Experimental and numerical study of asperity degradation in the direct shear test

In this paper, the shear behaviour and mechanisms of asperity degradation of rock joints under direct shear tests were studied using numerical and experimental approaches. PFC2D was used for numerical simulations, in which the intact material is simulated by a dense packing of circular particles bonded together at their contact points and by breakage of these bonds under loading regimes, the damage process is simulated. The joint interfaces were...