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11th congress of the international society for rock mechanics

The Second Half Century of Rock Mechanics
Forty one years ago, the International Society for Rock
Mechanics (ISRM) held its 1st International Congress in
Lisbon, Portugal. In July 2007, the 11th ISRM Congress
returned to Lisbon, where the Portuguese Geotechnical
Society (SPG), the Portuguese National Group of the
ISRM, hosted the meeting.

THE SECOND HALF CENTURY OF ROCK MECHANICS

comprises the proceedings of the 11th ISRM
Congress, and reviews how the discipline of Rock
Mechanics has evolved over the past half century to
become an important area of Geotechnical Engineering,
and considers new perspectives and developments as well.
The organization of the congress was co-sponsored by
the Spanish Society for Rock Mechanics (SMR), who
also organized two satellite workshops in Madrid
("Underground Works under Special Conditions" and
"Preservation of Natural Stone and Rock Weathering").

Volume 3
The Congress also included another satellite workshop
in the Azores ("2nd International Workshop on Volcanic
Rocks"), a short course, a selection of one-day technical
tours in Portugal and other events.

THE SECOND HALF CENTURY OF ROCK MECHANICS

contains the complete papers presented by the ISRM
National Groups, as well as transcripts of special lectures
by invited speakers on key issues and recent research
developments. The themes of general interest included:
Rock Engineering and Environmental Issues; The Path
from Characterization to Modelling; Slopes, Foundations
and Open Pit Mining; Tunnels, Caverns and Underground
Mining; Earthquake Engineering and Rock Dynamics;
Petroleum Engineering and Hydrocarbon Storage; and
Safety Evaluation and Risk Management.

THE SECOND HALF CENTURY OF ROCK MECHANICS

will be of interest to professionals, engineers, and academics
involved in rock mechanics, rock engineering, tunnelling,
mining, earthquake engineering, rock dynamics and
geotechnical engineering.

The Second Half Century of Rock Mechanics

Volume 3

an informa business
11TH CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR ROCK MECHANICS
BALKEMA – Proceedings and Monographs
in Engineering, Water and Earth Sciences
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11TH CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR ROCK MECHANICS
(ISRM 2007), LISBON, PORTUGAL, 9–13 JULY 2007

11th Congress of the International Society

for Rock Mechanics
The Second Half Century of Rock Mechanics

VOLUME 1

Editors
L. Ribeiro e Sousa
University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

C. Olalla
CEDEX, Madrid, Spain

N. Grossmann
LNEC, Lisbon, Portugal

LONDON / LEIDEN / NEW YORK / PHILADELPHIA / SINGAPORE

Taylor & Francis
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© 2007 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Taylor & Francis is an Informa business

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Version Date: 20130927

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 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Table of contents

Preface XIX

Organizing Committee XXI

International Scientific Committee XXI

Advisory Board XXI

VOLUME 1
1. Rock engineering and environmental issues
Acid sulfide rock: Problematic aspects in the Basque Country (Spain) 3
V. Ormaetxea
Analysis and prediction of damage zone due to subsidence considering random errors 7
C. Sunwoo & D.W. Ryu
Analysis of ground stability in the residential region located on the limestone corrosion zone 11
K.C. Han, D.S. Chun & D.W. Ryu
Analysis of tracer migration process in the crack by means of X-ray CT 15
A. Sato & A. Sawada
An investigation on long-term stability and integrity of surrounding rocks in Longyou caverns caved 2000 years ago 19
Yue Z.Q., Li L., Yang Z., Lu M., Xu J.H. & Zheng J.
Development of a numerical system for prediction calculation of underground climate in relation to design of passive
cooling of used nuclear fuel by natural ventilation 23
Y. Mizuta, Q. Chen & T. Koga
Die Rohrvortriebe für den Regenüberlaufkanal Neckarhafen (Pipe jacking for the project
“Regenüberlaufkanal Neckarhafen”) 27
C. Erichsen, A. Gekeler & C.-D. Hauck
Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) in the Meuse Haute Marne underground research laboratory 33
G. Armand, Y. Wileveau, J. Morel, M. Cruchaudet & H. Rebours
Experimental study on wind erosion of the consolidated ancient earthen site by PS material in Northwest China 37
Zhao H., Wang X., Li. Z.X., Han W.F. & Guo Q.L.
Fault reactivation, an example of environmental impacts of groundwater rising on urban area due to previous
mining activities 41
M.H. Yu, I.F. Jefferson & M.G. Culshaw
Fluid flow and tracer transport simulations for rock fractures under normal loading and shear displacement 47
T. Koyama & L. Jing
Influence of water vapor pressure of surrounding environment on fracture toughness and crack velocity of rocks 51
Y. Obara, K. Sasaki, Y. Yoshinaga & Y. Suzuki
Measurement of micro crack volume in low porosity crystalline rock 55
L. Jacobsson, M. Flansbjer, R. Christiansson & T. Jansson
Micromechanical investigations of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of argillite rocks by means of optical full
field strain measurement and acoustic emission techniques 59
F. Valès, M. Bornert, H. Gharbi, D. Nguyen Minh & J.C. Eytard
Mining instability and the misuse of the 10-times-seam thickness rule 63
J.A. Taylor & R.J. Fowell

V
Natural and thermomechanical stress field measurements at the “Rochers de Valabres” Pilot Site
Laboratory in France 69
C. Dünner, P. Bigarré, C. Clément, V. Merrien-Soukatchoff & Y. Gunzburger
Numerical modeling of the flooding of abandoned iron mines in Lorraine (France): Coupled
hydromechanical approach 73
D. Grgic, F. Homand & A. Giraud
Planung des Neckardükers Sirnau in Esslingen (Planning of the Neckar undercrossing Sirnau in Esslingen) 77
U. Heinemann & M. Tegelkamp
Rationalization of the impoundment of arsenic-rich muck utilizing adsorption of silty soil 83
T. Igarashi, H. Imagawa, K. Asakura & K. Kaneko
Rock erosion in spillway channels – A case study of the Ligga spillway 87
L. Mörén & J. Sjöberg
Rock mechanics research for radioactive waste disposal in Finland 91
E. Johansson, J.A. Hudson, M. Hakala, J. Sjöberg, S. Riikonen & P. Syrjänen
Simulation of hydrogeomechanical responses of jointed rock masses to tunneling and lining 97
J.H. Kihm, S.U. Park & J.M. Kim
Subcritical crack growth in granite 101
Y. Nara & K. Kaneko
The determination of interpretation uncertainties in subsurface representations 105
W. Tegtmeier, R. Hack & S. Zlatanova
Thermal over-closure of joints and rock masses and implications for HLW repositories 109
N. Barton
Water storage of thermal waters in a closing down mine (Gavorrano, Italy) 117
C.A. Garzonio

2. The path from characterization to modelling

A comparison of stress strain behaviour of reconstituted and natural black coal 123
D. Jasinge, P.G. Ranjith, J. Kodikara & S.K. Choi
A constitutive model for elastic visco-plastic behavior of weak sandstones 127
M.-C. Weng, L.-S. Tsai, F.-S. Jeng & M.-L. Lin
A correction coefficient of mechanical parameters of coal or rock test samples and its application in roadway
support design 131
Liu C., Wu X. & Chen Y.
A damage-plasticity model for porous geomaterials and the simulation of strain localization bands 133
Chen X. & Yang Q.
A discussion on the decrease of unconfined compressive strength between saturated and dry rock samples 139
M. Romana & B. Vásárhelyi
A laboratory testing technique and a model for the swelling behavior of anhydritic rock 143
E. Pimentel
A new procedure to assess in-situ rock stress by empirical and probabilistic methodologies 147
L.I. González de Vallejo & T. Hijazo
A new type of loading platen minimizing frictional restraint at the specimen boundary 151
M. Sagong, J.G. Kim, S. Kim, J.S. Lee and K.-H. You
A review of the Cerchar and LCPC rock abrasivity measurement methods 155
R.J. Fowell & M.Z. Abu Bakar
A unified procedure for Hoek-Brown prediction of strength and post yield behaviour for rockmasses at the
extreme ends of the rock competency scale 161
T.G. Carter, M.S. Diederichs & J.L. Carvalho
An application of planar elastic displacement solution for double hole problem in back-analysis of two testing
adits of Three Gorges Project, China 165
Zhang L.Q., Yang Z.F. & Xu P.

VI
An introduction to version 1.0 of software on large deformation analysis for soft rock engineering at great depth 169
He M., Chen X., Liang G.P., Qian H.S., Zhou Y.F. & Zhuang X.Y.
An investigation on the dynamic testing, properties and responses of support systems 175
L. St-Pierre, F.P. Hassani, J. Ouellet & P.H. Radziszewski
Analysis on time-dependent process of crack growth and strength degradation of rock 179
J.H. Synn, C. Park & Y.B. Jung
Block formation around excavations using deterministic and probabilistic methods 183
A.G. Thompson & C.R. Windsor
Characterization of variable weathered profiles by using DPR 187
A. Viana da Fonseca & S. Coelho
Classification of anisotropic rocks 191
H. Saroglou & G. Tsiambaos
Comparing the RQD and the C values 197
Á. Váró, B. Vásárhelyi & L. Kovács
Comparison of hand-mapping with remote data capture systems for effective rock mass characterisation 201
J.S. Coggan, A. Wetherelt, X.P. Gwynn & Z.N. Flynn
Contribution for the knowledge of the fracturing and hydraulic characterization of the granitic pluton of
Castro Daire region – Viseu (Portugal) 207
L.M. Ferreira Gomes, L. Andrade Pais & E. Mendes
Determination of orthotropic anisotropy of layered rock – Back analysis from loading tests in arbitrary directions 211
K. Shin, K. Ogawa & T. Yokoyama
Determining fracture size probability distribution functions from trace length probability distribution functions 215
F. Tonon
Development of rock joints with time and consequences for engineering 223
S. Hencher & R. Knipe
Discontinuity distribution in granites and its effects on rock mass classification 227
Shang Y., Shi Y., Yuan G. & Sun Y.
Discrete fracture network modelling and characterisation of rock masses for block caving design 231
N.T. Ford, R.J. Pine & Z.N. Flynn
Effect of confining pressure, intermediate principal stress and minimum principal stress on the
mechanical behavior of a sandstone 237
M. Kwaśniewski & M. Takahashi
Effect of joint parameters on the stress-strain response of rocks 243
G. Arunakumari & G. Madhavi Latha
Effect of rock bridge continuity and area on shear behavior of joints 247
A. Ghazvinian, M.R. Nikudel & V. Sarfarazi
Ellipsoidal elasticity for anisotropic rocks and rock masses 251
A. Pouya & M. Chalhoub
Estimation of rock mass strength and deformability for a 30m cube in three dimensions including
anisotropy – A case study 255
P.H.S.W. Kulatilake, J. Park & J.-G. Um
Estimation of uniaxial compressive strength of clay-bearing weak rocks using needle penetration resistance 265
Z.A. Erguler & R. Ulusay
Evaluation of Brazilian tensile strength in transversely isotropic sandstone 269
A. Tavallali, B. Debecker & A. Vervoort
Evaluation of fracturing process of soft rocks at great depth by AE measurement and DEM simulation 273
Y. Mito, C.S. Chang, K. Aoki, H. Matsui, S. Niunoya & M. Minami
Evaluation of groundwater flow during excavation of shafts by inversion of tilt data 277
K. Matsuki, K. Nakatani, T. Arai, K. Ohmura, R. Takeuchi, Y. Arai & S. Takeuchi
Experimental analyses of strain rate effect of frozen clay in the low temperature 281
Ma Q., Cai M., Hu S. & Chen B.

VII
Experimental study on the seepage characteristics of rock mass under unloading condition 285
Liu X.R., Liang N.H. & Bao T.
Extension of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion to three dimensions 289
A. Serrano, J. Estaire & C. Olalla
Fracture characterisation determined by numerical modelling analyses 293
Z.N. Flynn & R.J. Pine
Fracture mapping using 3D laser scanning techniques 299
S. Slob, H.R.G.K. Hack, Q. Feng, K. Röshoff & A.K. Turner
Geomechanical tests and their applications in rock anchorage design 303
Kang H. & Lin J.
Geotechnical mapping evaluation of rock groynes in Espinho area (NW Portugal) 307
A.C. Pires & H.I. Chaminé
Geotechnical properties in an alteration profile of the granite of Covilhã 311
V.M. Cavaleiro, P.G. Almeida & J.F. Riscado
Influence of chemical attack on physical and mechanical properties of some dimension stones from Brazil 315
M. de P. Bastos, E.G. Marques & F.J.M. Sossai
Interpretation of rock joint orientations exposed on the rock faces using a multistage convergence
photogrammetric technique 319
J. Kim, S.O. Choi & D.H. Kim
Inversion of drying tests on partially saturated argillite for hydromechanical parameter identification 323
R. Giot, A. Giraud, F. Homand & K. Su
Laboratory measurements of hydraulic exchanges and associated hydromechanical couplings between
fracture and rock mass in the case of a sandstone 327
M. Souley, M. Boulon, I. Rahmani & A. Thoraval
Laboratory study on the characteristics of breakout under polyaxial stress conditions 331
D.S. Cheon, C. Park, J.H. Synn & S. Jeon
Laboratory testing methods for in-situ stress measurement and time-to-failure prediction 335
A. Lehtonen, S. Mononen & J. Antikainen
Model failure tests on rock anchors 339
S. García-Wolfrum, A. Serrano & C. Olalla
Moment-frequency distribution used as a constraint for hydro-mechanical modeling in fracture networks 343
D. Bruel & J. Charlety
New insights on the geomechanical concept of joint roughness 347
M.J.A. Leal-Gomes & C. Dinis-da-Gama
New model for the volumetric strain of rocks under high differential stress and large shear displacement 351
M. Takahashi, T. Takemura, M. Kato, M. Kwaśniewski & X. Li
New peak shear strength criteria for anisotropic rock joints using quantified joint roughness parameters 355
D.Y. Kim & Y.N. Lee
New Zealand greywacke characteristics and influences on rock mass behaviour 359
L. Richards & S.A.L. Read
Non-destructive evaluation of the stable behavior of a quasi-brittle sandstone 365
M.P. Luong, M. Emami Tabrizi, B. Halphen & J.C. Eytard
Numerical analysis of fracture toughness with Chevron Bend test 369
T. Ha, W.-B. Kim, J.-H. Jeong, H.-S. Yang & M.-H. Jang
Numerical examination of flow mechanism during shear in a rock joint 373
Y. Mitani, T. Esaki, H. Ikemi & F. Vallier
Numerical modelling of the mechanical behaviour of bimrock 377
M. Barbero, M. Bonini & M. Borri-Brunetto
Obtaining modeling parameters for engineering design by rock mass characterization 381
M. Cai & P.K. Kaiser

VIII
Predicting weathering grades by Schmidt hammer test: An investigation on granitic rock materials from
Southeastern Brazil 385
A. Basu, T.B. Celestino & A.A. Bortolucci
Probabilistic analysis of block stability in underground excavations using realistic fracture network models 391
K.M. Moffitt & S.F. Rogers
Problems and experimental methods of surface soft rock in Nanning, Guangxi, P.R. China 395
X.G. Zhang & N.P. Yi
Propagation of large, twinned fractures in shear – A numerical investigation 399
H. Hakami
Real-time CT testing of rock damage evolution mechanism under triaxial compression 403
Ge X. & Ren J.
Recent developments for automatic identification of rock discontinuity sets 407
R. Jimenez-Rodriguez & C.D. Klose
Sensitivity analysis of the Hoek-Diederichs rock mass deformation modulus estimating formula 411
P. Ván & B. Vásárhelyi
Setting up a new direct shear testing apparatus 415
G. Barla, M. Barla, M. Camusso & M.E. Martinotti
Shear behavior of rock joints under CNS conditions 419
Y. Kim, S. Kim & J. Kim
Simulation and visualisation of the installation of cable bolt anchors 423
A.G. Thompson
Strain softening behaviour and constitutive modeling of schist 427
Rakesh Kumar, K.G. Sharma & A. Varadarajan
Stress paths in laboratory rock joint shear tests 431
J. Muralha
Stress recovery procedure for discontinuous deformation analysis 435
Z.Y. Zhao, J. Gu & H.R. Bao
Study on the numerical modeling of crack propagation in rock by the distinct element method 439
T. Funatsu, M. Ishikawa, Q. Li, N. Shimizu & M. Seto
Swelling pressure of mudstone under cyclic wetting and drying 443
R. Doostmohammadi, M. Moosavi, Th. Mutschler & C. Osan
Synergetic effect and visible simulation of AE in rock mass failure process 447
Yu G., Xu Y., Zhang M., Tang C. & Pan Y.
The Baixo Alentejo (Portugal) flysch rocks: Physical properties and correlations 451
A.B. Pinho, I.M.R. Duarte & J.A. Rodrigues-Carvalho
The dilation potential of rough rock joints under CNL and CNS conditions 455
M. Pötsch, M. Blümel, T. Schieg & C. Seywald
The effect of scale on the surface damage and asperity degradation of rock joint 461
N. Fardin
The effect of stone consolidation on the physical properties of porous limestone: A rock mechanical approach 465
Z. Pápay & Á. Török
The local degradation approach applied to the modelling of brittle fracture of anisotropic heterogeneous rock 469
S.C. Yuan & J.P. Harrison
The Mogi-Coulomb true-triaxial failure criterion and some implications for Rock Engineering 475
A.M. Al-Ajmi & R.W. Zimmerman
The strength of rock defects – numerical analysis of scale effects 481
Z.H.F. Lai, K.J. Douglas & G. Mostyn
The Synthetic Rock Mass approach – A step forward in the characterization of jointed rock masses 485
D. Mas Ivars, N. Deisman, M. Pierce & C. Fairhurst

IX
The use of a bonded-particle model for studying the mechanical behavior of weak rock 491
F.-S. Jeng, H.-H. Li, T.-H. Huang & Y.-M. Hsieh
Thermal modeling using particle clusters in PFC 495
T.S. Wanne & R.P. Young
Thermo-mechanical analysis of jointed rock masses under cryogenic conditions 499
C. Park, E.-S. Park, C. Park, S.-K. Chung, H.-Y. Kim & D.-H. Lee
Three-dimensional continuum modeling of masonry structures application to the SE/E corner of the
Acropolis wall of Athens 503
I. Stefanou, J. Sulem & I. Vardoulakis
Time-dependent damage growth and failure mechanism around tunnel under deep geological environments 509
T. Takemura, A. Golshani, M. Oda, Y. Okui & M. Takahashi
Uniaxial compression behaviour of the Jarmelo granite (Guarda, Portugal) 513
M. Quinta-Ferreira & A.M. Antão
Validation of determination of rock deformation moduli by different methods 517
A.I. Savich, E.G. Gaziev, V.I. Rechitski & A.V. Kolichko

3. Slopes, foundations and open pit mining

3D simulation analysis of failure of rock slope with crack propagation by DEM 525
S. Ohtsuki, H. Kusumi & T. Matsuoka
Active and passive earth pressures on retaining walls assuming a non-linear strength criterion and constant dilatancy 529
A. Serrano, C. Olalla & A. Perucho
An innovative approach for the use of 3D images in the mechanical analysis of blocks in a rock mass 533
M. Pötsch, W. Schubert & A. Gaich
Analysis of laser scanner data collected during a survey of faces in a rock quarry 539
T. Rotonda, M. Marsella, L. Lizzadro & A. Ricca
Analysis of stability condition of rock slopes lying along a far East motorway based on laser scanner surveys 543
A.M. Ferrero, G. Forlani, M. Migliazza, R. Roncella, P. Grasso & E. Rabbi
Anchoring mechanism of self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable and design of self-locker 547
Zhu B., Liu Q. & Wu Z.
Application of DOM borehole information for rock slope monitoring 551
T.F. Cho, G.H. Lee, K.S. Won, Y.J. Kim & J.W. Choi
Assessment of rock mass deformation and slope stability predictions of Odessa Port plant 555
E. Freiberg, E. Bellendir, A. Fedchun, A. Elkin, G. Bich & E. Cherkez
Bearing capacity of jointed rock foundations under gravity concrete dams 559
A. Fahimifar & M. Imani
Brief and systematic evaluation for deformation characteristics of dam site rock mass by shock response value 563
Y. Ito, K. Agui, K. Kikuchi, M. Fujieda, T. Kobayashi & T. Saito
Challenging problems in the Xiaowan super large arch dam under construction 567
Zhou W., Lin P., Yang Q. & Yang R.
Controlling of the Jietai Temple landslide, Beijing 571
Wang Z.
Deformation reinforcement theory and its application in the dam toe anchorage design 575
Yang Q., Chen Y.R. & Liu Y.
El Cune slide in mudstones and shales in Colombia: History and analyses 579
A.J. Gonzalez-Garcia & J. Montero-Olarte
Evaluating the adhesion strength of different sealants on kimberlite 585
S. Saydam & Y.S. Docrat
Evaluation of the rock mass properties using the downhole hammer drilling logs 589
J.P. Tshibangu, S. Wittemans, B. Deschamps & S. Duray
Excavation of rock concretions in Hambach opencast mine: In situ tests 593
R.M. Schmitz

X
Experiences on flysch rock mass reinforcing in engineered slopes 597
Ž. Arbanas, M. Grošić & D. Jurić-Kaćunić
Experimental study on overhead transmission line’s foundation in Xinjiang Tianshan permafrost region 601
Qian Z., Lu X. & Cheng Y.
Hydromechanical effects on stability of jointed rock abutments in concrete arch dam 605
M. Yazdani & S. Yazdani
Kinematics of overhanging rock slopes 609
M. Tsesarsky & Y.H. Hatzor
Load test in pile models in sandstone 615
C.A. Costa, A.L.L.S. Nunes
Long-term monitoring of deformation behavior of large excavated rock slope in a dam site 619
T. Eguchi, K. Ooyabu, K. Kido & M. Tsukui
Modeling of excavated rock slope at Antaibao coal mine, China 623
Feng J. & He M.
Numerical modeling and shear strength estimates of bi-planar dip slope failures 629
B.R. Fisher & E. Eberhardt
Numerical modelling of composite large scale rock slope failure mechanisms dominated by
major geological structures 633
J. Franz, Y. Cai & B. Hebblewhite
Optimization criteria for using dynamic rockfall protection systems 637
J. González Gallego & R.J. Luis Fonseca
Probabilistic rockfall encounter analysis using a three-dimensional simulation model 641
T. Nishimura & H. Kiyama
Proposed thrust failure analytical method for slope collapse in open pit mines 645
M.F. Handley & K.N. Karparov
Re-evaluation of an anchored slope using a digital terrain model 653
P. Fritz & M. Hauser
Rock avalanches: Experimental study of the main parameters influencing propagation 657
I. Manzella & V. Labiouse
Rock engineering in karst: Belgian case histories 661
R.M. Schmitz, C. Schroeder, A. van Cotthem & B. Dethy
Rock slope stabilization and numerical modelling with pretensioned metallic meshes 667
J.E.T. Quintanilha de Menezes & A.I. Soares Cardoso
Slope stability in heterogeneous materials 671
A. Serrano, A. Perucho & J. Estaire
Stability analysis and deformation features of Yinshuigou deposit at the dam abutment of
Xiaowan Hydropower Station 677
Zhao H., Li S., Dong Z., Huang S., Xiao S., Jiang Y., Yuan P. & Lu Z.
Stability analysis of the Miduk mine pit slopes 681
S.H. Khoshrou & M. Jamali
Stabilization of the Arrábida Cliffs, on the EN 379-1, in Setúbal 685
R.S. Pistone, A.G. Coelho, R. Freitas, J. Santos & P. Sousa
Step-path characterization in rock slopes: An integrated digital imaging-numerical
modeling approach 693
M. Yan, D. Stead & M. Sturzenegger
Strength and deformation properties of the concrete-to-rock contact 697
I. Vrkljan, B. Kavur & N. Štambuk Cvitanović
Stress evaluation experience at different quarry sites in the Apuane Alps (Italy) 701
G. Iabichino & M. Cravero

XI
Study on shear strength characteristic of coal bearing strata 705
S. Kramadibrata, R.K. Wattimena, B. Sulistianto, G.M. Simangunsong & A. Tobing
The shear strength of joints in existing dam foundations 711
G. Ballivy, C. Gravel, T. El Malki, P. Rivard, B. Rousseau & J. Gagnon
The use of geomechanical indices to predict the settlement of a 40-storey tower in
jointed basalt 715
J.L. Justo, E. Justo & P. Durand
The use of rock mass characterization in the development of founding criteria for dams 719
G.N. Davis
Toppling mechanism: Resolving the question of alignment of slope and discontinuities 725
P.M. Maurenbrecher & H.R.G.K. Hack
Visual sensibility analysis of Slope Mass Rating (SMR) correction parameters using continuous functions 729
R. Tomás, J. Delgado & J.B. Serón
Author index 733

VOLUME 2

4. Tunnels, caverns and underground mining

3D analysis of the longwall coal mining on caving processes in the Velenje Coal Mine 741
J. Likar, J. Čadež, E. Dervarič & M. Medved
3D-numerical simulation of Isfahan subway twin tunnels excavation 747
M. Hashemi, R. Rahman-Nezhad & B. Saiedtarrah
A dynamic multi-region approach to model elastic, visco- and poroelastic rock media 751
A.M.B. Pereira & G. Beer
A realistic approach to estimate stand-up time 757
T. Ramamurthy
A study on development of loosening zone and allowable limit of deformation in tunnelling 761
K. Tsusaka, C. Tanimoto, Y. Mitarashi & T. Aoki
An evaluation approach of rock bolting effect considering the coupling and decoupling behavior 765
Y. Cai, T. Esaki, Y. Mitani, H. Ikemi & Y.J. Jiang
Advanced numerical simulation of the tunnel excavation/construction process with the boundary element method 769
G. Beer & Ch. Dünser
Alternative support designs for tunneling gypsiferous-anhydritic claystones 775
I.R. Berdugo, E.E. Alonso, A. Gens & E.E. Romero
Analysis of fracture imprints for appropriate selection of interpanel lead/lag distances in South African gold mines 779
T. Rangasamy
Analysis of the behavior of circular openings in rock mass using different support systems 787
F.E.E. Mackay & A.P. Assis
Analytical solution of displacement for circular tunnel using strain strength criterion 791
Y. Chang
Application of definite integral estimates in stope support design 795
R.A. Lamos & A.W. Lamos
Approximation of stresses and displacements around circular opening excavated in strain-softening rock masses 799
Y.-K. Lee & S.-H. Chang
Bau und Planung des Kallidromo Tunnels auf der NBS Athen-Thessaloniki (Construction and planning
of the Kallidromo tunnel on the NCL Athens-Thessaloniki) 803
D. Schmitt
Behavior category and design loads for conventionally excavated tunnels 809
G. Perri
Critical strain: A measure of squeezing problems in tunnels 815
M. Singh, B. Singh, N.K. Samadhiya & J. Choudhari

XII
Damage to mountain tunnels by earthquake and deformation mechanism 819
T. Asakura, Y. Kojima, T. Matsunaga, Y. Shigeta & K. Tsukada
Delayed deformation analyses for mountain tunnels 825
Y. Jiang, Z. Guan & Y. Tanabashi
Design and analysis of yielding support in squeezing ground 829
G. Anagnostou & L. Cantieni
Design and reliability analysis of pillar performance for underground limestone mine in Korea 833
Y.B. Jung, C. Sunwoo & S.K. Chung
Design of a large deep cavern at the United States Deep Underground Science and
Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) 837
C. Laughton, M. Kuchta & W. Roggenthen
Design of displacement chamber with bedding parallel shear zones in Siah Bishe Dam, Iran 845
H. Hassani & S. Arshadnejad
Discussion on 1st stage construction techniques for deeply buried long tunnels in the West Line of the
Mega South to North Water Diversion Project in China 849
Fu B.-J., Zhang J.-J. & Li Z.
Displacements around circular tunnels in viscoelastoplastic media with non linear yield criterion and
non associated flow rule 853
A. Serrano, G. Sandoval & A. Perucho
Elucidating the anisotropic squeezing behavior of New Guanyin tunnel 857
T.-H. Huang, C.-H. Chen & T.-T. Wang
Engineering estimation method of rock masses on the tunnelling root by conversion analysis using seismic
velocity and electric resistivity 861
H. Kusumi & M. Nakamura
Enlarged interpretation of hydrofracturing in-situ stress by 3-D numerical analysis 865
S.O. Choi, J.D. Kim & K.S. Kim
Entwurf von 5 maschinell aufgefahrenen Felstunnels der Bahnstrecke Genua-Ventimiglia (Design of
5 machine-driven rock tunnels of the railway line Genoa-Ventimiglia) 869
B. Wittke-Schmitt & F. Lorenzo Martín
Experimental assessment of rock mass behaviour in surrounding of utility tunnels 877
J. Trčková
External collapse angle and its application 881
Wang Z.
Failure mechanisms around shallow tunnels in brittle rock 883
D. Saiang & E. Nordlund
First approaches to an adaptable geomechanical design using databases 891
F. Krenn, J. Brandl, H.-Ch. Kurzweil & R. Galler
First full-face and open-type TBM excavation for railway mountain tunnel in Japan 897
N. Okano, M. Shimizu, T. Tsuji, K. Chino, K. Shimizu & T. Asakura
Geomechanical characteristics study of deposit in underground mining method selection process 901
K. Shahriar, V. Shariati & F. S. Namin
Geomechanical features of the exploitations of Iscaycruz mine (Peru) 905
J. Cuadros, D. Córdoba & L.R. Alejano
Geomechanical parameters updating in an underground work 909
T. Miranda, A.G. Correia & L. Ribeiro e Sousa
Geophysical investigations to evaluate geotechnical conditions in glacial deposits along the route of a
planned communication tunnel 913
Z. Bestyński & K. Thiel
Gotthard Base tunnel: Rock burst phenomenon during construction of a multifunctional section in a fault zone area 917
H. Hagedorn, M. Rehbock-Sander & R. Stadelmann
Guideline for influence estimation on existing tunnel due to embankment and excavation above a tunnel 921
Y. Kojima, K. Yashiro, K. Yoshikawa, Y. Shigeta & T. Asakura

XIII
Hydromechanical coupled discrete modelling for the assessment of airtightness of unlined large rock cavern 925
K. Aoki, Y. Mito, C.S. Chang, Y. Tasaka & T. Maejima
Intelligent stability analysis and design optimum of a large hydraulic cavern group under high geo-stress condition 931
Feng X.T., Su G. & Jiang Q.
Interpreting in-situ stress measurements using geological models, Sweden 935
C. Derek Martin & R. Christiansson
Investigation into ground convergence effect on TBM performance in squeezing ground 939
A. Jafari, M. Mollaee & H. Shamsi
Japanese state of the art on tunnel maintenance technology 943
T. Asakura, Y. Kojima & T. Matsunaga
Long term stability assessment of Siah Bisheh pumped storage powerhouse cavern under saturated condition 947
M. Sharifzadeh, M. Ghorbani, R. Nateghi & R. Masoudi
Numerical analyses of Masjed-E-Soleiman powerhouse cavern, Iran 951
M. Ahmadi, K. Goshtasbi & R. Ashjari
Numerical analyses of shotcrete reinforcement 955
F. Perman, J. Sjöberg, O. Olofsson & L. Rosengren
Numerical analysis of soft rock tunneling in Western Taiwan area 959
K.J. Shou & Y.C. Chuang
Numerical analysis of the development of squeezing pressure during TBM standstills 963
M. Ramoni & G. Anagnostou
Numerical modeling and monitoring analysis of Heroísmo station, Metro do Porto 967
P. Ferreira, T. Sousa, P. Silva, H. Vasconcelos, N. Foged & L. Ribeiro e Sousa
Numerical modeling of strain driven fractures around tunnels in layered rock masses 971
S. Stefanizzi, G. Barla & P.K. Kaiser
On the adequacy of the plane strain assumption in tunnel analyses 975
L. Cantieni & G. Anagnostou
On the classification of the rock mass excavation behaviour in tunneling 979
G. Russo & P. Grasso
On the variability of squeezing in tunneling 983
L. Cantieni & G. Anagnostou
Parameter identification and subsidence prediction by Artificial Neural Networks and FEM database for design
and construction of NATM tunnels 987
J.H. Lee, S. Akutagawa, H. Iida & Y. Yokota
Picote II underground powerhouse – Geotechnical characterization and design 991
C. Lima, N. Plasencia & C. Esteves
Prédiction du comportement des ouvrages souterrains en milieu rocheux sur la base d’une approche simplifiée
(Prediction of the behaviour of the underground works in a rock medium on the basis of a simplified approach) 995
F. Laigle
Preliminary identification of Swiss road tunnels pathologies based on geotechnical G.I.S. data 999
F. Sandrone, V. Labiouse & J.-F. Mathier
Pre-split surface blasting to modify goaf behavior above shortwall panels 1003
J.W. Latilla, J.J. van Wijk, H. Booysen, C. Silver & P. Fourie
Results of monitoring for underground excavations behaviour during construction of Tehri dam project, India 1009
V.I. Rechitski, M.M. Ilyin, A.M. Zamakhaev, O.V. Kozlov, S.A. Erlikhman, A.K. Fink & A.G. Karpinskaya
Rock mass behavior during a period of interrupted excavation and completion of caverns 1015
V.I. Bronshteyn, V.N. Zhukov, S.A. Yufin, M.G. Zertsalov & D.V. Ustinov
Rock mass characterisation for tunnelling and mining using 3D images 1019
A. Gaich, M. Pötsch & W. Schubert
Rock mass characterization for tunnels in the Copenhagen limestone 1025
N. Foged, L. Jakobsen, P. Jackson & L. Erichsen

XIV
Spatio-temporal evolution of the Excavation Damaged Zones (EDZ): Lessons learned from the French
Tournemire site in indurate clay 1031
A. Rejeb & J. Rutqvist
Stability analysis of super large-scale caverns by 3D finite element method based on elastic-plastic-brittle theory 1035
Luo X., Ge X. & Zhang Z.
Stabilization of highly stressed weak and soft rocks – Observations, principles and practice 1041
C. Chunlin Li
Statistical and neural regression approach for prediction of longwall chock-shield support pressure 1047
A.K. Verma & D. Deb
Statistical joint modeling and stability analysis of rock blocks around a tunnel 1053
J.-W. Park, J.-J. Song & H.-J. Shim
Study on tunnel excavation disturbed zone in weak rock with time-dependent behavior 1057
T.-T. Wang, W. Lo, Y.-C. Ding & S.-T. Liu
Testing and analysis of steel wire mesh for mining applications of rock surface support 1061
E.C. Morton, A.G. Thompson, E. Villaescusa & A. Roth
The importance of stresses in Arctic coal mining 1065
T.F. Hansen
The influences of the height of overburden and unsupported tunnel length on tunnel face stability 1071
A. Preh, R. Poisel & B. Bogner
Theoretical prediction of ground settlement induced by longwall mining 1075
A. Majdi, A. Ghomghaleh & M.H. Arabzadeh
Time dependent behavior of rock and practical implications to tunnel design 1079
F.L. Pellet & M. Roosefid
Toward the design of attractive underground space: Coupling human sensibility and rock mechanics 1083
N. Shimizu, A. Imaizumi, S. Takeo & S. Sakurai

5. Earthquake engineering and rock dynamics

A study of stability and design optimization of a large underground opening complex in
high earthquake intensity areas 1091
Zhu W., Sui B., Zhang X. & Li S.
Acceleration response of rocks during fracturing and its implications in earthquake engineering 1095
Ö. Aydan, M. Daido, N. Tokashiki, A. Bilgin & T. Kawamoto
Application of the fiber optical oscillation sensor to AE measurement at the rock compression test 1101
T. Mori, M. Nakajima, K. Iwano, M. Tanaka, S. Kikuyama & Y. Machijima
Comparison of in-situ stress orientations and magnitudes determined by anelastic strain recovery measurement
and borehole breakout analysis in the vicinity of an active fault 1105
W. Lin, W. Soh, H. Ito, E.-C. Yeh, M. Kwaśniewski & C.-Y. Wang
Consideration on stability and collapse at earthquake of rock slope based on a case 1109
R. Yoshinaka, T. Sasaki, K. Sasaki & S. Horikawa
Controlled blasting technique for navigation lock trench excavation at the TGP 1113
Dai H. & Zhu H.
Derivation of elastic rock parameters via active and passive tunnel seismic methods 1117
G. Kneib
Dynamic analysis of Masjed Soleiman underground powerhouse cavern 1123
M. Moosavi & H. Zamani
Dynamic Brazilian splitting and spalling tests for granite 1127
Z. Zhou, G. Ma & X. Li
Dynamic characteristics of unstable rock blocks 1131
Y. Yamauchi, Y.J. Jiang & Y. Tanabashi
Dynamic properties of granite exposed to high temperature 1135
S. Lim & G. Ma

XV
Effect of stress amplitudes of dynamic disturbance on the failure behavior of rock subjected to a biaxial
static compressive yield load 1139
Li X., Ma C., Chen F. & Xu J.
Experimental research on rock penetration performance of linear shaped charge 1143
Luo Y., Fu J. & Cui X.
Large-scale field experiment to calibrate microseismic source parameters applied to real-time monitoring
of post-mining instabilities 1147
J. Tastet, I. Contrucci, E. Klein, P. Bigarré & L. Driad-Lebeau
Mining-induced earthquakes focal mechanisms in the Khibiny massif 1151
N.N. Melnikov, A.A. Kozyrev, Yu. V. Fedotova & S.P. Reshetnyak
Modeling the stress-strain state of large-size geomechanical objects on the basis of tectonophysical, seismological,
geophysical and geodetic data 1155
L.A. Nazarova, L.A. Nazarov & P.G. Dyadkov
Numerical estimation of rock mass strength in underground mining operations 1159
G.B. Sharrock, M. Sandy, J. Albrecht & F. Basson
Numerical simulation for estimation of blast-damaged zone around a tunnel 1163
Y.-H. Jong, C.-I. Lee & S. Jeon
Research of energy distribution during dynamic loading of rocks 1167
V. Petros, J. Sancer & Z. Kadlec
Seismic vulnerability of rock tunnels using fragility curves 1173
M. Corigliano, C.G. Lai & G. Barla
Selected geological factors impacting effects of induced seismicity on surface in conditions of Ostrava-Karvina
coalfield in the Czech Republic 1177
J. Holecko & P. Konicek
Slope stability analysis of a large slope in rock mass: A case study 1185
T.G. Sitharam & V.B. Maji
Strengthening of longwall gate support against dynamic effects of rockbursts in coal mines 1189
P. Horyl, R. Šňupárek & J. Havaj
Stress wave propagation across discontinuous granite medium 1193
Li J., Wei X. & Ma G.
Study on structural dynamics of rock slope based on eigenvalue analysis 1199
A. Hirata, T. Inokuchi & T. Sugita
Verification of two-dimensional numerical earthquake site effects on a dam site, Costa Rica 1203
C. Sigarán-Loría & R. Hack
Weiterentwicklungen der Bohr- und Sprengtechnik im Tunnelbau (Further developments of the boring and
blasting technique in the tunnel construction) 1209
G. Brem & J. Gattermann

6. Petroleum engineering and hydrocarbon storage

Analysis of 2D distinct element models of the Cooper Basin, Australia 1217
C.P. Morelli, S.P. Hunt & P.J. Boult
Effect of rocks anisotropy on deviation tendencies of drilling systems 1221
R. Boualleg, H. Sellami, A. Rouabhi, S. Menand & C. Simon
Estimation of residual oil saturation in reservoir rock using lattice-Boltzmann model 1225
S. Murata, T. Akai, T. Ishida, K. Tani & T. Saito
Experimental studies on water curtain in underground engineering 1229
Li Z., Liu H., Wang K., Liao Y. & Zeng L.
Fault seal prediction in unconsolidated sediments with a novel experimental apparatus 1233
F. Cuisiat, E. Skurtveit & R. Cleave
Feasibility study of using the existing solution-mined caverns in Jintan Salt Mine as gas storage 1241
Yang C., Li Y., Qian Q., Wei D., Chen F. & Yin X.

XVI
Geotechnical monitoring of a pilot cavern for underground LNG storage 1245
S.-K. Chung, E.-S. Park, H.-Y. Kim, H.-S. Lee & D.-H. Lee
Micromechanisms of borehole failure in reservoir rocks 1249
B. Haimson
Oil and gas reservoirs compaction-induced production decline – Influence of rock parameters 1255
M.B. Geilikman & S.W. Wong
Pressure diffusion and ion diffusion properties of terciary shales 1261
S.A.B. da Fontoura, E.S. Muniz & R.F.T. Lomba
Simulation of solute transport in fractured media 1265
I.A. Telles, E.A. Vargas Jr., W.W.M. Lira & L.F. Martha
Studies of mechanisms associated with sand production using X Ray CT scan in real time 1269
J.B. Santos, E.V. Barroso, E.A. Vargas Jr., J.T. Castro, C. Gonçalves & E. Campos
Three-dimensional hydrogeological modelling around the large rock cavern for the LPG storage project 1273
T. Maejima, H. Uno, Y. Mito, C.S. Chang & K. Aoki

7. Safety evaluation and risk management

A Fracture Mechanics approach to the study of rock fall triggering 1281
M. Castelli, A. Allodi, C. Scavia & M. Frayssines
An estimation of rock mass rating using 3D indicator kriging approach with uncertainty assessment of
rock mass classification 1285
J.-Y. Choi & C.-I. Lee
Environmental safety risk management in urban subway tunnel construction using shallow method 1289
Zhang D., Fang Q. & Hou Y.
Risiken bei TVM-Vortrieben in klüftigem Fels (Risks at TDM drivings in jointed rock) 1293
W. Wittke & P. Wittke-Gattermann
Risk analysis for tunneling projects using Bayesian Networks 1301
R. Sousa & H.H. Einstein
Risk management of the landslide Lärchberg-Galgenwald (Austria) 1305
R. Poisel, H. Angerer, M. Pöllinger, T. Kalcher & H. Kittl
Rock mass monitoring as a hazard assessment tool in deep Merensky and UG2 stopes 1311
D.F. Malan
Serviceability-based slope factor of safety using the shear strength reduction (SSR) method 1317
R.E. Hammah, T.E. Yacoub & J.H. Curran
Zonation of the landslide hazards based on weights of evidence modeling 1321
Wang Z., Li D. & Cheng Q.
Author index 1325

XVII
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Preface

The SPG – Sociedade Portuguesa de Geotecnia, the Portuguese National Group of the ISRM, hosted the 11th ISRM Congress,
in Lisbon, 9–13 July 2007. The event was also co-sponsored by the SEMR – Sociedad Española de Mecánica das Rocas, the
Spanish Society for Rock Mechanics.
In the past 50 years, Rock Mechanics has established itself as recognized subject in Geotechnical Engineering. Now, 40
years later, and at the same location where the first ISRM Congress was held, SPG proposed to define new perspectives and
developments in Rock Engineering.
The Organizing Committee decided to set the event under the name of “The Second Half Century of Rock Mechanics”.
Seven main themes were selected:
1. Rock engineering and environmental issues
2. The path from characterization to modelling
3. Slopes, foundations and open pit mining
4. Tunnels, caverns and underground mining
5. Earthquake engineering and rock dynamics
6. Petroleum engineering and hydrocarbon storage
7. Safety evaluation and risk management
The first two volumes of the Congress Proceedings contain the papers received by the Organizing Committee in accordance
with the Congress theme to which they belong. These papers were reviewed and selected by each ISRM National Group. Minor
corrections were included by the Editors in order to follow the guidelines indicated by the Publisher.
For each theme, internationally recognized experts accepted to prepare a General Report, which will be published in the third
volume of the Proceedings. This volume will also include seven Keynote Lectures prepared by special invited personalities, as
well as the Müller Lecture and a text prepared by the Rocha Medal recipient.
The Congress has benefited from generous help of several entities and companies mentioned in the Proceedings. The third
volume will update the list of Sponsors of the Congress.

The Editors
L. Ribeiro e Sousa
Claudio Olalla
Nuno F. Grossmann

XIX
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
Organizing Committee
Luís Ribeiro e Sousa, Portugal
Congress Chairman
Claudio Olalla, Spain
Congress Co-Chairman
Nuno Grossmann, Portugal
Congress Co-Chairman
José Vieira de Lemos, Portugal
Technical Programme Chairman
Pedro Bernardo, Portugal
General Secretary
Ricardo Resende, Portugal
Treasurer
Manuel Romana Ruiz, Spain
President of the Workshop on
Underground Works under Special
Conditions
International Scientific Committee
Carlos Dinis da Gama, Portugal
Chairman
Alcibíades Serrano, Spain
António Campos e Matos, Portugal
Carlos Brito Pina, Portugal
Charles Fairhurst, USA
Don Banks, USA
Eurípedes Vargas Jr., Brazil
Fernando Peres Rodrigues, Portugal
Georg Vavrosky, Austria
Herbert Einstein, USA
John Franklin, Canada
José Dias, Angola
José Rosado Catarino, Portugal
Advisory Board
Nielen van der Merwe
ISRM President
John Hudson
ISRM President-Elect
Martin J. Pretorius
ISRM Vice President for Africa
Zhao Jian
ISRM Vice President for Asia
John St George
ISRM Vice President for Australasia
Claus Erichsen
ISRM Vice President for Europe
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Ana Malheiro, Portugal
President of the 2nd Workshop on Volcanic Rocks
Pedro Sola, Spain
President of the Workshop on Preservation of Natural Stone and Rock Weathering
António Pinto da Cunha, Portugal
Áurea Perucho, Spain
Celso Lima, Portugal
Eduardo Quintanilha de Menezes, Portugal
José Muralha, Portugal
Luís Nolasco Lamas, Portugal
Noemi Schclar Leitão, Portugal
Vicente Cuellar, Spain
Marek Kwaśniewski, Poland
Michel van Sint Jan, Chile
Nguyen Minh Duc, France
Nick Barton, Norway
Pierre Bérest, France
Ricardo Oliveira, Portugal
Richard Stacey, South Africa
Robert Hack, The Netherlands
Rui Correia, Portugal
Sergey Yufin, Russia
Shunsuke Sakurai, Japan
Walter Wittke, Germany
Wang Sijing, China
François E. Heuzé
ISRM Vice President for North America
Eda Freitas de Quadros
ISRM Vice President for South America
Qian Qihu
ISRM Vice President at Large
Luís Ribeiro e Sousa
ISRM Vice President at Large
Luís Nolasco Lamas
ISRM Secretary General
XXI
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

The 11th ISRM Congress organizers wish to thank to the following sponsors:

Special Sponsors
ANA Aeroportos de Portugal – NAER Novo Aeroporto
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
Fundação Oriente
Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil
TAP Air Portugal

General Sponsors
Atlas Copco
EDP – Energias de Portugal
MTS Systems Corporation
RAVE – Rede Ferroviária de Alta Velocidade SA
SOMINCOR – Sociedade Mineira de Neves Corvo SA

Others Sponsors
BRISA – Auto Estradas de Portugal SA
Metropolitano de Lisboa

XXIII
1. Rock engineering and environmental issues
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Acid sulfide rock: Problematic aspects in the Basque Country (Spain)

V. Ormaetxea
Harrilur Geotecnia S.L., Arrasate-Mondragon, Gipuzkoa, Spain

ABSTRACT: Although acid drainage is quite known in mining, it is not known in construction and man’s influence in soils and
water, because this process causes environmental damage. On the other hand, when the process is under control, the damage is
reduced. This paper provides a clear explanation about the acid drainage process in building and how to avoid it in the Basque
Country.

1 INTRODUCTION appeared in areas situated in the Purbeck-Weald Formation

Acid sulfide rocks are the common name given to rocks con-
taining iron sulfides (pyrite principally, FeS2 ). When the iron
sulfides are exposed to air (because drainage and dredging),
sulfuric acid moves through the soil, acidifying groundwater.
This acid drainage (mostly known as “mine drainage”,
because it usually happens in coal mines), is produced when
the sulfurs, specially, pyrite and marcasite, react with air and
water to generate sulfuric acid and iron hydroxide, such as
follows:
Summarizing: pyrite and water and oxygen => iron hydrox-
ide and sulfuric acid.
The acid produced by oxidation of iron sulfides affects both
soil and water and can damage the environment severely. There
are some harms which begin before acid drainage was known
and could be fought against. If the pyrite oxidation begins, it
is too difficult and expensive to control. Even though there are
some solutions to avoid the process, the methods are expen-
sive and they are not forever. Nevertheless, the best method is
to avoid the development of the reaction, because at the begin-
ning the acid generation is a slow process that needs time to
develop. However, once process starts, acid rate increase in
time, as Thiobacillus Ferroxidans bacterium goes up, because
in nature the reaction happens quickly in presence of this bac-
terium. This bacterium gets the energy from sulfur oxidation
process and it is useful to accelerate the reaction which can
take when there is no bacterium. The reaction also produces a
great amount of heat and it causes trouble when the rock con-
taining pyrite is stored. The natural alteration of the rock only
exposes a little amount of reactive iron sulfur and the reaction
explained before is not a problem until great artificial exca-
vations quickly expose great volumes rich in sulfurs to the
atmosphere. Consequently, the reaction goes rapidly and can
produce great acid volumes.
In the last years, the urban development in the Basque Coun-
try has increased quickly. Some areas which have been built
with stone in the past (traditional construction) are nowa-
days constructed with concrete. Consequently, problems have
(lutite with pyrite).
2 PROBLEMATIC ISSUES INVOLVED WITH
ACID SULFIDE ROCKS
When reaction begins, sulfuric acid damages the water and red
iron hydroxide attacks rivers and reservoirs (acid drainage).
Acid waters kill aquatic life and damage frames built by men,
such as bridges, retaining walls, concrete, etc.
The process of pyrite oxidation, if it occurs without control,
develops low pH environment. The water flowing through a
landfill with acid drainage troubles can produce lixiviation
generating potential pollutants which will affect the runoff
water such as rivers or streams, and groundwater. Historically,
these problems have been recognized in mining industry and
some old mines in the world have caused important impacts
in the environment.
Acid drainage control is the most important objective in
design and construction of fillings which are susceptible to
produce acid drainage. It is also important to be sure that
there are not adverse effects in streams and rivers.
Acid sulfide rocks are important in engineering and urban
planning, agriculture and environmental quality. Acid sulfide
rocks can affect the use and development of the land. It is
therefore necessary to be kept in mind in land management
during urban planning.
2.1 Factors which develop pyrite oxidation
Environmental potential impacts of acid sulfide rocks depends
on several factors, such as:
• Exposure to oxidizer conditions (these rocks cannot gener-
ate acid discharges if there is no oxygen and water)
• Type and extension of the sulfuric characteristics of the rock
(these characteristics can change widely and they will affect
both quantity and some acid discharges’ concentrations and
acid generation’s ratio)
• Autoneutralization capability (acid discharges can be neu-
tralizated while occurring, depending on content and
kind and nature of the rock mineral, organic matter and
carbonates)
• Store capacity of the receiving environment (acid dis-
charges can be neutralized in presence of organic matter
or store effects in some hydraulic environments)

3
 These factors will determine the environmental risk caused
by acid sulfide rocks. Depending on circumstances, the
acid discharges can be less harmful in one environment but
dangerous in others.
Environmental impact’s risk is greater as metallic sulfurs’
concentration increase.
2.2 Problems involved with pyrite
The pyrite oxidation in building can impact in three ways:
great deformations and pressures when sulfides are in contact
with the water, loss of the strength characteristics because of
rock massif ’s degradation, and concrete degradation. Sulfide
oxidation stops when rock is completely submerged in water;
but when there are phreatic level’s fluctuations or wet-dryness
cycles, oxidation rate increases.
A water leak can produce a structural damage with a ter-
rain’s raising because acid generation produces rock massif ’s
swelling.
In reinforced concrete, on the one hand, there is a concrete
cement’s degrading (sulfate attack) and, on the other hand,
sulfuric acid attacks steel frames.
3 IDENTIFICATION AND CRITERIOUS TO
PREDICT ACID GENERATION
Usually, geotechnical field exploration is enough to identify
acid sulfide rocks. The most common indicators are:
• pyrite minerals presence (visible crystals)
• ochre deposits or red waters (called “iron fountains” in the
Basque Country)
• jarosite presence (yellowish green mineral that deposits in
joints)
• concrete and steel damage in structures
• plants associated with acid waters
Geological information and visu inspection can help to
identify acid sulfide rocks (sulfur presence). Sulfur miner-
als in rocks normally look like metallic. In alteration, these
minerals can be oxidized.
These indicators alone do not predict the acid generation,
because the oxidation potential is the factor that indicates if
the acid sulfuric will appear and damage structures and the
environment.
In the first place, to know these rocks’ oxidation potential,
it is necessary to know the content of sulfurs in the rock, for
example using chemical tests of content in acid-soluble sul-
furs, but this parameter alone doesn’t indicate if the rock is
susceptible to generate sulfuric acid. Therefore, there are some
regulations associated to mining industry, Australian regula-
tions, for example, evaluate rock capability to generate acid
drainage and depending on it, it can be considered if there is
an environmental risk of pollution. There are two test types to
predict oxidation potential: static tests and kinetic test.
1. Static tests: They predict the drainage quality comparing in
a sample, its maximum potential of acid production with
its maximum neutralization potential, measuring sulfur
content and carbonate content.
2. Kinetic tests: they are distinguished from the previous ones
because the natural oxidation reactions occurring in nature
are imitating and bring information about oxidation rating
and acid generation, as well as an indicator of drainage
waters’ quality.
4
Figure 1. Lower Cretaceous outcrops in the Basque Country.
4 WHERE CAN ACID SULFIDE ROCKS BE
FOUND IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY
Iron sulfurs are usually found in black lutite; and in the Basque-
Cantabrian Basin, these black lutites with pyrite are found in
low Cretacic materials, in the Purbeck-Weald Formations and
Valmaseda Formation principally (see figure 1).
The most important problems at the moment have been
found in the Purbeck-Weald Formation. That is the reason
why this formation has been studied in the last few years.
The Purbeck-Weald Formation was defined in the peri-
Asturian sector of Basque-Cantabrian Basin and it represents
the period between Kimmeridgian and Barremian age. In
the Basque-Cantabrian Basin, there is no difference between
Purbeck and Weald materials because it is practically impos-
sible to divide both sediments.
At the beginning of the Malm, conditions of marine sed-
imentation dominating the North Spain, stopped consider-
ably. Therefore and until the end of the Barremian epoch,
continental, intermediate and marine restricted deposits
were accumulating progressively, formed mostly by coarse
terrigenous.
Weald Formation is not a continental facies, even it is
not certain that they were deposed in an environment of
fresh water; the evidences indicate marine water, but per-
haps with a lower salinity. Weald series shows the following
characteristics:
1. Dominant lithology consists of black lutite, fine laminated,
where pyrite is very abundant. Facies were deposited under
reducing conditions. It is probable that first was oil shale,
but the hydrocarbons inside, have been lost because of the
high grade of diagenesis that these deposits have.At the sur-
face of some of these layers, carbonized vegetable remains
are often found.
2. Scarce sandy layers show storm levels’ characteristics
(plain base, with cross-lamination and dune’s morphology
on top).
3. The series inserts limestone layers which show some well
defined and peculiar characteristics, such as: fetid nature,
spectacular and frequent seaweed lamination; plain clasts’
breccia; characteristic diagenetic structures of tidal shelf,
with mixtures of phreatic fresh and salt water. Specifically,
 they are chicken-wire structures and plentiful presence of
microscopic anhydrite, visible on plate glass.
4. Layers of fibrous gypsum and anhydrite have frequently
been found.
All of these characteristics show that these matters were
deposited in a marine gulf with shallow and lagoon waters
where “black facies” were put on.
5 PROBLEMATIC ISSUES AND CONSTRUCTIVE
SOLUTIONS ADOPTED IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY
The first evidence relating to these rocks has been found in
slopes. Although acid drainage is not a problem in this envi-
ronment because only a bit amount of pyrite is in contact with
the atmospheric agents, there are concrete damages and red
colorations in gutters.
However the main impact in engineering has been the effect
on landfills and building. In fillings, the rock’s area is reduced
and there is an increase on the alteration area, so the reac-
tion develops quickly and there are dispersed phenomena of
warning-up in the rock (high temperature), sulfuric smell
(rotten egg), and also groundwater’s pollution that affects
vegetable kingdom.
On the other hand, fillings are used in building because
the Basque Country is mountainous and the houses are often
built on slopes. In this case, there are also phenomena of
swelling (soil uplift) and the rock loses its geomechanical
characteristics.
Fortunately, at the moment damage hasn’t been found on
foundations. In all the case area, foundations have been found
in good conditions, since the buildings are new enough for
concrete degradations appear (two or three years old). As for
old buildings (“caserio”, typical house), foundations are made
of stone.
For the time being, to build in this rock type, it is recom-
mended to use sulfate resistant cements in reinforced concrete,
and dredging has to be done as fast as possible. Neverthe-
less, Spanish current regulation does not consider pyrite’s
5
damage and there is little knowledge about acid drainage and
its consequences.
On the other hand, it is recommended that the rock has to be
mixed with organic soil, clays or limestone before being used
in fillings or being dumped. It has to be emphasized that there
are not restrictions to dump this type of rocks at the moment
in Spain (so, it could cause problems in the course of time).
Furthermore, it is better to use stone in retaining walls
(stone retaining walls made with limestone). Fortunately in
the Basque Country, the most common rock is limestone.
It must not be forgotten to protect the rock massif against
water and air (drainage, vegetation, etc).
6 CONCLUSIONS
If pyrite oxidation is quite known in construction, the issues
involved will be mitigated and the reaction will be avoided,
preserving the vegetable kingdom and aquatic life.
On the other hand, Spanish current regulation has to be
changed to keep this phenomenon in mind and chemical tests
have to be compulsory. It is recommended to use theAustralian
regulations to know the oxidation potential which is the best
manner to predict the acid drainage.
REFERENCES
Australian Seafood Industry Council. 2000. An introduction to acid
sulfate soils. Australia. Natural Heritage Trust.
Environment Protection Authority. 1999. Acid Sulfate Soil and Rock.
EPA Information Bulletin. 655. Sydney.
Suarez, L. & Regueiro, M. 1997. Riesgos causados por Materiales
Geológicos. Guia ciudadana de los riesgos geológicos. 23–29.
Madrid: Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Geologos.
Garrote, A., García, J., Muñoz, L. & Arias, V. 1995. Euskal Herriko
Mapa Geologikoa E 1/100.000. 33–36. Bilbo: Ente Vasco de
Energia.
USA Environmental Protection Agency. 1994. Acid mine drainage
predition. EPA 530-R-94-036. Washington.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Analysis and prediction of damage zone due to subsidence considering random errors

C. Sunwoo & D.W. Ryu

KIGAM (Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources), Daejeon, Korea

ABSTRACT: The surface damage in an abandoned underground limestone mine in Korea is observed to be of different forms
from simple sinkhole formation to a large scale landslide of the ground in the subsided area. For the prevention of damage, it is
very important to predict an extent of ground movement. A probabilistic approach based on a simple predictor model is applied
to a subsidence case. Geological and mining parameters can affect the magnitude and extent of sinkhole subsidence. These
influence factors should be evaluated to predict and mitigate subsidence hazards. The model needs geometrical parameters
and mechanical properties and these measurements can imply random errors. Therefore, Monte Carlo simulation is used to
consider the effects of random errors on the modified model. A number of the sets realized from the simulation, which are
combined of depth of subsided ground, bulking factor and angle of repose, are used to calculate the extent of subsidence.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 CASE STUDY-ABANDONED LIMESTONE MINE

SITE (DAESUNG MINE)
The term subsidence is commonly used to imply a grad-
ual sinking, but it also can refer to an instantaneous or 2.1 Geological setting
catastrophic collapse of the surface. The common form of sub-
The geology of the studied area consists of Youngheung and
sidence in underground limestone mining areas is due to the
Gabsan formation. The major structures of this area are folds
formations of sinkholes. Sinkholes result from various mech-
and several faults lying along NNW-SSE direction. The thick-
anisms(Sowers, 1976), including consolidation from loading
ness of limestone deposits of Gabsan formation couldn’t be
and dewatering, hydraulic compaction, settling as materials
measured since its upper beds are not distributed on the sur-
are removed by groundwater flow, stoping of materials and
vey area and fold structures. However, based on its lithology
instantaneous collapse of roof rock. Sinkhole subsidence gen-
the Gabsan formation could be divided into three lithologi-
erally occurs following the failure of the mine roof which
cal units. These are the upper(shale banded limestones), the
migrates through the overlying strata until the failure zone
middle(limestones) and the lower member(sandstones). The
intercepts the unconsolidated overburden. Of the many factors
middle member, a major resources of high grade limestone, is
which influence the subsidence the important factors include
about 25 m–35 m(max. 150 m) in thickness. But its thickness
a shallow depth of cover, competence and nature of mined and
varies due to fold structure. The Youngheung formation con-
surrounding strata, geological discontinuities and dissolution
sists of limestones and dolomites that are banded irregularly.
of rocks. Piggot & Eynon(1977) defined shallow depth, from
Daesung underground limestone mine has a hilly terrene with
the point of view of sinkhole subsidence, as a maximum of
a variation in the overburden of 20 m at the portal to 150 m
10 times the height of the o riginal gangway excluding surface
at the innermost point where the mining operation has termi-
unconsolidated deposits. Matheson and Eckert-Clift(1986)
nated (Fig. 1).The reported width and height of the opening are
correlated sinkhole subsidence with the ratio of thickness
around 20 m and 10 m respectively. Majority of mine develop-
of overburden(h) to height of the opening(m). Accordingly,
ment and the subsequent room-and-pillar operation had been
where the h/m ratio is less than 5, there is a strong possibility
with in 100 m cover, where the possibilities of sinkhole subsi-
of the occurrence of sinkholes which decreases rapidly when
dence remained very high. Abandoned mine workings pose a
the ratio is between 5 and 11.
wide variety of problems due to the gradual strength deterio-
Whenever an underground opening is excavated, the strata
ration of the support pillars left in the stopes due to weathering
immediately above the opening become de-stressed.The open-
and time dependent deformation. Therefore the uncertainty in
ing will remain stable as long as the stresses do not exceed the
terms of its stability creates problems in many situations.
strength of the roof rock. Over a period of time, roof sta-
bility may be jeopardized by the change in the stresses and
the strength of the roof rock. These changes may be due to a
2.2 Mining method of working
great extent to groundwater inflow and time dependent defor-
mation. When a roof is consist of blocks bounded by joints The mine was developed into three levels at 6th level(353 m),
or cracks, it may fail by shearing along planes of weakness 7th upper(382 m), and 7th lower level(408 m) above the sea
when the induced stress exceeds the shear resistance along the level (Fig. 1). The main stoping operations adopted in the
joints. In a heavily jointed rock mass, the presence of water mine were room-and-pillar and sublevel caving. However, the
creates severe problems to the strength and the stability of sublevel caving was confined to a single level. Some portion
underground openings. Rainwater seepage through the cracks of ore remaining in place is typically a function of the required
and pores into the mine opening can trigger the caving of support necessary to prevent the overlying strata from the
weak roof. immediate caving or falling in while mining is being operated.

7

Figure 1. Plan and sectional view of abandoned underground
limestone mine and zone of subsidence.
Figure 2. Sublevel caving method of stoping at the abandoned
limestone mine.
From the plan it is clear that the extraction was made following
the grade values of ore leaving lower grade ore blocks in pil-
lars, which consequently resulted in irregular pillars of random
sizes in the stope. Ore is fragmented by blasting using the holes
drilled upwards. The draw points were developed between the
7th upper and lower levels, while the crown pillar between the
6th and 7th upper level, which is height of 26 m was drilled
and blasted(Fig. 2). The mining method produces significant
disturbance at the ground surface, imposing some possible
limitations on its applicability from the considerations of its
potential to cause surface subsidence.
2.3 History of subsidence
The environmental impacts from mining may worsen over
time as the ground continues to settle. The exact location and
8
Figure 3. Sinkhole formation.
Figure 4. The possible sequence of surface failure above the
abandoned limestone mine.
time of a disaster related to subsidence cannot usually be pre-
dicted with any degree of certainty. The possible sequence
of roof failure leading to subsidence due to sinkholes may
be established with certain degree of confidence from the
observations. First, the void created by the ore withdrawal
from the sublevel caving stope must have lead to the progres-
sive failure of the roof, which ultimately daylighted in the
form of a sinkhole(Fig. 3). Second, the main influencing fac-
tor must be the sloping ground above the abandoned mine.
The decreased depth near the portal end of the deposit must
have given rise to increased number of sink-holes at the sur-
face. Lines of sinkholes along the contours of the slope yield
a slope weakening effect by virtue of the perforated charac-
ter of the overburden. The presence of this form of surface
subsidence generally changes the pattern of drainage close to
the sinkhole area. The overburden must have been weakened
by weathering effects and sinkholes cluster together over the
room-and-pillar workings close to the surface.The depth of the
weathering effect depends upon the climatic conditions. And
heavy rainfall conditions favor increased depth of weathering.
Final form of failure can be attributed to the large scale slid-
ing of the weakened/fractured rocks from within the subsided
zone(Fig. 4).
3 EFFECTIVE RANGE OF SUBSIDENCE
A probabilistic approach based on a simple predictor model is
applied to obtain the effective range of subsidence. Geological
 Table 1. Correlation models between a depth of subsidence and
effective range.

Exponential
decay Exponential decay
model I model II
Ds = A exp Ds = A1 exp(−d/B1) +
Model (−d/B) + C A2 exp(−d/B2) + C

χ2 / DoF 160.65 114.18

R2 0.891 0.923
Parameters A = 205.42 A1 = 216.41 A2 = 100.14
B = 0.97 B1 = 0.32 B2 = 2.54
C = 43.47 C = 27.56

Figure 5. Assumed distribution models of various parameters.

and mining parameters can affect the magnitude and extent

of sinkhole subsidence. These factors should be evaluated
to predict and mitigate subsidence hazards. The conventional
and empirical predictor model is modified for estimating the
extent of damage due to subsidence by sinkhole formation.The
model needs geometrical parameters and mechanical proper-
ties. The measurements of these parameters contain random
errors inherently. Therefore, Monte Carlo simulation was car-
ried out to consider the uncertainty of parameters and predict
effectively the range of the further damage zone.This approach
can evaluate the damaged zone of subsidence probabilisti-
cally. Monte Carlo method uses random or pseudo-random
numbers to sample from probability distributions and, if suf- Figure 6. Correlation between a depth of subsidence and an
effective range.
ficiently large numbers of samples are generated and used in a
calculation such as that for a factor of safety, a distribution of
values for the end product will be generated. Therefore, Monte
Carlo technique can be applied to a wide variety of problems
involving random behavior and a number of algorithms are
available for generating random Monte Carlo samples from
different types of probability distributions.
A number of the sets, which are the combinations of depth
of subsided zone, bulking factor and angle of repose realized
from the simulation, are used to calculate the extent of sub-
sidence. Assumed distribution models of various parameters
are shown in Figure 5. The random numbers realized from
these distributions can give us a number of combinations of
parameters, which produced possible ranges of damaged zone.
Probabilistic analysis of damaged zone due to subsidence was
performed based on a number of realizations. To model the
behavior of effective range according to depth of subsidence,
two exponential decay functions were considered. The correla-
tion models between a depth of subsidence(d) and an effective
range(Ds), which is diameter of chimney, were deduced from Figure 7. Effective range of subsidence associated with each cone
the results of the analysis(Table 1 and Fig. 6). chute.
The model II shows a higher correlation coefficient than
the model I, which is due to trade off the degree of freedom
(Table 1). The determination factor C in the models has a sim-
ilar physical meaning of a diameter of sinkhole. And a lower subsidence, which is drawn from Figure 7. The damage zone
angle of break makes the diameter of sinkhole near ground of subsidence might be expanded 30–0 m along NE direc-
more and more like that of caved area due to the decreased tion than the present boundary of damage zone. It can be
space for broken material. expected that a large scale landslide will be progressively
At each cone chute, the range of subsidence was evaluated occurred by the newly developed subsidence in the eastern
by using model II(Fig. 7). Figure 8 shows the area of surface part of subsided zone.

9

Figure 8. Hazard map of subsidence and landslide over the aban-
doned limestone mine.
4 CONCLUSION
Various types of information like the mining methodology
and history of mine and ground condition are needed for an
appropriate remedial strategy in an abandoned mine. Hazard
map of subsidence and landslide based on the information
can be helpful for a determination of land usage and an extent
of restoration. For the construction of hazard map, the pre-
diction of the damage zone was carried out with considering
the uncertainties of geometric and geotechnical attributes. It
is found that the uncertainties inherent in the attributes can
make the extent of the damage zone underestimated or over-
estimated. Therefore, Monte Carlo technique can provide an
efficient tool to avoid these problems caused by uncertainties.
10
Structural damage is imminent in any mining operation and
it is also true that most of failures do not happen without
warning. Recognition of these phases allows for timely action
to prevent heavy losses of personnel and equipment. A full
range of geotechnical monitoring is required to understand the
behavior of potentially unstable rock mass and to predict rock
mass failures. Since the area under consideration belongs to a
land of low public importance, one of the best safety measures
is the prevention of public access to the areas and filling in of
the sinkholes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was supported by the Basic Research Project
of KIGAM funded by the MST(Ministry of Science &
Technology) of Korea.
REFERENCES
Matheson, G.M. & Eckert-Clift, A.D. 1986. Characteristics of chim-
ney subsidence and sinkhole development from abandoned under-
ground coal mines along the Colorad.o Front Range. Proc. of the
2nd Workshop on Surface Subsidence due to Underground Mining,
West-Virginia University , Morgantown, WV: 204–214.
Piggott, R.J. & Eynon, P. 1977. Ground movements arising from
the presence of shallow abandoned mine workings. Proc. of the
Conference on Large Ground Movements and structures, UWIST,
Cardiff, Geddes J.D. (ed), Pentech Press: 79–80.
Sowers, G.F. 1976. Mechanisms of subsidence due to underground
openings, in Subsidence over mines and caverns, moisture and
frost actions, and classification. Washington, D.C., Transportation
Research Board Record 612, National Academy of Science: 2–8.
Whittaker, B.N. & Reddish, D.J. 1989. Subsidence-Occurrence,
Prediction and Control, Elsevier: 528 p.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Analysis of ground stability in the residential region located on the

limestone corrosion zone

K.C. Han, D.S. Chun & D.W. Ryu

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources(KIGAM), Daejeon, Korea

ABSTRACT: The limestone as a bedrock located near the surface is corroded by groundwater and its process forms
underground cavities. Serious ground stability problems such as ground subsidence and building crack, etc., come to the
front in the region where underground cavities are distributed present. For the investigation of the cavity distribution in lime-
stone region, various geophysical investigations such as electroresistivity tomography, electromagnetic prospecting are carried
out. Geotechnical field tests with drilling are also carried out for the evaluation of the ground characteristics. Based upon their
results, numerical modeling is performed for the simulation and prediction of the ground subsidence with the conditions of
cavity geometry and groundwater level. The main factor to cause the ground subsidence is estimated as the draw down of the
groundwater level below soil overburden, which disturbs the mechanical equilibrium of ground and drives washing away the
overburden soil through the cavity and surface subsidence.

1 INTRODUCTION

The dissolution process of limestone on the long-term scale

of time induces the formation of the scattered cavities with
various shape and size. The formation of cavity geometry is
related with the geological structure, the type of overburden
and groundwater. The distribution pattern of the cavities in
limestone region at shallow depth may cause abrupt ground
subsidence.
For the analysis of the ground subsidence, the cavity distri-
bution in limestone region needs to be identified. Geotechnical
field tests with drilling are carried out to investigate the dis-
tribution of the soft ground accordingly, including the rock
mechanical investigation so that we can examine the mechan-
ical characteristics of rock mass needed for examination of
ground subsidence causes and evaluation of ground stability.
The analysis of ground stability was conducted based on
Figure 1. Drilling sites of the investigation region.
the cavity distribution survey and the mechanical property
investigation of rock mass through drilling and geophysical
exploration. The numerical analysis of ground stability was logging data and electro-resistivity tomography were adopted
conducted to predict a future possibility of ground subsidence. to reproduce the local strata. The strata and geological
For this, the FLAC program was used as a continuous model. structure are strongly influenced by the fault fracture zone and
We set the shape and pattern of cavities and linked them they are found to be complicate in structural formation. The
with the drawdown of groundwater level which is regarded sequence of strata include the reclamation layer accumulated
as a major factor in ground subsidence and then analyzed the from the ground surface; followed by the order of weathered
ground subsidence occurrence by each condition. And we also soil, weathered rock, and soft rock. Figure 1 shows drilling
evaluated whether ground subsidence is safe according to the sites of the investigation region. Boring data show that the
cavity pattern and the groundwater conditions. earth and sand, and the weathered soil are located approxi-
mately 5∼15 m in depth and the groundwater level is located
1∼2 m from the surface. The limestone in soft rock and weath-
2 INVESTIGATION OF GROUND CHARACTERISTICS ered rock are the bedrock covered by the earth and sand, and
AND DISTRIBUTION OF LIMESTONE CAVITY the weathered soil. The weathered rock exists under the soft
rock.
Geophysical prospecting and rock mechanical tests with Figure 2 shows the fence diagram of electroresistivity
drilling are carried out to evaluate geological structure pat- tomography including the houses damaged by ground subsi-
tern, ground condition, cavity distribution and weak zone. The dence. The tomography image is relatively well matched with
basic geological formation is limestone and schist before the the boring result. They show that the fault fracture zone is
Mesozoic era with the intrusion of granite and rhyolite later. widely developed ranging from the depth of 40 m in borehole
It is difficult to reproduce the geological structure changed BH-11, 12, 13 to the depth of 10 m in borehole BH-07, 08, 09.
by the location and depth of strata as it is. Therefore boring The small cavities were observed at borehole BH-04, BH-12,

11
Figure 2. Fence diagram of electroresistivity tomography in the
investigation region.
but their shape and distribution were difficult to be quantified
with the existing drilling. Nonetheless, it is generally accepted
that the cavities exist in the weathered soil as well as the lime-
stone, which means that when the groundwater level is high,
the cavities are filled with clay; whereas the clay in cavities is
washed out as the groundwater level drops, resulting in the for-
mation of cavities. In this paper, it is assumed that the cavities
would be formed as the gorindwater level dorps.
3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ON THE GROUND
SUBSIDENCE WITH THE GROUNDWATER
CONDITIONS
3.1 Numerical model and analysis condition
A numerical analysis of ground subsidence is set to analytical
section including a mud-wall hut and a Western-style house
damaged by ground subsidence, and a library which is part
of public facility (Figure 3). The strata used for analysis were
classified into three categories; they are the weathered soil
layer, the soft rock layer, and the weathered rock layer. In the
analytical condition, the initial groundwater level was set to
1 m. As surrounding groundwater was pumped, the ground-
water level was dropped to −11, −16, −26 m. Pumping water
was performed at the southeast or southwest where there
were rice paddies and dry fields. So the groundwater level in
the analytical section was set to a slant (Figure 3(B)∼(D)).
Figure 3(1)∼(5) show the position to analyze the vertical
displacements in main buildings. A vertical load was set to
1.2 tonf/m2 for a mud-wall hut and 1.5 tonf/m2 by each floor
for a Western-style house and library, respectively.
Physical properties used for numerical analysis are listed in
Table 1. It is assumed that the strata are fully saturated under
the water table. When the groundwater level is dropped, the
water pressure is removed from the upper stratum of the new
water table. Since water does not move within a short period
of time and the total load does not significantly change, the
saturated unit weight was continuously applied to the stratum
existing under the past water table for the entire numerical
calculation. The saturated unit weight back-calculated for each
stratum can be founded in Table 1. Since the unit weight of
groundwater in general includes clay, 1300 kg/m3 is adopted
for the calculation which is higher than the unit weight of
common water.
12
Figure 3. Strata distribution and groundwater conditions in the
section.
3.2 Analysis result
This numerical model simulates the cavities observed at
approximately 3 m (BH-04) and 12 m (BH-12) in the depth
as the groundwater drops. The dimension of cavities is lim-
ited to 1 m × 1 m and 2 m × 2 m based on the observed size of
cavities in drilling data. There are not many cavities observed
in the drilling. But, the result of electroresistivity tomography
suggest that lots of cavities may be scattered locally under
strata and the displacement on the ground surface may be
different from their size and number. This conclusion can be
found from the existing research.
Figure 4 shows the vertical displacement occurred in the
bottom of each building. Figure 4(a) is for the groundwa-
ter level at −11 m. When the groundwater level is formed as
shown in Figure 3(B), small cavities may be formed in the
weathered soil below mud-wall huts. The vertical displace-
ment is converged within about 1.2 mm. Figure 4(b) case sets
the groundwater level to −16ṁ. When the groundwater level
is formed in Figure 3(C), cavities may be additionally formed
in the soft rock below mud-wall huts and in the weathered
soil below Western-style houses. The vertical displacement
is converged within 1.2 mm for mud-wall huts and 0.6 mm
for Western-style houses. Figure 4(c) sets the groundwater
level to −26 m. The vertical displacement in mud-wall huts
and Western-style houses is same as Figure 4(b) case. For a
library, located on the upper part of the weathered soil, the
vertical displacement is converged within 0.18 mm, and no
significant displacement occurs in the other part of the library,
however.
The vertical displacement is related to the depth of cavi-
ties. In case of mud-wall huts, as the groundwater level drops
down to −11 m and −16 m, a cavity is formed at −3 m and
−10 m from the surface, respectively. However, comparing
with a cavity formed at −3 m, a cavity formed at −10 m did
scarcely influence the vertical displacement occurred in mud-
wall huts. Even cavities formed at the same depth indicated the
different vertical displacement according to the strata and the
relative groundwater level. That is, when a cavity was formed
at −3 m in all of a mud-wall hut, a Western-style house and a
library, the mud-wall hut that has the lowest groundwater level
and the thick weathered soil indicated the relatively high dis-
placement. This coincides closely with the ground subsidence
occurrence.
 Table 1. Physical properties of each stratum for the numerical analysis.

Dried Saturated Internal

unit unit Young’s friction Tensile
weight weight modulus Poisson’s angle Cohesion strength
Stratum Porosity (kg/m3 ) (kg/m3 ) (GPa) ratio (◦ ) (kPa) (kPa)

Weathered soil 0.3 1800 1800 0.01 0.30 24 50 0

Soft rock 0.2 2700 2900 5.62 0.16 30 1850 80
Weathered rock 0.2 2500 2900 1.78 0.20 28 680 60

(a) The groundwater level is set to -11m (b) The groundwater level is set to -16m (c) The groundwater is set to -26m

Figure 4. The vertical displacement of the bottom of buildings by the drawdown of groundwater level.

(a) Cavity size of 2m×2m at the depth of -3m (b) Cavity size of 2m×2m at the depth of -10m (c) All cavities size of 2m×2m
below mud-wall hut below mud-wall hut

Figure 5. The displacement of the bottom of buildings depending on the size and location of cavities.

The numerical analysis is also carried out for the estima-
tion of the influence of cavity size on a change in the vertical
displacement. For this analysis, the groundwater level is set to
−26 m. Figure 5(a) shows the vertical displacement of the bot-
tom of buildings for the cavity size (2 m × 2 m) approximately
−3 m located below mud-wall hut. The maximum vertical dis-
placements at the bottom of mud-wall hut is 6 mm and is 5
times greater than the displacement in case of the cavity size
of 1 m × 1 m. But the displacements of the bottom of the other
buildings are not greatly changed.
Figure 5(b) shows the vertical displacements of the bottom
of buildings for cavity size of 2 m × 2 m around −10 m in the
depth below a mud-wall hut. The vertical displacements at the
bottom of building are shown in Figure 5(c) for all cavities are
same size of 2 m × 2 m. The maximum vertical displacement
in mud-wall hut is observed 1.2 mm as shown in Figure 5(b),
and it differs little from the case of cavity size of 1 m × 1 m.
In Figure 5(c), the maximum vertical displacement of mud-
wall hut is 6 mm similar to Figure 5(a). Even though the size
of deep-located cavities grows large, there is no influence on
a change of the vertical displacement. Therefore, the location
and depth of cavities are more important than their size in
ground subsidence.
4 CONCLUSION
Based on the numerical analysis results, we identified as
follows; When there were cavities in the shallow place, the
possibility of ground subsidence was high; especially when
the groundwater level was dropped, the possibility of ground
subsidence increases because new cavities are formed. That is
why groundwater movement along with clay makes new cav-
ities in the limestone rock mass and decreases the effective

13
vertical stress in the stratum. This process lowers the bear-
ing capacity of underground rock mass and leads to the direct
deformation to the overburden buildings. On the contrary, it
was identified that, when there were cavities in a relatively
deep place, they were influenced less than those in the shallow
place. And a change in the size of cavities in a relatively shal-
low depth influenced the vertical displacement of the ground
much more than a change in the size of deep-located cavities.
The conclusion draws that the exact identification of cavities
distributed around the ground was very important to predict
the ground subsidence.
REFERENCES
Park, S.K. et al., 2004, 3th geophysical prospecting and geotechni-
cal field tests for the Sungnam residential region of Muan city,
Uiwang, Korea rural community and agriculture corporation.
14
Park, S.K. et al., 2006, Geophysical prospecting and geotechni-
cal field tests for the Gyochon residential region of Muan city,
Uiwang, Korea rural community and agriculture corporation.
Goodman, R.E., 1989, Introduction to Rock mechanics, 2nd edn.
Chichester, John Wiley.
Guarascio, M., Fabris, M. & Castelli, E., 1999, Numerical model
simulation of the subsidence induced by solution mining, Proc.
Int. FLAC Symposium “FLAC and Numerical Modeling in
Geomechanics”, Minnesota, Itasca Co.
Hoek, E. and Bray J.W., 1981, Rock slope engineering, London,
The institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Analysis of tracer migration process in the crack by means of X-ray CT

A. Sato
Graduate School of Science & Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

A. Sawada
Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Tokai, Ibaraki, Japan

ABSTRACT: In order to visualize advection and dispersion phenomena in the crack, the tracer migration test has been
conducted and the tracer migration process was visualized by X-ray CT scanner. An additional parameter, coefficient of tracer
density increment was also introduced to analyze the tracer migration tests. From the obtained CT data, the relation between
the advection and dispersion phenomena and crack aperture was discussed. The velocity of tracer tip and the breakthrough
point were also estimated.

1 INTRODUCTION
The advection and dispersion of contaminated materials in a
rock mass are one of the important factors to evaluate the
characteristics of the rock mass as a natural barrier func-
tion for a radioactive waste disposal project. In the case of
crystalline rocks, such as granite, fractures/cracks in the rock
mass become a main path of the migration of contaminated
materials.
In this study, X-ray CT method is applied to evaluate the
advection and dispersion of solute in the crack which exists
in rock mass. In order to visualize advection and dispersion
phenomena, the tracer migration test has been conducted and
tracer migration process is visualized by X-ray CT scanner.
Here, a parameter, coefficient of tracer density increment,
is newly introduced to analyze tracer migration. This is the
parameter that represents the density of the tracer in the crack,
and the evaluation of the density distribution of the tracer
become possible. In this study, the influences of the crack
aperture to the tracer migration process are discussed.
2 EMPLOYED X-RAY CT SCANNER
An X-ray CT scanner (TOSCANER-20000RE), manufac-
tured by the Toshiba Corporation, is utilized in this study. An
X-ray bulb operating at 300 kV/2 mA provides the radiation
source from which an X-ray beam is emitted. 176 detectors
are aligned with the X-ray source in the horizontal plane to
record attenuation data. The object to be scanned is positioned
on a traversing turntable and the X-ray beam is projected
through one plane of the object as it rotates and traverses.
The beam thickness can be determined with collimators and
the thickness is set to be 2 mm in this study. The pixel is a
square of 0.072 mm × 0.072 mm, and the volume of a voxel
is 0.0104 mm3 . Please refer to the references for a more
detailed description of the specifications and principles (Sato
et al., 2003).
3 ROCK SAMPLE
A 100 mm × 100 mm × 100 mm cubic granite sample shown
in Figure 1 is used for the tracer migration test. At first,
Inducedcrack
z
100mm
y
O
100mm
100mm
x
Figure 1. Geometry of a cubic rock sample for tracer migration test.
this cubic rock sample was separated by splitting test. Then
the fractured surfaces are put together and artificial crack is
simulated.
An example of an X-ray CT image of the sample is shown
in Figure 2. This is a single scan image of an X-ray
CT in the x–y plane of the rock sample (Figure 1). The white
part in the figure represents a relatively high density region,
while dark areas represent regions of low density. The inside
of the crack is filled with water in this figure. The existence of
the induced crack can be easily visualized as the dark region at
the center of sample. The profiles of the induced crack (major
crack) are clearly visualized and the existence of several small
cracks (sub-cracks) is also confirmed.
Sato et al. (2003) introduced a technique to evaluate the
crack aperture from X-ray CT image data and indicated that
the evaluation of crack aperture is possible less than the size
of the pixel of the X-ray CT images. Here, same technique is
applied to the granite rock sample, and the mean aperture of
the rock sample was evaluated as 0.23 mm. The crack aperture
distribution was also estimated from the profilometer mea-
surements, and it is confirmed that the results obtained from
CT image coincide with the results of profilometer measure-
ments. The detailed results of crack aperture distribution will
be described later.

15
4 TRACER MIGRATION TEST
Initially the crack shown in Figure 2 was completely filled with
water. Then the tracer is injected into the rock sample under
the constant flow rate condition. As shown in Figure 1, rock
sample is installed in which the crack surface is almost parallel
to the vertical direction. Here the tracer was injected from the
lower surface of the cubic sample. Therefore, injected tracer
migrates upword in the crack and the water which initially fills
the crack is replaced by the injected tracer. Here the flow rate
is set to be 1.35 ml/h. This is the rate that the space inside of
the crack is replaced with the tracer in two hours. This tracer
migration process is visualized by X-ray CT system. Here
five horizontal planes at z = 19 mm, 34 mm, 49 mm, 64 mm
and 79 mm are set to be tomography regions.
As is well known X-ray CT is the system to visualize the
density distribution. In order to visualize tracer migration
process by X-ray CT system, it is necessary to give enough
Figure 2. Single scan X-ray CT image of cubic rock sample.
Figure 3. Single scan image during tracer migration test. Crack part becomes brighter since the high density tracer migrates into the crack.
Figure 4. X-ray CT images after image subtraction. Only the information in the crack can be extracted.
16
density increment by the tracer. In this study, the mixture of
Potassium Iodide (KI) solution and a medical contrast agent
is applied as a tracer. The tracer has relatively higher density
(1,254 kg/m3 ), and Fukahori et al. (2006) have proved that it
is suitable for visualizing water flow in rock by X-ray CT.
5 RESULTS
Single scan images at z = 19 mm during the test are shown
in Figure 3. These are the images of 25, 39 and 128 minutes
after the commencement of tracer migration test. By focusing
on the region circled by the dotted line in Figure 3, it is found
that the crack part in the image becomes brighter gradually
with the passage of time. This change means that the CT value
in the crack increased. This represents that the nominal density
of the part increases due to the migration of the higher density
tracer, and it can be shown that the visualization of the tracer
migration by the X-ray CT scanner is possible.
X-ray CT is a useful technique to visualize inside of the
material without destruction. However, the images in Figure
3 contain not only the information of CT value increment due
to the tracer migration but also the information of rock matrix
part. Sato et al. (2003) and Sato et al. (2006) introduced that
the image subtraction technique is effective to eliminate the
information of the matrix part in the CT images. Here, the
same technique is applied to the obtained CT images. Before
the commencement of the tracer migration test, X-ray CT
images are taken under the condition that the crack is filled
with water. The image subtraction was conducted between this
initial image before the commencement of the tracer tests and
other image at each time. The results are shown in Figure 4. By
applying this technique, it becomes possible to clearly obtain
only the increment of density in the crack due to the tracer
migration as the increment of CT values (region in the dotted
line in the Figure 4).
In order to confirm the distribution of CT value increment,
CT value projection in the x-axis direction (approximately
perpendicular to the crack surface) of the images in Figure 4
has been conducted. The result is shown in Figure 5. Generally
the increment of CT value increases gradually with the passage
of time. This distribution represents the total amount of the
migrated tracer which exists in the crack on an image, and the
value is strongly related to the crack aperture. This point will
be discussed in the next section.
6 COEFFICENT OF TRACER DENSITY INCREMENT
As stated before, the CT value increment due to the tracer
migration represents the total amount of the migrated tracer
into the crack. Therefore, the value also tends to become larger
at where the crack aperture is larger, and it is necessary to
obtain a new parameter which can describe the density dis-
tribution of the tracer exists in the crack. Sato et al. (2006)
introduced the image projection technique in the process of
crack aperture evaluation. Here, same idea is applied to the CT
Figure 5. Distribution of CT value increment along y-axis.
Figure 6. Distribution of coefficient of tracer density increment α together with the X-ray CT image and the valuated crack aperture
distribution.
17
images after image subtraction. Firstly, tomography under the
two different conditions are conducted. One is the case that the
crack is filled with air, and another is the case that the crack is
filled with water. By conducting image subtraction between
the conditions, the increment of CT values Cw when the
crack is filled with air and water respectively is obtained. The
projection of the image in the x-axis direction and the crack
aperture are denoted by Pw and w respectively, the relation
between Cw and Pw is given by
The CT value increment after the commencement of tracer
migration test and its projection are denoted by Cl and Pl
respectively, the two quantities also have a following relation.
Here, the ratio between Pw and Pl is newly defined as a
coefficient of tracer density increment α in this study, and
given by
As equation (3) shows, the crack aperture w is eliminated
in the quantity α, and it becomes the parameter related to
the density of the tracer. Moreover, Cw is the value which
corresponds to the density of water since the density of air is
negligible, and α represents the ratio of the density of tracer
towards the density of water.
7 ANALYSIS OF DENSITY DISTRIBUTION
The result of distribution of α is shown in Figure 6 together
with the CT image (Figure 6 (a)) and the result of crack
aperture distribution (Figure 6 (b)). This is also the result
at z = 19 mm. As Figure 6 (c) shows, generally the value
of α gradually increases due to the tracer migration. How-
ever, the distribution of α is not uniform within crack, even
though the tracer is injected uniformly. It represents that the
flow in the crack is very complex even in the case the flow rate
is very low. Moreover, there is a tendency that the α increases
faster where the crack aperture is smaller. That is, the tracer
Figure 7. Relation between mean α and time.
Figure 8. Relation between the arrival time and distance.
easily migrates into the small space, and there is a possibility
that stagnation of flow occurs at the region which has large
aperture.
The variation of the mean α with the elapsed time is shown
in Figure 7. The mean α is obtained as a mean value of α along
y-axis direction at each measurement time. From this figure,
the arrival time when the tracer firstly arrived at tomography
region can be estimated. In the case of Figure 7, the arrival
time is approximately 23 minutes after the commencement of
the tracer migration test. In this study, the tracer was uniformly
injected into the rock sample at constant flow rate, however,
there is a time difference between the arrival time and the time
until the value of α is saturated. This time difference represents
the fact that the flow in the crack is complex and there are some
regions where it takes longer time for the tracer to migrate. The
breakthrough time when α reaches 50% of maximum value
can be also estimated. The relation between arrival time and
the distance from the entrance is shown in Figure 8, and the
18
Figure 9. Relation between the breakthrough time and distance.
relation between the breakthrough time and the distance is
shown in Figure 9. From these figures, velocity of the tip of
tracer and the breakthrough point are estimated as 52.5 mm/h
and 32.5 mm/h, respectively.
8 CONCLUSIONS
The advection and dispersion phenomena in the crack were
visualized by X-ray CT method through the tracer migra-
tion test. In order to discuss the tracer migration process, a
new parameter, coefficient of tracer density increment α was
introduced, and the influence of the crack aperture to the tracer
flow and the process of the replacement were discussed. In the
conducted tracer test, the tracer easily migrated into the region
where the crack aperture is relatively smaller, and there is a
possibility that stagnation of flow occurs at the region which
has large aperture. From the variation of? α with time, the
difference between the velocity at tracer tip and breakthrough
point was estimated.
REFERENCES
Fukahori, D., Sato, A. & Sugawara, K., 2006. Development of a new
X-ray CT permeation test system and application to porous rocks,
Proceedings of 2006 GeoCongress, Sensing Methods and Devices,
Application of X-ray Computed Tomography.
Sato, A., Fukahori, D., Takebe, A., Sawada, A. & Sugawara, K. 2006.
Analysis of Open Crack in Rock by X-ray CT, Proceedings of
2006 GeoCongress, Sensing Methods and Devices, Application
of X-ray Computed Tomography.
Sato, A., Fukabori, D. & Sugawara,K., 2003. Crack opening anal-
ysis by the X-ray CT image subtraction method, X-ray CT for
Geomaterials – Soilds, Concrete and Rocks-, 247–253.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

An investigation on long-term stability and integrity of surrounding rocks in

Longyou caverns caved 2000 years ago

Yue Zhong qi
Civil Engineering Department, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, P.R. China

Li Lihui & Yang Zhifa

Key Laboratory of Engineering Geomechanics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China

Lu Min, Xu JianHong & Zheng Jian

Longyou Culture & Tourism Administration, Longyou, Zhejiang Province, P.R. China

ABSTRACT: This paper briefly presents the findings of the field and laboratory investigations on the long-term stability
and integrity of 24 Longyou rock caverns. The Longyou rock caverns were caved more than 2000 years ago. They are large
spanned and near ground rock caverns. The investigations have led to the discovery that the full water occupation of the ten
individual pelitic siltstone caverns is the natural factor that has made them stable and integrate for more than 2000 years. This
discovery is believed of general interest and significance in rock mechanics and rock engineering.

1 INTRODUCTION

In June 1992, a large man-caved rock cavern (Figure 1) was

unearthed by four local farmers after they pumped water out
of a small pool (Figure 2) in their village near the town of
Longyou in middle Zhejiang Province of eastern China (Fig-
ure 3). They were excited, continued to pump water out of
four adjacent small pools and, once again unearthed another
four individual large man-caved rock caverns. Subsequently,
many people including archaeologists, historians, social scien-
tists, geo-scientists, and geotechnical engineers have carried
out many detailed investigations on the caverns (Wang, 2000,
Sun et al. 2001, Li & Tanimoto, 2002, Yang et al. 2006).
The five large caverns were formed with manual caving in
pelitic siltstone of the Cretaceous age. Their spans are between
18 and 34 m and heights between 10 and 20 m. The roofs are
declined following the bedding planes so that the thickness Figure 2. Small and vertical entrance of a complete stable and inte-
grate rock cavern fully filled with water (photo taken in 2003, this
entrance is similar to that unearthed in 1992).

Figure 1. Internal space of a complete stable and integrate rock

cavern after water pumped out in 1992 (photo taken in 2003, five Figure 3. Location of plan of Longyou rock caverns in Zhe Jiang
persons are in the middle and left side of the photo). Province, eastern China.

19

Figure 4. Clear cave imprints on the internal wall surface of a
complete stable and integrate rock cavern after water pumped out
in 1992 (photo taken in 2003).
from the roofs to the roughly flat ground surface varies from
0.6 to 20 m. Each of the five original small pools was actu-
ally the vertical entrance of one of the five rock caverns.
The ground surface has a thin mantle of residual soil due to
decomposition of the bedrock pelitic siltstone.
The roofs, sidewalls and pillars are made of in-situ pelitic
siltstone. Their rock surfaces of regular cave imprints were
completely fine and looked as their original conditions when
they were unearthed (Figure 4). Findings of historical relics
inside the caverns have shown that the caverns were caved at
least 2000 years ago.
2 QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED
Up to now, there are many questions to be answered and
unknowns to be revealed. Some of the questions and unknowns
are (a) who caved them, (b) why did they cave them, (c) when
were they cave them, and (d) how did they cave them.
The caverns were caved manually, demonstrating the pelitic
siltstone is neither hard nor soft. Furthermore, the five caverns
are large spanned and near ground surface rock caverns. They
have been fine and stable for more than 2000 years. Literature
review of the relevant open publications has shown that for
such more than 2000 years old, man-caved, large spanned,
near ground surface and medium-hard rock caverns, there are
few experience and examples around the world that can be
used as reference (Sun et al. 2001).
Since the long-term stability and serviceability of large rock
caverns are always essential to modern rock mechanics and
rock engineering, the following questions must be addressed:
(a) Did the ancient men have plans and methodologies to
design and construct the caverns stable and integrate for
more than 2000 years?
(b) If not, why have the caverns been stable and integrate for
so many years?
3 INVESTIGATIONS AND RESULTS
With the questions in mind, we have carried out many detailed
field investigations, laboratory testing, numerical modeling
and theoretical analyses. Summaries of the relevant factual
data that have been found are briefly given below.
20
3.1 Regional geological and geographical conditions
Longyou county locates in the basin of the Qu River and has
a little tectonic movements and seismic activities. The man-
caved rock caverns located in small hilly terrains with height
differences less than 30 m and slope angles between 10◦ and
15◦ on the Qu River. The rocks are the Quxian Formation of
the Upper Cretaceous. They are mainly siltstone of more than
100 meter thick. The stratum are regular and their beddings
have a dip direction 45◦ and a dip angle 22◦ . The rocks are
intact and blocky and have little faults and fractures.
The region has a sub-tropic periodic wind climate. The pre-
cipitation is about 1542 to 1763 mm annually and distributes
non-uniformly over a year. The rainwater is the only source of
the groundwater.
3.2 Rock and water properties
The unit weight, the modulus of elasticity, Poisson’s ratio, and
the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of the pelitic siltstone
are found to have the values of 22 kN/m3, 4.5 GPa, 0.266
and 31.6 MPa at the dry condition and, 23 kN/m3, 3.0 GPa,
0.269 and 18.13 MPa at the saturated condition, respectively.
Therefore the surrounding rock is a soft rock with medium-
low density. The value of the UCS at the saturated condition
is about 57.36% of that at the dry condition, showing that
the rock strength can be significantly reduced after they are
immersed in water. Besides, test results show that the pelitic
siltstone has medium cementation and its main cements are
argillaceous, calcareous and iron. It is a rock with high dura-
bility. Its durability can be reduced with alternation of wetting
and drying.
Further tests on water specimens have found that the
groundwater has the mineralization degree less than 1 gram/
liter, which belongs fresh water. The water in the river and
from seepage in the caverns has the PH values between 5.29
to 6.31, which shows a weak acidity.
3.3 Characteristics of the rock caverns
Including the five unearthed integrate caverns in 1992, there
are 24 individual caverns in the field. They were formed with
similar manual caving methods in the pelitic siltstone. Another
five large caverns still fully contain water (Figure 2) and are
stable and integrate.
The other 14 caverns were failed partly or completely. The
failure modes include (a) collapse of the cavern entrance,
(b) lamellate and wedge falling of the roof, and (c) block slide
of the sidewall (Figure 5).
The 10 caverns that fully contain water up to their entrances
have their roofs, sidewalls and pillars stable and in integrate
state (Figure 2). The other 14 caverns that either partially con-
tain water or have no water have their roofs, sidewalls or pillars
partly or completely collapsed (Figure 5) and that their cav-
ing imprints have been partially or completely erased due to
weathering (Figure 6).
The 10 caverns fully containing water have vertical
entrances (Figure 3) while the other 14 caverns partially con-
taining water or without water have horizontal or inclined
entrances (Figure 5).
There are surface drainage channels and water traps well
designed and caved in the five unearthed integrate caverns in
1992 and in other collapsed caverns (Figure 1). Minor seep-
age and wetting are present on the internal surfaces of the five
unearthed integrate caverns in 1992 (Figure 7) and in other
 Figure 7. Seepage and new calcareous sinter from new cracks on the
Figure 5. A typical case of collapsed Longyou rock cavern with internal wall surface of a complete stable and integrate rock cavern
water table below its roof (photo taken in 2003). after water pumped out in 1992 (photo taken in 2003).

Figure 8. Typical cross-section and mechanism of the complete

Figure 6. Almost completed weathered caving imprints on the wall stable and integrate Longyou rock caverns.
surface of the collapsed Longyou rock cavern in Figure 5. (photo
taken in 2003).

partly collapsed caverns. This phenomenon is particularly

visible in wetting seasons.
Furthermore, fractures on the internal surfaces of the five
integrate caverns whose water was pumped out in 1992
were monitored for three years. Fresh fractures and recent
calcareous sinters from cracks were observed on these inter-
nal surfaces (Figure 7). Some fractures had extended and
propagated over the monitoring period.

4 ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS

Figure 8 shows a typical cross-section of the complete stable

and integrate Longyou rock caverns. It shows that the cavern
entrance is vertical and small. The rock cavern space is fully
occupied with water. The water in the cavern has two main
functions.
At the first, the water functions as a completely flexible sup-
port material to the surrounding rocks of the cavern including
the inclined roof, the near vertical walls and the base. Since
the unit weight of the water is about 43.5% to 44.5% of the
unit weight of the pelitic siltstone, the full water occupation of
the excavated space in the rock largely reduce the stress level
and deformation of the surrounding rocks.
Secondly, The water offers a sealed and static environment
to significantly reduce the extent and degree of the physical
Figure 9. Typical cross-section and mechanism of the completely
or partially collapsed Longyou rock cavern.
and chemical weathering on the internal surfaces of the rock
caverns.
Figure 9 shows a typical cross-section of the already col-
lapsed Longyou rock caverns. It shows that since the cavern
entrance is horizontal, the rock cavern space cannot be fully
occupied with water. Water would flow out of the cavern.
Therefore, the roof and pillars of the rock cavern space are
subjected to the full loading of the gravity force of the over-
lying rocks and the caved surfaces of the rock caverns are

21
completely exposed to the physical and chemical weather-
ing. Consequently, these rock caverns are subject to distresses,
cracking, weathering and collapses.
On the basis of the above phenomena and further theoretical
analysis, we have found the answers to the two questions in
Section 2 as follows.
(A) The ancient men did not have plans and methodologies to
design and construct the caverns so that they have been
fine and stable for more than 2000 years because there
are 24 caverns with at least two different geometrical
design schemes. The caverns with the design scheme as
shown in Figure 8 have been stable and integrate rock
while the other caverns with the design scheme as shown
in Figure 9 have been experienced partly or completely
failures.
(B) The reason for the 10 rock caverns having been stable and
integrate for more than 2000 years is mainly due to the
fact that their internal spaces have been fully occupied
with water.
Of course, the stable geological and geographical setting of
the region, the fresh and clean rainwater and groundwater, the
limited human interaction, and the unknown to human beings
are the basic conditions for the 10 rock caverns having been
stable and integrate for more than 2000 years.
5 THE IMPORTANT DISCOVERY
Based on the above findings and discussions, it is argued that
the full water occupation of the 10 pelitic siltstone caverns is
the natural factor that has made them stable and integrate for
more than 2000 years.
It is believed that this conclusion is a discovery of general
interests and significance in science and technology. This dis-
covery in Longyou rock caverns enable us to propose a theory
that a large rock cavern fully filled with stable water can be
stable and integrate for thousand years.
6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Human history has demonstrated that underground spaces
and caverns have always had very important values and func-
tions in politics, militaries, economics and societies. Human
beings have always been urgently requiring a large amount of
underground spaces. Up to now, the sciences and technolo-
gies for construction and utilization of underground spaces
have been thoroughly and rapidly developed. Rock mechan-
ics and engineering geology are the scientific fundamentals
for the design and construction of modern underground spaces
and caverns. They have been well developed in recent 50 years
since the establishment of ISRM. There are many publications
and literatures documenting the state-of-the-arts of modern
rock mechanics for cavern engineering.These documentations
include many modern theories, methods and technologies and
they are the important basis and tools for further investigating
large cavern engineer projects.
When human beings are economically and reasonably uti-
lizing more and more and larger and larger rock caverns, we
are facing one of the most challenging and difficult questions.
This question is the prediction and assurance on the long-term
stability and integrity of the rocks surrounding the caverns
after hundreds and even thousand years. For instance, some
countries have adopted the strategy to permanently dispose the
22
heat-emitting highly radioactive wastes in deep rock forma-
tions. The safe containment for the waste for periods in excess
of ten thousand years is the focus of the concerns of many
people, because during which time, some of the stored waste
may be leaked into groundwater, could substantially affect
environment, and would become harmful to human health.
It is definitely difficult to find the right answers in the many
success cases and research findings of modern rock mechan-
ics and cavern engineering. One of the main difficulties is due
to the fact that the modern rock mechanics and carven engi-
neering are younger than 100 years. No large rock caverns that
were designed and constructed in accordance to the modern
rock mechanics and rock engineering have experienced and
functioned for more than 100 years.
This important question may be resolved from the inves-
tigation of old, large and man-caved rock caverns with the
methodologies of modern rock mechanics and engineering
geology. At least, such investigation can enlighten us and give
clues to us so that we can find the right answers to the predic-
tion and assurance of the long-term stability and integrity of
modern rock caverns for hundreds and thousands years.
As discussed above, the Longyou rock caverns have offered
us an extremely prestigious and very rear case history and a
golden opportunity for extending our knowledge and expe-
rience on rock mechanics and prolonging our design time
limits from less than 100 years to more than 2000 years in
the stability and integrity of rock caverns. Particularly, the
discovery on the functions of full water occupation in large
rock caverns presented in this paper above can give an innova-
tive design and construction approach to protect the unearthed
five rock caverns for thousand years while they are being used
as a historical relic for education and tourists. Furthermore,
the discovery can be used in the design and construction of
underground spaces for water sealed oil storage tanks and
permanent storage of nuclear waste disposts, and control
and mitigation of geological and geo-environmental hazards.
These hazards include karst collapse, land subsidence due to
excessive groundwater withdraw and land subsidence due to
abandoned mines.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank financial supports from from
the Chinese National Fund of Natural Sciences (Project No.
42272122), and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong
SAR Government. One of the authors Ms. L.H. Li would
also like to thank The University of Hong Kong for research
assistantship.
REFERENCES
Li, L. & Tanimoto, C. 2002. The investigation of the geologic envi-
ronment and diseases of Longyou Grottoes, Dun Huang Research,
No. 4: 92–96.
Sun, J., Lin, J.M., Jia, G. & Zhan, Y.P. 2001. China’s Longyou grot-
toes, Zhejiang Province, News Journal, International Society for
Rock Mechanics, 6(3): 44–46.
Wang, S.J. 2000. The wonderful article excelling nature, Longyou
Grottoes (keynote), Rock Mechanics and Engineering Trends,
No.53: 8–9.
Yang, L.D., Yang, Z.F. & Lu, M. 2006. Proceedings of the interna-
tional symposium on Protection of Longyou Grottoes in China,
Culture Relics Publishing House.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Development of a numerical system for prediction calculation of underground

climate in relation to design of passive cooling of used nuclear fuel by
natural ventilation

Y. Mizuta
Department of Civil Engineering, Sojo University, Ikeda, Kumamoto, Japan

Q. Chen
R&D Section, 3D Geoscience, Inc., Higashikiwa, Ube, Japan

T. Koga
Civil Engineering Research Laboratory, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Abiko, Japan

ABSTRACT: The authors developed a computer program for predictive calculation of transient underground climate. They
made an underground network model in which heat sources are placed in the drifts. The heat sources represent the casks in
which the used nuclear fuel sticks are put. They approximated a field data set of seasonal cyclic changes of air temperature
and humidity at the inlets to the sine curves. Then, they adopted those as the input data. In this paper, numerical calculation of
the variations of flow rate, temperature and humidity distributions in the underground network model with time lapsed since
natural ventilation started, were carried out.

1 INTRODUCTION underground network and the quantities of heat sources in the

In order to design an underground airway network, predictive
calculation system in which heat transfer to air flow from
rock around the airways and heat sources put in some airways,
should be taken into consideration.
In addition to that, underground climate relatively near the
surface is influenced by seasonal cyclic change of surface
climate. Hence, previous understanding of variation of under-
ground climate with time passage, i. e. variation of flow rate,
temperature and humidity of air flow in each airway, taking
both the factors mentioned above into account is, needed.
Such a calculation system can be available for evaluation
of effective cooling of used nuclear fuel put in underground
depository and, passive cooling by natural ventilation, not
active cooling by compulsory ventilation, is desired for design
of safety and economical construction of the underground
facilities.
The authors developed a computer program for predictive
calculation of transient distribution of underground climate.
They made an underground network model in which no fan
is installed and some heat sources are placed along the drifts.
They assumed a data set of seasonal cyclic changes of air
temperature and humidity at the inlets and adopted those as
the input data.
It is to contribute to applicability evaluation of passive cool-
ing of used nuclear fuel put in the underground depository by
natural ventilation.
In this paper, numerical calculation of the variations of
flow rate, temperature and humidity distributions in the
underground network model with time lapsed after natural
ventilation start, was carried out.
The airway characteristics, thermal constants of rock around
airways and lining over airway wall, the original temperatures
of rock around airways, the altitude of the junctions of the
drifts, were put into the calculation system as the input data.
The following values were calculated simultaneously for
each small time increment:
• natural ventilation pressure (along each mesh)
• rate of flow (in weight/volume), dry bulb and wet bulb tem-
perature, specific and relative humidity, average specific
weight of air, and average airway wall temperature (in each
airway)
• temperature, humidity and average specific weight of air
(at each junction).
2 NUMERICAL SYSTEM FOR PREDICTION
CALCULATION
2.1 Outline of construction of the system
A numerical system for predicting quasi-steady underground
climate has been developed (Amano, Mizuta and Hiramatsu,
1982). It has been named VENTCLIM (Mizuta and Vutukuri,
1990) and used for ventilation design of underground mining
(Sakai, Shibata, Takemura and Mizuta, 1993). The computing
code, VENTCLIM is applicable to any underground network
and gives distribution of rate of flow, temperature and humid-
ity over the underground network, simultaneously. However,
in the system, no cyclic change with time is assumed. Fur-
thermore, it is assumed that heat delivery between airflow and
rock around airway monotonously decrease with time passage
after airway excavation. That is to say, underground climate
given from VENTCLIM is not affected by surface climate and
so, it does not vary hourly.
The other numerical system for predicting transient under-
ground climate has been developed (Amano and Mizuta,
1987) and it has been named TRANCLIM (Mizuta and

23

Figure 1. The variations of air temperature and specific humidity
at the inlet, used as input data of the numerical calculation.
Vutukuri, 1990). However, TRANCLIM is only applicable to
one circuit model and no change of flow rate with time is
assumed. More recently, it has been re-mdae that flow rate
change with change of natural ventilation pressure which is
determined by distribution of air temperature and humidity
along the circuit (Mizuta, Hirata and Koga, 2005). But, it is
still not applicable to network model. Therefore, a subroutine
of the finite difference modeling in TRANCLIM, which is
named “calculation of temperature distribution in rock” and
gives hourly varying heat delivery between airflow and rock
around airway was incorporated into VENTCLIM. The other
two subroutines in TRANCLIM those are “calculation of vary-
ing hourly surface climate” and “calculation of airway wall
temperature” were also incorporated into VENTCLIM.
Furthermore, as air ventilation in network is generated
by natural ventilation pressure distribution even if no fan
is installed, “initial setting up of natural ventilation pressure
along each mesh” was added to VENTCLIM.
2.2 Creation of seasonal cyclic change of climate at inlet
In 1983FY, surface climate was measured through a year
form April 1st at both the entrances of Abo tunnel which is
along No.158 national road. As daily cyclic change of surface
climate has high frequency, influence of it on underground cli-
mate is negligible and so, the average temperature and specific
humidity of each day were adopted as the data. Those are as
plotted by small circles in Fig. 1. The variation of temperature
measured was approximated by a sine curve and the variation
of specific humidity measured was approximated by two sine
curves. The solid curves in Figure 1 are the variations repre-
sented by the trigonometrical functions written in the figure.
2.3 Calculation of temperature distribution in rock
It is assumed in calculation system that every airway is cir-
cular tunnel in homogeneous and infinite solid medium. The
24
Figure 2. Division of the rock around airway into the elements for
Finite Difference Analysis.
medium around airway is divided into the ring elements by
concentric circles as shown in Fig. 2. Let each center of the
element divided be temperature point j and let those tempera-
ture at temperature point (j = 2, 3, . . ., e) be θ2 , θ3 , . . . , θe . Note
that the temperature point j = 1 corresponds to airway wall and
so, θ1 = θw where θw is average wall temperature. The point
j = e must be far enough from airway wall, that is, θe is always
equal to the original rock temperature θ0 . Distance of the point
becomes greater, temperature gradient at the point becomes
smaller. Hence, as shown in the figure, the interval of division
was varied as it becomes larger with increase of the distance
from the airway in order to do effective computation.
The differential equation of heat conduction in solid is given
as follows:
a in the equation is thermal diffusivity (m2 /s) and is given by
λg /cg ρg , where λg is thermal conductivity (J/msK) of solid,
cg is specific heat (J/kgK) of solid and ρg is density (kg/m3 )
of solid.
If θj becomes θj after time passage t, the following expres-
sion is given through differential representation of Equation 1:
where
in the above expression, x = x1 , in the region I, x = x2
in the region II and x = x3 in the region III.
For heat conduction in the element (j = 2) which contact
with airflow, however, x = x1 /2 between point 1 and 2
and x = x1 between points 2 and 3, and the following
expression is given in the interval j = 2.
where
Note that time increment t is should be limited by the
following stability condition.
2.4 Calculation of average wall temperature 21

In case that airway wall is totally wet, as the heat transferred (23) (22)
from rock t0 airflow is approximately equal to the heat trans- Inlet Outlet
mitted from point 2 (j = 2) to the airway wall (j = 1) through 1 17

the plane at the center between those points, wall temperature (1) (16)

θww is given from the following equation: 2 16

(2) (15)
3 15
No. of airway
(3) (14)
4 14
(4) (13)
No. of Junction
where cp is specific heat of air under constant pressure, λw is 5
(17) (18) 13
thermal conductivity of water, f (θww ) is specific humidity at (5) 18
(12)
wall temperature θww . 6 (19) (20) (21)
12
The relationship between heat transfer coefficient α(J/m2 sK) (6)
19 20
(11)
and velocity of airflow(m/s) is assumed as follows:
7 11
(7) 8 (8) 9 (9) 10 (10)

Figure 3. The underground ventilation network used for the calcu-

lation (Vutukuri Model).
The value of θww to satisfy Equation (7) can be given
by reiteration calculation by using the following relationship
between θww and pww (saturated vapor pressure at θww ):

Specific humidity f (θww ) can be given by the following

formula:

In case that airway wall is totally dry, wall temperature θwd

can be given by the following expression:
Figure 4. The variations of average temperature of airflow in the
five airways.

where h = a/λg
Average airway wall temperature θw is given by the follow-
ing formula:
where φ is wetness factor which represents the ratio of the wet
area to total area on the airway wall.
3 NETWORK MODEL AND PRIMARY INPUT DATA
Underground network model used for predictive numeri-
cal calculation is the same as Vutukuri Model (Mizuta and
Vutukuri, 1990) but the fan installed in Vutukuri Model is
removed. The network consisting of 3 mesh, 23 branch (air-
way) and 21 junction as shown in Fig. 3. As shown in the
figure, one of the junctions, No.21 is in the sky. Airway char-
acteristics, distribution of original temperature of rock, the
altitude of each junction, etc. are the same as Vutukuri Model.
In the model shown in Fig. 3 the heat sources of Q = 100 (kJ/s)
are installed in every drift.
4 CALCULATED RESULTS
The following parameters for the underground network model
mentioned above were calculated every time increment
through a year by using the predictive numerical system
developed by the authors:
• ventilation pressure (Pa) and rate of flow (kg/s or m3 /s) for
each mesh,
• dry bulb and wet bulb temperature (◦ C), the values related
to humidity of air, average specific weight of air for each
airway,
• temperature (◦ C) and specific humidity (kg/kg) of air and
average specific weight of air for each junction,
• airway wall temperatures θww and θwd (in cases that air-
way wall is totally wet and totally dry) and average wall
temperature θw (for each airway).
The calculated results for a year after ventilation start are
shown in Figs. 4∼6. The Figs. 4 and 5 show the variation of
temperature and humidity of air in the airways, No. 4, 8, 13,
17, 20 with time passage, and Fig. 6 shows variation of rate
of flow in those five airways.
It can be seen from the calculated results that distributions
of flow rate, temperature and humidity varies being affected
by the seasonal cyclic change of surface climate.

25
 5 CONCLUSION

The authors developed a numerical system for predictive

Figure 5. The variations of average specific humidity of airflow in
the five airways.
calculation of hourly varying underground climate taking sea-
sonal cyclic change of surface climate into consideration.
Then, they carried out calculation to know the variation of
underground climate through a year by using the system and a
network model, and by assuming the parameters such as sur-
face climate, heat sources put in the network, etc. under the
condition that no fan is installed.
The system is to contribute to design underground facilities
for passive cooling of used nuclear fuel by natural ventilation
and the calculated results may suggest sufficient feasibility
of underground cooling of used nuclear fuel only by natural
ventilation.

REFERENCES

Amano, k., Mizuta, Y. & Hiramatsu, Y. 1982. Method of predicting

underground climate, Int. J. Rock Mech.Min. Sci.& Geomech.
Abstr. Vol.19:31–38
Amano, k. & Mizuta, Y. 1987. Prediction calculation of climate in
road tunnel, Jour. Geo. Engineering (Japan). No.367/II-8:219–228
Sakai, S., Shibata, K., Takemura, S. & Mizuta, Y. 1993. Effective
expansion of ventilation network for development of the new
deposit in very hot area, Shigen-to-Sozai(Japan). Vol.109:9–15
Mizuta, Y. & Vutukui, V.S. 1990. Computer Programs for Predicting
Ventilation and Climatic Conditions in Mines and Tunnels, Private
Book
Mizuta, Y., Hirata, A. & Koga, T. 2005. Preliminary numerical mod-
eling on design of underground facilities for passive pre-cooling of
Figure 6. The variation of volumetric rate of flow in the five used nuclear fuel by natural ventilation, Int. J. JCRM, Vol.1:.19–23
airways.

26
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Die Rohrvortriebe für den Regenüberlaufkanal Neckarhafen

Pipe jacking for the project “Regenüberlaufkanal Neckarhafen”

C. Erichsen
WBI - Prof. Dr.-Ing. W. Wittke Beratende Ingenieure für Grundbau und Felsbau GmbH

A. Gekeler & C.-D. Hauck

Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart, Tiefbauamt

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Die Stadtentwässerung Stuttgart plant im Bereich des Hafens eine Neuordnung der Entwässerung.
Danach ist für das Gebiet mit einer Gesamtfläche von ca. 51,5 ha zukünftig eine Entwässerung im modifizierten Mischsystem
vorgesehen. Mit der Umstellung des Entwässerungsverfahrens soll gleichzeitig die Regenwasserbehandlung für das zugehörige
Einzugsgebiet sichergestellt werden.
Im Herbst 2006 soll die Realisierung mit dem Regenüberlaufkanal Neckarhafen beginnen. Dieser umfasst die insgesamt etwa
810 m langen, tiefliegenden Kanäle unter den Hafenbecken 1 und 2 sowie unter dem Mittel- und Ostkai und die zugehörigen
Schachtbauwerke mit oberflächennahen Anschlusskanälen.
Die Rohrvortriebe kommen überwiegend im wasserführenden ausgelaugten Gipskeuper zu liegen, wobei zwei Kanalstrecken
mit geringen überdeckungen von ca. 2,5–5 m unter den Hafenbecken 1 und 2 verlaufen. Die bis zu 18 m tiefen Schachtbaugruben
sollen in den aus Auffüllungen und Neckarkiesen bestehenden, stark wasserführenden Deckschichten und im ausgelaugten und
unausgelaugten Gipskeuper hergestellt werden.
Aufgrund der vorherrschenden Randbedingungen und Untergrundverhältnisse ergeben sich besondere Anforderungen an
die Vortriebstechnik. Das gewählte Vortriebsverfahren muss die Standsicherheit der Ortsbrust gewährleisten, und bei den
Vorpressungen unter den Hafenbecken müssen Wasser- und Schlammeinbrüche ausgeschlossen werden. Die Auswahl der
Lösewerkzeuge und Fördertechniken muss so erfolgen, dass die kleinräumig wechselnden Gebirgseigenschaften beherrscht
werden. In einem öffentlichen Teilnahmewettbewerb sollen geeignete Bieter ausgewählt werden, die nachfolgend im Rahmen
einer beschränkten Ausschreibung die Aufforderung zur Abgabe eines Angebotes erhalten.
Der Baubeginn ist im Herbst 2006 vorgesehen. Die Bauzeit wird mit bis zu 18 Monaten veranschlagt:

ABSTRACT: The water authority of the City of Stuttgart is planning a new concept of dewatering for an approximately 51.5 ha
area of the harbor. The conversion of the dewatering system will also ensure the treatment of rainwater.
The structure consists of deep sewers with a total length of approx. 810 m, which are located underneath the port basins 1
and 2 and underneath the middle and the east quay. Furthermore, corresponding shafts and connecting pipes near the surface
have to be constructed.
Pipe jacking is to be carried out mainly in the water bearing leached Gypsum Keuper. Two sewers are located underneath the
port basins 1 and 2. The distance between the pipes and the ground of the port basins amounts to 2.5 to 5.0 m. The shafts with a
maximum depth of 18 m are to be excavated in water bearing deposits of the river Neckar as well as in leached and unleached
Gypsum Keuper. Due to the difficult ground conditions high demands arise for the pipe jacking technique. The stability of the
working face has to be ensured and leakage of water and mud must be excluded. The tools for excavation and the conveyor
techniques have to be adapted to frequently changing ground conditions. A public competition has been carried out. Suitable
bidders have been selected and will be requested to bid within the scope of a limited tender.
Construction will start in autumn 2006. The construction time is planned to be 18 months.

Die Stadtentwässerung Stuttgart beabsichtigt die
Entwässerung des Hafengebiets in den Stadtbezirken Wan-
gen und Hedelfingen neu zu ordnen. Der Hafen Stuttgart wird
bisher imTrennsystem entwässert. Das häusliche, gewerbliche
und industrielle Schmutzwasser wird dem Hauptklärwerk
Mühlhausen zugeführt. Das Niederschlagswasser von Däch-
ern, Hofflächen und Straßen gelangt auf relativ kurzen Wegen
direkt in die nahegelegenen Hafenbecken. Wegen der immer
intensiveren Nutzung der befestigten Flächen durch den
Güterumschlag auch mit wassergefährdenden Stoffen, ist es
aber nicht mehr vertretbar, das Oberflächenwasser auf diese
Weise in den Neckar einzuleiten.
Die zukünftigen wasserwirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingun-
gen stellen sich wie nachfolgend beschrieben dar. Zur
Anpassung an den heutigen technischen Standard und zur
Verbesserung der Gewässergüte des Neckars ist für das Gebiet
mit einer Gesamtfläche von ca. 51,5 ha eine Entwässerung
im modifizierten Mischsystem vorgesehen. Dies bedeutet,
dass auch behandlungsbedürftiges Niederschlagswasser aus
Hof-und Verkehrsflächen dem Klärwerk zugeführt und nur
noch das nicht behandlungsbedürftige Dachflächenwasser
direkt in den Neckar eingeleitet wird. Mit der Umstellung
des Entwässerungssystems soll gleichzeitig die Regenwasser-
behandlung für das zugehörige Einzugsgebiet durchgeführt
werden.
Die Baumaßnahmen werden abschnittsweise durchgeführt.
Im Herbst 2006 soll die Realisierung mit dem Bau des
Regenüberlaufkanals (RÜK) beginnen.

