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Influence of the Rock Length-to-Diameter Ratio and Failure Modes on Uniaxial Compression Strength

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Abstract

Rock strength is affected by many factors. In this paper, a virtual work equation expressed in power form was established, and the values of uniaxial compression strength (UCS) expressed by parameters such as the area of the rock shear failure surface, cohesion and internal friction angle were obtained. Through further analysis of this expression, the relation of rock strength to the length-to-diameter (L/R) ratio was studied. The results showed that there was a significant inflection point when the L/R ratio was close to 2. The strength obtained under this L/R ratio was contrary to other statistical results and had a unique significance. The analysis of the failure modes of rock showed that there was a clear relationship between the UCS values and the failure modes of rock. The theoretical calculation results corresponding to the axial tensile failure and single shear failure modes were taken as the upper and lower bound limits of rock strength, which is consistent with the results of eight kinds of rock experiments. In addition, it is assumed that axial tensile failure is a special case of single shear failure mode.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51774287), the Program of National Key Research and Development (No. 2016YFC0600903) and the Program of Introducing Talent in Underground Clean Energy Development (No. B14006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jun Chen & Yiqiang Kang

  2. State Key Laboratory for GeoMechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, Beijing, 100083, China

    Renshu Yang

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  1. Jun Chen
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  2. Renshu Yang
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  3. Yiqiang Kang
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Correspondence to Jun Chen.

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Chen, J., Yang, R. & Kang, Y. Influence of the Rock Length-to-Diameter Ratio and Failure Modes on Uniaxial Compression Strength. Geotech Geol Eng 38, 2551–2557 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-019-01168-6

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