• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.565-576
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• 2020

Experimental and discrete element methods were used to investigate the effects of angle of Y shape non-persistent joint on the tensile behaviour of joint's bridge area under brazilian test. concrete samples with diameter of 100 mm and thikness of 40 mm were prepared. Within the specimen, two Y shape non-persistent notches were provided. The large notch lengths were 6 cm, 4 cm and 2 cm. the small notch lengths were 3 cm, 2 cm and 1 cm. The angle of larger notch related to horizontal axis was 0°, 30°, 60°, 90°. Totally, 12 different configuration systems were prepared for Y shape non-persistent joints. Also, 18 models with different Y shape non-persistent notch angle and notch length were prepared in numerical model. The large notch lengths were 6 cm, 4 cm and 2 cm. the small notch lengths were 3 cm, 2 cm and 1 cm. The angle of larger notch related to horizontal axis was 0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150. Tensile strength of model materil was 1 MPa. The axial load was applied to the model by rate of 0.02 mm/sec. This testing showed that the failure process was mostly governed by the Y shape non-persistent joint angle and joint length. The tensile strengths of the specimens were related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. It was shown that the tensile behaviour of discontinuities is related to the number of the induced tensile cracks which are increased by increasing the joint length and joint angle. The minimum tensile strength occurs when the angle of larger joint related to horizontal axis was 60°. Also, the maximum compressive strength occurs when the angle of larger joint related to horizontal axis was 90°. The tensile strength was decreased by increasing the notch length. The failure pattern and failure strength are similar in both methods i.e. the experimental testing and the numerical simulation methods.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.535-570
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• 2017

There are only few cases where cause and location of failure of a rock structure are limited to a single discontinuity. Usually several discontinuities of limited size interact and eventually form a combined shear plane where failure takes place. So, besides the discontinuities, the regions between adjacent discontinuities, which consist of strong rock and are called material or rock bridges, are of utmost importance for the shear strength of the compound failure plane. Shear behaviour of persistent and non-persistent joint are different from each other. Shear strength of rock mass containing non-persistent joints is highly affected by mechanical behavior and geometrical configuration of non-persistent joints located in a rock mass. Therefore investigation is essential to study the fundamental failures occurring in a rock bridge, for assessing anticipated and actual performances of the structures built on or in rock masses. The purpose of this review paper is to present techniques, progresses and the likely future development directions in experimental testing of non-persistent joint failure behaviour. Experimental results showed that the presence of rock bridges in not fully persistent natural discontinuity sets is a significant factor affecting the stability of rock structures. Compared with intact rocks, jointed rock masses are usually weaker, more deformable and highly anisotropic, depending upon the mechanical properties of each joint and the explicit joint positions. The joint spacing, joint persistency, number of rock joint, angle of rock joint, length of rock bridge, angle of rock bridge, normal load, scale effect and material mixture have important effect on the failure mechanism of a rock bridge.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.235-266
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• 2016

A rock mass containing non-persistent joints can only fail if the joints propagate and coalesce through an intact rock bridge. Shear strength of rock mass containing non-persistent joints is highly affected by the both, mechanical behavior and geometrical configuration of non-persistent joints located in a rock mass. Existence of rock joints and rock bridges are the most important factors complicating mechanical responses of a rock mass to stress loading. The joint-bridge interaction and bridge failure dominates mechanical behavior of jointed rock masses and the stability of rock excavations. The purpose of this review paper is to present techniques, progresses and the likely future development directions in experimental and numerical modelling of a non-persistent joint failure behaviour. Such investigation is essential to study the fundamental failures occurring in a rock bridge, for assessing anticipated and actual performances of the structures built on or in rock masses. This paper is divided into two sections. In the first part, experimental investigations have been represented followed by a summarized numerical modelling. Experimental results showed failure mechanism of a rock bridge under different loading conditions. Also effects of the number of non-persistent joints, angle between joint and a rock bridge, lengths of the rock bridge and the joint were investigated on the rock bridge failure behaviour. Numerical simulation results are used to validate experimental outputs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.2
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• pp.221-230
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• 2019

