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Paper 2A 04 — SINOROCK2004 Symposium
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol. 41, No. 3, CD-ROM, © 2004 Elsevier Ltd.

NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF ROCK UNDER

CONFINING PRESSURE AND PORE PRESSURE

C.A. Tang 1, 2, T. Xu 1, 2 , T.H. Yang 1 , Z.Z. Liang 1

¹) Centre for Rock Instability and Seiscimity Research, Northeastern University, Shenyang,
110004, China
tca@mail.neu.edu.cn
²) Research Centre for Numerical Tests on Material Failure, Dalian University, Dalian,
116622, China
xukyle@163.com

Abstract: Many of the important problems of rock engineering are concerned with mechanical behaviours of
rock where the internal rock structure sustains pore pressure and confining pressure from the surrounding
rocks. A basic understanding of rock mechanical properties under confining pressure and pore pressure
conditions is of great importance in rock mechanics and rock engineering. In this paper, the newly-developed
pore-pressure incorporated Rock Failure Process Analysis model (RFPA) is briefly outlined at first. Then a
series of numerical tests on rock under different constant confining pressure and pore pressure are conducted
to illustrate how the overall macroscopic responses and mechanical properties of brittle heterogeneous rocks
under different confining pressure and pore pressure were revealed by RFPA code. In addition, through the
modelling of acoustic emission sequences in rock progressive failure, the AE characteristics and the
correlation between AE events and stress-strain curves under different confining pressure and pore pressure
were also investigated. From the numerically simulated results, it can be possible to analyze large-scale
practical rock engineering problems such as mining induced seismicit ies and rock bursts.
Keywords: Numerical simulation, confining pressure, pore pressure, mechanical behaviours, acoustic
emission, RFPA.

1. INTRODUCTION fracturing interaction events also causes the

A basic understanding of rock mechanical
properties under different stress conditions is of
great importance in rock mechanics and rock
engineering since many of the important problems
of rock engineering are concerned with mechanical
behaviours of rock where the internal rock
structure sustains pore pressure and confining
pressure. Pore pressure greatly affects the
probability of rock failure. Meanwhile, rock in
deep ground also suffers from confining pressure
from the surrounding rocks. Considerable attention
has been given to the mechanical behaviours of
rocks under different confining pressure and pore
pressure by laboratory tests and in-situ
measurements, but the general precise theoretical
formulations and laws of rock mechanical
properties are still not impossible due to its extreme
complexity. When rock is subjected to stress,
multiple cracks can nucleate, propagate, interact
and coalesce, which induces the change of the pore
pressure in the rock. This complex multiplicity of
complexity of mechanical breakdown of
heterogeneous rocks. Numerical models that
simulate the detailed fracturing sequence are thus
useful for understanding rock failure mechanisms
under pore pressure and confining pressure. In this
paper, the further improved Rock Failure Process
Analysis (RFPA) code by integration of pore-
pressure was employed to investigate the
mechanical properties of brittle heterogeneous
rocks. A series of numerical tests on rock under
different confining pressure and pore pressure were
conducted illustrating how the overall macroscopic
response of brittle heterogeneous rocks was
presented by pore-pressure incorporated RFPA.
Moreover, through the modelling of acoustic
emission sequences, the AE characteristics of rock
in failure process were also investigated to gain
some possible insight into some large-scale
practical problems such as mining induced
seismicit ies and rock bursts.

