Analysis of the localization of damage and the complete stress - Strain relation for mesoscopic heterogeneous brittle rock subjected to compressive loads

A micromechanics-based model is established. The model takes the interaction among sliding cracks into account, and it is able to quantify the effect of various parameters on the localization condition of damage and deformation for brittle rock subjected to compressive loads. The closed-form explicit expression for the complete stress-strain relation of rock containing microcracks subjected to compressive loads was obtained. It is showed that the complete stress-strain relation includes linear elasticity, nonlinear hardening, rapid stress drop and strain softening. The behavior of rapid stress drop and strain softening is due to localization of deformation and damage. Theoretical predictions have shown to be consistent with the experimental results.