Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817

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Journal of Rock Mechanics and

Geotechnical Engineering
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Full Length Article

Dynamic mechanical behaviors of Fangshan marble

Wei Yao a, b, Taiming He c, Kaiwen Xia b, *
a
State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
b
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A4, Canada
c
Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100000, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Dynamic strength parameters are extensively used in mining engineering and rock mechanics. However,
Received 27 November 2016 there are no widely accepted dynamic failure models for rocks. In this study, the dynamic punching shear
Received in revised form strength, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and tensile strength of ne-grained Fangshan marble (FM)
22 January 2017
are rst measured by using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) system. The pulse-shaping technique is
Accepted 13 March 2017
Available online 23 September 2017
then implemented to maintain the dynamic force balance in SHPB tests. Experimental results show that
the dynamic punching shear strength, UCS and tensile strength increase with the loading rate. A recently
developed dynamic Mohr-Coulomb theory is then used to interpret the testing data. In this model, the
Keywords:
Dynamic strengths
angle of internal friction f is assumed to be independent of loading rate and is obtained using the static
Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) strength values. According to the dynamic Mohr-Coulomb theory, the dynamic UCS and the dynamic
Dynamic Mohr-Coulomb model tensile strength are predicted from the dynamic punching shear strength. Furthermore, based on this
Fangshan marble dynamic theory, the dynamic UCS is predicted from the dynamic tensile strength. The consistency be-
tween the predicted and measured dynamic strengths demonstrates that the dynamic Mohr-Coulomb
theory is applicable to FM.
2017 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
In rock engineering applications such as rock quarrying, rock
drilling, rock excavation, rock blasting, and seismic event, rocks
may be stressed and fail dynamically (Ghaffari and Young, 2012,
2013). The accurate determination of rock dynamic strength pa-
rameters over a wide range of loading rates is thus desirable in
many rock engineering designs.
Various methods have been proposed to determine the dynamic
properties of rocks (Zhang and Zhao, 2014). The split Hopkinson
pressure bar (SHPB) system is an ideal and reliable high-strain rate
loading technique to obtain dynamic mechanical properties of
rocks. Since it was proposed by Kolsky (1949), the SHPB has been
extensively applied to quantifying dynamic mechanical behavior of
engineering materials at high strain/loading rate. Recently, the
methods to measure the dynamic tensile strength, compressive
strength and fracture toughness of rocks using the SHPB were
suggested by the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM)
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 4169785942; fax: 1 4169786813.
E-mail address: kaiwen.xia@utoronto.ca (K. Xia).
Peer review under responsibility of Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences.
(Zhou et al., 2012). Over the years, ISRM also has recommended
several methods to measure the static shear strength, tensile
strength and compressive strength (ISRM, 1978; Ulusay and
Gokceoglu, 1997; Ulusay et al., 2001, 2007; Ulusay and Hudson,
2007).
A cylindrically shaped rock specimen was basically adopted in
the suggested methods by ISRM for both static and dynamic
compressive strength measurements (Ulusay and Hudson, 2007;
Zhou et al., 2012). Brazilian disc (BD), an indirect tension method,
was suggested by ISRM to obtain the tensile strengths of rocks
under static and dynamic loading conditions (ISRM, 1978; Zhou
et al., 2012). A block punch index (BPI) test was recommended by
ISRM for measuring static shear strength for rocks (Stacey, 1980;
Sulukcu and Ulusay, 2001; Ulusay et al., 2007; Huang et al., 2012).
The dynamic punch shear test was adopted to measure the dy-
namic shear strength of rocks in a SHPB system for the facilitation
of the sample preparation and minimization of bending stresses on
the samples (Huang et al., 2011, 2012).
Using the above methods, several researchers have studied the
mechanical properties of Fangshan marble (FM). Huang et al.
(1990) investigated the strain eld development prior to the
failure of a uniaxially compressed FM plate with an inclined
central slot. Test results showed that when the specimen was

