Numerical modeling of a conglomeratic rock from Costa Rica, Central America
Danilo Jimenez1; Sergio Fontoura1
1 PUC-Rio
Resumo
Motivation: The blocks in the conglomerates made difficult the study of their mechanical properties by conventional laboratory tests. Few studies have directly measured the mechanical properties of intact conglomeradic rocks at a valid scale, because very large samples are necessary for obtaind representative result and the collection of undisturbed samples of conglomerates is a very difficult work (Arkam, 2010). Moreover, the in-situ tests are more representative to establish the mechanical properties of these materials, but in general, takes a long time to execute and represent a high cost, so this kind of tests are only justified in large projects. Many engineering constructions in Costa Rica are made in or on conglomerates, and the engineering design of these works requires a determination of the mechanical parameters of these materials. The testing through virtual rock samples represent a quicker and cheaper way for obtaining the mechanical parameters of this kind of rock. Materials and Methods: The material used in the current study comes from Paso Real formation. Include drill core samples and outcrop samples were obtained from the geotechnical survey in a dam site located at Buenos Aires, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. The fieldwork included the determination of the block proportion present in the rock and its size distribution. Unconfined and confined compression tests were carried out in order to define the mechanical properties of the rock matrix a
Palavras-chave: Conglomerates; Finite element method; Bimrocks