pmax 0.954Pmax
metric vertical cracks initiated from the loading points,
led to the failure of the disk.
The effects of the pre-existing open and closed flaws
on the failure load of the disk are shown in Fig. 12.
In this figure, the horizontal axis is the inclination angle
of the flaws with respect to the loading direction (b), and
the vertical axis is the normalized failure load of the disk
containing two pre-existing open or closed flaws. FFlaw is
the failure load of the disk containing flaws and FIntact is
the failure load of the intact disk specimen. Figure 12
shows that the numerical model overestimated the failure
loads of the specimens. This could be because of the sim-
ple micromechanical model used in CA2. A comparison
of the failure loads for the specimens with the closed
and open flaws suggested that the failure load was not
greatly affected by the type of flaw. This was the case
for both the physical and numerical results. On the other
hand, the flaw inclination angle (b) affected the failure
load. In general, the failure loads of the specimens with
the inclined flaws (b = 30°, 45°, and 60°) were lower than
those for specimens with b = 0° and 90°. This was the
case for both the physical and numerical specimens.
The lowest failure load occurred when b = 30°, i.e., when
the coalescence of the induced cracks that originated
from the flaws was observed. It is interesting to realize
that the numerical model also predicted the minimum
failure load for the specimen with b = 30°. Note that
the coalescence pattern observed in this study (i.e., the
linkage between an oblique secondary crack and a wing
crack) was similar to the type 6 coalescence reported
by Sagong and Bobet (2002) and the MII pattern of coa-
lescence reported by Wong and Chau (1998). It should
be noted that, because of the induced tensile stresses in
the horizontal direction, all of the secondary cracks
observed in this study were initiated in tension.
The distribution of the slippage along the closed flaws
was determined using digital microscope image processing.
A magnified image of the slip between the flaw faces is
shown in Fig. 13. The black markers in this figure were
used to track the slip along the flaws. The curves of the slip
distribution along the closed flaws at the peak loads, for
the physical and numerical specimens, are shown in
Fig. 14. It should be noted that slip distribution is only
 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257 249

length in this study. It is interesting to note that slippage

was observed along both the F1 and F2 flaws for the
b = 30° specimen. This was due to the coalescence of the
induced cracks initiated from the flaws in this case. Note
that the bonded particle model produced results that were
in good agreement with the physical observations.
Figure 15 shows the slip development at the centers of
DC-0 DC-0 the F1 and F2 flaw surfaces during numerical analyses of
the DC-30 and DC-60 specimens. It can be seen that in
both cases (DC-30 and DC-60), the slip changes almost lin-
early with the movement of the loading platen; the numer-
ical cycles and platen movement are proportional, because
the loading platen had a fixed applied velocity. After the
peak load, the slips along both the F1 and F2 flaws accel-
erate, suggesting substantial induced damage in the speci-
men. However, the peak slips along the F1 and F2 flaws
DC-30 DC-30 for the DC-30 specimen are much higher than those for
the DC-60 specimen. In particular, the residual slip along
the F2 flaw for the DC-30 specimen is much greater than
that observed in the DC-60 specimen. This is due to the
coalescence of the induced cracks initiated from the F1
and F2 flaws for the DC-30 specimen. It is interesting to
note that for both the DC-30 and DC-60 specimens, there
are some reductions in the induced slips along the F2 flaws,
suggesting some elastic rebounds of the flaws, whereas the
DC-45 DC-45 F1 flaws continue slipping even in the post peak regime of
the loading.
The same study was performed by Wong and Einstein
(2009) on prismatic specimens (1.2500  300  600 ) containing
two pre-existing coplanar open flaws under uniaxial com-
pression. Each flaw had a length of 13 mm and an opening
of 1.3 mm. The flaw’s ligament was 13 mm, which was
equal to its length. Five inclination angles for the flaws with
respect to the loading direction (15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°)
DC-60 DC-60 were examined. The crack initiation and coalescence of the
pre-existing open flaws under uniaxial compression in the
study by Wong and Einstein (2009) are shown in Fig. 16.
A comparison of the results of present study with these
results (Wong & Einstein, 2009) shows that, the initiation
of new cracks and coalescences of the flaws under uniaxial
compression were completely different from the observa-
tions of this study using a Brazilian disk under diametrical
compression. In the study reported in Wong and Einstein
DC-90 DC-90 (2009), coalescence occurred in all four inclined flaws
whereas in the present study, the flaws were linked only
at b = 30°. At b = 90°, a crack was initiated at the tip of
(a) (b) one of the flaws inserted in the Brazilian disk, whereas in
Fig. 8. Induced cracks in specimens containing pre-existing closed flaws: the uniaxial compression test, new cracks were initiated
(a) experimental and (b) numerical results. from both of the flaws.
To study the effect of the flaw’s surface friction, three
friction coefficient values (0.1, 0.4, and 1.0) were used in
shown for flaws encountering slip. The slip distributions of the numerical simulations. The effect of the flaw’s surface
the first (F1) and second (F2) flaws are plotted at the pos- friction on the disk failure pattern can be observed in
itive and negative sides of the horizontal axis, respectively. Fig. 17. Generally, it appears that the flaw’s surface friction
Figure 14 shows that the slip (LSlip) reaches the maximum has no significant effect on the failure pattern of the disk.
value at approximately the midpoint of the flaw length For further investigation, a detailed view of the newly
(LFlaw); this value was approximately 1.8% of the flaw developed cracks is shown in Fig. 18. Figure 18 shows that
250 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

