THESISSUMMERY











THREEDIMENSIONALNUMERICALMODELLINGOF 
ROCKFAILUREPROCESS


















Presented by Dr. Z. Z. Liang











CENTERFORROCKINSTABILITY&SEISMICITYRESEARCH
DALIANUNIVERSITYOFTECHNOLOGY


CONTENTS

1INTRODUCTION ________________________________________________________________________________________________________1
2DESCRIPTIONOFTHENUMERICALMODEL _____________________________________________________________________3

2.1MESHGENERATIONANDIMPLEMENTOFHETEROGENEITY____________________________________3
2.2CONSTITUTIVELAW __________________________________________________________________________3
2.3FAILURECRITERION __________________________________________________________________________5
2.3AEANDAEENERGY __________________________________________________________________________5
2.4LOADINGPROCEDURE ________________________________________________________________________6
2.5IMPLEMENTOFTHERFPA3DCODE ___________________________________________________________6
2.6PARALLELCOMPUTING _______________________________________________________________________7
3NUMERICALTESTSONROCKFAILUREPROCESSTOVALIDATETHEMODEL ___________________________8
3.1HOMOGENEOUSMODELSUBJECTEDTOUNIAXIALTESTS_____________________________________8
3.2TENSIONTESTSFORHETEROGENEOUSMODELS ______________________________________________8
3.3THREEPOINTBENDINGTESTS _____________________________________________________________ 10
3.4COMPARISONWITHRFPA2D ______________________________________________________________ 10
4APPLICATIONSOFRFPA3DCODEINROCKFAILUREPROCESS ___________________________________________11
4.1ENDCONSTRAINTEFFECT __________________________________________________________________ 11
4.2GEOMETRYEFFECT _________________________________________________________________________ 13
4.3SIZEEFFECT ________________________________________________________________________________ 14
4.4MESHSIZESENSITIVITY ____________________________________________________________________ 16
4.5DIRECTTENSIONFRACTURE _______________________________________________________________ 18
4.6TRIAXIALCOMPRESSIONTESTS ____________________________________________________________ 19
4.7THREEDIMENSIONALFRACTURESPACINGINHETEROGENEOUSROCKS ___________________ 22
4.8INFLUENCEOFHETEROGENEITYONROCKFAILUREBEHAVIORS_____________________________ 23
5DISCUSSIONS __________________________________________________________________________________________________________25
5.1FRACTALCHARACTERISTICOFTHREEDIMENSIONALFRACTURE __________________________ 25
5.2ACOUSTICEMISSIONMODES________________________________________________________________ 26
5.3INTERMEDIATEPRINCIPALSTRESSEFFECT ________________________________________________ 27
5.4PATTERNTRANSITIONFROMPARALLELTOPOLYGONALFRACTURES ______________________ 30
5.5TRANSITIONSOFBRITTLETODUCTILEFAILURE ___________________________________________ 31
5.6FAILURECRITERIONANDMULTIAXIALTESTS______________________________________________ 32
5.7DISTRIBUTIONFUNCTIONS _________________________________________________________________ 33
6CONCLUSIONS_________________________________________________________________________________________________________33
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS_______________________________________________________________________________________________35
SELECTEDREFERENCES ______________________________________________________________________________________________36

1 Introduction

             

             

            
             
 
             
          




             

              

 

              


          
             


 
 
             



           
             
 

 
  
          
 
               

 
 
             





              
       
      

 
             


  
 
             
                
           
             
 

              
            
 

                 


             



 
            

               



 
              
               
             

 
               
             
                 
 






 
 
          
             


 
           
          

 

2 Description of the numerical model

2.1Meshgenerationandimplementofheterogeneity

a

a
a

 2.1  Mesh generation in RFPA3D. Heterogeneity is introduced into the numerical specimen by following a
statisticaldistribution.However,themechanicalpropertiesineachelementarehomogeneous. 

