Chapter 9 - Modeling Rock Fracturing Processes With FRACOD

Abstract

Rock failure is often controlled by fracture initiation, propagation, and coalescence, especially in hard rocks where explicit fracturing rather than plasticity is the dominant mechanism of failure. Prediction of the explicit fracturing process is therefore necessary when the rock mass stability is investigated for engineering purposes. However, the fracture mechanics approach is rarely used in practical rock engineering design, partly due to the inadequate understanding of complex fracturing processes in jointed rock mass and partly due to the lack of tools that can realistically predict the complex fracturing phenomenon in rock mass.