27

Bild 1. Hafengelände und Einzugsgebiet für den RÜK.
Bild 2. Lageplan und Bauwerk.
1 BAUVORHABEN
Zentraler Bestandteil des Regenüberlaufkanals Neckarhafen
sind vier im unterirdischen Rohrvortrieb herzustellende
Kanalabschnitte mit Längen zwischen ca. 165 und 255 m
(Bild 2). Davon kommen 2 Kanalabschnitte unterhalb der
Hafenbecken 1 und 2 zu liegen. Die Gesamtlänge der vorzu-
pressenden Kanäle beträgt ca. 810 m. Die überdeckungen
betragen ca. 2–5 m unter den Hafenbecken und bis max.
ca. 15 m unter dem Hafengelände. In den Kanalabschnitten
unter den Hafenbecken 1 und 2 sollen Rohre DN 2000 bzw.
DN 1600 jeweils mit Drachenprofil ausgeführt werden. Für
die Kanalabschnitte unter dem Mittel- und dem Ostkai sind
Kreisquerschnitte DN 1600 vorgesehen.
Fünf kreisrunde Schächte (S100, S102, S103, S105 und
S203) mit Durchmessern von 6–10 m und Tiefen bis zu ca.
18 m sind als Start- und Zielbaugruben für die Rohrverpres-
sungen vorgesehen (Bild 2). Die Kanalstrecken unter den
Hafenbecken 1 und 2 sowie unter dem Mittelkai sollen aus
der Baugrube für das Vereinigungsbauwerk (Schacht 102) und
die Kanalstrecke unter dem Ostkai aus der Baugrube für das
Absturzbauwerk (Schacht 103) vorgepresst werden. Nach der
Rohrvorpressung können die Schachtbauwerke in Ortbeton
28
Bild 3. Lageplan mit Erkundungsbohrungen.
Bild 4. Bohrung im Hafenbecken vom Schwimmponton.
hergestellt und eingeschüttet sowie die drei Zwischenschächte
S104, S201 und S202 (Bild 2) hergestellt werden.
Ebenfalls zum Bauabschnitt des Regenüberlaufkanals
Neckarhafen gehört ein ca. 65 m langer, in offener Bauweise
herzustellender Kanalabschnitt DN 1400, der sich am Ostkai
an das Absturzbauwerk 105 anschließt. Des Weiteren sollen
die im Baubereich befindlichen Straßen- und Grundstück-
sentwässerungen an das neue Kanalsystem angeschlossen
werden.
2 UNTERGRUND
In 2 Erkundungsphasen (EKP’s) wurden 14 Kernbohrungen
abgeteuft (Bild 3), von denen 2 Kernbohrungen im Bere-
ich der Hafenbecken zu liegen kommen und von einem
Schwimmponton aus durchgeführt wurden (Bild 4).
Bild 5. Geologischer Längsschnitt Hafenbecken 1 und 2.
Bild 6. Hafenbecken 1, Baugrund.
Bild 7. Unausgelaugter Gipskeuper, Gefügemodell.
Ca. 200 m östlich des geplanten Regenüberlaufkanals
verläuft die geplante Trasse des zum Projekt Stuttgart 21
gehörenden Tunnels vom Stuttgarter Hauptbahnhof nach
Obertürkheim (WBI, 2004). Die Ergebnisse der für diesen
Tunnel durchgeführten Erkundungen wurden für die Bau-
grundbeurteilung mit herangezogen.
Auf Bild 5 ist der geotechnische Längsschnitt entlang der
Kanaltrassen unter den Hafenbecken 1 und 2 dargestellt. Im
Untersuchungsraum stehen vom Liegenden zum Hangenden
der unausgelaugte Gipskeuper, der ausgelaugte Gipskeuper,
die Neckarkiese und Auelehme des Quartärs sowie Auffüllun-
gen an. Bild 6 zeigt den Bohrkern einer 24 m tiefen Bohrung
(WBI, 2005).
Der unausgelaugte Gipskeuper (Bild 7) besteht aus einer
Wechsellagerung von Schluffsteinen und Sulfatgesteinen
29
Bild 8. Unausgelaugter Gipskeuper, Sulfatgehalte.
(Geologisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg, 1959). Der
Sulfatanteil kommt im Untersuchungsbereich fast auss-
chließlich in Form von Gips vor. Anhydrit ist nicht mehr bzw.
nur noch in Anteilen <5% vorhanden (Bild 8). Da es sich in
diesen Fällen um Reste aus der Umwandlung zu Gips handelt
und diese Reste mit Gips gepanzert sind, ist das Quellvermö-
gen des Anhydrits stark eingeschränkt. Somit dürften daraus
entstehende Quelldrücke (Wittke, 1984 und 2004) wie auch
evtl. aus dem Quellen von Tonmineralen entstehende Quell-
drücke so klein sein, dass sie für die Bemessung der Kanäle
nicht maßgeblich werden.
Der auf Bild 6 dargestellte Bohrkern zeigt den unaus-
gelaugten Gipskeuper ab ca. 14 m unter GOF in typischer
Ausbildung. Das Gebirge ist durch annähernd horizontale
Schichtfugen und eine Vielzahl von Klüften zerlegt. Die
Schichtfugen sind im ungestörten, gesteinsfesten Zustand
dicht verschlossen, die Klüfte nur schwach ausgebildet und
durch Fasergips verheilt.
Vereinzelt treten neben den Trennflächen auch Harnische
auf. Entsprechend wurden in einigen Bohrungen kompakte
Bohrkerne gewonnen, oftmals jedoch wurde das Gestein beim
Bohren entlang der Klüfte und der Schichtfugen plattig bis
stückig zerlegt. Die obere Begrenzung des unausgelaugten
Gipskeupers bildet die Auslaugungsfront.
Oberhalb der Auslaugungsfront ist der ehemals vorhandene
gesteinsfeste, unausgelaugte Gipskeuper durch den Einfluss
des Grundwassers vollständig verändert worden. Die Sul-
fatanteile des Gesteins gingen in Lösung und wurden mit
dem Grundwasser abtransportiert. Die Schluffsteine sind als
Folge der Auslaugung weitgehend entfestigt. Entsprechend
der unterschiedlichen Sulfatgehalte der einzelnen Schichten
im Ausgangsgestein ergibt sich für den ausgelaugten Zus-
tand eine Wechsellagerung von vollständig entfestigten
Schluffsteinen (reinen Auslaugungsschluffen), mäßig festen
und mürben Schluffsteinen und bereichsweise annähernd
Bild 9. Ausgelaugter Gipskeuper, Gefügemodell.
Bild 10. Ausgelaugter Gipskeuper, Klassen II bis IV.
gesteinsartigen Schluffsteinlagen (Grüter/Liening, 1976; Wit-
tke/Rißler, 1976). Hinsichtlich des Auslaugungsgrades und
der Festigkeit kann in 4 Klassen unterteilt werden (Bild 9).
Maßgebender Parameter für die Einteilung des Bodens in die
einzelnen Klassen ist neben den Ergebnissen der geotechnis-
chen Kartierungen der natürliche Wassergehalt (Bild 10).
3 GRUNDWASSER
Der Neckarkies stellt mit Durchlässigkeitsbeiwerten von 10−4
bis 10−2 m/s zusammen mit den inhomogenen Auffüllun-
gen einen hochdurchlässigen Grundwasseraquifer dar. Der
Grundwasserspiegel kommt in etwa im Niveau des Neckar-
wasserstandes zu liegen. Grundwasserführend sind auch die
Schichten des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers, wobei die Durchläs-
sigkeit mit Werten von 10−4 –10−6 m/s deutlich geringer ist.
Der unausgelaugte Gipskeuper ist weitestgehend als dichtes
Gebirge anzusehen.
30
Bild 11. Rohrvortriebe, Hauptrisiken und Maßnahmen.
4 ROHRVORTRIEBE
Die in bergmännischer Bauweise vorgesehenen Kanalstrecken
kommen überwiegend in den Schichten des ausgelaugten
Gipskeupers der Klassen III (sehr mürbe Schluffsteine) und IV
(vollständig entfestigte Schluffsteine, Auslaugungsschluffe)
zu liegen (Bild 5). In geringerem Umfang sind mürbe Schluff-
steine der Klasse II zwischengelagert. Die Kanalstrecke unter
dem Hafenbecken 2 schneidet die Auslaugungsfront und den
darunter anstehenden unausgelaugten Gipskeuper an. Unter
dem Hafenbecken 1 kommt die Kanalsohle nur wenig ober-
halb der prognostizierten Auslaugungsfront zu liegen, so dass
hier ein punktuelles Anschneiden nicht auszuschließen ist.
Der unausgelaugte Gipskeuper kann in die Klassen LBM2
und LBM3 eingestuft werden, wobei die Zusatzklasse S1
örtlich in festeren Lagen auftreten kann. Der ausgelaugte
Gipskeuper neigt infolge Wasseraufnahme und mechanis-
cher Beanspruchung zur Schlammbildung und besitzt ein
mittleres Verklebungspotential. Der unausgelaugte Gipskeu-
per ist mit einaxialen Druckfestigkeiten von 5–20 Mpa (max.
bis 50 Mpa) der Felsklasse FD2 zuzuordnen. Eingelagerte
mürbe Zonen entsprechen der Klasse FD1 bzw. bei stärkerer
Zerlegung auch den Klassen FZ1 bis FZ2.
Eines der wichtigsten Ziele der Planung war die
Abschätzung der Risiken, die ein Rohrvortrieb unter einem
Gewässer mit sich bringt.
Auf Bild 11 sind im linken Teil die Hauptrisiken,
die besonders in die Planungen einbezogen wurden,
zusammengestellt. Aufgrund der geringen Tiefenlage unter
dem Neckar und möglicher Wasserwegigkeiten wird das
Risiko von Wasser- und Schlammeinbrüchen sehr hoch
eingeschätzt. Durch eine Stützung der Ortsbrust sowie des
vorherrschenden Wasserdrucks können die mit einer insta-
bilen Ortsbrust zusammenhängenden Problemstellungen und
Gefährdungspotentiale weitestgehend ausgeschlossen wer-
den. Daher sollen die Abschnitte unter dem Hafenbecken
mit geschlossenen Vortriebsmaschinen vorangetrieben wer-
den (WBI, 2005).
In Bild 12 sind die Einsatzbereiche eines Erddruckschildes
und die Körnungsbänder des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers mit
den Auslaugungsklassen III und IV dargestellt. Beim Einsatz
eines Erddruckschildes liegt man weitgehend im “idealen”
Bereich. Für die Auslaugungsklasse III kann bereichsweise
eine Konditionierung notwendig werden. Ungünstig wirkt
sich das Anschneiden des unausgelaugten Gipskeupers aus,
da dieses Material nach dem derzeitigen Kenntnisstand beim
Lösen nicht zerfällt und den Erdbrei mit Kieskorn anreichert.
Damit steigt der Aufwand für die Konditionierung.
Bild 12. Einsatzbereich eines Erddruckschildes und Körnungsbän-
der des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers.
Bild 13. Einsatzbereich eines flüssigkeitsgestützten Schildes und
Körnungsbänder des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers.
In Bild 13 sind die Einsatzbereiche eines flüssigkeits-
gestützten Schildes und die Körnungsbänder des ausgelaugten
Gipskeupers mit Auslaugungsklassen III und IV dargestellt.
Danach sind die Schichten des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers
unter Beachtung des Separieraufwandes und einer möglichen
Verklebung des Bohrkopfes und der Abbauwerkzeuge grund-
sätzlich für den Einsatz eines flüssigkeitsgestützten Schildes
geeignet.
Beim Einsatz von geschlossenen Vortriebsmaschinen stellt
das Beseitigen von möglichen Hindernissen eine besondere
Aufgabe dar (Bild 11). Es wurde deshalb bereits im Zuge der
Planungsphase versucht, eventuell auftretende Hindernisse
zu erkunden. Bestehende Bauwerke wurden auf ihre Grün-
dungstiefe hin untersucht (u. a. Tiefbauamt Stuttgart, 1958).
Im Bereich der Hafenbecken wurde eine Metalldedektion
durchgeführt. Für den Fall, dass Hindernisse auftreten, ist für
den Vortrieb ein Konzept zur Beseitigung von der Maschine
aus, dann unter zu Hilfenahme von Druckluft, vorzusehen.
Die entwässerungstechnische Planung sieht den Einsatz
von Rohren mit Drachenprofilen vor (Bild 14). Zur Vermei-
dung einer Verrollung können die Rohre mit Zentrierstiften
in den Rohrverbindungen fixiert werden. Beim Vortrieb kann
durch die Umkehr der Drehrichtung des Schneidrades einer
Verdrehung der Rohre entgegen gewirkt werden. Eine weit-
ere Möglichkeit wäre der Einsatz von kreisrunden Rohren mit
dem nachträglichen Einbringen eines Gerinnebetons (Bild 14,
rechts).
31
Bild 14. Drachenprofil, Varianten.
Bild 15. Baugrubensicherung und Messprogramm.
5 SCHÄCHTE
Die Schächte durchörtern alle im Untersuchungsbereich vork-
ommenden Schichten (Bilder 5 und 6). Aufgrund der hohen
Wasserdurchlässigkeit im Neckarkies wird im oberen Bereich
der Baugruben ein wasserdichter Spundwandverbau vorgese-
hen. Im ausgelaugten und unausgelaugten Gipskeuper wird
eine Baugrubensicherung mit bewehrtem Spritzbeton emp-
fohlen (WBI, 2005 und Bild 15). Dieser Verbau stellt eine
sehr wirtschaftliche Methode zur Baugrubensicherung dar
und kommt deshalb in Stuttgart oft zum Einsatz.
6 ÖFFENTLICHER TEILNAHMEWETTBEWERB FÜR
EINE BESCHRÄNKTE AUSSCHREIBUNG
Ein Rohrvortrieb im Bereich des Gipskeupers unter dem
Neckar stellt eine neue Aufgabe dar. Bislang konnten in
diesem Bereich der Stuttgarter Geologie noch keine Erfahrun-
gen gesammelt werden. Aufgrund der zuvor geschilderten
Besonderheiten und Schwierigkeiten und den daraus sich
ergebenden Anforderungen an die Vortriebstechnik hat sich
die Stadtentwässerung Stuttgart gemeinsam mit den pla-
nenden Ingenieurbüros entschieden, zunächst in einem
öffentlichen Teilnahmewettbewerb den Bewerberkreis zu
erkunden und qualifizierte Firmen auszuwählen, die bere-
its vergleichbare Projekte ausgeführt haben. Diese erhalten
anschließend im Rahmen einer beschränkten Ausschreibung
die Aufforderung zur Abgabe eines Angebots. Die Zahl der
zur Angebotsabgabe aufgeforderten Firmen soll dabei auf
maximal 8 beschränkt werden.
 Für die Beurteilung der Eignung der Bewerber wurden
in den Bewerbungsunterlagen verschiedene Auskünfte und
Nachweise erbeten. Zur Bewertung wurden u. a. nachfolgende
Kriterien festgelegt:
• Referenzprojekte des Bieters bzw. der Bietergemein-schaft
• Erfahrungen des für das Projekt vorgesehenen Personals
• Auffahr- und Sicherheitskonzept für die Rohrvortriebe
unter den Hafenbecken
• Auffahrkonzept für die Rohrvortriebe unter dem Mittel- und
dem Ostkai
• Drachenprofil, Vermeidung der Verrollung
• Bauablauf und Bauzeit
7 ERGEBNISSE DES TEILNAHMEWETTBEWERBS
UND WEITERES VORGEHEN
Die Teilnahmeanträge der Bewerber mussten bis zum 16.
Februar 2006 beim Tiefbauamt eingereicht werden. Alle
Bewerber können die erforderlichen Referenzprojekte vor-
weisen. Für die Vortriebe unter den Hafenbecken haben
alle Bewerber geschlossene Vollschnittmaschinen vorgesehen
(Slurry- oder Erddruckschild). Unter dem Mittel- und Ostkai
wollen die meisten Bewerber ebenfalls Vollschnittmaschinen
einsetzen. Lediglich 2 Bewerber sehen hier offene Schilde mit
Bagger- oder Teilschnittmaschinen vor.
Von allen Bewerbern sind schalungserhärtete Stahlbeton-
rohre geplant, wobei bei den Vortriebsstrecken mit Drachen-
profilen die meisten Bewerber Rohre mit endgültigem
Querschnitt vorpressen wollen und nur 2 Bewerber einen
nachträglichen Ausbau von Kreisquerschnitten zu Drachen-
profilen angedacht haben.
Der vorgenommene Teilnahmewettbewerb hat die über-
legungen der vorausgegangenen Planungsphase weitgehend
bestätigt und zudem weitere wichtige Erkenntnisse für die
Ausarbeitung der Ausschreibungsunterlagen geliefert. In der
Ausschreibung werden nun alle Vortriebe mit geschlosse-
nen Vollschnittmaschinen vorgesehen. Die Randbedingungen
32
sollen in den Ausschreibungsunterlagen möglichst detailliert
beschrieben werden. So können unter dem Mittel- und Ostkai
auch Nebenangebote im offenen Vortrieb zugelassen und
vergleichbar gewertet werden. Die Ausgabe der Ausschrei-
bungsunterlagen erfolgt Anfang Mai 2006.
Die Realisierung des Regenüberlaufkanals Neckarhafen
soll im Herbst 2006 beginnen. Die Fertigstellung des mit ca.
4,5 Mio. € veranschlagten 1. Bauabschnitts ist bis zum Früh-
jahr 2008 vorgesehen. Durch die intensive Vorbereitung dieses
überaus interessanten Bauvorhabens sieht sich der Eigen-
betrieb Stadtentwässerung der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart
gemeinsam mit den planenden Ingenieurbüros gut gerüstet
für die anstehende Bauausführung des Regenüberlaufkanals
Neckarhafen.
QUELLENNACHWEIS
Geologisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg (1959): Erläuterun-
gen zur Geologischen Karte von Stuttgart und Umgebung
1:50.000. Landesvermessungsamt Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart.
Tiefbauamt Stuttgart (1958): Hafen Stuttgart, Die Arbeiten des
Tiefbauamtes, Folge 2, Stuttgart.
Wittke, W. (1984): Felsmechanik – Grundlagen für wirtschaftliches
Bauen im Fels. Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York,
Tokyo.
Grüter, R.; Liening, B. (1976): S-Bahn Stuttgart, Planung und Bau
der Haltestelle Schwabstraße (Baulos 11) und der unterirdischen
Wendeanlage (Baulos 12), Teil I. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erd-
und Grundbau e. V., Vorträge der Baugrundtagung in Nürnberg.
Wittke, W.; Rißler, P. (1976): S-Bahn Stuttgart, Planung und Bau
der Haltestelle Schwabstraße (Baulos 11) und der unterirdischen
Wendeanlage (Baulos 12), Teil II. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erd-
und Grundbau e. V., Vorträge der Baugrundtagung in Nürnberg.
WBI (2004): Stuttgart 21, PFA 1.6, Tunnel vom Hbf. nach
Obertürkheim und Abzweig Wangen nach Untertürkheim,
Baugrundgutachten (unveröffentlicht).
Wittke, W. (2004): Planung, Bau und überwachung von Tunneln in
quellfähigem Gipskeuper. Geotechnik 2004/2, VGE Essen.
WBI (2005): Neckarhafen RÜK, Baugrund- und Geotechnisches
Gutachten (unveröffentlicht).
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) in the Meuse Haute Marne underground

research laboratory
Caractérisation de la zone endommagée dans le laboratoire de recherche souterrain de Meuse Haute Marne

G. Armand, Y. Wileveau, J. Morel, M. Cruchaudet & H. Rebours

Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs (ANDRA) Laboratoire de Recherche Souterrain de Meuse Haute-Marne,
Bure, France

RESUME: Le laboratoire de recherche souterrain de Meuse Haute Marne a été construit par l’ANDRA (Agence nationale
pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs) pour étudier les propriétés de confinement des argillites du Callovo-Oxfordien (situées
entre 420 m et 550 m de profondeur) et la réponse hydromécanique au creusement d’ouvrages souterrains, en vue d’étudier la
faisabilité d’un stockage souterrain de déchets radioactifs à haute activité et à vie longue. La construction du laboratoire dans
la couche hôte est une expérimentation scientifique par elle-même qui permet de caractériser les impacts du creusement. En
particulier, la zone endommagée par le creusement (EDZ) est étudiée autour des ouvrages avec des mesures de perméabilité,
un relevé géologique systématique des fractures au front de taille et sur les carottes issues des forages d’instrumentation, des
mesures de diagraphie en forage radial et des mesures classiques d’extensométrie. Une expérimentation spécifique est aussi
dédiée au concept de scellement, en étudiant les saignées radiales de faible épaisseur.

ABSTRACT: An Underground Research Laboratory (URL) has been constructed in North-eastern France by Andra (French
Agency in charge of radioactive waste management) in order to perform a scientific program to characterize the confining
properties of a claystone layer (Callovo-Oxfordian formation, situated between 420 m and 550 m depth) and investigate the
hydro-mechanical properties of the rock during excavation, in order to study the feasibility of an underground radioactive waste
repository. The construction of the laboratory itself serves a research purpose through monitoring of the excavation effect. The
excavation damaged zone (EDZ) is major issue investigated by permeability measurements, by a systematic geological survey,
by velocity measurements in radial borehole and by extensometer measurements. A specific experiment is also dedicated to a
sealing concept focusing on techniques for interrupting the axial hydraulic connectivity of the EDZ by thin radial slots.

1 INTRODUCTION

In order to demonstrate the feasibility of a radioactive waste

repository in claystone formation, the French national radioac-
tive waste management agency (Andra) started in 2000 to
build an underground research laboratory (URL) in Bure
(boundary between the Meuse and Haute-Marne Depart-
ments) located nearly 300 km East of Paris (fig. 1). The host
formation consists of claystone (Callovo-Oxfordian argilla-
ceous stone) and is approximately 500 m deep and 130 m thick
(Andra 2005). The Callovo-Oxfordian clays are overlain and
underlain by poorly permeable carbonate formations.
The main objective of the research is to characterize the con-
fining properties of the clay through in situ hydrogeological Figure 1. Location of the underground research laboratory in
tests, chemical measurements and diffusion experiments and Meuse/Haute-Marne in the Paris Basin.
to demonstrate that the construction and operation of a geo-
logical disposal will not introduce pathways for radionuclides
migration (Delay et al. 2005). mechanical and hydraulic rock properties are changed. In par-
In mechanic, the thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of the ticular, the hydraulic conductivity of these fracture networks
argillites and the EDZ characterization are two of the key may be orders of magnitude higher than the one of the “virgin”
issues being investigated in underground experiments carried host rock. That is why Andra is studying the EDZ geome-
out or planned in the Meuse/Haute-Marne URL. Excavation of try and properties with time. In addition, some technological
underground drifts generally causes damage to the rock in the solutions are being tested to interrupt the connectivity of these
vicinity of the openings. The level of damage depends, among fracture networks along the drifts.
other factors, on the rock properties, the stress field, the geom- First, this paper presents a brief overview of the EDZ char-
etry of the openings, the excavation method and time. Due acterization methods implemented in different drifts at the
to the stress redistribution during the excavation and subse- main level of the laboratory, and geometry and permeabil-
quent rock convergence an EDZ fracture network, consisting ity results obtained from the EDZ. Secondly, it describes a
of unloading joints and shear fractures, could appear in the specific sealing experiment focusing on a technical solution
vicinity of the openings. Within such an excavation zone the for cutting off the EDZ hydraulic connectivity.

33

Figure 2. General layout drawing of the Meuse/Haute-Marne URL
showing SMR1.1, SMR1.3 and KEY drift locations.
2 EDZ CHARACTERIZATION
The mechanical behavior of the investigated rock is governed
by the geological characteristics of the argillites. Their min-
eralogical composition varies slightly within the statigraphic
horizons. At the 490 m level, it is 50–55% clay minerals,
20–25% carbonate and around 25% quartz silts (Andra 2005)
and sedimentation has led to a slightly anisotropic behav-
ior of the argillites. The combined effects of sedimenta-
tion, compaction and diagenesis has reduced the interstitial
or connected pore space. Therefore, the Callovo-Oxfordian
argillites are considered in their natural state as a saturated
porous medium with very low permeability (5 × 10−20 to
5 × 10−21 m2 ). Their mechanical behavior is closely coupled
with the pore pressure and the degree of saturation. In-situ
stresses in the argillite layer are: σz = γZ; σh ≈ σv , σH /σh
close to 1.2, with magnitude varying with depth and with the
rheological characteristics of the respective layers. The hori-
zontal major stress is oriented NE155◦ (Wileveau et al. 2006).
Taking into account the in situ stress anisotropy, EDZ char-
acterization has been extensively investigated in drifts parallel
and perpendicular to the horizontal major stress (fig. 2) in
the location called SMR1.1 (drift along σh ) and SMR1.3
and GKE drift (drift along σH ). Convergence measurements,
extensometer measurements (fixed point at 20 m away from
the drift), total pressure measurements between rock and sup-
port, and support deformation measurements have also been
performed in section SMR1.1 and SMR1.3 in order to moni-
tor the rock behavior during the digging of the drift. Those
results, which contribute to the understanding of the EDZ
and the deformation of the drift, can be found in Wileveau
et al (2006).
Several measuring methods were used to assess the exten-
sion of these damaged and disturbed zones around the drifts
according to different parameters:
– Structural analysis of the core samples to establish the pres-
ence of fractures and define the fracture density according
to depth,
– Geological survey of the drift face and of sidewalls,
– Microseimic logging measurements to study the evolution
of P and S wave velocity according to the distance from
the drift wall,
– Permeability measurements carried out through gas and
hydraulic tests to assess the EDZ permeability with time
and the degree of saturation of the argillites.
34
Figure 3. “Chevon” patterns observed at gallery scale in relation
with the face progression (left) and damaged zone like schistosity in
the notch of chevron fracture (right).
Most of the works performed for geological characteriza-
tion were concentrated in the experimental drifts (eastern part)
where numerous boreholes cored during excavation allowed
comparing pattern, frequency and orientation of EDZ frac-
tures with the ruptures observed on the free surface. Resin
impregnation of fractures in the EDZ zone brings additional
information on the geometry and connectivity of the fracture
network.
The structural analysis provides a good understanding of
the fracture mechanisms and their succession order. From the
geological point of view, the EDZ can be conceptualized as
follows:
– The “chevron” fractures are initiated ahead of the excava-
tion face during work. They are generally more pronounced
when the drifts are parallel to σH . The chevron frac-
tures form symmetrically to the horizontal plane crossing
the gallery axis. The dip of this pattern with respect to the
horizontal plane is around 45◦ (Fig. 3). Extension of the
chevron zone ahead of the excavation face is close to 1
drift diameter (about 4 m). On the cross section, the exten-
sion is different according to the orientation of the drift.
At the vault and on the ground, the fractured zone is com-
prised between 2 and 2.5 m, and below when the gallery is
oriented parallel to σH . On the wall side (the larger distance
in the section), the fractured zone is less than 1 m for the
gallery oriented parallel to σh , but fractures up to 5 m are
observed in the other direction (// to σH ). The last figure
has been obtained from boreholes drilled in a complex zone
(near a drift cross section) and has to be confirmed.
– Vertical and oblique fractures which form beyond the
chevron fractures stop at them. They are oriented at a low
angle (10◦ to 30◦ ) with respect to the wall.
– In addition to these shearing fractures, unloading tensile
fractures similar to those observed at Mont Terri (Bossart
et al 2004) can be observed. The mechanical deconfining
and specific shape of the section (horse shoe) induce com-
plex fractured zones concentrated at the corners of the floor.
The extension zone observed on cores (plumose structure
or tensile rupture surface) is limited in comparison with
shearing fractures. This zone represents mainly the higher
hydraulic conductivity zone where open fractures can be
observed (Fig. 4).
The combined geophysical methods tested in drifts are
microseismic logs along boreholes and tomography arrays.
The wave velocity decreases as argillites are damaged. Some

Figure 4. Photo of sample under UV light after overcoring in a
zone impregnated by fluoresceine resin (up) and thin section photo
showing an extension fracture and strike-slip zone.
Figure 5. Water permeability measurements (vertical and horizon-
tal profile) from the SMR1.1 tested section.
microseismic loggings have not only revealed the continuous
increase in velocity with respect to the radial distance but also
a strong local decrease in velocity which may correspond to
an isolated shearing fracture.
The results for permeability tests carried out along a section
of gallery parallel to σh are shown in Figure 5. Other per-
meability measurements were performed in a perpendicular
drift (KEY experiment, see chapter 3) and give a compara-
ble hydraulic conductivity profile around drifts. The hydraulic
tests in the EDZ zone show an increase in hydraulic perme-
ability (by 4 to 5 orders of magnitude) in the extension fracture
zone close to the wall.A small increase in hydraulic permeabil-
ity is measured in the “chevron” sheared fracture zone which
indicates that the sheared fractures are mechanically closed.
The highest value (k = 1.10−5 m/s) is obtained in the interval
located at 1 m below the floor where the fracture aperture is
magnified by the invert uplift due to the horse-shoe shape and
the lack of lining at the floor.
3 SEALING DEVICE TESTS: KEY EXPERIMENT
The design of plugging and sealing systems has to consider
the geometry and the properties of the EDZ to guarantee
35
Figure 6. KEY experiment concept.
proper operation (Fairhurst and Damjanak 1996). The avail-
able knowledge on EDZ emphasizes that fractures with higher
permeability than the intact rock may form a preferential path-
way (Bauer et al 2003). ANDRA is studying the concept of
thin radial slots, with a depth larger than the EDZ, filled with
swelling clay in order to cut off the EDZ around a sealed
gallery. The concept of cut-off slots for enhancing repository
performance is based on the conservative assumption that the
EDZ is a perfectly connected fracture network. In that case,
the use of multiple slots provides an impermeable barrier that
interrupts the continuity of the fracture network. The clay
swelling pressure in the slot tends to compress the zone dam-
aged by the slot excavation and prevents the slot from being
bypassed.
Experiments were performed at the Mont Terri labora-
tory (Switzerland) and at the main level of the URL (KEY
experiment) focused on thin radial slots with the aim to:
– Demonstrate feasibility of creating and filling up a slot,
– Assess the effectiveness of radial slots with respect to the
problem of hydraulic short circuit,
– Verify the effectiveness of applying swelling pressure.
3.1 Concept of the experiment
A first experiment (EZ_A experiment) was performed at Mont
Terri to study the feasibility of slot opening and slot backfilling
and to assess the performance of the cut off by permeability
testing. It provided technological and scientific information
on the working out and behavior of thin radial slots (Armand
et al 2004). It allowed us to develop a saw prototype which can
perform a 2.5 m deep slot all around a horse shoe drift section.
The objectives and concept used in the KEY experiment are
presented in Figure 6 and summarized as follows:
– Characterization of the damaged and disturbed zones was
carried out by implementing several methods described in
the previous chapter. Permeability to gas and water mea-
surements were performed with several removable or fixed
devices equipped with chambers of various lengths from
0.1 to 1 m in boreholes of various depths (2 to 20 m),
– Assessment of the effectiveness of the radial slots con-
cerning the problem of hydraulic short circuit consisted
in comparing the results of tests on the interference of gas
between vertical drillings carried out from the floor of the
drift (an area of about 6 m2 ). The tests were carried out
before and after the excavation and the filling of two 7 cm
thick slots with resin at 2 m depth.
– Checking the effectiveness of applying confining pressure
along the slot consisted in measuring the deformation and
velocity of the compression waves in the close vicinity of a
slot where a pressure is applied. The device used consisted
in standard geotechnical instruments and a velocity survey
with piezoelectric sensors including some of them at the
slot face. A 33 cm thick slot was excavated at 2 m depth
from the drift floor. The pressure in the slot was cyclically
applied by flat jacks, up to 2.7 MPa. After removing the
jack, the slot was filled by compacted bentonite blocks
and equipped with a hydration system. Saturation of this
engineered barrier started early 2006 and is under way.
Results of this part of the experiment are not included in
this paper.
3.2 Effectiveness of radial slots
Effectiveness of radial slots is studied in an area, well charac-
terized by an array of 9 boreholes (Fig. 6 Zone 2). The array
follows a 3 × 3 grid, where the grid spacing was 1.5 meters
along and perpendicular to the tunnel axis. The holes were
prepared 2 meter-deep, with packers separating the upper and
lower 1 m sections. On one of the wallsides, boreholes are
inclined at 45◦ under the section foot to investigate the high-
est permeable zone. Each borehole and packer interval was
tested as a separate injection source while continuously mon-
itoring pressure in the other 17 measurement sections of the
borehole array. Air injection pressures were limited in time to
avoid propagating the fractures. Previously, a resin layer was
emplaced at the floor, up to 1 m high in the side walls, to avoid
leakage to the drift and to increase cross holes response.
The intrinsic permeability measured initially during air per-
meability tests ranges between 1 × 10−9 m2 and 5 × 10−14 m2
in the first meters under the floor, except for three out of
nine chambers showing permeability equivalent to that of
the saturated undisturbed rock (below 1 × 10−20 m2 ). This
emphasizes EDZ heterogeneity in an area of 3 × 3.2 m2 . Simi-
lar results have been found at Mont Terri (Armand et al 2004).
Permeability measured between 1 m and 2 m during air perme-
ability tests exhibits values close to the ones found for intact
saturated rock. Some cross holes response has been identified
in the first meter and has been further characterized using
helium tracer test. Helium was injected in one chamber and
helium arrival was recorded in the other chambers. Observed
arrival time varied from 6 min to 34 min for a 150 min helium
injection test.
Two slots, 2 m deep, 0.07 m thick, were excavated at the
floor up to 1 m high in the side walls (Fig. 6) on the two sides
of the boreholes’ centerline, perpendicular to the drift axis.
The slots were filled with resin.
Air permeability tests carried out before the excavation
and filling of the slots were performed again. Each inter-
val was tested as a separate injection source and yielded
similar permeability estimation, but no cross holes response
was detected during the continuous pressure monitoring in
the other 17 chambers whatever the injection borehole was.
Helium was injected during 150 min in the previous bore-
holes showing cross holes response. No helium was detected
36
in the measurement chambers during the test and confirmed
the cut-off of the fracture network connectivity. This exper-
iment emphasizes interruption of the hydraulic connections
with thin radial slot filled with resin. Results of KEY exper-
iment confirm previous conclusions obtained at Mont Terri,
even if EDZ are slightly different at the URL and at Mont
Terri. Further test will be performed with radial slot filled
with bentonite.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Drift excavations at the main level of the URL exhibit unload-
ing and shear fractures which have not be seen in drifts at
−445 m depth. The fractures pattern and extension depend
on the drift orientation versus the stress state, the velocity of
excavation and support. Shear fractures are created ahead of
the excavation face. High permeabilities are localized in the
vicinity of the drift wall and are mainly due to open fractures.
Deeper from the wall, shear fractures are nearly closed and
exhibit permeability equal to the undamaged rock. Sealing
experiment on thin radial slot shows a technique to cut-off
connectivity of the EDZ fractures network.
Further experiments will be performed in the URL to bet-
ter understand effects of excavation advance and of support
on EDZ development and further characterize extension and
permeability of the EDZ.
REFERENCES
Andra. 2005. Dossier 2005 Argile: Evaluation of the Feasibility of a
Geological Repository, www.andra.fr
Armand, G., Doe, T., Piedevache, M., Chavane, G., 2004. Permeabil-
ity measurements in the excavation damaged zone in the Opalinus
clay at Mont Terry Rock Laboratory, Switzerland, 57th Canadian
geotech. Conf., Oct. 2004, Quebec, G15-453.
Bauer C., Pépin G., Lebon P. 2003, EDZ in the performance assess-
ment of the Meuse/Haute-Marne site : Conceptual Model used
and Questions addressed to the Research , in Proceedings of the
European Commission Cluster conference on Impact of the EDZ
on the performance of radioactive waste geological repositories,
Luxembourg November 2003
Bossart, P., Meier, P.M., Moeri, A., Trick, T., Mayor, J.-C., 2002. Geo-
logical and hydraulic characterization of the excavation disturbed
zone in the Opalinus Clay of the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory,
Engineering Geology, 66, p.19–38.
Delay, J., Vinsot, A., Krieguer, J.M., Rebours H., Armand, G. 2006.
Making of the underground scientific experimental programme
at the meuse/Haute marne URL, North Eastern France. J. Phys.
Chem. of Earth, in press.
Fairhurst, C., Damjanac, B., 1996. The excavation Damage Zone an
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the EDZ Workshop. Canadian Nuclear Society, pp. 3–14
Wileveau, Y., Renaud, V., Kazmierczak, J.-B., Armand G., 2006.
Rheological characterization of a clay formation from drifts
excavation: elastic and elastoplastic approach, Proc. Sea to Sky
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 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Experimental study on wind erosion of the consolidated ancient earthen site by PS

material in Northwest China

Zhao Haiying
Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics the Chinese Acadeny of Sciences, Wuhan, China

Wang Xudong, Li Zui-xiong, Han Wen-feng & Guo Qing-lin

The Cultural Relic Conservation Centre of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
Conservation Institute of Dunhuang Academy, Dunhuan, China

ABSTRACT: There are many ruins of ancient earthen sites in Northwest China, such as the famous ancient Yumen Pass, in
Dunhuang region, the Jiaohe Ruins in Xinjiang Region, and so on. All of these constructions are precious cultural heritage,
and their valuable artistic value is rare worldwide. But the violent processes of the wind erosion caused many ancient earthen
sites collapsed. The wind erosion is the main power mechanism and the genesis resulting in destruction of the ancient earthen
ruins. Through the indoor wind-tunnel test and field wind erosion test, this paper conclude that the bear for wind erosion
of the consolidated ancient earthen sites are hugely increased.. The results of the indoor wind-tunnel test discovered that the
anti-wind erosion intensity of the samples reinforced with more than 5% of PS enhances 6∼10 times. According to the result
of the field wind erosion test, the wall consolidated with 5% of PS is good bear for wind erosion, and the depth of penetration
and the amount of PS material directly affect reinforcing effect. In sum, the key to protecting Ruins is to choose the suitable
consistence PS material, enhance penetrability of PS material, and comprehensively develop the important instruction function
in northwest local earth ruins science protection.

1 INTRODUCTION used the PS material to reinforce the Dunhuang Yumen pass,

The Northwest arid region in China is the part channel of
the silk ancient road and many colourful historical civiliza-
tion archaics there have last for more than 2000 years. It has
numerous famous large-scale ancient sites which have dis-
tinct vantages such as Dunhuang Yumen Pass, Han Dynasty
Great wall, Hecang ancient city site and the Jiaohe Ruins
and Gaochang Ancient Cites in Xinjiang Region etc. All of
these sites are precious mankinds cultural heritages, and their
rare artistic and historical values are fantastic comparing with
the similar instances in the world.The drought environment
in northwest not only keep the ancient sites but also make
the heavy wind and rain erosion effect destroy many ancient
sites, which lead to the breakdown of these non-regenerative
resources . For the breakdown effect that the wind and sand has
on the ancient sites, Su Bai. et al has taken notice of its severity
in 50 ages of last century, through the systematical study and
investigation on several important ancient sites which are on
the brink of collapse during the past years, it has shown that
the long-lasting wind and sand erosion can make the wall face
change to the alveolus shape, the scale crack and block delam-
inations and the inverted “wooden club mountain” which can
make the wall become unstable. So it could be concluded that
the wind erosion is the main destroying motive power and the
most nasty disease, therefore, the prevention of the wind ero-
sion is the most important problem for protecting the ancient
sites in northwest drought region. To solve the problem, many
people have done a lot of work such as the chemical protec-
tion on the ancient site in northwest region, a lot of materials
have been adopted for studying the weathering protection and
reinforcement of the ancient sites in drought environment. In
the 90 ages of the 20 century, the Dunhuang Academy Institute
Hecang city and No. 3 tomb of the Xixia Tombs in Yingchuan,
Ningxia,. Lots of test researches and engineering practices
have shown that the adoption of PS material could reinforce
the ancient sites well. But nowdays there is little systematic
study on the corrosion resistant capacity enhancement for the
ancient sites reinforced by PS material, and also the work on
site wind erosion resistance test has not been done by any
people. In this paper, though the indoor air channel and posi-
tion simulation experiments, the enhancement of wind erosion
resistance after reinforcing with PS material was discussed, the
study can provide the theory and practice references to the sci-
entific protection, expansion of protection technique and the
effect detect of the similar protection engineering in northwest
arid region in China.
2 INDOOR AIR CHANNEL EXPERIMENT
2.1 Sample making
Considering the natural sample has more damaging effect
on cultural artifacts and there is more density difference for
the natural ramming, the remolding sample was used in this
experiment. The size of the sample was 50 × 50 × 50 mm, the
PS solution which has the optimal modulus was chose, the
concentration was 3%, 5% and 7%. First the PS percolation
reinforcement was done, the reinforcement solution could be
controlled accurately after computation according to the sat-
uration degree (Sr) was 85%, the pipette was used to do the
dropping. After the sample becoming desiccant, the reinforced
samples and the initial samples were used to the air channel
simulating experiment at the same time.

37
 150 1000 5min
Wind erosion modulus

corrosion resistance(%)
120 0% 10min
800

Increment rate of
3%
(kg/m2 · h)

90 15min
5% 600
60 20min
7%
400
30
0 200
6 10 15 20 PS thickness(%)
0
Wind speed m/s 3 5 7

Figure 1. Caption of wind erosion modulus and speed(T = 15 min). Figure 3. Caption of improving of resistance to corrosion
(v = 20 m/s).
Wind erosion modulus

160 3
5 Table 1. The test area.
120
(kg/m2 · h)

7 Water Dry Natural

80 content density density
Number Description of wall face % (g/cm3 ) (g/cm3 )
40

0 B incrust, crack, crumbly. 0.606 1.359 1.368

0 5 10 15 20 H The incrust is loose and 0.891 1.387 1.399
Time (min) show the shape of crack,
the crevice is more
Figure 2. Caption of wind erosion modulus and time (v = 20 m/s). developed, the block
delamination. There is
area of 50 × 50 cm surface
2.2 Experiment condition shedding in the middle of
the H1 region
The experiment was done in the DC closing puff type low
speed sand air channel, which locates in the sand physics
and desert environment laboratory of Key Laboratory of Ice
Core and Cold Regions Environment CAREERI CAS, the air wind erosion for the reinforced samples was 6 to 10 times
channel is 38.78 m long, the sectional area is 1.2 m × 1.2 m, than that for the original samples.
the lifting angle is 1 degree, which can eliminate the axial
acceleration, the wind speed can change from 2 m/s to 30 m/s,
3 SITE SIMULATING EXPERIMENT
the eddying flow intensity is less than 0.4%. The sample was
located below the experiment segment entrance and the dis-
Based on the indoor experiment, cosidering the related study
tance between them is 9 m. the wind erosion quantity can be
outcomes and the requirements of traffic and construction,
measured by “weighting method” . The wind erosion mainly
the Pochengzi Site – a Han Dynasty ancient sites locating in
happen on the condition that there is wind with sand, the wind
the AnXi county of Gansu province, which is 20 kilometers
speed adopted in this study was 6 m/s, 10 m/s, 15 m/s and
south to the AnXi county seat, was chose as the wind erosion
20 m/s, the lasting time of sample blowout experiment was
experiment area.
5 min, 10 min, 15 min and 20 min.

2.3 Analysis of wind erosion experiment result 3.1 Introduction of the experiment area

The experiment result has shown the wind erosion intensity
increased with the increment of wind speed, when the wind
speed reached 20 m · s−1 , the wind erosion quantity was the
most(shown in Fig. 1). The reinforced soil capacity to resist
wind erosion become strong manifestly, and when the rein-
forcement solution concentration increased to more than 5%
and the wind erosion modules was less than 20 kg/m2 ·h, the
capacity of resisting wind erosion increased more than 6 times
(shown in Fig. 1). When the reinforcement solution concen-
tration increased to more than 5%, with the wind erosion
time extending the wind erosion increased a little (shown in
Fig. 2). At the same time (taking the wind speed of 20 m/s
as an instance), the increment rate of resisting wind erosion
become slightly low with the concentration of PS material
reaching 5% (shown in Fig. 3). Based on the analysis of the
experiment results, it was found that the reinforcement effect
was good when the concentration of PS material increased,
even the wind speed reached 20 m/s and the wind erosion
module was less than 20 kg/m2 ·h, the intensity of resisting
Pochengzi Site was called Guangzhi county in Han Dynasty
and ChangLe county in Tang Dynasty, it was kept well, it was
tamped with sandy silt, the tamping depth is more uniform
and about 8∼12 cm. The research bygone has shown that the
surface soil of the Northwest ancient sites can be considered
as the medium and low density (1.3∼1.5 g/cm3 ). Two typical
weathering wall faces were chose in this study, and each was
divided into 4 small blocks and the area of each block was
50 cm × 100 cm, some necessary descriptions of the wall face
was done and the basic physical indexes was measured, they
were shown in Table1.
3.2 Reinforcement of experiment area
The optimum PS material module was chose and the spraying
percolating reinforcement method was adopted. The float-
ing ash on the surface was cleared first and the PS solution
of certain concentration and quantity should be used, the
homogeneous spraying speed should be controlled and the PS

38
Table 2. The reinforced test area.
PS material
Area Percolation The intensity and color variation
number Concentration% Quantity ml depth (cm) Phenomenons after reinforcing in 3 months

B1 – –
B2 5 8334 5.6 The color become slightly deep Hard, the color as the same as the
B3 5 5000 4.9 The color become slightly deep formal wall face
B4 5 2500 4.6 The color become slightly deep
H1 3 4000 5.9 The color become slightly deep Hard, the color as the same as the
H2 5 4000 5.0 The color become slightly deep formal wall face
H3 7 4000 4.6 The color become slightly deep
H4 – –

Table 3. The grain composition.

Grain size 5∼10 mm 2∼5 mm 1∼2 mm 0.5∼1 mm <0.5 mm

Content % 0.415 35.274 5.238 17.273 41.800

Table 4. The field wind erosion experiment.

Lasting Wind
Arear time Destroying erosion area
number (min) time (cm) The eventual damage form

B1 3 20 s 24 × 24 × 3 Lozenge, the area is 24 × 24 × 3 cm3

B2 3 2 min 20 × 15 Honeycomb, the diameter is about 1 cm
B3 3 1 min 18 × 16 Honeycomb, the largest one is 5 × 4 × 2 cm3
B4 3 1 min – Block shedding of the reinforced layer
H1 4 2 min 21 × 20 Pisolitic, the diameter is 0.2∼0.5 cm
H2 3.97 1 min 20 × 18 Honeycomb, the diameter is about 0.5∼2 cm
H3 3.75 1 min 24 × 26 Slabby,honeycomb
H4 3.67 30 s 30 × 20 × 5 Circular, the area is 30 × 20 × 5 cm3

material should be sprayed in the experiment area, the spray-
ing was conducted by fits and starts and it should not stop
unless there was no percolation, the experiment was shown in
Table 2. The reinforcement experiment should confirm to the
cultural artifact protection requirement “repairing the old to
make it the same as the initial”.
3.3 Experiment equipment
The experiment equipment was the 1500 KW blower engine
and the wind speed was even. The carrying path of sand gravel
was a sheet iron tank of trumpet shape which was 0.8 m long,
the small stoma connects with the wind source, the diameter
was 7 cm and the large stoma was the export of the sand gravel,
the diameter was 12 cm and the distance between the large
stoma and the wall face was 1 m. The loading sand vessel was
28.5 cm high, and the up and down stomatas of the hopper
vessel are open, the up area was 17.3 × 14 cm2 and the up area
was 8 × 3.5 cm2 , the sand quantity should be controlled during
the experiment. The time control of experiment blowout was
basically the same. The experiment sand was chose from the
site directly, the sand whose grain size was more than 5 mm
should not be used, the grading was shown in Table 3.
3.4 The experiment results and analysis
Making the wind with no sand blowout last for 10 minutes, the
wall face has no breakdown phenomenon, but when adopting
the wind with sand, the breakdown of unreinforced wall face
started when the blowout last for less than 30 s, the weath-
ered layer fell off in the form of large sheet and block, the
damaging speed accelerated and the wall face was undercut.
The breakdown of the PS reinforcement area would appear
when the start time was less than 1 minutes, and the break-
down form was not the same, there was the sand gravel hitting
phenomenon on the wall face in the beginning of the break-
down, under the persistent blowout of the wind, the breakdown
changed from the pisolitic to the slabby. Generally, the main
eventual damage forms were the pisolitic breakdown, slabby
breakdown or honeycomb breakdown , the sizes of breakdown
areas were not the same, which were shown in Table 4.
The experiment result has shown that the resisting wind
erosion capacity of reinforced ancient site by PS material
become manifestly strong, adopting the wall face reinforced
by medium and low concentration PS could get the best effec-
tiveness and percolating depth and percolation rate of the
reinforcement material would have the direct effect on the
reinforcement effectiveness.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The air channel and the site simulating experiments have
shown that the resisting wind erosion capacity of reinforced
ancient site by PS material become manifestly strong.

39
 The wind erosion is main destroying motive power and the
main cause of the site damaging, the experiment has shown the
wind erosion quantity increased with the increment of wind
speed and with the extending of wind erosion time, the wind
erosion increased basically in the form of linear trend.
Based on the analysis of the experiment results, it was found
that for the samples reinforced with the PS material whose
content was more than 5%, their intensity of wind erosion
resisting was 6 to 10 times than the original sample even the
wind speed reached 20 m/s and the wind erosion modules was
less than 20 kg//m2 · h.
The site simulating test has shown that adopting the wall
face reinforced by medium and low concentration PS could
get the best effictiveness and percolating depth and quantity
the reinforcement material could has the direct effect on the
reinforcement effictiveness. Therefore choosing the suitable
concentration and enhancing the reinforcement percolating
power are the key to protect the ancient sites.
Considering the results of the indoor air channel experiment
and site simulating experiment synthetically, it was found that
adopting the PS material of medium concentration had slight
vantages of enhancing erosion resistance and increasing per-
colating depth, therefore, for the northwest region where the
natural condition is atrocious, adopting the material is the key
scientific path to protect the ancient site and has important
guiding effect for the all-round and scientific protection of
ancient site in northwest.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks for helps of engineer ZHANG Lu of the Conservation
Institute of Dunhuang Academy and the assistance of the The
cultural relic conservation center of Dunhuang Academy and
the An Xi museum.
REFERENCES
Bai Su. The 1955. Problem on the conservation of Dun-
huang MogaoGrottoes. Cultural Relic References, (2): 39–48.(in
Chinese).
40
Haiying Zhao, Zuixion Li, Wenfeng Han et al. 2003. Main diseases
and their causes of earthen ruins in arid region of northwest china.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 22 (sup2):
2875–2880.(in Chinese).
Hai-ying Zhao 2005. Study on conservating the great wall of the
Qin Dynasty at the waring states period and the Han Dynasty in
Gansu Province [Ph. D. Thesis]. Lanzhou: Lanzhou University, (in
Chinese).
Haiying Zhao, Xudong Wang, Zuixion Li et al. 2006. The impact of
PS modulus and concentration on consolidating the earthen archi-
tecture sites in the arid region. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering, 25(3): 557∼562.(in Chinese).
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tal study on the mechanisms of freeze thaw and wind erosion
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Manli Sun, Zuixiong Li, Xudong Wang. 2005. Characterinstic of
primary damages about the ruins of the ancient city Jjiaohe.
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relics Publishing House, (in Chinese).
Xudong Wang, Lu Zhang, Zuixiong Li et al. 2002.Research about
the Actuality and Conservation of Xixia Tomb No.3. Duhuang
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Xudong Wang 2002. The Conservation and consolidation of the grot-
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western China [Ph. D. Thesis]. Lanzhou: Lanzhou University, (in
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Zuixiong Li. 1990. Consolidation of neolithic earthen site with
potassium, compiled by the getty conservation institute. In: 6th
international conference on the conservation of earthen architec-
ture. the Getty conservation institute, Los Angeles, New Mexico,
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Zuixiong Li, Huyuan Zhang, Xudong Wang. 1995. Research on
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Beijing: science press (in Chinese).
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Fault reactivation, an example of environmental impacts of groundwater rising on

urban area due to previous mining activities

M.H. Yu & I.F. Jefferson

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

M.G. Culshaw
British Geological Survey, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT: Groundwater rising phenomena have been reported in many circumstances, and the mechanism of rising ground-
water varies according to hydrological and hydrogeological conditions. Groundwater rising can cause various geohazards which
can have serious impact on environment as well as society. Fault reactivation is one such geohazard example associated with rising
groundwater. The case in the Durham Coalfield is one of the cases where many recent fissurings can be found and are considered
to be the result of fault reactivation accompanied with rising groundwater after cessation of coal mining over the region.
The aim of this research is to estimate past and present hydrogeological condition in the Durham Coalfield enabling the
evaluation of the influence of rising groundwater phenomenon on the urban and rural environment.
Hence, in this research, the hydrogeological condition of the Durham Coalfield is evaluated. The past and present condition
is discussed with the available groundwater data, and the future trend has been simulated, by a numerical hydrogeological
model using a 3-D groundwater code MODFLOW. The result of hydrogeological model for past, present and future conditions
show that general groundwater level in the Durham Coalfield has been rising for the last a few decades. The discussion of
this research shows that groundwater rising can cause pore water pressure to increase, resulting in reducing shear strength
of pre-existing fault, which has been shown by some case histories. In addition it is found that some fault directions enables
slippage and some faults have experienced fault reactivation. Therefore it is concluded that this reduction in fault strength
caused by change in hydrogeological condition of the Durham Coalfield enables a pre-existing fault to be reactivated when
they exist in a direction of slip with respect to present regional stress direction.

1 INTRODUCTION
Groundwater levels can change due to the variation of inflow
into and outflow from a groundwater body. The change in
groundwater regime can influence the ground mass in various
ways.
The research presented in this paper focused on the rising
groundwater phenomena in the Durham Coalfield, England.
Rising groundwater is considered to result from partial cessa-
tion of dewatering in former coal mine workings. At the same
time, fissuring has been reported over the region for the last a
few decades. Donnelly (2006) represented 12 cases of fault
reactivation in the Durham and Northumberland Coalfield
which date back to the 1960’s, while reviewing coal mining
induced fault reactivation in U.K. Wingham (2000) introduced
several cases of open fissures which occurred at some places
in the Durham Coalfield such as Quarrington Hill. Young and
Culshaw, (2001), and Young and Lawrence (2001) reported
fissuring and related ground movement on the Houghton-
le-Spring area in the Durham Coalfield. Some fault reacti-
vations of the cases presented above are considered to have
been induced directly by coal mining activities, while other
cases are unlikely to be to have directly resulted from the coal
exploitation, as those mine workings had been closed too early
to result in any further recent fissurings. Thus the research
presented in this paper will evaluate the relationship between
rising groundwater and fissuring in the Durham Coalfield.
The research presented here has reviewed physical setting of
the Durham Coalfield, and general mechanism of groundwater
level rising from which its impact on the environment has
been suggested. The hydrogeological model of the Durham
Coalfield was created in order to evaluate the hydrogeologi-
cal change over the region. In addition, the created numerical
model, hydrogeological conditions have been evaluated under
scenario when the present pumping scheme is ceased, this rep-
resenting the worst case future scenario. Finally as the result
of groundwater level rising, the mechanism of fault reactiva-
tion will be discussed, based on the worst case scenario of a
complete cessation of pumping across the Durham Coalfield
as well as on a present hydrogeological condition.
2 DURHAM COALFIELD
2.1 Physical setting
The Durham Coalfield is located in the North-eastern side of
England, which is bounded by the North Sea to the East and by
the Pennine to the West. The River Tyne flows and makes an
approximate northern boundary of the region. The River Wear
flows through the Durham Coalfield (Figure 1). Generally
western parts consist of higher area and the topography is
slightly inclined to the east making river flow to the east.
Geology mainly consists of the Permian Rocks and the
Carboniferous Rock (Figure 2). The Pre-Carboniferous strata
exist beneath the Carboniferous Rocks but do not outcrop
over the Durham Coalfield. The Permian Rocks overlying the
Carboniferous Rocks unconformably.

41
Figure 1. Geographical settings of the Durham Coalfield (after
Taylor et al., 1971).
Figure 2. Geological map of the Durham Coalfield (Yu, 2006).
2.2 Fissuring and fault reactivation
In the Durham Coalfield, fissuring and related ground
movements have been reported (Wingham, 2000; Donnelly,
42
Figure 3. Depression shown on the surface in the Durham
Coalfield.
2000; Young and Culshaw, 2001; Young and Lawrence, 2001;
Donnelly, 2006). One example of such fissures and holes
found near Quarrington Hill, County Durham (Figure 3)
is over 2 metres deep with a diameter of around 1 metre,
representing a threat to the local communities over the
region.
Young (2003) reported fissuring causing cracking of the
A690 road near Houghton-le-Spring in the Durham Coal-
field, which needed immediate repairs to be undertaken by
the local authority in April 2000 and again in June 2003.
Cracks appeared on the A690 road surface, fissures were
found on the west cutting of the A690 and top of hill on both
side of the road were almost at the same line (Young and
Culshaw, 2001).
In the Durham Coalfield collieries the use of deep mining
methods ceased by 1993 (Yu, 2006), which makes it unlikely
that those recent fissurings are directly influenced by coal
mining (i.e. ground expression of mining subsidence or mine
induced fault reactivation). It may be that fissuring has only
been recently noticed and the causal mechanism dates from
earlier activity and is directly related to mining activity. How-
ever, Yu (2006) after evaluating this considered that a more
likely mechanism was due to groundwater induced fault reac-
tivation (see discussion in Section 5.1). It should be noted that
in the area of Quarrington Hill, the colliery was closed in 1983
(Wingham, 2000), and in Houghton-le-Spring area, Houghton
Colliery was abandoned in 1981(Young and Culshaw, 2001).
Thus groundwater induced movement seemed a more likely
explanation.
3 GROUNDWATER RISING AND ITS IMPACT

It has been reported that in various regions groundwater

level is rising for a number of reasons. Yu (2006) reviewed
the possible sources of groundwater level change including
change in precipitation, river level change, sea level change,
urbanisation, agricultural activities, and mining activities.
With respect to the Durham Coalfield, it is concluded that
mining activities mostly influenced the change in groundwater
regime over the region (Yu, 2006).
The Durham Coalfield was one of the most famous coal-
fields in England, whose history of the coal exploitation dates
back to medieval times. During coal mining, the groundwater
level was lowered in order to make the coal work accessible.
However after closing coal mining in the Durham Coalfield,
the dewatering scheme was changed, causing an alteration
in the groundwater level over the region. Younger (1995)
and Yu (2006) showed groundwater level changes over the
research area.
Groundwater rising phenomena can cause some serious
impact on the local communities over the regions, such as land-
slides, ground subsidence, seismicity, gas emission, impact
on structures, and salinisation (Yu, 2006). It is suggested that
seismicity or fault reactivation and gas emission are main key
geohazard occurrences influenced by changes in groundwater
Figure 4. Comparison of groundwater levels of the 1980’s by
level in the Durham Coalfield (Yu, 2006). Harrison et al. (1989) and 2004 (Yu, 2006).

4 HYDROGEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE

DURHAM COALFIELD

Hydrogeological setting of the Durham Coalfield has been

reviewed from late 1980’s to the future case of a full cessa-
tion of dewatering (the worst scenario) based on measured
groundwater level data and numerical simulation.

4.1 Past and present conditions

Yu (2006) showed the groundwater levels have changed from
1995 to 2004. However, it was difficult to acquire reason-
able data sets on groundwater levels before 1995 since the
data sets available do not cover the whole area. This can lead
to an unreliable hydrogeological model of the Durham Coal-
field. The most detailed data for groundwater levels before
1995 has been presented by Harrison et al. (1989). Figure 4
shows the groundwater level change between late 1980’s and
2004. Figure 4 indicates groundwater level in the areas around
Sunderland and Seaham change drastically for this period,
showing a change of a few hundred metres.
The reason why those two areas experienced the severe
change in groundwater level is related to the relatively late clo-
sure (early 1990’s) of collieries under operation around those
areas and their associated deep groundwater control necessity. Figure 5. Comparison of groundwater levels of 2004 and worst
case scenario where no pumping is under operation (Yu, 2006).
4.2 Future conditions
conditions have been achieved). Figure 5 indicates that it
In order to simulate a worst case scenario where all present is unlikely to expect a dramatic groundwater level change,
operating pumping stations in the Durham Coalfield have but still further level rising can be expected to some extend,
stopped, a numerical model has been created. The model has partially in the Seaham area.
been created using MODFLOW, a code for three dimensional
groundwater flow using finite difference method, which was
developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (McDonald and 5 DISCUSSION: FAULT REACTVATION
Harbaugh, 1988).
Figure 5 shows groundwater level change after stop- Groundwater level has been changed for the last a few decades
ping dewatering in the Durham Coalfield (after steady state and is expected to change in the future if the present dewatering

43

Figure 6. Frequency of earthquakes at Rangely. Gray bars indicate
earthquakes within 1 km of experimental well. The white area indi-
cates all others. Pressure history in a well is shown by the solid line
and predicted critical pressure is shown by the dashed line (Raleigh
et al., 1976).
scheme is ceased. In the following section the relation between
groundwater level rising and fissuring found in the Durham
Coalfield.
5.1 Conventional approaches to evaluate fault
reactivation mechanisms
The mechanisms of the fissuring in Quarrington Hill, County
Durham, Wigham (2000) suggests that the spatial variations
in coal extraction rates due to existence of fault around coal
seams caused differential subsidence over the area leading to
fissuring on the surface. Donnelly (2006) reviewed several
fault reactivation cases induced by coal mining.
However, considering the time the colliery in Quarrington
Hill closed, which was in the early 1980’s, and the depth of the
seams which were around 500 metres, it is unlikely that mining
subsidence is still progressing. Whittaker and Reddish (1989)
suggested that even in the case of deep mines with depth of
around 450 metres, the subsidence process is expected to be
completed in 5 years.
Hence it is considered that the fissuring, which has been
reported in the Durham Coalfield for the last several years,
is not the result of mining subsidence directly. Rather than, it
is considered to be influenced by the rising groundwater phe-
nomena caused by cessation of dewatering for coal extraction.
5.2 Pore water pressure
The increase in pore water pressure can reduce strength of a
fault shear plane, leading to a fault reactivation.
Ingebritsen and Sanford (1998) show that injection of liq-
uid can induce seismicity. Liquid was injected at northeast
of Denver, Colorado, U.S. and an unexpected earthquake was
generated. After that, Raleigh et al. (1976) evaluated the influ-
ence of fluid injection on triggering of earthquakes under
controllable fluid pressure at Rangely, Colorado. Figure 6
shows the relationship between fluid injection and earth-
quakes. Their research presented a good relationship between
liquid injection that cause pore water pressure and fault reac-
tivation, which can be used to evaluate the influence of pore
water pressure on fault reactivation.
44
Figure 7. Diagram of the maximum principal stress direction
(Bott and Bott, 2004) and the orientation of the fault in Houghton-
le-Spring (Young and Culshaw, 2001) showing vulnerability of fault
reactivation (Yu, 2006).
5.3 Fault reactivation occurrence in the
Durham Coalfield
Considering pore water pressure has increased as groundwater
level is rising, the fault is considered to be reactivated in the
Durham Coalfield. Some faults lie in a direction which can
make fault reactivation easier.
An example of fault under this condition is the fault of
Houghton-le-Spring. Yu (2006) suggested that the direction
of the fault in Houghton-le-Spring is in the correct direction
to fault slip especially when considering the orientation of
the regional maximum stress suggested by Donnelly and Rees
(2001) and by Bott and Bott (2004). Figure 7 illustrates the
relationship between the direction of the maximum principal
stress (Bott and Bott, 2004) and the orientation of the fault in
Houghton-le-Spring proposed by Young and Culshaw (2001).
The shear stress on the shear plane of the fault can be
expressed as
where σ1 and σ3 are the maximum principal and the mini-
mum principal stress respectively, µ is apparent coefficient
of friction, and θ is the difference between the maximum
principal stress direction and the orientation of the fault in
Houghton-le-Spring, which is 65 degree as shown in Figure 7.
Regarding the values of the maximum and minimum prin-
cipal stress, as those values are not available, the maximum
principal stress is estimated to be 10.5 MPa and the minimum
is −0.2 MPa based on the data near Clawthorpe, Cum-
bria, England by Becker and Paladini (1992), which enables
Equation 1 to be written as:
Equation 2 indicates the changes of fault condition according
to the changes in apparent coefficient of friction as pore water
pressure changes, as well as difference of the direction of the
maximum principal stress and the fault orientation, which is
drawn in Figure 8.
As shown in Figure 8, as groundwater level is rising, pore
water pressure changes are expected, resulting in decrease of

Figure 8. Diagram showing the changes in shear stress at the fault
in Houghton-le-Spring as apparent coefficient of friction of the fault
plane changes from 0.2 to 1.2 and difference between the maxi-
mum principal stress direction and the orientation of the fault in
Houghton-le-Spring varies. The diagram indicates that as the val-
ues of apparent coefficient decrease, condition of the fault becomes
unstable (Yu, 2006).
apparent coefficient of friction. As the difference of the direc-
tion of the maximum principal stress and the fault orientation
is 65 degree, the condition of the fault is assumed to change
along the vertical line crossing 65 degree on the x-axis (Fig-
ure 8). Hence apparent coefficient of friction is estimated to be
between 0.4 and 0.6 based on the fault in Houghton-le-Spring
being in an unstable condition.
In the case of modelling a fault in central California,
Reasenberg and Simpson (1992) assumed the apparent coef-
ficient of friction of the fault is 0.2, while Harris and Simpson
(1992) assumed that the apparent coefficient of friction is
0.8 when pore fluid drains and the pore water pressure
re-equilibrated with time. Therefore it seems that the range
of apparent coefficient of friction suggested from Figure 8
lies within the range by Reasenberg and Simpson (1992) and
Harris and Simpson (1992).
However, Figure 8 does not seem to imply that any other
faults whose orientations are less 65 degree are necessarily
under unstable condition since it is likely that the value of
apparent coefficient of friction can vary depending upon each
specific condition of fault such as water distribution, spa-
tial variation of groundwater level and roughness of fracture.
Hence Figure 8 is assumed to be only applicable to the case
of the fault in Houghton-le-Spring.
In addition, considering further groundwater level rising
as shown in Figure 5, further fissuring could be expected as
it is expected that pore water pressure will increase. But as
groundwater level change is not as drastic as it has been, severe
fault reactivation is not anticipated.
6 CONCLUSION
Fissuring found in the Durham Coalfield is considered not to
be the result of subsidence, since the subsidence in the Durham
Coalfield seems to be completed. Hence rising groundwater
caused by cessation of coal mining resulted in the stress pattern
in the Durham Coalfield, which reduce the strength of the fault
leading to fault reactivation over the region.
45
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is published with the permission of the Execu-
tive Director of the British Geological Survey (NERC). The
authors greatly appreciate the data provided by the Coal
Authority and the Environment Agency.
REFERENCES
Becker A. and Paladini, S., 1992. Intra-plate stresses in Europe and
plate-driving mechanisms. Annales Tectonicae, 6, 2, 173–192.
Bott, M.H.P. and Bott, J.D.J., 2004. The Cenozoic uplift and earth-
quake belt of mainland Britain as a response to an underlying
hot, low-density upper mantle. Journal of the Geological Society,
London, 161, 19–29.
Donnelly, L.J. and Rees, J.G., 2001. Tectonic and mining induced
fault reactivation around Barlaston on the Midlands Microcra-
tion, North Staffordshire, UK. Quarterly Journal of Engineering
Geology and Hydrogeology, 34, 195–214.
Donnelly, L.J., 2000. Reactivation of geological faults during min-
ing subsidence from 1859 to 2000 and beyond. Transactions of
the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (Section A: Mining
technology), 109, A179–A190.
Donnelly, L.J., 2006. A review of coal mining induced fault reactiva-
tion in Great Britain. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology
and Hydrogeology, 39, 1, 5–50.
Harrison, R., Scott, W.B. and Smith, T., 1989. A note on the distribu-
tion, levels and temperatures of minewaters in the Northumberland
and Durham coalfield. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology,
22, 355–358.
Harris, R.A. and Simpson, R.W., 1992. Changes in static stress
on southern California faults after the 1992 Landers earthquake.
Nature, 360, 19, 251–254.
Ingebritsen, S.E. and Sanford, W.E., 1998. Groundwater in Geologic
Process. Cambridge University Press, 341p.
McDonald, M.G. and Harbaugh, A.W., 1988. A modular three-
dimensional finite-difference ground-water flow model: Tech-
niques of Water-Resources Investigations of the United States
Geological Survey, Book 6, Chapter A1, 586 p.
Raleigh, C.B., Healy, J.H., and Bredehoeft, J.D., 1976,An Experiment
in Earthquake Control at Rangely, Colorado. Science, New Series,
191, 4233, 1230–1237.
Reasenberg, P.A. and Simpson, R.W., 1992. Response of regional
seismicity to the static stress change produced by the Loma Prieta
earthquake. Science, 255, 1687–1690.
Taylor, B.J., Burgess, I.C., Land, D.H, Mills, D.A.C., Smith, D.B. and
Warren, P.T., 1971, British Regional Geology: Northern England,
Institute of Geological Sciences. 125p.
Whittaker, B.N. and Reddish, D.J., 1989. Subsidence: Occurrence,
Prediction and Control. Elsevier, 528p.
Wigham, D., 2000. Occurrence of mining-induced open fissures and
shear walls in the Permian Limestones of County Durham. Trans-
actions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (Section A:
Mining technology), 109, A172–178.
Young, B. and Culshaw, M.G., 2001. Fissuring and related ground
movements in the Magnesian Limestone and Coal Measures of the
Houghton-le-Spring area, City of Sunderland. British Geological
Survey Technical Report WA/01/04.
Young, B. and Lawrence, D.J.D., 2001. Recent fissuring in the Magne-
sian Limestone at Houghton-le-Spring, City of Sunderland. British
Geological Survey Research Report, RR/02/03, 22p.
Younger, P.L., 1995. Hydrogeology. In: Johnson, G.A.L. (ed.),
Robson’s geology of North East England, Transactions of the Nat-
ural History Society of Northumbria, the Natural History Society
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Yu, M.H., 2006. Geohazards associated with rising groundwater
in urban areas affected by former coal mining. PhD thesis,
Birmingham University, 246p.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Fluid flow and tracer transport simulations for rock fractures under
normal loading and shear displacement

T. Koyama & L. Jing

Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden

ABSTRACT: The fluid flow and tracer transport in rock fractures during shear processes has been an important issue in rock
mechanics and is investigated in this paper using Finite Element Method (FEM) for fluid flow and particle tracking simulations,
considering evolutions of aperture, transmissivity and flow rate, with large shear displacements under different normal stress
and stiffness conditions as measured during laboratory coupled shear-flow tests. Flow and tracer transport results shows that
more realistic flow and transport phenomena/mechanism were captured due to more proper treatment of contact areas compared
with pervious works reported in the literatures.

1 INTRODUCTION conditions were simulated by using numerical simulations

Coupled stress-flow-tracer transport processes in rock frac-
tures are increasingly important research topics for high-
level radioactive waste disposal facilities in crystalline rocks
because their safety assessments are mainly based on the
knowledge of paths and travel times of radioactive nuclide
transport that is dominated by groundwater flow in rock
fractures.
As far as laboratory tests for rough rock fractures are
concerned, laboratory studies focusing on the effect of both
normal and shear stresses on fluid flow through rock fractures,
so-called coupled shear-flow tests, have been a particular
attraction due to its importance to understand and quantify the
coupled stress-flow processes in fractured rocks (e.g. Esaki
et al., 1999; Auradou et al., 2005). The coupled shear-flow
tests have been performed not only under constant normal
stress/load (CNL) condition but also constant normal stiff-
ness (CNS) condition recently (Li et al., 2006a, b). However,
no coupled shear-flow-tracer tests have been performed under
combined normal stress and shear displacement even the effect
of the shear on the transport phenomena has been investigated
without considering normal stresses (Plouraboue et al., 2000).
Fluid flow and solute transport simulations in rough frac-
tures are often performed without considering effects of
any stresses, normal stress without any shear displacement
(Thompson, 1991; Jeong and Song, 2005) or shear displace-
ment without normal stress (Koyama et al., 2006a). The
Reynolds equation is commonly applied to simulate such tests
instead of the Navier-Stokes equation. How to measure or cal-
culate the fracture aperture under different normal stresses and
shear displacements during the coupled stress-flow tests and
numerical simulations for such tests are the most essential
points to understand the processes, interpret the testing and
simulation results and quantify the hydraulic properties. The
important phenomenon of shear induced anisotropy and het-
erogeneity of aperture distribution and its effects on fluid flow
and transport in fractures, such as the more significant flow
in the direction perpendicular to the shear, was reported in
Koyama et al. (2006a, b). These findings represent an impor-
tant step for more physically meaningful understanding of the
coupled shear-flow-transport processes in rock fractures.
In the present study, laboratory shear-flow tests for fracture
replicas under different normal stresses and normal stiffness
with FEM considering simulated evolutions of aperture and
transmissivity with large shear displacements first. Next, the
unidirectional flow perpendicular to the direction of shear,
which is difficult to be realized in the laboratory shear-flow
tests, was predicted. Finally, particle movement in the fracture
during shear was simulated using streamline particle tracking
method. The distributions of fracture aperture and its evolu-
tion during shearing and the flow rate were calculated from the
initial aperture and shear dilations and compared with results
measured in the laboratory coupled shear-flow tests. The con-
tact areas in the fractures were treated correctly with zero
aperture values with a special algorism so that more realistic
flow velocity fields and particle transport paths were captured.
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
2.1 Sample preparation
A natural rock fracture surface, labeled J3, were taken from
the construction site of Omaru power plant in Miyazaki pre-
fecture in Japan and used as the parent fracture surface in this
study. Three replicas of fracture specimens were manufac-
tured, named as J3-1, J3-2 and J3-3, with the J3 as the parent
fracture surface. The specimens are 100 mm in width, 200 mm
in length and 100 mm in height, respectively. They were made
of mixtures of plaster, water and retardant with weight ratios
of 1: 0.2: 0.005. The surfaces of the natural rock fractures were
firstly re-cast by using resin, and then the two parts of a frac-
ture specimen were manufactured based on the resin replica.
By doing so, the two parts of each fracture specimens used in
this study are almost perfectly mated as the initial contact ratio
very close to 1.0. A 3-D laser scanning profilometer system
was employed to obtain the topographical data of rock fracture
surface J3, generating a scanning grid with a scanning interval
of 0.2 mm in both x and y-axes, as shown in Fig. 1 (Li et al.,
2006a, b).
2.2 Laboratory shear-flow tests
A series of coupled shear-flow tests under CNL and CNS
conditions (a constant normal stress of 1.0 MPa for J3-1, nor-
mal stiffness of 0.2 GPa/m with an initial normal stress of
1.0 MPa for J3-2 and normal stiffness of 0.5 GPa/m with an

47
Figure 1. 3-D models of fracture specimen J3 based on the
measured topographical data.
initial stiffness of 1.0 MPa for J3-3, respectively) were carried
out using the newly developed apparatus in Nagasaki Uni-
versity, Nagasaki, Japan. The details about features of the
coupled shear-flow testing apparatus and testing procedure
were reported in Li et al. (2006a, b).
2.3 Aperture calculation during shear
The mean aperture of each scanned grid zone was calculated at
each shear displacement interval (1.0 mm) based on the initial
aperture and shear dilations measured in the laboratory tests.
Numerical shearing is simulated by moving the upper surface
by a horizontal translation of 1.0 mm in the shear direction,
then uplifting by the dilation increment according to the mea-
sured mean shear dilation value at that shear interval. Shear
displacement was applied up to 18 mm. Since initial aperture
is zero for fully mated specimens, full contact is assumed
everywhere with zero aperture as the initial condition in the
numerical simulations. When a grid zone has its two opposing
surfaces separated, it represents a void zone and its aperture is
evaluated as the mean distance in the direction normal to the
mean plane of the fracture. When a grid zone’s two opposing
surfaces are just in touch or penetrate each other with negative
values of contact distance, it represents a contact zone and is
assigned with a zero aperture. In reality the latter represents
surface damage/asperity degradation.
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
3.1 Governing equations
The fluid flow was simulated using the commercial FEM
software, COMSOL Multiphysics that solves the Reynolds
equation for steady state flow with full saturation of the sam-
ple. The evolutions of the aperture distributions during the
shearing were determined in each shearing step and the evo-
lutions of the fracture transmissivity fields were calculated by
assuming the local validity of the cubic law (Koyama et al.,
2006a, b). In the numerical modeling of fluid flow, effect of
gorge materials is ignored since negligible amount of gorge
materials were observed during tests. Asperity deformation
was not considered but damage at contact points were partially
approximated by removing the overlapping parts of contacting
asperities in the contact elements.
A Lagrangian approach for a particle tracking method was
adopted for particle transport simulations, considering only
the advection process. The random dispersion due to diffu-
sion of the solute particles within the pore fluid, and other
retardation mechanisms such as sorption or decay, were not
taken into account. As steady-state fluid flow was under con-
sideration, particle tracking along the streamlines was used
(Koyama et al., 2006a).
48
Figure 2. Boundary conditions for the flow (a) parallel with and
(b) perpendicular to the shear displacement, and (c) calculation mesh.
3.2 Boundary conditions and the treatment of
contact area
Both unidirectional flows parallel with and perpendicular to
the shear direction were considered in the flow simulations by
fixing the initial hydraulic heads of 0.1 m and 0 m along the
left- and right-hand boundaries for the flow parallel with the
shear direction (Fig. 2a), and the bottom and top boundaries for
the flow perpendicular to the shear direction (Fig. 2b), respec-
tively. The flow boundary condition for the flow parallel with
the shear direction is the same as the one used in the laboratory
coupled shear-flow tests. Since the sizes of the upper and lower
parts of the specimens are the same, the actual contact lengths
decrease during shear. As a result, the hydraulic gradient was
not constant (became progressively larger) during shear.
In this study, contact areas/elements were numerically elim-
inated from the calculation domain and their boundaries were
treated as additional internal boundaries with a zero flux con-
dition ∂h/∂n ≡ (∇h) · n = 0, where n is the outward unit normal
vector, in order to satisfy conditions of no flow into or out of the
contact areas (Zimmerman et al., 1992), as shown in Fig. 2c.
4 RESULTS
4.1 Numerical simulation of the laboratory
shear-flow tests
The simulated results of flow velocities are superimposed in
Figure 3, with transmissivity evolutions during shear at differ-
ent shear displacements for fracture J3 under constant normal
stress of 1 MPa, J3-1. Since the samples were assumed to be
fully mated with a zero initial aperture, no flow is possible at
the start. At 1 mm of shear displacement, the contact areas are
widely and uniformly distributed over the whole fracture sam-
ple. More continuous flow paths start to form at 2 mm of shear
displacements, and continue to grow into main flow paths with
continued decrease of contact areas and increase of transmis-
sivity, with increasing shear displacement The shear caused
widely distributed contact areas and complicated void space
geometry, leading to complex structure of transmissivity and
flow velocity fields. As a result, flow patterns (or stream lines)
become very tortuous. This phenomenon is the well-known
‘channelling effect’.
The flow rate at the outlet boundary (along x = 0) of sample
J3 with different normal loading conditions were compared
 1.0E-02

Normalized flow rate, m /sec/m

1.0E-03

3
1.0E-04 J3-1_x
J3-1_y
J3-2_x
1.0E-05
J3-2_y
J3-3_x
1.0E-06
J3-3_y

1.0E-07
0 5 10 15 20
Shear displacement, mm

Figure 5. Comparison of the normalized flow rates at the outlet

for fracture sample J3 under different normal loading conditions,
J3-1, J3-2 and J3-3, betweeen the flows in the direction parallel with
(x-direction) and perpendicular to (y-direction) the shear.

4.2 Simulation for shear-induced flow anisotropy

In Figure 3, the simulated results of flow velocity fields are
also compared between in the direction parallel with (Fig. 3a)
and perpendicular to (Fig. 3b) the shear displacement. Figure 5
shows the flow rates calculated at two cross sections. One
is the flow rate in x-direction at position of x = 0 and the
other is the flow rate in y-direction at position y = 0.1 m. It
should be noted that the flow rates are normalized by divid-
ing hydraulic gradient and edge length of the fracture samples
Figure 3. Flow velocity fields with transmissivity evolutions for since the samples are not square (the edge length is different)
J3-1 (under 1 MPa of normal stress), for the flow (a) parallel with
and therefore hydraulic gradient are different. The two sets of
and (b) perpendicular to the shear displacement.
result show completely different flow patterns. When the gen-
eral flow direction is parallel to the shear direction (Fig. 3a),
the flow is more tortuous. When the general flow direction is
1.0E-03 perpendicular to the shear direction (Fig. 3b), the flow field
1.0E-04 becomes more regular through higher transmissivity channels,
with larger flow rate than that with flow parallel with shear,
Flow rate, m3/sec

1.0E-05 about from 5 to 10 times, with increasing shear displacement.

J3-1_experiment
1.0E-06 J3-1_simulation
J3-2_experiment 4.3 Particle tracking
1.0E-07 J3-2_simulation
J3-3_experiment The particle movements for sample J3 under a normal stress
1.0E-08
J3-3_simulation of 1.0 MPa, J3-1 were predicted. The results of the particle
1.0E-09 motion are shown in Figure 6, considering only flow paral-
0 5 10 15 20 lel with shear, with 100 particles were evenly distributed at
Shear displacement, mm the inlet initially. Figure 7 shows the breakthrough curves at
different shear displacements. From these figures, particles
Figure 4. Comparision of the flow rate at the outlet between lab- started coming out of the sample after 3 mm shear displace-
oratory experiment and nemerical prediction for fracture sample J3 ment and some of the particles stay inside the fracture due
under different normal loading conditions J3-1, J3-2 and J3-3. to the local flow rotations caused by the zero-aperture contact
areas (Fig. 6). Starting at 5 mm shear displacement, the most of
the particles travel much faster and therefore the breakthrough
curves become steeper. This means that fracture dispersiv-
between laboratory tests and numerical simulations as shown ity becomes lower and advective transport is more dominant.
in Fig. 4. The general behaviors of the simulated flow rate In addition, after 5 mm shear displacement, the shape of the
variations with shear displacements under different normal breakthrough curves does not change very much, due to the
stress/stiffness conditions were captured for all three condi- more steady state of particle paths as indicated in Figures. 3
tions of normal loading, agree well with measured results. and Figure 6.
Both simulated and measured flow rates show the sharp
increase at about 2 mm shear displacements and continue to
increase but with a progressive reduction of gradient, and more 5 CONCLUSIONS
stabilized flow rate after the 5 mm shear displacement. The
general increase of flow rate is about 4–5 orders of magnitude The general fluid flow and particle transport behaviors pre-
from the initial state before shear. sented here are more realistic, due to more proper treatment

49
 At present only numerical simulations can illustrate realisti-
cally the process of complex evolution of the flow localization
(channeling) and its effect on the tracer transport during
shear under different normal loading conditions, since direct
measurement and visualization is impossible.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors thank Dr. Y. Jiang’s group at Nagasaki University,

Japan for supplying the experimental data.

REFERENCES

Auradou, H., Drazer, G., Hulin, J.P. and Koplik, J. 2005. Permeability
anisotropy induced by the shear displacement of rough fracture
Figure 6. Particle movements for the flow parallel with the shear walls. Water Resour Res, 41, W09423, doi: 10.1029/2005WR
displacement under normal stress of 1 MPa. 003938.
Esaki, T., Du, S., Mitani, Y., Ikusada, K. and Jing, L. 1999. Develop-
100 ment of a shear-flow test apparatus and determination of coupled
properties for a single rock joint. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci, 36:
10 mm
80 5 mm
641–50.
Particles, %

7 mm
60
18 mm
40
3 mm
20
0 March, 2006.
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time, sec
Figure 7. Breakthrough curves at different shear displacements for
sample J3 under normal loading condition J3-1.
of contact areas with zero aperture in flow and particle trans-
port simulations, compared with earlier results reported in
literature about flow simulations without stress or shear, and
with artificially assigned very small aperture values for the
contact areas to avoid singularities of FEM models caused by
such non-zero aperture in contact areas.
This result clearly illustrates the limitations of the tradi-
tional boundary conditions in shear-flow tests in which the
significant effect of shear dilation on flow in the direction per-
pendicular to shear direction cannot be captured and therefore
is often neglected. This shortcoming may lead to signifi-
cant underestimation of the fluid transmissivity of the rock
fractures during shearing processes.
Jeong, W. and Song, J. 2005. Numerical investigations for flow and
transport in a rough fracture with hydromechanical effect. Energy
Sources, 27: 997–1011.
Koyama, T., Vilarrassa, V., Neretnieks I. and Jing, L. 2006a Shear-
induced flow channels in a single rock fracture and their effect
on particle transport, Manuscript submitted to Water Resour Res,
Koyama, T., Fardin, N., Jing, L. and Stephansson, O. 2006b. Numer-
ical simulation of shear induced flow anisotropy and scale depen-
dent aperture and transmissivity evolutions of fracture replicas. Int
J Rock Mech Min Sci, 43(1): 89–106.
Li, B., Jiang,Y., Koyama, T., Jing, L. and Tanabashi,Y. 2006a. Exper-
imental study on hydro-mechanical behaviour of rock joints by
using parallel-plates model containing contact area and artifi-
cial fractures. Manuscript submitted to Int J Rock Mech Min Sci,
October, 2006.
Li, B., Jiang, Y., Saho, R., Tasaku, Y. and Tanabashi, Y. 2006b. An
investigation of hydromechanical behaviour and transportability
of rock joints. In: Rock Mechanics in Underground Construction,
eds. Leung CF Y and Zhou YX, World Scientific, pp. 321.
Plouraboue, F., Kurowski, P., Boffa, J.M., Hulin, J.P. and Roux, S.
2000. Experimental study of the transport properties of rough self-
affine fractures. J Contam Hydrol, 46: 295–318.
Thompson, M.E. 1991. Numerical simulation of solute transport in
rough fractures. J Geophys Res, 96(B3): 4157–4166.
Zimmerman, R.W., Chen, D.W. and Cook, N.G.W. 1992. The effect
of contact area on the permeability of fractures. J Hydrology, 139:
79–96.

50
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Influence of water vapor pressure of surrounding environment on fracture

toughness and crack velocity of rocks

Y. Obara, K. Sasaki & Y. Yoshinaga

Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Y. Suzuki
Tokyo Electric Power Services Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT: The influence of water vapor pressure of surrounding environment on fracture toughness and subcritical crack
velocity of rock is clarified from the results of a series of two types of test under various water vapor pressures, namely SCB
(Semi-Circular Bend) test and DT (Double torsion) test. The rocks used in the tests are Kumamoto Andesite and Kunnum
Basalt, and the range of water vapor pressure is from 10−3 to 103 Pa. Base on the experimental results, it is shown that fracture
toughness decreases with increasing water vapor pressure, and that the crack velocity increases with increasing water vapor
pressure at the same stress intensity factor.

1 INTRODUCTION crack velocity within rock, SCB (Semi-Circular Bend, Lim

et al., 1994) test and DT (Double torsion, Evans, 1972) test are
At the beginning of this century in Japan, the construction of performed under the various water vapor pressures from 10−3
facility of high-level nuclear waste disposal is planned. Since to 103 Pa. A series of both tests is conducted for Kumamoto
this facility has to be used for a long term, it is important to esti- andesite and Kunnum basalt. The fracture toughness for Mode
mate long-term strength of surrounding rock in underground I is estimated from SCB test, and the relation between crack
environment. velocity and crack intensity factor is estimated from DT test.
The long-term strength of rock is concerned to not only Then the influence of water vapor pressure on the fracture
time dependent behavior of rock, such as creep phenomena, toughness and crack velocity is discussed from the obtained
but also initiation and propagation of cracks within rock. The results.
latter problem is one of subjects in Fracture Mechanics. The
initiation of crack is associated with stress intensity factor, and
the propagation of crack is associated with subcritical crack 2 FUNDAMENTALS OF TEST
growth.
The crack within rock opens and initiates when the stress 2.1 SCB test
intensity factor reaches a critical value. For plane strain con-
ditions, this is called fracture toughness and denoted as KIC . The schematic view for SCB test is shown in Fig. 1. The shape
The fracture toughness of rock is known to be affected by of specimen is semi-circular which a circular disk is cut into
the surrounding environment, such as temperature, humidity two halves, and has an artificial single notch of which length
and so on. Meredith & Atkinson (1985) made clear the effect is a. Radius and thickness of specimen are defined as r and
of temperature from results by double torsion (DT) test. The t respectively. The specimen is loaded in three-point bending
effect of water on fracture toughness of granite is also shown, by lower two support rollers and upper one loading roller.
based on the results of a three-point bending test (The Japan The fracture toughness for Mode I is defined by the follow-
society of Mechanical Engineering, 1989). From these results, ing equation, using maximum applied load Pmax , normalized
the fracture toughness of rock is also considered to be depen- stress intensity factor YI and specimen size (Lim et al., 1994).
dent on water vapor pressure in the atmosphere. However, it
is insufficient to discuss the influence of water vapor pressure
on the fracture toughness.
On the other hand, subcritical crack growth occurs due to
stress corrosion. Freiman (1984) and Waza et al. (1980) dis-
cussed the effect of the water content on crack velocities from
the results of DT test. Furthermore, Meredith & Atkinson
(1985) clarified influence of water vapor pressure on crack
propagation of Westerly granite by DT test. However, it is
also insufficient to discuss about the influence of water vapor
on the long-term stability of underground facilities, then more
data concerning the effect of surrounding environment of rock
is necessary.
In order to make clear the influence of water vapor pressure
in surrounding environment on fracture toughness of rock and Figure 1. Schematic view for SCB test.

51
 Figure 3. Specimen of Kumamoto andesite for SCB test.

Figure 2. Schematic view for DT test.

The normal stress intensity factor is a function of crack length

a and support span width 2 s. The value of the function is used Figure 4. Specimen of Kunnum basalt for DT test.
in the case of r/s = 0.8 in this test.

2.2 DT test
The schematic view for DT test is shown in Fig. 2. The spec-
imen is a thin rectangular plate which has an artificial single
notch with length a. The specimen is loaded in four points
bending by lower two support rollers and upper two loading
rollers.
In DT test, the relaxation test is conducted. The dis-
placement of the loading point is kept constant during the
experiment in the relaxation test. The stress intensity factor Figure 5. Photograph of vacuum chamber.
KI and crack velocity da/dt is defined from obtained load
relaxation curve as follows:

where φC is a coefficient. In this test, this value is 1.0. B is a

constant which depend on the elastic modulus of the material.
Pi and λi are initial load and compliance, respectively. E is
Young’s modulus, v is Poisson’s ratio, and other parameters Figure 6. Schematic view of evacuation system.
are scale of specimen in Fig. 2.
specimens, these were kept in the electric drier oven at constant
temperature 100◦ C for 30 days.
3 SPECIMEN

Figure 3 is a specimen of Kumamoto andesite for SCB test.
Kumamoto andesite is composed of amphibole, plagioclase,
pyroxene, and groundmass. This rock is isotropic and homo-
geneous (Obara et al., 1992). Specimen was cut into half from
circular disk, and artificial notch made by diamond blade. The
size of specimen is: r = 37.5 mm, t = 20.0 mm, a = 0.5r with
width of 0.4 mm.
On the other hand, a specimen of Kunnum basalt for DT
test is shown in Fig. 4. This is composed of phenocryst and
grandmas, and has isotropy on wave velocity. The size of spec-
imen is the width w = 34 mm, the thickness d = 2.6 mm and
dn = 2 mm and length L = 80 mm, the length of arm of loading
point wm = 13 mm.
It is necessary that water within specimen is removed to
examine influence of surrounding environment of rock. There-
fore, in order to achieve complete dry condition of the rock
4 APPARATUS AND TESTING METHOD
The specimen on special loading tool for SCB and DT test are
setup in a special vacuum chamber as shown in Fig. 5. The
vacuum chamber is used to control surrounding environment
of rock specimen, using the evacuation system. This consists
of two vacuum pumps as shown in Fig. 6.
Figure 7 shows the change of pressure in the chamber during
test. At first, after the air in the chamber was evacuated by
using two vacuum pumps until the pressure of about 10−3 Pa,
and then the distilled water was injected through the injection
valve to a pressure of about 103 Pa. As the result, the pressure
in the chamber becomes the saturated water vapor pressure
at room temperature and that the chamber is filled with only
water vapor. It is considered that the air in the chamber can
be fully changed to a new environment. Then the water vapor

52
Figure 7. Change of pressure in the chamber during test.
Figure 8. Load-displacement curve for Kumamoto andesite and
Kunnum basalt.
in the chamber was exhausted again. After the required water
vapor pressure was maintained for about 6 hours, SCB or DT
test is performed.
The chamber is set up at a servo-controlled testing machine
with a capacity of 100 kN. The load and displacement are
recorded using the load cell with a capacity of 2kN equipped
on the loading plate and the displacement gauge of testing
machine, respectively.
5 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
5.1 SCB test
The nine specimens for Kumamoto andesite and the eleven
specimens for Kunnum basalt were conducted in a series of
the test. The range of water vapor pressure p on the test is
from 10−3 to 103 Pa. Fracture toughness KIC is calculated by
equation (1).
Figure 8 shows an example of load-displacement curves
obtained by the test. These relations are downward convex
at low stress level, and then show straight until specimen is
fractured at maximum load.
The relation between fracture toughness and water vapor
pressure is shown in Figure 9. The fracture toughness is plotted
almost linearly against water vapor pressure and increases with
decreasing water vapor pressure. The solid line is drawn by
the approximation of the least square method. This line is
represented by:
53
Figure 9. Relation between fracture toughness and water vapor
pressure.
Figure 10. Relation between time and displacement, load.
where β is a constant and m is the slope of the approximated
line on the logarithmic graph. The values of β and m for
Kumamoto andesite and Kunnum basalt are 1.62 and 0.0125,
2.45 and 0.0122, respectively. It is noted that the influence of
water vapor pressure on fracture toughness is almost the same
as that on uniaxial compression strength and tensile strength
(Jeong et al., 2001, 2007).
5.2 DT test
The three specimens of Kumamoto andesite and Kunnum
basalt were conducted in a series of the test. The range of
water vapor pressure in the test is from 10−3 to 103 Pa.
Figure 10 shows an example of relation between time and
load, or displacement. It is found that the load is relaxed due
to crack propagation when displacement is constant.
The relation between stress intensity factor and crack veloc-
ity is shown in Fig. 11. Each result is approximated by a linear
equation as follows:
where α is a constant and n represents inclination of line and
is called as stress corrosion index. The inclinations of lines
in same rock type are almost same. The value of n is 35 for

Figure 11. Relation between crack velocity and stress.
Figure 12. Model suggested by our test results.
Kumamoto andesite and 33 for Kunnum basalt, respectively.
Furthermore, these lines are moved to lift side with increas-
ing water vapor pressure. This means that the crack velocity
increases with increasing water vapor pressure at the same
stress intensity factor.
Considering this result together with the results of CSB test
in which fracture toughness decreases with increasing water
vapor pressure, the relation between crack velocity and stress
intensity factor can be modified as shown in Fig. 12.
6 CONCLUSION
A series of SCB test and DT test for Kumamoto andesite
and Kunnum basal was performed under various water vapor
pressures, and fracture toughness and relation between crack
54
velocity and stress intensity factor were estimated. The results
obtained in this paper are summarized as follows:
1) Fracture toughness of rocks depends on water vapor pres-
sure of surrounding environment, and decreases with
increasing water vapor pressure. The tendency of influ-
ence of water vapor pressure on fracture toughness is the
same as that on uniaxial compressive strength or tensile
strength. The relation between fracture toughness and water
vapor pressure can be represented as: KIC = β p−m where
β is a constant and m is the slope of the approximated
line on the logarithmic graph. These values of Kumamoto
andesite and Kunnum basalt are 1.62, 0.0125 and 2.45,
0.0122, respectively.
2) Relation between crack velocity and stress intensity fac-
tor of rocks obtained from the DT test is represented by the
equation: V = αKIn , where α is a constant and n is stress cor-
rosion index. The value of n is 35 for Kumamoto andesite
and 33 for Kunnum basalt, respectively. Furthermore, the
crack velocity increases with increasing water vapor pres-
sure at the same stress intensity factor. It is clear that the
crack velocity has a dependence of water vapor pressure of
surrounding environment.
3) Based on above results, a modified model for relation
between crack velocity and stress intensity factor are
suggested.
REFERENCES
Evans, A.G. 1972. A method for evaluating the time-dependent fail-
ure characteristics of brittle materials — and its application to
ploycrystalline alumina. J. Mater. Sci., 7, 1137–1146.
Freiman, S.W. 1984. Effects of chemical environments on slow crack
growth in glasses and ceramics. J. Geophys. Res., 89, 4072–4076.
Jeong, H.S. & Obara, Y. 2002. Strength of Kumamoto andesite in
non-atmospheric environments. Shigen-to-Sozai, 118, 599–604.
Jeong, H.S., Kang S.S & Obara Y. 2007. Influence of surrounding
environments and strain rates on the strength of rocks subjected
to uniaxial compression. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., Vol. 44,
321–331.
Lim, I.L., Johonston, I.W., Choi, S.K. & Boland, J.N. 1994. Frac-
ture Testing of a Soft Rock with Semi-circular Specimens Under
Three-point Bending. Part-Mode I. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. &
Geomech. Abstr., Vol. 31, No. 3, 185–197.
Meredith, P.G. & Atkinson, B.K. 1985. Fracture toughness and sub-
critical crack growth during high-temperature tensile deformation
of Westerly granite and Black gabbro. Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 39,
33–51.
Obara, Y., Sakaguchi, K., Nakayama, T. & Sugawara, K. 1992.
Anisotropy effect on fracture toughness of rock. Proc. ISRM
Symposium: EUROCK’92, 7–12.
The Japan society of Mechanical Engineering 1989. Fracture dynam-
ics and application. Corona Publishing Co., 40–47.
Waza, T., Kurita, K. & Mizutani, H. 1980. The effect of water on
the subcritical crack growth in silicate rocks. Tectonophysics 67:
25–34.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Measurement of micro crack volume in low porosity crystalline rock

L. Jacobsson & M. Flansbjer

Building Technology and Mechanics, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Borås, Sweden

R. Christiansson
Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management CO, Stockholm, Sweden

T. Jansson
Tyrens AB, Gothenburg, Sweden

ABSTRACT: The in-situ porosity is used for modelling diffusion within crystalline rock in order to determine its retention
properties. Such information is important for the safety analysis when siting a deep geological repository for nuclear waste.
The total porosity is determined in the laboratory on drill core specimens, which have experienced stress relaxation causing
an opening of natural pores and stress-induced microcracks. The in-situ porosity can be estimated by subtracting the porosity
due to microcracks from the total porosity determined in laboratory. Hydrostatic compression tests on granite specimens from
two sites, with loading up to 50 MPa and 100 MPa, were carried out in order to determine the microcrack volume. The tests indi-
cated that major closure of microcracks had occurred at 50 MPa. Moreover, the in-situ porosity was found to be approximately
10–15% less than the total porosity in the laboratory samples studied.

1 INTRODUCTION at depth can lead to a significant increase in crack porosity

The Swedish Nuclear and Fuel Waste Management CO (SKB)
is currently carrying out investigations at two candidate sites
(Forsmark and Oskarshamn) for a final repository for nuclear
spent fuel, which include extensive surface and borehole
investigations down to a maximum depth of 1000 m, and site
modelling involving different geoscientific disciplines. The
results are used for preliminary Design Studies and Safety
Assessments. Among the activities, investigations and model-
ing of the transport properties of the bedrock are carried out
to develop site-specific descriptions of the radionuclide trans-
port processes. The investigations yield parameters used for
the radionuclide transport calculations performed by Safety
Assessment in models developed by Safety Assessment and
others (SKB 2005, 2006).
The transport properties of the rock mass depend on poros-
ity, diffusion and sorption. Porosity is measured on cores.
The diffusivity is quantified via the formation factor which is
obtained from diffusion experiments and electrical resistivity
measurements. The resistivity can be measured in laboratory
on rock samples saturated with NaCl and in borehole in-situ
experiments (Löfgren & Neretnieks 2003).
In-situ measurements of the formation factor at depth for
the Forsmark site indicate a considerably lower value than
corresponding values from laboratory measurements (SKB
2005). Furthermore, the laboratory resistivity measurements
suggest an increasing formation factor with depth while no
such increase could be observed for the in-situ results.This dis-
crepancy between the laboratory and in-situ formation factor
could be related to an increase in the porosity of the laboratory
samples caused by stress release. This notion is supported by
a tendency for sonic velocities measured on cores from the
Forsmark site to decrease below approximately 500–550 m
depth (SKB 2005). It is known that extracting core samples
(Chernis 1984, Martin & Stimpson 1994) and the dependence
of stress on the formation factor was investigated by Skagius &
Neretnieks (1986). In this paper we report the porosity mea-
surements on laboratory samples from various depths and
compare to the estimated in-situ porosity.
2 OCCURENCE OF MICROCRACKS
In crystalline rocks the porosity occurs from two sources: (1)
new stress-induced microcracks from the coring process, and
(2) naturally closed pores that open when the in-situ stress is
released. In hard rocks natural pores tend to have polygonal
shapes, while stress-induced microcracks tend to have long-
parallel walls, see Figure 1. Investigations of granite by SKB
(2005) and SKB (2006) yielded values of the natural porosity
between 0.1–0.4%. Chernis & Robertson (1987) found that
most grain boundary cracks form around quartz grains in a
laboratory study of microcracks on Lac du Bonnet granite.
Ninety percent of natural cracks occur along grain boundaries.
The remaining cracks that could be distinguished from stress-
relief cracks occur as intragranular cracks, chiefly in feldspars.
There is a stress limit for which stress-induced microcrack-
ing occurs in a drilled core. Stress redistribution takes place in
the specimen around the coring bit while coring, which may
or may not exceed the threshold for inducing new microcracks
(Lim et al. 2007). The larger the amount of stress release, the
greater the potential for an increase in pore volume due to
stress-induced cracks.
Walsh (1965) found that the required pressure to fully close
a penny-shaped crack or pore within a solid material subjected
to hydrostatic compression was

55

Figure 1. Pore structure in Lac du Bonnet granite, from Chernis
(1984). The left photo is a natural pore while the right photo is a
stress-induced microcrack.
Pore structure
collapse
Pressure p
Elastic
compression
Microcrack and natural
pore closure
Relative volume change DV/V
Figure 2. Schematic response during a hydrostatic compression
test. Pessure vs. volumetric deformation, cf. Goodman (1989).
where E is Young’s modulus, ν is the Poisson ratio and α is the
ratio of the width to the length of the crack. Hence, the crack
closing pressure pc is expected to be lower for stress-induced
cracks, which are long and thin, than for natural pores, which
are significantly shorter and wider, cf. Figure 1.
The natural distribution of α for pores and microcracks in
a rock material yields a response curve, which is initially
mainly associated with closure of microcracks, yielding a
non-linear progressively increasing bulk stiffness. The non-
linearity vanishes when the cracks are closed even though
a slight non-linearity associated with closing of pores above
some pressure level may be observed, cf. Figure 2. Zero poros-
ity will yield a linear response entirely given by the intact
particles constituting the grain structure, while an increase of
porosity will lead to an increased volumetric deformation.
Results from hydrostatic compression tests on low porous
rock in the literature are reported by, cf. Stephens (1964),
Brace (1965), Simmons & Siegfried (1974) and Siegfried &
Simmons (1978).
3 SPECIMEN AND TEST DESCRIPTION
The specimens tested originate from drill hole KFM01A (sub-
sequently denoted FM) at the Forsmark site investigation area
and drill hole KLX17A (subsequently denoted LX) at the
Oskarshamn site investigation area. The specimens were sat-
urated by water. The core diameters were 51 and 50 mm,
respectively. The Forsmark specimens of medium-grained
granite have a clear foliatiated texture, cf. Figure 3. The Oskar-
shamn specimens of Ävrö granite are uniform. Both granites
have an average grain size of 3–4 mm. Porosity measurements
were carried out on neighbouring specimens.
Six strain gauges placed at mid-height were used on each
specimen.Three were oriented axially, denotedAV, BV and CV
56
Figure 3. Lay-out of strain gauges. Specimen FM-25, from the
Forsmark site. Notice the foliations.
and three circumferential, denoted AH, BH and CH, allowing
measurements of possible anisotropic response, see Figure 3.
A gauge length of 20 mm was used in order to capture a some-
what homogenized response with respect to the grain structure
and microcrack distribution.
The test machine is equipped with a pressure vessel and
a computer controlled pressure intensifier. The strain gauges
were connected to Wheatstone bridges using a two wire cou-
pling plus a third wire, a sense channel, was connected to the
point right before the wires were going in the cell. This connec-
tion implies compensation for any temperature changes and
cable resistances in the circuit up to the electrical connector on
the cell wall. The Wheatstone bridge circuits were connected
to high accuracy amplifier modules of two types, HBM ML38
and ML10B. The data acquisition device was a HBM MGC-
plus unit. The strain gauge channels were calibrated using a
shunt resistance.
A number of pitfalls concerning the usage of foil strain
gauges relevant for the current type of test set-up exist, such
as varying lateral pressure sensitivity, scatter due to varying
bonding layer thickness and bonding problems on porous and
curved material surfaces (Brace 1964, Hoffman 1989).Acrylic
adhesive was reported by Lau & Chandler (2004) to work
in order to install strain gauges on wet rock specimens and
was therefore chosen. A method to properly install the strain
gauges and to protect them for moisture was devised.
Uniaxial and hydrostatic compression tests were carried out
on aluminium specimens prior to the tests on rock specimens
in order to check the experimental set-up and quantify the mea-
surement error, which was found to be within 40 microstrain
(0.004%) at a hydrostatic pressure of 50 MPa. The magnitude
of the scatter was linearly proportional to the applied pressure.
The specimen was placed inside the pressure cell between
platens and sealed using a thin rubber membrane. Oil sur-
rounded the specimen except under the lower platen as the
platen was fixed to the cell bottom. This set-up yields an
isotropic loading. Tests with two different load sequences were
conducted. Type 1: Loading from 0.1–50 MPa, hold at 50 MPa
for 15 minutes and unload 50–0.1 MPa and hold for 15 min-
utes. Type 2: Loading from 0.1–50 MPa, hold at 50 MPa for
5 minutes, loading from 50–100 MPa, hold for 5 minutes,
unload 100–50 MPa, short hold time, and unload 50–0.1 MPa
and hold for 5 minutes. The pressure rate was 10 MPa/min
during both loading and unloading, except for one test (LX-8)
in which it was 2 MPa/min.
4 RESULTS
The results from the hydrostatic compression tests are
shown in Figures 4–5. The volumetric strain εvol was com-
puted as εvol = εa + 2εr , where εa = (εAV + εBV + εCV )/3 and
 50 50 Table 1. Summary of hydrostatic compression test results.
Hydrostatic pressure p [MPa]

Hydrostatic pressure p [MPa]

40 40 Micro Bulk
crack Anisotropy compliance
30 30 Porosity vol (10−3 GPa−1 )
Sample Depth  εMC  HV
20 FM 21 20 AH ID (m) (%) (%) (%) (%) βini βmax
FM 22 BH
FM 23 CH
10 FM 24 10 AV FM-21 232 0.36 0.037 33 18 31.9 19.5
FM 25 BV FM-22 233 0.36 0.035 21 9 29.8 19.2
FM 26 CV
0 0 FM-23 490 0.28 0.046 24 15 37.7 20.0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0 0.02 0.04 0.06
FM-24 490 0.28 0.078 37 15 51.0 20.0
Volumetric strain εvol [%] Vertical/circumferential strain ε [%]
FM-25 686 0.30 0.054 10 6 54.1 18.4
FM-26 686 0.30 0.057 29 15 40.2 19.7
Figure 4. Results from Forsmark specimens. Left: Confining pres- LX-1 223 0.18 0.011 32 15 16.6 15.4
sure vs. volumetric strain; Right: Confining pressure vs. strains from LX-2 223 0.18 0.013 16 −4 18.8 15.4
the individual gauges on specimen FM-26. LX-4 382 0.34 0.028 19 9 26.6 19.0
LX-5 382 0.34 0.027 23 7 25.8 18.9
100 100 LX-7 556 0.36 0.048 20 0 32.3 19.2
LX-8 556 0.36 0.027 12 7 23.5 18.2
Hydrostatic pressure p [MPa]

Hydrostatic pressure p [MPa]

80 80

60 60
0
LX 1 AH βini (FM)
40 40
LX 2 BH 100 βini (LX)
LX 4 CH
20 20 βmax (FM)
Sampling depth [m]
LX 5 AV
200
LX 7
LX 8
BV
CV
βmax (LX)
0 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 300
Volumetric strain εvol [%] Vertical/circumferential strain ε [%]
400
Figure 5. Results from Oskarshamn specimens. Left: Confining
500
pressure vs. volumetric strain; Right: Confining pressure vs. strains
from the individual gauges on specimen LX-5.
600

εr = εφ = (εAH + εBH + εCH )/3. The tangent bulk compliance, 700

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
defined as β = dεvol /dp, were evaluated both at initial loading -3 -1
Bulk compliance β [10 ⋅ GPa ]
(βini ) and at 50 MPa (βmax ) at the unloading curve in order to
illustrate the amount of non-linearity and to obtain a compara- Figure 6. Bulk compliances vs. depth at initial (open symbols) and
ble indicator for major closure of microcracks by comparing 50 MPa loading (solid symbols).
the values of βmax .
The microcrack volume strain is computed as, cf. Walsh 0
(1965), εMC = εvol,max − βmax pmax , where εvol,max and pmax FM
refer to values at 50 MPa. The measured material response 100 LX
displays an anisotropic behaviour. The specimen anisotropy
Sampling depth [m]

and inhomogenity is quantified, given in percent, accord- 200

ing to  = 3 × (εmax − εmin )/εvol,max × 100, where εmin and
300
εmax refer to the minimum and the maximum strain value
in any of the strain gauges at the fully compressed state 400
after the hold time. Moreover, the anisotropy between the
axial and the circumferential directions at the fully com- 500
pressed state after the hold time, given in percent, has been
600
defined as HV = 3 × (εr,max − εa,max )/εvol,max × 100, where
εa,max = max(εa ) and εr,max = max(εr ). The parameter results 700
from all tests are summarized in Table 1. 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
The bulk compliances βini and βmax have been plotted ver- Crack volume strain εMC [%]
sus depth (Figure 6). The values of βmax are between 18.4 and
20.0 (10−3 GPa−1 ) except for the specimens at 223 m depth Figure 7. Crack volume vs. depth for all tests.
from Oskarshamn. Brace (1965) reports corresponding values
to βmax of 19.1 and 19.9 (10−3 GPa−1 ) for two specimens of
different types of granite. This validates the current measure- confirms a growing crack volume with depth. It is also evi-
ments. Moreover, due to the similar values of βmax it may be dent by the results that the total crack volume is larger in
concluded that a cell pressure of 50 MPa was sufficient for samples from the Forsmark site, as εMC = 0.035–0.078%
this type of rock to close the majority of the microcracks. for the Forsmark specimens and εMC = 0.011–0.048% for
It can be noted that the difference between βini and the Oskarshamn specimens. Moreover, by studying HV , cf.
βmax seems to increase with depth indicating increased non- Table 1, which is greater than or equal zero (except for one
linearity and growing crack porosity. Figure 7 (also Table 1) specimen), one may assume that a larger part of the micro

57
cracks probably are oriented along, or with a small angle to, the
core axis direction This is more pronounced in the Forsmark
specimens, which may be coupled to the foliated structure, cf.
Figure 3.
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUDING REMARKS
The measurements using strain gauges seem to properly
capture the response as the results are comparable to mea-
surements on granite by Brace (1965), despite the known
difficulties by using strain gauges subjected to lateral pres-
sure. As mentioned before, the majority of microcracks seem
to be closed at 50 MPa pressure. A hysteresis can be observed
during the tests. Moreover, some creep deformation could be
seen at full loading during the hold time. The hysteresis was
less and almost no creep deformation could be observed in
the test of 2 MPa/min. The creep rate rapidly decreases during
the hold time at full loading during the 10 MPa/min-tests. This
fact together with no significant difference between the values
of βmax suggests that the results from the tests with loading
rate of 10 MPa/min will yield similar results of the microcrack
volume as tests conducted with a lower rate.
The horizontal in-situ stress magnitudes are generally
higher at the Forsmark site compared to the Laxemar site
(Martin & Christiansson, 2007). The major horizontal stress
at Forsmark is in the range of 40–45 MPa while at Laxemar it
is in the range of 22–25 MPa at 500 m depth. Based on the test
results it appears that the crack volume in the core samples is
dependent on in-situ stress magnitude, and thus the amount
of stress relaxation. Especially the higher crack volume strain
from samples taken below 500 m depth at Forsmark (Figure 7)
is in keeping with other information on stress-induced dam-
age in core samples. Our findings also suggest that when the
in-situ stress magnitudes are relatively low, the porosity of
the core samples is dominated by the natural pores and the
difference between the in-situ porosity and the core sample
porosity is small. This is in keeping with the results from Löf-
gren & Neretnieks (2003) who found no significant difference
between in-situ and laboratory measurements from a bore-
hole at the Laxemar site, except when the core samples were
within a geologically heterogeneous section. It seems that a
certain difference in crack volume between laboratory speci-
mens and rock in-situ is needed for the method to be able to
detect a change of formation factor. With this finding in mind,
it would mean that a crack volume strain (εMC ) of at least
0.040–0.045% is needed in order to notice a change of the
formation factor between the in-situ and laboratory measure-
ments for the actual rock types.
The resistivity is dependent on how much and how far
the formation water can penetrate into the rock. One possi-
ble explanation for which no change of the resistivity can
be detected for small values of εMC could be that the uncer-
tainty with the method such as accuracy and scatter requires
a minimum resistivity change. Another hypothesis could be
that there is a non-linear relation between how far into the
rock the formation water can penetrate and the size of εMC .
To elaborate on this, small values of εMC could be associated
58
with damage from drilling and some stress release, yielding
relatively short microcracks. With increasing stress release,
the number of microcracks does not change, but the length of
microcracks increase with a non-linear relation to the stress
release. It should be pointed out that further investigations
would be needed to clarify the underlying facts.
This study will be followed up by microscopic studies of the
occurrence and distribution of pores and cracks to enhance our
understanding of the nature of stress-induced core damage.
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Löfgren, M. & Neretnieks I. 2003. Formation factor logging by elec-
trical methods – Comparison of formation factor logs obtained in
situ and in the laboratory. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 61:
107–115.
Martin C.D. & Chrisitiansson R. 2007. Interpreting in-situ stress
measurements using geological models. In proceedings of ISRM
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Martin, C.D. & Stimpson, B. 1994. The effect of sample distur-
bance on laboratory properties of Lac du Bonnet granite. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal 31:692–702.
Siegfied, R.W. & Simmons, G. 1978. Characterization of ori-
ented cracks with differential strain analysis. J. Geophys. Res.
83(B3):1269–1278.
Simmons, G., Siegfied, R.W. & Feves, M. 1974. Differential strain
analysis: A new method for examining cracks in rocks. J. Geophys.
Res. 79(29):4383–4385.
Skagius, K. & Neretnieks, I. 1986. Diffusivity measurements and
electrical resistivity measurements in rock samples under mechan-
ical stress. Water Resources Research 22(4):570–580.
SKB 2005. Preliminary Site Description. Forsmark area – version
1.2. SKB Report R-05-18. Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB,
Stockholm, Sweden.
SKB 2006. Site descriptive modeling. Forsmark stage 2.1. SKB
Report R-06-38. Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB, Stockholm,
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Stephens, D.R. 1964. The hydrostatic compression eight rocks. J.
Geophys. Res. 69(14):2967–2978.
Walsh, J.B. 1965. The effect of cracks on the compressibility of rock.
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 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Micromechanical investigations of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of argillite rocks by

means of optical full field strain measurement and acoustic emission techniques

F. Valès, M. Bornert, H. Gharbi, D. Nguyen Minh & J.C. Eytard

Laboratoire de Mécanique des Solides, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France

ABSTRACT: Digital Image Correlation techniques are applied to sequences of images of argillite rocks samples at various
saturation states at both the global scale of the sample and the local scale of the microstructure. Not only it is confirmed
that the clay matrix deforms much more than the other mineral inclusions, but it also appears that the deformation is very
inhomogeneous in the matrix, with some areas almost not deformed, while others exhibit deformation twice the average overall
strain, depending on the local distribution of the inclusions. Strain heterogeneities are also detected at the scale of the sample
of saturated rocks and can be correlated with the presence of a network of cracks. On such samples, DIC analysis shows that
the overall strain results both from the bulk deformation of the sound rock and the closing or opening of these cracks, which
is confirmed by the analysis of acoustic emissions.

1 INTRODUCTION This paper is focused on the analysis of the mechanical

One of the major objectives of the hydro-mechanical
behaviour studies of nuclear-waste storage in deep geolog-
ical formations is to assess their stability and performance
under variable hygrometry atmospheres. These perturbations
may induce damage (opening of existing or new cracks) in the
drift wall, and change the confinement properties of the rock.
In France, an underground research laboratory is built in the
argillite layers of Callovo-Oxfordian age in the Eastern Paris
Basin (Meuse/Haute-Marne site, France).
Argillite rock is sensitive to the presence of water in terms of
mechanical response due to the pore state and the interaction of
water and the clay phase. The moisture transfer between atmo-
sphere and rock induces deformation (swelling and shrinkage)
at the interface. To understand the multi-scales-effects of
the moisture conditions on argillite rocks, an experimental
program was conducted to determine the effects of water
saturation on the global physical and mechanical properties.
Micromechanical investigations aim at detecting the actual
physical deformation and damage mechanism active at a
microscopic scale, the complex averaged interactions of which
determine the macroscopic behaviour of materials. They allow
a physically-based extrapolation of experimental data to sit-
uations not accessible to experiment, by means of adequate
scale transition models. Such an approach might be very use-
ful for the determination of the long term hydro-mechanical
behaviour of argillite rocks. Qualitative observations of these
micromechanisms by means of mechanical tests inside the
chamber of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), as those
currently used for the analysis of metals and composites,
cannot however be transposed directly to geomaterials, espe-
cially because the exposition of the samples to vacuum may
noticeably modify the physical properties of the material
(microstructure, water content…). To circumvent these diffi-
culties, direct optical observations of samples with controlled
degrees of saturation and mechanically loaded on conven-
tional testing machines, have been preferred. By means of
specifically designed optical microscopes, appropriate light-
ing devices and digital image correlation techniques very
small evolutions of the microstructures can be detected.
response at different observation scales of argillite samples
under uniaxial compression and with different degrees of sat-
uration, imposed by water vapour transfer. Deformation and
microstructure changes due to the imposed hydric transfer as
well as the influence of the anisotropy due to the natural bed-
ding have also been investigated by similar tools but are not
presented here.
2 GENERAL MICROSTRUCTURAL DESCRIPTION OF
THE CALLOVO-OXFORDIAN ARGILLITE ROCK
The indurated argillaceous rocks, or argillites, of the
Meuse/Haute-Marne site are well-compacted rocks. The
mineralogy (Gaucher et al. 2004) is characterized by a pre-
dominant clay fraction (45–55%), and grains of carbonates
(20–28%), quartz (21–29%) and feldspar (0–4%). Other
minerals can be present as sulphur and organic mater.
Systematic investigations of the received samples reveal a
water content close to 7% (the rock is not completely saturated,
Su 2005), a total porosity of 16%, a carbonates’ ratio of 26.8%
and compressive elastic wave velocity perpendicular to the
bedding of 2800 m.s−1 .
Microstructural investigations at different scales with the
optical microscope and the SEM reveal that these rocks exhibit
a composite structure made of a continuous clay matrix and
embedded mineral particles which might get into contact but
do not seem to be strongly connected. Quartz and carbonates
appear as homogeneously distributed and a spreading of local
iron sulphur is observed. Typical inclusion size ranges from
10 to 100 µm.
3 TECHNIQUES AND DEVICE PRESENTATION
3.1 Local extensometry
Local extensometry allows the determination of strain fields
at different scales by the comparison of sequences of
images acquired during solicitation, which might be a pure

59
mechanical loading, a hydric suction, a thermic perturbation Table 1. Moisture transfer and mechanical parameters.
or combination of these. The technique aims at associating
homologous points in the various images and makes use of Suction strain
Digital Image Correlation (DIC) algorithms (Bruck et al. Relative Water Young Poisson
humidity content ε⊥ * ε// ** modulus coefficient Rc
1989) which provide a discrete displacement field with sub- % RH % % % MPa – MPa
pixel accuracy. The image processing can be applied to digital
images obtained with a macroscopic camera, an optical micro- Initial
scope (Schreier et a.l 2004) or a SEM (Doumalin et al. 1999). state 6.40 – – 5000 0.24 27
The in-plane components of the deformation gradient at var-
ious scales are computed from the displacement field. More 98 8.80 +0.50 +0.15 6500 0.45 24
precisely, the average gradient on a particular domain can be 76 7.30 +0.13 +0.07 8500 0.12 29
computed as a contour integral of the displacement on this 50 4.02 −0.18 −0.08 10000 0.11 37
domain (Allais et al. 1994). For the small strain levels argillite 32 3.00 −0.27 −0.13 12000 0.10 44
rocks undergo, the linearised strain tensor is sufficient to char- Positive (respectively negative) deformation indicate expansion
acterize the strain level. The adjustable size of the considered (resp. contraction). During the suction, strain are measured in the
domains determines the gauge length of the strain measure- direction perpendicular (*) and parallel (**) to the bedding.
ment, which might be local when the averaging domain is
small, global when the whole image is considered or inter-
mediate when specific domains of interest are adopted. The 3.2 Acoustic emission (AE) technique
CorrelManuV software developed at LMS (Bornert 2003) was
used to process the image sequences and to compute strains Samples are also instrumented with acoustic emission sen-
at various scales. sors with the aim of detecting microstructure evolution and
The DIC technique has been applied with success to a damage. AE signal waveforms are recorded; a post-treatment
lot of materials such as metals, polymer or composite. The was developed to discriminate different possible mecha-
application to argillite rocks requires some precautions and nisms with identification of characteristic thresholds (closing
adaptations of optical lenses and lighting devices. Cylindri- or propagation of existing cracks, nucleation of new ones
cal rock samples are obtained after air-machining operations. and coalescence…) using signal characteristics (amplitude,
Observations are conducted on polished surfaces obtained energy, duration …).
after dry-cutting and grinding operations and without marking
the surface of the samples, as DIC algorithms can make use 3.3 Suction device
of the natural contrast of the samples.
Two scales have been investigated: To obtain different degrees of water saturation, standard meth-
ods used in soil engineering (Delage et al. 1998) were used.
i a macroscale (Macro DIC) with overall sample images The Rock samples are put in a tight box whose humidity is
field of view is close to the 72 mm-sample size and the controlled; no mechanical loading is applied. The relative
pixel size is 55 µm. The contrast is provided by the large humidity imposes, using specific saline solutions, a suction
mineral inclusions. Several hundred images are acquired pressure to the rock as given by the Kelvin relationship. De-
automatically during a test, with a period of 2 seconds. The saturations are conducted from the initial hydric state to four
gauge length for local strains is typically 1.5 mm. different suctions.
ii a microscale (Micro DIC) at the rock microstructure with During the imposed suctions, weight and strain (measured
a specifically designed x10 optical microscope. The field with strain gauges) variations are recorded continuously. The
of view is close to 1.5 × 1.5 mm2 and the pixel size equal strain gauges are disposed in axial and orthoradial directions,
to 0.74 µm. Because of the small motion of the sample and respectively perpendicular (ε⊥ ) and parallel (ε// ) to the bed-
the micrometric depth of focus, the microscope needs to be ding planes. When weight and strain evolutions are stabilized,
repositioned continuously during the test.This is done man- the sample is assumed to be in equilibrium with the controlled
ually and images are acquired typically every 10 seconds. humidity atmosphere. Then, mechanical tests are performed
The composite microstructure can be reveal with normal to obtain the requested characterization.
brightfield lighting conditions. A lateral darkfield light-
ing is however preferred for DIC since it provides more
continuously contrasted images. The image analysis tech- 4 MOISTURE TRANSFER RESULTS
nique leads to an accuracy better than 10−3 at the local
scale, for a typical gauge length of 50 µm (which cor- Results of physical parameters’ evolution are given on Table 1.
responds to an accuracy on relative displacements better The data give information on the correlation between loss/gain
than 50 nm), and 10−5 at the scale of the whole image. of water content and shrinkage/swelling deformation.
These values have been deduced from the analysis of rigid The comparisons of images taken before and after the con-
body motions. trolled suctions reveal microstructural evolutions that would
have been very hardly detected by conventional observations.
Optical strain measurements can be compared to more clas- More specifically, for high hygrometry, observations show
sical techniques such as displacement sensors (LVDT) and the development of a network of new cracks with centimetric
strain gauges.To do so, the averaging domains used to compute size. Most of them are in the bedding planes and a few ones
strains from displacement fields need to be adjusted. Defor- perpendicular to the bedding (the nucleation of these cracks
mation is average over the whole sample for the comparison produce detectable AE activity). Micro cracks at the scale of
with the displacement sensor, while centimetric areas hav- the microstructure might develop but additional investigations
ing the same size as the strain gauges are considered for the would be required as the evolution of the image contrast at the
comparison with the measurement provided by these. local scale was too strong for a proper application of DIC

60

Figure 1. Deviatoric stress versus strain for different hydric state.
techniques. On the contrary, for low humidity, we observe the
closing of pre-existing cracks with an apparent densification
despite the water loss, and no apparition of new cracks.
5 MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION AT
DIFFERENT SCALES
Uniaxial compressive tests are performed on cylindrical sam-
ples (diameter: 36 mm; height: 72 mm) whose degree of
saturation was imposed before.
5.1 Overall mechanical approach
The mechanical behaviour of argillite as a function of degree
of saturation is presented in Figure 1. Elastic parameters are
determined on tests with loading-unloading cycles (on the
linear re-loading part) (see Tab. 1).
As the degree of saturation decreases, the macroscopic
behaviour shows an increase of Young’s modulus, axial strain
at failure and compressive strength Rc , and drastic decrease
of Poisson’s ratio. Responses at 50 and 32% RH are similar
(the water content difference is very low, close to 1%). The
increase of elastic stiffness with decreasing water content was
reported for most shale rocks (Su 2005, Valès et al. 2004).
The volumetric curves show an initially contractancy for all
degrees of saturation; and for higher deformation, wet state
presents important dilatancy, and for dry states a contractancy
profile.
5.2 Acoustic emission results
For dry states, AE events appear from 60% of the strength Rc ,
with a few high energy events between 60–80% Rc and above
80% Rc , AE activity presents more events with less energy.
For wet states, on sample with micro-cracks due to humidity
atmosphere, AE events are distributed all along the loading
path with an increase of events just before the final failure.
5.3 Deformation evolutions at the scale of the sample
(macro DIC)
Macro DIC results for a dry sample (50%RH) and a wet one
(98%RH) are compared. The dry state presents a homoge-
neous response without significant deformation localisation
(Fig. 2). This is quantitatively confirmed by the comparison
in Figure 3 of the σ−ε curves, where σ is the overall devia-
toric stress and ε the strain measured either with the LVDT
sensor, the strain gauges or macro DIC at various scales. The
curves nicely coincide with exception of the one relative to
the axial strain gauge, which probably did not stick correctly
to the sample above 1% strain.
61
Figure 2. Deformation map at the global and local scales for argillite
sample (dry state – 50% RH) at 80% of failure load.
Figure 3. σ−ε curve for dry state (50% RH). Deformation are
estimated from displacement sensor, strain gauges, Macro DIC and
Micro DIC. Stress is macroscopic stress.
Macro DIC deformation are calculated on a central area of size sim-
ilar to strain gauge (180 × 390 pixels or 9 × 19.5 mm2 , designed by
averaged central area). Micro DIC is calculated on the total average
area, on mineral grains area (1) and on clay matrix zone (2).
The deformation in the wet sample is very heteroge-
neous with some high local deformation above 4% (1.5 mm
gauge length) for an overall maximal strain of 1.2%. More
precisely, axial strains obtained with the strain gauge and
the displacement sensor coincide with macro DIC results
averaged on corresponding areas. However average macro
DIC strain measurements computed on two same-sized areas
(4.5 × 4.5 mm2 ), one located in a “sound” zone without
macro-crack due to the hydric solicitation and the other cen-
tred on a pre-cracked zone, lead to very different values. At
failure, the pre-cracked zone deformation is close to 2% while
the sound one remains close to 0.7%, which is close to the
strain of the dry sample at the same overall stress. In addition,
one can clearly observe during the test the closing of the exist-
ing cracks normal to the loading direction and the opening of
the cracks parallel to the loading. This strongly suggests that
a significative part of the deformation of the wet rock is due
to the opening or closing of the macro cracks due to the pre-
liminary saturation, while the bulk response of the sound rock
might be similar to that of the dry rock. The crack activity dur-
ing loading could be associated with the high acoustic activity
recorded for wet state even at early stages of deformation.
5.4 Deformation evolutions at the scale of the
microstructure (micro DIC)
The deformation map (Fig. 2) obtained before failure for
dry state (50% RH) at micro scale, exhibits an heterogeneity
clearly linked to the composite structure of the rock. Defor-
mation heterogeneity develops at the microstructural scale
(50–100 µm); no cracks could be detected in the investigated
area. σ−ε curves (Fig. 3) estimated from micro DIC on vari-
ous areas (total field, inclusion rich and clay rich local areas)
feature different responses: just before failure, average Micro
DIC strain is close to 2.2% and coincides with macro DIC
measurements, while inclusion rich areas undergo less than
1% strain, i.e. almost four times less than clay rich areas.
For 98% RH, local strains levels near pre-existing cracks
are much higher than in areas far away, where strain het-
erogeneities are similar to those observed on dry samples
and correlate well with microstructure. This confirms the
conclusion of the macro DIC field measurements.
6 GENERAL CONCLUSION
The water transfer experiments without mechanical stress fea-
ture important deformation: for high suctions, a shrinkage
with no damage detected, and for high relative humidity, an
important swelling (strain perpendicular to the bedding close
to 0.5%) with the development of a network of cracks. Defor-
mation due to moisture solicitation present anisotropy with a
ratio 2 between directions perpendicular and parallel to the
bedding planes. The moisture history affect directly the rock
microstructure.
The analysis of sample surface images during uniaxial com-
pression tests reveals the strong heterogeneity of the strain
at the microscopic scale, whatever the water content. Not
only it is confirmed that the clay matrix deforms much more
than the other mineral inclusions, but it also appears that the
deformation is very inhomogeneous in the matrix, with some
areas almost not deformed, while others exhibit deformation
twice than the average overall strain, depending on the local
distribution of the inclusions.
The saturation state strongly influences the mechanical
properties: elastic modulus and compressive strength increase
with increasing suction while the Poisson’s ratio of wet
samples is significantly.
The different techniques allow to evaluate the relative
contribution of bulk deformation and damage mechanisms
i for dry state: for the tested samples, the behaviour is homo-
geneous at macro scale with no damage detected up to high
deformation levels. At the scale of microstructure, defor-
mation is localised in clay matrix and mineral grains appear
as hard particles.
62
ii for wet state: the response is strongly heterogeneous and
seems to be the combination of bulk deformation mecha-
nisms (similar to the dry state) and the activity of the macro
cracks induced by the hydration.
The micromechanical investigations show that the hydro-
mechanical behaviour seems to be more sensitive to the
damage due to the hydric transfer than to the water quantity
in the rock.
REFERENCES
Allais, L., Bornert, M., Bretheau, T. & Caldemaison, D. 1994.
Experimental characterization of the local strain field in a het-
erogeneous elastoplastic material. Acta Metall. Mater. Vol. 42
(No. 11): 3865–3880.
Bornert, M. 2003. CorrelManuV user guide – web site
http://www.lms.polytechnique.fr/ users/bornert/CMV_14.
Bruck, H., McNeill, S., Sutton, M. & Peters, W. 1989. Digital Image
Correlation using Newton-Raphson. Method of partial differential
correction Experimental Mechanics, 29: 261–267.
Delage, P., Howat M.D. & Cui Y.J. 1998. The relationship between
suction and swelling properties in a heavily compacted unsaturated
soils. Engineering Geology. 50: 31–48.
Doumalin, P., Bornert, M. & Caldemaison, D. 1999. Microextensom-
etry by image correlation applied to micromechanical studies using
the scanning electron microscopy. In: Proc. Int. Conf. on Advanced
Technology in Experimental Mechanics. Vol.I, Atem 99, The Japan
Society of Mechanical Engineering, 1999: 81–86.
Gaucher, E., Robelin, C., Matray, J.M., Négrel, G., Gros, Y.,
Heitz, J.F., Vinsot, A., Rebours, H., Cassagnabère A. & Bouchet,
A. 2004. ANDRA underground research laboratory: interpreta-
tion of the mineralogical and geochemical data acquired in the
Callovian-Oxfordian formation by investigative drilling. Physics
and Chemistry of Earth. 29: 55–77.
Su K. 2005. Contribution à l’étude du comportement mécanique
et thermo-hydro-mécanique des argiles du Callovo-Oxfordien
Habilitation à diriger des recherches Université des Sciences et
Technologies de Lille 420 pages.
Schreier, H., Garcia, D. & Sutton, M. 2004. Advances in light
microscope stereo vision Experimental Mechanics, 44: 278–288.
Valès, F., Nguyen Minh, D., Gharbi, H. & Rejeb, A. 2004. Experimen-
tal study of the influence of the degree of saturation on physical
and mechanical properties in Tournemire shale (France). Applied
Clay Science. 26: 197–207.
The development of the presented methods and the relevant
experiments has been funded by Andra and CNRS. The rock
samples have been provided by Andra (EST 205 borehole).
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Mining instability and the misuse of the 10-times-seam thickness rule

J.A. Taylor
South Lanarkshire Council, East Kilbride, Scotland, United Kingdom

R.J. Fowell
University of Leeds, Leeds, England, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT: Current United Kingdom (UK) practice suggests that subsidence from abandoned room-and-pillar coal workings
should not occur if there is 10 times-the-seam thickness of rock cover overlying the workings. As this practice differs from
that of other Countries, what are the implications for geotechnical engineers if this assumption were shown to be consistently
misinterpreted? This paper traces the source of this rule-of-thumb and demonstrates that its use is an overused simplification
that should only be used as a first order approximation. References to cases of collapsed room-and-pillar workings both in the
United Kingdom and elsewhere that contradict the rule along with reference to extensive work and databases on the subject
are provided. Recommendations for a more appropriate engineering methodology to assess mining instability from abandoned
room-and-pillar coal workings irrespective of depth or age are given. The need for geotechnical engineers to carry out more
detailed investigative work is also highlighted.