                
            

 
 
            
            

W ( x)

x
m x m1
( ) exp ( ) m                                
x0 x0
x0

E( x)

xda
0,
                                 

1/(b  a ), a d x d b
1,
xtb

N ( x)

( x  x 0 )2                                
1
exp 

2 s 2
2S s

2.2Constitutivelaw
                 

              

   D            





 

V rt
1 
H 3 E0
1

(H 3 ! H t 0 )
(H t 0 t H 3 t H ut )
(H 3 d H ut )

 V rt     V rt
     

                   

O | V t |   H t 0  

H ut           

H ut KH t 0  K   O   

              
 

1  V rc
E0H 1

H1  H c0
H1 t H c 0

                      

V rc            V c 0   


             


H  

  


2.2  Thestressstrainrelationoftheelementfortwodifferentfailuremodes.

            



Vi j

V ij

(2GH ij  OG i j H kk )
(H ! H t 0 )

G i j H kk
V rt H ij
V rt
(2GH ij  OG i j H kk )
(
) (H t 0 t H t H ut )


H 1  Q (1 Q )(1  2Q )
H E0

0
(H  H ut )

  

(2GH ij  OG i j H kk )
H1  H c 0

        
G i jH kk
V rc H ij
V rc
(2
G

)
(

)
t
H
OG
H
H
H
ij
i j kk
1
c0
E H
H1 1 Q (1 Q )(1  2Q )
0 1




 G

E0  
O
2(1 Q )

E0Q
   G ij
(1 Q )(1  2Q )

1,

0,

(i

j ) 

(i z j )


              
 
     

V c    E0   

         

V c    

E 0  

Vc

>a1 ln( m)  b1 @V c                         

E0

>a2 ln( m)  b2 @E0                        

 
m


2.3Failurecriterion
         

          
           
 
                
                
            
 


V 3 d V t

F DV 1  (V 2  V 3 )  V t t 0
2

F ' 2 (V 1  V 2 )  DV 3  V t t 0

V 3  DV 1
1D
V 3  DV 1
V2 !
1D

                    

V2 d

               
b

V 3 d V t
   
1
(bV 2  V 3 )  V t t 0
F DV 1 
b
1


F ' 1  b (V 1  bV 2 )  DV 3  V t t 0

V 3  DV 1             
1D
V 3  DV 1
V2 !
1D

V2 d

  b  

2.3AEandAEenergy
                 






              


                


                 

                 


2.4Loadingprocedure
               
                
               
            
               
             

            

             


               

           
             
 

2.5ImplementoftheRFPA3Dcode
  
 

                
              

        
  
    
 
           
  

 
            
              
             
             
             
               




  

2.6Parallelcomputing
            
 
  
             
               
 
 
    
                


 
            
             

 


 


                                                          
2.3AslavermastertechniqueisadoptedfordatadistributionandcommunicationintheFEMmoduleinRFPA3D
code.(a)Sketchmapofmasterslavestrategy.(b)Aspecimencontainingaholeisdecomposedinto32processes.
(c)Thecalculatedstressdistributionofthenumericalspecimendiscretisizedinto1,000,000elements

             
          
 

                


              

  







3 Numerical Tests on Rock Failure Process to Validate the Model

                


 

3.1Homogeneousmodelsubjectedtouniaxialtests
          

               
            
                 
             

Axial Strain

120
-0.001

-0.0006

-0.0004

-0.0002

0
0

80

-2

60

-4

40

-6

20

-8

0
0

0.002

0.004

0.006

0.008

Axial Stress(MPa)

Axia lStress(M Pa )

100

-0.0008

-10

0.01

-12

AxialStrain

 3.1 Complete stressstrain curves obtained by conducting uniaxial tests on homogeneous specimens. The macro
responseofthehomogeneousspecimensismuchsimilartotheelementalresponseatmesoscopicscale.

3.2Tensiontestsforheterogeneousmodels


               
            
 
             



EH exp

(

H m
)
H0

                           

            
               
             
             

 
   
              





dV
 dH
dV
 d H

E exp[ (

H m
H
) ][1  m( ) m ]
H0
H 0                        



V max

EH max exp[1  (

H max m
) ]
H0
                       



1 1 1
E0H 0 ( ) m e m                          
m

V max




V max

3.44 

                
 




  

 

 



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Figure 3.2 Comparison between simulated complete



Figure3.3Comparisonsofsimulatedcompletestressstrain


stressstraincurveandtheoreticalresults

curvewithotherstudies



              
                 




(a)SymmetricalthreepointbendingtestconductedbyLandisandasymmetricalthreepointbendingtestconductedbyXeidakis.






