Shear-Induced Anisotropy Analysis of Rock-like Specimens Containing Different Inclination Angles of Non-Persistent Joints

Kaiyuan Zhu, Wei Wang (), Lu Shi () and Guanhua Sun
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Kaiyuan Zhu: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Wei Wang: State Key Laboratory of Mechaical Behavior and System Safety of Traffic Engineering Structures, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, Shijiazhuang 050043, China
Lu Shi: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Guanhua Sun: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China

Mathematics, 2025, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-37

Abstract: Discontinuities in rock mass are usually considered to be important influencing factors for shear failure. As a type of granular material, the macroscopic mechanical behavior of rock masses is closely related to the anisotropy of the contact network. This paper uses the discrete element method (DEM) to simulate direct shear tests of specimens with different joint inclinations and analyzes the evolution of shear-induced fabric anisotropy and contact force anisotropy during the shear process. Three anisotropic tensors a i j c , a i j n and a i j t are defined to characterize the anisotropic behavior of granular materials. The macroscopic mechanical behavior of the specimens is explained from the micromechanical level combined with the evolution laws of the microcracks and energy of the specimens. The research results indicate that, after the appearance of microcracks in the specimens, the joint inclination leads to changes in their macroscopic mechanical behavior such as peak shear stress, peak displacement and failure mode by affecting the development of the fabric and contact anisotropy of the specimens. Meanwhile, a decrease in fabric and contact anisotropy often indicates specimen failure.

Keywords: anisotropy; joint inclination; discrete element method; discontinuities; micromechanics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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