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The hydro-mechanical behavior of infilled rock joints with fill materials in unsaturated conditions

Khosravi, A ; Sharif University of Technology | 2013

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1061/9780784412787.014
  3. Publisher: 2013
  4. Abstract:
  5. The existence, nature, and frequency of discontinuities in a given rock mass typically govern the overall shear behavior of the rock. The presence of fine materials such as clay and silt within rock joints, whether the product of infilling or natural weathering processes, can have a significant effect on the shear behavior of the rock joint. When assessing the strength of filled rock joints, it is therefore necessary to determine the separate strengths of both the rock and the joint infill material, and to also have a good understanding of the interaction between the two for various joint geometries and levels of infilling. Much of the existing research on the shear strength of filled rock joints has focused on the influence of joint wall roughness and the thickness of the infill material. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize experience from the technical literature with the goal of highlighting the role of unsaturated stress states when predicting the hydro-mechanical behavior of infilled joints with unsaturated infill materials. In this case, due to changes in the degree of saturation of the infill materials, proper prediction of the shear behavior of infilled joints may require incorporating several factors including the unsaturated stress state of the joint, its stress history, any pertinent hardening mechanisms that might be experienced by the unsaturated infill material, and a hysteretic soil water retention curve relationship for the infill material
  6. Keywords:
  7. Degree of saturations ; Hardening mechanism ; Hydro-mechanical behavior ; Infilled rock joints ; Natural weathering ; Soil water retention curves ; Technical literature ; Unsaturated condition ; Embankments ; Mechanical engineering ; Rocks ; Shear flow ; Soil moisture ; Strength of materials
  8. Source: Geotechnical Special Publication ; Issue 231 , 3-7 March , 2013 , Pages 129-138 ; 08950563 (ISSN) ; 9780784412787 (ISBN)
  9. URL: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/9780784412787.014