(b)NumericalresultsobtainedbyusingRFPA3D

3.4Fracturepatternsfromexperimentalobservationsandnumericaltestsinsymmetricalthreepointbendingtest
andasymmetricalthreepointbendingtest.

3.3Threepointbendingtests



              


            
 

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 3.5 The comparison of the peak loading in asymmetrical threepoint bending test by varying L1 between the
experimentalresultsandthenumericalresults.


L1
L1   
L1

3.4ComparisonwithRFPA2D
                   

               
 h
     hh         
             

                   
               
                
 



3.6ComparisonsofthenormalizedstressstraincurvessimulatedbyRFPA2DandRFPA3D

  
 
 


3.7Paralleleffectinthreedimensionalmodelscomparedwithplanestressmodels.


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3.8ComparisonofRFPA3DandRFPA2Dbyanalyzingaplanemodel


4 Applications of RFPA3D code in Rock Failure Process

                  



              
 

4.1Endconstrainteffect
            


              
 E                
  EE



              
              
 EE               
           EE     
 
              


 


              
             


              
 


              

4.1Rockspecimenshaveacomplicatedtriaxialstressstateintheendzonesduetothemismatchbetweentheend
platesandthespecimens.







           EE         EE           EE          EE

4.2Fracturepatternsareinfluencedbytheendconstraints(RFPA3Dresults)


             

 
               

              


                
 

4.2Geometryeffect
             
t

 
t 


t                                 t



t                                   t
4.3PlotsoffailurestateandAEdistributionforspecimenswithdifferentgeometryinidealizedloadingcondition
(RFPA3D results). The AE events are denoted by the balls with different diameters, which are relative to the
energyreleaseduringfracture.Thecolorsoftheballdenotethefailuremodes. 




 
                
              
 
t

 t


             
             
t 
                
t


 
 

            
     
 
                





 
30
t=3.0
25

t=2.0
t=1.0

(MPa)

20

t=0.5

15
10
5
0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

(%)

                                         
 4.4 (a) Complete stressstrain curves for numerical specimens with different geometry under idealized loading
conditions. (b) Relation of peak strength and the specimen geometry parameter t. When t>2.5, the peak
strengthtrendstoacertainvalue.Theratiooftheheighttothewidthissuggestedtobefrom2.5to3byISRM
(Kovarietal.,1983).


              



              

Andreev, 1995).

4.3Sizeeffect
           


              

               
             



          
      
              
              
             
               
            
              

1.8

20020040
16016032
808016
40408
12012024

1.4
(M Pa)

1.2
1

3
2.5
Y/(MPa) -2

1.6

1.5

0.8
0.6
0.4

Y= -0.2999 + 2.9434

R = 0.904

0.5

0.2

0
0

0.0002

0.0004

0.0006

0.0008

0.001

4.5Stressstraincurvesforsingleedgenotchedspecimenswithdifferentscalessubjectedtodirecttensionandthe
simulatedsizeeffectresultsfittedbyBazantformula.





4.6FailureprocessofthesamplesubjectedtotensilestresssimulatedbyRFPA3D


a



        (b) 




(c)

4.7PropagationofthreedimensionalcrackinslicessimulatedbyRFPA3D.Crackpropagationpathsaredifferent
onslicesatdifferentwidths,whichcannotbesimulatedin2Dmodeling.



                  


             

 
               
             
 


VN
(1 

O
B

                                
1/ 2




Y
 Y

VN

)2  a

1
  b
A2

a  bO                                 

1

BA2



V N | f | / A                                 
 O  


Y = -0.2999O + 2.9434 
              


               
             
   

4.4Meshsizesensitivity

             
 
             

             
               




 


  

 
              

 



30
25

1055

/MPa

20

201010

15
10

402020
804040

301515

502525

0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15
0.2
0.25
axial displacement/mm

0.3

0.35

0.4




 4.9 Peak load versus mesh size of the six

 4.8 Axial displacement versus stress curves of

specimens.

thesixspecimenswithdifferentmeshsize.


A

C
D



a.

b.

