Failure characteristics of rocks with non-persistent joints under local load

Jointed rocks under local load are ubiquitous in civil engineering. The instability and failure of jointed rocks are fatal to engineering safety. This paper numerically investigated the effects of loading area and joint angle on the strength dividing points, energy evolution, and crack distribution characteristics of non-persistent jointed rocks. The results demonstrated that the closer the absolute value of joint angle to 45° and the smaller the loading area, the lower the strength dividing points of rocks. The curves of rock joint angle versus total energy at peak and of elastic energy versus amplitude of post-peak abrupt energy change render a W-shape distribution. Meanwhile, compared with joint angle, loading area has more influence on rock energy input. The larger the loading area, the higher the crack fractal dimension, the crack entropy, and the penetration rate. Tensile cracks outnumber shear cracks when jointed rocks are damaged, and shear cracks increases significantly at the post-peak stage.