A velocity-based approach to viscoelastic flow of rock (Q812949)

The paper describes creep deformation of rocks. The deformation is composed of elastic and viscous parts. The viscous part is considered to be incompressible. Thus the authors do not consider the compressibility and dilatancy of rocks during creep (see [\textit{N. Cristescu} et al., Time effects in rock mechanics, Wiley (1998)], not mentioned by the authors, where real properties of the creep of rocks and convergence of boreholes, tunnels and caverns are presented, mainly for rock salt). The authors consider as an example a finite element algorithm for the calculation of the rock salt from Asse mine in Germany, and study its convergence. The rock in this example is both elastic (compressible) and viscous (incompresible). The viscosity is softening, i.e. increasing in time. Several other numerical examples, not related to mining, are given.