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2017.03.019
1674-7755 2017 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
808 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817
Fig. 1. Micrographs of FM using optical microscope. They were captured from two orthogonal directions in the same plane of the sample.
loaded up to a certain level, its strain would be concentrated on
relatively narrow belts, which were the potential locations of the
impending ultimate failure. Zhang et al. (1993) presented that the
dynamic fracture toughness of FM increased with the loading rate
when the loading rate was higher than 104 MPa m1/2 s1. Zhang
et al. (1999, 2000) macroscopically examined the sections
(perpendicular to the fracture surface) of the fractured FM spec-
imens, and found that there was clear crack branching or bifur-
cation near the fracture surfaces. They also reported that both the
dynamic fracture toughness and the branching cracks of FM
increased with the loading rate. Zhang and Wu (2012) and Zhang
and Zhao (2013a) utilized the SHPB with the digital image cor-
relation (DIC) technique to measure the surface deformation
characteristics, the dynamic facture toughness, the dynamic ten-
sile strength and the dynamic compressive strength of FM. Zhang
and Zhao (2013b) presented a micromechanical model to examine
the intergranular and transgranular fractures of FM and reported
that fracture surface roughness was dependent on the loading
rate.
As a construction material, FM is widely used in the founda-
tions of structures, such as historic building and bridges. The dy-
namic shear strength of rock is important in the design of
structures such as rock slopes, dam foundations, tunnels, and
caverns for storage. Moreover, since dynamic failure criterion can
describe the conditions under which failure occurs in rock-like
materials under dynamic loading, the failure criteria play a sig-
nicant role in some constitutive models and in predicting the rock
failure under certain circumstances (Huang et al., 2012; Zhang and
Zhao, 2014). The measurements of the shear strength, tensile
strength and compressive strength are indispensable in estab-
lishing applicable failure criteria. Thus, it is vital to obtain the
dynamic shear strength and establish a dynamic failure criterion
for FM. Despite the existing research attempts made on FM, there
is no investigation to measure dynamic shear strength and further
to establish a dynamic failure criterion that correlates the dynamic
shear strength, dynamic compressive strength and dynamic ten-
sile strength of FM. Although the Mohr-Coulomb criterion is one of
the most widely used strength criteria in geotechnical engineering
application and numerical modeling (Jaeger et al., 2007; Barton,
2013; Bidgoli et al., 2013; Hoek and Martin, 2014; Lisjak and
Grasselli, 2014), this criterion was only applicable for static rock
failure analysis over a long period in the past. Fortunately, the
Mohr-Coulomb theory was recently extended to account for the
dynamic loading (Zhao, 2000; Huang et al., 2012). For this, the
dynamic shear strength of FM is rstly measured in this study to
understand its mechanical behaviors. In order to guarantee data
consistency and obtain the accurate parameters for dynamic
Mohr-Coulomb theory, the dynamic tensile strength and
compressive strength of FM are quantied and compared with
those reported in the literature. The dynamic Mohr-Coulomb
theory is nally utilized to relate the shear strength, compressive
strength and tensile strength for this rock.
2. Sample preparation and experimental setup
2.1. Sample preparation
The FM marble is a kind of ne-grained marble excavated in
Fangshan region, Beijing, China. The density of FM is 2.85 g/cm3 and
the P-wave velocity is 5900 m/s. To obtain an insight into the
mineralogical composition of this rock, 30 mm thin section samples
were prepared for microscopic examination using polarized light
(Pichler and Schmitt-Riegraf, 1997). The results are shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 shows that the FM composition is almost 98% of dolomite,
which has a very high birefringence (the color of grain in one di-
rection is black or pale; the color in the perpendicular direction is
white). The remaining composition mainly consists of quartz and
crystals with anomalous interference colors. The size of minerals
ranges from 10 mm to 200 mm with the average dolomite size of
100 mm and the average quartz size of 200 mm.
According to the ISRM recommended method for measuring
the dynamic uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rocks (Zhou
et al., 2012), cylindrical samples with the length to diameter ra-
tio of 1:1 were used. The rock block was rst prepared into cores
with diameter of 25 mm. Then the cores were machined into
cylinders with height of 25 mm. In addition, based on the ISRM
recommendation for determining rock dynamic tensile strength
(Zhou et al., 2012), BD samples were also prepared. Rock cores
with diameter of 40 mm were drilled from the FM block. There-
after, the cores were cut into discs and polished, with a thickness
of 20 mm. Disc samples were employed in punch shear tests. The
marble block was machined and polished into discs with 45 mm
in diameter and 11 mm in thickness. The cylindrical surfaces of all
the specimens were smooth without abrupt irregularities, and
straight to within 0.02 mm over the full thickness of the spec-
imen. The ends of the specimens were at with uctuation less
than 0.02 mm, and were horizontal with slope angle within
0.25 . Moreover, the deviation between the connecting line of
the center points in both ends of the specimen and the specimen
axis did not exceed 0.001, or 0.025 mm every 25 mm in length.
Twenty ve specimens were prepared for each type of dynamic
test.
 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817 809

