How to generate a specific joint in BlockGen() function？

Hi Jie,

Please find below some information on the meaning of the parameters in the jointC.csv file:

Column 1 dip dip angle, as in [1]
Column 2 dipDir dip direction, as in [1]
Column 3 centreX X-coordinate of the Joint centroid
Column 4 centreY Y-coordinate of the Joint centroid
Column 5 centreZ Z-coordinate of the Joint centroid
Column 6 traceX X-dimension of joint size along the strike direction
Column 7 traceY Y-dimenison of joint size along the strike direction
Column 8 phi_b vector with different basic friction angle for each face. Is used only if useFaceProperties=True in the KnKsPBLaw, or else the friction angle is taken from the material (same for all the faces of the particle)
Column 9 phi_r Not used; vector with different residual friction angles for each face. Currently considered equal to phi_b.
Column 10 JRC Not used
Column 11 JSC Not used
Column 12 asperity Not used
Column 13 simgaC Not used
Column 14 cohesion vector with different cohesion stresses for each particle face. Is used only if: intactRock=True, useFaceProperties=True and (allowBreakage=False or cohesionBroken=False) in the KnKsPBLaw.
Column 15 tension Not used
Column 16 jointType Not used
Column 17 Comments

Regarding phi_b and cohesion, you don't need them, as long as you don't want to assign different properties to each particle face and you keep useFaceProperties=False; if this is the case, you can leave the default values.

Regarding traceX, traceY, you can use a large value relatively to the geometry of your problem to achieve a persistent joint, i.e. a joint that cuts through the whole initial block.

In essence, to assign a joint you need to define values for: dip, dipDir, centreX, centreY, centreZ inside the jointC.csv file.

Hope this helps,
Vasileios

[1] CW Boon, GT Houlsby, S Utili (2015). A new rock slicing method based on linear programming. Computers and Geotechnics 65, 12-29.