Abstract
The purpose of this study is to develop a nonlinear finite element method to simulate the results from experiments on stick-slip shear failure of rock masses. First, we introduced the constitutive relations obtained from the experiments into joint elements which we employed to model the fault of rock masses. Then we performed parametric study to investigate the effect of parameters which control the constitutive relations on the rupture propagation. Finally, we compared the results obtained from the proposed method and those obtained from the experiments and discussed the validity of the method to simulate the rupture mechanism of faults.
