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The distribution of stress and the normal extrusion load threshold in weak interlayer are crucial for direct shear test of filled rock joints, but there is a lack of theoretical research in this area. First, an analytical solution for stress distribution was derived using a semi-inverse method. Then, it is compared by the numerical simulation method. Finally, the influence of the width and thickness of weak interlayer on the extreme values of stress components was analyzed, and the distribution pattern of the normal extrusion load was discussed. The results show that under the same conditions, the analytical solution and the numerical simulation results are in good agreement. The maximum horizontal stress in the weak interlayer decreases with increasing width and increases with increasing thickness, while the change of the minimum is opposite. The normal extrusion load increases first and then decreases along the width direction of the weak interlayer. By comparing the normal extrusion load with the empirical value, the mechanism of extrusion failure in the weak interlayer is revealed.

Motivated based on the trigonometric t-norm and t-conorm, the aims of this article are to present the trigonometric t-norm and t-conorm operational laws of SvNNs and then to propose the SvNN trigonometric weighted average and geometric aggregation operators for the modelling of a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) technique in an inconsistent and indeterminate circumstance. To realize the aims, this paper first proposes the trigonometric t-norm and t-conorm operational laws of SvNNs, which contain the hybrid operations of the tangent and arctangent functions and the cotangent and inverse cotangent functions, and presents the SvNN trigonometric weighted average and geometric operators and their properties. Next, a MCDM technique is proposed in view of the presented two aggregation operators in the circumstance of SvNNs. In the end, an actual case of the choice issue of slope treatment schemes is provided to indicate the practicability and effectivity of the proposed MCDM technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is among the widely used measures of the quality of rock masses and can be derived through Monte Carlo stochastic process-based fracture network simulations. However, repeated simulations can yield variable RQD results. Here, we introduce a four-step approach that incorporates class ratio analysis to estimate the representative RQD, which includes (1) extracting the mean and confidence interval of the RQD sample, in terms of the Confidence Neutrosophic Number Cubic Value (CNNCV), (2) employing class ratio analysis to determine the thresholds of the number of virtual boreholes and that of the number of models for a given size D, beyond which the CNNCV remains substantially unchanged, (3) accepting the CNNCV at the thresholds of the number of models as the representative RQD for the model of size D (RQD(D)) and (4) determining the representative RQD (rRQD), defined as the specific value which, once D exceeds, the RQD(D) does not change significantly. The introduced approach is illustrated with a case study of an open-pit slope in China, and it was tested for its performance. The RQD calculation results of the proposed method and the traditional single-model approach exhibit differences, which diminish with increasing model sizes. At the 95% confidence level, the stable size of the RQD determined by the proposed method is 13 m, compared to 25 m for the single-model approach. This method enhances the accuracy of representative elementary volume predictions by accounting for the diversity in the simulation results of RQDs for the same size. Overall, the introduced approach offers a reliable method for obtaining RQD estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]