Abstract
The shear strength of rock joints are dependent on the their geometrical condition. Up to now, many researchers have proposed formulations which associate the shear strength with roughness profile of rock joints. However, most of them are established under the idealized assumption that no change of the configuration of joint surface occurs. The shear strength of rock joints essentially should be affected by the geometrical change of joint surface during shear procedure. From these viewpoints, this study proposes the analysis method to consider the effect of the change of roughness profile during shear procedure on the shear behavior, and presents the applicability of the proposed method for the prediction of shear strength.
