Discontinuous deformation analysis with distributed bond for the modelling of rock deformation and failure

Abstract Fracture and fragmentation of rock under various loadings or in multi-field conditions are important topics in many rock engineering scenarios. Numerical tools are commonly applied to evaluate the rock deformation and progressive failure process, while the accuracy and efficiency of the analysis are closely related to the applied fracture models. In this paper, an improved discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) program with the distributed bond (DB) is proposed for rock deformation and rock fragmentation analysis. The jointed rock model is regarded as an assembly of triangular elements connected with DBs and contacts. The DB uses distributed constraints to bond the co-edge elements for continuous deformation modeling, and the fracturing and fragmentation of rock material is fulfilled by progressive DB failure with linear and nonlinear bond constitutive models. The theory, formulation, and implementation of DB in DDA framework are given in detail. The feasibility and accuracy of the proposed DB in simulating rock deformation and failure process are verified by several examples.