Damage evolution analysis of SRM under compression using X-ray tomography and numerical simulation

The soil-rock mixture (SRM) is a special inhomogeneous multiphase geomaterial, the study of the SRM's damage characteristic is crucial to the stability of engineering. This paper explores the use of high-resolution X-ray tomography and Realistic Failure Process Analysis code (RFPA(2D)) to identify the damage mechanism and the cracking process of SRM during compressive loading. X-ray tomography images were used to extract defects of SRM specimen under different compressive loadings, also damage characteristics of region of interest (ROI) were analysed by X-ray tomography. Numerical simulation was conducted to describe the damage characteristics with damage element number (DEN) recorded during compression. Results show that X-ray tomography and numerical simulation based on RFPA(2D) are complementary good methods to research the damage evolution of SRM. Damage characteristics of SRM are progressive; cracking begins from rock-soil jointed interfaces, and then propagates into soil matrix, and the growth of crack-shear band and macro-pore finally result in the failure of SRM.