A shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysis

The brittle shear failure of rock mass structural planes is an important cause of structure-controlled rockburst, which severely threatens the safety construction of deep rock engineering. Quantifying the brittleness of the shear process of rock mass structural planes is of great significance for ev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sheng Li, Pengxian Fan, Ziming Xiong, Qiliang Yang, Haozhe Xing, Haiming Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Results in Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025028919
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849228403271532544
author Sheng Li
Pengxian Fan
Ziming Xiong
Qiliang Yang
Haozhe Xing
Haiming Jiang
author_facet Sheng Li
Pengxian Fan
Ziming Xiong
Qiliang Yang
Haozhe Xing
Haiming Jiang
author_sort Sheng Li
collection DOAJ
description The brittle shear failure of rock mass structural planes is an important cause of structure-controlled rockburst, which severely threatens the safety construction of deep rock engineering. Quantifying the brittleness of the shear process of rock mass structural planes is of great significance for evaluating the disaster-causing tendency of jointed rock. However, quantitative analyses of shear deformation brittleness of rock mass structural planes remain scarce. Based on the analysis of typical shear stress-shear displacement curves, an innovative shear brittleness evaluation index was constructed. The proposed index comprehensively couples pre-peak shear deformation stiffness, post-peak stress drop and deformation characteristics and provides a scientific metric to quantitatively evaluate the brittleness of the shear deformation process of rock mass structural planes. Direct shear tests under different normal stress conditions were conducted on regular toothed structural planes of sandstone. The brittleness of shear deformation curves was quantitatively analyzed using the proposed shear brittleness index, revealing the effects of asperity angle and normal stress on shear brittleness. Analytical results show that the proposed index can reasonably characterize the brittleness of shear deformation of rock mass structural planes. The determination of parameters is discussed, and objective and reliable methods are recommended for selecting the required process parameters. The proposed shear brittleness index serves as a tool for the objective and quantitative evaluation of brittleness during the shear process of rock mass structural planes. It holds significant application value for the prevention of engineering and geological disasters induced by shear instability of rock mass structural planes.
format Article
id doaj-art-e06ba71149954504be80b3c8b222aa6e
institution Kabale University
issn 2590-1230
language English
publishDate 2025-09-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Results in Engineering
spelling doaj-art-e06ba71149954504be80b3c8b222aa6e2025-08-23T04:49:03ZengElsevierResults in Engineering2590-12302025-09-012710682710.1016/j.rineng.2025.106827A shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysisSheng Li0Pengxian Fan1Ziming Xiong2Qiliang Yang3Haozhe Xing4Haiming Jiang5State Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of Explosion and Impact, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210007, ChinaCorresponding author.; State Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of Explosion and Impact, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210007, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of Explosion and Impact, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210007, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of Explosion and Impact, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210007, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of Explosion and Impact, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210007, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of Explosion and Impact, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210007, ChinaThe brittle shear failure of rock mass structural planes is an important cause of structure-controlled rockburst, which severely threatens the safety construction of deep rock engineering. Quantifying the brittleness of the shear process of rock mass structural planes is of great significance for evaluating the disaster-causing tendency of jointed rock. However, quantitative analyses of shear deformation brittleness of rock mass structural planes remain scarce. Based on the analysis of typical shear stress-shear displacement curves, an innovative shear brittleness evaluation index was constructed. The proposed index comprehensively couples pre-peak shear deformation stiffness, post-peak stress drop and deformation characteristics and provides a scientific metric to quantitatively evaluate the brittleness of the shear deformation process of rock mass structural planes. Direct shear tests under different normal stress conditions were conducted on regular toothed structural planes of sandstone. The brittleness of shear deformation curves was quantitatively analyzed using the proposed shear brittleness index, revealing the effects of asperity angle and normal stress on shear brittleness. Analytical results show that the proposed index can reasonably characterize the brittleness of shear deformation of rock mass structural planes. The determination of parameters is discussed, and objective and reliable methods are recommended for selecting the required process parameters. The proposed shear brittleness index serves as a tool for the objective and quantitative evaluation of brittleness during the shear process of rock mass structural planes. It holds significant application value for the prevention of engineering and geological disasters induced by shear instability of rock mass structural planes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025028919Rock jointShear brittleness indexDirect shear testShear stress-shear displacement curve
spellingShingle Sheng Li
Pengxian Fan
Ziming Xiong
Qiliang Yang
Haozhe Xing
Haiming Jiang
A shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysis
Results in Engineering
Rock joint
Shear brittleness index
Direct shear test
Shear stress-shear displacement curve
title A shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysis
title_full A shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysis
title_fullStr A shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysis
title_full_unstemmed A shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysis
title_short A shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysis
title_sort shear brittleness index for rock joints and its application in direct shear failure analysis
topic Rock joint
Shear brittleness index
Direct shear test
Shear stress-shear displacement curve
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025028919
work_keys_str_mv AT shengli ashearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT pengxianfan ashearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT zimingxiong ashearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT qiliangyang ashearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT haozhexing ashearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT haimingjiang ashearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT shengli shearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT pengxianfan shearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT zimingxiong shearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT qiliangyang shearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT haozhexing shearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis
AT haimingjiang shearbrittlenessindexforrockjointsanditsapplicationindirectshearfailureanalysis