Experimental study on the brittle failure of the locking section in a large-scale rock slide

A locking section is a conceptual model employed to analyze large-scale rock slides, of which the role was commonly found governing the mechanism of such mass movements. The physical experimental study presented herein is designed to study the failure mechanism of the locking section by measuring its basic characteristics. Dataset on the magnitude of the energy release, stress state, and displacement near and within the locking section are obtained by acoustic emission sensor, strain gauge, and micrometer gauge. The study captured the continued stress and energy accumulation at the locking section under increasing loads and the final brittle shear failure, which depicts the comprehensive deformation and failure processes occurred at the locking section. The concurrence of the locking section failure is the abrupt intensive energy release that results in the occurrence of the high-speed rock sliding. In conclusion, the experiment aims at investigating the initiation mechanism of large-scale rock slides governed by a locking section.