Experimental study on rock-concrete joints under cyclically diametrical compression

This paper presents experimental results of rock-concrete bi-material discs under cyclically diametrical compression. It was found that both specimens under cyclical and static loading failed in three typical modes: shear crack, tensile crack and a combined mode of shear and wing crack. The failure modes transited gradually from the shear crack to the tensile one by increasing the interface angle between the interface and the loading direction. The cycle number and peak load increased by increasing the interface angle. The number of cycles and peak load increased with the interface groove depth and groove width, however, decreased with increase in interface groove spacing. The concrete strength can contribute more to the cycle number and peak load for specimens with a higher interface angle. Compared with the discs under static loading, the cyclically loaded discs had a lower peak load but a larger deformation. Finally, the effects of interface angle, interface asperity and concrete strength on the fatigue strength were also discussed.