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A Digital Image-Based Discrete Fracture Network Model and Its Numerical Investigation of Direct Shear Tests

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Abstract

This paper develops a numerical approach to determine the mechanical behavior of discrete fractures network (DFN) models based on digital image processing technique and particle flow code (PFC2D). A series of direct shear tests of jointed rocks were numerically performed to study the effect of normal stress, friction coefficient and joint bond strength on the mechanical behavior of joint rock and evaluate the influence of micro-parameters on the shear properties of jointed rocks using the proposed approach. The complete shear stress–displacement curve of the DFN model under direct shear tests was presented to evaluate the failure processes of jointed rock. The results show that the peak and residual strength are sensitive to normal stress. A higher normal stress has a greater effect on the initiation and propagation of cracks. Additionally, an increase in the bond strength ratio results in an increase in the number of both shear and normal cracks. The friction coefficient was also found to have a significant influence on the shear strength and shear cracks. Increasing in the friction coefficient resulted in the decreasing in the initiation of normal cracks. The unique contribution of this paper is the proposed modeling technique to simulate the mechanical behavior of jointed rock mass based on particle mechanics approaches.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the State Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFC0600703 and 2016YFC801602), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51604017), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2016M591079) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. FRF-TP-15-109A1). All of these supports are gratefully acknowledged. We thank Prof. Xu for editing and correcting the English. We also thank the editor, Prof. Barla, and the anonymous reviewers for greatly improving the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines (Ministry of Education of China), University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Peitao Wang, Meifeng Cai, Fenhua Ren & Changhong Li

  2. School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Peitao Wang, Meifeng Cai, Fenhua Ren & Changhong Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education on Safe Mining of Deep Metal Mines, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Tianhong Yang

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  1. Peitao Wang
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Correspondence to Peitao Wang.

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Wang, P., Cai, M., Ren, F. et al. A Digital Image-Based Discrete Fracture Network Model and Its Numerical Investigation of Direct Shear Tests. Rock Mech Rock Eng 50, 1801–1816 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-017-1200-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-017-1200-8

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