• Title/Summary/Keyword: Rock mechanics

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Effect of brittleness on the micromechanical damage and failure pattern of rock specimens

  • Imani, Mehrdad;Nejati, Hamid Reza;Goshtasbi, Kamran;Nazerigivi, Amin
    • Smart Structures and Systems
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.535-547
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    • 2022
  • Failure patterns of rock specimens represent valuable information about the mechanical properties and crack evolution mechanism of rock. Several kinds of research have been conducted regarding the failure mechanism of brittle material, however; the influence of brittleness on the failure mechanism of rock specimens has not been precisely considered. In the present study, experimental and numerical examinations have been made to evaluate the physical and mechanical phenomena associated with rock failure mechanisms through the uniaxial compression test. In the experimental part, Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) tests equipped with Acoustic Emission (AE) have been conducted on rock samples with three different brittleness. Then, the numerical models have been calibrated based on experimental test results for further investigation and comparing the micro-cracking process in experimental and numerical models. It can be perceived that the failure mode of specimens with high brittleness is tensile axial splitting, based on the experimental evidence of rock specimens with different brittleness. Also, the crack growth mechanism of the rock specimens with various brittleness using discrete element modeling in the numerical part suggested that the specimens with more brittleness contain more tensile fracture during the loading sequences.

Investigation on moisture migration of unsaturated clay using cross-borehole electrical resistivity tomography technique

  • Lei, Jiang;Chen, Weizhong;Li, Fanfan;Yu, Hongdan;Ma, Yongshang;Tian, Yun
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.295-302
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    • 2021
  • Cross-borehole electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is an effective groundwater detection tool in geophysical investigations. In this paper, an artificial water injection test was conducted on a small clay sample, where the high-resolution cross-borehole ERT was used to investigate the moisture migration law over time. The moisture migration path can be two-dimensionally imaged based on the relationship between resistivity and saturation. The hydraulic conductivity was estimated, and the magnitude ranged from 10-11 m/s to 10-9 m/s according to the comparison between the simulation flow and the saturation distribution inferred from ERT. The results indicate that cross-borehole ERT could help determine the resistivity distribution of small size clay samples. Finally, the cross-borehole ERT technique has been applied to investigate the self-sealing characteristics of clay.

Geophysical and mechanical investigation of different environmental effects on a red-bed soft rock dam foundation

  • Liming Zhou;Yujie Li;Fagang Wang;Yang Liu
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.34 no.2
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    • pp.139-154
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    • 2023
  • Red-bed soft rock is a common stratum and it is necessary to evaluate the mechanical properties and bearing capacity of red-bed soft rock mass affected by different environmental effects. This paper presents a complete procedure for evaluating the bearing capacity of red-bed soft rock by means of geophysical exploration and in-situ rock mechanics tests. Firstly, the thickness of surface loosened rock mass of red-bed soft rock was determined using geophysical prospecting method. Then, three environmental effects, including natural weathering effect, dry-wet cycling effect and concrete sealing effect, were considered. After each effect lasted for three months, in-situ rock mass mechanical tests were conducted. The test results show that the mechanical properties of rock mass considering the sealing effect of concrete were maintained. After considering the natural weathering effect, the mechanical parameters decrease to a certain extent. After considering the effect of dry-wet cycling, the decreases of mechanical parameters are the most significant. The test results confirm that the red-bed soft rock dam foundation rock mass will be significantly affected by various environmental effects. Therefore, combined with the mechanical test results, some useful implementations are proposed for the construction of a red-bed soft rock dam foundation.

Evaluating stability of dam foundations by borehole and surface survey using Step Frequency Radar

  • Jha Prakash C.;Balasubramaniam V. R.;Nelliat Sandeep;Sivaram Y. V.;Gupta R. N.
    • 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2003.11a
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    • pp.328-334
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    • 2003
  • Evaluating stability of dam foundations is one of the prime areas of any rock engineering investigations. Despite best engineering efforts in the design and construction of dam foundations, the foundation regime of a constructed dam suffers deterioration due to continuous erosion from backwater current of dam discharge and dynamic effects of loading and unloading process. Even during construction, development of frequent cracks due to sudden thermal cooling of concrete blocks is not uncommon. This paper presents two case studies from India and Bhutan. In the first case, the back current of water discharge from the Srisailam dam in India had continuously eroded the apron and has eaten into the dam foundation. In the second case with dam construction at Tala Hydroelectric Project in Bhutan, sudden overflow of river during the construction stage of dam had led to development of three major cracks across the dam blocks. This was ascribed to adiabatic cooling effect of concrete blocks overlain by chilled water flow. Non-destructive evaluation of rock mass condition in the defect regime by the borehole GPR survey helped in arriving at the crux so as to formulate appropriate restoration plan.

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