1 SOURCE AND RELEVANCE OF THE

RULE-OF-THUMB

A common rule-of-thumb assumed in geotechnics within the

UK is that subsidence from coal mine workings should not
pose a problem if there is either 10 times-the-seam thickness
or 30 metres of rock cover, whichever is greater, above the
workings (McMillan & Browne 1987). Allied to this view is
the belief that if the workings are old and or lie at a depth
greater than this, then all subsidence will have ceased.
Shallow workings are defined as workings known, or
assumed, to lie within 30 m of surface and deep workings
known or assumed to lie at greater depths. The criterion
of workings within 30m of rockhead was based on limited
information concerning the geological structure and having
generally been agreed after consultation with civil engineers
Figure 1. Bulking Factors (after Wardell & Eynon).
and representatives of the former British Coal (UK) as the
normal thickness of cover strata required to isolate structures
from subsidence, assuming that bulking factors of 10–20% extracted panel. The height of this dome could then be related
will affect the strata involved in the upward migration of a void to the increase in the volume of the collapsed rock compared
resulting from roof collapse (McMillan & Browne 1987). The to its original in-situ volume by the equation
concept that the bulking of fallen roof rock could control the
height of a migratory void appears in the publication Construc-
tion over Abandoned Mine Workings (Healy & Head 1984),
which referred to an earlier work (Piggot & Eynon 1978),
Figure 1 which proposed that for near surface foundations, an
‘a priori’ problem must be considered to exist where old mine where hvm = height of the dome (or migratory void); d1 =
workings are present at depths less than 10 times the extracted in-situ density of the roof rock; and d = density of the col-
thickness below rockhead; the interface between solid strata lapsed roof rock. However, equation 1 was considered too sim-
and any surface unconsolidated deposit. However, it would plified (Wardell & Eynon) to have any great practical value.
seem that the concept was raised earlier (Wardell & Eynon Other researchers (Dunrud & Osterwald 1980) agree with
1968) by an analogy with longwall mining (Tincelin 1958) the upper limit suggested by Piggot & Eynon except where
concerning the height of collapse above longwall workings the collapsed material moves laterally. This can occur when
whereby the roof beds may either deflect and span between material flows laterally through cracks or fissures within
the abutments or break down into the extracted area; in the the crown-hole (Dyne 1998). Factors such as ‘piping’, when
latter case so forming a dome of collapsed strata above the sediments move through tension cracks or fractures in the

63

Figure 2. Exposed void migration at Tinsley Park Opencast
Coal Site.
overburden into the mine void due to the action of water, can
also lead to crown-hole subsidence.
1.1 Examination of the rule-of-thumb
An extensive review within the UK (Garrard & Taylor 1988)
of 151 roof collapses recorded in the exposed side-walls on
18 different opencast sites (example provided in Figure 2) at
depths less than 75 metres below ground level with the major-
ity falling between 4 and 24 metres depth, found no direct
relationship between seam thickness and either the observed
or theoretical collapse height, although a study of the plots
of these variables suggested a confining envelope for the
observed height of collapse approximating to 6.5 times-seam
thickness with the theoretical height of collapse approximat-
ing to 9.8 times-seam thickness. The review also revealed that
the height of collapse, hvm was proportional to the width of
the working, rw by the equation
Despite the lack of a direct relationship between the
observed or theoretical collapse height and seam thickness
the authors concluded that the widely used multiplier of 10-
times-seam thickness was valid notwithstanding that the seam
thickness-height of collapse observation was probably more
related to working practice and the relationship between road
width and void height noted above than to bulking, suggesting
that the popularity of the rule may be due to the fact that all
too often the seam thickness is the only known parameter at
desk study stage.
From the United States (US) (Wright 1982, Karfakis 1987)
and South African (Vervoort 1992a) perspective crown-hole
subsidence or void migration is a roof stability or roof instabil-
ity problem and should be considered in these terms. Wright
has shown that for laminated or stratified roofs the theory of
beams under combined loads can be used to assess potential
roof span failure for beams under uniform transverse load; the
presence of fractures and horizontal stress can also be taken
into account. Vervoort has shown that the maximum amount of
vertical deflection δmax estimated from equation 3 provides the
same order of magnitude as measured underground provided
that the thickness of the roof beam is taken as the thickness
64
of each individual layer and not as the total thickness of the
beam composed of thin layers.
where γ = the unit weight of the roof rock; L = the width of
the roadway; E =Young’s modulus of elasticity of the roof
rock and trb = thickness of the beam. A method to predict
those areas likely to subside through roof failure at depths
less than 60 m has been discussed by Missavage et al., (1986).
In this work 27 subsidence events in a southern Illinois mine
in the US were examined utilizing the flexural strength of
strata overlying a coal seam to predict the vulnerability of shal-
low room-and-pillar mined areas to subsidence. The method
relates the Missavage number (Mn), which is dependant only
on the stratigraphy and rock strength, to the extraction number,
which is dependant only on the extraction ratio and maxi-
mum span of the opening. A high correlation coefficient of
0.78 between Mn and the extraction number showed potential
for the method to be utilized to delineate areas vulnerable to
subsidence. The method was subjected to a blind test and suc-
cessfully predicted 10 out of 12 subsidence events and 2 out
of 3 additional events in the known half of the study area. The
method assumes that the mine roof acts as a composite beam
with no interlayer shear strength loaded by its own weight.
1.2 Time-dependent roof failure
Whilst the bulking theory behind the rule-of-thumb can be
mathematically validated (Piggot & Eynon 1978), the body of
evidence indicates that the concept was derived from longwall
mining, a total extraction caving method, whereas room-and-
pillar is a partial extraction self supporting method of mining
(Rossouw & Fourie 1996). A fundamental difference of these
methods is that in the former, extraction panels are usually of
such a width that the tensile strength of the roof rock is insuf-
ficient to sustain the stress imposed upon them and as such
failure happens almost instantaneously. With room-and-pillar
mining the opposite is the case and so roof failure becomes
more of a time-dependent phenomenon where parameters
such as roof span, tensile stress/strength, lithological transi-
tion and unit thickness have a great influence on the stand-up
time of the roof. According to Gray et al., (1977) more than
half of the 354 chimney (crown-hole) subsidence cases studied
in Pennsylvania occurred more than 50 years after abandon-
ment of the workings. The element of time has therefore an
important, yet not fully understood, role to play in void migra-
tion and subsequent crown-hole formation. Changes in the
geotechnical properties and behaviour of the roof, pillar, floor
and collapsed roof material that occur under wet conditions
can be major contributors to residual subsidence. Given the
amount of assumptions contained in the bulking theory and
the random nature of crown-hole development resulting from
void migration Karfakis concluded that even if all the relevant
information was available only the likelihood of subsidence
occurrence may be predicted.The findings by Missavage et al.,
would appear to confirm that this is indeed the case.
1.3 Pillar failure and void migration
Fundamentally, the propagation of a migratory void requires
an open roadway into which the collapsed roof rock can fall,
which necessitates that the pillars be standing to support the
roadway. If the pillars have collapsed void migration cannot
occur. Similarly, void migration will terminate if the pillars
subsequently fail. Thus the stability of the pillars is crucial to
the formation of a migratory void. Whilst void migration may
be more problematical at shallow depths this is not to say that
pillar instability should not be considered. In most cases it is
likely that the stress imposed on a pillar at shallow depth will
be less than the in-situ pillar mass strength, which may explain
why pillar failure at shallow depth is considered uncommon.
However, a case study in Scotland (Carter 1984) illustrates
that even at relatively shallow depth (42 metres) it can take in
excess of 200 years for pillar failure to take place, which may Figure 3. Trough subsidence associated with pillar failure (from
explain why pillar failure is regarded as uncommon and as Bauer 2006).
such not problematical. With increasing depth void migration
becomes a secondary issue, whilst pillar failure becomes the
primary factor. The need to consider these factors does not
appear to be wholly understood and has led to the assumption,
certainly within the UK that subsidence from workings at a
depth in excess of the rule is unlikely (The Highways Agency
1997). Indeed in some instances (The HighwaysAgency 2005)
it is recommended that investigation may be limited to 30
metres depth or 10-times-seam thickness. The abuse of the-
matic (environmental geology) maps (McMillan & Browne
1987) also seems widespread and promotes the idea that all
mining instability can be catered for by the rule.
The UK practice differs markedly with the US viewpoint
which presupposes that unless total extraction has been car- Figure 4. Trough subsidence associated with floor failure (from
ried out there is no identifiable height above an abandoned Bauer 2006).
mine that ensures a site total freedom from subsidence and
furthermore there is no identifiable time after mining when maintained for several decades until the deterioration of the
the threat of subsidence is clearly past (Bruhn, Magnuson & strength of the pillars, roof and floor led to deformation and
Gray 1981). Hence in the US, the grouting of mine workings subsidence. The ingress of groundwater was also thought to
at depths up to 90 metres (Marino et al., 1997) is known to have contributed to the failure mechanism. The subsidence
have been carried out in order to negate potential subsidence occurred some 37 years after abandonment of the workings.
from underlying coal workings. Figures 3 and 4 illustrate subsidence from pillar and floor
Pillar failure at depths ranging from 9 to 137 metres has been failure respectively.
recorded in the Pittsburgh area of the US with more than 350 A review of mining instability carried out within the UK
subsidence events being recorded over the period 1955–1976 (Arup 1991) indicates that areal subsidence due to the col-
(Bruhn, Magnuson & Gray 1981), (Gray & Bruhn 1982). The lapse of pillars in room-and-pillar mining may be much more
mean thickness of overburden at the location of crown-holes common than records reveal. This is particularly the case in
was 14 metres and 36.5 metres in the case of areal subsidence. rural areas where subsidence would more or less have gone
In South Africa pillar failure has taken place at depths rang- unrecorded unless it affected a structure.
ing from 21 to 205 metres (Madden & Hardman 1992) and in
Australia (Salamon et al., 1996) at depths ranging from 70 to
1.4 Other implications from void migration
250 metres. In each of these extensive works/datasets there is
evidence to indicate that the time period from abandonment of By its very nature void migration forms pillars of strata above
the workings to pillar failure can range from a matter of sev- the original mine pillars. In coal and other mineral mining
eral weeks, (Madden & Hardman 1992) to in excess of 200 this could lead to the formation of shale or mudstone pillars
years (Bruhn, Magnuson & Gray 1981). The Scottish exam- that may have less mass strength than the original support-
ple of pillar failure at a depth of 42 metres cited by Carter ing pillars. The case of pillar failure at Wednesbury, England
(1984) resulted in over 235 mm of subsidence (measurements resulting in subsidence in the order of 1.5 m at ground surface
had commenced after subsidence had started) took over 200 (Braithwaite & Cole 1986), not only demonstrates that this
years to occur. In this particular case roof failure leading to a interaction can occur but also illustrates that the interaction
crown-hole was discounted on the grounds that the rock cover of roof and pillar failure can take considerable time to occur,
was significantly greater than 10 times-the-seam thickness. in this instance over 100 years. In this particular instance fail-
The mode of failure was attributed to a combination of fac- ure was attributed to roof failure in a limestone working, with
tors being high extraction ratio (65 to 75%), small pillar sizes a high extraction ratio, resulting in the formation of weaker
(<2.7 m wide), age of workings, steep dip (1 in 2.5), strong shale pillars above which subsequently failed.
roof and floor, proximity of workings in other seams and work- Finally, the historical reference (Price 1972) whereby a cer-
ings partly above mine water level. Similarly the example cited tain thickness of boulder clay was deemed equivalent to a
by Sizer & Gill (2002) resulting in 260 mm of subsidence from lesser thickness of rock has become increasingly employed
a mine working at 44 metres depth in Northumberland, UK within the UK when an insufficient amount of rock cover is
was attributed to a combination of factors including reduction available, notwithstanding that there is no evidence to suggest
in pillar size and weak roof and floor strata. Roof support was that such a relationship exists.

65
 From the available body of research it is evident that the
10 times-the-seam thickness rule is merely a primitive first
order approximation to estimate the height to which a migra-
tory void may extend that may be used in the absence of access
to or the absence of necessary input data for numerical mod-
elling. It is not a method to estimate subsidence arising from
the formation of a crown-hole at surface and more importantly
is not a method to preclude the possibility that subsidence may
occur from pillar failure or the interaction of roof and pillar
failure.
2 BACK ANALYSIS OF ABANDONED
ROOM-AND-PILLAR COAL WORKINGS
By their very nature abandoned mine workings have to be
‘back analysed’ as the analysis will be carried out after aban-
donment of the mine when physical inspection of the workings
is highly unlikely. The geotechnical engineer therefore needs
to carry out sufficient analytical work that will allow him/her
to understand what has occurred and or could occur as revealed
by a site investigation and thereafter make appropriate recom-
mendations to the client. In essence the procedure is one of
back-calculation. The back analysis should be considered as a
whole encompassing all potential modes of failure that could
lead to subsidence irrespective of depth and or age of the work-
ings. Whether or not there is a risk of mineral instability will
depend upon a number of factors. First will be the class of
mining employed i.e. unsupported, supported or caving; sec-
ond is depth and the lithological type and sequence overlying
the workings and third will be the geometric layout and dimen-
sions of the workings. It is in this regard that the experience of
the geotechnical engineer in mining matters comes into play
through knowledge of the methods of mining, modes of failure
and interpretation of the information presented. Whilst expe-
rience and judgement are prerequisites it is only when armed
with the results of the detailed mining instability assessment
that the degree of ‘risk’ can be considered.
It could be argued that in dealing with mining instability we
seldom have enough data to give a reliable statistical analysis
of the problem (Cole 1987) however such a view presupposes
that the risk of instability in mines and subsidence can be
looked at in terms of statistical analysis. It should be remem-
bered that a factor of safety for a pillar is only a value at a
particular point in time. With the increase in time from the
formation of the pillar the factor of safety will reduce due
to the application of constant stress, resulting in the growth
or increase in fracture frequency within the pillar; accord-
ingly there can be no clear definition of acceptable stability
or failure. Similarly, it should be borne in mind that the use of
correlation coefficients such as Pearson’s simply indicate an
association between relevant parameters, such as pillar stress
and pillar strength, and do not necessarily relate to cause and
effect.
3 ASSESSING MINING STABILITY
The procedures and techniques used to investigate mining
instability are well known (Marino et al., 1980) but within
the UK appear to be restricted to the depths limited by the
10 times-the-seam thickness rule which contrasts with the
methodology of other countries. The reasons for this differ-
ence are unclear but may be related to; the perception that
66
room-and-pillar mining within the UK has long since ceased
and as such sufficient time has elapsed to remove the prob-
lem; the cost of investigative work can be expensive and/or
there is a lack of understanding in how to tackle the matter of
mining instability. A further, perhaps more frightening, factor
is that within the UK it would appear to be that case that it is
not important to understand the mechanism of mining insta-
bility but merely to have sufficient information and ability
to locate the workings within the depth of 10 times-the-seam
thickness or 30 metres of rockhead, whichever is greater and
thereafter fill them with grout. However this simplistic view
does not consider the necessary area to safeguard the proposed
structure or take into account seam dip nor instances when
multi-seam mining may have taken place. Whilst grouting of
the seam within 30 metres of rockhead may remove a subsi-
dence problem from that particular horizon it will not negate
potential subsidence from underlying seams that have yet to
fully collapse. It should also be remembered that not all room-
and-pillar mines were subjected to the robbing of pillars prior
to abandonment and indeed low extraction ratios of room-
and-pillar workings at depth may be in the process of failure.
Conversely, unrecorded open mine workings may lie at very
shallow depth and whilst subsidence may not have taken place,
development could cause failure to initiate (Fennell, 1997).
Such factors as described above are not taken into account in
the 10 times-the-seam thickness rule.
To arrive at an assessment of mining instability requires
that sufficient information be available to carry this out and
that the assessment be undertaken by a competent person with
proven experience in the field. In general there are five stages
to address when considering potential mining instability. The
first stage is a desk study to gather sufficient information on
the area under review, the second stage is examination of the
desk study information to determine whether or not a min-
ing problem exists, the third stage is a ground investigation to
clarify the mining situation and obtain sufficient site specific
data for use in the fourth stage, assessing the degree and mag-
nitude of potential instability. The fifth and final stage should
determine the risk in terms of the proposed development with
recommendations for remedial measures, if required. Depend-
ing upon the location of the proposed development and form
of mining some of the stages may not be required. In each stage
the geotechnical engineer must ask themselves what they hope
to find/achieve from that stage. The aim should be to carry out
sufficient work to proceed, either to the next stage and/or come
to a reasonable conclusion on the likelihood of mining insta-
bility. Cost may well come into the equation and whilst this is
an important aspect the need to undertake a professional job
and reach professional conclusions through the application
of engineering principles should not be jeopardised by cost
restrictions. Money spent at the ground investigation stage is
likely to be more cost effective than money spent carrying out
remedial measures.
For laminated or stratified roofs the theory of beams under
combined loads (Wright 1982), (Hoek & Brown 1980) can be
used to assess potential roof span failure. Alternatively, the
height of the void can be linked to the road width and angle of
draw associated with the limit angle in subsidence engineer-
ing (Taylor 2002) or the road width and the internal angle of
friction of the overlying rock (Wilson 1983). Numerical mod-
elling techniques such as CPillar provide a quick, simple to
use analysis tool for evaluating laminated roof beds.
A number of techniques are available to assess potential
pillar instability and fall into two categories, the ultimate
strength approach in which pillars are deemed to fail when the
applied stress reaches the compressive strength of the pillars
and the progressive failure approach where failure is initi-
ated at the most crucial point and propagates to the pillar
centre, resulting in ultimate failure of the pillar. Equations
to estimate pillar stability in terms of the ultimate strength
approach are widely available (Salamon & Munro 1967),
(Bieniawski 1967), (Salamon et al., 1996), (van der Merwe
1999a). Equations to estimate pillar stability in terms of the
progressive failure approach are also available (Wilson 1983),
(Taylor 2002). The ultimate strength approach as suggested
by Salamon and Munro has been extended for use in stone
mines (Iannacchionne 1999). Further modifications (Hardy &
Agapito 1975) have been made to assist in determining pillar
strength for oil-shale pillars.
The common complaint of having insufficient information
upon which to assess roof and or pillar stability can be off-
set through the use of down-the-hole cameras or ultrasonic
surveys. Alternatively, as the width of the roadway is gen-
erally consistent in most workings the percentage extraction
ratio can be altered through changing the pillar dimensions to
determine a range of factors of safety for chosen conditions.
However, it is to be remembered that none of the available
methodologies take into account the effect of time.
Numerical modelling software packages such as CPillar or
FLAC3D (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua, which uses
the explicit finite different formulation) can aid in the solution
of problems that consist of several stages, large displacements
and strains, non-linear material behaviour and unstable sys-
tems, even cases of yield/failure over large areas, or total
collapse. The use of FLAC for the assessment of pillar sta-
bility in terms of progressive pillar failure is well documented
(Vervoort, 1992b; van der Merwe, 1993).
4 CONCLUSIONS
A custom and practice rule-of-thumb has developed within the
geotechnical profession within the UK that mining instability
can be determined through the application of one simple rule.
Whilst the rule-of-thumb may be of use as a first approxima-
tion for void migration at the initial assessment stage, the rule
should not be assumed to include all aspects of instability and
subsidence. Roof and pillar failure are time-dependent and as
such even if subsidence has not occurred within the first 100
years or so after abandonment this is not to say that subsi-
dence will not happen. Subsidence is independent of depth
and whilst an increasing amount of rock cover might lessen
the amount of subsidence it should not be assumed that sub-
sidence will not occur simply due to the depth and or age of
the workings.
4.1 Recommendations
In the authors’ view the use of geomechanical principles to
assess roof and pillar stability, such as those referred to in this
paper, along with the use of numerical modelling techniques
should be encouraged. All aspects of mining instability should
be considered irrespective of depth or age. The aspect of time-
dependent failure of both roof and or pillar should also be
considered. Whilst numerical modelling will not provide a
real time assessment, the use of relevant software will illustrate
yield behaviour leading to ultimate failure in time steps that
will demonstrate the importance of time-dependent failure.
67
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 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Natural and thermomechanical stress field measurements at the

“Rochers de Valabres” Pilot Site Laboratory in France
Mesures de contraintes naturelles et thermomécaniques sur le Site Laboratoire Pilote des « Rochers de Valabres »

C. Dünner & P. Bigarré

Institut National de l’Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), Ecole des Mines de Nancy, Nancy, France

C. Clément
LAEGO – INERIS, Ecole des Mines de Nancy, Nancy, France

V. Merrien-Soukatchoff & Y. Gunzburger

Laboratoire Environnement Géomécanique et Ouvrages (LAEGO), Ecole des Mines de Nancy, Université de Nancy, France

RESUME: L’INERIS a démarré, en 2005, l’expérimentation « VAL-STRESS3D » visant à caractériser et étudier les contraintes
naturelles et les déformations thermomécaniques continues qui s’exercent à la surface d’un versant rocheux fracturé tel que
celui du Site Laboratoire Pilote (SLP) des « Rochers de Valabres ». L’expérimentation a consisté à réaliser un profil de mesures
de contraintes, depuis la surface vers l’intérieur du versant, en vue de quantifier les contraintes et l’hétérogénéité du champ. Puis
des cellules de déformations et des capteurs de température ont été installés au niveau d’une dalle rocheuse afin d’étudier de
manière quantitative le champ des déformations thermomécaniques cycliques auquel est soumis en surface le massif fracturé,
résultant des variations quotidiennes et saisonnières de la température.

ABSTRACT: The field experiment “VAL-STRESS3D”, started in 2005 by INERIS, aims to characterize and study both in situ
stress and continuous thermomechanical deformations within the “Rochers de Valabres” rock slope, a Pilot Site Laboratory
(PSL) prone to rockfalls. Firstly, in situ stress measurements were conducted along a profile from the surface toward the interior
of the slope. This was intended to quantify the stress field and its heterogeneity acting in such a geological structure. Secondly,
a set of full 3D strain cells and temperature gauges was installed in the field around a large inclined superficial flagstone. This
shallow temperature and strain instrumentation network was designed to measure the cyclic thermal “loading – unloading”
response of the rock on a daily and seasonal basis.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 SETTING OF THE “ROCHERS DE VALABRES” PSL

Although they have potentially important effects on regional
development in mountainous areas, rockfalls are a natural haz-
ard for which both preparatory and triggering mechanisms
are seldom understood. Lack of knowledge of the quantitative
role of numerous factors remains a barrier to accurate risk
assessment and reasonable identification of large-scale failure
activation processes. Mitigation techniques remain expensive
and, most of the time, do not definitely eliminate the risk. Set-
ting up operational early-warning systems, when needed, quite
often raises problems in terms of critical choices and monitor-
ing strategies. These difficulties are related to the complexity
of the studied system, i.e. the multiplicity of variables con-
cerned and their interaction or coupling effects, making time
failure unpredictable.
In order to overcome these difficulties, a large scale frac-
tured rock slope, namely the “Rochers de Valabres”, located
in the French Alps, and overhanging the Tinée valley, is being
investigated as a Pilot Site Laboratory (PSL), by the CENARIS
– the French National Monitoring Centre for Ground and
Underground Risks, part of INERIS. The main objective is to
run field experiments for research and technical development
focusing on rock slope instabilities. Since 2002, this PSL has
demonstrated its unique advantages for conducting long-term
scientific work in the field, with successive projects feeding
each other over time.
Lying at an altitude ranging from 700 to 900 m, the “Rochers
de Valabres” PSL is a specific zone of hard gneissic rocks. The
top of the slope culminates at 2,250 m, having a slope angle of
around 60◦ . The gneiss presents a marked foliation, directed
N110◦ –140◦ E, strongly dipping eastward. More details may
be found in Gunzburger et al., 2005.
A glance at the bed of the river shows that this PSL has
experienced and will likely continue to experience a rather
large variety of rockfalls. The most recent history is marked by
two important rockfalls, which occurred respectively in May
2000 (most likely around 2,000 m3 of material) and October
2004 (about 30 m3 of material). The main road snaking down
the Tinée Valley has been subject to many renovation works.
An old access road hugging the edge of the valley is used now
as a service road to the PSL.
3 OBJECTIVES OF THE EXPERIMENT
Among the physical processes affecting a strongly discontinu-
ous rock slope with rockfall hazards, the continuous long-term
impact of natural surface cyclic thermal loading has been men-
tioned by many authors, even though such a long term prepara-
tory cause of rockfalls has not been much studied quantita-
tively. Thermally induced stress is the only permanently cyclic

69
driving force inside the shallowest part of the rock mass on a 700
Axial gauges
daily and seasonal basis. This force field is most likely exerted 600 Diagonal gauges
with a high degree of heterogeneity, since it is dependent Transverse gauges
500
from one point to another on exposure to solar radiation and

Strain (microstrains)
drafts.This continuously changing complex thermally induced 400
stress field superimposes an already presumed in situ complex 300
stress field due to the presence of numerous rock joints, open
discontinuities and topography roughness. 200

Better quantitative knowledge of such stress fields is of 100

primary interest for the study of limit equilibrium conditions
0
(Vlcko et al., 2005 and Watson et al., 2004) and local-
ization of cumulated non-elastic deformations preparing for -100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
rupture. Considering all the uncertainties affecting the input
Overcoring distance (cm)
data (Liu et al., 2004), numerical modelling cannot estimate
quantitatively and reliably such physical interactions. Figure 1. Response deformation curves obtained with a CSIRO Hi
The VAL-STRESS3D experiment was designed in accor- 12 cell at a depth of 15.75 m. Deformations are essentially elonga-
dance with two measurement phases, firstly in situ stresses tion due to the full relaxation of the instrumented hole.
and then thermally induced stresses.

4 IN SITU STRESS MEASUREMENTS

4.1 Description of the technique and data

In November 2005, INERIS conducted six in situ stress mea-
surements from the surface downwards along a sub-horizontal
borehole, using an over-coring method (Amadéi, 1983). This
method is currently used in the deep mining industry (Lahaie
et al., 2003), in the storage of natural gas and in geological
waste disposal.
The main advantages of this technique using the CSIRO cell
result firstly from the fact that it makes it possible to measure
a full 3D strain tensor and then to back-calculate the 3D stress
tensor (σ1 , σ2 , σ3 ). Secondly, being a local measurement, it
is well adapted to measuring sharp stress gradients and local
heterogeneous stress fields. Eventually, the CSIRO cell may be
fixed permanently for long term remote monitoring of stress
shifts in relation to such or such physical interactions. Figure 2. Upper hemispheric projection of in situ stresses (σ1 , σ2 ,
Basically, the over-coring method consists in drilling a large σ3 ) related to field test 1 after inversion in local reference mark (X,
diameter borehole down to the target zone. A second coax- Y, Z). The spots 1, 2 and 3 represent the average orientation of (σ1 ,
ial 38 mm diameter borehole extends the first. A CSIRO Hi σ2 , σ3 ). The dense clouds of squared dots quantify the calculated
12 cell is then placed and fixed ahead. This cell contains 12 dispersion related to orientation. Plane (σ1 , σ2 ) is clearly vertical; σ3
strain gauges with multiple orientations. Over-coring releases is perpendicular to the free surface of the rock slope (YZ).
stresses exerting in the “far field” (relative to the 38 mm
diameter hosting hole) while induced strains are recorded.
Although the first target zone was intended to be placed at
1 m depth from the free surface, fracturing imposed the first core of the rock. The stress tensor and its variability are
measure to be backed down to a depth of 2.5 m. The six mea- obtained from data numerical inversion, performed with the
surements were conducted ranging from 2.5 m down to 18.5 m SYTGEOstress® tool, which is based on the least squares
depth along the borehole, i.e. with rock overburden increas- method. Redundant data available is used to countercheck the
ing gradually from 10 to 40 m. Monitoring of the over-coring overall quality and refine the back analysis if necessary.
process and induced microdeformations was performed with In the case of the test carried out near the surface of the rock
a SYTGEO® system offering a precision of ± 1% EM and a slope, the minor principal stress σ3 is found to be oriented
resolution of ± 2 microdeformations. Figure 1 shows a typical perpendicular to the free surface, which is locally vertical and
record of micro-strains plotted versus core drill front advance. perpendicular to the borehole (Figure 2).
These curves appear very satisfactory: one can observe typi-
cal expected stages with first the passing by of the coring over
the cell (∼30 cm), and secondly a stabilization of all measure- 4.3 Determination of the rock mechanical properties
ments (∼65 cm), which coincides with the full relaxation of Data numerical inversion requires knowledge of the elastic
the core. parameters characterizing the rock matrix. After the over-
coring test was completed, biaxial testing of the over-core
recovered with the CSIRO cell was performed. In addition,
4.2 Inversion of deformation measurements
uniaxial laboratory measurements were conducted to refine
Numerical analysis is primarily based on the hypothe- the determination of elastic properties and especially those
sis of homogeneity and linear elastic behaviour of the related to the known transverse isotropy of the gneiss.

70

Figure 3. Profile of principal stresses (σ1 , σ2 , σ3 ) versus depth.
Figure 4. Direction of the plan containing the principal stresses.
4.4 Results of stress measurements
The main results are summarized in Figure 3, plotting respec-
tively (σ1 , σ2 , σ3 ) magnitudes versus depth. The results show
essentially:
• an increase in σ3 between 4 and 6 m depth, still oriented
perpendicularly to the free surface;
• a sharp stress gradient at 10 m depth, for all three compo-
nents (σ1 , σ2 , σ3 );
• a clear singularity at 15 m depth, with stresses in full con-
tinuity to those measured in the first 6 m, followed by a
maximum stress level at 18 m depth with σ1 exceeding
12 MPa;
• except for measurement points 4 and 6 located at 10 and
18 m depth, (σ1 , σ2 ) is located in a sub-vertical plane,
whereas locally the slope is of 60–70◦ (Figure 4). This ori-
entation is most likely to be explained by the different sets
of vertical fractures present in the rock mass.
5 THERMAL STRESS MEASUREMENTS
5.1 Field instrumentation layout
Following the in situ stress measurement campaign, installa-
tion of a specifically designed permanent monitoring system
was achieved on a large inclined rock flagstone of the PSL,
some 75 m above the service road. This second experimental
phase is intended to accurately study the thermal strain regime
affecting the surface and the shallowest part of the rock mass
as a potential long term cause for rockfalls.
71
Figure 5. Temperature profiles versus time measured from a
thermometric probe over a 3 day period.
The experimental system is composed of four monitoring
stations, S1 to S4, spread out over locations of particular
interest:
• S1 is placed on a 2 m high block located N-E. An open
discontinuity dipping strongly down the valley separates
the host block from the rock flagstone;
• S2 and S3 are installed in the centre of the rock flagstone,
in a small area easily assimilated to a semi-infinite medium
bounded by a flat free surface;
• S4 is located in the S-W limit of the rock flagstone.
Each monitoring station includes several CSIRO cells fixed
in the shallowest part of the rock mass between 20 and 50 cm
depth. All are connected to a digital receiver and then radio
linked for transmission to a SYTGEO® monitoring system
situated below within some facilities.
In order to complete the monitoring layout, a specific multi-
point sensing probe has been designed and set up in a small size
borehole in order to characterize the invading thermal field.
This thermometric probe integrates 5 thermistors coupled to
the wallside of the hosting hole respectively at a depth of 10,
20, 30, 40 and 50 cm. With additional temperature gauges cou-
pled to the rock free surface itself, this probe aims to monitor
the temperature inside the “rock skin” and thereby help to char-
acterize thermal properties providing profiles of temperature
with depth versus time.
5.2 Temperature measurements
Figure 5 shows temperature profiles versus time over a
3 day period, with a noticeable 16◦ C daily full range varia-
tion on the free surface. Both maximum amplitude decrease
and time phase delays are clearly observable with depth. The
quasi-periodic regime considering the daily period of 24 hours
enables the penetration depth δ1d (m) and thermal diffusivity
a (m2 .s−1 ) to be easily estimated as:
δ1d ≈ 0.24 ± 0.2 m a ≈ 2.10−6 ± 0.3.10−6 m2 .s−1
These estimates, obtained with rather excellent determina-
tion, rely on the assumption of isotropic thermal properties of
the rock matrix. This set of values is slightly higher than those
commonly published (Berest et al., 1988) and calls for fur-
ther investigation and data analysis over different and longer
periods.
5.3 Strains and thermal effects
Figure 6 shows strains recorded on a deformation cell fixed
at a depth of 30 cm and departing from the reset value at an

Figure 6. Cell n◦ 4 station S3. Deformations recorded inside the
rock at a depth of 30 cm over a 10 day period. Convention as fol-
lows: positive change in deformation is elongation and negative is
shortening. The upper curve shows relative temperature changes.
Figure 7. Schematic view of an insulated permanent stress-
variation cell fixed close to the free surface for thermal impact
monitoring inside the rock mass.
arbitrary reference time t0 to facilitate scaling and reading.
One may notice that the maximum departing strain exceeds
−200 microdeformations (shortening) the eighth day.
One recalls that the CSIRO cells used for thermal stress
measurements are the same as those described in § 4. However,
in the case of stress monitoring over time, stress data inversion
comes up with stress variations in the local field around the
cell. Note that information on total stresses is neither required
nor directly available from such data alone.
Thus, according to Figure 6, if one considers thermal
induced strains during the period of eight days considered
here above, the results show that – at a depth of 30 cm and
for a thermal amplitude of about 6.5◦ C – stress variations
σ1 and σ2 are respectively found compressive and val-
ued at ∼ −2.9 MPa and ∼ −2.3 MPa, fully constrained in a
plane parallel to the free surface (Figure 7). σ3 is found ten-
sile and valued at ∼0.9 MPa. Although orientations of stress
variations are found to be in good agreement with what is
expected, the σ1/σ2 ratio may probably be explained by
isotropy assumption applied at this stage of preliminary inter-
pretation, due to the lack of field information yet related to
the very local orientation of transverse isotropy.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Considering the topography and fractured setting of the rock
slope, the in situ stresses found in the first 0–18 m range of
72
depth may be considered unexpectedly high and discontin-
uous, issuing the impact of such strong singularities in the
triggering mechanisms.
Temperature and induced 3D thermal field stresses can be
monitored with high precision inside the first meter below the
surface. Preliminary results show that induced stress varia-
tions are quite of the same order of amplitude as the in situ
stresses estimated in the first meters, where surface tempera-
ture has little influence. These results highlight the major role
of thermal stresses superimposing and governing the shallow
stress regime. It should be recalled that relatively dense frac-
turing precluded in situ stress measurements in the first meter
of depth (see § 4.1). This raises the question of the possible
thermal origin of these superficial fractures and their coa-
lescence through very localized disruptions, thus explaining
daily falling of small rock fragments. Also scaling with time
and depth such a physical process is clearly issued. Data anal-
ysis over longer time periods and other stress cells is currently
being undertaken and should be discussed in the near future.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks are extended to the French Ministry of Ecol-
ogy and Sustainable Development for financial support. All
authorizations and help from the Mercantour National Park
and “Electricité de France” are fully acknowledged.
K. Ben Slimane and D. Billaux are thanked for their helpful
reviews.
REFERENCES
Amadéi, B. 1983. Rock anisotropy and the theory of stress measure-
ments, Editions Brebbia, C.A. & Orszag, S.A., Springer-Verlag.
Berest, P., Weber, P. 1988. La thermomécanique des roches. Editions
BRGM, no. 16.
Gunzburger, Y., Merrien-Soukatchoff, V., Guglielmi, Y. 2005. Influ-
ence of daily surface temperature fluctuations on rock slope
stability: case study of the Rochers de Valabres slope (France).
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences,
vol. 42, no. 3, April 2005, pp. 331–349.
Lahaie, F., Bigarré, P., Al Heib, M., Josien, J.P., & Noirel, J.F. 2003.
Large-scale 3D characterization of in-situ stress field in a complex
mining district prone to rockbursting. Proc. of the 10th Inter-
national Congress on Rock Mechanics (ISRM,) 8–12 September
2003, pp. 689–694. Sandton, South Africa.
Liu, Y.Q., Li, H.B, Zhao, J., Li, J.R., Zhou, Q.C. 2004. UDEC simu-
lation for dynamic response of a rock slope subject to explosions.
Proc. of the International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences, vol. 41, no. 1, May 2004, pp. 599–604.
Vlcko, J., Jezny, M., Pagacova, Z. 2005. Thermal expansion effect
on slope deformation recordings at Spis Castle. Proc. of 15th
Conference on Engineering Geology, 6–9 April 2005. Erlangen,
Germany.
Watson, A.D., Moore, D.P., Stewart, T.W. 2004. Temperature influ-
ence on rock slope movements at Checkerboard Creek. In: Lacerda
et al. Editors. Landslides: evaluation and stabilization, Proc. Of
the 9th International Symposium on Landslides. London: Taylor &
Francis Group; 2004.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Numerical modeling of the flooding of abandoned iron mines in Lorraine (France):

Coupled hydromechanical approach

Dragan Grgic, Françoise Homand & Albert Giraud

LAEGO (INPL), Nancy-Université, France

RESUME: Des effondrements miniers se produisent actuellement en Lorraine (France) au-dessus d’anciennes exploitations
en chambres et piliers pendant la phase transitoire d’ennoyage. Puisque les roches sont exposées in situ à différentes conditions
hydriques (ventilation, ennoyage), nous avons réalisé des simulations numériques à 2D, dans le cadre des milieux poreux
continus et partiellement saturés, dans le but d’expliquer les mécanismes impliqués dans les effondrements miniers. Les
résultats de ces simulations numériques sont en bon accord avec les mesures in situ (convergence des galeries) obtenues dans
un site expérimental. Il en résulte que l’ennoyage de la mine induit la convergence des galeries du fait de la dilatation des roches.
Ce résultat est en bon accord avec nos précédents travaux qui ont montré que l’ennoyage peut être responsable de ruptures en
traction des roches du toit, ce qui pourrait expliquer certaines instabilités minières.

ABSTRACT: Mining collapses currently occur in Lorraine (France) above abandoned room-and-pillar iron mines during the
transient stage of mine flooding. Since the rocks are exposed in situ to various hydrous conditions (ventilation, flooding), we
have performed two-dimensional numerical simulations, within the framework of partially saturated and continuous porous
media, in order to explain the mechanisms involved in mining collapses. The results of these numerical simulations are in
good agreement with in situ measurements (gallery convergence) obtained from an experimental site. It results that the mine
flooding induces the convergence of the galleries due to the dilatation of the rocks. This result is in good agreement with our
previous works that have shown that the flooding may be responsible for the tensile failure of roof rocks, which can explain
some mining instabilities.

1 INTRODUCTION The complex geometry of these underground iron mines has

A partial extraction method for iron ore, known as the room
and pillar system, was used in Lorraine (France) under sen-
sitive zones with houses and surface infrastructures, from
the end of the 19th century until 1980. Some of these
safety pillars have been abandoned for one hundred years. In
these areas of partial extraction, many collapses phenomena
have occurred. Then, an important research program entitled
GISOS (research Group for the Impact and Safety of Under-
ground Works) was set up in order to explain the mechanisms
involved in these mine collapses.
The iron ore formation has a 60 meter maximal thickness
and, in the deepest mines, iron ore is recovered some 250
meters below ground level. The iron ore layers, 3–7 meters
thick, are separated by dirt bands (argillites, siltites and cal-
carenite). Iron ore is made of ferriferous ooliths cemented
by carbonates (calcite and siderite) and berthierine. The
carbonates content varies in iron ore which is, therefore, het-
erogeneous. The most common (ferriferous) facies of iron ore,
with low carbonates content, has been considered in this study.
Mining rocks are exposed in situ to a hydrous cycle.
Before mining, rocks are saturated under a water-table. Dur-
ing the mining, the ground water-table is lowered and the
mine drainage (dewatering) is pumped. Then, the ventilation
induces the drying of the mine where the relative humidity
varies from 85–90% in well ventilated areas with mining work-
ings, to 95–100% in abandoned zones. At the end of mining,
the mine drainage is not pumped anymore, inducing the water-
table rising and, therefore, the mine flooding. Some of the mine
collapses have occurred during this stage.
The modeling of the rock mass surrounding deep cavi-
ties in iron ore has been performed by Grgic et al. (2006).
been modeled thanks to two-dimensional numerical simula-
tions based on a poroplastic solution. The focus of this work
was to study the impact of the hydrous transfers in the mine
during ventilation (drying) and flooding on the mechanical
behavior, within the framework of the theory of partially satu-
rated and continuous porous media developed by Coussy and
co-authors (Coussy 1995, Dangla et al. 1999). It has been
shown that the final stage of resaturation generates tran-
sient tensile mean effective stresses at the roofs and floors
and, therefore, induces tensile failures. The hydro-mechanical
equilibrium in the medium tends to annihilate these transient
tensile values but the delay for the recovery of the initial state
(compressive values) is very long due to the low permeability
of the rocks. The complex geometry of the model (rectangu-
lar rooms and dissymmetry of the upper and lower boundaries
conditions) is also one of the key points of the instabilities.The
focus of this paper is to compare the results of two dimen-
sional numerical simulations to displacement measurements
obtained from an in situ experimental site, in which the flood-
ing of the mine has been simulated. This comparison is also
presented for the real mine flooding triggered two years after
the end of this in situ experiment.
2 PRESENTATION OF THE 2D MODEL
2.1 Theoretical framework
We consider that heat transfers are isothermal (the temperature
in the mine is constant around 13◦ C). The main equations of
the theory of partially saturated porous media, developed by
Coussy (1995), are presented in the following lines.

73
 The connected porosity is saturated by 2 fluids: water and
dry air (gas, subscript g). The 2 phases of water are present:
liquid (subscript l) and gas (vapor, subscript v). We assume
that the vapor and the dry air, both considered as perfect gases,
form a perfect mixture (subscript m). Phase change between
the liquid and its vapor is allowed. The system unknowns are
the skeleton displacement, liquid and gas mixture pressure.
The stress tensor can be decomposed in an effective stress
tensor and a pressure tensor:

With this concept in mind, the behavior equation of the stress

tensor can be expressed as a function of drained parameters
which do not depend on the fluid:

b Biot coefficient; λo and G Lamé coefficients, π equivalent

interstitial pressure.
The effective and total stress partition becomes: Figure 1. Model geometry and initial and boundaries conditions for
the 2D numerical simulations (ρ: material density; ρw : water density;
g: gravity; z: depth; k: initial stresses ratio).

Hence, for Sl = 1, the permeability to liquid is maximum. The

The generalized Darcy law and the Fick law, that describe Kelvin law for the phase change (liquid water-vapor):
the hydrous transport in partially saturated porous media, are
expressed with three physical parameters: liquid and gas per-
meabilities and Fick coefficient F. F depends on temperature,
gas pressure, porous medium tortuosity. It is unknown for iron Capillary pressure Pc is the difference between the gases
ore. The Fick law traduces the vapour diffusion in the gas mixture pressure and the liquid pressure:
mixture:

Liquid saturation depends only on Pc . The experimental

Mi mass flux; pi partial pressure; ρi density. adsorption curve has been fitted to an empirical law. We have
The generalized Darcy law is used to describe the conduc- chosen the Vachaud-Vauclin law:
tive transport of the liquid and the gas mixture in the porous
medium:

The diffusion equations have been solved by using the finite

λi hydraulic conductivity of the porous medium.
The diffusion equations of the two fluids (water and dry
air) are completely defined by the Fick diffusion law, the two
Darcy conductive equations and the two mass conservation
equations (Eq. 6) for water (liquid + vapour) and dry air:
mi mass supply.
The hydraulic coefficients, i.e. the hydraulic conductivities
of the porous medium to liquid and gas (mixture), depend on
intrinsic and relative permeabilities (µi dynamic viscosity; K
intrinsic permeability):
The following evolution laws have been used for the relative
permeabilities Kir :
element method. Details on the resolving methods of these
equations are given by Chavant et al. (2002). In addition,
finite elements have been used for spatial discretization and
implicit finite differences scheme for time discretization.
The two-dimensional numerical simulations presented in this
paper have been performed by using a finite element code
CODE_ASTER developed by EDF (Electricité De France).
This numerical code give the solution of a fully coupled prob-
lem in the framework of partially saturated porous media, and
take into account all non-linearities.
2.2 Model geometry, initial and boundaries conditions,
and parameters
The deep galleries in iron ore are rectangular and, therefore,
well adapted to two dimensional numerical simulations. Fig. 1
represents the geometry and the initial and boundaries con-
ditions of the model which corresponds to the in situ case.
One considers a three levels mining exploitation with rect-
angular cavities and well superposed pillars. The medium is
continuous and isotropic and the initial stresses are deviatoric.
For the modeled site, rocks are saturated before mining
workings under a 50 m water-table and the saturated area is

74
 Table 1. Coefficients values of the model.
Elastic and hydromechanical coefficients
Eo (MPa) 17400*; 23300**
νo 0.24*; 0.21**
b 0.9*; 0.8*
Hydraulic coefficients (Vachaud-Vauclin law)
a, b 1700, 1.09
Hydraulic conductivity coefficients
k (m2 ) 2.10−18 *; 10−18 **
a, b, c, d 35, 1.5, 3, 2.7

*iron ore **dirt bands.

covered by a 180 m overburden. The bottom level of the aquifer

is located at the basis of the model (i.e., 57 m below the lowest
gallery). The overburden is 200 m thick. The initial fields of
positive liquid pressure and stresses are created as a function Figure 2. Displacement sensor for the measure of the gallery
of depth. All the parameters of the model are presented in convergence in the in situ experimental site.
Table 1. In these simulations, the behavior has been assumed
to be elastic because we want to compare the displacements 0.15 DY (mm) Divergence +

within a continuous framework, i.e. without any fracture. 0.10

flooding of the
After the excavation, which is assumed to be instanta- 0.05 experimental site mine flooding

neous, the galleries are ventilated during 40 years (hr = 90%). 0.00 0
time (years)

The hydraulic conditions at the wall of the galleries corre- 39.0 40.0 41.0 42.0 43.0 44.0 45.0 46.0
-0.05
spond to fixed gaseous mixture pressure and liquid pres-
-0.10
sure which is related to the relative humidity hr through emptying of the
experimental site
the Kelvin law (Eq. 9). The imposed liquid pressure -0.15

at the wall of galleries during this ventilation is, for -0.20

hr = 90%: Pl (galleries) = Pm (galleries) − Pc (hr = 90%) = -0.25

Patm − 13.9 MPa = − 13.8 MPa. -0.30

Hydrous loadings have been applied progressively for the -0.35

mean measure in the experimenal site

experimental site flooding and for the mine flooding; indeed
the imposed hydrous condition at the roof is shifted compared
to the ones imposed at the wall and at the floor. For the site
flooding, the floor is saturated rapidly (∼3 days) whereas the
wall (pillar) and the roof are saturated progressively (∼10
days) as the relative humidity increases in the experimental
site. For the site emptying, the floor remains saturated (only
the positive liquid pressure decreases) whereas the roof and
the pillar are desaturated progressively (∼10 days) as the rel-
ative humidity decreases. Hydrous loadings have also been
applied progressively for the real mine flooding in order to
simulate the progressive rising of the water-table, according
to hydrogeological data.
2.3 Presentation of the in situ experimental site
In order to explain mechanisms involved in mine collapses,
different kinds of experiments have been developed within the
GISOS research program and set up in an in situ installation
(Fig. 2). This experimental site is located in a zone with safety
pillars where three levels have been exploited. The experimen-
tal site has been installed in the lower level: two central pillars
have been isolated from the others with ten dams supported by
ten peripheric pillars. This experimental site has been filled
up with a 6 m water-table above the floor in order to simulate
the mine flooding, and emptied after one year and 3 months.
During the water removal (50 days), the water is replaced by
air with 90% relative humidity. During one year and a half, the
displacements (convergence in the galleries) generated within
this experiment have been monitored.
Two years later (November 30th 2005), the end of min-
ing workings caused the real flooding of the mine since
mine drainage is not pumped anymore. The displacements
-0.40
numerical simulation
Convergence -
Figure 3. Convergence of the lower gallery: numerical results and
in situ measurements.
induced by this real mine flooding have also been monitored.
In January 2007, the water-table was situated 50 m above the
lower gallery.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Comparison numerical simulations-in situ experiment
Figure 3 shows the evolution of the convergence in the lower
gallery during the flooding of the experimental site and dur-
ing the flooding of the mine. The in situ experimentation has
started after 40 years of ventilation (hr = 90%).
Figure 4 represent banded contours of the liquid saturation
just before the real mine flooding, and after 1 month, 6 months
and 2 years. The resaturation front evolves progressively in
the model with the water-table rising and the medium is still
unsaturated even after 2 years due to the low permeabilities
of the rocks. Note that these results have to be considered
carefully because the intrinsic permeability in the Darcy law
(Eq. 5) does not take into account the large fractures observed
in situ at the roofs of galleries.
3.2 Discussion
The numerical displacements in the lower gallery are in good
agreement with the measures of convergence in the exper-
imental gallery (Fig. 3). The flooding of the experimental
site induces a transient convergence of the gallery due to the

75

Figure 4. Banded contours of the liquid saturation before, 1 month,
6 months and 2 years after the mine flooding.
dilatation of the rocks at the floor which are firstly saturated
by water. This dilatation is caused by the decrease in the equiv-
alent interstitial pressure π (Eq. 3) which induces a decrease
in the effective mean stress. After this transient convergence,
the progressive saturation of the pillar and the roof induces the
divergence of the gallery due mainly to the vertical expansion
of the pillar. At the site emptying, the floor remains saturated
and still goes up due to its progressive expansion whereas the
ventilation induces the contraction of the roof and the pillar.
The result is a new rapid convergence of the gallery. Obviously,
the initial state (before the site flooding) will be recovered after
a long delay in both numerical and in situ experiments.
The same evolutions are observed during the real flooding
of the mine, highlighting the reversibility of the phenomenon.
Indeed, the contraction and the dilatation of the rocks, due
to the variation of the effective stresses, are reversible if no
plasticity or failure is produced (i.e. if the behavior is still
elastic). In January 2007, i.e. one year after the beginning of
the mine flooding, while the water-table is situated 50 m above
the lower gallery, the rocks are far from being saturated (Fig. 4)
because of the low permeabilities of the rocks that induce an
important delay for the resaturation process governed by the
diffusion equations (Eqs. 4–6).
Grgic et al. (2006) have shown that during the progres-
sive resaturation (with positive liquid pressures at the walls,
floors and roofs) of the rocks, the variation of the mean effec-
tive stress is important and transient positive values, which
induce tensile failures, are obtained at the roofs and at the walls
because of the complex geometry of these excavations. Even
though the hydro-mechanical equilibrium in the medium tends
to annihilate these transient tensile values, the reversibility
is very long because of the important delay of the resatura-
tion process governed by the diffusion equations, inducing
an important hysteresis in the hydromechanical cycle. The
instabilities appear during the transient stage of resaturation
if the variation of π (Eq. 3) is important. This conclusion is in
76
good agreement with the convergence of the gallery observed
in both numerical simulations and in situ measurements dur-
ing a large scale experiment and during the real flooding of
the mine.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In order to study the impact on the mechanical behavior
of the hydrous transfers in deep iron mines during ventila-
tion and flooding, bi-dimensional numerical simulations have
been performed within the framework of partially saturated
and continuous porous media. These numerical simulations
are compared to in situ measurements (gallery convergence)
obtained from an experimental site, in which the flooding of
the mine has firstly been simulated and, two years later, at the
end of mining workings, really triggered.
The resaturation induces, in both flooding simulation and
real mine flooding, an important transient convergence of the
gallery and, afterwards, a divergence that increases until the
fluids pressures are equilibrated between the lower gallery and
the bottom level of the aquifer. These results are in good agree-
ment with previous results obtained by Grgic et al. (2006).
Indeed, the water saturation induces an important decrease
in the equivalent interstitial pressure π and, therefore, the
decrease in the mean effective stress. This decrease induces the
dilatation of the rocks and, because of the complex geometry of
these excavations (Grgic et al. 2006), transient positive values
of the mean effective stress are obtained at the roofs, inducing
thus tensile failures. Therefore, the instabilities in under-
ground iron mines could be explained by the mine flooding
within the framework of partially saturated porous media.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
These researches have been carried out thanks to subsidies
from the Ministries for Industry and Research and the Lorraine
Region within the GISOS (www.gisos.org) framework. The
authors express their gratitude to these organizations.
REFERENCES
Coussy, O. 1995. Mechanics of porous continua. Ed. Wiley.
Dangla, P., Coussy, O., Olchitzky, E. and Imbert, C. 1999.A microme-
chanical approach to the behaviour of unsaturated porous media. In
Symposium on Theoretical and Numerical Methods in Continuum
Mechanics of Porous Materials, IUTAM, Stuttgart.
Grgic, D., Homand, F. and Giraud, A. 2006. Modelling of the drying
and flooding of underground iron mines in Lorraine (France). Int.
J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 43, 388–407.
Chavant, C., Granet, S. and Le Boulch, D. 2002. Modelling of a
nuclear waste disposal: numerical and practical aspects. In Biot
Conference on Poromechanics II, Thimus et al. (eds). Balkema:
Rotterdam, 2002.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Planung des Neckardükers Sirnau in Esslingen

Planning of the Neckar undercrossing Sirnau in Esslingen

U. Heinemann
Stadt Esslingen am Neckar, Tiefbauamt

M. Tegelkamp
WBI Prof. Dr.-Ing. W. Wittke Beratende Ingenieure für Grundbau und Felsbau GmbH

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Zur Ableitung von Regenwasser aus dem Gewerbegebiet Esslingen-Sirnau in den Neckar unter-
halb der Staustufe Oberesslingen ist der Bau einer neuen Rohrleitung geplant. Diese verläuft zunächst als oberflächennaher
Freispiegelkanal DN 2000 parallel zum Neckar, wobei auf einer Länge von ca. 40 m ein Straßendamm in geschlossener Bauweise
zu unterfahren ist. Der Querschnitt des hierfür vorgesehenen Rohrvortriebs liegt z. T. im Auelehm und z. T. im grundwasser-
führenden, hoch durchlässigen Neckarkies. Im Anschluss ist der Regenwasserkanal als tiefliegende Dükerleitung DN 1800
im Fels der Stubensandsteinformation aufzufahren, da ein neckarparallel verlaufender Schifffahrtskanal und die vierspurige
B 10 unterquert werden müssen. Hierfür ist ein ca. 190 m langen Rohrvortrieb im Fels unterhalb des Grundwasserspiegels
vorgesehen. Bei den beiden Rohrvortrieben sowie beim Verbau und der Sicherung der für die Vortriebe und die Schachtbauw-
erke erforderlichen Baugruben ergeben sich unter den vorliegenden Randbedingungen besondere Anforderungen, die bei der
Planung und der Ausführung zu beachten sind.

ABSTRACT: To discharge rainwater from the commercial area in Esslingen-Sirnau into the river Neckar downstream of the
weir Oberesslingen it is planned to construct a new sewer. Along its first section the sewer runs parallel to the river close to the
surface with an inner diameter of 2000 mm. Along the second 40 m long section the sewer runs underneath a road embankment.
Here the pipe jacking method will be applied partly in alluvial clay and partly in groundwater bearing high permeable gravel.
Subsequently the sewer undercrosses in a deeper position a shipping canal and a four-lane federal highway as a siphon. The
pipes in this area have an inner diameter of 1800 mm and are located in the sandstones and siltstones of the “Stubensandstein”
formation. Again the pipe jacking method will be applied along this approx. 190 m long section. Due to the difficult ground
conditions high demands arise which have to be considered during planning and construction.

Das zur Stadt Esslingen gehörende Gewerbegebiet Sirnau

befindet sich südlich des Neckars in der Nähe der Staustufe
Oberesslingen (Bild 1). Das Gelände bzw. die Kanäle liegen
dort so tief, dass eine Einleitung des Regenwassers aus dem
Gewerbegebiet in das Oberwasser des Neckars nicht möglich
ist. Die Einleitung muss aus diesem Grunde auf der Unter-
wasserseite der Staustufe erfolgen. Da jedoch oberstrom
der Staustufe ein Schifffahrtskanal auf Oberwasserniveau
vom Neckar abzweigt, ist die durchgehende Verlegung eines
Kanals im Freispiegelgefälle zum Unterwasser des Neckars
von der Südseite aus nicht möglich.
Derzeit wird das Regenwasser aus dem Gewerbegebiet
Sirnau über eine Rohrleitung mit 50 cm Durchmesser abge-
führt, die den Neckar oberhalb der Staustufe unterquert.
Diese Leitung verläuft im Anschluss am Nordufer parallel
zum Fluss und mündet unterhalb der Staustufe in das Unter- Bild 1. Übersichtslageplan.
wasser ein. Im Zusammenhang mit der geplanten Erweiterung
des Gewerbegebietes wird zukünftig eine deutlich größere BAUABSCHNITTE UND BAUGRUNDVERHÄLTNISSE
Leitung erforderlich. Diese wird ausgehend vom bestehenden
Regenklärbecken RKB 1 zunächst als Freispiegelkanal paral- Da im Jahre 2004 der B 10-Anschluss Sirnau umgebaut wurde,
lel zum Südufer des Schifffahrtskanals geführt. Anschließend wurde ein ca. 280 m langer Abschnitt des Freispiegelkanals
wird die Rohrleitung zur Unterquerung der 4spurigen B 10 bereits im Rahmen einer vorgezogenen Maßnahme ausge-
und des Schiffahrtskanals um ca. 5 m tiefergelegt. Die Unter- führt. Dieser verläuft parallel zur B 10 bzw. zum Neckar.
querung des Kanals in Tieflage macht die Ausführung als Die oberflächennah liegenden Stahlbetonrohre mit einem
Düker erforderlich (Bild 1). Durchmesser DN 2000 wurden in offener Bauweise verlegt

77
Bild 2. Lageplan Freispiegelkanal.
Bild 3. Längsschnitt Freispiegelkanal (5fach überhöht).
(Bild 2). Die Rohre liegen im stark wasserdurchlässigen soge-
nannten Neckarkies, der von bindigen Auelehmen überdeckt
wird (Bild 3). Da der Grundwasserspiegel im Niveau der
Kanalrohre ansteht und die zulässigen Grundwasserentnah-
men durch behördliche Auflagen begrenzt sind, wurde die
Kanalbaugrube abschnittsweise eingespundet. Die Spund-
bohlen wurden bis in die Verwitterungszone der unter den
Neckarkiesen anstehenden Stubensandsteinformation einger-
ammt.
Der noch auszuführende Abschnitt des Freispiegelkanals
(Bild 2) unterquert auf ca. 40 m Länge den Straßendamm “Sir-
nauer Brücke”. Die Scheitelüberdeckung der Rohre beträgt
hier ca. 6,5 m. Wegen der hohen verkehrlichen Belastung der
Straße wurde im Vorfeld eine offene Bauweise in diesem
Bereich ausgeschieden. Es ist daher ein Rohrvortrieb vorge-
sehen, wobei der Querschnitt teilweise im Auelehm und
teilweise im grundwasserführenden Neckarkies liegt. Start-
und Zielschacht sollen als Spundwandbaugruben ausgeführt
werden (Bild 3).
Die Dükerleitung, für die ein Durchmesser DN 1800
erforderlich ist, beginnt am schachtförmigen Einlaufbauwerk
(Bild 4). Hier wird der Höhenunterschied von ca. 5 m zwis-
chen dem Freispiegelkanal und der tiefliegenden Dükerleitung
überwunden. Die Rohrleitung unterquert dann zunächst die
4spurige B 10 und danach den mit Spundwänden eingefassten
Neckar-Schifffahrtskanal (Bild 5). DerAbstand zwischen dem
Rohrscheitel und der Kanalsohle beträgt ca. 4–5 m. Nach der
Unterquerung des Kanals steigt die Dükerleitung zum Neckar
hin an. Dieses steigende Auslaufrohr mündet in der Ufer-
zone in ein Auslaufbauwerk ein. Am Dükertiefpunkt ist ein
Schachtbauwerk geplant, über das die Rohre im Bedarfsfall
entleert und begangen werden können.
78
Bild 4. Lageplan Dükerleitung.
Bild 5. Längsschnitt Dükerleitung (5fach überhöht).
Das tiefliegende Dükerrohr verläuft durchgehend im Fels
der Stubensandsteinformation (Bild 5). Hierfür ist auf ca.
190 m Länge ein Rohrvortrieb vorgesehen. Als Start- und
Zielschächte dienen die Baugruben für das Einlauf- und
das Entleerungsbauwerk. Das Auslaufrohr, das aus dem Fels
in den überlagernden Neckarkies aufsteigt, wird in offener
Bauweise hergestellt.
Wie die Längsschnitte (Bilder 3 und 5) zeigen, ist bei der
Baumaßnahme zwischen den Lockergesteinsdeckschichten
und dem darunter anstehenden Fels zu unterscheiden. Die
Deckschichten bestehen abgesehen von den inhomogenen,
meist gemischtkörnigen Auffüllungen in den Dammbereichen
zuoberst aus Auelehmen und darunter aus Neckarkiesen. Für
diese beiden Schichten sind im Bild 6 jeweils die Bandbreiten
der Kornverteilungen dargestellt. Bei den Auelehmen handelt
es sich um Schluff-Sand-Gemische, in die zumTeil Kieskörner
schwimmend eingelagert sind. Die Neckarkiese sind dage-
gen grobkörnig. Sie bestehen überwiegend aus Mittel- und
Grobkiesen mit einzelnen Steinen. In meist nur geringen
Anteilen sind Feinkies und Sand enthalten. Die Schluff-
beimengungen sind in der Regel sehr gering. Demzufolge ist
die Wasserdurchlässigkeit der Neckarkiese mit kf -Werten von
10−2 bis 10−3 m/s relativ hoch.
Der Felsuntergrund besteht aus der Stubensandsteinfor-
mation, einer horizontal geschichteten und näherungsweise
vertikal geklüfteten Wechsellagerung aus Sandsteinen und
Schluffsteinen (Bild 7). Die an Gesteinsproben aus den Erkun-
dungsbohrungen ermittelten einaxialen Druckfestigkeiten
betragen bis zu 25 MPa. Erfahrungsgemäß treten vereinzelt
aber auch höhere Festigkeiten auf, die Werte zwischen 50
und 100 MPa erreichen können. Zur Verdeutlichung sind im
Bild 6. Kornverteilungen Auelehm und Neckarkies.
Bild 7. Stubensandstein, Gefügemodell und Gesteinsfestigkeit.
Bild 7 ergänzend die Ergebnisse von Druckversuchen an
Sandstein- und Schluffsteinproben aus der Stubensandstein-
formation an anderer Stelle im Stuttgarter Raum dargestellt.
Diese Versuche wurden im Rahmen der Erkundungen für
das Bahnprojekt Stuttgart 21 durchgeführt. Die Trennflächen
dürften im Stubensandstein meist nur geringe Öffnungsweiten
besitzen. Der mittlere Wasserdurchlässigkeitsbeiwert des Fel-
suntergrundes wurde in den hydraulischen Bohrlochtests in
einer Größenordnung von 10−5 m/s bestimmt. Es kann jedoch
nicht ausgeschlossen werden, dass lokal einzelne Wasser-
wegigkeiten mit höherer Durchlässigkeit und Verbindung zum
Neckarkies bestehen.
SCHACHT- UND SONDERBAUWERKE
Am Anfang der Dükerleitung wird das Einlaufbauwerk
hergestellt. Es handelt sich um ein Schachtbauwerk, in das
oberflächennah der Freispiegelkanal DN 2000 einmündet
(Bild 8). Der Einlauf in die ca. 5 m tiefer liegende Dükerleitung
DN 1800 erfolgt über einen hydraulisch günstig ausgerunde-
ten Rohrkanal. Innerhalb des Einlaufbauwerkes wird auch der
Richtungswechsel des Regenwasserkanals um 90◦ vorgenom-
men. Die ca. 10 m tiefe Baugrube für das Einlaufbauw-
erk dient gleichzeitig als Startschacht für den Rohrvortrieb
im Stubensandstein. Die Baugrube soll im oberen Teil mit
einem rahmenartig ausgesteiften, gering wasserdurchlässi-
gen Spundwandverbau gesichert werden. Hierdurch sollen
Grundwasserabsenkungen im Neckarkies vermieden wer-
den. Der untere Teil des Startschachtes liegt im Fels. Hier
ist als Baugrubensicherung eine dränierte Spritzbetonschale
mit Felsnägeln vorgesehen. Zur Aufnahme der Pressenkräfte
79
Bild 8. Schnitt durch das Einlaufbauwerk.
Bild 9. Schnitt durch das Entleerungsbauwerk.
beim Rohrvortrieb wird ein Pressenwiderlager aus Stahlbeton
angeordnet. Weiterhin ist eine Anfahrdichtung vorzusehen.
Am Ende der Rohrvortriebsstrecke für die Dükerleitung
wird ein weiteres Schachtbauwerk angeordnet Bild 9). Dieses
ca. 12,5 m tief reichende Bauwerk ermöglicht über eine
Pumpenanlage die Entleerung der gesamten Dükerleitung und
den seitlichen Einstieg in die Leitung zu Wartungszwecken.
Das Entleerungsbauwerk dient außerdem zur Aufnahme von
zwei Schiebern, mit denen die Leitung vollständig abgesperrt
werden kann.
Diese Absperrung ist für den Fall eines hundert- bzw. zwei-
hundertjährigen Neckarhochwassers erforderlich. Es wird
damit verhindert, dass Neckarwasser über die Dükerleitung
bis in die Freispiegelleitung bzw. das Regenklärbecken ein-
dringt. Die Baugrube für das Entleerungsbauwerk ist gle-
ichzeitig Zielschacht für den Rohrvortrieb. Der Baugruben-
verbau soll wie beim Startschacht im Bereich des Lock-
ergesteins aus Spundwänden und im Bereich des Stubensand-
steins aus Spritzbeton und Felsnägeln bestehen.
Das Auslaufbauwerk (Bild 10), über das im Betriebszus-
tand das Regenwasser in den Neckar eingeleitet wird, wird
in die bestehende, mit Zyklopenmauerwerk befestigte Ufer-
zone integriert. Die Schwelle am Ende des Auslaufrohres liegt
ca. 40 cm oberhalb des Mittelwasserspiegels des Neckars.
Um Erosionsschäden bei der Einleitung des Regenwassers
in den Neckar zu vermeiden, ist das Auslaufbauwerk als
Tosbecken mit seitlichen Flügelwänden ausgebildet. Für den
Fall von Wartungsarbeiten im Düker kann das Auslaufrohr
vorübergehend mit Dammbalken verschlossen werden. Das
Auslaufbauwerk wird im Niveau der Felsoberkante gegründet.
 Bild 12. Schnitt durch die Baugrube für das Auslaufbauwerk.
Bild 10. Schnitt durch das Auslaufbauwerk.

Bild 13. Grundriss der Baugrube für das Entleerungsbauwerk.

Bild 11. Grundriss der Baugrube für das Auslaufbauwerk.

Die Gründungssohle liegt damit wenige Dezimeter unterhalb

der Neckarsohle.

BAUGRUBEN

Aus der Lage der Baugruben für das Auslaufbauwerk, das

Auslaufrohr und das Entleerungsbauwerk in der grundsät-
zlich hochwassergefährdeten Uferzone des Neckars ergeben
sich besondere Anforderungen bei der Ausführung. So soll
zunächst in einer ersten Bauphase dasAuslaufbauwerk in einer
Baugrube hergestellt werden, die wasserseitig durch einen
Fangedamm abgeschottet ist (Bilder 11 und 12).
Die Krone dieser Baugrubenumschließung soll ca. 2 m
oberhalb des normalen Neckarwasserstandes liegen. Damit ist
in dieser Bauphase ein begrenzter Hochwasserschutz gegeben.
Im Falle eines 200jährigen Hochwasserereignisses steigt
der Wasserspiegel im Neckar allerdings bis auf fast 4 m über
die Fangedammkrone an. Eine Absicherung der Baugrube
gegen ein derartiges Extremhochwasser wird wirtschaftlich
nicht für vertretbar gehalten. Für einen solchen Fall wird daher
das Risiko einer vorübergehenden Flutung der Baugrube in
Kauf genommen.
Nach der Fertigstellung des Auslaufbauwerks ein-
schließlich der angrenzenden Ufersicherung soll in einer
zweiten Bauphase die Baugrube für das Entleerungsbauw-
erk und das Auslaufrohr hergestellt werden (Bilder 13 und
14). Diese Baugrube ist gleichzeitig Zielschacht für den
Rohrvortrieb. Die Baugrube soll im Lockergestein mit einem
quasi wasserundurchlässigen, ausgesteiften Spundwandver-
bau gesichert werden. Der untere Teil der Baugrube liegt
Bild 14. Schnitt durch die Baugrube für das Entleerungsbauwerk.
im Stubensandstein. Hier ist eine Sicherung mit bewehrtem
Spritzbeton und Felsnägeln vorgesehen.
Das neckarseitige Ende der Baugrube schließt sich an
das in der ersten Bauphase fertiggestellte Auslaufbauwerk
an. Dieses wird bis zum Abschluss der Baumaßnahme mit
Dammbalken verschlossen. Es ergibt sich damit auch für die
zweite Bauphase nur ein begrenzter Hochwasserschutz, der
ca. 3 m über dem normalen Wasserstand des Neckars am
Auslaufbauwerk liegt.
ROHRVORTRIEBE
Neben den tiefen Baugruben sind beim Projekt Neckardüker
Sirnau die Rohrvortriebsarbeiten von besonderer Bedeutung.
Die Dükerleitung mit einem Innendurchmesser von 1.800 mm
liegt wie im Bild 5 dargestellt vollständig im Fels der
Stubensandsteinformation. Der Grundwasserspiegel steht im

80
Bild 15. Maschinenkonzept für den Rohrvortrieb im Stuben-
sandstein.
Neckarkies oberhalb des Stubensandsteins an. Weiterhin ist
der Schifffahrtskanal zu unterfahren, wobei der Kanalwasser-
spiegel ca. 8–9 m oberhalb des Rohrscheitels liegt. Für den
Rohrvortrieb ist daher eine Maschine vorzusehen, mit der
zum einen die anstehenden Sand- und Schluffsteine – auch in
verwitterter Form – gelöst werden können und zum anderen
die anstehenden Wasserdrücke auch im Falle lokaler größerer
Wasserwegigkeiten sicher beherrscht werden.
Nach dem Planungskonzept ist eine geschlossene Schild-
maschine mit einem Felsbohrkopf und Nassförderung, d.
h. ein sogenannter Slurry-Schild vorgesehen. Die Bentonit-
Suspension in der Abbaukammer übernimmt dabei einer-
seits die Stützfunktion gegen den Erd- und Wasserdruck
und dient andererseits als Fördermedium für den Abtrans-
port des gelösten und zerkleinerten Gesteins. Die Trennung
von Suspension und Boden bzw. Gestein erfolgt in einer
Separieranlage am Startschacht.
Für eine eventuelle Hindernisbeseitigung oder den
Werkzeugwechsel am Bohrkopf soll die Arbeitskammer bege-
hbar sein. Im Hinblick auf die anstehenden Wasserdrücke soll
der Schildbereich daher mit Druckluft beaufschlagbar sein.
Das Bild 15 zeigt im Längsschnitt das Konzept einer Vor-
triebsmaschine, die den genannten Anforderungen entspricht.
Es ist beispielhaft eine AVN-Maschine der Fa. Herrenknecht
dargestellt.
Der Rohrvortrieb unter dem Straßendamm liegt im Lock-
ergestein (vgl. Bild 3). Es ist davon auszugehen, dass sich
näherungsweise die obere Querschnittshälfte im Auelehm
und die untere im Neckarkies befindet. Der Grundwasser-
spiegel liegt innerhalb der hochdurchlässigen Neckarkiese.
Er ist etwa in halber Rohrhöhe anzunehmen. Eine Absenkung
81
Bild 16. Maschinenkonzept für den Rohrvortrieb im Lockergestein
(EPB).
des Grundwasserspiegels soll nicht vorgenommen werden, da
damit die Entnahme großer, nicht genehmigter Grundwasser-
mengen verbunden wäre.
Es ist daher vorgesehen, trotz der vergleichsweise kurzen
Vortriebslänge von ca. 40 m eine geschlossene Maschine
einzusetzen, mit der eine Grundwasserabsenkung vermieden
und die Ortsbrust gestützt wird. Grundsätzlich kommen
hierfür Slurry-Schilde oder Erddruckschilde (EPB) in Frage.
Obwohl der Neckarkies im Gegensatz zum Auelehm nicht
unbedingt den idealen Einsatzbereich eines Erddruckschildes
darstellt, dürfte im vorliegenden Fall der Einsatz einer
EPB – Vortriebsmaschine grundsätzlich möglich sein. Die
Abförderung des Ausbruchmaterials könnte dann über einen
Schneckenförderer und Kübel erfolgen. Das Bild 16 zeigt
beispielhaft das Konzept eines EPB-Schildes der Firma Her-
renknecht, wie er in ähnlicher Form bei der Unterfahrung des
Straßendammes zur Anwendung kommen könnte.
STAND DES PROJEKTES UND AUSBLICK
Für den noch auszuführenden Teil des Projektes Neckardüker
Sirnau werden gegenwärtig die Ausschreibungsunterlagen
zusammengestellt. Aufgrund der besonderen Anforderun-
gen, insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit den Rohrvor-
triebsarbeiten, wird eine Beschränkte Ausschreibung nach
Öffentlichem Teilnahmewettbewerb durchgeführt. Die Veröf-
fentlichung und die Ausgabe der Bewerbungsunterlagen
erfolgt im April 2006. Mit der Bauausführung, die im Som-
mer 2007 abgeschlossen werden soll, soll im Herbst 2006
begonnen werden.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Rationalization of the impoundment of arsenic-rich muck utilizing adsorption of silty soil

Toshifumi Igarashi
Division of Field Eng. for Environment, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University

Harue Imagawa
Technology Development Center, Nippon Mining & Metal Co., Ltd.

Kuniomi Asakura & Katsuhiko Kaneko

Division of Field Eng. for Environment, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University

ABSTRACT: The reasonable impoundment of the muck with arsenic (As) is required when tunnel or dam is constructed
in hydrothermally altered areas. Consecutive batch leaching experiments from muck with As and subsequent adsorption
experiments by silty soils were carried out to evaluate the fate of As. The results of the leaching and adsorption experiments
showed that the As concentration leached from the muck decreased with the number of extractions, and that the leached As was
adsorbed by silty soils in accordance with a Henry type-adsorption isotherm. This indicates that utilizing silty soil as a bottom
layer for adsorption is effective as a barrier against As leaching from As-rich muck.

1 INTRODUCTION

Hokkaido, in the north of Japan, has many active volcanoes,

hot springs, and closed mines, implying that hydrothermally
altered rock is widely distributed throughout Hokkaido. The
arsenic (As) content of altered rock is known to be higher
than that of unaltered rock1) , and it may induce higher As
concentration in seepages through altered rock formations. In
particular, the leachate through impoundment of altered rock
excavated during tunnel or dam construction, called muck,
often displays noticeably elevated As concentrations because
the geochemical conditions of the rock are changed from
anoxic to oxic and because the specific surface area of exca-
vated rock is dramatically higher than that of the intact rock,
causing an enhancement in the mobility of As2)3) .
Since Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law was
enforced in 2003, the disposal of As-rich muck has been a
major concern in Japan. Public Works Research Institute4)
details the procedures for treating the hazardous muck in
accordance with the law. The replacement of the polluted soils
with unpolluted ones, the complete treatment of the polluted
soils, or the use of impermeable layers such as a duplicate
geomembrane or clay liner so as to enclose the polluted soils
have been strongly recommended. However, the rational dis-
posal of a high-volume, low-concentration waste like As-rich
muck is imminently required. Geological Survey of Japan5)
published geochemical maps that depict the spatial distribu-
tion of various heavy metals in Japan. Based on the map, it is
apparent that As-rich rock is ubiquitously distributed around
active volcanoes throughout Japan.
The As is also highly adsorbed by soils in comparison to the
other major anions. This As adsorption leads to a reduction
in the liquid-phase concentration by partitioning the leached
As into solid and liquid phases. Installation of an adsorption
layer underneath the muck might reduce the As concentration
outside the disposal site. Silty soils are promising from the
standpoint of hydrogeology and geochemistry.
Figure 1. Illustration of As-rich muck disposal.
Figure 1 illustrates one of the alternatives to rational muck
disposal. However, the As leaching from muck and subse-
quent migration through the bottom silty soil have never been
examined. The objective of the present research is to propose
a new method for reasonably safe disposal of As-rich muck
by utilizing bottom silty soils with adsorption.
2 EXPERIMENTS
2.1 Samples used
Three hydrothermally altered igneous rock samples, K1, K2,
and K3, and three sedimentary rock samples, Y1, Y2, and N1,
were provided for leaching experiments. The altered igneous
rock samples are tuff, theY1 is mudstone, theY2 is sandstone,
and N1 is hydrothermally altered slate. All of the samples
were collected in Hokkaido. The samples were crushed after
air-dried for the experiments.
Two silty soil samples, Ks and Ns, were collected and used
as As adsorbents. The Ks was sampled near the K-series
rock sampling site whereas the Ns was sampled near the N1
sampling site.
The mineralogical properties of the rock and soil samples
determined by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) are shown in
Table 1. Pyrite (FeS2 ) that is predicted to be closely related
to As leaching is detected in the K1, K2, and Y1 samples.

83
Table 1. Identified minerals in samples used. 50

Samples Identified minerals K1

40 K2
K1 Quartz, Feldspar, Chlorite, Muscovite, Pyrite K3
K2 Quartz, Feldspar, Chlorite, Pyrite Y1

As (µ g/L)
30
K3 Quartz, Feldspar, Calcite, Muscovite, Chlorite Y2
Y1 Quartz, Feldspar, Calcite, Chlorite, N1
Muscovite, Montmorillonte, Pyrite 20
Y2 Quartz, Feldspar, Calcite, Chlorite
N1 Quartz, Feldspar, Chlorite, Muscovite, Calcite, Kaolinite
Ks Quartz 10
Ns Quartz, Feldspar, Muscovite
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Table 2. Chemical properties of rock samples. Number of extraction

K1 K2 K3 Y1 Y2 N1 Figure 2. As concentration change with extraction.

SiO2 (wt.%) 55.2 54.3 49.9 72.6 39.6 43.0 10

TiO2 (wt.%) 1.12 0.92 1.19 0.59 0.96 0.41
Al2 O3 (wt.%) 18.2 17.6 19.2 14.5 10.9 12.1
Fe2 O3 (wt.%) 7.84 7.45 6.96 1.32 5.23 5.43 9
MgO (wt.%) 2.42 6.15 9.41 1.98 1.76 2.85
CaO (wt.%) 0.8 1.87 6.65 2.54 20.9 1.59
Na2 O (wt.%) 1.17 4.96 0.22 0.26 2.19 0.50 pH 8
K2 O (wt.%) 8.75 2.15 3.55 2.38 1.49 3.02
K1
S (wt.%) 0.53 0.32 0.17 0.65 0.041 0.27 7 K2
As (mg/kg) 265 611 14.3 8.7 5.3 10.5
K3
6 Y1
Y2
The chemical composition of the rock samples determined N1
by X-ray florescence analysis (XRF) is presented in Table 2. 5
0 2 4 6 8 10
The As content of igneous rock samples ranged from 14 to
Number of extraction
611 mg/kg whereas that of sedimentary rock samples from 5
to 11 mg/kg. The sulfur content of the rock ranged from 0.3 Figure 3. pH change with extraction.
to 0.7 wt% when pyrite was detected, and was less than 0.3%
when pyrite was not identified.
leachate was obtained by the first leaching experiment from
the crushed rock sample. The solid-liquid ratio ranged from
2.2 Consecutive leaching experiments 0.005 to 100 g/L. After mixing, the leachate was separated
The leaching of As from crushed rock samples was conducted with a 0.45 µm membrane filter to analyze As. The amount of
in batch tests. Fifteen grams of crushed-rock samples and As adsorbed on the soil was calculated based on the difference
150 mL of deionized water were mixed in a 200-mL Erlen- between the initial As concentration and the equilibrium As
meyer flask at room temperature. The flask was agitated at concentration.
approximately 120 rpm in a reciprocal shaker. After 1 day mix-
ing, the leachate was filtered with a 0.45 µm membrane filter.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The filtrate was provided for the analysis of As and other coex-
isting ions, such as Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe, Al, Mn, Si, SO2−4 , and 3.1 Consecutive leaching experiments
HCO− 3 . Hydride generation ICP-AES or ICP-MS was used
in the analysis of As. Titration with sulfuric acid solution for Figure 2 presents the As concentration in the leachate versus
alkalinity measurements and ion chromatograph or ICP-AES the number of extractions. The As concentration decreased
for SO2− with the number of extractions, irrespective of the sample
4 analysis were applied. ICP-AES was used in the used. This trend was observed both for igneous rocks and
analysis of the other constituents.
The residue of the crushed rock sample after extracting the sedimentary rocks. In particular, the decrease in As concen-
leachate was provided for subsequent leaching experiments tration was more noticeable when the initial As concentration
by adding deionized water, mixing, and filtering. The con- in the leachate was higher. This means that the As leaching
secutive batch experiments continued for 5 to 10 cycles. No from crushed rock samples decreased with time. The pH of
tight cap was installed on the flask to maintain oxic condition the leachates ranged from 7.5 to 8.5, and was nearly constant,
throughout the experiment. independent of the number of extractions as shown in Figure 3.
The SO2−4 concentration in the leachate versus the number
of extractions is shown in Figure 4. The SO2− 4 concentra-
2.3 Batch adsorption experiments
tion decreased dramatically at first, and then gradually. The
A silty soil sample, Ks or Ns, was added to the leachate from decrease in concentration with the number of extractions was
crushed rock samples and mixed for 1 day to understand observed for Mg, Na, Fe, Al, and Si. The Ca concentration
the As partitioning between the solid and liquid phase. The in the leachate versus the number of extractions is presented

84
 25 Table 3. Input parameters.
K1 Parameters Input values
20 K2
K3 Muck layer Thickness = 5 m
SO 42 - ( m g /L )

15
Y1 θ = 0.5
Y2
Bottom soil layer Thickness = 0.3 m
N1
ρd = 1.77 Mg/m3
10
θ = 0.336
Kd = 1.85 or 0.36 m3 /kg
5 D = 0.1 m2 /y
Effective rainfall v = 333 mm/y
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Num ber of ex t r ac t ion 50

Figure 4. SO2−
4 concentration change with extraction.
40

25 K

As ( µ g/L)
30 N

20
20
K1
Ca (mg/L)

15 K2
K3 10
10 Y1
Y2
N1 0
5 0 500 1000 1500 2000
Time (y)
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 Figure 7. As concentration change in the muck layer.
Number of extraction

Figure 5. Ca concentration change with extraction. According to the method of least squares, the Kd of Ks
and Ns samples are 1.85 and 0.36 m3 /kg, respectively. Fig-
ure 6 indicates that the silty soils have a significant adsorption
4
capacity for As.
Ks
Ns 3.3 Prediction of As migration
3
q (mg /kg)

q = 1.85C The As leaching from the bottom of a silty adsorption layer

2 R2 = 0.83 exemplified in Figure 1 is estimated based on the consecutive
leaching from crushed rock samples and adsorption by silty
q = 0.36C
1
soils. One-dimensional advection dispersion equation with a
R2 = 0.85 step input was used for simulatingAs migration.The following
analytical solution was applied.
0
0 2 4 6 8
C ( µ g/L)

Figure 6. As adsorption isotherms of silty soils.

in Figure 5. The Ca concentration in the leachate was con-

stant regardless of the number of extractions, indicating that
the Ca-bearing minerals quickly dissolve in water. The almost
constant Ca concentration in the leachate corresponded to the
constant pH.
3.2 Batch adsorption experiments
The adsorption isotherm of As by silty soils, Ks and Ns, is
shown in Figure 6. The relation between solid-phase concen-
tration q and liquid-phase concentration C can be expressed
by the following linear equation.
where, Kd is the distribution coefficient.
where, erfc represents the complementary error function, x
is distance, t is time, v is interstitial velocity, Rf is retarda-
tion factor, D is longitudinal dispersion coefficient, ρd is bulk
density, and θ is volumetric water content.
The input parameters listed in Table 3 were used for mod-
eling As migration. The thickness of the muck layer and that
of the bottom silty layer was assumed to be 5 m and 0.5 m,
respectively. The As concentration change in the muck layer
was assumed as shown in Figure 7. The As concentration
change in Figure 7 was obtained from the consecutive leaching
experiments assuming that the volume of groundwater that has
contacted the muck can be calculated from net annual precipi-
tation, and that the As concentration in the much layer remains

85
 20 (1) The As concentration leached from the muck decreased
with the number of extractions.
K
N (2) The leached As was adsorbed by silty soils in accordance
15 with a Henry type adsorption isotherm.
(3) The above results indicates that the use of silty soil as an
As (µ g/L)

10
underneath layer for As adsorption is an effective barrier
that can reduce As leaching from As-rich muck.

5
REFERENCES

0 1) Tanaka, T.: Distribution of arsenic in the natural environment

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Time (y)
Figure 8. As leakage from the bottom silty layer.
constant during the first 210 years corresponding to the solid-
liquid ratio of 1:10 used for batch leaching experiments and
then the As concentration decreases every 210 years.
The leaching concentration of As from the bottom silty layer
was calculated as shown in Figure 8. From this figure, the max-
imum As concentrations were predicted to be 12 to 15 µg/L,
depending on the leaching and adsorption properties. How-
ever, a thicker or denser bottom layer can significantly reduce
the As concentration.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Consecutive batch leaching experiments from crushed rock
samples and adsorption experiments by silty soil samples
were conducted to evaluate a reasonable method for disposing
As-rich muck. The obtained results are following.
with emphasis on rocks and soils, Applied Organometallic
Chemistry, Vol.2, pp.283–295, 1988.
2) Smedley,P.L. and Kinniburgh,D.K.: A review of the source,
behavior and distribution of arsenic in natural waters, Applied
geochemistry, Vol.17, pp.517–568, 2002.
3) Yoshimura,T. and Akai,J.: Arsenic behavior in soils and sed-
iments, and groundwater pollution; A review, Earth Science
(Chikyu Kagaku), Vol.57, pp.137–154, 2003.
4) Dowling,C.B., Poreda,R.J., Basu,A.R., Peters,S.L., and Aggar-
wal,P.K., Geochemical study of arsenic release mechanisms
in the Bengal Basin groundwater, Water Resources Research,
Vol.38, pp.1173–1190, 2002.
5) Igarashi,T., Imagawa,H., Uchiyama,H., and Asakura,K.: Leach-
ing behavior of arsenic from various rocks by controlling
geochemical conditions, Submitted toMinerals Engineering,
2007.
6) Public Works Research Institute, Manual on countermeasures
against soil pollution associated with construction works, Kajima
Institute Publishing Co., Ltd., 2004.
7) Imai,N., Terashima,S., Mikoshiba,M., Okai,T., Tachibana,Y.,
Togashi,S., Matsuhisa,Y., Kanai,Y., Kamioka,A., and
Taniguchi,M., Geochemical map of Japan, Geological Survey
of Japan, AIST, 2004.

86
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Rock erosion in spillway channels – A case study of the Ligga spillway

L. Mörén
Tyréns AB, Umeå, Sweden (formerly at Vattenfall Power Consultant AB, Luleå, Sweden)

J. Sjöberg
Vattenfall Power Consultant AB, Luleå, Sweden

ABSTRACT: High flow in spillway channels of hydropower dams may cause erosion of the rock in the channel, which may
result in damage of concrete structures, change of flow patterns and/or endanger dam stability. This paper presents a case study
of the Ligga spillway, in which physical model tests and dynamic numerical analysis were used to study the potential for erosion
for several alternative designs of the spillway channel. The results from the numerical modeling clearly showed that a flattened
channel bed (in the upper portion), in combination with a constructed groove in the middle portion, was the most favorable to
reduce the amount of rock scour. This design was chosen to be implemented for the re-construction of the spillway channel,
which is currently underway.

1 INTRODUCTION

The global climate changes will probably result in an increased

precipitation in Sweden. This will cause higher floods in
the rivers and increased water loads on existing hydropower
dams along the rivers. This potential situation will result in
higher demands on the safety of the dams, and new guide-
lines for design flood has been determined by the flood
committee appointed by SMHI (the Swedish Meteorologi-
cal and Hydrological Institute) and the hydropower industry
(Flödeskommittén 1990). In order to maintain the safety of
the dams, remedial measures and investigations to increase
the safety have been undertaken for many of the larger dams
in Sweden.
Higher floods in the spillway channels of hydropower dams
may cause erosion of the rock in the channels.There are several Figure 1. Eroded block in the spillway channel of the Harsprånget
hydropower stations in Sweden in which the spillway channels hydropower plant.
have been subjected to extensive rock erosion, even though
none of the spillways have experienced any long-term high When water is discharged in a spillway it is often done with a
flow. high flow.The load from the flowing water can cause erosion of
This paper focuses on the Ligga spillway in the Luleälven the rock in the channel, where whole blocks become detached
river, where the risk for rock erosion in the current spillway from the rock mass. The blocks that erode can be large, with
channel is judged to be large. Using physical model tests and volumes of up to 20–30 m3 , see Figure 1.
numerical analysis, several alternative designs of the channel Block erosion in a spillway channel may result in:
were investigated, with the aim of reducing rock scour.
– damage of the concrete structures if eroded blocks crashes
into them,
2 PROBLEM DESCRIPTION – changes in the flow patterns in the channel if the erosion is
extensive or if eroded blocks land in impropriate places,
2.1 General – undermining of guidewalls and other constructions if the
Hydropower is an important energy source and in Sweden rock mass where these are placed erode, and
alone there are nearly 1900 hydropower plants, and some 190 – stability problems of the dam if the erosion propagates back
hydropower dams (Johansson et al. 2003). Many of these dams towards the dam constructions
are filling dams with filling material such as till, silt, gravel
and clay. This construction is sensitive to overtopping flow
2.2 Mechanism for block erosion
and can easily break if water starts to flow over the top. An
important part of the dam construction is therefore spillways Rock block erosion due to flowing water is caused by the pres-
with floodgates through which water can be discharged in sure fluctuation in the water. The pressure varies because of
flood times. The spillway channels are in many cases blasted turbulence and waves in the water. The rock mass in a spill-
into the rock mass or located directly in the old river bed. way channel is affected by a surface shear force resulting from

87
flowing water passing over the upper surface of the blocks. The
rock mass is also affected by varying pressure caused by the
turbulence and waves in the water. This varying pressure can
cause pressure differences between upper and lower parts of
blocks, which may result in instantaneous lift forces.
The combination of lift forces and drag forces from the flow-
ing water can enable entire rock blocks to detach from the rock
mass. The extent of the erosion depends on the magnitude of
the difference between the shear forces, lift forces and resisting
forces, the mass of the rock blocks, and the length of time dur-
ing which the shear forces exceed the resisting forces (Lorig
2002). The jointing pattern affects the vulnerability of a rock
mass to water loads – a rock mass with sub-horizontal joint-
ing is particularly susceptible to block erosion from flowing
water. Joints dipping in the direction of the flow also results a
higher potential for block erosion (Cato & Mattewson 1990).
3 APPROACH
In the Luleälven and Indalsälven rivers, there are several
hydropower stations for which the spillway channels have
been subjected to extensive block erosion, e.g. the Satisjaure,
Harsprånget, and Midskog stations. The relatively extensive
problems prompted re-design of several of the channels. Using
physical model tests and numerical analysis, several alterna-
tive designs of the channels were investigated, with the aim of
reducing rock scour. The channels were then rebuilt based on
these results (Billstein et al. 2003, Billstein & Ekström 2004).
These remedial measures have later proven to work well when
the stations were taken in operation again, proving that the
methodology used for assessing rock erosion (physical model
tests complemented by numerical analysis) was sound and rea-
sonable (Billstein et al. 2003). Hence, a similar methodology
was utilized for the investigation of a new design of the Ligga
spillway.
power in the water (Annandale, 1995). When the erodability
index is calculated for the rock mass in the Ligga spillway
channel and compared with the power in the water for a dis-
charge of 900 m3 /s, a high risk of damaging scour is predicted
as shown in Figure 3. In order to improve the dam safety,
increase the capacity of the discharge through the floodgates,
and still reduce the high risk of scour, the spillway channel
has to be redesigned.
4.3 Numerical analysis
4.3.1 Physical model tests and indata
To determine the amount of the measures that has to be done in
the Ligga spillway channel to reduce the risk of scour, physical
model tests combined with numerical analysis was performed.
In the physical model tests a 1:50 scale model of the spillway
channel was built at the Vattenfall laboratory in Älvkarleby.
The model was used to identify problem areas and to test dif-
ferent designs for the spillway. Data regarding water depth,
pressure fluctuations at specific exposed locations and flow
velocities at two different flows and designs of the spillway
were registered (Yang et al. 2006). This data were used as input
(load from flowing water) in the numerical model. The two
examined flows that were used were 900 m3 /s and 2040 m3 /s.
A new design of the spillway, in which a groove was created
(through blasting) into the middle portion of the channel bed

4 THE LIGGA CASE

4.1 The Ligga spillway conditions

The Ligga hydropower plant is located in the Stora Luleäl-
ven river, 25 km north of the town of Jokkmokk. The dam is
classified as a high-risk dam (by the flood committee), which
means that it shall be possible to discharge 2000 m3 /s water Figure 2. The spillway channel in Ligga.
from the dam reservoir without endangering the safety of the
dam. The spillway channel has been subjected to extensive
10000
block erosion, despite that the largest documented discharge
is only 900 m3 /s. The risk for continued (and increased) rock Scour LIGGA
erosion in the current spillway channel is therefore judged to 1000 No Scour
Stream Power KW/m

be very large. Threshold

The rock mass in the spillway channel consists mainly of
granite. The dominating jointing pattern in the rock mass is 100
subhorizontal joints with small spacing. The joint spacing
varies between 0.1–1 m, see also Figure 2. 10

4.2 Erodability index

1
The erodablility of a rock mass due to flowing water is difficult
to determine due to the complexity of flow and rock condi- 0.10
tions. A semi-empirical method exists in which the risk for 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
scour is predicted based on an erodability index. This method Erodibility Index
is based on 137 field observations on erodability of emer-
gency spillways and presents a threshold relationship between Figure 3. Erosion threshold for rock with the spillway of Ligga
a geomechanical index of the bed materials and the erosive marked.

88
(see Figure 4), gave the most favorable flow pattern in the phys-
ical model tests. This design was subsequently investigated in
the numerical analysis.
4.3.2 Numerical method
Numerical analysis was performed in order to examine if the
design judged most favorable from the physical model test also
reduces the risk of rock erosion. Dynamic analysis is neces-
sary, because of the varying loads from flowing and turbulent
water. The distinct element program UDEC (Itasca 2004) was
chosen for this type of analysis.
The simulated dynamic loading comprised the pressure
variations on the rock mass surface due to turbulence in the
flowing water. Data of pressure variations was based on the
physical model test where the pressure was registered at 3–5
locations in the channel bed. Static loading in the model was
due to the static water head and to the shear forces caused
by water passing over the upper surface of the rock blocks.
The magnitude of the static loading was based on results from
measurements in the physical model tests.
Calibration and validation of the numerical model were per-
formed by using loading values for a 900 m3 /s discharge (from
the physical model) applied on two profiles of the channel –
one profile at the right-hand side of the channel and one profile
at the left-hand side of the channel (looking downstream). The
right-hand side of the channel has been exposed to more ero-
sion than the left-hand side for the 900 m3 /s flow. The model
was thus calibrated, by changing the strength properties of the
Figure 4. The design of the spillway that gave the most favorable
flow pattern in the physical model tests.
Figure 5. One of the profile used in the numerical model with the applied varying loads applied.
89
joints, until model results agreed with actual observations of
block erosion.
4.3.3 Conducted numerical analysis
Three different profiles of the channel were modeled in the
numerical analysis; Two profiles were from the current design
and one profile from the new design of the spillway that gave
the most favorable flow pattern in the physical model tests. The
profiles for the current design were investigated both for cal-
ibration (as described above) as well as to examine the effects
of maximum discharge, 2040 m3 /s, in the present channel,
in terms of risk for erosion. The new design was modeled
to examine if the redesigning was an adequate measure to
decrease the risk of erosion.
Jointing pattern and rock properties in the model were deter-
mined based on field studies in the channel to get the profiles
as site-specific as possible. The rock mass was generalized to
have two joint sets – one subhorizontal set with 5◦ dip and one
vertical joint set.
The sensitivity of the variations in parameters in the models
was studied through a parametric study, in which one param-
eter at the time was varied, and the difference in extent of
erosion as predicted by the model was observed. An example
of one of the examined profiles with varying loads applied is
shown in Figure 5. The erodability of the rock was judged by
studying the displacements and separation of rock blocks in
the model.
4.4 Results
The parametric study showed that the erodability in the model
was more affected by the tensile strength than the cohesion of
the joints. Furthermore, the joint spacing of the subhorizontal
joint set had a large effect on the erosion. A change in the
joint spacing of only 10 cm could change the behavior from
no erosion to extensive erosion.
For the analysis of the various designs of the Ligga channel,
the tensile strength and the cohesion were set to zero as this
gave the best agreement with observed behavior. The model
of the right-hand side of the channel for the current layout
showed that there is a large risk for erosion both for 900 m3 /s
and 2040 m3 /s water discharge. The results of the analysis of
the left-hand side of the current channel showed no erosion
for these conditions.
The numerical analysis of the new design of the channel
showed that a discharge of 900 m3 /s caused erosion in the
upper portion of the channel In fact, all of the examined cases

Figure 6. The black parts show erosion in the redesigned spillway
with discharge of 2040 m3 /s water.
with this new design indicated a high risk for erosion. This
result prompted new physical model tests, which were aimed
at reducing the turbulence in the water in the upper portion
of the channel. This was achieved by refilling an old erosion
damage located below the sluice gates.
New calculations were carried out based on the data from
these new physical model tests. These analyses (with a flat-
tened channel bed in the upper portion) showed no erosion for
a discharge of 900 m3 /s. Under the action of water loads from
the discharge of 2040 m3 /s, some rock erosion developed, but
to a lesser extent than for the same flow without the flattened
start of the channel bed, compare Figure 6a and Figure 6b.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The results from the numerical analysis of the Ligga spillway
can be summarized as follows:
– The risk for block erosion in a rock mass is strongly related
to the joint spacing of subhorizontal joint sets, such as bed-
ding planes or exfoliation, for which a small spacing results
in a high risk of erosion.
– The scatter and amplitude of the pressure variations (due to
turbulence and waves in the flowing water) strongly affects
the extent of the rock erosion in the channel.
– The design of the Ligga spillway channel, in which a groove
was blasted into the middle portion of the channel bed
and the upper portion of the channel was flattened, greatly
reduced the risk for erosion.
A groove in the middle of the channel in Ligga concentrates
the flow and reduces the loads from the water at the edges
of the channel. The risk of erosion will therefore decrease
at the channel edges, whereas the risk remains large in the
90
middle part of the channel. By lowering the load of water in the
right-hand side of the channel the risk of erosion undermining
the guidewalls is reduced. A failure of the guidewall could
endanger the whole dam. Severe erosion in the middle part
of the channel may also cause problems; the flow pattern can
change so that the stability of the dam is jeopardized. Hence,
it is recommended that the upper portion of the blasted groove
is reinforced.
This summer (2007), remedial works are planned for the
spillway channel of Ligga. The chosen new design is based on
the present study. The layout will be a reinforced groove in the
middle portion of the channel and flattening of the channel
bed in the upper portion.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work presented in this paper was sponsored by Vatten-
fall AB, Vattenkraft. The permission by all involved project
sponsors, in particular Leif Ask, to publish this work is hereby
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Annandale, G.W. 1995. Erodability. Int. J. Hydraulic Research, 33:
471–494.
Billstein, M., Carlsson, A., Johansson, N. & Söder, P. E. 2003. Mid-
skog gets Physical. . . and Numerical, International Water Power &
Dam Construction, 55: 22–26.
Billstein, M. & Ekström I. 2004. Upgrading of Harsprånget
hydropower plant to meet the discharge criteria and increase the
dam safety. In Proc.of the ICOLD 72nd Annual Meeting, Seoul,
Korea.
Cato, K. D. & Mattewson, C. 1990. Rock Material Performance dur-
ing Emergency Spillway Flows. Proc. of the 1990 Annual Symp.
on Engineering Geology & Geotechnical Engineering, Idaho State
university, Pocatello, Idaho: 29.1–29.15.
Flödeskommittén 1990. Riktlinjer för bestämning av dimesionerande
flöden för dammanläggningar. Statens Vattenkraftverk, Sven-
ska kraftföreningen, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological
Institute, Stockholm
Itasca. 2004. UDEC. Version 4.0. Manual. Minneapolis: ICG.
Johansson, S., Mill, O., Fridofsson, T. & Hammar, L. 2003.
Kompetensförsörjning inom älv- och dammsäkerhet – En
behovsstudie av högskoleutbildning och forskning. Report
03:28, webpage: Värmeforsk http://www.svk.se/upload/3556/
Kompetensforsorjning_alv_och_dammsakerhet.pdf (2004-11-04).
Lorig, L. 2002. Numerical modeling of Spillway Erosion at Midskog
Dam in Sweden. Itasca, Santiago report to SwedPower.
Yang, J., Amnell, G., Skärberg, P. & Aurosell, U. 2006. Ombyggnad
av Ligga kraftstation – Modellförsök med dammsäkerhetshö-
jande åtgärder. Report number U06:01, Vattenfall Utveckling AB,
Älvkarleby.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Rock mechanics research for radioactive waste disposal in Finland

E. Johansson
Saanio & Riekkola Oy, Helsinki, Finland

J.A. Hudson
Imperial College and Rock Engineering Consultants, Welwyn Garden City, UK

M. Hakala
KMS Hakala Oy, Joensuu, Finland

J. Sjöberg
Vattenfall Power Consultant AB, Sweden

S. Riikonen
Posiva Oy, Olkiluoto, Finland

P. Syrjänen
WSP Finland Oy, WSP Gridpoint, Helsinki, Finland

ABSTRACT: The design and construction of a final repository for spent fuel deep in the crystalline bedrock requires special
considerations beyond those required for a conventional rock engineering structure – in particular, aspects relating to the waste
isolation function and the associated extremely long design life. The rock mechanics research necessary to support the design
of the repository requires an adequate understanding of the geological setting, together with knowledge of the in situ stress
state, the anisotropic and time-dependent properties of the intact rock, the thermal properties of the rock mass, the fracture
occurrence, the brittle deformation zones, the impact of construction and the long-term behavior of the disposal tunnels and
deposition holes. Posiva Oy is currently constructing a rock characterization facility termed the ‘ONKALO’ in Olkiluoto,
western Finland, to an anticipated depth of 420 m. The paper describes these aspects and raises questions concerning the extent
to which generic rock mechanics information can be used to support the specific site characterization, and how one can establish
that sufficient information has been obtained for numerical modeling and hence for adequate repository design.

1 INTRODUCTION

After the Finnish Government’s favourable policy decision

in 2001, Posiva Oy has focused further investigations at
the Olkiluoto site and began preparations for the construc-
tion of an underground characterisation facility termed the
‘ONKALO’. The construction of the ONKALO began in June
2004 and it is to be continued untill 2014, with the actual
characterisation stage anticipated for 2007–2014. The find-
ings of the ONKALO and other investigations will enable the
knowledge needed for an application, supported by a Prelim-
inary Safety Assessment, and to construct a final repository
for spent nuclear fuel at the site. Posiva will submit an appli-
cation for the construction licence for a disposal facility by
the end of 2012. The target is to begin disposal operations
in 2020.
The access tunnel and shafts of the ONKALO will be exca-
vated to the main characterisation level at a depth of 420 m
(Figure 1). The access ramp of the ONKALO has already been
excavated to a chainage of ∼1800 m, which is equivalent to
the depth level of about 180 m because the ramp has an incli-
nation of 1:10. The main rock type in the ONKALO area is Figure 1. The layout of the ONKALO underground characterisation
foliated migmatitic gneiss. facility.

91
 Posiva's Rock Mechanics Programme Rock mechanics Empirical and numerical
ROCK characterization; analyses to support Ability to characterize
rock mechanics ONKALO and the EDZ and be able to
OBJECTIVE MECHANICS domains; empirical, repository design; make statements
Basic objective: to support the Licence Application WORK statistical and modelling recommended regarding the long-term
analyses; principles in terms of mechanical stability and
+
P-O studies; orientations, locations, other issues related to
Work Item 1: Work Item 2: Work Item 3:
ONKALO recommended dimensions, etc., CEIC* the Safety Assessment
ROCK characterization method methodologies
Olkiluoto Supporting the Supporting the ROCK
MECHANICS Site Characterization ONKALO and Safety MECHANICS
WORK ITEMS => Site Report Repository Design Assessment
EXPERIMENTS Rock Mechanics Experiments at ca. 1000 m intervals
Rock stress, rock properties, back analysis, EDZ

Figure 2. The objective and three associated work items of Posiva’s OUTPUT Output Information for the Licence Application
rock mechanics strategy.

Figure 4. Flowchart Component 3: Rock mechanics work related

Geology Hydrogeology Hydrogeochemistry
to the three work items.
Main input is overall Main input is water Main input is fracture
geology and input for pressure and water precipitation and
INPUT Prediction-Outcome flow values dissolution effects
AND studies strategy and so the listing is not fully comprehensive at this
INTERACTIONS
Rock stress; Water pressure at Long-term rates of
stage.
Intact rock; different locations in
order to have coupled
precipitation in
fractures;
It is also essential that the current work is based on a com-
Fractures;
Rock mass; HM modelling and
effective stress;
dissolution of fracture
surfaces; and
plete knowledge of previous related rock mechanics work. A
Brittle deform. zones
fracture flow mechanical linkages summary description of all the previous rock mechanics work
conducted for Posiva is found in Hudson & Johansson, 2006,
Figure 3. Flowchart Component 2: Input to the rock mechanics and the rock mechanics implications of the Olkiluoto geology
work and discipline interactions. can be found in Hudson & Cosgrove 2006.

3 ROCK MECHANICS SITE CHARACTERIZATION

This paper summarizes the rock mechanics research activi-
ties and results obtained before the ONKALO construction
and the initial results and experiences obtained during the
early part of the ONKALO construction work, noting that
the ONKALO ramp has enabled direct in situ inspection of the
underground rock mass, including the exposed brittle defor-
mation zones. Near future rock mechanics measurements and
research are also briefly discussed.
2 ROCK MECHANICS STRATEGY
The fundamental objective of Posiva’s rock mechanics work is
to support the Construction Licence Application for the final
repository. This involves three separate areas of work:
1. Rock mechanics characterisation of the Olkiluoto site;
2. Studies supporting the ONKALO and repository design
and operations; and
3. Studies supporting the Safety Assessment.
The objective and the three work items are presented in the
first flowchart component in Figure. 2.
The next flowchart component, presented in Figure 3 relates
to the input information and the interactions with other disci-
plines. The main input is geology and geological site models –
which also provide input to hydrogeology and hydrogeo-
chemistry. However, there are also interactions between rock
mechanics and hydrogeology and hydrogeochemistry, which
are in detail presented, e.g. in Posiva 2005.
Finally, Flowchart Component 3 summarizes the main rock
mechanics work as related to the three work items shown in
Figure 2.
In order to execute the strategy, a series of campaigns have
been developed relating to the different rock mechanics sub-
jects. Following the establishment of the background rock
mechanics knowledge, these campaigns cover the topics of
contributions to the Olkiluoto site reports, primary stress, rock
properties, deformation zones, impact of construction and
EDZ, prediction-outcome studies and characterization level
testing. Note that this is an overview of the rock mechanics
3.1 General
Site investigations for the disposal of spent fuel at Olkiluoto
were already started in 1987; however, recent site investiga-
tions at Olkiluoto have concentrated mainly in the ONKALO
area. The investigation site to date contains more than 40
deep drillholes, whose main aim has been in obtaining data
for planning the ONKALO and also for the development of
site understanding. From the start, geological mapping of the
ONKALO tunnel has been the most significant investigation
method in the ONKALO. Flow measurements in probe holes
also commenced at the beginning of construction activities,
followed by pilot hole drilling parallel to the tunnel axis and
associated investigations. So far, six pilot holes have been
drilled and investigated, providing valuable information for
construction purposes; pilot holes also have an important
role to play in the prediction outcome studies (see further in
Chapter 4).
Also, monitoring of the changes caused by construction
of the ONKALO has started. The monitoring programme
related to the construction includes rock mechanics, hydroge-
ological and hydrogeochemical monitoring and, in addition,
monitoring of the biosphere is also taking place (Posiva 2003).
3.2 Rock mechanics data
Rock mechanics investigations are mainly concentrated on
obtaining data relating to the in situ stresses and the mechani-
cal and thermal properties of different rock domains at differ-
ent scales. The stress-strength ratio is an important parameter
when evaluating the mechanical stability of the anticipated
deep repository in the hard, crystalline, rock regime.
3.3 Rock stress
In situ stresses have been measured at Olkiluoto at depths
of 300–800 m in five deep surface boreholes by using con-
ventional methods, such as hydraulic fracturing to evaluate
horizontal stresses and the 3D overcoring methods to evaluate

92

Figure 5. Locations of the in situ stress sites at Olkiluoto.
H [MPa]
0 10 20 30 40 50
0 0
100
200
300
Vertical depth [m]
Vertical depth [m]
400
500
600
700
800
900
Figure 6. Magnitude and orientation of the major horizontal stress
component with depth and with lower and upper limits.
the complete stress tensor. The first underground measure-
ment campaign was conducted in the ONKALO ramp at the
120 m level in 2006 using the 3D overcoring method. In addi-
tion, a stress measurement method based on the Kaiser Effect
(KE) has been developed and tested on cores from three drill-
holes (see e.g. Lehtonen 2005). The locations of the stress
measurement sites in Olkiluoto are shown in Figure 5.
The stress measurement results show scatter in the stress
profile with depth, so lower and upper limits for the stress
components have been defined and used as input data for cal-
culations (Figure 6). Not only is the interpreted in situ stress
a point tensor, but the defined value has uncertainties related
to geological factors, accuracy of each measurement method
and method of data analysis. As part of the quality control
and assurance of rock stress measurement data, Posiva has,
together with the Swedish SKB, developed a practical tool
to improve the quality of the stress measurements (Hakala
et al. 2006). The tool can also be used in the interpretation of
the stress measurement data obtained in transversely isotropic
rock, which is the typical case at Olkiluoto (i.e. in foliated
gneiss). Although, the dispersion in the stress data at Olk-
iluoto can be considered typical for the methods used, more
effort - including the effect of anisotropy and the link between
geological structures and the local stress state, will be made
to reduce the uncertainties. The ONKALO facility will also
allow us to conduct rock excavation response measurements,
which can be used to back analyze in situ stresses over a con-
siderably larger rock volume and more reliably than in the case
of borehole methods.
In addition to the conventional, direct stress measurements,
efforts are also being made to use indirect methods to evaluate
the in situ stresses, such as the above mentioned rock response
measurements during the tunnel excavation/shaft raise boring,
plus tunnel mapping of stress induced damage or block fall-
outs and microseismic measurements.
3.4 Properties of intact rock
In order to estimate the potential for rock damages or spalling
deep in the repository facilities, the mechanical characteris-
tics of the intact rock should be well understood. These have
been studied by carrying out field loading tests on the core
with a portable test unit and by conducting more detailed tests
in the laboratory. The field tests are performed systematically
at about 30 m intervals on cores in each drillhole. The lab-
Orientation of H [˚]
oratory tests have consisted of uniaxial and triaxial loading
60 120 180
0
tests, damage controlled tests and tensile tests, in some cases
together with acoustic emission monitoring. Due to the nature
100
of the gneissic rock material, an anisotropic testing proce-
200 dure has also been developed (Hakala et al. 2005). The results
Overcoring have shown a mean anisotropy factor of 1.4 for Young’s mod-
300
ulus, which indicates that the anisotropic solution for stress
Hydraulic
fracturing
400 Kaiser Effect estimation should also be used. The results indicate that, while
500 Lower limit
the peak strength follows the standard ‘single plane of weak-
Upper limit
ness’ reduction at adverse foliation angles, the crack damage
600 stress is less affected, and the crack initiation stress is not
700
detectably affected (Figure 7). Further tests are still needed,
e.g. for rock types where currently we only have limited data.
800
Thermal properties are also important since they affect
900 the repository layout, spacing of deposition holes and tun-
nels, and are needed to evaluate the thermal stresses induced
by heat produced by the radioactive waste. Similar to the
mechanical properties, the Olkiluoto gneisses are also ther-
mally anisotropic and heterogeneous due to variations in
their texture, mineral composition and the orientations of the
migmatitic banding and the foliation. Moreover, there is a need
to appropriately upscale the laboratory properties to the rock
mass thermal properties. Therefore Posiva has developed an
in situ drillhole probe called TERO (see e.g. Kukkonen et al.
2005).
The rock mass properties are estimated via geophysical
measurements and empirical and/or numerical modelling,
based on the properties of the rock mass components, i.e.
intact rock, fractures and the fracture/deformation zones.
3.5 Properties of fractures and fracture zones
A characteristic of the ONKALO site is the existence of frac-
tures and fracture (brittle deformation) zones. These are not
so well established because of the difficulty of direct mea-
surements. Geological information and indications via rock
mass classification schemes (the Q-system) have been used
to estimate the properties as shown in Figure 8. The result
indicates that mean friction angle for all fractures is 45◦ ; 50%
93

Figure 7. Effect of anisotropy on the peak strength (upper diagram –
showing a reduction at an adverse anisotropy angle) and on the crack
initiation strength (lower diagram – showing no detectable effect) of
dry Olkiluoto veined gneiss (Posiva 2007).
Figure 8. Joint friction angle and fracture length for all mapped
fractures for the first 1170 m in the ONKALO tunnel (Posiva 2007).
of the values are between 27◦ and 56◦ ; and 95% are between
14◦ and 72◦ . The proportion of the longest fractures (length
> 4 m) is slightly higher for the low friction angle categories.
Fracture testing at the laboratory is also currently underway
but further effort is also required in this area for the fracture
zones, e.g. work is currently underway on a methodology for
characterizing the fracture zones (Hudson et al. 2007). The
brittle deformation zone features will be described in more
detail with reference to their degree of localisation, from sin-
gle discrete fractures, through shear networks to a pervasive
foliation fabric. The scale of observation of the features can
affect their apparent properties, so the effects of the relative
scales of the deformational features and the excavation size
need to be considered.
94
4 PREDICTION-OUTCOME STUDIES
In line with the necessity to develop a predictive capability
for design purposes, a Prediction-Outcome campaign being
conducted for the ONKALO ramp conditions has been devel-
oped by the OMTF (Olkiluoto Modelling Task Force) and
the associated principles have been outlined (Andersson et al.
2005).
This Prediction-Outcome work is considered to be one
of the most important campaigns – because it will progres-
sively refine and improve the ability to predict the mechanical
conditions ahead of excavation. The aim of the work is:
– to enhance confidence in the ability to predict rock con-
ditions in general – and especially for the repository
volumes,
– to allow testing and verification of repository design rules
as it will not be possible to make too many additional
boreholes in the repository volume, and
– to support the on-going construction work and assist with
the application of the CEIC (Co-ordination of Engineering,
Investigation and Construction) method.
Four types of predictions are made during the ONKALO
construction:
– the Type A prediction for a particular increment of chainage
ahead of the tunnel face is made before construction and
only uses the latest version of the Site Model and the
ONKALO model,
– the Type B prediction is made before the construction of a
tunnel section, but should make use of all available data,
mapping of previous tunnel sections etc.,
– the Type Bpilothole prediction is made before the construc-
tion of a tunnel section, should make use of all available
data, mapping of previous tunnel sections etc, but including
pilot hole data, and
– the Type C prediction – or outcome assessment – is made
after construction (to see whether the prediction techniques
can in fact predict the outcome).
We recall that in order to be able to design the antici-
pated repository for nuclear waste, there are two major rock
mechanics requirements:
• knowledge of the rock mechanics properties for input to
modelling; and
• the ability to model the consequences of tunnel and depo-
sition hole excavation and canister emplacement.
The list of rock mechanics properties that can potentially
be involved in the Prediction-Outcome studies and how the
information is received and how the results are compared is
given in Table 1. These 11 items provide an overview of the
rock mechanics characteristics for a given rock mass.
The rock mechanics data are obtained from the geological
mapping which is performed in the following manner: all map-
ping data are collected in a table sheet, which consists of fields
for chainage location and information, rock type, structural
observations, rock quality and water inflows. The structural
elements are described as single observations and marked on
the tunnel with a corresponding number. The structural obser-
vations include foliation, fracturing, ductile and brittle zone
intersections, lineation and folding. Each fracture is measured
separately, and the fracture attribute data include orientation,
description of the fracture surface and infillings.
Table 1. List of rock properties potentially included in the the pilot hole cores and the outcomes are established from
Prediction-Outcome studies. mapping of the excavated tunnel periphery:
Prediction/Outcome Information/ • The cores are stress relieved, and so could contain more
Parameter Comparison method fractures. Also, the geologists have more time to study the
core and the fractures are more evident.
Q classification value Geology/From tunnel mapping/direct • The number of fracture sets is hard to evaluate from small
GSI classification value Geology/From tunnel mapping/direct
core.
Intact rock properties Geology, Point load, seismic/Schmidt,lab
• An EDZ will be present around the tunnel, although its
testing, Rockma?/direct
Primary rock stress Estimation from measurements/ extent is unclear.
measurement/direct • The prediction is based on a horizontal pilot hole parallel to
Secondary rock stress Numerical analysis/measurements/direct the tunnel axis, whereas the outcome is a composite value
Rock displacements Numerical analysis/measurements/direct based on tunnel mapping on the tunnel walls, i.e. there will
Block failure Numerical analysis/mapping,mess./direct be different forms of directional bias associated with the
Stress failure Empirical, numerical analyses/mapping, different procedures for prediction and outcome.
measurements/direct
Impact of R-structures Empirical, numerical analyses/mapping, It will be necessary to account for the biases and to imple-
measurements/direct ment a form of averaging, so that sections of the rock mass
Blast damage Empirical/mapping,measurements/direct with different overall properties can be identified.
EDZ characterization Numerical analyses/mapping, The concept of partitioning the rock mass into ‘structural
measurement/direct domains’, so that zones of different properties, and hence
behaviour, can be identified and established, is relevant in
this context. There is no standardised approach to rock mass
partitioning for structural domains; however, partitioning in
10000
the current context should be based on properties that domi-
OUTCOME (FROM TUNNEL MAPPING), Q´ PREDICTED (FROM PILOT HOLE), Q´
nate the engineering behaviour. Examples of factors that can
1000
govern the characterization of domains are changes in rock
type and rock structure, rock mechanics properties, fracture
Q´-VALUE

100
10
1
0,1
0 200 400 600 800
ONKALO TUNNEL CHAINAGE [m]
Figure 9. Comparison of predicted and measured Q -value for the
first 1170 m of the ONKALO tunnel (Posiva 2007).
This mapping information provides a wealth of data and
allows the generation of various presentational methods, the
latter being illustrated by the Q -value example in Figure 9
where the predictions and outcomes have been compared for
the first 1170 m of the ONKALO tunnel. From the rock mass
classification indices, rock properties, such as elastic modulus
of the rock mass (E), can be estimated. This is one important
parameter and is required as input for numerical modelling;
however, there are several empirical formulae for relating clas-
sification indices to E and a decision needs to be made as to
which of these is the best to use within this prediction-outcome
context. A comparative study of the use of the different formu-
lae will be included in future work, inter alia through feedback
from sensitivity studies in the numerical modelling. Also, later
in the ONKALO development, there will be special mea-
surement locations for assessing more of the rock mechanics
parameters.
Considerable point-to-point variation along the tunnel
occurs, as also highlighted in Figure 9 and, questions naturally
arise, one of the most important being ‘Over what lengths of
tunnel should the prediction-outcome comparison be made?’
First, we should ask why the local variation occurs and why
the prediction-outcome values differ for the tunnel increments.
There are several factors at work, as noted in the bullet points
below, related to the fact that the predictions are made from
frequency and clusters in fracture orientations. In particular
and before the characterization level at −420 m is reached,
we aim to establish a methodology for predicting the rock
mechanics properties as an A prediction – because this will be
the most significant requirement, i.e. to be able to predict the
rock mechanics properties and hence engineering behaviour
1000 1200
in the repository volume from the Site Model.
Another factor is the ability to predict the rock mechanics
properties of the fracture or brittle deformation zones. The
existence of the zones themselves is predicted via the geolog-
ical model and rock mechanics work is in progress to translate
the geological descriptions of the deformation zones into their
rock mechanics properties – in conjunction with their proper-
ties being estimated via the rock mass classification values and
numerical modelling. The measurement of the rock mechan-
ics properties of brittle deformation zones can be undertaken
indirectly, via seismic methods and by back analysis of con-
vergence values in suitably located tunnel sections, but direct
methods (e.g. by using large flatjacks) are impractical, given
the significant inhomogeneity of such zones.
The structural domain and brittle deformation zone work is
currently taking place and will be refined as more Prediction-
Outcome tunnel lengths are studied. In this way, there will be
incremental improvements in the ability to predict the rock
conditions ahead of excavation, so that when the characterisa-
tion level is reached the methodology will be at an advanced
stage – as required for the repository design and construction.
5 CONCLUSION
Posiva has extended the site characterization at Olkiluoto from
the surface investigations to underground investigations in the
ONKALO characterization facility. The ONKALO ramp, cur-
rently excavated to a chainage of about 1800 m, has enabled
direct in situ investigations and testing of some newly devel-
oped rock mechanics tools. The associated rock mechanics

95
research will contribute to the Olkiluoto site descriptions
and support the licence application for the repository con-
struction by covering the necessary topics such as in situ
stress, rock properties (intact rock, fractures, fracture zones),
prediction-outcome studies and later the characterization level
testing.
The prediction-outcome studies are considered to be one
of the most important campaigns because they will improve
the ability to predict the rock mechanics conditions ahead of
excavation. The concept of partitioning the rock mass into
‘structural domains’, so that zones of different properties, and
hence behaviour, can be identified and established, is most rel-
evant. The final aim is that we will establish a methodology for
predicting the rock mechanics properties as an A prediction –
i.e. to be able to predict the rock mechanics properties and
hence engineering behaviour in the repository volume from
the Site Model.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank Posiva Oy, Finland for supporting
the work and letting to publish this paper.
REFERENCES
Andersson, J., Hudson, J.A., Anttila, P., Hautojärvi, A., Koskinen, L.,
Pitkänen, P. & Wickström, L. Principles for guiding the ONKALO
Prediction-Outcome studies. Posiva Working Report 2005–45.
96
Hakala, M., Kuula, H. & Hudson, J.A. 2005. Strength and strain
anisotropy of Olkiluoto mica gneiss. Posiva Working Report
2005–61.
Hakala, M., Sjöberg, J., Hudson, J.A., Christiansson, R., Johansson,
E. & Riikonen, S. 2006. Quality control and interpretation of in
situ stress measurement data. In M.Lu, C. Li, H. Kjorholt & H.
Dahle (eds), In-situ Rock Stress. Measurement, Interpretation and
Application: 399–407. London: Taylor & Francis.
Hudson, J.A. & Cosgrove, J. 2006. Geological history and its impact
on the rock mechanics properties of the Olkiluoto site. Posiva
Working Report 2006–14.
Hudson, J.A, Cosgrove, J. & Johansson, E. 2007, in prep. Rock
mechanics characterisation of the brittle deformation zones at
Olkiluoto. Posiva Working Report 2007–xx.
Hudson, J.A. & Johansson, E. 2005. Summary of rock mechanics
work completed for Posiva before 2005. Report POSIVA 2006–04.
Kukkonen, I., Suppala, I., Korpisalo, A. & Koskinen, T. 2005. TERO
borehole logging device and test measurements of rock thermal
properties in Olkiluoto. Report POSIVA 2005–09.
Lehtonen, A. 2005. Evaluation of rock stress estimation by the Kaiser
Effect. Posiva Working Report 2005–67.
Posiva 2003. Programme of monitoring at Olkiluoto during construc-
tion and operation of the ONKALO. Report POSIVA 2003–05.
Posiva 2005. Olkiluoto site description 2004. Report POSIVA
2005–03.
Posiva 2007, in press. Site report 2006. Report POSIVA 2007–xx.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Simulation of hydrogeomechanical responses of jointed rock masses to

tunneling and lining

J.H. Kihm, S.U. Park & J.M. Kim

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT: A series of numerical simulations is performed to analyze fully coupled groundwater flow and land deformation
due to tunneling and lining in unsaturated jointed rock masses. The numerical simulation results show that the orientation of
the joint set has significant effects on the spatial distributions and temporal changes of groundwater flow and land deformation
during tunneling and lining. Such effects of the joint set are caused by its relatively higher hydraulic conductivity and deforma-
bility compared with the intact rock matrix. Therefore it may be concluded that joint sets must be properly considered when
rigorous and reasonable predictions of the long-term hydromechanical responses of actual jointed rock masses to tunneling
and lining are to be obtained.

1 INTRODUCTION simulation is COWADE123D (Kim, 2003). This numerical

A variety of field studies have frequently reported that under-
ground excavation leads to the hydraulic and mechanical
impacts including land deformation, groundwater level draw-
down, and alteration of hydraulic properties of surrounding
geologic media (Kim et al., 1997). These studies have also
shown that such impacts are not only caused by the drainage
of groundwater into excavation spaces (hydraulic stress) but
also by the changes in stress regime around caves (mechanical
stress). In other words, underground excavation disrupts the
pre-existing hydraulic and mechanical equilibrium conditions
and simultaneously leads to the fully coupled hydromechan-
ical interaction between groundwater flow and solid skeleton
(land) deformation fields.
The increasing use of underground spaces has prompted the
need for rigorous and quantitative understanding of hydroge-
ological and geomechanical behavior and effects of individual
joints or joint sets in jointed rock masses under underground
excavation. Such knowledge may provide some useful guide-
lines for controlling and minimizing the adverse hydrogeolog-
ical and geomechanical impacts of underground excavation on
surrounding geologic media.
For rigorous and quantitative interpretation of the hydrome-
chanical phenomena due to underground excavation, it is
essential to develop and apply a hydromechanical numeri-
cal model based on the hydromechanical coupling theory,
which can fully couple the groundwater flow and solid skele-
ton deformation fields, instead of the conventional theories,
which are forced to decouple these two fields.
The objectives of this study are to simulate fully coupled
groundwater flow and land deformation due to tunneling and
lining in unsaturated jointed rock masses using a hydrome-
chanical numerical model and to evaluate effects of joint sets
on such hydromechanical phenomena during tunneling and
lining.
model is a general multidimensional fully coupled finite
element method model and can simulate a variety of hydrome-
chanical phenomena within saturated-unsaturated heteroge-
neous true anisotropic porous, fractured, and fractured porous
geologic media due to various cases. The hydromechani-
cal coupling theory and governing equations related to the
hydromechanical numerical model has been described by Kim
(1996), Kim et al. (1997), Kim & Parizek (1999a), Kim &
Parizek (1999b), Kim (2000), Kim (2004), Kim (2005a), and
Kim (2005b).
3 STUDY AREA
The study area, which is located in Busan, Republic of Korea,
is a tunnel construction site as a part of the Korea Train Express
(KTX) railroad. The bedrock in the study area is mainly com-
posed of the Cretaceous volcanic rocks and granite, which
have three major joint sets and overlain by the Quaternary
alluvium. A vertical cross section around the tunnel is selected
for numerical simulation, and it consists of the Cretaceous
andesite which is classified as soft rock.
4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION SETUPS
The vertical cross section around the tunnel is discretized into
1504 quadrilateral elements with 1596 nodes, while its height
and width are 100 m and 300 m, respectively (Figure 1). The
tunnel height and width are 10.3 m and 12.1 m, respectively,

2 HYDROMECHANICAL NUMERICAL MODEL

The hydromechanical numerical model used in this study to Figure 1. Vertical cross section around the tunnel, finite element
simulate fully coupled groundwater flow and land deformation mesh, and monitoring point used in the numerical simulations.

