Damage constitutive model for strain-softening rock based on normal distribution and its parameter determination

Firstly, using the damage model for rock based on Lemaitre hypothesis about strain equivalence, a new technique for measuring strength of rock micro-cells by adopting the Mohr-Coulomb criterion was developed, and a statistical damage evolution equation was established based on the property that strength of micro-cells is consistent with normal distribution function, through discussing the characteristics of random distributions for strength of micro-cells, then a statistical damage constitutive model that can simulate the full process of rock strain softening under specific confining pressure was set up. Secondly, a new method to determine the model parameters which can be applied to the situations under different confining pressures was proposed, by deeply studying the relations between the model parameters and characteristic parameters of the full stress-strain curve under different confining pressures. Therefore, a unified statistical damage constitutive model for rock softening which can reflect the effect of different confining pressures was set up. This model makes the physical property of model parameters explicit, contains only conventional mechanical parameters, and leads its application more convenient. Finally, the rationality of this model and its parameters-determining method were identified via comparative analyses between theoretical and experimental curves.