A failure criterion for mu-san sandstone based on hollow cylinder tests

In this paper, the experimental study of hollow cylinder torsion and compression tests on specimens of MuSan Sandstone of Taiwan are presented. The conventional triaxial test is often unable to simulate complex stress conditions due to the oversimplified stress assumption. Therefore, an experimental design by authors is presented. Tests were carried out under different stress paths to establish the yield surface of the sandstone in principal stress space. The results of experiment were compared with the model of Kim-Lade and the failure criteria of Mohr-Coulomb and of Hoek-Brown. The results showed that the yield surface of the sandstone in principal stress space presents as a surface similar to an umbrella and the model of Kim-Lade can successfully predict the yield surface.