A study of the effects of suction and roughness on the mechanical behaviour of rock joints

Abstract

The experimental investigation focused on the effects of suction on the mechanical behaviour of rock joints. Available experimental data on the effect of moisture on joint behaviour is very scarce. Laboratory tests were performed in a direct shear cell equipped with suction control. Suction was imposed using a vapour forced convection circuit connected to the cell and controlled by an air pump. Artificial joints of Lilla claystone were prepared. Joint roughness of varying intensity was created by carving the surfaces in contact in such a manner that rock ridges of different tip angles were formed. Several tests were performed for different values of suction (20, 100 and 200 MPa) and for different values of vertical stress (30, 60 and 150 kPa). A constitutive model including the effects of suction and joints roughness is proposed to simulate the unsaturated behaviour of rock joints. The new constitutive law was incorporated into the FE computer code Code-Bright and experimental results were numerically simulated.