A Unified Strength criterion for rock material

A non-linear Unified Strength criterion for rock material is presented. It is the development of the Unified Strength Theory (in: M. Jono, T. Inoue (Eds.), Mechanical Behaviour of Materials-VI (ICM-6), Pergamon, Oxford, 199 1, pp. 841-846) and the modification of the Hoek-Brown strength criterion (Underground Excavations in Rock, The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London, 1980). The effect of intermediate principal stress on rock strength is considered in the non-linear Unified Strength criterion. The Hoek-Brown criterion is a single-shear strength criterion that forms the lower bound, and the non-linear twin-shear strength criterion forms the upper bound in the deviatoric plane. All the failure criteria ranging from the Hoek-Brown criterion (lower bound) and the non-linear twin-shear criterion (upper bound) and a series of criteria ranging between these two bounds may be introduced by the non-linear Unified Strength criterion. The theory can also be generalized to rock mass strength. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.