Numerical simulation of compressive failure of heterogeneous rock-like materials using SPH method

A novel numerical approach based on the mesh-free smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is developed to simulate the failure of brittle heterogeneous materials by tracing the propagation of the microscopic cracks as well as the macromechanical behaviors. An elasto-plastic damage model based on the extension of the unified twin shear strength (UTSS) criterion is adopted to reflect the strength behavior of the materials. A statistical approach is applied to model the material heterogeneity. The developed SPH code is used to simulate the heterogeneous rock-like material compressive failure under the uniaxial and biaxial loading conditions. The influences of the material heterogeneity as well as the confining loading conditions are investigated. Results demonstrate that the developed program is effective and promising for more complex applications. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.