Abstract:A three-dimensional elasto-visco-plastic hierarchical block element method for rock mass is developed. First,the three-dimensional hierarchical shape functions and the elasto-visco-plastic constitutive model are adopted in the covering element of each block element. Then,the equilibrium equations of rock masses are deduced,based on the virtual work principle. Finally,the numerical integration schemes and the treatment of boundary conditions are discussed. Two numerical examples are studied. The results are in good agreement with the analytical and FEM solutions,and the new method is proved to be accurate and efficient. The proposed method can be widely used in deformation and stability analysis for rock mass due to the simple pre-processing and high accuracy.