Response models of weakly consolidated soft rock roadway under different interior pressures considering dilatancy effect

Surrounding rocks of weakly consolidated soft rock roadway show obvious strain softening and dilatancy effects after excavation. A damage coefficient concerning modulus attenuation was defined. Response models of stress and displacement of surrounding rock of soft rock roadway and analytical expressions to calculate plastic zones under different interior pressures and non-uniform original rock stresses were derived based on damage theories and a triple linear elastic-plastic strain softening model. Influence laws of dilatancy gradient on damage development, distributions of stresses and displacement in plastic region were analyzed. Interior pressure conditions to develop plastic region under different origin rock stresses were established and their influences on plastic region distribution were also discussed. The results show that the order of maximum principle stress is exchanged between ~0 and trr with the increase of interior pressure P0, which causes distributions of plastic zone and stress shift. Dilatancy effect which has great influences on the damage propagation and displacements in plastic region has little effect on the size of plastic region and stress responses. The conclusions provide a theoretical basis for a reasonable evaluation of stability and effective supporting of weakly consolidated soft rock roadway.

Simulation of Fatigue Stiffness Degradation in Prestressed Concrete Beams under Cyclic Loading

In order to investigate and research the fatigue cracking of prestressed concrete fatigue properties and loading and stiffness degeneration process,cyclic loading tests were carried out on six prestressed concrete beams and the stiffness degradation under fatigue was investigated. A simulation model of stiffness degradation is proposed based on the stiffness analysis of the fatigue-damaged section. The elastic modulus of damaged concrete and the effective residual area of steel were introduced as well as an adjusted three-stage concrete fatigue damage evolution model. The strip method was used to analyze concrete damage due to changing stress along the depth of the beam section. The simulation and test results were compared and a method of predicting fatigue deflection was presented based on the simulation model. The predicted results were compared with that of the neural network method. It is in good agreement for the simulation results with the test results. It is only less than5% error for the simulation model which can reveal the two-stage degradation of prestressed concrete beams under cyclic loading. It is more precise for the simulation prediction method under proper conditions.