Stress fluctuation mechanism of mesocrack growth, dilatancy and failure of heterogeneous materials in uniaxial compression

The fracture process in heterogeneous materials (e.g., concrete, rock, aggregate composites) under uniaxial compression proceeds in three stages differing in the scale levels involved. Stage 1 is the accumulation of wing cracks formed under compression from pre-existing defects. The wing cracks themselves cannot grow to an extent sufficient to...