Mechanical behaviors and failure processes of precracked specimens under uniaxial compression: A perspective from microscopic displacement patterns

Hydraulic slotting is an efficient permeability enhancement method that has been widely used in China for enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) recovery. Although some research has been conducted on hydraulic slotting, the mechanical behaviors such as strength, deformation, and cracking processes of coal treated by this technique are still unclear. This paper numerically investigates the mechanical behaviors of specimens containing combined flaws with various inclination angles. Research results show that different flaw inclination angles result in variations in strength and deformation of precracked specimens. We also analyzed the crack initiation, propagation, and coalescence processes to understand the underlying mechanisms for the aforementioned variations. To evaluate the crack initiation and propagation process and its corresponding mechanisms, we proposed 12 types of displacement field modes from the perspective of particles relative motion. Based on this, evolution of the displacement field during loading process is analyzed and 11 types of crack and three types of crack initiation modes are extracted from the cracking processes of specimens with different inclination angles. Analysis of the displacement field not only indicates the type of each crack, but also reveals the formation mechanism of the three crack initiation modes. A comparison between the numerical results and the previous laboratory test results shows that numerical simulation can reproduce most of the phenomenon observed in the laboratory test. The research result is expected to contribute to the further understanding of the mechanical behavior of coal subjected to hydraulic slotting or the stability of rock structures. •We investigated the strength and deformation properties of the precracked specimens.•We analyzed the cracking processes of the precracked specimens.•Eleven types of cracks and three types of crack initiation modes are identified.•Displacement field were analyzed to seek a better understanding of the cracking processes.