Discrete element simulation study on effects of grain preferred orientation on micro-cracking and macro-mechanical behavior of crystalline rocks

Abstract

Grain-preferred orientation significantly influences the brittle fracture mechanism and failure mode of crystalline rocks. However, current grain-based models (GBMs) based on particle flow code (PFC) software are mostly proposed on the basis of the Voronoi tessellation method for grain boundary generation, which is difficult to simulate the heterogeneity of microstructure such as shape and orientation of rock minerals. To study the effect of grain-preferred orientation on macroscopic mechanical properties and microscopic characteristics of crystalline rocks, a novel grain-based microstructure transformation method (MTM) is proposed. Based on the MTM, a GBM with a target aspect ratio and crystal orientation is obtained by transforming the Voronoi crystal geometry through a planar coordinate mapping. Specifically, embedded FISH language is used to control random mineral seed size and distribution pattern to generate Tyson polygons. A polygon geometry that satisfies the rock texture is obtained as a grain boundary by spatially transforming the vertex of the Tyson polygon. The transformed complex geometry is taken as the crystal structure of the GBM, and the Lac du Bonnet granite models with different aspect ratios and crystal orientations were developed in PFC2D. Finally, a series of unconfined compressive strength tests are performed in PFC2D to verify the proposed modeling methods for the geometric variation of the crystals and to study the effects of the preferred orientation of the grains on the macroscopic mechanical properties and microscopic fracture mechanisms of the crystalline rocks from different perspectives.

Keywords

• microscopic rupture mechanisms
• discrete element method
• grain-based model
• aspect ratio
• grain-preferred orientation