4.10Explanationofinfluenceofmeshsizeoncrackpropagationinheterogeneousmaterials

 
                  

                

               
 
            
              
  
                  






4.5Directtensionfracture

              
             



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z

x




y



P 
P 



P 



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4.11Sketchmapofthedirecttensiontest    4.12Completestressdisplacementcurves







        m=1.5                 m=2.0                  m=3.0                    m=5.0

4.13Fracturepatternsofthefivespecimenswithdifferenthomogeneityindices(RFPA3Dresults)

 

             
             
             
  
 

               
 
             
 





             
 
               
  








    (a)Step48                  (b)Step60                       (c)   Step110
 4.14 Stress transition and redistribution in tensile fracture. The fractures are obviously 3D and they can not be
simplifiedinto2Dproblems.Thetensilestresswillberedistributedwiththecrackpropagationprocess.



 4.15 Threedimensional fracturing (failure plane) and AE distribution in the specimen (m=10.0) subjected to
uniaxialtension.AElocationsdenotethefracturedistribution.

4.6Triaxialcompressiontests
           
           
  
              
          
           

 

 

                
              
              
              

             
            
           

             
              
 

             

              

             
              
            
               







  



  





03D

  





  





\ [



5  

  



  













03D

4.16Confiningpressureeffectonthecompletestressstraincurvesandthepeakstrength


(a) V 2

V3

0 MPa  (b) V 2

V3

5 MPa (c) V 2

V 3 10 MPa (d) V 2 V 3 15 MPa  (e) V 2 V 3 20 MPa 

4.17FracturemodesofthespecimensunderdifferentlateralpressuresimulatedbyRFPA3D

             
              
             
            
                  




 
            
              


 
             


 
35

35210

30

35220

28
1/MPa

35230

20

35240
352=15

15

 03D

30

35225

25
1/MPa

32

26
24

10

22

20

0
0

0.001

0.002

0.003

0.004

10

20

30

40

50

2/MPa

2/MPa

4.18Influenceofintermediateprincipalstressonaxialstressstraincurvesandpeakstrength(3=5MPa)





a2=10MPa         b2=20MPa  

       d2=30MPa

4.19Influenceofintermediateprincipalstressonfracturepattern(3=5MPa)simulatedbyRFPA3D

               

                



 
             
            
            

 
 




              
 
                 


4.7Threedimensionalfracturespacinginheterogeneousrocks






  
           

              
             
             
           
            
               
              



(a)

     (b) 



(c)

 4.20  Plots of simulated fracture patterns and minimal principal stress of polygonal fracture in different
heterogeneouslayeredmaterials.

              

              
              
            

             
              

              
m



            



            

            
            

            
 



                       
 4.22 Crack patterns in heterogeneous materials simulated by T. Hornig et al. (a) fracture patterns in high
heterogeneousmaterialand(b)fracturepatternsinrelativehomogeneousmaterial.

4.8Influenceofheterogeneityonrockfailurebehaviors


           

 
              
           
           

              



              

               
                  





                 
            


              

             
           
           
            
 

60
60
60
50
50
50

m=1.1
m=1.1
m=1.1
m=1.5
m=1.5
m=1.5
m=2
m=2
m=2
m=3
m=3
m=3
m=10
m=10
m=10

/MPa
/MPa
/MPa

40
40
40
30
30
30
20
20
20
10
10
10
0

0
00
0

0.001
0.001
0.001

0.002
0.002
0.002

0.003
0.003
0.003

0.004
0.004
0.004

0.005
0.005
0.005

4.23Completestressstraincurvesofnumericalspecimenswithdifferenthomogeneityindices

4.24Thevariationoffailuremodeissensitivetothelocaldisorder(RFPA3Dresults).Themechanicalproperties
for the four specimens are statistically the same on the macroscale, the localized zones or major fracture
positionsaredifferentfromeachother. 
25
Case-1
Case-2
Case-3
Case-4

(MPa)

20

15

10

0
0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1
(%)

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

 4.25 Complete stressstrain curves of four specimens with the same homogeneity index. The macro mechanical
responsesofthespecimensaremoreorlessthesametoeachother.Localdisorderhaslittleinfluenceonthe
macromechanicalbehavior.


