A continuum finite element approach for rock failure and rubble formation

Abstract

A continuum finite element formulation that models the failure of a rock mass, the collapse of this rubble into a void space and the associated bulking of the rubble is presented. This formulation is incorporated into a finite element computer program that treats the large deformation non-linear motion of axisymmetric and two-dimensional continua. A dynamic relaxation procedure is used for the solution algorithm. Example calculations are given that demonstrate the formulation.