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Paper 2A 04 — SINOROCK2004 Symposium
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol. 41, No. 3, CD-ROM, © 2004 Elsevier Ltd.
2. PHILOSOPHY OF RFPA
Numerical simulation is currently the most
popular method used for modelling deformation
behaviour of rock-like materials. RFPA code, as a
numerical tool for simulating the geomaterials, has
been widely used in investigating and contrasting
the simulated results and laboratory findings
(Wong & Lin 2001; Tang & Lin 2001; Xu and
Tang, 2003). On the basis of the RFPA code,
besides considering the deformation of an elastic
material containing an initial random distribution
of micro-features, the interactions between the
individual elements, pore pressure and stress are
also taken into account in the code. The governing
equations for rock deformation in further
developed RFPA code mainly consist of the
equilibrium, the continuity, and the constitutive
equations.
According to elastic theory, equilibrium
equation is given
σij , j + f j = 0
(1)
where σij is the stress tensor,( i , j = 1,2,3 ), MPa.
f j is the body forces per unit volume, MPa.
The generalized effective stress principle based
on Terzaghi’s law was invoked in the stress
equilibrium equations:
σij = σ 'ij + α ⋅ p ⋅ δij
(2)
where σij is the solid total stress, σij is the solid
'
effective stress, P is the pore pressure, α is a
positive constant equal to 1 when individual grains
are much more incompressible than the grain
skeleton, and δij is the Kronecker delta function.
Substitution of equation (2) into equation (1)
leads to:
σ ' ij , j + f j + (α ⋅ p ⋅ δij ) , j = 0
(3)
Thus, the equilibrium equation is expressed
according to the effective stress principle.
According to the continuous conditions, the
geometrical equation can be expressed
1 heterogeneity of rock specimen, a widely used
εij = ( ui , j + u j ,i )
2 (4)
where εij is strain tensor,( i , j = 1,2,3 ). εv is the
volumetric strain and u is the displacement of
element.
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The constitutive equation of deformation fields
can be expressed for elastic isotropic materials.
σ' ij = λδij εv + 2Gεij
where G is shear modulus and is Lame’s
constant.
On the basis of the above the equilibrium, the
continuity, and the constitutive equations, the
governing equations for rock deformation
considering the gas pressure in rock can be
represented as:
( λ + G ) ⋅ u j , ji + Gui , jj + f j + (α ⋅ p) , i = 0
For heterogeneity, the material mechanical
parameters (failure strength 0 and elastic modulus
E0 ) for elements are randomly distributed
throughout the specimen by following a Weibull
distribution, a detailed information can be referred
to published literature (Tang & Tham, 2000).
3. NUMERICAL MODEL
1
P 3
2
Figure 1. Numerical model
The mesh for the plane strain numerical sample
consists of 200×100 elements with geometry of
100mm×50mm in size (as shown in Fig.1), and all
the elements have the same size in scale (square in
shape). The pore pressure in rock specimen is
denoted as P, confining pressure and axial pressure
acted on numerical rock specimen are respectively
denoted as σ0 and σ1 . The elements are
characterized by their failure strength, σ0 , Young’s
modulus, E0 , and Poisson’s ratio, ν. The elements
provide resistance against compressive or tensile
deformations that are governed by constitutive
equations described above. In order to consider the
Weibull distribution (Weibull, 1951) was
introduced to describe the material properties of
elements such as failure strength, Young’s
modulus, and Poisson’s ratio at mesoscopic level.
The input material mechanical properties
parameters used to simulate numerical model rock
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Paper 2A 04 — SINOROCK2004 Symposium
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol. 41, No. 3, CD-ROM, © 2004 Elsevier Ltd.

specimen are listed in the Table 1 below. An
external displacement at a constant rate of
0.002mm/step in the axial direction was applied to
the rock specimen and the stress acted on rock
specimen as well as induced deformation in each
element were computed in the numerical tests.
Table 1. Mechanical parameters of numerical
model.
Mechanical parameters Value
m 1.5
E0 / GPa 30
deformation up to the peak strength. At low
confining pressures, the curves show defined peak
strength and a gradual strength decrease in the post
failure region until final deformation occurs at
about constant axial stress, i.e., residual strength.
At higher confining pressures, the rock exhibits
work-hardening and the Young’s modulus of rock
is higher than that of rock at lower pressure.
Meanwhile, transit ion from brittle to ductile
deformation in rock with an increase in confining
pressure was also clearly demonstrated in Fig.3.
70