2.2. Split Hopkinson pressure bar system

The SHPB system was used to conduct the dynamic tests,

where the uniaxial compression tests and dynamic tension tests
followed the ISRM suggested methods for dynamic rock tests
(Zhou et al., 2012). As a standard dynamic testing system, the
SHPB system includes a striker, an incident bar and a transmitted
bar (see Fig. 2). All bars are made of high strength steel, with
Youngs modulus of 200 GPa, density of 8100 kg/m3, one-
dimensional (1D) P-wave velocity of 4970 m/s and static
yielding strength of 2.5 GPa. A gas gun is used to launch the
striker. The rock specimen is put between the two bars. The
strain gages are glued on the incident bar and transmitted bar,
respectively.
The impact of the striker on the incident bar induces a longi-
tudinal compressive wave propagating in both directions. The left
propagating wave is fully released at the free end of the striker and
forms the trailing edge of the incident compressive pulse. Thus, the
duration of incident compressive pulse depends on the length and Fig. 3. Typical signals measured by strain gages in SHPB tests.
1D P-wave velocity of the striker. At the specimen/bar interface, the
incident wave is transferred into the reected wave and the
transmitted wave (Zhang and Zhao, 2014; Xia and Yao, 2015). The
C
strains from these three waves are recorded using strain gages 3_ c t 3 t  3 r t  3 t t (5)
(shown in Fig. 3) and used to infer the dynamic response of the L0 i
materials subsequently. Thus, the loading forces (P1 and P2) on the
where C is the 1D P-wave velocity of the bars; L0 and A0 are the
two interfaces of specimen/bar can be expressed (Kolsky, 1949,
initial length and cross-sectional area of the specimen, respectively.
1953):
The UCS of the rock, C0, is dened as the maximum value of sc (Chen
and Song, 2010; Zhang and Zhao, 2014).
P1 t EA3 i t 3 r t (1) Lubricants were used on the bar/specimen interfaces to mini-
mize the radial inertial effect and achieve uniform deformation of
P2 t EA3 t t (2) the specimen (Dai et al., 2010). For dynamic compression tests, it is
a prerequisite that the forces on both loading ends of the sample
where E and A are the Youngs modulus and cross-sectional area of should be approximately equal, which can minimize the axial in-
bars, respectively; 3 i, 3 r and 3 t are the incident, reected and ertial effect. The pulse-shaping technique is utilized to reach such
transmitted strains, respectively. dynamic force balance (Frew et al., 2002; Dai et al., 2008; Zhou
et al., 2012). In this work, a C1100 copper disc is used as the
shaper material. For dynamic compression tests, the dimensions of
3. Testing methods the pulse shaper are 12.75 mm in diameter and 0.7 mm in thick-
ness. The striker has impacted on the pulse shaper (see Fig. 2),
3.1. Dynamic compression test generating a non-dispersive ramp pulse propagating in the incident
bar (see Fig. 3).
The schematic of sample assembly for dynamic compression Fig. 5 shows the dynamic force balance check in FM sample in a
tests is shown in Fig. 4a. The histories of stress sc, strain 3 c and typical dynamic compression test. According to Eqs. (1) and (2), the
strain rate 3_ c of the sample in the dynamic compression tests can be dynamic forces P1 and P2 are proportional to the sum of the incident
calculated as wave (In) and reected wave (Re) (see ln Re (P1) in Fig. 5) and
transmitted wave (Tr) (see Tr (P2) in Fig. 5), respectively. Fig. 5a
A shows that the dynamic forces on two ends of FM sample are
sc t E3 i t 3 r t 3 t t (3) almost equal in the dynamic loading period. The time when the
2A0
force balance commences is called as the initiation time of stress
equilibrium or the force balance initiation time. It is well known
Zt
C that the initiation time for rock sample to achieve stress equilib-
3 c t 3 i s  3 r s  3 t sds (4)
L0 rium state is 3e4 times the round-trip time of stress wave in rock
0 sample (Zhou et al., 2012). Hence, the initiation time of stress

Incident Bar Transmitted Bar

Pulse Shaper i t
Striker Sample

r
Gas gun Strain Gage 1 Strain Gage 2 Damper

Computer

Fig. 2. Schematic of a SHPB system.

810 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817
Fig. 4. Schematic of sample assembly for the three types of dynamic tests (unit: mm):
(a) Dynamic compression test, (b) Dynamic tension test, and (c) Dynamic punch shear
test. D is the diameter of the BD specimen and disc specimen; B and T are the thickness
of the BD specimen and disc specimen, respectively.
equilibrium for a dynamic compression specimen can be estimated
by the P-wave velocity and length of the specimen. For a 25 mm
long rock sample, the initiation time of stress equilibrium is theo-
retically 25.4e33 ms. Thus, when compared with the total dynamic
Fig. 5. Dynamic force balance check for a typical dynamic compression test with pulse shaping: (a) Dynamic force balance; and (b) The stress equilibrium factor R(t) of the sample.
In, Re and Tr are the forces derived from incident, reected and transmitted waves, respectively.
loading duration in the typical compression test, the initiation time
of stress equilibrium is too small to be identied from Fig. 5a. In
order to determine the initiation time of force balance for a typical
dynamic compression test, the stress equilibrium is evaluated by
considering the stress histories at both ends of the specimen:
 