In this paper, shear behavior of non-persistent joint surrounded in concrete and gypsum layers has been investigated using experimental test and numerical simulation. Two types of mixture were prepared for this study. The first type consists of water and gypsum that were mixed with a ratio of water/gypsum of 0.6. The second type of mixture, water, sand and cement were mixed with a ratio of 27%, 33% and 40% by weight. Shear behavior of a non-persistent joint embedded in these specimens is studied. Physical models consisting of two edge concrete layers with dimensions of 160 mm by 130 mm by 60 mm and one internal gypsum layer with the dimension of 16 mm by 13 mm by 6 mm were made. Two horizontal edge joints were embedded in concrete beams and one angled joint was created in gypsum layer. Several analyses with joints with angles of $0^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, and $60^{\circ}$ degree were conducted. The central fault places in 3 different positions. Along the edge joints, 1.5 cm vertically far from the edge joint face and 3 cm vertically far from the edge joint face. All samples were tested in compression using a universal loading machine and the shear load was induced because of the specimen geometry. Concurrent with the experiments, the extended finite element method (XFEM) was employed to analyze the fracture processes occurring in a non-persistent joint embedded in concrete and gypsum layers using Abaqus, a finite element software platform. The failure pattern of non-persistent cracks (faults) was found to be affected mostly by the central crack and its configuration and the shear strength was found to be related to the failure pattern. Comparison between experimental and corresponding numerical results showed a great agreement. XFEM was found as a capable tool for investigating the fracturing mechanism of rock specimens with non-persistent joint.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.99-109
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• 2021

Experimental and discrete element methods were used to investigate the effects of echelon non-persistent joint on the failure behaviour of joint's bridge area under uniaxial compressive test. Concrete samples with dimension of 150 mm×100 mm×50 mm were prepared. Uniaxial compressive strength and tensile strength of concrete were 14 MPa and 1MPa, respectivly. Within the specimen, three echelon non-persistent notches were provided. These joints were distributed on the three diagonal plane. the angle of diagonal plane related to horizontal axis were 15°, 30° and 45°. The angle of joints related to diagonal plane were 30°, 45°, 60°. Totally, 9 different configuration systems were prepared for non-persistent joint. In these configurations, the length of joints were taken as 2 cm. Similar to those for joints configuration systems in the experimental tests, 9 models with different echelon non-persistent joint were prepared in numerical model. The axial load was applied to the model by rate of 0.05 mm/min. the results show that the failure process was mostly governed by both of the non-persistent joint angle and diagonal plane angle. The compressive strengths of the specimens were related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. It was shown that the shear behaviour of discontinuities is related to the number of the induced tensile cracks which are increased by increasing the joint angle. The strength of samples increase by increasing both of the joint angle and diagonal plane angle. The failure pattern and failure strength are similar in both methods i.e. the experimental testing and the numerical simulation methods.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.199-213
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• 2022

Experimental and discrete element approaches were used to examine the effects of F shape non-persistent joints on the failure behaviour of concrete under uniaxial compressive test. concrete specimens with dimensions of 200 cm×200 cm×50 cm were provided. Within the specimen, F shape non-persistent joint consisting three joints were provided. The large joint length was 6 cm, and the length of two small joints were 2 cm. Vertical distance between two small joints change from 1.5 cm to 4.5 cm with increment of 1.5 cm. In constant joint lengths, the angle of large joint change from 0° to 90° with increments of 30°. Totally 12 different models were tested under compression test. The axial load rate on the model was 0.05 mm/min. Concurrent with experimental tests, numerical simulation (Particle flow code in two dimension) were performed on the models containing F shape non-persistent joint. Distance between small joints and joint angles were similar to experimental one. the results indicated that the failure process was mostly governed by both of the Distance between small joints and joint angles. The axial loading rate on the model was 0.05 mm/min. The compressive strengths of the samples were related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. Furthermore, it was shown that the compressive behaviour of discontinuities is related to the number of the induced tensile cracks which are increased by increasing the joint angle. In the first, there were only a few acoustic emission (AE) hits in the initial stage of loading, and then AE hits rapidly grow before the applied stress reached its peak. Furthermore, a large number of AE hits accompanied every stress drop. Finally, the failure pattern and failure strength are similar in both approaches i.e., the experimental testing and the numerical simulation approaches.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.723-737
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• 2016

