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Shear deformation and strength of the interphase between the soil–rock mixture and the benched bedrock slope surface

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Abstract

A series of benched excavations were typically carried out on the bedrock slope surface to improve the stability of the soil–rock mixture (S–RM) fill slope. It is difficult to devise an in situ, large-scale direct shear test for the interphase between the S–RM fill and the benched bedrock slope surface. This study introduced a comprehensive approach to investigate the shear deformation and strength of the interphase. First the soil–rock distribution characteristics were analyzed by test pitting, image analysis, and sieve test. Then the PFC2D random structure models with different rock block size distributions were built, and large-scale numerical shear tests for the interphase were performed after calibrating model parameters through laboratory tests. The stress evolution, damage evolution and failure, deformation localization (based on a principle proposed in this paper), rotation of rock blocks, and shear strength were systematically investigated. It was found that as the rock block proportion and rock block size (rock block proportion of 50 %) increase, the fluctuations of the post-peak shear stress–displacement curves of the interphase become more obvious, and the shear band/localized failure path network becomes wider. Generally, smaller rock blocks are of greater rotation angles in the shear band. The peak shear stress and internal friction angle of the interphase increase, while the cohesion decreases with growth of the rock block proportion. However, all these three parameters increase as the rock block size (rock block proportion of 50 %) increases.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41472245), the Chongqing Graduate Student Research Innovation Project (No. CYB14018), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 106112016CDJZR208804), Scientific Research Foundation of State Key Lab. of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control (No. 2011DA105287-MS201502), and the Chongqing Administration of Land, Resources and Housing (No. CQGT-KJ-2014049).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Duofeng Cen & Da Huang

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Duofeng Cen & Da Huang

  3. School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Feng Ren

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  1. Duofeng Cen
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Correspondence to Da Huang.

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Cen, D., Huang, D. & Ren, F. Shear deformation and strength of the interphase between the soil–rock mixture and the benched bedrock slope surface. Acta Geotech. 12, 391–413 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-016-0468-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-016-0468-2

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