Rock Fracture and Fragmentation Modelling

This book explains the development and application of combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) in modelling the fracture and fragmentation of rocks under various static and dynamic loads as well as the instability and collapse process of geostructures in various engineering applications.

The authors first review the state-of-the-art of rock fracture and fragmentation modelling and then introduce the unique, pioneering and advanced features they implemented for both two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) FDEM, such as massive general-purpose graphic-processing-unit (GPGPU) parallelization, novel adaptive/semi-adaptive contact activation approaches, and many more. The book then explains how to use various strength and compression tests to calibrate GPGPU-parallelized FDEM by modelling the fracture progressive process of rocks under static and dynamic loads. Finally, GPGPU-parallelized FDEM is applied to model rock fracture and fragmentation in various scenarios including rock blasting, the development of excavation damage zone induced by tunnelling with contour blasting, and excavation-induced rock burst process during deep tunnelling under high in-situ stresses. The appendix includes an executable version of the authors’ GPGPU-parallelized FDEM software with executable examples. Through this book, readers will be able to master the fundamental theories of state-of-the-art hybrid continuous-discontinuous computational mechanics methods as well as advanced GPGPU-parallelized FDEM features and apply these to model rock fracture and fragmentation. They can then apply this in contexts such as breaking the ground for resource extraction or intelligent construction, preventing geostructure failure, or other geohazard mitigation and prevention.

This is a valuable guide for researchers and practitioners who are seeking a robust, versatile and efficient computational mechanics method to model rock fracture and fragmentation. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students can also use this to build their knowledge and understanding of numerical simulation of rock fracture.