Estimation of REV for fractured rock masses based on Geological Strength Index

The representative elementary volume (REV) of fractured rock masses is a significant index to investigate the rock mass behaviors in the continuum mechanics. In this research, a new indicator to estimate the REV size of fractured rock masses based on the Geological Strength Index (GSI) is proposed. For this purpose, a new method that combines the PFC-based synthetic rock mass (SRM) model with the Hoek-Brown (HB) failure criterion is proposed to...