Author 1:
Name & Surname: Vaisberg L. A.
Company: Mekhanobr-Tekhnika Research and Engineering Corporation (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Work Position: Research Manager
Scientific Degrees: Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, Corresponding Member RAS
Contacts: gornyi@mtspb.com

Author 2:
Name & Surname: Kameneva E. E.
Company: Petrozavodsk State University (Petrozavodsk, Russia)
Work Position: Assistant Professor
Scientific Degree: Candidate of Engineering Sciences

Author 3:
Name & Surname: Pimenov Yu. G.
Company: Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (Moscow, Russia)
Work Position: Leading Researcher
Scientific Degree: Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences

Author 4:
Name & Surname: Abrosimov A. A.
Company: Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (Moscow, Russia)
Work Position: Researcher

Plenty of theoretical and experimental studies have turned to deformation and strength characteristics of rocks. In accordance with the existing views, the mechanism of rock deformation and failure is associated with generation and growth of damages initiated by structural defects. The studies of rock disintegration reveal the most probable structural elements along which failure develops—pores, microfractures, and interfaces of mineral intergrowth and grains. Deformation results from relative displacement of rock-forming structural elements, the shape, size and properties of which govern the deformation mechanics and kinematics. This study aims at disclosure of processes that run in rocks (granite in the case under discussion) subjected to compressive load that fits with the value of transition from the elastic to plastic deformation. The analysis uses the method of X-Ray Micro-CT. The studies show that under compressive loads fitting with the transition from the elastic to plastic deformation, a failure source forms in a rock specimen — the area with the increased concentration of pores. In undamaged areas, compaction takes place owing to closure of intergrain and intracrystalline pores. The closure of intracrystalline pores causes the change of geometrical characteristics of crystals. The authors validate that effect of dilatancy shows itself in a rock specimen not only as microfracturing but as transformation of volume of rock as a whole and its individual structural elements, i.e. pores and crystals.
The work was supported by the Federal Target Program “Research and Development in Priority Areas of Scientific and Technical Advance in Russia in 2014–2020,” project no. 14.574.21.0108.

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