A study of the load transfer behavior of fully grouted rock bolts with analytical modelling

Abstract Fully grouted rock bolts have been used in mining industry for many years. Much research has been conducted to evaluate the load transfer behavior of fully grouted rock bolts with experimental programs. However, compared with that, less work has been conducted with analytical modelling. Therefore, in this paper, the authors used an analytical model to study the load transfer behavior of fully grouted rock bolts. To confirm the credibility of this analytical model, an in-situ pull-out test was used to validate this model. There was a close match between the experimental result and the analytical result. Following it, a parametric study was conducted with this analytical model. The influence of coefficients, Young’s modulus of the rock bolt and the diameter of the rock bolt on the load transfer performance of rock bolts was studied. Furthermore, the load distribution along the fully grouted rock bolt was analytically studied. The results show that the axial load in the rock bolt decayed from the loaded end to the free end independent of the pull-out load. However, the trend of the load distribution curve was influenced by the pull-out load. This paper was beneficial for better understanding the load transfer mechanism of fully grouted rock bolts.