Abstract In rock mechanics, failure of masses is commonly encountered.

Abstract Rock slopes with intermittent joints in open-pit mines are complex geological bodies composed of intact rock and discontinuous structural planes, their stability analysis necessary for mine disaster prevention. In this study, a series base friction tests were performed to determine the failure process displacement field evolution using speckle technique noncontact measurement system. N...

This paper presents an application of a recently developed methodology for the identification and analysis of flat surfaces affecting rock masses using 3D LiDAR point clouds(Riquelme et al., 2013 submited). The used methodology has been applied to calculate the algebraic equations of the different discontinuities of a rock slope through a methodology based on next three steps: (a) local curvatu...

presence of joints and fractures in rocks strongly influences the behavior of the rock mass by dividing the media into smaller units. these structures intensify the potential instability besides the development of sliding and rotational movements. the assumption of discontinuum media changes the whole analysis conditions in relation to the continuum analysis. acquisition of geometrical and stru...

Muddy intercalation is one kind of rock’s secondary structural surface, where the failure of instability between strata occurred. Mechanical behaviour of muddy intercalation directly affects the stability of the rock mass. Starting from the micro-structure of Muddy intercalation, revealing its macroscopic mechanical characteristic is of great significance to the stability and optimization desig...

Considering the structure effect of tunnel stability in western mining of China, three typical kinds of numerical model were respectively built as follows based on the strain softening constitutive model and linear elastic-perfectly plastic model for soft rock and interface: R-M, R-C(s)-M and R-C(w)-M. Calculation results revealed that the stress-strain relation and failure characteristics of t...

INTRODUCTION Rock climbing is becoming both accessible and popular amongst a broader population base [1]. This increasing participation has been matched by an increasing injury rate, particularly injuries to the distal upper extremity [2]. The most common climbing injuries occur in the finger flexor tendon pulleys, which can be overloaded to failure by acute excessive force in compromised finge...

The joint surface is widely distributed in the rock, thus leading to the nonlinear characteristics of rock mass strength and limiting the effectiveness of the linear model in reflecting characteristics. The JRC/JCS model is the nonlinear failure criterion and generally believed to describe the characteristics of joints better than other models. In order to develop the numerical program for JRC/...

In this commentary, the authors discuss two possible approaches in experimental studies. The first approach is to replicate an experimentation in order to confirm or not previously published results. The second one is more theoretical and consists in estimating the expected effect of all the components of the problem. When theoretical calculations suggest a theoretical failure that contradicts ...