Failure patterns of geomaterials with block-in-matrix texture: experimental and numerical evaluation

In nature, due to complex geological process, some geomaterials with block-in-matrix texture exist that characterized by a heterogeneous structure including rock blocks embedded in a small-grained matrix. In literature, these materials also referred as bimrock (block-in-matrix rock). Typical examples of these complex materials are conglomerates, breccias, glacial till, coarse-grained alluviums, and m,langes formations. When dealing with these complex media in engineering, it is important to understand the process by which the geomaterials fail under common loading conditions. In this paper, artificial bimrock specimens were prepared for different percentage of rock block proportions. The failure mechanism under uniaxial compression and indirect tension loading were studied. In order to compare the failure modes with homogeneous specimens, a numerical simulation of laboratory tests including uniaxial compression and Brazilian test was conducted on a typical bimrock and a homogenous specimen. The results showed different features of failure pattern for bimrocks with high proportions of rock blocks in comparison with homogeneous specimens. According to the experimental results, three main features were observed including a continuous tortuous failure surface, multiple localized shear failure surfaces, and detachment of rock blocks from the periphery of specimens.