Research on Zonal Disintegration Characteristics and Failure Mechanisms of Deep Tunnel in Jointed Rock Mass with Strength Reduction Method

Baoping Chen, Bin Gong, Shanyong Wang and Chun’an Tang
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Baoping Chen: State Key Laboratory of Coastal & Offshore Engineering, Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Bin Gong: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Brunel University London, London UB8 3PH, UK
Shanyong Wang: Discipline of Civil, Surveying & Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Chun’an Tang: State Key Laboratory of Coastal & Offshore Engineering, Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

Mathematics, 2022, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: To understand the fracture features of zonal disintegration and reveal the failure mechanisms of circle tunnels excavated in deep jointed rock masses, a series of three-dimensional heterogeneous models considering varying joint dip angles are established. The strength reduction method is embedded in the RFPA method to achieve the gradual fracture process, macro failure mode and safety factor, and to reproduce the characteristic fracture phenomenon of deep rock masses, i.e., zonal disintegration. The mechanical mechanisms and acoustic emission energy of surrounding rocks during the different stages of the whole formation process of zonal disintegration affected by different-dip-angle joints and randomly distributed joints are further discussed. The results demonstrate that the zonal disintegration process is induced by the stress redistribution, which is significantly different from the formation mechanism of traditional surrounding rock loose zone; the dip angle of joint set has a great influence on the stress buildup, stress shadow and stress transfer as well as the failure mode of surrounding rock mass; the existence of parallel and random joints lead the newly formed cracks near the tunnel surface to developing along their strikes; the random joints make the zonal disintegration pattern much more complex and affected by the regional joint composition. These will greatly improve our understanding of the zonal disintegration in deep engineering.

Keywords: zonal disintegration; jointed rock mass; stress redistribution; strength reduction; numerical simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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