Shear strength of discontinuities –

myths and tricks

Louis WONG
PhD (MIT), BSc (HKU)

Associate Professor
Director, MSc in Applied Geosciences and PgD in Earth Sciences
Department of Earth Sciences
The University of Hong Kong
Myths?
1. Is friction angle equivalent to shear strength?

2. What is the difference between basic friction angle and residual

friction angle?

3. How many direct shear tests shall be performed to determine

discontinuity shear strength?

4. Why is dilation correction required in direct shear test?

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Myths?
5. How can the shear strength be determined without performing the
direct shear test?

6. Can JRC be used to assess roughness of large joint?

7. For a particular rock joint, is friction angle a constant value?

8. Apparent cohesion is real or virtual?

3
Outline

• Background (UG level)

• Prof. Steve Hencher’s understanding of rock joint shear strength

• Direct shear test

• Barton-Bandis strength model

• Instantaneous cohesion and friction

Pulley experiment demonstrating SURFACE
FRICTION

Advantages:
- Using gravity to apply the shear force
- The applied force is constant (as compared with hand pushing)

Limitations:
- The force applied onto the block cannot be accurately measured because of
friction in other components
- The shear displacement is not easy to measure
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From web
Shear strength of planar surfaces
(1) In a shear test each specimen is subjected to a stress sn normal to the
bedding plane, and the shear stress t, required to cause a displacement d, is
measured.

(2) The shear stress will increase rapidly until the peak strength is reached.
This corresponds to the sum of the strength of the ________________
material bonding the two halves of the bedding plane together and the
frictional resistance of the matching surfaces.

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(1) Set-up (2) Result
Shear strength of planar surfaces
(3) As the displacement continues, the shear stress will fall to some
residual value that will then remain constant, even for large shear
displacements.

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(1) Set-up (2) Result
Plotting the peak and residual shear strengths for different normal stresses
results in the two lines.

For planar discontinuity surfaces the experimental points will generally fall
along straight lines. The peak strength line has a slope of f and an intercept of
c on the shear strength axis. The residual strength line has a slope of fr. The
relationship between the peak shear strength tp and the normal stress sn can
be represented by the Mohr-Coulomb equation:

Apparent cohesion 8
Myths?
1. Is friction angle equivalent to shear strength?

Ans: No. They are related, but not identical.

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Outline

• Background (UG level) ()

• Prof. Steve Hencher’s understanding of rock joint shear strength

• Direct shear test

• Barton-Bandis strength model

• Instantaneous cohesion and friction

Sesction 5.3 – Origins of properties
(5.3.1 – 5.3.4)
Section 5.7 – Rock discontinuity
Properties 11
Shear strength of rock joints
Concept of basic friction angle

Note that “basic” =

“residual” in this figure
Basic friction angle

http://pages.uoregon.edu/jroering/slopestabilitydemo.html 15
Myths?
2. What is the difference between basic friction angle and residual
friction angle?

Ans: Two different concepts

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Determination of Direct Shear Strength of Rock
Discontinuities Under Constant Normal Force
• Hencher and Richards (1982) has proposed that corrections for
dilation should be made at peak shear stress and its corresponding
normal stress to incorporate the effects of roughness as well as errors
in setting the joint horizontally in the shear box.

• By doing so, all data are made to represent effectively the shear
strength of a naturally textured and planar surface.

• The effect that roughness will have on shear strength can be

considered separately by field measurements once the normalized
strength had been determined.
Outline

• Background (UG level) ()

• Prof. Steve Hencher’s understanding of rock joint shear strength()

• Direct shear test

• Barton-Bandis strength model

• Instantaneous cohesion and friction

 Schematic of an example shear box
Rock specimen with an open discontinuity is set in the shear machine with the shear surface to
be tested aligned with the horizontal and sheared along the desired direction, and within the
shear gap.

The test jointed rock specimen is mounted inside of the shear box and grouted into the upper
and lower halves of the shear box. The specimen is then subjected to normal and shear
stresses.
CALCULATIONS
• Calculate the normal (σ) and shear (τ) stresses by using the following
equations:

σ = Pn/A
τ = Ps/A
• where Pn is the normal force (in kN);
• Ps is the shear force (in kN);
• A is the gross joint surface area under loading (in mm2).
Joint surface area
• Gross joint surface area under loading will change as the joint is
being sheared.

• For joints of regular geometric shapes, mathematical formula can

be used.

