Geotechnical engineering works in deep-incised valleys or open-pit mining areas often encounter high-steep scarp slopes with a slope angle greater than 75°. This type of slope directly threatens the safety of construction personnel, so assessing their stability is essential to ensure construction safety. The natural geometry of high-steep scarp slopes possesses complexity in terms of geometric morphology, structural features of rock mass, and occurrence mechanisms of collapse. There is little research and less emphasis on the evaluation of the collapse risk of high-steep scarp slopes. In particular, the fracture of intact rock or rock bridges is generally ignored in the analysis of collapse processes. A bonded block model (BBM)–discrete fracture network (DFN) coupling characterization model for the high-steep scarp slope is proposed based on a high-steep scarp slope containing dominant joint sets on the left bank of the dam site of the Huangzangsi Water Conservancy Project (Qinghai Province, China). By using the model, the complex geometric forms of the surface of the high-steep scarp slope are quantified, and the fracture process of falling rock masses as well as the controlling effect of dominant joints on the collapse of the scarp slope are revealed. A strength reduction method based on the BBM–DFN model is constructed, and the safety factor of the collapse-prone scarp slope is evaluated. The research results show that (1) the BBM–DFN model can be used to describe the local collapse process; (2) the occurrence of dominant joints plays an important part in controlling the collapse process; (3) there are differences in the safety factor of the scarp slope with different coupling methods; the collapse and failure modes also differ. For safety considerations, the safety factor of the scarp slope on the left bank of the dam site area is determined to be 1.85. The research findings can be used to guide the safety assessment of high-steep scarp slopes and the formulation of both collapse risk prevention and control measures to ensure construction safety in high-steep scarp slope areas.
Coal mining and production activities lead to static loading and unloading changes of coal stress in front of the working face, and the stress change process has a significant influence on the occurrence and development of coal-rock gas dynamic disasters. In this paper, the macroscopic failure characteristics, acoustic emission timing characteristics, and acoustic emission nonlinear characteristics of coal with different gas pressures under true triaxial loading and unloading conditions were experimentally studied. The results showed that the macroscopic failure form of coal with different gas pressures under unloading conditions was tensile-shear composite failure, and the crack structure was formed near the unloading surface. The fractal dimension and multifractal parameter of acoustic emission time series both could reflect the complexity of coal fracture process. With the increase of gas pressure, the fractal dimension and multifractal parameter decreased, which indicated that the greater the gas pressure, the lower the complexity of coal fracture process. Under different gas pressures, the dynamic change trends of multifractal parameter were similar, taking the beginning of unloading as the dividing point, the change was roughly in the form of “W.” When the stress state and failure form of coal body changed, the multifractal parameter changed synchronously, indicating that the change of could reflect the transformation process of failure mechanism of coal body under load to a certain extent, which was of great significance for clarifying the occurrence and development mechanism of coal-rock gas dynamic disasters and ensuring the safe production in underground coal mines.
Pre-existing cracks significantly influence the macro-mechanical properties of rock. The macro-mechanical properties and crack propagation process of brittle materials with a 3D internal crack were investigated with PFC3D simulation in this paper. To determine the micro-parameters, the influence of micro-parameters on the macro-mechanical properties and ultimate failure mode was discussed. SJM’s parameters had little influence on the macro-mechanical properties and ultimate failure mode. Peak axial stress was changed greatly by strength parameters and friction coefficient, and the macro-elastic modulus was influenced greatly by Young’s modulus and changed slightly with other parameters. The failure mode changed gradually with all micro-parameters except Young’s modulus, which had a strong but irregular impact on it. The peak stress was 138 MPa in the simulation of the sample with a 3D internal crack, which agreed well with the experimental result (137 MPa). The crack propagation process can be divided into three stages: 17% of total crack was generated in the initial stage; 76% of the total crack was propagated when main failure surface coalesced; finally, the failure surface expanded downwards and caused the sample to be destroyed. Cracks initially appeared near the end of the lower major axis of the internal crack, which was in agreement with experimental results. The results demonstrated that PFC3D is a reliable method to simulate the failure process of brittle materials with internal cracks.
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