This paper aims to determine the strength properties of jointed rock masses by means of the homogenization method. To reflect the microstructure of jointed rock masses, a representative element volume (REV) is selected. Assuming being rigid and perfectly plastic and utilizing the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion for rock and joints, an upper bound limit analysis method is proposed based on the homogenization theory. By using the finite element method and Goodman joint element, a nonlinear mathematical programming with equality constraints is formulated, which can be solved by a direct iterative algorithm. Numerical results show the strength of jointed rock masses behaves anisotropy with different joint directions. This method presents an effective tool for the strength analysis of jointed rock masses.
Hongtao ZhangJianming ZhuYinghua LiuBingye XuXiaochun Wang
The load-bearing capacity of ductile composite structures comprised of periodic composites is studied by a combined micro/macromechanicai approach. Firstly, on the microscopic level, a representative volume element (RVE) is selected to reflect the microstructures of the composite materials and the constituents are assumed to be elastic perfectly-plastic. Based on the homogenization theory and the static limit theorem, an optimization formulation to directly calculate the macroscopic strength domain of the RVE is obtained. The finite element modeling of the static limit analysis is formulated as a nonlinear mathematical programming and solved by the sequential quadratic programming method, where the temperature parameter method is used to construct the self-stress field. Secondly, Hill's yield criterion is adopted to connect the micromechanicai and macromechanical analyses. And the limit loads of composite structures are worked out on the macroscopic scale. Finally, some examples and comparisons are shown.