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Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Shear Failure Behavior of Rock-like Samples Containing Multiple Non-Persistent Joints

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Abstract

The instability of rock slopes and underground engineering structures is usually caused by shear sliding along discontinuities, such as joints or faults, which are usually non-persistent. It is important to study the shear failure behavior of non-persistent joints to better understand the instability mechanism of jointed rock masses. In this research, rock-like samples containing multiple non-persistent joints were prepared and used for direct shear tests under constant normal load. The test results showed that the shear failure of multiple non-persistent joints usually involves multiple coalescence modes of rock bridges, which are affected by joint configurations and normal stress. Under the same normal stress, the shear strength, and dilation behavior are mostly dominated by joint persistency, which essentially determines the roughness of the macroshear fracture surface. Furthermore, the acoustic emission characteristics of non-persistent joints were evaluated by the hit rate, energy rate, and b value. A lower b value, indicating a more intense shear failure, is usually related to a smaller joint persistency and medium joint spacing. Finally, the cracking process, force evolution, and micro-cracking mechanism of multiple non-persistent joints were revealed using particle flow code.

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Abbreviations

JRC:

Joint roughness coefficient

AE:

Acoustic emission

DEM:

Discrete element method

PFC:

Particle flow code

BPM:

Bonded particle model

PB(M):

Parallel bond (model)

UCS/Ts :

Ratio of unconfined compressive strength to tensile strength

CNL:

Constant normal load

DT:

Direct tensile crack

RT:

Relative tensile crack

ST:

Shearing tensile crack

DS:

Direct shear crack

RS:

Relative shear crack

CS:

Compressive shear crack

D:

Joint spacing

β :

Rock bridge angle

L j :

Joint length

L r :

Rock bridge length

k :

Joint persistency factor

d :

Joint spacing factor

e :

Joint overlapping factor

J m,n :

Joint in row m and column n

δ h :

Shear displacement

δ v :

Normal displacement

τ :

Shear stress

τ p :

Peak strength

τ p-sub :

Sub-peak strength

τ r :

Residual strength

τ ini :

Crack initiation stress

δ v p :

Peak dilation

δ v t :

Terminal dilation

σ n :

Normal stress

Nr:

Number of non-persistent joint rows

N :

Event number

M :

Earthquake magnitude

AdB :

Peak amplitude of the AE events

a,b :

Coefficient of Eqs. (1) and (2)

α :

Coalescence angle

R min :

Minimum radius of particle

ρ :

Density

E c :

Young’s modulus of the particle

K :

Ratio of normal to shear stiffness of the particle

E c * :

Young's modulus of the parallel bond

K * :

Ratio of normal to shear stiffness of parallel bond

σ t * :

Parallel-bond tensile strength

c * :

Parallel-bond cohesion

φ * :

Parallel-bond frictional angle

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Acknowledgements

A part of this research project has been conducted as the regulatory supporting research funded by the Secretariat of Nuclear Regulation Authority (Secretariat of NRA), Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagasaki University, 1-14 Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki, 852-8521, Japan

    Yuanchao Zhang, Yujing Jiang & Changsheng Wang

  2. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Ibaraki, 305-8567, Japan

    Daisuke Asahina

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  1. Yuanchao Zhang
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  4. Changsheng Wang
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Correspondence to Yujing Jiang.

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Zhang, Y., Jiang, Y., Asahina, D. et al. Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Shear Failure Behavior of Rock-like Samples Containing Multiple Non-Persistent Joints. Rock Mech Rock Eng 53, 4717–4744 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-020-02186-0

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