Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Abstract: Neither the finite element method nor the discontinuous deformation analysis method can solve
problems very well in rock mechanics and engineering due to their extreme complexities. A coupling method
combining both of them should have wider applicability. Such a model coupling the discontinuous deforma-
tion analysis method and the finite element method is proposed in this paper. In the model, so-called line
blocks are introduced to deal with the interaction via the common interfacial boundary of the discontinuous
deformation analysis domain with the finite element domain. The interfacial conditions during the incre-
mental iteration process are satisfied by means of the line blocks. The requirement of gradual small dis-
placements in each incremental step of this coupling method is met through a displacement control proce-
dure. The model is simple in concept and is easy in numerical implementation. A numerical example is
given. The displacement obtained by the coupling method agrees well with those obtained by the finite ele-
ment method, which shows the rationality of this model and the validity of the implementation scheme.
Key words: discontinuous deformation analysis; finite element method; coupling model; line block; rock
mechanics and engineering
Rock mechanics has developed into a widely applica- (RBSM) , and the discontinuous deformation analy-
[3]
ble interdisciplinary subject since it was introduced in sis (DDA) method . [4]
the 1950s. Rock blocks, which are the objects investi- DDA was first proposed by Shi and Goodman for [5]
gated in rock mechanics, contain a diverse range of simulating blocky systems. In the DDA method, each
discontinuities, such as joints, fissures, faults, contact discontinuity may be assigned a different representa-
zones, and shear zones. These discontinuities must be tive friction angle, cohesion, and tensile strength.
treated properly so that problems in rock mechanics Every block is deformable with constant strain and
can be well solved and understood. In 1968, Goodman stress. Contact between blocks is controlled by so-
et al. proposed for the first time a joint element to
[1] called penalty functions, which allow reactions to de-
deal with rock blocks in numerical modeling schemes. velop via small block interpenetrations. During each
Since then, research into the handling of discontinui- time step, the iteration proceeds by enforcing no-
ties of rock mass has been paid more and more atten- tension, no-penetration criteria. One of the advantages
tion and much improvement has been achieved. At of the DDA method is that as time progresses and the
present, there exist three main numerical methods for blocks move and deform, the mode of failure (if any)
becomes apparent and no prior assumptions are
Received: 2003-08-29; revised: 2004-05-18 involved.
* * To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Compared with the boundary element method
E-mail: mzhang@tsinghua.edu.cn; Tel: 86-10-62795372
222 Tsinghua Science and Technology, April 2005, 10(2): 221 - 226
(BEM) L J
, the finite element method (FEM) is more constant all through each block, and deformation of
suitable for continuum analysis and has been widely each block is described by translation displacements uo
applied for a long time in rock engineering, e.g., the and v , rotation angle r of the rigid block, and strains
0 0
Recently, some coupling of the D D A method and displacements at any point (x, y) in a block i are then
the F E M has been discussed for rock mechanics and [uvf^T^ (1)
engineering p r o b l e m s [8_11]
. In these problems, e.g., un-
with A = W i ^ ^ i 3 ^ 4 ^ ^ i 6 ] = [ w o v o r o ^ c ^ ^ ] T T
being
derground excavation, we can divide the considered
5 5 5 5 5 5 5
1
[ 1 x-x 0 0 y-y 0 (x-x )/2_ '
0
nuities or the region adjacent to the excavation, which
is in a discontinuum state and should be simulated by Three types of contact between blocks may occur in
DDA. The other kind is the comparatively intact region a block system. They are contact between a convex
with fewer discontinuities or the field far from the ex- vertex and an edge, between a convex vertex and a
cavation, which can be simplified into a continuum concave vertex, and between two convex vertices (see
state and is therefore suitable for the finite element (FE) Fig. 1). Penetration may happen when one vertex goes
simulation. The DDA-FE coupling methods therefore through the corresponding entrance line. A possible
have an advantage over the use of the D D A method or deformation of the block system must comply, how-
the F E M alone in these cases. ever, with two prior conditions, namely no penetration
Bai et al. divided each D D A block into finite ele- and no tension between blocks. Rigid springs can be
ments and used the F E M to calculate the strain in each added or removed at contact points to meet these con-
b l o c k ' . This coupling approach gives good results
[9 10] ditions.
in the rupture process simulation of earthquakes.
Cheng et al. proposed another coupling m o d e l [11]
. In
this model, the F E nodes coincide unnecessarily with
the vertices of D D A blocks on the interface. This
model engenders the unreasonable coupling schemes
as the F E nodal forces are allocated onto the corre-
sponding coincident D D A nodes according to the D D A
Convex vertex Convex vertex Convex vertex
block area after the computation in the FE region, and
Fig. 1 Three types of contact
each F E node receives the average displacements of all
its connecting D D A vertices after the computation in The total potential energy of the block system is the
the D D A region. summation over all the potential energy sources, i.e.,
This paper presents a coupling model of the D D A individual stresses (for strain energy) and external
method and the F E M to take full advantage of both forces (for potential energy) including the initial stress,
methods to simulate accurately real-life problems. point load, line load, body load, bolt connection, iner-
With this model, we can exploit the D D A discretiza- tia force, viscous force, etc. According to the principle
tion and the FE discretization for different regions. It is of minimum potential energy, the system will arrive at
necessary, of course, that the coupling condition for equilibrium as a result of minimizing the potential en-
displacement and force consistency at the interface ergy function.
should be satisfied in the coupling algorithm. For a system containing blocks, the total potential
energy, 77, can be written as
1 Discontinuous Displacement
Analysis
7 7
= Zii^' 4 Td +c
()
2
i=l
In the D D A method, a rock system is regarded as gath- where on the right hand side, the first item denotes the
ered blocks cut by discontinuous surfaces. Strain is deformation potential energy, and the second item is
the summation of other potential energies. The
ZHANG Ming ^ ) et al: A Coupling Model of the Discontinuous Deformation 223
equilibrium condition for block i yields the following by the self-load and the DDA-deformation due to
equilibrium equations: the DDA-load / coming from the action of the ad-
jacent DDA domain. The DDA-load records the in-
^ = 0, j = w (3)
formation of the DDA-deformation in the FE domain.
