Strength and damage evolution mechanism of rock mass with holes under cyclic loading

The damage and failure law of rock mass with holes is of great significance to the stability control of roadways. This study investigates the mechanical properties and failure modes of porous rock masses under cyclic loading, elucidates the acoustic emission (AE) characteristics and their spatial evolution, and establishes the interrelation among AE, stress, strain, time, and cumulative damage. The results reveal that the rock mass with holes and the intact rock mass show softening and hardening characteristics after cyclic loading. The plastic strain of the rock mass with holes is smaller than that of the intact rock mass, and the stress −strain curve shows hysteresis characteristics. Under uniaxial compression, the pore-bearing rock mass shows the characteristics of higher ringing count, AE energy, b-value peak, and more cumulative ringing count in the failure stage, while it shows lower characteristics under cyclic action. At the initial stage of loading, compared with the intact rock mass, the pore-containing rock mass shows the characteristics of a low b-value. The AE positioning and cumulative damage percentage are larger, and the AE positioning is denser around the hole. The specimen with holes is mainly shear failure, and the complete specimen is mainly tensile shear failure.

Experimental study of the damage characteristics of rocks containing non-penetrating cracks under cyclic loading

The damage evolution process of non-penetrating cracks often causes some unexpected engineering disasters.Gypsum specimens containing non-penetrating crack(s)are used to study the damage evolution and characteristics under cyclic loading.The results show that under cyclic loading,the relationship between the number of non-penetrating crack(s)and the characteristic parameters(cyclic number,peak stress,peak strain,failure stress,and failure strain)of the pre-cracked specimens can be represented by a decreasing linear function.The damage evolution equation is fitted by calibrating the accumulative plastic strain for each cycle,and the damage constitutive equation is proposed by the concept of effective stress.Additionally,non-penetrating cracks are more likely to cause uneven stress distribution,damage accumulation,and local failure of specimen.The local failure can change the stress distribution and relieve the inhibition of non-penetrating crack extension and eventually cause a dramatic destruction of the specimen.Therefore,the evolution process caused by non-penetrating cracks can be regarded as one of the important reasons for inducing rockburst.These results are expected to improve the understanding of the process of spalling formation and rockburst and can be used to analyze the stability of rocks or rock structures.

Damage evolution of rock-encased-backfill structure under stepwise cyclic triaxial loading

Rock-encased-backfill(RB)structures are common in underground mining,for example in the cut-andfill and stoping methods.To understand the effects of cyclic excavation and blasting activities on the damage of these RB structures,a series of triaxial stepwise-increasing-amplitude cyclic loading experiments was conducted with cylindrical RB specimens(rock on outside,backfill on inside)with different volume fractions of rock(VF=0.48,0.61,0.73,and 0.84),confining pressures(0,6,9,and 12 MPa),and cyclic loading rates(200,300,400,and 500 N/s).The damage evolution and meso-crack formation during the cyclic tests were analyzed with results from stress-strain hysteresis loops,acoustic emission events,and post-failure X-ray 3D fracture morphology.The results showed significant differences between cyclic and monotonic loadings of RB specimens,particularly with regard to the generation of shear microcracks,the development of stress memory and strain hardening,and the contact forces and associated friction that develops along the rock-backfill interface.One important finding is that as a function of the number of cycles,the elastic strain increases linearly and the dissipated energy increases exponentially.Also,compared with monotonic loading,the cyclic strain hardening characteristics are more sensitive to rising confining pressures during the initial compaction stage.Another finding is that compared with monotonic loading,more shear microcracks are generated during every reloading stage,but these microcracks tend to be dispersed and lessen the likelihood of large shear fracture formation.The transition from elastic to plastic behavior varies depending on the parameters of each test(confinement,volume fraction,and cyclic rate),and an interesting finding was that the transformation to plastic behavior is significantly lower under the conditions of 0.73 rock volume fraction,400 N/s cyclic loading rate,and 9 MPa confinement.All the findings have important practical implications on the ability of backfill to support underground excavations.

