Drilling-Hole-Loading Method for Measuring Tensile Strength of Irregular Small Stones
Drilling-Hole-Loading method is applied to predicting and measuring the tensile strength of irregular small-size stones. According to this method, a circular-hole must be drilled at the center of the irregular small-size stone. The mechanical model of the stone with a circular-hole and subjected to a pair of equivalent collinear pull forces is set up. The normal stress strain distributions on the critical section are anlyzed. Theoretical stress concentrated factor equation related to the hole diameter is calculated. Based on the static equilibrium theory, the theoretical formula of predicting the tensile strength of irregular small-size stones is established. Based on the theoretical formula, the test device for measurement of the tensile strength of the stone was designed. The tensile strength of a kind of bluestone was measured. The results show that the tensile strength predicted by Drilling-Hole-Loading method is a little lower than that of the standard specimen of stone without hole. Drilling-Hole-Loading method can be used to predict the tensile strength of brittle material and irregular small-size stones.