Numerical Simulation Study on Influence of a Structural Parameter of D Bolt, an Energy-Absorbing Rock Bolt, on its Stress Distribution

A D bolt, an energy-absorbing rock bolt, is a smooth steel bar with a number of anchors along its length. The anchors, which can be spaced evenly or unevenly along its length, are firmly fixed within a borehole using either cement grout or resin, while the smooth sections of the bolt between the anchors may freely deform in response to rock dilation. A series of numerical simulations have been conducted using the finite difference method to investigate the effects of D bolt on the displacement increase of rock mass around a roadway in comparison with normal fully encapsulated rebar. As a result, the displacement of 49 mm at the top of roadway roof in the D bolts supported model is much larger than 30.08 mm in the fully encapsulated rebar bolts supported model so that the former is capable of absorbing potential deformation energy of rock mass around a roadway to tolerate the large deformation of rock. Plans of spacing arrangement of D bolt’s anchor have a significant effect on stress redistribution of the bolt. The numerical simulation result shows that for the D bolt with its whole length of 2.4 m, the length of its exposed section of 0.1 m, and the 4 anchors with the length of 0.1 m, the maximum tensile stress of 3.25 GPa generated in the D bolt with the ratio of the spacing between anchors (RSA) of 30 : 40 : 50 : 70 is lower about 1.13–1.31 times than the other D bolts with different ratio of spacing, and the changing range of stress is also the smallest, where the ratio of 30 : 40 : 50 : 70 indicates a ratio of lengths of deformable sections which is determined by turns from the innermost section of rock mass around roadway to the outermost section of roadway space. This study demonstrates that it is reasonable to employ the RSA of D bolt which makes it bring out its energy-absorbing capability to the full.