Numerical investigation of energy dissipation when shear wave passing through interface in rock mass

Abstract

The investigation of seismic wave propagation across discontinuous rock masses is of great importance for solving earthquake engineering problems. Although the parameters affecting the propagation of wave on the structural surface have been known to some extent, the influence of cohesion, inclination, and stiffness on the propagation of wave when passing through structural plane still needs further study. In the study of the incident wave simulation, we implemented FLAC^3D to build the model with interface to measure the energy loss due to different parameters in the interface. The effect of cohesion, normal and shear stiffness, and dipping angle on characteristics of energy dissipation were investigated. Numerical results indicated that the cohesion as the adhesion of the material is playing an important role in energy dissipation. The normal and shear stiffness is not as obvious as what cohesion does, especially when they are at very low value. In addition, an increase in angle will bring about a decrease in the transmission coefficient and a decrease followed by an increase in the reflection coefficient.