Measurement and Calculation of the Mechanical Response of a Highly Fractured Rock

摘要

We have completed the first steps in attempting to validate a material constitutive model for a jointed rock mass. The continuum model, as utilized here within a finite element code, consists of a material constitutive description based on the linear elastic behavior of the matrix material and nonlinear normal and shear behavior of fracture planes. The validation exercise consists of (1) characterizing an appropriate physical model, (2) measuring the mechanical response of that physical model, and (3) using the physical model characteristics to calculate the mechanical response of the physical model. Calculated and measured responses for small-scale physical models (thermally-fractured granite) are in qualitative agreement. For deviatoric loadings, the calculated tangent modulus is an order of magnitude less than that of the matrix and exhibits stiffening with increasing a load, and thereby functionally tracks the measured response. 7 figures. (ERA citation 10:026237)