Comparison of the microfracture localization in granite between fracturation and slip of a preexisting macroscopic healed joint by acoustic emission measurements
L. Jouniaux et al., Comparison of the microfracture localization in granite between fracturation and slip of a preexisting macroscopic healed joint by acoustic emission measurements, J GEO R-SOL, 106(B5), 2001, pp. 8687-8698
Experiments of fracturation and slip of a preexisting macroscopic healed jo
int have been performed under triaxial deformation on granite from Mayet de
Montagne (France). This granite shows high grain-scale inhomogeneity. Acou
stic emissions have been recorded and hypocenters have been determined duri
ng the entire experiments. For both rupture experiment and slip experiment,
precursory localization of microfractures in the final rupture plane has b
een observed in the early stage of deformation, well before the dilatancy.
It is likely that not only initial closure of favorably oriented cracks but
also breaking of partially cemented grains or slipping between grains may
occur in the pseudoelastic phase and are already localized on the final rup
ture plane where the shear stress seems to be concentrate. This behavior is
observed in both cases where stress heterogeneity and rupture nucleation a
re controlled by (1) medium-scale heterogeneity at the grain scale (HS samp
le) or (2) macroscopic heterogeneity in the form of a preexisting healed jo
int (JS sample). The sample with the healed joint exhibited similar to 1.6
times more acoustic emission events than the intact sample. The presence of
the healed joint significantly weakened the sample.