Brittle-ductile transition stress of different rock types and its relationship with uniaxial compressive strength and Hoek–Brown material constant (m i )

Abstract

Abstract Rocks deformed at low confining pressure are brittle, which means that after peak stress, the strength declines to a residual value established by sliding friction. The stress drop is the variation between peak and residual values. But no tension reduction takes place at high confining pressure. A proposed definition of the brittle-ductile transition is the transition pressure at which no loss in strength takes place. However, studies that consider information about the brittle-ductile transition, the criterion's range of applicability, how to determine mi, and how confining pressures affect mi's values are scarce. This paper aims to investigate the link between brittle-ductile transition stress, uniaxial compressive strength and Hoek–Brown material constant (m i ) for different kinds of rock. It is essential to accurately determine the brittle-ductile transition stress to derive reliable values for mi. To achieve this purpose, a large amount of data from the literature was chosen, regression analysis was carried out, and brittle-ductile transition stress (σTR) was determined based on the combination of Hoek–Brown failure criteria and the recently used brittle-ductile transition stress limit of Mogi. Moreover, new nonlinear correlations were established between uniaxial compressive strength and Hoek–Brown material constant (m i ) for different igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock types. Regression analyses show that the determination coefficient between σTR and UCS for gneiss is 0.9, sandstone is 0.8, and shale is 0.74. Similarly, the determination coefficient between σTR and m i for gneiss is 0.88. The correlation between Hoek–Brown material constant (m i ) and σTR was not notable for sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, probably due to sedimentary rocks' stratification and metamorphic ones' foliation.