It is examined the basic mechanism of brittle failure of rock in order to gain some understanding of the underlying reasons for the behaviour patterns which are observed.

<p>The results of studies of the initiation and propagation of fracture from a single Griffith crack in a biaxial compressive stress field are reported in this paper.</p>

This thesis contains details of an investigation into the applicability of Griffith's brittle fracture theory, modified to account for the effects of crack closure in compression, to the prediction of rock fracture behaviour.