Experimental and Numerical Investigations into the Strength of Intact Veined Rock

In this paper, the authors report on a series of laboratory and numerical modelling experiments aiming to quantify the behaviour of intact veined rock. Five controlled triaxial compression experiments were conducted on intact veined specimens of mafic intrusive complex andesite (CMET) from the El Teniente mine. The experiments demonstrated that veins controlled the fracturing and resulting peak strengths of the specimens. High-quality experimental data made possible the development of numerical experiments using a 3D Particle Flow Code and the synthetic rock mass (SRM) methodology. The numerical experiments demonstrated that the SRM approach could be successful for modelling the behaviour of veined rock. Greater value was gained by coupling the results of high-quality laboratory tests to comprehensive numerical models.