97
Table 1. Material properties of soft rock, joint set, and
groundwater.

Property Value

Porosity 8.08 × 10−3

Saturated hydraulic conductivity [m/sec] 9.73 × 10−7
Poisson’s ratio 0.25
Young’s modulus [N/m2 ] 4.71 × 1010
Poisson’s ratio of solid 0.25
Young’s modulus of solid [N/m2 ] 4.71 × 1011
Density of solid [kg/m3 ] 2.81 × 103
Initial fracture spacing [m] 0.41
Initial fracture aperture [m] 3.61 × 10−4
Fracture normal stiffness [N/m2 /m] 3.99 × 1010
Fracture shear stiffness [N/m2 /m] 2.04 × 109
Cohesion [N/m ] 2
1.80 × 106 Figure 2. Spatial distributions of pressure head after tunneling
(t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0◦ , (c) θ = 22.5◦ ,
Angle of internal friction [degree] 4.00 × 101
(d) θ = 45.0◦ , (e) θ = 67.5◦ , (f) θ = 90.0◦ .
Tensile strength [N/m2 ] 7.72 × 105
Residual water saturation 6.69 × 10−2
Unsaturated hydraulic parameters (van Genuchten model)
av [m−1 ] 5.19 × 10−3
nv 1.78
Compressibility of water [m2 /N] 4.40 × 10−10
Density of water [kg/m ] 3
1.00 × 103
Dynamic viscosity of water [kg/m/sec] 1.00 × 10−3
Gravitational acceleration constant [m/sec2 ] 9.81

and the tunnel shape is arc with an invert. The tunnel is trans-
versely centered in the vertical cross section, and the depth
from the ground surface to the tunnel crown is 40 m. The
monitoring point is located right above the tunnel crown at
z = 95 m.
In the numerical simulations, six different geologic media Figure 3. Spatial distributions of groundwater flow velocity after
are considered for the purpose of comparison: an isotropic tunneling (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0◦ ,
(c) θ = 22.5◦ , (d) θ = 45.0◦ , (e) θ = 67.5◦ , (f) θ = 90.0◦ .
porous medium and five jointed porous media with different
dipping angles (i.e., θ = 0.0◦ , 22.5◦ , 45.0◦ , 67.5◦ , and 90.0◦ )
for a joint set. The material properties of soft rock, joint set,
and groundwater are summarized in Table 1 (Carsel & Parrish
1998, Korea Rail Network Authority and SK Engineering and
Construction Company 2004).
Along the left and right sides, a no-horizontal displace-
ment boundary condition is applied, but vertical displacement
is allowed. A constant head boundary condition (hydraulic
head = 96.9 m) corresponding to the water table from field
measurement is also applied along the left and right sides.
Along the bottom side, no-flow and no-vertical displacement
boundary conditions are applied, but horizontal displacement
is allowed. Along the ground surface, no-flow and free dis-
placement boundary conditions are applied. Along the tunnel
face, a seepage boundary condition is applied during tunnel-
Figure 4. Spatial distributions of displacement vector after tunnel-
ing, and a no-flow boundary condition is applied during lining. ing (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0◦ , (c) θ = 22.5◦ ,
A free displacement boundary condition is also applied along (d) θ = 45.0◦ , (e) θ = 67.5◦ , (f) θ = 90.0◦ .
the tunneling face during tunneling and lining.
The total simulation time period is about 197 days for 30
face with the result that pressure head decreases and an unsa-
time steps. Tunneling begins at 0 day, and then lining begins at
turated zone occurs above the tunnel. The groundwater table
1.5 days, which is the time required to reach hydromechanical
drawdown is significantly influenced by the orientation of the
equilibrium conditions under tunneling for all the six cases of
joint set. The spatial distributions of groundwater flow velo-
geologic media described above.
city around the tunnel are shown in Figure 3. The groundwater
flow is also significantly influenced by the orientation of the
5 RESULTS AND ANALYSES joint set. After lining, the groundwater table recovers almost
to its initial state.
The spatial distributions of pressure head are shown in Fig- The spatial distributions of displacement vector and
ure 2. During tunneling, groundwater drains into the tunnel deformed mesh around the tunnel are shown in Figures 4

98
Figure 5. Spatial distributions of deformed mesh after tunneling Figure 7. Spatial distributions of factor of safety against ten-
(t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0◦ , (c) θ = 22.5◦ , (d) sion failure after tunneling (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass,
θ = 45.0◦ , (e) θ = 67.5◦ , (f) θ = 90.0◦ . (b) θ = 0.0◦ , (c) θ = 22.5◦ , (d) θ = 45.0◦ , (e) θ = 67.5◦ , (f) θ = 90.0◦ .

Figure 6. Spatial distributions of factor of safety against shear fail-

ure after tunneling (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0◦ , Figure 8. Spatial distributions of normalized porosity after tunnel-
(c) θ = 22.5◦ , (d) θ = 45.0◦ , (e) θ = 67.5◦ , (f) θ = 90.0◦ . ing (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0◦ , (c) θ = 22.5◦ ,
(d) θ = 45.0◦ , (e) θ = 67.5◦ , (f) θ = 90.0◦ .
and 5, respectively. The displacement vector normal to the
orientation of the joint set is significantly larger than other
directions. It is caused by relatively higher deformability of the
joint set normal to its orientation compared with the deforma-
bility of the joint set parallel to its orientation. This mechanical
anisotropy due to orientation of the joint set also influences
the factors of safety around the tunnel.
The spatial distributions of factors of safety against shear
and tension failure around the tunnel are shown in Figures 6
and 7, respectively. During tunneling, shear failure does not
occur in the whole modeling domain, and tension failure
occurs only at the bottom of the tunnel face. However, an
unstable zone, in which the factors of safety are close to or
smaller than 1.0, occurs and expands around the tunnel. The Figure 9. Profiles of ground surface displacements: (a) horizontal
expansion of the unstable zone is significantly influenced by displacement after tunneling (t = 1.5 days), (b) horizontal displace-
the orientation of the joint set. ment after lining (t = 13.5 days), (c) vertical displacement after tun-
neling (t = 1.5 days), (d) vertical displacement after lining (t = 13.5
The spatial distributions of normalized porosity are shown days).
in Figure 8. The extension zone, in which the normalized
porosity is larger than 1.0, distributes normal to the orientation
of the joint set. On the other hand, the compression zone, in asymmetric curve for the cases of joint set dipping angles
which the normalized porosity is smaller than 1.0, distributes of 22.5◦ , 45.0◦ , and 67.5◦ . The maximum vertical displace-
parallel to the orientation of the joint set. This mechanical ment point is not located at the top of the tunnel for the cases
anisotropy due to orientation of the joint set also influences of joint set dipping angles of 22.5◦ , 45.0◦ , and 67.5◦ . After
on the saturated hydraulic conductivity tensor. lining, horizontal and vertical displacements recover due to
The profiles of ground surface displacements are shown in groundwater table recovery but do not recover completely to
Figure 9. The horizontal displacement at the top of tunnel is their initial states.
not zero, and horizontal displacement has asymmetric curve The temporal distributions of hydraulic head, horizontal dis-
for the cases of joint set dipping angles of 22.5◦ , 45.0◦ , and placement, and vertical displacement are shown in Figure 10.
67.5◦ . The vertical displacement (surface settlement) also has The variations of hydraulic head at the monitoring point vary

99
 set are caused by its relatively higher hydraulic conductiv-
ity and deformability compared with the intact rock matrix.
Therefore it may be concluded that joint sets must be properly
considered when rigorous and reasonable predictions of the
long-term hydromechanical responses of actual jointed rock
masses to tunneling and lining are to be obtained.

REFERENCES

Figure 10. Temporal distributions of hydraulic head, horizontal
displacement, and vertical displacement: (a) hydraulic head during
tunneling, (b) hydraulic head during lining, (c) horizontal displace-
ment during tunneling, (d) horizontal displacement during lining,
(e) vertical displacement during tunneling, (f) vertical displacement
during lining.
with the orientation of the joint set. In the early stage of tun-
neling, rapid land deformation leads to the abrupt changes of
hydraulic head due to extension or compression of geologic
media. Later, slow decreasing hydraulic head leads to grad-
ual land deformation due to increasing effective stress until
t = 1.5 days. After lining, hydraulic head increases and recov-
ers almost to its initial state until t = 13.5 days. The horizontal
and vertical displacements simultaneously recover according
to hydraulic head recovery but do not recover completely to
their initial states.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A series of numerical simulations is performed to analyze
fully coupled groundwater flow and land deformation due
to tunneling and lining in unsaturated jointed rock masses.
The numerical simulation results show that the orientation of
the joint set has significant effects on the spatial distributions
and temporal changes of groundwater flow and land defor-
mation during tunneling and lining. Such effects of the joint
Carsel, R.F. & Parrish, R.S. 1998. Developing joint probability dis-
tributions of soil water retention characteristics. Water Resources
Research 24: 755–769.
Kim, J.M. 1996. A fully coupled model for saturated-unsaturated
fluid flow in deformable porous and fractured media. Ph.D. Dis-
sertation. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Penn-
sylvania. 201 pp.
Kim, J.M. 2000. Generalized poroelastic analytical solutions for pore
water pressure change and land subsidence due to surface loading.
Geosciences Journal 4: 95–104.
Kim, J.M. 2003. COWADE123D: A finite element model for fully
coupled saturated-unsaturated water flow in deforming one-,
two-, three-dimensional porous and fractured media, version 2.12.
Technical Report No. GGEL-2003–12. Geological and Ground-
water Engineering Laboratory, School of Earth and Environmental
Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. 354 pp.
Kim, J.M. 2004. Fully coupled poroelastic governing equations for
groundwater flow and solid skeleton deformation in variably satu-
rated true anisotropic porous geologic media. Geosciences Journal
8: 291–300.
Kim, J.M. 2005a. Three-dimensional numerical simulation of fully
coupled groundwater flow and land deformation in unsaturated
true anisotropic aquifers due to groundwater pumping. Water
Resources Research 41: W01003, doi:10.1029/2003WR002941.
Kim, J.M. 2005b. Vectorial formulation of direction cosines for
anisotropic geologic structures from their geologic angle measure-
ments. Mathematical Geology 37: 929–941.
Kim, J.M. & Parizek, R.R. 1999a. Three-dimensional finite element
modelling for consolidation due to groundwater withdrawal in a
desaturating anisotropic aquifer system. International Journal for
Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 23: 549–571.
Kim, J.M. & Parizek, R.R. 1999b. A mathematical model for the
hydraulic properties of deforming porous media. Ground Water
37: 546–554.
Kim, J.M. Parizek, R.R. & Elsworth, D. 1997. Evaluation of fully-
coupled strata deformation and groundwater flow in response to
longwall mining. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences 34: 1187–1199.
Korea Rail Network Authority and SK Engineering and Construc-
tion Company 2004. Investigation report of foundation in 14–3
section of work of the Korea Train Express (KTX) railroad.
Investigation Report. 100 pp.

100
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Subcritical crack growth in granite

Y. Nara & K. Kaneko

Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

ABSTRACT: Effects of environment and rock fabric on subcritical crack growth in granite were investigated. Double Torsion
test was used. It was shown that the relation between the crack velocity and the stress intensity factor was anisotropic. Under
the same temperature and humidity, the crack velocity depended on the crack opening direction, and it was the highest when
the crack propagated parallel to Rift plane. From the results under different temperature and humidity, it was shown that the
crack velocity was higher when the temperature and humidity were higher. The crack velocity in water was higher than that
in air. These results agreed well with the concept that stress corrosion is the main mechanism of subcritical crack growth in
rock. From the experimental results in this study, it is concluded that subcritical crack growth in granite is affected by water
and pre-existing microcracks.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the classical fracture mechanics, it was postulated that the

crack propagated rapidly once the fracture toughness has been
reached. In fact, the crack can propagate even when the stress
intensity factor is lower than the fracture toughness. This phe-
nomenon is called subcritical crack growth (Atkinson 1984),
which is one of the main causes of time-dependent behavior
in rock. Knowledge of time-dependent crack propagation is
important to consider the long-term stability of structures in
rock mass, such as underground power plants or repositories
for radioactive wastes in underground.
In this study, subcritical crack growth in granite was inves-
tigated. Especially, the relation between the crack velocity and
the stress intensity factor was determined experimentally by
Double Torsion (DT) test (Williams & Evans 1973, Sano &
Kudo 1992), which is the typical fracture mechanics test used
to measure subcritical crack growth. Dependence of subcrit- Figure 1. The specimen and the loading configuration for Double
ical crack growth on the environmental conditions and rock Torsion test.
fabric was investigated.
3 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

2 SUBCRITICAL CRACK GROWTH
Under low homologous temperatures and atmospheric pres-
sure, stress corrosion (Anderson & Grew 1977) is considered
to be the main mechanism of subcritical crack growth. Stress
corrosion is a weakening process due to a chemical reaction
between the siloxane bond structure near the crack tip strained
by the tensile stress and water (Michalske & Freiman 1982).
The relation between the crack velocity, da/dt, and the stress
intensity factor, KI , is expressed as
In this study, Double Torsion test was used. The specimen and
the loading configuration for DT test are shown in Figure 1.
The experimental apparatus was set in the room where the
temperature and the relative humidity were controlled and kept
constant.All experiments were conducted under the controlled
temperature and humidity. For the apparatus used in this study,
the temperature and the relative humidity can be controlled
within 0.1 K in the range of 283–333 K and within 1% in the
range of 40–75%, respectively (Nara & Kaneko 2005).

4 ROCK SAMPLES

Oshima granite, Westerly granite, and Inada granite were used

where α is the activity of the corrosive avent, E ‡ is the activa-
tion energy, R is the gas constant, T is the absolute temperature,
and v1 and β are material constants (Wiederhorn et al. 1980,
Freiman 1984).
as rock samples. It is known that granite has orthorhombic
elasticity (Sano et al. 1992). In Table 1, the P-wave velocities in
three orthogonal directions are shown. It is shown that granites
in this study are also anisotropic. In this study, three principal
axes of orthorhombic elasticity are defined as “axis-1”, “axis-
2”, and “axis-3” in order of P-wave velocity. Additionally, the

101
 Table 1. P-wave velocity in granite.

P-wave velocity [km/s]

Rocks Axis-1 Axis-2 Axis-3

Oshima 4.91 4.61 4.51

Westerly 4.83 4.80 4.72
Inada 4.69 4.33 4.06

Figure 2. Specimen orientations for granite.

planes normal to these axes are called as “plane-1”, “plane-2”,

and “plane-3”, respectively.
Considering the orthorhombic elasticity, 6 kinds of spec-
imen were prepared as shown in Figure 2. For example, the
crack propagates parallel to axis-1 and opens parallel to axis-2
in 1 · 2-specimen. Since the sample block of Westerly granite
was not large enough to prepare that 6 kinds of specimen, 3
kinds of specimens (1 · 2, 1 · 3 and 2 · 1) were prepared.
5 RESULTS
In this study, subcritical crack growth under air and water
environment was investigated by DT test.
Before DT test in air, rock specimen was exposed to the
testing environment for 20 h. In Figure 3, the relations between
the crack velocity and the stress intensity factor (KI -da/dt
relations) for Inada granite and Oshima granite obtained under
the same environmental condition are shown (Nara & Kaneko
2006). It is shown that the KI -da/dt relation for granite is
anisotropic. In the case of 1 · 3-specimen and 2 · 3-specimen,
that is, when the crack propagates parallel to plane-3 (Rift
plane), the crack velocity at the same stress intensity factor
is the highest. The same tendency was observed for KI -da/dt
relation of Westerly granite (Nara & Kaneko 2006).
KI -da/dt relations for Oshima granite and Westerly granite
obtained under different environmental conditions are shown
in Figure 4 (Nara & Kaneko 2006). Solid and open symbols
show the relations obtained under the high temperature and
humidity conditions and the low temperature and humidity
conditions, respectively. It is shown that the crack velocity is
higher when the temperature and the humidity are higher. This
Figure 3. KI -da/dt relations obtained under the same temperature
and humidity (284K, 44%). (a) : Inada granite, (b) : Oshima granite.
result is in harmony with the concept that stress corrosion con-
trols subcritical crack growth in granite. The same tendency
was observed in other specimens.
Rock specimens for experiments under water environment
were kept in distilled water for 2 weeks before DT test. In
Figure 5, KI -da/dt relations for Oshima granite in distilled
water are shown as well as those in air under the same tem-
perature. It is shown that the crack velocity in water is much
higher than that in air. Therefore, it is considered that water
accelerates subcritical crack growth in granite. This result is
also in harmony with the concept that stress corrosion controls
subcritical crack growth.
6 DISCUSSION
Since the crack velocity was the highest when the crack prop-
agated parallel to Plane-3 (Rift plane), it is considered that the
crack propagated with connecting the microcracks existing
ahead of the crack front and parallel to the crack propagation
direction. To consider the effect of microcracks, the relation
between the energy applied to the crack tip, βKI , and the
density of the microcracks parallel to the crack propagation
direction, , was investigated. The relation between βKI and

102
 Figure 5. KI -da/dt relations for Oshima granite in air and water.

Figure 6. Relation between the crack density and the energy applied
Figure 4. KI -da/dt relations obtained under different temperature to the crack tip at da/dt = 10−5 [m/s].
and humidity. (a) : Oshima granite, (b) : Westerly granite.
2
 is shown in Figure 6. From this figure, it is shown that βKI 1
decreases with increasing . It can be concluded that the crack 0
velocity in granite is dependent on the density of microcracks 0 5 10 15 20 25
unit : mm
parallel to the crack propagation direction (Nara & Kaneko
2006). Figure 7. Crack path for Oshima granite.
By using the results obtained under different temperature
and humidity, the activation energy was determined. Consid-
ering the anisotropy of KI -da/dt relation due to the density Table 2. Results of the crack path observation for
of microcracks, it was assumed that the activation energy for Oshima granite.
grantie decreased by the effect of the crack density. In this Opening plane NCL D E ‡ [kJ/mol]
study, the effect was expressed as follows:
Plane-1 1.36 1.40 173
Plane-2 1.29 1.08 159
‡
Plane-3 1.26 1.07 154
where E0 is the activation energy of the matrix material in
which no microcracks exist, and γ is a constant. For granite,
‡
E0 and γ was determined as 179 kJ/mol and 3.02, respectively.
It is considered that the microcracks affect the roughness 2006). In this table, NCL means the trace length of the crack
of the crack path. By preparing thin sections after DT tests path normalized by the distance between the start and end
and digitizing the crack path as shown in Figure 7, Nara et al. point of the digitized crack path, and D is the fractal dimen-
(2006) estimated the geometry of the crack paths and reported sion determined by the spectrum method. If NCL and D are
the effect of microcracks on the roughness of the crack path small, the geometry of the crack path is smooth. From Table 2,
in Oshima granite. In Table 2, results of the crack path obser- it is shown that the roughness of the crack path is low when
vation are shown as well as the activation energy (Nara et al. the crack propagated parallel to Plane-3. This result indicates

103
the manner of the crack propagation in granite. If the crack
propagates parallel to the direction of the preferred orientation
of microcracks, the distance between the crack front and the
nearest microcrack parallel to the crack propagation direction
tends to be small. Therefore, the roughness of the crack path
becomes low. As a result, NCL and D become small when the
crack propagates parallel to Plane-3.
It is necessary to mention the effect of liquid water on sub-
critical crack growth. It is considered that water acted as the
corrosive agent from Figure 5. Since the crack velocity in air
is proportional to the water vapor pressure (Wiederhorn et al.
1980), it is clear that the crack velocity in water is higher than
that in air in which the relative humidity is 100%. The chemi-
cal condition around the crack tip in liquid water is considered
to be different from that in air.
The amount of water molecules supplied from the sur-
rounding environment can be different. The amount of water
molecules in liquid water is much larger than that in air. This
can be one of the causes of the difference of the crack velocity
between in liquid water and in air.
7 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, subcritical crack growth in granite was investi-
gated using Double Torsion test.
It was shown that the KI -da/dt relation for granite is
anisotropic. If the crack propagated parallel to Rift plane, the
crack velocity at the same stress intensity factor was the high-
est. The anisotropy was due to the preferred orientation of
pre-existing micorcracks.
From the observation of the crack path, it was shown that
the crack path became smoother when the crack propagated
parallel to Rift plane. This result was due to the preferred
orientation of microcracks.
104
The crack velocity was higher when the water vapor pres-
sure was higher.Additionally, the crack velocity in liquid water
is much higher than that in air. These results agreed well with
the concept that stress corrosion is the main mechanism of
subcritical crack growth in granite.
REFERENCES
Anderson, O.L. & Grew, P.C. 1977. Stress corrosion theory of crack
propagation with applications to geophysics. Rev. Geophys. Space
Phys. 15(1): 77–104.
Atkinson, B.K. 1984. Subcritical crack growth in geological materi-
als. J. Geophys. Res. 89(B6): 4077—4114.
Freiman, S.W. 1984. Effects of chemical environments on slow crack
growth in glasses and ceramics. J. Geophys. Res. 89(B6): 4072–
4076.
Michalske, T.A. & Freiman, S.W. 1982. A molecular interpretation
of stress corrosion in silica. Nature 295(11): 511–512.
Nara, Y. & Kaneko, K. 2005. Study of subcritical crack growth in
andesite using the Double Torsion test. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 42(4): 521–530.
Nara,Y. & Kaneko, K. 2006. Sub-critical crack growth in anisotropic
rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 43(3): 437–453.
Nara, Y., Koike, K., Yoneda, T. & Kaneko, K. 2006. Relation between
subcritical crack growth behavior and crack paths in granite. Int.
J. Rock. Mech. Min. Sci. 43(8): 1256–1261.
Sano, O. & Kudo, Y. 1992. Relation of fracture resistance to fabric
for granitic rocks, PAGEOPH 138(4): 657–677.
Sano, O., Kudo,Y. & Mizuta,Y. 1992. Experimental determination of
elastic constants of Oshima granite, Barre granite, and Chelmsford
granite. J. Geophys. Res. 97(B3): 3367–3379.
Wiederhorn, S.M., Fuller Jr., E.R. & Thomson, R. 1980. Micromech-
anisms of crack growth in ceramics and glasses in corrosive
environments. Met. Sci. 14: 450–458.
Williams, D.P. & Evans, A.G. 1973. A simple method for studying
slow crack growth. J. Test. Eval. 1(4): 264–270.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

The determination of interpretation uncertainties in subsurface representations

W. Tegtmeier
International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands
University of Technology Delft (TU Delft), Research Institute OTB, Delft, The Netherlands

R. Hack
International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands

S. Zlatanova
University of Technology Delft (TU Delft), Research Institute OTB, Delft, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT: In geo-engineering re-use of existing data and real world representations is, at present, limited to non-existent.
This is mostly due to difficulties regarding the use of data obtained by a number of various professionals. The main problem in
this respect is a lack of standardization of data (“lack of data harmonization”) and, underlying, the often-unknown quality of
the collected data and derived real world representations. Particularly in geological interpretations, uncertainties are high, since
only sparse information is available for the interpretation process. The paper presents a methodology, which will be applied
in order to determine the influence of so-called “interpretation uncertainties” on subsurface representations and to develop an
appropriate way to include quality and uncertainty expressions in the metadata of the subsurface representation. In addition,
an outlook will be given regarding the problem of data harmonization and standardization within the process of infrastructural
development.

1 INTRODUCTION in infrastructural development. The problem of data harmo-

Increasing mobility is of major importance in today’s society.
To be able to cover the needs of the world’s citizens concerning
their unobstructed movement, sufficient infrastructural capac-
ities (e.g. highways, railways, airports, etc.) in the same way
as infrastructure security and transportation safety must be
ensured. Clearly, this requires the occupation of a number
of specialists, each of them facing different problems, which
have to be solved. With it, new civil infrastructures must be
planned, designed, and built and existing structures monitored,
maintained and eventually be abandoned. These diverse pro-
cesses are commonly spread over the whole lifecycle of civil
infrastructures with a duration of commonly tens of years. The
lifecycle can generally be subdivided into six main stages that
are namely:
1. Exploration
2. Planning
3. Design
4. Realization
5. Maintenance
6. Abandon
For the execution of the various tasks during infrastructural
development, the skills of a number of various professionals
(e.g. civil engineers, engineering geologists, GIS technolo-
gists, etc.) are needed. Large quantities of geo-information
(e.g. GIS-, CAD-, and various other data sets) are collected,
generated, (re-) used, managed and exchanged throughout the
lifecycle of a civil infrastructure and the main problem as iden-
tified today is the difficulty regarding data harmonization;
that is the process by which different parties adopt a common
(ideally standardized) way of working with geo-information
nization is partly caused by the lack of information about
qualities and possible uncertainties regarding the collected
data as well as derived real world representations. Still, at
present, large parts of the data as well as representations are
not equipped with quality or uncertainty information. This
aggravates the communication and also co-operation between
the different parties involved in infrastructural development
and intensifies the problems concerning the (re-) use of geo-
information as delivered by diverse companies and experts.
This missing uncertainty information regarding various types
of geo-information and real world representations, and also the
use of different types of data structures, geo-information man-
agement systems and software packages are, thus, the main
obstacles when trying to achieve data harmonization in large
infrastructural projects (Figure 1). Consequently, the question
is: How can geo-information be harmonized and equipped
with uncertainty estimations?
2 QUALITY AS PART OF THE GEO-INFORMATION
Many people of different professions are involved in infras-
tructural projects. Regarding the fact that they have to rely
on the correctness of the work that is delivered to them by
other experts in order to (re-) use this information for fur-
ther planning and decision making, the quality aspect of
geo-information plays an important role in infrastructural
development. This makes quality, thus, an important aspect
of geo-information and to be able to make successful use of
collected data as well as derived representations and interpre-
tations, it is important to receive indications about their quality
(Hack 1997, Dilo 2006). Before one can start to determine

105
 Quality & Possible Uncertainties
Real World Representations
Survey & Measurements
Explore

Abandon Plan

Infra-
structure

Main-
tain Design

Figure 2. The different types of uncertainties in geo-engineering

Realize (Hack et al. 2006).

real world representations concerning the geotechnical (sub-

surface) part of infrastructural development. This seems to be
Figure 1. The lifecycle of civil engineering infrastructures.
most appropriate considering the fact that, usually, only sparse
information is available for the interpretation as well as rep-
resentation of the geological situation at the construction site
the quality of the diverse types of geo-information, however, and, thus, the knowledge and experience of the geo-engineers
it is important to understand the meaning behind the term has a significant influence on the final result.
“quality”.
Countless definitions can be found in the literature, varying
2.1 The uncertainty aspect of quality in geo-information
for each profession (e.g. car industry, medicine, education,
engineering, etc.) they have been especially defined for. In Uncertainty in geo-information plays an important role
their pioneering work, Harvey & Green (1993), for example, throughout the development of infrastructural projects,
determined the nature and usage of quality in relation to higher because it can affect the future (re-) use and processing of
education, where they conclude that quality is often referred geo-information, and also, most importantly, the process of
to as a relative concept. First, quality is described to be rel- decision making in these large projects. Despite the number
ative to the user of the term and the circumstances in which of initiatives trying to reduce the uncertainty from an end-
it is invoked. Then again, regarding higher education, is the users and decision-makers perspective, it is, still, not possible
“benchmark” relativism of quality, where, on the one hand, to completely eliminate this factor of uncertainty (Foody &
quality is to be seen in terms of absolutes and, on the other Atkinson 2002).
hand, quality is to be judged in terms of absolute thresholds Often, uncertainty is described in rather general terms as
that have to be exceeded to obtain a quality rating. Follow- “. . . a measure of the difference between estimation and real-
ing, Harvey & Green suggested that quality should rather be ity”. This, for example, might be the difference between the
grouped into five discrete but interrelated ways of thinking, thickness and extent of a sand lens as determined via an inter-
rather than being described by only one meaning. pretation of borehole and CPT data as compared to the real
The main definition of quality, however, as used by many world situation; expressed in percentage. A definition similar
engineers and scientists and as defined in various international to this rather general description is used in statistics, where the
standards (e.g. ISO 9001:2000) is derived from the meaning of uncertainty is defined as “the estimated amount or percentage
quality as fitness for purpose; that is namely quality as satisfy- by which an observed or calculated value may differ from the
ing the determined needs of the user. In these definitions, it is true value”.
stated: “Quality: The totality of features and characteristics of In the same way as the quality aspect, uncertainty as part of
a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or this quality aspect is determined by different types of uncer-
implied needs. Not to be mistaken for ‘degree of excellence’ tainty (Figure 2). These are, for example, uncertainty with
or ‘fitness for use’ that meet only part of the definition.” regard to spatial prediction, uncertainty resulting from site
Many factors can affect the quality of data and representa- investigations/surveys/measurements, or uncertainties result-
tions and, eventually, lead to imperfections in the data as well ing from geological and geotechnical interpretations (i.e.
as in the resulting work of the various companies. Different mainly caused by limited amounts of data).
kinds of imperfection in data have been defined in the work These days, numerous techniques are available for the
by Smets (1996). The main aspects are, accordingly, impreci- determination of uncertainty resulting from the process of
sion, inconsistency, and uncertainty. Thereby, imprecision and spatial prediction. Depending on the quantity and quality
inconsistency are properties of the data, whereas uncertainty of available data, but also on the type of object (i.e. con-
is introduced into the data by attaching weights to the worlds tinuous or categorical), for which the uncertainty must be
in order to express our opinion about which might be the real determined, different estimation techniques are frequently
world situation. used; that are namely geostatistical simulations, kriging and
Since the problem of data and representation quality probability-based methods (Orlic 1997, Zhang & Goodchild
together with the numerous factors influencing this quality is 2002).
too complex to be covered all at once, this specific part of the As described by Hack et al. (2006), also in geo-engineering
research is focused on uncertainties in geo-information and work it is (or should be) common practice to make an

106
estimation of the errors/possible errors in the geotechnical
properties of the subsurface and the influence of these errors
on the engineering structure to be built in or on it. Different
methodologies, such as the “geotechnical base-line methods”
(Staveren & Knoeff 2004), probability studies and Monte
Carlo simulations (Viseur & Shtuka 1997, Hack 1998, Hack
et al. 2003), are applied to give a certain amount of quan-
tification of possible errors in the design of an engineering
structure due to uncertainty regarding the subsurface proper-
ties. Statistical routines exist, thus, in extenso, to calculate the
temporal-spatial distribution of properties in a unit (see also
Deutsch & Journal 1998, Houlding 2000).
Next to the uncertainty associated with spatial prediction or
the prediction of geotechnical properties, there are, however,
mainly two other sources of uncertainty one should constantly
be aware of, since these types of uncertainties are less promi-
nent and, thus, difficult to be defined. Due to the scarcity of
data, these additional types of uncertainty are most prominent
in geo-engineering and, accordingly, in subsurface real world
representations. As described by Houlding (1994), these two
sources of uncertainty are:
1. The potential for investigation errors (i.e. locational errors
or measurement errors caused by wrongly calibrated
machines)
2. The potential for interpretations errors (i.e. uncertainty
introduced by the expert, depending on the experience and
prior knowledge).
Unfortunately, there is little one can do about these specific
types of uncertainty in geo-information. To be able to quantify
the uncertainties regarding investigation error in sample and
observation values, comprehensive research would be neces-
sary into each of the common investigation techniques in use.
In the same way, it is rather difficult to determine uncertain-
ties that are caused by errors made during the interpretation of
geological features. This is a rather subjective procedure and
up till now, there is no way of incorporating it into a comput-
erized approach unless we are prepared to quantify ourselves
during the interpretation process.
Thus, numerous estimation techniques for the determina-
tion of uncertainties associated with spatial prediction have
been developed and are frequently used in practice. How-
ever, especially regarding the problem of uncertainties in
subsurface real world representations, more research is still
to be undertaken and especially the so-called “interpretation
uncertainties”; that are uncertainties introduced into the repre-
sentation by the experts themselves; must be determined and
communicated, as they form a dominant source of uncertainty
in geo-information.
3 CRITICAL RESEARCH ISSUES AND
DEVELOPMENTS
Due to the fact that for the representation of the subsur-
face (geotechnical) situation at a construction site only sparse
information is available, the knowledge and experience of the
interpreter plays an important role regarding the outcome of
the interpretation. The quality of his experience and “a priori
knowledge” that is of major importance for the interpretation
process can, however, not be qualified at present. If the engi-
neer/geologist is good, this will result in a good and reliable
geotechnical representation. If the engineer/geologist is not
as good, it will result in higher uncertainties and, thus, a poor
107
geotechnical representation. Today, many up-to-date analyses
are available describing all sorts of uncertainties in measurable
properties. Without an indication on the level of interpretation
uncertainties to be expected in the representation, it is, how-
ever, difficult to rely on any geotechnical representation and
to use it for further planning and decision-making.
Therefore, part of the research will be focused on the deter-
mination and communication of the so-called “interpretation
uncertainties” in subsurface geotechnical representations.
As this problem cannot be completely solved in this limited
amount of time, a first step will be made towards an acceptable
solution. The goal within this research is to arrive at a descrip-
tion of the level of interpretation uncertainty to be expected in
a certain interpretation or representation of subsurface condi-
tions. This level of interpretation uncertainty in geotechnical
representations is, at this time, intended to be described on a
scale of, for example, 1 to 5; with 1 a low level of interpretation
uncertainty and high reliability of the subsurface representa-
tion and 5 vice versa. For the determination of the level of
interpretation uncertainty, a weighting system will be devel-
oped and applied in order to arrive at scalable values indicating
the interpretation uncertainties to be expected in a certain
geotechnical representation as well as their influence on the
construction and maintenance measures as needed for the
infrastructural project. Aspects that will be taken into account
in the weighting system are, for example, the quantity of the
collected data, the quality of the collected data, the extent/size
of the construction site, the expected impact of the civil con-
struction on the geology (i.e. type/size/etc. of construction)
and the experience of the geotechnical expert executing the
interpretation (i.e. familiarity with geology around the con-
struction site, number of representations made in this area,
etc.). Each of these aspects will then be given a factor depend-
ing on the conditions met in a certain project. Additionally,
these factors are weighted depending on their influence on
the final interpretation uncertainty to be expected in this
geotechnical representation.
In order to get insight in the present use of uncertainty
information, it will be co-operated with various engineering
companies throughout this research. A number of compa-
nies involved in infrastructural development will be visited
and questioned about their use of uncertainty information in
subsurface real world representations and case studies will
be analyzed in order to acquire information about the influ-
ence of the expert knowledge on the quality of a real world
representation.
Finally, the newly determined uncertainty information will,
ideally, be included in the metadata; that is “data about data”,
additional information that is used to provide further infor-
mation to, for example, attribute tables; of the subsurface
(geotechnical) representation and, if possible, be equipped
with supplementary information regarding the implications
of this interpretation on the construction of the infrastructural
project.. This should, significantly improve the communica-
tion between the companies involved in infrastructural devel-
opment and facilitate the (re-) use of the geo-information.
4 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
In addition to the missing information concerning possible
uncertainties in real world representations, the numerous types
of geo-information as used in infrastructural development, a
lack of standardization and, especially, harmonization of the
geo-information makes the different working steps in civil
engineering projects difficult.
In infrastructural development, a number of different
experts are involved in the lifecycle of the civil infrastructure.
Thereby, different types of data, file formats, software pack-
ages, etc. are used for the representation of the real world.
Depending on the specialization, also different representa-
tion techniques for the representation of the diverse real world
objects are available. During the last years, several initiatives
have been followed in order to integrate the various types of
geo-information (Oosterom et al. 1994, 2006; Zlatanova et al.
2002). The whole problem of geo-information harmonization
is, however, too complex to be solved in a short time. Thus,
more work still needs to be done to achieve a solution to this
problem.
In order to increase the data harmonization and to improve
the communication and co-operation of the different par-
ties involved in infrastructural works, the second part of this
research will be focused on the topic of data harmonization;
with its main focus on the “meaning of the data” (the themat-
ical semantics of data). With it, it is desirable to use similar
semantics for the representation of the various objects. Fur-
thermore, real world representations should be equipped with
sufficient metadata describing their meaning and implications
for the development of the project in a language understand-
able by all different parties. Consistent application of terms
is thereby a prerequisite for successful implementation and
unambiguous adoption of legislation, regulations, guidelines
and interpretations.
To achieve this, a glossary shall be established to define
the meaning of those terms regarding geographic informa-
tion that are used regularly within infrastructural projects.
Therefore, various (engineering) companies will be visited
and, together with information gathered with the help of a
questionnaire, information about commonly used semantics,
attributes, definitions, standards, etc. gathered. Finally, a con-
cept will be developed for the harmonized use of common
semantics together with additional metadata.
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 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Thermal over-closure of joints and rock masses and implications for HLW repositories

N. Barton
Nick Barton & Associates, Oslo, Norway

ABSTRACT: Rough joints can be over-closed, and remain over-closed by a previous application of a higher normal stress. This
is an exaggerated form of hysteresis. Rough joints in igneous and metamorphic rocks can over-close even due to temperature
increase alone, due to better fit, which is something beyond hysteresis. The rock mass deformation moduli, thermal expansion
coefficients, hydraulic apertures, and seismic velocities may each be affected. Well-controlled laboratory HTM tests, in situ HTM
block tests, and large-scale heated rock mass tests, lasting several years at Stripa, Climax and Yucca Mountain, have produced
evidence for this extra fully-coupled response. Over-closed laboratory direct shear tests give elevated strength envelopes in
the case of tension fractures and joint replicas. Heating alone also increases the shear strength of natural joints. The coupled
thermal-OC effect in HTM numerical modeling will require, as a minimum, thermal expansion coefficients that include rather
than exclude relevant joint sets, if these have marked roughness and if they originated at elevated temperature. Subsequently
elevated deformation moduli that attract higher stress must be expected.

1 INTRODUCTION

Hydro-thermo-mechanical HTM modelling of high level

nuclear waste disposal scenarios has been actively sought in
the last 30 years. In simplified form, the HTM (and chemical)
effects of excavation, heating and cooling (with eventual seis-
mic loading from major earthquakes in the very long term),
have each to be simulated. The effects of heating and cooling
on rock joints likely to exist in the ‘geological containment’
will be the focus of this paper.
A phenomenon revealed almost 40 years ago, that has
proved to have relevance for both HTM field experiments and
HTM modelling, concerns over-closure of joints. Under ambi-
ent conditions we may refer simply to hysteresis effects, but
when heat is added, thermal over-closure appears to accentu-
ate closure effects in the rock mass. This sounds ‘positive’ for
waste isolation: in fact it may be adverse, due to the subsequent
cooling that requires shrinkage in a rock mass that may have
over-closed rough joint sets that remain closed despite cooling.
Difficulties in obtaining excavation-induced failure of arti-
ficial rock slope models, each consisting of 40,000 blocks,
reported in Barton, 1971 and 1972, has proved to have an
unexpected link to the above concerns. Steep, gravity- and
horizontally-stressed slopes with adversely-dipping sets of
tension fractures ‘would not fail’, in relation to slope stability
calculations based on strengths obtained from conventional
1:1 direct shear tests.
When loading to 4 or 8 times higher normal stress, prior to
unloading and shearing, successively steeper shear strength
envelopes were obtained, as illustrated in Figure 1. The
excessively stable slopes (Figure 2) were actually caused by Figure 1. Over-closure (OC) ratios of 8:1, 4:1 and 1:1 (conven-
over-closure of the rough tension fractures. As observed some- tional) prior to direct shear testing of rough tension fractures. Barton,
times in real slope failures, there was evidence in slope-failure 1972. An example of the model tension fractures, and their surface
roughness is also shown. ‘Back-analysis’ refers to the model slope
debris, of ‘over-closed’masses of blocks, which might be inter- failures.
preted as ‘discontinuous jointing’ or evidence of ‘cohesive
strength’ in field observations.
These elevated strengths explained the slope-failure diffi- previously higher loading, when estimating available shear
culties seen in Figure 2, since when excavating a rock slope or strength. The continued failures might be due to errors in
open-pit, (as also in these experiments), a reduction in normal stress-transformation from σ1 and σ2 to τ and σn on joint
stress is usually caused. Many important slope-failures occur surfaces that dilate (Barton, 2006), or for other reasons of
in the open-cast mining industry, despite the usual neglect of structural control including elevated joint water pressure.

109
Figure 2. Example of extreme stability (left) and post-failure
masses (right) caused by unloading from a higher normal stress when
excavating the slopes. Barton, 1971.
Figure 3. A demonstration of obviously exaggerated hysteresis, due
to unloading of over-closed tension fractures. Barton and Hansteen,
1979. Deformation vectors were derived from photogrammetric
analysis.
Rougher joints seem to have greater closure-related ‘bene-
fit’, both from ambient and thermo-mechanical loading than
smoother, more planar joints. During subsequent cooling, with
rougher joints possibly over-closed, it is likely to be the more
continuous, smoother joints that open to compensate for those
that are closed. Reduced shear strength and increased per-
meability are the possible results, which are clearly effects
that should be considered when deciding on the detailed
lay-out/location, of high-level nuclear waste disposal.
2 AN AMBIENT TEMPERATURE EXAMPLE
Figure 3 shows how hysteresis affected the sequential devel-
opment of deformation when excavating parallel caverns in
physical models, using both exaggerated pillar slenderness,
and the same exaggeratedly rough sets of tension fractures as
shown in Figures 1 and 2. The cavern models were excavated
in a stressed ‘rock mass’ consisting of some 20,000 blocks, in
the sequence shown. Note how the pillar deformations did not
reverse with subsequent excavation, as they would have done,
if there had been less severe effects of hysteresis.
3 TEST EVIDENCE FOR THERMAL OVER-CLOSURE
• Conducting aperture decreases in Terra Tek/CSM HTM
block test (for ONWI).
• Joint closures in HTM coupled stress flow tests (CSFT) (for
AECL/URL).
110
Figure 4. Biaxially-loaded 2 × 2 × 2 m heated block test, with
HTM measurements along the diagonal (shaded) joint. Hardin et al.,
1981. Average joint spacings are indicated in this 3D schematic.
• Conducting aperture reductions from HTM block test in
G-Tunnel (for Sandia National Laboratory).
• Reduced thermal expansion coefficients at NSTF Hanford
(for Rockwell-Hanford).
• Reduced Vp and Vs after long-term heated/cooled bore-
hole test at Stripa (for SKB). Poor model prediction due to
thermal joint over-closure and changed moduli.
• Increased cohesive and frictional strength of joints in
welded tuff that have been heated. (Sandia N.L).
• Heated mine-by (Spent Fuel Test) at Climax (for Lawrence
Livermore). Poor model prediction due to higher final mod-
uli, lower thermal expansion coefficients, due to thermal
over-closure of joints.
• Heated and ambient sides of plate load test at Yucca Moun-
tain (for DoE). Widely different moduli in the ambient and
heated sides of the same drift.
A selection from the above experiments will be given during
the remainder of this paper, to illustrate the different facets of
thermal over-closure.
3.1 Joint aperture decreases due to heating
Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the loading principles and some key
HTM results, from the TerraTek heated block test that was
conducted for ONWI in 1980 and 1981. The rock was quartz
monzonite, and the rough diagonal joint that was the sub-
ject of this particular set of HTM data, had JRCo = 13, and
JCSo = 90 MPa. Hydraulic apertures were back-calculated
both before and after flatjack-slot drilling, and during the
loading, unloading, heating and cooling sequences shown in
Figure 5.
Figure 5. Hydro-thermo-mechanical (HTM) hydraulic aperture,
temperature, normal stress behaviour, as back-calculated from the
heated block test. Barton, 1982.
Figure 6. Contrasting stress-permeability behaviour caused by the
addition of heat. (‘Present study’ refers to Hardin et al. 1981 heated
block test referred to initially as gneiss, but as quartz monzonite in
subsequent publications). Note comparison to some University of
Berkeley tests on tension fractures from Iwai, 1976. Barton, 1982.
The inset tabulation of hydraulic apertures in Figure 5, indi-
cates that ambient loading to 7 MPa (approx.) reduced the
hydraulic aperture from about 50 to 30 µm. From this point,
thermal loading to 75◦ C at constant normal stress (achieved
by bleeding expanding oil from the flatjacks), caused the
hydraulic aperture to reduce successively to 9 µm. During
subsequent cooling and partial unloading: a typical nuclear
waste scenario, the aperture had increased to only 16 µm, in
other words the joint was thermally over-closed.
Somewhere between a normal stress of 3.5 MPa and full
unloading, the hydraulic aperture ‘jumped open’ to 42 µm.
A lesson to be learned is that continuum modelling will be
inadequate to trace such phenomena, and therefore will tend
to miss the most critical events regarding potential ‘hydro-
geologic’ waste isolation.
111
Figure 7. Tilt tests conducted on selected lengths of core drilled
in-plane with respect to the diagonal test joint. The extended lengths
of core gave JRCn values from 7.9 to 8.3, while JRCo (with 100 mm
reference length) averaged 13.
A feel for the roughness of the diagonal test joint that was
the subject of the above heated block permeability tests, is
given by the ‘reconstructed’ tilt tests, and by the photograph
shown in Figure 7. The JRCn values obtained from tilt tests
of these longer samples are smaller than the nominal 100 mm
standard, where JRCo was 13.
3.2 Coupled stress flow CSFT laboratory tests
CSFT test methods described by Makurat et al. 1990, using
the apparatus depicted in Figure 8, showed physical aperture
reductions when heating joints (Figure 9), that were in excess
of those expected due to application of higher normal stress.
Three tests on joints in granite from URL in Canada, were
loaded up to 14, 19 and 26 MPa, and on the 4th load cycle
of each test, suffered joint closures (E) at the respective
test temperatures of 20◦ C, 60◦ C and 80◦ C of 24 µm, 54 µm
and 151 µm, that were out of all proportion in relation to the
moderate stress increases. These reductions of physical aper-
ture (E) lead of course to smaller reductions of conducting
aperture (e), due to roughness effects, from e ≈ E2 /JRC2.5
o .
(Barton et al. 1985). An increase of 40◦ C was shown to
decrease e by 39% inTest 2.The highest temperature cracked
Test 3 sample, so e was unreliable.

Figure 8. The CSFT apparatus used for MHT coupled-process joint
tests in NGI’s nuclear waste related projects for the Stripa SCV/SKB,
Sellafield/UK Nirex Ltd, and URL/AECL studies. Makurat et al.
1990.
Figure 9. CSFT tests on URL granite joints, showing the effect of
increased temperature on the 4th cycle of loading of Tests 1, 2 and
3. For methodology, see Makurat et al. 1990.
3.3 Heated block test in G-Tunnel, Nevada
A second heated block test in the USA was conducted in G-
Tunnel at the Nevada Test Site, by SAIC engineers, for Sandia
National Laboratories. This is shown in diagrammatic form in
Figure 10, and the detailed jointing and permeability test joint
are shown in Figure 11.
This 2 × 2 × 2 m block test was also instrumented exten-
sively, in order that deformation moduli, mass ‘Poisson’s ratio’
(that reached 0.6), thermal expansion coefficients and joint
permeability could be monitored through a range of load
cycles (0 to 10.6 MPa) and temperature cycles (48◦ , 69◦ , 94◦ C
at block centre).
Hydraulic apertures reduced from approximately 60 to
35 µm along the diagonal test joint, due to the effect of this
112
Figure 10. HMT block test performed by SAIC, for Sandia in
welded tuff, in G-tunnel (Nevada Test Site). Zimmermann et al. 1985.
Figure 11. Details of jointing in the G-Tunnel test block. Zimmer-
mann et al. 1985.
heating. (Zimmerman et al. 1985). The measured joint rough-
ness JRCo for the NW-SE joint set that was showing this
thermal over-closure averaged 9.0 (TerraTek, 1983) with a
range from 6 to 11. Joint profiling was conducted in the drift
walls in the immediate proximity of the block test.
3.4 Plate jacking tests at Yucca Mountain ESF
Sandia National Laboratories conducted plate jacking tests
across a small drift at the Yucca Mountain ESF (Exploratory
Studies Facility). The jointed, welded tuff yielded two differ-
ent values of deformation modulus, depending upon whether
the walls of the drift were heated due to proximity to a large
scale heater experiment. One side of the plate-loaded drift
was heated to ≥100◦ C, the other side was at near ambient
temperature.
The authors, George et al. 1999 calculated ambient and ther-
mal rock mass deformation moduli of 11.4 GPa and 24.5 GPa
respectively, based on the widely different load-deformation
responses shown in Figure 12. They surmised that the rock
mass quality might be more heterogeneous than previously
thought, but were unable to conclude that the heated side had
higher quality (i.e. higher RMR or Q-values). Observation by
this author confirms this opinion.
3.5 Near-surface test tacility in Hanford basalt
At the Near-Surface Test Facility, at Hanford, another well-
instrumented 2.3 × 2.3 m block was flat-jack loaded and
heated in the wall of a drift in the Colombia River basalt

Figure 12a,b. Yucca Mountain plate-load test performed in an
adit with one side heated. Emass (ambient) = 11.4 GPa, Emass
(heated) = 24.5 GPa. George et al., 1999.
formation. Although this heated block test did not give direct
measurement of thermally induced joint closure (or over-
closure), there was enough circumstantial evidence to suggest
that such was occurring. Cramer and Kim, 1986.
The thermal expansion coefficient of the rock mass in three
dimensions, showed a maximum reduction from 6.34 × 10−6
◦ C−1 (over the range 18◦ to 60◦ C) to 2.59 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 (over
the range 60◦ to 100◦ C).
At 100◦ C, Cramer and Kim (1986) reported a related 30%
increase in deformation modulus, while at 200◦ C there was a
135 to 190% increase. All in situ moduli, even those at elevated
temperature, were of course significantly lower than the intact
rock value that averaged 86 GPa.
The increased temperature testing of the heated block of
columnar basalt reportedly reduced the degree of inelastic and
continuously yielding deformational behaviour. Translation
and rotational movements of the columnar structures inferred
from numerical modelling, were assumed to have been
reduced by the thermally induced “lock-up” of interacting rock
block structures. This case of course had joints formed at very
high temperature when the basalt was sufficiently brittle.
3.6 The Spent Fuel Test (SFT) at Climax Mine
A large scale mine-by and spent fuel heater test was con-
ducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the
early eighties. A cross-section showing the extensive instru-
mentation is shown in Figure 13. The three parallel drifts of
about 10 and 15 m span, were excavated at 430 m depth in
jointed quartz monzonite. The test location was about 150 m
above the water table, i.e. it was unsaturated but not dry. Joint
frequencies were about 0.9 to 2.2 per meter in the test area,
and there were reportedly four dominant joint sets. (Yow and
Wilder, 1993).
113
Figure 13. A heated mine-by experiment in the Climax Mine, in
quartz monzonite. Spent Fuel Test, Yow and Wilder, 1993.
The extensive instrumentation was designed to measure the
bulk response of a jointed rock mass, to excavation of the
central tunnel (the mine-by), followed by a 3-year period of
heating, and 6 months of cooling. Unfortunately monitoring
beyond this 6 months was not reported, presumably due to
project termination.
Extensive finite element (ADINA) calculations were per-
formed to compare predicted performance with measured
performance. In this code, isotropic thermoelastic behavior
was assumed, with temperature dependent thermal expan-
sion coefficients (Butkovich and Patrick, 1986). Numerous
scales of deformation moduli were tested. As in the case of
the smaller scale Stripa heater tests discussed next, there was
significant discrepancy between measured thermally induced
displacements in the canister drift, which were about 1/4 to 1/2
of those calculated, both in the horizontal and vertical direc-
tions. Instrument error was first suspected, but was eliminated
by thermal calibration.
Yow and Wilder (1993) interpreted these discrepancies as
evidence for a thermally increased rock mass modulus, citing
possible thermal closure of joints as described by Barton et al.,
1985, as the reason for increased rock mass stiffness.
At the end of the monitored 6 months of cooling, joints that
had closed during heating had not yet unloaded enough for one
to determine whether or not all of the heating-phase deforma-
tion would be recovered (Yow and Wielder, 1993).Obviously
non-recoverable, thermally induced shear displacements were
also reported.
Thermally induced hysteresis, and deformation moduli and
expansion coefficients different from what was expected seem
to be a general pattern of behavior for these heater experi-
ments. Constitutive modeling needs to allow for these extra
fully-coupled phenomena, i.e. thermal over-closure.
3.7 Stripa borehole heater effects on velocities
The Stripa heater experiment has been described by numer-
ous authors. The full duration of the test was eventually 750
days, with 398 days of heating. The simple basic layout of
the test is shown in Figure 14. The long period of cooling
generally returned seismic velocities to values lower than
before the heating, suggesting permanent changes, such as
Figure 14. The Stripa borehole heater experiment. Paulsson et al.
1985.

local excessive joint opening as hypothesised elsewhere in

this paper.
The non-linear, thermally induced strains were about half
those expected from linear thermo-elastic analyses, using lab-
oratory tests of α◦ C−1 on intact samples. These important
effects were discussed by Cook (1983). The discrepancy, as
at Climax, was due to thermally-induced joint closure and
hysteresis, what we now call thermal over-closure. A signifi-
cant quantity of water expelled during the heating signified
the general closing of the joints. Temperatures were over
100◦ C in only a small region around the heater, and water
was expelled also from distant boreholes where perhaps the
low initial permeability was less reduced.
The initial increase in velocity with temperature was linear
and varied from 2 to 4 m/s/◦ C. The average joint frequency
in the test area, analyzed from 224 m of core, was 8.3/m. The
largest velocity changes caused by the heating, amounting to
Figure 15a and b. Stripa borehole heater test, and the effects of
0.2–0.3 km/s, were interpreted as occurring in the direction of prolonged heating and cooling on VP and VS . Paulsson et al. 1985.
the minimum horizontal stress, which is logical since the cal-
culated thermal stress was as much as 55 MPa in, presumably,
the direction of maximum horizontal stress.
An elastic continuum analysis conducted prior to the test tens if not several hundreds of degrees, in relation to their
had indicated larger stresses and local displacements than were formation, often nearer the brittle-ductile transition, or when
actually measured presumably due to the thermal compliance deeply buried in a typical geothermal gradient. When cooled,
of all these joints. The full record of P-wave and S-wave veloc- the 3D roughness finger-print, though very recognizable in
ities over the 750 days duration of the test is shown in Fig. 15. relation to the original, would be subtly altered in its finer
details.
If (or because) the constituent minerals have unequal
4 DISCUSSION thermal expansion coefficients (for example a log normal dis-
tribution of values from 1 to 20 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 , giving a mean
The explanation for the phenomenon of thermal over-closure (measured) value for the whole rock of say 10 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 ,
is assumed to be quite simple (Barton, 1982, Barton, 2006). then it is reasonable to expect a degree of micro-mismatch
Namely that the joints in question, and perhaps the huge across the joint walls, assuming that several different minerals
majority of joints developed in the crust, were formed at vari- usually form the joint walls. (At the heated block test described
ously elevated temperatures compared to ‘ambient’.They were by Hardin et al. 1981, the thermal expansion coefficient was
thereby given a primeval ‘finger-print’ of 3D-roughness that 1/2 to 1/3 parallel to foliation, compared to perpendicular to
reflected the warmer conditions at their birth. The details of foliation).
this ‘finger-print’ would clearly be influenced by the diverse The variable quantities of constituent minerals in igneous
properties of all the minerals (or grains) forming the joint rocks, and in addition the important differences in α◦ C−1 when
walls, and their mechanical resistance to joint formation, heating or cooling, quoted from Skinner (Section 6 of Clark,
whether in tension or shear or by cooling. 1966), suggest that micro-mismatch is inevitable when joints
Today’s rock joints as sampled at the surface or near surface are tested colder than at their formation. This is surely one
(1 km is also ‘near-surface’) have probably cooled by many reason for the variously hyperbolic shape of (ambient) normal

114

Figure 16a and b. Dolomite pavement which can be used to illustrate
some important aspects of HTM modeling.
closure tests, as described in great numbers by Bandis et al.
1983, for a wide range of JRCo and JCSo values.
The mechanical over-closure and the thermal over-closure
referred to in this brief review of test data, suggests that it
is time to perform a more comprehensive series of tests on
rock joints in rock mechanics laboratories. For example, we
do not usually (ever?) load rock joints to normal stress levels
appropriate to existing stress levels, followed by unloading to
the post-excavation stress levels, prior to shearing in direct
shear testing. The addition of heating is seldom considered.
Concerning ‘geologic’disposal of nuclear waste with subse-
quent thermal loading and unloading, it is clearly necessary to
perform permeability tests on rock joints in the heated state.
Specifically, the effect of increasing temperature combined
with increased normal stress needs to be investigated, and most
importantly the effect of reducing temperature and reducing
stress, all as a function of roughness JRCo . Just the measure-
ment of shear strength changes as a result of heating, for a
range of JRCo , would also be informative.
Under ambient conditions, maximum joint closure was
aided by lower JCSo and lower JRCo for the medium to hard
jointed rocks tested by Bandis. However, when thermally over-
closed, joints will display higher stiffness and higher strength,
as though both JCSo and JRCo have been increased by the pro-
cess of intimate interlock. This is the dilemma that we face in
constitutive modelling, and unloading may or may not reverse
the above process.
Consider the jointed pavement (in a prominent dolomite
bed) at Kimmeridge Bay in southern England, which is
depicted in Figure 16. The rougher, less continuous joints that
occur between the two (or three) major sets, contribute to an
initially reduced deformation modulus through the reduced
RQD and reduced Q-value. The ‘ambient’ deformation mod-
ulus would depend on Q and Qc (= Q × σc /100) and on the
depth or stress level (Barton, 2002, 2006).
If this rock mass became heated, it would be these short,
rough joints that closed most efficiently, causing an increased
deformation modulus at higher temperature. Upon cooling
these same joints would tend to remain with small aperture,
thereby requiring opening of the more continuous joints. It
is these more continuous joints that would usually be dis-
cretely modeled in a numerical model such as UDEC-BB or
3DEC-MC.
An adjustment to the input data for such a model would
be the requirement of thermal expansion coefficients that
included the thermally compliant rough jointing. Some of
the thermal expansion would thereby be absorbed, but the
115
Figure 17a and b. Two contrasting joints with JRCo values of about
1 and 16 according to back-analysed direct shear tests.
negative factor might be that the reduced apertures would
remain ‘closed’during subsequent cooling, thereby potentially
activating the major joints.
The rougher of the two joints shown in Figure 17, must
be expected to suffer thermal over-closure, while the planar
discontinuity, possibly a minor fault, might be opened dur-
ing cooling, if in the same neighbourhood, to compensate for
this closure. The fourth component of coupled behavior; the
chemical changes incorporated in HTMC modeling, would
logically include the increased likelihood of chemical depo-
sition in the low-permeability thermally over-closed joints, as
actually appears to have occurred already.
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. Numerous HTM in situ experiments, some of them heated
block tests, others consisting of larger scale heating of the
rock mass, have demonstrated a consistent phenomenon of
changed properties caused by joint closure during heating.
This is something additional to the expectation of higher
thermally-induced stresses causing joint closure.
2. During the heating of jointed rock in the immediate sur-
roundings of an HLW repository, the thermal over-closure
mechanism that appears to affect non-planar joints, will
tend to cause a marked reduction in joint permeability, an
increase in seismic velocity, and a final increase in defor-
mation moduli, due to the transient reduction of the thermal
expansion coefficients.The latter is due to transient ‘soften-
ing’ of joint normal stiffnesses with heating, due to thermal
compliance causing thermal over-closure.
3. During the subsequent cooling phase of an HLW repository,
one may experience rougher joints that have been thermally
over-closed, and that may not open during cooling. These
joints have increased cohesive and frictional strength and
reduced aperture. They may also be preferentially involved
in chemical deposition and sealing.
4. Smoother, planar, and probably more continuous fea-
tures will tend to open to compensate for those that may
remain closed during the cooling, thereby potentially losing
strength and gaining permeability. This should alert design-
ers to avoid the continuous features in e.g. their disposal
canister deployments.
5. Thermal over-closure phenomena seem to have been almost
ignored in more recent rock mechanics testing and engi-
neering design work. The numerical modeling of over-
closure in repository scenarios, including both mechanical
 and subsequent thermal effects, is therefore needed, once
the necessary data base is developed.
REFERENCES
Bandis, S., Lumsden, A.C. & Barton, N. 1983. Fundamentals of rock
joint deformation. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. and Geomech.Abstr.
Vol. 20: 6: 249–268.
Barton, N. 1971. A model study of the behavior of steep excavated
rock slopes. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of London.
Barton, N. 1972. A model study of rock-joint deformation. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., Vol. 9, No. 5: 579–602.
Barton, N. & Hansteen, H. 1979. Very large span openings at shal-
low depth: Deformation magnitudes from jointed models and
F.E. analysis, 4th Rapid Excavation and Tunnelling Conference,
RETC; Atlanta Georgia, Vol. 2: 1131–1353. Eds A.C. Maevis and
W.A. Hustrulid. American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and
Petroleum Engineers, Inc. New York, New York, 1979.
Barton, N. 1982. Modelling rock joint behavior from in situ block
tests: Implications for nuclear waste repository design. Office
of Nuclear Waste Isolation, Columbus, OH, 96 p., ONWI-308,
September 1982.
Barton, N., S. Bandis and K. Bakhtar, 1985. Strength, deformation
and conductivity coupling of rock joints, Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min.
Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. Vol. 22, No. 3, 121–140.
Barton, N. 2002. Some new Q-value correlations to assist in site
characterization and tunnel design. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci.
Vol. 39/2:185–216.
Barton, N. 2006. Rock Quality, Seismic Velocity, Attenuation and
Anisotropy. Taylor & Francis, UK & Netherlands, 729 p.
Butkovich, T.R. & W.C. Patrick 1986. Thermomechanical model-
ing of the spent fuel test – Climax. Proc. of 27th US Symposium
on Rock Mechanics, Tuscaloosa, AL. Hartman (ed.) pp. 898–905.
New York: Soc. of Mining Engineers.
116
Clark, S.P. 1966 (Editor). Handbook of physical constants. Sections 1
and 6. The Geological Society of America, Inc. Memoir 97.
Cook, N.G.W. 1983. Effects of joints in thermally induced dis-
placements and stresses. Proc. of 24th US Symposium on Rock
Mechanics, 303–307.
Cramer, M.L. & K. Kim, 1986. Rock mass thermal and thermome-
chanical properties from a large-scale block test. Proc. of 27th US
Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Tuscaloosa, AL. Hartman (ed.),
808–815. New York: Soc. of Mining Engineers.
George, J.T., R.E. Finley & M. Riggins, 1999. Conduct of plate load-
ing tests at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Proc. of 37th US Symposium
on Rock Mechanics, Rock Mechanics for Industry. Eds. Amadei,
Kranz, Scott, Smeallie. Balkema, Rotterdam, 721–727.
Hardin, E.L., Barton, N., Lingle, R., Board M.P. & Voegele, M.D.
1981. A heated flatjack test series to measure the thermome-
chanical and transport properties of in situ rock masses. Office
of Nuclear Waste Isolation, Columbus, OH. ONWI-260, 193 p.
Iwai, K., 1976. Fundamental Studies of Fluid Flow Through a Single
Fracture. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 208 p.
Makurat, A., Barton, N., Rad, N.S. & Bandis, S. 1990. Joint conduc-
tivity variation due to normal and shear deformation. Int. Symp. on
Rock Joints. Loen, 535–540. Eds. N. Barton and O. Stephansson,
Balkema.
Paulsson, B.N.P., Cook, N.G.W. & McEvilly, T.V. 1985. Elastic-wave
velocities and attenuation in an underground granitic repository
for nuclear waste. Geophysics. 50, 4, 551–570.
Yow, J.L. & D.G. Wilder, 1993. Rock mass response to thermal load-
ing and unloading at the spent fuel test. Comprehensive Rock
Engineering. Hudson et al. (eds.). Ch. 36. 3: 863–880. UK:
Pergamon.
Zimmerman, R.M., M.L. Wilson, M.P. Board, E. Hall & R.L. Schuch
1985. Thermal-cycle testing of the G-Tunnel heated block. 26th
US Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Ashworth (ed.) 749–758,
Balkema.
 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Water storage of thermal waters in a closing down mine (Gavorrano, Italy)

C.A. Garzonio
Department of Restoration and Preservation of Architetcs Heritage, Florence, Italy

ABSTRACT: The cessation of mining activities is an environmental and socio-economical problem. Slope stability and
subsidence, together with hydrogeological and mine-water management are the main problems. The paper describes the hydro-
geological problems linked to the rehabilitation and re-utilisation of the water resources of the mining area of Gavorrano
(Tuscany, Italy). The results of the studies and the recent situations concerning circulation, quality and discharge of the mine
water are reported, with particular reference to the future effects of the controlled water rebound and the complex measures
necessary for the dewatering stoppage. Different uses and possible actions are proposed, taking into account thermal, chemical
and discharge characteristics as well as local planning objectives.

1 INTRODUCTION

The study of mine water quality, discharge and re-utilisation

is an important research topic because it brings to an econom-
ically profitable rehabilitation of mining areas and of its water
resources. The geological and structural settings of the min-
ing areas control the water quality, chemistry and discharge
as well as the water rebound.
The Gavorrano mine was one of the largest pyrite mines in
Europe throughout the last century. The company is trying to
give up its mining concession by adopting the safety measures
required by the Bureau of Mines for the decommissioning.
A major aspect of the rehabilitation involves the evaluation
of the underground openings. In particular, the present study
described the results of a new geognostic campaign and the
setting up of monitoring system of the water level and water
chemistry changes, both during and after an important phase
of mining operations.
Figure 1. Geological map.
The waters pumped from the tunnels have a complex ori-
gin. It is present a surface circulation, due to the infiltration
in fractured and karstfied carbonatic rocks, and a deep circu-
lation of thermal water. The latter sulphate-calcic water, with
a temperature of almost 40◦ , were cut off and deviated dur-
ing the mining activity of the pyrite, and mixed with the other
groundwater pumped out. The study area corresponds to the
ridge of Mt. Calvo which is composed of fractured and karstic
limestones (Figs. 1–2). The reliefs are crossed by more than
one fault system, with throws >600 m. Figure 2. Geological section.
The masses of pyrite which were mined coincided with the
contact with faults between the sedimentary units and intrusive the volumes of the mine and above all the source, flows and
granite, quartz-monzonitic masses. Geological, geostructural, courses of the deep, thermal circulations waters. For this aim
geomechanical and hydrogeological, and geophysical analy- pumping tests in the different points are being carried out to
ses as well as, the measurement of the flow rate pumped by evaluate the possibility to separate the different waters and to
pumping system (mean discharge 65 l/sec) and recent bore- plan the re-utilization of the different waters resources.
holes (monitoring network), all the above have allowed us to
draw up hydrogeological conceptuale models and to attempt
to formulate a hydrogeological balance and to try to predict 2 GEOLOGICAL, GEOMORFOLOGICAL AND
the main water-flow directions. Unfortunately the analysis of HYDROGEOLOGICAL FEATURES
the data obtained in the mine and Mining Society archives is
very difficult due to the destruction of many documents. One Gavorrano is located in south-western Tuscany, in the Metal-
important aspect concerns the geo-chemical analysis, with the liferous Hills (Colline Metallifere), 150 kilometres south of
study of the natural tracers and other prospecting, in order to Florence and a few kilometres from the sea. The area is charac-
evaluate the effects on the quality of the water which crosses terized by rapid topographic changes passing from a very flat

117
plain (Follonica gulf, Pecora river valley) up to rocky hills with
a maximum elevation of about 500 m.a.s.l. (Mt. Calvo). The
area is characterized by NNW-SSE elongated post-orogenic
basins developed over an antecedent extensional horst and
Graben structure consequent to the Tyrrhenian sea opening.
Intrusive bodies, with decreasing age from west (7–8 My) to
east (4 My), are typical of this tectonic province, and their
emplacement was followed by their greater extension. The
activity of the province is attested by important geothermal
fields (Larderello, Amiata) located within a major mining
district (Campiglia, Elba island, Mt. Amiata). The hydroge-
ological system in the Gavorrano area is complicated by the
presence of three sub-systems: a superficial alluvial system,
a karstic system and a deep hydrothermal system.
The first system consisted of a small multifalda aquifer
in the area around the sub-inclined plane of the alluvial and
debris plane of the large village of Bagno di Gavorrano.
Waters from the last two systems have been forcefully mixed
by the mining activity. In fact, 500 m of production levels
were excavated in over a century of mining. The pre-existing
groundwater circulation, with springs placed at a maximum
height of 180 m a.s.l., was depressed up to 250 m b.s.l., when
old thermal springs (Bagno di Gavorrano, Terre Rosse) were
drained through the underground drifts system.
The permeability classes were attributed by considering: the
lithology, the degree of fracturing, the degree of weathering
and alteration, the presence of karstic structures, as observable
both at the surface and within mine drifts. Karstic features and
degree of fracturing were determining factors in distinguish-
ing carbonate rocks. A groundwater balance was performed by
attributing different coefficients of potential infiltration to the
different lithotypes and by computing the contributing areas
for each lithotype. For this purpose the geomechanical charac-
terization in representative sites has been performed through
a series of geomechanical field surveys and also in the mine.
In particular, the potential infiltration coefficient for the
carbonate rocks was estimated within the range of 8.7 to
10.1 lt · km2 /s, as a function of the increase in fracturing and
karst conduits. However, it must be stressed that rock mass
properties, in particular hydraulic conductivity, have been
strongly and permanently influenced by mining and subse-
quent induced processes (e.g., tunnel presence, the increase
in the fracturing degree and the enlargement of existing frac-
tures by acid water circulation and water level lowering which
increased karst solution in places). In fact, tunnels and drifts
form a drainage network characterised both by voids and
refilled spaces.
The three basic elements that characterized the geomorpho-
logical set-up of the area are: karstification, subsidence and
mining activity. In the summit area of Mt. Calvo we can see
Karrens and Dolines. The last ones are bowl shaped with a
diameter of 20–30 m.
Subsidence contributes more to morphology, especially in
the east side of the Mt. Calvo characterized by a wide circular
area reduced by the presence of several sub-vertical slopes
where we can see, at the base, collapse phenomena.
When limestones are not covered by detritic blankets we
can find fissures and fractures.
3 WATER DISCHARGE
Groundwater level recovery is typical of the closure of mines.
It is a common process that can give important information for
118
Figure 3. Schematic section of the mine with water pumping
systems and sites of investigation and water sampling.
understanding the effects, starting from the data recorded dur-
ing the water level lowering and some occasional or accidental
water risings. The control of groundwater rebound, in progress
at the Gavorrano mine since August 1995, is regulated by a
submersible pumping systems. These systems consist of three
pumping points immerged in the Rigoloccio Shaft, the Roma
shaft and Rigoloccio shaft (since 2000) respectively. They are
adopted to avoid too fast a rising in the groundwater level,
which could induce turbulent flow and internal erosion of the
back-filling; excessive hydraulic gradients and groundwater
re-emergence at the surface within inhabited areas (Bagno
di Gavorrano). The first phase of rebound was from the level
−250 m.b.s.l. reached the level −140 m.b.s.l. (august–october
1995); in the second phase the level rised at −110 m.b.s.l.
(may–august 2005), the third phase up to −80 m.b.s.l. (august–
december 2006). Furthermore, the controlling of the rebound
allows us to evaluate the volume of water storable within the
mine voids system, as well as the changes in the chemical
composition of drainage waters. The passage of the Second
World War front between 1944 and 1945 caused a forced
water level rising and, together with data collected since 1995,
these are the only ones available for the mine. Data for the
1944–45 forced rising are available for the main mining cen-
ters of that time (Rigoloccio, Boccheggiano-Gavorrano and
Valmaggiore from N to S). The data of the water level rising
and the pump discharge neeeded to maintain prefixed water
level during each flooding step suggest a power law trend for
the groundwater level rise with decreasing rate and with the
general form:
where Ht and Ho are the initial and final groundwater level
elevations, and t is the elapsed time. In fact, the rising rates at
Boccheggiano-Gavorrano and Valmaggiore are quite similar
while at the Rigoloccio the rate was lower (Crosta & Garzonio,
2000). The recent records were compared with the old ones by
putting all the rising steps (from −197 m b.s.l. to −143 m b.s.l.,
because initial water level rising between −236 m b.s.l. and
−197 m.b.s.l. was uncontrolled.) in sequence, without con-
sidering the steady level intervals. It must be stressed that the
mines were separated from each other during the 1944–1945
period, and have only been linked since 1969. Since 1995 the
pump discharge has remained almost constant at 65 l/sec, with
the exception of three periods of heavy rainfall with discharge
until 110 l/sec. Recently, in particular during he last phase, in
some steps, the discharge was being lowered. Considering the
fact that the meteoric waters in the last years were approxi-
mately the same quantity, we can suppose the aquifer system
is wider than before, because the water has found new ways
in the fractured rockmass.
Figure 4. Pump discharge decrease.

Figure 5. Map of the boreholes (between Gavorrano and Bagno di

This allowed the storage of about 550*103 m3 of water stor- Gavorrano).
age. Using the data recorded, in a complete way, during the two
phases (1997, 1998) of increased discharge, it was possible to
perform a recession analysis which gives us a good insight into
the aquifer structure. Starting from these data and the reces-
sion analysis, confirmation of the previous results concerning
the groundwater balance was obtained. In fact, according to
the recession analysis, the average water resources that are
renewed yearly amount to 2.2 M cubic meters or 66 l/sec.
These values are quite comparable with the average yearly
pump discharge (65 l/sec or 2.08 M cubic meters). Finally, by
comparing these data with the ones obtained by the effective
infiltration analysis (1.1 Mm3 ) it emerges that almost 1 Mm3
of hot water flows regularly from the deep circulation system
into the mine every year.

4 NEW FIELD INVESTIGATIONS AND MONITORING

With the aim of the survey in particular of the inhabited area

of Bagno di Gavorrano, a new geognostic campaign to moni-
toring water levels during the controlled flooding of the mine
has been carried out. Five boreholes, named PZ1, PZ2, PZ3,
PZ4 and PZ5 in fig. 5, have been drilled in the site in order to
control aquifer, chemistry and temperature data. These results
have been compared with the old ones (Filippi, 1988). The new
boreholes have pointed out a new and interesting stratigraphy
of the site and the exact location, the characteristics of the cav-
ernous limestone. In this unit there is the deep thermal circuit
and it is linked to the mine reservoir. In all wells will putting
automatic equipment to provide, with temperature and water
level data, pH and electric conductivity values. For example, it
is describe the first borehole named PZ1. It is localized in the
“S. Francesco farm”, 200 meters deep and 2,5 inches large.
Inside PZ1 it was situated an automatic surveyor that control
water level, temperature and pH via PC. Geophysical data are
obtained by seismic down-hole campaign made after few days
(Fig. 6). We are obtained a stratigraphic column consisting of
“Renone debris” (debris from quartz-monzonite), for the first
82.5 m from the surface and then “Cavernous limestone” until
the end of the borehole (200 m from the surface). The eleva-
tion of well is 61.2 meters a.s.l. so it reaches −140 meters
under sea level: the same elevation of the water level in the
mine before the last phases of overflowing. Around this bore-
hole geophysical analysis have been carried out to verify the
stratigraphic and to draw a geological and structural section.
The boreholes 4 and 5 have highlighted clayey and clayey-
sandy layers. This stratigraphic anomaly has pointed out the
Figure 6. Transit Time diagram and velocities for the PZ1.
presence of an important fault system, and It defines the pos-
sible geometries of the groundwater flows and the conseguent
hazard effects due to water rising below the Bagno Village.
5 HYDROGEOLOGICAL MODEL
By the analysis (stratigraphy, water level, etc.) of the 5 con-
trol wells, we suppose there was an important water flow at
the contact between superficial layer (clay, sand and palus-
trine debris) and the cavernous limestone layer. It is due to the
presence of high permeable zone constituted of limestone with
many voids derived by the erosion of the thermal waters with
the same composition of the mine waters. Furthermore, geo-
physical investigation and permeability tests in the boreholes
have pointed out the low conductivity of the calcareous for a
significant depth. It is due to secondary fills and cementation
of the joints, the infiltration of weathered materials, deposi-
tion of gypsum. The flows is mainly controlled by important
discontinuites and coniugate joints. In fact, till now, during the
water level rising in the mine (for the moment to the elevation
of −80 m.b.s.l.), the water level and temperature measuring in
the borehole had not put in evidence significant correlation.

119

Figure 7. Simulation of the main flows to Bagno old spring.
These results make possible to developed a preliminary con-
ceptual model, applying numerical simulations of the water
flow to establish the water circuit and to plan the control
of water rebound and/or pumped discharge. The numerical
method chosen was MODFLOW and FEFLOW, but for the
lack of groundwater observations of the flow in the monitor-
ing points the application is restricted to symplified layers
and it is constrained by artificial boundary conditions and
inflows in determined paths (fresh waters in a limit of Gavor-
rano mine, and regional thermal water in Rigoloccio mine).
Regular finite different grids of 35 × 30 m., two and/or three
layers, 100 columns were used. On the basis of conceptual
model, the maximum height in the mine volumes (with the
conseguent heads) are considered in Rigoloccio shaft, where
in 1945 the water level rised +50 m.a.s.l..The fault system,
which is parallel to Rigoloccio fault (see Fig. 1), represent a
barrier with probably thresholds at the top of carbonatic unit.
The preliminary simulation has highlighted the possibility of
out-flows towards the Bagno di Gavorrano (old thermal spring
area) when the water level rises 10 m.a.s.l.
6 WATER CHEMISTRY
At a regional scale it has been observed that sulphate waters
commonly spring from the Cavernous limestone and from
intrusive rocks. Calcium bicarbonate waters are mainly asso-
ciated with carbonate formations and small depths and are
considered the less mature water class. Gavorrano mine water
samples can be clearly differentiated in two main groups:
“superficial” bicarbonate waters (from levels +240 m a.s.l.,
+155 m: Mg-Ca, +90 m: Ca-Mg-HCO3 ) and deep sul-
phate waters (Ca-Mg-SO4 , −80 m b.s.l., −110 m, −140 m,
−200 m). This grouping can be done on the basis of the sul-
phate (from sulphide oxidation and evaporites solution), iron
and silica contents and it is also suggested by the few tem-
perature data even if more qualitative observations have been
made. A geothermal gradient of about 75◦ C km−1 has been
determined. A water type sub-group, with peculiar character-
istics, is composed by four samples all collected within the
intrusion in a relatively localised area, and characterised by
very low pH values and high TDS contents. The area was
characterised by a conspicuous air flow and abundant water
presence, with clear and cold waters. The pH values strongly
120
characterise this minor group. All the other sampled waters
generally presented values just a little over neutral (7–8). Mine
drainage is characterized by an average temperature of 32◦ C,
a 7 to 8 pH value, and it can be classified as a Ca-Mg-SO4 or
a Ca-Mg-SO4 -HCO3 water, probably as a result of temporal
changes and the mixing action caused by pumping. In com-
parison, the water of the old spring at Bagno di Gavorrano was
characterised by a constantly higher Na and Cl content, with a
minor SO4 content. Recently and during the increasing of the
discharge, in particular in Rigoloccio Shaft 3, we can observe
higher temperature values and lower pH values (6,3–6,6).
7 CONCLUSIONS
The case history of Gavorrano is associated with water recov-
ery after the termination of pumping operations and the
consequent mine water management, which would be char-
acterized by re-using different resources. The study described
includes all these aspects and highlights the great importance
of continuously monitoring the water level and water chem-
istry changes, both during and after the completion of mining
operations. The importance of this monitoring is illustrated,
for example, by the rising rates observed at different mining
sites (Valmaggiore, Gavorrano, Rigoloccio) during the forced
Word War II pumping arrest. The pH of the Gavorrano mine
waters is almost neutral. This may be due to the content of
alkaline minerals within the carbonate rocks mass, both in
the upper mine levels and the tectonically lowered rock mass
near the main faults of the area (thermal water flowing up at
the Rigoloccio mine ). The neutralisation of the naturally acid
waters, which derive from iron sulphide oxidation, because of
their contact with air and water after tunnel excavation, could
also be the result of the material used to back-filling excava-
tions (limestone blocks together with clay and cement). The
chemical monitoring has pointed out a small trend of lower-
ing of the pH values (6,4). The TDS content is high, but the
quantities of polluting elements are low.
The groundwater balance and the discharge rates pumped
confirms the volume which could be stored, and the impor-
tant presence of a thermal deep circulation coming from far
away. In conclusion the new analyses and the new monitoring
system have highlighted that in the present phase of the water
rebound the proposals of different re-utilization project of the
waters are obtainable as well as the necessity of collecting
new monitoring data (necessary to increase the conceptual and
numerical model of the water flows), before further change in
elevation of the recovering water table.
REFERENCES
Crosta G. & Garzonio C. A. 2000 The underground water storage
project in the Decommissioned Gavorrano mine (Tuscany, Italy)
Proc. Eurock 2000, Aachen, 387–393.
Filippi L. 1988 – Report of the stratigraphic borehole.
Garzonio C. A. 2000 Dewatering and the tourist potential of hydro-
geological resources of the Gavorrano mine, tuscany, Italy. In
O. Sililo (ed.) Proc. XXXII IAH Congress on Groundwater, Cap
Town, 26 November – 1 December 2000: 1107–1112. Rotterdam:
Balkema.
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issues

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considering random errors C. Sunwoo & D.W. Ryu KIGAM (Korea
Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources), Daejeon,
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ABSTRACT:The surface damage in an abandoned underground

limestone mine in Korea is observed to be of different
forms

from simple sinkhole formation to a large scale landslide

of the ground in the subsided area. For the prevention of
damage, it is

very important to predict an extent of ground movement.A

probabilistic approach based on a simple predictor model is
applied

to a subsidence case. Geological and mining parameters can

affect the magnitude and extent of sinkhole subsidence.
These

influence factors should be evaluated to predict and

mitigate subsidence hazards. The model needs geometrical
parameters

and mechanical properties and these measurements can imply

random errors. Therefore, Monte Carlo simulation is used to

consider the effects of random errors on the modified

model. A number of the sets realized from the simulation,
which are

combined of depth of subsided ground, bulking factor and

angle of repose, are used to calculate the extent of
subsidence.

1 INTRODUCTION

The term subsidence is commonly used to imply a grad

ual sinking, but it also can refer to an instantaneous or

catastrophic collapse of the surface.The common form of sub

sidence in underground limestone mining areas is due to the

formations of sinkholes. Sinkholes result from various mech

anisms(Sowers, 1976), including consolidation from loading

and dewatering, hydraulic compaction, settling as materials

are removed by groundwater flow, stoping of materials and

instantaneous collapse of roof rock. Sinkhole subsidence gen

erally occurs following the failure of the mine roof which

migrates through the overlying strata until the failure zone

intercepts the unconsolidated overburden. Of themany factors

which influence the subsidence the important factors include

a shallow depth of cover, competence and nature of mined and

surrounding strata, geological discontinuities and

dissolution

of rocks. Piggot & Eynon(1977) defined shallow depth, from

the point of view of sinkhole subsidence, as a maximum of

10 times the height of the o riginal gangway excluding

surface

unconsolidated deposits. Matheson and Eckert-Clift(1986)

correlated sinkhole subsidence with the ratio of thickness

of overburden(h) to height of the opening(m). Accordingly,

where the h/m ratio is less than 5, there is a strong

possibility

of the occurrence of sinkholes which decreases rapidly when

the ratio is between 5 and 11.

Whenever an underground opening is excavated, the strata

immediately above the openingbecomede-stressed.Theopen

ing will remain stable as long as the stresses do not

exceed the
strength of the roof rock. Over a period of time, roof sta

bility may be jeopardized by the change in the stresses and

the strength of the roof rock. These changes may be due to a

great extent to groundwater inflow and time dependent defor

mation. When a roof is consist of blocks bounded by joints

or cracks, it may fail by shearing along planes of weakness

when the induced stress exceeds the shear resistance along

the

joints. In a heavily jointed rock mass, the presence of

water

creates severe problems to the strength and the stability of

underground openings. Rainwater seepage through the cracks

and pores into the mine opening can trigger the caving of

weak roof. 2 CASE STUDY-ABANDONED LIMESTONE MINE SITE

(DAESUNG MINE) 2.1 Geological setting The geology of the
studied area consists of Youngheung and Gabsan formation.
The major structures of this area are folds and several
faults lying along NNW-SSE direction. The thickness of
limestone deposits of Gabsan formation couldn’t be measured
since its upper beds are not distributed on the survey area
and fold structures. However, based on its lithology the
Gabsan formation could be divided into three lithological
units. These are the upper(shale banded limestones), the
middle(limestones) and the lower member(sandstones). The
middle member, a major resources of high grade limestone,
is about 25m–35m(max. 150m) in thickness. But its thickness
varies due to fold structure. The Youngheung formation
consists of limestones and dolomites that are banded
irregularly. Daesung underground limestone mine has a hilly
terrene with a variation in the overburden of 20m at the
portal to 150m at the innermost point where the mining
operation has terminated (Fig. 1).The reportedwidth
andheight of the opening are around 20m and 10m
respectively. Majority of mine development and the
subsequent room-and-pillar operation had been with in 100m
cover, where the possibilities of sinkhole subsidence
remained very high. Abandoned mine workings pose a wide
variety of problems due to the gradual strength
deterioration of the support pillars left in the stopes due
to weathering and time dependent deformation. Therefore the
uncertainty in terms of its stability creates problems in
many situations. 2.2 Mining method of working The mine was
developed into three levels at 6th level(353m), 7th
upper(382m), and 7th lower level(408m) above the sea level
(Fig. 1). The main stoping operations adopted in the mine
were room-and-pillar and sublevel caving. However, the
sublevel caving was confined to a single level. Some
portion of ore remaining in place is typically a function
of the required support necessary to prevent the overlying
strata from the immediate caving or falling in while mining
is being operated.

Figure 1. Plan and sectional view of abandoned underground

limestone mine and zone of subsidence.

Figure 2. Sublevel caving method of stoping at the abandoned

limestone mine.

From the plan it is clear that the extractionwasmade

following

the grade values of ore leaving lower grade ore blocks in

pil

lars,which consequently resulted in irregular pillars of

random

sizes in the stope.Ore is fragmented by blasting using the

holes

drilled upwards. The draw points were developed between the

7th upper and lower levels, while the crown pillar between
the

6th and 7th upper level, which is height of 26m was drilled

and blasted(Fig. 2). The mining method produces significant

disturbance at the ground surface, imposing some possible

limitations on its applicability from the considerations of

its

potential to cause surface subsidence.

2.3 History of subsidence

The environmental impacts from mining may worsen over

time as the ground continues to settle. The exact location

and Figure 3. Sinkhole formation. Figure 4. The possible
sequence of surface failure above the abandoned limestone
mine. time of a disaster related to subsidence cannot
usually be predicted with any degree of certainty. The
possible sequence of roof failure leading to subsidence due
to sinkholes may be established with certain degree of
confidence from the observations. First, the void created
by the ore withdrawal from the sublevel caving stope must
have lead to the progressive failure of the roof, which
ultimately daylighted in the form of a sinkhole(Fig. 3).
Second, the main influencing factor must be the sloping
ground above the abandoned mine. The decreased depth near
the portal end of the deposit must have given rise to
increased number of sink-holes at the surface. Lines of
sinkholes along the contours of the slope yield a slope
weakening effect by virtue of the perforated character of
the overburden. The presence of this form of surface
subsidence generally changes the pattern of drainage close
to the sinkhole area. The overburden must have been
weakened by weathering effects and sinkholes cluster
together over the room-and-pillarworkings close to the
surface.The depth of the weathering effect depends upon the
climatic conditions. And heavy rainfall conditions favor
increased depth of weathering. Final form of failure can be
attributed to the large scale sliding of the
weakened/fractured rocks from within the subsided zone(Fig.
4). 3 EFFECTIVE RANGE OF SUBSIDENCE A probabilistic
approach based on a simple predictor model is applied to
obtain the effective range of subsidence. Geological

Figure 5. Assumed distribution models of various parameters.

and mining parameters can affect the magnitude and extent

of sinkhole subsidence. These factors should be evaluated

to predict and mitigate subsidence hazards. The conventional

and empirical predictor model is modified for estimating the

extent of damagedue to subsidenceby sinkhole formation.The

model needs geometrical parameters and mechanical proper

ties. The measurements of these parameters contain random

errors inherently. Therefore, Monte Carlo simulation was car

ried out to consider the uncertainty of parameters and

predict

effectively the rangeof the further damage zone.This

approach

can evaluate the damaged zone of subsidence probabilisti

cally. Monte Carlo method uses random or pseudo-random

numbers to sample from probability distributions and, if suf

ficiently large numbers of samples are generated and used

in a

calculation such as that for a factor of safety, a

distribution of

values for the end product will be generated.Therefore,Monte

Carlo technique can be applied to a wide variety of problems

involving random behavior and a number of algorithms are

available for generating random Monte Carlo samples from

different types of probability distributions.

A number of the sets, which are the combinations of depth

of subsided zone, bulking factor and angle of repose

realized

from the simulation, are used to calculate the extent of sub

sidence. Assumed distribution models of various parameters

are shown in Figure 5. The random numbers realized from

these distributions can give us a number of combinations of

parameters, which produced possible ranges of damaged zone.

Probabilistic analysis of damaged zone due to subsidence was

performed based on a number of realizations. To model the

behavior of effective range according to depth of
subsidence,

two exponential decay functionswere considered.The correla

tion models between a depth of subsidence(d) and an

effective

range(Ds), which is diameter of chimney, were deduced from

the results of the analysis(Table 1 and Fig. 6).

The model II shows a higher correlation coefficient than

the model I, which is due to trade off the degree of freedom

(Table 1). The determination factorC in the models has a sim

ilar physical meaning of a diameter of sinkhole. And a lower

angle of break makes the diameter of sinkhole near ground

more and more like that of caved area due to the decreased

space for broken material.

At each cone chute, the range of subsidence was evaluated

by using model II(Fig. 7). Figure 8 shows the area of

surface Table 1. Correlation models between a depth of
subsidence and effective range. Exponential decay
Exponential decay model I model II Ds=A exp Ds=A1
exp(−d/B1)+ Model (−d/B)+C A2 exp(−d/B2)+C χ 2 / DoF 160.65
114.18 R 2 0.891 0.923 Parameters A= 205.42 A1= 216.41 A2=
100.14 B= 0.97 B1= 0.32 B2= 2.54 C= 43.47 C= 27.56 Figure
6. Correlation between a depth of subsidence and an
effective range. Figure 7. Effective range of subsidence
associated with each cone chute. subsidence, which is drawn
from Figure 7. The damage zone of subsidence might be
expanded 30–0m along NE direction than the present boundary
of damage zone. It can be expected that a large scale
landslide will be progressively occurred by the newly
developed subsidence in the eastern part of subsided zone.

Figure 8. Hazard map of subsidence and landslide over the

aban

doned limestone mine.

4 CONCLUSION
Various types of information like the mining methodology

and history of mine and ground condition are needed for an

appropriate remedial strategy in an abandoned mine. Hazard

map of subsidence and landslide based on the information

can be helpful for a determination of land usage and an

extent

of restoration. For the construction of hazard map, the pre

diction of the damage zone was carried out with considering

the uncertainties of geometric and geotechnical attributes.

It

is found that the uncertainties inherent in the attributes

can

make the extent of the damage zone underestimated or over

estimated. Therefore, Monte Carlo technique can provide an

ABSTRACT: The limestone as a bedrock located near the

surface is corroded by groundwater and its process forms

underground cavities. Serious ground stability problems

such as ground subsidence and building crack, etc., come to
the

front in the region where underground cavities are

distributed present. For the investigation of the cavity
distribution in lime

stone region, various geophysical investigations such as

electroresistivity tomography, electromagnetic prospecting
are carried

out. Geotechnical field tests with drilling are also

carried out for the evaluation of the ground
characteristics. Based upon their

results, numerical modeling is performed for the simulation

and prediction of the ground subsidence with the conditions
of

cavity geometry and groundwater level. The main factor to

cause the ground subsidence is estimated as the draw down
of the

groundwater level below soil overburden, which disturbs the

mechanical equilibrium of ground and drives washing away
the

overburden soil through the cavity and surface subsidence.

1 INTRODUCTION

The dissolution process of limestone on the long-term scale

of time induces the formation of the scattered cavities with

various shape and size. The formation of cavity geometry is

related with the geological structure, the type of

overburden

and groundwater. The distribution pattern of the cavities in

limestone region at shallow depth may cause abrupt ground

subsidence.

For the analysis of the ground subsidence, the cavity distri

bution in limestone region needs to be identified.

Geotechnical

field tests with drilling are carried out to investigate

the dis

tribution of the soft ground accordingly, including the rock

mechanical investigation so that we can examine the mechan

ical characteristics of rock mass needed for examination of

ground subsidence causes and evaluation of ground stability.

The analysis of ground stability was conducted based on

the cavity distribution survey and the mechanical property

investigation of rock mass through drilling and geophysical

exploration. The numerical analysis of ground stability was

conducted to predict a future possibility of ground
subsidence.

For this, the FLAC program was used as a continuous model.

We set the shape and pattern of cavities and linked them

with the drawdown of groundwater level which is regarded

as a major factor in ground subsidence and then analyzed the

ground subsidence occurrence by each condition.And we also

evaluated whether ground subsidence is safe according to the

cavity pattern and the groundwater conditions.

2 INVESTIGATION OF GROUND CHARACTERISTICS

AND DISTRIBUTION OF LIMESTONE CAVITY

Geophysical prospecting and rock mechanical tests with

drilling are carried out to evaluate geological structure

pat

tern, ground condition, cavity distribution and weak zone.

The

basic geological formation is limestone and schist before

the

Mesozoic era with the intrusion of granite and rhyolite

later.

It is difficult to reproduce the geological structure

changed

by the location and depth of strata as it is. Therefore

boring Figure 1. Drilling sites of the investigation
region. logging data and electro-resistivity tomography
were adopted to reproduce the local strata. The strata and
geological structure are strongly influenced by the fault
fracture zone and they are found to be complicate in
structural formation. The sequence of strata include the
reclamation layer accumulated from the ground surface;
followed by the order of weathered soil, weathered rock,
and soft rock. Figure 1 shows drilling sites of the
investigation region. Boring data show that the earth and
sand, and the weathered soil are located approximately 5∼15
m in depth and the groundwater level is located 1∼2 m from
the surface.The limestone in soft rock and weathered rock
are the bedrock covered by the earth and sand, and the
weathered soil. The weathered rock exists under the soft
rock. Figure 2 shows the fence diagram of
electroresistivity tomography including the houses damaged
by ground subsidence. The tomography image is relatively
well matched with the boring result. They show that the
fault fracture zone is widely developed ranging from the
depth of 40 m in borehole BH-11, 12, 13 to the depth of 10
m in borehole BH-07, 08, 09. The small cavities were
observed at borehole BH-04, BH-12,

Figure 2. Fence diagram of electroresistivity tomography in

the

investigation region.

but their shape and distribution were difficult to be

quantified

with the existing drilling. Nonetheless, it is generally

accepted

that the cavities exist in the weathered soil as well as

the lime

stone, which means that when the groundwater level is high,

the cavities are filled with clay; whereas the clay in

cavities is

washed out as the groundwater level drops, resulting in the

for

mation of cavities. In this paper, it is assumed that the

cavities

would be formed as the gorindwater level dorps.

3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ON THE GROUND

SUBSIDENCE WITH THE GROUNDWATER

CONDITIONS

3.1 Numerical model and analysis condition

A numerical analysis of ground subsidence is set to

analytical
section including a mud-wall hut and a Western-style house

damaged by ground subsidence, and a library which is part

of public facility (Figure 3). The strata used for analysis

were

classified into three categories; they are the weathered

soil

layer, the soft rock layer, and the weathered rock layer.
In the

analytical condition, the initial groundwater level was set

to

1 m. As surrounding groundwater was pumped, the ground

water level was dropped to −11, −16, −26 m. Pumping water

was performed at the southeast or southwest where there

were rice paddies and dry fields. So the groundwater level

in

the analytical section was set to a slant (Figure 3(B)∼(D)).

Figure 3(1)∼(5) show the position to analyze the vertical

displacements in main buildings. A vertical load was set to

1.2 tonf/m 2 for a mud-wall hut and 1.5 tonf/m 2 by each

floor

for a Western-style house and library, respectively.

Physical properties used for numerical analysis are listed

in

Table 1. It is assumed that the strata are fully saturated

under

the water table. When the groundwater level is dropped, the

water pressure is removed from the upper stratum of the new

water table. Since water does not move within a short period

of time and the total load does not significantly change,

the

saturated unit weight was continuously applied to the

stratum

existing under the past water table for the entire numerical

calculation.The saturated unit weight back-calculated for

each

stratum can be founded in Table 1. Since the unit weight of

groundwater in general includes clay, 1300 kg/m 3 is adopted

for the calculation which is higher than the unit weight of

common water. Figure 3. Strata distribution and groundwater

conditions in the section. 3.2 Analysis result This
numerical model simulates the cavities observed at
approximately 3 m (BH-04) and 12 m (BH-12) in the depth as
the groundwater drops. The dimension of cavities is limited
to 1 m × 1 m and 2 m × 2 m based on the observed size of
cavities in drilling data. There are not many cavities
observed in the drilling. But, the result of
electroresistivity tomography suggest that lots of cavities
may be scattered locally under strata and the displacement
on the ground surface may be different from their size and
number. This conclusion can be found from the existing
research. Figure 4 shows the vertical displacement occurred
in the bottom of each building. Figure 4(a) is for the
groundwater level at −11 m. When the groundwater level is
formed as shown in Figure 3(B), small cavities may be
formed in the weathered soil below mud-wall huts. The
vertical displacement is converged within about 1.2 mm.
Figure 4(b) case sets the groundwater level to −16m˙. When
the groundwater level is formed in Figure 3(C), cavities
may be additionally formed in the soft rock below mud-wall
huts and in the weathered soil below Western-style houses.
The vertical displacement is converged within 1.2 mm for
mud-wall huts and 0.6 mm for Western-style houses. Figure
4(c) sets the groundwater level to −26 m. The vertical
displacement in mud-wall huts and Western-style houses is
same as Figure 4(b) case. For a library, located on the
upper part of the weathered soil, the vertical displacement
is converged within 0.18 mm, and no significant
displacement occurs in the other part of the library,
however. The vertical displacement is related to the depth
of cavities. In case of mud-wall huts, as the groundwater
level drops down to −11 m and −16 m, a cavity is formed at
−3 m and −10 m from the surface, respectively. However,
comparing with a cavity formed at −3 m, a cavity formed at
−10 m did scarcely influence the vertical displacement
occurred in mudwall huts. Even cavities formed at the same
depth indicated the different vertical displacement
according to the strata and the relative groundwater level.
That is, when a cavity was formed at −3 m in all of a
mud-wall hut, a Western-style house and a library, the
mud-wall hut that has the lowest groundwater level and the
thick weathered soil indicated the relatively high
displacement. This coincides closely with the ground
subsidence occurrence. Table 1. Physical properties of each
stratum for the numerical analysis. Dried Saturated
Internal unit unit Young’s friction Tensile weight weight
modulus Poisson’s angle Cohesion strength Stratum Porosity
(kg/m 3 ) (kg/m 3 ) (GPa) ratio ( ◦ ) (kPa) (kPa) Weathered
soil 0.3 1800 1800 0.01 0.30 24 50 0 Soft rock 0.2 2700
2900 5.62 0.16 30 1850 80 Weathered rock 0.2 2500 2900 1.78
0.20 28 680 60

(a) The groundwater level is set to -11m (b) The

groundwater level is set to -16m (c) The groundwater is set
to -26m

Figure 4. The vertical displacement of the bottom of

buildings by the drawdown of groundwater level.

(a) Cavity size of 2m×2m at the depth of -3m

below mud-wall hut (b) Cavity size of 2m×2m at the depth

of -10m below mud-wall hut (c) All cavities size of 2m×2m

Figure 5. The displacement of the bottom of buildings

depending on the size and location of cavities.

The numerical analysis is also carried out for the estima

tion of the influence of cavity size on a change in the

vertical

displacement. For this analysis, the groundwater level is

set to

−26 m. Figure 5(a) shows the vertical displacement of the

bot

tom of buildings for the cavity size (2 m × 2 m)

approximately

−3 m located below mud-wall hut. The maximum vertical dis

placements at the bottom of mud-wall hut is 6 mm and is 5

times greater than the displacement in case of the cavity

size

of 1 m × 1 m. But the displacements of the bottom of the

other

buildings are not greatly changed.

Figure 5(b) shows the vertical displacements of the bottom

of buildings for cavity size of 2 m × 2 m around −10 m in

the

depth below a mud-wall hut. The vertical displacements at

the

bottom of building are shown in Figure 5(c) for all

cavities are

same size of 2 m × 2 m. The maximum vertical displacement

in mud-wall hut is observed 1.2 mm as shown in Figure 5(b),

and it differs little from the case of cavity size of 1 m ×

1 m. In Figure 5(c), the maximum vertical displacement of
mudwall hut is 6 mm similar to Figure 5(a). Even though the
size of deep-located cavities grows large, there is no
influence on a change of the vertical displacement.
Therefore, the location and depth of cavities are more
important than their size in ground subsidence. 4
CONCLUSION Based on the numerical analysis results, we
identified as follows; When there were cavities in the
shallow place, the possibility of ground subsidence was
high; especially when the groundwater level was dropped,
the possibility of ground subsidence increases because new
cavities are formed. That is why groundwater movement along
with clay makes new cavities in the limestone rock mass and
decreases the effective

vertical stress in the stratum. This process lowers the bear

ing capacity of underground rock mass and leads to the

direct

deformation to the overburden buildings. On the contrary, it

was identified that, when there were cavities in a

relatively
deep place, they were influenced less than those in the
shallow

place. And a change in the size of cavities in a relatively

shal

low depth influenced the vertical displacement of the ground

much more than a change in the size of deep-located

cavities.

The conclusion draws that the exact identification of

cavities

distributed around the ground was very important to predict

the ground subsidence.

Park, S.K. et al., 2004, 3th geophysical prospecting and

geotechni

cal field tests for the Sungnam residential region of Muan

city,

Uiwang, Korea rural community and agriculture corporation.

Park, S.K. et al., 2006, Geophysical prospecting and
geotechnical field tests for the Gyochon residential region
of Muan city, Uiwang, Korea rural community and agriculture
corporation. Goodman, R.E., 1989, Introduction to Rock
mechanics, 2nd edn. Chichester, John Wiley. Guarascio, M.,
Fabris, M. & Castelli, E., 1999, Numerical model simulation
of the subsidence induced by solution mining, Proc. Int.
FLAC Symposium “FLAC and Numerical Modeling in
Geomechanics”, Minnesota, Itasca Co. Hoek, E. and Bray
J.W., 1981, Rock slope engineering, London, The institution
of Mining and Metallurgy. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Analysis of tracer migration
process in the crack by means of X-ray CT A. Sato Graduate
School of Science & Technology, Kumamoto University,
Kumamoto, Japan A. Sawada Japan Atomic Energy Agency,
Tokai, Ibaraki, Japan

ABSTRACT: In order to visualize advection and dispersion

phenomena in the crack, the tracer migration test has been

conducted and the tracer migration process was visualized

by X-ray CT scanner. An additional parameter, coefficient
of tracer

density increment was also introduced to analyze the tracer

migration tests. From the obtained CT data, the relation
between

the advection and dispersion phenomena and crack aperture

was discussed. The velocity of tracer tip and the
breakthrough

point were also estimated.

1 INTRODUCTION

The advection and dispersion of contaminated materials in a

rock mass are one of the important factors to evaluate the

characteristics of the rock mass as a natural barrier func

tion for a radioactive waste disposal project. In the case

of

crystalline rocks, such as granite, fractures/cracks in the

rock

mass become a main path of the migration of contaminated

materials.

In this study, X-ray CT method is applied to evaluate the

advection and dispersion of solute in the crack which exists

in rock mass. In order to visualize advection and dispersion

phenomena, the tracer migration test has been conducted and

tracer migration process is visualized by X-ray CT scanner.

Here, a parameter, coefficient of tracer density increment,

is newly introduced to analyze tracer migration. This is the

parameter that represents the density of the tracer in the

crack,

and the evaluation of the density distribution of the tracer

become possible. In this study, the influences of the crack

aperture to the tracer migration process are discussed.

2 EMPLOYED X-RAY CT SCANNER

An X-ray CT scanner (TOSCANER-20000RE), manufac

tured by the Toshiba Corporation, is utilized in this

study. An

X-ray bulb operating at 300 kV/2 mA provides the radiation

source from which an X-ray beam is emitted. 176 detectors

are aligned with the X-ray source in the horizontal plane to

record attenuation data. The object to be scanned is

positioned

on a traversing turntable and the X-ray beam is projected

through one plane of the object as it rotates and traverses.

The beam thickness can be determined with collimators and

the thickness is set to be 2 mm in this study. The pixel is

a

square of 0.072 mm × 0.072 mm, and the volume of a voxel

detailed description of the specifications and principles

(Sato

et al., 2003).

3 ROCK SAMPLE

A 100 mm × 100 mm × 100 mm cubic granite sample shown

in Figure 1 is used for the tracer migration test. At

first, x y z O Inducedcrack 100mm 100mm 100mm Figure 1.
Geometry of a cubic rock sample for tracer migration test.
this cubic rock sample was separated by splitting test.
Then the fractured surfaces are put together and artificial
crack is simulated. An example of an X-ray CT image of the
sample is shown in Figure 2. This is a single scan image of
an X-ray CT in the x–y plane of the rock sample (Figure
1).The white part in the figure represents a relatively
high density region, while dark areas represent regions of
low density. The inside of the crack is filled with water
in this figure. The existence of the induced crack can be
easily visualized as the dark region at the center of
sample. The profiles of the induced crack (major crack) are
clearly visualized and the existence of several small
cracks (sub-cracks) is also confirmed. Sato et al. (2003)
introduced a technique to evaluate the crack aperture from
X-ray CT image data and indicated that the evaluation of
crack aperture is possible less than the size of the pixel
of the X-ray CT images. Here, same technique is applied to
the granite rock sample, and the mean aperture of the rock
sample was evaluated as 0.23 mm. The crack aperture
distribution was also estimated from the profilometer
measurements, and it is confirmed that the results obtained
from CT image coincide with the results of profilometer
measurements. The detailed results of crack aperture
distribution will be described later.

4 TRACER MIGRATION TEST

Initially the crack shown in Figure 2 was completely filled

with

water. Then the tracer is injected into the rock sample

under

the constant flow rate condition. As shown in Figure 1, rock

sample is installed in which the crack surface is almost

parallel

to the vertical direction. Here the tracer was injected

from the

lower surface of the cubic sample. Therefore, injected

tracer

migrates upword in the crack and the water which initially

fills

the crack is replaced by the injected tracer. Here the flow

rate

is set to be 1.35 ml/h. This is the rate that the space

inside of

the crack is replaced with the tracer in two hours. This

tracer

migration process is visualized by X-ray CT system. Here

five horizontal planes at z = 19 mm, 34 mm, 49 mm, 64 mm

and 79 mm are set to be tomography regions.

As is well known X-ray CT is the system to visualize the

density distribution. In order to visualize tracer migration

process by X-ray CT system, it is necessary to give enough

Figure 2. Single scan X-ray CT image of cubic rock sample.

Figure 3. Single scan image during tracer migration test.

Crack part becomes brighter since the high density tracer
migrates into the crack.

Figure 4. X-ray CT images after image subtraction. Only the

information in the crack can be extracted. density
increment by the tracer. In this study, the mixture of
Potassium Iodide (KI) solution and a medical contrast agent
is applied as a tracer. The tracer has relatively higher
density (1,254 kg/m 3 ), and Fukahori et al. (2006) have
proved that it is suitable for visualizing water flow in
rock by X-ray CT. 5 RESULTS Single scan images at z = 19 mm
during the test are shown in Figure 3. These are the images
of 25, 39 and 128 minutes after the commencement of tracer
migration test. By focusing on the region circled by the
dotted line in Figure 3, it is found that the crack part in
the image becomes brighter gradually with the passage of
time. This change means that the CT value in the crack
increased.This represents that the nominal density of the
part increases due to the migration of the higher density
tracer, and it can be shown that the visualization of the
tracer migration by the X-ray CT scanner is possible. X-ray
CT is a useful technique to visualize inside of the
material without destruction. However, the images in Figure
3 contain not only the information of CT value increment
due to the tracer migration but also the information of
rock matrix part. Sato et al. (2003) and Sato et al. (2006)
introduced that the image subtraction technique is
effective to eliminate the information of the matrix part
in the CT images. Here, the same technique is applied to
the obtained CT images. Before the commencement of the
tracer migration test, X-ray CT images are taken under the
condition that the crack is filled with water.The image
subtraction was conducted between this initial image before
the commencement of the tracer tests and

other image at each time.The results are shown in Figure 4.

By
applying this technique, it becomes possible to clearly
obtain

only the increment of density in the crack due to the tracer

migration as the increment of CT values (region in the

dotted

line in the Figure 4).

In order to confirm the distribution of CT value increment,

CT value projection in the x-axis direction (approximately

perpendicular to the crack surface) of the images in Figure

4

has been conducted.The result is shown in Figure 5.

Generally

the increment of CT value increases gradually with the

passage

of time. This distribution represents the total amount of

the

migrated tracer which exists in the crack on an image, and

the

value is strongly related to the crack aperture. This point

will

be discussed in the next section.

6 COEFFICENT OF TRACER DENSITY INCREMENT

As stated before, the CT value increment due to the tracer

migration represents the total amount of the migrated tracer

into the crack.Therefore, the value also tends to become

larger

at where the crack aperture is larger, and it is necessary

to

obtain a new parameter which can describe the density dis

tribution of the tracer exists in the crack. Sato et al.

(2006)

introduced the image projection technique in the process of

crack aperture evaluation. Here, same idea is applied to

the CT

Figure 5. Distribution of CT value increment along y-axis.

Figure 6. Distribution of coefficient of tracer density

increment α together with the X-ray CT image and the
valuated crack aperture

distribution. images after image subtraction. Firstly,

tomography under the two different conditions are
conducted. One is the case that the crack is filled with
air, and another is the case that the crack is filled with
water. By conducting image subtraction between the
conditions, the increment of CT values �C w when the crack
is filled with air and water respectively is obtained. The
projection of the image in the x-axis direction and the
crack aperture are denoted by P w and w respectively, the
relation between �C w and P w is given by The CT value
increment after the commencement of tracer migration test
and its projection are denoted by �C l and P l
respectively, the two quantities also have a following
relation. Here, the ratio between P w and P l is newly
defined as a coefficient of tracer density increment α in
this study, and given by As equation (3) shows, the crack
aperture w is eliminated in the quantity α, and it becomes
the parameter related to the density of the tracer.
Moreover, �C w is the value which corresponds to the
density of water since the density of air is negligible,
and α represents the ratio of the density of tracer towards
the density of water. 7 ANALYSIS OF DENSITY DISTRIBUTION
The result of distribution of α is shown in Figure 6
together with the CT image (Figure 6 (a)) and the result of
crack aperture distribution (Figure 6 (b)). This is also
the result at z = 19 mm. As Figure 6 (c) shows, generally
the value of α gradually increases due to the tracer
migration. However, the distribution of α is not uniform
within crack, even though the tracer is injected uniformly.
It represents that the flow in the crack is very complex
even in the case the flow rate is very low. Moreover, there
is a tendency that the α increases faster where the crack
aperture is smaller. That is, the tracer

Figure 7. Relation between mean α and time.

Figure 8. Relation between the arrival time and distance.

easily migrates into the small space, and there is a
possibility

that stagnation of flow occurs at the region which has large

aperture.

The variation of the mean α with the elapsed time is shown

in Figure 7. The mean α is obtained as a mean value of α

along

y-axis direction at each measurement time. From this figure,

the arrival time when the tracer firstly arrived at

tomography

region can be estimated. In the case of Figure 7, the

arrival

time is approximately 23 minutes after the commencement of

the tracer migration test. In this study, the tracer was

uniformly

injected into the rock sample at constant flow rate,

however,

there is a time difference between the arrival time and the

time

until the value of α is saturated.This time difference

represents

the fact that the flow in the crack is complex and there
are some

regions where it takes longer time for the tracer to

migrate.The

breakthrough time when α reaches 50% of maximum value

can be also estimated. The relation between arrival time and

ABSTRACT: This paper briefly presents the findings of the

field and laboratory investigations on the long-term
stability

and integrity of 24 Longyou rock caverns. The Longyou rock

caverns were caved more than 2000 years ago. They are large

spanned and near ground rock caverns. The investigations

have led to the discovery that the full water occupation of
the ten

individual pelitic siltstone caverns is the natural factor

that has made them stable and integrate for more than 2000
years. This

discovery is believed of general interest and significance

in rock mechanics and rock engineering.

1 INTRODUCTION

In June 1992, a large man-caved rock cavern (Figure 1) was

unearthed by four local farmers after they pumped water out

of a small pool (Figure 2) in their village near the town of

Longyou in middle Zhejiang Province of eastern China (Fig

ure 3). They were excited, continued to pump water out of

four adjacent small pools and, once again unearthed another

four individual large man-caved rock caverns. Subsequently,

many people including archaeologists, historians, social

scien

tists, geo-scientists, and geotechnical engineers have

carried

out many detailed investigations on the caverns (Wang, 2000,

Sun et al. 2001, Li & Tanimoto, 2002, Yang et al. 2006).

The five large caverns were formed with manual caving in

pelitic siltstone of the Cretaceous age.Their spans are

between

18 and 34 m and heights between 10 and 20 m. The roofs are

declined following the bedding planes so that the thickness

Figure 1. Internal space of a complete stable and integrate

rock
cavern after water pumped out in 1992 (photo taken in 2003,
five

persons are in the middle and left side of the photo).

Figure 2. Small and vertical entrance of a complete stable
and integrate rock cavern fully filled with water (photo
taken in 2003, this entrance is similar to that unearthed
in 1992). Figure 3. Location of plan of Longyou rock
caverns in Zhe Jiang Province, eastern China.

Figure 4. Clear cave imprints on the internal wall surface

of a

complete stable and integrate rock cavern after water

pumped out

in 1992 (photo taken in 2003).

from the roofs to the roughly flat ground surface varies

from

0.6 to 20 m. Each of the five original small pools was actu

ally the vertical entrance of one of the five rock caverns.

The ground surface has a thin mantle of residual soil due to

decomposition of the bedrock pelitic siltstone.

The roofs, sidewalls and pillars are made of in-situ pelitic

siltstone. Their rock surfaces of regular cave imprints were

completely fine and looked as their original conditions when

they were unearthed (Figure 4). Findings of historical

relics

inside the caverns have shown that the caverns were caved at

least 2000 years ago.

2 QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED

Up to now, there are many questions to be answered and

unknowns to be revealed. Some of the questions and unknowns

are (a) who caved them, (b) why did they cave them, (c) when
were they cave them, and (d) how did they cave them.

The caverns were caved manually, demonstrating the pelitic

siltstone is neither hard nor soft. Furthermore, the five

caverns

are large spanned and near ground surface rock caverns. They

have been fine and stable for more than 2000 years.
Literature

review of the relevant open publications has shown that for

such more than 2000 years old, man-caved, large spanned,

near ground surface and medium-hard rock caverns, there are

few experience and examples around the world that can be

used as reference (Sun et al. 2001).

Since the long-term stability and serviceability of large

rock

caverns are always essential to modern rock mechanics and

rock engineering, the following questions must be addressed:

(a) Did the ancient men have plans and methodologies to

design and construct the caverns stable and integrate for

more than 2000 years?

(b) If not, why have the caverns been stable and integrate
for

so many years?

3 INVESTIGATIONS AND RESULTS

With the questions in mind, we have carried out many

detailed

field investigations, laboratory testing, numerical modeling

and theoretical analyses. Summaries of the relevant factual

data that have been found are briefly given below. 3.1
Regional geological and geographical conditions Longyou
county locates in the basin of the Qu River and has a
little tectonic movements and seismic activities. The
mancaved rock caverns located in small hilly terrains with
height differences less than 30 m and slope angles between
10 ◦ and 15 ◦ on the Qu River. The rocks are the Quxian
Formation of the Upper Cretaceous. They are mainly
siltstone of more than 100 meter thick. The stratum are
regular and their beddings have a dip direction 45 ◦ and a
dip angle 22 ◦ . The rocks are intact and blocky and have
little faults and fractures. The region has a sub-tropic
periodic wind climate. The precipitation is about 1542 to
1763 mm annually and distributes non-uniformly over a year.
The rainwater is the only source of the groundwater. 3.2
Rock and water properties The unit weight, the modulus of
elasticity, Poisson’s ratio, and the uniaxial compressive
strength (UCS) of the pelitic siltstone are found to have
the values of 22 kN/m3, 4.5 GPa, 0.266 and 31.6 MPa at the
dry condition and, 23 kN/m3, 3.0 GPa, 0.269 and 18.13 MPa
at the saturated condition, respectively. Therefore the
surrounding rock is a soft rock with mediumlow density. The
value of the UCS at the saturated condition is about 57.36%
of that at the dry condition, showing that the rock
strength can be significantly reduced after they are
immersed in water. Besides, test results show that the
pelitic siltstone has medium cementation and its main
cements are argillaceous, calcareous and iron. It is a rock
with high durability. Its durability can be reduced with
alternation of wetting and drying. Further tests on water
specimens have found that the groundwater has the
mineralization degree less than 1 gram/ liter, which
belongs fresh water. The water in the river and from
seepage in the caverns has the PH values between 5.29 to
6.31, which shows a weak acidity. 3.3 Characteristics of
the rock caverns Including the five unearthed integrate
caverns in 1992, there are 24 individual caverns in the
field. They were formed with similar manual caving methods
in the pelitic siltstone.Another five large caverns still
fully contain water (Figure 2) and are stable and
integrate. The other 14 caverns were failed partly or
completely. The failure modes include (a) collapse of the
cavern entrance, (b) lamellate and wedge falling of the
roof, and (c) block slide of the sidewall (Figure 5). The
10 caverns that fully contain water up to their entrances
have their roofs, sidewalls and pillars stable and in
integrate state (Figure 2). The other 14 caverns that
either partially contain water or have no water have their
roofs, sidewalls or pillars partly or completely collapsed
(Figure 5) and that their caving imprints have been
partially or completely erased due to weathering (Figure
6). The 10 caverns fully containing water have vertical
entrances (Figure 3) while the other 14 caverns partially
containing water or without water have horizontal or
inclined entrances (Figure 5). There are surface drainage
channels and water traps well designed and caved in the
five unearthed integrate caverns in 1992 and in other
collapsed caverns (Figure 1). Minor seepage and wetting are
present on the internal surfaces of the five unearthed
integrate caverns in 1992 (Figure 7) and in other

Figure 5. A typical case of collapsed Longyou rock cavern

with

water table below its roof (photo taken in 2003).

Figure 6. Almost completed weathered caving imprints on the

wall

surface of the collapsed Longyou rock cavern in Figure 5.

(photo

taken in 2003).

partly collapsed caverns. This phenomenon is particularly

visible in wetting seasons.

Furthermore, fractures on the internal surfaces of the five

integrate caverns whose water was pumped out in 1992

were monitored for three years. Fresh fractures and recent

calcareous sinters from cracks were observed on these inter

nal surfaces (Figure 7). Some fractures had extended and

propagated over the monitoring period.

4 ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS

Figure 8 shows a typical cross-section of the complete

stable

and integrate Longyou rock caverns. It shows that the cavern

entrance is vertical and small. The rock cavern space is

fully
occupied with water. The water in the cavern has two main

functions.

At the first, the water functions as a completely flexible

sup

port material to the surrounding rocks of the cavern

including

the inclined roof, the near vertical walls and the base.
Since

the unit weight of the water is about 43.5% to 44.5% of the

unit weight of the pelitic siltstone, the full water

occupation of

the excavated space in the rock largely reduce the stress

level

and deformation of the surrounding rocks.

Secondly, The water offers a sealed and static environment

to significantly reduce the extent and degree of the

physical Figure 7. Seepage and new calcareous sinter from
new cracks on the internal wall surface of a complete
stable and integrate rock cavern after water pumped out in
1992 (photo taken in 2003). Figure 8. Typical cross-section
and mechanism of the complete stable and integrate Longyou
rock caverns. Figure 9. Typical cross-section and mechanism
of the completely or partially collapsed Longyou rock
cavern. and chemical weathering on the internal surfaces of
the rock caverns. Figure 9 shows a typical cross-section of
the already collapsed Longyou rock caverns. It shows that
since the cavern entrance is horizontal, the rock cavern
space cannot be fully occupied with water. Water would flow
out of the cavern. Therefore, the roof and pillars of the
rock cavern space are subjected to the full loading of the
gravity force of the overlying rocks and the caved surfaces
of the rock caverns are

completely exposed to the physical and chemical weather

ing. Consequently, these rock caverns are subject to

distresses,

cracking, weathering and collapses.

On the basis of the above phenomena and further theoretical

analysis, we have found the answers to the two questions in

Section 2 as follows.

(A) The ancient men did not have plans and methodologies to
design and construct the caverns so that they have been
fine and stable for more than 2000 years because there are
24 caverns with at least two different geometrical design
schemes. The caverns with the design scheme as shown in
Figure 8 have been stable and integrate rock while the
other caverns with the design scheme as shown in Figure 9
have been experienced partly or completely failures.

(B) The reason for the 10 rock caverns having been stable
and integrate for more than 2000 years is mainly due to the
fact that their internal spaces have been fully occupied
with water.

Of course, the stable geological and geographical setting of

the region, the fresh and clean rainwater and groundwater,

the

limited human interaction, and the unknown to human beings

are the basic conditions for the 10 rock caverns having been

stable and integrate for more than 2000 years.

5 THE IMPORTANT DISCOVERY

Based on the above findings and discussions, it is argued

that

the full water occupation of the 10 pelitic siltstone

caverns is

the natural factor that has made them stable and integrate
for

more than 2000 years.

It is believed that this conclusion is a discovery of

general

interests and significance in science and technology. This

dis
covery in Longyou rock caverns enable us to propose a theory

that a large rock cavern fully filled with stable water can
be

stable and integrate for thousand years.

6 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Human history has demonstrated that underground spaces

and caverns have always had very important values and func

tions in politics, militaries, economics and societies.

Human

beings have always been urgently requiring a large amount of

underground spaces. Up to now, the sciences and technolo

gies for construction and utilization of underground spaces

have been thoroughly and rapidly developed. Rock mechan

ics and engineering geology are the scientific fundamentals

for the design and construction of modern underground spaces

and caverns. They have been well developed in recent 50

years

since the establishment of ISRM. There are many publications

and literatures documenting the state-of-the-arts of modern

rock mechanics for cavern engineering.These documentations

include many modern theories, methods and technologies and

they are the important basis and tools for further

investigating

large cavern engineer projects.

When human beings are economically and reasonably uti

lizing more and more and larger and larger rock caverns, we

are facing one of the most challenging and difficult

questions.
This question is the prediction and assurance on the
long-term

stability and integrity of the rocks surrounding the caverns

after hundreds and even thousand years. For instance, some

ABSTRACT: The authors developed a computer program for

predictive calculation of transient underground climate.
They

made an underground network model in which heat sources are

placed in the drifts. The heat sources represent the casks
in

which the used nuclear fuel sticks are put. They

approximated a field data set of seasonal cyclic changes of
air temperature

and humidity at the inlets to the sine curves. Then, they

adopted those as the input data. In this paper, numerical
calculation of

the variations of flow rate, temperature and humidity

distributions in the underground network model with time
lapsed since

natural ventilation started, were carried out.

1 INTRODUCTION

In order to design an underground airway network, predictive

calculation system in which heat transfer to air flow from

rock around the airways and heat sources put in some

airways,

should be taken into consideration.

In addition to that, underground climate relatively near the

surface is influenced by seasonal cyclic change of surface

climate. Hence, previous understanding of variation of under

ground climate with time passage, i. e. variation of flow

rate,
temperature and humidity of air flow in each airway, taking

both the factors mentioned above into account is, needed.

Such a calculation system can be available for evaluation

of effective cooling of used nuclear fuel put in underground

depository and, passive cooling by natural ventilation, not

active cooling by compulsory ventilation, is desired for

design

of safety and economical construction of the underground

facilities.

The authors developed a computer program for predictive

calculation of transient distribution of underground

climate.

They made an underground network model in which no fan

is installed and some heat sources are placed along the

drifts.

They assumed a data set of seasonal cyclic changes of air

temperature and humidity at the inlets and adopted those as

the input data.

It is to contribute to applicability evaluation of passive

cool

ing of used nuclear fuel put in the underground depository

by

natural ventilation.

In this paper, numerical calculation of the variations of

flow rate, temperature and humidity distributions in the

underground network model with time lapsed after natural

ventilation start, was carried out.

The airway characteristics, thermal constants of rock around

airways and lining over airway wall, the original
temperatures

of rock around airways, the altitude of the junctions of

the underground network and the quantities of heat sources
in the drifts, were put into the calculation system as the
input data. The following values were calculated
simultaneously for each small time increment: • natural
ventilation pressure (along each mesh) • rate of flow (in
weight/volume), dry bulb and wet bulb temperature, specific
and relative humidity, average specific weight of air, and
average airway wall temperature (in each airway) •
temperature, humidity and average specific weight of air
(at each junction). 2 NUMERICAL SYSTEM FOR PREDICTION
CALCULATION 2.1 Outline of construction of the system A
numerical system for predicting quasi-steady underground
climate has been developed (Amano, Mizuta and Hiramatsu,
1982). It has been named VENTCLIM (Mizuta and Vutukuri,
1990) and used for ventilation design of underground mining
(Sakai, Shibata, Takemura and Mizuta, 1993). The computing
code, VENTCLIM is applicable to any underground network and
gives distribution of rate of flow, temperature and
humidity over the underground network, simultaneously.
However, in the system, no cyclic change with time is
assumed. Furthermore, it is assumed that heat delivery
between airflow and rock around airway monotonously
decrease with time passage after airway excavation. That is
to say, underground climate given from VENTCLIM is not
affected by surface climate and so, it does not vary
hourly. The other numerical system for predicting transient
underground climate has been developed (Amano and Mizuta,
1987) and it has been named TRANCLIM (Mizuta and

Figure 1. The variations of air temperature and specific

humidity

at the inlet, used as input data of the numerical

calculation.

Vutukuri, 1990). However, TRANCLIM is only applicable to

one circuit model and no change of flow rate with time is

assumed. More recently, it has been re-mdae that flow rate

change with change of natural ventilation pressure which is

determined by distribution of air temperature and humidity

along the circuit (Mizuta, Hirata and Koga, 2005). But, it
is

still not applicable to network model. Therefore, a

subroutine

of the finite difference modeling in TRANCLIM, which is

named “calculation of temperature distribution in rock” and

gives hourly varying heat delivery between airflow and rock

around airway was incorporated into VENTCLIM. The other

two subroutines inTRANCLIM those are “calculation of vary

ing hourly surface climate” and “calculation of airway wall

temperature” were also incorporated into VENTCLIM.

Furthermore, as air ventilation in network is generated

by natural ventilation pressure distribution even if no fan

is installed, “initial setting up of natural ventilation

pressure

along each mesh” was added to VENTCLIM.

2.2 Creation of seasonal cyclic change of climate at inlet

In 1983FY, surface climate was measured through a year

form April 1st at both the entrances of Abo tunnel which is

along No.158 national road. As daily cyclic change of

surface

climate has high frequency, influence of it on underground

cli

mate is negligible and so, the average temperature and

specific

humidity of each day were adopted as the data. Those are as

plotted by small circles in Fig. 1. The variation of

temperature

measured was approximated by a sine curve and the variation

of specific humidity measured was approximated by two sine

curves. The solid curves in Figure 1 are the variations

repre

sented by the trigonometrical functions written in the

figure.

2.3 Calculation of temperature distribution in rock

It is assumed in calculation system that every airway is cir

cular tunnel in homogeneous and infinite solid medium. The

Figure 2. Division of the rock around airway into the
elements for Finite Difference Analysis. medium around
airway is divided into the ring elements by concentric
circles as shown in Fig. 2. Let each center of the element
divided be temperature point j and let those temperature at
temperature point (j = 2, 3, . . ., e) be θ 2 , θ 3 , . . .
, θ e . Note that the temperature point j = 1 corresponds
to airway wall and so, θ 1 = θ w where θ w is average wall
temperature. The point j = e must be far enough from airway
wall, that is, θ e is always equal to the original rock
temperature θ 0 . Distance of the point becomes greater,
temperature gradient at the point becomes smaller. Hence,
as shown in the figure, the interval of division was varied
as it becomes larger with increase of the distance from the
airway in order to do effective computation. The
differential equation of heat conduction in solid is given
as follows: a in the equation is thermal diffusivity (m 2
/s) and is given by λ g /c g ρ g , where λ g is thermal
conductivity (J/msK) of solid, c g is specific heat (J/kgK)
of solid and ρ g is density (kg/m 3 ) of solid. If θ j
becomes θ ′ j after time passage �t, the following
expression is given through differential representation of
Equation 1: where in the above expression, �x =�x 1 , in
the region I, �x =�x 2 in the region II and �x =�x 3 in the
region III. For heat conduction in the element (j = 2)
which contact with airflow, however, �x =�x 1 /2 between
point 1 and 2 and �x =�x 1 between points 2 and 3, and the
following expression is given in the interval j = 2. where
Note that time increment �t is should be limited by the
following stability condition.