• For irregular shapes, the area can be calculated graphically in

steps and in between points can be approximated by
interpolation.
Regular elliptical shape
• For regular elliptical shape such as a inclined joint surface on a
circular rock core, the following equation can be used for calculating
effective area, Ae.

a and b: measured before shear test

u: measured during shear test (shear displacement)
Corrections

 A series of tests on different samples of a joint will often

yield very wide scatter, which is meaningless without
correcting for sample-specific dilation, as described by
Hencher & Richards (1989) and Hencher (1995).

 Dilation reflects work being done in overriding asperities.

 i = laboratory-scale dilation angle

Example
(applied)

corrected

uncorrected
End of the test
• The maximum shear strength is defined as the maximum shear stress
acquired during the test.

• The minimum travel of total shear displacement should be at least

10% (or 0.1L) of the maximum joint surface length in the direction of
shear.
Example

1
3 2
2 1
3
Myths?
3. How many direct shear tests shall be performed to determine
discontinuity shear strength?
Ans: At least three at different normal loads

Apparent cohesion

4. Why is dilation correction required in direct shear test?

Ans: To obtain effectively the shear strength of a naturally textured
and planar surface 28
Outline

• Background (UG level) ()

• Prof. Steve Hencher’s understanding of rock joint shear strength ()

• Direct shear test ()

• Barton-Bandis strength model

• Instantaneous cohesion and friction

Barton-
Bandis
strength
model
 What is Barton-Bandis strength model ?

The Barton-Bandis strength model establishes the shear strength of a failure plane as:

where fr is the residual friction angle of the failure surface [Barton and Choubey,
1977],

JRC is the joint roughness coefficient, and JCS is the joint wall compressive strength.

For further information on the shear strength of discontinuities, including a discussion

of the Barton-Bandis failure criterion parameters, see Chapter 4 of Practical Rock
Engineering by Dr. Evert Hoek, available on the Rocscience website.

https://www.rocscience.com/help/slide3/slide3Dmodel/Barton-Bandis.htm
Recap: While maintaining a constant load normal to the nominal shear
surface of the specimen, an increasing external shear load is applied
along the designated shear surface to cause a shear displacement.

Peak shear strength – the

maximum shear stress in the
complete shear stress –
displacement curve.

Residual shear strength – the

shear stress at which no further
rise or fall in shear strength is
observed with increasing shear
displacement.

Generalized Shear Stress and Shear Displacement Curve

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• Determine Joint Roughness
Coefficient (JRC) for the profile
of the rock joint before testing
 Field estimates of JCS (An index test)
• Suggested methods for estimating the joint wall
compressive strength were published by the ISRM (1978).

• The use of the Schmidt rebound hammer for estimating

joint wall compressive strength was proposed by Deere and
Miller (1966).

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Depend on the
wall orientation

Estimate of joint wall compressive

strength from Schmidt hardness.
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Myths?
5. How can the shear strength be determined without performing the
direct shear test?

Ans: Using the Barton-Bandis strength model with the proper

determination of JRC and JCS

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Merits of the Barton-Bandis strength model
• No need to perform direct shear test
• Can be performed by simple field test
• Take scale into consideration
• Non-linear criterion
Influence of scale on JRC and JCS

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Myths?
6. Can JRC be used to assess roughness of large joint?

Ans: Use the empirical equations

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Outline

• Background (UG level) ()

• Prof. Steve Hencher’s understanding of rock joint shear strength ()

• Direct shear test ()

• Barton-Bandis strength model ()

• Instantaneous cohesion and friction

 Instantaneous cohesion and friction
• Due to the historical development of the subject of rock mechanics, many of
the analyses, used to calculate factors of safety against sliding, are expressed in
terms of the Mohr- Coulomb cohesion and friction angle (a straight line
defined by two parameters).

• Since the 1970s it has been recognised that the relationship between shear
strength and normal stress is more accurately represented by a non-linear
relationship such as that proposed by Barton and Bandis (1990).

• However, because this relationship is not expressed in terms of c and f, it is

necessary to devise some means for estimating the equivalent cohesive
strengths and angles of friction from relationships such as those proposed by
Barton and Bandis.
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Definition of ______________________ cohesion ci and
instantaneous friction angle fi for a nonlinear failure
criterion

3
??

2 ??

1 fi

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Myths?
7. For a particular rock joint, is friction angle a constant value?

Ans: No. It varies with the applied normal load (stress).

8. Apparent cohesion is real or virtual?

Ans: It can either be real (with cementation) or virtual (mathematical
intercept).

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Outline

• Background (UG level) ()

• Prof. Steve Hencher’s understanding of rock joint shear strength ()

• Direct shear test ()

• Barton-Bandis strength model ()

• Instantaneous cohesion and friction ()

 Thank you!
Louis WONG (LNYWONG@hku.hk)
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