• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.317-333
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• 2014

The study of the mechanical behavior of rockfill materials under three-dimensional loading conditions is a current research focus area. This paper presents a microscale numerical study of rockfill deformation and strength characteristics using the Combined Finite-Discrete Element Method (FDEM). Two features unique to this study are the consideration of irregular particle shapes and particle crushability. A polydisperse assembly of irregular polyhedra was prepared to reproduce the mechanical behavior of rockfill materials subjected to axial compression at a constant mean stress for a range of intermediate principal stress ratios in the interval [0, 1]. The simulation results, including the stress-strain characteristics, relationship between principal strains, and principal deviator strains are discussed. The stress-dilatancy behavior is described using a linear dilatancy equation with its material constants varying with the intermediate principal stress ratio. The failure surface in the principal stress space and its traces in the deviatoric and meridian plane are also presented. The modified Lade-Duncan criterion most closely describes the stress points at failure.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.93-102
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• 2011

In spite of being unable to take into the effect of intermediate principal stress, Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown criteria are very popular as rock failure criteria. The recent researches reveal that the influence of intermediate principal stress on the failure strength of rock is substantial, so that 3-D failure criteria in which the intermediate principal stress could be considered is necessary for the safe design of the important rock structures. In this study, the likely application of the 3-D failure criterion proposed by Jiang & Pietruszczak (1988) to the prediction of the true triaxial strength of rock materials is discussed. The failure condition is linear in the meridian plane of principal stress space and it is represented by the smooth surface contacting the corners of the Mohr-Coulomb surface. The performance of the Jiang & Pietruszczak's criterion is demonstrated by simulating the actual true triaxial tests on the rock samples of three different rock types.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.355-366
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• 2024

The original elastoplastic Hardening Soil model is formulated actually partly under hexagonal pyramidal Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, and can be only used in specific stress paths. It must be completely generalized under Mohr-Coulomb criterion before its usage in engineering practice. A set of generalized constitutive equations under this criterion, including shear and volumetric yield surfaces and hardening laws, is proposed for Hardening Soil model in principal stress space. On the other hand, a Mohr-Coulumb type yield surface in principal stress space comprises six corners and an apex that make singularity for the normal integration approach of constitutive equations. With respect to the isotropic nature of the material, a technique for processing these singularities by means of Koiter's rule, along with a transforming approach between both stress spaces for both stress tensor and consistent stiffness matrix based on spectral decomposition method, is introduced to provide such an approach for developing generalized Hardening Soil model in finite element analysis code ABAQUS. The implemented model is verified in comparison with the results after the original simulations of oedometer and triaxial tests by means of this model, for volumetric and shear hardenings respectively. Results from the simulation of oedometer test show similar shape of primary loading curve to the original one, while maximum vertical strain is a little overestimated for about 0.5% probably due to the selection of relationships for cap parameters. In simulation of triaxial test, the stress-strain and dilation curves are both in very good agreement with the original curves as well as test data.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.869-877
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• 2018

The continually growing demand for underground space in dense urban cities is also driving the demand for underground highways. Building the underground highway tunnel, however, can involve complex design and construction considerations, particularly when there exists divergence or convergence in the tunnel. In this study, interaction between two asymmetric noncircular tunnels-that is, a larger main tunnel and a smaller tunnel diverging from the main tunnel, was investigated by examining the distributions of the principal stresses and the strength/stress ratio for varying geometric conditions between the two tunnels depending on diverging conditions using both numerical analysis and scale model test. The results of numerical analysis indicated that for the $0^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$ diverging directions, the major principal stress showed an initial gradual decrease and then a little steeper increase with the increased distance from the left main tunnel, except for $90^{\circ}$ where a continuous drop occurred, whereas the minor principal stress exhibited an opposite trend with the major principal stresses. The strength/stress ratio showed generally a bell-shaped but little skewed to left distribution over the distance increased from the left larger tunnel, similarly to the variation of the minor principal stress. For the inter-tunnel distance less than 0.5D, the lowest strength/stress ratio values were shown to be below 1.0 for all diverging directions ($0^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$). The failure patterns observed from the model test were found to be reasonably consistent with the results of numerical analysis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.101-121
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• 1996

The thermomechanical characteristics of rocks such as temperature dependency of strength and deformation were experimentally investigated using Iksan granite, Cheonan tonalite and Chung-ju dolomite for proper design and stability analysis of underground structures subjected to temperature changes. For the temperature below critical threshold temperature $T_c$, the variation of uniaxial compressive strength, Young's modulus, Brazilian tensile strength and cohesion with temperature were slightly different for each rock type, but these mechanical properties decreased at the temperatures above $T_c$ by the effect of thermal cracking. Tensile strength was most affected by $T_c$, and uniaxial compressive strength was least affected by $T_c$. To the temperature of 20$0^{\circ}C$ with the confining prressure to 150 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$, failure limit on principal stress plane and failure envelope on $\sigma$-$\tau$ plane of Iksan granite were continuously lowered with increasing temperature but those of Cheonan tonalite and Chung-ju dolomite showed different characteristics depending on minor principal stress on principal stress plane and normal stress on $\sigma$-$\tau$ plane. The reason for this appeared to be the effect of rock characteristics and confining pressure. Young's modulus was also temperature and pressure dependent, but the variation of Young's modulus was about 10%, which was small compared to the variation of compressive strength. In general, Young's modulus increased with increasing confining pressure and increased or decreased with increasing temperature to 20$0^{\circ}C$ depending on the rock type.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.480-493
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• 2021

