A constitutive model for jointed rock mass with orthogonal sets of joints

The development and numerical implementation of a constitutive model for jointed rock media is the subject of investigation in this paper. The constitutive model is bayed on the continuum assumption of strain-partitioning among the elastic rock matrix and joint sets with nonlinear normal and shear responses. Rate equations for the stress-strain response of the jointed media have been formulated. A numerical incremental solution scheme to these equations has been developed. It has been implemented into the finite element code JAC as an additional material model. Several sample problems have been solved for demonstration purposes. Interpretation and discussion of these results are presented.