Experimental Rock Mechanics

This book details experimental methods developed and results obtained by the author and his co-workers. They explore the deformation and fracture of rock specimens under the general triaxial compression in which all three principal stresses are different. The book also discusses the experimental results of the effect of the intermediate principal stress, in graphic and numerical forms. It shows the importance of this effect on the ultimate strength of rocks. Using these results, the author proposes a new failure criterion and presents various devices for reliable experimental tests with high accuracy.

Fracture and flow of rocks under stress and their geophysical and seismological implications raise fundamental questions in rock mechanics, particularly in the areas of tectonophysics and seismology. This text exclusively addresses the deformation and fracture of rock specimens under general triaxial compression, in which all three principal stresses are different; whichsignificantly affects the ultimate strength of rocks. It moreover deals with deformation and failure following intermediate principal stress in graphic and numerical form. The effect of the intrinsic features of rock masses of inhomogeneous or anisotropic structure are taken into account, as are acoustic emission phenomena in rocks under various stress states. Friction in rocks, measured by a newly-designed shear-testing machine, is discussed in relation to earthquake phenomena.

Preface, About the author, PART I DEFORMATIONAND FRACTURE OF ROCKS, PART II ACOUSTIC EMISSION (AE), Part III ROCK FRICTIONAND EARTHQUAKES, Subject index

Kiyoo Mogi (1929, Japan) holds a PhD degree in Geophysics and is Emeritus Professor and former Director of the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo, Japan. He devoted a major part of his career to studying the fracture and flow of rocks under stress and their relation to natural earthquakes. From these studies, it was derived that the degree of mechanical heterogeneity had an important role in rock fracture. By developing the true triaxial compression machine, Kiyoo Mogi could study the mechanical behavior of rocks under asymmetric stress conditions and was able to propose new, general failure criteria.Prof. Mogi is also the author of 'Earthquake Prediction', 355 pp., 1985, Academic Press, Tokyo, Japan.