Numerical Investigation of Isotropic and Transverse Isotropic Rock Failure Under Semi-circular Bending Test Using Peridynamic

In this work, we present a peridynamic-based simulation method for modeling quasi-static fracture propagation in isotropic and transverse isotropic rock within the framework of peridynamic least square minimization (PDLSM). The isotropic elastic PDLSM is further extended to investigate the elastic deformation and fracture propagation in transverse isotropic materials. The proposed model naturally employs Hooke’s law for transverse isotropic material to determine peridynamic internal force and uses a transverse isotropic maximum bond stretch failure criterion to judge the bond breakage, thereby characterizing crack propagation and damage evolution. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model, simulations of elastic deformation of a transverse isotropic plate and fracture evolution in rock under semi-circular bending (SCB) tests are presented and compared with finite element method (FEM) analysis and experimental results, respectively. It is shown that the proposed model effectively simulates transverse isotropic elastic deformation and captures the fracture trajectory of isotropic and transverse isotropic SCB specimens.