σ0 / MPa 200
60
0

φ/ °
2
30 4

µ
50
0.25 8

16
ξ 0.2 40

1 / MPa
P/MPa 0 1 3

¦ Ò
30

σ3 / MPa 0, 2, 4, 8, 16 20

10

4. EFFECT OF CONFINING PRESSURE 0

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

¦ 1Å/%

4.1 Deformation and strength behaviors

Figure 3. Complete stress-strain curves of rock
0MPa 4MPa 8MPa specimens
70

60

50
UCS/ MPa

40

Figure 2. Macroscopic failure patterns of 30

specimens 20

Figure 2 is given the numerically simulated
macroscopic failure patterns of model specimens
under different confining pressures and the
correspondingly numerical complete axial stress
versus axial strain curves of rock at constant
confining pressure up to 16 MPa with no pore
pressure are presented in Fig.3. As shown in Fig.2,
the angle between the failure plane and the
maximum principal stress direction in uniaxial
compression is about 30 degrees, and the angle
between macroscopic failure plane and the
maximum principal stress direction gradually
increases with the increase of confining pressure
acted on the rock specimens, which agrees well
with theoretical predictions. It can be seen from the
stress-strain curves in Fig. 3, the rock deforms
linearly and elastically at axial stresses below the
yield strength which is dependent on the confining
pressure. Further compression leads to inelastic
10
0
-5 0 5 10 15 20
Tension Compression
Confining pressure/ MPa
Figure 4. Curve between compressive strength of
rock specimens and confining pressure
Figure 4 gives the relationship curve between
peak strength of rock specimens and confining
pressure at failure and Figure 5 is numerically
obtained failure envelopes of rock specimens. As
can be seen from Figure 4 and 5, the ultimate
compressive failure strength, i.e., peak strength of
numerical rock specimens gradually increases with
confining pressure. Even though the linear Mohr-
Coulomb failure criterion with tension cut-off is
adopted in the model, the macroscopic failure
envelope is concave towards the σ axis. The
numerical results indicate that the macroscopic

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Paper 2A 04 — SINOROCK2004 Symposium
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol. 41, No. 3, CD-ROM, © 2004 Elsevier Ltd.

70 600 70 600
non-linear phenomena such as rock failure in 60
σ3 =2 MPa 500 60
σ3 =4MPa 500

nature can be described and revealed through some 50 50

AE accounts(N)
400 400

AE accounts(N)
Ò 1/MPa

1/MPa
40 40
simple linear rules at mesoscopic level. In addition, 30
300
30
300

Ò
¦

¦
200 200
it is noticing that the residual strength (or 20

10 100
20
10 100
frictional) of rock, also dependent on the confining 0 0 0 0
0 0 .0 5 0 .1 0 .1 5 0 .2 0 .2 5 0 .3 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
pressure, increases with confining pressure. For Å
¦ 1/ %
¦Å 1/%

rock materials, fracture and friction are 70

60
600 70
60
600

500 500
macroscopic manifestations of the same processes: 50
3 =8MPa
50 σ3 =16MPa

AE accounts(N)

AE accounts(N)
400 400
e.g., grain crushing, crack growth, healing, and

Ò 1 /MPa

Ò 1 /MPa
40 40
300 300
30 30
plastic yielding. When viewed in this way, it is not

¦
200 200
20 20

surprising that the difference between intact 10 100 10 100

0 0 0 0
strength and residual (or frictional) strength should 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
¦Å 1/% ¦Å 1/%
vanish with increasing confining pressure. This is
to say, the rock will ideally exhibit a state of plastic Figure 6. Complete stress-strain curves and AE
flow at extremely high confining pressure. characteristic curves of model
specimens
600 1 600 1
Mohr failure envelope 0.9 0.9
500 0.8 500 0.8
ó3=2MPa 0.7 ó3=4MPa 0.7
AE accounts(N)

400 400

Normalized AEE
AE accounts(N)
Normalized AEE
0.6 0.6
300 0.5 300 0.5
0.4 0.4
200 0.3 200 0.3
0.2 0.2
100 100
0.1 0.1
0 0 0 0
0 9 18 2 7 3 6 4 5 5 4 6 3 7 2 8 1 9 0 9 9 1 0 8 1 1 7 1 2 6 0 9 18 2 7 3 6 4 5 5 4 6 3 7 2 8 1 9 0 9 9 1 0 8 1 1 7 1 2 6

Loading step Loading step

600 1 600 1
0.9 0.9
500 500
0.8 0.8
ó3=8MPa 0.7 0.7
400 400 ó3=16MPa

Normalized AEE

Normalized AEE
AE accounts(N)
AE accounts(N)

0.6 0.6

Figure 5. Simulated failure envelope of model 300 0.5

0.4
300 0.5
0.4

rock specimens
200 0.3 200 0.3
0.2 0.2
100 100
0.1 0.1
0 0 0 0
0 9 1 8 2 7 3 6 4 5 5 4 6 3 7 2 8 1 9 0 9 9 1 0 81 1 7 1 2 6 0 9 1 8 2 7 3 6 4 5 5 4 6 3 7 2 8 1 9 0 9 9 1 0 8 1 1 7 1 26