Mechanical properties and energy evolution law of water bearing sandstone under cyclic loading

Due to excavation disturbances and the coupled hydro-mechanical effects,deep rock masses experience nonlinear large deformations in the surrounding rock,necessitating an urgent exploration of the rock damage and failure mechanisms from the perspectives of hydro-mechanical coupling and mechanical properties.Therefore,this study conducted uniaxial cyclic loading-unloading tests on sandstone samples with different water contents(0%,0.26%,0.52%,0.78%,and 1.04%)to investigate the microstructural evolution,energy evolution laws,and failure characteristics under varying water contents and cyclic loading conditions.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Concerning micro-pore structures,as the water content increases,the porosity and maximum pore size of the sandstone first decrease and then increase.At 0%water content,the porosity is 4.82%and the maximum pore size is 31.94μm.At 0.26%water content,both porosity and maximum pore size decrease to 3.03%and 16.15μm,respectively.When the water content reaches 1.04%,the porosity and maximum pore size increase to 14.34%and 45.99μm,respectively.(2)Regarding energy evolution laws,the energy evolution of the specimens during cyclic loading-unloading mainly converts to elastic energy,showing a step-wise increase in energy.Further analysis reveals that the water content has a significant impact on the dissipation energy coefficient of the sandstone.At lower stress levels(<0.4σmax),the water content has a negligible effect,while at higher stress levels(>0.85σmax),an increase in water content leads to increased fluctuations in the dissipation energy coefficient.(3)In terms of failure characteristics,with increasing water content,the failure mode of the specimens shifts from primary crack failure to microcrack failure,corresponding to the energy evolution during cyclic loading-unloading processes.

Experiments on mechanical properties of salt rocks under cyclic loading

The primary purpose of underground gas storages is to provide gas for seasonal consumptions or strategic reserve.The periodical operations of gas injection and extraction lead to cyclic loading on the walls and surrounding rocks of gas storages.To investigate the mechanical behaviors of different host rocks in bedded salt deposit,laboratory experiments were conducted on the samples of rock salt,thenardite,glauberite and gypsum.The mechanical properties of rock samples under monotonic and cyclic loadings were studied.Testing results show that,under monotonic loading,the uniaxial compressive stress（UCS） of glauberite is the largest（17.3 MPa）,while that of rock salt is the smallest（14.0 MPa）.The UCSs of thenardite and gypsum are 16.3 and 14.6 MPa,respectively.The maximum strain at the peak strength of rock salt（halite） is much greater than those of the other three rocks.The elastic moduli of halite,thenardite,glauberite and gypsum are 3.0,4.2,5.1 and 6.8 GPa,respectively.Under cyclic loading,the peak strengths of the rock specimens are deteriorated except for rock salt.The peak strengths of thenardite,glauberite and gypsum decrease by 33.7%,19.1% and 35.5%,respectively;and the strains of the three rocks at the peak strengths are almost the same.However,the strain of rock salt at the peak strength increases by 1.98%,twice more than that under monotonic loading.Under monotonic loading,deformation of the tested rock salt,thenardite and glauberite shows in an elastoplastic style.However,it changes to a ductile style under cyclic loading.Brittle deformation and failure are only observed for gypsum.The results should be helpful for engineering design and operation of gas storage in bedded salt deposit.

Mechanical and hydraulic properties of fault rocks under multi‑stage cyclic loading and unloading

The rock mass in fault zones is frequently subjected to cyclic loading and unloading during deep resource exploitation and tunnel excavation.Research on the mechanical and hydraulic characteristics of fault rock during the cyclic loading and unloading is of great signifcance for revealing the formation mechanism of water-conducting pathways in fault and preventing water inrush disasters.In this study,the mechanical and seepage tests of fault rock under the multi-stage cyclic loading and unloading of axial compression were carried out by using the fuid–solid coupling triaxial experimental device.The hysteresis loop of the stress–strain curve,peak strain rate,secant Young's modulus,and permeability of fault rock were obtained,and the evolution law of the dissipated energy of fault rock with the cyclic number of load and unloading was discussed.The experimental results show that with an increase in the cyclic number of loading and unloading,several changes occur.The hysteresis loop of the stress–strain curve of the fault rock shifts towards higher levels of strain.Additionally,both the peak strain rate and the secant Young's modulus of the fault rock increase,resulting in an increase in the secant Young's modulus of the fault rock mass.However,the growth rate of the secant Young's modulus gradually slows down with the increase of cyclic number of loading and unloading.The permeability evolution of fault rock under the multi-stage cyclic loading and unloading of axial compression can be divided into three stages:steady increase stage,cyclic decrease stage,and rapid increase stage.Besides,the calculation model of dissipated energy of fault rock considering the efective stress was established.The calculation results show that the relationship between the dissipated energy of fault rock and the cyclic number of loading and unloading conforms to an exponential function.

