Evaluation of the failure of rock masses with V-shaped notches under pure tension loading

Evaluation of the failure of rock masses with V-shaped notches under pure tension loading

The effect of V-shaped notch on the fracture resistance of rock materials is investigated in this paper by testing the Brazilian disk weakened by V-shaped notch (V-BD samples). Also, the fracture loads of tested specimens are predicted employing the maximum tangential stress (MTS) criterion which developed previously for V-BD samples made of PPMA and graphite. It is found that the developed MTS criterion can provide good estimates for fracture loads of tested samples