SCALAR DAMAGE VARIABLE DETERMINED IN THE UNIAXIAL AND TRIAXIAL COMPRESSION CONDITIONS OF SANDSTONE SAMPLES

The article is based on the results of uniaxial and triaxial compression tests, performed on Wustenzeller sandstone. An overview of the possible definitions of damage variable describing the process of damage development on the basis of various hypotheses has been presented in the first part of the article. In the main part of the article the author has presented the results of laboratory investigations, where the state of damage and its changes in rock samples under uniaxial and triaxial compression conditions were being observed. Using a modified procedure of triaxial tests, a definition of damage variable, determined on the basis of changes of volumetric stiffness of an examined rock, has been developed. Damage variable defined this way, in relation to a variable determined on the basis of axial stiffness changes, points to some anisotropy effects of damage phenomenon. The results obtained from both methods have been compared whereas the relations determining the evolution of damage variable in the loading process have been established.