Research on the stability of jointed roof in stratified rock

The failure of the roof in stratified rock has three models, namely crushing in high stress areas, buckling of roof as well as shear sliding along joints. In this paper, it is attempted to consider these possible failure models in one calculation model. The numerical investigation with the developed finite element programme was carried out on an idealized beam model for jointed roof. The obtained results show that the consideration of one nonlinearity is not sufficient to predict displacements and lateral trust of jointed roof properly. The interactive effect of material and geometrical nonlinearities can give rise to a drastic increase of displacements which leads to the reduction of bearing capacity and finally the entire failure of jointed roof.