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Investigations on the jointed influences of saturation and roughness on the shear properties of artificial rock joints

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Abstract

Natural rock joints are rarely dry or saturated. It is therefore essential to quantitatively assess the influence of varying saturations on shear properties of rock joint. In this study, to guarantee the test repeatability, artificial rock joints with various roughness coefficients (JRCs) of 0, 7.3, 10.1, and 12.9 are firstly reproduced by utilizing rock-like materials. Then, direct shear experiments are performed on the duplicated joint samples at various moisture conditions ranging from dry to saturation, while under a constant normal stress of 0.2 MPa. Obviously, it is noticed that the shear strength of joint sample declines with an increment in joint saturation. Specifically, when compared to the corresponding dry samples, peak shear strength (PSS) of saturated samples with JRCs of 12.9, 10.1, and 7.3 decrease by 35.7, 28.5, and 16.1%, respectively. Moreover, the observed weakening influence of joint saturation on its PSS is roughness sensitive, which may be resulted from the changing in water–rock contact areas of joints with different roughness. Besides, the residual shear strength is also observed to decline as joint saturation increases. Furthermore, based on experimental results, a correction factor is proposed and introduced into the classical JRC-JCS shear strength criterion, and the corrected criterion is capable of estimating peak shear strength of joint sample subjected to various saturations. This work can provide some insights into the shear strength evolution of rock joints under varying saturations, and the findings emphasize the importance of considering the moisture content in rock engineering where wetting phase is encountered.

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Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Zhen Zhong, upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 41977256, 51509154, and 41907167), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (grant number LGJ20E090001), the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Projects of Shaoxing University (grant number 2019LGGH1008). All the supports are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Shaoxing University, No. 508 Huancheng West Rd, Shaoxing, 312000, People’s Republic of China

    Yunjin Hu, Xiaoyu Wang & Zhen Zhong

  2. Key Laboratory of Rock Mechanics and Geohazards of Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing, People’s Republic of China

    Yunjin Hu, Xiaoyu Wang & Zhen Zhong

  3. Zhejiang Collaborative Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Mountain Geologic Hazards, Shaoxing, People’s Republic of China

    Yunjin Hu, Xiaoyu Wang & Zhen Zhong

  4. China Construction Eight Engineering Division Rail Transit Construction CO., LTD, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoyu Wang

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  1. Yunjin Hu
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Correspondence to Zhen Zhong.

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Hu, Y., Wang, X. & Zhong, Z. Investigations on the jointed influences of saturation and roughness on the shear properties of artificial rock joints. Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. 8, 115 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-022-00421-2

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