Journal of Rock Mechanics and Tunnelling Technology VOLUME 8 NUMBER 1 January, 2002GUEST EDITORIAL Destructive criticism - constructive thoughts. The violent evens that we have recently witnessed, as always, are due to different poinss of view of what is ight and whats wrong. The “right to. certain point of view. and destructive action, will nevertheless requite a vigorous response. Let us diaw some lightr-hearted parallel, closer to our profession, ‘Those who criticise a supposedly benign entity like ROD, can have a field day demonstrating what happens if joint spacing isa uniform Sem in one sretch of cone, and ‘om in the next. The same argument can be applied to RMR and Q. Buc we have aright to respond vigorously in defence of Deere's RQD, if we nevertheless believe tht the ‘core stick >10em technique is in a useful range for diferemtating most of cu rock engineering problems Readers of ISRM News Journal will recently have seen the opinion tht joint spacing umber of joint sets and RQD do a poor job of quantifying black size. An alternative ‘method (uke RQD) is eapable of quantifying block sizes of 1000, 10.000 or even 100,000m’,as if this was the region where we needed solutions. We have a right to resist such anarchy, and defend the traditional point of view that joint spacing, and number of join sets (already sufficient) and RQD, atually give a very good quantifieation of Block ‘ao, especialy i the area where our problems i ‘Your benign and colourful sub-continent is being violently pushed towards the noth ‘throwing up constant challenges to hydropower developers i the lower Himalayas. The signs ofa violent pat are everywhere evident, ut yu resist these forces with admirable ‘vigour, and accept the need for Mexbility~ ike the bulldozer-iverson constant stand by, ready to use a new sector of the creping hillside for today's road. Visitors fortunate enough to sample just a few of the problems. come away with hydrogeological lessons that last etme, A THM that grind to halt in massive quartzite, that ater gets ured in sand, gravel and water needing dedicated drainage tunnel, that gets squeezed in phi, and finaly Succumbs t0 permanent burial in a deep, unplanned graveyard, bears witnes 40 heroic Stnugales, which are sometimes only solved by admiting defeat Comparing these realities with another of nature's wonders, the Sugar Loaf monolith in Rio de Janeiro ‘which has not been challenged by continental plate collision, i ie clear thet we relly teed classification and characterization methods that srtch over many orders of ‘magnitude, They also need to be fully coupled, to tackle the huge ranges of properties exhibited by present-day hydrogeologies ~ following millions of years of geometric turmoil, and too many millennia inthe rain and sun. “There isa controversy in our profession today that is highly relevant to this discussion, ast dirty challenges established beliefs tht water and stess affect the properties that ‘we measure. A recent suggestion that water and siess should be left out of rock mass characterization, and included later, after the ‘properties’ have been determined by the rock, joints and discontinuities, ia violation of common sense, for reasons that We should consider carefully.‘The fuid pressures required, or the stains recorded, when we measure sires i porots rock, are two examples of coupled behaviour. Another is the back-caleultion of ‘deformation modulus, either under an instrumented plate loading test, of fron rads ‘dependent strains caused by excavation. A tied isthe estimate of calculation of seismic velocities from travel times. The total stess minus the joint water pressures fundamental tothe sess, velocity and deformation moduli obtained from cach of these measurements As mentioned elsewhere, we do not expect Moho velocities of § kn to be “eoreced! for sess, fd pressure, mineral density or percentage of melt, and presented as 4 kins = 0 as 0 ‘correlate’ with a ‘recommended’ characterization ofthe unstressed, cod Sub-crusal material. We have to include any importan¢ coupled properties i the characterization, and aceept 8 ks a the atual value ~ at 40 km depth, Even in the "uppermost 100m ofthe sold erst, we can experience upto several kms increase in Vp in an equally jointed rock mass, due to effective stress increases. Since total rock sess ‘and water pressure and the sate of clay-fillings may each be involved, why should we void considering them in the preliminary charaterzation? ‘To be successful, characterization methods must, by one means or another, correlate with these effective suess effets, which are fundamental in seismic velocity and in deformation modulus, and in deciding on the correct description (and rating) fr clay- filled discontinuity. Careful plate load tests, conducted relatively near the surface and at moderate stress levels, cannot give good estimates of deformation modulus for use in ‘modelling of significantly greater depths. Furthermore, they will usually not have sampled sufiient of the important joint sts that may affect the undereroand excavations or dam abutments. Distinct element models help to supplement the roatvely limited seal of plate load tests swith joint response, to give an approximation of the "REV response of the rock mass, ‘Together with higher moduli at depth, and greater joint stiffness, these jointed models may be capable of coming closer treaty. If excavation i simulated, this realty may include a self-generated excavation disturbed zone, in which a numerically modeled Toad test would register lower modulus, as in practice. A numerical sampling of wavel time for seismic velocity would also register a zone of lower velocity in the EDZ. and Pethaps aso a higher value in the highly stressed outer region. All these effects hive been measured in practice. We should therefore insist that they are considered, when ‘modelling is planned Retuming to the hydrogeologic diversity that is our workplace, we should always remember that thee are ome fundamental differences in the format of RSR, RMR. Q and RM, 0 list just four rock mass classification systems ~ atleast two of which are Used to characterize, and eximate conditions away from excavations, When calling for the removal of sess and water’ in characterization, there willbe diferent consequences foreach system, aed perhaps a neak-down ofthe intended method. Ifthe “truncations would respect this fat, then the “inelusionss' could continue to work in peace. recent Aiscovery that Q can be expressed in MPa, being the product of two fundamental ‘components of rock mass stregth, can be used to emphasise the noed for defending functioning point of view. Nick Barton Nick Barton & Associates, Hovik, Norway