3 3 r  3 t 
Rt 2 i   5%
 (6)
3 3 3
i r t
where R(t) represents the stress equilibrium factor, assuming that
both bars are made of the same material and have the same cross-
sectional area (Ravichandran and Subhash, 1994; Li et al., 2014; Xu
et al., 2016).
As shown in Fig. 5b, in a typical dynamic compression test, after
the stress wave reaches the bar/specimen interface and then
several wave reverberations occur in the specimen, R(t) decreases
gradually from 2 to nearly zero. Due to the noise in the signal, R(t)
sometimes is larger than 2. At the time of about 37 ms, R(t) ap-
proaches about zero for the rst time. Thereafter, R(t) uctuates
slightly around zero, suggesting that the stress equilibrium is
maintained to some extent. When the forces at the both ends of the
specimen reach the peak values, the value of R(t) still remains
around zero, indicating that the specimen can still withstand the
load entirely although the bearing capacity of the specimen has
achieved the peak. At the end of falling edge of incident wave, the
value of R(t) increases dramatically, implying that the integrity of
the specimen has been severely damaged. Thus, force equilibrium
can be achieved during the entire dynamic loading. The initiation
time of stress equilibrium (t0) in the typical compression test has a
good agreement with the theoretical initiation time of stress
equilibrium. The coupling property of lubricated bar/sample
interface affects slightly the wave propagation, resulting in a little
bit longer initiation time of stress equilibrium in practice. There-
fore, the pulse shaper can be successfully employed to reach the
force balance in dynamic compression samples. For dynamic
compression tests conducted in this work, the dynamic force
equilibrium has been carefully veried.
The loading rate s_ compression is calculated by the time evolution
of compressive stress in the specimen. Fig. 6a shows the dynamic
loading history for a typical compression test, in which there is an
approximate linear regime. The loading rate is the slope of this
region (Zhou et al., 2012), which is determined by the least square
t and shown as a red dash line in Fig. 6a. For all dynamic
compression tests, the loading rate was determined using the same
method.
Furthermore, due to the stress equilibrium on both ends of FM
specimen during the dynamic loading history, the failure time of
dynamic compression sample can be indicated by the sudden
 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817
Fig. 6. Typical stressetime curves for (a) determining loading rate and (b) comparing with typical strain rateetime curve in the dynamic compression test. Strain rate is the change
in strain of a material with respect to time.
jump of the strain rate (Xia et al., 2008; Zhou et al., 2012). Fig. 6b
shows the dynamic loading history and synchronized strain rate
in a typical dynamic compression test. The initiation time of
stress equilibrium is about 35 ms when the constant strain rate is
reached. Thereafter, the time (t1) of sudden jump of the strain
rate occurs at about 112 ms, which is also the failure time of dy-
namic compression sample. It is worth noting that the time of
sudden jump of the strain rate is synchronized with the time of
peak load on the compression sample, which has been veried
(Zhou et al., 2012). In other words, the time of peak load can be
regarded as the failure time of compression sample and it holds
that the peak load can be used to calculate the UCS of FM spec-
imen. The stressestrain curves for different loading rates are
shown in Fig. 7.
3.2. Dynamic tension test
The schematic of sample assembly for dynamic tension tests is
shown in Fig. 4b. If the inertial effect is minimized with the pulse-
shaping technique, the tensile stress in the center of the BD spec-
imen can be determined by (ISRM, 1978):
2Pt
st t
pBD
where P is the loading force. Tensile strength T0 is obtained as the
maximum value of st.
Fig. 7. Stressestrain curves for typical dynamic compression tests for different loading
rates.
811
It is noted here that the precondition of applying this static
stress analysis to dynamic BD tests is the achievement of the
dynamic force balance during the BD tests (Dai et al., 2010). The
pulse-shaping technique is utilized to achieve dynamic force
equilibrium on both loading ends of BD sample in this study. A
C1100 copper disc with 12.75 mm in diameter and 0.7 mm in
thickness is employed as the pulse shaper. The dynamic forces P1
and P2 are calculated using Eqs. (1) and (2) for dynamic tension
tests. Fig. 8 shows the dynamic force balance check for the FM
specimen in a typical dynamic tension test. Fig. 8a illustrates that
the almost identical dynamic forces (P1 z P2) on two loading
sides of the BD sample are obtained during the loading period in
the tension tests. Since the time to reach force equilibrium in the
rock specimen will be 3e4 times the round-trip time of stress
wave in rock sample (Zhou et al., 2012), the initiation time of
stress equilibrium for dynamic BD samples can be estimated using
the same method as dynamic compression test. For a dynamic BD
test sample with diameter of 40 mm, the initiation time of stress
equilibrium is theoretically 40.6e54.2 ms. Thus, compared with
the total dynamic loading duration in the typical tension test, the
initiation time of stress equilibrium is too short to be identied
from Fig. 8a. In a typical dynamic tension test, the stress equi-
librium factor R(t) is also obtained in order to determine the
(7)
initial time of force balance (see Fig. 8b). The value of stress
equilibrium factor in tension test decreases at the beginning, and
then approaches about zero at about 58 ms, indicating the dy-
namic force balance. The stress equilibrium is maintained to the
post-peak moment of incident wave. The initiation time of stress
equilibrium (t0) in the typical tension test has a good agreement
with the theoretical initiation time of stress equilibrium.
Although the lubricant was used in bar/sample interfaces, the
coupling property of bar/sample interfaces affects slightly the
wave propagation and thus generates a little bit longer initiation
time of stress equilibrium in practice. Moreover, the dynamic
equilibrium in the center of the BD sample can be guaranteed
when the forces on the boundaries of BD sample are balanced (Dai