Failure mechanism and coupled static-dynamic loading theory in deep hard rock mining: A review

Rock failure phenomena,such as rockburst,slabbing(or spalling) and zonal disintegration,related to deep underground excavation of hard rocks are frequently reported and pose a great threat to deep mining.Currently,the explanation for these failure phenomena using existing dynamic or static rock mechanics theory is not straightforward.In this study,new theory and testing method for deep underground rock mass under coupled static-dynamic loading are introduced.Two types of coupled loading modes,i.e.'critical static stress + slight disturbance' and 'elastic static stress + impact disturbance',are proposed,and associated test devices are developed.Rockburst phenomena of hard rocks under coupled static-dynamic loading are successfully reproduced in the laboratory,and the rockburst mechanism and related criteria are demonstrated.The results of true triaxial unloading compression tests on granite and red sandstone indicate that the unloading can induce slabbing when the confining pressure exceeds a certain threshold,and the slabbing failure strength is lower than the shear failure strength according to the conventional Mohr-Column criterion.Numerical results indicate that the rock unloading failure response under different in situ stresses and unloading rates can be characterized by an equivalent strain energy density.In addition,we present a new microseismic source location method without premeasuring the sound wave velocity in rock mass,which can efficiently and accurately locate the rock failure in hard rock mines.Also,a new idea for deep hard rock mining using a non-explosive continuous mining method is briefly introduced.

A review of experimental and theoretical research on the deformation and failure behavior of rocks subjected to cyclic loading

Rock engineering is highly susceptible to cyclic loads resulting from earthquakes,quarrying or rockbursts.Acquiring the fatigue properties and failure mechanism of rocks is pivotal for long-term stability assessment of rock engineering structures.So far,significant progress has been gained on the mechanical characteristics of rocks subjected to cyclic loading.For providing a global insight of typical results and main features of rocks under cyclic loading conditions,this study comprehensively reviews the state-ofthe-art of deformation and failure mechanism and fatigue constitutive relationship of rocks subjected to cyclic loading in the past 60 years.Firstly,cyclic tests on rocks are classified into different types based on loading paths,loading parameters,loading types and environment conditions.Secondly,representative results are summarized and highlighted in terms of the fatigue response of rocks,including the deformation degradation,energy dissipation,damage evolution and failure characteristics;both laboratory testing and numerical results are presented,and various measurement techniques such as X-ray microcomputed tomography(micro-CT)and digital image correlation(DIC)are considered.Thirdly,the influences of cyclic loads on the mechanical characteristics of rocks are discussed,including the cyclic stress,frequency,amplitude and waveform.Subsequently,constitutive relationships for rocks subjected to cyclic loading are outlined,in which typical fatigue constitutive models are compared and analyzed,regarding the elastoplastic model,the internal variable model,the energy-based damage model and the discrete element-based model.Finally,some ambiguous questions and prospective research are interpreted and discussed.

Mechanical properties and failure modes of stratified backfill under triaxial cyclic loading and unloading

Multiple filling of gobs will lead to a layered structure of the backfill.To explore the influence of layering structure on the mechanical properties and failure modes of backfill,different backfill specimens were prepared with a cement/sand ratio of 1:4,a slurry concentration of 75%,and backfilling times of 1,2,3 and 4,separately.Triaxial cyclic loading and unloading experiments were carried out.The results show that with an increase in backfilling time,the peak strength of backfill decreases as a polynomial function and the peak strain increases as an exponential function.The cyclic load enhances the linear characteristic of backfill deformation.The loading and unloading deformation moduli have a linear negative correlation with the backfilling time.The unloading deformation modulus is always slightly higher than the loading deformation modulus.The failure modes of stratified backfill are mainly characterized by conjugate shear failure at the upper layer and tensile failure across the layer plane,and there is usually no damage in the lower layer away from the loading area.

