Influences of Roughness Sampling Interval and Anisotropy on Shear Failure Mechanism of Rock Joint Surface

Roughness is an important factor affecting the engineering stability of jointed rock masses. The existing roughness evaluation methods are all based on a uniform sampling interval, which changes the geometrical morphology of the original profile and inevitably ignores the influence of secondary fluctuations on the roughness. Based on the point cloud data obtained by 3D laser scanning, a non-equal interval sampling method and an equation for determining the sampling frequency on the roughness profile are proposed. The results show that the non-equal interval sampling method can successfully maintain the morphological characteristics of the original profile and reduce the data processing cost. Additionally, direct shear tests under constant normal load (CNL) conditions are carried out to study the influence of roughness anisotropy on the shear failure mechanism of joint surfaces. It is found that with the increase in shear displacement, the variations in the shear stress are related to the failure mechanisms of dilatancy and shear fracture of the joint. Finally, the distributions of shear stress, dilatancy and fracture areas on the rough joint in different shear directions are calculated theoretically. Results show that the anisotropy and failure mechanism of rough joint can be well characterized by the modified root mean square parameter Z2′.