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Open Access Research Article

The effect of loading contact angle on the tensile behavior of rock disks

by Mostafa Asadizadeh 1,* ,  Saeed Khosravi 2 ,  Nasrin Abbasssalimi 3 ,  Nima Babanouri 4 ,  Mohammad Rezaei 5 ,  Aref Alipour 6 ,  Veljko Lapčević 7 ,  Ahmadreza Hedayat 8  and  Taghi Sherizadeh 9
1
Mine Stability West, WSP Global Inc, Denver, CO, USA
2
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada.
3
3Department of Mining Engineering, Hamedan University of Technology, Hamedan 65155-579, Iran.
4
Department of Mining Engineering, Hamedan University of Technology, Hamedan 65155-579, Iran.
5
Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.
6
Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Urmia University of Technology, Iran.
7
The University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Serbia
8
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA
9
Department of Mining and Explosives Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65409, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
RML  2025 2(3):23; https://doi.org/10.70425/rml.202503.23
Received: 14 October 2024 / Accepted: 5 August 2025 / Published Online: 25 August 2025
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Abstract

Tensile strength is one of the most important characteristics of rock masses that could govern the stability of rock structures. Due to difficulties in its direct measurements, indirect methods such as the Brazilian test have been developed to assess the tensile strength of laboratory-scale rock material. This study considers the effect of loading contact angle on the indirect tensile strength of rock-like disks by adopting experimental and discrete element methods. Several experimental specimens made of synthetic materials were examined under diametrical loading, and consequently, a numerical model using PFC3D was calibrated accordingly. Then, the impacts of the loading contact angle (θ) on the tensile strength, failure pattern, and contact force chain were investigated in detail. The results indicated that as θ increases from 0°, suggested by ASTM, to 90°, the tensile state is dominated at the specimen center, whereas for angles greater than 90°, the dominant stress state changed to compression. Also, while σxx (tensile stress) at the center of the disk did not change for θ below 40°, the σyy (compressive stress) and σzz (out-of-plan normal stress) increased after θ =30°. The analysis of developed cracks suggested that when θ is lower than 30°, the percentage of tensile and shear cracks were constant (80% and 20%, respectively). As the loading contact angle increased, tensile cracks decreased, whereas the other increased. By analyzing the failed specimens, three categories of crack patterns and two categories of contact force chains were identified.

Keywords: Indirect tensile strength; Brazilian test; PFC3D; Crack development; Contact force chain.;
Copyright: © 2025 by Asadizadeh, Khosravi, Abbasssalimi, Babanouri, Rezaei, Alipour, Lapčević, Hedayat and Sherizadeh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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ACS Style
Asadizadeh, M.; Khosravi, S.; Abbasssalimi, N.; Babanouri, N.; Rezaei, M.; Alipour, A.; Lapčević, V.; Hedayat, A.; Sherizadeh, T. The effect of loading contact angle on the tensile behavior of rock disks. Rock Mechanics Letters, 2025, 2, 23. doi:10.70425/rml.202503.23
AMA Style
Asadizadeh M, Khosravi S, Abbasssalimi N et al.. The effect of loading contact angle on the tensile behavior of rock disks. Rock Mechanics Letters; 2025, 2(3):23. doi:10.70425/rml.202503.23
Chicago/Turabian Style
Asadizadeh, Mostafa; Khosravi, Saeed; Abbasssalimi, Nasrin; Babanouri, Nima; Rezaei, Mohammad; Alipour, Aref; Lapčević, Veljko, and et al. 2025. "The effect of loading contact angle on the tensile behavior of rock disks" Rock Mechanics Letters 2, no.3:23. doi:10.70425/rml.202503.23
APA Style
Asadizadeh, M., Khosravi, S., Abbasssalimi, N., Babanouri, N., Rezaei, M., Alipour, A., Lapčević, V., Hedayat, A., & Sherizadeh, T. (2025). The effect of loading contact angle on the tensile behavior of rock disks. Rock Mechanics Letters, 2(3), 23. doi:10.70425/rml.202503.23

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