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Determination of basic friction angle of three planar rock joints

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Abstract

Basic friction angle is an important input parameter in many peak shear strength criteria of rock joint. Reliable estimation of joint basic friction angle is essential for accurate determination of the corresponding peak shear strength. In this study, the basic friction angles of planar joint surface of three rocks (i.e., granite, marble, and sandstone) are studied using two commonly used methods, including tilt test and direct shear test. Although the basic friction angles determined from tilt test are about 4 to 5° smaller than those determined from direct shear test, the marble is found to have the largest basic friction angle in both tilt test and direct shear test. In direct shear test, there is about 2° difference of basic friction angles determined under low and high normal stress conditions, which is mainly associated with the shearing mechanism of joint surface. Friction generally occurs under low normal stress. On the other hand, shear-off is observed when the applied normal stress is high. To obtain a reliable basic friction angle using direct shear test, the test data under low normal stresses are suggested to be used. It is also seen from the results that the shear strength of planar joint surface is negligibly influenced by the cyclic shearing when the applied normal stress is low. The data in this study replenish the test data of basic friction angle of different rock types and are useful for establishing a database for the estimation of basic friction angle in future.

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Funding

The research work presented in this paper is in part supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51609178), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (grant no. 2018CFB593), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (grant no. 2008085QE221), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant nos. 2015M582273 and 2018T110800), the Open-end Research Fund of the State Key Laboratory for GeoMechanics and Deep Underground Engineering (Grant no. SKLGDUEK1709), and Key project of Higher Education Department of Anhui Province (grant no. KJ2020A0235).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sinosteel Maanshan General Institute of Mining Research Co., Ltd, Maanshan, 243000, China

    Jun Peng & Chuanhua Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Safety and Health for Metal Mines, Maanshan, 243000, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Peng, Chuanhua Xu, Qisong Huang & Junjun Feng

  3. Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Zhicheng Tang

  4. Guizhou Survey and Design Research Institute for Water Resources and Hydropower, Guiyang, 550001, China

    Di Hou

  5. School of Architectural Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243000, China

    Qisong Huang & Junjun Feng

Authors
  1. Jun Peng
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  2. Zhicheng Tang
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  3. Chuanhua Xu
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  4. Di Hou
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  5. Qisong Huang
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Correspondence to Zhicheng Tang.

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Responsible Editor: Zeynal Abiddin Erguler

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Peng, J., Tang, Z., Xu, C. et al. Determination of basic friction angle of three planar rock joints. Arab J Geosci 15, 885 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10205-3

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