Mechanical response and microscopic damage mechanism of pre-flawed sandstone subjected to monotonic and multilevel cyclic loading:A laboratory-scale investigation

This study aims to investigate the mechanical response and acoustic emission(AE)characteristic of pre-flawed sandstone under both monotonic and multilevel constant-amplitude cyclic loads.Specifically,we explored how coplanar flaw angle and load type impact the strength and deformation behavior and microscopic damage mechanism.Results indicated that being fluctuated before rising with increasing fissure angle under monotonic loading,the peak strength of the specimen first increased slowly and then steeply under cyclic loading.The effect of multilevel cyclic loading on the mechanical parameters was more significant.For a single fatigue stage,the specimen underwent greater deformation in early cycles,which subsequently stabilized.Similar variation pattern was also reflected by AE count/energy/b-value.Crack behaviors were dominated by the fissure angle and load type and medium-scale crack accounted for 74.83%–86.44%of total crack.Compared with monotonic loading,crack distribution of specimen under cyclic loading was more complicated.Meanwhile,a simple model was proposed to describe the damage evolution of sandstone under cyclic loading.Finally,SEM images revealed that the microstructures at the fracture were mainly composed of intergranular fracture,and percentage of transgranular fracture jumped under cyclic loading due to the rapid release of elastic energy caused by high loading rate.

Vibration Effect and Damage Evolution Characteristics of Tunnel Surrounding Rock Under Cyclic Blasting Loading

Model test studies based on the similarity theory were conducted to investigate vibration effect and damage evolution characteristics of tunnel surrounding rock under push-type cyclic blasting excavation.The model was constructed with a ratio of 1∶15.By simulating the tunnel excavation of push-type cyclic blasting,the influence of the blasting parameter change on vibration effect was explored.The damage degree of tunnel surrounding rock was evaluated by the change of the acoustic wave velocity at the same measuring point after blasting.The relationship between the damage evolution of surrounding rock and blasting times was established.The research results show that：（1）In the same geological environment,the number of delay initiation is larger,the main vibration frequency of blasting seismic wave is higher,and the attenuation of high frequency signal in the rock and soil is faster.The influence of number of delay initiation on blasting vibration effect cannot be ignored;（2）Under push-type cyclic blasting excavation,there were great differences in the decreasing rates of acoustic wave velocity of the measuring points which have the same distance to the blasting region at the same depth,and the blasting damage ranges of surrounding rock were typically anisotropic at both depth and breadth;（3）When blasting parameters were basically kept as the same,the growth trend of the cumulative acoustic wave velocity decreasing rate at the measuring point was nonlinear under different cycle blasting excavations;（4）There were nonlinear evolution characteristics between the blasting cumulative damage（D）of surrounding rock and blasting times（n）under push-type cyclic blasting loading,and different measuring points had corresponding blasting cumulative damage propagation models,respectively.The closer the measuring point was away from the explosion source,the faster the cumulative damage extension.Blasting cumulative damage effect of surrounding rock had typically nonlinear evolution properties and anisotropic characteristics.

Effects of water intrusion and loading rate on mechanical properties of and crack propagation in coal–rock combinations

Tackling the problems of underground water storage in collieries in arid regions requires knowledge of the effect of water intrusion and loading rate on the mechanical properties of and crack development in coal–rock combinations. Fifty-four coal–rock combinations were prepared and split equally into groups containing different moisture contents(dry, natural moisture and saturated) to conduct acoustic emission testing under uniaxial compression with loading rates ranging from 0.1 mm/min to 0.6 mm/min. The results show that the peak stress and strength-softening modulus, elastic modulus, strain-softening modulus, and post-peak modulus partly decrease with increasing moisture content and loading rate. In contrast, peak strain increases with increasing moisture content and fluctuates with rising loading rate. More significantly, the relationship between stiffness and stress, combined with accumulated counts of acoustic emission, can be used to precisely predict all phases of crack propagation. This is helpful in studying the impact of moisture content and loading rate on crack propagation and accurately calculating mechanical properties. We also determined that the stress thresholds of crack closure, crack initiation, and crack damage do not vary with changes of moisture content and loading rate, constituting 15.22%, 32.20%, and 80.98% of peak stress, respectively. These outcomes assist in developing approaches to water storage in coal mines, determining the necessary width of waterproof coal–rock pillars, and methods of supporting water-enriched roadways, while also advances understanding the mechanical properties of coal–rock combinations and laws of crack propagation.

