Study on Equivalent Rheological Damage Model for Jointed Mass

Summary

On the basis of the macroscopic continuum theory and the second theorem of damage thermodynamics, the evolution damage functions are proposed for rock and rock joints respectively, postulating that damage is accumulated with increase in visco-plastic strains in rock and rock joints. Here, rock damage is assumed isotropic, but for a joint damage in the normal direction is different from that in the tangential direction. Then, an equivalent rheological damage model is built in terms of effective stresses. The numerical tests show that the equivalent rheological damage model in terms of effective stresses is feasible and is able to simulate the damage evolution of jointed rock mass.