Abstract
For the failure mechanics of rock anchors, in-situ and laboratory pull-out tests were carried out. From the tests, various forms of failure of rock anchors were deduced. The failure modes of rock anchors involve interfaces present in rock anchor systems rather than the embedment medium as observed in soil anchors with enlarged bottoms. The failure modes of rock anchors are as follows: 1) Tendon failure, 2) Interface failure (tendon-grout interface, sheath-grout interface and grout-rock interface), 3) Combined interface failure. In this paper, the authors show the failure modes of rock anchors and of soil anchors with enlarged bottoms observed in tests and discuss each failure mode by finite element simulations and finally propose a classification for the failure modes.
