Comparison and Validation of a Number of Three Dimensional Rock Failure Criteria through True Triaxial Tests on Kanmantoo Bluestone

摘要

In this paper the predictions of five rock failure criteria based on the Hoek-Brown criterion, including the Hoek-Brown criterion itself plus the Pan-Hudson, Zhang-Zhu, generalized Priest and simplified Priest criteria have been compared with true triaxial test data for Kanmantoo bluestone. The lack of a substantial true triaxial test database is one of the major limitations in the study of rock behavior under a three dimensional (3D) stress state. To enable further studies of rock behavior under a 3D stress state and to evaluate the failure criteria listed above, sets of true triaxial tests have been conducted on Kanmantoo bluestone specimens at the University of Adelaide. Studies showed that for Kanmantoo bluestone the Zhang-Zhu criterion predicts rock failure stress more accurately than the other selected criteria. The results from the tests were also used to investigate the influence of specimen size and shape on the apparent strength of the rock.