ABSTRACT
The principle of the homogenization procedures is to replace the heterogeneous composite material made of the association of the ground with the bolts by a homogeneous material having “equivalent” mechanical properties. Recently, de Buhan and Sudret (1999) have introduced a model in which the reinforced ground is replaced by the superposition of two continua in mutual mechanical interaction. In such a framework, a displacement field and stress field is associated with each phase. Phases are connected to each other through an interaction law (Bennis & de Buhan, 2003). An example of application of this approach to tunnel reinforcement by bolts can be found in de Buhan et al (2008).
