The Shear Strength Formula Including Joint Aperture and Roughness for Natural Rock Joint

Abstract

In this paper, using natural rock joint specimens and direct shear-testing machine, the influences of joint aperture and roughness on shear behavior of rock joint are experimentally investigated. The index of joint roughens is applied on JRC, and in case of joint aperture, new index “γ” can be suggested. It is recognized that index “γ” is independent of JRC. As the results of this experiments, “γ” is very useful index to make indication of joint aperture condition, and the shear strength formula including joint roughness and aperture can be proposed.