2.4 Calculation of average wall temperature

In case that airway wall is totally wet, as the heat

transferred
from rock t 0 airflow is approximately equal to the heat
trans

mitted from point 2 (j = 2) to the airway wall (j = 1)

through

the plane at the center between those points, wall

temperature

θ ww is given from the following equation:

where c p is specific heat of air under constant pressure,

λ w is

thermal conductivity of water, f (θ ww ) is specific

humidity at

wall temperature θ ww .

The relationship between heat transfer coefficientα(J/m 2

sK)

and velocity of airflow(m/s) is assumed as follows:

The value of θ ww to satisfy Equation (7) can be given

by reiteration calculation by using the following

relationship

between θ ww and p ww (saturated vapor pressure at θ ww ):

Specific humidity f (θ ww ) can be given by the following

formula:

In case that airway wall is totally dry, wall temperature θ

wd

can be given by the following expression:

where h = a/λ g

Average airway wall temperature θ w is given by the follow

ing formula:

where φ is wetness factor which represents the ratio of the

wet

area to total area on the airway wall.

3 NETWORK MODEL AND PRIMARY INPUT DATA

Underground network model used for predictive numeri

cal calculation is the same as Vutukuri Model (Mizuta and

Vutukuri, 1990) but the fan installed in Vutukuri Model is

removed. The network consisting of 3 mesh, 23 branch (air

way) and 21 junction as shown in Fig. 3. As shown in the

figure, one of the junctions, No.21 is in the sky. Airway

char

acteristics, distribution of original temperature of rock,

the

altitude of each junction, etc. are the same as Vutukuri

Model.

In the model shown in Fig. 3 the heat sources of Q = 100

(kJ/s)

are installed in every drift. 1 5 2 3 4 6 7 17 13 16 15 14

12 11 18 19 20 8 9 10 21 (1) (5) (2) (3) (4) (6) (16)
(12) (15) (14) (13) (11) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (7) (8)
(9) (10) (23) (22) Inlet Outlet No. of airway No. of
Junction Figure 3. The underground ventilation network used
for the calculation (Vutukuri Model). Figure 4. The
variations of average temperature of airflow in the five
airways. 4 CALCULATED RESULTS The following parameters for
the underground network model mentioned above were
calculated every time increment through a year by using the
predictive numerical system developed by the authors: •
ventilation pressure (Pa) and rate of flow (kg/s or m 3 /s)
for each mesh, • dry bulb and wet bulb temperature ( ◦ C),
the values related to humidity of air, average specific
weight of air for each airway, • temperature ( ◦ C) and
specific humidity (kg/kg) of air and average specific
weight of air for each junction, • airway wall temperatures
θ ww and θ wd (in cases that airway wall is totally wet and
totally dry) and average wall temperature θ w (for each
airway). The calculated results for a year after
ventilation start are shown in Figs. 4∼6. The Figs. 4 and 5
show the variation of temperature and humidity of air in
the airways, No. 4, 8, 13, 17, 20 with time passage, and
Fig. 6 shows variation of rate of flow in those five
airways. It can be seen from the calculated results that
distributions of flow rate, temperature and humidity varies
being affected by the seasonal cyclic change of surface
climate.

Figure 5. The variations of average specific humidity of

airflow in

the five airways.

Figure 6. The variation of volumetric rate of flow in the

five

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Die Stadtentwässerung Stuttgart plant im

Bereich des Hafens eine Neuordnung der Entwässerung.

Danach ist für das Gebiet mit einer Gesamtfläche von ca.
51,5 ha zukünftig eine Entwässerung im modifizierten
Mischsystem

vorgesehen. Mit der Umstellung des Entwässerungsverfahrens

soll gleichzeitig die Regenwasserbehandlung für das
zugehörige

Einzugsgebiet sichergestellt werden.

Im Herbst 2006 soll die Realisierung mit dem

Regenüberlaufkanal Neckarhafen beginnen. Dieser umfasst die
insgesamt etwa

810 m langen, tiefliegenden Kanäle unter den Hafenbecken 1

und 2 sowie unter dem Mittelund Ostkai und die zugehörigen

Schachtbauwerke mit oberflächennahen Anschlusskanälen.

Die Rohrvortriebe kommen überwiegend im wasserführenden

ausgelaugten Gipskeuper zu liegen, wobei zwei Kanalstrecken

mit geringen überdeckungen von ca. 2,5–5 m unter den

Hafenbecken 1 und 2 verlaufen. Die bis zu 18 m tiefen
Schachtbaugruben

sollen in den aus Auffüllungen und Neckarkiesen

bestehenden, stark wasserführenden Deckschichten und im
ausgelaugten und

unausgelaugten Gipskeuper hergestellt werden.

Aufgrund der vorherrschenden Randbedingungen und

Untergrundverhältnisse ergeben sich besondere Anforderungen
an
die Vortriebstechnik. Das gewählte Vortriebsverfahren muss
die Standsicherheit der Ortsbrust gewährleisten, und bei
den

Vorpressungen unter den Hafenbecken müssen Wasserund

Schlammeinbrüche ausgeschlossen werden. Die Auswahl der

Lösewerkzeuge und Fördertechniken muss so erfolgen, dass

die kleinräumig wechselnden Gebirgseigenschaften beherrscht

werden. In einem öffentlichen Teilnahmewettbewerb sollen

geeignete Bieter ausgewählt werden, die nachfolgend im
Rahmen

einer beschränkten Ausschreibung die Aufforderung zur

Abgabe eines Angebotes erhalten.

Der Baubeginn ist im Herbst 2006 vorgesehen. Die Bauzeit

wird mit bis zu 18 Monaten veranschlagt:

ABSTRACT:The water authority of the City of Stuttgart is

planning a new concept of dewatering for an approximately
51.5 ha

area of the harbor. The conversion of the dewatering system

will also ensure the treatment of rainwater.

The structure consists of deep sewers with a total length

of approx. 810 m, which are located underneath the port
basins 1

and 2 and underneath the middle and the east quay.

Furthermore, corresponding shafts and connecting pipes near
the surface

have to be constructed.

Pipe jacking is to be carried out mainly in the water

bearing leached Gypsum Keuper. Two sewers are located
underneath the

port basins 1 and 2. The distance between the pipes and the
ground of the port basins amounts to 2.5 to 5.0 m. The
shafts with a

maximum depth of 18 m are to be excavated in water bearing

deposits of the river Neckar as well as in leached and
unleached
Gypsum Keuper. Due to the difficult ground conditions high
demands arise for the pipe jacking technique. The stability
of the

working face has to be ensured and leakage of water and mud

must be excluded. The tools for excavation and the conveyor

techniques have to be adapted to frequently changing ground

conditions. A public competition has been carried out.
Suitable

bidders have been selected and will be requested to bid

within the scope of a limited tender.

Construction will start in autumn 2006. The construction

time is planned to be 18 months.

Die Stadtentwässerung Stuttgart beabsichtigt die

Entwässerung des Hafengebiets in den Stadtbezirken Wan

gen und Hedelfingen neu zu ordnen. Der Hafen Stuttgart wird

bisher imTrennsystem entwässert. Das häusliche, gewerbliche

und industrielle Schmutzwasser wird dem Hauptklärwerk

Mühlhausen zugeführt. Das Niederschlagswasser von Däch

ern, Hofflächen und Straßen gelangt auf relativ kurzen Wegen

direkt in die nahegelegenen Hafenbecken. Wegen der immer

intensiveren Nutzung der befestigten Flächen durch den

Güterumschlag auch mit wassergefährdenden Stoffen, ist es

aber nicht mehr vertretbar, das Oberflächenwasser auf diese

Weise in den Neckar einzuleiten.

Die zukünftigen wasserwirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingun

gen stellen sich wie nachfolgend beschrieben dar. Zur

Anpassung an den heutigen technischen Standard und zur
Verbesserung der Gewässergüte des Neckars ist für das
Gebiet mit einer Gesamtfläche von ca. 51,5 ha eine
Entwässerung im modifizierten Mischsystem vorgesehen. Dies
bedeutet, dass auch behandlungsbedürftiges
Niederschlagswasser aus Hof-und Verkehrsflächen dem
Klärwerk zugeführt und nur noch das nicht
behandlungsbedürftige Dachflächenwasser direkt in den
Neckar eingeleitet wird. Mit der Umstellung des
Entwässerungssystems soll gleichzeitig die
Regenwasserbehandlung für das zugehörige Einzugsgebiet
durchgeführt werden. Die Baumaßnahmen werden
abschnittsweise durchgeführt. Im Herbst 2006 soll die
Realisierung mit dem Bau des Regenüberlaufkanals (RÜK)
beginnen.

Bild 1. Hafengelände und Einzugsgebiet für den RÜK.

Bild 2. Lageplan und Bauwerk.

1 BAUVORHABEN

Zentraler Bestandteil des Regenüberlaufkanals Neckarhafen

sind vier im unterirdischen Rohrvortrieb herzustellende

Kanalabschnitte mit Längen zwischen ca. 165 und 255 m

(Bild 2). Davon kommen 2 Kanalabschnitte unterhalb der

Hafenbecken 1 und 2 zu liegen. Die Gesamtlänge der vorzu

pressenden Kanäle beträgt ca. 810 m. Die überdeckungen

betragen ca. 2–5 m unter den Hafenbecken und bis max.

ca. 15 m unter dem Hafengelände. In den Kanalabschnitten

unter den Hafenbecken 1 und 2 sollen Rohre DN 2000 bzw.

DN 1600 jeweils mit Drachenprofil ausgeführt werden. Für

die Kanalabschnitte unter dem Mittelund dem Ostkai sind

Kreisquerschnitte DN 1600 vorgesehen.

Fünf kreisrunde Schächte (S100, S102, S103, S105 und

S203) mit Durchmessern von 6–10 m und Tiefen bis zu ca.

18 m sind als Startund Zielbaugruben für die Rohrverpres

sungen vorgesehen (Bild 2). Die Kanalstrecken unter den

Hafenbecken 1 und 2 sowie unter dem Mittelkai sollen aus

der Baugrube für dasVereinigungsbauwerk (Schacht 102) und

die Kanalstrecke unter dem Ostkai aus der Baugrube für das

Absturzbauwerk (Schacht 103) vorgepresst werden. Nach der

Rohrvorpressung können die Schachtbauwerke in Ortbeton Bild

3. Lageplan mit Erkundungsbohrungen. Bild 4. Bohrung im
Hafenbecken vom Schwimmponton. hergestellt und
eingeschüttet sowie die drei Zwischenschächte S104, S201
und S202 (Bild 2) hergestellt werden. Ebenfalls zum
Bauabschnitt des Regenüberlaufkanals Neckarhafen gehört ein
ca. 65 m langer, in offener Bauweise herzustellender
Kanalabschnitt DN 1400, der sich am Ostkai an das
Absturzbauwerk 105 anschließt. Des Weiteren sollen die im
Baubereich befindlichen Straßenund
Grundstücksentwässerungen an das neue Kanalsystem
angeschlossen werden. 2 UNTERGRUND In 2 Erkundungsphasen
(EKP’s) wurden 14 Kernbohrungen abgeteuft (Bild 3), von
denen 2 Kernbohrungen im Bereich der Hafenbecken zu liegen
kommen und von einem Schwimmponton aus durchgeführt wurden
(Bild 4).

Bild 5. Geologischer Längsschnitt Hafenbecken 1 und 2.

Bild 6. Hafenbecken 1, Baugrund.

Bild 7. Unausgelaugter Gipskeuper, Gefügemodell.

Ca. 200 m östlich des geplanten Regenüberlaufkanals

verläuft die geplante Trasse des zum Projekt Stuttgart 21

gehörenden Tunnels vom Stuttgarter Hauptbahnhof nach

Obertürkheim (WBI, 2004). Die Ergebnisse der für diesen

Tunnel durchgeführten Erkundungen wurden für die Bau

grundbeurteilung mit herangezogen.

Auf Bild 5 ist der geotechnische Längsschnitt entlang der

Kanaltrassen unter den Hafenbecken 1 und 2 dargestellt. Im

Untersuchungsraum stehen vom Liegenden zum Hangenden

der unausgelaugte Gipskeuper, der ausgelaugte Gipskeuper,

die Neckarkiese und Auelehme des Quartärs sowie Auffüllun

gen an. Bild 6 zeigt den Bohrkern einer 24 m tiefen Bohrung

(WBI, 2005).

Der unausgelaugte Gipskeuper (Bild 7) besteht aus einer

Wechsellagerung von Schluffsteinen und Sulfatgesteinen Bild

8. Unausgelaugter Gipskeuper, Sulfatgehalte. (Geologisches
Landesamt Baden-Württemberg, 1959). Der Sulfatanteil kommt
im Untersuchungsbereich fast ausschließlich in Form von
Gips vor. Anhydrit ist nicht mehr bzw. nur noch in Anteilen
<5% vorhanden (Bild 8). Da es sich in diesen Fällen um
Reste aus der Umwandlung zu Gips handelt und diese Reste
mit Gips gepanzert sind, ist das Quellvermögen des
Anhydrits stark eingeschränkt. Somit dürften daraus
entstehende Quelldrücke (Wittke, 1984 und 2004) wie auch
evtl. aus dem Quellen von Tonmineralen entstehende
Quelldrücke so klein sein, dass sie für die Bemessung der
Kanäle nicht maßgeblich werden. Der auf Bild 6 dargestellte
Bohrkern zeigt den unausgelaugten Gipskeuper ab ca. 14 m
unter GOF in typischer Ausbildung. Das Gebirge ist durch
annähernd horizontale Schichtfugen und eine Vielzahl von
Klüften zerlegt. Die Schichtfugen sind im ungestörten,
gesteinsfesten Zustand dicht verschlossen, die Klüfte nur
schwach ausgebildet und durch Fasergips verheilt.
Vereinzelt treten neben den Trennflächen auch Harnische
auf. Entsprechend wurden in einigen Bohrungen kompakte
Bohrkerne gewonnen, oftmals jedoch wurde das Gestein beim
Bohren entlang der Klüfte und der Schichtfugen plattig bis
stückig zerlegt. Die obere Begrenzung des unausgelaugten
Gipskeupers bildet die Auslaugungsfront. Oberhalb
derAuslaugungsfront ist der ehemals vorhandene
gesteinsfeste, unausgelaugte Gipskeuper durch den Einfluss
des Grundwassers vollständig verändert worden. Die
Sulfatanteile des Gesteins gingen in Lösung und wurden mit
dem Grundwasser abtransportiert. Die Schluffsteine sind als
Folge der Auslaugung weitgehend entfestigt. Entsprechend
der unterschiedlichen Sulfatgehalte der einzelnen Schichten
im Ausgangsgestein ergibt sich für den ausgelaugten Zustand
eine Wechsellagerung von vollständig entfestigten
Schluffsteinen (reinen Auslaugungsschluffen), mäßig festen
und mürben Schluffsteinen und bereichsweise annähernd

Bild 9. Ausgelaugter Gipskeuper, Gefügemodell.

Bild 10. Ausgelaugter Gipskeuper, Klassen II bis IV.

gesteinsartigen Schluffsteinlagen (Grüter/Liening, 1976; Wit

tke/Rißler, 1976). Hinsichtlich des Auslaugungsgrades und

der Festigkeit kann in 4 Klassen unterteilt werden (Bild 9).

Maßgebender Parameter für die Einteilung des Bodens in die

einzelnen Klassen ist neben den Ergebnissen der geotechnis

chen Kartierungen der natürliche Wassergehalt (Bild 10).

3 GRUNDWASSER

Der Neckarkies stellt mit Durchlässigkeitsbeiwerten von 10

−4

bis 10 −2 m/s zusammen mit den inhomogenen Auffüllun

gen einen hochdurchlässigen Grundwasseraquifer dar. Der

Grundwasserspiegel kommt in etwa im Niveau des Neckar

wasserstandes zu liegen. Grundwasserführend sind auch die

Schichten des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers, wobei die Durchläs

sigkeit mit Werten von 10 −4 –10 −6 m/s deutlich geringer

ist.

Der unausgelaugte Gipskeuper ist weitestgehend als dichtes

Gebirge anzusehen. Bild 11. Rohrvortriebe, Hauptrisiken und

Maßnahmen. 4 ROHRVORTRIEBE Die in bergmännischer Bauweise
vorgesehenen Kanalstrecken kommen überwiegend in den
Schichten des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers der Klassen III
(sehr mürbe Schluffsteine) und IV (vollständig entfestigte
Schluffsteine, Auslaugungsschluffe) zu liegen (Bild 5). In
geringerem Umfang sind mürbe Schluffsteine der Klasse II
zwischengelagert. Die Kanalstrecke unter dem Hafenbecken 2
schneidet die Auslaugungsfront und den darunter anstehenden
unausgelaugten Gipskeuper an. Unter dem Hafenbecken 1 kommt
die Kanalsohle nur wenig oberhalb der prognostizierten
Auslaugungsfront zu liegen, so dass hier ein punktuelles
Anschneiden nicht auszuschließen ist. Der unausgelaugte
Gipskeuper kann in die Klassen LBM2 und LBM3 eingestuft
werden, wobei die Zusatzklasse S1 örtlich in festeren Lagen
auftreten kann. Der ausgelaugte Gipskeuper neigt infolge
Wasseraufnahme und mechanischer Beanspruchung zur
Schlammbildung und besitzt ein mittleres
Verklebungspotential. Der unausgelaugte Gipskeuper ist mit
einaxialen Druckfestigkeiten von 5–20 Mpa (max. bis 50 Mpa)
der Felsklasse FD2 zuzuordnen. Eingelagerte mürbe Zonen
entsprechen der Klasse FD1 bzw. bei stärkerer Zerlegung
auch den Klassen FZ1 bis FZ2. Eines der wichtigsten Ziele
der Planung war die Abschätzung der Risiken, die ein
Rohrvortrieb unter einem Gewässer mit sich bringt. Auf Bild
11 sind im linken Teil die Hauptrisiken, die besonders in
die Planungen einbezogen wurden, zusammengestellt. Aufgrund
der geringen Tiefenlage unter dem Neckar und möglicher
Wasserwegigkeiten wird das Risiko von Wasserund
Schlammeinbrüchen sehr hoch eingeschätzt. Durch eine
Stützung der Ortsbrust sowie des vorherrschenden
Wasserdrucks können die mit einer instabilen Ortsbrust
zusammenhängenden Problemstellungen und
Gefährdungspotentiale weitestgehend ausgeschlossen werden.
Daher sollen die Abschnitte unter dem Hafenbecken mit
geschlossenen Vortriebsmaschinen vorangetrieben werden
(WBI, 2005). In Bild 12 sind die Einsatzbereiche eines
Erddruckschildes und die Körnungsbänder des ausgelaugten
Gipskeupers mit den Auslaugungsklassen III und IV
dargestellt. Beim Einsatz eines Erddruckschildes liegt man
weitgehend im “idealen” Bereich. Für die Auslaugungsklasse
III kann bereichsweise eine Konditionierung notwendig
werden. Ungünstig wirkt sich das Anschneiden des
unausgelaugten Gipskeupers aus, da dieses Material nach dem
derzeitigen Kenntnisstand beim Lösen nicht zerfällt und den
Erdbrei mit Kieskorn anreichert. Damit steigt der Aufwand
für die Konditionierung.

Bild 12. Einsatzbereich eines Erddruckschildes und

Körnungsbän

der des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers.

Bild 13. Einsatzbereich eines flüssigkeitsgestützten

Schildes und

Körnungsbänder des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers.

In Bild 13 sind die Einsatzbereiche eines flüssigkeits

gestützten Schildes und die Körnungsbänder des ausgelaugten

Gipskeupers mit Auslaugungsklassen III und IV dargestellt.

Danach sind die Schichten des ausgelaugten Gipskeupers

unter Beachtung des Separieraufwandes und einer möglichen

Verklebung des Bohrkopfes und der Abbauwerkzeuge grund

sätzlich für den Einsatz eines flüssigkeitsgestützten
Schildes

geeignet.

Beim Einsatz von geschlossenen Vortriebsmaschinen stellt

das Beseitigen von möglichen Hindernissen eine besondere

Aufgabe dar (Bild 11). Es wurde deshalb bereits im Zuge der

Planungsphase versucht, eventuell auftretende Hindernisse

zu erkunden. Bestehende Bauwerke wurden auf ihre Grün

dungstiefe hin untersucht (u. a. Tiefbauamt Stuttgart,

1958).

Im Bereich der Hafenbecken wurde eine Metalldedektion

durchgeführt. Für den Fall, dass Hindernisse auftreten, ist

für

den Vortrieb ein Konzept zur Beseitigung von der Maschine

aus, dann unter zu Hilfenahme von Druckluft, vorzusehen.

Die entwässerungstechnische Planung sieht den Einsatz

von Rohren mit Drachenprofilen vor (Bild 14). Zur Vermei

dung einer Verrollung können die Rohre mit Zentrierstiften

in den Rohrverbindungen fixiert werden. Beim Vortrieb kann

durch die Umkehr der Drehrichtung des Schneidrades einer

Verdrehung der Rohre entgegen gewirkt werden. Eine weit

ere Möglichkeit wäre der Einsatz von kreisrunden Rohren mit

dem nachträglichen Einbringen eines Gerinnebetons (Bild 14,

rechts). Bild 14. Drachenprofil, Varianten. Bild 15.

Baugrubensicherung und Messprogramm. 5 SCHÄCHTE Die
Schächte durchörtern alle im Untersuchungsbereich
vorkommenden Schichten (Bilder 5 und 6). Aufgrund der hohen
Wasserdurchlässigkeit im Neckarkies wird im oberen Bereich
der Baugruben ein wasserdichter Spundwandverbau vorgesehen.
Im ausgelaugten und unausgelaugten Gipskeuper wird eine
Baugrubensicherung mit bewehrtem Spritzbeton empfohlen
(WBI, 2005 und Bild 15). Dieser Verbau stellt eine sehr
wirtschaftliche Methode zur Baugrubensicherung dar und
kommt deshalb in Stuttgart oft zum Einsatz. 6 ÖFFENTLICHER
TEILNAHMEWETTBEWERB FÜR EINE BESCHRÄNKTE AUSSCHREIBUNG Ein
Rohrvortrieb im Bereich des Gipskeupers unter dem Neckar
stellt eine neue Aufgabe dar. Bislang konnten in diesem
Bereich der Stuttgarter Geologie noch keine Erfahrungen
gesammelt werden. Aufgrund der zuvor geschilderten
Besonderheiten und Schwierigkeiten und den daraus sich
ergebenden Anforderungen an die Vortriebstechnik hat sich
die Stadtentwässerung Stuttgart gemeinsam mit den planenden
Ingenieurbüros entschieden, zunächst in einem öffentlichen
Teilnahmewettbewerb den Bewerberkreis zu erkunden und
qualifizierte Firmen auszuwählen, die bereits vergleichbare
Projekte ausgeführt haben. Diese erhalten anschließend im
Rahmen einer beschränkten Ausschreibung die Aufforderung
zur Abgabe eines Angebots. Die Zahl der zur Angebotsabgabe
aufgeforderten Firmen soll dabei auf maximal 8 beschränkt
werden.

Für die Beurteilung der Eignung der Bewerber wurden

in den Bewerbungsunterlagen verschiedene Auskünfte und

Nachweise erbeten. Zur Bewertung wurden u. a. nachfolgende

Kriterien festgelegt:

• Referenzprojekte des Bieters bzw. der Bietergemein-schaft

• Erfahrungen des für das Projekt vorgesehenen Personals

• Auffahrund Sicherheitskonzept für die Rohrvortriebe

unter den Hafenbecken

• Auffahrkonzept für die Rohrvortriebe unter dem Mittelund

dem Ostkai

• Drachenprofil, Vermeidung der Verrollung

• Bauablauf und Bauzeit

7 ERGEBNISSE DES TEILNAHMEWETTBEWERBS

UND WEITERES VORGEHEN

Die Teilnahmeanträge der Bewerber mussten bis zum 16.

Februar 2006 beim Tiefbauamt eingereicht werden. Alle

Bewerber können die erforderlichen Referenzprojekte vor

weisen. Für die Vortriebe unter den Hafenbecken haben

alle Bewerber geschlossene Vollschnittmaschinen vorgesehen

(Slurryoder Erddruckschild). Unter dem Mittelund Ostkai

wollen die meisten Bewerber ebenfalls Vollschnittmaschinen

einsetzen. Lediglich 2 Bewerber sehen hier offene Schilde

mit

Baggeroder Teilschnittmaschinen vor.

Von allen Bewerbern sind schalungserhärtete Stahlbeton

rohre geplant, wobei bei den Vortriebsstrecken mit Drachen

profilen die meisten Bewerber Rohre mit endgültigem

Querschnitt vorpressen wollen und nur 2 Bewerber einen

nachträglichen Ausbau von Kreisquerschnitten zu Drachen

profilen angedacht haben.

Der vorgenommene Teilnahmewettbewerb hat die über

legungen der vorausgegangenen Planungsphase weitgehend

bestätigt und zudem weitere wichtige Erkenntnisse für die

Ausarbeitung der Ausschreibungsunterlagen geliefert. In der

Ausschreibung werden nun alle Vortriebe mit geschlosse

nen Vollschnittmaschinen vorgesehen. Die Randbedingungen

sollen in den Ausschreibungsunterlagen möglichst
detailliert beschrieben werden. So können unter dem
Mittelund Ostkai auch Nebenangebote im offenen Vortrieb
zugelassen und vergleichbar gewertet werden. Die Ausgabe
der Ausschreibungsunterlagen erfolgt Anfang Mai 2006. Die
Realisierung des Regenüberlaufkanals Neckarhafen soll im
Herbst 2006 beginnen. Die Fertigstellung des mit ca. 4,5
Mio. € veranschlagten 1. Bauabschnitts ist bis zum Frühjahr
2008 vorgesehen. Durch die intensiveVorbereitung dieses
überaus interessanten Bauvorhabens sieht sich der
Eigenbetrieb Stadtentwässerung der Landeshauptstadt
Stuttgart gemeinsam mit den planenden Ingenieurbüros gut
gerüstet für die anstehende Bauausführung des
Regenüberlaufkanals Neckarhafen. QUELLENNACHWEIS
Geologisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg (1959):
Erläuterungen zur Geologischen Karte von Stuttgart und
Umgebung 1:50.000. Landesvermessungsamt Baden-Württemberg,
Stuttgart. Tiefbauamt Stuttgart (1958): Hafen Stuttgart,
Die Arbeiten des Tiefbauamtes, Folge 2, Stuttgart. Wittke,
W. (1984): Felsmechanik – Grundlagen für wirtschaftliches
Bauen im Fels. Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New
York, Tokyo. Grüter, R.; Liening, B. (1976): S-Bahn
Stuttgart, Planung und Bau der Haltestelle Schwabstraße
(Baulos 11) und der unterirdischen Wendeanlage (Baulos 12),
Teil I. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erdund Grundbau e. V.,
Vorträge der Baugrundtagung in Nürnberg. Wittke, W.;
Rißler, P. (1976): S-Bahn Stuttgart, Planung und Bau der
Haltestelle Schwabstraße (Baulos 11) und der unterirdischen
Wendeanlage (Baulos 12), Teil II. Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Erdund Grundbau e. V., Vorträge der Baugrundtagung in
Nürnberg. WBI (2004): Stuttgart 21, PFA 1.6, Tunnel vom
Hbf. nach Obertürkheim und Abzweig Wangen nach
Untertürkheim, Baugrundgutachten (unveröffentlicht).
Wittke, W. (2004): Planung, Bau und überwachung von Tunneln
in quellfähigem Gipskeuper. Geotechnik 2004/2, VGE Essen.
WBI (2005): Neckarhafen RÜK, Baugrundund Geotechnisches
Gutachten (unveröffentlicht). 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Excavation Damaged Zone
(EDZ) in the Meuse Haute Marne underground research
laboratory Caractérisation de la zone endommagée dans le
laboratoire de recherche souterrain de Meuse Haute Marne G.
Armand, Y. Wileveau, J. Morel, M. Cruchaudet & H. Rebours

Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs

(ANDRA) Laboratoire de Recherche Souterrain de Meuse
Haute-Marne, Bure, France

RESUME: Le laboratoire de recherche souterrain de Meuse

Haute Marne a été construit par l’ANDRA (Agence nationale

pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs) pour étudier les

propriétés de confinement des argillites du
Callovo-Oxfordien (situées

entre 420 m et 550 m de profondeur) et la réponse

hydromécanique au creusement d’ouvrages souterrains, en vue
d’étudier la
faisabilité d’un stockage souterrain de déchets radioactifs
à haute activité et à vie longue. La construction du
laboratoire dans

la couche hôte est une expérimentation scientifique par

elle-même qui permet de caractériser les impacts du
creusement. En

particulier, la zone endommagée par le creusement (EDZ) est

étudiée autour des ouvrages avec des mesures de
perméabilité,

un relevé géologique systématique des fractures au front de

taille et sur les carottes issues des forages
d’instrumentation, des

mesures de diagraphie en forage radial et des mesures

classiques d’extensométrie. Une expérimentation spécifique
est aussi

dédiée au concept de scellement, en étudiant les saignées

radiales de faible épaisseur.

ABSTRACT: An Underground Research Laboratory (URL) has been

constructed in North-eastern France by Andra (French

Agency in charge of radioactive waste management) in order

to perform a scientific program to characterize the
confining

properties of a claystone layer (Callovo-Oxfordian

formation, situated between 420 m and 550 m depth) and
investigate the

hydro-mechanical properties of the rock during excavation,

in order to study the feasibility of an underground
radioactive waste

repository. The construction of the laboratory itself

serves a research purpose through monitoring of the
excavation effect. The

excavation damaged zone (EDZ) is major issue investigated

by permeability measurements, by a systematic geological
survey,

by velocity measurements in radial borehole and by

extensometer measurements. A specific experiment is also
dedicated to a
sealing concept focusing on techniques for interrupting the
axial hydraulic connectivity of the EDZ by thin radial
slots.

1 INTRODUCTION

In order to demonstrate the feasibility of a radioactive

waste

repository in claystone formation, the French national

radioac

tive waste management agency (Andra) started in 2000 to

build an underground research laboratory (URL) in Bure

(boundary between the Meuse and Haute-Marne Depart

ments) located nearly 300 km East of Paris (fig. 1). The

host

formation consists of claystone (Callovo-Oxfordian argilla

ceous stone) and is approximately 500 m deep and 130 m thick

(Andra 2005). The Callovo-Oxfordian clays are overlain and

underlain by poorly permeable carbonate formations.

The main objective of the research is to characterize the

con

fining properties of the clay through in situ

hydrogeological

tests, chemical measurements and diffusion experiments and

to demonstrate that the construction and operation of a geo

logical disposal will not introduce pathways for

radionuclides

migration (Delay et al. 2005).

In mechanic, the thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of the

argillites and the EDZ characterization are two of the key

issues being investigated in underground experiments carried

out or planned in the Meuse/Haute-Marne URL. Excavation of

underground drifts generally causes damage to the rock in

the

vicinity of the openings. The level of damage depends, among

other factors, on the rock properties, the stress field,

the geom

etry of the openings, the excavation method and time. Due

to the stress redistribution during the excavation and subse

quent rock convergence an EDZ fracture network, consisting

of unloading joints and shear fractures, could appear in the

vicinity of the openings. Within such an excavation zone

the Figure 1. Location of the underground research
laboratory in Meuse/Haute-Marne in the Paris Basin.
mechanical and hydraulic rock properties are changed. In
particular, the hydraulic conductivity of these fracture
networks may be orders of magnitude higher than the one of
the “virgin” host rock. That is why Andra is studying the
EDZ geometry and properties with time. In addition, some
technological solutions are being tested to interrupt the
connectivity of these fracture networks along the drifts.
First, this paper presents a brief overview of the EDZ
characterization methods implemented in different drifts at
the main level of the laboratory, and geometry and
permeability results obtained from the EDZ. Secondly, it
describes a specific sealing experiment focusing on a
technical solution for cutting off the EDZ hydraulic
connectivity.

Figure 2. General layout drawing of the Meuse/Haute-Marne

URL

showing SMR1.1, SMR1.3 and KEY drift locations.

2 EDZ CHARACTERIZATION

The mechanical behavior of the investigated rock is governed

by the geological characteristics of the argillites. Their

min

eralogical composition varies slightly within the

statigraphic

horizons. At the 490 m level, it is 50–55% clay minerals,

20–25% carbonate and around 25% quartz silts (Andra 2005)

and sedimentation has led to a slightly anisotropic behav

ior of the argillites. The combined effects of sedimenta

tion, compaction and diagenesis has reduced the interstitial

or connected pore space. Therefore, the Callovo-Oxfordian

argillites are considered in their natural state as a

saturated

porous medium with very low permeability (5 × 10 −20 to

5 × 10 −21 m 2 ). Their mechanical behavior is closely

coupled

with the pore pressure and the degree of saturation. In-situ

stresses in the argillite layer are: σ z = γZ; σ h ≈ σ v ,

σ H /σ h

close to 1.2, with magnitude varying with depth and with the

rheological characteristics of the respective layers. The

hori

zontal major stress is oriented NE155 ◦ (Wileveau et al.

2006).

Taking into account the in situ stress anisotropy, EDZ char

acterization has been extensively investigated in drifts

parallel

and perpendicular to the horizontal major stress (fig. 2) in

the location called SMR1.1 (drift along σ h ) and SMR1.3

and GKE drift (drift along σ H ). Convergence measurements,

extensometer measurements (fixed point at 20 m away from

the drift), total pressure measurements between rock and sup

port, and support deformation measurements have also been

performed in section SMR1.1 and SMR1.3 in order to moni

tor the rock behavior during the digging of the drift. Those

results, which contribute to the understanding of the EDZ

and the deformation of the drift, can be found in Wileveau

et al (2006).

Several measuring methods were used to assess the exten

sion of these damaged and disturbed zones around the drifts

according to different parameters:

– Structural analysis of the core samples to establish the

pres

ence of fractures and define the fracture density according

to depth,

– Geological survey of the drift face and of sidewalls,

– Microseimic logging measurements to study the evolution

of P and S wave velocity according to the distance from

the drift wall,

– Permeability measurements carried out through gas and

hydraulic tests to assess the EDZ permeability with time

and the degree of saturation of the argillites. Figure 3.

“Chevon” patterns observed at gallery scale in relation
with the face progression (left) and damaged zone like
schistosity in the notch of chevron fracture (right). Most
of the works performed for geological characterization were
concentrated in the experimental drifts (eastern part)
where numerous boreholes cored during excavation allowed
comparing pattern, frequency and orientation of EDZ
fractures with the ruptures observed on the free surface.
Resin impregnation of fractures in the EDZ zone brings
additional information on the geometry and connectivity of
the fracture network. The structural analysis provides a
good understanding of the fracture mechanisms and their
succession order. From the geological point of view, the
EDZ can be conceptualized as follows: – The “chevron”
fractures are initiated ahead of the excavation face during
work.They are generally more pronounced when the drifts are
parallel to σ H . The chevron fractures form symmetrically
to the horizontal plane crossing the gallery axis. The dip
of this pattern with respect to the horizontal plane is
around 45 ◦ (Fig. 3). Extension of the chevron zone ahead
of the excavation face is close to 1 drift diameter (about
4 m). On the cross section, the extension is different
according to the orientation of the drift. At the vault and
on the ground, the fractured zone is comprised between 2
and 2.5 m, and below when the gallery is oriented parallel
to σ H . On the wall side (the larger distance in the
section), the fractured zone is less than 1 m for the
gallery oriented parallel to σ h , but fractures up to 5 m
are observed in the other direction (// to σ H ). The last
figure has been obtained from boreholes drilled in a
complex zone (near a drift cross section) and has to be
confirmed. – Vertical and oblique fractures which form
beyond the chevron fractures stop at them. They are
oriented at a low angle (10 ◦ to 30 ◦ ) with respect to the
wall. – In addition to these shearing fractures, unloading
tensile fractures similar to those observed at Mont Terri
(Bossart et al 2004) can be observed. The mechanical
deconfining and specific shape of the section (horse shoe)
induce complex fractured zones concentrated at the corners
of the floor. The extension zone observed on cores (plumose
structure or tensile rupture surface) is limited in
comparison with shearing fractures. This zone represents
mainly the higher hydraulic conductivity zone where open
fractures can be observed (Fig. 4). The combined
geophysical methods tested in drifts are microseismic logs
along boreholes and tomography arrays. The wave velocity
decreases as argillites are damaged. Some

Figure 4. Photo of sample under UV light after overcoring

in a

zone impregnated by fluoresceine resin (up) and thin

section photo

showing an extension fracture and strike-slip zone.

Figure 5. Water permeability measurements (vertical and

horizon

tal profile) from the SMR1.1 tested section.

microseismic loggings have not only revealed the continuous

increase in velocity with respect to the radial distance
but also

a strong local decrease in velocity which may correspond to

an isolated shearing fracture.

The results for permeability tests carried out along a

section

of gallery parallel to σ h are shown in Figure 5. Other per

meability measurements were performed in a perpendicular

drift (KEY experiment, see chapter 3) and give a compara

ble hydraulic conductivity profile around drifts. The

hydraulic

tests in the EDZ zone show an increase in hydraulic perme

ability (by 4 to 5 orders of magnitude) in the extension

fracture

zone close to the wall.A small increase in hydraulic

permeabil

ity is measured in the “chevron” sheared fracture zone which

indicates that the sheared fractures are mechanically

closed.

The highest value (k = 1.10 −5 m/s) is obtained in the

interval

located at 1 m below the floor where the fracture aperture

is

magnified by the invert uplift due to the horse-shoe shape

and

the lack of lining at the floor.

3 SEALING DEVICE TESTS: KEY EXPERIMENT

The design of plugging and sealing systems has to consider

the geometry and the properties of the EDZ to guarantee

Figure 6. KEY experiment concept. proper operation
(Fairhurst and Damjanak 1996). The available knowledge on
EDZ emphasizes that fractures with higher permeability than
the intact rock may form a preferential pathway (Bauer et
al 2003). ANDRA is studying the concept of thin radial
slots, with a depth larger than the EDZ, filled with
swelling clay in order to cut off the EDZ around a sealed
gallery. The concept of cut-off slots for enhancing
repository performance is based on the conservative
assumption that the EDZ is a perfectly connected fracture
network. In that case, the use of multiple slots provides
an impermeable barrier that interrupts the continuity of
the fracture network. The clay swelling pressure in the
slot tends to compress the zone damaged by the slot
excavation and prevents the slot from being bypassed.
Experiments were performed at the Mont Terri laboratory
(Switzerland) and at the main level of the URL (KEY
experiment) focused on thin radial slots with the aim to: –
Demonstrate feasibility of creating and filling up a slot,
– Assess the effectiveness of radial slots with respect to
the problem of hydraulic short circuit, – Verify the
effectiveness of applying swelling pressure. 3.1 Concept of
the experiment A first experiment (EZ_A experiment) was
performed at Mont Terri to study the feasibility of slot
opening and slot backfilling and to assess the performance
of the cut off by permeability testing. It provided
technological and scientific information on the working out
and behavior of thin radial slots (Armand et al 2004). It
allowed us to develop a saw prototype which can perform a
2.5 m deep slot all around a horse shoe drift section. The
objectives and concept used in the KEY experiment are
presented in Figure 6 and summarized as follows: –
Characterization of the damaged and disturbed zones was
carried out by implementing several methods described in
the previous chapter. Permeability to gas and water
measurements were performed with several removable or fixed
devices equipped with chambers of various lengths from 0.1
to 1 m in boreholes of various depths (2 to 20 m), –
Assessment of the effectiveness of the radial slots
concerning the problem of hydraulic short circuit consisted
in comparing the results of tests on the interference of
gas between vertical drillings carried out from the floor
of the drift (an area of about 6 m 2 ). The tests were
carried out before and after the excavation and the filling
of two 7 cm thick slots with resin at 2 m depth.

– Checking the effectiveness of applying confining pressure

along the slot consisted in measuring the deformation and

velocity of the compression waves in the close vicinity of a

slot where a pressure is applied. The device used consisted

in standard geotechnical instruments and a velocity survey

with piezoelectric sensors including some of them at the

slot face. A 33 cm thick slot was excavated at 2 m depth

from the drift floor. The pressure in the slot was

cyclically

applied by flat jacks, up to 2.7 MPa. After removing the

jack, the slot was filled by compacted bentonite blocks

and equipped with a hydration system. Saturation of this

engineered barrier started early 2006 and is under way.

Results of this part of the experiment are not included in

this paper.

3.2 Effectiveness of radial slots

Effectiveness of radial slots is studied in an area, well

charac

terized by an array of 9 boreholes (Fig. 6 Zone 2). The

array

follows a 3 × 3 grid, where the grid spacing was 1.5 meters

along and perpendicular to the tunnel axis. The holes were

prepared 2 meter-deep, with packers separating the upper and

lower 1 m sections. On one of the wallsides, boreholes are

inclined at 45 ◦ under the section foot to investigate the

high

est permeable zone. Each borehole and packer interval was

tested as a separate injection source while continuously mon

itoring pressure in the other 17 measurement sections of the

borehole array. Air injection pressures were limited in

time to

avoid propagating the fractures. Previously, a resin layer

was

emplaced at the floor, up to 1 m high in the side walls, to

avoid

leakage to the drift and to increase cross holes response.

The intrinsic permeability measured initially during air per

meability tests ranges between 1 × 10 −9 m 2 and 5 × 10 −14

m 2

in the first meters under the floor, except for three out of

nine chambers showing permeability equivalent to that of

the saturated undisturbed rock (below 1 × 10 −20 m 2 ). This

emphasizes EDZ heterogeneity in an area of 3 × 3.2 m 2 .

Simi

lar results have been found at Mont Terri (Armand et al

2004).

Permeability measured between 1 m and 2 m during air perme

ability tests exhibits values close to the ones found for

intact

saturated rock. Some cross holes response has been

identified

in the first meter and has been further characterized using

helium tracer test. Helium was injected in one chamber and

helium arrival was recorded in the other chambers. Observed

arrival time varied from 6 min to 34 min for a 150 min

helium

injection test.

Two slots, 2 m deep, 0.07 m thick, were excavated at the

floor up to 1 m high in the side walls (Fig. 6) on the two

sides
of the boreholes’ centerline, perpendicular to the drift
axis.

The slots were filled with resin.

Air permeability tests carried out before the excavation

and filling of the slots were performed again. Each inter

val was tested as a separate injection source and yielded

similar permeability estimation, but no cross holes response

was detected during the continuous pressure monitoring in

the other 17 chambers whatever the injection borehole was.

Helium was injected during 150 min in the previous bore

ABSTRACT: There are many ruins of ancient earthen sites in

Northwest China, such as the famous ancient Yumen Pass, in

Dunhuang region, the Jiaohe Ruins in Xinjiang Region, and

so on. All of these constructions are precious cultural
heritage,

and their valuable artistic value is rare worldwide. But

the violent processes of the wind erosion caused many
ancient earthen

sites collapsed. The wind erosion is the main power

mechanism and the genesis resulting in destruction of the
ancient earthen

ruins. Through the indoor wind-tunnel test and field wind

erosion test, this paper conclude that the bear for wind
erosion

of the consolidated ancient earthen sites are hugely

increased.. The results of the indoor wind-tunnel test
discovered that the

anti-wind erosion intensity of the samples reinforced with

more than 5% of PS enhances 6∼10 times. According to the
result

of the field wind erosion test, the wall consolidated with

5% of PS is good bear for wind erosion, and the depth of
penetration
and the amount of PS material directly affect reinforcing
effect. In sum, the key to protecting Ruins is to choose
the suitable

consistence PS material, enhance penetrability of PS

material, and comprehensively develop the important
instruction function

in northwest local earth ruins science protection.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Northwest arid region in China is the part channel of

the silk ancient road and many colourful historical civiliza

tion archaics there have last for more than 2000 years. It
has

numerous famous large-scale ancient sites which have dis

tinct vantages such as Dunhuang Yumen Pass, Han Dynasty

Great wall, Hecang ancient city site and the Jiaohe Ruins

and Gaochang Ancient Cites in Xinjiang Region etc. All of

these sites are precious mankinds cultural heritages, and

their

rare artistic and historical values are fantastic comparing

with

the similar instances in the world.The drought environment

in northwest not only keep the ancient sites but also make

the heavy wind and rain erosion effect destroy many ancient

sites, which lead to the breakdown of these non-regenerative

resources . For the breakdown effect that the wind and sand
has

on the ancient sites, Su Bai. et al has taken notice of its

severity

in 50 ages of last century, through the systematical study

and
investigation on several important ancient sites which are
on

the brink of collapse during the past years, it has shown

that

the long-lasting wind and sand erosion can make the wall
face

change to the alveolus shape, the scale crack and block

delam

inations and the inverted “wooden club mountain” which can

make the wall become unstable. So it could be concluded that

the wind erosion is the main destroying motive power and the

most nasty disease, therefore, the prevention of the wind

ero

sion is the most important problem for protecting the

ancient

sites in northwest drought region. To solve the problem,

many

people have done a lot of work such as the chemical protec

tion on the ancient site in northwest region, a lot of

materials

have been adopted for studying the weathering protection and

reinforcement of the ancient sites in drought environment.

In

Figure 1. Caption of wind erosion modulus and speed(T = 15

min). 0 40 80 120 160 0 5 10 15 20 Time (min) 3 5 7 W i n d
e r o s i o n m o d u l u s ( k g / m 2 · h )

Figure 2. Caption of wind erosion modulus and time (v = 20

m/s).

2.2 Experiment condition

The experiment was done in the DC closing puff type low

speed sand air channel, which locates in the sand physics

and desert environment laboratory of Key Laboratory of Ice

Core and Cold Regions Environment CAREERI CAS, the air

channel is 38.78 m long, the sectional area is 1.2 m × 1.2

m,

the lifting angle is 1 degree, which can eliminate the axial

acceleration, the wind speed can change from 2 m/s to 30

m/s,

the eddying flow intensity is less than 0.4%. The sample was

located below the experiment segment entrance and the dis

tance between them is 9 m. the wind erosion quantity can be

measured by “weighting method” . The wind erosion mainly

happen on the condition that there is wind with sand, the

wind

speed adopted in this study was 6 m/s, 10 m/s, 15 m/s and

20 m/s, the lasting time of sample blowout experiment was

5 min, 10 min, 15 min and 20 min.

2.3 Analysis of wind erosion experiment result

The experiment result has shown the wind erosion intensity

increased with the increment of wind speed, when the wind

speed reached 20 m · s −1 , the wind erosion quantity was

the

most(shown in Fig. 1). The reinforced soil capacity to

resist

wind erosion become strong manifestly, and when the rein

forcement solution concentration increased to more than 5%

and the wind erosion modules was less than 20 kg/m 2 ·h, the

capacity of resisting wind erosion increased more than 6

times
(shown in Fig. 1). When the reinforcement solution concen

tration increased to more than 5%, with the wind erosion

time extending the wind erosion increased a little (shown in

Fig. 2). At the same time (taking the wind speed of 20 m/s

as an instance), the increment rate of resisting wind

erosion

become slightly low with the concentration of PS material

reaching 5% (shown in Fig. 3). Based on the analysis of the

experiment results, it was found that the reinforcement

effect

was good when the concentration of PS material increased,

even the wind speed reached 20 m/s and the wind erosion

module was less than 20 kg/m 2 ·h, the intensity of

resisting 0 200 400 600 800 1000 3 5 7 PS thickness(%) I n
c r e m e n t r a t e o f c o r r o s i o n r e s i s t a n
c e ( % ) 5min 10min 15min 20min Figure 3. Caption of
improving of resistance to corrosion (v = 20 m/s). Table 1.
The test area. Water Dry Natural content density density
Number Description of wall face % (g/cm 3 ) (g/cm 3 ) B
incrust, crack, crumbly. 0.606 1.359 1.368 H The incrust is
loose and 0.891 1.387 1.399 show the shape of crack, the
crevice is more developed, the block delamination. There is
area of 50 × 50 cm surface shedding in the middle of the H1
region wind erosion for the reinforced samples was 6 to 10
times than that for the original samples. 3 SITE SIMULATING
EXPERIMENT Based on the indoor experiment, cosidering the
related study outcomes and the requirements of traffic and
construction, the Pochengzi Site – a Han Dynasty ancient
sites locating in the AnXi county of Gansu province, which
is 20 kilometers south to the AnXi county seat, was chose
as the wind erosion experiment area. 3.1 Introduction of
the experiment area Pochengzi Site was called Guangzhi
county in Han Dynasty and ChangLe county in Tang Dynasty,
it was kept well, it was tamped with sandy silt, the
tamping depth is more uniform and about 8∼12 cm. The
research bygone has shown that the surface soil of the
Northwest ancient sites can be considered as the medium and
low density (1.3∼1.5 g/cm 3 ). Two typical weathering wall
faces were chose in this study, and each was divided into 4
small blocks and the area of each block was 50 cm × 100 cm,
some necessary descriptions of the wall face was done and
the basic physical indexes was measured, they were shown in
Table1. 3.2 Reinforcement of experiment area The optimum PS
material module was chose and the spraying percolating
reinforcement method was adopted. The floating ash on the
surface was cleared first and the PS solution of certain
concentration and quantity should be used, the homogeneous
spraying speed should be controlled and the PS

Table 2. The reinforced test area. PS material

Area Percolation The intensity and color variation

number Concentration% Quantity ml depth (cm) Phenomenons

after reinforcing in 3 months

B1 – –

B2 5 8334 5.6 The color become slightly deep Hard, the

color as the same as the

B3 5 5000 4.9 The color become slightly deep formal wall

face

B4 5 2500 4.6 The color become slightly deep

H1 3 4000 5.9 The color become slightly deep Hard, the

color as the same as the

H2 5 4000 5.0 The color become slightly deep formal wall

face

H3 7 4000 4.6 The color become slightly deep

H4 – – Table 3. The grain composition. Grain size 5∼10 mm

2∼5 mm 1∼2 mm 0.5∼1 mm <0.5 mm Content % 0.415 35.274 5.238
17.273 41.800 Table 4. The field wind erosion experiment.
Lasting Wind Arear time Destroying erosion area number
(min) time (cm) The eventual damage form B1 3 20 s 24 × 24
× 3 Lozenge, the area is 24 × 24 × 3 cm 3 B2 3 2 min 20 ×
15 Honeycomb, the diameter is about 1 cm B3 3 1 min 18 × 16
Honeycomb, the largest one is 5 × 4 × 2 cm 3 B4 3 1 min –
Block shedding of the reinforced layer H1 4 2 min 21 × 20
Pisolitic, the diameter is 0.2∼0.5 cm H2 3.97 1 min 20 × 18
Honeycomb, the diameter is about 0.5∼2 cm H3 3.75 1 min 24
× 26 Slabby,honeycomb H4 3.67 30 s 30 × 20 × 5 Circular,
the area is 30 × 20 × 5 cm 3

material should be sprayed in the experiment area, the spray

ing was conducted by fits and starts and it should not stop

unless there was no percolation, the experiment was shown in

Table 2. The reinforcement experiment should confirm to the

cultural artifact protection requirement “repairing the old

to

make it the same as the initial”.

3.3 Experiment equipment

The experiment equipment was the 1500 KW blower engine

and the wind speed was even. The carrying path of sand
gravel

was a sheet iron tank of trumpet shape which was 0.8 m long,

the small stoma connects with the wind source, the diameter

was 7 cm and the large stoma was the export of the sand
gravel,

the diameter was 12 cm and the distance between the large

stoma and the wall face was 1 m. The loading sand vessel was

28.5 cm high, and the up and down stomatas of the hopper

vessel are open, the up area was 17.3 × 14 cm 2 and the up

area

was 8 × 3.5 cm 2 , the sand quantity should be controlled

during

the experiment. The time control of experiment blowout was

basically the same. The experiment sand was chose from the

site directly, the sand whose grain size was more than 5 mm

should not be used, the grading was shown in Table 3.

3.4 The experiment results and analysis

Making the wind with no sand blowout last for 10 minutes,

the
wall face has no breakdown phenomenon, but when adopting
the wind with sand, the breakdown of unreinforced wall face
started when the blowout last for less than 30 s, the
weathered layer fell off in the form of large sheet and
block, the damaging speed accelerated and the wall face was
undercut. The breakdown of the PS reinforcement area would
appear when the start time was less than 1 minutes, and the
breakdown form was not the same, there was the sand gravel
hitting phenomenon on the wall face in the beginning of the
breakdown, under the persistent blowout of the wind, the
breakdown changed from the pisolitic to the slabby.
Generally, the main eventual damage forms were the
pisolitic breakdown, slabby breakdown or honeycomb
breakdown , the sizes of breakdown areas were not the same,
which were shown in Table 4. The experiment result has
shown that the resisting wind erosion capacity of
reinforced ancient site by PS material become manifestly
strong, adopting the wall face reinforced by medium and low
concentration PS could get the best effectiveness and
percolating depth and percolation rate of the reinforcement
material would have the direct effect on the reinforcement
effectiveness. 4 CONCLUSIONS The air channel and the site
simulating experiments have shown that the resisting wind
erosion capacity of reinforced ancient site by PS material
become manifestly strong.

The wind erosion is main destroying motive power and the

main cause of the site damaging, the experiment has shown

the

wind erosion quantity increased with the increment of wind

speed and with the extending of wind erosion time, the wind

erosion increased basically in the form of linear trend.

Based on the analysis of the experiment results, it was

found

that for the samples reinforced with the PS material whose

content was more than 5%, their intensity of wind erosion

resisting was 6 to 10 times than the original sample even

the

wind speed reached 20 m/s and the wind erosion modules was
less than 20 kg//m 2 · h.

The site simulating test has shown that adopting the wall

face reinforced by medium and low concentration PS could

get the best effictiveness and percolating depth and

quantity

the reinforcement material could has the direct effect on

the

reinforcement effictiveness. Therefore choosing the suitable

concentration and enhancing the reinforcement percolating

power are the key to protect the ancient sites.

Considering the results of the indoor air channel experiment

and site simulating experiment synthetically, it was found

that

adopting the PS material of medium concentration had slight

vantages of enhancing erosion resistance and increasing per

colating depth, therefore, for the northwest region where

the

natural condition is atrocious, adopting the material is

the key

scientific path to protect the ancient site and has

important

guiding effect for the all-round and scientific protection

of

ancient site in northwest.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks for helps of engineer ZHANG Lu of the Conservation

Institute of Dunhuang Academy and the assistance of the The

cultural relic conservation center of Dunhuang Academy and

the An Xi museum.
Bai Su. The 1955. Problem on the conservation of Dun

Chinese). Haiying Zhao, Zuixion Li, Wenfeng Han et al.

2003. Main diseases and their causes of earthen ruins in
arid region of northwest china. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, 22 (sup2): 2875–2880.(in
Chinese). Hai-ying Zhao 2005. Study on conservating the
great wall of the Qin Dynasty at the waring states period
and the Han Dynasty in Gansu Province [Ph. D. Thesis].
Lanzhou: Lanzhou University, (in Chinese). Haiying Zhao,
Xudong Wang, Zuixion Li et al. 2006. The impact of PS
modulus and concentration on consolidating the earthen
architecture sites in the arid region. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 25(3): 557∼562.(in
Chinese). Jianjun Qu, Jiacheng Wang, Guodong Cheng. 2002.
An Experimental study on the mechanisms of freeze thaw and
wind erosion of ancient adobe construction in Northwest
China. Journal of glaciology and geocryology, 24(1):
51–56.(in Chinese). Manli Sun, Zuixiong Li, Xudong Wang.
2005. Characterinstic of primary damages about the ruins of
the ancient city Jjiaohe. Dunhuang Research, (5): 92–99.(in
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Beijing: cultural relics Publishing House, (in Chinese).
Xudong Wang, Lu Zhang, Zuixiong Li et al. 2002.Research
about the Actuality and Conservation of Xixia Tomb No.3.
Duhuang Research, (4): 64–74.(in Chinese). Xudong Wang
2002. The Conservation and consolidation of the grottoes
and the earthen architecture sites in the arid region of
Northwestern China [Ph. D. Thesis]. Lanzhou: Lanzhou
University, (in Chinese). Zuixiong Li. 1990. Consolidation
of neolithic earthen site with potassium, compiled by the
getty conservation institute. In: 6th international
conference on the conservation of earthen architecture. the
Getty conservation institute, Los Angeles, New Mexico,
U.S.A., 295–301. Zuixiong Li, Huyuan Zhang, Xudong Wang.
1995. Research on the conservation of ancient earth
structures sites. Dunhuang Research, (3): 1∼17.(in
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on the silk road. Beijing: science press (in Chinese). 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Fault
reactivation, an example of environmental impacts of
groundwater rising on urban area due to previous mining
activities M.H. Yu & I.F. Jefferson Department of Civil
Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United
Kingdom M.G. Culshaw British Geological Survey, Nottingham,
United Kingdom Department of Civil Engineering, University
of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT: Groundwater rising phenomena have been reported
in many circumstances, and the mechanism of rising ground

water varies according to hydrological and hydrogeological

conditions. Groundwater rising can cause various geohazards
which

can have serious impact on environment as well as society.

Fault reactivation is one such geohazard example associated
with rising

groundwater.The case in the Durham Coalfield is one of the

cases where many recent fissurings can be found and are
considered

to be the result of fault reactivation accompanied with

rising groundwater after cessation of coal mining over the
region.

The aim of this research is to estimate past and present

hydrogeological condition in the Durham Coalfield enabling
the

evaluation of the influence of rising groundwater

phenomenon on the urban and rural environment.

Hence, in this research, the hydrogeological condition of

the Durham Coalfield is evaluated. The past and present
condition

is discussed with the available groundwater data, and the

future trend has been simulated, by a numerical
hydrogeological

model using a 3-D groundwater code MODFLOW. The result of

hydrogeological model for past, present and future
conditions

show that general groundwater level in the Durham Coalfield

has been rising for the last a few decades. The discussion
of

this research shows that groundwater rising can cause pore

water pressure to increase, resulting in reducing shear
strength

of pre-existing fault, which has been shown by some case

histories. In addition it is found that some fault
directions enables
slippage and some faults have experienced fault
reactivation. Therefore it is concluded that this reduction
in fault strength

caused by change in hydrogeological condition of the Durham

Coalfield enables a pre-existing fault to be reactivated
when

they exist in a direction of slip with respect to present

regional stress direction.

1 INTRODUCTION

Groundwater levels can change due to the variation of inflow

into and outflow from a groundwater body. The change in

groundwater regime can influence the ground mass in various

ways.

The research presented in this paper focused on the rising

groundwater phenomena in the Durham Coalfield, England.

Rising groundwater is considered to result from partial

cessa

tion of dewatering in former coal mine workings. At the same

time, fissuring has been reported over the region for the
last a

few decades. Donnelly (2006) represented 12 cases of fault

reactivation in the Durham and Northumberland Coalfield

which date back to the 1960’s, while reviewing coal mining

induced fault reactivation in U.K. Wingham (2000) introduced

several cases of open fissures which occurred at some places

in the Durham Coalfield such as Quarrington Hill. Young and

Culshaw, (2001), and Young and Lawrence (2001) reported

fissuring and related ground movement on the Houghton

le-Spring area in the Durham Coalfield. Some fault reacti

vations of the cases presented above are considered to have

been induced directly by coal mining activities, while other

cases are unlikely to be to have directly resulted from the

coal

exploitation, as those mine workings had been closed too

early

to result in any further recent fissurings. Thus the

research

presented in this paper will evaluate the relationship

between

rising groundwater and fissuring in the Durham Coalfield.

The research presented here has reviewed physical setting of

the Durham Coalfield, and general mechanism of groundwater

level rising from which its impact on the environment has
been suggested. The hydrogeological model of the Durham
Coalfield was created in order to evaluate the
hydrogeological change over the region. In addition, the
created numerical model, hydrogeological conditions have
been evaluated under scenario when the present pumping
scheme is ceased, this representing the worst case future
scenario. Finally as the result of groundwater level
rising, the mechanism of fault reactivation will be
discussed, based on the worst case scenario of a complete
cessation of pumping across the Durham Coalfield as well as
on a present hydrogeological condition. 2 DURHAM COALFIELD
2.1 Physical setting The Durham Coalfield is located in the
North-eastern side of England, which is bounded by the
North Sea to the East and by the Pennine to the West. The
River Tyne flows and makes an approximate northern boundary
of the region. The River Wear flows through the Durham
Coalfield (Figure 1). Generally western parts consist of
higher area and the topography is slightly inclined to the
east making river flow to the east. Geology mainly consists
of the Permian Rocks and the Carboniferous Rock (Figure 2).
The Pre-Carboniferous strata exist beneath the
Carboniferous Rocks but do not outcrop over the Durham
Coalfield. The Permian Rocks overlying the Carboniferous
Rocks unconformably.

Figure 1. Geographical settings of the Durham Coalfield

(after

Taylor et al., 1971).

Figure 2. Geological map of the Durham Coalfield (Yu, 2006).

2.2 Fissuring and fault reactivation

In the Durham Coalfield, fissuring and related ground

movements have been reported (Wingham, 2000; Donnelly,

Figure 3. Depression shown on the surface in the Durham
Coalfield. 2000; Young and Culshaw, 2001; Young and
Lawrence, 2001; Donnelly, 2006). One example of such
fissures and holes found near Quarrington Hill, County
Durham (Figure 3) is over 2 metres deep with a diameter of
around 1 metre, representing a threat to the local
communities over the region. Young (2003) reported
fissuring causing cracking of the A690 road near
Houghton-le-Spring in the Durham Coalfield, which needed
immediate repairs to be undertaken by the local authority
in April 2000 and again in June 2003. Cracks appeared on
the A690 road surface, fissures were found on the west
cutting of the A690 and top of hill on both side of the
road were almost at the same line (Young and Culshaw,
2001). In the Durham Coalfield collieries the use of deep
mining methods ceased by 1993 (Yu, 2006), which makes it
unlikely that those recent fissurings are directly
influenced by coal mining (i.e. ground expression of mining
subsidence or mine induced fault reactivation). It may be
that fissuring has only been recently noticed and the
causal mechanism dates from earlier activity and is
directly related to mining activity. However, Yu (2006)
after evaluating this considered that a more likely
mechanism was due to groundwater induced fault reactivation
(see discussion in Section 5.1). It should be noted that in
the area of Quarrington Hill, the colliery was closed in
1983 (Wingham, 2000), and in Houghton-le-Spring area,
Houghton Colliery was abandoned in 1981(Young and Culshaw,
2001). Thus groundwater induced movement seemed a more
likely explanation.

3 GROUNDWATER RISING AND ITS IMPACT

It has been reported that in various regions groundwater

level is rising for a number of reasons. Yu (2006) reviewed

the possible sources of groundwater level change including

change in precipitation, river level change, sea level
change,

urbanisation, agricultural activities, and mining

activities.

With respect to the Durham Coalfield, it is concluded that

mining activities mostly influenced the change in

groundwater

regime over the region (Yu, 2006).

The Durham Coalfield was one of the most famous coal

fields in England, whose history of the coal exploitation

dates

back to medieval times. During coal mining, the groundwater

level was lowered in order to make the coal work accessible.

However after closing coal mining in the Durham Coalfield,

the dewatering scheme was changed, causing an alteration

in the groundwater level over the region. Younger (1995)

and Yu (2006) showed groundwater level changes over the

research area.

Groundwater rising phenomena can cause some serious

impact on the local communities over the regions, such as

land

slides, ground subsidence, seismicity, gas emission, impact

on structures, and salinisation (Yu, 2006). It is suggested

that

seismicity or fault reactivation and gas emission are main

key

geohazard occurrences influenced by changes in groundwater

level in the Durham Coalfield (Yu, 2006).

4 HYDROGEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE

DURHAM COALFIELD

Hydrogeological setting of the Durham Coalfield has been

reviewed from late 1980’s to the future case of a full cessa

tion of dewatering (the worst scenario) based on measured

groundwater level data and numerical simulation.

4.1 Past and present conditions

Yu (2006) showed the groundwater levels have changed from

1995 to 2004. However, it was difficult to acquire reason

able data sets on groundwater levels before 1995 since the

data sets available do not cover the whole area. This can
lead

to an unreliable hydrogeological model of the Durham Coal

field. The most detailed data for groundwater levels before

1995 has been presented by Harrison et al. (1989). Figure 4

shows the groundwater level change between late 1980’s and

2004. Figure 4 indicates groundwater level in the areas

around

Sunderland and Seaham change drastically for this period,

showing a change of a few hundred metres.

The reason why those two areas experienced the severe

change in groundwater level is related to the relatively

late clo

sure (early 1990’s) of collieries under operation around

those

areas and their associated deep groundwater control

necessity.

4.2 Future conditions

In order to simulate a worst case scenario where all present

operating pumping stations in the Durham Coalfield have

stopped, a numerical model has been created. The model has

been created using MODFLOW, a code for three dimensional

groundwater flow using finite difference method, which was

developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (McDonald and

Harbaugh, 1988).

Figure 5 shows groundwater level change after stop

ping dewatering in the Durham Coalfield (after steady state

Figure 4. Comparison of groundwater levels of the 1980’s by
Harrison et al. (1989) and 2004 (Yu, 2006). Figure 5.
Comparison of groundwater levels of 2004 and worst case
scenario where no pumping is under operation (Yu, 2006).
conditions have been achieved). Figure 5 indicates that it
is unlikely to expect a dramatic groundwater level change,
but still further level rising can be expected to some
extend, partially in the Seaham area. 5 DISCUSSION: FAULT
REACTVATION Groundwater level has been changed for the last
a few decades and is expected to change in the future if
the present dewatering

Figure 6. Frequency of earthquakes at Rangely. Gray bars

indicate

earthquakes within 1 km of experimental well. The white

area indi

cates all others. Pressure history in a well is shown by

the solid line

and predicted critical pressure is shown by the dashed line

(Raleigh

et al., 1976).

scheme is ceased. In the following section the relation

between

groundwater level rising and fissuring found in the Durham

Coalfield.
5.1 Conventional approaches to evaluate fault

reactivation mechanisms

The mechanisms of the fissuring in Quarrington Hill, County

Durham, Wigham (2000) suggests that the spatial variations

in coal extraction rates due to existence of fault around

coal

seams caused differential subsidence over the area leading

to

fissuring on the surface. Donnelly (2006) reviewed several

fault reactivation cases induced by coal mining.

However, considering the time the colliery in Quarrington

Hill closed, which was in the early 1980’s, and the depth
of the

seams which were around 500 metres, it is unlikely that

mining

subsidence is still progressing. Whittaker and Reddish

(1989)

suggested that even in the case of deep mines with depth of

around 450 metres, the subsidence process is expected to be

completed in 5 years.

Hence it is considered that the fissuring, which has been

reported in the Durham Coalfield for the last several years,

is not the result of mining subsidence directly. Rather

than, it

is considered to be influenced by the rising groundwater phe

nomena caused by cessation of dewatering for coal

extraction.

5.2 Pore water pressure

The increase in pore water pressure can reduce strength of a

fault shear plane, leading to a fault reactivation.

Ingebritsen and Sanford (1998) show that injection of liq

uid can induce seismicity. Liquid was injected at northeast

of Denver, Colorado, U.S. and an unexpected earthquake was

generated. After that, Raleigh et al. (1976) evaluated the

influ

ence of fluid injection on triggering of earthquakes under

controllable fluid pressure at Rangely, Colorado. Figure 6

shows the relationship between fluid injection and earth

quakes. Their research presented a good relationship between

liquid injection that cause pore water pressure and fault

reac

tivation, which can be used to evaluate the influence of

pore

water pressure on fault reactivation. Figure 7. Diagram of

the maximum principal stress direction (Bott and Bott,
2004) and the orientation of the fault in Houghtonle-Spring
(Young and Culshaw, 2001) showing vulnerability of fault
reactivation (Yu, 2006). 5.3 Fault reactivation occurrence
in the Durham Coalfield Considering pore water pressure has
increased as groundwater level is rising, the fault is
considered to be reactivated in the Durham Coalfield. Some
faults lie in a direction which can make fault reactivation
easier. An example of fault under this condition is the
fault of Houghton-le-Spring. Yu (2006) suggested that the
direction of the fault in Houghton-le-Spring is in the
correct direction to fault slip especially when considering
the orientation of the regional maximum stress suggested by
Donnelly and Rees (2001) and by Bott and Bott (2004).
Figure 7 illustrates the relationship between the direction
of the maximum principal stress (Bott and Bott, 2004) and
the orientation of the fault in Houghton-le-Spring proposed
by Young and Culshaw (2001). The shear stress on the shear
plane of the fault can be expressed as where σ 1 and σ 3
are the maximum principal and the minimum principal stress
respectively, µ ′ is apparent coefficient of friction, and
θ is the difference between the maximum principal stress
direction and the orientation of the fault in
Houghton-le-Spring, which is 65 degree as shown in Figure
7. Regarding the values of the maximum and minimum
principal stress, as those values are not available, the
maximum principal stress is estimated to be 10.5 MPa and
the minimum is −0.2 MPa based on the data near Clawthorpe,
Cumbria, England by Becker and Paladini (1992), which
enables Equation 1 to be written as: Equation 2 indicates
the changes of fault condition according to the changes in
apparent coefficient of friction as pore water pressure
changes, as well as difference of the direction of the
maximum principal stress and the fault orientation, which
is drawn in Figure 8. As shown in Figure 8, as groundwater
level is rising, pore water pressure changes are expected,
resulting in decrease of

Figure 8. Diagram showing the changes in shear stress at

the fault

in Houghton-le-Spring as apparent coefficient of friction

of the fault

plane changes from 0.2 to 1.2 and difference between the

maxi

mum principal stress direction and the orientation of the

fault in

Houghton-le-Spring varies. The diagram indicates that as

the val

ues of apparent coefficient decrease, condition of the

fault becomes

unstable (Yu, 2006).

apparent coefficient of friction. As the difference of the

direc

tion of the maximum principal stress and the fault

orientation

is 65 degree, the condition of the fault is assumed to

change

along the vertical line crossing 65 degree on the x-axis

(Fig

ure 8). Hence apparent coefficient of friction is estimated

to be
between 0.4 and 0.6 based on the fault in Houghton-le-Spring

being in an unstable condition.

In the case of modelling a fault in central California,

Reasenberg and Simpson (1992) assumed the apparent coef

ficient of friction of the fault is 0.2, while Harris and

Simpson

(1992) assumed that the apparent coefficient of friction is

0.8 when pore fluid drains and the pore water pressure

re-equilibrated with time. Therefore it seems that the range

of apparent coefficient of friction suggested from Figure 8

lies within the range by Reasenberg and Simpson (1992) and

Harris and Simpson (1992).

However, Figure 8 does not seem to imply that any other

faults whose orientations are less 65 degree are necessarily

under unstable condition since it is likely that the value

of

apparent coefficient of friction can vary depending upon

each

specific condition of fault such as water distribution, spa

tial variation of groundwater level and roughness of

fracture.

Hence Figure 8 is assumed to be only applicable to the case

of the fault in Houghton-le-Spring.

In addition, considering further groundwater level rising

as shown in Figure 5, further fissuring could be expected as

it is expected that pore water pressure will increase. But

as

groundwater level change is not as drastic as it has been,

severe

fault reactivation is not anticipated.

6 CONCLUSION

Fissuring found in the Durham Coalfield is considered not to

be the result of subsidence, since the subsidence in the

Durham

Coalfield seems to be completed. Hence rising groundwater

caused by cessation of coal mining resulted in the stress

pattern

in the Durham Coalfield, which reduce the strength of the

fault

ABSTRACT: The fluid flow and tracer transport in rock

fractures during shear processes has been an important
issue in rock

mechanics and is investigated in this paper using Finite

Element Method (FEM) for fluid flow and particle tracking
simulations,

considering evolutions of aperture, transmissivity and flow

rate, with large shear displacements under different normal
stress

and stiffness conditions as measured during laboratory

coupled shear-flow tests. Flow and tracer transport results
shows that

more realistic flow and transport phenomena/mechanism were

captured due to more proper treatment of contact areas
compared

with pervious works reported in the literatures.

1 INTRODUCTION

Coupled stress-flow-tracer transport processes in rock frac

tures are increasingly important research topics for high

level radioactive waste disposal facilities in crystalline

rocks
because their safety assessments are mainly based on the

knowledge of paths and travel times of radioactive nuclide

transport that is dominated by groundwater flow in rock

fractures.

As far as laboratory tests for rough rock fractures are

concerned, laboratory studies focusing on the effect of both

normal and shear stresses on fluid flow through rock

fractures,

so-called coupled shear-flow tests, have been a particular

attraction due to its importance to understand and quantify

the

coupled stress-flow processes in fractured rocks (e.g. Esaki

et al., 1999; Auradou et al., 2005). The coupled shear-flow

tests have been performed not only under constant normal

stress/load (CNL) condition but also constant normal stiff

ness (CNS) condition recently (Li et al., 2006a, b).

However,

no coupled shear-flow-tracer tests have been performed under

combined normal stress and shear displacement even the

effect

of the shear on the transport phenomena has been

investigated

without considering normal stresses (Plouraboue et al.,

2000).

Fluid flow and solute transport simulations in rough frac

tures are often performed without considering effects of

any stresses, normal stress without any shear displacement

(Thompson, 1991; Jeong and Song, 2005) or shear displace

ment without normal stress (Koyama et al., 2006a). The

Reynolds equation is commonly applied to simulate such tests

instead of the Navier-Stokes equation. How to measure or cal

culate the fracture aperture under different normal

stresses and

shear displacements during the coupled stress-flow tests and

numerical simulations for such tests are the most essential

points to understand the processes, interpret the testing

and

simulation results and quantify the hydraulic properties.

The

important phenomenon of shear induced anisotropy and het

erogeneity of aperture distribution and its effects on

fluid flow

and transport in fractures, such as the more significant

flow

in the direction perpendicular to the shear, was reported in

Koyama et al. (2006a, b). These findings represent an impor

tant step for more physically meaningful understanding of

the

coupled shear-flow-transport processes in rock fractures.

In the present study, laboratory shear-flow tests for

fracture

replicas under different normal stresses and normal

stiffness conditions were simulated by using numerical
simulations with FEM considering simulated evolutions of
aperture and transmissivity with large shear displacements
first. Next, the unidirectional flow perpendicular to the
direction of shear, which is difficult to be realized in
the laboratory shear-flow tests, was predicted. Finally,
particle movement in the fracture during shear was
simulated using streamline particle tracking method. The
distributions of fracture aperture and its evolution during
shearing and the flow rate were calculated from the initial
aperture and shear dilations and compared with results
measured in the laboratory coupled shear-flow tests. The
contact areas in the fractures were treated correctly with
zero aperture values with a special algorism so that more
realistic flow velocity fields and particle transport paths
were captured. 2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY 2.1 Sample preparation
A natural rock fracture surface, labeled J3, were taken
from the construction site of Omaru power plant in Miyazaki
prefecture in Japan and used as the parent fracture surface
in this study. Three replicas of fracture specimens were
manufactured, named as J3-1, J3-2 and J3-3, with the J3 as
the parent fracture surface. The specimens are 100 mm in
width, 200 mm in length and 100 mm in height, respectively.
They were made of mixtures of plaster, water and retardant
with weight ratios of 1: 0.2: 0.005.The surfaces of the
natural rock fractures were firstly re-cast by using resin,
and then the two parts of a fracture specimen were
manufactured based on the resin replica. By doing so, the
two parts of each fracture specimens used in this study are
almost perfectly mated as the initial contact ratio very
close to 1.0. A 3-D laser scanning profilometer system was
employed to obtain the topographical data of rock fracture
surface J3, generating a scanning grid with a scanning
interval of 0.2 mm in both x and y-axes, as shown in Fig. 1
(Li et al., 2006a, b). 2.2 Laboratory shear-flow tests A
series of coupled shear-flow tests under CNL and CNS
conditions (a constant normal stress of 1.0 MPa for J3-1,
normal stiffness of 0.2 GPa/m with an initial normal stress
of 1.0 MPa for J3-2 and normal stiffness of 0.5 GPa/m with
an

Figure 1. 3-D models of fracture specimen J3 based on the

measured topographical data.

initial stiffness of 1.0 MPa for J3-3, respectively) were

carried

out using the newly developed apparatus in Nagasaki Uni

versity, Nagasaki, Japan. The details about features of the

coupled shear-flow testing apparatus and testing procedure

were reported in Li et al. (2006a, b).

2.3 Aperture calculation during shear

The mean aperture of each scanned grid zone was calculated

at
each shear displacement interval (1.0 mm) based on the
initial

aperture and shear dilations measured in the laboratory

tests.

Numerical shearing is simulated by moving the upper surface

by a horizontal translation of 1.0 mm in the shear

direction,

then uplifting by the dilation increment according to the

mea

sured mean shear dilation value at that shear interval.

Shear

displacement was applied up to 18 mm. Since initial aperture

is zero for fully mated specimens, full contact is assumed

everywhere with zero aperture as the initial condition in

the

numerical simulations. When a grid zone has its two opposing

surfaces separated, it represents a void zone and its

aperture is

evaluated as the mean distance in the direction normal to

the

mean plane of the fracture. When a grid zone’s two opposing

surfaces are just in touch or penetrate each other with

negative

values of contact distance, it represents a contact zone

and is

assigned with a zero aperture. In reality the latter

represents

surface damage/asperity degradation.

3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION

3.1 Governing equations

The fluid flow was simulated using the commercial FEM

software, COMSOL Multiphysics that solves the Reynolds

equation for steady state flow with full saturation of the

sam

ple. The evolutions of the aperture distributions during the

shearing were determined in each shearing step and the evo

lutions of the fracture transmissivity fields were

calculated by

assuming the local validity of the cubic law (Koyama et al.,

2006a, b). In the numerical modeling of fluid flow, effect

of

gorge materials is ignored since negligible amount of gorge

materials were observed during tests. Asperity deformation

was not considered but damage at contact points were

partially

approximated by removing the overlapping parts of contacting

asperities in the contact elements.

A Lagrangian approach for a particle tracking method was

adopted for particle transport simulations, considering only

the advection process. The random dispersion due to diffu

sion of the solute particles within the pore fluid, and

other

retardation mechanisms such as sorption or decay, were not

taken into account. As steady-state fluid flow was under con

sideration, particle tracking along the streamlines was used

(Koyama et al., 2006a). Figure 2. Boundary conditions for

the flow (a) parallel with and (b) perpendicular to the
shear displacement, and (c) calculation mesh. 3.2 Boundary
conditions and the treatment of contact area Both
unidirectional flows parallel with and perpendicular to the
shear direction were considered in the flow simulations by
fixing the initial hydraulic heads of 0.1 m and 0 m along
the leftand right-hand boundaries for the flow parallel
with the shear direction (Fig. 2a), and the bottom and top
boundaries for the flow perpendicular to the shear
direction (Fig. 2b), respectively. The flow boundary
condition for the flow parallel with the shear direction is
the same as the one used in the laboratory coupled
shear-flow tests. Since the sizes of the upper and lower
parts of the specimens are the same, the actual contact
lengths decrease during shear. As a result, the hydraulic
gradient was not constant (became progressively larger)
during shear. In this study, contact areas/elements were
numerically eliminated from the calculation domain and
their boundaries were treated as additional internal
boundaries with a zero flux condition ∂h/∂n ≡ (∇h) · n = 0,
where n is the outward unit normal vector, in order to
satisfy conditions of no flow into or out of the contact
areas (Zimmerman et al., 1992), as shown in Fig. 2c. 4
RESULTS 4.1 Numerical simulation of the laboratory
shear-flow tests The simulated results of flow velocities
are superimposed in Figure 3, with transmissivity
evolutions during shear at different shear displacements
for fracture J3 under constant normal stress of 1 MPa,
J3-1. Since the samples were assumed to be fully mated with
a zero initial aperture, no flow is possible at the start.
At 1 mm of shear displacement, the contact areas are widely
and uniformly distributed over the whole fracture sample.
More continuous flow paths start to form at 2 mm of shear
displacements, and continue to grow into main flow paths
with continued decrease of contact areas and increase of
transmissivity, with increasing shear displacement The
shear caused widely distributed contact areas and
complicated void space geometry, leading to complex
structure of transmissivity and flow velocity fields.As a
result, flow patterns (or stream lines) become very
tortuous. This phenomenon is the well-known ‘channelling
effect’. The flow rate at the outlet boundary (along x = 0)
of sample J3 with different normal loading conditions were
compared

Figure 3. Flow velocity fields with transmissivity

evolutions for

J3-1 (under 1 MPa of normal stress), for the flow (a)

parallel with

and (b) perpendicular to the shear displacement. 1.0E-09

1.0E-08 1.0E-07 1.0E-06 1.0E-05 1.0E-04 1.0E-03 0 5 10 15
20 Shear displacement, mm F l o w r a t e , m
3 / s e c J3-1_experiment J3-1_simulation J3-2_experiment
J3-2_simulation J3-3_experiment J3-3_simulation

Figure 4. Comparision of the flow rate at the outlet

between lab

oratory experiment and nemerical prediction for fracture

sample J3

under different normal loading conditions J3-1, J3-2 and

J3-3.

between laboratory tests and numerical simulations as shown

in Fig. 4. The general behaviors of the simulated flow rate

variations with shear displacements under different normal

stress/stiffness conditions were captured for all three

condi

tions of normal loading, agree well with measured results.

Both simulated and measured flow rates show the sharp

increase at about 2 mm shear displacements and continue to

increase but with a progressive reduction of gradient, and

more

stabilized flow rate after the 5 mm shear displacement. The

general increase of flow rate is about 4–5 orders of

magnitude

from the initial state before shear. 1.0E-07 1.0E-06

1.0E-05 1.0E-04 1.0E-03 1.0E-02 0 5 10 15 20 Shear
displacement, mm N o r m a l i z e d f l o w r a t e , m 3
/ s e c / m J3-1_x J3-1_y J3-2_x J3-2_y J3-3_x J3-3_y
Figure 5. Comparison of the normalized flow rates at the
outlet for fracture sample J3 under different normal
loading conditions, J3-1, J3-2 and J3-3, betweeen the flows
in the direction parallel with (x-direction) and
perpendicular to (y-direction) the shear. 4.2 Simulation
for shear-induced flow anisotropy In Figure 3, the
simulated results of flow velocity fields are also compared
between in the direction parallel with (Fig. 3a) and
perpendicular to (Fig. 3b) the shear displacement. Figure 5
shows the flow rates calculated at two cross sections. One
is the flow rate in x-direction at position of x = 0 and
the other is the flow rate in y-direction at position y =
0.1 m. It should be noted that the flow rates are
normalized by dividing hydraulic gradient and edge length
of the fracture samples since the samples are not square
(the edge length is different) and therefore hydraulic
gradient are different. The two sets of result show
completely different flow patterns. When the general flow
direction is parallel to the shear direction (Fig. 3a), the
flow is more tortuous. When the general flow direction is
perpendicular to the shear direction (Fig. 3b), the flow
field becomes more regular through higher transmissivity
channels, with larger flow rate than that with flow
parallel with shear, about from 5 to 10 times, with
increasing shear displacement. 4.3 Particle tracking The
particle movements for sample J3 under a normal stress of
1.0 MPa, J3-1 were predicted. The results of the particle
motion are shown in Figure 6, considering only flow
parallel with shear, with 100 particles were evenly
distributed at the inlet initially. Figure 7 shows the
breakthrough curves at different shear displacements. From
these figures, particles started coming out of the sample
after 3 mm shear displacement and some of the particles
stay inside the fracture due to the local flow rotations
caused by the zero-aperture contact areas (Fig. 6).
Starting at 5 mm shear displacement, the most of the
particles travel much faster and therefore the breakthrough
curves become steeper. This means that fracture
dispersivity becomes lower and advective transport is more
dominant. In addition, after 5 mm shear displacement, the
shape of the breakthrough curves does not change very much,
due to the more steady state of particle paths as indicated
in Figures. 3 and Figure 6. 5 CONCLUSIONS The general fluid
flow and particle transport behaviors presented here are
more realistic, due to more proper treatment

Figure 6. Particle movements for the flow parallel with the

shear

displacement under normal stress of 1 MPa. 0 20 40 60 80

100 0 5 10 15 20 25 Time, sec P a r t i c l e s , % 3 mm 5
mm 18 mm 7 mm 10 mm

Figure 7. Breakthrough curves at different shear

displacements for

sample J3 under normal loading condition J3-1.

of contact areas with zero aperture in flow and particle

trans
port simulations, compared with earlier results reported in

literature about flow simulations without stress or shear,

and

with artificially assigned very small aperture values for

the

contact areas to avoid singularities of FEM models caused by

such non-zero aperture in contact areas.

This result clearly illustrates the limitations of the tradi

tional boundary conditions in shear-flow tests in which the

significant effect of shear dilation on flow in the

direction per

pendicular to shear direction cannot be captured and

therefore

is often neglected. This shortcoming may lead to signifi

cant underestimation of the fluid transmissivity of the rock

ABSTRACT: The influence of water vapor pressure of

surrounding environment on fracture toughness and
subcritical crack

velocity of rock is clarified from the results of a series

of two types of test under various water vapor pressures,
namely SCB

(Semi-Circular Bend) test and DT (Double torsion) test. The

rocks used in the tests are Kumamoto Andesite and Kunnum

Basalt, and the range of water vapor pressure is from 10 −3

to 10 3 Pa. Base on the experimental results, it is shown
that fracture

toughness decreases with increasing water vapor pressure,

and that the crack velocity increases with increasing water
vapor

pressure at the same stress intensity factor.

1 INTRODUCTION
At the beginning of this century in Japan, the construction
of

facility of high-level nuclear waste disposal is planned.

Since

this facility has to be used for a long term, it is

important to esti

mate long-term strength of surrounding rock in underground

environment.

The long-term strength of rock is concerned to not only

time dependent behavior of rock, such as creep phenomena,

but also initiation and propagation of cracks within rock.

The

latter problem is one of subjects in Fracture Mechanics. The

initiation of crack is associated with stress intensity

factor, and

the propagation of crack is associated with subcritical

crack

growth.

The crack within rock opens and initiates when the stress

intensity factor reaches a critical value. For plane strain

con

ditions, this is called fracture toughness and denoted as K

IC .

The fracture toughness of rock is known to be affected by

the surrounding environment, such as temperature, humidity

and so on. Meredith & Atkinson (1985) made clear the effect

of temperature from results by double torsion (DT) test. The

effect of water on fracture toughness of granite is also

shown,

based on the results of a three-point bending test (The

Japan

society of Mechanical Engineering, 1989). From these

results,

the fracture toughness of rock is also considered to be

depen

dent on water vapor pressure in the atmosphere. However, it

is insufficient to discuss the influence of water vapor

pressure

on the fracture toughness.

On the other hand, subcritical crack growth occurs due to

stress corrosion. Freiman (1984) and Waza et al. (1980) dis

cussed the effect of the water content on crack velocities

from

the results of DT test. Furthermore, Meredith & Atkinson

(1985) clarified influence of water vapor pressure on crack

propagation of Westerly granite by DT test. However, it is

also insufficient to discuss about the influence of water

vapor

on the long-term stability of underground facilities, then

more

data concerning the effect of surrounding environment of

rock

is necessary.

In order to make clear the influence of water vapor pressure

in surrounding environment on fracture toughness of rock

and crack velocity within rock, SCB (Semi-Circular Bend,
Lim et al., 1994) test and DT (Double torsion, Evans, 1972)
test are performed under the various water vapor pressures
from 10 −3 to 10 3 Pa. A series of both tests is conducted
for Kumamoto andesite and Kunnum basalt. The fracture
toughness for Mode I is estimated from SCB test, and the
relation between crack velocity and crack intensity factor
is estimated from DT test. Then the influence of water
vapor pressure on the fracture toughness and crack velocity
is discussed from the obtained results. 2 FUNDAMENTALS OF
TEST 2.1 SCB test The schematic view for SCB test is shown
in Fig. 1. The shape of specimen is semi-circular which a
circular disk is cut into two halves, and has an artificial
single notch of which length is a. Radius and thickness of
specimen are defined as r and t respectively. The specimen
is loaded in three-point bending by lower two support
rollers and upper one loading roller. The fracture
toughness for Mode I is defined by the following equation,
using maximum applied load P max , normalized stress
intensity factor Y I and specimen size (Lim et al., 1994).
Figure 1. Schematic view for SCB test.

Figure 2. Schematic view for DT test.

The normal stress intensity factor is a function of crack

length

a and support span width 2 s. The value of the function is

used

in the case of r/s = 0.8 in this test.

2.2 DT test

The schematic view for DT test is shown in Fig. 2. The spec

imen is a thin rectangular plate which has an artificial

single

notch with length a. The specimen is loaded in four points

bending by lower two support rollers and upper two loading

rollers.

In DT test, the relaxation test is conducted. The dis

placement of the loading point is kept constant during the

experiment in the relaxation test. The stress intensity

factor

K I and crack velocity da/dt is defined from obtained load

relaxation curve as follows:

where φ C is a coefficient. In this test, this value is

1.0. B is a
constant which depend on the elastic modulus of the
material.

P i and λ i are initial load and compliance, respectively.

E is

Young’s modulus, v is Poisson’s ratio, and other parameters

are scale of specimen in Fig. 2.

3 SPECIMEN

Figure 3 is a specimen of Kumamoto andesite for SCB test.

Kumamoto andesite is composed of amphibole, plagioclase,

pyroxene, and groundmass. This rock is isotropic and homo

geneous (Obara et al., 1992). Specimen was cut into half

from

circular disk, and artificial notch made by diamond blade.

The

size of specimen is: r = 37.5 mm, t = 20.0 mm, a = 0.5r with

width of 0.4 mm.

On the other hand, a specimen of Kunnum basalt for DT

test is shown in Fig. 4. This is composed of phenocryst and

grandmas, and has isotropy on wave velocity.The size of spec

imen is the width w = 34 mm, the thickness d = 2.6 mm and

d n = 2 mm and length L = 80 mm, the length of arm of

loading

point w m = 13 mm.

It is necessary that water within specimen is removed to

examine influence of surrounding environment of rock.There

fore, in order to achieve complete dry condition of the

rock Figure 3. Specimen of Kumamoto andesite for SCB test.
Figure 4. Specimen of Kunnum basalt for DT test. Figure 5.
Photograph of vacuum chamber. Figure 6. Schematic view of
evacuation system. specimens, these were kept in the
electric drier oven at constant temperature 100 ◦ C for 30
days. 4 APPARATUS AND TESTING METHOD The specimen on
special loading tool for SCB and DT test are setup in a
special vacuum chamber as shown in Fig. 5. The vacuum
chamber is used to control surrounding environment of rock
specimen, using the evacuation system. This consists of two
vacuum pumps as shown in Fig. 6. Figure 7 shows the change
of pressure in the chamber during test. At first, after the
air in the chamber was evacuated by using two vacuum pumps
until the pressure of about 10 −3 Pa, and then the
distilled water was injected through the injection valve to
a pressure of about 10 3 Pa. As the result, the pressure in
the chamber becomes the saturated water vapor pressure at
room temperature and that the chamber is filled with only
water vapor. It is considered that the air in the chamber
can be fully changed to a new environment. Then the water
vapor

Figure 7. Change of pressure in the chamber during test.

Figure 8. Load-displacement curve for Kumamoto andesite and

Kunnum basalt.

in the chamber was exhausted again. After the required water

vapor pressure was maintained for about 6 hours, SCB or DT

test is performed.

The chamber is set up at a servo-controlled testing machine

with a capacity of 100 kN. The load and displacement are

recorded using the load cell with a capacity of 2kN equipped

on the loading plate and the displacement gauge of testing

machine, respectively.

5 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

5.1 SCB test

The nine specimens for Kumamoto andesite and the eleven

specimens for Kunnum basalt were conducted in a series of

the test. The range of water vapor pressure p on the test is

from 10 −3 to 10 3 Pa. Fracture toughness K IC is
calculated by

equation (1).

Figure 8 shows an example of load-displacement curves

obtained by the test. These relations are downward convex

at low stress level, and then show straight until specimen

is

fractured at maximum load.

The relation between fracture toughness and water vapor

pressure is shown in Figure 9.The fracture toughness is

plotted

almost linearly against water vapor pressure and increases

with

decreasing water vapor pressure. The solid line is drawn by

the approximation of the least square method. This line is

represented by: Figure 9. Relation between fracture

toughness and water vapor pressure. Figure 10. Relation
between time and displacement, load. where β is a constant
and m is the slope of the approximated line on the
logarithmic graph. The values of β and m for Kumamoto
andesite and Kunnum basalt are 1.62 and 0.0125, 2.45 and
0.0122, respectively. It is noted that the influence of
water vapor pressure on fracture toughness is almost the
same as that on uniaxial compression strength and tensile
strength (Jeong et al., 2001, 2007). 5.2 DT test The three
specimens of Kumamoto andesite and Kunnum basalt were
conducted in a series of the test. The range of water vapor
pressure in the test is from 10 −3 to 10 3 Pa. Figure 10
shows an example of relation between time and load, or
displacement. It is found that the load is relaxed due to
crack propagation when displacement is constant. The
relation between stress intensity factor and crack velocity
is shown in Fig. 11. Each result is approximated by a
linear equation as follows: where α is a constant and n
represents inclination of line and is called as stress
corrosion index. The inclinations of lines in same rock
type are almost same. The value of n is 35 for
Figure 11. Relation between crack velocity and stress.

Figure 12. Model suggested by our test results.

Kumamoto andesite and 33 for Kunnum basalt, respectively.

Furthermore, these lines are moved to lift side with increas

ing water vapor pressure. This means that the crack velocity

increases with increasing water vapor pressure at the same

stress intensity factor.

Considering this result together with the results of CSB

test

in which fracture toughness decreases with increasing water

vapor pressure, the relation between crack velocity and

stress

intensity factor can be modified as shown in Fig. 12.

6 CONCLUSION

A series of SCB test and DT test for Kumamoto andesite

and Kunnum basal was performed under various water vapor

ABSTRACT: The in-situ porosity is used for modelling

diffusion within crystalline rock in order to determine its
retention

properties. Such information is important for the safety

analysis when siting a deep geological repository for
nuclear waste.

The total porosity is determined in the laboratory on drill

core specimens, which have experienced stress relaxation
causing

an opening of natural pores and stress-induced microcracks.

The in-situ porosity can be estimated by subtracting the
porosity

due to microcracks from the total porosity determined in

laboratory. Hydrostatic compression tests on granite
specimens from
two sites, with loading up to 50 MPa and 100 MPa, were
carried out in order to determine the microcrack volume.
The tests indi

cated that major closure of microcracks had occurred at 50

MPa. Moreover, the in-situ porosity was found to be
approximately

10–15% less than the total porosity in the laboratory

samples studied.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Swedish Nuclear and Fuel Waste Management CO (SKB)

is currently carrying out investigations at two candidate

sites

(Forsmark and Oskarshamn) for a final repository for nuclear

spent fuel, which include extensive surface and borehole

investigations down to a maximum depth of 1000 m, and site

modelling involving different geoscientific disciplines. The

results are used for preliminary Design Studies and Safety

Assessments. Among the activities, investigations and model

ing of the transport properties of the bedrock are carried

out

to develop site-specific descriptions of the radionuclide

trans

port processes. The investigations yield parameters used for

the radionuclide transport calculations performed by Safety

Assessment in models developed by Safety Assessment and

others (SKB 2005, 2006).

The transport properties of the rock mass depend on poros

ity, diffusion and sorption. Porosity is measured on cores.

The diffusivity is quantified via the formation factor

which is
obtained from diffusion experiments and electrical
resistivity

measurements. The resistivity can be measured in laboratory

on rock samples saturated with NaCl and in borehole in-situ

experiments (Löfgren & Neretnieks 2003).

In-situ measurements of the formation factor at depth for

the Forsmark site indicate a considerably lower value than

corresponding values from laboratory measurements (SKB

2005). Furthermore, the laboratory resistivity measurements

suggest an increasing formation factor with depth while no

such increase could be observed for the in-situ

results.This dis

crepancy between the laboratory and in-situ formation factor

could be related to an increase in the porosity of the

laboratory

samples caused by stress release. This notion is supported

by

a tendency for sonic velocities measured on cores from the

Forsmark site to decrease below approximately 500–550 m

depth (SKB 2005). It is known that extracting core samples

at depth can lead to a significant increase in crack
porosity (Chernis 1984, Martin & Stimpson 1994) and the
dependence of stress on the formation factor was
investigated by Skagius & Neretnieks (1986). In this paper
we report the porosity measurements on laboratory samples
from various depths and compare to the estimated in-situ
porosity. 2 OCCURENCE OF MICROCRACKS In crystalline rocks
the porosity occurs from two sources: (1) new
stress-induced microcracks from the coring process, and (2)
naturally closed pores that open when the in-situ stress is
released. In hard rocks natural pores tend to have
polygonal shapes, while stress-induced microcracks tend to
have longparallel walls, see Figure 1. Investigations of
granite by SKB (2005) and SKB (2006) yielded values of the
natural porosity between 0.1–0.4%. Chernis & Robertson
(1987) found that most grain boundary cracks form around
quartz grains in a laboratory study of microcracks on Lac
du Bonnet granite. Ninety percent of natural cracks occur
along grain boundaries. The remaining cracks that could be
distinguished from stressrelief cracks occur as
intragranular cracks, chiefly in feldspars. There is a
stress limit for which stress-induced microcracking occurs
in a drilled core. Stress redistribution takes place in the
specimen around the coring bit while coring, which may or
may not exceed the threshold for inducing new microcracks
(Lim et al. 2007). The larger the amount of stress release,
the greater the potential for an increase in pore volume
due to stress-induced cracks. Walsh (1965) found that the
required pressure to fully close a penny-shaped crack or
pore within a solid material subjected to hydrostatic
compression was

Figure 1. Pore structure in Lac du Bonnet granite, from

Chernis

(1984). The left photo is a natural pore while the right

photo is a

stress-induced microcrack. Microcrack and natural pore

closure Elastic compression Pore structure collapse
Relative volume change DV/V P r e s s u r e p

Figure 2. Schematic response during a hydrostatic

compression

test. Pessure vs. volumetric deformation, cf. Goodman

(1989).

where E isYoung’s modulus, ν is the Poisson ratio and α is

the

ratio of the width to the length of the crack. Hence, the

crack

closing pressure p c is expected to be lower for

stress-induced

cracks, which are long and thin, than for natural pores,
which

are significantly shorter and wider, cf. Figure 1.

The natural distribution of α for pores and microcracks in

a rock material yields a response curve, which is initially

mainly associated with closure of microcracks, yielding a

non-linear progressively increasing bulk stiffness. The non

linearity vanishes when the cracks are closed even though

a slight non-linearity associated with closing of pores

above

some pressure level may be observed, cf. Figure 2. Zero

poros

ity will yield a linear response entirely given by the

intact

particles constituting the grain structure, while an

increase of

porosity will lead to an increased volumetric deformation.

Results from hydrostatic compression tests on low porous

rock in the literature are reported by, cf. Stephens (1964),

Brace (1965), Simmons & Siegfried (1974) and Siegfried &

Simmons (1978).

3 SPECIMEN AND TEST DESCRIPTION

The specimens tested originate from drill hole KFM01A (sub

sequently denoted FM) at the Forsmark site investigation

area

and drill hole KLX17A (subsequently denoted LX) at the

Oskarshamn site investigation area. The specimens were sat

urated by water. The core diameters were 51 and 50 mm,

respectively. The Forsmark specimens of medium-grained

granite have a clear foliatiated texture, cf. Figure 3.The

Oskar

shamn specimens of Ävrö granite are uniform. Both granites

have an average grain size of 3–4 mm. Porosity measurements

were carried out on neighbouring specimens.

Six strain gauges placed at mid-height were used on each

specimen.Three were oriented axially, denotedAV, BV and CV

Figure 3. Lay-out of strain gauges. Specimen FM-25, from
the Forsmark site. Notice the foliations. and three
circumferential, denoted AH, BH and CH, allowing
measurements of possible anisotropic response, see Figure
3. A gauge length of 20 mm was used in order to capture a
somewhat homogenized response with respect to the grain
structure and microcrack distribution. The test machine is
equipped with a pressure vessel and a computer controlled
pressure intensifier. The strain gauges were connected to
Wheatstone bridges using a two wire coupling plus a third
wire, a sense channel, was connected to the point right
before the wires were going in the cell.This connection
implies compensation for any temperature changes and cable
resistances in the circuit up to the electrical connector
on the cell wall. The Wheatstone bridge circuits were
connected to high accuracy amplifier modules of two types,
HBM ML38 and ML10B. The data acquisition device was a HBM
MGCplus unit. The strain gauge channels were calibrated
using a shunt resistance. A number of pitfalls concerning
the usage of foil strain gauges relevant for the current
type of test set-up exist, such as varying lateral pressure
sensitivity, scatter due to varying bonding layer thickness
and bonding problems on porous and curved material surfaces
(Brace 1964, Hoffman 1989).Acrylic adhesive was reported by
Lau & Chandler (2004) to work in order to install strain
gauges on wet rock specimens and was therefore chosen. A
method to properly install the strain gauges and to protect
them for moisture was devised. Uniaxial and hydrostatic
compression tests were carried out on aluminium specimens
prior to the tests on rock specimens in order to check the
experimental set-up and quantify the measurement error,
which was found to be within 40 microstrain (0.004%) at a
hydrostatic pressure of 50 MPa. The magnitude of the
scatter was linearly proportional to the applied pressure.
The specimen was placed inside the pressure cell between
platens and sealed using a thin rubber membrane. Oil
surrounded the specimen except under the lower platen as
the platen was fixed to the cell bottom. This set-up yields
an isotropic loading.Tests with two different load
sequences were conducted. Type 1: Loading from 0.1–50 MPa,
hold at 50 MPa for 15 minutes and unload 50–0.1 MPa and
hold for 15 minutes. Type 2: Loading from 0.1–50 MPa, hold
at 50 MPa for 5 minutes, loading from 50–100 MPa, hold for
5 minutes, unload 100–50 MPa, short hold time, and unload
50–0.1 MPa and hold for 5 minutes. The pressure rate was 10
MPa/min during both loading and unloading, except for one
test (LX-8) in which it was 2 MPa/min. 4 RESULTS The
results from the hydrostatic compression tests are shown in
Figures 4–5. The volumetric strain ε vol was computed as ε
vol = ε a + 2ε r , where ε a = (ε AV + ε BV + ε CV )/3 and
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2

10

20

30

40

50 Volumetric strain ε vol [%]

y d

r o

s t

a t

i c

p r

e s

s u

r e

[ M

P a

] FM 21 FM 22 FM 23 FM 24 FM 25 FM 26 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0 10

20 30 40 50 Vertical/circumferential strain ε [%] H y d r o
s t a t i c p r e s s u r e p [ M P a ] AH BH CH AV BV CV
Figure 4. Results from Forsmark specimens. Left: Confining
pres

sure vs. volumetric strain; Right: Confining pressure vs.

strains from

the individual gauges on specimen FM-26. 0 0.05 0.1 0.15

0.2 0

20

40

60

80

100 Volumetric strain ε vol [%]

y d

r o

s t

a t

i c

p r

e s

s u

r e

[ M

P a

] LX 1 LX 2 LX 4 LX 5 LX 7 LX 8 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0 20

40 60 80 100 Vertical/circumferential strain ε [%] H y d r
o s t a t i c p r e s s u r e p [ M P a ] AH BH CH AV BV CV
Figure 5. Results from Oskarshamn specimens. Left: Confining

pressure vs. volumetric strain; Right: Confining pressure

vs. strains

from the individual gauges on specimen LX-5.

ε r = ε φ = (ε AH + ε BH + ε CH )/3.The tangent bulk

compliance,

defined as β= dε vol /dp, were evaluated both at initial

loading

(β ini ) and at 50 MPa (β max ) at the unloading curve in

order to

illustrate the amount of non-linearity and to obtain a

compara

ble indicator for major closure of microcracks by comparing

the values of β max .

The microcrack volume strain is computed as, cf. Walsh

(1965), ε MC = ε vol,max −β max p max , where ε vol,max and

p max

refer to values at 50 MPa. The measured material response

displays an anisotropic behaviour. The specimen anisotropy

and inhomogenity is quantified, given in percent, accord

ing to �= 3 × (ε max − ε min )/ε vol,max × 100, where ε min

and

ε max refer to the minimum and the maximum strain value

in any of the strain gauges at the fully compressed state

after the hold time. Moreover, the anisotropy between the

axial and the circumferential directions at the fully com

pressed state after the hold time, given in percent, has

been

defined as HV = 3 × (ε r,max − ε a,max )/ε vol,max × 100,

where
ε a,max = max(ε a ) and ε r,max = max(ε r ). The parameter
results

from all tests are summarized in Table 1.

The bulk compliances β ini and β max have been plotted ver

sus depth (Figure 6). The values of β max are between 18.4
and

20.0 (10 −3 GPa −1 ) except for the specimens at 223 m depth

from Oskarshamn. Brace (1965) reports corresponding values

to β max of 19.1 and 19.9 (10 −3 GPa −1 ) for two specimens

of

different types of granite. This validates the current

measure

ments. Moreover, due to the similar values of β max it may

be

concluded that a cell pressure of 50 MPa was sufficient for

this type of rock to close the majority of the microcracks.

It can be noted that the difference between β ini and

β max seems to increase with depth indicating increased non

linearity and growing crack porosity. Figure 7 (also Table

1) Table 1. Summary of hydrostatic compression test
results. Micro Bulk crack Anisotropy compliance Porosity
vol (10 −3 GPa −1 ) Sample Depth ε MC HV ID (m) (%) (%) (%)
(%) β ini β max FM-21 232 0.36 0.037 33 18 31.9 19.5 FM-22
233 0.36 0.035 21 9 29.8 19.2 FM-23 490 0.28 0.046 24 15
37.7 20.0 FM-24 490 0.28 0.078 37 15 51.0 20.0 FM-25 686
0.30 0.054 10 6 54.1 18.4 FM-26 686 0.30 0.057 29 15 40.2
19.7 LX-1 223 0.18 0.011 32 15 16.6 15.4 LX-2 223 0.18
0.013 16 −4 18.8 15.4 LX-4 382 0.34 0.028 19 9 26.6 19.0
LX-5 382 0.34 0.027 23 7 25.8 18.9 LX-7 556 0.36 0.048 20 0
32.3 19.2 LX-8 556 0.36 0.027 12 7 23.5 18.2 0 10 20 30 40
50 60 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Bulk compliance β [10
-3 ⋅ GPa -1 ] S a m p l i n g d e p t h [ m ] β ini (FM)
β ini (LX) β max (FM) β max (LX) Figure 6. Bulk
compliances vs. depth at initial (open symbols) and 50 MPa
loading (solid symbols). 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0 100 200
300 400 500 600 700 Crack volume strain ε MC [%] S a m p
l i n g d e p t h [ m ] FM LX Figure 7. Crack volume vs.
depth for all tests. confirms a growing crack volume with
depth. It is also evident by the results that the total
crack volume is larger in samples from the Forsmark site,
as ε MC = 0.035–0.078% for the Forsmark specimens and ε MC
= 0.011–0.048% for the Oskarshamn specimens. Moreover, by
studying HV , cf. Table 1, which is greater than or equal
zero (except for one specimen), one may assume that a
larger part of the micro

cracks probably are oriented along, or with a small angle

to, the

core axis direction This is more pronounced in the Forsmark

specimens, which may be coupled to the foliated structure,

cf.

Figure 3.

5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUDING REMARKS

The measurements using strain gauges seem to properly

capture the response as the results are comparable to mea

surements on granite by Brace (1965), despite the known

difficulties by using strain gauges subjected to lateral

pres

sure. As mentioned before, the majority of microcracks seem

to be closed at 50 MPa pressure. A hysteresis can be

observed

during the tests. Moreover, some creep deformation could be

seen at full loading during the hold time. The hysteresis

was

less and almost no creep deformation could be observed in

the test of 2 MPa/min. The creep rate rapidly decreases

during

the hold time at full loading during the 10 MPa/min-tests.

This

fact together with no significant difference between the

values

of β max suggests that the results from the tests with

loading

rate of 10 MPa/min will yield similar results of the

microcrack

volume as tests conducted with a lower rate.

The horizontal in-situ stress magnitudes are generally

higher at the Forsmark site compared to the Laxemar site

(Martin & Christiansson, 2007). The major horizontal stress

at Forsmark is in the range of 40–45 MPa while at Laxemar it

is in the range of 22–25 MPa at 500 m depth. Based on the

test

results it appears that the crack volume in the core

samples is

dependent on in-situ stress magnitude, and thus the amount

of stress relaxation. Especially the higher crack volume

strain

from samples taken below 500 m depth at Forsmark (Figure 7)

is in keeping with other information on stress-induced dam

age in core samples. Our findings also suggest that when the

in-situ stress magnitudes are relatively low, the porosity

of

the core samples is dominated by the natural pores and the

difference between the in-situ porosity and the core sample

porosity is small. This is in keeping with the results from

Löf

gren & Neretnieks (2003) who found no significant difference

between in-situ and laboratory measurements from a bore

hole at the Laxemar site, except when the core samples were
within a geologically heterogeneous section. It seems that a

certain difference in crack volume between laboratory speci

mens and rock in-situ is needed for the method to be able to

detect a change of formation factor. With this finding in

mind,

it would mean that a crack volume strain (ε MC ) of at least

0.040–0.045% is needed in order to notice a change of the

formation factor between the in-situ and laboratory measure

ments for the actual rock types.

The resistivity is dependent on how much and how far

the formation water can penetrate into the rock. One possi

ble explanation for which no change of the resistivity can

be detected for small values of ε MC could be that the uncer

tainty with the method such as accuracy and scatter requires

a minimum resistivity change. Another hypothesis could be

that there is a non-linear relation between how far into the

rock the formation water can penetrate and the size of ε MC

.

Micromechanical investigations of the hydro-mechanical

behaviour of argillite rocks by means of optical full field
strain measurement and acoustic emission techniques F.
Valès, M. Bornert, H. Gharbi, D. Nguyen Minh & J.C. Eytard
Laboratoire de Mécanique des Solides, Ecole Polytechnique,
Palaiseau, France

ABSTRACT: Digital Image Correlation techniques are applied

to sequences of images of argillite rocks samples at
various

saturation states at both the global scale of the sample

and the local scale of the microstructure. Not only it is
confirmed
that the clay matrix deforms much more than the other
mineral inclusions, but it also appears that the
deformation is very

inhomogeneous in the matrix, with some areas almost not

deformed, while others exhibit deformation twice the
average overall

strain, depending on the local distribution of the

inclusions. Strain heterogeneities are also detected at the
scale of the sample

of saturated rocks and can be correlated with the presence

of a network of cracks. On such samples, DIC analysis shows
that

the overall strain results both from the bulk deformation

of the sound rock and the closing or opening of these
cracks, which

is confirmed by the analysis of acoustic emissions.

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the major objectives of the hydro-mechanical

behaviour studies of nuclear-waste storage in deep geolog

ical formations is to assess their stability and performance

under variable hygrometry atmospheres. These perturbations

may induce damage (opening of existing or new cracks) in the

drift wall, and change the confinement properties of the

rock.

In France, an underground research laboratory is built in

the

argillite layers of Callovo-Oxfordian age in the Eastern

Paris

Basin (Meuse/Haute-Marne site, France).

Argillite rock is sensitive to the presence of water in

terms of

mechanical response due to the pore state and the

interaction of
water and the clay phase. The moisture transfer between atmo

sphere and rock induces deformation (swelling and shrinkage)

at the interface. To understand the multi-scales-effects of

the moisture conditions on argillite rocks, an experimental

program was conducted to determine the effects of water

saturation on the global physical and mechanical properties.

Micromechanical investigations aim at detecting the actual

physical deformation and damage mechanism active at a

microscopic scale, the complex averaged interactions of

which

determine the macroscopic behaviour of materials.They allow

a physically-based extrapolation of experimental data to sit

uations not accessible to experiment, by means of adequate

scale transition models. Such an approach might be very use

ful for the determination of the long term hydro-mechanical

behaviour of argillite rocks. Qualitative observations of

these

micromechanisms by means of mechanical tests inside the

chamber of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), as those

currently used for the analysis of metals and composites,

cannot however be transposed directly to geomaterials, espe

cially because the exposition of the samples to vacuum may

noticeably modify the physical properties of the material

(microstructure, water content…). To circumvent these diffi

culties, direct optical observations of samples with

controlled
degrees of saturation and mechanically loaded on conven

tional testing machines, have been preferred. By means of

specifically designed optical microscopes, appropriate light

ing devices and digital image correlation techniques very

small evolutions of the microstructures can be detected.

This paper is focused on the analysis of the mechanical
response at different observation scales of argillite
samples under uniaxial compression and with different
degrees of saturation, imposed by water vapour transfer.
Deformation and microstructure changes due to the imposed
hydric transfer as well as the influence of the anisotropy
due to the natural bedding have also been investigated by
similar tools but are not presented here. 2 GENERAL
MICROSTRUCTURAL DESCRIPTION OF THE CALLOVO-OXFORDIAN
ARGILLITE ROCK The indurated argillaceous rocks, or
argillites, of the Meuse/Haute-Marne site are
well-compacted rocks. The mineralogy (Gaucher et al. 2004)
is characterized by a predominant clay fraction (45–55%),
and grains of carbonates (20–28%), quartz (21–29%) and
feldspar (0–4%). Other minerals can be present as sulphur
and organic mater. Systematic investigations of the
received samples reveal a water content close to 7% (the
rock is not completely saturated, Su 2005), a total
porosity of 16%, a carbonates’ ratio of 26.8% and
compressive elastic wave velocity perpendicular to the
bedding of 2800 m.s −1 . Microstructural investigations at
different scales with the optical microscope and the SEM
reveal that these rocks exhibit a composite structure made
of a continuous clay matrix and embedded mineral particles
which might get into contact but do not seem to be strongly
connected. Quartz and carbonates appear as homogeneously
distributed and a spreading of local iron sulphur is
observed. Typical inclusion size ranges from 10 to 100 µm.
3 TECHNIQUES AND DEVICE PRESENTATION 3.1 Local extensometry
Local extensometry allows the determination of strain
fields at different scales by the comparison of sequences
of images acquired during solicitation, which might be a
pure

mechanical loading, a hydric suction, a thermic perturbation

or combination of these. The technique aims at associating

homologous points in the various images and makes use of

Digital Image Correlation (DIC) algorithms (Bruck et al.

1989) which provide a discrete displacement field with sub

pixel accuracy. The image processing can be applied to

digital

images obtained with a macroscopic camera, an optical micro

scope (Schreier et a.l 2004) or a SEM (Doumalin et al.

1999).

The in-plane components of the deformation gradient at var

ious scales are computed from the displacement field. More

precisely, the average gradient on a particular domain can

be

computed as a contour integral of the displacement on this

domain (Allais et al. 1994). For the small strain levels

argillite

rocks undergo, the linearised strain tensor is sufficient

to char

acterize the strain level. The adjustable size of the

considered

domains determines the gauge length of the strain measure

ment, which might be local when the averaging domain is

small, global when the whole image is considered or inter

mediate when specific domains of interest are adopted. The

CorrelManuV software developed at LMS (Bornert 2003) was

used to process the image sequences and to compute strains

at various scales.

The DIC technique has been applied with success to a

lot of materials such as metals, polymer or composite. The

application to argillite rocks requires some precautions and

adaptations of optical lenses and lighting devices. Cylindri

cal rock samples are obtained after air-machining
operations.

Observations are conducted on polished surfaces obtained

after dry-cutting and grinding operations and without

marking

the surface of the samples, as DIC algorithms can make use

of the natural contrast of the samples.

Two scales have been investigated:

i a macroscale (Macro DIC) with overall sample images The

field of view is close to the 72 mm-sample size and the

pixel size is 55 µ m. The contrast is provided by the large

mineral inclusions. Several hundred images are acquired

automatically during a test, with a period of 2 seconds. The

gauge length for local strains is typically 1.5 mm.

ii a microscale (Micro DIC) at the rock microstructure with

a specifically designed x10 optical microscope. The field

of view is close to 1.5 × 1.5 mm 2 and the pixel size equal

to 0.74 µm. Because of the small motion of the sample and

the micrometric depth of focus, the microscope needs to be

repositioned continuously during the test.This is done man

ually and images are acquired typically every 10 seconds.

The composite microstructure can be reveal with normal

brightfield lighting conditions. A lateral darkfield light

ing is however preferred for DIC since it provides more

continuously contrasted images. The image analysis tech

nique leads to an accuracy better than 10 −3 at the local

scale, for a typical gauge length of 50 µm (which cor

responds to an accuracy on relative displacements better

than 50 nm), and 10 −5 at the scale of the whole image.

These values have been deduced from the analysis of rigid

body motions.

Optical strain measurements can be compared to more clas

sical techniques such as displacement sensors (LVDT) and

strain gauges.To do so, the averaging domains used to

compute

strains from displacement fields need to be adjusted. Defor

mation is average over the whole sample for the comparison

with the displacement sensor, while centimetric areas hav

ing the same size as the strain gauges are considered for
the

comparison with the measurement provided by these. Table 1.

Moisture transfer and mechanical parameters. Suction strain
Relative Water Young Poisson humidity content ε ⊥ * ε // **
modulus coefficient R c % RH % % % MPa – MPa Initial state
6.40 – – 5000 0.24 27 98 8.80 +0.50 +0.15 6500 0.45 24 76
7.30 +0.13 +0.07 8500 0.12 29 50 4.02 −0.18 −0.08 10000
0.11 37 32 3.00 −0.27 −0.13 12000 0.10 44 Positive
(respectively negative) deformation indicate expansion
(resp. contraction). During the suction, strain are
measured in the direction perpendicular (*) and parallel
(**) to the bedding. 3.2 Acoustic emission (AE) technique
Samples are also instrumented with acoustic emission
sensors with the aim of detecting microstructure evolution
and damage. AE signal waveforms are recorded; a
post-treatment was developed to discriminate different
possible mechanisms with identification of characteristic
thresholds (closing or propagation of existing cracks,
nucleation of new ones and coalescence…) using signal
characteristics (amplitude, energy, duration …). 3.3
Suction device To obtain different degrees of water
saturation, standard methods used in soil engineering
(Delage et al. 1998) were used. Rock samples are put in a
tight box whose humidity is controlled; no mechanical
loading is applied. The relative humidity imposes, using
specific saline solutions, a suction pressure to the rock
as given by the Kelvin relationship. Desaturations are
conducted from the initial hydric state to four different
suctions. During the imposed suctions, weight and strain
(measured with strain gauges) variations are recorded
continuously. The strain gauges are disposed in axial and
orthoradial directions, respectively perpendicular (ε ⊥ )
and parallel (ε // ) to the bedding planes. When weight and
strain evolutions are stabilized, the sample is assumed to
be in equilibrium with the controlled humidity atmosphere.
Then, mechanical tests are performed to obtain the
requested characterization. 4 MOISTURE TRANSFER RESULTS
Results of physical parameters’evolution are given on Table
1. The data give information on the correlation between
loss/gain of water content and shrinkage/swelling
deformation. The comparisons of images taken before and
after the controlled suctions reveal microstructural
evolutions that would have been very hardly detected by
conventional observations. More specifically, for high
hygrometry, observations show the development of a network
of new cracks with centimetric size. Most of them are in
the bedding planes and a few ones perpendicular to the
bedding (the nucleation of these cracks produce detectable
AE activity). Micro cracks at the scale of the
microstructure might develop but additional investigations
would be required as the evolution of the image contrast at
the local scale was too strong for a proper application of
DIC

Figure 1. Deviatoric stress versus strain for different

hydric state.

techniques. On the contrary, for low humidity, we observe

the

closing of pre-existing cracks with an apparent

densification

despite the water loss, and no apparition of new cracks.

5 MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION AT

DIFFERENT SCALES

Uniaxial compressive tests are performed on cylindrical sam

ples (diameter: 36 mm; height: 72 mm) whose degree of

saturation was imposed before.

5.1 Overall mechanical approach

The mechanical behaviour of argillite as a function of

degree

of saturation is presented in Figure 1. Elastic parameters

are

determined on tests with loading-unloading cycles (on the

linear re-loading part) (see Tab. 1).

As the degree of saturation decreases, the macroscopic

behaviour shows an increase of Young’s modulus, axial strain

at failure and compressive strength R c , and drastic

decrease

of Poisson’s ratio. Responses at 50 and 32% RH are similar

(the water content difference is very low, close to 1%). The

increase of elastic stiffness with decreasing water content

was

reported for most shale rocks (Su 2005, Valès et al. 2004).

The volumetric curves show an initially contractancy for all

degrees of saturation; and for higher deformation, wet state

presents important dilatancy, and for dry states a

contractancy

profile.

5.2 Acoustic emission results

For dry states, AE events appear from 60% of the strength R

c ,

with a few high energy events between 60–80% R c and above

80% R c , AE activity presents more events with less energy.

For wet states, on sample with micro-cracks due to humidity

atmosphere, AE events are distributed all along the loading

path with an increase of events just before the final
failure.

5.3 Deformation evolutions at the scale of the sample

(macro DIC)

Macro DIC results for a dry sample (50%RH) and a wet one

(98%RH) are compared. The dry state presents a homoge

neous response without significant deformation localisation

(Fig. 2). This is quantitatively confirmed by the comparison

in Figure 3 of the σ−ε curves, where σ is the overall devia

toric stress and ε the strain measured either with the LVDT

sensor, the strain gauges or macro DIC at various scales.

The

curves nicely coincide with exception of the one relative to

the axial strain gauge, which probably did not stick

correctly

to the sample above 1% strain. Figure 2. Deformation map at

the global and local scales for argillite sample (dry state
– 50% RH) at 80% of failure load. Figure 3. σ−ε curve for
dry state (50% RH). Deformation are estimated from
displacement sensor, strain gauges, Macro DIC and Micro
DIC. Stress is macroscopic stress. Macro DIC deformation
are calculated on a central area of size similar to strain
gauge (180 × 390 pixels or 9 × 19.5 mm 2 , designed by
averaged central area). Micro DIC is calculated on the
total average area, on mineral grains area (1) and on clay
matrix zone (2). The deformation in the wet sample is very
heterogeneous with some high local deformation above 4%
(1.5 mm gauge length) for an overall maximal strain of
1.2%. More precisely, axial strains obtained with the
strain gauge and the displacement sensor coincide with
macro DIC results averaged on corresponding areas. However
average macro DIC strain measurements computed on two
same-sized areas (4.5 × 4.5 mm 2 ), one located in a
“sound” zone without macro-crack due to the hydric
solicitation and the other centred on a pre-cracked zone,
lead to very different values. At failure, the pre-cracked
zone deformation is close to 2% while the sound one remains
close to 0.7%, which is close to the strain of the dry
sample at the same overall stress. In addition, one can
clearly observe during the test the closing of the existing
cracks normal to the loading direction and the opening of
the cracks parallel to the loading. This strongly suggests
that a significative part of the deformation of the wet
rock is due to the opening or closing of the macro cracks
due to the preliminary saturation, while the bulk response
of the sound rock might be similar to that of the dry rock.
The crack activity during loading could be associated with
the high acoustic activity recorded for wet state even at
early stages of deformation. 5.4 Deformation evolutions at
the scale of the microstructure (micro DIC) The deformation
map (Fig. 2) obtained before failure for dry state (50% RH)
at micro scale, exhibits an heterogeneity clearly linked to
the composite structure of the rock. Deformation
heterogeneity develops at the microstructural scale

(50–100 µm); no cracks could be detected in the investigated

area. σ−ε curves (Fig. 3) estimated from micro DIC on vari

ous areas (total field, inclusion rich and clay rich local
areas)

feature different responses: just before failure, average

Micro

DIC strain is close to 2.2% and coincides with macro DIC

measurements, while inclusion rich areas undergo less than

1% strain, i.e. almost four times less than clay rich areas.

For 98% RH, local strains levels near pre-existing cracks

are much higher than in areas far away, where strain het

erogeneities are similar to those observed on dry samples

and correlate well with microstructure. This confirms the

conclusion of the macro DIC field measurements.

6 GENERAL CONCLUSION

The water transfer experiments without mechanical stress fea

ture important deformation: for high suctions, a shrinkage

with no damage detected, and for high relative humidity, an

important swelling (strain perpendicular to the bedding

close

to 0.5%) with the development of a network of cracks. Defor

mation due to moisture solicitation present anisotropy with

a

ratio 2 between directions perpendicular and parallel to the

bedding planes. The moisture history affect directly the

rock

microstructure.

The analysis of sample surface images during uniaxial com

pression tests reveals the strong heterogeneity of the

strain

at the microscopic scale, whatever the water content. Not

only it is confirmed that the clay matrix deforms much more

than the other mineral inclusions, but it also appears that

the

deformation is very inhomogeneous in the matrix, with some

areas almost not deformed, while others exhibit deformation

twice than the average overall strain, depending on the

local

distribution of the inclusions.

The saturation state strongly influences the mechanical

properties: elastic modulus and compressive strength

increase

with increasing suction while the Poisson’s ratio of wet

samples is significantly.

The different techniques allow to evaluate the relative

contribution of bulk deformation and damage mechanisms

i for dry state: for the tested samples, the behaviour is
homo

geneous at macro scale with no damage detected up to high

deformation levels. At the scale of microstructure, defor

mation is localised in clay matrix and mineral grains appear

ABSTRACT: Current United Kingdom (UK) practice suggests

that subsidence from abandoned room-and-pillar coal
workings

should not occur if there is 10 times-the-seam thickness of

rock cover overlying the workings. As this practice differs
from

that of other Countries, what are the implications for

geotechnical engineers if this assumption were shown to be
consistently

misinterpreted? This paper traces the source of this

rule-of-thumb and demonstrates that its use is an overused
simplification

United Kingdom and elsewhere that contradict the rule along

with reference to extensive work and databases on the
subject

are provided. Recommendations for a more appropriate

engineering methodology to assess mining instability from
abandoned

room-and-pillar coal workings irrespective of depth or age

are given. The need for geotechnical engineers to carry out
more

detailed investigative work is also highlighted.

1 SOURCE AND RELEVANCE OF THE

RULE-OF-THUMB

A common rule-of-thumb assumed in geotechnics within the

UK is that subsidence from coal mine workings should not

pose a problem if there is either 10 times-the-seam

thickness
or 30 metres of rock cover, whichever is greater, above the

workings (McMillan & Browne 1987). Allied to this view is

the belief that if the workings are old and or lie at a

depth

greater than this, then all subsidence will have ceased.

Shallow workings are defined as workings known, or

assumed, to lie within 30 m of surface and deep workings

known or assumed to lie at greater depths. The criterion

of workings within 30m of rockhead was based on limited

information concerning the geological structure and having

generally been agreed after consultation with civil

engineers

and representatives of the former British Coal (UK) as the

normal thickness of cover strata required to isolate

structures

from subsidence, assuming that bulking factors of 10–20%

will affect the strata involved in the upward migration of

a void

resulting from roof collapse (McMillan & Browne 1987). The

concept that the bulking of fallen roof rock could control

the

height of a migratory void appears in the publication

Construc

tion over Abandoned Mine Workings (Healy & Head 1984),

which referred to an earlier work (Piggot & Eynon 1978),

Figure 1 which proposed that for near surface foundations,

an

‘a priori’ problem must be considered to exist where old

mine
workings are present at depths less than 10 times the
extracted

thickness below rockhead; the interface between solid strata

and any surface unconsolidated deposit. However, it would

seem that the concept was raised earlier (Wardell & Eynon

1968) by an analogy with longwall mining (Tincelin 1958)

concerning the height of collapse above longwall workings

whereby the roof beds may either deflect and span between

the abutments or break down into the extracted area; in the

latter case so forming a dome of collapsed strata above the

Figure 1. Bulking Factors (after Wardell & Eynon).
extracted panel. The height of this dome could then be
related to the increase in the volume of the collapsed rock
compared to its original in-situ volume by the equation
where h vm = height of the dome (or migratory void); d 1 =
in-situ density of the roof rock; and d = density of the
collapsed roof rock. However, equation 1 was considered too
simplified (Wardell & Eynon) to have any great practical
value. Other researchers (Dunrud & Osterwald 1980) agree
with the upper limit suggested by Piggot & Eynon except
where the collapsed material moves laterally. This can
occur when material flows laterally through cracks or
fissures within the crown-hole (Dyne 1998). Factors such as
‘piping’, when sediments move through tension cracks or
fractures in the

Figure 2. Exposed void migration at Tinsley Park Opencast

Coal Site.

overburden into the mine void due to the action of water,

can

also lead to crown-hole subsidence.

1.1 Examination of the rule-of-thumb

An extensive review within the UK (Garrard & Taylor 1988)

of 151 roof collapses recorded in the exposed side-walls on

18 different opencast sites (example provided in Figure 2)
at

depths less than 75 metres below ground level with the major

ity falling between 4 and 24 metres depth, found no direct

relationship between seam thickness and either the observed

or theoretical collapse height, although a study of the

plots

of these variables suggested a confining envelope for the

observed height of collapse approximating to 6.5 times-seam

thickness with the theoretical height of collapse approximat

ing to 9.8 times-seam thickness. The review also revealed

that

the height of collapse, h vm was proportional to the width

of

the working, r w by the equation

Despite the lack of a direct relationship between the

observed or theoretical collapse height and seam thickness

the authors concluded that the widely used multiplier of 10

times-seam thickness was valid notwithstanding that the seam

thickness-height of collapse observation was probably more

related to working practice and the relationship between

road

width and void height noted above than to bulking,

suggesting

that the popularity of the rule may be due to the fact that
all

too often the seam thickness is the only known parameter at

desk study stage.

