Effect of temperature on Mode I and Mode II Fracture Toughness of Lushan sandstone

Rock is a brittle naturally that is sobjected to a variety of environment impacts , such as temperature , confining pressure, humidity and water erosion. Moreover, the effect of temperature on rock fracture in most engineering fields has been considered. These include the determination of the resistance of rock structures to accumulate atomic waste in underground reservoirs, the hydraulic fracture process for extraction of oil and gas from different layers of the earth and analysis of the structures of underground mines. In this paper, we investigate the effect of temperature on mode I and mode II fracture toughness of Lowshan sandstone. To investigate the effect of temperature on mode I and II fracture toughness, was used a Cracked Chevron Notched Brazilian Disc. In this study, the specimens were subjected to a temperature of 20, 60, 100 and 150℃. The results show that, with increasing temperature up to 150℃ , mode I and II fracture toughness of sandstone increases.