• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.281-291
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• 2022

Complex rock masses include various joint planes, bedding planes and other weak structural planes. The existence of these structural planes affects the mechanical properties, deformation rules and failure modes of jointed rock masses. To study the influence of the parameters of a nonpersistent joint network on the mechanical properties and failure modes of jointed rock masses, synthetic rock mass (SRM) technology based on discrete elements is introduced. The results show that as the size of the joints in the rock mass increases, the compressive strength and the discreteness of the rock mass first increase and then decrease. Among them, the joints that are characterized by "small but many" joints and "large and clustered" joints have the most significant impact on the strength of the rock mass. With the increase in joint density in the rock mass, the compressive strength of rock mass decreases monotonically, but the rate of decrease gradually decreases. With the increase in the joint dip angle in rock mass, the strength of the rock mass first decreases and then increases, forming a U-shaped change rule. In the analysis of the failure mode and deformation of a jointed rock mass, the type of plastic zone formed after rock mass failure is closely related to the macroscopic displacement deformation of the rock mass and the parameters of the joints, which generally shows that the location and density of the joints greatly affect the failure mode and displacement degree of the jointed rock mass. The instability mechanism of jointed surrounding rock is revealed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.49-68
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• 2023

The three-dimensional failure criterion is essential for maintaining wellbore stability and sand production problem. The convenient factor for a stable wellbore is mud weight and borehole orientation, i.e., mud window design and selection of borehole trajectory. This study proposes a new three-dimensional failure criterion with linear relation of three in-situ principal stresses. The number of failure criteria executed to understand the phenomenon of rock failure under in-situ stresses is the Mohr-Coulomb criterion, Hoek-Brown criterion, Mogi-Coulomb criterion, and many more. A new failure criterion is the extended Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion with the influence of intermediate principal stress (σ₂). The influence of intermediate principal stress is considered as a weighting of (σ₂) on the mean effective stress. The triaxial compression test data for eleven rock types are taken from the literature for calibration of material constant and validation of failure prediction. The predictions on rock samples using new criteria are the best fit with the triaxial compression test data points. Here, Drucker-Prager and the Mogi-Coulomb criterion are also implemented to predict the failure for eleven different rock types. It has been observed that the Drucker-Prager criterion gave over prediction of rock failure. On the contrary, the Mogi-Coulomb criterion gave an equally good prediction of rock failure as our proposed new 3D failure criterion. Based on the yield surface of a new 3D linear criterion it gave the safest prediction for the failure of the rock. A new linear failure criterion is recommended for the unique solution as a linear relation of the principal stresses rather than the dual solution by the Mogi-Coulomb criterion.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2017

Behavior of rock mass depend on the mechanical properties of intact rock and geometrical property of discontinuity distributed in rock mass. In case of rock slope, particularly, location of slope failure surface and behavior after failure are changed due to discontinuities. In this study, two 3D slope stability analysis methods were developed for two different failure types which are circular failure and planar failure, considering that failure type of rock slope is dependent on scale of discontinuity which was then applied to real rock slope to review the applicability. In case of circular failure, stable condition was maintained in natural dry condition, which however became unstable when the moisture content of the surface was increased by rainfall. In case of planar failure, rock slope become more unstable comparing to dry condition which is attributable to decrease in friction angle of discontinuity surface due to rainfall. Viewing analysis result above, analysis method proved to have well incorporated the phenomenon occurred on real slope from the analysis result, demonstrating its applicability to reviewing the slope stability as well as to maintaining the slope.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.535-570
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• 2017

There are only few cases where cause and location of failure of a rock structure are limited to a single discontinuity. Usually several discontinuities of limited size interact and eventually form a combined shear plane where failure takes place. So, besides the discontinuities, the regions between adjacent discontinuities, which consist of strong rock and are called material or rock bridges, are of utmost importance for the shear strength of the compound failure plane. Shear behaviour of persistent and non-persistent joint are different from each other. Shear strength of rock mass containing non-persistent joints is highly affected by mechanical behavior and geometrical configuration of non-persistent joints located in a rock mass. Therefore investigation is essential to study the fundamental failures occurring in a rock bridge, for assessing anticipated and actual performances of the structures built on or in rock masses. The purpose of this review paper is to present techniques, progresses and the likely future development directions in experimental testing of non-persistent joint failure behaviour. Experimental results showed that the presence of rock bridges in not fully persistent natural discontinuity sets is a significant factor affecting the stability of rock structures. Compared with intact rocks, jointed rock masses are usually weaker, more deformable and highly anisotropic, depending upon the mechanical properties of each joint and the explicit joint positions. The joint spacing, joint persistency, number of rock joint, angle of rock joint, length of rock bridge, angle of rock bridge, normal load, scale effect and material mixture have important effect on the failure mechanism of a rock bridge.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.147-152
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• 1999

