Rock failure analysis using smoothed-particle hydrodynamics

This paper presents a numerical simulation for predicting fracture and failure growth of geomaterial using smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH). The first example deals with slope stability analysis of a chromite mine having friable chromite as the ore body. The ultimate pit may reach up to 144 m below the surface with an ultimate pit angle of 30° for 19 benches. It is require to forecast the stability of the ultimate pit slope for a given material and pit geometry. This paper analyses the stability of this slope by considering Drucker–Prager rock mass medium using the SPH procedure. The second example comprises the fracture growth of a circular rock specimen under diametrically opposite concentrated angular loads. In order to determine the plastic regime of the specimen for a given tensile strength, the Rankine maximum tensile failure criterion is implemented in the SPH framework.