Abstract
Joints greatly affect the mechanical behavior and crack evolution of jointed rock masses. In this paper, numerical specimens containing pre-existing random joints are constructed based on a combination of the flat-joint and smooth-joint models in the particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC2D). Then, uniaxial compression of these specimens is carried out to reveal the influence of joint length or number on the mechanical behavior, crack development, acoustic emission (AE) event attributes and failure characteristics. The results suggest that a univariant increase in random joint length or number leads to a nonlinear decrease in the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and a linear decrease in the elastic modulus, while the fracture behavior of the specimens shows a transformation from brittle to ductile in this process. With increasing joint length or number, the cracks and AE events generated in the joints significantly increase and exceed those generated in the intact rock. Tension cracks play a dominant role in the development of cracks within intact rock, while shear cracks dominate the crack evolution of random joints. More cracks appear in the jointed rock specimens at the elastic deformation stage as the joint length or number increases. The variation in the joint length or number strongly influences the mechanical behavior, crack evolution and failure pattern of the randomly jointed rock specimen.
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Acknowledgements
This research is financially supported by the Key Scientific Research Projects of Higher Education Institutions in Henan Province (Grant No. 20A560019), the Science and Technology Project of Henan Province (Grant No. 202102310569), the Nanhu Young Scholars Program of Xinyang Normal University, the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (Grant No. 212300410231) and the Itasca Consulting Group through its Itasca Education Partnership (IEP) program. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial or instructional support provided by them.
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Communicated by Dr. Michael Nones (CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF).
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Ma, W., Wang, J., Li, X. et al. Crack evolution and acoustic emission characteristics of rock specimens containing random joints under uniaxial compression. Acta Geophys. 69, 2427–2441 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-021-00686-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-021-00686-3