0.970Pmax 0.958Pmax 0.863Pmax 0.860Pmax 0.853Pmax

Fig. 9. New crack initiation and propagation sequences in DC-30 specimen: (a) initiation of a new wing crack from T1 of F2; (b) initiation of a new wing
crack from T2 of F2 and propagation of step (a) initiated crack; (c) initiation of a new wing crack from T2 of F1 and propagation of cracks initiated in
steps (a) and (b); (d) initiation of a new wing crack from T1 of F1 and propagation of cracks initiated in steps (a), (b), and (c); and (e) initiation of an
oblique secondary crack from T2 of F2 and propagation of previously initiated cracks.

Fig. 10. Types of newly developed cracks and coalescence patterns for specimens containing open flaws.

Fig. 11. Types of newly developed cracks and coalescence patterns for specimens containing closed flaws.
 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257 251

the friction coefficient along the flaws has some effect on

Fig. 12. Normalized failure load of disks containing two pre-existing open
and closed flaws versus b.
Fig. 13. Magnified image of flaw slippage (shearing sense is indicated by
arrow pair).
the details of the microcracking of the specimen. For the
specimen with b = 30°, increasing the flaw surface friction
coefficient stopped the wing crack initiation from T1 of
F2: with f = 0.1, a wing crack was initiated from T1 of
F2 with a considerable length, but with f = 1.0, the wing
crack length decreased and its initiation was difficult. Fur-
ther, the initiated tension crack from T2 of F2, in the case
of f = 0.1, was partially converted to a shear crack in the
cases of f = 0.4 and 1.0. For the specimens with b = 45°
and 60°, an increase in the friction coefficient resulted in
a decrease in the microcrack cloud size around the tips of
the F2 flaw. Figure 19 compares the normalized failure
loads of the disks containing closed flaws with different
friction coefficients of 0.1, 0.4, and 1.0. As expected, an
increase in the flaw’s surface friction coefficient caused
the failure load to increase. This is demonstrated in
Fig. 20 as well, which shows the normalized force versus
the displacement for specimens DC-30 and DC-60 (closed
flaw specimens). This figure demonstrates how the surface
friction coefficients of 0.1, 0.4, and 1.0 impact the load-
displacement curve. Note that the initial slope of these
curves is not affected by the surface friction. This is possi-
bly due to the dominant tensile stress regime in the middle
of the specimen and the initial elastic behavior of the mate-
rial. On the other hand, with further loading and develop-
ment of microcracking, the surface friction starts
contributing more to the load-displacement pattern. As
mentioned before, the increase in surface friction causes
an increase in the peak load, but this increase is not sub-
stantial as Fig. 20 is suggesting.

