Numerical investigation of stress intensity factor for semi-circular bend specimen with chevron notch

One of the specimens to investigate the mode-I fracture toughness of rock and geo-materials is semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen. In general, initial cracks in rock test specimens are produced in two shapes: straight-edge cracks and chevron notches. The ISRM suggested SCB specimen has straight shaped notch. However, use of V-shaped (or chevron) notch in the SCB specimen is preferred because of some technical difficulties associated with making a sharp crack or creating pre-crack to conduct the experimental tests. In this paper, the minimum dimensionless stress intensity factor of cracked chevron notched semi-circular bend (CCNSCB) specimen is determined using finite element analysis with ABAQUS software. An analytical method, (i.e. Bluhm’s slice synthesis method) is used to verify the results. It is shown that a good agreement exists between the numerical data and theoretical results.