Dynamic fracture behavior of rock materials which includes crack initiation, and propagation, is fundamental to understanding excavation of hard rock in construction, mining, quarrying and nuclear waste sites. In most cases excavation is accomplished with explosive loadings where it depends on initial bore hole pressure, crack extension, stress wave induced fractures and longer term gas pressurization in the bore hole. The research issues in fracture and fragmentation of rock are many and they have attracted the attention of the internaitonal research community. This award is to sponsor a workshop on Dynamic Fracture and Fragmentation of Geologic Materials which is to be held immediately following the 2nd International Symposium on Fragmentation by Blasting at Keystone, Colorado in August of 1987, and prior to the meeting of the International Society of Rock Mechanics to be held in Montreal, Canada. The Workshop is timed to attract the best researchers in rock fracture and fragmentation from the international community. The two main objectives of the workshop are 1) to review the status of research on rock fracture and fragmentation concerning analytical, experimental and computational viewpoints, and 2) to establish research priorities from both the researchers and users viewpoint. The organizing committee has been selected from well respected researchers in the U.S. and a tentative attendance list has been prepared. We anticipate that the workshop will be successful and will provide needed direction to ensure that the NSF program in this important area yields productive and uniformly high quality research.
