Research on Effects of Pressure Loading on Rock Lateral Cracks Occurrence under Confining Pressure

Numerical simulations of effects of confining pressure on occurrence of rock lateral cracks were performed by using the numerical analysis software. The results indicate that the rock tends to have median cracks with the increasing of penetration under no confining pressure, while the rock tends to have lateral cracks with the increasing of penetration under confining pressure. The relative position of lateral crack initiation is dependent on the confining pressure when loading, which is independent of the penetration. The greater the confining pressure, the closer the lateral crack location to the rock surface. With the increasing of penetration and confining pressure, the lateral crack direction is towards to the direction parallel to the rock surface.