The effect of the intermediate principal stress on the ultimate bearing capacity of a foundation on rock masses

In this paper, the strength envelope of rock masses is considered to follow a non-linear unified strength criterion that considers the effect of the intermediate principal stress. A unified slip line method for resolving the differential equation system that governs the stress field is established to research the ultimate bearing capacity, which can be adapted for a wide variety of rock masses. Through this new theory, a suitable characteristic method for rock masses of interest can be obtained, and the relationships between different types of characteristic methods are revealed. The characteristic methods are based on different strength criteria, such as the Hoek–Brown criterion, modified Hoek–Brown criterion, or non-linear twin-shear strength criterion; each of these criteria is a special case of the proposed theory. Moreover, a series of new characteristic methods can be easily derived from it. In terms of the proposed theory, the ultimate bearing capacity with the Hoek–Brown criterion forms the lower bound; the ultimate bearing capacity with a non-linear twin-shear strength criterion forms the upper bound; and a series of the ultimate bearing capacities ranging between these two bounds may be derived from a non-linear unified strength criterion. A comparison is made between existing numerical analyses and non-linear finite element analysis solutions with the Drucker–Prager strength criterion. It is shown that the present results are in good agreement with existing numerical analyses and non-linear finite element analysis solutions with the Drucker–Prager strength criterion.