Mechanical properties and failure behavior of heterogeneous granite: Insights from a new Weibull-based FDEM numerical model

Granite is often encountered in underground engineering, and its mechanical properties and failure behavior directly determine its stability and seepage characteristics. Unlike other rocks, granite is usually considered heterogeneous. Based on the Weibull distribution, this paper proposes a novel modeling method for heterogeneous granite via the combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM), and the mechanical properties and failure behavior of granite under uniaxial and triaxial compression, Brazilian splitting, and direct tension, as well as the influence of the loading rate, were investigated. The research results indicate that (1) the new modeling method can be used to construct a heterogeneous granite numerical model that includes three types of randomness (mineral spatial distribution randomness, mineral size randomness, and mineral shape randomness) and can quantitatively change the mineral composition; (2) uniaxial and triaxial compression simulation tests reveal that as the content of weak minerals (biotite) increases, the uniaxial compressive strength and equivalent cohesion decrease as a power function, and Young's modulus decreases as a linear function, while the equivalent internal friction angle decreases as an exponential function; (3) heterogeneous granite exhibits different mechanical properties and failure behaviors under Brazilian splitting and direct tension due to their different failure modes; typically, the tensile strength obtained from direct tension testing is lower than the value obtained from Brazilian splitting testing; and (4) as the loading rate increases, the strength, stiffness, and number of cracks of the specimen first stabilize and then increase as a power function, with a critical rate of v=1 m/s.