Abstract:On the basis of test results of meso-scopic fracture process and evolution of microcracks of rock in uniaxial compression,the number and orientation of microcracks at each stress level are obtained.A mathematical model for describing the germination and evolution of microcracks is proposed.The bifurcation and chaos behaviours of the evolution of microcracks and meso-scopic fracture process are studied for the first time with the bifurcation and chaos theory of modern nonlinear science.When the characteristic values which represent the gernimation and closure effect of microcracks take certain values,the evolution of microcracks can be described by the Logistic equation.Therefore,the evolution of microcracks of rock has the bifurcation and chaos characteristics.[WT5HZ]