Neutrosophic Function with NNs for Analyzing and Expressing Anisotropy Characteristic and Scale Effect of Joint Surface Roughness

The shear behavior of rock mass significantly depends upon the surface roughness of rock joints which is generally characterized by the anisotropy characteristic and the scale effect. The large-scale natural rock joint surfaces, at Qingshi Town, southeast of Changshan County, Zhejiang Province, China, were used as a case study to analyze the roughness characteristics. A statistical assessment of joint roughness coefficient ( JRC ) indicated the roughness anisotropy of different sized rock joints. The lower limit ( ) was regarded as the determinate information, and the difference between lower and upper limits represented indeterminate information. The neutrosophic number (NN) was calculated to express the various JRC values . The parametric equations for JRC anisotropic ellipse were presented based on the JRC statistical assessment of joint profiles of various orientations. The JRC values of different sized joint samples were then quantitatively described by the neutrosophic function. Finally, a neutrosophic parameter for evaluating the scale effect on the surface roughness anisotropy was introduced using the ratio of maximum directional roughness to minimum directional roughness. The case study indicates that the proposed method has the superiority in moving forward from subjective assessment to quantitative and objective analysis on anisotropy characteristic and scale effect of joint surface roughness.