Stability analysis of rock mass structures based on a homogenization method and a limit load analysis

The failure strength is the most important value in design of structures. As to rock mass, however, it is hard to estimate the strength since various cracks exist and are scattered in it. In order to overcome this problem encountered in designing rock mass structures, we here propose a numerical method to evaluate the strength of rock mass structures based on a homogenization method and a limit load analysis. In order to examine the validity of the proposed method numerical simulations of direct shearing tests on cracked specimens are carried out. The method predict the experimental results fairly well, and it is concluded that the proposed method is effective for evaluating the strength of discontinuous rock mass structures.