Abstract
Stress transfer mechanism of the jointed rock media was studied theoretically and experimentally. The discrete element model used in this study is based on the “rigid body-spring models” proposed by the second author, Kawai five years ago. In these models it is assumed that the elements themselves are rigid and they are connected by two types of springs distributed over their interface boundaries.
Using the well known Mohr-Coulomb's failure criterion and considering the effect of contact as well as separation of individual rock elements, the elasto-plastic analysis was carried out by basing on the initial stress method. It was found that the calculated results were in fairly good agreement with the results of the photoelastic analysis and that the stress distribution of these jointed rock media was considerably different from that of the compressed homogeneous continuous media.
