• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2020

It is extremely important to obtain rock strength parameters for geological engineering. In this paper, the evolution of sandstone cohesion and internal friction angle with plastic shear strain was obtained by simulating the cyclic loading and unloading tests under different confining pressures using Particle Flow Code software. By which and combined with the micro-crack propagation process, the mesoscopic mechanism of parameter evolution was studied. The results show that with the increase of plastic shear strain, the sandstone cohesion decreases first and then tends to be stable, while the internal friction angle increases first, then decreases, and finally maintains unchanged. The evolution of sandstone shear strength parameters is closely related to the whole process of crack formation, propagation and coalescence. When the internal micro-cracks are less and distributed randomly and dispersedly, and the rock shear strength parameters (cohesion, internal friction angle) are considered to have not been fully mobilized. As the directional development of the internal micro-fractures as well as the gradual formation of macroscopic shear plane, the rock cohesion reduces continuously and the internal friction angle is in the rise stage. As the formation of the macroscopic shear plane, both the rock cohesion and internal friction angle continuously decrease to a certain residual level.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.517-525
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• 2020

The long-term stability of rock engineering is significantly affected by the time-dependent deformation behavior of rock, which is an important mechanical property of rock for engineering design. Although the hard rocks show small creep deformation, it cannot be ignored under high-stress condition during deep excavation. The inner mechanism of creep is complicated, therefore, it is necessary to investigate the relationship between microscopic creep mechanism and the macro creep behavior of rock. Microscopic numerical modeling of sandstone creep was performed in the investigation. A numerical sandstone sample was generated and Parallel Bond contact and Burger's contact model were assigned to the contacts between particles in DEM simulation. Sensitivity analysis of the microscopic creep parameters was conducted to explore how microscopic parameters affect the macroscopic creep deformation. The results show that the microscopic creep parameters have linear correlations with the corresponding macroscopic creep parameters, whereas the friction coefficient shows power function with peak strength and Young's modulus, respectively. Moreover, the microscopic parameters were calibrated. The creep modeling curve is in good agreement with the verification test result. Finally, the creep curves under one-step loading and multi-step loading were compared. This investigation can act as a helpful reference for modeling rock creep behavior from a microscopic mechanism perspective.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.459-468
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• 2018

In this paper, the effect of non-persistent joints was determined on the behavior of concrete specimens subjected to biaxial loading through numerical modeling using particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC2D). Firstly, a numerical model was calibrated by uniaxial, Brazilian and triaxial experimental results to ensure the conformity of the simulated numerical model's response. Secondly, sixteen rectangular models with dimension of 100 mm by 100 mm were developed. Each model contains two non-persistent joints with lengths of 40 mm and 20 mm, respectively. The angularity of the larger joint changes from $30^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$. In each configuration, the small joint angularity changes from $0^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ in $30^{\circ}$ increments. All of the models were under confining stress of 1 MPa. By using of the biaxial test configuration, the failure process was visually observed. Discrete element simulations demonstrated that macro shear fractures in models are because of microscopic tensile breakage of a large number of bonded discs. The failure pattern in Rock Bridge is mostly affected by joint overlapping whereas the biaxial strength is closely related to the failure pattern.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.30 no.A
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• pp.17-23
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• 2010

Recently, a large number of open-pit mines are planning to change their mining method to underground types because the environmental concerns and legal regulations are increased with a rise in the standard of living. The K silica mine, which is one of them and located in Kyunggi province, is planning the establishment of a vertical shaft which will be used for ore-pass channel in their new glory hole mining method. This vertical shaft will be designed to join with a horizontal gangway excavated from the ground level. In this new mining system, the excavated ore particles will be stored inside a shaft and transported out with a help of a conveyor belt. Therefore the hang-up of ore particles in a shaft, the control of gate at the bottom of a shaft, the installation of dog-leg at the gate should be investigated identically. In this study, the PFC-2D code which is one of the discrete element numerical methods has been applied to simulate the particle flow mechanism in a shaft, and the optimum mine design has been proposed to maximize the productivity and to minimize the system damage.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.429-437
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• 2017

In this study, the effect of the tensile strength and ratio of disc spacing to penetration depth on the efficiency of tunnel boring machine (TBM) is investigated using Particle flow code (PFC) in two dimensions. Models with dimensions of $150{\times}70mm$ made of rocks with four different tensile strength values of 5 MPa, 10 MPa, 15 MPa and 20 MPa were separately analyzed and two "U" shape cutters with width of 10 mm were penetrated into the rock model by velocity rate of 0.1 mm/s. The spacing between cutters was also varied in this study. Failure patterns for 5 different penetration depths of 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm, and 7 mm were registered. Totally 100 indentation test were performed to study the optimal tool-rock interaction. An equation relating mechanical rock properties with geometric characteristics for the optimal TBM performance is proposed. The results of numerical simulations show that the effective rock-cutting condition corresponding to the minimum specific energy can be estimated by an optimized disc spacing to penetration depth, which, in fact, is found to be proportional to the rock's tensile strength.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.1
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• pp.51-67
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• 2019

