A TWO-SCALE DAMAGE LAW FOR CREEPING

ROCKS
Cristian Dascalu1,∗ and Bertrand François1,2
1
Laboratoire Sols Solides Structures - Risques, UJF, INPG, CNRS UMR 5521
Domaine Universitaire, B.P. 53, 38041 Grenoble cedex 9, France
∗
e-mail: [email protected]
2
Departement ArGEnCo, Geo3 - Géomécanique et Géologie de l’ingénieur
Université de Liège, FRS-FNRS Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique
Chemin des Chevreuils, 1 4000 Liège 1 Belgium
e-mail: [email protected]

Summary. The theoretical developments and the numerical applications of a time-

dependent damage law are presented. This law is deduced from considerations at the
micro-scale where non-planar growth of micro-cracks, following a subcritical prop-
agation criterion, is assumed. The passage from micro-scale to macro-scale is done
through an asymptotic homogenization approach. Results of numerical simulations of
time-dependent damage behavior are presented.

Keywords: crack rotation, homogenization, subcritical propagation, time-dependent

damage.

1 INTRODUCTION
The evolution of damage in rocks is often time-dependent. At the micro-scale, such
materials contain micro-cracks that evolve on non-planar paths in a rate-dependent man-
ner, and this complex propagation strongly affects the macroscopic mechanical behav-
ior. We assume that the micro-crack distribution may be locally approximated by a
periodic one that is characterized by a micro-structural length — the distance between
two adjacent micro-cracks. The source of time-dependency is the subcritical propa-
gation of micro-cracks. This paper combines concepts of asymptotic homogenization
[1,2] and subcritical and mixed crack propagation to deduce a time-dependent damage
model.

2 MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION
Consider a two-dimensional isotropic elastic medium containing a locally periodic
distribution of micro-cracks. Each crack is straight with a length 2a and an orientation
of angle θ with respect to the x1 direction (abscissa of the referential system considered
at the macro-scale). The damage variables are d - the ratio between the crack length
2a and the distance between two micro-cracks ε that also represents the size of the
periodicity cell (Fig. 1) : 2a
d= (1)
ε
and the angle θ. On the crack faces, traction free opening or frictionless contact condi-
tions are assumed.

R.I. Borja (Ed.): Multiscale and Multiphysics Processes in Geomechanics, SSGG, pp. 53–56.
springerlink.com c Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
54 C. Dascalu and B. François

a) b)

y'2 y2

ε y'1
2a 2a d
x2 ε 1 θ
y1
ε

x1

Fig. 1. (a) Fissured medium with locally periodic microstructure. (b) Unit cell with rescaled
crack of length d.

2.1 Asymptotic Homogenization

The locally periodic microstructure is constructed from a unit cell Y = [−0.5, 0.5] ×
[−0.5, 0.5] expressed in a (y1 , y2 ) orthogonal axis system centered in the middle of
the crack, corresponding to the center of the cell. Then this unit cell is rescaled by
the parameter ε so that the period of the material is εY . The two distinct scales are
represented by the variable x (the macroscopic variable) and y = x/ε (the microscopic
variable). After asymptotic homogenization, we obtain the following relationships for
the overall response of the material (e.g. [2,3]):
∂ (0) (0)
Σ = 0 ; Σij = Cijkl exkl (u(0) ) ;
∂xj ij

± 1 kl
Cijkl (d, θ) = (aijkl + aijmn eymn (ξ± )) dy (2)
|Y | Ys
(0)
where Σij is the macroscopic stress and Cijkl the homogenized coefficients, respec-
pq
tively. Eq. (2) is the homogenized equation of equilibrium. ξ± are elementary solutions
(1) (0)
of the microscopic correction u for particular expq (u ) = δpq . The distinction ±
corresponds to opening (+) or contact (-) conditions of the crack lips [2]. The homoge-
nized coefficients Cijkl depend on the state of damage of the material (d and θ) and on
the mechanical properties of the solid matrix (E and ν). From the integral (2), the coeffi-
cients can be initially computed for a large number of d and θ for both opening and closure
states. After interpolation, polynomial expressions of Cijkl (d, θ) are obtained [2,3].

