Modern approach to the stress-strain state assessment of a mining structure design, especially when it is non-linearly deformed and areas of local destruction appear, should be based on the principle of step-by-step loading in the form of small increments of the loading factor. At each such step, due to fracture, the deformation properties of the materials composing the region change, forming a generally non-uniform and, possibly, non-linear deformation medium. The modelling results of the rock massif state within this approach may differ significantly from the results for one-step loading, which is usually used in researches.
The article discusses the use of an iterative process of loading and destruction as applied to the simplest design, namely, for one-dimensional loading of a homogeneous rock specimen. It is shown that under the “rigid” loading conditions, the described approach makes it possible to simulate the characteristic features of damage localization in the sample and the nonlinear nature of the deformation as a whole, including post failure deformation.