In this paper an approach was described for determination of direction of sliding block in rock slopes containing planar non-persistent open joints. For this study, several gypsum blocks containing planar non-persistent open joints with dimensions of $15{\times}15{\times}15cm$ were build. The rock bridges occupy 45, 90 and $135cm^2$ of total shear surface ($225cm^2$), and their configuration in shear plane were different. From each model, two similar blocks were prepared and were subjected to shearing under normal stresses of 3.33 and $7.77kg/cm^{-2}$. Based on the change in the configuration of rock-bridges, a factor called the Effective Joint Coefficient (EJC) was formulated, that is the ratio of the effective joint surface that is in front of the rock-bridge and the total shear surface. In general, the failure pattern is influenced by the EJC while shear strength is closely related to the failure pattern. It is observed that the propagation of wing tensile cracks or shear cracks depends on the EJC and the coalescence of wing cracks or shear cracks dominates the eventual failure pattern and determines the peak shear load of the rock specimens. So the EJC is a key factor to determine the sliding direction in rock slopes containing planar non-persistent open joints.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.29-42
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• 2018

This paper presents the results of an empirical study in which square rock-like blocks containing two parallel pre-existing rough non-persistent joints were subjected to uniaxial compression load. The main purpose of this study was to investigate uniaxial compressive strength and deformation modulus of jointed specimens. Response Surface Method (RSM) was utilized to design experiments and investigate the effect of four joint parameters, namely joint roughness coefficient (JRC), bridge length (L), bridge angle (${\gamma}$), and joint inclination (${\theta}$). The interaction of these parameters on the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and deformation modulus of the blocks was investigated as well. The results indicated that an increase in joint roughness coefficient, bridge length and bridge angle increased compressive strength and deformation modulus. Moreover, increasing joint inclination decreased the two mechanical properties. The concept of 'interlocking cracks' which are mixed mode (shear-tensile cracks) was introduced. This type of cracks can happen in higher level of JRC. Initiation and propagation of this type of cracks reduces mechanical properties of sample before reaching its peak strength. The results of the Response Surface Methodology showed that the mutual interaction of the joint parameters had a significant influence on the compressive strength and deformation modulus.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2011.09a
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• pp.3-21
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• 2011

Laboratory experiments and numerical simulations using Particle Flow Code (PFC2D) were performed to study the effects of joint separation and joint overlapping on the full failure behavior of rock bridges under direct shear loading. Through numerical direct shear tests, the failure process is visually observed and the failure patterns are achieved with reasonable conformity with the experimental results. The simulation results clearly showed that cracks developed during the test were predominantly tension cracks. It was deduced that the failure pattern was mostly influenced by both of the joint separation and joint overlapping while the shear strength is closely related to the failure pattern and its failure mechanism. The studies revealed that shear strength of rock bridges are increased with increasing in the joint separation. Also, it was observed that for a fixed cross sectional area of rock bridges, shear strength of overlapped joints are less than the shear strength of non-overlapped joints.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.117-133
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• 2022

Determination of the mechanical behaviour of jointed rock masses has been a challenge for rock engineers for decades. This problem is more pronounced for non-persistent jointed rock masses due to complicated interaction of rock bridges on the overall behaviour. This paper aims to study the effect of a non-persistent joint set configuration on the mechanical behaviour of rock materials under both uniaxial and biaxial compression tests using a discrete element code. The numerical simulation of biaxial compressive strength of rock masses has been challenging in the past due to shortcomings of bonded particle models in reproducing the failure envelope of rock materials. This problem was resolved in this study by employing the flat-joint contact model. The validity of the numerical model was investigated through a comprehensive comparative study against physical uniaxial and biaxial compression experiments. Good agreement was found between numerical and experimental tests in terms of the recorded peak strength and the failure mode in both loading conditions. Studies on the effect of joint orientation on the failure mode showed that four zones of intact, transition to block rotation, block rotation and transition to intact failure occurs when the joint dip angle varies from 0° to 90°. It was found that the applied confining stress can significantly alter the range of these zones. It was observed that the minimum strength occurs at the joint dip angle of around 45 degrees under different confining stresses. It was also found that the joint orientation can alter the post peak behaviour and the lowest brittleness was observed at the block rotation zone.