Influence of discontinuities on post-peak behavior of rock in uniaxial compressive test by numerical study

Post-peak behavior of the rock mass is an important characteristic to evaluate the stability of underground infrastructures and the violence of rock failure. In the field, there are always various types of discontinuities in the rock mass. With the numerical code, RFPA, a series of unconfined compressive tests on the rock specimens containing discontinuities with different orientations and numbers were conducted to analyze their influences on the post-peak behavior of rock. The post-peak moduli of the specimens under different tests were estimated. Comparing the failure modes, stress-strain curves, post-peak moduli and accumulated AE events during the tests, several useful insights were obtained.