2.2 Subcritical Growth of Micro-crack

The evolution of the micro-crack length is described through a subcritical criterion
adapted from the Charles’ law:
  n
dl KI
= v0 (3)
dt K0
where K0 , v0 and n are material parameters. KI is the stress intensity factor for the
tensile mode of rupture (Mode I) of the kinked crack (Fig. 2a). The determination of
the stress intensity factors at the crack tips is made through the computation of path-
independent J-, L- and M- integrals [4] for straight trajectory of micro-cracks and from
 A TWO-SCALE DAMAGE LAW FOR CREEPING ROCKS 55

y2

2an+1 dθ
dl θn
φmax
2a θn+1
dl
θ
dl y1
2an
φmax dl
a)
b)
Fig. 2. Kinked crack. (a) The out-of-plane crack growth propagates in the direction that maximize
the energy release rate. (b) The kinked crack (solid line) and its equivalent replacement crack
(dashed line).

the polynoms given by Leblond [5] for the kinked cracks. The crack extension is as-
sumed to propagate in the direction that maximizes the energy release rate, with a kink-
ing angle (Fig. 2a) [6]:
φmax = sgn(KII )[0.70966λ3 − 0.097725sin2 (3.9174λ) − 13.1588tanh(0.15199λ)] ;
|KII |
λ= (4)
KI + |KII |
At each time increment, the kinked crack is replaced by an equivalent straight crack
deduced by joining the tips of the real branched crack (Fig. 2b). We obtain in this way
the evolution of damage parameters d and θ in the form of differential equations [4]:
dd 2 dl dθ 2 dl
= cos(φmax ) ; = sin(φmax ) (5)
dt ε dt dt εd dt

3 NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
All the simulations presented in the following have been made considering biaxial
loading. Plane-strain condition is considered in the third direction. Figure 3 illustrates
the response of a material submitted to an uniaxial tension loading at constant vertical

d = 0.300
7 7
7 x 10 .
ex22 = 1 10-7 s-1 7 x 10 d = 0.283
θ = 43.5° d = 0.765
Axial stress, Σ22 (Pa)

Axial stress, Σ22 (Pa)

6 6
5 5 θ = 45°
4 4 θ = 32.3°
d = 1.191
3 3
2 . 2
ex22 = 1 10-9 s-1 θ = 32.9°
1 . 1
ex22 = 1 10-8 s-1
0 0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035
Axial strain, ex22 (−) Axial strain, ex22 (−)
a) b)

Fig. 3. Axial tension tests at various constant strain rate ėx22 . (a) The strength increases when the
strain rate increases. (b) Evolution of the micro-crack in the periodic cell for ėx22 = 1.10−8 s−1 .
56 C. Dascalu and B. François

x 107
6 Σ11 (Tension) 9
8 d = 1.006
4
7

| Σ22/ Σ11|
Stress, Σ (Pa)

2
6
0 θ = 83.6°
5 d = 0.682
d = 0.285 d = 0.289 d = 0.301
−2 4
3
−4 Σ22 (Compression)
2 θ = 78.2°
θ = 45.9° θ = 47.5° θ = 50.7°
−6 1
−8 0 00 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Time (hours) Time (hours)
a) b)

Fig. 4. Relaxation test under biaxial conditions. ex22 = −0.035 (compression) and ex11 =
0.035 (tension). Evolution with time of (a) the horizontal and vertical stresses and of (b) the ratio
of anisotropy.

strain rate. Under a low strain rate, the effect of time becomes predominant and the
failure appears for a lower strain level than in the case of faster loading (Figure 3a).
As the damage increases, a kinked angle forms and the equivalent crack rotates, tend-
ing to be perpendicular to the principal tensile strain (Figure 3b). Figure 4a shows the
evolution of horizontal and vertical stresses with time. During relaxation tests, under a
biaxial combined tensile/compressive constant strain field, the subcritical micro-crack
growth produces a gradual stress relaxation upon failure. As long as the crack propa-
gates, the direction of the equivalent crack tends toward a vertical direction inducing an
anisotropic response of the material (Figure 4b).

4 CONCLUSIONS
The subcritical growth of micro-cracks is responsible for the time-dependent behav-
ior of many creeping rocks. A subcritical criterion together with a crack rotation model
has been considered at the micro-scale. Upscaled equations have been obtained by an
adapted asymptotic homogenization procedure. A time-dependent macroscopic dam-
age model has been deduced. Numerical simulations in a macroscopic point of loading
at constant strain rate and relaxation tests have shown the ability of the developed model
to reproduce the time-dependent damage response.

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