The Random RFPA Method for Modelling Rock Failure.

Area of Science:

• Geotechnical Engineering
• Computational Mechanics
• Rock Mechanics

Background:

• Rock failure modeling traditionally simplifies material properties.
• Spatial variability and uncertainty in rock properties significantly impact failure behavior.
• Existing models often fail to capture intrinsic material correlations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel method, random rock failure process analysis (RRFPA), for characterizing spatial variability in rock failure.
• To integrate random field theory (RFT) with traditional RFPA to model rock heterogeneity.
• To investigate the influence of material intrinsic correlation on rock fracturing behavior.

Main Methods:

• Developed the RRFPA method by integrating RFT with traditional RFPA.
• Represented rock property variations as a function of relative distance to capture intrinsic correlations.
• Conducted 300 RRFPA simulations for rock samples under compressive loading.

Main Results:

• Numerical outcomes showed distinct upper and lower stress bounds, aligning with experimental data.
• Uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus followed normal distributions (average 10.099 MPa and 1.818 GPa, respectively).
• Localized failure led to rapid acoustic emission energy release but smaller cumulative energy.

Conclusions:

• The RRFPA method effectively models rock heterogeneity and uncertainty in failure.
• The model demonstrated high accuracy, with a maximum relative error of 0.66% for key mechanical properties.
• RRFPA provides a robust framework for analyzing rock failure under compressive loading.