From the United States (US) (Wright 1982, Karfakis 1987)

and South African (Vervoort 1992a) perspective crown-hole

subsidence or void migration is a roof stability or roof

instabil

ity problem and should be considered in these terms. Wright

has shown that for laminated or stratified roofs the theory

of

beams under combined loads can be used to assess potential

roof span failure for beams under uniform transverse load;

the

presence of fractures and horizontal stress can also be

taken

into account.Vervoort has shown that the maximum amount of

vertical deflection δ max estimated from equation 3

provides the

same order of magnitude as measured underground provided

that the thickness of the roof beam is taken as the

thickness of each individual layer and not as the total
thickness of the beam composed of thin layers. where γ =
the unit weight of the roof rock; L = the width of the
roadway; E =Young’s modulus of elasticity of the roof rock
and t rb = thickness of the beam. A method to predict those
areas likely to subside through roof failure at depths less
than 60 m has been discussed by Missavage et al., (1986).
In this work 27 subsidence events in a southern Illinois
mine in the US were examined utilizing the flexural
strength of strata overlying a coal seam to predict the
vulnerability of shallow room-and-pillar mined areas to
subsidence. The method relates the Missavage number (Mn),
which is dependant only on the stratigraphy and rock
strength, to the extraction number, which is dependant only
on the extraction ratio and maximum span of the opening. A
high correlation coefficient of 0.78 between Mn and the
extraction number showed potential for the method to be
utilized to delineate areas vulnerable to subsidence. The
method was subjected to a blind test and successfully
predicted 10 out of 12 subsidence events and 2 out of 3
additional events in the known half of the study area. The
method assumes that the mine roof acts as a composite beam
with no interlayer shear strength loaded by its own weight.
1.2 Time-dependent roof failure Whilst the bulking theory
behind the rule-of-thumb can be mathematically validated
(Piggot & Eynon 1978), the body of evidence indicates that
the concept was derived from longwall mining, a total
extraction caving method, whereas room-andpillar is a
partial extraction self supporting method of mining
(Rossouw & Fourie 1996). A fundamental difference of these
methods is that in the former, extraction panels are
usually of such a width that the tensile strength of the
roof rock is insufficient to sustain the stress imposed
upon them and as such failure happens almost
instantaneously. With room-and-pillar mining the opposite
is the case and so roof failure becomes more of a
time-dependent phenomenon where parameters such as roof
span, tensile stress/strength, lithological transition and
unit thickness have a great influence on the stand-up time
of the roof. According to Gray et al., (1977) more than
half of the 354 chimney (crown-hole) subsidence cases
studied in Pennsylvania occurred more than 50 years after
abandonment of the workings. The element of time has
therefore an important, yet not fully understood, role to
play in void migration and subsequent crown-hole formation.
Changes in the geotechnical properties and behaviour of the
roof, pillar, floor and collapsed roof material that occur
under wet conditions can be major contributors to residual
subsidence. Given the amount of assumptions contained in
the bulking theory and the random nature of crown-hole
development resulting from void migration Karfakis
concluded that even if all the relevant information was
available only the likelihood of subsidence occurrence may
be predicted.The findings by Missavage et al., would appear
to confirm that this is indeed the case. 1.3 Pillar failure
and void migration Fundamentally, the propagation of a
migratory void requires an open roadway into which the
collapsed roof rock can fall, which necessitates that the
pillars be standing to support the

roadway. If the pillars have collapsed void migration cannot

occur. Similarly, void migration will terminate if the

pillars

subsequently fail. Thus the stability of the pillars is

crucial to

the formation of a migratory void. Whilst void migration may

be more problematical at shallow depths this is not to say

that
pillar instability should not be considered. In most cases
it is

likely that the stress imposed on a pillar at shallow depth

will

be less than the in-situ pillar mass strength, which may

explain

why pillar failure at shallow depth is considered uncommon.

However, a case study in Scotland (Carter 1984) illustrates

that even at relatively shallow depth (42 metres) it can

take in

excess of 200 years for pillar failure to take place, which

may

explain why pillar failure is regarded as uncommon and as

such not problematical. With increasing depth void migration

becomes a secondary issue, whilst pillar failure becomes the

primary factor. The need to consider these factors does not

appear to be wholly understood and has led to the

assumption,

certainly within the UK that subsidence from workings at a

depth in excess of the rule is unlikely (The Highways Agency

1997). Indeed in some instances (The HighwaysAgency 2005)

it is recommended that investigation may be limited to 30

metres depth or 10-times-seam thickness. The abuse of the

matic (environmental geology) maps (McMillan & Browne

1987) also seems widespread and promotes the idea that all

mining instability can be catered for by the rule.

The UK practice differs markedly with the US viewpoint

which presupposes that unless total extraction has been car

ried out there is no identifiable height above an abandoned

mine that ensures a site total freedom from subsidence and

furthermore there is no identifiable time after mining when

the threat of subsidence is clearly past (Bruhn, Magnuson &

Gray 1981). Hence in the US, the grouting of mine workings

at depths up to 90 metres (Marino et al., 1997) is known to

have been carried out in order to negate potential

subsidence

from underlying coal workings.

Pillar failure at depths ranging from 9 to 137 metres has

been

recorded in the Pittsburgh area of the US with more than 350

subsidence events being recorded over the period 1955–1976

(Bruhn, Magnuson & Gray 1981), (Gray & Bruhn 1982). The

mean thickness of overburden at the location of crown-holes

was 14 metres and 36.5 metres in the case of areal

subsidence.

In South Africa pillar failure has taken place at depths

rang

ing from 21 to 205 metres (Madden & Hardman 1992) and in

Australia (Salamon et al., 1996) at depths ranging from 70

to

250 metres. In each of these extensive works/datasets there

is

evidence to indicate that the time period from abandonment

of

the workings to pillar failure can range from a matter of

sev

eral weeks, (Madden & Hardman 1992) to in excess of 200

years (Bruhn, Magnuson & Gray 1981). The Scottish exam

ple of pillar failure at a depth of 42 metres cited by

Carter

(1984) resulted in over 235 mm of subsidence (measurements

had commenced after subsidence had started) took over 200

years to occur. In this particular case roof failure

leading to a

crown-hole was discounted on the grounds that the rock cover

was significantly greater than 10 times-the-seam thickness.

The mode of failure was attributed to a combination of fac

tors being high extraction ratio (65 to 75%), small pillar

sizes

(<2.7 m wide), age of workings, steep dip (1 in 2.5), strong

roof and floor, proximity of workings in other seams and

work

ings partly above mine water level. Similarly the example

cited

by Sizer & Gill (2002) resulting in 260 mm of subsidence

from

a mine working at 44 metres depth in Northumberland, UK

was attributed to a combination of factors including

reduction

in pillar size and weak roof and floor strata. Roof support
was Figure 3. Trough subsidence associated with pillar
failure (from Bauer 2006). Figure 4. Trough subsidence
associated with floor failure (from Bauer 2006). maintained
for several decades until the deterioration of the strength
of the pillars, roof and floor led to deformation and
subsidence. The ingress of groundwater was also thought to
have contributed to the failure mechanism. The subsidence
occurred some 37 years after abandonment of the workings.
Figures 3 and 4 illustrate subsidence from pillar and floor
failure respectively. A review of mining instability
carried out within the UK (Arup 1991) indicates that areal
subsidence due to the collapse of pillars in
room-and-pillar mining may be much more common than records
reveal. This is particularly the case in rural areas where
subsidence would more or less have gone unrecorded unless
it affected a structure. 1.4 Other implications from void
migration By its very nature void migration forms pillars
of strata above the original mine pillars. In coal and
other mineral mining this could lead to the formation of
shale or mudstone pillars that may have less mass strength
than the original supporting pillars. The case of pillar
failure at Wednesbury, England resulting in subsidence in
the order of 1.5 m at ground surface (Braithwaite & Cole
1986), not only demonstrates that this interaction can
occur but also illustrates that the interaction of roof and
pillar failure can take considerable time to occur, in this
instance over 100 years. In this particular instance
failure was attributed to roof failure in a limestone
working, with a high extraction ratio, resulting in the
formation of weaker shale pillars above which subsequently
failed. Finally, the historical reference (Price 1972)
whereby a certain thickness of boulder clay was deemed
equivalent to a lesser thickness of rock has become
increasingly employed within the UK when an insufficient
amount of rock cover is available, notwithstanding that
there is no evidence to suggest that such a relationship
exists.

From the available body of research it is evident that the

10 times-the-seam thickness rule is merely a primitive first

order approximation to estimate the height to which a migra

tory void may extend that may be used in the absence of

access

to or the absence of necessary input data for numerical mod

elling. It is not a method to estimate subsidence arising

from

the formation of a crown-hole at surface and more

importantly

is not a method to preclude the possibility that subsidence

may

occur from pillar failure or the interaction of roof and

pillar

failure.
2 BACK ANALYSIS OF ABANDONED

ROOM-AND-PILLAR COAL WORKINGS

By their very nature abandoned mine workings have to be

‘back analysed’ as the analysis will be carried out after

aban

donment of the mine when physical inspection of the workings

is highly unlikely. The geotechnical engineer therefore

needs

to carry out sufficient analytical work that will allow

him/her

to understand what has occurred and or could occur as

revealed

by a site investigation and thereafter make appropriate

recom

mendations to the client. In essence the procedure is one of

back-calculation. The back analysis should be considered as

a

whole encompassing all potential modes of failure that could

lead to subsidence irrespective of depth and or age of the

work

ings. Whether or not there is a risk of mineral instability

will

depend upon a number of factors. First will be the class of

mining employed i.e. unsupported, supported or caving; sec

ond is depth and the lithological type and sequence

overlying

the workings and third will be the geometric layout and

dimen

sions of the workings. It is in this regard that the

experience of
the geotechnical engineer in mining matters comes into play

through knowledge of the methods of mining, modes of failure

and interpretation of the information presented. Whilst expe

rience and judgement are prerequisites it is only when armed

with the results of the detailed mining instability

assessment

that the degree of ‘risk’ can be considered.

It could be argued that in dealing with mining instability

we

seldom have enough data to give a reliable statistical

analysis

of the problem (Cole 1987) however such a view presupposes

that the risk of instability in mines and subsidence can be

looked at in terms of statistical analysis. It should be

remem

bered that a factor of safety for a pillar is only a value

at a

particular point in time. With the increase in time from the

formation of the pillar the factor of safety will reduce due

to the application of constant stress, resulting in the

growth

or increase in fracture frequency within the pillar; accord

ingly there can be no clear definition of acceptable

stability

or failure. Similarly, it should be borne in mind that the

use of

correlation coefficients such as Pearson’s simply indicate

an

association between relevant parameters, such as pillar

stress
and pillar strength, and do not necessarily relate to cause
and

effect.

3 ASSESSING MINING STABILITY

The procedures and techniques used to investigate mining

instability are well known (Marino et al., 1980) but within

the UK appear to be restricted to the depths limited by the

10 times-the-seam thickness rule which contrasts with the

methodology of other countries. The reasons for this differ

ence are unclear but may be related to; the perception that
room-and-pillar mining within the UK has long since ceased
and as such sufficient time has elapsed to remove the
problem; the cost of investigative work can be expensive
and/or there is a lack of understanding in how to tackle
the matter of mining instability. A further, perhaps more
frightening, factor is that within the UK it would appear
to be that case that it is not important to understand the
mechanism of mining instability but merely to have
sufficient information and ability to locate the workings
within the depth of 10 times-the-seam thickness or 30
metres of rockhead, whichever is greater and thereafter
fill them with grout. However this simplistic view does not
consider the necessary area to safeguard the proposed
structure or take into account seam dip nor instances when
multi-seam mining may have taken place. Whilst grouting of
the seam within 30 metres of rockhead may remove a
subsidence problem from that particular horizon it will not
negate potential subsidence from underlying seams that have
yet to fully collapse. It should also be remembered that
not all roomand-pillar mines were subjected to the robbing
of pillars prior to abandonment and indeed low extraction
ratios of roomand-pillar workings at depth may be in the
process of failure. Conversely, unrecorded open mine
workings may lie at very shallow depth and whilst
subsidence may not have taken place, development could
cause failure to initiate (Fennell, 1997). Such factors as
described above are not taken into account in the 10
times-the-seam thickness rule. To arrive at an assessment
of mining instability requires that sufficient information
be available to carry this out and that the assessment be
undertaken by a competent person with proven experience in
the field. In general there are five stages to address when
considering potential mining instability. The first stage
is a desk study to gather sufficient information on the
area under review, the second stage is examination of the
desk study information to determine whether or not a mining
problem exists, the third stage is a ground investigation
to clarify the mining situation and obtain sufficient site
specific data for use in the fourth stage, assessing the
degree and magnitude of potential instability. The fifth
and final stage should determine the risk in terms of the
proposed development with recommendations for remedial
measures, if required. Depending upon the location of the
proposed development and form of mining some of the stages
may not be required. In each stage the geotechnical
engineer must ask themselves what they hope to find/achieve
from that stage. The aim should be to carry out sufficient
work to proceed, either to the next stage and/or come to a
reasonable conclusion on the likelihood of mining
instability. Cost may well come into the equation and
whilst this is an important aspect the need to undertake a
professional job and reach professional conclusions through
the application of engineering principles should not be
jeopardised by cost restrictions. Money spent at the ground
investigation stage is likely to be more cost effective
than money spent carrying out remedial measures. For
laminated or stratified roofs the theory of beams under
combined loads (Wright 1982), (Hoek & Brown 1980) can be
used to assess potential roof span failure. Alternatively,
the height of the void can be linked to the road width and
angle of draw associated with the limit angle in subsidence
engineering (Taylor 2002) or the road width and the
internal angle of friction of the overlying rock (Wilson
1983). Numerical modelling techniques such as CPillar
provide a quick, simple to use analysis tool for evaluating
laminated roof beds. A number of techniques are available
to assess potential pillar instability and fall into two
categories, the ultimate

strength approach in which pillars are deemed to fail when

the

applied stress reaches the compressive strength of the

pillars

and the progressive failure approach where failure is initi

ated at the most crucial point and propagates to the pillar

centre, resulting in ultimate failure of the pillar.

Equations
to estimate pillar stability in terms of the ultimate
strength

approach are widely available (Salamon & Munro 1967),

(Bieniawski 1967), (Salamon et al., 1996), (van der Merwe

1999a). Equations to estimate pillar stability in terms of

the

progressive failure approach are also available (Wilson

1983),

(Taylor 2002). The ultimate strength approach as suggested

by Salamon and Munro has been extended for use in stone

mines (Iannacchionne 1999). Further modifications (Hardy &

Agapito 1975) have been made to assist in determining pillar

strength for oil-shale pillars.

The common complaint of having insufficient information

upon which to assess roof and or pillar stability can be off

set through the use of down-the-hole cameras or ultrasonic

surveys. Alternatively, as the width of the roadway is gen

erally consistent in most workings the percentage extraction

ratio can be altered through changing the pillar dimensions

to

determine a range of factors of safety for chosen

conditions.

However, it is to be remembered that none of the available

methodologies take into account the effect of time.

Numerical modelling software packages such as CPillar or

FLAC3D (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua, which uses

the explicit finite different formulation) can aid in the

solution
of problems that consist of several stages, large
displacements

and strains, non-linear material behaviour and unstable sys

tems, even cases of yield/failure over large areas, or total

collapse. The use of FLAC for the assessment of pillar sta

bility in terms of progressive pillar failure is well

documented

(Vervoort, 1992b; van der Merwe, 1993).

4 CONCLUSIONS

A custom and practice rule-of-thumb has developed within the

geotechnical profession within the UK that mining

instability

can be determined through the application of one simple

rule.

Whilst the rule-of-thumb may be of use as a first approxima

tion for void migration at the initial assessment stage,

the rule

should not be assumed to include all aspects of instability

and

subsidence. Roof and pillar failure are time-dependent and

as

such even if subsidence has not occurred within the first

100

years or so after abandonment this is not to say that subsi

dence will not happen. Subsidence is independent of depth

and whilst an increasing amount of rock cover might lessen

the amount of subsidence it should not be assumed that sub

sidence will not occur simply due to the depth and or age of

the workings.
4.1 Recommendations

In the authors’ view the use of geomechanical principles to

assess roof and pillar stability, such as those referred to

in this

paper, along with the use of numerical modelling techniques

should be encouraged.All aspects of mining instability

should

be considered irrespective of depth or age. The aspect of

time

dependent failure of both roof and or pillar should also be

considered. Whilst numerical modelling will not provide a

real time assessment, the use of relevant software will

illustrate

yield behaviour leading to ultimate failure in time steps

that

Marino, G.G., Mahar, J.W., Cording, E.J., Shively, J.E. &

Lundin, T.K., 1980. Mine subsidence and related damage in

O’Fallon, Illinois, prepared for Abandoned Mined Lands Recla

mation Council by University of Illinois, Dept. Civil Eng,

115p.

Marino, G.G., Patel, K.A. & Carr, P.H. 1997. Mine

backfilling to

limit surface subsidence-a case history. Trans. Instn. Min.

Metall.

(Sect. A: Min. Industry), A163–169.

McMillan, A.A. & Browne, M.A.E. 1987. The use or abuse of

the

matic mining information maps. In Culshaw, M.G., Bell, F.G.,

Cripps, J. C. & O’Hara, M., (eds), Planning and Engineering

Geol
ogy, Geological Society, Engineering Geology Special
Publication

No.4, 237–245.

Missavage, R.J, Chugh, Y.P. and Roscetti, T. 1986.

Subsidence pre

diction in shallow room and pillar mines. Int. J. Min. and

Geol.

Engng. Vol. 4, 39–46. Chapman and Hall Ltd.

Piggott, R.J. & Eynon, P. 1978. Ground movements arising

from

the presence of shallow abandoned mine workings, In J.

Geddes

(ed.), Proc. intern conf. on large ground movements and

structures,

University of Wales, 749–780.

Price, D.G. 1972. Engineering geology in the urban

environment.

Q. J. Engng. Geol. Vol. 4, 1972, 191–208.

Rossouw, P.A. & Fourie, G.A. 1996. Classification of

underground

mining methods, Trans. Instn. Min. Metall. (Sect. A: Min.

Indus

try), 105, A162–165.

Salamon, M.D.G. & Munro, A.H. 1967. A study of the strength

of

coal pillars, J. S. Afr. Trans. Instn. Min. Metall., 68,

55–67.

Salamon, M.D.G., Galvin, J.M., Hocking, G. & Anderson, I.

1996.

Strata control for coal mine design, coal pillar strength

from back

calculation, Research Report RP1/96, University of New South

Wales 62p.

Sizer, K.E. & Gill, M. 2000. Pillar failure in shallow coal

mines

a recent case study, Trans. Instn. Min. Metall. (Sect. A:

Min.

Industry), A146–152. Taylor, J.A. 2002. Potential Stability

and Subsidence Issues Arising FromAbandoned Bord-and-Pillar
Coal Workings, PhD Thesis, University of Leeds, 282p.
Tincelin, E. 1958. Pressions et deformations de terrain
dans les mines de fer de Lorraine. Paris (Jouve Editeurs,
1958). 284p. Van der Merwe, J.N. 1999a. New strength
formula for coal pillar pillars in South Africa, In C.
Mark, K.A. Heasley, A. Iannacchione and R. Tuchman (eds)
Proc. 2nd intern. workshop on coal pillar mechanics and
design, National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, Pittsburgh, PA, Information Circular 9448. Van der
Merwe, J.N. 1999b. The role of overburden integrity in
pillar failure, In C. Mark, K. A. Heasley, A. Iannacchione
and R. Tuchman (eds) Proc. 2nd intern. workshop on coal
pillar mechanics and design, National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, PA, Information
Circular 9448. Van der Merwe, J.N. 1993. Revised strength
factor for coal in the Vaal basin. Reply to Written
Contribution by Wagner, H. & Ozan, T.T. J. S. Afr. Instn.
Min. & Metall, Oct. 272–276. Vervoort, A. 1992a. Improved
roof support in South African coal mines. MASSMIN 92,
Johannesburg, SAIMM, 1992, 395–401. Vervoort, A. 1992b.
Non-elastic simulation of coal pillar behaviour. Trans.
Instn. Min. Metall, 101, A23–A28. Wardell, K. & Eynon, P.
1968. Structural Concept of Strata Control and Mine Design,
Joint meeting with the Institution of Mining Engineers,
Trans. Instn. Min. Metall., 77A, A125–A150. Wilson, A.H.
1983. The stability of underground workings in the soft
rocks of the Coal Measures, Int. J. Min. Eng. 1, 91–187.
Wright, F.D. 1982. Design of roof bolting systems for room
and pillar mining. InY. P. Chugh (ed.) Ground control in
room and pillar mining, Chapter 14. Society of Mining
Engineers of America, American Institute of Mining,
Metallurgical & Petroleum Engineers Inc. New York 105–112.
11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Natural and thermomechanical stress field measurements at
the “Rochers de Valabres” Pilot Site Laboratory in France
Mesures de contraintes naturelles et thermomécaniques sur
le Site Laboratoire Pilote des « Rochers de Valabres » C.
Dünner & P. Bigarré Institut National de l’Environnement
Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), Ecole des Mines de
Nancy, Nancy, France C. Clément LAEGO – INERIS, Ecole des
Mines de Nancy, Nancy, France V. Merrien-Soukatchoff & Y.
Gunzburger Laboratoire Environnement Géomécanique et
Ouvrages (LAEGO), Ecole des Mines de Nancy, Université de
Nancy, France

RESUME: L’INERIS a démarré, en 2005, l’expérimentation «

VAL-STRESS3D » visant à caractériser et étudier les
contraintes

naturelles et les déformations thermomécaniques continues

qui s’exercent à la surface d’un versant rocheux fracturé
tel que

celui du Site Laboratoire Pilote (SLP) des « Rochers de

Valabres ». L’expérimentation a consisté à réaliser un
profil de mesures

de contraintes, depuis la surface vers l’intérieur du

versant, en vue de quantifier les contraintes et
l’hétérogénéité du champ. Puis

des cellules de déformations et des capteurs de température

ont été installés au niveau d’une dalle rocheuse afin
d’étudier de

manière quantitative le champ des déformations

thermomécaniques cycliques auquel est soumis en surface le
massif fracturé,

résultant des variations quotidiennes et saisonnières de la

température.

ABSTRACT:The field experiment “VAL-STRESS3D”, started in

2005 by INERIS, aims to characterize and study both in situ

stress and continuous thermomechanical deformations within

the “Rochers de Valabres” rock slope, a Pilot Site
Laboratory

(PSL) prone to rockfalls. Firstly, in situ stress

measurements were conducted along a profile from the
surface toward the interior

of the slope. This was intended to quantify the stress

field and its heterogeneity acting in such a geological
structure. Secondly,
a set of full 3D strain cells and temperature gauges was
installed in the field around a large inclined superficial
flagstone. This

shallow temperature and strain instrumentation network was

designed to measure the cyclic thermal “loading –
unloading”

response of the rock on a daily and seasonal basis.

1 INTRODUCTION

Although they have potentially important effects on regional

development in mountainous areas, rockfalls are a natural

haz

ard for which both preparatory and triggering mechanisms

are seldom understood. Lack of knowledge of the quantitative

role of numerous factors remains a barrier to accurate risk

assessment and reasonable identification of large-scale

failure

activation processes. Mitigation techniques remain expensive

and, most of the time, do not definitely eliminate the

risk. Set

ting up operational early-warning systems, when needed,

quite

often raises problems in terms of critical choices and

monitor

ing strategies. These difficulties are related to the

complexity

of the studied system, i.e. the multiplicity of variables

con

cerned and their interaction or coupling effects, making

time

failure unpredictable.

In order to overcome these difficulties, a large scale frac

tured rock slope, namely the “Rochers de Valabres”, located

in the French Alps, and overhanging the Tinée valley, is

being

investigated as a Pilot Site Laboratory (PSL), by the

CENARIS

– the French National Monitoring Centre for Ground and

Underground Risks, part of INERIS. The main objective is to

run field experiments for research and technical development

focusing on rock slope instabilities. Since 2002, this PSL

has

demonstrated its unique advantages for conducting long-term

scientific work in the field, with successive projects

feeding

each other over time. 2 SETTING OF THE “ROCHERS DE

VALABRES” PSL Lying at an altitude ranging from 700 to 900
m, the “Rochers deValabres” PSL is a specific zone of hard
gneissic rocks.The top of the slope culminates at 2,250 m,
having a slope angle of around 60 ◦ . The gneiss presents a
marked foliation, directed N110 ◦ –140 ◦ E, strongly
dipping eastward. More details may be found in Gunzburger
et al., 2005. A glance at the bed of the river shows that
this PSL has experienced and will likely continue to
experience a rather large variety of rockfalls.The most
recent history is marked by two important rockfalls, which
occurred respectively in May 2000 (most likely around 2,000
m 3 of material) and October 2004 (about 30 m 3 of
material). The main road snaking down the Tinée Valley has
been subject to many renovation works. An old access road
hugging the edge of the valley is used now as a service
road to the PSL. 3 OBJECTIVES OF THE EXPERIMENT Among the
physical processes affecting a strongly discontinuous rock
slope with rockfall hazards, the continuous long-term
impact of natural surface cyclic thermal loading has been
mentioned by many authors, even though such a long term
preparatory cause of rockfalls has not been much studied
quantitatively. Thermally induced stress is the only
permanently cyclic

driving force inside the shallowest part of the rock mass

on a
daily and seasonal basis. This force field is most likely
exerted

with a high degree of heterogeneity, since it is dependent

from one point to another on exposure to solar radiation and

drafts.This continuously changing complex thermally induced

stress field superimposes an already presumed in situ

complex

stress field due to the presence of numerous rock joints,

open

discontinuities and topography roughness.

Better quantitative knowledge of such stress fields is of

primary interest for the study of limit equilibrium

conditions

(Vlcko et al., 2005 and Watson et al., 2004) and local

ization of cumulated non-elastic deformations preparing for

rupture. Considering all the uncertainties affecting the

input

data (Liu et al., 2004), numerical modelling cannot estimate

quantitatively and reliably such physical interactions.

The VAL-STRESS3D experiment was designed in accor

dance with two measurement phases, firstly in situ stresses

and then thermally induced stresses.

4 IN SITU STRESS MEASUREMENTS

4.1 Description of the technique and data

In November 2005, INERIS conducted six in situ stress mea

surements from the surface downwards along a sub-horizontal

borehole, using an over-coring method (Amadéi, 1983). This

method is currently used in the deep mining industry (Lahaie

et al., 2003), in the storage of natural gas and in
geological

waste disposal.

The main advantages of this technique using the CSIRO cell

result firstly from the fact that it makes it possible to

measure

a full 3D strain tensor and then to back-calculate the 3D

stress

tensor (σ 1 , σ 2 , σ 3 ). Secondly, being a local

measurement, it

is well adapted to measuring sharp stress gradients and

local

heterogeneous stress fields. Eventually, the CSIRO cell may

be

fixed permanently for long term remote monitoring of stress

shifts in relation to such or such physical interactions.

Basically, the over-coring method consists in drilling a

large

diameter borehole down to the target zone. A second coax

ial 38 mm diameter borehole extends the first. A CSIRO Hi

12 cell is then placed and fixed ahead. This cell contains

12

strain gauges with multiple orientations. Over-coring

releases

stresses exerting in the “far field” (relative to the 38 mm

diameter hosting hole) while induced strains are recorded.

Although the first target zone was intended to be placed at

1 m depth from the free surface, fracturing imposed the

first

measure to be backed down to a depth of 2.5 m. The six mea

surements were conducted ranging from 2.5 m down to 18.5 m

depth along the borehole, i.e. with rock overburden increas

ing gradually from 10 to 40 m. Monitoring of the over-coring

process and induced microdeformations was performed with

a SYTGEO ® system offering a precision of ± 1% EM and a

resolution of ± 2 microdeformations. Figure 1 shows a

typical

record of micro-strains plotted versus core drill front

advance.

These curves appear very satisfactory: one can observe typi

cal expected stages with first the passing by of the coring

over

the cell (∼30 cm), and secondly a stabilization of all

measure

ments (∼65 cm), which coincides with the full relaxation of

the core.

4.2 Inversion of deformation measurements

Numerical analysis is primarily based on the hypothe

sis of homogeneity and linear elastic behaviour of the -100

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Overcoring distance (cm) S t r a i n ( m i c r o s t r a i
n s ) Transverse gauges Diagonal gauges Axial gauges Figure
1. Response deformation curves obtained with a CSIRO Hi 12
cell at a depth of 15.75 m. Deformations are essentially
elongation due to the full relaxation of the instrumented
hole. Figure 2. Upper hemispheric projection of in situ
stresses (σ 1 , σ 2 , σ 3 ) related to field test 1 after
inversion in local reference mark (X, Y, Z). The spots 1, 2
and 3 represent the average orientation of (σ 1 , σ 2 , σ 3
). The dense clouds of squared dots quantify the calculated
dispersion related to orientation. Plane (σ 1 , σ 2 ) is
clearly vertical; σ 3 is perpendicular to the free surface
of the rock slope (YZ). core of the rock. The stress tensor
and its variability are obtained from data numerical
inversion, performed with the SYTGEOstress ® tool, which is
based on the least squares method. Redundant data available
is used to countercheck the overall quality and refine the
back analysis if necessary. In the case of the test carried
out near the surface of the rock slope, the minor principal
stress σ 3 is found to be oriented perpendicular to the
free surface, which is locally vertical and perpendicular
to the borehole (Figure 2). 4.3 Determination of the rock
mechanical properties Data numerical inversion requires
knowledge of the elastic parameters characterizing the rock
matrix. After the overcoring test was completed, biaxial
testing of the over-core recovered with the CSIRO cell was
performed. In addition, uniaxial laboratory measurements
were conducted to refine the determination of elastic
properties and especially those related to the known
transverse isotropy of the gneiss.

Figure 3. Profile of principal stresses (σ 1 , σ 2 , σ 3 )

versus depth.

Figure 4. Direction of the plan containing the principal

stresses.

4.4 Results of stress measurements

The main results are summarized in Figure 3, plotting respec

tively (σ 1 , σ 2 , σ 3 ) magnitudes versus depth. The

results show

essentially:

• an increase in σ 3 between 4 and 6 m depth, still oriented

perpendicularly to the free surface;

• a sharp stress gradient at 10 m depth, for all three compo

nents (σ 1 , σ 2 , σ 3 );

• a clear singularity at 15 m depth, with stresses in full

con

tinuity to those measured in the first 6 m, followed by a

maximum stress level at 18 m depth with σ 1 exceeding

12 MPa;

• except for measurement points 4 and 6 located at 10 and

18 m depth, (σ 1 , σ 2 ) is located in a sub-vertical plane,

whereas locally the slope is of 60–70 ◦ (Figure 4). This ori

entation is most likely to be explained by the different

sets

of vertical fractures present in the rock mass.

5 THERMAL STRESS MEASUREMENTS

5.1 Field instrumentation layout

Following the in situ stress measurement campaign, installa

tion of a specifically designed permanent monitoring system

was achieved on a large inclined rock flagstone of the PSL,

some 75 m above the service road. This second experimental

phase is intended to accurately study the thermal strain

regime

affecting the surface and the shallowest part of the rock

mass

as a potential long term cause for rockfalls. Figure 5.

Temperature profiles versus time measured from a
thermometric probe over a 3 day period. The experimental
system is composed of four monitoring stations, S1 to S4,
spread out over locations of particular interest: • S1 is
placed on a 2 m high block located N-E. An open
discontinuity dipping strongly down the valley separates
the host block from the rock flagstone; • S2 and S3 are
installed in the centre of the rock flagstone, in a small
area easily assimilated to a semi-infinite medium bounded
by a flat free surface; • S4 is located in the S-W limit of
the rock flagstone. Each monitoring station includes
several CSIRO cells fixed in the shallowest part of the
rock mass between 20 and 50 cm depth. All are connected to
a digital receiver and then radio linked for transmission
to a SYTGEO ® monitoring system situated below within some
facilities. In order to complete the monitoring layout, a
specific multipoint sensing probe has been designed and set
up in a small size borehole in order to characterize the
invading thermal field. This thermometric probe integrates
5 thermistors coupled to the wallside of the hosting hole
respectively at a depth of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 cm. With
additional temperature gauges coupled to the rock free
surface itself, this probe aims to monitor the temperature
inside the “rock skin” and thereby help to characterize
thermal properties providing profiles of temperature with
depth versus time. 5.2 Temperature measurements Figure 5
shows temperature profiles versus time over a 3 day period,
with a noticeable 16 ◦ C daily full range variation on the
free surface. Both maximum amplitude decrease and time
phase delays are clearly observable with depth. The
quasi-periodic regime considering the daily period of 24
hours enables the penetration depth δ 1d (m) and thermal
diffusivity a (m 2 .s −1 ) to be easily estimated as: δ 1d
≈ 0.24 ± 0.2 m a ≈ 2.10 −6 ± 0.3.10 −6 m 2 .s −1 These
estimates, obtained with rather excellent determination,
rely on the assumption of isotropic thermal properties of
the rock matrix. This set of values is slightly higher than
those commonly published (Berest et al., 1988) and calls
for further investigation and data analysis over different
and longer periods. 5.3 Strains and thermal effects Figure
6 shows strains recorded on a deformation cell fixed at a
depth of 30 cm and departing from the reset value at an

Figure 6. Cell n ◦ 4 station S3. Deformations recorded

inside the

rock at a depth of 30 cm over a 10 day period. Convention

as fol

lows: positive change in deformation is elongation and

negative is

shortening. The upper curve shows relative temperature

changes.

Figure 7. Schematic view of an insulated permanent stress

variation cell fixed close to the free surface for thermal

impact

monitoring inside the rock mass.

arbitrary reference time t 0 to facilitate scaling and

reading.

One may notice that the maximum departing strain exceeds

−200 microdeformations (shortening) the eighth day.

One recalls that the CSIRO cells used for thermal stress

measurements are the same as those described in § 4.

However,

in the case of stress monitoring over time, stress data

inversion

comes up with stress variations in the local field around

the

cell. Note that information on total stresses is neither

required

nor directly available from such data alone.

Thus, according to Figure 6, if one considers thermal

induced strains during the period of eight days considered

here above, the results show that – at a depth of 30 cm and

for a thermal amplitude of about 6.5 ◦ C – stress variations

σ1 and �σ2 are respectively found compressive and val

ued at ∼ −2.9 MPa and ∼ −2.3 MPa, fully constrained in a

plane parallel to the free surface (Figure 7). �σ3 is found

ten

sile and valued at ∼0.9 MPa. Although orientations of stress

variations are found to be in good agreement with what is

expected, the �σ1/�σ2 ratio may probably be explained by

isotropy assumption applied at this stage of preliminary

inter

pretation, due to the lack of field information yet related

to

the very local orientation of transverse isotropy.

6 CONCLUSIONS

Considering the topography and fractured setting of the rock

RESUME: Des effondrements miniers se produisent

actuellement en Lorraine (France) au-dessus d’anciennes
exploitations
en chambres et piliers pendant la phase transitoire
d’ennoyage. Puisque les roches sont exposées in situ à
différentes conditions

hydriques (ventilation, ennoyage), nous avons réalisé des

simulations numériques à 2D, dans le cadre des milieux
poreux

continus et partiellement saturés, dans le but d’expliquer

les mécanismes impliqués dans les effondrements miniers.
Les

résultats de ces simulations numériques sont en bon accord

avec les mesures in situ (convergence des galeries)
obtenues dans

un site expérimental. Il en résulte que l’ennoyage de la

mine induit la convergence des galeries du fait de la
dilatation des roches.

Ce résultat est en bon accord avec nos précédents travaux

qui ont montré que l’ennoyage peut être responsable de
ruptures en

traction des roches du toit, ce qui pourrait expliquer

certaines instabilités minières.

ABSTRACT: Mining collapses currently occur in Lorraine

(France) above abandoned room-and-pillar iron mines during
the

transient stage of mine flooding. Since the rocks are

exposed in situ to various hydrous conditions (ventilation,
flooding), we

have performed two-dimensional numerical simulations,

within the framework of partially saturated and continuous
porous

media, in order to explain the mechanisms involved in

mining collapses. The results of these numerical
simulations are in

good agreement with in situ measurements (gallery

convergence) obtained from an experimental site. It results
that the mine

flooding induces the convergence of the galleries due to

the dilatation of the rocks. This result is in good
agreement with our
previous works that have shown that the flooding may be
responsible for the tensile failure of roof rocks, which
can explain

some mining instabilities.

1 INTRODUCTION

A partial extraction method for iron ore, known as the room

and pillar system, was used in Lorraine (France) under sen

sitive zones with houses and surface infrastructures, from

the end of the 19th century until 1980. Some of these

safety pillars have been abandoned for one hundred years. In

these areas of partial extraction, many collapses phenomena

have occurred. Then, an important research program entitled

GISOS (research Group for the Impact and Safety of Under

ground Works) was set up in order to explain the mechanisms

involved in these mine collapses.

The iron ore formation has a 60 meter maximal thickness

and, in the deepest mines, iron ore is recovered some 250

meters below ground level. The iron ore layers, 3–7 meters

thick, are separated by dirt bands (argillites, siltites

and cal

carenite). Iron ore is made of ferriferous ooliths cemented

by carbonates (calcite and siderite) and berthierine. The

carbonates content varies in iron ore which is, therefore,

het

erogeneous.The most common (ferriferous) facies of iron ore,

with low carbonates content, has been considered in this

study.
Mining rocks are exposed in situ to a hydrous cycle.

Before mining, rocks are saturated under a water-table. Dur

ing the mining, the ground water-table is lowered and the

mine drainage (dewatering) is pumped. Then, the ventilation

induces the drying of the mine where the relative humidity

varies from 85–90% in well ventilated areas with mining work

ings, to 95–100% in abandoned zones. At the end of mining,

the mine drainage is not pumped anymore, inducing the water

table rising and, therefore, the mine flooding. Some of the

mine

collapses have occurred during this stage.

The modeling of the rock mass surrounding deep cavi

ties in iron ore has been performed by Grgic et al. (2006).

The complex geometry of these underground iron mines has
been modeled thanks to two-dimensional numerical
simulations based on a poroplastic solution. The focus of
this work was to study the impact of the hydrous transfers
in the mine during ventilation (drying) and flooding on the
mechanical behavior, within the framework of the theory of
partially saturated and continuous porous media developed
by Coussy and co-authors (Coussy 1995, Dangla et al. 1999).
It has been shown that the final stage of resaturation
generates transient tensile mean effective stresses at the
roofs and floors and, therefore, induces tensile failures.
The hydro-mechanical equilibrium in the medium tends to
annihilate these transient tensile values but the delay for
the recovery of the initial state (compressive values) is
very long due to the low permeability of the rocks. The
complex geometry of the model (rectangular rooms and
dissymmetry of the upper and lower boundaries conditions)
is also one of the key points of the instabilities.The
focus of this paper is to compare the results of two
dimensional numerical simulations to displacement
measurements obtained from an in situ experimental site, in
which the flooding of the mine has been simulated. This
comparison is also presented for the real mine flooding
triggered two years after the end of this in situ
experiment. 2 PRESENTATION OF THE 2D MODEL 2.1 Theoretical
framework We consider that heat transfers are isothermal
(the temperature in the mine is constant around 13 ◦ C).
The main equations of the theory of partially saturated
porous media, developed by Coussy (1995), are presented in
the following lines.

The connected porosity is saturated by 2 fluids: water and

dry air (gas, subscript g). The 2 phases of water are

present:

liquid (subscript l) and gas (vapor, subscript v). We assume

that the vapor and the dry air, both considered as perfect
gases,

form a perfect mixture (subscript m). Phase change between

the liquid and its vapor is allowed. The system unknowns are

the skeleton displacement, liquid and gas mixture pressure.

The stress tensor can be decomposed in an effective stress

tensor and a pressure tensor:

With this concept in mind, the behavior equation of the

stress

tensor can be expressed as a function of drained parameters

which do not depend on the fluid:

b Biot coefficient; λ o and G Lamé coefficients, π

equivalent

interstitial pressure.

The effective and total stress partition becomes:

The generalized Darcy law and the Fick law, that describe

the hydrous transport in partially saturated porous media,

are

expressed with three physical parameters: liquid and gas per

meabilities and Fick coefficient F . F depends on

temperature,

gas pressure, porous medium tortuosity. It is unknown for

iron

ore. The Fick law traduces the vapour diffusion in the gas

mixture:

M i mass flux; p i partial pressure; ρ i density.

The generalized Darcy law is used to describe the conduc

tive transport of the liquid and the gas mixture in the

porous

medium:

λ i hydraulic conductivity of the porous medium.

The diffusion equations of the two fluids (water and dry

air) are completely defined by the Fick diffusion law, the

two

Darcy conductive equations and the two mass conservation

equations (Eq. 6) for water (liquid + vapour) and dry air:

m i mass supply.

The hydraulic coefficients, i.e. the hydraulic

conductivities

of the porous medium to liquid and gas (mixture), depend on

intrinsic and relative permeabilities (µ i dynamic

viscosity; K

intrinsic permeability):

The following evolution laws have been used for the relative

permeabilities K r i : Figure 1. Model geometry and initial

and boundaries conditions for the 2D numerical simulations
(ρ: material density; ρ w : water density; g: gravity; z:
depth; k: initial stresses ratio). Hence, for S l = 1, the
permeability to liquid is maximum. The Kelvin law for the
phase change (liquid water-vapor): Capillary pressure P c
is the difference between the gases mixture pressure and
the liquid pressure: Liquid saturation depends only on P c
. The experimental adsorption curve has been fitted to an
empirical law. We have chosen the Vachaud-Vauclin law: The
diffusion equations have been solved by using the finite
element method. Details on the resolving methods of these
equations are given by Chavant et al. (2002). In addition,
finite elements have been used for spatial discretization
and implicit finite differences scheme for time
discretization. The two-dimensional numerical simulations
presented in this paper have been performed by using a
finite element code CODE_ASTER developed by EDF
(Electricité De France). This numerical code give the
solution of a fully coupled problem in the framework of
partially saturated porous media, and take into account all
non-linearities. 2.2 Model geometry, initial and boundaries
conditions, and parameters The deep galleries in iron ore
are rectangular and, therefore, well adapted to two
dimensional numerical simulations. Fig. 1 represents the
geometry and the initial and boundaries conditions of the
model which corresponds to the in situ case. One considers
a three levels mining exploitation with rectangular
cavities and well superposed pillars. The medium is
continuous and isotropic and the initial stresses are
deviatoric. For the modeled site, rocks are saturated
before mining workings under a 50 m water-table and the
saturated area is Table 1. Coefficients values of the
model. Elastic and hydromechanical coefficients E o (MPa)
17400*; 23300** ν o 0.24*; 0.21** b 0.9*; 0.8* Hydraulic
coefficients (Vachaud-Vauclin law) a, b 1700, 1.09
Hydraulic conductivity coefficients k (m 2 ) 2.10 −18 *; 10
−18 ** a, b, c, d 35, 1.5, 3, 2.7 *iron ore **dirt bands.

covered by a 180 m overburden.The bottom level of the

aquifer

is located at the basis of the model (i.e., 57 m below the

lowest

gallery). The overburden is 200 m thick. The initial fields

of

positive liquid pressure and stresses are created as a

function

of depth. All the parameters of the model are presented in

Table 1. In these simulations, the behavior has been assumed

to be elastic because we want to compare the displacements

within a continuous framework, i.e. without any fracture.

After the excavation, which is assumed to be instanta

neous, the galleries are ventilated during 40 years (h r =
90%).

The hydraulic conditions at the wall of the galleries corre

spond to fixed gaseous mixture pressure and liquid pres

sure which is related to the relative humidity hr through

the Kelvin law (Eq. 9). The imposed liquid pressure

at the wall of galleries during this ventilation is, for

h r = 90%: P l (galleries) = P m (galleries) − P c (h r =

90%) =

P atm − 13.9 MPa =− 13.8 MPa.

Hydrous loadings have been applied progressively for the

experimental site flooding and for the mine flooding; indeed

the imposed hydrous condition at the roof is shifted

compared

to the ones imposed at the wall and at the floor. For the
site

flooding, the floor is saturated rapidly (∼3 days) whereas

the

wall (pillar) and the roof are saturated progressively (∼10

days) as the relative humidity increases in the experimental

site. For the site emptying, the floor remains saturated

(only

the positive liquid pressure decreases) whereas the roof and

the pillar are desaturated progressively (∼10 days) as the

rel

ative humidity decreases. Hydrous loadings have also been

applied progressively for the real mine flooding in order to

simulate the progressive rising of the water-table,

according
to hydrogeological data.

2.3 Presentation of the in situ experimental site

In order to explain mechanisms involved in mine collapses,

different kinds of experiments have been developed within

the

GISOS research program and set up in an in situ installation

(Fig. 2). This experimental site is located in a zone with

safety

pillars where three levels have been exploited.The experimen

tal site has been installed in the lower level: two central
pillars

have been isolated from the others with ten dams supported
by

ten peripheric pillars. This experimental site has been

filled

up with a 6 m water-table above the floor in order to

simulate

the mine flooding, and emptied after one year and 3 months.

During the water removal (50 days), the water is replaced by

air with 90% relative humidity. During one year and a half,
the

displacements (convergence in the galleries) generated

within

this experiment have been monitored.

Two years later (November 30th 2005), the end of min

ing workings caused the real flooding of the mine since

mine drainage is not pumped anymore. The displacements

Figure 2. Displacement sensor for the measure of the
gallery convergence in the in situ experimental site. -0.40
-0.35 -0.30 -0.25 -0.20 -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10
0.15 39.0 40.0 41.0 42.0 43.0 44.0 45.0 46.0 mean measure
in the experimenal site numerical simulation time (years)
DY (mm) 0 Convergence Divergence + flooding of the
experimental site mine flooding emptying of the
experimental site Figure 3. Convergence of the lower
gallery: numerical results and in situ measurements.
induced by this real mine flooding have also been
monitored. In January 2007, the water-table was situated 50
m above the lower gallery. 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1
Comparison numerical simulations-in situ experiment Figure
3 shows the evolution of the convergence in the lower
gallery during the flooding of the experimental site and
during the flooding of the mine. The in situ
experimentation has started after 40 years of ventilation
(h r = 90%). Figure 4 represent banded contours of the
liquid saturation just before the real mine flooding, and
after 1 month, 6 months and 2 years. The resaturation front
evolves progressively in the model with the water-table
rising and the medium is still unsaturated even after 2
years due to the low permeabilities of the rocks. Note that
these results have to be considered carefully because the
intrinsic permeability in the Darcy law (Eq. 5) does not
take into account the large fractures observed in situ at
the roofs of galleries. 3.2 Discussion The numerical
displacements in the lower gallery are in good agreement
with the measures of convergence in the experimental
gallery (Fig. 3). The flooding of the experimental site
induces a transient convergence of the gallery due to the

Figure 4. Banded contours of the liquid saturation before,

1 month,

6 months and 2 years after the mine flooding.

dilatation of the rocks at the floor which are firstly

saturated

by water.This dilatation is caused by the decrease in the

equiv

alent interstitial pressure π (Eq. 3) which induces a

decrease

in the effective mean stress. After this transient

convergence,

the progressive saturation of the pillar and the roof

induces the

divergence of the gallery due mainly to the vertical

expansion
of the pillar. At the site emptying, the floor remains
saturated

and still goes up due to its progressive expansion whereas

the

ventilation induces the contraction of the roof and the

pillar.

The result is a new rapid convergence of the gallery.

Obviously,

the initial state (before the site flooding) will be

recovered after

a long delay in both numerical and in situ experiments.

The same evolutions are observed during the real flooding

of the mine, highlighting the reversibility of the

phenomenon.

Indeed, the contraction and the dilatation of the rocks, due

to the variation of the effective stresses, are reversible

if no

plasticity or failure is produced (i.e. if the behavior is

still

elastic). In January 2007, i.e. one year after the

beginning of

the mine flooding, while the water-table is situated 50 m

above

the lower gallery, the rocks are far from being saturated
(Fig. 4)

because of the low permeabilities of the rocks that induce

an

important delay for the resaturation process governed by the

diffusion equations (Eqs. 4–6).

Grgic et al. (2006) have shown that during the progres

sive resaturation (with positive liquid pressures at the

walls,

floors and roofs) of the rocks, the variation of the mean

effec

tive stress is important and transient positive values,

which

induce tensile failures, are obtained at the roofs and at

the walls

because of the complex geometry of these excavations. Even

though the hydro-mechanical equilibrium in the medium tends

to annihilate these transient tensile values, the

reversibility

is very long because of the important delay of the resatura

tion process governed by the diffusion equations, inducing

an important hysteresis in the hydromechanical cycle. The

instabilities appear during the transient stage of

resaturation

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Zur Ableitung von Regenwasser aus dem

Gewerbegebiet Esslingen-Sirnau in den Neckar unter

halb der Staustufe Oberesslingen ist der Bau einer neuen

Rohrleitung geplant. Diese verläuft zunächst als
oberflächennaher

Freispiegelkanal DN 2000 parallel zum Neckar, wobei auf

einer Länge von ca. 40 m ein Straßendamm in geschlossener
Bauweise

zu unterfahren ist. Der Querschnitt des hierfür

vorgesehenen Rohrvortriebs liegt z. T. im Auelehm und z. T.
im grundwasser

führenden, hoch durchlässigen Neckarkies. Im Anschluss ist

der Regenwasserkanal als tiefliegende Dükerleitung DN 1800

im Fels der Stubensandsteinformation aufzufahren, da ein

neckarparallel verlaufender Schifffahrtskanal und die
vierspurige

B 10 unterquert werden müssen. Hierfür ist ein ca. 190 m

langen Rohrvortrieb im Fels unterhalb des
Grundwasserspiegels

vorgesehen. Bei den beiden Rohrvortrieben sowie beim Verbau

und der Sicherung der für die Vortriebe und die Schachtbauw

erke erforderlichen Baugruben ergeben sich unter den

vorliegenden Randbedingungen besondere Anforderungen, die
bei der

Planung und der Ausführung zu beachten sind.

ABSTRACT: To discharge rainwater from the commercial area

in Esslingen-Sirnau into the river Neckar downstream of the

weir Oberesslingen it is planned to construct a new sewer.

Along its first section the sewer runs parallel to the
river close to the

surface with an inner diameter of 2000 mm. Along the second

40 m long section the sewer runs underneath a road
embankment.

Here the pipe jacking method will be applied partly in

alluvial clay and partly in groundwater bearing high
permeable gravel.

Subsequently the sewer undercrosses in a deeper position a

shipping canal and a four-lane federal highway as a siphon.
The

pipes in this area have an inner diameter of 1800 mm and

are located in the sandstones and siltstones of the
“Stubensandstein”

formation. Again the pipe jacking method will be applied

along this approx. 190 m long section. Due to the difficult
ground

conditions high demands arise which have to be considered

during planning and construction.

Das zur Stadt Esslingen gehörende Gewerbegebiet Sirnau

befindet sich südlich des Neckars in der Nähe der Staustufe

Oberesslingen (Bild 1). Das Gelände bzw. die Kanäle liegen

dort so tief, dass eine Einleitung des Regenwassers aus dem

Gewerbegebiet in das Oberwasser des Neckars nicht möglich

ist. Die Einleitung muss aus diesem Grunde auf der Unter

wasserseite der Staustufe erfolgen. Da jedoch oberstrom

der Staustufe ein Schifffahrtskanal auf Oberwasserniveau

vom Neckar abzweigt, ist die durchgehende Verlegung eines

Kanals im Freispiegelgefälle zum Unterwasser des Neckars

von der Südseite aus nicht möglich.

Derzeit wird das Regenwasser aus dem Gewerbegebiet

Sirnau über eine Rohrleitung mit 50 cm Durchmesser abge

führt, die den Neckar oberhalb der Staustufe unterquert.

Diese Leitung verläuft im Anschluss am Nordufer parallel

zum Fluss und mündet unterhalb der Staustufe in das Unter

wasser ein. Im Zusammenhang mit der geplanten Erweiterung

des Gewerbegebietes wird zukünftig eine deutlich größere

Leitung erforderlich. Diese wird ausgehend vom bestehenden

Regenklärbecken RKB 1 zunächst als Freispiegelkanal paral

lel zum Südufer des Schifffahrtskanals geführt. Anschließend

wird die Rohrleitung zur Unterquerung der 4spurigen B 10

und des Schiffahrtskanals um ca. 5 m tiefergelegt. Die Unter

querung des Kanals in Tieflage macht die Ausführung als

Düker erforderlich (Bild 1). Bild 1. Übersichtslageplan.

BAUABSCHNITTE UND BAUGRUNDVERHÄLTNISSE Da im Jahre 2004 der
B 10-Anschluss Sirnau umgebaut wurde, wurde ein ca. 280 m
langer Abschnitt des Freispiegelkanals bereits im Rahmen
einer vorgezogenen Maßnahme ausgeführt. Dieser verläuft
parallel zur B 10 bzw. zum Neckar. Die oberflächennah
liegenden Stahlbetonrohre mit einem Durchmesser DN 2000
wurden in offener Bauweise verlegt

Bild 2. Lageplan Freispiegelkanal.

Bild 3. Längsschnitt Freispiegelkanal (5fach überhöht).

(Bild 2). Die Rohre liegen im stark wasserdurchlässigen soge

nannten Neckarkies, der von bindigen Auelehmen überdeckt

wird (Bild 3). Da der Grundwasserspiegel im Niveau der

Kanalrohre ansteht und die zulässigen Grundwasserentnah

men durch behördliche Auflagen begrenzt sind, wurde die

Kanalbaugrube abschnittsweise eingespundet. Die Spund

bohlen wurden bis in die Verwitterungszone der unter den

Neckarkiesen anstehenden Stubensandsteinformation einger

ammt.

Der noch auszuführende Abschnitt des Freispiegelkanals

(Bild 2) unterquert auf ca. 40 m Länge den Straßendamm “Sir

nauer Brücke”. Die Scheitelüberdeckung der Rohre beträgt

hier ca. 6,5 m. Wegen der hohen verkehrlichen Belastung der

Straße wurde im Vorfeld eine offene Bauweise in diesem

Bereich ausgeschieden. Es ist daher ein Rohrvortrieb vorge

sehen, wobei der Querschnitt teilweise im Auelehm und

teilweise im grundwasserführenden Neckarkies liegt. Start

und Zielschacht sollen als Spundwandbaugruben ausgeführt

werden (Bild 3).

Die Dükerleitung, für die ein Durchmesser DN 1800

erforderlich ist, beginnt am schachtförmigen Einlaufbauwerk

(Bild 4). Hier wird der Höhenunterschied von ca. 5 m zwis

chen dem Freispiegelkanal und der tiefliegenden Dükerleitung

überwunden. Die Rohrleitung unterquert dann zunächst die

4spurige B 10 und danach den mit Spundwänden eingefassten

Neckar-Schifffahrtskanal (Bild 5). DerAbstand zwischen dem

Rohrscheitel und der Kanalsohle beträgt ca. 4–5 m. Nach der

Unterquerung des Kanals steigt die Dükerleitung zum Neckar

hin an. Dieses steigende Auslaufrohr mündet in der Ufer

zone in ein Auslaufbauwerk ein. Am Dükertiefpunkt ist ein

Schachtbauwerk geplant, über das die Rohre im Bedarfsfall

entleert und begangen werden können. Bild 4. Lageplan

Dükerleitung. Bild 5. Längsschnitt Dükerleitung (5fach
überhöht). Das tiefliegende Dükerrohr verläuft durchgehend
im Fels der Stubensandsteinformation (Bild 5). Hierfür ist
auf ca. 190 m Länge ein Rohrvortrieb vorgesehen. Als
Startund Zielschächte dienen die Baugruben für das
Einlaufund das Entleerungsbauwerk. Das Auslaufrohr, das aus
dem Fels in den überlagernden Neckarkies aufsteigt, wird in
offener Bauweise hergestellt. Wie die Längsschnitte (Bilder
3 und 5) zeigen, ist bei der Baumaßnahme zwischen den
Lockergesteinsdeckschichten und dem darunter anstehenden
Fels zu unterscheiden. Die Deckschichten bestehen abgesehen
von den inhomogenen, meist gemischtkörnigenAuffüllungen in
den Dammbereichen zuoberst aus Auelehmen und darunter aus
Neckarkiesen. Für diese beiden Schichten sind im Bild 6
jeweils die Bandbreiten der Kornverteilungen dargestellt.
Bei den Auelehmen handelt es sich um Schluff-Sand-Gemische,
in die zumTeil Kieskörner schwimmend eingelagert sind. Die
Neckarkiese sind dagegen grobkörnig. Sie bestehen
überwiegend aus Mittelund Grobkiesen mit einzelnen Steinen.
In meist nur geringen Anteilen sind Feinkies und Sand
enthalten. Die Schluffbeimengungen sind in der Regel sehr
gering. Demzufolge ist die Wasserdurchlässigkeit der
Neckarkiese mit k f -Werten von 10 −2 bis 10 −3 m/s relativ
hoch. Der Felsuntergrund besteht aus der
Stubensandsteinformation, einer horizontal geschichteten
und näherungsweise vertikal geklüfteten Wechsellagerung aus
Sandsteinen und Schluffsteinen (Bild 7). Die an
Gesteinsproben aus den Erkundungsbohrungen ermittelten
einaxialen Druckfestigkeiten betragen bis zu 25 MPa.
Erfahrungsgemäß treten vereinzelt aber auch höhere
Festigkeiten auf, die Werte zwischen 50 und 100 MPa
erreichen können. Zur Verdeutlichung sind im

Bild 6. Kornverteilungen Auelehm und Neckarkies.

Bild 7. Stubensandstein, Gefügemodell und
Gesteinsfestigkeit.

Bild 7 ergänzend die Ergebnisse von Druckversuchen an

Sandsteinund Schluffsteinproben aus der Stubensandstein

formation an anderer Stelle im Stuttgarter Raum dargestellt.

Diese Versuche wurden im Rahmen der Erkundungen für

das Bahnprojekt Stuttgart 21 durchgeführt. Die Trennflächen

dürften im Stubensandstein meist nur geringe Öffnungsweiten

besitzen. Der mittlere Wasserdurchlässigkeitsbeiwert des Fel

suntergrundes wurde in den hydraulischen Bohrlochtests in

einer Größenordnung von 10 −5 m/s bestimmt. Es kann jedoch

nicht ausgeschlossen werden, dass lokal einzelne Wasser

wegigkeiten mit höherer Durchlässigkeit undVerbindung zum

Neckarkies bestehen.

SCHACHTUND SONDERBAUWERKE

Am Anfang der Dükerleitung wird das Einlaufbauwerk

hergestellt. Es handelt sich um ein Schachtbauwerk, in das

oberflächennah der Freispiegelkanal DN 2000 einmündet

(Bild 8). Der Einlauf in die ca. 5 m tiefer liegende

Dükerleitung

DN 1800 erfolgt über einen hydraulisch günstig ausgerunde

ten Rohrkanal. Innerhalb des Einlaufbauwerkes wird auch der

Richtungswechsel des Regenwasserkanals um 90 ◦ vorgenom

men. Die ca. 10 m tiefe Baugrube für das Einlaufbauw

erk dient gleichzeitig als Startschacht für den Rohrvortrieb

im Stubensandstein. Die Baugrube soll im oberen Teil mit

einem rahmenartig ausgesteiften, gering wasserdurchlässi

gen Spundwandverbau gesichert werden. Hierdurch sollen

Grundwasserabsenkungen im Neckarkies vermieden wer

den. Der untere Teil des Startschachtes liegt im Fels. Hier

ist als Baugrubensicherung eine dränierte Spritzbetonschale

mit Felsnägeln vorgesehen. Zur Aufnahme der Pressenkräfte

Bild 8. Schnitt durch das Einlaufbauwerk. Bild 9. Schnitt
durch das Entleerungsbauwerk. beim Rohrvortrieb wird ein
Pressenwiderlager aus Stahlbeton angeordnet. Weiterhin ist
eine Anfahrdichtung vorzusehen. Am Ende der
Rohrvortriebsstrecke für die Dükerleitung wird ein weiteres
Schachtbauwerk angeordnet Bild 9). Dieses ca. 12,5 m tief
reichende Bauwerk ermöglicht über eine Pumpenanlage die
Entleerung der gesamten Dükerleitung und den seitlichen
Einstieg in die Leitung zu Wartungszwecken. Das
Entleerungsbauwerk dient außerdem zur Aufnahme von zwei
Schiebern, mit denen die Leitung vollständig abgesperrt
werden kann. Diese Absperrung ist für den Fall eines
hundertbzw. zweihundertjährigen Neckarhochwassers
erforderlich. Es wird damit verhindert, dass Neckarwasser
über die Dükerleitung bis in die Freispiegelleitung bzw.
das Regenklärbecken eindringt. Die Baugrube für das
Entleerungsbauwerk ist gleichzeitig Zielschacht für den
Rohrvortrieb. Der Baugrubenverbau soll wie beim
Startschacht im Bereich des Lockergesteins aus Spundwänden
und im Bereich des Stubensandsteins aus Spritzbeton und
Felsnägeln bestehen. Das Auslaufbauwerk (Bild 10), über das
im Betriebszustand das Regenwasser in den Neckar
eingeleitet wird, wird in die bestehende, mit
Zyklopenmauerwerk befestigte Uferzone integriert. Die
Schwelle am Ende desAuslaufrohres liegt ca. 40 cm oberhalb
des Mittelwasserspiegels des Neckars. Um Erosionsschäden
bei der Einleitung des Regenwassers in den Neckar zu
vermeiden, ist das Auslaufbauwerk als Tosbecken mit
seitlichen Flügelwänden ausgebildet. Für den Fall von
Wartungsarbeiten im Düker kann das Auslaufrohr
vorübergehend mit Dammbalken verschlossen werden. Das
Auslaufbauwerk wird im Niveau der Felsoberkante gegründet.

Bild 10. Schnitt durch das Auslaufbauwerk.

Bild 11. Grundriss der Baugrube für das Auslaufbauwerk.

Die Gründungssohle liegt damit wenige Dezimeter unterhalb

der Neckarsohle.

BAUGRUBEN

Aus der Lage der Baugruben für das Auslaufbauwerk, das

Auslaufrohr und das Entleerungsbauwerk in der grundsät

zlich hochwassergefährdeten Uferzone des Neckars ergeben

sich besondere Anforderungen bei der Ausführung. So soll

zunächst in einer ersten Bauphase dasAuslaufbauwerk in einer

Baugrube hergestellt werden, die wasserseitig durch einen

Fangedamm abgeschottet ist (Bilder 11 und 12).

Die Krone dieser Baugrubenumschließung soll ca. 2 m

oberhalb des normalen Neckarwasserstandes liegen. Damit ist

in dieser Bauphase ein begrenzter Hochwasserschutz gegeben.

Im Falle eines 200jährigen Hochwasserereignisses steigt

der Wasserspiegel im Neckar allerdings bis auf fast 4 m über

die Fangedammkrone an. Eine Absicherung der Baugrube

gegen ein derartiges Extremhochwasser wird wirtschaftlich

nicht für vertretbar gehalten. Für einen solchen Fall wird

daher

das Risiko einer vorübergehenden Flutung der Baugrube in

Kauf genommen.

Nach der Fertigstellung des Auslaufbauwerks ein

schließlich der angrenzenden Ufersicherung soll in einer

zweiten Bauphase die Baugrube für das Entleerungsbauw

erk und das Auslaufrohr hergestellt werden (Bilder 13 und

14). Diese Baugrube ist gleichzeitig Zielschacht für den

Rohrvortrieb. Die Baugrube soll im Lockergestein mit einem

quasi wasserundurchlässigen, ausgesteiften Spundwandver

bau gesichert werden. Der untere Teil der Baugrube liegt

Bild 12. Schnitt durch die Baugrube für das Auslaufbauwerk.
Bild 13. Grundriss der Baugrube für das Entleerungsbauwerk.
Bild 14. Schnitt durch die Baugrube für das
Entleerungsbauwerk. im Stubensandstein. Hier ist eine
Sicherung mit bewehrtem Spritzbeton und Felsnägeln
vorgesehen. Das neckarseitige Ende der Baugrube schließt
sich an das in der ersten Bauphase fertiggestellte
Auslaufbauwerk an. Dieses wird bis zum Abschluss der
Baumaßnahme mit Dammbalken verschlossen. Es ergibt sich
damit auch für die zweite Bauphase nur ein begrenzter
Hochwasserschutz, der ca. 3 m über dem normalen Wasserstand
des Neckars am Auslaufbauwerk liegt. ROHRVORTRIEBE Neben
den tiefen Baugruben sind beim Projekt Neckardüker Sirnau
die Rohrvortriebsarbeiten von besonderer Bedeutung. Die
Dükerleitung mit einem Innendurchmesser von 1.800 mm liegt
wie im Bild 5 dargestellt vollständig im Fels der
Stubensandsteinformation. Der Grundwasserspiegel steht im

Bild 15. Maschinenkonzept für den Rohrvortrieb im Stuben

sandstein.

Neckarkies oberhalb des Stubensandsteins an. Weiterhin ist

der Schifffahrtskanal zu unterfahren, wobei der Kanalwasser

spiegel ca. 8–9 m oberhalb des Rohrscheitels liegt. Für den

Rohrvortrieb ist daher eine Maschine vorzusehen, mit der

zum einen die anstehenden Sandund Schluffsteine – auch in

verwitterter Form – gelöst werden können und zum anderen

die anstehenden Wasserdrücke auch im Falle lokaler größerer

Wasserwegigkeiten sicher beherrscht werden.

Nach dem Planungskonzept ist eine geschlossene Schild

maschine mit einem Felsbohrkopf und Nassförderung, d.

h. ein sogenannter Slurry-Schild vorgesehen. Die Bentonit

Suspension in der Abbaukammer übernimmt dabei einer

seits die Stützfunktion gegen den Erdund Wasserdruck

und dient andererseits als Fördermedium für den Abtrans

port des gelösten und zerkleinerten Gesteins. Die Trennung

von Suspension und Boden bzw. Gestein erfolgt in einer

Separieranlage am Startschacht.

Für eine eventuelle Hindernisbeseitigung oder den

Werkzeugwechsel am Bohrkopf soll dieArbeitskammer bege

hbar sein. Im Hinblick auf die anstehenden Wasserdrücke soll

der Schildbereich daher mit Druckluft beaufschlagbar sein.

Das Bild 15 zeigt im Längsschnitt das Konzept einer Vor

triebsmaschine, die den genannten Anforderungen entspricht.

Es ist beispielhaft eine AVN-Maschine der Fa. Herrenknecht

dargestellt.

Der Rohrvortrieb unter dem Straßendamm liegt im Lock

ergestein (vgl. Bild 3). Es ist davon auszugehen, dass sich

näherungsweise die obere Querschnittshälfte im Auelehm

und die untere im Neckarkies befindet. Der Grundwasser

spiegel liegt innerhalb der hochdurchlässigen Neckarkiese.

Er ist etwa in halber Rohrhöhe anzunehmen. Eine Absenkung

Bild 16. Maschinenkonzept für den Rohrvortrieb im
Lockergestein (EPB). des Grundwasserspiegels soll nicht
vorgenommen werden, da damit die Entnahme großer, nicht
genehmigter Grundwassermengen verbunden wäre. Es ist daher
vorgesehen, trotz der vergleichsweise kurzen Vortriebslänge
von ca. 40 m eine geschlossene Maschine einzusetzen, mit
der eine Grundwasserabsenkung vermieden und die Ortsbrust
gestützt wird. Grundsätzlich kommen hierfür Slurry-Schilde
oder Erddruckschilde (EPB) in Frage. Obwohl der Neckarkies
im Gegensatz zum Auelehm nicht unbedingt den idealen
Einsatzbereich eines Erddruckschildes darstellt, dürfte im
vorliegenden Fall der Einsatz einer EPB – Vortriebsmaschine
grundsätzlich möglich sein. Die Abförderung des
Ausbruchmaterials könnte dann über einen Schneckenförderer
und Kübel erfolgen. Das Bild 16 zeigt beispielhaft das
Konzept eines EPB-Schildes der Firma Herrenknecht, wie er
in ähnlicher Form bei der Unterfahrung des Straßendammes
zur Anwendung kommen könnte. STAND DES PROJEKTES UND
AUSBLICK Für den noch auszuführenden Teil des Projektes
Neckardüker Sirnau werden gegenwärtig die
Ausschreibungsunterlagen zusammengestellt. Aufgrund der
besonderen Anforderungen, insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit
den Rohrvortriebsarbeiten, wird eine Beschränkte
Ausschreibung nach Öffentlichem Teilnahmewettbewerb
durchgeführt. Die Veröffentlichung und die Ausgabe der
Bewerbungsunterlagen erfolgt im April 2006. Mit der
Bauausführung, die im Sommer 2007 abgeschlossen werden
soll, soll im Herbst 2006 begonnen werden. 11th Congress of
the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e
Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis
Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Rationalization of the impoundment of arsenic-rich muck

utilizing adsorption of silty soil Toshifumi Igarashi
Division of Field Eng. for Environment, Graduate School of
Engineering, Hokkaido University Harue Imagawa Technology
Development Center, Nippon Mining & Metal Co., Ltd. Kuniomi
Asakura & Katsuhiko Kaneko Division of Field Eng. for
Environment, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido
University

ABSTRACT: The reasonable impoundment of the muck with

arsenic (As) is required when tunnel or dam is constructed

in hydrothermally altered areas. Consecutive batch leaching

experiments from muck with As and subsequent adsorption

experiments by silty soils were carried out to evaluate the

fate of As. The results of the leaching and adsorption
experiments

showed that the As concentration leached from the muck

decreased with the number of extractions, and that the
leached As was

adsorbed by silty soils in accordance with a Henry

type-adsorption isotherm. This indicates that utilizing
silty soil as a bottom

layer for adsorption is effective as a barrier against As

leaching from As-rich muck.
1 INTRODUCTION

Hokkaido, in the north of Japan, has many active volcanoes,

hot springs, and closed mines, implying that hydrothermally

altered rock is widely distributed throughout Hokkaido. The

arsenic (As) content of altered rock is known to be higher

than that of unaltered rock 1) , and it may induce higher As

concentration in seepages through altered rock formations.

In

particular, the leachate through impoundment of altered rock

excavated during tunnel or dam construction, called muck,

often displays noticeably elevated As concentrations because

the geochemical conditions of the rock are changed from

anoxic to oxic and because the specific surface area of exca

vated rock is dramatically higher than that of the intact

rock,

causing an enhancement in the mobility of As 2)3) .

Since Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law was

enforced in 2003, the disposal of As-rich muck has been a

major concern in Japan. Public Works Research Institute 4)

details the procedures for treating the hazardous muck in

accordance with the law. The replacement of the polluted

soils

with unpolluted ones, the complete treatment of the polluted

soils, or the use of impermeable layers such as a duplicate

geomembrane or clay liner so as to enclose the polluted

soils

have been strongly recommended. However, the rational dis

posal of a high-volume, low-concentration waste like As-rich

muck is imminently required. Geological Survey of Japan 5)

published geochemical maps that depict the spatial distribu

tion of various heavy metals in Japan. Based on the map, it

is

apparent that As-rich rock is ubiquitously distributed

around

active volcanoes throughout Japan.

The As is also highly adsorbed by soils in comparison to the

other major anions. This As adsorption leads to a reduction

in the liquid-phase concentration by partitioning the

leached

As into solid and liquid phases. Installation of an

adsorption

layer underneath the muck might reduce the As concentration

outside the disposal site. Silty soils are promising from

the

standpoint of hydrogeology and geochemistry. Figure 1.

Illustration of As-rich muck disposal. Figure 1 illustrates
one of the alternatives to rational muck disposal. However,
the As leaching from muck and subsequent migration through
the bottom silty soil have never been examined. The
objective of the present research is to propose a new
method for reasonably safe disposal of As-rich muck by
utilizing bottom silty soils with adsorption. 2 EXPERIMENTS
2.1 Samples used Three hydrothermally altered igneous rock
samples, K1, K2, and K3, and three sedimentary rock
samples,Y1,Y2, and N1, were provided for leaching
experiments. The altered igneous rock samples are tuff,
theY1 is mudstone, theY2 is sandstone, and N1 is
hydrothermally altered slate. All of the samples were
collected in Hokkaido. The samples were crushed after
air-dried for the experiments. Two silty soil samples, Ks
and Ns, were collected and used as As adsorbents. The Ks
was sampled near the K-series rock sampling site whereas
the N s was sampled near the N1 sampling site. The
mineralogical properties of the rock and soil samples
determined by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) are shown in
Table 1. Pyrite (FeS 2 ) that is predicted to be closely
related to As leaching is detected in the K1, K2, and Y1
samples.

Table 1. Identified minerals in samples used.

Samples Identified minerals

K1 Quartz, Feldspar, Chlorite, Muscovite, Pyrite

K2 Quartz, Feldspar, Chlorite, Pyrite

K3 Quartz, Feldspar, Calcite, Muscovite, Chlorite

Y1 Quartz, Feldspar, Calcite, Chlorite, Muscovite,

Montmorillonte, Pyrite

Y2 Quartz, Feldspar, Calcite, Chlorite

N1 Quartz, Feldspar, Chlorite, Muscovite, Calcite, Kaolinite

Ks Quartz

Ns Quartz, Feldspar, Muscovite

Table 2. Chemical properties of rock samples. K1 K2 K3 Y1

Y2 N1

SiO 2 (wt.%) 55.2 54.3 49.9 72.6 39.6 43.0

TiO 2 (wt.%) 1.12 0.92 1.19 0.59 0.96 0.41

Al 2 O 3 (wt.%) 18.2 17.6 19.2 14.5 10.9 12.1

Fe 2 O 3 (wt.%) 7.84 7.45 6.96 1.32 5.23 5.43

MgO (wt.%) 2.42 6.15 9.41 1.98 1.76 2.85

CaO (wt.%) 0.8 1.87 6.65 2.54 20.9 1.59

Na 2 O (wt.%) 1.17 4.96 0.22 0.26 2.19 0.50

K 2 O (wt.%) 8.75 2.15 3.55 2.38 1.49 3.02

S (wt.%) 0.53 0.32 0.17 0.65 0.041 0.27

As (mg/kg) 265 611 14.3 8.7 5.3 10.5

The chemical composition of the rock samples determined

by X-ray florescence analysis (XRF) is presented in Table 2.

The As content of igneous rock samples ranged from 14 to

611 mg/kg whereas that of sedimentary rock samples from 5

to 11 mg/kg. The sulfur content of the rock ranged from 0.3

to 0.7 wt% when pyrite was detected, and was less than 0.3%

when pyrite was not identified.

2.2 Consecutive leaching experiments

The leaching of As from crushed rock samples was conducted

in batch tests. Fifteen grams of crushed-rock samples and

150 mL of deionized water were mixed in a 200-mL Erlen

meyer flask at room temperature. The flask was agitated at

approximately 120 rpm in a reciprocal shaker.After 1 day mix

ing, the leachate was filtered with a 0.45 µm membrane

filter.

The filtrate was provided for the analysis ofAs and other
coex

isting ions, such as Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe, Al, Mn, Si, SO 2− 4
, and

HCO − 3 . Hydride generation ICP-AES or ICP-MS was used

in the analysis of As. Titration with sulfuric acid

solution for

alkalinity measurements and ion chromatograph or ICP-AES

for SO 2− 4 analysis were applied. ICP-AES was used in the

analysis of the other constituents.

The residue of the crushed rock sample after extracting the

leachate was provided for subsequent leaching experiments

by adding deionized water, mixing, and filtering. The con

secutive batch experiments continued for 5 to 10 cycles. No

tight cap was installed on the flask to maintain oxic

condition

throughout the experiment.

2.3 Batch adsorption experiments

A silty soil sample, Ks or Ns, was added to the leachate

from

crushed rock samples and mixed for 1 day to understand

the As partitioning between the solid and liquid phase. The

0 2 4 6 8 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 A s ( µ g / L ) Number of
extraction K1 K2 K3 Y 1 Y2 N1 Figure 2. As concentration
change with extraction. 0 2 4 6 8 10 5 6 7 8 9 10 K1 K2
K3 Y1 Y2 N1 p H Number of extraction Figure 3. pH change
with extraction. leachate was obtained by the first
leaching experiment from the crushed rock sample. The
solid-liquid ratio ranged from 0.005 to 100 g/L. After
mixing, the leachate was separated with a 0.45 µ m membrane
filter to analyze As. The amount of As adsorbed on the soil
was calculated based on the difference between the initial
As concentration and the equilibrium As concentration. 3
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Consecutive leaching experiments
Figure 2 presents the As concentration in the leachate
versus the number of extractions. The As concentration
decreased with the number of extractions, irrespective of
the sample used. This trend was observed both for igneous
rocks and sedimentary rocks. In particular, the decrease in
As concentration was more noticeable when the initial As
concentration in the leachate was higher. This means that
the As leaching from crushed rock samples decreased with
time. The pH of the leachates ranged from 7.5 to 8.5, and
was nearly constant, independent of the number of
extractions as shown in Figure 3. The SO 2− 4 concentration
in the leachate versus the number of extractions is shown
in Figure 4. The SO 2− 4 concentration decreased
dramatically at first, and then gradually. The decrease in
concentration with the number of extractions was observed
for Mg, Na, Fe, Al, and Si. The Ca concentration in the
leachate versus the number of extractions is presented 0 5
10 15 20 25 S O 4 2 ( m g / L ) K1 K2 K3 Y1 Y2 N1 0 2
4 6 8 10 Number of extract ion

Figure 4. SO 2− 4 concentration change with extraction. 0 5

10 15 20 25 C a ( m g / L ) K1 K2 K3 Y1 Y2 N1 0 2 4 6
8 10 Number of extraction
Figure 5. Ca concentration change with extraction. 0 1 2 3
4 q = 1.85C R 2 = 0.83 q = 0.36C R 2 = 0.85 q ( m g / k g
) Ks Ns 0 2 4 6 8 C (µ g/L)

Figure 6. As adsorption isotherms of silty soils.

in Figure 5. The Ca concentration in the leachate was con

stant regardless of the number of extractions, indicating

that

the Ca-bearing minerals quickly dissolve in water. The

almost

constant Ca concentration in the leachate corresponded to

the

constant pH.

3.2 Batch adsorption experiments

The adsorption isotherm of As by silty soils, Ks and Ns, is

shown in Figure 6. The relation between solid-phase concen

tration q and liquid-phase concentration C can be expressed

by the following linear equation.

where, K d is the distribution coefficient. Table 3. Input

parameters. Parameters Input values Muck layer Thickness =
5 m θ = 0.5 Bottom soil layer Thickness = 0.3 m ρ d = 1.77
Mg/m 3 θ = 0.336 K d = 1.85 or 0.36 m 3 /kg D = 0.1 m 2 /y
Effective rainfall v = 333 mm/y 0 500 1000 1500 2000 0 10
20 30 40 50 A s ( µ g / L ) Time (y) K N Figure 7. As
concentration change in the muck layer. According to the
method of least squares, the K d of Ks and Ns samples are
1.85 and 0.36 m 3 /kg, respectively. Figure 6 indicates
that the silty soils have a significant adsorption capacity
for As. 3.3 Prediction of As migration The As leaching from
the bottom of a silty adsorption layer exemplified in
Figure 1 is estimated based on the consecutive leaching
from crushed rock samples and adsorption by silty soils.
One-dimensional advection dispersion equation with a step
input was used for simulatingAs migration.The following
analytical solution was applied. where, erfc represents the
complementary error function, x is distance, t is time, v
is interstitial velocity, R f is retardation factor, D is
longitudinal dispersion coefficient, ρ d is bulk density,
and θ is volumetric water content. The input parameters
listed in Table 3 were used for modeling As migration. The
thickness of the muck layer and that of the bottom silty
layer was assumed to be 5 m and 0.5 m, respectively. The As
concentration change in the muck layer was assumed as shown
in Figure 7. The As concentration change in Figure 7 was
obtained from the consecutive leaching experiments assuming
that the volume of groundwater that has contacted the muck
can be calculated from net annual precipitation, and that
theAs concentration in the much layer remains 0 500 1000
1500 2000 2500 0 5 10 15 20 A s ( µ g / L ) Time (y) K N

Figure 8. As leakage from the bottom silty layer.

constant during the first 210 years corresponding to the

solid

liquid ratio of 1:10 used for batch leaching experiments and

then the As concentration decreases every 210 years.

The leaching concentration ofAs from the bottom silty layer

was calculated as shown in Figure 8. From this figure, the

max

imum As concentrations were predicted to be 12 to 15 µg/L,

depending on the leaching and adsorption properties. How

ever, a thicker or denser bottom layer can significantly

reduce

the As concentration.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Consecutive batch leaching experiments from crushed rock

samples and adsorption experiments by silty soil samples

were conducted to evaluate a reasonable method for disposing

ABSTRACT: High flow in spillway channels of hydropower dams

may cause erosion of the rock in the channel, which may

result in damage of concrete structures, change of flow

patterns and/or endanger dam stability. This paper presents
a case study
of the Ligga spillway, in which physical model tests and
dynamic numerical analysis were used to study the potential
for erosion

for several alternative designs of the spillway channel.

The results from the numerical modeling clearly showed that
a flattened

channel bed (in the upper portion), in combination with a

constructed groove in the middle portion, was the most
favorable to

reduce the amount of rock scour. This design was chosen to

be implemented for the re-construction of the spillway
channel,

which is currently underway.

1 INTRODUCTION

The global climate changes will probably result in an

increased

precipitation in Sweden. This will cause higher floods in

the rivers and increased water loads on existing hydropower

dams along the rivers. This potential situation will result

in

higher demands on the safety of the dams, and new guide

lines for design flood has been determined by the flood

committee appointed by SMHI (the Swedish Meteorologi

cal and Hydrological Institute) and the hydropower industry

(Flödeskommittén 1990). In order to maintain the safety of

the dams, remedial measures and investigations to increase

the safety have been undertaken for many of the larger dams

in Sweden.

Higher floods in the spillway channels of hydropower dams

may cause erosion of the rock in the channels.There are

several
hydropower stations in Sweden in which the spillway channels

have been subjected to extensive rock erosion, even though

none of the spillways have experienced any long-term high

flow.

This paper focuses on the Ligga spillway in the Luleälven

river, where the risk for rock erosion in the current

spillway

channel is judged to be large. Using physical model tests

and

numerical analysis, several alternative designs of the

channel

were investigated, with the aim of reducing rock scour.

2 PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

2.1 General

Hydropower is an important energy source and in Sweden

alone there are nearly 1900 hydropower plants, and some 190

hydropower dams (Johansson et al. 2003). Many of these dams

are filling dams with filling material such as till, silt,

gravel

and clay. This construction is sensitive to overtopping flow

and can easily break if water starts to flow over the top.
An

important part of the dam construction is therefore

spillways

with floodgates through which water can be discharged in

flood times. The spillway channels are in many cases blasted

into the rock mass or located directly in the old river

bed. Figure 1. Eroded block in the spillway channel of the
Harsprånget hydropower plant. When water is discharged in a
spillway it is often done with a high flow.The load from
the flowing water can cause erosion of the rock in the
channel, where whole blocks become detached from the rock
mass. The blocks that erode can be large, with volumes of
up to 20–30 m 3 , see Figure 1. Block erosion in a spillway
channel may result in: – damage of the concrete structures
if eroded blocks crashes into them, – changes in the flow
patterns in the channel if the erosion is extensive or if
eroded blocks land in impropriate places, – undermining of
guidewalls and other constructions if the rock mass where
these are placed erode, and – stability problems of the dam
if the erosion propagates back towards the dam
constructions 2.2 Mechanism for block erosion Rock block
erosion due to flowing water is caused by the pressure
fluctuation in the water. The pressure varies because of
turbulence and waves in the water. The rock mass in a
spillway channel is affected by a surface shear force
resulting from

flowing water passing over the upper surface of the

blocks.The

rock mass is also affected by varying pressure caused by the

turbulence and waves in the water. This varying pressure can

cause pressure differences between upper and lower parts of

blocks, which may result in instantaneous lift forces.

The combination of lift forces and drag forces from the flow

ing water can enable entire rock blocks to detach from the
rock

mass. The extent of the erosion depends on the magnitude of

the difference between the shear forces, lift forces and

resisting

forces, the mass of the rock blocks, and the length of time
dur

ing which the shear forces exceed the resisting forces

(Lorig

2002). The jointing pattern affects the vulnerability of a

rock

mass to water loads – a rock mass with sub-horizontal joint

ing is particularly susceptible to block erosion from
flowing

water. Joints dipping in the direction of the flow also

results a

higher potential for block erosion (Cato & Mattewson 1990).

3 APPROACH

In the Luleälven and Indalsälven rivers, there are several

hydropower stations for which the spillway channels have

been subjected to extensive block erosion, e.g. the

Satisjaure,

Harsprånget, and Midskog stations. The relatively extensive

problems prompted re-design of several of the channels.

Using

physical model tests and numerical analysis, several alterna

tive designs of the channels were investigated, with the

aim of

reducing rock scour. The channels were then rebuilt based on

these results (Billstein et al. 2003, Billstein & Ekström

2004).

These remedial measures have later proven to work well when

the stations were taken in operation again, proving that the

methodology used for assessing rock erosion (physical model

tests complemented by numerical analysis) was sound and rea

sonable (Billstein et al. 2003). Hence, a similar

methodology

was utilized for the investigation of a new design of the

Ligga

spillway.

4 THE LIGGA CASE

4.1 The Ligga spillway conditions

The Ligga hydropower plant is located in the Stora Luleäl

ven river, 25 km north of the town of Jokkmokk. The dam is

classified as a high-risk dam (by the flood committee),

which

means that it shall be possible to discharge 2000 m 3 /s

water

from the dam reservoir without endangering the safety of the

dam. The spillway channel has been subjected to extensive

block erosion, despite that the largest documented discharge

is only 900 m 3 /s. The risk for continued (and increased)

rock

erosion in the current spillway channel is therefore judged

to

be very large.

The rock mass in the spillway channel consists mainly of

granite. The dominating jointing pattern in the rock mass is

subhorizontal joints with small spacing. The joint spacing

varies between 0.1–1 m, see also Figure 2.

4.2 Erodability index

The erodablility of a rock mass due to flowing water is

difficult

to determine due to the complexity of flow and rock condi

tions. A semi-empirical method exists in which the risk for

scour is predicted based on an erodability index. This

method

is based on 137 field observations on erodability of emer

gency spillways and presents a threshold relationship

between

a geomechanical index of the bed materials and the erosive

power in the water (Annandale, 1995). When the erodability
index is calculated for the rock mass in the Ligga spillway
channel and compared with the power in the water for a
discharge of 900 m 3 /s, a high risk of damaging scour is
predicted as shown in Figure 3. In order to improve the dam
safety, increase the capacity of the discharge through the
floodgates, and still reduce the high risk of scour, the
spillway channel has to be redesigned. 4.3 Numerical
analysis 4.3.1 Physical model tests and indata To determine
the amount of the measures that has to be done in the Ligga
spillway channel to reduce the risk of scour, physical
model tests combined with numerical analysis was performed.
In the physical model tests a 1:50 scale model of the
spillway channel was built at the Vattenfall laboratory in
Älvkarleby. The model was used to identify problem areas
and to test different designs for the spillway. Data
regarding water depth, pressure fluctuations at specific
exposed locations and flow velocities at two different
flows and designs of the spillway were registered (Yang et
al. 2006).This data were used as input (load from flowing
water) in the numerical model. The two examined flows that
were used were 900 m 3 /s and 2040 m 3 /s. A new design of
the spillway, in which a groove was created (through
blasting) into the middle portion of the channel bed Figure
2. The spillway channel in Ligga. 0.10 1 10 100 1000 10000
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 S t r e a m P o w e r K W / m Scour
No Scour Threshold LIGGA Erodibility Index Figure 3.
Erosion threshold for rock with the spillway of Ligga
marked.

(see Figure 4), gave the most favorable flow pattern in the
phys

ical model tests. This design was subsequently investigated

in

the numerical analysis.

4.3.2 Numerical method

Numerical analysis was performed in order to examine if the

design judged most favorable from the physical model test

also

reduces the risk of rock erosion. Dynamic analysis is neces

sary, because of the varying loads from flowing and
turbulent

water. The distinct element program UDEC (Itasca 2004) was

chosen for this type of analysis.

The simulated dynamic loading comprised the pressure

variations on the rock mass surface due to turbulence in the

flowing water. Data of pressure variations was based on the

physical model test where the pressure was registered at 3–5

locations in the channel bed. Static loading in the model

was

due to the static water head and to the shear forces caused

by water passing over the upper surface of the rock blocks.

The magnitude of the static loading was based on results

from

measurements in the physical model tests.

Calibration and validation of the numerical model were per

formed by using loading values for a 900 m 3 /s discharge

(from

the physical model) applied on two profiles of the channel –

one profile at the right-hand side of the channel and one

profile

at the left-hand side of the channel (looking downstream).

The

right-hand side of the channel has been exposed to more ero

sion than the left-hand side for the 900 m 3 /s flow. The
model

was thus calibrated, by changing the strength properties of

the

Figure 4. The design of the spillway that gave the most

favorable
flow pattern in the physical model tests.

Figure 5. One of the profile used in the numerical model

with the applied varying loads applied. joints, until model
results agreed with actual observations of block erosion.
4.3.3 Conducted numerical analysis Three different profiles
of the channel were modeled in the numerical analysis; Two
profiles were from the current design and one profile from
the new design of the spillway that gave the most favorable
flow pattern in the physical model tests.The profiles for
the current design were investigated both for calibration
(as described above) as well as to examine the effects of
maximum discharge, 2040 m 3 /s, in the present channel, in
terms of risk for erosion. The new design was modeled to
examine if the redesigning was an adequate measure to
decrease the risk of erosion. Jointing pattern and rock
properties in the model were determined based on field
studies in the channel to get the profiles as site-specific
as possible. The rock mass was generalized to have two
joint sets – one subhorizontal set with 5 ◦ dip and one
vertical joint set. The sensitivity of the variations in
parameters in the models was studied through a parametric
study, in which one parameter at the time was varied, and
the difference in extent of erosion as predicted by the
model was observed. An example of one of the examined
profiles with varying loads applied is shown in Figure 5.
The erodability of the rock was judged by studying the
displacements and separation of rock blocks in the model.
4.4 Results The parametric study showed that the
erodability in the model was more affected by the tensile
strength than the cohesion of the joints. Furthermore, the
joint spacing of the subhorizontal joint set had a large
effect on the erosion. A change in the joint spacing of
only 10 cm could change the behavior from no erosion to
extensive erosion. For the analysis of the various designs
of the Ligga channel, the tensile strength and the cohesion
were set to zero as this gave the best agreement with
observed behavior. The model of the right-hand side of the
channel for the current layout showed that there is a large
risk for erosion both for 900 m 3 /s and 2040 m 3 /s water
discharge. The results of the analysis of the left-hand
side of the current channel showed no erosion for these
conditions. The numerical analysis of the new design of the
channel showed that a discharge of 900 m 3 /s caused
erosion in the upper portion of the channel In fact, all of
the examined cases

Figure 6. The black parts show erosion in the redesigned

spillway
with discharge of 2040 m 3 /s water.

with this new design indicated a high risk for erosion. This

result prompted new physical model tests, which were aimed

at reducing the turbulence in the water in the upper portion

of the channel. This was achieved by refilling an old

erosion

damage located below the sluice gates.

New calculations were carried out based on the data from

these new physical model tests. These analyses (with a flat

tened channel bed in the upper portion) showed no erosion

for

a discharge of 900 m 3 /s. Under the action of water loads

from

the discharge of 2040 m 3 /s, some rock erosion developed,

but

to a lesser extent than for the same flow without the

flattened

start of the channel bed, compare Figure 6a and Figure 6b.

5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The results from the numerical analysis of the Ligga

spillway

can be summarized as follows:

– The risk for block erosion in a rock mass is strongly

related

to the joint spacing of subhorizontal joint sets, such as

bed

ding planes or exfoliation, for which a small spacing

results

in a high risk of erosion.

– The scatter and amplitude of the pressure variations (due
to

turbulence and waves in the flowing water) strongly affects

the extent of the rock erosion in the channel.

– The design of the Ligga spillway channel, in which a

groove

was blasted into the middle portion of the channel bed

and the upper portion of the channel was flattened, greatly

reduced the risk for erosion.

A groove in the middle of the channel in Ligga concentrates

the flow and reduces the loads from the water at the edges

of the channel. The risk of erosion will therefore decrease

ABSTRACT: The design and construction of a final repository

for spent fuel deep in the crystalline bedrock requires
special

considerations beyond those required for a conventional

rock engineering structure – in particular, aspects
relating to the waste

isolation function and the associated extremely long design

life. The rock mechanics research necessary to support the
design

of the repository requires an adequate understanding of the

geological setting, together with knowledge of the in situ
stress

state, the anisotropic and time-dependent properties of the

intact rock, the thermal properties of the rock mass, the
fracture

occurrence, the brittle deformation zones, the impact of

construction and the long-term behavior of the disposal
tunnels and

deposition holes. Posiva Oy is currently constructing a

rock characterization facility termed the ‘ONKALO’ in
Olkiluoto,
western Finland, to an anticipated depth of 420 m. The
paper describes these aspects and raises questions
concerning the extent

to which generic rock mechanics information can be used to

support the specific site characterization, and how one can
establish

that sufficient information has been obtained for numerical

modeling and hence for adequate repository design.

1 INTRODUCTION

After the Finnish Government’s favourable policy decision

in 2001, Posiva Oy has focused further investigations at

the Olkiluoto site and began preparations for the construc

tion of an underground characterisation facility termed the

‘ONKALO’. The construction of the ONKALO began in June

2004 and it is to be continued untill 2014, with the actual

characterisation stage anticipated for 2007–2014. The find

ings of the ONKALO and other investigations will enable the

knowledge needed for an application, supported by a Prelim

inary Safety Assessment, and to construct a final repository

for spent nuclear fuel at the site. Posiva will submit an

appli

cation for the construction licence for a disposal facility

by

the end of 2012. The target is to begin disposal operations

in 2020.

The access tunnel and shafts of the ONKALO will be exca

vated to the main characterisation level at a depth of 420 m

(Figure 1). The access ramp of the ONKALO has already been

excavated to a chainage of ∼1800 m, which is equivalent to

the depth level of about 180 m because the ramp has an incli

nation of 1:10. The main rock type in the ONKALO area is

foliated migmatitic gneiss. Figure 1. The layout of the

ONKALO underground characterisation facility. Posiva's Rock
Mechanics Programme Work Item 1: Olkiluoto Site
Characterization => Site Report Work Item 2: Supporting
the ONKALO and Repository Design Work Item 3: Supporting
the Safety Assessment

ROCK

MECHANICS

WORK ITEMS

OBJECTIVE Basic objective: to support the Licence

Application

Figure 2. The objective and three associated work items of

Posiva’s

rock mechanics strategy. Geology Main input is overall

geology and input for Prediction-Outcome studies
Hydrogeology Main input is water pressure and water flow
values Hydrogeochemistry Main input is fracture
precipitation and dissolution effects Rock stress; Intact
rock; Fractures; Rock mass; Brittle deform. zones Water
pressure at different locations in order to have coupled
HM modelling and effective stress; fracture flow
Long-term rates of precipitation in fractures;
dissolution of fracture surfaces; and mechanical linkages
INPUT AND

INTERACTIONS

Figure 3. Flowchart Component 2: Input to the rock mechanics

work and discipline interactions.

This paper summarizes the rock mechanics research activi

ties and results obtained before the ONKALO construction

and the initial results and experiences obtained during the

early part of the ONKALO construction work, noting that

the ONKALO ramp has enabled direct in situ inspection of the

underground rock mass, including the exposed brittle defor

mation zones. Near future rock mechanics measurements and

research are also briefly discussed.

2 ROCK MECHANICS STRATEGY

The fundamental objective of Posiva’s rock mechanics work is

to support the Construction Licence Application for the

final

repository. This involves three separate areas of work:

1. Rock mechanics characterisation of the Olkiluoto site;

2. Studies supporting the ONKALO and repository design

and operations; and

3. Studies supporting the Safety Assessment.

The objective and the three work items are presented in the

first flowchart component in Figure. 2.

The next flowchart component, presented in Figure 3 relates

to the input information and the interactions with other

disci

plines. The main input is geology and geological site

models –

which also provide input to hydrogeology and hydrogeo

chemistry. However, there are also interactions between rock

mechanics and hydrogeology and hydrogeochemistry, which

are in detail presented, e.g. in Posiva 2005.

Finally, Flowchart Component 3 summarizes the main rock

mechanics work as related to the three work items shown in

Figure 2.
In order to execute the strategy, a series of campaigns have

been developed relating to the different rock mechanics sub

jects. Following the establishment of the background rock

mechanics knowledge, these campaigns cover the topics of

contributions to the Olkiluoto site reports, primary

stress, rock

properties, deformation zones, impact of construction and

EDZ, prediction-outcome studies and characterization level

testing. Note that this is an overview of the rock

mechanics Rock mechanics characterization; rock mechanics
domains; empirical, statistical and modelling analyses;
P-O studies; recommended characterization method Empirical
and numerical analyses to support ONKALO and repository
design; recommended principles in terms of orientations,
locations, dimensions, etc., CEIC* methodologies Ability
to characterize the EDZ and be able to make statements
regarding the long-term mechanical stability and other
issues related to the Safety Assessment Rock Mechanics
Experiments at ca. 1000 m intervals Rock stress, rock
properties, back analysis, EDZ Output Information for the
Licence Application ROCK MECHANICS WORK + ONKALO ROCK
MECHANICS EXPERIMENTS OUTPUT Figure 4. Flowchart Component
3: Rock mechanics work related to the three work items.
strategy and so the listing is not fully comprehensive at
this stage. It is also essential that the current work is
based on a complete knowledge of previous related rock
mechanics work. A summary description of all the previous
rock mechanics work conducted for Posiva is found in Hudson
& Johansson, 2006, and the rock mechanics implications of
the Olkiluoto geology can be found in Hudson & Cosgrove
2006. 3 ROCK MECHANICS SITE CHARACTERIZATION 3.1 General
Site investigations for the disposal of spent fuel at
Olkiluoto were already started in 1987; however, recent
site investigations at Olkiluoto have concentrated mainly
in the ONKALO area. The investigation site to date contains
more than 40 deep drillholes, whose main aim has been in
obtaining data for planning the ONKALO and also for the
development of site understanding. From the start,
geological mapping of the ONKALO tunnel has been the most
significant investigation method in the ONKALO. Flow
measurements in probe holes also commenced at the beginning
of construction activities, followed by pilot hole drilling
parallel to the tunnel axis and associated investigations.
So far, six pilot holes have been drilled and investigated,
providing valuable information for construction purposes;
pilot holes also have an important role to play in the
prediction outcome studies (see further in Chapter 4).
Also, monitoring of the changes caused by construction of
the ONKALO has started. The monitoring programme related to
the construction includes rock mechanics, hydrogeological
and hydrogeochemical monitoring and, in addition,
monitoring of the biosphere is also taking place (Posiva
2003). 3.2 Rock mechanics data Rock mechanics
investigations are mainly concentrated on obtaining data
relating to the in situ stresses and the mechanical and
thermal properties of different rock domains at different
scales. The stress-strength ratio is an important parameter
when evaluating the mechanical stability of the anticipated
deep repository in the hard, crystalline, rock regime. 3.3
Rock stress In situ stresses have been measured at
Olkiluoto at depths of 300–800 m in five deep surface
boreholes by using conventional methods, such as hydraulic
fracturing to evaluate horizontal stresses and the 3D
overcoring methods to evaluate

Figure 5. Locations of the in situ stress sites at

Olkiluoto. 0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900 0 10 20 30 40 50 H [MPa]

V e

r t

i c
a l

e p

t h

[ m

] 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 0 60 120 180
Orientation of H [˚] V e r t i c a l d e p t h [ m ]
Overcoring Hydraulic fracturing Kaiser Effect Lower limit
Upper limit

Figure 6. Magnitude and orientation of the major horizontal

stress

component with depth and with lower and upper limits.

the complete stress tensor. The first underground measure

ment campaign was conducted in the ONKALO ramp at the

120 m level in 2006 using the 3D overcoring method. In addi

tion, a stress measurement method based on the Kaiser Effect

(KE) has been developed and tested on cores from three drill

holes (see e.g. Lehtonen 2005). The locations of the stress

measurement sites in Olkiluoto are shown in Figure 5.

The stress measurement results show scatter in the stress

profile with depth, so lower and upper limits for the stress

components have been defined and used as input data for cal

culations (Figure 6). Not only is the interpreted in situ

stress

a point tensor, but the defined value has uncertainties

related

to geological factors, accuracy of each measurement method

and method of data analysis. As part of the quality control

and assurance of rock stress measurement data, Posiva has,

together with the Swedish SKB, developed a practical tool

to improve the quality of the stress measurements (Hakala

et al. 2006). The tool can also be used in the

interpretation of

the stress measurement data obtained in transversely

isotropic rock, which is the typical case at Olkiluoto
(i.e. in foliated gneiss). Although, the dispersion in the
stress data at Olkiluoto can be considered typical for the
methods used, more effort including the effect of
anisotropy and the link between geological structures and
the local stress state, will be made to reduce the
uncertainties. The ONKALO facility will also allow us to
conduct rock excavation response measurements, which can be
used to back analyze in situ stresses over a considerably
larger rock volume and more reliably than in the case of
borehole methods. In addition to the conventional, direct
stress measurements, efforts are also being made to use
indirect methods to evaluate the in situ stresses, such as
the above mentioned rock response measurements during the
tunnel excavation/shaft raise boring, plus tunnel mapping
of stress induced damage or block fallouts and microseismic
measurements. 3.4 Properties of intact rock In order to
estimate the potential for rock damages or spalling deep in
the repository facilities, the mechanical characteristics
of the intact rock should be well understood. These have
been studied by carrying out field loading tests on the
core with a portable test unit and by conducting more
detailed tests in the laboratory. The field tests are
performed systematically at about 30 m intervals on cores
in each drillhole. The laboratory tests have consisted of
uniaxial and triaxial loading tests, damage controlled
tests and tensile tests, in some cases together with
acoustic emission monitoring. Due to the nature of the
gneissic rock material, an anisotropic testing procedure
has also been developed (Hakala et al. 2005). The results
have shown a mean anisotropy factor of 1.4 for Young’s
modulus, which indicates that the anisotropic solution for
stress estimation should also be used. The results indicate
that, while the peak strength follows the standard ‘single
plane of weakness’ reduction at adverse foliation angles,
the crack damage stress is less affected, and the crack
initiation stress is not detectably affected (Figure 7).
Further tests are still needed, e.g. for rock types where
currently we only have limited data. Thermal properties are
also important since they affect the repository layout,
spacing of deposition holes and tunnels, and are needed to
evaluate the thermal stresses induced by heat produced by
the radioactive waste. Similar to the mechanical
properties, the Olkiluoto gneisses are also thermally
anisotropic and heterogeneous due to variations in their
texture, mineral composition and the orientations of the
migmatitic banding and the foliation. Moreover, there is a
need to appropriately upscale the laboratory properties to
the rock mass thermal properties. Therefore Posiva has
developed an in situ drillhole probe called TERO (see e.g.
Kukkonen et al. 2005). The rock mass properties are
estimated via geophysical measurements and empirical and/or
numerical modelling, based on the properties of the rock
mass components, i.e. intact rock, fractures and the
fracture/deformation zones. 3.5 Properties of fractures and
fracture zones A characteristic of the ONKALO site is the
existence of fractures and fracture (brittle deformation)
zones. These are not so well established because of the
difficulty of direct measurements. Geological information
and indications via rock mass classification schemes (the
Q-system) have been used to estimate the properties as
shown in Figure 8. The result indicates that mean friction
angle for all fractures is 45 ◦ ; 50%

Figure 7. Effect of anisotropy on the peak strength (upper

diagram –

showing a reduction at an adverse anisotropy angle) and on

the crack

initiation strength (lower diagram – showing no detectable

effect) of

dry Olkiluoto veined gneiss (Posiva 2007).

Figure 8. Joint friction angle and fracture length for all

mapped

fractures for the first 1170 m in the ONKALO tunnel (Posiva

2007).

of the values are between 27 ◦ and 56 ◦ ; and 95% are

between

14 ◦ and 72 ◦ . The proportion of the longest fractures

(length

> 4 m) is slightly higher for the low friction angle

categories.
Fracture testing at the laboratory is also currently
underway

but further effort is also required in this area for the

fracture

zones, e.g. work is currently underway on a methodology for

characterizing the fracture zones (Hudson et al. 2007). The

brittle deformation zone features will be described in more

detail with reference to their degree of localisation, from

sin

gle discrete fractures, through shear networks to a

pervasive

foliation fabric. The scale of observation of the features

can

affect their apparent properties, so the effects of the

relative

scales of the deformational features and the excavation size

need to be considered. 4 PREDICTION-OUTCOME STUDIES In line

with the necessity to develop a predictive capability for
design purposes, a Prediction-Outcome campaign being
conducted for the ONKALO ramp conditions has been developed
by the OMTF (Olkiluoto Modelling Task Force) and the
associated principles have been outlined (Andersson et al.
2005). This Prediction-Outcome work is considered to be one
of the most important campaigns – because it will
progressively refine and improve the ability to predict the
mechanical conditions ahead of excavation. The aim of the
work is: – to enhance confidence in the ability to predict
rock conditions in general – and especially for the
repository volumes, – to allow testing and verification of
repository design rules as it will not be possible to make
too many additional boreholes in the repository volume, and
– to support the on-going construction work and assist with
the application of the CEIC (Co-ordination of Engineering,
Investigation and Construction) method. Four types of
predictions are made during the ONKALO construction: –
theTypeA prediction for a particular increment of chainage
ahead of the tunnel face is made before construction and
only uses the latest version of the Site Model and the
ONKALO model, – the Type B prediction is made before the
construction of a tunnel section, but should make use of
all available data, mapping of previous tunnel sections
etc., – the Type B pilothole prediction is made before the
construction of a tunnel section, should make use of all
available data, mapping of previous tunnel sections etc,
but including pilot hole data, and – the Type C prediction
– or outcome assessment – is made after construction (to
see whether the prediction techniques can in fact predict
the outcome). We recall that in order to be able to design
the anticipated repository for nuclear waste, there are two
major rock mechanics requirements: • knowledge of the rock
mechanics properties for input to modelling; and • the
ability to model the consequences of tunnel and deposition
hole excavation and canister emplacement. The list of rock
mechanics properties that can potentially be involved in
the Prediction-Outcome studies and how the information is
received and how the results are compared is given in Table
1. These 11 items provide an overview of the rock mechanics
characteristics for a given rock mass. The rock mechanics
data are obtained from the geological mapping which is
performed in the following manner: all mapping data are
collected in a table sheet, which consists of fields for
chainage location and information, rock type, structural
observations, rock quality and water inflows. The
structural elements are described as single observations
and marked on the tunnel with a corresponding number. The
structural observations include foliation, fracturing,
ductile and brittle zone intersections, lineation and
folding. Each fracture is measured separately, and the
fracture attribute data include orientation, description of
the fracture surface and infillings.

Table 1. List of rock properties potentially included in the

Prediction-Outcome studies. Prediction/Outcome Information/

Parameter Comparison method

Q classification value Geology/From tunnel mapping/direct

GSI classification value Geology/From tunnel mapping/direct

Intact rock properties Geology, Point load,

seismic/Schmidt,lab testing, Rockma?/direct

Primary rock stress Estimation from measurements/

measurement/direct

Secondary rock stress Numerical analysis/measurements/direct

Rock displacements Numerical analysis/measurements/direct

Block failure Numerical analysis/mapping,mess./direct

Stress failure Empirical, numerical analyses/mapping,

measurements/direct

Impact of R-structures Empirical, numerical

analyses/mapping, measurements/direct

Blast damage Empirical/mapping,measurements/direct

EDZ characterization Numerical analyses/mapping,

measurement/direct

0,1

10

100

1000

10000 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 ONKALO TUNNEL CHAINAGE [m]

Q ´

A L

U E OUTCOME (FROM TUNNEL MAPPING), Q´ PREDICTED (FROM PILOT

HOLE), Q´

Figure 9. Comparison of predicted and measured Q ′ -value

for the

first 1170 m of the ONKALO tunnel (Posiva 2007).

This mapping information provides a wealth of data and

allows the generation of various presentational methods, the

latter being illustrated by the Q ′ -value example in

Figure 9

where the predictions and outcomes have been compared for

the first 1170 m of the ONKALO tunnel. From the rock mass
classification indices, rock properties, such as elastic
modulus

of the rock mass (E), can be estimated. This is one

important

parameter and is required as input for numerical modelling;

however, there are several empirical formulae for relating

clas

sification indices to E and a decision needs to be made as

to

which of these is the best to use within this

prediction-outcome

context.A comparative study of the use of the different

formu

lae will be included in future work, inter alia through

feedback

from sensitivity studies in the numerical modelling.Also,

later

in the ONKALO development, there will be special mea

surement locations for assessing more of the rock mechanics

parameters.

Considerable point-to-point variation along the tunnel

occurs, as also highlighted in Figure 9 and, questions

naturally

arise, one of the most important being ‘Over what lengths of

tunnel should the prediction-outcome comparison be made?’

First, we should ask why the local variation occurs and why

the prediction-outcome values differ for the tunnel

increments.

There are several factors at work, as noted in the bullet

points
below, related to the fact that the predictions are made
from the pilot hole cores and the outcomes are established
from mapping of the excavated tunnel periphery: • The cores
are stress relieved, and so could contain more fractures.
Also, the geologists have more time to study the core and
the fractures are more evident. • The number of fracture
sets is hard to evaluate from small core. • An EDZ will be
present around the tunnel, although its extent is unclear.
• The prediction is based on a horizontal pilot hole
parallel to the tunnel axis, whereas the outcome is a
composite value based on tunnel mapping on the tunnel
walls, i.e. there will be different forms of directional
bias associated with the different procedures for
prediction and outcome. It will be necessary to account for
the biases and to implement a form of averaging, so that
sections of the rock mass with different overall properties
can be identified. The concept of partitioning the rock
mass into ‘structural domains’, so that zones of different
properties, and hence behaviour, can be identified and
established, is relevant in this context. There is no
standardised approach to rock mass partitioning for
structural domains; however, partitioning in the current
context should be based on properties that dominate the
engineering behaviour. Examples of factors that can govern
the characterization of domains are changes in rock type
and rock structure, rock mechanics properties, fracture
frequency and clusters in fracture orientations. In
particular and before the characterization level at −420 m
is reached, we aim to establish a methodology for
predicting the rock mechanics properties as an A prediction
– because this will be the most significant requirement,
i.e. to be able to predict the rock mechanics properties
and hence engineering behaviour in the repository volume
from the Site Model. Another factor is the ability to
predict the rock mechanics properties of the fracture or
brittle deformation zones. The existence of the zones
themselves is predicted via the geological model and rock
mechanics work is in progress to translate the geological
descriptions of the deformation zones into their rock
mechanics properties – in conjunction with their properties
being estimated via the rock mass classification values and
numerical modelling. The measurement of the rock mechanics
properties of brittle deformation zones can be undertaken
indirectly, via seismic methods and by back analysis of
convergence values in suitably located tunnel sections, but
direct methods (e.g. by using large flatjacks) are
impractical, given the significant inhomogeneity of such
zones. The structural domain and brittle deformation zone
work is currently taking place and will be refined as more
PredictionOutcome tunnel lengths are studied. In this way,
there will be incremental improvements in the ability to
predict the rock conditions ahead of excavation, so that
when the characterisation level is reached the methodology
will be at an advanced stage – as required for the
repository design and construction. 5 CONCLUSION Posiva has
extended the site characterization at Olkiluoto from the
surface investigations to underground investigations in the
ONKALO characterization facility. The ONKALO ramp,
currently excavated to a chainage of about 1800 m, has
enabled direct in situ investigations and testing of some
newly developed rock mechanics tools. The associated rock
mechanics

research will contribute to the Olkiluoto site descriptions

and support the licence application for the repository con

struction by covering the necessary topics such as in situ

stress, rock properties (intact rock, fractures, fracture

zones),

prediction-outcome studies and later the characterization

level

testing.

The prediction-outcome studies are considered to be one

of the most important campaigns because they will improve

the ability to predict the rock mechanics conditions ahead

of

excavation. The concept of partitioning the rock mass into

‘structural domains’, so that zones of different

properties, and

hence behaviour, can be identified and established, is most

rel

evant.The final aim is that we will establish a methodology

for

predicting the rock mechanics properties as an A prediction

–

i.e. to be able to predict the rock mechanics properties and

hence engineering behaviour in the repository volume from

the Site Model.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank Posiva Oy, Finland for supporting

the work and letting to publish this paper.

Andersson, J., Hudson, J.A., Anttila, P., Hautojärvi, A.,

Koskinen, L.,

Pitkänen, P. & Wickström, L. Principles for guiding the

ONKALO

Prediction-Outcome studies. Posiva Working Report 2005–45.

Hakala, M., Kuula, H. & Hudson, J.A. 2005. Strength and
strain anisotropy of Olkiluoto mica gneiss. Posiva Working
Report 2005–61. Hakala, M., Sjöberg, J., Hudson, J.A.,
Christiansson, R., Johansson, E. & Riikonen, S. 2006.
Quality control and interpretation of in situ stress
measurement data. In M.Lu, C. Li, H. Kjorholt & H. Dahle
(eds), In-situ Rock Stress. Measurement, Interpretation and
Application: 399–407. London: Taylor & Francis. Hudson,
J.A. & Cosgrove, J. 2006. Geological history and its impact
on the rock mechanics properties of the Olkiluoto site.
Posiva Working Report 2006–14. Hudson, J.A, Cosgrove, J. &
Johansson, E. 2007, in prep. Rock mechanics
characterisation of the brittle deformation zones at
Olkiluoto. Posiva Working Report 2007–xx. Hudson, J.A. &
Johansson, E. 2005. Summary of rock mechanics work
completed for Posiva before 2005. Report POSIVA 2006–04.
Kukkonen, I., Suppala, I., Korpisalo, A. & Koskinen, T.
2005. TERO borehole logging device and test measurements of
rock thermal properties in Olkiluoto. Report POSIVA
2005–09. Lehtonen,A. 2005. Evaluation of rock stress
estimation by the Kaiser Effect. Posiva Working Report
2005–67. Posiva 2003. Programme of monitoring at Olkiluoto
during construction and operation of the ONKALO. Report
POSIVA 2003–05. Posiva 2005. Olkiluoto site description
2004. Report POSIVA 2005–03. Posiva 2007, in press. Site
report 2006. Report POSIVA 2007–xx. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Simulation of
hydrogeomechanical responses of jointed rock masses to
tunneling and lining J.H. Kihm, S.U. Park & J.M. Kim School
of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National
University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
ABSTRACT: A series of numerical simulations is performed to
analyze fully coupled groundwater flow and land deformation

due to tunneling and lining in unsaturated jointed rock

masses. The numerical simulation results show that the
orientation of

the joint set has significant effects on the spatial

distributions and temporal changes of groundwater flow and
land deformation

during tunneling and lining. Such effects of the joint set

are caused by its relatively higher hydraulic conductivity
and deforma

bility compared with the intact rock matrix. Therefore it

may be concluded that joint sets must be properly
considered when

rigorous and reasonable predictions of the long-term

hydromechanical responses of actual jointed rock masses to
tunneling

and lining are to be obtained.

1 INTRODUCTION

A variety of field studies have frequently reported that

under

ground excavation leads to the hydraulic and mechanical

impacts including land deformation, groundwater level draw

down, and alteration of hydraulic properties of surrounding

geologic media (Kim et al., 1997). These studies have also

shown that such impacts are not only caused by the drainage

of groundwater into excavation spaces (hydraulic stress) but

also by the changes in stress regime around caves

(mechanical

stress). In other words, underground excavation disrupts the

pre-existing hydraulic and mechanical equilibrium conditions

and simultaneously leads to the fully coupled hydromechan

ical interaction between groundwater flow and solid skeleton

(land) deformation fields.

The increasing use of underground spaces has prompted the

need for rigorous and quantitative understanding of hydroge

ological and geomechanical behavior and effects of

individual

joints or joint sets in jointed rock masses under

underground

excavation. Such knowledge may provide some useful guide

lines for controlling and minimizing the adverse hydrogeolog

ical and geomechanical impacts of underground excavation on

surrounding geologic media.

For rigorous and quantitative interpretation of the hydrome

chanical phenomena due to underground excavation, it is

essential to develop and apply a hydromechanical numeri

cal model based on the hydromechanical coupling theory,

which can fully couple the groundwater flow and solid skele

ton deformation fields, instead of the conventional

theories,

which are forced to decouple these two fields.

The objectives of this study are to simulate fully coupled

groundwater flow and land deformation due to tunneling and

lining in unsaturated jointed rock masses using a hydrome

chanical numerical model and to evaluate effects of joint

sets

on such hydromechanical phenomena during tunneling and

lining.

2 HYDROMECHANICAL NUMERICAL MODEL

The hydromechanical numerical model used in this study to

simulate fully coupled groundwater flow and land

deformation simulation is COWADE123D (Kim, 2003). This
numerical model is a general multidimensional fully coupled
finite element method model and can simulate a variety of
hydromechanical phenomena within saturated-unsaturated
heterogeneous true anisotropic porous, fractured, and
fractured porous geologic media due to various cases. The
hydromechanical coupling theory and governing equations
related to the hydromechanical numerical model has been
described by Kim (1996), Kim et al. (1997), Kim & Parizek
(1999a), Kim & Parizek (1999b), Kim (2000), Kim (2004), Kim
(2005a), and Kim (2005b). 3 STUDY AREA The study area,
which is located in Busan, Republic of Korea, is a tunnel
construction site as a part of the KoreaTrain Express (KTX)
railroad. The bedrock in the study area is mainly composed
of the Cretaceous volcanic rocks and granite, which have
three major joint sets and overlain by the Quaternary
alluvium.A vertical cross section around the tunnel is
selected for numerical simulation, and it consists of the
Cretaceous andesite which is classified as soft rock. 4
NUMERICAL SIMULATION SETUPS The vertical cross section
around the tunnel is discretized into 1504 quadrilateral
elements with 1596 nodes, while its height and width are
100 m and 300 m, respectively (Figure 1). The tunnel height
and width are 10.3 m and 12.1 m, respectively, Figure 1.
Vertical cross section around the tunnel, finite element
mesh, and monitoring point used in the numerical
simulations.

Table 1. Material properties of soft rock, joint set, and

groundwater.

Property Value

Porosity 8.08 × 10 −3

Saturated hydraulic conductivity [m/sec] 9.73 × 10 −7

Poisson’s ratio 0.25

Young’s modulus [N/m 2 ] 4.71 × 10 10

Poisson’s ratio of solid 0.25

Young’s modulus of solid [N/m 2 ] 4.71 × 10 11

Density of solid [kg/m 3 ] 2.81 × 10 3

Initial fracture spacing [m] 0.41

Initial fracture aperture [m] 3.61 × 10 −4

Fracture normal stiffness [N/m 2 /m] 3.99 × 10 10

Fracture shear stiffness [N/m 2 /m] 2.04 × 10 9

Cohesion [N/m 2 ] 1.80 × 10 6

Angle of internal friction [degree] 4.00 × 10 1

Tensile strength [N/m 2 ] 7.72 × 10 5

Residual water saturation 6.69 × 10 −2

Unsaturated hydraulic parameters (van Genuchten model)

a v [m −1 ] 5.19 × 10 −3

n v 1.78

Compressibility of water [m 2 /N] 4.40 × 10 −10

Density of water [kg/m 3 ] 1.00 × 10 3

Dynamic viscosity of water [kg/m/sec] 1.00 × 10 −3

Gravitational acceleration constant [m/sec 2 ] 9.81

and the tunnel shape is arc with an invert. The tunnel is

trans

versely centered in the vertical cross section, and the

depth

from the ground surface to the tunnel crown is 40 m. The

monitoring point is located right above the tunnel crown at

z = 95 m.

In the numerical simulations, six different geologic media

are considered for the purpose of comparison: an isotropic

porous medium and five jointed porous media with different

dipping angles (i.e., θ = 0.0 ◦ , 22.5 ◦ , 45.0 ◦ , 67.5 ◦

, and 90.0 ◦ )

for a joint set. The material properties of soft rock,

joint set,

and groundwater are summarized in Table 1 (Carsel & Parrish

1998, Korea Rail Network Authority and SK Engineering and

Construction Company 2004).

Along the left and right sides, a no-horizontal displace

ment boundary condition is applied, but vertical

displacement

is allowed. A constant head boundary condition (hydraulic

head = 96.9 m) corresponding to the water table from field

measurement is also applied along the left and right sides.

Along the bottom side, no-flow and no-vertical displacement

boundary conditions are applied, but horizontal displacement

is allowed. Along the ground surface, no-flow and free dis

placement boundary conditions are applied. Along the tunnel

face, a seepage boundary condition is applied during tunnel

ing, and a no-flow boundary condition is applied during

lining.

A free displacement boundary condition is also applied along

the tunneling face during tunneling and lining.

The total simulation time period is about 197 days for 30

time steps. Tunneling begins at 0 day, and then lining

begins at

1.5 days, which is the time required to reach

hydromechanical
equilibrium conditions under tunneling for all the six
cases of

geologic media described above.

5 RESULTS AND ANALYSES

The spatial distributions of pressure head are shown in Fig

ure 2. During tunneling, groundwater drains into the tunnel

Figure 2. Spatial distributions of pressure head after
tunneling (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ =
0.0 ◦ , (c) θ = 22.5 ◦ , (d) θ = 45.0 ◦ , (e) θ = 67.5 ◦ ,
(f) θ = 90.0 ◦ . Figure 3. Spatial distributions of
groundwater flow velocity after tunneling (t = 1.5 days):
(a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0 ◦ , (c) θ = 22.5 ◦ ,
(d) θ = 45.0 ◦ , (e) θ = 67.5 ◦ , (f) θ = 90.0 ◦ . Figure
4. Spatial distributions of displacement vector after
tunneling (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ =
0.0 ◦ , (c) θ = 22.5 ◦ , (d) θ = 45.0 ◦ , (e) θ = 67.5 ◦ ,
(f) θ = 90.0 ◦ . face with the result that pressure head
decreases and an unsaturated zone occurs above the tunnel.
The groundwater table drawdown is significantly influenced
by the orientation of the joint set. The spatial
distributions of groundwater flow velocity around the
tunnel are shown in Figure 3. The groundwater flow is also
significantly influenced by the orientation of the joint
set. After lining, the groundwater table recovers almost to
its initial state. The spatial distributions of
displacement vector and deformed mesh around the tunnel are
shown in Figures 4

Figure 5. Spatial distributions of deformed mesh after

tunneling

(t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0 ◦ ,

(c) θ = 22.5 ◦ , (d)

θ = 45.0 ◦ , (e) θ = 67.5 ◦ , (f) θ = 90.0 ◦ .

Figure 6. Spatial distributions of factor of safety against

shear fail

ure after tunneling (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock

mass, (b) θ = 0.0 ◦ ,

(c) θ = 22.5 ◦ , (d) θ = 45.0 ◦ , (e) θ = 67.5 ◦ , (f) θ =

90.0 ◦ .
and 5, respectively. The displacement vector normal to the

orientation of the joint set is significantly larger than

other

directions. It is caused by relatively higher deformability

of the

joint set normal to its orientation compared with the

deforma

bility of the joint set parallel to its orientation.This

mechanical

anisotropy due to orientation of the joint set also

influences

the factors of safety around the tunnel.

The spatial distributions of factors of safety against shear

and tension failure around the tunnel are shown in Figures 6

and 7, respectively. During tunneling, shear failure does

not

occur in the whole modeling domain, and tension failure

occurs only at the bottom of the tunnel face. However, an

unstable zone, in which the factors of safety are close to

or

smaller than 1.0, occurs and expands around the tunnel. The

expansion of the unstable zone is significantly influenced

by

the orientation of the joint set.

The spatial distributions of normalized porosity are shown

in Figure 8. The extension zone, in which the normalized

porosity is larger than 1.0, distributes normal to the

orientation

of the joint set. On the other hand, the compression zone,

in
which the normalized porosity is smaller than 1.0,
distributes

parallel to the orientation of the joint set. This

mechanical

anisotropy due to orientation of the joint set also

influences

on the saturated hydraulic conductivity tensor.

The profiles of ground surface displacements are shown in

Figure 9. The horizontal displacement at the top of tunnel

is

not zero, and horizontal displacement has asymmetric curve

for the cases of joint set dipping angles of 22.5 ◦ , 45.0

◦ , and

67.5 ◦ . The vertical displacement (surface settlement)

also has Figure 7. Spatial distributions of factor of
safety against tension failure after tunneling (t = 1.5
days): (a) isotropic rock mass, (b) θ = 0.0 ◦ , (c) θ =
22.5 ◦ , (d) θ = 45.0 ◦ , (e) θ = 67.5 ◦ , (f) θ = 90.0 ◦ .
Figure 8. Spatial distributions of normalized porosity
after tunneling (t = 1.5 days): (a) isotropic rock mass,
(b) θ = 0.0 ◦ , (c) θ = 22.5 ◦ , (d) θ = 45.0 ◦ , (e) θ =
67.5 ◦ , (f) θ = 90.0 ◦ . Figure 9. Profiles of ground
surface displacements: (a) horizontal displacement after
tunneling (t = 1.5 days), (b) horizontal displacement after
lining (t = 13.5 days), (c) vertical displacement after
tunneling (t = 1.5 days), (d) vertical displacement after
lining (t = 13.5 days). asymmetric curve for the cases of
joint set dipping angles of 22.5 ◦ , 45.0 ◦ , and 67.5 ◦ .
The maximum vertical displacement point is not located at
the top of the tunnel for the cases of joint set dipping
angles of 22.5 ◦ , 45.0 ◦ , and 67.5 ◦ . After lining,
horizontal and vertical displacements recover due to
groundwater table recovery but do not recover completely to
their initial states. The temporal distributions of
hydraulic head, horizontal displacement, and vertical
displacement are shown in Figure 10. The variations of
hydraulic head at the monitoring point vary

Figure 10. Temporal distributions of hydraulic head,

horizontal

displacement, and vertical displacement: (a) hydraulic head

during

tunneling, (b) hydraulic head during lining, (c) horizontal

displace

ment during tunneling, (d) horizontal displacement during

lining,

(e) vertical displacement during tunneling, (f) vertical

displacement

during lining.

with the orientation of the joint set. In the early stage

of tun

neling, rapid land deformation leads to the abrupt changes

of

hydraulic head due to extension or compression of geologic

media. Later, slow decreasing hydraulic head leads to grad

ual land deformation due to increasing effective stress

until

t = 1.5 days. After lining, hydraulic head increases and

recov

ers almost to its initial state until t = 13.5 days. The

horizontal

and vertical displacements simultaneously recover according

to hydraulic head recovery but do not recover completely to

their initial states.

6 CONCLUSIONS

A series of numerical simulations is performed to analyze

fully coupled groundwater flow and land deformation due

to tunneling and lining in unsaturated jointed rock masses.

The numerical simulation results show that the orientation

of

the joint set has significant effects on the spatial

distributions

and temporal changes of groundwater flow and land defor

ABSTRACT: Effects of environment and rock fabric on

subcritical crack growth in granite were investigated.
Double Torsion

test was used. It was shown that the relation between the
crack velocity and the stress intensity factor was
anisotropic. Under

the same temperature and humidity, the crack velocity

depended on the crack opening direction, and it was the
highest when

the crack propagated parallel to Rift plane. From the

results under different temperature and humidity, it was
shown that the

crack velocity was higher when the temperature and humidity

were higher. The crack velocity in water was higher than
that

in air. These results agreed well with the concept that

stress corrosion is the main mechanism of subcritical crack
growth in

rock. From the experimental results in this study, it is

concluded that subcritical crack growth in granite is
affected by water

and pre-existing microcracks.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the classical fracture mechanics, it was postulated that

the

crack propagated rapidly once the fracture toughness has

been

reached. In fact, the crack can propagate even when the

stress

intensity factor is lower than the fracture toughness. This

phe

nomenon is called subcritical crack growth (Atkinson 1984),

which is one of the main causes of time-dependent behavior

in rock. Knowledge of time-dependent crack propagation is

important to consider the long-term stability of structures

in

rock mass, such as underground power plants or repositories

for radioactive wastes in underground.

