Failure characteristics of rocks under polyaxial compression have been the subject of extensive laboratory testing, although a limited amount of literature is published on the numerical simulation of rock failure under such conditions. The current study was conducted by using a commercially available finite-difference program, FLAC^3D, to model the hard rock strength and fracturing under polyaxial compression. The Mogi-Coulomb criterion, where the relevant parameters can be obtained from conventional triaxial tests, was simulated in the software for realistic reflection of the effects of intermediate principal stress on hard rock fracture characteristics. According to the elastoplastic mechanics, the incremental iterative calculation format of the Mogi-Coulomb strain-softening failure criterion was implemented in the program, and the results were compiled into a dynamically linked library (DLL) based on the program interface of secondary development provided by FLAC^3D. The numerical results of the calculated peak strength were analyzed and compared with previous experimental data for verification of the effectiveness and accuracy of the simulation models. Laboratory tests with consideration of various intermediate principal stresses were also conducted to investigate the hard rock failure modes under polyaxial compression states. The comparison of experimental results with numerical results using both Mogi-Coulomb and Mohr-Coulomb strain-softening models further explained the validity of the former method. The results showed that proper numerical modeling can be considered for simulating hard rock fracturing under polyaxial compression states for complex stress conditions in future studies.

Hard rock failure and rockburst hazards under high in situ stresses have been the subject of deep rock mechanics and engineering. Previous investigations employed cubic rock specimens with a central hole for simulation of rock fracturing around deep tunnels at a laboratory scale, while the failure characteristics and crack evolution behavior around different shapes of holes induced by excavation unloading response have been barely considered. A commercially combined finite‐discrete element method (combined FEM/DEM) was used to investigate the failure characteristics and crack propagation process of typical hard rock specimens (marble) via the unloading of central hole with different shapes. Rock heterogeneity was also considered in the model in combination with the engineering reality. The combined FEM/DEM approach was first validated by simulating uniaxial compression and Brazilian tests. Then, the parametrical analysis was conducted in detail on the basis of five different sectional shapes of central holes, including a circle, ellipse, U‐shape, trapezoid, and cube, and two lateral pressure coefficients. Analysis of crack propagation paths, released strain energy, displacement, and average velocity distribution of the monitoring points around the central hole suggests that the failure degree and destruction intensity are strongly related to the sectional shape and lateral pressure coefficients. Hard and brittle rock failure induced by the excavation unloading effect can be classified as stable failure (slabbing failure) and unstable failure (strain rockburst). The cubic, trapezoidal, and U‐shaped holes within the specimen are the most likely to induce unstable failure, while stable failure is the dominant failure pattern around circular and elliptical holes. The lateral pressure coefficient λ was also found to affect failure position and intensity (only for the axisymmetric section) around the central hole. The influence of rock heterogeneity on failure intensity and range around the central hole within the specimen was also discussed. This study emphasizes the importance and necessity of the excavation unloading effect when evaluating surrounding rock failure around deep tunnels.

The occurrence of disasters in deep mining engineering has been confirmed to be closely related to the external dynamic disturbances and geological discontinuities. Thus, a combined finite-element method was employed to simulate the failure process of an underground cavern, which provided insights into the failure mechanism of deep hard rock affected by factors such as the dynamic stress-wave amplitudes, disturbance direction, and dip angles of the structural plane. The crack-propagation process, stress-field distribution, displacement, velocity of failed rock, and failure zone around the circular cavern were analyzed to identify the dynamic response and failure properties of the underground structures. The simulation results indicate that the dynamic disturbance direction had less influence on the dynamic response for the constant in situ stress state, while the failure intensity and damage range around the cavern always exhibited a monotonically increasing trend with an increase in the dynamic load. The crack distribution around the circular cavern exhibited an asymmetric pattern, possibly owing to the stress-wave reflection behavior and attenuation effect along the propagation route. Geological discontinuities significantly affected the stability of nearby caverns subjected to dynamic disturbances, during which the failure intensity exhibited the pattern of an initial increase followed by a decrease with an increase in the dip angle of the structural plane. Additionally, the dynamic disturbance direction led to variations in the crack distribution for specific structural planes and stress states. These results indicate that the failure behavior should be the integrated response of the excavation unloading effect, geological conditions, and external dynamic disturbances.