ALBERT

Description: Aiming to understand the propagation and deposit behaviours of a granular avalanche along a 3D complex basal terrain, a new 3D experimental platform in 1/400 scale was developed according to the natural terrain of the Xiejiadianzi rock avalanche, with a series of laboratory experiments being conducted. Through the conduction of these tests, parameters, including the morphological evolution of sliding mass, run-outs and velocities of surficial particles, thickness contour and centre of final deposit, equivalent frictional coefficient, and energy dissipation, are documented and analysed, with the geomorphic control effect, material grain size effect, drop angle effect, and drop distance effect on rock avalanche mobility being discussed primarily. From the study, some interesting conclusions for a better understanding of rock avalanche along a 3D complex basal topography are reached. (1) For the granular avalanche tested in this study, great differences between the evolutions of the debris along the right and left branch valleys were observed, with an obvious geomorphic control effect on avalanche mobility presented. In addition, some other interesting features, including groove-like trough and superelevation, were also observed under the control of the topographic interferences. (2) The equivalent frictional coefficients of the granular avalanches tested here range from 0.48 to 0.57, which is lower than that reached with a set-up composed of an inclined chute and horizontal plate and higher than that reached using a set-up composed of only an inclined chute. And the higher the drop angle and fine particle content, the higher the equivalent frictional coefficient. The effect of drop distance on avalanche mobility is minor. (3) For a granular avalanche, momentum transfer plays an important role in the motion of mass, which can accelerate the mobility of the front part greatly through delivering the kinetic energy of the rear part to the front.

Description: In order to improve the rock breaking efficiency of hard rock tunnel boring, many innovative rock breaking methods have been proposed (e.g., the water jet cutting, the high-power laser cutting, the impact-rotary drilling, and the undercutting method). However, most of the methods are not applicable to TBMs due to some structural reasons. Aiming on this problem, a free-face-assisted rock breaking method based on the multi-stage TBM cutterhead has been proposed. Series of proof-of-concept tests includes (1) the static compression test with vertical free face and (2) the rotary cutting tests in different free surface conditions were designed and carried out. The results show that the rock breaking force and efficiency can be significantly reduced and improved, respectively, with the assistance of the free face, due to the failure of the rock close to the free face is tensile-dominated failure. The influencing distance of the free face in the radial direction is at least 330 mm which covers about 5 disk cutters. Finally, the general structure of a small two-stage cutterhead (4 m in diameter) was tentatively designed in order to provide a possible approach to apply the free-face effect to TBMs.

Description: Discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) as an efficient technique has been extensively applied in the dynamic simulation of discontinuous rock mass. In the original DDA (ODDA), the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion is employed as the judgment principle of failure between contact blocks, and the friction coefficient is assumed to be constant in the whole calculation process. However, it has been confirmed by a host of shear tests that the dynamic friction of rock joints degrades. Therefore, the friction coefficient should be gradually reduced during the numerical simulation of an earthquake-induced rockslide. In this paper, based on the experimental results of cyclic shear tests on limestone joints, exponential regression formulas are fitted for dynamic friction degradation, which is a function of the relative velocity, the amplitude of cyclic shear displacement and the number of its cycles between blocks with an edge-to-edge contact. Then, an improved DDA (IDDA) is developed by implementing the fitting regression formulas and a modified removing technique of joint cohesion, in which the cohesion is removed once the ‘sliding’ or ‘open’ state between blocks appears for the first time, into the ODDA. The IDDA is first validated by comparing with the theoretical solutions of the kinematic behaviors of a sliding block on an inclined plane under dynamic loading. Then, the program is applied to model the Donghekou landslide triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China. The simulation results demonstrate that the dynamic friction degradation of joints has great influences on the runout and velocity of sliding mass. Moreover, the friction coefficient possesses higher impact than the cohesion of joints on the kinematic behaviors of the sliding mass.

Description: Failure of rockbolts as a result of shear or bending loads can often be found in underground excavations. The response of rock anchorage systems has been studied in shear, both by laboratory tests as well as numerical modelling in this study. A double shear test was developed to examine the shear behaviour of a bolt installed across two joints at different angles. To investigate the influence of various parameters in the double shear test, a numerical model of a fully grouted rockbolt installed in concrete was constructed and analysed using FLAC3D code. A number of parameters were considered including concrete strength, inclination between rockbolt and joints and rockbolt diameter. The numerical model considered three material types (steel, grout and concrete) and three interfaces (concrete–concrete, grout–concrete and grout–rockbolt). The main conclusions drawn from the study were that the level of bolt resistance to shear was influenced by rock strength, inclination angle, and diameter of the rockbolt. The numerical simulation of the bolt/grout interaction and deformational behaviour was found to be in close agreement with earlier experimental test results.