In this paper, the anisotropy of tensile behaviours of layered rocks consisting internal notch has been investigated using particle flow code. For this purpose, firstly calibration of PFC2D was performed using Brazilian tensile strength. Secondly Brazilian test models consisting bedding layer was simulated numerically. Thickness of layers was 10 mm and layered angularity was $90^{\circ}$, $75^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $15^{\circ}$ and $0^{\circ}$. The strength of bedding interface was too high. Each model was consisted of one internal notch. Notch length is 1 cm, 2 cm and 4 cm and notch angularities are $60^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $15^{\circ}$ and $0^{\circ}$. Totally, 90 model were tested. The results show that failure pattern was affected by notch orientation and notch length. It's to be noted that layer angle has not any effect on the failure pattern. Also, Brazilian tensile strength is affected by notch orientation and notch length.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.241-247
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• 2019

In this paper the effect of bedding layer on the failure mechanism of rock in direct shear test has been investigated using particle flow code, PFC. For this purpose, firstly calibration of pfc2d was performed using Brazilian tensile strength. Secondly direct shear test consisting bedding layer was simulated numerically. Thickness of layers was 10 mm and rock bridge length was 10 mm, 40 mm and 60 mm. In each rock bridge length, bedding layer angles changes from $0^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ with increment of $15^{\circ}$. Totally 21 models were simulated and tested. The results show that two types of cracks develop within the model. Shear cracks and tensile cracks. Also failure pattern is affected by bridge length while shear strength is controlled by failure pattern. It's to be noted that bedding layer has not any effect on the failure pattern because the layer interface strength is too high.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.71-84
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• 2023

In this paper, the effects of the thickness of cubic samples on the tensile strength of concrete blocks were studied using experimental tests in the laboratory and numerical simulation by the particle flow code in three dimensions (PFC3D). Firstly, the physical concrete blocks with dimensions of 150 mm×190 mm (width×height) were prepared. Then, three specimens for each of seven different samples with various thicknesses were built in the laboratory. Simultaneously with the experimental tests, their numerical simulations were performed with PFC3D models. The widths, heights, and thicknesses of the numerical models were the same as those of the experimental samples. These samples were tested with a new tensile testing apparatus. The loading rate was kept at 1 kg/sec during the testing operation. Based on these analyses, it is concluded that when the thickness was less than 5 cm, the tensile strength decreased by increasing the sample thickness. On the other hand, the tensile strength was nearly constant when the sample thickness was raised to more than 5 cm (which can be regarded as a threshold limit for the specimens' thickness). The numerical outputs were similar to the experimental results, demonstrating the validity of the present analyses.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.659-670
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• 2024

The mechanical behaviour of layered concrete samples containing an internal crack was numerically studied by modelling the geo-mechanical specimens in the particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC2D). The numerical modelling software was calibrated with the experimental results of the Brazilian tensile strengths gained from the laboratory disc-type specimens. Then, the samples with the bedding layers and internal notch were numerically simulated with PFC2D under uniaxial compressive loading. In each specimen, the layers' thickness was 10 mm but the layer's inclination angle was changed to 0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120° and 150°. Of course, the layers'interfaces are considered to have very low strengths. The internal notch was kept at 3 cm in length however, its inclination angle was changed to 0°, 40°, 60° and 90°. Therefore, a total, of 24 numerical models were made to study the failure mechanism of the layered concrete samples. Considering these results, it has been concluded that the inclination angles of both internal crack and bedding layers affect the failure mechanism and uniaxial compressive strength of the concrete.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.1747-1753
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• 2024

The accurate determination of formation density and the physical properties of rocks is the most critical logging tasks which can be obtained using gamma-ray transport and detection tools. Though the simulation works published so far have considerably improved the knowledge of the parameters that govern the responses of the detectors in these tools, recent studies have found considerable differences between the results of using a conventional model of a homogeneous mixture of formation and fluid and an inhomogeneous fractured medium. It has increased concerns about the importance of the complexity of the model used for the medium in simulation works. In the present study, we have suggested two various models for the flow of the fluid in porous media and fractured rock to be used for logging purposes. For a typical gamma-gamma logging tool containing a ¹³⁷Cs source and two NaI detectors, simulated by using the MCNPX code, a simplified porous (SP) model in which the formation is filled with elongated rectangular cubes loaded with either mineral material or oil was investigated. In this model, the oil directly reaches the top of the medium and the connection between the pores is not guaranteed. In the other model, the medium is a large 3-D matrix of 1 cm³ randomly filled cubes. The designed algorithm to fill the matrix sites is so that this realistic random (RR) model provides the continuum growth of oil flow in various disordered directions and, therefore, fulfills the concerns about modeling the rock textures consist of extremely complex pore structures. For an arbitrary set of oil concentrations and various formation materials, the response of the detectors in the logging tool has been considered as a criterion to assess the effect of modeling for the distribution of pores in the formation on simulation studies. The results show that defining a RR model for describing heterogeneities of a porous medium does not effectively improve the prediction of the responses of logging tools. Taking into account the computational cost of the particle transport in the complex geometries in the Monte Carlo method, the SP model can be satisfactory for gamma-gamma logging purposes.