Cylindrical Hole in an Infinite Hoek-Brown Medium 2-1

2 Cylindrical Hole in an Infinite Hoek-Brown Medium

2.1 Problem Statement

Stresses and displacements are calculated for the case of a cylindrical hole in an infinite Hoek-Brown
medium subjected to an in-situ stress field and supported by an internal pressure. We consider a
cylindrical hole with a radius b = 2 m, created within an infinite body under a uniform compressive
stress of magnitude σo = 30 MPa. Support is provided by an internal pressure of pi = 5 MPa.
The body has three material properties:
shear modulus (G) 2.20 GPa
bulk modulus (K) 3.667 GPa
density (ρ) 2000 kg/m3

Values of the Hoek-Brown strength properties for the rock are

mb 1.7
s 0.0039
a 0.5
uniaxial compressive strength
of the intact rock (σci ) 30 MPa

2.2 Closed-Form Solution

The analytical solution for this problem is provided by Carranza-Torres and Fairhurst (1999) for
both associated plastic flow and nonassociated plastic flow (with zero dilation). In this verification
exercise, we only present the case for nonassociated flow.
The scaled far-field stresses, So , and scaled internal pressure, Pi , are determined by Eqs. (2.1) and
(2.2):

σo s
So = + 2 = 0.590 (2.1)
mb σci mb

pi s
Pi = + 2 = 0.099 (2.2)
mb σci mb

The scaled critical internal pressure, Picr , at which the elastic limit of the stress state is reached, is
calculated as

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2-2 Verification Problems

1   2
Picr = 1 − 1 + 16So = 0.311 (2.3)
16

The critical internal pressure,picr , is then

 
s
picr = Picr − 2 mb σci = 15.8 MPa (2.4)
mb

A plastic region develops uniformly around the hole because pi < picr . The extent of the failure
zone is

   
bpl = b exp 2 Pi − Pi
cr = 1.62b = 3.2 m (2.5)

The solution for the radial stress, σr , and tangential stress, σθ , in the plastic region, r ≤ bpl , is as
follows:

   2
1 r
Sr (r) = Pi + ln
cr (2.6)
2 bpl


Sθ (r) = Sr (r) + Sr (r) (2.7)

 
s
σr (r) = Sr (r) − 2 mb σci (2.8)
mb

 
s
σθ (r) = Sθ (r) − 2 mb σci (2.9)
mb

The solution for the stress state in the elastic region, r > bpl , is

 2
bpl
σr (r) = σo − (σo − picr ) (2.10)
r

 2
bpl
σθ (r) = σo + (σo − picr ) (2.11)
r

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Cylindrical Hole in an Infinite Hoek-Brown Medium 2-3

For the case of nonassociated flow with zero dilation, the radial displacement in the plastic region
is

   A1
ur 2G picr bpl A1 + 1 r D r
= 1− +
b σo σci b A1 − 1 bpl 2(So − Pi )(1 − A1 )
cr 3 bpl
 A1  
2 r C r r 2
− + ln (2.12)
A1 − 1 bpl 4(So − Picr )(1 − A1 ) bpl bpl
 
D r r
+ (1 − A 1 ) ln −1
2(So − Picr )(1 − A1 )3 bpl bpl

where: A1 = −Kψ ;
A2 = 1 − ν − νKψ ;
A3 = ν − (1 − ν)Kψ ;
C = A2 − A3 ;
     
D = A2 2(1 − A1 ) Picr − 1 − A3 2(1 − A1 ) Picr − A1 ; and
1+sin ψ
Kψ = 1−sin ψ .
ψ is the dilation angle, G is shear modulus and ν is Poisson’s ratio.

2.3 FLAC 3D Model

The FLAC 3D model created for this problem is a plane-strain model with the plane of analysis
oriented normal to the axis of the hole. Only a quarter of the problem needs to be analyzed, because
of symmetry. The grid is shown in Figure 2.1. As the figure indicates, it is a radially symmetric
mesh with increasing zone size away from the hole. The grid contains 3600 zones, and the boundary
is located at 20 radii from the center of the hole.

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

2-4 Verification Problems

A

,rp,00U 
 0O
l0 g
0:pr:
:G,8G,rp,0p,4Se4,p0E

U40O
000000E 
LTZE
T

0U 
 0O
l0 g
 l000E

Figure 2.1 FLAC 3D zone geometry for the plane-strain model

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Cylindrical Hole in an Infinite Hoek-Brown Medium 2-5

2.4 Results and Discussion

The analytical solution for radial and tangential stresses and radial displacement provided in
Eqs. (2.1) through (2.12) are programmed in the FISH functions in “hb-solution.f3dat.” The analyti-
cal results and FLAC 3D results are then copied into tables for comparison. Table 2.1 shows the input
that is required for the FISH functions to produce the analytical solutions and compare to FLAC 3D
results. The stresses and displacement are compared along a radial path measured from the center
of the hole. The FISH variable radius tunnel is the radius of the tunnel, rb max defines
the length of the normalized path ( radiusr tunnel ), and npts defines the number of measurement
points along the path.