Description: This work discusses an experimental investigation on the thermal damage characteristics of limestone and underlying mechanism. Cylindrical rock samples were heated to a specific temperature level of 25, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900 °C. Then the thermal damage evolution equation was established based on the experimental results and the characteristics of thermal damage were analyzed. Last, possible mechanisms for the observed thermo-physical and mechanical response are discussed. The results show that with the increase of temperature in the tested range of temperature, the P-wave velocity, peak compressive strength and elastic modulus decrease, but the peak strain increases; the damage factors increase faster in 200–600 °C; the development of high-temperature-induced cracks conforms to the dislocation theory; the decomposition of magnesium carbonate and dolomite is the main reaction in the tested temperature range.

Description: Preliminary results on a new test for the indirect assessment of porosity through infrared thermography are presented. The study of the cooling behavior of rock samples in laboratory, through the analysis of thermograms, proved an innovative tool for the estimation of such an important property, which is one of the main features affecting the mechanical behavior of rocks. A detailed experimentation was performed on artificially heated volcanic rock samples characterized by different porosity values. The cooling trend was described both graphically and numerically, with the help of cooling curves and Cooling Rate Index. The latter, which proved strictly linked to porosity, was employed to find reliable equations for its indirect estimation. Simple and multiple regression analyses returned satisfactory outcomes, highlighting the great match between predicted and measured porosity values, thus confirming the goodness of the proposed model. This study brings a novelty in rock mechanics, laying the foundation for future researches aimed at refining achieved results for the validation of the model in a larger scale.

Description: This paper focuses on the influence of the shapes of rock cores, which control the sliding or toppling behaviours in tilt tests for the estimation of rock joint roughness coefficients (JRC). When the JRC values are estimated by performing tilt tests, the values are directly proportional to the basic friction of the rock material and the applied normal stress on the sliding planes. Normal stress obviously varies with the shape of the sliding block, and the basic friction angle is also affected by the sample shapes in tilt tests. In this study, the shapes of core blocks are classified into three representative shapes and those are created using plaster. Using the various shaped artificial cores, a set of tilt tests is carried out to identify the shape influences on the normal stress and the basic friction angle in tilt tests. The test results propose a normal stress reduction function to estimate the normal stress for tilt tests according to the sample shapes based on Barton’s empirical equation. The proposed normal stress reduction functions are verified by tilt tests using artificial plaster joints and real rock joint sets. The plaster joint sets are well matched and cast in detailed printed moulds using a 3D printing technique. With the application of the functions, the obtained JRC values from the tilt tests using the plaster samples and the natural rock samples are distributed within a reasonable JRC range when compared with the measured values.

Description: The dominant frequency, in addition to the peak particle velocity, is a critical factor for assessing adverse effects of the blasting vibration on surrounding structures; however, it has not been fully considered in blasting design. Therefore, the dominant frequency-dependent attenuation mechanism of blast-induced vibration is investigated in the present research. Starting with blasting vibration induced by a spherical charge propagating in an infinite viscoelastic medium, a modified expression of the vibration amplitude spectrum was derived to reveal the frequency dependency of attenuation. Then, ground vibration induced by more complex and more commonly used cylindrical charge that propagates in a semi-infinite viscoelastic medium was analyzed by numerical simulation. Results demonstrate that the absorptive property of the medium results in the frequency attenuation versus distance, whereas a rapid drop or fluctuation occurs during the attenuation of ground vibration. Fluctuation usually appears at moderate to far field, and the dominant frequency generally decreases to half the original value when rapid drop occurs. The decay rate discrepancy between different frequency components and the multimodal structure of vibration spectrum lead to the unsmooth frequency-dependent attenuation. The above research is verified by two field experiments. Furthermore, according to frequency-based vibration standards, frequency drop and fluctuation should be considered when evaluating blast safety. An optimized piecewise assessment is proposed for more accurate evaluation: With the frequency drop point as the breakpoint, the assessment is divided into two independent sections along the propagating path.