New Method for Shear Strength Determination of Unfilled, Unweathered Rock Joint

Replicas were produced of 20 natural rock joints with different roughness. Factors affecting shear strength were examined and direct shear tests were performed using the replica joints to determine their quantitative shear strength characteristics. Results from the shear tests were best fitted by the power law equation, tau = A sigma(B)(n), where tau is the shear strength and sigma(n) is the normal stress, and regression coefficients A and B were determined. The coefficient A (equal to tau when sigma(n) is 1 MPa) is defined as the friction angle, and B, which determines the curvature of the plot of shear versus normal strength, is a factor that reduces the shear strength. The physical and mechanical properties of the coefficients A and B were defined, and the relationship between these coefficients and the factors affecting shear strength, such as roughness and joint wall strength, were analyzed quantitatively. A new equation, tau = sigma(B)(n)tan[phi(b)+ phi(j)+ s(n)], was suggested to measure and predict shear strength accurately based on results from these analyses, where phi(b) is the basic friction angle, phi(J) is the joint roughness angle, and s(n) is the shear component. Although the new shear strength equation is nonlinear, it is as simple to use as a linear equation and the shear strength can be estimated using only three easily measurable parameters (phi(b), phi(j), and sigma(j), the joint wall compressive strength). The failure envelope estimated using the new shear strength equation not only closely matches the measured shear strength, but also reflects the nonlinear relationship between the normal stress and shear strength.