Fig. 14. Normalized slip along surface of closed flaws versus normalized flaw length for various b values. Results for physical and numerical tests are
shown (LD is distance from inner tip).
252 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257

Fig. 15. Slip initiation and development of F1 and F2 closed flaws versus numerical cycles for cases of (a) F1, DC-60; (b) F1, DC-30; (c) F2, DC-60; and
(d) F2, DC-30. The red and blue circular symbols show the results at the peak load and in the post peak regime when the applied load has been decreased
by 25%, respectively.

Fig. 16. Schematic representation of induced cracks around pre-existing open flaws at various inclination angles (Wong & Einstein, 2009). The induced
wing cracks from the left and right sides of the flaws are not shown here (with permission).

The surface friction of the flaws also affected their slip or
dislocation. This is shown in Fig. 21, which shows the
flaw’s slip surface versus the numerical cycles for the cases
of b = 30° and 60°. As seen increasing the flaw’s surface
friction decreases the slip along its surface. This is particu-
larly the case when the slip for f = 0.1 is compared with
those for f = 0.4 and 1. Note that the F2 flaw in the spec-
imen with b = 60° experienced a permanent slip even
though there was no macro-crack around the tips of this
flaw. This permanent slip could be attributed to the
induced damage initiated around the tips of F2 together
with the effect of surface friction, which did not allow the
full elastic rebound of the material. The permanent slip
was related to the size of the damage cloud around the tips
of this flaw (Fig. 18): as the size of microcracking zone
around the flaw tips increased, the permanent slip
increased. For the F2 flaw with b = 30°, as Fig. 21(b) indi-
cates, the permanent slip decreased with an increase in the
friction coefficient of the flaw surfaces. Further, the inten-
sity of microcracking and the size of macro-wing crack
 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257 253

Fig. 17. Induced cracks in numerical specimens containing closed flaws with various values for flaw surface friction coefficient (f).

decreased in this case with an increase in the friction
coefficient.
9 Concluding remarks
In this study, experimental and numerical tests were
conducted on disk-shaped specimens containing two pre-
existing open or closed flaws and the growth, propagation
and coalescence of the cracks were studied. The main
results can be summarized as follows:
(1) Generally, the growth and propagation of the wing
cracks were responsible for the failure of the disk
when the flaws were inclined with respect to the load-
ing direction.
(2) The friction between the faces of the pre-existing
closed flaws affected the crack growth and linkage
of the flaws. Depending on the flaw’s inclination
angle, the failure load of the disk containing closed
flaws could be different from that of the disk with
open flaws.
254 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257

Fig. 18. Induced cracks around pre-existing closed flaws with various surface friction coefficients. The situations in the post peak regime with loads equal
to 15% of the peak loads are shown.

(3) The initiation of new cracks from the pre-existing

closed flaws caused slippage between the flaws’ sur-
faces. This slip value reached its peak value at the
midpoint of the flaw and gradually decreased to zero
at the flaw tips.
(4) The cracks initiation from the flaw tips and their coa-
lescence highly depended on the inclination angle of
the pre-existing flaws. For most of the inclination
angles of the flaws studied, the damage around one
flaw could result in the deactivation of the slip or
damage around the neighboring flaw.
(5) The bonded particle model was reasonably effective
Fig. 19. Normalized failure load of disks containing two pre-existing
at simulating the crack propagation observed in the
closed flaws with different values of surface friction. physical tests.
 M. Alitalesh et al. / Underground Space 5 (2020) 242–257 255

Fig. 20. Normalized force-displacement curves for various values of flaws surface friction coefficient: (a) DC-30, and (b) DC-60 from CA2 analysis.

Fig. 21. Effect of flaw’s surface friction on flaws slip of (a) F1 with b = 30°, (b) F2 with b = 30°, (c) F1 with b = 60°, and (d) F2 with b = 60°. The
triangular symbols show the slips corresponding to the peak loads.

Areias, P., & Rabczuk, T. (2017). Steiner-point free edge cutting of

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