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Experimental and Numerical Investigations on the Macro-Meso Shear Mechanical Behaviors of Artificial Rock Discontinuities with Multiscale Asperities

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Abstract

In the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) has frequently occurred a large number of landslides in the stratified rock slopes with typical saw-tooth rock discontinuities since its impoundment in 2003, in which the shear mechanical behaviors of the saw-tooth rock discontinuities have been explored by few scholars. In this study, the macro-meso shear mechanical behaviors of the rock discontinuities with multiscale triangular-shaped asperities under two different lithologic combination types, when subjected to a static constant normal load (CNL), were investigated using experimental and numerical approaches. The hard layer and soft layer are, respectively, limestone and clayey soil taken from the TGRA, and the normal loading rate for the combination of hard layers and the combination of soft–hard layers is 0.5 kN/min and 0.05 kN/min, respectively, while the shear loading rate of the two different lithologic combination types is 0.5 kN/min. The laboratory direct shear tests on the rock discontinuities with different first-order asperity angles, i.e., 30°, 45° and 60°, and the same second-order asperity angle of 45°, were first conducted under different normal stresses and moisture contents. Four various types of shear-tensile failure modes, i.e., climbing failure, climbing-gnawing failure, gnawing failure and sliding failure, were observed for the combination of hard layers; while three diverse types of shear-tensile failure modes, i.e., disengaging failure, dislocating failure and gnawing failure, were observed for the combination of soft–hard layers. Subsequently, the Two Dimensional Particle Flow Code discrete element method (PFC 2D DEM) was used for the numerical simulations, in which the meso-damage evolution process of the rock discontinuities was simulated, and the variation laws of the meso-damage crack number and energy were obtained. Based on the good agreement between the experimental observations and numerical results, a shear strength equation for the rock discontinuities was proposed, and its rationality was validated by comparing the factor of safety (FOS) of a slope calculated by the limit equilibrium method (LEM) and the strength reduction method (SRM).

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Abbreviations

TGRA:

Three Gorges Reservoir Area

CNL:

Constant normal load

PFC 2D DEM:

Two Dimensional Particle Flow Code discrete element method

FOS:

Factor of safety

LEM:

Limit equilibrium method

SRM:

Strength reduction method

TGD:

Three Gorges Dam

CNS:

Constant normal stiffness

FA:

First-order asperities

SA:

Second-order asperities

CS:

Climbing surface

BS:

Back surface

PBM:

Parallel bond model

DFNM:

Discrete fracture network model

SJM:

Smooth joint model

FLAC 3D FDM:

Three Dimensional Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua finite difference method

M1–M6:

Serial numbers of the test models

a, b, c and d :

Geometrical dimension of the test models

U1–U3:

Serial numbers of different types of artificial rock discontinuities

α, α 1, α 2 and α 3 :

First-order asperity angle

β :

Second-order asperity angle

A1–A3 and B1–B3:

Serial numbers of the macro-damage evolution process

k :

Serial numbers of the test conditions (k = 1–12)

P s k :

Peak shear stress

R s k :

Residual shear stress

P d k :

Peak shear displacement

C1–C3 and D1–D3:

Serial numbers of the meso-damage evolution process

i :

Serial numbers of lithologic combination types (i = 1 or 2)

τ i :

Shear strength

σ n i :

Normal stress

c i :

Cohesion

φ i :

Internal friction angle

f i(α) and h i(α):

Functions related to the surface roughness

H :

Height of sliding body

K lem i :

FOS calculated by the LEM

F RS i :

Anti-sliding force of macro sliding surface

W i :

Weight of sliding body

θ :

Dip angle of macro sliding surface

L MN :

Length of macro sliding surface

K srm i :

FOS calculated by the SRM

c n i :

New cohesion parameter

φ n i :

New internal friction angle parameter

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support for this study from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 41972266, 41772319 and 52074042), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC1504802) and the Chongqing Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (Grant no. cstc2019jcyj-bshX0072). Moreover, the authors gratefully thank the editor’s and anonymous reviewers’ suggestions and comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Xinrong Liu, Bin Xu, Guangyi Lin, Junhui Huang, Xiaohan Zhou, Jiwen Wang & Fei Xiong

  2. National Joint Engineering Research Center of Geohazards Prevention in the Reservoir Areas, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Xinrong Liu, Bin Xu, Guangyi Lin, Junhui Huang, Xiaohan Zhou, Jiwen Wang & Fei Xiong

  3. Chongqing Chuandongnan Survey & Design Institute Co., Ltd., Chongqing, 400038, China

    Yingkun Xie

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  1. Xinrong Liu
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  2. Bin Xu
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  3. Guangyi Lin
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  4. Junhui Huang
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  5. Xiaohan Zhou
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  8. Fei Xiong
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Contributions

LXR conceived and designed the experiments. LXR, XB, HJH, XF and XYK performed the experiments. LXR, LGY and WJW carried out the numerical simulations. LXR, XB and ZXH analyzed the data. LXR and XB wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Xinrong Liu or Bin Xu.

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Liu, X., Xu, B., Lin, G. et al. Experimental and Numerical Investigations on the Macro-Meso Shear Mechanical Behaviors of Artificial Rock Discontinuities with Multiscale Asperities. Rock Mech Rock Eng 54, 4079–4098 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-021-02484-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-021-02484-1

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