Simulation of Rock Fractures by Monte Carlo Method

Abstract

Discontinuities have an important influence on deformation and failure of rock mass in practical engineering. It is one of the key issues in modern rock mechanics to investigate geometric characteristics of joints and fractures inside the rock mass such as shape, size, location and direction etc. Based on the deep analysis of the above geometric properties, it is proposed that the stochastic fractures in the rock mass can be simulated with the random numbers generated by the Monte Carlo method. The related algorithm is designed and implemented. The correctness and effectiveness of the algorithm is verified with an example of a project. This will lay a solid foundation to further study the cutting problems of discontinuous rock block systems.