scholarly journals Comparison of Two- and Three-dimensional Approaches for the Numerical Determination of Equivalent Mechanical Properties of Fractured Rock Masses

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ki-Bok Min ◽  
Alain Thoraval
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Numerical Determination ◽  
Rock Masses ◽  
Fractured Rock Masses

THREE-DIMENSIONAL COSSERAT CONTINUUM MODELING OF FRACTURED ROCK MASSES

2010 ◽  
Vol 02 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 217-234
Author(s):  
IOANNIS STEFANOU ◽  
JEAN SULEM
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Discrete System ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Cosserat Continuum ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Rock Masses ◽  
Homogenization Technique ◽  
Rock Structure

The behavior of rock masses is influenced by the existence of discontinuities, which divide the rock in joint blocks making it an inhomogeneous anisotropic material. From the mechanical point of view, the geometrical and mechanical properties of the rock discontinuities define the mechanical properties of the rock structure. In the present paper we consider a rock mass with three joint sets of different dip angle, dip direction, spacing and mechanical properties. The dynamic behavior of the discrete system is then described by a continuum model, which is derived by homogenization. The homogenization technique applied here is called generalized differential expansion homogenization technique and has its roots in Germain's (1973) formulation for micromorphic continua. The main advantage of the method is the avoidance of the averaging of the kinematic quotients and the derivation of a continuum that maps exactly the degrees of freedom of the discrete system through a one-to-one correspondence of the kinematic measures. The derivation of the equivalent continuum is based on the identification for any virtual kinematic field of the power of the internal forces and of the kinetic energy of the continuum with the corresponding quantities of the discrete system. The result is an anisotropic three-dimensional Cosserat continuum.

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