Rock masses are heterogeneous materials containing a large number of discontinuities, and the failure of the natural rock mass is induced by the crack propagation and coalescence of discontinuities, especially for the rock mass around tunnel or underground space. Because the deformation or failure process of jointed rock mass exhibits strongly nonlinear characteristics, it is also very difficult to predict the strength and failure modes of the rock mass. Therefore, it is very necessary to study the failure mechanisms of jointed rock mass under different stress conditions. Apart from the stress condition, the discontinuities geometry also has a significant influence on the mechanical behavior of jointed rock mass. Then, substantial, experimental, and numerical efforts have been devoted to the study of crack initiation, propagation, and coalescence of rock or rock‐like specimens containing different kinds of joints or fissures. The purpose of this review is to discuss the development and the contribution of the experiment test and numerical simulation in failure behavior of jointed rock or rock‐like specimens. Overall, this review can be classified into three parts. It begins by briefly explaining the significance of studying these topics. Afterwards, the experimental and numerical studies on the strength, deformation, and failure characteristics of jointed rock or rock‐like materials are carried out and discussed.

Flaw is a key factor influencing failure behavior of a fractured specimen. In the present study, rectangular‐flawed specimens were prepared using sandstone to investigate the effect of flaw on failure behavior of rock. Open flaw and cylindrical hole were simultaneously precut within rock specimens using high‐pressure water jet cutting technology. Five series of specimens including intact, single‐hole‐alone, two‐hole‐alone, single‐hole and two‐flaw, and two‐hole and single‐flaw blocks were prepared. Uniaxial compressive tests using a rigid servo control instrument were carried out to investigate the fracture processes of these flawed specimens. It is observed that during loading, internal stress always intensively distributed at both sidewalls of open hole, especially at midpoint of sidewalls, so rock crumb flaking was firstly observed among all sandstone specimens containing single hole or two holes. Cracking around open hole is associated with the flaw inclination angle which was observed in Series III and V. Crack easily initiated at the tips of flaw with inclination angles of 0°, 30°, and 60° but hard for 90° in Series III and V. Rock burst was the major failure mode among most tested specimens, which generally induced new cracks and finally created crater shape. Additionally, due to extrusion between blocks, new shear or tensile cracks were generated and the rock specimen surface spalled. Eventually, four typical failure processes including rock crumb flaking, crack initiation and propagation, rock burst, and second rupture, were summarized.

The mechanical properties of rock-like materials always attract the interest of many researchers. In this paper, we study the influence of specimen cross-section shape on uniaxial compressive strength as well as their deformation, damage and failure characteristics by uniaxial compression tests. The diameter and height of circular cross-section specimens are 50 and 100 mm, respectively, and the height and cross-sectional area of other specimens are equal to that of circular cross-sectional ones. Simulation and experimental results show that the cross-sectional shape has little effect on uniaxial compressive strength. Moreover, the effect on other mechanical properties is also very limited before the peak strength, such as stress–strain curve, rotation and motion of particles, contact damage and energy evolution of particles; however, it gradually becomes obvious after the peak strength. This is a very important feature, which affects the macroscopic form of failure of specimens and reflects the difference between failure surfaces. The shapes of failure surfaces obtained from numerical simulations are quite similar to the experimental results, which verify the reliability of numerical simulation results. Finally, the achievements can serve as a reference for related engineering issues.