Development of new peak shear-strength criterion for anisotropic rock joints

The roughness of a natural rock joint was measured in different directions using a laser profilometer. Two stationary roughness parameters and a nonstationary roughness parameter (all fractal based) were used to quantify anisotropic roughness. A plaster of Paris based model material was used to make model material replicas of the natural rock joint. Direct shear tests were performed at five different normal stresses, in each of the directions that were used for the roughness measurements, to measure the anisotropic peak shear strength of the model joint. Required observations and experiments were conducted to estimate (1) the asperity shear area as a proportion of the total surface area of the joint, for each tested joint; (2) the basic friction angle of the model material; and (3) the joint compressive strength. Tests were also conducted to develop a peak shear-strength criterion for the intact model material. Part of the direct shear test data was used to develop a new peak shear-strength criterion for joints including the aforementioned parameters. The other part of the data was used for model validation.