Scaling of fatigue crack growth in rock

This paper presents a comprehensive set of size effect experiments on fatigue crack kinetics for Berea sandstone. It is observed that for all specimens the Paris-Erdogan law is applicable for a wide range of amplitudes of the stress intensity factor. The fatigue tests also indicate that there is a small-crack growth regime at the beginning stage of cyclic loading, where the growth rate decreases as the crack initiates from the notch tip. It is...