A smooth hyperbolic failure criterion for cohesive-frictional materials

Summarization: Herein, the construction of a three-parameter smooth hyperbolic failure criterion for cohesive-frictional materials is presented. The criterion has the form of a hyperbola on the Rendulic plane and of an elliptic hyperboloid with a threefold symmetry in the Haigh–Westergaard principal stress space. The effect of the intermediate principal stress on the strength of the material is taken into account. Also, by adjusting appropriately the three parameters of the criterion, well-known failure criteria such as Rankine and von Mises may be derived as special cases. Finally, the proposed criterion is numerically calibrated and validated against standard and true triaxial data sets.Presented on: International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science