et al., 2010). Therefore, the pulse shaper is successfully employed
to reach the force balance in dynamic tension samples. The dy-
namic force equilibrium for all dynamic tension tests in this study
has been veried.
In addition, with the dynamic stress equilibrium on BD sample
during the loading history, it is proven that the peak of the dynamic
tensile stress history in the center of BD sample can be considered
as synchronous with the rupture onset in the center of BD sample
(Xia et al., 2008; Zhou et al., 2012). Thus, the dynamic tensile
strength from dynamic BD tests can be obtained from the peak
loading force in the quasi-static stress analysis (Eq. (7)).
812 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817
Fig. 8. Dynamic force balance check for a typical dynamic tension test with pulse-
shaping: (a) Dynamic force balance; and (b) The stress equilibrium factor R(t) of
sample.
The loading rate is calculated by the time evolution of tensile
stress in the middle of the BD specimen. The typical dynamic
tensile stress history in the middle of the BD sample is shown in
Fig. 9. Similar to the compression test, there is an approximate
Fig. 9. Typical stressetime curve for determining loading rate in dynamic tension test.
linear regime in the tensile stress history before failure. The
loading rate is the slope of this regime and can be determined by
the least square t method (the red dash line in Fig. 9). For all
dynamic tension tests of this study, the loading rates were deter-
mined in the same way.
3.3. Dynamic punch shear test
In order to obtain the dynamic shear strength of FM, the punch
shear method (Huang et al., 2012) was employed in the SHPB sys-
tem. The specimen and specimen holder for dynamic punch shear
tests are shown in Fig. 4c. A stainless steel holder attached to the
transmitted bar was employed to support and protect the sample
during the dynamic punch test. As shown in Fig. 4c, this holder
consists of a front cover and a rear supporter, which are screwed
together to reduce the bending deformation and additional damage
on specimen during tests. The incident bar with 25.4 mm diameter
is used as the punch head. The inner diameter of the rear supporter
is 0.4 mm larger than the punch head in order to provide shear
deformation. A Teon ring is utilized to attach the rear supporter to
the transmitted bar tightly. The outer diameter of holder is 56 mm.
The diameter and thickness of the specimen in the punch shear test
are 42 mm and 11 mm, respectively (Huang et al., 2011).
With the pulse-shaping technique, the dynamic force equilib-
rium on sample is achieved and the inertial effect is ignored. The
punch shear stress st can be obtained by (ISRM, 1978):
Pt
st (8)
pDb T
where Db is the diameter of incident bar. The punching shear
strength s0 is calculated as the maximum value of s. Moreover,
similar to other punch shear methods (Mazanti and Sowers, 1965;
Stacey, 1980), the shear stress in Eq. (8) is calculated by dividing the
load P(t) by the total shear area pDbT.
Besides, Eq. (8) can be used for stress analysis in both static and
dynamic punch shear tests when the force equilibrium in the
specimen is maintained through the punch shear tests (Dai et al.,
2010). Similar to the dynamic compression and tension tests, the
pulse-shaping technique was also applied to dynamic punch shear
tests. Since the steel holder was employed in the dynamic punch
shear tests, a different size of C1100 copper pulse shaper disc
(7.3 mm in diameter and 0.8 mm in thickness) was chosen to
maintain the force balance in the specimen. The dynamic forces P1
and P2 are also obtained using Eqs. (1) and (2) for dynamic punch
shear tests. Fig. 10 shows the dynamic force balance check for the
FM specimen in a typical dynamic punch shear test. Fig. 10a shows
that the dynamic forces on two loading ends of the disc sample are
at equilibrium (P1 z P2) during the dynamic loading in punch shear
tests. It should be noted that since the time to reach force equi-
librium in the rock specimen will be 3e4 times the round-trip time
of stress wave in rock sample (Zhou et al., 2012), the initiation time
of stress equilibrium for dynamic punch shear tests can be esti-
mated using the same method as dynamic compression and ten-
sion tests. For the dynamic punch shear sample with 11 mm
thickness, the initiation time of stress equilibrium is theoretically
11.2e14.9 ms (Zhou et al., 2012). Thus, compared with the total
dynamic loading duration in the typical punch shear test, the
initiation time of stress equilibrium is too short to be identied
from Fig. 10a. In order to determine the initiation time of stress
equilibrium in a typical dynamic punch shear test, the stress
equilibrium factor R(t) (see Fig. 10b) is obtained. The value of stress
equilibrium factor in punch shear tests approaches about zero at
64 ms approximately after dramatic decrease. It indicates that the
force equilibrium is achieved at about 64 ms. The stress equilibrium
 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817
Fig. 10. Dynamic force balance check for a typical dynamic punch shear test with pulse
shaping: (a) Dynamic force balance; and (b) The stress equilibrium factor R(t) of
sample.
is maintained to the post-peak moment of incident wave. In the
typical punch shear test, the force equilibrium initiation time
(t0 64 ms) is slightly larger than the theoretical initiation time
(about 11.2e14.9 ms). This may be attributed to the steel holder,
with which the stress wave takes more time to propagate from the
specimen to the transmitted bar. Compared to the whole dynamic
loading period, such a slightly longer force initiation time is
acceptable in the dynamic punch shear test. Therefore, the pulse
shaper is successfully employed to maintain the force balance in
dynamic punch shear tests and Eq. (8) can be applied to calculating
the dynamic shear stress in the specimens. The dynamic force
equilibrium has been checked for dynamic punch shear tests in this
study.
In addition, because of the achievement of dynamic stress
equilibrium in the punch shear specimen during the loading his-
tory, the time the peak loading force achieved in the dynamic
punch shear test is synchronous with the shear failure time of
specimen (Huang et al., 2011; Zhou et al., 2012). Since the dynamic
shear strength of FM specimen can be determined as the peak