Distribution of fracture system is an important factor to analyse instability of jointed rock slope. In the most case of rock slopes, joint distribution properties are related to potential, shape, size and locality of slope failure. The purpose of this paper is to present an application of fracture characterization related to rock slope failure. Fracture data used in this study are collected by scanline survey. Two aspects of fracture characterization for rock slope are handled in this study First, In order to determine the potential and shape of slope failure, trace length of joints is considered as the weighting factor about collected orientation data. Second, Relationship between trace length and spacing is analysed to estimate failure location and size. The distribution of fracture system is directly influenced on wedge failure. It is effective to analyse the orientation of fractures by using weighting factors associated with the trace length of fractures rather than to analyse only that of fractures. It gives a conclusion that the wedge failure occurred along the peak of fracture density(or intensity) cycles.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.248-260
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• 2004

Damage in brittle rock due to stress increase starts from initiation of microcracks, and then results in failure by forming macro failure planes due to propagation and coalescence of these discrete cracks. Conventionally, continuum approaches using macro-failure criteria or a number of elasto-plastic models have been major solution to implement rock damage and failure. However, actual brittle failure processes can be better described in phenomenological approach if initiation and propagation of discrete fractures are explicitly considered. This study presents damage and failure process of rock using a boundary element code, FRACOD, which has been developed to model fracturing process of rocks. Through a series of numerical uniaxial compressive tests, the feasibility of the developed model was verified, and realistic rock failure process was reproduced considering scale effects in rocks. In addition, the fracturing process and the corresponding rock damage in the vicinity of deep shaft in rock mass were presented as an application of this approach. This approach will be expected to contribute to finding better engineering solutions for the analysis of stability problems in brittle rock masses.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.317-327
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• 2024

When a non-persistent joint system is formed in a large-scale rock slope, slope failure may occur due to presence of a the stepped sliding surface. Such a surface can be divided into joint-to-joint sliding surfaces or joint-to-rock bridge sliding surfaces. In the latter case, the rock bridge provides shear resistance parallel to the joint and tensile resistance perpendicular to the joint. The load of the sliding rock can lead to failure of the rock bridge, thereby connecting the two joints at each ends of the bridge and resulting in step-path failure of the slope. If each rock bridge on a slope has the same length, the tensile strength is lower than the shear strength, resulting in the rock bridges oriented perpendicular to the joint being more prone to failure. In addition, the smaller the ratio of discontinuity spacing to length, the greater the likelihood of step-path failure. To assess the risk of stepped sliding on a rock slope with non-persistent joints, stability analysis can be performed using limit equilibrium analysis or numerical analysis. This involves constructing a step-path failure surface through a systematic discontinuity survey and analysis.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.3-10
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• 1999

There is an increasing demand for using rock anchors as foundations in many geotechnical engineering structures such as transmission towers, dams, etc. For investigate the behavior and strength of rock anchors, in-situ pull-out tests were carried out. From the tests, various forms of failure of rock anchors were observed. Ultimate capacity of each failure modes of 1) Tendon failure, 2) Interface failure(tendon-grout interface, sheath-grout interface and grout-rock interface), 3) Combined interface failure, was obtained by varying the parameters such as diameter and length of tendon, grout strength, and quality of rock.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2023

Rock disturbance caused by blasting and stress relaxation is commonly observed during excavation. As the distance from the source of disturbance increases, the degree of disturbance decreases, and rock at a large depth does not experience disturbance. However, in stability analyses, a single value of disturbance is often applied to the entire rock mass, which leads to underestimated results. In this study, this modeling mistake is addressed by considering realistically varying rock disturbance. The safety of infinite slopes in a disturbed rock mass with a strength governed by the Hoek-Brown failure criterion is investigated based on the kinematic approach of limit analysis. The maximum disturbance is assigned to the outermost slope face because it is directly exposed to blasting damage and dilation, and the disturbance progressively decays with distance in the rock mass. The safety analysis results indicate that the assumption of uniform disturbance in the entire rock mass leads to underestimation of the rock strength and safety on infinite rock slopes. A critical slip surface appears to be within the disturbed rock layer as well as the interface between the disturbed upper rock and undisturbed lower rock.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.235-266
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• 2016

A rock mass containing non-persistent joints can only fail if the joints propagate and coalesce through an intact rock bridge. Shear strength of rock mass containing non-persistent joints is highly affected by the both, mechanical behavior and geometrical configuration of non-persistent joints located in a rock mass. Existence of rock joints and rock bridges are the most important factors complicating mechanical responses of a rock mass to stress loading. The joint-bridge interaction and bridge failure dominates mechanical behavior of jointed rock masses and the stability of rock excavations. The purpose of this review paper is to present techniques, progresses and the likely future development directions in experimental and numerical modelling of a non-persistent joint failure behaviour. Such investigation is essential to study the fundamental failures occurring in a rock bridge, for assessing anticipated and actual performances of the structures built on or in rock masses. This paper is divided into two sections. In the first part, experimental investigations have been represented followed by a summarized numerical modelling. Experimental results showed failure mechanism of a rock bridge under different loading conditions. Also effects of the number of non-persistent joints, angle between joint and a rock bridge, lengths of the rock bridge and the joint were investigated on the rock bridge failure behaviour. Numerical simulation results are used to validate experimental outputs.