Simple solutions of an opening in elastic-brittle plastic rock mass by total strain and incremental approaches

This study deals with simple solutions for a spherical or circular opening excavated in elastic-brittle plastic rock mass compatible with a linear Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) or a nonlinear Hoek-Brown (H-B) yield criterion. Based on total strain approach, the closed-form solutions of stresses and displacement are derived simultaneously for circular and spherical openings using original H-B and M-C yield criteria. Two simple numerical procedures are proposed for the solution of generalized H-B and M-C yield criteria. Based on incremental approach, the similarity solution is derived for circular and spherical openings using generalized H-B and M-C yield criteria. The classical Runge-Kutta method is used to integrate the first-order ordinary differential equations. Using three data sets for M-C and H-B models, the results of the radial displacements, the spreading of the plastic radius with decreasing pressure, and the radial and circumferential stresses in the plastic region are compared. Excellent agreement among the solutions is obtained for all cases of spherical and circular openings. The importance of the use of proper initial values in the similarity solution is discussed.