Generic strength model for dry jointed rock masses

Abstract

A new nonlinear thermo-mechanical model for heavily jointed rock masses is presented. The model describes poroelasticity, shear-enhanced compaction and brittle–ductile transition in dry porous rocks. The key input parameters of the model, such as elastic moduli, tensile and compressive strength are expressed as functions of the reference porosity of the rock. These functions are based on empirical data for limestones and sandstones and assume that the medium is isotropic. The effect of joints is modeled by scaling down the key model parameters. The scaling rules are found with the help of explicit numerical modeling of randomly jointed media.