• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.344-351
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• 2010

Slip along a frictional fracture can be approached as initiation and propagation of a mode II crack along its own plane. Fracture mechanics theories predict that under pure mode II loading initiation will occur when the energy release rate of the fracture attains a critical value ($G_{IIC}$), which is generally taken as a material property. For the past few years the rock mechanics group at Purdue University has investigated experimentally the dependence of $G_{IIC}$ on normal stress and on the frictional characteristics of a fracture. A number of experiments has been conducted first on acrylic, a material that, using photoelastic methods, allows visualization of the stress field ahead of the fracture tip; and later on gypsum, a rock model material with relatively low unconfined compression strength. The experimental investigation has been expanded to include other frictional materials with higher unconfined compression strength. Direct shear tests have been conducted on specimens made with cement paste. New observations together with previous experiments indicate that $G_{IIC}$ can only be considered a material property when the peak friction angle of the discontinuity is similar to the residual friction angle; otherwise the critical energy release rate increases with normal stress.