punch shear stress, the shear strength in specimen can be derived
from the peak loading force using Eq. (8). The typical dynamic
punch shear stress in the disc sample is shown in Fig. 11.
Moreover, similar to the compression and tension tests, before
the failure onset, there is an approximately linear regime in the
punch shear stress history. The loading rate s_ shear can be derived
813
Fig. 11. Typical stressetime curve for determining loading rate in dynamic punch
shear test.
from the slope of this linear regime (the red dash line in Fig. 11) and
calculated by the linear tting method. For all the dynamic punch
shear tests, the loading rates were determined in the same way.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Strengths of Fangshan marble
To effectively recover the samples in three types of tests, a
momentum-trap technique is adopted (Song and Chen, 2004). A
large impedance mass is used to absorb the rst reected wave in
the momentum-trap method. This leads to a low-amplitude
compressive portion and a tensile portion in the following
loading pulse. The tensile portion of the pulse will separate the
incident bar from the specimen, resulting in soft recovery of the
sample for valid post-loading examination. The details of the
momentum-trap technique can be found in Song and Chen (2004)
and reviewed by Xia and Yao (2015). Thus, the sample will expe-
rience a single pulse loading essentially. In this study, the multiple
loadings in FM samples are avoided by using this method.
Typical intact and tested specimens for compression, tension
and punch shear tests are shown in Fig. 12. Specimens tested in
compression tests were compressed into fragments and nes. After
the tension tests, specimens were broken into two halves along the
loading direction. After the punch shear tests, the thin disc spec-
imen was punched into a plug and a ring. Several radial cracks can
be found on the ring.
Dynamic compression, tension and punch shear tests were
conducted under different loading rates to study the rate depen-
dence of UCS, tensile strength and punching shear strength for
FM. Fig. 13 illustrates the UCS, shear strength and tensile strength
as a function of the loading rate. The dynamic compressive
strengths were obtained in this study at the loading rate from
2455 GPa/s to 8480 GPa/s. The maximum dynamic compressive
strength is 352.7 MPa. Moreover, the dynamic tensile strengths
were obtained in this study at the loading rate from 201 GPa/s to
1492 GPa/s. The maximum dynamic tensile strength is 44.1 MPa.
The dynamic punching shear strengths were obtained at the
loading rate from 227 GPa/s to 2103 GPa/s. The highest dynamic
punching shear strength is 78.5 MPa. It is evident that the UCS,
tensile strength and punching shear strength are strongly rate-
dependent, i.e. the UCS, the tensile strength and the punching
814 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817
Fig. 12. Typical original and tested samples for (a) dynamic compression tests, (b)
dynamic tension tests, and (c) dynamic punch tests.
shear strength increase with the loading rate. Both dolomite and
quartz in FM are classied as the rhombohedral crystal system,
and both rhomb diagonals and polysynthetic twinning are very
common in the dolomite. Thus, the fracture modes of FM can be
classied into two categories: intergranular fracture and trans-
granular fracture. The transgranular fracture is accompanied by
more energy absorption during the fracture process than inter-
granular fracture. It has been proved that the failure mode of FM
transfers from intergranular fracture to transgranular fracture
with the increase of the loading rate (Zhang and Zhao, 2013b).
Moreover, when the loading rate is low, the failure tends to be
localized to form a dominant crack (Lockner et al., 1991). When
Fig. 13. Strengths of FM under different loading rates. Inset is the zoom of the dynamic
tensile strength and shear strength.
the loading rate is higher, many microcracks are activated and
propagate at the same time, and there is no sufcient time for the
microcracks to communicate and interact. Thus, in higher loading
rate, the distribution of failure is broader, the consumption of
energy is higher, and the material strength is higher (Huang et al.,
2013). Consequently, the main reasons for the rate dependence of
strength of FM may be the change in the fracture mode of
microstructure and the increase of activated microcracks with the
loading rate. The dynamic UCS and tensile strength in the litera-
ture are also illustrated in Fig. 13. Both the tensile strength and the
UCS in the literature are close to those measured in this study at
almost the same loading rate. The little disparity between the UCS
(or the tensile strength) measured in this study and that in the
literature may be attributed to the different sources of FM in this
study and in the literature. Thus, the measured dynamic tensile
strength and UCS in this study can be considered consistent with
the dynamic tensile strength and UCS reported in the literature
(Zhang and Zhao, 2013a).
For reference, the tensile strength, UCS and punching shear
strength under quasi-static loading condition were also measured
and shown in Fig. 13. The static strength tests were carried out by a
material test system (MTS) hydraulic servo-controlled testing sys-
tem with a loading speed of 0.001 mm/s. The specimens for
measuring the UCS and tensile strength under static loading are the
same with that for determining the dynamic UCS and tensile
strength. For static punch shear tests, the samples and holder are
the same with that for the dynamic punch shear test. Instead of the
incident bar, a short bar was introduced as a cylindrical punch head
in static punch shear test.
4.2. Application of the dynamic Mohr-Coulomb model
Several empirical formulas have been developed to use the
shear strength to predict the UCS and tensile strength in static tests
(Schrier, 1988; Sulukcu and Ulusay, 2001; Sonmez and Tunusluoglu,
2008). The possibility of using the punching shear strength to
predict the tensile strength or UCS for dynamic tests also has been
proposed within the theoretical framework of the Mohr-Coulomb
theory (Huang et al., 2011, 2012).
According to the Mohr-Coulomb theory, the static UCS C0s and
static tensile strength T0s can be given as (Jaeger et al., 2007):
 
