The role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocks

Abstract In brittle rocks, deformation is characterized by the initiation and propagation of cracks at both microscale and mesoscale levels. This study explores how rock texture influences the evolution of cracking networks and progressive rock damage results under uniaxial compression. 3D discrete...

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Main Authors: Özge Dinç Göğüş, Elif Avşar, Kayhan Develi, Ayten Çalık
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-11-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79940-9
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author Özge Dinç Göğüş
Elif Avşar
Kayhan Develi
Ayten Çalık
author_facet Özge Dinç Göğüş
Elif Avşar
Kayhan Develi
Ayten Çalık
author_sort Özge Dinç Göğüş
collection DOAJ
description Abstract In brittle rocks, deformation is characterized by the initiation and propagation of cracks at both microscale and mesoscale levels. This study explores how rock texture influences the evolution of cracking networks and progressive rock damage results under uniaxial compression. 3D discrete analyses were employed to identify the critical stresses of three different rock types. Thin sections were prepared from uniaxially loaded core samples at these stresses and crack patterns were captured under a polarizing microscope. The fractal box dimension method was used to quantitatively analyze the crack patterns for each rock type at each stress level. The novelty of this research is revealing the relationship between the development of microcrack patterns and textural properties such as mineral orientation/distribution, interlocking, crystal cleavage/hardness, and the groundmass. Results show that the cracking tendency varies with rock type at each critical stress level. Specifically, diabase exhibited the highest crack intensity, attributed to the interlocking of hard plagioclase and pyroxene crystals. Furthermore, the cleavages in pyroxenes make diabase particularly susceptible to cracking, especially when they are oriented parallel or semi-parallel to the applied load. These findings highlight that rock texture is a crucial factor influencing microcrack development, which should be considered in rock engineering applications.
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spelling doaj-art-afb7665e71ab463c99747f569cd964ab2025-01-26T12:34:58ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-11-0114111510.1038/s41598-024-79940-9The role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocksÖzge Dinç Göğüş0Elif Avşar1Kayhan Develi2Ayten Çalık3Geological Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical UniversityGeological Engineering Department, Konya Technical UniversityGeological Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical UniversityGeological Engineering Department, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart UniversityAbstract In brittle rocks, deformation is characterized by the initiation and propagation of cracks at both microscale and mesoscale levels. This study explores how rock texture influences the evolution of cracking networks and progressive rock damage results under uniaxial compression. 3D discrete analyses were employed to identify the critical stresses of three different rock types. Thin sections were prepared from uniaxially loaded core samples at these stresses and crack patterns were captured under a polarizing microscope. The fractal box dimension method was used to quantitatively analyze the crack patterns for each rock type at each stress level. The novelty of this research is revealing the relationship between the development of microcrack patterns and textural properties such as mineral orientation/distribution, interlocking, crystal cleavage/hardness, and the groundmass. Results show that the cracking tendency varies with rock type at each critical stress level. Specifically, diabase exhibited the highest crack intensity, attributed to the interlocking of hard plagioclase and pyroxene crystals. Furthermore, the cleavages in pyroxenes make diabase particularly susceptible to cracking, especially when they are oriented parallel or semi-parallel to the applied load. These findings highlight that rock texture is a crucial factor influencing microcrack development, which should be considered in rock engineering applications.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79940-9Rock damageRock textureCrackingDiscrete element methodFractal dimension
spellingShingle Özge Dinç Göğüş
Elif Avşar
Kayhan Develi
Ayten Çalık
The role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocks
Scientific Reports
Rock damage
Rock texture
Cracking
Discrete element method
Fractal dimension
title The role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocks
title_full The role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocks
title_fullStr The role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocks
title_full_unstemmed The role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocks
title_short The role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocks
title_sort role of mineralogical and textural complexity in the damage evolution of brittle rocks
topic Rock damage
Rock texture
Cracking
Discrete element method
Fractal dimension
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79940-9
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