Scholarlink

<p>This study investigates the influence of mineral grain size on fracture patterns and acoustic emission (AE) source mechanisms in Westerly granite under uniaxial compression, using grain-based numerical models with systematically varying grain sizes. Numerical simulations were conducted using the Particle Flow Code (PFC, Itasca Consulting Group), with a focus on analyzing the mechanical response, fracture process, microcrack distribution, and the relationship between AE characteristics and grain size. The results show that peak stress increases with grain size (184.91–283.39&#xa0;MPa), while peak strain generally decreases. Tensile microcracks predominantly form within mineral grains, intergranular microcracks are predominantly shear-type, and compaction microcracks are spatially concentrated around macroscopic fractures. With increasing grain size, the proportion of large AE events rises from 64 to 82%, while AE source mechanism analysis reveals a systematic shift from tensile-dominated toward increasing shear and compaction contributions, driven by the restructuring of the intergranular contact network. These findings provide physically grounded insights into the grain size-dependent fracture mechanisms and AE source characteristics of crystalline granite.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Influence of different mineral grain sizes on AE source and rock mechanical properties: an example of non-homogeneous modeling

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月11日

查看全文
  • Y. Zhang,
  • D. Zhang

摘要

This study investigates the influence of mineral grain size on fracture patterns and acoustic emission (AE) source mechanisms in Westerly granite under uniaxial compression, using grain-based numerical models with systematically varying grain sizes. Numerical simulations were conducted using the Particle Flow Code (PFC, Itasca Consulting Group), with a focus on analyzing the mechanical response, fracture process, microcrack distribution, and the relationship between AE characteristics and grain size. The results show that peak stress increases with grain size (184.91–283.39 MPa), while peak strain generally decreases. Tensile microcracks predominantly form within mineral grains, intergranular microcracks are predominantly shear-type, and compaction microcracks are spatially concentrated around macroscopic fractures. With increasing grain size, the proportion of large AE events rises from 64 to 82%, while AE source mechanism analysis reveals a systematic shift from tensile-dominated toward increasing shear and compaction contributions, driven by the restructuring of the intergranular contact network. These findings provide physically grounded insights into the grain size-dependent fracture mechanisms and AE source characteristics of crystalline granite.