1
Model of Block Media Taking into Account
Internal Friction
N. I. Aleksandrova
Chinakal Institute of Mining of the Siberian Branch of the RAS, Novosibirsk, 630091 Russia
e-mail: nialex@misd.ru
Abstract ⎯ The block medium is modeled by a discrete-periodic spatial lattice of masses connected by
elastic springs and viscous dampers. To describe the viscoelastic behavior of the interblock layers, a
rheological model of internal friction with two Maxwell elements and one Voigt element with the quality
factor of the material as the determining parameter is proposed. Numerical experiments show that, within
the framework of this interlayer model, it is possible to select the viscosity and stiffness of the Maxwell
and Voigt elements so that the quality factor of the material differs from the given constant value by no
more than 5%. In the one-dimensional case, within the framework of the proposed model, the influence of
the quality factor on the dispersion properties of a block medium is studied and it is shown that the greatest
effect of the quality factor on the dispersion is observed in the low-frequency part of the spectrum. In the
three-dimensional case, within the framework of the proposed model, some geomechanical problems are
numerically studied for a block half-space under the action of a surface concentrated vertical load. Namely,
the attenuation of the velocity amplitudes of surface blocks was studied depending on the Q-factor under
step action and under the action of a Gaussian pulse. In addition, we study a layer on the surface of a half-
space under the action of a concentrated vertical impulse load in the case when both the layer and the half-
space are block media but have different properties.
Keywords: internal friction, block medium, Lamb problem, half-space, layer on half-space, wave motion,
numerical simulation
DOI: 10.3103/S0025654422030025
1. INTRODUCTION
According to modern ideas developed in the works of Sadovsky [1] and his followers, rocks
are a hierarchical system of blocks of different scale levels. Blocks of the same level are separated by
interlayers of rocks with weakened mechanical properties. It was noted in [2, 3] that the sizes of
blocks change on a scale from fractions of a rock mass to geoblocks of the earth’s crust. In the
experimental work [4], it was shown on a two-dimensional model of a block medium (a brick wall),
that for a real geomedium it is possible to determine the sizes of the characteristic blocks of the rock
mass according to seismic logging data, using the relation discovered in [5] that relates the value of
the propagation velocity of a low-frequency wave, the frequency limiting its spectrum, and the
longitudinal size of the blocks. As shown in [2, 3, 6], the motion of a block medium can be represented
as the motion of rigid blocks due to the deformation of the interlayers. As a result, the dynamics of a
block medium can be studied in the pendulum approximation, when it is assumed that the blocks are
incompressible, and all deformations and displacements occur due to the compressibility of the
interlayers (see, for example, [8, 9]). In [7–9], a block medium is modeled as a three-dimensional
lattice of masses connected by Voigt elements in axial and diagonal directions. In [9], the qualitative
correspondence of the finite-difference solution of the Lamb problem for a block medium according
to this model with the results of field experiments carried out in a limestone quarry is shown. An
alternative approach is based on a mathematical model of a block medium with elastic blocks
interacting through compliant interlayers [5, 10, 11]. To describe interlayers, various versions of the
model were proposed in [10, 11], in which interlayers between elastic blocks can be elastic,
viscoelastic, plastic, and porous.