A physical model study of jointed rock mass strength under uniaxial compressive loading

Jointed rock mass strength is investigated through physical modeling using model material blocks having different joint configurations subjected to only uniaxial compressive loading. Jointed model material blocks exhibited different failure modes depending on the joint configurations. Orientation of the joint sets played a significant role related to the modes of failure (Fig. 1). It was possible to obtain a strong non-linear relation between the jointed model mass strength and the fracture tensor component to cover the strengths resulting from all the different failure modes observed in the investigation (Fig. 2). The fracture tensor component was used to obtain the combined effect of a number of joint sets, joint density, and distributions of size and orientation of the joint sets in a chosen direction. Future research is suggested to generalize the promising rock mass strength criterion obtained in the performed research.