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- Title
Development of a shear strength model for a rock mass containing a complex fracture system based on direct shear tests: a case study.
- Authors
Guo, J. W.; Yang, X. X.; Kulatilake, P. H. S. W.; Li, W. T.; Xue, H. Y.
- Abstract
Due to the complex geometric distribution of discontinuities, the determination of the shear strength of rock masses has become a difficult task limiting the stability analysis of surrounding rock masses in underground tunnels. This problem might be attributed not only to the size effect of fractured rock masses but also due to the difficult quantification of the geometric distribution of fracture systems. To find a solution to this problem, a series of direct shear tests were numerically simulated by utilizing the synthetic rock mass method (SRM) in the PFC3D software to estimate the shear strength of a rock mass in Qingdao Metro tunnels, located in Shandong province, China. The numerical simulation results show that the shear strength parameters vary significantly with the orientation of the fracture network contained in the rock mass. Meanwhile, it was found that the fracture tensor component in the direction z, Fzz, which is in the perpendicular direction to the shearing plane (x–y plane) of the rock mass displayed an inversely varying trend with the shear strength parameters. Accordingly, a shear strength model was established for the rock mass by introducing Fzz to reflect the effect of the geometric distribution of the complex fracture system. The developed shear strength model was verified by conducting direct shear tests in the field, and a good agreement has been achieved.
- Publication
Bulletin of Engineering Geology & the Environment, 2024, Vol 83, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1435-9529
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10064-023-03533-5