p f
C0s 2 tan c (9a)
4 2 0
 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817 815

 
p f
T0s 2 cot c (9b)
4 2 0

where c0 is the cohesion, which is equal to the static shear strength

s0s; and f is the angle of internal friction. The static UCS of FM used
in the Mohr-Coulomb criterion is the average value of the measured
static UCS in this study. The same method was used for determining
the static tensile strength and shear strength used in the Mohr-
Coulomb criterion. Thus, C0s 156.4 MPa and s0s 21.7 MPa, and
then f is calculated as 59 , within the range of the angle of internal
friction of marbles (Zhang et al., 2011). Furthermore, Zhao (2000)
compared the strength envelopes at different loading rates. It is
observed that the change in strength is primarily due to the change
in cohesion, while the angle of internal friction almost remains
unchanged at difference loading rates. It also reveals that the ten-
sile strength, UCS and shear strength are proportionally related in (a)
the Mohr-Coulomb criterion when f is a constant. This observation
is also supported by a theoretical study (Li et al., 2000) using a
micromechanical model. The theoretical study suggests that the
angle of internal friction is not affected by the loading rate, but the
cohesion changes with the loading rate. Both the theoretical study
(Li et al., 2000) and the experimental study (Zhao, 2000; Zhang and
Zhao, 2014) verify that the angle of internal friction is not affected
by the loading rate. This assumption is also physically meaningful
as explained in the following. Before the onset of the rock failure,
there should be no sliding in the rock materials. As a result, the
internal friction can be assumed equal to the static friction. It is well
known that static friction is constant and thus the corresponding
friction angle should be loading rate independent. For the above
arguments, it is assumed here that the angle of internal friction is
time-invariant but the strengths are dependent on the loading rate.
Therefore, following the classical Mohr-Coulomb model, the
dynamic UCS C0 and the dynamic tensile strength T0 can be given
using the dynamic shear strength s0 as (Huang et al., 2012): (b)
 
p f Fig. 14. (a) Dynamic measured UCS and dynamic predicted UCS and, (b) dynamic
C0 2 tan s (10a) measured tensile strength and dynamic predicted tensile strength from punching
4 2 0
shear strength.

 
p f
T0 2 cot s (10b) cannot be achieved in the dynamic experiments. Furthermore, the
4 2 0
predicted UCS is consistent with the tting curve of the measured
In addition, based on the approach for obtaining the loading dynamic UCS, which is shown as a solid line in Fig. 14a. The tting
rates in dynamic Mohr-Coulomb theory (Huang et al., 2012), the equation is also given in Fig. 14a. Similarly, the dynamic tensile
loading rates of the dynamic UCS and tension tests can be related to strength T0 s_ can be calculated from the dynamic shear strength
the loading rate of the dynamic punch shear test: s0 s_ by using Eqs. (10b) and (11b). Fig. 14b shows the measured and
  predicted dynamic tensile strengths from punching shear strength.
p f It is noted that the predicted tensile strengths have a good agree-
s_ compression 2 tan s_ shear (11a)
4 2 ment with the tting curve of the measured dynamic tensile
strength. Both the tting equation and the tting curve are given in
 
