Investigation of the effect of U-shaped notches on the mechanical behavior r of rock masses

Investigation of the effect of U-shaped notches on the mechanical behavior r of rock masses

The resistance of rock materials weakened by U-shaped notch is investigated in this paper by testing the Brazilian disk with central U-shaped notch (U-BD samples). In addition, the critical distance concept, which has been developed previously for U-BD samples made of PPMA and graphite is employed for predicting the failure due to loads on tested specimens. It is found that the developed MTS criterion can provide good estimates of failure as a result of the loads on the tested samples