Tensile strength related to mineralogy and texture of some granitic rocks

Merriam, Richard; Rieke, Herman H.; Kim, Young C.

doi:10.1016/0013-7952(70)90010-4

Cited by 71 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…[32] Our finding that ice made with a wide seed crystal size distribution is weaker than the more uniform size-distribution ice, despite having a finer median grain size, suggests that ice tensile strength and erosion resistance may be highly sensitive to the coarse tail of the grain size distribution. To our knowledge these are the first measurements in ice of the sensitivity of strength to the spread in the grain size distribution, but they are consistent with inferences from studies of grain-size effects on crystalline rock strength [Merriam et al, 1970;Hatzor and Palchik, 1997]. In both rock and ice, crystal boundaries provide sites for fracture nucleation.…”

Section: Influence Of Grain Size Ice Composition and Ambient Fluid supporting

confidence: 83%

Influence of temperature, composition, and grain size on the tensile failure of water ice: Implications for erosion on Titan

Litwin¹,

Zygielbaum²,

Polito³

et al. 2012

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] Ice resistance to tensile fracture influences surface morphodynamics on outer planetary satellites such as Titan, yet measurements of tensile strength and fracture toughness of polycrystalline water ice at temperatures below terrestrial conditions (<220 K) have not been previously reported. We investigated these parameters from 260 K to 110 K using a walk-in freezer, and chilling by dry ice and liquid nitrogen. We also investigated the influence of solid impurity concentration and the spread in crystal grain size distribution. Although fracture toughness showed no sensitivity to temperature, we find that tensile strength increases with decreasing temperature at 7 kPa KÀ1 for all ice types tested. For pure water ice, samples made from uniform-sized seed crystals were stronger than mixed-grain-size ice, suggesting that strength is limited by the coarse tail of the size distribution. Samples tested submerged in liquid ethanol were 0.45 MPa weaker than in air; increasing porosity reduced tensile strength. Tensile strength increased linearly with concentration of urea, basalt and ammonium sulfate. These results suggest that on Titan and other icy satellites, the tensile strength of fine-grained polycrystalline water ice containing solid impurities may be several times greater than the 1 MPa value commonly used in modeling. For low strain rate processes where fracture propagation rather than fracture initiation limits strength, a temperature invariant fracture toughness of 0.15 MPa m 1/2 is appropriate. Understanding ice diagenesis on Titan, and the resulting composition, grain size distribution, and porosity, is needed to accurately model surface processes that are limited by ice resistance to fracture.

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Section: Influence Of Grain Size Ice Composition and Ambient Fluid supporting

confidence: 83%

Influence of temperature, composition, and grain size on the tensile failure of water ice: Implications for erosion on Titan

Litwin¹,

Zygielbaum²,

Polito³

et al. 2012

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…Early efforts were made to understand rock behavior and strength under high pressure (Scholz, 1968;Tapponnier and Brace, 1976;Batzle et al, 1980), high temperature (Griggs et al, 1960;Simmons and Cooper, 1978;Handin and Carter, 1979;Fredrich and Wong, 1986), and in water saturated conditions (Bauer et al, 1981). Additional work was done to connect mineralogy and microstructures with rock strength (Merriam et al, 1970;Přikryl, 2001) and to model the mechanical properties of porous material; that is, the poreemanated crack model (Sammis and Ashby, 1986) and the wing-crack model (Ashby and Sammis, 1990). Only recently have laboratory studies begun to systematically investigate the microstructural, physical, and mechanical properties of volcanic rocks, a material infamously known for its formation under disequilibrium conditions, thereby rich in heterogeneities at all scales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomechanical rock properties of a basaltic volcano

et al. 2015

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In volcanic regions, reliable estimates of mechanical properties for specific volcanic events such as cyclic inflation-deflation cycles by magmatic intrusions, thermal stressing, and high temperatures are crucial for building accurate models of volcanic phenomena. This study focuses on the challenge of characterizing volcanic materials for the numerical analyses of such events. To do this, we evaluated the physical (porosity, permeability) and mechanical (strength) properties of basaltic rocks at Pacaya Volcano (Guatemala) through a variety of laboratory experiments, including: room temperature, high temperature (935 • C), and cyclically-loaded uniaxial compressive strength tests on as-collected and thermally-treated rock samples. Knowledge of the material response to such varied stressing conditions is necessary to analyze potential hazards at Pacaya, whose persistent activity has led to 13 evacuations of towns near the volcano since 1987. The rocks show a non-linear relationship between permeability and porosity, which relates to the importance of the crack network connecting the vesicles in these rocks. Here we show that strength not only decreases with porosity and permeability, but also with prolonged stressing (i.e., at lower strain rates) and upon cooling. Complimentary tests in which cyclic episodes of thermal or load stressing showed no systematic weakening of the material on the scale of our experiments. Most importantly, we show the extremely heterogeneous nature of volcanic edifices that arise from differences in porosity and permeability of the local lithologies, the limited lateral extent of lava flows, and the scars of previous collapse events. Input of these process-specific rock behaviors into slope stability and deformation models can change the resultant hazard analysis. We anticipate that an increased parameterization of rock properties will improve mitigation power.

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“…In the literature (Kiersch & Treasher 1955, Mielenz 1961, de Puy 1965, D'Andrea et al 1965, Weinert 1964, 1968, microscopical descriptions and analyses have been used semiquantitatively to predict engineering properties from petrographical properties. Some quantitative methods of micropetrographical characterization of rock material have been developed recently and these have been used to determine interrelationships between engineering and petrographical properties with a view to characterizing rock masses (Mendes et al 1966, Dixon 1969, Merriam et al 1970, Onadera et al 1974.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%