Comparison between shear strength
based on Barton’s roughness profiles and equivalent synthetic profiles based on fractal theory
New conference paper: Ríos Bayona, F., Stigsson, M., Johansson, F. and Mas Ivars, D. (2018) Comparison between shear strength based on Barton’s roughness profiles and equivalent synthetic profiles based on fractal theory. ARMA, American Rock Mechanics Association, ARMA 18–022.
In this paper we investigate the mechanical equivalence in terms of the peak shear strength between synthetic rock fractures, where the surface roughness has been generated using fractal theory, and Barton’s roughness profiles using the particle flow code PFC2D. Numerical shear tests for the Barton’s roughness profiles and a series of synthetic rock joints based on fractal parameters derived from scanning of the predefined profiles with equivalent JRC values were carried out in PFC2D. The results from the numerical shear tests under constant normal load (CNL) were compared with the predicted peak shear strength using Barton’s criterion and a back-calculation of the JRC value was carried out.