In this study, subcritical crack growth in granite was inves

tigated. Especially, the relation between the crack

velocity and

the stress intensity factor was determined experimentally by

Double Torsion (DT) test (Williams & Evans 1973, Sano &

Kudo 1992), which is the typical fracture mechanics test

used

to measure subcritical crack growth. Dependence of subcrit

ical crack growth on the environmental conditions and rock

fabric was investigated.

2 SUBCRITICAL CRACK GROWTH

Under low homologous temperatures and atmospheric pres

sure, stress corrosion (Anderson & Grew 1977) is considered

to be the main mechanism of subcritical crack growth. Stress

corrosion is a weakening process due to a chemical reaction

between the siloxane bond structure near the crack tip

strained

by the tensile stress and water (Michalske & Freiman 1982).

The relation between the crack velocity, da/dt, and the

stress

intensity factor, K I , is expressed as

where α is the activity of the corrosive avent, E ‡ is the

activa

tion energy, R is the gas constant, T is the absolute

temperature,

and v 1 and β are material constants (Wiederhorn et al.

1980,

Freiman 1984). Figure 1. The specimen and the loading

configuration for Double Torsion test. 3 EXPERIMENTAL
METHOD In this study, Double Torsion test was used. The
specimen and the loading configuration for DT test are
shown in Figure 1. The experimental apparatus was set in
the room where the temperature and the relative humidity
were controlled and kept constant.All experiments were
conducted under the controlled temperature and humidity.
For the apparatus used in this study, the temperature and
the relative humidity can be controlled within 0.1 K in the
range of 283–333 K and within 1% in the range of 40–75%,
respectively (Nara & Kaneko 2005). 4 ROCK SAMPLES Oshima
granite, Westerly granite, and Inada granite were used as
rock samples. It is known that granite has orthorhombic
elasticity (Sano et al. 1992). InTable 1, the P-wave
velocities in three orthogonal directions are shown. It is
shown that granites in this study are also anisotropic. In
this study, three principal axes of orthorhombic elasticity
are defined as “axis-1”, “axis2”, and “axis-3” in order of
P-wave velocity. Additionally, the Table 1. P-wave velocity
in granite. P-wave velocity [km/s] Rocks Axis-1 Axis-2
Axis-3 Oshima 4.91 4.61 4.51 Westerly 4.83 4.80 4.72 Inada
4.69 4.33 4.06

Figure 2. Specimen orientations for granite.

planes normal to these axes are called as “plane-1”,

“plane-2”,

and “plane-3”, respectively.

Considering the orthorhombic elasticity, 6 kinds of spec

imen were prepared as shown in Figure 2. For example, the

crack propagates parallel to axis-1 and opens parallel to

axis-2

in 1 · 2-specimen. Since the sample block of Westerly

granite

was not large enough to prepare that 6 kinds of specimen, 3

kinds of specimens (1 · 2, 1 · 3 and 2 · 1) were prepared.

5 RESULTS

In this study, subcritical crack growth under air and water

environment was investigated by DT test.

Before DT test in air, rock specimen was exposed to the

testing environment for 20 h. In Figure 3, the relations

between

the crack velocity and the stress intensity factor (K I

-da/dt

relations) for Inada granite and Oshima granite obtained

under

the same environmental condition are shown (Nara & Kaneko

2006). It is shown that the K I -da/dt relation for granite

is

anisotropic. In the case of 1 · 3-specimen and 2 ·

3-specimen,

that is, when the crack propagates parallel to plane-3 (Rift

plane), the crack velocity at the same stress intensity

factor

is the highest. The same tendency was observed for K I

-da/dt

relation of Westerly granite (Nara & Kaneko 2006).

K I -da/dt relations for Oshima granite and Westerly granite

obtained under different environmental conditions are shown

in Figure 4 (Nara & Kaneko 2006). Solid and open symbols

show the relations obtained under the high temperature and

humidity conditions and the low temperature and humidity

conditions, respectively. It is shown that the crack

velocity is
higher when the temperature and the humidity are higher.
This Figure 3. K I -da/dt relations obtained under the same
temperature and humidity (284K, 44%). (a) : Inada granite,
(b) : Oshima granite. result is in harmony with the concept
that stress corrosion controls subcritical crack growth in
granite. The same tendency was observed in other specimens.
Rock specimens for experiments under water environment were
kept in distilled water for 2 weeks before DT test. In
Figure 5, K I -da/dt relations for Oshima granite in
distilled water are shown as well as those in air under the
same temperature. It is shown that the crack velocity in
water is much higher than that in air. Therefore, it is
considered that water accelerates subcritical crack growth
in granite. This result is also in harmony with the concept
that stress corrosion controls subcritical crack growth. 6
DISCUSSION Since the crack velocity was the highest when
the crack propagated parallel to Plane-3 (Rift plane), it
is considered that the crack propagated with connecting the
microcracks existing ahead of the crack front and parallel
to the crack propagation direction. To consider the effect
of microcracks, the relation between the energy applied to
the crack tip, βK I , and the density of the microcracks
parallel to the crack propagation direction, �, was
investigated. The relation between βK I and

Figure 4. K I -da/dt relations obtained under different

temperature

and humidity. (a) : Oshima granite, (b) : Westerly granite.

is shown in Figure 6. From this figure, it is shown that βK

I

decreases with increasing �. It can be concluded that the

crack

velocity in granite is dependent on the density of

microcracks

parallel to the crack propagation direction (Nara & Kaneko

2006).

By using the results obtained under different temperature

and humidity, the activation energy was determined. Consid

ering the anisotropy of K I -da/dt relation due to the

density
of microcracks, it was assumed that the activation energy
for

grantie decreased by the effect of the crack density. In

this

study, the effect was expressed as follows:

where E ‡ 0 is the activation energy of the matrix material

in

which no microcracks exist, and γ is a constant. For

granite,

E ‡ 0 and γ was determined as 179 kJ/mol and 3.02,

respectively.

It is considered that the microcracks affect the roughness

of the crack path. By preparing thin sections after DT tests

and digitizing the crack path as shown in Figure 7, Nara et

al.

(2006) estimated the geometry of the crack paths and

reported

the effect of microcracks on the roughness of the crack path

in Oshima granite. In Table 2, results of the crack path

obser

vation are shown as well as the activation energy (Nara et

al. Figure 5. K I -da/dt relations for Oshima granite in
air and water. Figure 6. Relation between the crack density
and the energy applied to the crack tip at da/dt = 10 −5
[m/s]. 0 5 10 15 20 25 0 1 2 unit : mm Figure 7. Crack path
for Oshima granite. Table 2. Results of the crack path
observation for Oshima granite. Opening plane NCL D E ‡
[kJ/mol] Plane-1 1.36 1.40 173 Plane-2 1.29 1.08 159
Plane-3 1.26 1.07 154 2006). In this table, NCL means the
trace length of the crack path normalized by the distance
between the start and end point of the digitized crack
path, and D is the fractal dimension determined by the
spectrum method. If NCL and D are small, the geometry of
the crack path is smooth. From Table 2, it is shown that
the roughness of the crack path is low when the crack
propagated parallel to Plane-3. This result indicates
the manner of the crack propagation in granite. If the crack

propagates parallel to the direction of the preferred

orientation

of microcracks, the distance between the crack front and the

nearest microcrack parallel to the crack propagation

direction

tends to be small. Therefore, the roughness of the crack

path

becomes low. As a result, NCL and D become small when the

crack propagates parallel to Plane-3.

It is necessary to mention the effect of liquid water on sub

critical crack growth. It is considered that water acted as

the

corrosive agent from Figure 5. Since the crack velocity in

air

is proportional to the water vapor pressure (Wiederhorn et

al.

1980), it is clear that the crack velocity in water is

higher than

that in air in which the relative humidity is 100%. The

chemi

cal condition around the crack tip in liquid water is

considered

to be different from that in air.

The amount of water molecules supplied from the sur

rounding environment can be different. The amount of water

molecules in liquid water is much larger than that in air.

This

can be one of the causes of the difference of the crack

velocity

between in liquid water and in air.

7 CONCLUSIONS

In this study, subcritical crack growth in granite was

investi

gated using Double Torsion test.

It was shown that the K I -da/dt relation for granite is

anisotropic. If the crack propagated parallel to Rift

plane, the

crack velocity at the same stress intensity factor was the

high

est. The anisotropy was due to the preferred orientation of

pre-existing micorcracks.

From the observation of the crack path, it was shown that

the crack path became smoother when the crack propagated

parallel to Rift plane. This result was due to the preferred

ABSTRACT: In geo-engineering re-use of existing data and

real world representations is, at present, limited to
non-existent.

This is mostly due to difficulties regarding the use of

data obtained by a number of various professionals. The
main problem in

this respect is a lack of standardization of data (“lack of

data harmonization”) and, underlying, the often-unknown
quality of

the collected data and derived real world representations.

Particularly in geological interpretations, uncertainties
are high, since

only sparse information is available for the interpretation

process. The paper presents a methodology, which will be
applied

in order to determine the influence of so-called

“interpretation uncertainties” on subsurface
representations and to develop an
appropriate way to include quality and uncertainty
expressions in the metadata of the subsurface
representation. In addition,

an outlook will be given regarding the problem of data

harmonization and standardization within the process of
infrastructural

development.

1 INTRODUCTION

Increasing mobility is of major importance in today’s

society.

To be able to cover the needs of the world’s citizens

concerning

their unobstructed movement, sufficient infrastructural

capac

ities (e.g. highways, railways, airports, etc.) in the same

way

as infrastructure security and transportation safety must be

ensured. Clearly, this requires the occupation of a number

of specialists, each of them facing different problems,

which

have to be solved. With it, new civil infrastructures must

be

planned, designed, and built and existing structures

monitored,

maintained and eventually be abandoned. These diverse pro

cesses are commonly spread over the whole lifecycle of civil

infrastructures with a duration of commonly tens of years.

The

lifecycle can generally be subdivided into six main stages

that

are namely:

1. Exploration
2. Planning

3. Design

4. Realization

5. Maintenance

6. Abandon

For the execution of the various tasks during

infrastructural

development, the skills of a number of various professionals

(e.g. civil engineers, engineering geologists, GIS technolo

gists, etc.) are needed. Large quantities of geo-information

(e.g. GIS-, CAD-, and various other data sets) are

collected,

generated, (re-) used, managed and exchanged throughout the

lifecycle of a civil infrastructure and the main problem as

iden

tified today is the difficulty regarding data harmonization;

that is the process by which different parties adopt a

common

(ideally standardized) way of working with geo-information

in infrastructural development. The problem of data
harmonization is partly caused by the lack of information
about qualities and possible uncertainties regarding the
collected data as well as derived real world
representations. Still, at present, large parts of the data
as well as representations are not equipped with quality or
uncertainty information. This aggravates the communication
and also co-operation between the different parties
involved in infrastructural development and intensifies the
problems concerning the (re-) use of geoinformation as
delivered by diverse companies and experts. This missing
uncertainty information regarding various types of
geo-information and real world representations, and also
the use of different types of data structures,
geo-information management systems and software packages
are, thus, the main obstacles when trying to achieve data
harmonization in large infrastructural projects (Figure 1).
Consequently, the question is: How can geo-information be
harmonized and equipped with uncertainty estimations? 2
QUALITY AS PART OF THE GEO-INFORMATION Many people of
different professions are involved in infrastructural
projects. Regarding the fact that they have to rely on the
correctness of the work that is delivered to them by other
experts in order to (re-) use this information for further
planning and decision making, the quality aspect of
geo-information plays an important role in infrastructural
development. This makes quality, thus, an important aspect
of geo-information and to be able to make successful use of
collected data as well as derived representations and
interpretations, it is important to receive indications
about their quality (Hack 1997, Dilo 2006). Before one can
start to determine Infrastructure Explore Plan Design
Realize Maintain Abandon S u r v e y & M e a s u r e m e n
t s R e a l W o r l d R e p r e s e n t a t i o n s Q u a l
i t y & P o s s i b l e U n c e r t a i n t i e s

Figure 1. The lifecycle of civil engineering

infrastructures.

the quality of the diverse types of geo-information,

however,

it is important to understand the meaning behind the term

“quality”.

Countless definitions can be found in the literature,

varying

for each profession (e.g. car industry, medicine, education,

engineering, etc.) they have been especially defined for. In

their pioneering work, Harvey & Green (1993), for example,

determined the nature and usage of quality in relation to

higher

education, where they conclude that quality is often

referred

to as a relative concept. First, quality is described to be

rel

ative to the user of the term and the circumstances in which

it is invoked. Then again, regarding higher education, is
the

“benchmark” relativism of quality, where, on the one hand,

quality is to be seen in terms of absolutes and, on the

other

hand, quality is to be judged in terms of absolute

thresholds

that have to be exceeded to obtain a quality rating. Follow

ing, Harvey & Green suggested that quality should rather be

grouped into five discrete but interrelated ways of

thinking,

rather than being described by only one meaning.

The main definition of quality, however, as used by many

engineers and scientists and as defined in various

international

standards (e.g. ISO 9001:2000) is derived from the meaning

of

quality as fitness for purpose; that is namely quality as

satisfy

ing the determined needs of the user. In these definitions,

it is

stated: “Quality: The totality of features and

characteristics of

a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy

stated or

implied needs. Not to be mistaken for ‘degree of excellence’

or ‘fitness for use’ that meet only part of the definition.”

Many factors can affect the quality of data and representa

tions and, eventually, lead to imperfections in the data as

well

as in the resulting work of the various companies. Different

kinds of imperfection in data have been defined in the work

by Smets (1996). The main aspects are, accordingly, impreci

sion, inconsistency, and uncertainty. Thereby, imprecision

and

inconsistency are properties of the data, whereas

uncertainty

is introduced into the data by attaching weights to the

worlds

in order to express our opinion about which might be the

real

world situation.

Since the problem of data and representation quality

together with the numerous factors influencing this quality

is

too complex to be covered all at once, this specific part

of the

research is focused on uncertainties in geo-information and

Figure 2. The different types of uncertainties in
geo-engineering (Hack et al. 2006). real world
representations concerning the geotechnical (subsurface)
part of infrastructural development. This seems to be most
appropriate considering the fact that, usually, only sparse
information is available for the interpretation as well as
representation of the geological situation at the
construction site and, thus, the knowledge and experience
of the geo-engineers has a significant influence on the
final result. 2.1 The uncertainty aspect of quality in
geo-information Uncertainty in geo-information plays an
important role throughout the development of
infrastructural projects, because it can affect the future
(re-) use and processing of geo-information, and also, most
importantly, the process of decision making in these large
projects. Despite the number of initiatives trying to
reduce the uncertainty from an endusers and decision-makers
perspective, it is, still, not possible to completely
eliminate this factor of uncertainty (Foody & Atkinson
2002). Often, uncertainty is described in rather general
terms as “. . . a measure of the difference between
estimation and reality”. This, for example, might be the
difference between the thickness and extent of a sand lens
as determined via an interpretation of borehole and CPT
data as compared to the real world situation; expressed in
percentage. A definition similar to this rather general
description is used in statistics, where the uncertainty is
defined as “the estimated amount or percentage by which an
observed or calculated value may differ from the true
value”. In the same way as the quality aspect, uncertainty
as part of this quality aspect is determined by different
types of uncertainty (Figure 2). These are, for example,
uncertainty with regard to spatial prediction, uncertainty
resulting from site investigations/surveys/measurements, or
uncertainties resulting from geological and geotechnical
interpretations (i.e. mainly caused by limited amounts of
data). These days, numerous techniques are available for
the determination of uncertainty resulting from the process
of spatial prediction. Depending on the quantity and
quality of available data, but also on the type of object
(i.e. continuous or categorical), for which the uncertainty
must be determined, different estimation techniques are
frequently used; that are namely geostatistical
simulations, kriging and probability-based methods (Orlic
1997, Zhang & Goodchild 2002). As described by Hack et al.
(2006), also in geo-engineering work it is (or should be)
common practice to make an

estimation of the errors/possible errors in the geotechnical

properties of the subsurface and the influence of these

errors

on the engineering structure to be built in or on it.

Different

methodologies, such as the “geotechnical base-line methods”

(Staveren & Knoeff 2004), probability studies and Monte

Carlo simulations (Viseur & Shtuka 1997, Hack 1998, Hack

et al. 2003), are applied to give a certain amount of quan

tification of possible errors in the design of an

engineering

structure due to uncertainty regarding the subsurface proper

ties. Statistical routines exist, thus, in extenso, to

calculate the
temporal-spatial distribution of properties in a unit (see
also

Deutsch & Journal 1998, Houlding 2000).

Next to the uncertainty associated with spatial prediction

or

the prediction of geotechnical properties, there are,

however,

mainly two other sources of uncertainty one should

constantly

be aware of, since these types of uncertainties are less

promi

nent and, thus, difficult to be defined. Due to the

scarcity of

data, these additional types of uncertainty are most

prominent

in geo-engineering and, accordingly, in subsurface real

world

representations. As described by Houlding (1994), these two

sources of uncertainty are:

1. The potential for investigation errors (i.e. locational

errors

or measurement errors caused by wrongly calibrated

machines)

2. The potential for interpretations errors (i.e.

uncertainty

introduced by the expert, depending on the experience and

prior knowledge).

Unfortunately, there is little one can do about these

specific

types of uncertainty in geo-information. To be able to

quantify
the uncertainties regarding investigation error in sample
and

observation values, comprehensive research would be neces

sary into each of the common investigation techniques in

use.

In the same way, it is rather difficult to determine

uncertain

ties that are caused by errors made during the

interpretation of

geological features. This is a rather subjective procedure

and

up till now, there is no way of incorporating it into a

comput

erized approach unless we are prepared to quantify ourselves

during the interpretation process.

Thus, numerous estimation techniques for the determina

tion of uncertainties associated with spatial prediction

have

been developed and are frequently used in practice. How

ever, especially regarding the problem of uncertainties in

subsurface real world representations, more research is

still

to be undertaken and especially the so-called

“interpretation

uncertainties”; that are uncertainties introduced into the

repre

sentation by the experts themselves; must be determined and

communicated, as they form a dominant source of uncertainty

in geo-information.

3 CRITICAL RESEARCH ISSUES AND

DEVELOPMENTS

Due to the fact that for the representation of the subsur

face (geotechnical) situation at a construction site only

sparse

information is available, the knowledge and experience of

the

interpreter plays an important role regarding the outcome of

the interpretation. The quality of his experience and “a

priori

knowledge” that is of major importance for the

interpretation

process can, however, not be qualified at present. If the

engi

neer/geologist is good, this will result in a good and

reliable

geotechnical representation. If the engineer/geologist is

not

as good, it will result in higher uncertainties and, thus,

a poor geotechnical representation. Today, many up-to-date
analyses are available describing all sorts of
uncertainties in measurable properties. Without an
indication on the level of interpretation uncertainties to
be expected in the representation, it is, however,
difficult to rely on any geotechnical representation and to
use it for further planning and decision-making. Therefore,
part of the research will be focused on the determination
and communication of the so-called “interpretation
uncertainties” in subsurface geotechnical representations.
As this problem cannot be completely solved in this limited
amount of time, a first step will be made towards an
acceptable solution. The goal within this research is to
arrive at a description of the level of interpretation
uncertainty to be expected in a certain interpretation or
representation of subsurface conditions. This level of
interpretation uncertainty in geotechnical representations
is, at this time, intended to be described on a scale of,
for example, 1 to 5; with 1 a low level of interpretation
uncertainty and high reliability of the subsurface
representation and 5 vice versa. For the determination of
the level of interpretation uncertainty, a weighting system
will be developed and applied in order to arrive at
scalable values indicating the interpretation uncertainties
to be expected in a certain geotechnical representation as
well as their influence on the construction and maintenance
measures as needed for the infrastructural project. Aspects
that will be taken into account in the weighting system
are, for example, the quantity of the collected data, the
quality of the collected data, the extent/size of the
construction site, the expected impact of the civil
construction on the geology (i.e. type/size/etc. of
construction) and the experience of the geotechnical expert
executing the interpretation (i.e. familiarity with geology
around the construction site, number of representations
made in this area, etc.). Each of these aspects will then
be given a factor depending on the conditions met in a
certain project. Additionally, these factors are weighted
depending on their influence on the final interpretation
uncertainty to be expected in this geotechnical
representation. In order to get insight in the present use
of uncertainty information, it will be co-operated with
various engineering companies throughout this research. A
number of companies involved in infrastructural development
will be visited and questioned about their use of
uncertainty information in subsurface real world
representations and case studies will be analyzed in order
to acquire information about the influence of the expert
knowledge on the quality of a real world representation.
Finally, the newly determined uncertainty information will,
ideally, be included in the metadata; that is “data about
data”, additional information that is used to provide
further information to, for example, attribute tables; of
the subsurface (geotechnical) representation and, if
possible, be equipped with supplementary information
regarding the implications of this interpretation on the
construction of the infrastructural project.. This should,
significantly improve the communication between the
companies involved in infrastructural development and
facilitate the (re-) use of the geo-information. 4
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH In addition to the missing
information concerning possible uncertainties in real world
representations, the numerous types of geo-information as
used in infrastructural development, a lack of
standardization and, especially, harmonization of the

geo-information makes the different working steps in civil

engineering projects difficult.

In infrastructural development, a number of different

experts are involved in the lifecycle of the civil
infrastructure.

Thereby, different types of data, file formats, software

pack

ages, etc. are used for the representation of the real

world.

Depending on the specialization, also different representa

tion techniques for the representation of the diverse real

world

objects are available. During the last years, several

initiatives

have been followed in order to integrate the various types

of

geo-information (Oosterom et al. 1994, 2006; Zlatanova et

al.

2002). The whole problem of geo-information harmonization

is, however, too complex to be solved in a short time. Thus,

more work still needs to be done to achieve a solution to

this

problem.

In order to increase the data harmonization and to improve

the communication and co-operation of the different par

ties involved in infrastructural works, the second part of

this

research will be focused on the topic of data harmonization;

with its main focus on the “meaning of the data” (the themat

ical semantics of data). With it, it is desirable to use

similar

semantics for the representation of the various objects. Fur

thermore, real world representations should be equipped with

sufficient metadata describing their meaning and
implications

for the development of the project in a language understand

able by all different parties. Consistent application of

terms

is thereby a prerequisite for successful implementation and

unambiguous adoption of legislation, regulations, guidelines

and interpretations.

To achieve this, a glossary shall be established to define

the meaning of those terms regarding geographic informa

tion that are used regularly within infrastructural

projects.

Therefore, various (engineering) companies will be visited

and, together with information gathered with the help of a

questionnaire, information about commonly used semantics,

attributes, definitions, standards, etc. gathered. Finally,

a con

cept will be developed for the harmonized use of common

semantics together with additional metadata.

Deutsch, C.V. & Journal, A.G. 1998. GSLIB: geostatistical

software

library and user’s guide. New York: Oxford University Press.

Dilo, A. 2006. Representation of and reasoning with

vagueness in

spatial information–A system for handling vague objects. PhD

thesis, ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands.

Foody, G.M. & Atkinson, P.M. 2002. Uncertainty in Remote

Sensing

and GIS. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Hack H.R.G.K.
1997. Digital data for engineering geology: disaster or
benefit? In: European Science Foundation, “Virtual
environments for the Geosciences”, Space-time modelling of
bounded natural domains. Rolduc, the Netherlands. Hack
H.R.G.K. 1996, 1998. Slope Stability Probability
Classification. ITC publ. No 43, Enschede, the Netherlands.
Hack R., Price, D. & Rengers N. 2003. A new approach to
rock slope stability – a probability classification (SSPC).
Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment. Vol.
62: article: DOI 10.1007/s10064-002-0155-4. pp. 167–184 &
erratum: DOI 10.1007/s10064-002-0171-4. pp 185–185 Hack,
R., Orlic, B., Ozmutlu, S., Zhu, S. & Rengers, N. 2006.
Three and more dimensional modelling in geo-engineering.
Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 65(2):
143–153. Harvey, L. & Green, D. 1993. Defining Quality.
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. 18(1).
Houlding, S.W. 1994. Uncertainty, Sampling Control and Risk
Assessment. In: Houlding, S.W. (ed.), 3D Geoscience
Modeling– Computer Techniques for Geological
Characterization: 185–200. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Houlding, S.W. 2000. Practical geostatistics: modelling and
spatial analysis. New York Berlin Heidelberg:
Springer-Verlag. ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Standard.
Oosterom, P.J.M. van, Vertegaal, W., Hekken, M. van &
Vijlbrief, T. 1994. Integrated 3D Modelling within a GIS.
International GIS workshopAGDM’94 (Advanced Geographic Data
Modelling), Delft, The Netherlands, pp. 80–95. Oosterom,
P.J.M. van, Stoter, J. & Jansen, E. 2006. Bridging the
worlds of CAD and GIS. In: Zlatanova, S. & Prosperi, D.
(eds.), Large-scale 3D data integration–Challenges and
Opportunities.: 9–36. London: Taylor&Francis. Orlic, B.
1997. Predicting subsurface conditions for geotechnical
modelling. PhD thesis, ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Pilouk, M. 1996. Integrated modelling for 3D GIS. PhD
thesis, ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands. Smets, P. 1996.
Imperfect information: Imprecision, and uncertainty.
Uncertainty Management in Information Systems: 225–254.
Staveren, M.Th. van & Knoeff, J.G. 2004. The geotechnical
baseline report as risk allocation tool. In Hack, R.;Azzam,
R. & Charlier, R. (eds), Engineering geology for
infrastructure planning in Europe: a European perspective.
Lecture notes in earth sciences, vol. 104. Berlin
Heidelberg New York: Springer-Verlag. Viseur, S. & Shtuka,
A. 1997. Advances in stochastic boolean simulation of
channels. 15th GOCAD Meeting Report. Zhang, J. & Goodchild,
M. 2002. Uncertainty in Geographical Information. London:
Taylor & Francis. Zlatanova, S. 2000. 3D GIS for urban
development. PhD thesis, ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands.
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11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Thermal over-closure of joints and rock masses and

implications for HLW repositories N. Barton Nick Barton &
Associates, Oslo, Norway

ABSTRACT: Rough joints can be over-closed, and remain

over-closed by a previous application of a higher normal
stress. This

is an exaggerated form of hysteresis. Rough joints in

igneous and metamorphic rocks can over-close even due to
temperature

increase alone, due to better fit, which is something

beyond hysteresis. The rock mass deformation moduli,
thermal expansion

coefficients, hydraulic apertures, and seismic velocities

may each be affected.Well-controlled laboratory HTM tests,
in situ HTM

block tests, and large-scale heated rock mass tests,

lasting several years at Stripa, Climax and Yucca Mountain,
have produced

evidence for this extra fully-coupled response. Over-closed

laboratory direct shear tests give elevated strength
envelopes in

the case of tension fractures and joint replicas. Heating

alone also increases the shear strength of natural joints.
The coupled

thermal-OC effect in HTM numerical modeling will require,

as a minimum, thermal expansion coefficients that include
rather

than exclude relevant joint sets, if these have marked

roughness and if they originated at elevated temperature.
Subsequently

elevated deformation moduli that attract higher stress must

be expected.

1 INTRODUCTION

Hydro-thermo-mechanical HTM modelling of high level

nuclear waste disposal scenarios has been actively sought in

the last 30 years. In simplified form, the HTM (and

chemical)

effects of excavation, heating and cooling (with eventual

seis

mic loading from major earthquakes in the very long term),

have each to be simulated. The effects of heating and

cooling

on rock joints likely to exist in the ‘geological

containment’

will be the focus of this paper.

A phenomenon revealed almost 40 years ago, that has

proved to have relevance for both HTM field experiments and

HTM modelling, concerns over-closure of joints. Under ambi

ent conditions we may refer simply to hysteresis effects,

but

when heat is added, thermal over-closure appears to accentu

ate closure effects in the rock mass. This sounds

‘positive’ for

waste isolation: in fact it may be adverse, due to the

subsequent

cooling that requires shrinkage in a rock mass that may have

over-closed rough joint sets that remain closed despite

cooling.

Difficulties in obtaining excavation-induced failure of arti

ficial rock slope models, each consisting of 40,000 blocks,

reported in Barton, 1971 and 1972, has proved to have an

unexpected link to the above concerns. Steep, gravityand

horizontally-stressed slopes with adversely-dipping sets of

tension fractures ‘would not fail’, in relation to slope
stability

calculations based on strengths obtained from conventional

1:1 direct shear tests.

When loading to 4 or 8 times higher normal stress, prior to

unloading and shearing, successively steeper shear strength

envelopes were obtained, as illustrated in Figure 1. The

excessively stable slopes (Figure 2) were actually caused by

over-closure of the rough tension fractures.As observed some

times in real slope failures, there was evidence in

slope-failure

debris, of ‘over-closed’masses of blocks, which might be

inter

preted as ‘discontinuous jointing’ or evidence of ‘cohesive

strength’ in field observations.

These elevated strengths explained the slope-failure diffi

culties seen in Figure 2, since when excavating a rock

slope or

open-pit, (as also in these experiments), a reduction in

normal

stress is usually caused. Many important slope-failures

occur

in the open-cast mining industry, despite the usual neglect

of Figure 1. Over-closure (OC) ratios of 8:1, 4:1 and 1:1
(conventional) prior to direct shear testing of rough
tension fractures. Barton, 1972. An example of the model
tension fractures, and their surface roughness is also
shown. ‘Back-analysis’ refers to the model slope failures.
previously higher loading, when estimating available shear
strength. The continued failures might be due to errors in
stress-transformation from σ 1 and σ 2 to τ and σ n on
joint surfaces that dilate (Barton, 2006), or for other
reasons of structural control including elevated joint
water pressure.

Figure 2. Example of extreme stability (left) and

post-failure

masses (right) caused by unloading from a higher normal

stress when

excavating the slopes. Barton, 1971.

Figure 3. A demonstration of obviously exaggerated

hysteresis, due

to unloading of over-closed tension fractures. Barton and

Hansteen,

1979. Deformation vectors were derived from photogrammetric

analysis.

Rougher joints seem to have greater closure-related ‘bene

fit’, both from ambient and thermo-mechanical loading than

smoother, more planar joints. During subsequent cooling,

with

rougher joints possibly over-closed, it is likely to be the

more

continuous, smoother joints that open to compensate for

those

that are closed. Reduced shear strength and increased per

meability are the possible results, which are clearly

effects

that should be considered when deciding on the detailed

lay-out/location, of high-level nuclear waste disposal.

2 AN AMBIENT TEMPERATURE EXAMPLE

Figure 3 shows how hysteresis affected the sequential devel

opment of deformation when excavating parallel caverns in

physical models, using both exaggerated pillar slenderness,

and the same exaggeratedly rough sets of tension fractures
as

shown in Figures 1 and 2. The cavern models were excavated

in a stressed ‘rock mass’ consisting of some 20,000 blocks,

in

the sequence shown. Note how the pillar deformations did not

reverse with subsequent excavation, as they would have done,

if there had been less severe effects of hysteresis.

3 TEST EVIDENCE FOR THERMAL OVER-CLOSURE

• Conducting aperture decreases in Terra Tek/CSM HTM

block test (for ONWI).

• Joint closures in HTM coupled stress flow tests (CSFT)

(for

AECL/URL). Figure 4. Biaxially-loaded 2 × 2 × 2 m heated

block test, with HTM measurements along the diagonal
(shaded) joint. Hardin et al., 1981. Average joint spacings
are indicated in this 3D schematic. • Conducting aperture
reductions from HTM block test in G-Tunnel (for Sandia
National Laboratory). • Reduced thermal expansion
coefficients at NSTF Hanford (for Rockwell-Hanford). •
Reduced Vp and Vs after long-term heated/cooled borehole
test at Stripa (for SKB). Poor model prediction due to
thermal joint over-closure and changed moduli. • Increased
cohesive and frictional strength of joints in welded tuff
that have been heated. (Sandia N.L). • Heated mine-by
(Spent Fuel Test) at Climax (for Lawrence Livermore). Poor
model prediction due to higher final moduli, lower thermal
expansion coefficients, due to thermal over-closure of
joints. • Heated and ambient sides of plate load test
atYucca Mountain (for DoE). Widely different moduli in the
ambient and heated sides of the same drift. A selection
from the above experiments will be given during the
remainder of this paper, to illustrate the different facets
of thermal over-closure. 3.1 Joint aperture decreases due
to heating Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the loading
principles and some key HTM results, from the TerraTek
heated block test that was conducted for ONWI in 1980 and
1981. The rock was quartz monzonite, and the rough diagonal
joint that was the subject of this particular set of HTM
data, had JRC o = 13, and JCS o = 90 MPa. Hydraulic
apertures were back-calculated both before and after
flatjack-slot drilling, and during the loading, unloading,
heating and cooling sequences shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Hydro-thermo-mechanical (HTM) hydraulic aperture,

temperature, normal stress behaviour, as back-calculated

from the

heated block test. Barton, 1982.

Figure 6. Contrasting stress-permeability behaviour caused

by the

addition of heat. (‘Present study’ refers to Hardin et al.

1981 heated

block test referred to initially as gneiss, but as quartz

monzonite in

subsequent publications). Note comparison to some

University of

Berkeley tests on tension fractures from Iwai, 1976.

Barton, 1982.

The inset tabulation of hydraulic apertures in Figure 5,

indi

cates that ambient loading to 7 MPa (approx.) reduced the

hydraulic aperture from about 50 to 30 µm. From this point,

thermal loading to 75 ◦ C at constant normal stress

(achieved

by bleeding expanding oil from the flatjacks), caused the

hydraulic aperture to reduce successively to 9 µm. During

subsequent cooling and partial unloading: a typical nuclear

waste scenario, the aperture had increased to only 16 µm, in

other words the joint was thermally over-closed.

Somewhere between a normal stress of 3.5 MPa and full

unloading, the hydraulic aperture ‘jumped open’ to 42 µm.

A lesson to be learned is that continuum modelling will be

inadequate to trace such phenomena, and therefore will tend

to miss the most critical events regarding potential ‘hydro

geologic’ waste isolation. Figure 7. Tilt tests conducted

on selected lengths of core drilled in-plane with respect
to the diagonal test joint. The extended lengths of core
gave JRC n values from 7.9 to 8.3, while JRC o (with 100 mm
reference length) averaged 13. A feel for the roughness of
the diagonal test joint that was the subject of the above
heated block permeability tests, is given by the
‘reconstructed’ tilt tests, and by the photograph shown in
Figure 7. The JRCn values obtained from tilt tests of these
longer samples are smaller than the nominal 100 mm
standard, where JRCo was 13. 3.2 Coupled stress flow CSFT
laboratory tests CSFT test methods described by Makurat et
al. 1990, using the apparatus depicted in Figure 8, showed
physical aperture reductions when heating joints (Figure
9), that were in excess of those expected due to
application of higher normal stress. Three tests on joints
in granite from URL in Canada, were loaded up to 14, 19 and
26 MPa, and on the 4th load cycle of each test, suffered
joint closures (�E) at the respective test temperatures of
20 ◦ C, 60 ◦ C and 80 ◦ C of 24 µm, 54 µm and 151 µm, that
were out of all proportion in relation to the moderate
stress increases. These reductions of physical aperture
(�E) lead of course to smaller reductions of conducting
aperture (�e), due to roughness effects, from e ≈ E 2 /JRC
2.5 o . (Barton et al. 1985). An increase of 40 ◦ C was
shown to decrease�e by 39% inTest 2.The highest temperature
cracked Test 3 sample, so �e was unreliable.

Figure 8. The CSFT apparatus used for MHT coupled-process

joint

tests in NGI’s nuclear waste related projects for the

Stripa SCV/SKB,

Sellafield/UK Nirex Ltd, and URL/AECL studies. Makurat et

al.

1990.

Figure 9. CSFT tests on URL granite joints, showing the

effect of

increased temperature on the 4th cycle of loading of Tests

1, 2 and
3. For methodology, see Makurat et al. 1990.

3.3 Heated block test in G-Tunnel, Nevada

A second heated block test in the USA was conducted in G

Tunnel at the Nevada Test Site, by SAIC engineers, for

Sandia

National Laboratories. This is shown in diagrammatic form in

Figure 10, and the detailed jointing and permeability test

joint

are shown in Figure 11.

This 2 × 2 × 2 m block test was also instrumented exten

sively, in order that deformation moduli, mass ‘Poisson’s

ratio’

(that reached 0.6), thermal expansion coefficients and joint

permeability could be monitored through a range of load

cycles (0 to 10.6 MPa) and temperature cycles (48 ◦ , 69 ◦

, 94 ◦ C

at block centre).

Hydraulic apertures reduced from approximately 60 to

35 µm along the diagonal test joint, due to the effect of

this Figure 10. HMT block test performed by SAIC, for
Sandia in welded tuff, in G-tunnel (NevadaTest Site).
Zimmermann et al. 1985. Figure 11. Details of jointing in
the G-Tunnel test block. Zimmermann et al. 1985. heating.
(Zimmerman et al. 1985). The measured joint roughness JRC o
for the NW-SE joint set that was showing this thermal
over-closure averaged 9.0 (TerraTek, 1983) with a range
from 6 to 11. Joint profiling was conducted in the drift
walls in the immediate proximity of the block test. 3.4
Plate jacking tests at Yucca Mountain ESF Sandia National
Laboratories conducted plate jacking tests across a small
drift at the Yucca Mountain ESF (Exploratory Studies
Facility). The jointed, welded tuff yielded two different
values of deformation modulus, depending upon whether the
walls of the drift were heated due to proximity to a large
scale heater experiment. One side of the plate-loaded drift
was heated to ≥100 ◦ C, the other side was at near ambient
temperature. The authors, George et al. 1999 calculated
ambient and thermal rock mass deformation moduli of 11.4
GPa and 24.5 GPa respectively, based on the widely
different load-deformation responses shown in Figure 12.
They surmised that the rock mass quality might be more
heterogeneous than previously thought, but were unable to
conclude that the heated side had higher quality (i.e.
higher RMR or Q-values). Observation by this author
confirms this opinion. 3.5 Near-surface test tacility in
Hanford basalt At the Near-Surface Test Facility, at
Hanford, another wellinstrumented 2.3 × 2.3 m block was
flat-jack loaded and heated in the wall of a drift in the
Colombia River basalt

Figure 12a,b. Yucca Mountain plate-load test performed in an

adit with one side heated. E mass (ambient) = 11.4 GPa, E

mass

(heated) = 24.5 GPa. George et al., 1999.

formation. Although this heated block test did not give

direct

measurement of thermally induced joint closure (or over

closure), there was enough circumstantial evidence to

suggest

that such was occurring. Cramer and Kim, 1986.

The thermal expansion coefficient of the rock mass in three

dimensions, showed a maximum reduction from 6.34 × 10 −6

◦ C −1 (over the range 18 ◦ to 60 ◦ C) to 2.59 × 10 −6 ◦ C

−1 (over

the range 60 ◦ to 100 ◦ C).

At 100 ◦ C, Cramer and Kim (1986) reported a related 30%

increase in deformation modulus, while at 200 ◦ C there was

a

135 to 190% increase.All in situ moduli, even those at

elevated

temperature, were of course significantly lower than the

intact

rock value that averaged 86 GPa.

The increased temperature testing of the heated block of

columnar basalt reportedly reduced the degree of inelastic

and

continuously yielding deformational behaviour. Translation

and rotational movements of the columnar structures inferred

from numerical modelling, were assumed to have been

reduced by the thermally induced “lock-up” of interacting

rock

block structures. This case of course had joints formed at

very

high temperature when the basalt was sufficiently brittle.

3.6 The Spent Fuel Test (SFT) at Climax Mine

A large scale mine-by and spent fuel heater test was con

ducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the

early eighties. A cross-section showing the extensive instru

mentation is shown in Figure 13. The three parallel drifts

of

about 10 and 15 m span, were excavated at 430 m depth in

jointed quartz monzonite. The test location was about 150 m

above the water table, i.e. it was unsaturated but not dry.
Joint

frequencies were about 0.9 to 2.2 per meter in the test

area,

and there were reportedly four dominant joint sets. (Yow and

Wilder, 1993). Figure 13. A heated mine-by experiment in

the Climax Mine, in quartz monzonite. Spent Fuel Test, Yow
and Wilder, 1993. The extensive instrumentation was
designed to measure the bulk response of a jointed rock
mass, to excavation of the central tunnel (the mine-by),
followed by a 3-year period of heating, and 6 months of
cooling. Unfortunately monitoring beyond this 6 months was
not reported, presumably due to project termination.
Extensive finite element (ADINA) calculations were
performed to compare predicted performance with measured
performance. In this code, isotropic thermoelastic behavior
was assumed, with temperature dependent thermal expansion
coefficients (Butkovich and Patrick, 1986). Numerous scales
of deformation moduli were tested. As in the case of the
smaller scale Stripa heater tests discussed next, there was
significant discrepancy between measured thermally induced
displacements in the canister drift, which were about 1/4
to 1/2 of those calculated, both in the horizontal and
vertical directions. Instrument error was first suspected,
but was eliminated by thermal calibration. Yow and Wilder
(1993) interpreted these discrepancies as evidence for a
thermally increased rock mass modulus, citing possible
thermal closure of joints as described by Barton et al.,
1985, as the reason for increased rock mass stiffness. At
the end of the monitored 6 months of cooling, joints that
had closed during heating had not yet unloaded enough for
one to determine whether or not all of the heating-phase
deformation would be recovered (Yow and Wielder,
1993).Obviously non-recoverable, thermally induced shear
displacements were also reported. Thermally induced
hysteresis, and deformation moduli and expansion
coefficients different from what was expected seem to be a
general pattern of behavior for these heater experiments.
Constitutive modeling needs to allow for these extra
fully-coupled phenomena, i.e. thermal over-closure. 3.7
Stripa borehole heater effects on velocities The Stripa
heater experiment has been described by numerous authors.
The full duration of the test was eventually 750 days, with
398 days of heating. The simple basic layout of the test is
shown in Figure 14. The long period of cooling generally
returned seismic velocities to values lower than before the
heating, suggesting permanent changes, such as

Figure 14. The Stripa borehole heater experiment. Paulsson

et al.

1985.

local excessive joint opening as hypothesised elsewhere in

this paper.

The non-linear, thermally induced strains were about half

those expected from linear thermo-elastic analyses, using
lab

oratory tests of α ◦ C −1 on intact samples. These important

effects were discussed by Cook (1983). The discrepancy, as

at Climax, was due to thermally-induced joint closure and

hysteresis, what we now call thermal over-closure. A signifi

cant quantity of water expelled during the heating signified

the general closing of the joints. Temperatures were over

100 ◦ C in only a small region around the heater, and water

was expelled also from distant boreholes where perhaps the

low initial permeability was less reduced.

The initial increase in velocity with temperature was linear

and varied from 2 to 4 m/s/ ◦ C. The average joint frequency

in the test area, analyzed from 224 m of core, was 8.3/m.

The

largest velocity changes caused by the heating, amounting to

0.2–0.3 km/s, were interpreted as occurring in the

direction of

the minimum horizontal stress, which is logical since the

cal

culated thermal stress was as much as 55 MPa in, presumably,

the direction of maximum horizontal stress.

An elastic continuum analysis conducted prior to the test

had indicated larger stresses and local displacements than

were

actually measured presumably due to the thermal compliance

of all these joints.The full record of P-wave and S-wave

veloc
ities over the 750 days duration of the test is shown in
Fig. 15.

4 DISCUSSION

The explanation for the phenomenon of thermal over-closure

is assumed to be quite simple (Barton, 1982, Barton, 2006).

Namely that the joints in question, and perhaps the huge

majority of joints developed in the crust, were formed at

vari

ously elevated temperatures compared to ‘ambient’.They were

thereby given a primeval ‘finger-print’ of 3D-roughness that

reflected the warmer conditions at their birth. The details

of

this ‘finger-print’ would clearly be influenced by the

diverse

properties of all the minerals (or grains) forming the joint

walls, and their mechanical resistance to joint formation,

whether in tension or shear or by cooling.

Today’s rock joints as sampled at the surface or near

surface

(1 km is also ‘near-surface’) have probably cooled by many

Figure 15a and b. Stripa borehole heater test, and the
effects of prolonged heating and cooling on V P and V S .
Paulsson et al. 1985. tens if not several hundreds of
degrees, in relation to their formation, often nearer the
brittle-ductile transition, or when deeply buried in a
typical geothermal gradient. When cooled, the 3D roughness
finger-print, though very recognizable in relation to the
original, would be subtly altered in its finer details. If
(or because) the constituent minerals have unequal thermal
expansion coefficients (for example a log normal
distribution of values from 1 to 20 × 10 −6 ◦ C −1 , giving
a mean (measured) value for the whole rock of say 10 × 10
−6 ◦ C −1 , then it is reasonable to expect a degree of
micro-mismatch across the joint walls, assuming that
several different minerals usually form the joint walls.
(At the heated block test described by Hardin et al. 1981,
the thermal expansion coefficient was 1/2 to 1/3 parallel
to foliation, compared to perpendicular to foliation). The
variable quantities of constituent minerals in igneous
rocks, and in addition the important differences inα ◦ C −1
when heating or cooling, quoted from Skinner (Section 6 of
Clark, 1966), suggest that micro-mismatch is inevitable
when joints are tested colder than at their formation. This
is surely one reason for the variously hyperbolic shape of
(ambient) normal

Figure 16a and b. Dolomite pavement which can be used to

illustrate

some important aspects of HTM modeling.

closure tests, as described in great numbers by Bandis et

al.

1983, for a wide range of JRC o and JCS o values.

The mechanical over-closure and the thermal over-closure

referred to in this brief review of test data, suggests

that it

is time to perform a more comprehensive series of tests on

rock joints in rock mechanics laboratories. For example, we

do not usually (ever?) load rock joints to normal stress

levels

appropriate to existing stress levels, followed by

unloading to

the post-excavation stress levels, prior to shearing in

direct

shear testing. The addition of heating is seldom considered.

Concerning ‘geologic’disposal of nuclear waste with subse

quent thermal loading and unloading, it is clearly

necessary to

perform permeability tests on rock joints in the heated

state.

Specifically, the effect of increasing temperature combined

with increased normal stress needs to be investigated, and
most

importantly the effect of reducing temperature and reducing

stress, all as a function of roughness JRC o . Just the

measure

ment of shear strength changes as a result of heating, for a

range of JRC o , would also be informative.

Under ambient conditions, maximum joint closure was

aided by lower JCS o and lower JRC o for the medium to hard

jointed rocks tested by Bandis. However, when thermally over

closed, joints will display higher stiffness and higher

strength,

as though both JCS o and JRC o have been increased by the

pro

cess of intimate interlock. This is the dilemma that we

face in

constitutive modelling, and unloading may or may not reverse

the above process.

Consider the jointed pavement (in a prominent dolomite

bed) at Kimmeridge Bay in southern England, which is

depicted in Figure 16. The rougher, less continuous joints

that

occur between the two (or three) major sets, contribute to

an

initially reduced deformation modulus through the reduced

RQD and reduced Q-value. The ‘ambient’ deformation mod

ulus would depend on Q and Q c (= Q × σ c /100) and on the

depth or stress level (Barton, 2002, 2006).

If this rock mass became heated, it would be these short,

rough joints that closed most efficiently, causing an
increased

deformation modulus at higher temperature. Upon cooling

these same joints would tend to remain with small aperture,

thereby requiring opening of the more continuous joints. It

is these more continuous joints that would usually be dis

cretely modeled in a numerical model such as UDEC-BB or

3DEC-MC.

An adjustment to the input data for such a model would

be the requirement of thermal expansion coefficients that

included the thermally compliant rough jointing. Some of

the thermal expansion would thereby be absorbed, but the

Figure 17a and b. Two contrasting joints with JRC o values
of about 1 and 16 according to back-analysed direct shear
tests. negative factor might be that the reduced apertures
would remain ‘closed’during subsequent cooling, thereby
potentially activating the major joints. The rougher of the
two joints shown in Figure 17, must be expected to suffer
thermal over-closure, while the planar discontinuity,
possibly a minor fault, might be opened during cooling, if
in the same neighbourhood, to compensate for this closure.
The fourth component of coupled behavior; the chemical
changes incorporated in HTMC modeling, would logically
include the increased likelihood of chemical deposition in
the low-permeability thermally over-closed joints, as
actually appears to have occurred already. 5 CONCLUSIONS 1.
Numerous HTM in situ experiments, some of them heated block
tests, others consisting of larger scale heating of the
rock mass, have demonstrated a consistent phenomenon of
changed properties caused by joint closure during heating.
This is something additional to the expectation of higher
thermally-induced stresses causing joint closure. 2. During
the heating of jointed rock in the immediate surroundings
of an HLW repository, the thermal over-closure mechanism
that appears to affect non-planar joints, will tend to
cause a marked reduction in joint permeability, an increase
in seismic velocity, and a final increase in deformation
moduli, due to the transient reduction of the thermal
expansion coefficients.The latter is due to transient
‘softening’of joint normal stiffnesses with heating, due to
thermal compliance causing thermal over-closure. 3. During
the subsequent cooling phase of an HLW repository, one may
experience rougher joints that have been thermally
over-closed, and that may not open during cooling. These
joints have increased cohesive and frictional strength and
reduced aperture. They may also be preferentially involved
in chemical deposition and sealing. 4. Smoother, planar,
and probably more continuous features will tend to open to
compensate for those that may remain closed during the
cooling, thereby potentially losing strength and gaining
permeability.This should alert designers to avoid the
continuous features in e.g. their disposal canister
deployments. 5. Thermal over-closure phenomena seem to have
been almost ignored in more recent rock mechanics testing
and engineering design work. The numerical modeling of
overclosure in repository scenarios, including both
mechanical

and subsequent thermal effects, is therefore needed, once

the necessary data base is developed.

Bandis, S., Lumsden, A.C. & Barton, N. 1983. Fundamentals

of rock

joint deformation. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. and

Geomech.Abstr.

Vol. 20: 6: 249–268.

Barton, N. 1971. A model study of the behavior of steep

excavated

rock slopes. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of London.

Barton, N. 1972. A model study of rock-joint deformation.

Int. J.

Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., Vol. 9, No. 5:

579–602.

Barton, N. & Hansteen, H. 1979. Very large span openings at

shal

low depth: Deformation magnitudes from jointed models and

F.E. analysis, 4th Rapid Excavation and Tunnelling

Conference,
RETC; Atlanta Georgia, Vol. 2: 1131–1353. Eds A.C. Maevis
and

W.A. Hustrulid. American Institute of Mining,

Metallurgical, and

Petroleum Engineers, Inc. New York, New York, 1979.

Barton, N. 1982. Modelling rock joint behavior from in situ

block

tests: Implications for nuclear waste repository design.

Office

of Nuclear Waste Isolation, Columbus, OH, 96 p., ONWI-308,

September 1982.

Barton, N., S. Bandis and K. Bakhtar, 1985. Strength,

deformation

and conductivity coupling of rock joints, Int. J. Rock

Mech. & Min.

Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. Vol. 22, No. 3, 121–140.

Barton, N. 2002. Some new Q-value correlations to assist in

site

characterization and tunnel design. Int. J. Rock Mech. &

Min. Sci.

Vol. 39/2:185–216.

Barton, N. 2006. Rock Quality, Seismic Velocity,

Attenuation and

Anisotropy. Taylor & Francis, UK & Netherlands, 729 p.

Butkovich, T.R. & W.C. Patrick 1986. Thermomechanical model

ing of the spent fuel test – Climax. Proc. of 27th US

Symposium

on Rock Mechanics, Tuscaloosa, AL. Hartman (ed.) pp.

898–905.

New York: Soc. of Mining Engineers. Clark, S.P. 1966

(Editor). Handbook of physical constants. Sections 1 and 6.
The Geological Society of America, Inc. Memoir 97. Cook,
N.G.W. 1983. Effects of joints in thermally induced
displacements and stresses. Proc. of 24th US Symposium on
Rock Mechanics, 303–307. Cramer, M.L. & K. Kim, 1986. Rock
mass thermal and thermomechanical properties from a
large-scale block test. Proc. of 27th US Symposium on Rock
Mechanics, Tuscaloosa, AL. Hartman (ed.), 808–815. New
York: Soc. of Mining Engineers. George, J.T., R.E. Finley &
M. Riggins, 1999. Conduct of plate loading tests atYucca
Mountain, Nevada. Proc. of 37th US Symposium on Rock
Mechanics, Rock Mechanics for Industry. Eds. Amadei, Kranz,
Scott, Smeallie. Balkema, Rotterdam, 721–727. Hardin, E.L.,
Barton, N., Lingle, R., Board M.P. & Voegele, M.D. 1981. A
heated flatjack test series to measure the thermomechanical
and transport properties of in situ rock masses. Office of
Nuclear Waste Isolation, Columbus, OH. ONWI-260, 193 p.
Iwai, K., 1976. Fundamental Studies of Fluid Flow Through a
Single Fracture. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California,
Berkeley, 208 p. Makurat, A., Barton, N., Rad, N.S. &
Bandis, S. 1990. Joint conductivity variation due to normal
and shear deformation. Int. Symp. on Rock Joints. Loen,
535–540. Eds. N. Barton and O. Stephansson, Balkema.
Paulsson, B.N.P., Cook, N.G.W. & McEvilly, T.V. 1985.
Elastic-wave velocities and attenuation in an underground
granitic repository for nuclear waste. Geophysics. 50, 4,
551–570. Yow, J.L. & D.G. Wilder, 1993. Rock mass response
to thermal loading and unloading at the spent fuel test.
Comprehensive Rock Engineering. Hudson et al. (eds.). Ch.
36. 3: 863–880. UK: Pergamon. Zimmerman, R.M., M.L. Wilson,
M.P. Board, E. Hall & R.L. Schuch 1985. Thermal-cycle
testing of the G-Tunnel heated block. 26th US Symposium on
Rock Mechanics, Ashworth (ed.) 749–758, Balkema. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Water storage
of thermal waters in a closing down mine (Gavorrano, Italy)
C.A. Garzonio Department of Restoration and Preservation of
Architetcs Heritage, Florence, Italy

ABSTRACT: The cessation of mining activities is an

environmental and socio-economical problem. Slope stability
and

subsidence, together with hydrogeological and mine-water

management are the main problems. The paper describes the
hydro

geological problems linked to the rehabilitation and

re-utilisation of the water resources of the mining area of
Gavorrano
(Tuscany, Italy). The results of the studies and the recent
situations concerning circulation, quality and discharge of
the mine

water are reported, with particular reference to the future

effects of the controlled water rebound and the complex
measures

necessary for the dewatering stoppage. Different uses and

possible actions are proposed, taking into account thermal,
chemical

and discharge characteristics as well as local planning

objectives.

1 INTRODUCTION

The study of mine water quality, discharge and

re-utilisation

is an important research topic because it brings to an

econom

ically profitable rehabilitation of mining areas and of its

water

resources. The geological and structural settings of the min

ing areas control the water quality, chemistry and discharge

as well as the water rebound.

The Gavorrano mine was one of the largest pyrite mines in

Europe throughout the last century. The company is trying to

give up its mining concession by adopting the safety

measures

required by the Bureau of Mines for the decommissioning.

A major aspect of the rehabilitation involves the evaluation

of the underground openings. In particular, the present

study

described the results of a new geognostic campaign and the

setting up of monitoring system of the water level and water

chemistry changes, both during and after an important phase

of mining operations.

The waters pumped from the tunnels have a complex ori

gin. It is present a surface circulation, due to the

infiltration

in fractured and karstfied carbonatic rocks, and a deep

circu

lation of thermal water. The latter sulphate-calcic water,

with

a temperature of almost 40 ◦ , were cut off and deviated dur

ing the mining activity of the pyrite, and mixed with the
other

groundwater pumped out. The study area corresponds to the

ridge of Mt. Calvo which is composed of fractured and

karstic

limestones (Figs. 1–2). The reliefs are crossed by more than

one fault system, with throws >600 m.

The masses of pyrite which were mined coincided with the

contact with faults between the sedimentary units and

intrusive

granite, quartz-monzonitic masses. Geological,

geostructural,

geomechanical and hydrogeological, and geophysical analy

ses as well as, the measurement of the flow rate pumped by

pumping system (mean discharge 65 l/sec) and recent bore

holes (monitoring network), all the above have allowed us to

draw up hydrogeological conceptuale models and to attempt

to formulate a hydrogeological balance and to try to predict

the main water-flow directions. Unfortunately the analysis

of

the data obtained in the mine and Mining Society archives is

very difficult due to the destruction of many documents. One

important aspect concerns the geo-chemical analysis, with

the

study of the natural tracers and other prospecting, in

order to

evaluate the effects on the quality of the water which

crosses Figure 1. Geological map. Figure 2. Geological
section. the volumes of the mine and above all the source,
flows and courses of the deep, thermal circulations waters.
For this aim pumping tests in the different points are
being carried out to evaluate the possibility to separate
the different waters and to plan the re-utilization of the
different waters resources. 2 GEOLOGICAL, GEOMORFOLOGICAL
AND HYDROGEOLOGICAL FEATURES Gavorrano is located in
south-western Tuscany, in the Metalliferous Hills (Colline
Metallifere), 150 kilometres south of Florence and a few
kilometres from the sea.The area is characterized by rapid
topographic changes passing from a very flat

plain (Follonica gulf, Pecora river valley) up to rocky

hills with

a maximum elevation of about 500 m.a.s.l. (Mt. Calvo). The

area is characterized by NNW-SSE elongated post-orogenic

basins developed over an antecedent extensional horst and

Graben structure consequent to the Tyrrhenian sea opening.

Intrusive bodies, with decreasing age from west (7–8 My) to

east (4 My), are typical of this tectonic province, and

their

emplacement was followed by their greater extension. The

activity of the province is attested by important geothermal

fields (Larderello, Amiata) located within a major mining

district (Campiglia, Elba island, Mt. Amiata). The hydroge

ological system in the Gavorrano area is complicated by the

presence of three sub-systems: a superficial alluvial

system,

a karstic system and a deep hydrothermal system.

The first system consisted of a small multifalda aquifer

in the area around the sub-inclined plane of the alluvial

and

debris plane of the large village of Bagno di Gavorrano.

Waters from the last two systems have been forcefully mixed

by the mining activity. In fact, 500 m of production levels

were excavated in over a century of mining. The pre-existing

groundwater circulation, with springs placed at a maximum

height of 180 m a.s.l., was depressed up to 250 m b.s.l.,

when

old thermal springs (Bagno di Gavorrano, Terre Rosse) were

drained through the underground drifts system.

The permeability classes were attributed by considering: the

lithology, the degree of fracturing, the degree of

weathering

and alteration, the presence of karstic structures, as

observable

both at the surface and within mine drifts. Karstic

features and

degree of fracturing were determining factors in distinguish

ing carbonate rocks.A groundwater balance was performed by

attributing different coefficients of potential

infiltration to the

different lithotypes and by computing the contributing areas

for each lithotype. For this purpose the geomechanical

charac

terization in representative sites has been performed

through

a series of geomechanical field surveys and also in the

mine.

In particular, the potential infiltration coefficient for

the

carbonate rocks was estimated within the range of 8.7 to

10.1 lt · km 2 /s, as a function of the increase in

fracturing and

karst conduits. However, it must be stressed that rock mass

properties, in particular hydraulic conductivity, have been

strongly and permanently influenced by mining and subse

quent induced processes (e.g., tunnel presence, the increase

in the fracturing degree and the enlargement of existing

frac

tures by acid water circulation and water level lowering

which

increased karst solution in places). In fact, tunnels and

drifts

form a drainage network characterised both by voids and

refilled spaces.

The three basic elements that characterized the geomorpho

logical set-up of the area are: karstification, subsidence

and

mining activity. In the summit area of Mt. Calvo we can see

Karrens and Dolines. The last ones are bowl shaped with a

diameter of 20–30 m.

Subsidence contributes more to morphology, especially in

the east side of the Mt. Calvo characterized by a wide
circular

area reduced by the presence of several sub-vertical slopes

where we can see, at the base, collapse phenomena.

When limestones are not covered by detritic blankets we

can find fissures and fractures.

3 WATER DISCHARGE

Groundwater level recovery is typical of the closure of

mines.

It is a common process that can give important information

for Figure 3. Schematic section of the mine with water
pumping systems and sites of investigation and water
sampling. understanding the effects, starting from the data
recorded during the water level lowering and some
occasional or accidental water risings.The control of
groundwater rebound, in progress at the Gavorrano mine
since August 1995, is regulated by a submersible pumping
systems. These systems consist of three pumping points
immerged in the Rigoloccio Shaft, the Roma shaft and
Rigoloccio shaft (since 2000) respectively. They are
adopted to avoid too fast a rising in the groundwater
level, which could induce turbulent flow and internal
erosion of the back-filling; excessive hydraulic gradients
and groundwater re-emergence at the surface within
inhabited areas (Bagno di Gavorrano). The first phase of
rebound was from the level −250 m.b.s.l. reached the level
−140 m.b.s.l. (august–october 1995); in the second phase
the level rised at −110 m.b.s.l. (may–august 2005), the
third phase up to−80 m.b.s.l. (august– december 2006).
Furthermore, the controlling of the rebound allows us to
evaluate the volume of water storable within the mine voids
system, as well as the changes in the chemical composition
of drainage waters. The passage of the Second World War
front between 1944 and 1945 caused a forced water level
rising and, together with data collected since 1995, these
are the only ones available for the mine. Data for the
1944–45 forced rising are available for the main mining
centers of that time (Rigoloccio, Boccheggiano-Gavorrano
and Valmaggiore from N to S). The data of the water level
rising and the pump discharge neeeded to maintain prefixed
water level during each flooding step suggest a power law
trend for the groundwater level rise with decreasing rate
and with the general form: where Ht and Ho are the initial
and final groundwater level elevations, and �t is the
elapsed time. In fact, the rising rates at
Boccheggiano-Gavorrano and Valmaggiore are quite similar
while at the Rigoloccio the rate was lower (Crosta &
Garzonio, 2000). The recent records were compared with the
old ones by putting all the rising steps (from−197 m b.s.l.
to−143 m b.s.l., because initial water level rising between
−236 m b.s.l. and −197 m.b.s.l. was uncontrolled.) in
sequence, without considering the steady level intervals.
It must be stressed that the mines were separated from each
other during the 1944–1945 period, and have only been
linked since 1969. Since 1995 the pump discharge has
remained almost constant at 65 l/sec, with the exception of
three periods of heavy rainfall with discharge until 110
l/sec. Recently, in particular during he last phase, in
some steps, the discharge was being lowered. Considering
the fact that the meteoric waters in the last years were
approximately the same quantity, we can suppose the aquifer
system is wider than before, because the water has found
new ways in the fractured rockmass.

Figure 4. Pump discharge decrease.

This allowed the storage of about 550*10 3 m 3 of water stor

age. Using the data recorded, in a complete way, during the

two

phases (1997, 1998) of increased discharge, it was possible

to

perform a recession analysis which gives us a good insight

into

the aquifer structure. Starting from these data and the

reces

sion analysis, confirmation of the previous results

concerning

the groundwater balance was obtained. In fact, according to

the recession analysis, the average water resources that are

renewed yearly amount to 2.2 M cubic meters or 66 l/sec.

These values are quite comparable with the average yearly

pump discharge (65 l/sec or 2.08 M cubic meters). Finally,

by
comparing these data with the ones obtained by the effective

infiltration analysis (1.1 Mm 3 ) it emerges that almost 1

Mm 3

of hot water flows regularly from the deep circulation

system

into the mine every year.

4 NEW FIELD INVESTIGATIONS AND MONITORING

With the aim of the survey in particular of the inhabited

area

of Bagno di Gavorrano, a new geognostic campaign to moni

toring water levels during the controlled flooding of the

mine

has been carried out. Five boreholes, named PZ1, PZ2, PZ3,

PZ4 and PZ5 in fig. 5, have been drilled in the site in

order to

control aquifer, chemistry and temperature data. These

results

have been compared with the old ones (Filippi, 1988).The new

boreholes have pointed out a new and interesting

stratigraphy

of the site and the exact location, the characteristics of

the cav

ernous limestone. In this unit there is the deep thermal

circuit

and it is linked to the mine reservoir. In all wells will

putting

automatic equipment to provide, with temperature and water

level data, pH and electric conductivity values. For

example, it

is describe the first borehole named PZ1. It is localized

in the
“S. Francesco farm”, 200 meters deep and 2,5 ′′ inches
large.

Inside PZ1 it was situated an automatic surveyor that

control

water level, temperature and pH via PC. Geophysical data are

obtained by seismic down-hole campaign made after few days

(Fig. 6). We are obtained a stratigraphic column consisting

of

“Renone debris” (debris from quartz-monzonite), for the

first

82.5 m from the surface and then “Cavernous limestone” until

the end of the borehole (200 m from the surface). The eleva

tion of well is 61.2 meters a.s.l. so it reaches −140 meters

under sea level: the same elevation of the water level in

the

mine before the last phases of overflowing. Around this bore

hole geophysical analysis have been carried out to verify

the

stratigraphic and to draw a geological and structural

section.

The boreholes 4 and 5 have highlighted clayey and clayey

sandy layers. This stratigraphic anomaly has pointed out

the Figure 5. Map of the boreholes (between Gavorrano and
Bagno di Gavorrano). Figure 6. Transit Time diagram and
velocities for the PZ1. presence of an important fault
system, and It defines the possible geometries of the
groundwater flows and the conseguent hazard effects due to
water rising below the Bagno Village. 5 HYDROGEOLOGICAL
MODEL By the analysis (stratigraphy, water level, etc.) of
the 5 control wells, we suppose there was an important
water flow at the contact between superficial layer (clay,
sand and palustrine debris) and the cavernous limestone
layer. It is due to the presence of high permeable zone
constituted of limestone with many voids derived by the
erosion of the thermal waters with the same composition of
the mine waters. Furthermore, geophysical investigation and
permeability tests in the boreholes have pointed out the
low conductivity of the calcareous for a significant depth.
It is due to secondary fills and cementation of the joints,
the infiltration of weathered materials, deposition of
gypsum. The flows is mainly controlled by important
discontinuites and coniugate joints. In fact, till now,
during the water level rising in the mine (for the moment
to the elevation of −80 m.b.s.l.), the water level and
temperature measuring in the borehole had not put in
evidence significant correlation.

Figure 7. Simulation of the main flows to Bagno old spring.

These results make possible to developed a preliminary con

ceptual model, applying numerical simulations of the water

flow to establish the water circuit and to plan the control

of water rebound and/or pumped discharge. The numerical

method chosen was MODFLOW and FEFLOW, but for the

lack of groundwater observations of the flow in the monitor

ing points the application is restricted to symplified

layers

and it is constrained by artificial boundary conditions and

inflows in determined paths (fresh waters in a limit of

Gavor

rano mine, and regional thermal water in Rigoloccio mine).

Regular finite different grids of 35 × 30 m., two and/or

three

layers, 100 columns were used. On the basis of conceptual

model, the maximum height in the mine volumes (with the

conseguent heads) are considered in Rigoloccio shaft, where

in 1945 the water level rised +50 m.a.s.l..The fault system,

which is parallel to Rigoloccio fault (see Fig. 1),

represent a
barrier with probably thresholds at the top of carbonatic
unit.

The preliminary simulation has highlighted the possibility

of

out-flows towards the Bagno di Gavorrano (old thermal spring

area) when the water level rises 10 m.a.s.l.

6 WATER CHEMISTRY

At a regional scale it has been observed that sulphate

waters

commonly spring from the Cavernous limestone and from

intrusive rocks. Calcium bicarbonate waters are mainly asso

ciated with carbonate formations and small depths and are

considered the less mature water class. Gavorrano mine water

samples can be clearly differentiated in two main groups:

“superficial” bicarbonate waters (from levels +240 m a.s.l.,

+155 m: Mg-Ca, +90 m: Ca-Mg-HCO 3 ) and deep sul

phate waters (Ca-Mg-SO 4 , −80 m b.s.l., −110 m, −140 m,

−200 m). This grouping can be done on the basis of the sul

phate (from sulphide oxidation and evaporites solution),

iron

and silica contents and it is also suggested by the few tem

perature data even if more qualitative observations have

been

made. A geothermal gradient of about 75 ◦ C km −1 has been

determined. A water type sub-group, with peculiar character

istics, is composed by four samples all collected within the

intrusion in a relatively localised area, and characterised

by
very low pH values and high TDS contents. The area was

characterised by a conspicuous air flow and abundant water

2 2. The path from characterization to
modelling

Bell, F.G. 1995. Laboratory testing of rocks. In: Bell FG

(ed)

Engineering in rock masses. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford:

151–69.

Bieniawski, Z.T. 1975. Point load test in geotechnical

practice. Eng

Geol, 9: 1–11.

Broch, E. & Franklin, J.A. 1972. Point-load strength test.

Int J Rock

Mech Min Sci, 9(6): 669–97.

Carter, P.G. & Snedden, M. 1977. Comparison of Schmidt

Hammer,

Point Load and Unconfined Compression Tests in Carbonifer

ous Strata. Proceedings of a conference on Rock Engineering.

University of New Castle, Tyne, England: 197–210.

D’Andrea, D.V., Fisher, R.L. & Fogelson, D.E. 1964.

Prediction of

compression strength from other rock properties. Colo Sch

Mines

Q, 59(4B): 623–40.

Grasso, P., Xu, S. & Mahtab,A. 1992. Problems and promises

of index

testing of rocks. In: Tillerson, Wawersik, editors. Rock

Mechanics.

Balkema, Rotterdam, ISBN 9054100451: 879–88.

Hawkins, A.B. 1998. Aspects of rock strength. Bull. Eng.

Geol. Env.

57: 17–30. Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground

excavations in rock. London. Institute Mining and.
Metallurgy: 527. ISRM 1981. Suggested method for
determining the uniaxial compressive strength of rock
materials, Rock Characterization,Testing and Monitoring
(ISRM Suggested Methods): 113. ISRM 1985. Suggested
Methods. Suggested method for determining point-load
strength. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci, 22: 53–60. Jermy, C.A. &
Bell, F.G. 1991. Coal bearing strata and the stability of
coal mines in South Africa. Paper in Proceedings of the 7th
Intl. Cong. on Rock Mech. Intl. Soc. Rock Mech., Aachen,
Germany: 1125–31. Kahraman, S. 2001. Evaluation of simple
methods for assessing the uniaxial compressive strength of
rock. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci, 38: 981–94. Kahraman, S.
2005. The effect of porosity on the relation between
uniaxial compressive strength and point load index. Int J
Rock Mech Min Sci 42: 584–89. Pells, P.J.N. & Hudson, J.A.
1993. Uniaxial strength testing, comprehensive rock
engineering — principles, practice & projects. Oxford.
Pergamon Press, 3: 67–86. Rusnak, J.A. 1998. Application of
coal mine roof rating derived form drill Core, in the roof
support design of a coal belt conveyer tunnel. Proc. of the
17th International Conference on Ground Control in Mining,
Morgantown, WV: 221–30. 11th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 A constitutive model for elastic
visco-plastic behavior of weak sandstones Meng-Chia Weng
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National
University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Li-Sheng Tsai
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, China Engineering
Consultants, Inc. Taipei, Taiwan Fu-Shu Jeng & Ming-Lang
Lin Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan
University, Taipei, Taiwan

ABSTRACT: Squeezing means large time-dependent convergence

during tunnel excavation. In the past while tunneling
through

the weak rock strata in western Taiwan, severe squeezing

was encountered and significant remediation costs were
required

to repair the damage. This phenomenon is closely related to

rock mechanical properties, but the mechanism is still not
clear.

Therefore, it is necessary to explore the mechanical

properties of these weak rocks and construct an adequate
constitutive

model to predict their behaviors. In this paper, we first

introduce the deformation characteristics of weak rocks,
and then a

constitutive model comprising nonlinear elastic and

visco-plastic deformation based on the characteristics is
proposed. This

model has such features as: (1) non-linear elastic

deformation; (2) apparent shear dilation, (3) large plastic
deformation occurs

prior to the failure state, (4) the creep deformation under

shear loading. After comparing the actual data with the
predictions,

it is shown that the proposed model describes well with the

elastic, plastic and creep behaviors of weak rock under
hydrostatic

and triaxial loadings.

1 INTRODUCTION

In western part of Taiwan, weak sedimentary rocks (includ

ing sandstone, shale and mudstone), which have undergone

through juvenile rock forming process are often encountered

during tunnel constructions, and these materials exhibit

rela

tively low shear strength and stiffness. As a result, the

typical

strength of these rocks ranges from 5 to 80 MPa. When com

pared to hard rock, it was found that the deformation

behavior

of these rocks is characterized by large amount of nonlin

ear deformation, shear dilation, creep and plastic

deformation

prior to the failure state. In civil and rock engineering,

it is

very important to predict the complex behaviors of these

weak
porous rocks for the understanding of various geotechnical

problems, such as underground excavation, slope stability

and

foundation. However, from the simulations based on several

widely used constitutive equations, the results reflect poor

coincidence between experiments and modeling. Therefore, it

is essential to construct a constitutive model to properly

simu

late the elastic, plastic and creep deformations for weak

rocks.

In this paper, we first present the deformation character

istics of weak rocks, including nonlinear elastic behavior,

apparent plastic and creep deformation. Then according to

the

real behaviors, a model composed of nonlinear elasticity and

visco-plasticity is formulated. Finally verification and com

parison of the predicted model with the experimental data is

presented.

2 DEFORMATION CHARACTERISTICS OF WEAK

ROCKS

In order to investigate the deformation characteristics of

weak

rocks, one kind of weak rock, Mushan sandstone in which 0 5

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 -5000 -4000 -3000 -2000 -1000 0 1000
2000 Volumetric strain(10 -6 ) S h e a r s t r e s s ( M P
a ) Pure shearing creep test p=20MPa Elastic def.
Viscoplastic def. Total def. 0 vp v <0 vp v ε ε Figure 1.
Illustration of typical deformation curves. squeezing has
occurred during tunnel construction (Jeng et al., 1996) is
adopted as the specimen. Triaxial tests along pure shear
stress path were performed (Bernabe et al., 1994; Jeng et
al., 2002). The creep study was performed in triaxial tests
following a step-wise loading procedure. The step-wise
loading procedure permitted the evaluation of creep
behavior at reasonable times, in terms of laboratory
requirements. After creep steps, cycles of unloading
/reloading were conducted in several tests to obtain the
elastic deformation, which will be used to decompose the
total deformation into elastic and non-elastic components,
as illustrated in Figure 1. Experimental results are
summarized as follows, and the details are described in
Weng et al. (2003, 2005). 2.1 Volumetric strain induced by
hydrostatic stress Under hydrostatic stress condition, it
is indicated that increasing confining stress improves the
elastic stiffness of the sandstone and results in a
non-linear curve. Besides, it has been observed that the
plastic deformation is suppressed 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Hydrostatic stress (MPa) S h e a
r s t r e s s ( J 2 ) 1 / 2 ( M P a ) Plastic flow Failure
envelope Viscoplastic flow Irreversible stress work
Hypothesized yield surface W I = 0.04 W I = 0.05 W I =
0.06 W I = 0.08 W I = 0.1 W I = 0.16 W I = 0.035

Figure 2. Sketch of yield surface, plastic flow and

visco-plastic

flow.

under higher levels of confining stress, and therefore, elas

tic deformation plays a more dominant role in the volumetric

deformation at higher levels of confining stress. Closure of

micro-cracks may account for the disappearance of plastic

strain at higher levels of confining stress and results in a

greater bulk modulus as well.

2.2 Volumetric deformation induced by shear stress

The coupling volumetric deformation induced by shear stress

is significant. It reveals that the sandstone tends to

dilate elas

tically upon shearing. However, the plastic deformation is

comprised of the compression at the earlier stage of

shearing
and the significant dilation at subsequent stages of
shearing,

especially when the shear stress is close to the shear

strength

of the sandstone. Consequently, when the applied shear

stress

approaches the shear strength of the sandstone, the total

defor

mation shows a significant dilation resulting from both the

elastic and the plastic behavior.

2.3 Shear strain induced by shear stress

It is indicated that the initial elastic shear modulus

increases

upon greater levels of hydrostatic stress applied. The load

deformation curve approximates toward a horizontal asymp

tote (i.e., failure state) when shear stress approaches the

strength of sandstone.Thus, the plastic component reveals

that

significant plastic shear strain occurs when the shear

stress

approaches the shear strength and it eventually dominates

the

total deformation. Besides, analysis data show that

associated

flow rule is obeyed for the studied rock, i.e. plastic

potential

surfaces coincide with yield surfaces.

2.4 Creep behavior

Under shear loading process, the typical volumetric creep

curve is obtained with various constant-loading stresses.

The
volume first decreases (compressibility); afterwards under

higher constant loading stresses, it increases during creep

(dilatancy). The details are described in Tsai et al.

(2004).

It is also found that both plastic flow and visco-plastic

flow are orthogonal to yield surface under various

hydrostatic

stresses, as shown in Figure 2. Consequently, the associated

flow rules can be applied to describe their plastic

deformation

and visco-plastic deformation. 3 CONSTITUTIVE MODEL OF WEAK

ROCK Given the deformational behavior of weak rock observed
during the experimental study, an associated constitutive
model, based on elastic and visco-plastic concept, can
accordingly be developed to describe the aforementioned
behavior. 3.1 Elastic model In view of the non-linear
elastic behavior described above, a hyperelastic model (or
Green elastic model) is thus adopted. On the basis of such
a model, the strain tensor can be determined from an energy
density function and the stress tensor σ ij by the
following expression: where ε e ij is the elastic strain
tensor and the energy density function. From the
experimental results, is selected to be: where b 1 , b 2
and b 3 are material constants. Substituting Eq. (2) for
Eq. (1), the elastic strain tensor ε e ij has the following
form: According to Eq. (3), the volumetric strain can be
obtained as: The shear strain (γ e = 2 √ J ′ 2 ) can also
be determined based on Eq. (3) as: Accordingly, the
material constants b 1 , b 2 and b 3 can be determined by a
curve fitting derived from the experimental curves shown in
Figures 3–5 For the tested sandstone, b 1 , b 2 and b 3 are
found to be 143.26 µ(MPa) −1/2 , 1462.8 µ, 30.19(MPa) −1 ,
respectively. The strains from model prediction are
compared to the experimental results, as shown in Figures
3–5. In general, the proposed elastic model is capable of
predicting the nonlinear elastic behavior, including shear
dilation of sandstone and its prediction has a reasonably
good agreement with the experimental curves as well. 3.2
Visco-plastic model Visco-plastic model suggested for
geomaterials by Cristescu (1989,1994) is modified for this
research. It is assumed that the rate of irreversible
strain tensor ε˙ I obeys the flow rule. Where H(σ) is the
yield function. W(t), used as a hardening parameter, is the
total irreversible stress work per unit volume 0 5 10 15 20
25 30 35 40 45 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 Volumetric
strain (10 -6 ) H y d r o s t a t i c s t r e s s p ( M P a
) elastic deformation plastic deformation total deformation
Simulation p = 40 MPa

Figure 3. Simulation of volumetric strain, including the

total

strain, the decomposed elastic and plastic components,

induced by

hydrostatic stress. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 -7000 -5000 -3000

-1000 1000 Volumetric strain (10 -6 ) S h e a r s t r e s s
( J 2 ) 1 / 2 ( M P a ) Elastic deformation Plastic
deformation Total deformation Simulation

Figure 4. Simulation of volumetric strain, including the

total strain,

the decomposed elastic and plastic components, induced by

shear

stress. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000

Shear strain 2*(J' 2 ) 1/2 (10 -6 ) S h e a r s t r e s s
( J 2 ) 1 / 2 ( M P a ) Elastic deformation Plastic
deformation Total deformation Simulation

Figure 5. Simulation of shear strain, including the total

strain, the

decomposed elastic and plastic components, induced by shear

stress.

at time t. so that H(σ) =W(t) is the equation of the

stabilization

boundary for the transient creep. F is the visco-plastic

potential

and k is the viscosity coefficient. Due to associated flow

rule

for the studied rock, H(σ) = F is obeyed. The brackets 〈〉

used

above mean the “positive part” of the function. The

procedure
to be used in order to determine the yield function H(σ)
from

the data is described in detail by Cristescu (1994). The

yield

function can be decomposed into two parts: where H h and H

d are the hydrostatic and deviatoric components of the
yield function, and they can be determined by computing the
irreversible stress work described as follows: On a
stabilization boundary, H h σ) =W h (t) and H d (σ) =W d
(t) in hydrostatic and triaxial tests. From the work
calculation and curve fitting, W h (t) and W d (t) are
chosen in the following regressive form: where c(p) = c 0 +
c 1 p 4 , d(p) = d 0 + d 1 p 3 , and h o , h 1 , c 0 , c 1
, d 0 and d 1 are material parameters, and they can be
determined from the regression curves. At the creep stage,
the irreversible stress work can be obtained as follows:
where e(p) = e 0 + e 1 p 4 , f(p) = f 0 p, (J 2f ) 0.5 =α f
+ k f i.e. shear strength according to Drucker-Prager
failure criteria. e 0 , e 1 and f 0 are material
parameters. Accordingly, the complete inelastic strain,
including plastic and creep strain, as a result of one
stress step can be written as: Based on Eqs. (9) to (11),
the proposed visco-plastic model has eleven material
parameters. As for the detailed process of determining
these material parameters, the reference can be found in
Tsai (2006). These material parameters for the studied
sandstones are listed as follows h 0 = 1.08 × 10 −3 , h 1
=−5.87 × 10 −6 , c 0 =−1.69 × 10 −5 , c 1 = −2.39 × 10 −11
, d 0 =−2.1 × 10 −2 , d 1 =−1.74 × 10 −7 , e 0 =−5.73 × 10
−6 , e 1 =−4.03 × 10 −12 , f 0 =−3.54 × 10 −4 , α f = 1.02
and k f = 11.02 MPa. 4 VERIFICATION AND SIMULATION The
verification of the model involves comparing the
predictions of the model with the experimental data. In
Figure 3 is shown the comparison under hydrostatic stress
condition, the proposed model allowed the non-linear
behavior and resulted in a reasonable volumetric
deformation when compared to the actual one, and both
elastic and plastic prediction agree with the test results
well. Under shearing stage in Figures 4–5, it can be
noticed that the model describes quite well not only on the
shear stain but also the volumetric stain. Therefore, the
proposed model is verified and capable of simulating actual
behavior of weak rock. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 -7000
-5000 -3000 -1000 1000 Volumetric strain (10 -6 ) S h e a r
s t r e s s ( J 2 ) 1 / 2 ( M P a ) p=20 MPa p=30 MPa p=40
MPa p=50 MPa p=60 MPa Simulation

Figure 6. Simulation of volumetric strains induced by shear

stress

under different constant hydrostatic stress. 0 10 20 30 40

50 60 70 80 90 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 Volumetric strain
(10 -6 ) S h e a r s t r e s s ( J 2 ) 1 / 2 ( M P a ) p=20
MPa p=30 MPa p=40 MPa p=50 MPa p=60 MPa Simulation

Figure 7. Simulation of shear strains induced by shear

stress under

different constant hydrostatic stress. -15000 -10000 -5000

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Time
(hour) S t r a i n ( 1 0 6 ) Volumetric strain Shear strain
Simulation

Figure 8. Comparison of volumetric strain and shear strain

pre

dicted by the proposed model and experimental data obtained

from

a multi-stages creep test.

In addition, other triaxial tests under different confining

pressure conditions including 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 MPa, are

concerned, and the simulated and the actual types of defor

ABSTRACT: The in situ measure of the mechanical parameters

of coal or rock mass have a series of shortages such as a
large

amount of work, expensive test cost and long test time. But
it is not reliable that the mechanical parameters measured
from

small coal or rock test samples are directly used in

roadway support design. In the paper, therefore, a
correction coefficient of

mechanical parameters actually measured from coal or rock

test samples is introduced. The correction coefficient is
suitable

for such roadways: only a few of mechanical parameters

practically measured from small coal or rock test samples
but without

mechanical parameters situ measured from coal or rock

mass.The practice in the gangway of the 7172 working face
of Xuzhuang

Coal Mine at Datun Mine District suggests that the method

is effective and can save a lot of labor, time, and cost.

1 INTRODUCTION

The mechanical parameters of coal or rock mass are much

different form those obtained by measuring small coal or

rock

test samples because of scale, fractures, heterogeneity, dis

continuity, and aeolotropy [1] . In the mining support

design,

therefore, simply to replace the physical mechanical param

eters of coal or rock mass by those measured from coal or

rock test samples will surely lead to unconformity between

theoretical values and actual values [2] . At present,

there are

usually three ways to solve this problem:

(1) Directly determine the compressive strength, shear

strength and triaxial strength of rock mass through situ
mechanical tests.

(2) Indirectly determine the mechanical strength of rock

mass by the combination of studying the relationship
between rock strength and rock mass strength, geophysical
prospecting and lab test.

(3) Graphically determine the mechanical strength of rock

mass from the rock (structure object) strength curve and
the weakness plane (structure plane) strength curve plotted
through testing.

It is no doubt that these methods can give more accurate

mechanical strengths of coal or rock mass, but they all have

more or less some shortages — large work amount or long

work time or high cost or complicated operation — so that

the

use of them are largely limited in mining practice

[3][4][5][6] .

In the paper, we try to an easy method to solve their dis

advantages. It is to use the roadway surface displacement to

inverse the correction coefficient of mechanical parameters

of

coal or rock mass.

2 PRINCIPLE

In some sense, the roadway circumference displacement u

can comprehensively reflect the surrounding rock stability

condition of the roadway and the physical mechanical
characteristics of coal or rock mass. According to the
elasticplasticity theory and the ground pressure
controlling theory [7] , if a circular roadway is under a
double direction equal pressure and isn’t influenced by
mining, its circumference displacement u can be expressed
where γH is situ stress (MPa), P i is supporting resistance
(MPa), r 0 is the roadway radius (m), G is shearing elastic
modulus (GPa), C is adhesion (MPa), and φ is internal
friction angle. Obviously, the mechanical parameters of the
equation all are the parameters measured from small coal or
rock test samples. However, the parameters used by the
calculation of roadway circumference displacement in
practical engineering should be the parameters measured
from coal or rock mass itself rather than the parameters
measured from small coal or rock test samples. Indeed,
comparing with small coal or rock test samples, a coal or
rock mass has usually a good many of joints and fractures.
They can largely reduce the entirety of the coal or rock
mass so as to make the macroscopic strength of the coal or
rock mass apparently lower than the strength of small coal
or rock test samples. In case the mechanical parameters of
coal or rock mass can not be determined, that is, only the
measured mechanical parameters of small coal or rock test
samples can be used, we must correct the measured
mechanical parameters so as to calculate more reliably the
roadway circumference displacement u through formula. (1)
There is evidence [6] to show that the internal friction
angle of coal or rock mass is close to that of small coal
or rock blocks, but the cohesion and elastic module of the
former are much
different from those of the latter. Therefore, when calculat

ing the roadway circumference displacement, we can take the

internal friction angle measured from coal o rock test

samples

as the internal friction angle. On the other hand, the

cohesion

and elastic module from coal o rock test samples must be cor

rected with a correction coefficient k 1 . Thus formula (1)

is

turned into

If the roadway circumference displacement is measured in

the roadway, the correction coefficient k 1 can inversely be

obtained from formula (2). The average of correction coeffi

cients k 1 of different positions of the roadway can be in

turn

used in determining of the roadway circumference displace

ment. Finally, the displacement thus obtained can be used as

the base of the supporting design of a mine district but

not a

roadway or even a mine.

3 APPLICATION

This method is not only simple and effective, but also very

convenience in engineering application. Here, we take the

gangway of the 7172 working face of Xuzhuang Coal Mine at

Datun Mine District as an example to illuminates the steps

of

inversely obtaining k 1 .

As to the 7172 working face and its gangway, it is known

that the buried depth of both is 327 m, the average
thickness

of the coal seam is 5.65 m, the average volume weight of the

overlying rock is 25 kN/m 3 , the roadway is a full-coal

road

way with a rectangular cross-section of 10.92 m 2 , the

volume

weight of coal is 13.7 kN/m 3 , and the mechanical

parameters

measured from coal test samples are C = 5.13 MPa, ϕ= 29.7 ◦

and G = 0.793 × 10 3 MPa.

By substituting the mechanical parameters above into for

mula (1), we obtained u = 49.4 mm, a theoretical value of

roadway circumference displacement. But the actually mea

sure carried out in the roadway after the driving influence

trended to stop got u = 108.8 mm, an actually measured value

of roadway circumference displacement. By substituting the

ABSTRACT: The influence of void evolution on the formation

of strain localization bands in geomaterials is studied by
an

isotropic damage-plasticity model. This model is developed

for porous geomaterials, which is idealized as a
Drucker-Prager’s

pressure-sensitive matrix containing a periodic array of

spherical voids. This model has been implemented into the
commercial

FEM software MARC through a user subroutine. The simulation

results are given respectively in this paper.

1 INTRODUCTION

The ductile failure of geomaterials is generally associated

with
the appearance of strain localization bands. Experimental
data

have proved that the coalescence of microscopic voids plays

an important role in the formation of ductile fractures and

shear bands in a porous material (see Hancock and Cowling,

1980; Brown and Embury, 1973; Goods and Brown, 1979).

Voids nucleate mainly at second phase particles by parti

cle fracture or by interfacial decohesion, and subsequently

they grow owing to the plastic straining of the surrounding

material.

Most plastic flow localization analyses accounting for the

porosity arising from the cracking or decohesion of second

phase particles have so far been based on the approximate

constitutive relations suggested by Gurson (1977a, b). The

apparent dilatancy and pressure sensitivity of the

macroscopic

plastic deformations result in a material prone to plastic

flow

localization at realistic strain levels (see Yamamoto, 1978;

Tvergaard, 1981; Tvergaard, 1982). Yamamoto (1978) found

that it is necessary to introduce some initial imperfection

to

obtain reasonable localization strains, and showed that the

macroscopic constitutive relations deduced from Gurson’s

model for porous materials has the same form with the phe

nomenological one proposed by Rudnicki and Rice (1975) for

pressure-sensitive dilatant materials to describe the

elastic

plastic behavior of rock and soil masses under compressive

principal stresses. Tvergaard (1982) analyzed the gradual

shear band growth numerically for a porous solid with local

material inhomogeneities on its surface.

In Gurson’s model, the matrix is pressure-insensitive and

the macroscopic pressure-sensitivity is solely a result from

voids in the solids. But for geomaterials, dense metals and

polymers, the matrix pressure-sensitivity has been observed.

These materials can be idealized as the aggregate of voids

and

the pressure-sensitive matrix obeys the D-P yield criterion.

Lazzeri and Bucknall (1993), Jeong and Pan (1995) and Jeong

(2002) have proposed yield functions for these materials by

modifying Gurson’s yield function.

In this paper, we focused on the influence of void evolu

tion on plastic flow localization in geomaterials.

Following the work of Jeong (2002), we develop an isotropic
damageplasticity model based on micromechanics for porous
geomaterials. Shear band formation in rock specimen under
uniaxial compression as well as under uniaxial tension is
analyzed numerically. Strain localization in an arch dam
due to porosity growth is studied, too. 2 MACROSCOPIC YIELD
CRITERION Porous geomaterials can be idealized as a
pressure-sensitive matrix modeled by the D-P yield
criterion containing a periodic array of spherical voids.
The representative element is a spherical thick-walled
shell: the inner and outer radius is denoted by a and b;
the void volume factor f = (a/b) 3 is the macroscopic
damage variable. The Cauchy stress tensor of the matrix and
that acting on the outer boundary of the porous
geomaterials,σ ij and�=� ij , are denoted as microscopic
stress and macroscopic stress. Their hydrostatically
deviatoric and equivalent stresses are denoted by where δ
ij is the Kroneker delta. Yielding of the matrix can be
described by the DruckerPrager yield criterion: where µ and
σ s are the pressure sensitivity factor and the tensile
yield stress of the matrix, respectively. For the
pressure-insensitive Mises matrix with µ= 0, using an upper
bound approach, Gurson (1977a, b) developed a macroscopic
yield function:

But for porous solids with the D-P behavior, it is difficult

to obtain a macrosopic yield function by the same way. Alter

natively, Jeong and Pan (1995) found out the macroscopic

hydrostatic yield stress:

By modifying Gurson’s function Jeong (2002) established

a yield function:

For geomaterials, the voids are often filled with fluid, so

we should consider the spherical thick-walled shell being

sub

jected to pore pressure p at the inner surface, to

macroscopic

Cauchy stress at the outer surface, and to seepage volume

force and microscopic Cauchy stress in the matrix. Thus the

equilibrium equation and the stress boundary condition are:

Note: ij eff =� ij + pδ ij and σ eff ij = σ ij + pδ ij be

the macro

scopic and microscopic effective stress tensor. By replacing

stresses with their effective parts, all the equations of

the spher

ical shell saturated with fluids have the same form with
those

without fluids. Different from Jeong (2002), we assume that

the first item of the macroscopic yield criterion takes the

form

(� ef e /σ ef e ) 2 , and the microscopic effective

hydrostatic stress is

related to the macroscopic one as in the elastic state:

Then, it is straightforward to establish the following macro

scopic yield criterion for geomaterials:

The loci of the two yield functions of Eqns.(6) and

(9), in the median plane for different geomaterials with

µ= 0.0, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 are shown in Figure 1.

It is shown that the yield loci include a yield cap at high

pressure which is due to the existence of voids in

geomaterials

in view of Eqn.(5). The pressure hydrostatic yield stresses

increase with increasing of the pressure sensitivity

factor. The

yield loci contract gradually as material porosity

increasing.

3 DAMAGE EVOLUTION

The evolution of the void volume fraction is due to the

growth

of existing voids and the nucleation of new voids: Figure

1. Loci of the macroscopic yield criterions from Eqn.(9)
and Eqn.(6) in the median plane. For geomaterials, we
consider two nucleation mechanisms: controlled by the
plastic strain (Gurson, 1977b) and by the maximum tensile
stress: where for ∑ m < 0 and ε p e = (ε p e ) max , Here,
f N , σ N and ε N are the volume fraction of void
nucleating particles, the mean nucleation stress and the
mean nucleation strain of the normal distribution,
respectively, and S is the corresponding standard deviation
of the normal distribution, (·) max denotes the maximum
value occurred in the prior deformation history.

4 THE CONSTITUTIVE RELATION

The constitutive relation can be formulated on the basis of

the macroscopic yield criterion, the damage evolution and

the

associated flow rule which is guaranteed by Bishop and Hill

(1951) who said that the validity of normality locally

within

the matrix implies the macroscopic normality. By adopting

the associated flow rule, the macroscopic plastic strain

rate is

related to the macroscopic Cauchy stress by:

where is a scalar factor which can be solved using the

consistency condition.

Thus, we obtain the following constitutive relation for

porous geomaterials:

where D e ijkl and D p ijkl are elastic and plastic tangent

stiffness

tensors:

where h is the microscopic hardening/softening modulus of

the matrix.

The above constitutive relation has the same form with the

phenomenological one proposed by Rudnicki and Rice (1975)

for pressure-sensitive dialatant materials (Yamamoto, 1978)

to

describe the elastic-plastic behavior of rock and soil

masses

under compressive principal stresses.

5 STRAIN LOCALIZATION ANALYSES

The damage coupled elasto-plastic constitutive relations was

implemented into the commercial FEM software MARC

through a subroutine. The strain localization of a plate

under

uniaxial press and tension and the strain localization of

an arch

dam under overloading were investigated by using the model.

The hardening curve of the matrix consists of two straight

lines, which are given by three points, σ s = σ s0 at ε p e

= 0.0

and ε p e = 0.02, σ s = 0.5σ s0 at ε p e = 1.0. The void

nucleation

parameters are f N = 0.04, ε N = 0.3 and S = 0.1. Figure 2.

The equivalent strain of the matrix under press. Figure 3.
The void fraction under press. Figure 4. The equivalent
strain of the matrix under tension. Figure 5. The void
fraction under tension. 5.1 A plate under uniaxial press
and tension For a plate under press and tension, Figures
2–5 show the equivalent strain of the matrix and the void
volume fraction. The material parameters used are E = 21
GPa, v = 0.3, µ= 1.08, and σ s0 = 276 MPa. Scissors shaped
shear bands and horizontal strain localization plane formed
in a plate under press and tension, respectively, in which
the coalescence of microscopic voids plays a central role
in their formation.

Figure 6. Finite Element mesh of the arch dam.

Figure 7. The equivalent strain of the upstream.

Figure 8. The equivalent strain of the downstream.

5.2 An arch dam

Strain localization in an arch dam under the overload water

pressure was investigated by the finite element method.

There

are 21 types of materials to be used.The Finite Element

mesh is

shown in Figure 6. Figures 7 and 8 show the equivalent

strains

of the matrix on the upstream and downstream, while Figures

9
and 10 show the void volume fractions on the upstream and

downstream.

A stain localization band formed along the lower part of the

upstream interface of the arch dam with higher porosity,

which

was due to the concentration of tensile stress, while a

large

area of plastic zone appeared at whole arch dam downstream,

Brown, L.M. & Embury. J.D., 1973. The initiation and growth
of

voids at second phase particles. Proc. 3rd. int. conf. on

strength of

metals and alloys, London, Inst. of metals, pp.164–169.

Goods, S.H. & Brown, L.M., 1979. The nucleation of cavities

by

plastic deformation. Acta Metallurgica, 27:1–15.

Gurson, A.L., 1977a. Continuum theory of ductile rupture by

void

nucleation and growth: Part I-yield criteria and flow rules

for

porous ductile media. J. Eng. Mat. &Tech., 99:2–15.

Gurson, A.L., 1977b. Porous rigid-plastic materials

containing rigid

inclusions-yield function, plastic potential and void

nucleation.

Proceedings of the international conference on fracture (ed.

D.M.R. Taplin) 2A, Pergamon Press, pp.357–364.

Hancock, J.W. & Cowling, M.J., 1980. Role of state of

stress in crack

tip failure processes. Metal Science, 14(8–9):293–304.

Jeong, H.Y. & Pan, J., 1995. A macroscopic constitutive law
for

porous solids with pressure-sensitive matrices and its

implications

to plastic flow localization. Int. J. Solids Struct.,

32:3669–3691. Jeong, H.Y., 2002. A new yield function and a
hydrostatic stresscontrolled void nucleation model for
porous solids with pressuresenstitive matrices. Int. J.
Solids Struct., 39:1385–1403. Lazzeri, A. & Bucknall, C.B.,
1993. Dilatational bands in rubbertoughened polymers.
J.Mat. Sci., 28:6799–6808. Rudnicki, J.W. & Rice, J.R.,
1975. Conditions for the localization of deformation in
pressure-sensitive dilatant materials. J. Mech. Phys.
Solids, 23:371–394. Tvergaard, V., 1981. Influence of voids
on shear band instabilities under plane strain conditions.
Int. J. Fract., 17:389–407. Tvergaard,V., 1982. Influence
of void nucleation on ductile shear fracture at a free
surface. J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 30(6):399–425. Yamamoto,
H., 1978. Conditions for shear localization in the ductile
fracture of void-containing materials. Int. J. Fract.,
11:347–365. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 A discussion on the decrease of
unconfined compressive strength between saturated and dry
rock samples M. Romana Polytechnic University of Valencia,
Spain B. Vásárhelyi Technical University of Budapest,
Hungary

ABSTRACT: The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of a

rock is a basic parameter for many characterization
systems,

strength criteria and calculation methods. It is well-known

fact that it depends on the water content of the samples,
and decrease

when the water content increases. The paper discusses the

possible causes of this reduction. From published data by
Vásárhelyi

and co-workers and others authors some empirical tentative

guidelines for this reduction are proposed, which can be
used in

rock engineering problems where changes in water content

occur regularly (dam and bridges foundations, harbors. .
.).

1 INTRODUCTION

The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) is probably the

most used of the rock index properties for their

characteriza

tion. So all the standards have detailed regulations on the

test

and many authors have published on the effect of the sample

size on the results of the test. The standards detail also

the

form and dimensions of the sample, the conditions of paral

lelism of the faces, even the speed of load application. But

almost none of the standards say anything about the humidity

of the samples. This is a surprising lack because the

samples

can be absolutely dry, air dry, semi saturated or

saturated. And

the water content, or the saturation state, has a clear

influence

on the results of the test. As a rule the strength

diminishes

when the water content increase, with a minimum in saturated

samples.

So some experienced engineers advise to test the rock in the

same humidity conditions in which the rock mass is going to

stay. This is especially important in dam foundations (which

are going to be saturated) or in rockfills. Some rules of

thumb

have been proposed to cope with this problem (Romana, 2003)

when working with geomechanics classifications.

There are a scarcity of published data on the unconfined

compressive strength (UCS) of saturated samples with the

exception of the work by Vásárely and co-workers. For

instant

Vásárhely and Ledniczky (1999) say that “it is known that

saturated materials have lower strengths…than air-dry ones”.

The aim of this paper is to point at the problem, to recol

lect the scarce published data, and to offer a first

tentative

quantitative approximation of the reduction in unconfined

compressive strength of saturated rocks.

2 DECREASE IN UNCONFINED COMPRESSIVE

STRENGTH OF SATURATED ROCKS

Figure 1 (Pells, 1993) shows a Deere-Miller diagram (failure

strength vs. deformation modulus at 50% of failure strength)

containing data from compression tests in dry and saturated

Hawkesbury sandstone. Saturation implies a reduction almost

Figure 1. Strength data on Hawkesbury Sandstone (Pells,
1993). proportional in both parameters, but the
relationship between them would remain approximately
constant. Unfortunately no numerical result can be deduced
due to the lack of numerical definition of the data. Hsu
and Nelson (1993), in a preliminary research for the not
built Super Collider, correlated the unconfined compressive
strength of many types of shale (from Canada and USA) with
the water content.Their results (Fig 2), show a marked
negative correlation between water content and compressive
strength. Ballivy and Colin (1999) have analyzed the
increase in triaxial strength related to changes in the
dielectric constant of the fluid saturating the rock. In a
propane storage cavern in shale the tension strength of the
rock increased 150–200% due to the change in the dielectric
constant, with a reversal to the prior strength when the
propane evaporated. In their opinion changes in the
saturation fluid cause changes in the effective stresses, a
result already stated byVutukuri (1974). In the same paper
they show increases in the compressive strength of 20% when
testing gneiss saturated with salt water (with a small
decrease in the dielectric constant) over the same test
saturated with distilled water, and increases in the
compressive strength of 25–50% of dry samples over the same
test saturated with distilled water. These results show a
clear trend but cannot be generalized due to the small
number of tests done.

Figure 2. Unconfined compressive strength vs. water content

for

clay shales (Hsu and Nelson, 1993).

Figure 3. Unconfined compressive strength vs. water content

for

two shales (Lashkaripour and Passaris, 1993). (a) Linton

Lane coal

mine, (b) Rye Hill coal mine.

The respective dielectric constant are: 80, distilled

water; 74,

salt water; 0 dry state.

Lashkaripour and Passaris (1993) compiled a data base

with selected values of shale rock properties. Figure 3

shows

data from two coal mines. There is also a marked negative

correlation between water content and compressive strength.

3 CAUSES OF THIS DECREASE

In strong indurated rocks of low porosity the compressive

fail

ure is preceded by the growth of cracks from the border of

existing micro pores. The cracks coalesce into growing

cracks

finally extending to the sample dimension and failure

happens.
According to Vásárhely and Bobet (2000) there are three

fundamental theories on crack initiation criteria: maximum

tangential stress (Erdogan and Sih, 1963), maximum energy

release rate (Hussain et al, 1974) and minimum energy den

sity (Sih, 1974). Any of them can reasonably predict tensile

crack initiation, both in tension and/or compression, but

not

in shear. In the simpler case the crack initiation occurs

as “a

progressive lengthening of the crack across the infinite

plate” (Rummel, 1974).The mathematical formulation
“involves a consideration of the energy change during the
crack growth”. Following Rummel there are three energy
terms to be considered: change in potential energy of the
applied forces, change of strain energy due to the
existence of the crack and change in surface energy. So the
Griffith criteria for tensile fracture can be stated (in
the simpler formulation) as σ t = (2 E γ/πc) 1/2 where: σ t
is the tensile strength of the material E is the
deformation modulus γ is the specific surface energy c is
the crack initial half length As has been shown by Ballivy
and Colin (1999) the nature of liquid has a direct
influence in the crack openings, a fact due to the decrease
in surface energy of the crack borders when the pore is
full of water. A similar explanation is offered by
Vásárhely and Ledniczky (1999): “moisture diminishes the
spread of free surface energy, i. e. it facilitates
microcracks propagation by decreasing the elastic limit and
the peak strength also”. On the other hand the crack growth
can be originated by increasing water pressures within the
pores when the rock is saturated. Both effects can happen
simultaneously. In poorly cemented rocks the presence of
water can affect to the cementation between the grains by
different ways: solution, dispersion…Finally in soft
argillaceous rocks the water diminishes the strength of the
grains and/or the cementation. So there are different
causes which produce, together or unconnectedly, the
reduction in strength. 4 SOME PUBLISHED DATA Steiger and
Leundt (1990) gave some data extracted from an EXXON
comprehensive research program on shale typical properties,
shown in table 1. Shale G is composed by a 50% of smectite,
which can explain the big drop in strength and the
simultaneous increase in surface area. Hawkins A. B. & Mc
Connell B. J. (1992) published a paper analyzing the
sensitivity to water saturation of several mechanical
properties of 35 British sandstones. Their results have
been revised by Vasarhely and Van (2006) which have found a
clear correlation between saturated and air dry unconfined
strengths. Lau et al (1993) carried out a study on the
effects of temperature and water saturation on the
mechanical properties o the Lac du Bonnet granite. “The
water saturated specimens were observed to display lower
stress values associated with crack initiation…when
compared with dry specimens”. The reduction was in the
order of 13% and was explained as “due to the very low
permeability, and the undrained test conditions, the
increase of pore water pressure during loading”. Ajalloian
and Karimzadeh (2003) described the engineering properties
of Givi dam foundation on andesitic rocks. Unconfined
compressive test were performed both in saturated and dry
condition in samples of the right bank. The reduction in
strength was in the order of 18%. Sachpazis (2004)
collected representative samples of Bernician Great
limestone (England) from four different metamorphic
degrees, toward marble: A, none; B, low; C, high; D,
completely metamorphised. Several geomechanics tests were
performed, both in dry and saturated conditions. The mean

Table 1. Data on UCS of typical shales (Steiger and Leundt,

1990). Dry UCS Sat UCS Surface

Shale (MPa) (MPa) Decrease area (m 2 /g)

E 96,5 44,8 32 % 2,2

F 82,7 27,6 67 % 3

G 34,5 3,5 90 % 10

Table 2. Data on UCS of different limestones (Sachpazis,

2004). Dry UCS Sat UCS

Rock grade (MPa) (MPa) Decrease

A 211,2 189,7 10%

B 106,1 94,6 11%

C 81,3 62,9 22%

D 87,8 74,8 15%

Figure 4. Saturated and semi saturated UCS vs. dry UCS in
tuff

samples (Kleb and Vásárhely, 2003).

Figure 5. Saturated UCS vs. dry UCS in Miocene limestone

samples (Vásárhely, 2005).

results for unconfined compression tests are shown in the

table 2. All the samples were very strong.

Vásárhely and coworkers have studied systematically the

reduction in unconfined compressive strength (and also in

deformation modulus) when saturating different rocks. Their

results are shown in the figures 4, 5 and 6, and resumed in

the

table 3.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Clearly more work is needed to quantify the reduction of

unconfined compressive strength in saturated rocks. From the

data collected for this paper a tentative rule of thumb

could

be proposed for the preliminary estimations needed when

working with geomechanics classifications:

• well indurated strong rocks:

Pells P. J. 1993. Uniaxial strength testing. In

Comprehensive rock

engineering. Hudson J. (ed) Pergamon. Vol 3, pp 75–97

Romana M. 2003. DMR (Dam Mass Rating) An adaptation of RMR

geomechanics classification for use in dam foundations.

10th Int.

Cong. On Rock Mech. (Technology road-map for Rock Mech.).

Johannesburg. SAIMM

Rummel F. 1974. A review of fracture criteria of brittle

rock. In

Rock Mechanics (Course 165, Udine University) Müller L.

(ed).

Springer-Verlag. pp 70–82

Sachpazis C. I. 2004. Monitoring degree of metamorphism in a

four-stage alteration process passing from pure limestone

to pure

marble. EJGE paper 0416, 25 pp

Sih G. C. 1974. Strain-energy-density factor applied to

mixed mode

crack problems. Int Journ. Fracture 10, pp 305–321

Steiger R. P. & Leung P. K. 1990. Lecture: Predictions of

wellbore

stability in shale formations at great depth. Eurock (Rock

at great

depth) Maurý et Fourmaintraux (eds) Balkema. pp 1209–1218

Török A., Vasarhely B. & Marothy E. 2006. Dependence of phys

ical properties on the water content and textural

properties of

Hungarian travertine. Geophys. Research Abs. Vol 8,

Vásárhely B. 2002. Influence of the water saturation on the
strength of volcanic tuffs. Eurock. Int Symp. on volcanic
rocks, Madeira, pp 89–96 Vásárhely B. 2003. Some
observations regarding the strength and deformability of
sandstones in dry and saturated conditions. Bull. Eng.
Geol. Env. 62, pp 245–249 Vásárhely B. 2005. Statistical
analysis of the influence of water content on the strength
of the Miocene limestone. Technical Note. Rock Mech. Rock
Eng. 38/1, pp 69–76 Vásárhely B. & Bobet A. 2000. Modelling
of crack initiation, propagation and coalescence in
unconfined compression. Rock Mech. Rock Eng 33/2, pp
119–139 Vásárhely B. & Ledniczky K. 1999. Influence of
water-saturation and weathering on mechanical properties of
Sivac marble. 9th Int. Cong. On Rock Mech. Paris. Vol 2, pp
691–693 Vásárhely B. &Ván P. 2006. Influence of water
content on the strength of rock. Eng. Geology 84, pp 70–74
Vutukuri V. S. 1974. The effects of liquids on the tensile
strength of limestone. Int. Journ. Rock Mech. Min. Sc. Vol
11, pp 27–29 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3

A laboratory testing technique and a model for the swelling

behavior of anhydritic rock E. Pimentel ETH Zurich,
Switzerland

ABSTRACT: The adsorption of water is a characteristic of

some sedimentary rocks. Laboratory swelling tests are used
to

determine swelling potential, i.e. the maximum swelling

stress and the swelling stress-strain relation. The current
methods

for performing such tests contain a number of deficiencies,

which may lead to inaccurate estimates of swelling
potential.

Another problem is that up until now we have not had a

generally accepted constitutive relationship for the
swelling process of

anhydritic rock. Due to this uncertainty, it is often

impossible to develop safe and economic designs for
underground structures.

A laboratory testing technique is presented, which makes it

possible to determine the maximum axial swelling stress and
the

swelling stress as a function of the strain. Results of

swelling tests performed using both the current methods and
the new

technique are presented and commented on. Furthermore,

long-term laboratory tests on anhydritic rock provide an
indication

that there is a threshold pressure at which the growth of

gypsum crystals commences, accompanied by large swelling
strains.
1 INTRODUCTION

The so-called swelling phenomenon follows different mech

anisms, depending on the mineralogical composition of the

rock. We distinguish between a physical swelling of argilla

ceous rock and a chemical swelling of anhydritic rock, i.e.

without or with induced changes in the crystalline

structure.

The swelling of rock does not cause only an increase in vol

ume, or in the case of volume constrictions an increase in

pressure, but also a significant reduction in shear

strength and

stiffness (Pimentel, 1996).

In order to produce efficient – i.e. safe and economical –

designs for the construction of underground openings in

swelling rocks, it is important to have realistic estimates

of

swelling potential.

2 SWELLING MECHANISMS

For engineering purposes, the relevant mechanisms can be

subdivided into (Pimentel, 2003):

• physical processes such as mechanical (inverse consolida

tion) or osmotic swelling.

• chemical processes such as oxidation or anhydrite

hydration.

The present article will refer only to the osmotic swelling

and to the swelling caused by anhydrite hydration.

Osmotic swelling depends strongly on the microstructure

of clay particles. The typical structure consists of
packages

of sheets of tetraeder and octaeder crystals with nearly

paral

lel arrangements. Due to temperature and weathering, some

of the central cations will be exchanged with others of

lower

electrical charge, so that the particle will have a

positive charge

deficit. Additionally, due also to the typical sheet

structure of

clay particles, their structure will show a concentration

of neg

ative electrical charge. In order to balance the charge

deficit,

the clay particles will therefore tend to adsorb cations

and ori

ented water dipoles. The negative clay particle surface and

the

positive ionic swarm constitute the diffuse double layer.

Since

this phenomenon depends strongly on ionic concentration, it

is termed ‘osmotic swelling’. Chemical swelling refers to

the hydration of anhydrite (CaSO 4 ) to gypsum (CaSO 4 × 2H
2 O). Due to the different crystalline habits of anhydrite
(orthorhombic) and gypsum (monoclinic), the hydration must
occur through solution and precipitation. The hydration
process is much more complicated than osmotic swelling. The
presence of some cations, especially K + and Na + ions,
will activate and accelerate the process. The salinity of
ground water associated with evaporate deposits is largely
dependent upon beds of more soluble K, Mg and Na salts
(Conley & Bundy, 1958). After activation, these salts can
form complex double salts, which may remain stable for some
concentrations and boundary conditions (pressure and
temperature) and then suffer decomposition with subsequent
precipitation of gypsum. In a similar way, part of the
dissolved anhydrite will form calcium sulphate hemihydrate
(CaSO 4 × 0.5H 2 O) which will dilute and precipitate to
gypsum too (Hand, 1997). Sievert et al. (2005) have
proposed, on the basis of tests with anhydrite powder, a
hydration mechanism. In an initial rapid phase, a partial
dissolution of anhydrite and absorption of the hydrated Ca
+ 2 and SO − 4 ions on the surface of anhydrite particles
takes place, followed by a slower increase in the thickness
of the absorbed layer until a critical specific surface is
reached. After the formation of cracks in this layer, water
molecules penetrate the layer and Ca + 2 and SO − 4 ions
migrate outside it. Gypsum nuclei will form on the surface
of the anhydrite core. In a final, more rapid, phase,
gypsum crystals will begin to grow. Diffusion controls the
kinetic of osmotic swelling. For rock containing anhydrite,
the description of the kinetic is very complicated. Kinetic
models have been proposed only for the hydration of
hemihydrate CaSO 4 × 0.5H 2 O and vary concerning the
assumption of crystal nucleation rate and crystal shape. No
model has gained universal support (Hand, 1994). Since the
anhydrite does not have any electrical field, it is not
able to attract water dipoles or cations from far away. The
clay particles are the water distributors of the system,
i.e. they will transport the water (by diffusion) to the
anhydrite as long as the boundary conditions are adequate.
In the practical temperature-range (T < 40 ◦ C) anhydrite
is metastable and, therefore, it will react to gypsum.
Until now, no theoretical kinetic model has been available
for describing the hydration rate of anhydritic rock.

Due to the pronounced alignment of the clay particles

caused by diagenesis, and due to their sheet-like structure

a transversal isotropic swelling behavior must be expected.

Depending on the conditions in the past (overburden, temper

ature, water circulation, salinity etc.), the maximum

swelling

pressure can vary between some kPa and some MPa.The max

imum swelling pressure of anhydritic rock corresponds to the

pressure needed to avoid the crystallization of gypsum.

After

Correns (Winkler, 1973) this pressure depends on the tem

perature and on the degree of supersaturation, i.e. the
ratio

C/C s :

where σ is the pressure required to inhibit crystal growth;

R

is the gas constant; T is the temperature; V s is the

molecular

volume of the solid salt; C is the actual concentration of

the

solute and C s is the concentration at saturation. For

anhydritic

rock the supersaturation ratio C/C s should not exceed a

value

of 2 (Wichter 1989), so that at least locally pressures up

to

30 MPa can occur.

3 LABORATORY TESTING TECHNIQUE

For the design of structures in or above swelling rock,

realistic

assumptions are needed concerning the pressures and defor

mations developing during the transient process towards the

new equilibrium.

As indicated above, the amount of water that can be

adsorbed by rock depends on its mineralogical composition,

the applied pressure, and the availability and composition

of the water. Microscopic considerations help us to under

stand the macroscopicaly observed phenomena. Due to the

complexity of the swelling process, however, only laboratory

swelling tests are capable of quantifying swelling

potential.
In the literature a number of swelling tests have been pro

posed, such as those of Huder & Amberg (1970), Kaiser &

Henke in DGEG (1986) or Madsen in ISRM (1999). Most

of these tests use the classical consolidation apparatus,

which

has the great disadvantage of only being

stress-controlled.This

means that the rock specimen must be considerably pre-loaded

prior to the actual swelling test. With the Huder & Amberg

test the specimen is subjected to an additional unloading

and

reloading cycle. The load value in those tests is arbitrary

and

often a function of the overburden pressure in-situ. There

fore, it may damage the microstructure, thereby falsifying

the

swelling potential. Another limitation is that the maximum

applied load is limited up to σ ≤ 10 kN.

An alternative apparatus for swelling tests was developed at

the University of Karlsruhe (Fig. 1). The testing device con

sists of a 4-column frame. Load and deformation is applied

or

induced manually over a spindle, so that tests can be

performed

with stress-control as well as strain-control. The maximal

applied load is P ≤ 50 kN, i.e. for a sample with a diameter

D = 80 mm, σ max ≤ 10 MPa.

The testing technique proposed in the current paper con

sists of a multistage swelling test. A cylindrical rock
sample

is cut on a lathe, fitted into a stiff metal ring, mounted

in the

testing frame and prestressed with a minimal load of about

σ preload ≈ 0.02 MPa. In order to avoid structural damage in

the specimen no external loads should be applied, i.e. the

load

will be generated through volume constriction (ε vol = 0%)

by

the specimen itself.The swelling process is activated by

water

ing the sample with demineralized water. The increase of

the Figure 1. Apparatus for swelling tests (after Pimentel,
1996). Figure 2. New test procedure – sketch of the stress
and strain path. swelling pressure over the time is
recorded until the maximum swelling pressure σ max is
reached (Fig. 2), i.e. a new equilibrium has been achieved.
Subsequently, the sample is unloaded stepwise. The load
values for each step can be chosen as fractions of the
determined σ max (e.g., σ/σ max = 50%, 25%, 10% and 5%).
The unloading should be continued until a minimal stress is
reached. For each test step, the load is kept constant
until a new equilibrium has been reached (Fig. 2). It must
be noted, that with this technique the maximum swelling
pressure is determined directly without any extrapolation
and as much information as possible is obtained on the
swelling stress-strain relation. In connection with
investigations for a project to build a new railway line
between Nürnberg and Ingolstadt in southeast

Figure 3. Comparison of the results of swelling tests on

the same

material, using different testing techniques (v.

Wolffersdorff &

Fritsche, 2003).

Germany, swelling tests were performed on the Feuerletten

formation using the Huder & Amberg method, the ISRM and
the technique presented above. The results (Fig. 3) show
that,

as postulated above, each external loading affects the

structure

of the sample, leading in this case to an overestimation of

the

maximum swelling pressure and strain.

4 STRESS-DEPENDENCY OF THE HYDRATION OF

ANHYDRITE

Grob (1972) proposed a semilogarithmic stress-strain

relation

for swelling. This relation seems to describe osmotic

swelling

processes well. For the hydration of anhydritic rock, there

is

no reliable relation. The most important reasons for this

lack

are that far fewer tests have been performed on this

material

than on argillaceous rock and in these tests, no final

states,

i.e. equilibrium states, were reached. It should be noted

that a

single load step of a swelling test on anhydritic rock can

take

months or even years to complete.

In conjunction with investigations for the construction of a

railway tunnel in the southwest of Germany, several swelling

tests were performed on rock specimens from the Gypsumkeu

per formation. It is an anhydritic rock containing a very

finely
distributed anhydrite within a clay matrix as well as anhy

drite veins of different thickness or tubers surrounded by

the

clayey material. Several unloading steps and in some cases

reloading steps were performed according to the instructions

of the Client.The total duration of some of these tests

exceeded

20 years. In spite of this very long period, no final state

was

reached in the majority of the load steps. So, in order to

gain as

much information as possible from the test results, a

non-linear

extrapolation has been applied in order to estimate of the

equi

librium values (Pimentel, 1996). The extrapolation method

used was the Indirect Less Square Method. The mathematical

functions considered were:

Fig. 4a shows the typical time-development for pressure mea

sured during the load steps of one test (solid lines), as

well Figure 4. Measured (solid lines) and extrapolated
(dashed lines) values from a swelling test on anhydritic
rock (specimen Abl. 2 – 166/83.6). Figure 5. Stress-and
strain-values at final state based on extrapolation
(specimen Abl. 2 – 166/83.6). as the extrapolated curves
(dashed lines). Fig. 4b shows the respective results for
the strain. By plotting the final stress-values and
strain-values (obtained by extrapolation) in a
semilogarithmic scale, three stress-ranges can be roughly
recognized (Fig. 5): • In the range of high pressures, the
strains are very small. Here, certain solution of anhydrite
occurs and the high pressure is related primarily in terms
of the pressure required for inhibiting the crystallization
of gypsum. • At pressures around a threshold value of about
4 MPa, a relatively small reduction in the stress causes a
dramatic increase in the strain. The stress is low enough
to allow gypsum crystal growth, so that the structure of
the rock specimen breaks between layers and leads to the
formation of new macropores. Since the state of the
material changes, this phase represents a critical state. •
Further reductions of stress lead to only moderate
additional strain. Due to the macropores, the material will
have suffered a substantial reduction of stiffness. Further
crystalgrowth in this phase would compact the macropores.
It is, nevertheless, also possible that gypsum-dissolution
and

Figure 6. Stress-and strain-values at final state based on

extrapola

tion (ten specimens).

leaching will take place in this phase, leading to a loss

of mass.

Figure 6 shows the extrapolated final states from nine other

tests. All of the specimens present basically similar

behaviour,

characterized by a threshold pressure between 4 and 5.5 MPa.

The amount of swelling strain at stresses below the critical

value depends essentially on the volume fraction and

distribu

tion of anhydrite in the sample and shows considerable

scatter,

due to the heterogeneity of the specimens.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Adequate laboratory tests are essential for determining the

swelling potential of rock External loading of samples by

swelling tests, as in the case of tests using the Huder

&Amberg

or ISRM techniques, may damage the structure and falsify the

swelling potential. With the technique presented here

(i.e., a
combined test for determining the maximum swelling stress

and the swelling strain as function of the applied stress)

all of

the relevant parameters for describing the swelling

potential

of a sample can be determined with only one test.

The extrapolation of values measured in swelling tests with

anhydritic rock provides indications concerning the long

term dependency of swelling strain on applied pressure. The

swelling behavior of anhydritic rock specimens seems to be

ABSTRACT: A new procedure to assess in-situ rock stress

useful for early stages of rock engineering projects is
presented.

Relationships between K (σ H /σ v ) values obtained from

instrumental measurements and TSI index (Tectonic Stress
Index) have

allowed to define empirical relationships from which K can

be estimated. To account regional and local influencing
factors in

the far and near stress fields decision tree analysis are
applied. The combined application of TSI and decision tree
procedures

can provide a reasonable estimation of the expected

magnitude of horizontal stress. This methodology has been
applied to a

large number of cases, mainly from Europe.

1 INTRODUCTION

A new procedure to assess magnitudes of horizontal stress

in terms of K values (σ H /σ v ) is presented. The

procedure is

based on application of decision tree analysis (DTA) and the

empirical relationship between the TSI index (Tectonic

Stress

Index) and K. Both methods, DTA andTSI-K, are complemen

tary and allow integration of the different factors

affecting the

state of stress. In DTA geodynamic and geophysical factors

are

considered to account stress magnitudes at regional and

local

scale.The result allows an estimation of the horizontal

stresses

magnitudes in terms of very high, high, intermediate or low,

as well as possible effects of local amplification. The

index

TSI considers geological history of the rock, elastic

modulus

of rocks and maximum lithostatic load supported. Correla

tions from a large database between TSI and K values have

been obtained. K-TSI empirical relationships have provided

estimations of expected magnitudes of horizontal stress.

2 DECISION TREE ANALYSIS APPLIED TO TECTONIC

HORIZONTAL STRESS ASSESMENT

Logic and decision tree methods are currently used in prob

abilistic analysis. The decision tree is comprised of

branches

and nodes. Each node matchs up with influential factors in

the state of stress. Main regional and local factors

influenc

ing stress have been selected from González de Vallejo, et

al.,

2006.
Two decision tree analysis (DTA) have been developed. The

first one (DTA 1, Fig. 1) considers regional scale

influencing

factors and determines whether foreseeable horizontal

stresses

are low, intermediate, high or very high. We defined

stresses

as low if their magnitude was less than 10 MPa, intermediate

if they were 10 to 25 MPa, high if they were 25 to 40 MPa

and very high if they were more than 40 MPa; in each case

for depths less than 2000 m. The second decision tree (DTA
2,

Fig. 2) represents local scale influencing factors and estab

lishes whether stress amplification due to local effects

could

occur. The minimum degree of confidence adopted for this

analysis was 60%. Table 1 shows the factors included in deci

sion tree analysis 1 and 2 that allow estimation of the

relative

magnitudes of the horizontal stresses that might be

expected. P o s s i b l e t e c t o n i c s t r e s s m a g
n i t u d e G e o m e c h a n i c a l b e h a v i o u r T e
c t o n i c s t r u c t u r e s G e o d y n a m i c a n d g
e o p h y s i c a l c o n d i t i o n s T e c t o n i c s i
t u a t i o n GEODYNAMIC Maximum horizontal stress P l a t
e b o r d e r s I n t r a p l a t e Cratons. Low heat flow
and low/medium crust thickness Brittle Ductile Distensive
Thrusts Compressive Low High Med No craton regions. Medium
heat flow and medium crust thickness Compressive Thrusts
Distensive Brittle Ductile High Med Low Divergent plate
border. High heat flow and low crust thickness Convergent
plate border. High/medium heat flow and high/medium crust
thickness Distensive Thrusts Brittle Ductile Low High Med
Distensive Thrusts Compressive Brittle High Med Low Ductile
R E G I O N A L T O C O N T I N E N T A L S C A L E P l a t
e b o r d e r s Figure 1. Decision tree 1. Horizontal
tectonic stress at regional scale. 3 K ASSESSMENT USING TSI
EMPIRICAL INDEX TSI index has been defined by the following
expression (González de Vallejo et. al., 1988): Stress
amplification Tectonized zones present in the area
Preexistent loads Topographyc effects Horizontal stress
amplification No Yes Yes No No Yes Non fractures zones
Faults or tectonized zones Yes No LOCAL SCALE Non fractures
zones Faults or tectonized zones Yes No Non fractures zones
Faults or tectonized zones Yes No Non fractures zones
Faults or tectonized zones Yes No

Figure 2. Decision tree 2. Stress amplification due to

local effects.

Table 1. Factors influencing the state of stress considered

in the

decision tree. Expected horizontal stress magnitude

Factors High ∗ Medium ∗ Low ∗

Geodynamic Intraplate

situation – (non cratonized Intraplate regions) (cratons)

Borders of Borders of convergent convergent plate plate and
Borders of transcurrent divergent fault plate

Thermal flow High Medium Low

Crust thickness High Medium Low

Geomechanical Brittle, high Brittle,

behaviour strength, medium Ductitle, low elastic strength,

strength, low elastic elasticity

Tectoni Compressive Compressive Distensive

structures

Topographic High and Moderate No

effect abrupt relief relief topographical effect

Pre-existent Highly Moderate No

loads eroded eroded appreciable effect

Tectonized Highly Fractured No fractured

zones fractured

∗ Predominant state.

where T = age of the first orogenic period or significant

tectonic deformation that affected the rock mass (years),

E = elastic modulus of the rock matrix (GPa), H = maximum

lithostatic load supported throughout its geological his

tory (metres), NC = coefficient of seismotectonic activity,

SC = coefficient of topographic influence. 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5

2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 TSI
K i n s t r u m e n t a l Figure 3. K-TSI relationships
using 2006 world data base (TSI’06). • Hercynian and
Precambrian rocks; ◦ Alpine rocks; Relationship for
Hercynian rocks and Relationship for Alpine rocks. The
orogenic periods considered here were those occurring in
the Hercynian (250–300 M. a.) and Alpine periods (10–12 M.
a.). If a rock mass underwent both folding events, it was
assigned the oldest age. The parameter H indicates the
maximum lithostatic load to which the rock has been
subjected over its geological history. For sedimentary
rocks, H can be determined from the thickness of the rock
column above the height at which the site under study is
found plus the thickness of eroded materials. For igneous
and metamorphic rocks, the depth at which the rocks were
emplaced or acquired their elastic properties are
considered. In addition, the tectonic structure in which
the zone examined is emplaced should be taken into account,
since in regions with overthrusts or inverted folds, part
of the stratigraphic sequence may be repeated, increasing
the value of H. Equation (1) includes two coefficients: NC
and SC. NC is the coefficient of seismotectonic activity
and is fixed at 0.25 for zones close to seismogenetic
faults or close to plate boundaries; its value is 1 in the
absence of these conditions. The SC, or coefficient of
topographic influence is 0.3 in zones with pronounced
slopes or those close to deep valleys, and 1 when these
conditions are not met. Whichever the case, NC × SC ≤ 0.25.
The values of 0.25 and 0.3 mentioned above were obtained
from an initial database (González deVallejo, 1988).
However, in subsequent updates of the TSI (Hijazo, 2004)
including a larger number of data, these coefficients were
inappropriate such that they should not be generalized but
adjusted for each region. The first relationship between
the TSI and K was derived from instrumental measures from a
base of 38 data, corresponding to 38 different zones in
which several stress measurements were taken to give a mean
value for each zone. To this data base (TSI’88) more data
have been incorporated (TSI’04 and TSI’06 data bases), 172
cases were selected as representative for the purpose of
this study (Fig. 3), from a total of 624 cases. 0,0 0,5 1,0
1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 TSI
K i n s t r u m e n t a l

Figure 4. K-TSI relationships for Spain. • Hercynian rocks;

◦ Alpine rocks; Global data (TSI’06) relationship for Hercy

nian rocks; Spanish data relationship for Hercynian rocks;

Global data (TSI’06) relationship for Alpine rocks and

Spanish

data relationship for Alpine rocks. 0,00 0,50 1,00 1,50

2,00 2,50 3,00 3,50 4,00 4,50 0,00 0,50 1,00 1,50 2,00 2,50
3,00 3,50 4,00 4,50 TSI K i n s t r u m e n t a l

Figure 5. K-TSI relationships for Western European regions.

