An improved three-dimensional spherical DDA model for simulating rock failure

In this paper, a discontinuous numerical model, namely SDDARF(3D) (three-dimensional spherical discontinuous deformation analysis for rock failure), is proposed for simulating the whole process of rock failure. Firstly, within the framework of the classical discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) method, the formulation of three-dimensional spherical DDA (3D SDDA) is deduced; secondly, a bonding and cracking algorithm is constructed and the SDDARF(3D) model is proposed; thirdly, corresponding VC++ calculation code is developed and some verification examples are calculated. The simulated results can intuitively reproduce the failure phenomena of rock mass, indicating that the proposed SDDARF(3D) numerical model is correct and effective.