Failure Behavior of Artificial Rock Masses with Discontinuities in Plane Strain Compression Tests

Abstract

Numerical methods that can accurately evaluate the failure behavior of a rock mass are required to evaluate the stability of a rock slope and of the foundation site of important structures during major earthquakes. Therefore, in this study, plane strain compression tests were conducted on artificial rock masses with several discontinuities to obtain data that can enable the verification and improvement of existing numerical methods. It was observed that the applied confining pressure and the arrangement of the discontinuities in the rock masses greatly influenced the strength and deformation characteristics of the test pieces. In addition, the failure behavior of the rock masses was investigated in detail by image analysis.