Although the literature provides a reasonable range of information concerning the fracture toughness of relatively hard rocks, there is virtually no data for saturated soft rocks of uniaxial compressive strengths less than about 10 MPa. To gain some insight into the plane strain fracture toughness of such a soft rock for use in the numerical modelling of crack propagation during pressuremeter testing, a large number of laboratory tests were conducted. The material used in these tests was a synthetic soft rock that modelled soft mudstone rocks reasonably accurately. This paper describes the test techniques adopted and the results obtained. The variation of fracture toughness with loading rate and with size and shape of the test specimens is presented and discussed. On the basis of these results, guidelines are suggested for the determination of plane strain fracture toughness of a soft rock. Key words: fracture mechanics, fracture toughness, laboratory testing, soft rock, weak rock.
