A damage-softening statistical constitutive model considering rock residual strength

Under stress, the microcracks in rock evolve (initiation, growth and coalescence) from damage to fracture with a continuous process. In order to describe this continuous process, a damage-softening statistical constitutive model for rock was proposed based on the Weibull distribution of mesoscopic element strength. This model usually adopts the Drucker-Prager criterion as its distribution parameter of mesoscopic element strength, which may produce larger damage zone in numerical simulations. This paper mainly studies the effects of strength criteria and residual strength on the performance of this damage-softening statistical constitutive model of rock. Main works include following three aspects: Firstly, the mechanical behaviors of rock are comparatively studied when the Drucker-Prager and the Mohr-Coulomb criteria are employed, respectively, as the distribution parameter. Then, a coefficient is introduced to make this constitutive model be capable of describing the residual strength of rock. Finally, a user-defined subroutine is concisely developed for this model and checked through typical strain paths. The current work lays a good foundation for further application of this model in geotechnics and geosciences. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.