Loading step Loading step

4.2 AE characteristics
As we know, the monitoring of acoustic
emission (AE) or seismic events has proven to be
one of the powerful tools available in analyzing
damage or brittle fracture during rock deformation.
There is generally a good correlation between AE
rate and inelastic strain rate so that the AE rate can
be used to quantify damage accumulation occurring
in the rock sample. Locker (1991), Cox and
Meredith (1993) have analyzed catalogues of AE
events recorded during compression tests in rock in
terms of the information they give about the
accumulated state of damage in a material. And
combine this measured damage state with a model
for the weakening behaviour of cracked solids,
which shows that reasonable predictions of the
mechanical behaviour are possible. Based on this
background knowledge, by recording the counts of
failed elements, the seismicities associated with the
progressive failure can be simulated in RFPA that
allows elements to fail when overstressed. In RFPA
code, a single AE event represents a micro-crack
forming event to indirectly assess the damage
evolution (Tang 1997, 1998).
Figure 7. AE curves and normalized AE energy
curves of model specimens under
different confining pressure
Fig.6 shows the complete stress-strain curves
and corresponding AE characteristic curves of
model specimens at different constant confining
pressure. Fig.7 shows the AE and corresponding
normalized AE energy curves of model specimens
under different confining pressure. A comparison
among the curves in Fig.6 shows a good
relationship between the simulated stress-strain
curves and the modelled curves of event rate. It can
be seen from Fig. 6 and 7, in general, a sharp
increase of AE event rate in AE characteristic
curves corresponds to an abrupt stress drop in
complete stress-strain curve and the maximum rate
of AE events appears in the post-peak range. It
indicates that the initiation and propagation of
mesoscopic main-fractur ing which precedes the
final stage macroscopic fracture development has
occurred in the rock. The results show that the
maximum AE event or main shock emitting from
rock can be regarded as the precursor of macro-

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Paper 2A 04 — SINOROCK2004 Symposium

Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol. 41, No. 3, CD-ROM, © 2004 Elsevier Ltd.

fracture of rock, which is essential for the location
of earthquake source, the search for earthquake
precursors and earthquake prediction research. In
addition, the main-fracturing will occur later when
rock specimens are subjected to the same strain
value with the increase of the constant confining
pressure. The confining pressure enhances the
ultimate compressive strength and defers the
occurrence of main-fracturing at failure, which is
termed as the typical confining pressure effect in
rock failure.
pore pressures. As can be seen from Fig. 9, at the
same constant confining pressure, the rock
specimens with pore pressure have lower peak
strength than those with no pore pressure.
Generally, the pore pressure decreases the peak
strength of rock at failure and increases the
brittleness of rock. Moreover, the nonlinear
relationship curves between the maximum
compressive strength and confining pressure at
different constant pore pressure are basically
parallel.

5.2 AE characteristics
5. EFFECT OF PORE PRESSURE
80 450 80 450
70 400 70 400
=2MPa =4MPa
5.1 Deformation and strength
3 3
60 350 60 350
300 300

AE accounts
50 50

AE accounts
behaviors
1/MPa

1/MPa
250 250
40 40
200

¦ Ò
200

¦ Ò
30 30
150 150
20 20
100 100
10 50 10
P=2MPa P=4MPa P=8MPa P=16MPa 50
0 0 0 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
¦ 1Å/%
¦ Å1/%
80 450 80 450

70 400 70 400
3 =8MPa 3 =16MPa
350 350
60 60
300 300

AE accounts
50

AE accounts
50
1/MPa

250

¦ 1Ò/MPa
250
40 40
200
¦ Ò

200
30 30
150 150
20 100 20 100

Figure 8. Macroscopic failure patterns under 10

0
50
0
10

0
50

given pore pressure 1 MPa 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2

¦ 1Å/%
0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2

¦ Å
1
/%
0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Figure 10.Complete stress-strain curves and AE

70 characteristic curves of model
60 specimens with pore pressure 1 MPa
50
1 /MPa

40 450 0.45 450 1

P=0MPa 400 0.4 400 0.9
3 =2MPa 3 =4MPa
30 350 0.35 350 0.8
0.7
P=1MPa
Normalized AEE

