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Joint Tutorial
10 MPa
10 MPa
For this analysis, the rock mass is assumed to be elastic, but the joint will
be allowed to slip, illustrating the effect of a plane of weakness on the
elastic stress distribution near an opening. This example is based on the
one presented on pg. 193 of Brady and Brown, Rock Mechanics for
Underground Mining, 1985 consult this reference for further
information. See Phase2 Tutorial 05 for an equivalent finite element
analysis of the same model.
New File
If you have not already done so, start the Examine2D program by
selecting Programs Rocscience Examine2D 8.0 Examine2D from
the Start menu.
Project Settings
Under the General tab in Project Settings, make sure the following
options are selected:
Select the Analysis tab in Project Settings. We will use the default
options, which should be as follows:
Note: see the Examine2D Help topics for information about these options.
Select OK to close the Project Settings dialog, and save the selections you
have made.
1. Right-click the mouse and select the Circle option from the popup
menu. You will see the Circle Options dialog.
2. Select the Center and radius option, and enter a radius of 2.5.
Enter Number of segments = 64 and select OK.
Joint Properties
We will adopt the Mohr-Coulomb Strength Criterion for the joint. To do
this, click on the drop down arrow to the right of the Joint Properties sub-
header in the sidebar and select Mohr-Coulomb Joint Strength as shown.
Tensile Strength = 0
Cohesion = 0
Friction Angle = 20
Go to Advanced Joint Properties under the Analysis menu. Turn OFF the
Initial Joint Deformation by clearing the checkbox. Select OK to close the
dialog box and accept the changes.
Stress Grid
Select the top left corner and hit Enter. You will be prompted to select a
starting point used to move the top left corner. Select the top left corner
again. Now enter the following coordinates defining the final coordinate
location.
Repeat this process for the bottom right corner, but enter 27.5,-27.5 for
the final coordinate location.
You can also right-click any corner of the stress grid and select Move To
to directly enter the final coordinate location.
Field Stress
Now lets enter the in situ stress values for this example. The Field Stress
Type is Constant, which means that the in situ stress is assumed to be
constant (i.e. does not vary with depth or location in the model).
Enter the following values in the Sidebar at the right of the screen:
Sigma 1 = 10
Sigma 3 = 10
Sigma Z = 10
Angle = 0
Material Properties
Now lets enter the elastic and strength properties for the rock mass.
Enter the following Elastic parameters in the Sidebar.
Tensile Strength = 0
Cohesion = 10.5
Friction Angle = 35
Strength Factor
Now lets view the Strength Factor contours for this model.
Select Strength Factor from the drop-list in the toolbar. You should see
the following contours.
Lets zoom in so that we can get a better look at whats going on near the
excavation.
That zooms us in a bit too close, so select the Zoom Out button on the
Zoom toolbar 3 times, to zoom back out a bit (or press the F4 key three
times).
(Note: we could have used Zoom Window to achieve the same result. The
advantage of the above procedure, is that it gives us an exactly
reproducible view of the model each time we use it.)
Observe the effect of the joint on the Strength Factor contours. Notice the
discontinuity of the contours above and below the joint. The effect of the
joint is to deflect and concentrate stress in the region between the
excavation and the joint. Now view the Sigma 1 contours.
Notice the discontinuity of the Sigma 1 contours above and below the
joint.
Total Displacement
Select Total Displacement from the drop-list in the toolbar. You should
see the following contours:
TIP: the appearance of contour plots, and your interpretation of them, can
change significantly if you use different Contour Options. The contour
style, range, and number of intervals, can all affect your interpretation of
the data.
Joint Yielding
Now lets check for yielding of the joint. Select the Yielded Joints button
in the toolbar. Also select the Joint Slip Directions button underneath the
Yielded joints button.
The yielded joint elements are highlighted in red on the model, and the
joint slip direction is indicated by small shear arrows on each side of the
joint. Notice the reversal of joint slip direction over the center of the
excavation.
Two separate zones of yielding in the joint can be seen, to the right and
left of the excavation. View the Strength Factor and Sigma 1 contours,
and notice that the region of joint slip corresponds to the region of
contour discontinuity, above and below the joint.
Remember that the joint is allowed to slip because when we defined the
joint properties, we used the Mohr-Coulomb slip criterion, with a friction
angle of 20 degrees. Lets quickly verify the number of yielded elements.
Right-click the mouse and select Display Options.
You can now count the yielded joint elements, and there are 6 in the left
yielded region and 6 in the right. Toggle off the display of Discretizations
in the Display options dialog.
Queries for normal displacement, normal stress, shear stress, and shear
displacement for joints can be easily obtained using the Query Boundary
option.
Select the joint boundary and hit Enter. You will be prompted to select
the type of data you wish to query. Select Normal Stress and hit OK. As a
shortcut, you can also right-click the joint boundary and select Query
Boundary. You can now see the Normal Stress plotted along the joint
boundary in Excavation View. We can now graph the joint data.
Use the mouse to select the query along the joint and hit Enter. You can
also right-click on the joint query and select Graph Data.
As expected, there is a sharp drop in normal stress where the joint passes
over the excavation. Close the graph view.
Now right-click on the joint boundary and select Change Query Data from
the popup menu. In the Joint Data dialog select Shear Stress. Right-click
on the joint again and select Graph Data to create a graph of shear stress
along the joint.
Notice the reversal of the shear stress direction over the excavation. It is
this sense of slip which produces the inward displacement of rock on the
underside of the plane of weakness. This is consistent with the display of
the Joint Slip Direction discussed earlier (shear arrows on either side of
the joint).
Additional Exercise
20 12
21 10
22 8
23 6
24 0
The results above confirm that the critical angle for joint slip in this
example is around 24 degrees.
This Examine2D tutorial is based on Phase2 Tutorial 05. If you have the
Phase2 program you can run a finite element analysis on the same model
and compare results with Examine2D. You should find that the results
are virtually identical.
Reference