Simulation of unstable rock failure under unloading conditions

Rockburst is an unstable rock failure and one of the most hazardous problems in deep hard-rock mines. Before excavation, rocks are loaded under a polyaxial condition. Upon excavation, the rocks at the excavation boundaries are loaded in the tangential direction and unloaded in the radial direction. Understanding rock behaviour under this excavation loading condition is critical for developing measures to control rock failure in underground construction. In this paper, numerical simulation results of unstable rock failure using an explicit finite element tool are presented. Firstly, uniaxial compression tests were simulated to confirm the suitability of the adopted numerical tool for simulating unstable rock failures. Transferred energy ratio (TER) and loading system reaction intensity (LSRI) were proposed as indicators to distinguish between stable and unstable failures. Secondly, unstable rock failures under polyaxial unloading conditions were simulated. The influences of loading system stiffness (LSS), specimen's height to width ratio (H/W), and intermediate principal stress (sigma(2)) on rock failure were investigated. The simulation results showed that rock failure was more violent when the loading system was softer, the specimen was taller, and the confinement was lower. The modelling approach presented in this paper can be useful for predicting unstable rock failure and estimating released kinetic energy, which is important for designing rock support in deep tunnels to control rockburst damage.