Normalized AEE
300 0.3 300
AE accounts

20
AE accounts

0.6
250 0.25 250
0.5
200 0.2 200
10 P=3MPa 0.4
150 0.15 150 0.3
100 0.1 100
0 0.2
50 0.05 50 0.1
0 5 10 15 20 0 0 0 0
0 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0 . 2 0.24 0.28 0.32 0.36 0 . 4 0 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0 . 2 0.24 0.28 0.32 0.36 0 . 4

3 /MPa
1(%) 1(%)

450
450 0.45
1 450 0.45
1
400
400
3 =8MPa
0.9
0.4 400 3 =16MPa 0.9
0.4

Figure 9. Relationship between compressive 350

350 0.8
0.35
0.7
350 0.8
0.35
0.7
AEE

300 0.3
Normalized AEE

300
AEE
Normalized AEE

300 0.3

strength and confining pressure for

accounts
AE accounts

0.6
AE accounts
accounts

250
250 0.25 0.6
250
Normalized

0.25
Normalized

0.5 0.5
200
200 0.2
given poro pressure 0.4 200 0.2
0.4
AE

150
150 0.15
AE

0.3 150 0.15

0.3
100
100 0.1
0.2 100 0.1
0.2
50 0.05
0.1 50
50 0.05
0.1
0 0
Several series of numerical tests were carried 0 0.040.08
0 0.04 0.080.11
0.12 0.16
0.15 0.18 00.21
. 2 0.24
0.25 0.28 0.320.35
0.28 0.32 0.360.38
0.4
00
00 0.09
0.040.11 0.14
0.08 0.170.16
0.12 0 . 20.23
0 . 20.25
0.240.28 0.310.32
0.28 0.34 0.36
0.37 0.39
0.4
0

1(%)
out to investigate the effect of pore effect on the 1(%)
1(%)

mechanical properties of rock. The numerically
simulated macroscopic failure patterns of rock with
1MPa pore pressure at different constant confining
pressures are presented in Figure 8. Compared with
the macroscopic failure modes of rock in Fig. 2,
much splitting occurred in the rocks with pore
pressure which exhibit remarkably brittle. Fig.9
gives the relationship curves between peak strength
of rock and applied confining pressure for given
Figure 11.AE and normalized AE energy curves of
model specimens with given pore
pressure (1MPa)
Fig.10 shows the complete stress-strain curves
and corresponding AE characteristic curves of
model specimens with 1MPa pore pressure at
different constant confining pressure and Fig.11
gives the AE events and corresponding. As stated

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Paper 2A 04 — SINOROCK2004 Symposium
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol. 41, No. 3, CD-ROM, © 2004 Elsevier Ltd.
above, the simulated stress-strain curves, the AE
event rate curves and the normalized AE energy
curves have a good correlation. In contrast to Fig.6
and 7, it can be seen that the main-fracturing will
occur earlier when rock specimens are subjected to
the same confining pressure with increasing pore
pressure. The pore pressure reduces the ultimate
compressive strength and accelerates the
occurrence of main-fracturing at failure, which can
be termed as the pore pressure effect in rock
failure. The confining pressure effect and the pore
pressure effect are greatly indicative for the
earthquake prediction and hydraulic fracturing
research.
6. CONCLUSSIONS
The problems of deformation and failure in
heterogeneous rock at confining pressure and pore
pressure are of great importance in associated rock
mechanics and engineering areas. It is important to
identify the main failure mechanisms associated
with AE characteristics in compression. This
identification is crucial for a better understanding
and interpretation of the experimental results, and
consequently, improves our concepts on rock
mechanical properties or analysis of rock
engineering structures.
It is noted that the model predications of
mechanical behaviour of rocks using pore pressure
incorporated RFPA in this paper capture most of
the experimental observed phenomena, especially
the confining pressure effect and pore pressure
effect of rock specimens in failure process.
Although the simulations are not a quantitative
approach and many conclusions presented here
may have already been obtained by laboratory
tests, the significance of mimicking these
phenomena by numerical simulation is obvious. At
least, and the most important, the successful
reproducing of the experimentally observed failure
phenomena with a numerical method implies that
our understanding to the mechanisms of rock
failure has reached a more reasonable level, which
in turn will help us to make further progresses in
the field of rock mechanics and rock engineering.
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present research in this paper was carried
out with the jointly financial support of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
50134040, 50204003 and 50174013).
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