               
            
            
            
               


               
              
             

              
               


5 Discussions
5.1Fractalcharacteristicofthreedimensionalfracture
            
         

               
 


                
 
               


              

              

 
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 5.1 Evolution of AE locations throughout the specimen with m=6.0 as well as the fractal dimension variation
during the failure process. AE events cluster in the vicinity of the prepared notch. The fractal dimension
increasesgraduallyandreaches2.5approximatelyatthefinalrupture.

              



              
 


5.2Finalfracturesforthenotchedspecimenswithdifferenthomogeneityindicesundertension(RFPA3Dresults).

















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P
P
P
P
P









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Figure 5.3 (a) Fractal dimensions versus loading displacement for different heterogeneous rock specimens. The fractal
dimensionincreaseswiththeloadingprocess.Moreheterogeneousspecimensgiveahigherfractaldimension.
(b) Relation of final fractal dimension to homogeneity index. The fractal dimension decrease with the
increasingofthehomogeneityindex.


 


5.2Acousticemissionmodes

            
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5.4Simulatedmodesofseismicactivitiesinrockfailureprocess


 





        

     



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Axial Displacement/mm



 5.5 Acoustic emission and associated fractal dimension evolution in rock fracture process (m=3.0). The fractal
dimensionDoftheacousticemissiondistributionduringloadingismeasuredbyboxcountingmethod.TheAE
gathers in the vicinity of the fracture and the D increases to a nearly constant value when the specimen
collapses.TheballsintheAEpicturesrepresentAEevents,andtheradiusoftheballsrepresentstherelative
energyreleaseateachloadingstep.

5.3Intermediateprincipalstresseffect 

                
           V 1     
 V 2  V 2 V 3  

V2

V 2 '     V 1         

 V 2   V 2

V 2 '  V 2

V 1  

             


             
                

                 
 


 V 2 V 3   V 2 '

V 3  DV 1

1D


1
2

DV 1  (V 2  V 3 )  V t 

F  V 2 
V 2  
 V 2   
 V 2 '

V 3  DV 1
 V 1 
1D



F'

D
2

(V 1  V 2 )  DV 3  V t 

 F '  V 2 

 V 2  
 
 V 2 '  
               
     V 3          

            

                 
               
 V 2   V 3   V 2 ' 
 V 2   V 2 '   V 1  






 



 

5.6Failurepatternsofthespecimenssubjectedtodifferentintermediateprincipalstress

Step209







       Step211

         Step213 




Step228

 5.7 Fracture formation process and AE distributions affected by intermediate principal stress 3=10MPa,
2=15MPa)simulatedbyRFPA3D.
  


             
               


                
             
             

 
              

   

 
 

5.4Patterntransitionfromparalleltopolygonalfractures 

                                                              

5.8Plotsoftheminimalprincipalstressdistributionofthespecimenssubjectedtotensilestress.

             

               

             
            O
O

0  O

V 2 / V 1  

1 


            O 1  
            0  O  1 
 
  O 0               
              

              

             
 


 

              
          






 

             

               


              



 5.9  Fracture patterns under isotropic tension in different stages. The interface debonding is found to be
dominating thefracture developmentupon reaching thefracture saturationstage,which isabigeffect in
laboratoryexperimentsandisclearlynotconsideredinthe2Dmodelsofthetime.
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5.10Stressfieldsnearthecracksubjectedtoisotropicstress.anisotropicfeatureofthefracturesisthemainreason
ofthetransitionofpatternsfromparalleltopolygonalfractures

5.5Transitionsofbrittletoductilefailure

                
  


   
m 

 

            
                
               



           
 
 


 
 mm

             
               
m m





5.6Failurecriterionandmultiaxialtests
           
                

             


                
          

 
             
            


               
             
                
 


              
            
           
 

          b       
             



5.7Distributionfunctions

            
 
 
baba
    ba           a  b 

E
s
            

 

6 Conclusions

           

              

          
 






             
             
               


             


             
   
 
              
          


  
 



           
 
             



              

              




             
             
 

            

             
  
 

 


           

           



             
            
             
 
            

 O

V 2 / V 1  O

0  O

1  

 
              
               
             


             

              
            
               


               


                

             
           
          V 1     
   V 2   V 2 V 3         
 V 2

V 2 '    V 1       

 V 2   V 2

V 2 '  V 2

V 1 

           

              
 
             
            
             
            

            
             

 
          



Acknowledgements
           
 
          
                


                  





Selected References