The analysis of crack problems through fracture mechanics has been applied to the study of materials such as glass, metals and ceramics because relatively simple fracture criteria describe the failure of these materials. The increased attention paid to experimental rock fracture mechanics has led to major contributions to the solving of geophysical problems. The text presents a concise treatment of the physics and mathematics of a representative selection of problems from areas such as earthquake mechanics and prediction, hydraulic fracturing, hot dry rock geothermal energy, fault mechanics, and dynamic fragmentation.

This text comprises different basic aspects of brittle failure for rocks. It considers classical and contemporary models, as well as failure patterns under different loading schemes.

When dealing with rock in civil engineering, mining engineering and other engineering, the process by which the rock fails under load should be understood, so that safe structures can be built on and in the rock. However, there are many ways for loading rock and rock can have a variety of idiosyncracies. This reference book provides engineers and researchers with the essential knowledge for a clear understanding of the process of rock failure under different conditions. It contains an introductory chapter explaining the role of rock failure in engineering projects plus a summary of the theories governing rock failure and an explanation of the computer simulation method. It subsquently deals in detail with explaining, simulating and illustrating rock failure in laboratory and field. The concluding chapter discusses coupled modelling and the anticipated future directions for this type of computer simulation. An appendix describing the RFPA numerical model (Rock Failure Process Analysis program) is also included. About the Authors Chun'an Tang has a PhD in Mining Engineering and is a Professor at the School of Civil & Hydraulic Engineering at Dalian University of Technology in China. He is an advisor for design and stablity problem modelling in mining and civil rock engineeringand and Chairman of the China National Group of the International Society for Rock Mechanics. John Hudson is emeritus professor at Imperial College, London and is active as an independant consultant for Rock Engineering Consultants. He has a PhD in Rock Mechanics and completed over a 130 rock engineering consulting assignments in mining and civil engineering. He is a fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK and President of the International Society for Rock Mechanics.

This monograph deals with the part of the field of ex-' perimental rock deformation that is dominated by the phenomena of brittle fracture on one scale or another. Thus a distinction has been drawn between the fields of brittle und ductile behaviour in rock, corresponding more or less to a distinction between the phenomena of fracture and flow. It is hoped eventually to present a survey of the ductile field in a separate volume. The last chapter of this volume deals with the transition between the two fields. The scope of this survey has been limited to the mec.hanical properties of rock viewed as a material on the laboratory scale. Thus, the topic and approach is of a "materials science" kind rather than of a "structures" kind. We are dealing with only one part of the wider field of rock mechanics, which also includes structural or boundary value problems, for example, those of the stability of slopes, the collapse of mine openings, earth quakes, the folding of stratified rock, and the convec tive motion of the earth's mantle. One topic thus ex cluded is the role of jointing, which it is commonly necessary to take into account in applications in engi neering and mining, and probably often in geology too.

Much of the research on fracture of rocks or rock-like materials conducted over the past two decades may be considered as "academic studies" of the general phenomenon of fracture. Yet, the understanding of this phenomenon is fundamental if a material is used in any engineering design, whether the aim is to prevent failure of the structure or to promote it. Fracture theories existing are generally empirical and derived from experimental results of laboratory test with simple boundary conditions. Because of the basic weakness of rock intension and because in general the environmental stresses in rock mechanics are compressive most of these theories consider fracture under compressive stress conditions. The Coulomb-Navier-, the Mohr-, the Griffith and the McClintock and Walsh criteria are typical examples and will be considered in the following. In addition the tendency during the past was in making accurate experiments under conditions of homogeneous stresses. To obtain information about the fracture behaviour with unequal principal stresses systems have to be used which involve inhomogeneous stresses. This case is of particular interest, since in practical rock mechanics we may expect conditions of highly inhomogeneous stresses. However, a consideration of such situations involve additional assumptions like the applicability of the theory of elasticity for calculating the stress field, which may be open to question. A distinction has to be made between fracture initiation and fracture propagation, since a detailed observation of the total fracture process in rock was possible by means of "stiff" and "servo-controlled" loading systems.