Tensile fracturing of anisotropic Brisbane phyllite

Rocks are generally more or less anisotropic, depending on their structure at the scale of interest. The anisotropic rocks in civil and mining engineering projects cause non-symmetric deformation and their behaviour is unpredictable. The authors present the results of Brazilian Indirect Tensile (BIT) strength and Cracked Chevron Notched Brazilian Disc (CCNBD) tests for the determination of the fundamental tensile fracturing parameters of Brisbane phyllite specimens. In general, the influence of orientation angle (ψ) and foliation-loading angle (β) were found to influence both fracturing and the failure load