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A multi‐asperity plastic‐contact crack plane model for geomaterials
Author(s) -
Mihai I. C.,
Jefferson A. D.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal for numerical and analytical methods in geomechanics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.419
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1096-9853
pISSN - 0363-9061
DOI - 10.1002/nag.2094
Subject(s) - materials science , embedment , plasticity , conical surface , geotechnical engineering , asperity (geotechnical engineering) , plane (geometry) , surface (topology) , shear (geology) , mechanics , composite material , geometry , structural engineering , geology , engineering , mathematics , physics
SUMMARY A mechanistic constitutive model for fully formed cracks in geomaterials, such as concrete and rock, is presented. A three‐dimensional characterisation of the crack morphology is employed in which the crack surface is idealised as a series of conical teeth and corresponding recesses of variable height and slope. Based on this geometrical characterisation, an effective contact function is derived to relate the contact stresses that develop on the sides of the teeth to the net stresses on a crack plane. Plastic embedment and frictional sliding are simulated using a local plasticity model in which the plastic surfaces are expressed in terms of the contact surface function in cylindrical relative displacement space. Finally, the performance of the model is assessed against several sets of experimental data from direct shear tests, and it is concluded that the model is able to capture key characteristics of the behaviour of fully formed cracks in geomaterials. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.