Shear strength of rock discontinuities

Straight edge

Asperity amplitude - mm

Length of profile - m

400 20

Joint Roughness Coefficient (JRC)

300 16
12
200 10
8
6
100 5
4
3
50
Amplitude of asperities - mm

40 2
30
20 1

10 0.5

5
4
3
2

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2

0.1
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5 1 2 3 4 5 10
Length of profile - m

Figure 6: Alternative method for estimating JRC from measurements of surface

roughness amplitude from a straight edge (Barton 1982).