Since the generalized Hoek-Brown criterion (GHB) provides an efficient way of identifying its strength parameter values with the consideration of in-situ rock mass condition via Geological Strength Index (GSI), this criterion is recognized as one of the standard rock mass failure criteria in rock mechanics community. However, the nonlinear form of the GHB criterion makes its mathematical treatment inconvenient and limits the scope of its application. As an effort to overcome this disadvantage of the GHB criterion, the explicit approximate analytical equations for the minimum principal stress, which is associated with the maximum principal stress at failure, are formulated based on the Taylor polynomial approximation of the original GHB criterion. The accuracy of the derived approximate formula for the minimum principal stress is verified by comparing the resulting approximate minimum principal stress with the numerically calculated exact values. To provide an application example of the approximate formulation, the equivalent friction angle and cohesion for the expected plastic zone around a circular tunnel in a GHB rock mass are calculated by incorporating the formula for the approximate minimum principal stress. It is found that the simultaneous consideration of the values of mi, GSI and far-field stress is important for the accurate calculation of equivalent Mohr-Coulomb parameter values of the plastic zone.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.219-227
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• 2013

Although Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion has limitations in that it is a linear criterion and the effect of the intermediate principal stress on failure is ignored, this criterion has been widely accepted in rock mechanics design. In order to overcome these shortcomings, the Hoek-Brown failure criterion was introduced and recently a number of 3-D failure criteria incorporating the effect of the intermediate principal stress on failure have been proposed. However, in many rock mechanics designs, the possible failure of rock mass is still evaluated based on Mohr-Coulomb criterion and most of practitioners are accustomed to understanding the strength of rock mass in terms of the internal friction angle and cohesion. Therefore, if the equivalent Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters of the advanced failure criteria are calculated, it is possible to take advantage of the advanced failure criteria in the framework of the Mohr-Coulomb criterion. In this study, a method expressing the tangential Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters in terms of the stress invariant is proposed and it is applied to the generalized Hoek-Brown criterion and the HB-WW criterion. In addition, a new approach describing the geometric meaning of the ${\sigma}_2$-dependency of failure criteria in 3-D principal stress space is proposed. Implementation examples of the proposed method show that the influence of the intermediate principal stress on the tangential friction angle and cohesion of the HB-WW criterion is considerable, which is not the case for the 2-D failure criterion.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.383-391
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• 2013

A number of true triaxial tests on rock samples have been conducted since the late 1960 and their results strongly suggest that the intermediate principal stress has a considerable effect on rock strength. Based on these experimental evidence, various 3-D rock failure criteria accounting for the effect of the intermediate principal stress have been proposed. Most of the 3-D failure criteria, however, are focused on the phenomenological description of the rock strength from the true triaxial tests, so that the associated strength parameters have little physical meaning. In order to confirm the likelihood that the intermediate principal stress dependency of rock strength is related to the presence of weak planes and their distribution to the preferred orientation, true triaxial tests are simulated with the transversely isotropic rock model. The conventional Mohr-Coulomb criterion is extended to its anisotropic version by incorporating the concept of microstructure tensor. With the anisotropic Mohr-Coulomb criterion, the critical plane approach is applied to calculate the strength of the transversely isotropic rock model and the orientation of the fracture plane. This investigation hints that the spatial distribution of microstructural planes with respect to the principal stress triad is closely related to the intermediate principal stress dependency of rock strength.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.151-157
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• 1988

A series of torsion shear tests were performed according to various stress-paths on hollow cylinder specimens of $K_0$-consolidated clay to investigate the influence of rotation of the principal stresses on the stress-strain and strength characteristics. The effects of stress-paths and reorientation of principal stress were mainly observed in the prefailure stress-strain behavior. The experimentally obtained failure surface from torsion shear tests could practically be modeled by an isotropic failure criterion. Coupling effects between stresses and strains were investigated when both torsion shear and vertical stresses were applied. The work-space in torsion shear tests was illustrated and the relation between stresses and strain increments was also investigated in the work-space.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.261-277
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• 1999

The horizontal and vertical earth pressures in backfill space which is narrowly excavated like ditch are affected by the share of ditch backfill space and the wall friction between excavated surface and backfill soil. In this paper, for the excavated surface the Handy's equation of a symmetric vertical case and the Kellogg's equation of a symmetric sloped one are modified to show the minor principal stress arch for the unsymmetrical excavated backfill space. Compared with the soil test box result, a similarity in magnitude and distribution of backfill earth pressure shows that the earth pressure has been observed. The backfill earth pressure in unsymmetrically sloped space has been shown twice as much as the one in vertically excavated space and also remarkable decline of arching for the former case. It is verified that the earth pressure equation should account the shape and size of backfill space to calculate the earth pressure for similar structure to the one handled in this study.