Composite Element Model of the Fully Grouted Rock Bolt

Summary The three dimensional elasto-viscoplastic composite element method is formulated in this paper for rock masses reinforced by a fully-grouted bolt. If a bolt segment penetrates a finite element representing the rock mass, then a composite element is formed including five sub-elements corresponding to the rock material, the grout material, the bolt material, the rock-grout interface and the bolt-grout interface. The displacements in each sub-element are interpolated from the corresponding nodal displacements of the composite element. By the virtual work principle the governing equation for the solution of the nodal displacements can be formulated. The elasto-viscoplastic characteristics of the materials are considered in the formulation. The new model can be incorporated into the conventional finite element analysis grid, in which several composite elements have fully grouted bolts embedded. In this way the mesh generation of large scale bolted rock structures becomes convenient and feasible. The model has been implemented in a FEM program, and a comparative study between the numerical analysis and a pull out field test has been carried out, from which the validity and the robustness of the new model are justified.