Mechanical responses and acoustic emission behaviors of coal under compressive differential cyclic loading(DCL):a numerical study via 3D heterogeneous particle model

The stability of coal walls(pillars)can be seriously undermined by diverse in-situ dynamic disturbances.Based on a 3D par-ticle model,this work strives to numerically replicate the major mechanical responses and acoustic emission(AE)behaviors of coal samples under multi-stage compressive cyclic loading with different loading and unloading rates,which is termed differential cyclic loading(DCL).A Weibull-distribution-based model with heterogeneous bond strengths is constructed by both considering the stress-strain relations and AE parameters.Six previously loaded samples were respectively grouped to indicate two DCL regimes,the damage mechanisms for the two groups are explicitly characterized via the time-stress-dependent variation of bond size multiplier,and it is found the two regimes correlate with distinct damage patterns,which involves the competition between stiffness hardening and softening.The numerical b-value is calculated based on the mag-nitudes of AE energy,the results show that both stress level and bond radius multiplier can impact the numerical b-value.The proposed numerical model succeeds in replicating the stress-strain relations of lab data as well as the elastic-after effect in DCL tests.The effect of damping on energy dissipation and phase shift in numerical model is summarized.

A Review of Research on Catastrophic Formation and Evolutionary Mechanism of Deep High Stress Rock Mass under Impact Loading

With the exploitation of resources expanded to deep, the geological environment which is “three tenors one disturbance” of rock mass in great depth has been more complex, resulting in some new engineering geological disasters, such as rock burst, pressure bumping, large deformation of surrounding rock, brittle-ductile transition of rock and zonal disintegration of rock mass, which occur frequently in deep underground engineering rock mass. The impact load caused by collision, explosion, extrusion and outburst is the root cause of the dynamic instability of the deep rock mass. What should be emphasized is that high in-situ stress and blasting excavation disturbance complicate disaster developing mechanism of deep underground engineering rock mass and sharply increase the difficulty of controlling disaster. This paper is aimed at the research status and development trend, of which dynamic characteristics of deep high stress rock mass and its damage and failure effect each other under impact, and conduct analysis, in the later stage where I would discuss how to carry out the response law of the deep high-stress rock mass under the impact load and the mechanism of catastrophe developing, which is of great significance to build a model of instability and fracture evolution about deep rock mass under shock disturbance and to maintain its safety and stability.

Effect of High-Stress Equal Amplitude Cyclic Loading on Mechanical and Deformation Characteristics of Rubber Concrete

In order to study the mechanical and deformation characteristics of rubber concrete under repeated loading,50 cycles of high-stress equal amplitude cyclic loading and uniaxial compression tests were carried out on 30 concrete specimens of 5 groups.The change of uniaxial mechanical properties and the deformation during cyclic loading of normal concrete(NC)and rubber concrete(RC)with 5%,10%,15%,and 20%content were analysed.The results show that the peak stress and modulus of elasticity decrease and the peak strain increases with the increase of rubber content.After cyclic loading,the degradation degree of NC peak stress and elastic modulus reached 11.0%and 36.8%respectively.This study can provide a basis for the application of rubber concrete.

Mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of soft rock with different water contents under dynamic disturbance

Uniaxial compression tests and cyclic loading acoustic emission tests were conducted on 20%,40%,60%,80%,dry and saturated muddy sandstone by using a creep impact loading system to investigate the mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of soft rocks with different water contents under dynamic disturbance.The mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of muddy sandstones at different water contents were analysed.Results of experimental studies show that water is a key factor in the mechanical properties of rocks,softening them,increasing their porosity,reducing their brittleness and increasing their plasticity.Under uniaxial compression,the macroscopic damage characteristics of the muddy sandstone change from mono-bevel shear damage and‘X’type conjugate bevel shear damage to a roadway bottom-drum type damage as the water content increases.Dynamic perturbation has a strengthening effect on the mechanical properties of samples with 60%and less water content,and a weakening effect on samples with 80%and more water content,but the weakening effect is not obvious.Macroscopic damage characteristics of dry samples remain unchanged,water samples from shear damage and tensile–shear composite damage gradually transformed into cleavage damage,until saturation transformation monoclinic shear damage.The evolution of acoustic emission energy and event number is mainly divided into four stages:loading stage(Ⅰ),dynamic loading stage(Ⅱ),yield failure stage(Ⅲ),and post-peak stage(Ⅳ),the acoustic emission characteristics of the stages were different for different water contents.The characteristic value of acoustic emission key point frequency gradually decreases,and the damage degree of the specimen increases,corresponding to low water content—high main frequency—low damage and high water content—low main frequency—high damage.

