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New Method for Shear Strength Determination of Unfilled, Unweathered Rock Joint

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Abstract

Replicas were produced of 20 natural rock joints with different roughness. Factors affecting shear strength were examined and direct shear tests were performed using the replica joints to determine their quantitative shear strength characteristics. Results from the shear tests were best fitted by the power law equation, τ = Aσ Bn , where τ is the shear strength and σ n is the normal stress, and regression coefficients A and B were determined. The coefficient A (equal to τ when σ n is 1 MPa) is defined as the friction angle, and B, which determines the curvature of the plot of shear versus normal strength, is a factor that reduces the shear strength. The physical and mechanical properties of the coefficients A and B were defined, and the relationship between these coefficients and the factors affecting shear strength, such as roughness and joint wall strength, were analyzed quantitatively. A new equation, τ = σ Bn tan[ϕ b + ϕ J + s n], was suggested to measure and predict shear strength accurately based on results from these analyses, where ϕ b is the basic friction angle, ϕ J is the joint roughness angle, and s n is the shear component. Although the new shear strength equation is nonlinear, it is as simple to use as a linear equation and the shear strength can be estimated using only three easily measurable parameters (ϕ b , ϕ J , and σ j , the joint wall compressive strength). The failure envelope estimated using the new shear strength equation not only closely matches the measured shear strength, but also reflects the nonlinear relationship between the normal stress and shear strength.

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Abbreviations

σ n :

Effective normal stress

τ :

Shear stress

c :

Cohesion

S j :

Apparent cohesion

ϕ :

Friction angle

ϕ b , ϕ B :

Basic friction angle

ϕ r :

Residual friction angle

i :

Dilation angle

d n :

Dilation components

s n :

Shear component

JRC:

Joint roughness coefficient

JCS:

Joint compressive strength

SRP:

Stationary roughness parameter

I :

Non-stationary angle

a, c, d :

Empirical coefficients

Δϕ :

Joint roughness angle

P N :

Median angle pressure

ϕ m :

Friction component

ψ :

Dilation component

σ T :

Shear strength of intact rock material

\(\theta^{*}_{\text{max} }\) :

Maximum apparent gradient of asperities

C :

Roughness parameter

A 0 :

Maximum possible contact area

UCS:

Uniaxial compressive strength

E :

Young’s modulus

ν :

Poisson’s ratio

Z 2 :

Root mean square first derivative values

Z +2 :

Z 2 which analyzes only the positive gradient to shearing direction

Z 2s :

Three-dimensional equivalent of Z 2

R p :

Roughness profile indexes

R s :

Surface roughness coefficient

A t :

Actual area of surface of the joint

A n :

Nominal area of surface of the joint

D :

Fractal dimension of joint

D s :

3-D fractal dimension of joint

A, B :

Regression coefficient of Power law equation

ϕ J :

Joint roughness angle

ϕ A :

Friction angle when normal stress is 1 MPa

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in Korea (2011-0007281).

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  1. Department of Geophysics, Kangwon National University, 1 Kangwondaehak-gil, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, 200-701, Republic of Korea

    Hyun-Sic Jang & Bo-An Jang

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  1. Hyun-Sic Jang
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Correspondence to Bo-An Jang.

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Jang, HS., Jang, BA. New Method for Shear Strength Determination of Unfilled, Unweathered Rock Joint. Rock Mech Rock Eng 48, 1515–1534 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-014-0660-3

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