Prediction of the Shear Failure of Opened Rock Fractures and Implications for Rock Slope Stability Evaluation

Figure 2

Dilation angles and shear-off areas of fracture asperities under low and high normal stresses, respectively. and are normal stress and shear stress, respectively. and are the total projected asperity area and the area of a single asperity, respectively. is a low normal stress under which the peak dilation angle is , is a high normal stress under which the peak dilation angle is , and denotes the difference of shear-off area under normal stresses and , respectively. and represent the normal displacement increments under normal stresses of and , respectively. is the shear displacement increment.