Strength degradation of sandstone and granodiorite under uniaxial cyclic loading

Change in mechanical properties of rocks under static loading has been widely studied and documented.However, the response of rocks to cyclic loads is still a much-debated topic. Fatigue is the phenomenon when rocks under cyclic loading fail at much lower strength as compared to those subjected to the monotonic loading conditions. A few selected cored granodiorite and sandstone specimens have been subjected to uniaxial cyclic compression tests to obtain the unconfined fatigue strength and life. This study seeks to examine the effects of cyclic loading conditions, loading amplitude and applied stress level on the fatigue life of sandstone, as a soft rock, and granodiorite, as a hard rock, under uniaxial compression test. One aim of this study is to determine which of the loading conditions has a stronger effect on rock fatigue response. The fatigue response of hard rocks and soft rocks is also compared. It is shown that the loading amplitude is the most important factor affecting the cyclic response of the tested rocks. The more the loading amplitude, the shorter the fatigue life, and the greater the strength degradation. The granodiorite specimens showed more strength degradation compared to the sandstone specimens when subjected to cyclic loading. It is shown that failure modes of specimens under cyclic loadings are different from those under static loadings. More local cracks were observed under cyclic loadings especially for granodiorite rock specimens.

Mechanical performance of rock bolts under combined load conditions

Rock bolts are subjected to different loading conditions along their lengths such as axial,bending,and/or shear forces,which can cause failure at lower loads than those considered for design purposes.The common existing methodologies do not consider the actual loading of the rock bolts and assume it is only pure axial or pure shear.This study was conducted to investigate the un-grouted rock bolt performance under combined load conditions.Two loading regimes were evaluated:the effect of initial shear displacement on axial load capacity and displacement,and the effect of axial displacement on the shear load capacity.The first regime was also conducted for shear with a gap,when there is a spacing between the shear interfaces.The results of this study showed that the rock bolt can resist higher axial loads than shear under pure or combined load conditions.Under combined load conditions,the rock bolt capacity decreased significantly for both regimes.However,when applying the shear load with a gap,the rock bolt load capacity was not affected significantly.Also,the total bar deformation was improved for shear and axial.The findings of this study show the need to improve the rock bolt design considering the complex loading conditions in situ with/without a gap.

Long-term mechanical behavior and characteristics of cemented tailings backfill through impact loading

Cemented tailings backfill(CTB)structures are important components of underground mine stopes.It is important to investigate the characteristics and dynamic behavior of CTB materials because they are susceptible to disturbance by dynamic loading,such as excavation and blasting.In this study,the authors present the results of a series of Split-Hopkinson pressure bar(SHPB)single and cyclic impact loading tests on CTB specimens to investigate the long-term dynamic mechanical properties of CTB.The stress-strain relationship,dynamic strength,and dynamic failure characteristics of CTB specimens are analyzed and discussed to provide valuable conclusions that will improve our knowledge of CTB long-term mechanical behavior and characteristics.For instance,the dynamic peak stress under cyclic impact loading is approximately twice that under single impact loading,and the CTB specimens are less prone to fracture when cyclically loaded.These findings and conclusions can provide a new set of references for the stability analysis of CTB materials and help guide mine designers in reducing the amount of binding agents and the associated mining cost.

Testing and modeling of cyclically loaded rock anchors

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration(NPRA) is planning for an upgrade of the E39 highway route at the westcoast of Norway. Fixed links shall replace ferries at seven fjord crossings. Wide spans and large depths at the crossings combined with challenging subsea topography and environmental loads call for an extension of existing practice. A variety of bridge concepts are evaluated in the feasibility study. The structures will experience significant loads from deadweight, traffic and environment. Anchoring of these forces is thus one of the challenges met in the project. Large-size subsea rock anchors are considered a viable alternative. These can be used for anchoring of floating structures but also with the purpose of increasing capacity of fixed structures. This paper presents first a thorough study of factors affecting rock anchor bond capacity. Laboratory testing of rock anchors subjected to cyclic loading is thereafter presented. Finally, the paper presents a model predicting the capacity of a rock anchor segment, in terms of a ribbed bar, subjected to a cyclic load history. The research assumes a failure mode occurring in the interface between the rock anchor and the surrounding grout. The constitutive behavior of the bonding interface is investigated for anchors subjected to cyclic one-way tensile loads. The model utilizes the static bond capacity curve as a basis, defining the ultimate bond sbuand the slip s1 at τ. A limited number of input parameters are required to apply the model. The model defines the bond-slip behavior with the belonging rock anchor capacity depending on the cyclic load level(τcy/τ), the cyclic load ratio(R= τcy/τcy), and the number of load cycles(N). The constitutive model is intended to model short anchor lengths representing an incremental length of a complete rock anchor.