• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2001.03a
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 2001

The shear strength of jointed rock is influenced by effective normal stress, joint wall compressive strength, joint roughness and so on. Since joint roughness makes considerable influences on shear strength of jointed rock, many studies tried to get quantitative joint roughness parameter. Until now, Joint Roughness Coefficient, JRC proposed by Barton has been prevalently used as a rock joint roughness parameter In spite of its disadvantages. In this study, a quantification of rock joint roughness is performed using surface roughness parameter, Rs. Proposed method is applied to rock core specimens, field joint surfaces, and JRC profiles. The scale of fluctuation is introduced to extend the suggested method to the large scale field joint surface roughness. Based on the quantification of joint surface roughness, joint shear tests are performed with the portable shear box. The relationship between joint surface roughness and joint shear strength is investigated and finally, a rock joint shear strength equation is derived from these results. The equation has considerable credibility and originality in that it is obtained from laboratory tests and expressed with quantified parameter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
• /
• 2011.09a
• /
• pp.3-21
• /
• 2011

Laboratory experiments and numerical simulations using Particle Flow Code (PFC2D) were performed to study the effects of joint separation and joint overlapping on the full failure behavior of rock bridges under direct shear loading. Through numerical direct shear tests, the failure process is visually observed and the failure patterns are achieved with reasonable conformity with the experimental results. The simulation results clearly showed that cracks developed during the test were predominantly tension cracks. It was deduced that the failure pattern was mostly influenced by both of the joint separation and joint overlapping while the shear strength is closely related to the failure pattern and its failure mechanism. The studies revealed that shear strength of rock bridges are increased with increasing in the joint separation. Also, it was observed that for a fixed cross sectional area of rock bridges, shear strength of overlapped joints are less than the shear strength of non-overlapped joints.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.29-37
• /
• 2016

This study examined the magnitude and distribution of earth pressure on the support system in a jointed rock mass due to the different joint spacing as well as varying the rock type and joint condition (joint shear strength and joint inclination angle). Based on a physical model test and its numerical simulation, a series of numerical parametric analyses were conducted using a discrete element method. The results showed that the magnitude and distribution of earth pressure were strongly affected by the different joint spacing as well as the rock type and joint condition. In addition, the study results were compared with Peck's earth pressure for soil ground, which indicated that the earth pressure in a jointed rock mass could be considerably different from that in soil ground. The study suggests that the joint spacing as well as the rock type and joint condition are important factors affecting the earth pressure in a jointed rock mass and they should be considered when designing a support system in a jointed rock mass.

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

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.202-207
• /
• 1997

Jointed rock is often modeled using ubiquitious joint models, anisotropic plasticity models with yield condions that simulate slip along joint sets. In this paper, a ubiquitous joint model is derived for a rock mass cut by two sets of continuous joints. The model is used to compute the bearing capacity of a footing resting on jointed rock. Comparison to a series of Distinct Element simulations with different joint spacings, suggests that ubiquitous joint modles are only appropriate when the joint spacing is small.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.31 no.12
• /
• pp.59-69
• /
• 2015

This study examined the magnitude and distribution of earth pressure on the support system in a jointed rock mass due to the different joint sets as well as varying the rock type and joint condition (joint shear strength and joint inclination angle). Based on a physical model test and its numerical simulation, a series of numerical parametric analyses were conducted using a discrete element method. The results showed that the induced earth pressure was affected significantly by a joint set depending on the inclusion of the joint inclination angle, which induces a joint sliding condition, but the number of joint sets alone was not important, even though the earth pressure could be increased slightly as the number of joint sets is increased. In addition, the study results were compared with Peck's earth pressure for soil ground, which indicated that the earth pressure in a jointed rock mass could be considerably different from that in soil ground. The study suggests that the effects of joint sets as well as rock type and joint condition are important factors affecting the earth pressure in a jointed rock mass and they should be considered when designing a support system in a jointed rock mass.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.10-18
• /
• 2002

Rock joint system makes a heavy effect on the behavior of rock structures. The definition of a 3D rock joint system is very important in 2D or 3D numerical analysis for the prediction of the behavior of a discontinuous rock mass. To enhance the reality of a 3D definition of rock joint system, it is essential to estimate the unbiased statistics of basic geometric attributes of rock joints. In this study, we have proposed the statistical analysis and derived the related equations for an estimation of statistics of joint size and intensity. Geometry of rock joints in 3 dimensional space can be defined by the aggregate of location, size, orientation and intensity. The dimensional limit of survey method and its data makes 3D geometric attributes probabilistic. In the estimation of statistics of joint size, we have discussed the technique to correct the bias from a dimensional limit and derived the equation of 3D joint intensity by stereological approaches.

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

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 1995

The behavior of a jointed rock mass depends mainly on the geometrical and mechanical properties of joints. The failure mode of a rock mass and kinematics of rock blocks are governed by the orientation, spacing, and persistence of joints. The mechanical properties such as dilation angle, shear strength, maximum closure, strength of asperities and friction coeffiient play important roles on the stability and deformation of the rock mass. The normal and shear behaviour of a joint are coupled due to dilation, and the joint deformation depends also on the boundary conditions such as stiffness conditons. In this paper, the joint constitutive law including the dilatant behaviour of a joint is numerically modelled using the edge-to-edge contact logic in distinct element method. Also, presented is the method to quantify the input parameters used in the joint law. The results from uniaxial compression and direct shear tests using the numeical model of the single joint were compared to the analytic results from them. The boundary effect on the behaviour of a joint is verified by comparing the results of direct shear test under constant stress boundary condition with those under constant stiffness boundary condition. The numerical model developed is applied to a complex jointed rock mass to examine its performance and to evaluate the effect of joint dilation on tunnel stability.

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