In this model, the DDA-load is kept in the nodal load
where d are the six deformation variables of block z.
vector of the FE equation and is called the saved-load
rj
(4)
simple coupling scheme suggested by the present au-
K
N l K
NN_ D
N _ N_
thors. In Fig. 2, the line blocks are those parts of the
F
2 A Coupling Model
displacement control in each time step. Only by con- such that the DDA domain acts on the FE domain in
trolling the displacement increments in every time step the same proportion and obtain the saved-load to be
can we simulate accurately the whole deformation used in the next iteration as follows:
process. /saved = ^
/ + /saved (10)
based on the coupling model described above has been The material contact behavior is described by the
programmed by the present authors. The original DDA Mohr-Coulomb law with a friction angle 30. For the
source code is developed by Shi. The linear elastic 2-D whole system, the density is 8xl0 kg/m and the elas- 3 3
FE code is available in many publications. Only the tic material parameters are: =200 GPa, v=0.3. The
numerical implementation of the coupling model is de- gravitational acceleration is 10 m/s in this example.
scribed here as follows: This problem is also analyzed by the FEM. In the FE
1) Generate the FE mesh, DDA blocks, and DDA computation, only the FE domain in Fig. 3, is consid-
line blocks; ered with concentrated forces (0,-1.48xl0 kN) at the 5
2) Form the stiffness matrix with the FE mesh and contact points A and caused by the deadweight of the
calculate the self-deformation of the FE domain. Di- DDA block.
vide the self-deformation into a number of equal parts (50,100)
4 Numerical Tests
D i s p l a c e m e n t in d i r e c t i o n ( c m ) D i s p l a c e m e n t in y d i r e c t i o n ( c m )
Point
Coupling method FEM Coupling method FEM
1 0.387 38 0 . 3 9 2 15 - 1 . 5 7 5 17 - 1 . 5 8 2 74
2 0.255 07 0.257 86 - 2 . 7 0 1 81 - 2 . 7 2 3 40
3 0 . 1 2 9 31 0 . 1 3 1 17 - 3 . 4 4 7 76 - 3 . 4 8 5 43
4 - 0 . 0 0 6 86 - 0 . 0 0 6 90 - 3 . 7 0 1 07 -3.743 25
5 - 0 . 1 4 5 22 - 0 . 1 4 7 18 - 3 . 4 5 0 61 - 3 . 4 8 8 32
6 - 0 . 2 6 8 06 - 0 . 2 7 0 83 - 2 . 6 9 6 98 - 2 . 7 1 8 38
7 - 0 . 4 0 0 14 - 0 . 4 0 5 04 - 1 . 5 7 2 13 - 1 . 5 7 9 63
226 Tsinghua Science and Technology, April 2 0 0 5 , 10(2): 2 2 1 - 2 2 6
[7] G u Q, P e n g S Z , L i . U n d e r g r o u n d C a v i t y E n g i n e e r -
A coupling model of the DDA method and the FEM is
ing. B e i j i n g : T s i n g h u a U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 9 4 . (in C h i n e s e )
presented and verified in this paper. Some conclusions
[8] K u o k a i S, R e z a S M , S h a h b a z i A . N u m e r i c a l m o d e l i n g o f
are obtained as follows:
d e f o r m a b l e p a r t i c l e s . In: P r o c . 1st Int. F o r u m o n D D A .
1) A displacement control with a gradual small de-
Berkeley, U S , 1996: 446-453.
formation hypothesis is the key to successful imple-
[9] B a i W M , L i n , C h e n A . N u m e r i c a l s i m u l a t i o n s of
mentation of the coupling model. This is achieved
d e f o r m a t i o n a n d m o v e m e n t of b l o c k s w i t h i n N o r t h C h i n a
through loading in multiple steps in the FEM, and
in r e s p o n s e t o 1 9 7 6 T a n g s h a n e a r t h q u a k e . Sei. China Ser.
through exploiting the upper displacement bound in
D, 2 0 0 3 , 4 6 ( z 2 ) : 1 4 1 - 1 5 2 .
each step in the DDA. The interfacial conditions are
[10] C h e n A , B a i W M , L i n B H . N u m e r i c a l s i m u l a t i o n for
also satisfied by the displacement control.
r u p t u r e p r o c e s s e s o f a series of s t r o n g e a r t h q u a k e s ( M - s > 7 )
2) The adoption of line blocks successfully provides
in N o r t h C h i n a s i n c e 1 9 9 6 . Chinese J. Geophys., 2003,
a solution scheme for the interaction between the FE
4 6 ( 3 ) : 3 7 3 - 3 8 1 . (in C h i n e s e )
domain and the DDA domain. It also overcomes the
[ I I ] C h e n g M , Z h a n g H , W a n g J. C o u p l i n g of F E M a n d
shortages of the coupling scheme of Cheng et al. [11]