Advances in Block Theory

Abstract:

This paper focuses on summarizing the historical context， the latest advances and future trends of block theory and methods. Firstly， the essential concept has evolved from the traditional pyramid， the centroid sliding pyramid and the generalized joint pyramid to the integrated entrance angle based on contact theory. Secondly， the whole-space stereographic projection method， the vector method， the stereo analytical method and the whole-space block cutting and contact method have accordingly been proposed. Thirdly， the basic assumption of translational failure of rigid bodies is still retained， while the other two basic assumptions， i.e.， infinite straight persistent structural plane and geometric constraints of face–to–face contacts， have been weakened. Lastly， stability analysis of exposed convex blocks under the geometric constraints of face to face contacts has been extended to progressive failure analysis of whole-spatial arbitrarily-shaped blocks under the geometric constraints of all general contacts. Moreover， the authors present the contact theory and method based on the integrated entrance angle for block removability analysis to further promote the substantial development of block theory.