Proposals for a Failure Criterion Applicable to Discontinuous Rocks

The existing failure criteria to evaluate discontinuous rocks are predominatly based on the relations between principal stresses at failure. None of the criteria has a direct reference to the magnitude of deformation as a major parameter in rock Several reasons are identified indicating that the selection of peak stress as a major parameter, which is obtained through the evaluation of a failure criterion, is not reliable. On the other hand, the experimental investigations indicate that the state of strain is equally important to the state of stress. The proposed failure criterion is to describe the behavior of a jointed rock mass under various loading conditions taking the major principal strain into consideration.