岩石力学论文：09（英文）.pdfVIP

Harmonising Rock Engineering and the Environment – Qian Zhou (eds) © 2012 Taylor Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-80444-8 Rock mass instability caused by incipient block rotation A.V. Dyskin School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Western Australia, Australia E. Pasternak School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, University of Western Australia, Australia ABSTRACT: A new mechanism of blocky rock mass collapse is proposed based on the notion that even incipient rotation of a block can create an effect of local negative shear stiffness. This is a geometrical effect that affects moment equilibrium under the combined action of shear and normal stress. A controlling parameter of this mechanism is the ratio between the magnitude of compression and the overall shear modulus of the blocky rock mass before rotations. When the value of this parameter is equal to one, the critical fraction of rotating blocks causing the loss of stability is zero. Then the onset of rotation of a single block leads to the rock mass collapse. The overall shear modulus the controlling parameter depends upon can be quite low if a loosening occurs (e.g., due to the presence of other excavations), thus the compressive stress which causes collapse can be attainable. Subject: Modelling and numerical methods Keywords : General, Rock failure, Stability analysis 1 INTRODUCTION Traditionally, instability of rock mass with excavations is con- sidered as a consequence of either rock instability in the post peak regime (e.g., Cook, 1965, Salamon, 1970, Rudnicki Rice, 1975, Roegiers et al. 1993, Tarasov Dyskin, 2005), crack accumulation and growth (e.g., Ge