Table 2.1 Hoek solution parameters

Parameter name Value
sig0 30e6
pi 5e6
sigci 30e6
mb 1.7
s 3.9e-3
G 2.2e9
nu 0.25
npts 100
rb max 4.0
radius tunnel 2.0

Figure 2.2 shows the radial and tangential stresses calculated by FLAC 3D, compared to the analytical
solution for σr , and σθ . Figure 2.3 compares radial displacement, ur . The agreement is very good
in both comparisons.
A plot of the Hoek-Brown failure envelope is shown in Figure 2.4. Zone stresses are shown on this
plot, and indicate the extent of the failed zone. Figure 2.5 displays the zone plasticity indicators,
which also indicate the extent of the failure region. This corresponds to the analytical solution of
3.2 m (Eq. (2.5)).

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

2-6 Verification Problems

A


,rp,00D 
 0N
l0 g
0:pr:
:G,8G,rp,0p,4Se4,p0L 

,p0 G 0CyLD.)o 
,r0 G 0CyLD.)o
pp0 G 0C o
pr0 G 0C o 




















0D 
 0N
l0 g       
 l000L 


Figure 2.2 Comparison of σr and σθ for the cylindrical hole in infinite Hoek-
Brown medium (along normalized path 1 < r/ radius tunnel < 4)

A

,rp,0N0F 
 0)
l0N g
0:pr: 
:G,8G,rp,0p,4Se4,,0]

,,0
G0a0CD]F.Lo 
p,0
G0a0C o




e
A e











N0F 
 0)
l0N g        
 l000] e


Figure 2.3 Comparison of ur for the cylindrical hole in an infinite Hoek-

Brown medium (along the normalized path 1 < r/ radius tunnel
< 4)

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Cylindrical Hole in an Infinite Hoek-Brown Medium 2-7


A

,rp,00N 
 0
l0 g
0:pr: 
:G,8G,rp,0p,4Se4,,0f

,.00 
0
  
,S0! 0 0





l
A 










0N 
 0
l0 g                
 l000f l
A 

Figure 2.4 Hoek-Brown failure envelope

A

,rp,00O 
 0P
l0 g
0:pr:
:G,8G,rp,0p,4Se4,,0v

O4000iv" 
H
UHvi0UHvi#
UHvi#

0O 
 0P
l0 g
 l000v

Figure 2.5 Plasticity indicators for Hoek-Brown model

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2-8 Verification Problems

2.5 References

Carranza-Torres, C., and C. Fairhurst. “The Elasto-plastic Response of Underground Excavations

in Rock Masses that Satisfy the Hoek-Brown Failure Criterion,” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 36,
777-809 (1999).
Hoek, E., and E. T. Brown. “Empirical Strength Criterion for Rock Masses,” J. Geotech. Engng.
Div. ASCE, 106, 1013-1035 (1980).
Hoek, E., and E. T. Brown. Underground Excavations in Rock. London: IMM (1982).
Hoek E., and E. T. Brown. “The Hoek-Brown Failure Criterion – A 1988 Update,” in Rock
Engineering for Underground Excavations (Proceedings of the 15th Canadian Rock Mechanics
Symposium, October 1988), pp. 31-38. Toronto: University of Toronto, Department of Civil
Engineering (1988).

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Cylindrical Hole in an Infinite Hoek-Brown Medium 2-9

2.6 Listing of Data File

The project file for this problem is located in the folder “mechanical\hoekhole.”

Example 2.1 HOEKHOLE.F3DAT

set fish autocreate off
set fish safe on
new project

gen zone cshell p0 0 0 0 p1 40 0 0 p2 0 0.2 0 p3 0 0 40 &

dim 2 ratio 1.05 &
size 60 1 60

model mech hoekbrown

prop bulk=3.66700006E9 shear=2.2E9 hbs=0.0039 hbmb=1.7 hbsigci=3.0E7 ...
hba=0.5 hbs3cv=0.0
prop density 2000
initial sxx -3.0E7
initial syy -3.0E7
initial szz -3.0E7
apply nstress -3.0E7 range cylinder end1 0 -1 0 end2 0 1 0 radius 39.9 not
apply nstress -5.0E6 range cylinder end1 0 -1 0 end2 0 1 0 radius 2.1

fix x range x=0

fix y
fix z range z=0

history add id=1 ratio

solve
save hoek
return

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2 - 10 Verification Problems

FLAC 3D Version 5.01