A three-dimensional numerical model for simulating deformation and failure of blocky rock structures

This paper presents a three-dimensional numerical model for simulation of blocky rock structures based on static relaxation approach. The proposed method utilizes static equilibrium equations to calculate the displacements of blocks, compared to Newton's second law applied by the traditional DEM. In order to obtain displacements simultaneously, the technique of global stiffness matrix is introduced in to form the global equilibrium equations. Because large displacements come from the accumulation of small displacement increments, an iteration procedure is adopted in the calculation. A C++ program is developed based on the proposed algorithm, and an illustrative example is computed for verification.