A numerical model of fully grouted bolts considering the tri-linear shear bond–slip model

• A numerical model is proposed for fully grouted bolts.
• The model considers the tri-linear bond–slip relationship of a bolt system.
• The proposed model agrees well with the laboratory pullout data.

A numerical model of fully grouted bolts is proposed in this study by implementing the tri-linear bond–slip relationship of bolts into the numerical framework presented by Hyett et al. (1996). The bond–slip relationship of bolt–rock interface is simplified and represented by the tri-linear model. The proposed numerical model is characterized by (1) its ability in modeling decoupling mechanism of bolt–rock interface, i.e. the degradation of the interfacial shear bond stress along bolts; (2) its easy implementation in a numerical code. The proposed numerical model is verified with the pullout tests, and good agreements with the experimental results can be observed in terms of axial stress distributions in the bolt, shear stress distributions along the bolt and load–displacement relationship. The proposed model also gives a reasonable prediction on the behavior of bolts installed in the field.