p f Fig. 14b.
s_ tension 2 cot s_ shear (11b) Besides, Mohr-Coulomb theory also provides the relation be-
4 2
tween the static UCS C0s and static tensile strength T0s:
Consequently, the dynamic punching shear strength and
loading rate in dynamic punch shear test can be converted to the   
p f 2
dynamic compressive strength and loading rate in dynamic C0s tan T0s (12)
4 2
compression test using Eqs. (10a) and (11a), respectively. Fig. 14a
shows the measured and predicted dynamic UCSs from punching Similarly, the relation between the dynamic UCS C0 and dy-
shear strength. It is evident that the loading rates of predicted UCS namic tensile strength T0 can be given as (Huang et al., 2012):
are higher than those of the measured UCS. In the rock dynamic
compression tests, the loading rate for dynamic UCS tests cannot be   
p f 2
too high due to the requirement of dynamic force equilibrium C0 tan T0 (13)
4 2
condition and the limitation on the size of rock-like material
specimen (Zhang and Zhao, 2014). Thus, the formula proposed in Meanwhile, according to the method for calculating the loading
this study can predict the UCS of FM at higher loading rates, which rate in dynamic Mohr-Coulomb theory (Huang et al., 2012), the
816 W. Yao et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9 (2017) 807e817
Fig. 15. Dynamic measured UCS and dynamic predicted UCS from tensile strength.
relation between the loading rates of dynamic UCS tests and that of
dynamic tension tests can be written as:
  2
p f
s_ compression tan s_ tension
4 2
Using Eqs. (13) and (14), both the strength and the loading rate
in the dynamic UCS tests can be calculated by the parameters ob-
tained in the dynamic tension tests. Consequently, both the
measured and the dynamic tensile strength in reference T0 s_ are
converted to dynamic UCS C0 s_ , as shown in Fig. 15. It is obvious
that the predicted UCS from tensile strength is consistent with the
tting curve, which is the same as the tting curve in Fig. 14a.
Since both dynamic UCS and loading rate are theoretically
extrapolated by using Mohr-Coulomb theory, the dynamic UCS
associated with the measured and extrapolated loading rates is
reliable. Based on the formula proposed in this study, the dynamic
UCS of FM under higher loading rate can be predicted from dynamic
punching shear strength and tensile strength. According to the
method for measuring the dynamic UCS for rock-like material
suggested by ISRM, the diameter of the UCS specimen should be
close to 50 mm or at least 10 times the average grain size in the
rock. The size of the rock-like material specimen is much larger
than that of other materials (such as metal and alloy) and should be
appropriate for satisfying the dynamic force balance. Therefore the
loading rate for valid dynamic UCS tests cannot be too high due to
the limitation on the size of rock-like material specimen and the
requirement of dynamic force equilibrium condition (Zhang and
Zhao, 2014). The formula proposed in this study can thus be used
to signicantly expand the range of the loading rate for the dynamic
UCS of FM. In addition, the Mohr-Coulomb theory can be applied to
the description of rock failure under both static and dynamic
loading conditions. In geotechnical engineering, the dynamic
Mohr-Coulomb theory can be used to predict the dynamic UCS,
tensile strength and punching shear strength of rock without
conducting all these three dynamic tests. This can improve the
working efciency and reduce the testing cost in practical
engineering.
5. Conclusions
We employed a SHPB system to systematically investigate the
dynamic UCS, tensile strength and punching shear strength of ne-
grained FM. The micrographs of FM using optical microscope were
obtained and the mineralogical composition and grain size were
measured as well. The methods for obtaining these strengths were
discussed. The pulse-shaping technique was implemented to
maintain force equilibrium during dynamic loading. The dynamic
force balance for the dynamic compression, tension and punch
shear tests are carefully veried. The measured dynamic UCS,
tensile strength and punching shear strength increase with the
loading rate. The dynamic punching shear strengths were obtained
at the loading rate from 227 GPa/s to 2103 GPa/s. The highest dy-
namic punching shear strength is 78.5 MPa.
A recently developed dynamic Mohr-Coulomb theory was
applied to interpreting the relations among the dynamic tensile
strength, UCS and punching shear strength, considering the loading
rate effect. The static UCS and the punching shear strength were
used to determine the angle of internal friction f 59 . Thereafter,
the dynamic UCS can be predicted from the dynamic tensile and
punching shear strength through the dynamic Mohr-Coulomb
theory. The results demonstrate that the UCS obtained from the
tensile strength and punching shear strength of FM is consistent
with the UCS values derived from experiments. We can thus draw a
conclusion that the Mohr-Coulomb criterion can be utilized to
expand the range of the dynamic loading rate for the dynamic UCS
of FM.
(14)
Conict of interest
The authors wish to conrm that there are no known conicts of
interest associated with this publication and there has been no
signicant nancial support for this work that could have inu-
enced its outcome.
Acknowledgements
Funding was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through the Discovery Grant
No. 72031326.
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Dr. Kaiwen Xia is currently an associate professor at the
Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Tor-
onto. He obtained both his BS and MS degrees from the
University of Science and Technology of China in 1994 and
1998, respectively, majored in Explosion Mechanics. Dr.
Xia nished his PhD degree at the California Institute of
Technology in 2005, with major in Mechanical Engineering
and minor in Geophysics. After a year working as a post-
doctoral research fellow at the Brown University, he joined
the University of Toronto in 2006 as an assistant professor
and was promoted and granted the tenure in 2012. Dr.
Xias research is focused on dynamic response of materials
and dynamic fractures. His academic contributions include
the discovery of supershear earthquakes in the laboratory,
systematic study of spontaneous fractures and the development of a series of dynamic
testing methods for rocks. He was the key member in the Commission on Rock Dy-
namics of the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM-CRD) from 2007 to 2011,
and championed the drafting of the rst three dynamic testing methods of rocks. He
chaired the commission from 2011 to 2015 and is currently the chair of the commis-
sion. To date, Dr. Xia has published 65 journal papers, 3 book chapters, and numerous
conference abstracts and other papers.