The stress state of rock with an excavation and load-removing slits

Abstract

We propose a method of determining the stress state of an anisotropic rock with an excavation, including the case in which there are load-removing slits extending to the surface. In cross section the excavation can have an arbitrary curvilinear outline. The rocks have any rectilinear anisotropy, and may have planes of elastic symmetry with an arbitrary inclination to the horizontal plane. The method is based on solving the two-dimensional problem of the theory of elasticity of an anisotropic body using generalized complex potentials, conformal mappings, and the method of least squares. The problem is reduced to solving a system of linear algebraic equations in the unknowns that occur in the complex potentials. We carry out detailed numerical studies on the distribution of stresses and lowering their concentration around the excavation by setting up a system of load-removing slits.