Abstract
To determine the void spaces of rock joints under different normal stresses and shear displacements, we mainly introduce a numerical method which was developed based on equivalent void space derived from composite topography. The new method requires the 3D surface data of rock joints, and the normal closure data of the compression test under different shear displacements, while in conventional methods, some disparate materials are inserted between the joint surfaces or special equipments are needed for the measurement of the void space of rock joints without shearing occurs. To apply the technique, a modified 3D box counting method that considers the self-affine fractal property of void spaces was employed to calculate the 3D fractal dimension of the void space. Specially designed experiment was conducted on a cylindrical specimen of artificial joints to explore aperture distribution, and the correlations between void space characteristics, 3D fractal dimension and mean aperture, and normal stress under different shear displacements. The present study focuses on the introduction of the new method for estimating void spaces of rock joints, while the void spaces model obtained contains the combined surfaces roughness and aperture information of rock joints under different normal loads and shear displacements is promising in investigating the mechanical and hydraulic properties during the loading process.
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