• Her

cynian and Precambrian rocks; ◦ Alpine rocks; Global data

(TSI’06) relationship for Hercynian rocks; Western Europe

data

relationship for Hercynian rocks; Global data (TSI’06)

relation

ship forAlpine rocks and Western Europe relationship

forAlpine

rocks.

The empirical relationships obtained for hercynian rocks

were as follows:

And for alpine rocks: 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0
4,5 5,0 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 TSI K i n s t r u m
e n t a l Figure 6. K-TSI relationships for Scandinavia. •
Hercynian and Precambrian rocks; Global data (TSI’06)
relationship for Hercynian rocks and Scandinavian data
relationship for Hercynian rocks. 4 RESULTS DTA and TSI
procedures have been applied to several regions of Europe
including Spain, Scandinavia and Western Europe, where
representative in-situ stress measurements and geological
and geomechanical data were available. Fig. 4, 5 and 6 show
K-TSI relationship for different regions. DTA procedures
were applied in 11 engineering sites of Spain where the
geological and geophysical information needed to fullfill
DTA was available. The results obtained show that of the 11
cases examined, the stress state was correctly established
in 10, and in 9 of these cases the results of the DTA were
equivalent to the K values established by the TSI index.
Further information and discussion on TSI and DTA regional
results is included in González deVallejo, et al., 2006. 5
CONCLUSIONS The decision tree method allows an adequate
estimation of whether the magnitudes of horizontal stresses
due to regional stress fields are very high, high,
intermediate or low, and if it is foreseeable that local
effects will cause the amplification of horizontal
stresses. The result is accompanied by a probability
percentage or degree of confidence given to the response.
Empirical relationships between K values obtained by
in-situ measurements and those estimated by TSI index for
world data base have shown that 66% percent of the values
of

K, using world data, fell within the confidence interval

corre

sponding to a deviation of K ± 0.5. For a deviation K ± 0.7,

the grouping was 77%. However, if regional data are used,

for which uncertainties are reduced and geological condi

tions show greater similarity, deviations were much lower.

For

Spain, for a mean deviation of K ± 0.5, the percentage of

data

accounted for was 84% and for a deviation of K ± 0.7 this

percentage was 88%.

González de Vallejo L.I., Serrano A, Capote R. & De Vicente

G.

1988. The state of stress in Spain and its assessment by

empirical

methods. Procc. Int. ISRM Symposium on Rock Mechanics and

Power Plants. Madrid, pp. 165–172. González de Vallejo,
L.I., Hijazo, T., Insua, J.M. & Ferrer, M. 2006. An
assessment of in-situ Rock Stress based on the empirical
TSI index and the logic tree method. Int. Symp. In-situ
rock stress, Norway. Taylor & Francis editors. Hijazo, T.
2004. Empirical methods to estimate natural stress of
tectonic origen. Analysis of TSI empirical index (in
Spanish), MSc. Thesis. Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Unpublished. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3

A new type of loading platen minimizing frictional

restraint at the specimen boundary Myung Sagong, Jong Gyu
Kim, Sechul Kim & Jun S. Lee Department of Track and Civil
Engineering, Korea Railroad Research Institute, Uiwang,
Korea Kwang-Ho You Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Suwon, Korea

ABSTRACT: Side restraint generated along the

specimen/loading platen interface is a one of key issue
determining the accuracy

of the multiaxial test results. In this study a steel

piston type loading platen supported by rollers has been
developed and the occur

rence of side restraint for a new type of loading platen

and typical unlubricated steel platen is investigated. The
rollers installed

at the end of each steel piston are purposed to rotate

allowing the free translation of steel piston with the
deformation of the

specimens.The measured translation of several pistons

clearly shows the no side restraint generated from the new
type of loading

platen. However, the unlubricated steel platen shows

variable coefficients of friction with confinement and
sliding distance.

1 INTRODUCTION

In rock tunnel subjected to high confining stress, one of

the

primary stability issues is the occurrence of damage around

the tunnel. Many studies have been performed to investigate

the characteristics of damage around rock tunnel (Meglis et

al.

1995, Martin et al. 1997, Fakhimi et al. 2002, and Meglis

et al.

2005, Cai & Kaiser 2005). For some of studies biaxial com

pression test has been employed to simulate the rock tunnel

behavior under the different confining stress conditions and

dimension of the specimens. When one performs biaxial or

triaxial compression tests, a special care has to be given

to

prevent the occurrence of a frictional restraint and stress

rota

tion along the specimen/loading platen interface.

Application

of compressive stress along the biaxial or triaxial

directions

can cause the deformation of a specimen. Since the rigid con

tact between the rock specimen and loading platen inhibits

the

free deformation of the specimen at the interface, a large

mag

nitude of shear stress can occur, if no slippage at the

interface

is allowed. In consequence, the applied vertical or horizon

tal stresses will rotate from the specimen/platen interface

and the frictional restraint will generate along the

interface.

These phenomena will lead the rotation of the principal

stress
direction; as a result the intended magnitude of vertical
or hor

izontal stresses will not be applied in the specimen from

the

interface of the loading platen and specimen. The stress

rota

tion and mobilization of shear stress along the interface

will

increase the observed ultimate strength of material. In

final

inappropriate boundary condition can distort the test

results.

Various types of loading platen have been employed to test

the influences of boundary condition on the strength of the

material during biaxial tests: nonlubricated steel platen,

lubri

cated steel platen, fluid cushion, steel brush and steel

piston

with flexible pads (Gerstle et al. 1976, Bobet 2001, Vonk

1992). As has been mentioned by Gerstle et al. (1976),

differ

ent types of loading platen produce different distributions

of

normal (vertical) and lateral (horizontal) stresses and

displace

ments. For example, rigid steel platen causes uniform normal

displacement but variable normal stress along the boundary.

The fluid cushion, however, allows variable normal displace

ment but uniform normal stress. The proper loading platen

for biaxial compression test represents the platen with
almost zero frictional restraint and sufficient rigidity to
compress the specimen. From that point of view, steel brush
type loading platen has been successfully used up to
recently (Vonk 1992, Bobet 2001). The typical steel brush
type loading platen is formed by bolting together of
multiple slender brushes mounting on the thick steel
support. The length and the size of individual brushes vary
with the ultimate strength of the specimens. The
cross-sectional shape of the brushes can be either square
or rectangular. During the loading, the individual steel
brush responds independently to prevent the side restraint.
Especially, the brushes must have sufficient buckling
capacity, depending upon the length, cross-section and
stiffness of the brush, to sustain the buckling failure of
themselves. In this study we planned the biaxial compress
test with relative large size (400 3 400 3 100 mm) of
specimen compared to the previous tests. The mounting of
steel brush for this size of specimen showed some
limitations with existing uniaxial loading frame. To
accommodate the given condition of the machine, a steel
piston type loading platen is designed and fabricated. This
paper will introduce a new type of loading platen and show
the mobilization and degree of side restraint for the new
loading platen and unlubricated steel platen. 2 STEEL
PISTON TYPE LOADING PLATEN The bending action of the
slender steel brush prevents the occurrence of side
restraint during multiaxial tests. Therefore, the brush
must be flexible enough to follow the deformation of the
specimen and rigid enough to transfer the external stress
into the specimen. Since the scale of deformation near the
edge and center of the specimen boundary differs, the
brushes near the edge of the boundary are subjected to
higher bending moment compared to the brush at the center
of the specimen. With the given size of specimen, about 4
mm of deformation is expected, if the peak strain is about
1%. If the slender steel brushes are employed for the
specimen with the given size in this study, the allowable
length of individual brush should be shorter than 160 mm,
if the cross section of the brush is 100

3 5 mm; the number of brushes is 76; elastic modulus of the

brush is 2310 11 N/m 2 ; and the expected failure strength

of the

specimen is about 30 MPa. The mechanical calculation can

be referred from Bobet (2001). Including the brush support

with the thickness of 5 cm, the whole vertical length taken

by

the supports and brushes is over 300 mm (two sets of 50 mm

thick supports and 100 mm long brushes). Eventually 700 mm

of internal space, including the 400 mm long specimen, along

the vertical direction is required.The required space can

not be

assured in the given uniaxial loading frame. This limits

the use

of traditional steel brush type loading platen. In

consequence a

new type of loading platen was developed to reduce the space

taken by the loading platen set-up in the loading frame and

to produce a zero frictional restraint along the interface

and

sufficient rigidity of the brushes themselves.

2.1 Structure of steel piston roller ended loading platen

The new type loading platen consists of steel piston, roller

and support. The dimension of the steel piston is 45 mm in

length and 19.8 mm in width (Fig. 1). All of the pistons are

heat treated. At the rear side of piston one side-opened

6.5 3

5 mm size of rectangular shape is machined to host the 6 mm

diameter of roller.The roller is cylindrical shape and the

length

of roller is the 150 mm. At the edge of both sides, 16 mm

wide

pistons are applied to prevent the contact between the

vertical

and horizontal loading platens. The gap between the pistons

is 4.2 mm. The gaps between the pistons are supported by a

pair of 0.5 mm thick plate type springs to sustain the

initial

position of piston as close as possible. On a one side 17

pistons

are installed; as a result, a total of 68 pistons are

required

along 4 sides of a specimen. From the given scale and number

of pistons, 396.2 mm out of 400 mm length of specimen is

covered by the loading platen.

In addition, the 30 mm thick steel supports buttressing

the steel pistons and transferring the stress from the actua

tor to the piston are employed. In consequence, the vertical

length of the new loading platen is 76 mm, including 1 mm

gap between the steel piston and support. The overall view
of

biaxial loading set-up can be found from Figure 2. 19.8 4.2

45 D=6 4.2

Figure 1. Dimension and structure of individual steel

piston (mm).

Figure 2. Steel piston roller ended loading platen set-up.

2.2 Comparison of side restraint The fundamental purpose of
loading platen is a successful transfer of loads from the
actuator to the specimens. Therefore sufficient rigidity of
loading platen is an essential. Since the new type loading
platen employs relatively short and wide steel piston
compared to the steel brush type loading platen, a buckling
failure is not a concern. The main issue of new loading
platen is the capability of the reduction of side restraint
compared to the previous types of platen. Among the various
types of loading platen, Vonk (1992) shows the occurrence
of friction and coefficient of friction with sliding of
specimen (concrete cube) for the lubricated steel platen.
As for a lubricant, a thin sheet of teflon and a thin
grease layer between the dry steel platen and teflon is
used. According to Vonk (1992), the static coefficient of
friction for the teflon lubricated steel platen is about
0.03. At the initial stage of sliding stick-slip behavior
is observed. The coefficient of friction is reduced with
sliding distance. In this study we have conducted the
friction test on the lateral sides with the new loading
platen and the traditional unlubricated steel platen.
Typically the lateral side is the surface of confinement
applied for biaxial tests. The detailed test setup is shown
in Figure 3. For the friction test, existing uniaxial
loading frame with capacity of 2.94 MN was used. The
loading machine is servo controlled allowing strain and
stress controlled load test. For the friction test 0.5 and
0.1 mm/min loading rates are applied. The confinement is
applied by the horizontal loading frame. The loading
capacity of horizontal frame is about 0.98 MN. The
horizontal frame is hanging to the uniaxial loading frame
by cables to allow free axial movement during the tests.
Additionally advantage on the use of hanging system for the
horizontal frame is the application of confinement at the
same position of the specimen during the loading. The load
is supplied by upward movement of base platform. Thus, the
actual loading sequence is a supplication of load from the
bottom of the specimen. Since the length of the suspending
cables of horizontal frame is fixed, upward movement of
base platform also moves upward of horizontal axis.
Therefore, the constant loading point of lateral
confinement can be assured (see the insert of Fig. 3). For
the friction test 400 3 400 mm specimen is prepared. The
specimen is formed from the mixture of highly earlystrength
cement and water. The mixing ratio is 50 : 50 in weight.
Several materials have been tested such as gypsum and
ordinary Portland cement. However, the highly
early-strength cement has advantage on the low shrinkage
and hydration temperature. Figure 3. Biaxial test equipment
and lateral side friction test setup.

Before the friction test the specimen is initially confined

by lateral confinement: 1, 3, and 5 MPa. The specimen is sus

pended and the open space is secured at the bottom of the

specimen, as can be seen in the inset of Figure 3. The mea

sured sliding distance is the upward movement of the base

platform. For new type of loading platen the translation of

individual piston is measured at three different locations:

21,

189, 357 mm from the top of the specimen by using LVDTs.

The sliding distances are measured from the three different

locations to the fixed crosshead at the top of the specimen.

The general view of translation measurement can be seen in

Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 5 shows the measured vertical load and sliding dis

tance of specimen, and steel pistons. As the vertical load

is

applied, which represents upward movement of base platform,

the rollers at the end of pistons rotate with sliding of

specimen.

The stepwise movement of load and sliding distance are due

to

low resolution of the machine at the small magnitude of load

ing stage. The initial position of the specimen keeps

constant

during loading (Fig. 6). With increase of vertical load,

linear

increase of sliding distance can be found. However, the

sliding

of steel piston at three locations is invariable up to 2 mm

of

sliding distance. This indicates perfect functioning of

rollers

which allow keeping constant positions of pistons up to 2 mm

sliding of the specimen. Since sliding occurs, no frictional

restraint can be found at the boundary during the loading.

At

2 mm of sliding distance we can find the abrupt halt of

vertical

load increment and jump of piston movement from Figure 5.

This behavior represents the contact between the guide
plate at

the bottom of the new type of loading platen and the last
steel

piston. Since the gap between the guide plate and the steel
pis

ton is about 4 mm including the thicknesses of a pair of

plate

type springs, the real space guaranteeing the free movement

of 4 0 0 C L Top Middle Bottom

Figure 4. The locations of steel piston translation

measurement. -2 0 2 4 0 0.5 1 1.5 Time [Sec*10E3] S l i d i
n g D i s t a n c e [ m m ] 0 10 20 L o a d [ k N ] Load
Sliding Distance (specimen) Sliding Distance (piston) Top
Middle Bottom

Figure 5. Measurement of sliding distance and applied load

for steel

piston roller ended loading platen (0.1 mm/min). the roller

would be around 2 mm. As the roller at the last piston
cannot freely rotate, the friction between the specimen and
loading platen is mobilized. The mobilization of friction
propagates upward and ends up with the decrease of the
distance between the pistons and crosshead. The measured
sliding distance of pistons represents the slippage between
the pistons and the specimen, which often occurs under the
condition of unlubricated steel platen. The same type of
lateral side friction test for the unlubricated steel
platen is conducted for comparison. The test scheme is
shown in Figure 7. In this test 2 LVDTs are installed to
measure displacements of specimen and steel platen, if any
exist. The test results are shown in Figure 8; applied
vertical load and sliding distance for 3 different
confinement 1, 3, and 5 MPa conditions. As expected no
relative displacement of steel platen is observed from the
test, thus, only the sliding distance of specimen and
applied vertical load are plotted in Figure 8. Figure 8
shows the sliding distance and applied loads for
unlubricated steel platen under the confinement of 1, 3, 5
MPa. As the confinement is lower, sliding of specimen
occurs earlier. In addition, an increase of confinement
increases the slip stress of the specimen. In this test 0.5
mm/min loading rate is applied to remove the stepwise load
increment observed in Figure 5. The steps observed in the
load curves of confinement 3 and 5 MPa are caused by the
limitation of the loading machine. One interesting
observation at each condition of confinement is an increase
of load after the occurrence of initial slip up to peak
sliding load. Since the static coefficient of friction must
be greater than the dynamic coefficient of friction, the
load should be reduced after initial slip of specimen.
Since the occurrence of the peak loads are found almost the
same sliding distance, we are expecting some tolerance
exists. C L C L Figure 6. Relative position of pistons and
specimen before and after the test. 4 0 0 Figure 7. Sliding
distance measurement for unlubricated steel platen.

Figure 8. Measurement of sliding distance and applied load

for

unlubricated steel platen (0.5 mm/min). 0.15 0.2 0.25 0 1 2

3 Distance of Sliding [mm] C o e f f i c i e n t o f F r i
c t i o n Confining_1 MPa Confining_3 MPa Confining_5 MPa

Figure 9. Mobilized coefficient of friction with

confinement and

sliding distance.

Further test and investigation are undergoing to find out

the

reason for such behavior.

The results of Figure 8 are redrawn in Figure 9. Figure 9

shows the mobilized coefficient of friction with different

con

fining stress. As can be seen, the peak coefficient of

friction

values decrease with confinement. The peak coefficient of

friction values are about 0.24, 0.2 and 0.19 when the
lateral

confining stress is about 1, 3, 5 MPa. These values are

close to

the measurement made by Vonk (1992). The maximum coeffi

cient of friction measured from concrete cube is 0.18. In

final,
we can conclude that the static coefficient of friction
decrease

with confining stress and sliding distance. In addition, in

a

given confining condition, application of a single

coefficient

of friction for numerical analysis may lead inaccurate

results.

3 CONCLUSION

Boundary condition is a one of key factors affecting the

test

results of multiaxial tests. In this study we introduce a

new

type of loading platen producing almost zero side restraint.

The main reason of developing a new type of loading platen

is to minimize the space taken by the loading platen to

host a

ABSTRACT: With the increased use of mechanized rock

excavation, there have been developed internationally a
number of

methods to assess the abrasivity of rock materials. These

methods range from determination of hard mineral content
using

petrographic thin section analysis or x-ray diffraction

(XRD) analysis to weight loss or rate of wear flat
development on

specified test pieces. 35 rock samples covering igneous,

sedimentary and metamorphic rocks were used for evaluation
of the

abrasivity test developed by the Centre d’Etudes et de

Recherches des Charbonnages de France, (CERCHAR test) and
the the

abrasivity test developed by the Laboratoire des Ponts et

Chaussées, France, (LCPC test). XRD and thin section
analyses were

also conducted for quantitative mineral content analysis.

Factors influencing the results obtained from these test
methods were

investigated. The influence of test surface roughness and

styli hardness used in the CERCHAR abrasivity test were
explored.

The LCPC test was analyzed to develop a possible

correlation between the abrasivity coefficient (ABR) (g/t)
and the CERCHAR

abrasivity index (CAI)(0.1 mm) values.

1 INTRODUCTION

The abrasiveness of rock is one of the issues of concern to

engi

neers considering the excavation of tunnels by either

full-face

or partial-face tunnelling machines. Even if the rock is

not too

strong for mechanized excavation, wear of cutting tools if

the

rock is abrasive may lead to costly tool replacement rates.

Not

only is tool wear a problem, but other machine components

coming in contact with the rock during excavation also

experi

ence wear and cause expensive component replacements and

downtime. Many methods have been proposed over the years

by a number of researchers for assessment of rock abrasiv

ity but only a few have gained common acceptance in the

industry and none of these methods have been standardized

internationally. The methods developed so far are summarized

in Table 1.

The CERCHAR abrasivity index test has been widely

accepted for the assessment of rock abrasiveness. This

test has been considered to provide a reliable indication

of rock abrasiveness and has been used by a number of

researchers (Atkinson et al., 1986; Suana and Peters, 1982;

Michalakopoulos et al, 2006). Work by West (1986) and

West (1989) indicated that CERCHAR abrasivity index values

showed good correlation with the hardness of minerals deter

mined from Mohs’ scale of hardness. Bilgin et al. (1988)

used

this test for prediction of roadheader pick consumption

rate,

while Wijk (1992) used this test to develop a mathematical

model for prediction of tunnel boring machine performance.

Attempts were also made to check the effects of using soft

and

hard steel styli (Al-Ameen and Waller, 1994) and Plinninger

et al. (2003) analyzed the effects of diamond sawn and

freshly

broken rock surfaces on the CERCHAR test results.

The LCPC test method is still not very widely used, though

in recent years, it has been used in individual cases for

pre

liminary investigations for tunnelling projects to determine

the abrasivity of rocks. Attempts have been made to

correlate

the results of the CERCHAR test with the LCPC abrasivity

index ABR (g/t) which is calculated in grams lost by the
metal test propeller per tonne of the sample material
(Büchi et al., 1995). Though reasonable correlations have
been found for some rock types with similar mineral
compositions, testing was undertaken to investigate the
rock characteristics that were influencing the results
obtained. Micro cracks, grain shape and grain size of the
minerals as well as their spatial arrangement influence the
results of both the CERCHAR and the LCPC test methods. Thin
section analysis has been used in the past for the
determination of Schimazek’s F-value and hence for
determination of rock abrasivity. West (1981) describes
that quartz content, determined either from thin sections
or by X-ray diffraction analysis, which is sometimes used
as a measure of rock abrasiveness. The current study
analyzed various factors influencing the results of the
CERCHAR test and the LCPC test. Efforts were made to
develop correlations between different test results by
changing certain test parameters. The differences between
using diamond sawn and freshly broken rock surfaces and the
use of hard and soft steel styli on the values for the
CERCHAR abrasivity index were analyzed. The LCPC abrasivity
test was conducted to explore a possible correlation with
CERCHAR abrasivity index test results. The effect of using
water on the values of ABR (g/t) was also analysed. 2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Thirty five abrasive sedimentary,
metamorphic and igneous rock types were selected for
testing. Thin sections of some of the selected rock samples
were prepared and x-ray diffraction analysis was carried
out for quantitative mineral content analysis. CERCHAR and
LCPC testing was carried out on all the rocks. 2.1 The
CERCHAR test The test apparatus used for the CERCHAR test
was developed in accordance with the method presented in
the CERCHAR

Table 1. Summary of rock abrasivity measurement methods

developed to 2007.

Petrological Methods

Source Method Principle

Rosiwal, 1896 Rosiwal grinding hardness Grinding test by

rotating test sample of 400 mm 2 on metal or glass disc
using corundum powder for 8 minutes.

Schimazek and Knatz, 1970 Schimazek’s F-value F = (Qtz. eq

*ø* BTS)/100 (N/mm) Where Qtz.eq = Quartz equivalent, % ø =
Grain diameter, mm BTS = Brazilian tensile strength, MPa
West, 1981 Scratch hardness Using Mohs’ scale of hardness
to calculate hardness of individual minerals and hence
hardness of rock.

Verhoef, 1997 Vickers and Knoop hardness Static indentation

tests used to give a measure of hardness of minerals.

Mechanical Methods

Belugou et al., 1964 The CERCHAR abrasivity test A sharp

steel conical point of cone angle 90 ◦ is passed across the
surface of a rock specimen for a distance of 10 mm under a
normal load of 7 kgf. The abrasiveness testing pins are
made of steel with a well defined steel quality of 200
kg/mm 2 tensile strength with a Rockwell hardness of HRC
54–56. The abrasiveness of the rock is obtained by
measuring the diameter of the resulting wear flat on the
steel cone. The unit of abrasiveness is defined as wear
flat of diameter 0.1 mm.

Schimazek and Knatz, 1970 Schimazek’s pin-on-disc test Mass

loss of a 10 mm steel pin of 700 MPa tensile strength with
90 ◦ cone angle held vertically, radially moving outward on
a rotating rock disc under a load of 4.5 kg.

Tarkoy and Hendron, 1975 Modified Taber abrasion test A 6

mm thick disc of rock cut from a 50 mm diameter core sample
is subjected to 800 revolutions (400 on each side) under
the action of an abraser wheel loaded with a 250 g weight.
The rock abrasiveness is obtained by measuring the weight
loss of the abraser wheel and is defined as the reciprocal
of this weight loss in grams.

Paschen, 1980 Pin-on-disc test Same as Schimazek’s

pin-on-disc test but pin horizontally pressing the rotating
rock disc.

West, 1981 The Steel Cube test A bright mild steel cube is
tumbled for three hours in a tumble-polishing machine
together with a 900 g sample of rock aggregate saturated
with water. The loss in weight per hour of the steel cube,
expressed as a percentage of its original weight, is a
measure of the abrasiveness of the rock.

West, 1981 Silica content Chemical analysis of finely

powdered rock.

Janach and Merminod, 1982 Rock abrasivity test with Wear of

the indentation tool is measured as the weight loss for a
given modified Schmidt hammer total impact energy in mg/kJ.
AFTES, 1982 The LCPC test 500 g of rock broken to a grading
corresponding to the 4/6.3 mm fraction is used. The test
sample is placed in a vertical cylindrical mould 100 mm in
diameter. A steel insert (50 × 25 × 5 mm) of grade XC 12,
placed in a horizontal plane at the end of a vertical
metallic shaft, is immersed in the material and rotated at
4500 rpm for 5 minutes. Mass loss of the insert is a
measure of rock abrasivity.

Roxborough, 1987 Core abrasion test Core placed in a lathe

rotating at 50 rpm and feeding the tungsten carbide insert
at an angle of 45 ◦ axially along the outer surface of the
core. The abrasive wear expressed in weight loss of carbide
divided by cutting length (mg/m).

Deketh et al., 1998 Deketh’s scraping test A lathe is used

to rotate rock discs, 140 mm in diameter, which are
penetrated by the chisels with a constant feed. Mass loss
of chisels is a measure of rock abrasivity. The chisels are
obtained from cutter suction dredger teeth.

Nilsen et al., 2006 The NTNU method The Brittleness test,

the Siever’s J-value and the Abrasion tests are conducted
to calculate DRI (drilling rate index) and BWI (bit wear
index).

(1986) recommendations and consists of a stylus clamped

in a holder which is subjected to a 7 kg dead weight with

an arrangement to slide the stylus for a distance of 10 mm.

The geometrical features of the testing stylus are defined

in

the testing recommendations CERCHAR (1986) and suggest

the use of hardened steel with a Rockwell Hardness HRC of

54–56 and a tensile strength of about 2000 MPa . As

reported by Plinninger and Thuro (2003) steel qualities
have in the past been varied within a wide range for
different reasons, as there are problems in material
procurement (West, 1989) or softer styli give “better”
testing results when testing low abrasive rock types
(Al-Ameen and Waller, 1994). For comparison purposes softer
steel styli (220VPN hardness) were also prepared for this
investigation.
CERCHAR (1986) recommends that the tests should be

carried out on even freshly broken rock surfaces. According

to Plinninger and Thuro (2004) experience has shown that

in many inhomogeneous rock types (such as conglomerates,

coarse grained granite or schistose rock types), no suitable

rock surfaces may be gained by breaking the rock sample with

a hammer or any other splitting device.

After scratching the test stylus on the rock sample for a

dis

tance of 10 mm, the test stylus was carefully examined under

the microscope and the wear flat was measured in 1/10th of a

mm to obtain the CERCHAR abrasivity index, CAI (0.1 mm).

The original recommendations by CERCHAR (1986) suggest

the measurement of wear flat using a microscope. Plinninger

and Thuro (2004) have recommended two measurements to

be carried out at 90 degrees to each other and a mean value

should be used for further interpretation.

2.2 The LCPC test

The dimensions and material of the steel inserts used for

LCPC

test are specified by Association Française des Travaux en

Souterrain, AFTES (1982). Table 1 gives the details of the

test.

3 EVALUATION OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA

3.1 The CERCHAR test results

3.1.1 Correlation between CAI (0.1 mm) and CAIs (0.1 mm)
Plinninger et al. (2003) have developed a correlation
between

CERCHAR abrasivity index values for diamond sawn and

freshly broken rock surfaces and have proposed that the CAI

values on rock samples with “rough” surfaces have a CAI

of about 0.5 higher than the samples with “smooth” surfaces.

According to the authors this trend shows good to moderate

fit

and even data distribution which does not depend on the rock

sample’s lithological characteristics. The CERCHAR abrasiv

ity test data from this research programme was also plotted

to check the existence of any such correlation. A good cor

relation with R 2 value of 0.89 was obtained when data for

all igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks was plotted

(Figure 1) generating the following correlation equation:

where CAI = CERCHAR abrasivity index for fresh broken

rough surfaces; and CAI s = CERCHAR abrasivity index for

saw cut smooth rock surfaces.

All predicted values of the CAI (0.1 mm) were found to

be lying within the 95% CI (confidence interval) proving the

validity of the equation. The correlation equation developed

validates the research conducted by Plinninger et al.

(2003) by

showing that there is an increase in the values of CAI (0.1

mm)

when tested on broken “rough” rock surfaces. The only dif

ference is that the increase in CAI (0.1 mm) values on rough

surfaces seems to be of the order of 0.2 for the rock types

tested.

3.1.2 Correlation between CAIs (0.1 mm) using soft and

hardened steel styli

CERCHAR test using both soft steel of 220VPN hardness

and hardened steel styli of 660VPN hardness were also con

ducted on diamond sawn rock surfaces to develop a

correlation

between CERCHAR abrasivity index values obtained from

Figure 1. Correlation between CERCHAR abrasivity index
values for freshly broken and saw cut rock surfaces for all
rocks. both steel types used.A moderate linear correlation
was established (Figure 2). The correlation developed the
following equation: where CAI soft = CERCHAR abrasivity
index values using 220VPN styli and CAI hard = CERCHAR
abrasivity index values using 660VPN styli. Al-Ameen &
Waller (1994) also developed a correlation between soft EN3
and hard EN24 styli. They obtained a moderate correlation
between the two steels tested and found a quadratic
relationship between the two steel types. The difference
was that they used polished rock surfaces, whereas in this
research work saw cut rock surfaces were used. Also they
tested only coal measure rocks with soft EN3 styli, whereas
in this research all rock types were tested using both soft
220VPN and hard 660VPN styli. 3.1.3 Correlation between
CERCHAR Index, grain size, quartz equivalent and Brazilian
tensile strength To establish a correlation between the
CERCHAR abrasivity index test results, grain size, quartz
equivalent content and Brazilian tensile strength (BTS),
stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS software
was used. This software relates the dependent variable to
the independent variables in a stepwise fashion calculating
the significance of the pvalue. The p-value of a
statistical significance test represents the probability of
obtaining values of the test statistic that are equal or
greater in magnitude than the observed test statistic. A
p-value of 0.05 is a typical threshold used in industry.
BTS was removed from the analysis based on its p-value
significance in the second run using the backward selection
method, generating Equation 3 with an R 2 value of 0.82.
where CAI s = CERCHAR abrasivity index values using 660VPN
styli on saw cut surfaces (0.1 mm); Qtz.Eq = Quartz
equivalent (%); and GrSize = Grain size (mm).
Figure 2. Correlation between CERCHAR index values on dia

mond sawn rock surfaces using 220VPN and 660VPN test styli.

Although all predicted values were lying within the 95% CI,

quite high values of the standard error of the estimate made

this prediction model less reliable. Higher values of

standard

error of estimate were expected because of only 10 data sets

were available for the prediction model.

3.2 Thin Section and X-ray diffraction analyses

3.2.1 Correlation between quartz content determined by thin

section and X-ray diffraction analyses

Thin section analysis is conventionally used to find the

percentages of the minerals present in the rocks under con

sideration. This technique although valid, but is quite time

consuming in terms of thin section preparation, can easily

be interpreted differently because interpretation is

subjective

requires special skills to identify individual minerals

present

in the section. On the other hand x-ray diffraction analysis

requires less sample preparation time and results are

accurate.

A correlation between the available results of thin section

and

x-ray diffraction analyses was established. A very good

corre

lation (Figure 6) with R 2 value of 0.98 was established

between

the quartz content from the two tests, suggesting the

following
as a correlation equation:

where Qtz Thin.Sec = Quartz percentage from thin section

anal

ysis; and Qtz XRD = Quartz percentage from x-ray diffraction

analysis.

3.3 The LCPC test

3.3.1 Correlation between ABR (g/t) and CAI (0.1 mm)

Very little work has been done to correlate the results of

LCPC

and CERCHAR tests. Büchi et al. (1995) analyzed both the

CERCHAR and the LCPC tests and found that the correlation

between the two methods was not good for all groups of
rocks.

Rocks with similar mineral compositions can lead to almost

identical values in the case of the one test, in the other

they

result in a considerable difference in their abrasivity

class. In 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 0 0.5 1 1.5
2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 CAIs (0.1 mm) L C P C A B R ( g / t )
Sedimentary Rocks Igneous & Metamorphic rocks Fe-Ni Ore
Figure 3. Scatter plot of ABR (g/t) against CAI (0.1 mm).
this study when correlating the results of the LCPC test
and the CERCHAR test, it was found that a poor correlation
exists between the two indices for all the rocks tested
(Figure 3). Although igneous and metamorphic rocks showed
some form of linear correlation between the two indices,
sedimentary rocks showed a very poor correlation. The
sedimentary rocks especially abrasive sandstones which were
found to be “very abrasive” and “extremely abrasive” in the
CERCHAR tests showed very little abrasiveness in the LCPC
test (Table 2).The factor which seemed to be playing a
dominant role in the mass lost by the steel test pieces in
the LCPC test was the strength of the rock. The tested
rocks especially the types listed in Table 2 had their CAI
(0.1 mm) values ranging between 2 and 4.5 (very abrasive to
extremely abrasive according to CERCHAR (1986) abrasiveness
criteria), but these showed values of ABR (g/t) ranging
from 140 to 1420 (very low to average abrasiveness
according to AFTES (1982) abrasiveness criteria). The
strength values of the tested rocks clearly indicate that
theABR (g/t) values for the rocks like sandstones are very
dependent on the strength of the rock apart from other
factors such as mineralogy and angularity of grains,
whereas rocks with relatively higher values of compressive
strength like greywacke and flint are showing some
abrasiveness in the LCPC test. 3.3.2 Effect of using water
on the values of ABR (g/t) in the LCPC test The use of
water or bentonite slurry with crushed rock aggregate in
the LCPC test in connection with the slurry shield
tunnelling and EPB (earth pressure balanced) tunnelling
projects has been mentioned in the literature (Büchi et
al., 1995). A limited number of tests were conducted in
this research work to check the effect of using water in
the LCPC test. Seven highly abrasive rock types were
selected to check the influence of using water on the
values of ABR (g/t). 200 ml of fresh water with 500 g of
crushed rock aggregate was used in the test. This quantity
of water was sufficient to submerge the rock sample in the
100 mm diameter steel mould. The tests were conducted at
the maximum specified speed of 4500 rpm for 5 minutes. An
appreciable increase in the wear and hence the ABR (g/t)
values was observed. Table 3 provides the values of ABR
(g/t) for tested rocks with and without using water. The
increase in the ABR (g/t) values was attributed to the
formation of a thick abrasive slurry as a result of
crushing of rock sample and mixing with water during the
test. This phenomenon was opposite to the dry tests in
which at the end of most of the tests a thick deposition of
rock flour was found on the sides and the bottom of the
mould. During removal of the rock flour from the sides and
bottom of the mould some Table 2. Comparison of CERCHAR
test, LCPC test and UCS test results of selected rock
types. CERCHAR Test LCPC Test Rock Tested UCS (MPa) CAI
(0.1mm) Abrasiveness ABR (g/t) Abrasiveness Sandstone 71
2.02 Very abrasive 340 Very low Penrith Sandstone 81 4.2
Extremely abrasive 140 Very low Woodkirk Sandstone 88 3.42
Very abrasive 540 low Greywacke 278 2.5 Very abrasive 920
low Flint >300 4.5 Extremely abrasive 1420 Average

Table 3. Comparison ofABR (g/t) values obtained using water

and

without water. ABR(g/t) ABR (g/t)

Rock Type with Water without Water

Pennant Sandstone 1800 740

Flint 1560 1420

Grey Granite 1300 1100

Dark Pink Granite 1780 1300

Minnesota Grey Granite 1620 1460

Granite 1580 1480

Felsic Gneiss 1900 1300

intact rock fragments were found under the rock flour. This

observation confirms that in the dry tests most of the time

the steel insert rotates in a material of very low strength

and

the mass loss of the insert is either due to initial impact

with

intact rock pieces and later on due to contact with an

abrasive

powder, whereas in the case of tests with water, the steel

insert

not only rotates against intact rock pieces at the start of

the test

but also against a thick abrasive slurry as the test

progresses.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The CERCHAR abrasivity test is an industry standard but

for comparison purposes requires standardization in terms

of styli material properties and scratched surface prepara

tion. The CERCHAR test has the advantage of being easily

conducted but has the disadvantage of only testing a minute

amount of rock with one test and requires an increased num

ber of tests where the rock is inhomogeneous. The results of

the research presented in this paper show that the CERCHAR

tests conducted on rough freshly broken rock surfaces have

CAI (0.1 mm) values 0.2 higher than the CAI (0.1 mm) values

obtained from diamond sawn rock surfaces. This conversion

factor can be used to convert CAI (0.1 mm) values obtained

from diamond sawn rock surfaces to freshly broken rock sur

faces. Soft steel styli of 220VPN hardness can be used in

place

of hardened steel styli of 660VPN by the use of the

correlation

equation, (Equation 2).

X-ray diffraction analysis can be used with confidence

for quantitative mineral content analysis, avoiding lengthy

process of thin section preparation and analysis.

The LCPC test once setup is easy to perform and tests a

larger amount of rock sample than the CERCHAR scratch

test. Preparing the required size range is time consuming.

The

LCPC test results obtained showed that the sandstones tested

produced low ABR (g/t) values when compared to the CER

CHAR values, this could result in an underestimation in wear

and tool replacement rates in these rocks, if ABR (g/t)

values

Rosiwal A. 1896. New Research Findings on the Hardness of

Min

erals and Rocks. Verhandlungen der königl. Geol.

Reichsanstalt,

Wien: 17 & 18, 475–491.

Rosiwal A. 1916. New Findings on the Hardness Determination
of

Minerals and Rocks – An Absolute Measure for the Hardness of

Brittle Materials. Verhandlungen der königl. Geol.

Reichsanstalt,

Wien: 5 & 6, 117–147.

Roxborough F.F. 1987. The Role of Some Basic Rock Properties

in Assessing Cuttability. Proceedings of the Seminar on

Tunnels

Wholly Engineered Structures, (IEAust: Canberra), pp. 1–21.

Schimazek J. and Knatz H. 1970. The Influence of Rock

Composi

tion on Cutting Velocity and Chisel Wear of Tunnelling

Machines.

Glückauf, No. 106, pp.274–278.

Suana M. and Peters Tj. 1982. The Cerchar Abrasivity Index

and

Its Relation to Rock Mineralogy and Petrography. Rock Mech,

Springer Verlag, V. 15, pp. 1–7.

Tarkoy P.J. and Hendron A.J. 1975. Rock Hardness Index

Proper

ties and Geotechnical Parameters for Predicting Tunnel

Boring Machine Performance. Report for the National Science
Foundation, Research Grant GI-36468. Urbana, University of
Illinois. Verhoef P.N.W. 1997. Wear of Rock Cutting Tools:
Implications for the Site Investigation of Rock Dredging
Projects. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam. pp. 327. West G. 1981. A
Review of Rock Abrasiveness Testing for Tunnelling.
Proceedings of the International Symposium on Weak Rock,
Tokyo, 21–24 September 1981, pp. 585–594. West G. 1986. A
Relation between Abrasiveness and Quartz Content for some
Coal Measures Sediments. Int. J of Mining and Geological
Engineering, Vol. 4, pp. 73–78. West G. 1989. Rock
Abrasiveness Testing for Tunnelling: Technical Note. Int. J
of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, Vol 26, No.2, 99.
151–160. Wijk G. 1992. A Model of Tunnel Boring Machine
Performance. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering,
Chapman & Hall, Vol. 10, pp. 19–40. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

A unified procedure for Hoek-Brown prediction of strength

and post yield behaviour for rockmasses at the extreme ends
of the rock competency scale T.G. Carter Golder Associates
Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada M.S. Diederichs
GeoEngineering Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston,
Ontario, Canada J.L. Carvalho Golder Associates Ltd.,
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: The Hoek-Brown Strength criterion, and associated

parameter relationship expressions with GSI, has proven

remarkably successful for accurately defining rock mass

behaviour for most practical engineering situations, where
block

size and discontinuity controlled shear failure dominates

ground behaviour. However, difficulties have been
encountered with

application of the strength criterion at the extreme ends

of the rock competence scale. In the midrange of this
scale, block

size and incipient strength is such that rockmass behaviour

tends to be controlled by inter-block shear strength rather
than by

material strength. At the low end of the scale (for very

weak rocks with UCSi 10 MPa) rock mass strength conforms
with

matrix strength and structure has minimal impact. At the

high end (GSI 65 and m i 15) in situ rock mass strength for
a

given rock type reaches a maximum controlled by spontaneous

crack propagation (spalling) after crack initiation for
rocks with

high m i and by crack accumulation, interaction and

coalescence of cracks (resulting in matrix shearing) for
rocks with low or
moderate m i values. Transition relationships are
introduced on the basis of material behaviour as a basis
for better defining the

full range of GSI related Hoek-Brown parameters m, s and a.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock mass classification systems, including the GSI system,

for rockmass strength estimation (Marinos & Hoek, 2000), are

based on the principle that structure within a rockmass

acts to

reduce both the cohesion and frictional properties,

represented

by a degradation in “s” and in “m” respectively, in the Hoek

Brown non-linear criterion (Hoek et al, 2002).

The Hoek-Brown criterion admirably handles normal rock

mass behaviour for rock excavations, both for underground

and surface applications. At the two ends of the rock com

petence scale however, (for very low strength rocks and

for spall-prone, high GSI rockmasses) difficulties have been

experienced in using the criterion, largely because outside

this range rockmass behaviour becomes less controlled by

discontinuities. (Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1. Comparison between (left) shear failure behaviour

under

squeezing conditions in a low GSI rockmass (courtesy of E.

Hoek);

and (right) brittle spalling and strain bursting failure

behaviour in a

high GSI rockmass. 2 EXTENDED APPLICABILITY SUGGESTIONS

This paper builds on two recent publications (Carvalho et
al., 2007 and Diederichs et al., 2007) that address the two
ends of the rock mass competence scale where current
classificationbased strength criteria face limitations in
characterizing a rockmass in a way that is consistent with
its behaviour. At the Figure 2. Transition from standard
GSI and Hoek-Brown m, s and a parameter applicability to
proposed transition relationships (1) for very low strength
rocks (UCS i = σ ci 10 MPa) and (2) spall-prone rocks (m i
> 15 and GSI > 65).

Figure 3. Soil to Rock transition with rockmass strength

UCS rm = σ crm plotted as function of intact strength, σ ci

, and GSI.

(Upper GSI limit as calculated from RMR for weak rocks is

shown).

Figure 4. UDEC modelling results for Low Strength Rockmass

showing stress–strain curve and deformation.

low end of the competency scale, rockmass behaviour tends to

be governed by matrix characteristics rather than by the

shear

strength of the discontinuities that transect the rock

mass. The

same holds true at the other end of the competency scale,

where rockmass behaviour again approaches that of the intact

material, rather than that of a jointed rockmass.

In a manner analogous to the fundamental behavioural dif

ference recognized in fluid mechanics between flow under

laminar and turbulent conditions (Reynolds 1883, Moody

1944), a distinct difference can also be defined between

matrix-dominated behaviour, at the low end of the rockmass

competence scale, below a UCSi = σ ci of about 10 MPa, where

rockmasses are soil-like and tend to comply with the essen

tially linear Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, and material

higher on the GSI scale where more normal discontinuity

controlled blocky rockmass behaviour dominates, (Figure 3).

Here the rock/soil matrix is, in effect, weaker than the

joints

in terms of failure mechanics.

This rockmass transition from matrix-dominated soil-like

behaviour, to blocky rockmass behaviour where shear failure

and rock block interlock interaction dominate (well

replicated

by the Hoek-Brown failure criteria), can be quantified from

available data and numerical modelling (ref Figure 4, from

Carvalho et al., 2007).

At high GSI, the upper bound threshold is the point of

critical crack interaction (defined for lab samples as

“crack

coalescence”). For lab samples and for low to moderate m i

rocks in the field (m i < 15) this upper bound is reached

when a

critical density of accumulating cracks is reached, so that

crack

interaction and coalescence occurs (often resulting in a

ductile

or brittle shear band). For spall-prone rocks (m i > 15 as

per Figure 5. Damage initiation and propagation limits for
spalling in high GSI rockmasses (from Diederichs, 2003)
showing the reduction in strength from the long term lab
strength (crack coalescence) to the damage initiation
threshold for spall-prone rocks in situ. Lee et al., 2004)
at high GSI (and low disturbance or blast damage), however,
the field behaviour differs dramatically from the lab
behaviour (Diederichs 2003, Martin 1997). Near tunnel or
pillar walls, low confinement and geometrically distinct
conditions exist that lead to spontaneous extension crack
propagation or spalling under high wall-parallel stress (as
detailed in Diederichs 2003, 2007). In the extreme, only
individual cracks are required for spall formation and
strength loss. As such the yield strength drops, as shown
in Figure 5, from the lab “crack coalescence” or “long term
strength” threshold to the strength defined by “crack
initiation” independent of joint density for high GSI and
high m i rocks. 3 TRANSITION RELATIONSHIPS Typically,
rockmass behaviour through the normally encountered
mid-range of rock block size conditions, where interblock
shear failure dominates, is well modelled by the Hoek-Brown
failure criterion and the GSI system as per Hoek et al.
(2002). Difficulties generally arise only when trying to
characterize rockmasses at the two ends of the rock
competency scale, when UCSi 15 MPa) where the rock mass
behaviour is matrix controlled and at the high end of the
scale (high GSI and m i > 15) where rockmass failure
demands creation of new fractures. 3.1 Low GSI range
transition At the low strength end of the rockmass
competency scale, a transition function has been developed
to appropriately modify the Hoek-Brown criterion to
replicate strength behaviour of rock-soil materials
(Carvalho et al., 2007). Here, UCSi = σ ci = 0.5 MPa (for a
standard sample size) is assumed to be a practical upper
“soil strength” limit. Below this point, it is difficult
for physically meaningful structural discontinuities to
exist. Above this limit, remnant structure results in
transitional behaviour up to approximately 10 to 15 MPa,
after which structural features are discrete and dominant.
Further (Fig 3), it was found that more soil-like material
exhibits more linear strength behaviour (a → 1) compared to
the non-linear

strength envelope for rock. Parameter m ∗ b in the

linearized

form of the envelope has to be adjusted from conventional

specifications which are based on a ≈ 0.5 so the modified m

∗ b

becomes a function of a ∗ as well. Test results in regolith

and

saprolite suggest that when full linearization is used to

fit the

data, the value of m ∗ obtained is of the order of 1/3 m i

, obtained
by classical Hoek-Brown fitting with a = 0.5. The expression

proposed has the following transition function parameters:

where . . .

3.2 High GSI range transition

At the upper end of the rockmass competency scale, a

transition in behaviour occurs between an inter-block shear

dominated rockmass (discontinuity control) and rockmass

behaviour dominated by rock material strength. For lower m i

rocks this upper strength threshold corresponds to crack coa

lescence (normally defined as the yield point or long term

strength). For high m i rocks, the “damage threshold” or

“ini

tiation” strength in Figure 5 dominates within a confinement

based “spalling limit” where spontaneous crack propagation

and spalling is possible. Moderate jointing (GSI > 65 for

high

m i rocks; GSI > 75 for medium m i rocks) does not impact

this

failure mode provided that the insitu stresses are high

enough

to provide full crack closure and that there is minimal rock

mass disturbance (D = 0). At higher σ 3 (right of the

spalling

limit in Fig 5) or in lab conditions, spontaneous crack

propaga

tion is suppressed and the crack accumulation and

coalescence

envelope again governs at high GSI.

In the case of spall-prone rocks, a modified approach is

required for determining the Hoek-Brown parameters for

insitu strength. The following procedure (Diederichs 2007)

can be used to model the spalling initiation or “damage

threshold” in Figure 5:

1. Determine UCS ∗ , the onset of “Systematic Cracking” in

uniaxial testing, from acoustic emission or radial strain

data

(Diederichs et al., 2004), and set a SP to 0.25.

2. Obtain a reliable estimate of tensile strength,T .

3. Calculate the appropriate s and m from:

As discussed in Diederichs (2007), a “residual” envelope

is also needed to represent the “spalling limit” in Fig. 5.

The

recommended range of spalling limits is based on σ1/σ3

ratios

of 7 to 10 (using s SPres = 0 and m SPres = 6 to 8) at the

point

of intersection with the initiation threshold (based on Hoek

1968). This is achieved with an a SPres value of 0.75.

Figure 6. Application ranges for Spalling approach (SP) and
conventional GSI approach (top) and transition function
behaviour (Eq. 7 & 8 for D = 0). Application limits are
specified discretely in Figure 6 (top) or via the proposed
transitional function (Figure 6 bottom) in Equation 7 and
8. where and where the X’s represent the values of a, s and
m, according to their subscripts, for conventional “GSI”
assessment (as per Hoek et al., 2002) and “SP” corresponds
to their values for spalling assessment, both for (program
defined) “peak” and “residual” conditions. Note that for
conventional models, the initiation threshold defines the
“peak strength” while the spalling limit defines the
“residual strength” envelope as seen in Figure 7b. In
numerical models, “yield indicators” will represent damage
(even in the non-spalling high confinement zone), while
excessive plastic shear strain should be used as an
indicator for actual failure. The standard lab UCSi value
is used as input σ c for Hoek-Brown normalization in all
cases. The influence on Hoek-Brown parameters through the
entire range of UCSi, UCSi/T (or m i ) and GSI can be seen
in Figure 8. 4 CONCLUSIONS The GSI system, and the
associated formulations for rockmass strength based on the
Hoek-Brown equation and associated parameters, is a proven,
effective and reliable toolset for strength prediction in
rockmasses with: • measurable intact strength UCSi > 10 to
15 MPa and • matrix yield behaviour dominated by shear
mechanisms (m i < 15) at all GSI ranges and • with
rockmasses (m i > 15 ) and GSI < 65.

Figure 7. Examples of transitional states between

conventional

GSI strength prediction and (a) weak rock strength envelope

(UCSi 15 MPa); and (b) spalling strength envelopes (GSI >

65,

m i > 15). Selected examples shown. Plots vary according to

selected

GSI and m i .

Figure 8. Normalized UCSrm/UCSi for the rockmass for weak

rock

and spalling rock. The spalling transition and threshold

are obtained

using UCS ∗ = 0.45UCSi as a representative average for many

rock

types, although this should be measured if possible (as in

Diederichs

et al., 2004).

Outside these limits, some discrepancies can arise between

predicted and observed yield behaviour. Two transitional

relationships are therefore proposed:

For weak rocks (UCSi 15 MPa) a transition is proposed

ABSTRACT: Using Schwarz’s alternating method and

Muskhelishvili’s complex variable function techniques, the
authors have

developed an efficient solution of displacements in an

infinite elastic medium containing two openings of
arbitrary shapes and

arrangement. The main purpose of this paper is to apply the

displacement solution in back-analysis so as to identify
horizontal

ground stress component perpendicular to tunnels’axis lines

and elastic (or deformational) modulus of rock masses.To
illustrate

effectiveness of the present back-analysis method, a case

example in two testing adits of the Three Gorges Project is
provided.

1 INTRODUCTION

It is an ordinary case in underground projects that two tun

nels or adits are excavated in the form of parallel axes and

close separating distance.The scholars in the world have

made

some investigations on double hole problems, mostly placing

emphases on an infinite medium with two circular or elliptic

holes (Ling, 1948; Zhang et al, 2003). The authors have

found

that the Schwarz’s alternating method and Muskhelishvili’s

techniques can be used as effective tools to solve doubly

con

nected region problems (Muskhelishvili, 1953). Moreover, the

authors had obtained some developments (Zhang et al, 2001;

Lu and Zhang, 1997) for stress solution in an infinite elas

tic medium containing double holes with different shapes and

positions. Using two complex functions for stress solution

of double hole problems, the authors deduce associated dis

placement solution and develop a new method of displacement

back-analysis for two parallel tunnels or adits.To show an

effi

ciency of the present method, the authors provide a case

exam

ple in two testing adits of the Three Gorges Project, China.

2 BASIC PROCEDURES AND FORMULAS FOR

SOLUTION OF ANY DOUBLE HOLE PROBLEM

IN PLANE ELASTICITY

For two holes in a any double hole problem (see Figure 1),
two

mapping functions can be respectively written as z 1 =ω 1

(ζ 1 )

and z 2 =ω 2 (ζ 2 ), in which ζ 1 and ζ 2 are respective

complex

coordinates in mapped planes of z 1 and z 2 . The successive

approximations scheme for solving a double hole problem can

be referred to relevant researches conducted by Zhang, et al

(2001 and 2003). Using the Schwarz’s alternating method,

Muskhelishvili’s techniques and stress boundary conditions

(see Figure 1), stress solution for a double hole problem

can

be acquired in terms of two complex stress functions ϕ s (ζ

1 )

and ψ s (ζ 1 ).

Let u 1 and v 1 define two displacement components due

to the excavation of the first tunnel, and corresponding two

complex functions be ϕ d1 (ζ 1 ) and ψ d1 (ζ 1 ); while u 2

, v 2 and Figure 1. Calculating model for any double hole
problem in plane elasticity (Zhang et al, 2001). ϕ d2 (ζ 1
), ψ d2 (ζ 1 )correspond to the excavation of the second
tunnel. To obtain u 1 and v 1 , one can use the following
formula where G is the shear modulus, κ is a constant
related with Poisson’s ratio µ (e.g., κ= 3 − 4µ for a plane
stain problem). In addition, in which B = (σ ∞ x + σ ∞ y
)/4, B ′ = (σ ∞ y − σ ∞ x )/2, C ′ = τ ∞ xy , ω 1 (ζ 1 ) is
a mapping function used in this paper to map the exterior
of tunnel one onto the exterior of an unit circle. In
equation (2) ϕ s1 (ζ 1 ) and ψ s1 (ζ 1 ) are two complex
stress functions when only the first tunnel is present,
with in-situ ground stresses at infinity and zero loads at
its free edge.

The equation for solving u 2 and v 2 has the form of

in which

Using equations (1), (2), (3) and (4), one can analyze the
dis

placement field induced by the excavation of two adjacent

tunnels or one of the two tunnels.

3 BACK-ANALYSIS METHOD

Supposed that the first tunnel (called investigation

tunnel) has

been excavated, and the second tunnel (called deformation

tunnel) has been designed for back-analysis or other spe

cial purposes. Some boreholes can be drilled in rock masses

separating the two tunnels, and measuring points installed

in the boreholes for measuring the displacements induced

by the excavation of the deformation tunnel. The drilling of

boreholes, installment of measuring points and displacement

measurements are conducted in the investigation tunnel.Thus,

the measured displacements are actually induced only by the

excavation of the deformation tunnel. Those parameters that

can be readily and reliably tested in the laboratory or in
situ

should be determined by field geological conditions and

effec

tive test methods. Horizontal ground stress component σ ∞ y

,

perpendicular to tunnels’ axis lines, and elastic modulus of

rock masses E, are two more important parameters of

practical

interests, so they are taken as unknown ones to be

determined

by the back-analysis.

Many optimization methods can be used for back-analysis

of displacements, in which the damped least square method

is characterized by quick convergence speed and high accu

racy. Using the damped least square method, one can find a

group of optimum parameters, i.e. σ ∞ y and E, minimizing

the

differences between the measured displacements and those

computed from displacement solution for any double hole

problem.

4 A CASE EXAMPLE OF BACK ANALYSIS FOR TWO

TESTING ADITS IN THE THREE GORGES PROJECT

During the excavation of two parallel testing adits (i.e.

sub

tunnels No.3 and No.4), located in the rock masses of the

flight lock region of the Three Gorges Project, three

boreholes

were drilled in the separating rock masses between the two

adits, and three measuring points arranged at the ends of
the

boreholes (see Figure 3). Using the measured displacements

and the present back-analysis method, one can identify the

parameters σ ∞ y and E. In view of present elastic

displacement

solution for double hole problem in plane strain, the

elastic

modulus mentioned here should be close to deformational

modulus of rock masses.

4.1 Engineering geological conditions and measurements

As seen from Figure 2, the deformation tunnel (i.e. the sub

tunnel No.4), having an approximately parallel axis line to

10.0 14.6 19.6 15.5 16.6 13.7 11.6 3 . 0 2 4 . 0 3 249.5m
distant from tunnel mouth of the main tunnel No.3008 C-C 3
. 0 0 C C Main tunnel No.3008 Unit: m N15 E 15.62 3.0 4.0
Sub-tunnel No.3 (the investigation tunnel) Sub-tunnel No.4
(the deformation tunnel) B o r e h o l e N o . 1 B o r e h
o l e N o . 2 B o r e h o l e N o . 3 3 . 0 0 Figure 2.
Deformation measurement arrangement in two testing adits in
Three Gorges Project. -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
700 800 900 1000 1100 Displacement(e-6m) B o r e h o l e N
o . 1 B o r e h o l e N o . 2 B o r e h o l e N o . 3
Displacement at measuring point No.3 Displacement at
measuring point No.2 Displacement at measuring point No.1
Advance of tunnelling face (m) 11.6 16.713.7 255 301510 20
Figure 3. Displacement curves for the three measuring
points. the flight lock, was designed for in situ tests and
deformation observations. Moreover, the tunnel has
overlaying rock masses of about 80 m thickness, with an
average mass density of 2.7 g/cm 3 .The investigation
tunnel (i.e. the sub-tunnel No.3 in Figure 2) is parallel
to the sub-tunnel No.4, with a 15.5 m distance between
their axis lines. The rock masses revealed by the main
tunnel No.3008, sub-tunnel No.4 and sub-tunnel No.3 are
fresh to slightly weathered plagioclase granite of
PreSinian System. Indicated by relevant tests, the rock
masses around the two sub-tunnels should be attributed to
hard and more intact ones, which provides advantageous
conditions for elastic assumption in the displacement
solution of double hole problem. Three measuring points are
respectively located at the ends of the three boreholes, in
which, measuring points No.1 and No.2 are located near the
left arch socket of the subtunnel No.4, and measuring point
No.3 near the middle of the left sidewall. When the
sub-tunnel No.4 was excavated, the induced deformations at
the measuring points can be measured by observers in the
sub-tunnel No.3. The displacement curves

of the three measuring points, as the advance of tunneling

face

of the sub-tunnel No.4, are presented in Figure 3.

4.2 Back-analyzed results of σ ∞ y and E and relevant

discussion

It is very difficult for us to determine the proportion of

elastic

displacements in plane strain to total ones in practical

condi

tions. However, we can obtain upper and lower limits of the

elastic displacements in plane strain, in which the upper

one is

the total displacement shown in Figure 3 and the lower one

is

the approximate elastic displacements induced by earlier sev

eral advances of the tunneling face. In this example, the

lower

limits of elastic displacements are taken as those after the

excavation of 1.8 m thickness rock mass behind the measuring

section. Then, the mean of the upper and lower limits of

elas

tic displacements in plane strain are considered as averaged

displacement measurements, and utilized in back-analysis of

displacements. The parameters that are taken as known ones

during the back-analysis, are σ ∞ x = 2.16 MPa, τ ∞ xy =

0.0 MPa
and µ= 0.23, respectively.

The back-analyzed elastic modulus has an averaged mag

nitude of 19.96 GPa, which is appreciably smaller than lower

limit of comprehensive test values of deformational modu

lus of slightly weathered to fresh rock masses, ranging from

20 GPa to 60 GPa (Dong and Wu, 2004). This difference

between the back-analyzed value and test results may be

explained as follows. Firstly, during in-situ tests for

defor

mation modulus, the tests were in general designed at the

locations with fewer geological discontinuities. Because the

back-analysis is accomplished by using tunnel deformations

induced by the excavation of a relatively larger volume of

rock mass, the parameter E represents macroscopic mechan

ical behavior of the rock mass. Secondly, different loading

conditions exist between in-situ tests and the

back-analysis.

For example, deformation modulus is obtained by pressing

the rock mass during plate-bearing tests, leading to a

larger

value. The back-analysis utilizes displacements in condition

of excavation-induced unloading, consequently, yielding a

relatively smaller back-analyzed value of E.

The in-situ tests of ground stresses were conducted in the

sub-tunnel No.3 by using over-coring stress-relief method

in two horizontal shallow boreholes, with the results of

σ ∞ y = 4.28 MPa, σ ∞ x = 2.49 MPa and τ ∞ xy =−0.02 MPa
(Liu,

2000). Compared with in-situ ground stress tests, the back

analyzed result of σ ∞ y , having an averaged value of 2.54

MPa,

ABSTRACT: Finite element software on large deformation

analysis for soft rock engineering at great depth, briefly
called

Large Deformation Engineering Analyses Software (LDEAS), is

developed. The software has five features as follows:(1) It

includes a nonlinear theory of mechanics based on S-R

decomposition theorem proposed by Chen as well as the
classical large

deformation theory for comparison, (2) The three design

method for non-linear mechanical problem proposed by He
(1993) is

fulfilled, (3) the codes is programmed using FEPG (Finite

Element Program Generator) provided by FEGEN company which

only partial equations need be written, (4) it include

generally used constitutive models and element types for
geomaterials and

supports, and therefore is fit for slope, foundation and

underground engineering, and (5) Coupled
thermal-mechanical-seepage

analyses will be available. At present, the interface and

programs for two-dimensional problem have finished. Four
numerical

examples confirmed the accuracy of the software.

1 INTRODUCTION

Phenomena of large deformation occur frequently in geotech

nical engineering. For example, with the excavation of a

softrock tunnel at great depth, large deformation of rock

mass around tunnel such as roof caving, floor bulging and

side bulging will occur. For softrock engineering at great

depth, non-linear problems in physical, geometrical and con

tact boundary are complicated. Since the analytic solutions

to

non-linear differential equations of soil-rock mechanics are

extremely difficulty to obtain, it is rather important to

inves

tigate numerical methods and software such as FEM, FDM

and DEM.

It is well recognized that the effectiveness of

computational

methods for solving rock and soil mechanics depends largely

on the exactness of theoretical foundation on which the com

putational programs are based. Besides a reliable

constitutive

model for geomaterials, an accurate mechanical theory for

large deformation is necessary to make a reasonable analysis

for soil and rock engineering.

The linear small deformation theory of mechanics is only

fit for small displacement field where the principle of

super

position holds. For large displacement field, there are two

theories of mechanics, i.e., classical large deformation the

ory (see Truesdell and Noll, 1965; Biot, 1965; Guo, 1980),
in

which Green strain tensor is used as strain definition while

rotation tensor is defined by Finger-Truesdell’s polar decom

position theorem separately, and large deformation theory

proposed by Chen, which is based on S-R decomposition

theorem (see Chen, 1979; Chen, 2000) using a co-moving

coordinate system method.

Although Green strain is applicable for large displace

ment and therefore is generally used, deficiencies of Green

strain tensor are: (1) it defined through the quadratic form

of ratio of the length of line elements after deformation to

that before deformation, which is not congruent with common

engineering definition of stain as linear form, and (2)
there is no definition of finite mean rotation angle in
compatible with finite strain. In order to overcome above
deficiencies, Chen proposed the S-R decomposition theorem,
which deformation gradient is decomposed to one unique
addition of a positive definite strain tenor and an
orthogonal rotation tensor. By using a co-moving coordinate
system method, a nonlinear theory of mechanics for large
deformation is developed. The theory has been used to
solving engineering problems (see He, 1991; Wang and Chen,
1992; Qin and Chen,1988; Li, 1991; He, 1993) such as large
deformation of solids like rock, concrete and metal,
material fracture and damage, the stability of high slope,
support of soft rock tunnel and so on. At present, all
existing commercial FEM software includes classical large
deformation theories only. In order to change this
situation, Prof. He Manchao as a chief scientist of the
Very Important NSF of China, planed to develop software on
coupled thermal-mechanical-seepage and large deformation
analysis for soft rock engineering at great depth, briefly
called LDEAS. Two work group, Research Institute of
Geotechnical Engineering of School of Mechanics & Civil
Engineering of China of University of Mining & Technology
(Beijing) and FEGEN Software Co. Ltd (FEGEN for short),
worked together using FEPG (Finite Element Program
Generator) developed by Fegen Software Company. The
software will be a useful in numerical tool in analyses and
design of rock mechanics in exploitation of deep resources.
2 CHEN’S NON-LINEAR THEORY OF MECHANICS 2.1 S-R
decomposition theorem In describing the general motion of a
deforming body, the comoving coordinate system method is
used which is identical to

material coordinate. A metric theory for the reference

system
is established, so that the rotation and strain of a local
system

at every point of a deforming body can be described exactly.

Suppose a body B0 is identified by a set of co-moving

coordinates {x 1 , x 2 , x 3 }, and transforms to B at time

t, and

the basic vectors { 0 g 1 , 0 g 2 , 0 g 3 } at a point

change to {g 1 , g 2 , g 3 }

at time t, the linear differential transformation is

denoted by

deformation gradient F

where, u j | i is the covariant derivative of the

displacement

component u j with respect to co-moving coordinate x i .

Then S-R decomposition theorem stated that “Any invert

ible linear differential transformation F has unique

additive

decomposition:”

where S is a symmetrical and positive definite sub

transformation representing strain tensor,

R is an orthogonal sub-transformation, representing local

mean rotation tensor,

Here, is mean rotation angle,

and L .i j. is unit vector of rotation axis direction,

2.2 S-R decomposition theorem in rate form

Since the final result of nonlinear finite deformation and

finite

rotation depends on the stress and strain path, so in the

most
cases, incremental updated method will be used, in which

stress and strain are defined in real time deformed state.

In the updated co-moving coordinate, the strain rate and

mean solid rotation speed are given by

where,V j ‖ i is the covariant derivative of the speed

component

V j with respect to the updated co-moving coordinate x i .

2.3 Objective derivative of Euler stress tensor and
equilibrium equation In an updated co-moving coordinates,
material derivative of Euler stress tensor is which is not
objective derivative respect to time and is related to
rigid rotation. The objective derivative of Euler stress is
defined by Equilibrium equation is established in real time
deformed state: where, f j is volume force. 2.4 Rate form
constitutive relation Constitutive relation of rate form is
where, E i . . j . k l . is incremental stiffness tensor of
the material. 2.5 Variational principle for large
deformation Variational principle of rate of potential
energy stated that for equilibrium to be ensured the rate
of total potential energy must be stationary for variations
of admissible speeds. where T i is surface force. 3 FINITE
ELEMENT CODES USING FEPG Finite Element Program Generator
(FEPG) is developed in 1990 by Prof. Liang Guoping, one of
the major founders of FEGEN and an expert in computational
mathematics, which won a State Award for achievements in
science & technology in 1995. FEPG is a general-purpose
finite element program generator. For any kind of finite
element modeling, FEPG can automatically generate complete
source code based on PDE (Partial Different Equation) and
FEM (Finite Element Method) algorithm expressions, which
can save 90% of programming time and guarantee the accuracy
and consistence of programs. With these merits, FEPG have
been applied in many fields and are convenient in solving
coupled thermal-mechanical-seepage problems.

Figure 1. The main interface of the software.

4 FUNCTION OF THE SOFTWARE

The software aims at developing a numerical tool to ana

lyze the coupled thermal-mechanical-seepage problem for soft

rock engineering at great depth. In this software, FEPG is

used

for generating finite element codes.

At this stage, the version of the software is 1.0, which can

analyze the deformation and stress fields of two dimension

problems for solid. LDEAS1.0 has four subsystems: fore treat

ment, parameter specification, calculation and result

display

system. Figure 1 shows the main interface of the software.

The updated Lagrange procedure is used for incremental

analyses of the classical large deformation theory (Washizu,

1975), while updated co-moving coordinate procedure is used

for incremental analyses of large deformation theory based

on S-R decomposition theorem (Li,1991). The three design

methods for non-linear mechanical problem proposed by He

(1993), i.e., countermeasure design, procedure design and

parameter design is fulfilled here for non-linear mechanical

design. Generally used elastic total strain constitutive

relations

and elastic or elasto-plastic incremental strain

constitutive

relations for geomaterials are provided. It contains a large

number of element library, including plane stress and plane

strain structures, beam, bolt, truss, joint, and therefore

is fit for

large deformation mechanical analyses for slope, foundation

and underground engineering.

5 EXAMPLES
Four numerical examples large deformation of rotation and

expansion of a plate, simple shear of a plate, bending of a

cantilever plate with a point load at free end and bending

of

a cantilever beam with a moment load at free end are inves

tigated and confirmed the accuracy of the programs. Elastic

parameters of materials in four examples are taken

as:Young’s

modulus E = 1.0e10 and Poisson ratio v = 0.3.

5.1 The first example: rotation and expansion of a plate

Figure 2 shows rotation and expansion of a plate. The square

0123 with a size of 2 × 2, deformed to square 0 ′ 1 ′ 2 ′ 3

′ with a

size of 3 √ 2 × 3 √ 2 by homogenous expansion and rotation.

Total step number is 10, the finite element mesh is 20 × 20.

Table 1 shows the analytical solution to the strains and

stresses of the plate based on Chen’s nonlinear theory of

mechanics. Figures 3 and 4 show the numerical results of the

final strains and stresses of the plate, which are agree

with

those of analytical solution entirely. 2 1 g g 2 1 2 1 2 2

0 1 3 2 3' 2' 1' 0 g 1 0 g 2 2 2 3 3 x x x x Figure 2.
Example 1: rotation and expansion of a plate. Table 1.
Analytical solution to the strains and stresses (MPa) of
the plate in example 1. n S 1 .1 S 2 .2 S 1 .2 σ 1 .1 σ 2
.2 σ 1 .2 2 0.11666 0.11666 0 1.619048E9 1.619048E9 0 4
0.27555 0.27555 0 3.551792E9 3.551792E9 0 6 0.44124 0.44124
0 5.256592E9 5.256592E9 0 8 0.59816 0.59816 0 6.617906E9
6.617906E9 0 10 0.74175 0.74175 0 7.679448E9 7.679448E9 0
Figure 3. Final strains of the plate in example 1. Figure
4. Final stresses of the plate in example 1. 2 1 g g γ 0 1
,g g 2 0 2 1 A B D C (-1,1) (-1,-1) (1,-1) (1,1) A' B' D'
C' 2 x x x Figure 5. Example 2: Simple shear of a plate.
5.2 The second example: simple shear of a plate Figure 5
shows simple shear of a plate.The squareABCD with a size of
2 × 2, deformed to a parallelogram A ′ B ′ C ′ D ′ with an
shear angle of 45 ◦ . Total step number is 10, the finite
element mesh is 20 × 20.

Table 2. Analytical solution to the strains and stresses

(MPa) of the

plate in example 2.

n S 1 .1 S 2 .2 S 1 .2 σ 1 .1 σ 2 .2 σ 1 .2

2 0 0 0.10 1.92308E7 1.92308E7 7.69231E8

4 0 0 0.20 1.15433E8 1.15433E8 1.54231E9

6 0 0 0.30 2.89183E8 2.89183E8 2.32694E9

8 0 0 0.40 5.41830E8 5.41830E8 3.13090E9

10 0 0 0.50 8.75506E8 8.75506E8 3.96214E9

Figure 6. Final strains of the plate in example 2.

Figure 7. Final stresses of the plate in example 2.

Table 2 shows the analytical solution to the strains and

stresses of the plate based on Chen’s nonlinear theory of

mechanics. Figures 6 and 7 show the numerical results of the

final strains and stresses of the plate, which are agree

with

those of analytical solution entirely.

5.3 A cantilever plate with a point load at free end

Roof caving in a mining field can be idealized to a

cantilever

plate with a point load at free end. The size of the

cantilever

is L = 25 m long and H = 2 m high. Total step number is 90,

the finite element mesh is 10 × 1, the increment of the

load is
P = 0.8 × 10 6 N.

Figures 8 and 9 show the numerical results of the final

strains and stresses of the cantilever by Chen’s nonlinear

the

ory of mechanics. It can be seen that the stresses and

strains

are localized at the fixed end. Figure 8. Final strains of

the plate in example 3. Figure 9. Final stresses of the
plate in example 3. Figure 10. Deformation of the beam at
every step in example 4. 5.4 A cantilever beam with a
moment load at free end A cantilever beam with a moment
load at the free end is studied with an updated Lagrange
procedure.The size of the cantilever is L = 25 m long and H
= 2 m high.Total step number is 13, the

finite element mesh is 200 × 1, the increment of the moment

is �M = 1.0 × 10 7 N.m.

Figure 10 shows that the cantilever deformed to a circle

gradually.

6 CONCLUSION

In this paper, finite element software on large deformation

analysis for soft rock engineering at great depth is

developed.

The final goal of this software is to solve coupled thermal

mechanical-seepage problems in soft rock engineering. At

present, LDEAS 1.0 is applicable in analyses of solid with

non-linear finite strain. The nonlinear theory of mechanics

for

finite strain, function of the software and programming tool

are introduced. Numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy

of the software in the analyses of large deformation of a

solid
body.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The work presented here was supported by the NSFC with

grant No. 50490270 and subsidized by the special funds

for major state basic research projects with grant No.

ABSTRACT: In order to study the dynamic behavior of rock

support elements, a drop weight test apparatus located at
CANMET

MMSL research laboratory was used. The test structure, used

in the present study, allows for a maximal drop height of
1.5 m

and a drop weight of 1.5 ton. It is instrumented with high

speed cameras and load cells to precisely monitor the
response of the

rock bolt. A first series of tests on grouted cone bolts

revealed two energy absorption mechanisms; the steel
plastic deformation

and the sliding of the bolt in the resin. These mechanisms

are always present, but their proportions vary
significantly from one

test to the other. Then, tests with various combinations of

drop weights and heights showed the influence of those
parameters

on the preferred energy absorption mechanism and on the

maximum amount of energy the bolt can absorb. Also, from
the

experimental data collected, the energy balance of the

system was calculated to assess the validity of the testing
apparatus.

1 INTRODUCTION

An increasing problem faced in underground mines results

from seismic events called rockbursts. Considering the

dynamic nature of these phenomena it is essential to under

stand the dynamic behavior of reinforcement systems in order

to properly design the ground support and ensure safety. The

work presented in this paper is part of a research collabora

tion between McGill University and CANMET Mining and

Mineral Sciences Laboratories (MMSL) in Ottawa.

This paper starts by briefly presenting the test structure

and

its instrumentation along with the advantages and disadvan

tages of the testing apparatus. Then, the effect of

different

parameters on the energy absorption capacities of cone bolts

will be analyzed based on experimental results. Finally, an

experimental energy balance will be performed to assess the

validity of the test and of the experimental measurements.

2 TESTING APPARATUS

2.1 Test structure

Figure 1 shows the drop weight installation used for all the

tests along with some details about its instrumentation.

Each

rock bolt to be tested is grouted in a sample tube that can

be

easily connected to the test structure by a pin. The drop

weight

is lifted and dropped by a remote controlled magnet. During

its

fall, the mass is guided by two rails installed on each

column

to avoid introducing significant bending on the rock bolt.

2.2 Bolts tested

In this study, only modified cone bolts were tested. The
bolts

have a diameter of 17 mm and a length of 2.2 m. One end is

threaded over 140 mm and the other end is the cone. The cone

profile has a maximum diameter of 26.5 mm and a length of

55 mm. A domed plate is installed at the threaded end, held

by a spherical seat and a nut. Grease can also be added on

the

bolt to debond it, before grouting it in the sample tube

using

Dupont Fasloc Resin (so-called Coneloc). 2.3 Drop weight

and height The drop mass is composed of different weight
plates bolted together. For the testing reported here, drop
weights of 500 kg to 1461 kg were used. The maximum drop
height used is about 1.5 m which corresponds to an impact
velocity of 5.4 m/s. Repeated drops are performed on each
sample but always with the same weight and from the same
height. 2.4 Measurements The test structure is equipped to
record the displacement and loading of the bolt during
impact. The measure of each sensor is collected at a
frequency of 10 kHz during 6.5 s and then stored in a text
file at the end of the test. The test machine is equipped
with one wire potentiometer to record the position of the
drop weight and two line scan cameras (Dalsa ® SP-14-02K40)
to monitor the displacements at both ends of the bolt. The
force applied on the plate is measured by a strain gage
load cell, while at the top, four piezoelectric cells (PCB
205C/FCS-5 ICP) measure the force transmitted to the test
structure (see Fig. 1). Three strain gages were installed
on both columns separated by 90 ◦ to measure tensile stress
and detect bending. The maximum strain values measured by
those sensors were about 0.0116% meaning that the structure
behaves stiffly and does not absorb a significant amount of
energy during the impact test. 2.5 Comparison with other
testing apparatus The drop test apparatus described in the
previous section was initially developed by Noranda (see
Gaudreau 2004) but its instrumentation and design have been
greatly improved since its acquisition by CANMET-MMSL.
Recently, Player et al. (2004) constructed a highly
instrumented testing apparatus, based on the momentum
transfer principle instead of a drop weight. The principle
eliminates the ambiguity of how the mass hits the bolt but
it has certain disadvantages. The impact time appears
longer (about 120 ms) therefore reducing the dynamic aspect
of the test.

Figure 1. Illustration of the test structure.

Also, because the whole assembly is dropped then rapidly

slowed by dampers, the potential energy involved in the

tests

is significantly different from what the reinforcement

system

will have to absorb.

Ansell (2005) also performed dynamic tests on a new type

of rock bolt developed in Sweden. For the test, the rock

bolt

is inserted in a concrete cylinder and dropped from a

certain

height.The anchor zone of the bolt is stopped by two beams

on

the ground while the momentum of the concrete mass loads

the bolt dynamically. The principle of the test is similar

to

the momentum transfer principle of Player but the tests were

carried with a higher impact velocity (up to 10 m/s) and a

lighter mass (219 kg).

3 RESULTS

In this section, displacement and loading curves for a

typical

drop test will be presented and the influence of the grease,

drop weight and impact velocity on the cone bolt behavior

will be analyzed.

3.1 Displacement and loading curves

Figure 2 shows typical displacement and loading curves. The

potentiometer signal is filtered using a low pass filter

with a

cut off frequency of 50 Hz for noise reduction. Figure 2.

Typical displacement and loading curves. Figure 3. Cone
displacement for tests with a drop mass of 1461 kg from 1
m. One important observation to make is that permanent
displacements are produced only during the first impact.
Then there are a number of elastic impacts between the mass
and the plate and finally some damped oscillations until
the system reaches equilibrium. It is also clear that the
bolt has two energy absorption mechanisms. One consists of
the bolt getting pulled in the resin and the second one is
the permanent elongation of the steel. Usually, both
mechanisms are present during a drop test but their
proportions vary. 3.2 Influence of the impact velocity Most
of the tests done used a drop weight of 1016 kg from 1.5 m
corresponding to a potential energy of 14.95 kJ and an
impact velocity of 5.4249 m/s. Other tests were done with a
mass of 1461 kg from 1.0 m. This configuration gives a
similar potential energy (14.33 kJ) but a smaller impact
velocity (4.4294 m/s). To analyze the influence of these
two configurations on the energy absorption mechanisms, the
cone displacement for each test has been plotted on Figures
3, 4. In the legend, G means that the bolt has been
greased, while NG signifies the opposite. It is obvious
from Figures 3, 4 that the cone displacement is less
important for the tests using the mass of 1461 kg from

Figure 4. Cone displacement for tests with a drop mass of

1016 kg

from 1.5 m.

1 m. From those results, even if the energy involved is sim

ilar, it looks like the most influent parameter on the cone

displacement is the impact velocity.

3.3 Influence of grease

Figures 3, 4 also show that the cone displacement is not the

same between different tests. Nevertheless, it seems that

for
greased bolts, sliding is important on the first drops and
then

less and less significant. This is probably because the

resin

gets more compact and the grease is not so well distributed

anymore.

For non greased bolts, the first drops do not produce sig

nificant sliding, but more steel stretching. Assuming a

strain

hardening behavior for the steel, as its elongation

increases,

the internal force in the bolt gets larger and will

eventually

break the bonding between the bolt and the resin.Then,

sliding

becomes the most important energy absorption mechanism.

Those explanations of the resin behavior and the effect of

grease appear realistic and agree with the experimental

results

of Bolts 1, 3 and 4. However the considerable difference of

Bolt 6 with this theory proves that the resin application

and

setting could vary.This will in turn affect the behavior

and per

formance of the support system. More tests will be conducted

to investigate this anomaly.

3.4 Failure

Numerous tests were performed until the sample failed.

Table 1 summarizes all the results in term of total energy

absorption. “Drops” in this table refers to the number of

drops

the bolt has resisted. The lower bound of the failure range

is calculated by adding the potential energy of each test

that

the bolt has resisted. For the potential energy, the zero
level

is considered to be where the plate ends after the drop. The

upper limit of the failure range is simply the lower bound

plus

Mass × g × Height.

The results in Table 1 indicates that every test using a

drop

weight of 1461 kg from 1 m failed at the fourth drop giving

a

failure range between 45 kJ and 60 kJ. However, the two

tests

using a mass of 1016 kg from 1.5 m did not fail and showed
that

the same bolt could absorb more than 60 kJ. Even if the two

configurations involve the same impact energy, it is evident

that using a heavier mass causes more damage to the bolt.

This might be explained with the notion of momentum. The

Table 1. Absorbed energy by different bolts before failing.
Mass Height Failure Bolt kg m Drops kJ 1 (G) 1461 1 4 46.5
to 60.8 2 (G) 1461 1.5 2 23.7 to 45.2 3 (NG) ∗ 1016 1.5 4+
64.5 4 (NG) 1461 1 4 47.1 to 61.5 5 (G) 1461 1 4 46.8 to
61.1 6 (NG) ∗ 1016 1.5 4+ 64.8 ∗ Testing of these samples
was stopped before failure. Table 2. Dynamic force
displacement model for the steel. Elongation Force
Stiffness Mm kN kN/mm 0 to 11.6 0 to 147.15 12.7 11.6 to
150 147.15 to 206.01 0.4252 >150 206.01 0 configuration
with a mass of 1461 kg has a momentum of 6471 kgm/s
compared to 5511 kgm/s for the one using a mass of 1016 kg.
The correlation between damage and momentum tends to be
confirmed by the test using a mass of 1461 kg from 1.5 m
which has a momentum of 7926 kgm/s and fails at the second
drop only. 4 ENERGY BALANCE In this section the energy of
the system will be calculated based on experimental data.
The objective is to show that the energy conservation
principle is respected during this dynamic test. The first
state considered is the potential energy of the mass before
being dropped. Recall that the zero level for the potential
energy is the final position of the plate after the drop.
The second state considered is when the mass hits the plate
with its maximum kinetic energy. The velocity is obtained
by differentiating the filtered signal of the potentiometer
attached to the drop weight. Note that there is also a
small amount of potential energy for this state. Another
interesting quantity is the work done by the plate load.
This is calculated by integrating the plate load over the
plate displacement.The piezoelectric cell signal has been
used for this calculation. The three previous states have
to be compared with the energy absorbed by the bolt. The
energy absorbed by steel elongation is obtained by
integrating the force displacement curve of the rock bolt.
A force displacement model for the cone bolt tested has
been defined (Table 2) based on analytic formulae (Malvar &
Crawford 1998) and experimental results. Otherwise, the
energy dissipated by the cone sliding in the resin is
calculated simply by integrating the piezoelectric cell
signal over the cone displacement. The energy calculated
for these states during different tests is summarized in
Figure 5. Comparing the potential energy and kinetic energy
of Figure 5 shows that the energy dissipated by friction of
the mass on the guiding rails is negligible. However, a
difference of about 1 kJ can be observed between the
kinetic energy and the plate

Figure 5. Comparison of different energy states for three

samples.

work. This means that the kinetic energy is not entirely

trans

ferred to the support system during impact. Comparing the

total energy absorbed by the bolt with the plate work is

quite

satisfying. The average difference is 730 J which is

considered

to be an acceptable margin of error.

5 CONCLUSION
A first series of tests on grouted cone bolts conducted on
the

testing apparatus available at CANMET-MMSL showed that

the impact velocity is an important parameter governing the

cone displacement. It was also shown that greased bolts will

slide more on the first drops while the opposite is

observed for

not greased bolts. In addition, the momentum associated with

a test was seen to be the best indicator of the amount of

damage

that the bolt will receive. Finally, the energy of the

system at

different instants was compared to assess the validity of

the

ABSTRACT: Time-dependent process of crack growth and

failure of brittle rock are simulated with the numerical
modeling

approach using PFC (Particle Flow Code) which can visualize

progressive and dynamic behaviors of deformation and
failure in

time domain. A model of Brazilian fracture toughness test

is used and the influence parameters on the generation and
extension

of crack are analyzed such as shape of loading plane,

loading angle and loading rate. For the loading rate less
than 0.01 mm/s,

tensile crack is initiated at the center of Brazilian disc

model and the stable crack growth can be controlled. Mode-I
fracture

toughness evaluated is almost constant for this loading

rate. Strength of rock is dependent on the loading rate and
the stress

level of creep loading. It can be said that the failure

criterion under the extremely low loading rate gradually
approaches the
long-term strength of rock.

1 INTRODUCTION

The unstable behaviors of rock structures in static and

quasi

static conditions commonly happen due to fatigue failure by

the long-term creep deformation or due to crack generation

by the change of the environment. The example of the envi

ronmental change is stress change induced by the thermal

source like LNG or radioactive waste. These unstable mobi

lizations of rock cracks cause the progressive degradation

of

rock strength and finally result in the collapse of tunnel

roof,

sliding failure of rock slope, leakage of storage

materials, etc.

The estimation and prediction of time-dependent process of

instability and failure in long-term, from tens to hundreds

of-thousands of years, is very important especially for safe

management of old rock structures.

In this study, the time-dependent process of destabilization

and failure of rock structures is simulated with the

numerical

modeling approach. The numerical simulation is carried out

using PFC (Particle Flow Code) which can visualize progres

sive and dynamic behaviors. The time-dependent deformation

and failure behaviors in creep are analyzed and the macro

crack extension and safety criterion are discussed. Model of

Brazilian fracture toughness test is used and the influence

parameters are analyzed such as shape of loading plane,

sizes

of Brazilian disc and unit particle of model, loading angle

and

loading rate.

2 BRAZILIAN DISC MODEL AND STRESS

ANALYSIS

The time-dependent process of crack initiation and growth

of rock is simulated with the numerical modeling approach

using PFC. Model of Brazilian disc is used for the numer

ical simulation. Experimental and numerical researches for

the crack growth and fracture toughness using Brazilian disc

specimen have been carried out by Guo et al. (1993), Wang

et al. (1999), etc.

For the Brazilian disc shown in Figure 1, the maxi

mum tensile stress at the edge of an elliptical crack at

the center of Brazilian disc can be expressed, combining
Griffith theory(Griffith, 1925), as Equation 1. where σ G
is the maximum tensile stress, P is total load, R is disc
radius, t is disc thickness and α is loading angle. The
distribution of the maximum tensile stress according to the
loading angle and the distance from the disc center is
shown in Figure 2. The location of the maximum tensile
stress varies with the loading angle. It approaches to the
disc center under the condition that the loading angle, α,
is larger than 10 degrees. Figure 1. Brazilian disc models
and loading conditions.

Figure 2. Maximum tensile stress at crack edge along

diametral

center line of Brazilian disc model.

Table 1. Parameters for simulation of Brazilian fracture

toughness
test.

Parameter Value (Description index)

Particle radius, r (mm) 1.0 (B) 0.6 (L)

Loading angle, α (degree) 6.0 (N) 10.0 (M) 20.0 (W)

Loading rate, υ (mm/s) 0.1 (F) 0.01 (S)

Table 2. Mechanical properties of Brazilian disc model for

numer

ical analysis. Normal Shear Tensile Shear

Density stiffness stiffness Friction strength strength

(kg/m 3 ) (N/m) (N/m) coefficient (MPa) (MPa)

2,680 1.02e10 1.02e10 0.5 8.0 19.36

3 PATTERN OF CRACK INITIATION AND GROWTH

WITH LOADING CONDITION

Brazilian fracture toughness test is simulated using PFC

code.

Input parameters of test conditions and material properties

are listed in Table 1 and Table 2. Crack initiation patterns

according to the different loading conditions such as

loading

rate and loading angle are shown in Figure 3. Diagonal

straight

lines represent the constant loading rate and the black

points

represent the bond breakage of balls, namely, crack

initiation.

Under the range of loading rate less than 0.01 mm/s, the

progressive crack extension can be controlled stably. For

three
cases of different loading angles, tensile cracks are
initiated

at the center of Brazilian disc models in cases that α is

either

10 or 20 degrees.

Failure patterns can be also estimated by the bond breakage

type at the contacts between balls in PFC analysis. Figure 4

shows the pattern of bond breakage for three cases of the

loading angle. Figure 3. Crack initiation pattern according

to loading angle of flattened Brazilian disc model. It is
shown that tensile cracking is dominant in case of 2α= 20
degrees. Also, counts of bond breakage in PFC analysis can
be related with AE (Acoustic Emission) events in
progressive failure of rock (Hashida & Takahashi, 1993). 4
STRENGTH AND FRACTURE TOUGHNESS Results of PFC simulation
for 12 cases according to the combination of parameters
such as particle radius in Brazilian disc model, loading
rate and loading angle are summarized in

Figure 4. Counts of bond breakage according to the

progressive

failure of flattened Brazilian disc model.

Table 3. Conditions for the crack initiation at the disc

center

and the stable crack growth are that particle radius in

Brazil

ian test modeling is less than 1 mm, loading rate is less

than

0.01 mm/s and loading angle (2α) is larger than 20 degrees.

Critical load in Table 3 is the value measured at critical

load

point in Figure 5.This means the load level that the stable
crack

growth starts after failure by crack initiation. This

critical load
is used for the estimation of fracture toughness of rock.
Table 3. Results of numerical simulation of Brazilian
fracture toughness test. Critical load Case P c (kN) Crack
initiation pattern BNF 398.9 Initial shear crack near
loading edge BNS 396.7 Initial shear crack near loading
edge BMF 540.7 Initial tensile crack at center BMS 509.2
Initial tensile crack at center BWF 1,182.0 Initial tensile
crack at center BWS 1,166.0 Initial tensile crack at center
LNF 420.5 Initial shear crack near loading edge LNS 417.4
Initial shear crack near loading edge LMF 535.8 Initial
tensile crack at center LMS 529.7 Initial tensile crack at
center LWF 1,104.0 Initial tensile crack at center LWS
1,031.0 Initial tensile crack at center Figure 5.
Determination of the critical load for stable crack
propagation. Equation for fracture toughness evaluation by
Brazilian test can be expressed as Equation 2. where K IC
is fracture toughness, P C is critical load, R is disc
radius, t is disc thickness, and max is the maximum value
of dimensionless stress intensity factor shown in Figure 6.
For the case of 2α= 20 degrees, the maximum dimensionless
stress intensity factor occurs when the ratio of crack
length to disc radius is 0.8 and the maximum dimensionless
stress intensity factor is 0.78. The fracture toughness for
4 cases, by combination of two cases of loading rate and
two cases of particle radius, with same loading angle of
2α= 20 degrees is calculated as shown in Table 4. It seems
that particle radius and loading rate give not so
significant influence on fracture toughness value when the
loading angle (2α) is 20 degrees. It is reported by Mellor
et al.(1971) that loading rate of 0.1 mm/s is acceptable in
Brazilian test. However, it can be said that loading rate
below 0.01 mm/s is recommended for the control of stable
crack growth and the evaluation of fracture toughness.

Figure 6. Dimensionless stress intensity factor for loading

angle of

2α= 20 ◦ . Table 4. Value of fracture toughness evaluated

for the case of 2α= 20 ◦ . Case K IC , (MPa √ m) BMF 2.567
BMS 2.417 LMF 2.543 LMS 2.514

5 CONCLUSION

The time-dependent process of crack growth and failure of

brittle rock is simulated with numerical modeling and the

influence parameters on the generation and extension of

crack
are analyzed such as shape of loading plane, loading angle
and

ABSTRACT: Analysis methods involving various aspects of

block theory are used to assess the stability of both
surface

and underground excavations formed in jointed rock masses

and to assist with the design of ground support. One of the

major challenges in the design of ground support for

jointed rock is to define an appropriate block size based
on the use of

generally limited geological data. A case study is used to

compare the tetrahedral block size distributions predicted
using both

deterministic and probabilistic analysis methods. Despite

some marked differences in the capabilities of the software
used for

the analyses, important inferences can be made regarding

the formation of blocks at excavation surfaces. The
probabilistic

analyses in which discontinuity persistence was bounded

show that very large blocks rarely form relative to the
large numbers

of very small blocks. The deterministic analyses using

continuous persistence show that very large, discrete
blocks only form

when large spacing values are used. It is concluded that

both probabilistic and deterministic methods should be used
for the

design of appropriate reinforcement and support schemes.

1 INTRODUCTION

The design of reinforcement and support for rock excavations

requires consideration of many interrelated issues. If the

pro

cess is simplified and thought of purely in mechanical terms

then it could be considered to comprise six basic steps:

1. Formulation of a rock mass model.

2. Assessment of rock mass demand.

3. Dimensioning of trial reinforcement and/or support

schemes.

4. Analysis of candidate reinforcement and/or support

schemes.

5. Selection and specification of an appropriate

reinforcement

and/or support scheme.

6. Performance assessment of the selected reinforcement

and/or support scheme.

The design of reinforcement and/or support for an exca

vation in structured rock is particularly difficult due to a

number of problems associated with completing steps 1 and 2.

The mutual intersection of discontinuities in structured

rock

divides the rock into fully and partially formed blocks of

rock.

If an excavation cuts through this assembly of blocks, new

sets

of blocks are formed at the excavation surface. Some of

these

‘exposed’ or ‘surface’ blocks will have a shape that will

allow

them to fall, slide or rotate into the excavation should

the block

driving forces exceed the block stabilising forces. In

order to

understand how such a rock mass may best be reinforced or

supported, the assembly of blocks must be investigated. The

ideal outcome from this investigation would be to predict

the

exact shape, size, stability and spatial position of each

block

that could form around the excavation. These block character

istics would then define the rock mass demand and provide

the information needed to dimension trial reinforcement and

or support schemes.

The ability to properly define the block characteristics

depends on the quality and quantity of data that describes

the rock mass surrounding the proposed excavation and the

predictive capabilities of the block analysis techniques.

If the

exact position of each discontinuity is known in advance,

together with the parameters that describe its geometry and

strength characteristics, then it is relatively easy to
conduct an assessment and make a reasonable prediction
using a deterministic analysis method. Unfortunately, these
data are not available until after the excavation has been
formed. Also, with the quality and quantity of structural
data normally available, the current block analysis
techniques are unable to make an accurate prediction of the
shape, size and stability of the blocks. However, it is
suggested that an assessment of the block assembly can be
made which results in a prediction of: 1. The block shapes
that might possibly form. 2. The range of size of each
possible block shape. 3. The stability of each size of each
block shape that might possibly form. 4. The relative
probability of each block size of each possible block shape
forming. 5. The relative probability of each block size of
each possible block shape forming and being unstable. It is
proposed to study and compare tetrahedral block
realisations using both deterministic and probabilistic
analysis methods. Both methods involve identifying the
tetrahedra that might form and the possible range of sizes
for each of these block shapes. Only the formation of
tetrahedral shaped blocks adjacent to an excavation surface
will be considered. Therefore the term relative probability
will be used – that is, the number of tetrahedra of a
particular size relative to the total number of all
tetrahedra that might form. Relative probability is not a
measure of the absolute probability that a tetrahedron of a
particular size will form. The assessment of the stability
of blocks and ground support design for unstable blocks
have been presented previously (e.g. Windsor, 1999
andThompson, 2002) and are beyond the scope of this
investigation. 2 BLOCK FORMATION AND ANALYSIS 2.1
Background Procedures based on ‘key block’ or ‘keystone’
theory have been used for over 20 years for the stability
assessment of

individual blocks near surface and underground excavations

(e.g. Warburton, 1981 and Goodman & Shi, 1985). The most

popular assessment procedures are based on the

identification

and stability assessment of single blocks with simple

shapes.

For example, in surface excavations a single one or two

plane

wedge formed at the crest of a slope or tetrahedral blocks

formed adjacent to single excavation faces in underground

excavations (e.g. Rocscience, 2005). These methods are often

used in design to identify the potentially largest

problematic

blocks by assuming that the discontinuities are ubiquitous

and

form a block shape at some critical size, bounded in surface

excavations by the bench width or batter face height and,

for

underground excavations, by the roof or wall spans.

2.2 Simulations

The software packages developed by the writers will be used

to analyse similar sets of geological structures. The
determin

istic and probabilistic methods involve some differences in

the

input data.

2.3 Deterministic block analysis

A procedure developed by Warburton (1993) involves defin

ing, deterministically, the block assembly within a defined

volume of rock surrounding an excavation. Warburton’s algo

rithms have been implemented in a computer software package

and reported by Thompson (2002). With this software, it is

possible to vary the orientation and persistence of discrete

discontinuities together with the spacings within an

arbitrary

number of joint sets. In the case study, sets of three dis

continuities will be analysed using fixed orientations. The

discontinuities generated for each set will be assumed to be

continuous in extent. Two models for spacing within each set

will be used; namely, equal spacings distributed uniformly

and

exponentially. The use of the negative exponential

variation of

spacing in the deterministic analysis software was prompted

by Mathis (1992).

The outcome from the analysis pertinent to this study is

the ability to identify surface blocks and assess their

potential

instability.
2.4 Probabilistic block analysis

The concept of ubiquitous joint sets assumes that combina

tions of discontinuities may occur everywhere and anywhere

in relation to each other and an excavation surface. Windsor

(1999) developed and reported the use of probability

distribu

tion functions for orientations and persistence to form a

range

of tetrahedral block shapes and sizes. The influence of dif

ferent spacings within each set may be accounted for using

the method of Mauldon (1994). This work also incorporated

the important concepts of a number of limiting block sizes

defined previously by Windsor (1992).

In the probabilistic method, the pertinent outcome from the

analyses involving large numbers of simulations is a

frequency

distribution of sizes for each tetrahedral block shape

formed

from three discontinuities and an excavation face.

2.5 Output from analysis

The outputs from both programs may be summarised as fre

quency distributions of block sizes for each block shape.

The

outputs from the deterministic and probabilistic analyses

are

scaled identically to facilitate direct comparison and

interpre

tation.The block frequency distributions of tetrahedra are

used Table 1. Summary of geological structural data for
input. Set Dip Fisher Mean trace number Dip direction
constant length (m) 1 47 135 100 5 2 39 010 100 5 3 43 087
100 5 4 61 170 100 5 5 28 225 100 5 as well as cumulative
block volumes when higher order blocks are included in the
deterministic analyses. 3 CASE STUDY OF BLOCK FORMATION 3.1
Study definition and input data The case study will examine
the tetrahedral block shapes formed from five discontinuity
sets and a horizontal excavation face. The set data used
for the probabilistic analysis is detailed in Table 1. The
deterministic analysis uses the mean orientations given in
this table together with three different mean set spacing
values (1 m, 2 m and 3 m) that are distributed either
uniformly or exponentially. The block shapes formed from
any three individual discontinuities from the five
discontinuity sets and their potential failure modes are
summarised in Table 2.The block code indicates whether the
block is (A)bove or (B)elow the discontinuity surface. The
potential translation mode is one of free-falling, single
plane sliding or sliding on the intersection of two planes.
The block shapes are shown looking down towards the
north-east and with the apex 1m from the horizontal
excavation face in all cases. It can be seen from Table 2
that there is a wide variation in the ratio of excavation
face area to apex distance and this will influence the
range of possible blocks sizes.Table 3 shows the blocks
volumes limited by maximum trace length values of 5 m, 10 m
and 15 m and the spacing values of 1 m, 2 m and 3 m. The
trace limited block volumes represent the theoretically
largest blocks that can fully form and the spacing limited
block volumes represent the largest individual blocks that
can form. Note that the trace limited block may comprise a
number of smaller tetrahedra and other block shapes as
shown in Figure 1. Table 3 also gives a rating of
importance for the particular block shapes based on the
scale-stability diagram (Windsor, 1999). 3.2 Analysis
description 3.2.1 Deterministic analyses The deterministic
analyses assumed that the horizontal excavation surface was
square and the members of the joint sets were generated
from its centre. Analyses were completed for each of the
ten blocks with discontinuity combinations given in Table
2. The three different spacing values and two distributions
used for each block shape resulted in 60 separate model
realisations. 3.3 Probabilistic analyses Probabilistic
analyses were completed for each of the ten blocks with
discontinuity combinations given inTable 2.A full
description of the methodology is given by Windsor (1999).
Briefly, each analysis involved 250 000 simulations in
which

Table 2. Summary of basic tetrahedral block shapes and

failure

modes. Translation

Block Block

no. Sets code Mode Set(s) Shape

1 123 BBA 2 3

2 124 ABB 3 1 & 4

3 125 BBB 1 N/A

4 134 ABB 3 1 & 4

5 135 ABB 2 1

6 145 BAB 2 4

7 234 BAB 2 3

8 235 BBB 1 N/A

9 245 BBB 1 N/A

10 345 BAB 2 4

* Mode 1 – free-falling, Mode 2 – sliding on a single

plane, Mode

3 – sliding on the intersection of two planes. (a) (b) (c)

Figure 1. Smaller blocks of various shapes contained within

the

trace limited tetrahedral shaped blocks.

firstly a potential block apex was located at some random

dis

tance above the horizontal excavation surface and within the

block existence zone. Then persistence circles were

generated

probabilistically for each discontinuity and located

randomly

at some position relative to the apex of the potential

block. Table 3. Summary of block volumes limited by trace
length and spacing values. Trace length (m) Spacing (m)
Block shape 5 10 15 1 2 3 Rating 1 1.9 15.1 51.0 0.5 3.9
13.2 3 2 0.6 5.1 17.1 0.1 1.0 3.4 1 3 1.4 11.1 37.5 0.1 0.4
1.4 10 4 0.1 1.1 3.8 2.3 18.5 62.4 2 5 1.8 14.8 49.8 0.1
1.1 3.8 6 6 3.6 28.6 96.4 0.4 3.1 10.4 5 7 0.8 6.8 22.9 0.1
0.4 1.2 4 8 1.0 7.7 26.0 0.1 0.7 2.2 9 9 0.5 4.0 13.4 0.2
1.2 4.0 8 10 2.6 21.2 71.7 0.1 0.5 1.6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0.1 1 10 100 Volume
(m^3) C u m u l a t i v e % b y N u m b e r Figure 2.
Summary of tetrahedral block sizes predicted
probabilistically. Blocks were only formed if the
persistence of the three discontinuities was sufficiently
large to allow for all block faces to be fully formed. It
is pertinent at this stage to note that the trace limited
block sizes given in Table 3 are very unlikely to form
given the number of simultaneous conditions that need to
occur. 3.4 Results of analyses The results of the
probabilistic analyses for all ten tetrahedral block shapes
are summarised in Figure 2. The scale of the plot has
limits more or les consistent with the range of sizes given
in Table 3. The results given in Figure 2 were used to
identify the results from the 60 deterministic analyses to
be presented. Using set spacing values with frequencies
distributed exponentially about a 5 m mean spacing for all
joint sets resulted in the block size distributions given
in Figure 3. Using smaller mean spacings resulted in much
smaller blocks sizes and using fixed spacings resulted in a
smaller range of sizes. 4 INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS The
following observations may be made with regard to the
probabilistic size predictions of tetrahedral blocks
adjacent to an excavation surface formed in a jointed, hard
rock mass: • A large number of small blocks are formed. •
Relatively few, large block sizes are formed. 1 2 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0.1 1 10 100
Volume (m^3) C u m u l a t i v e % b y N u m b e r

Figure 3. Summary of tetrahedral block sizes predicted

determin

istically using 5 m mean spacings distributed exponentially.

• The largest block sizes are related to shape.

• The largest block sizes are limited by trace length and

the

joint set spacings are not considered.

With respect to the deterministic predictions of block

sizes:

• A large number of small blocks are formed.

• Relatively few, large block sizes are formed.

• The largest block sizes are related to shape.

• The large block sizes are limited by joint set spacing and

trace lengths are not considered.

If the results from the probabilistic and deterministic

predictions are compared, then:

• The range of sizes predicted probabilistically is larger

than

that predicted deterministically.

• The probabilistic analysis method predicts greater numbers

of both smaller and larger block sizes.

• The relative positions of the block size curves shown in

Figure 2 and Figure 3 are different.

These differences are important and were expected; they

are related directly to Figure 1. The probabilistic analyses

assumed ubiquity for the joint set planes and assumed ubiety

for the block apex within the ‘block existence zone’ defined

by the trace limited block formed by considering the extrema

of the joint set orientations. Each block apex was simulated

as a random point within the block existence zone without

consideration of spacing. However, the distributions can be

modified using the work of Mauldon (1994).

On the other hand, the deterministic analyses assumed spe

cific locations of the joint set planes within a simulated

volume

adjacent to the excavation face. Only tetrahedra adjacent

to the

excavation face were included in the block size

distributions.

However, the analysis method can be modified to aggregate

a number of smaller tetrahedra, pentahedra and hexahedra to

form larger tetrahedral shaped volumes that would be more

consistent with the probabilistic predictions.

5 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Block analyses are often used to predict reinforcement and

ABSTRACT: The highly variable nature of the deeply

weathered Porto granite has been posing significant
challenges in the

geotechnical design due to the nature of the rock mass when

its several class qualities are hard to differentiate. The
identification

of geotechnical patterns in weathered rock profiles from

conventional borehole investigations is common and ideal
but rather

time consuming. Drilling Parameter Recordings (DPR) has

been pointed out as a complementary alternative to site
investigation.

A series of boreholes, where classical exploration

techniques were confronted with drilling parametric
monitoring, have been

used to develop protocols between indices coming out from

this practical and increasingly reliable technique.

This paper presents some results from the study developed

in this geotechnical ambient, by comparing compound
parameters

derived from the DPR recorded variable with conventional

site investigation results and indices. It is the purpose
of this research,
developed in collaboration of the industry, to enable this
technique to be more confiable in its common use in these
formations.

1 INTRODUCTION

The weathering profiles of granite, gneiss and schist rocks

in

the north region of Portugal are well known by their

variability

and complexity. They are mostly, but not always, character

ized by its gradation from upper weathered levels to lower

sound rock, improving its mechanical behavior with depth

(Viana da Fonseca, 2003; Marques et al. 2004). Meanwhile,

the weathered granite zones present a wide irregularity,

being

common to occur blocks of sound or partly weathered gran

ite, with various dimensions involved in high to extremely

high weathered masses. A good definition of those profiles

requires conventional borehole investigations, which is com

mon but time consuming. An ongoing investigation tries to

establish protocols which will allow mapping the weathering

profiles using Drilling Parameters Recordings (DPR).

This work will refer solely the use of compound parameters,

namely the Somerton Index, as a useful tool for mapping the

various weathering levels.The data for each borehole

executed

with destructive perforation with DPR is analyzed by

thorough

comparison with indices derived from classical borehole. The

sample recovering available in the vicinity allowed the
devel

opment of a protocol that allows DPR to be used in

identifying

the various weathering degrees in presence.

2 SITE GEOLOGY

This paper deals with DPR from two different locations in

the North of Portugal, both mainly constituted by granite.

The

major part of the data (16 boreholes with DPR and corre

spondent 16 classical boreholes with sample recovering) is

originated in typical ambient of “Porto granite”, well know

for its variability and its gradation. In general terms,

this for

mation presents a gradation from highly weathered rock (W5)

in the upper layers to rather sound rock (W2) in the bottom

layers. However it is common for unweathered rock to occur

in the upper layers mixed with the more weathered material.

It is also common that highly weathered rock mass appears

at large depths. Normally this formation is overlayed by
recent landfills. The three remaining pairs of boreholes
are located in the area of Vila Real, North of Portugal.
Here the rock mass consists mainly of granite ranging from
fine grained to coarse grained, this later one being the
most representative. In the area, schistes and micaschistes
were also identified along with alluviums originating in
lines and consisting of sandy clay layers with gravel. This
area also presents vegetable soil and recent landfills. 3
DRILLING PARAMETERS “Drilling Parameters Recording” (DPR)
has been used for a long time in the oil industry (Gui et
al. 2002) and its use for geotechnical purposes began in
the early 1970’s (Pfister 1985). The recorded data can be
used to complement conventional boreholes, to correlate
with lithological and geomechanical properties of rock
masses (Peck et al. 1987), as an element for design,
guidance and control of soil treatment (Pfister, 1985), in
cavity detection (Garassino et al. 1998) and fracture
identification (Benoît et al. 2004). While drilling occurs,
a set of sensors mounted in various parts of the drilling
equipment monitors a number of parameters related to the
process of drilling, without interfering with the process
itself.All the sensors are connected to the recorder, where
the values are visualized and stored, allowing for
posterior download to a PC for ulterior treatment. In this
case, the recorder used allowed to record the advance rate,
thrust pressure, rod torque, rotation rate, water pressure
and vibration (this later parameter was not monitored in
this case). Figure 1 shows an example of the data obtained
from a DPR borehole. 4 COMPOUND PARAMETERS Several compound
parameters have been proposed along the years, the oldest
being reported by Somerton (1959). All

Figure 1. Registered values using DPR for one of the

boreholes.

parameters combine different recorded values and some use

data such us bit diameter, bit and rods weight and maximum

thrust pressure and drilling rate provided by the equipment.

By manipulating and combining all these entities, there is

the

purpose of emphasizing certain characteristics of the rock

or

soil mass being studied.

4.1 Somerton Index

Somerton Index was presented in 1959 by Wilbur H. Somerton

following a study on rock breakage by rotary drilling. From

its tests, he realized that the ultimate compressive

strength

was not a reliable rock strength parameter for general

rotary

drilling correlations (Somerton, 1959). Therefore, this

index

was proposed as a “strength parameter” who could provide a

good correlation between advance rate, rotation rate and the

effective weight on the bit. The Somerton Index is usually

presented has shown in Equation (1).

whereW net = effective weight on the bit (thrust pressure +

rods

and bit weight), w d = rotation rate and V d = advance rate.

5 THE APPLICATION OF SOMERTON INDEX ON

WEATHERED GRANITE

5.1 Data preparation

For each available borehole, the Somerton Index was cal

culated according to Equation 1. Examples of the profiles

obtained for each borehole are shown in Figure 2.

The analysis of Figure 2 shows that along each profile, sev

eral zones with distinctive behavior can be observed,

namely,

the values of Somerton Index seem to be more or less stable

along certain depths, in each specific horizon.

The logical immediate step from the mentioned observation

was to define these areas of apparent stability and

calculate the

average value of the Somerton Index. In order to avoid the

def

inition of too limited zones with very similar average

values,

it was established that two consecutive zones would only be

individualized it the difference between their average

values

was greater than 50 (the Somerton Index is a nondimensional

entity). The results of this zoning, for the same
boreholes, are

presented in Figure 3. Figure 2. Examples of the individual

profiles obtained for each borehole using the Somerton
Index. Figure 3. Zoning of the boreholes using the Somerton
Index. 5.2 Data analysis After the zoning process, each
borehole’s derived profile and respective classification of
horizons was compared with the corresponding conventional
borehole in order to identify zones of similar weathering
degree that could be related. To each one of these zones, a
weathering degree had a correspondence to a specific trend
value of the index giving rise to a pattern of weathering
evolution. 5.3 Results validation In one of the sites under
study, the boreholes were used to perform cross-holes (CH)
tests. Seismic shear (S) waves velocities were determined
through depth in cross-hole tests and proved to be
particularly relevant in the cross-correlation, since these
proved to be very much in agreement with the zones defined
by the compound parameters, specially with the good
fittings with the Somerton Index average values. These
results can be seen in Figure 4 for one cross-hole (CH)
test. 5.4 Global analysis of all available results Several
difficulties appeared when all the boreholes were analyzed
in whole: the values seemed in some cases to be very much
affected by any change in the drilling process (a sudden
increase in rotation speed, for example) However, it was
also assumed that, since the advance rate is directly
related to the net pressure and the rotation rate, these
values would somehow compensate each other. Therefore, the
Somerton Index would

Figure 4. Comparison between zoning according to the

Somerton

Index and S-waves.

Figure 5. Average values of the Somerton Index without

restrains

in the distance between the DPR log and the classical

borehole.

still provide a reliable estimation on the “strength

parameter”

and therefore of the weathering degree. Another difficulty

is

related to the fact that the evolution of weathering degrees

with depths did not always agree in the interpretation of
DPR

monitoring and the classical borehole classification. This

was

assumed to be related to the well known variability of these

geological formation (Viana da Fonseca, 2003, Marques et al.

2004).

The average values assigned for each weathering degree in

each borehole were then plotted to verify their consistency

as

a whole. The purpose was to check whether the average values

for each weathering degree presented similarities from bore

hole to borehole. Three types of plotting were considered:

one

without limitations of distance between the DPR borehole and

the closest classical borehole (as far as they were

considered

correspondent), a second one considering only boreholes sep

arated by less than 50 m, and a third one, considering

boreholes

separated less than 20 m. These plots are shown in Figures

5 to

7 respectively, with indication of the average value

obtained

for each weathering degree.

Figures 5 to 7 show that, although with some variation and

a general overlapping in the weathering degrees, the Somer

ton Index values clearly increase as the rock becomes less

weathered. Figure 6. Average values of the Somerton Index

with a maximum distance between the DPR log and the
classical borehole of 50 m. Figure 7. Average values of the
Somerton Index with a maximum distance between the DPR log
and the classical borehole of 20 m. It is also clear that
the evolution of the Somerton Index with the weathering
class is more notorious and reliable with the decrease in
distance between the DPR logs and the classical boreholes.
This is not surprising for the high variability of the
granitic rock mass that is being studied: these profiles
typically vary very rapidly and there are no guarantees
that boreholes separated by several dozen meters will still
encounter the same weathering profile pattern (neither in
its evolution in depth nor in the weathering degrees
present). From the above results, it seems clear that in
each site, the calibration between DPR logs and classical
boreholes should be conducted based in close distance
boreholes.Then the DPR results may be extended to the rest
of the site. 6 CONCLUSIONS Somerton Index (SI) seems to be
a useful tool to differentiate weathering degrees in
classes in weathered granite profiles, giving a powerful
framework for the interpretation of Drilling Parameters
Recording (DPR). It is important that, for calibration
purposes, the distance between the DPR logs and the
classical boreholes (thoroughly and conventionally
classified from a geological evaluation of recovered
integral samples) be as small as possible in order to
provide correct and confiable correlations. This paper has
dealt with a careful and systematic crosscorrelation
between a relevant set of borehole results in weathering
granite profiles, taking advantage of the sensitivity of a
specific compound parameters (SI), derived from the DPR
logs, giving a fundament contribution to enable this
technique to be used in geotechnical practice in these
formations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the valuable help obtained

from Tecnasol FGE and FEUP Geotechnical Laboratory, who

performed the site works and lab tests, respectively. To

“Metro

do Porto, SA” and “Normetro, ACE”, for the authorization to

publish “geodata” from the Project. This work is integrated

in

the research activities of CEC (FEUP), FCT sponsored centre

and POCI/ECM/61934/2004.

Benoît, J., Sadkowski, S.S. and Bothner, W.A. (2004). “Rock

charac

terization using drilling parameters”. Geotechnical and

Geophys

ical Site Characterization, Proc. of ISC-2, Vol.1,

pp.665–670. Ed.

by Viana da Fonseca & Mayne. Millpress, Rotterdam.

Garassino, A.L. and Schinelli, M.L. (1998). “Detection of

cavities

by monitored drilling”. Geotechnical Site Characterization,

Proc.

ISC’98, Ed. by Robertson & Mayne. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

Gui, M.W., Soga, K., Bolton, M.D. and Hamelin, J.P. (2002).
“Instru

mented borehole drilling for subsurface investigation”.

Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering,
Vol. 128, N ◦ 4, pp. 283–291. ASCE, Reston. Marques,
E.,Viana da Fonseca,A., Carvalho, P. and Gaspar,A. (2004)
“Example of erratic distribution of weathering patterns of
Porto granite masses and its implication on site
investigation and ground modelling”. Geotechnical and
Geophysical Site Characterization, Proc. of ISC-2, Vol.2,
pp.1293–1300. Ed. by Viana da Fonseca & Mayne. Millpress,
Rotterdam. Peck, J., Scoble, M.J. and Carter, M. (1969).
“Interpretation of drilling parameters for ground
characterization in exploration and development of
quarries”, Transactions of the Institution of Mining and
Metallurgy, Proc. Drillex’87 Conf.. Section B, Vol.69:
B141–B147. Pfister, P. (1985) “Recording drilling
parameters in ground engineering”, Ground Engineering,
Vol.18, N ◦ 3. BGA, London. Somerton, W.H. (1959) “A
laboratory study of rock breakage by rotary drilling”
Journal of Petroleum Technology, Vol. 216, pp. 92–97 Viana
da Fonseca, A. (2003). Characterising and deriving
engineering properties of a saprolitic soil from granite,
in Porto. Characterisation and Engineering Properties of
Natural Soils. Swets and Zeitlinger, Lisse, pp. 1341–1378.
11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Classification of anisotropic rocks H. Saroglou & G.
Tsiambaos Department of Geotechnics, National Technical
University of Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT: The scope of the present study is the

characterization of the inherent anisotropy of metamorphic
rocks, based on

the most widely used laboratory tests for rocks. The

proposed classification system is based on data from
literature and results

from tests carried out in metamorphic rocks. It takes into

account the degree of anisotropy as it is determined from:
a. the

uniaxial compressive strength, σ ci , b. the point load

strength, Is 50 and c. the longitudinal wave velocity, V p
. A new anisotropy

index for point load strength, determined from diametral

tests on oriented core specimens, is also presented.

1 INTRODUCTION

A number of indices have been proposed for the classifica

tion of inherent anisotropy of the intact rock, mainly that

of

the uniaxial compressive strength and the point load

strength.

The degree of strength anisotropy is determined as the

ratio of

the strength perpendicular to the planes of anisotropy (max

imum strength) to that in the weakest direction (minimum

strength), as described by ISRM (1981). A classification of

the anisotropy of foliated rocks was proposed byTsidzi

(1997)

based on the ultrasonic velocity. Tsidzi (1986, 1987) also

pro

posed a descriptive petrographic index (foliation index) for

the characterization of the development of anisotropic tex

ture of intact rock and a modification of the

classification of

point load strength anisotropy (Tsidzi, 1990). Other indices

that have been used for the characterization of anisotropy

are

that based on the deformation modulus and the Poisson ratio

(Ramamurthy, 1993 and Kwasniewski, 1993), as well as that

of the tensile strength of rock.

The indices that have been used for the characterization

of anisotropy, possess a different classification scale, as

they

refer to different mechanical properties of intact rock.

These

properties are influenced to a varying extend by the

anisotropic

texture of intact rock.

The aim of the present study is the proposal of a concise

classification scheme of anisotropic rocks, which will take

into account the fundamental anisotropy indices of mechani

cal properties and will characterize the degree of

anisotropy

of intact rock, by considering also the uniaxial compressive

strength, σ ci , perpendicular to the planes of anisotropy.

Thus,

the strength and velocity anisotropy indices are correlated

to

the uniaxial compressive strength.

2 EXISTING CLASSIFICATION OF ANISOTROPY

2.1 Uniaxial compressive strength anisotropy

The strength anisotropy index has been widely used for the

classification of anisotropy. The maximum uniaxial compres

sive strength occurs when loading is perpendicular to the

planes of anisotropy (β= 90 ◦ ). The strength anisotropy

index

is given as (Ramamurthy, 1993): The application of uniaxial

load relevant to the planes of anisotropy in the direction
of maximum and minimum strength is shown in Figure 1. Based
on the strength data of anisotropic sedimentary and
metamorphic rocks, Ramamurthy (1993) proposed the
classification given in Table 1. 2.2 Point load strength
anisotropy The point load strength anisotropy index was
initially proposed by ISRM (1981). The index Iα (50) is
given as: where, Is (50)⊥ and Is (50)// is the point load
strength, for samples of diameter equal to 50 mm,
perpendicular and parallel to the foliation planes at the
axial and diametral test. Figure 1. Orientations of minimum
and maximum compressive strength of anisotropic intact
rock. Table 1. Anisotropy classification according to
uniaxial compressive strength (Ramamurthy, 1993). Degree of
compressive strength anisotropy, Iσ c Descriptive term
1.0–1.1 Isotropic 1.1–2.0 Fairly anisotropic 2.0–4.0
Moderately anisotropic 4.0–6.0 Highly anisotropic >6.0 Very
highly anisotropic

Table 2. Anisotropy classification according to point load

strength

(ISRM, 1985).

Degree of Point load

strength anisotropy Iα (50) Descriptive term

1 Isotropic

1–2 Fairly – moderately anisotropic

2–4 Highly anisotropic

>4 Very highly anisotropic

Table 3. Anisotropy classification according to ultrasonic

wave

velocity (Tsidzi, 1997).

Degree of velocity

anisotropy VA (%) Descriptive term

<2 Isotropic

2–6 Fairly anisotropic

6–20 Moderately anisotropic

20–40 Highly anisotropic

>40 Very highly anisotropic

The minimum point load strength of anisotropic rock occurs

when loading is applied parallel to the foliation planes due

to splitting along them, while the minimum uniaxial com

pressive strength occurs when the angle between the loading

orientation and the anisotropy planes is equal to 30 ◦ .

Consequently, the directions of minimum strength in the

two tests differ and thus the minimum uniaxial compressive

strength cannot be indirectly estimated by the minimum point

load srength. The correlation of these two intact rock

proper

ties, as initially proposed by Broch & Franklin (1972) is

valid

only when loading is perpendicular to the planes of

anisotropy.

Based on the point load strength index, Iα (50) , a

classifica

tion of anisotropic rocks was proposed by ISRM (1981), as

given in Table 2, while a similar classification was

proposed
by Tsidzi (1990).

2.3 Wave velocity anisotropy

The determination of wave velocity anisotropy of intact

rock,

has been used in the past, since its measurement is

relatively

simple.

Tsidzi (1997) proposed a velocity anisotropy index, VA,

based on tests carried out on metamorphic rocks, which is

described by the following equation.

where, V (max) is the maximum ultrasonic wave velocity, V

(min)

is the minimum velocity, and V (mean) is the mean velocity.

The

classification of anisotropy based on this index is given in

Table 3.

The velocity anisotropy index which is proposed and scaled

in the present study is given by the ratio:

where, V p(0 ◦ ) is the maximum velocity of longitudinal

waves

(P-waves), which occurs when their propagation is parallel

to the planes of anisotropy and V p(90 ◦ ) is the minimum
velocity, occurring when the propagation is perpendicular
to them. The ratio was also used by Birch (1961) for the
description of seismic waves, but here it is used solely
for the classification of wave velocity anisotropy and its
correlation with the strength anisotropy. 3 PROPOSED
CLASSIFICATION METHODOLOGY 3.1 General The classification
scheme of anisotropic rocks proposed in the present study
is based on the following anisotropy indices: 1. the
strength anisotropy index, Iσ c (equation 1) 2. the point
load anisotropy index in the diametral test, I d (based on
equation 2) 3. the wave velocity anisotropy index I Vp
(equation 4). In order to develop this classification, a
substantial number of data for metamorphic rocks (shales,
schists, gneisses, phyllites, marbles) was collected by
literature. Attempt was made to gather sufficient data of
mechanical properties of anisotropic intact rocks (e.g.
uniaxial compressive strength, point load strength, wave
velocity), in order to: 1. Compare of the anisotropic
indices of each rock, 2. Define the variation of the
anisotropic index of each mechanical property in relation
to the property itself (when not influenced by anisotropy),
3. Define the variation of the anisotropy indices in
relation to the uniaxial compressive strength of intact
rock. Additionally, a large number of tests were performed
on specimens of metamorphic rocks, namely Athens Schist,
gneisses and marble (Saroglou et al., 2004a and Saroglou et
al., 2004b).The schist is characterized as chloritic,
muscovitic and has moderately developed foliation. The
gneiss is characterized as (a) muscovitic gneiss with
medium-grained fabric with very well developed banding and
(b) a mica gneiss with coarsegrained fabric. The marble is
calcitic with a small amount of dolomite (3%) and has a
layered texture due to the existence of parallel
discontinuous layers of dolomite, resulting in a low degree
of anisotropy. 3.2 Strength versus strength anisotropy
index The uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock, σ
ci , perpendicular to the anisotropy planes seems to
correlate, in some way, to its degree of strength
anisotropy. It was found that the rocks with lower
compressive strength tend to have a higher degree of
anisotropy. Based on the classification chart of strength
anisotropy, shown in Figure 2, it is possible to
characterize the anisotropy of different types of
metamorphic rocks in relation to the uniaxial compressive
strength category as per ISRM (1981). More precisely, it
can be concluded that: 1. Rocks with high compressive
strength (σ ci > 100 MPa) generally exhibit low degree of
anisotropy. 2. Rocks with moderate compressive strength (50
MPa < σ ci < 100 MPa) don’t tend to be characterized by a
certain category of anisotropy. 3. Rocks with low
compressive strength (25 MPa <σ ci < 50 MPa), although the
data are limited, tend to have moderate degree of
anisotropy.

Figure 2. Classification of metamorphic rocks based on

strength index and uniaxial compressive strength. (L): data
from literature.

The data for rocks with very low compressive strength

(σ ci < 25 MPa) are very limited, thus they do not provide a

basis for evaluation.

The available data don’t allow for correspondence of the

strength anisotropy categories with the nature or lithology

of the intact rock. For instance, the same rock type may be

classified in more than one strength anisotropy categories

depending on its mineralogical composition, structure but

also the weathering degree in intact rock state.

Nevertheless,

marbles tend to be classified in the first anisotropy

category

(isotropic), while schists and phyllites in the third

category

(medium degree of anisotropy).

No data were found in literatures, which belong in the cate

gory of very high strength anisotropy (Iσ c > 5.0). It

should

be stated that the range of the medium and high strength

anisotropy categories, as proposed by Ramamurthy (1993),

were altered as defined in Figure 2. The upper limit of the

high degree of anisotropy was changed to 5.0 instead of 6.0

considering that no data with values of Iσ c higher than 6.0

occurred in literature.Additionally, the limit of medium –

high

degree of strength anisotropy was correspondingly changed

from Iσ c = 4.0 to Iσ c = 3.0.

3.3 Point load strength versus point load strength index

3.3.1 General

The point load strength anisotropy index has greater scatter

than the compressive strength index and the velocity index,

for the rocks tested and the data available from literature
(Fig

ure 3). Specifically, only the degree of anisotropy of

gneiss,

as determined by the point load strength index, Ia 50 , and

com

pressive strength index, Iσ c , coincide, while this is not

true

for the schist and the marble tested, especially for the
marble

samples.

Based on the results from the present study and data from

literature, it is obvious that there is no relating trend

between the anisotropy index, Ia 50 , and the point load
strength normal to the planes of weakness, Is 50(⊥) . Most
importantly, the distribution of the point load index of
the rocks tested shows that it is concentrated in one
category of anisotropy (moderately to highly anisotropic),
while the same rocks can be classified to more than one
categories and more evenly if they are characterized by the
strength index, Iσ c , and velocity index, I Vp .
Consequently, the classification of anisotropy of intact
rocks based on the point load strength index can sometimes
be inefficient. Additionally, the point load strength
parallel to the planes of anisotropy, Is 50(//) , is not a
representative mechanical property. This is pronounced,
when comparing a schist of low strength with a gneiss,
where the point load strength of the two rocks parallel to
the foliation planes, I s50(//) , may have little
difference, in contrast to their point load strength degree
of anisotropy, Ia 50 , which may differ significantly due
to the difference of the point load strength perpendicular
to them, Is 50(⊥) . Thus, the index Ia 50 should be used
with caution for the classification of anisotropic intact
rock. Concerning the effect of weathering on the point load
strength anisotropy index, it seems that it does not
decrease with increasing weathering grade, as it was found
from the tests of the schist (weathering grades II to III).
3.3.2 Proposed point load strength anisotropy index from
the diametral test In the diametral test the minimum
strength is recorded when the load is applied parallel to
the weakness plane and the specimen fails along it (Broch,
1983). Aagaard (1976) has also demonstrated this in
gneisses and mica schists. In the present study, the same
loading pattern was used in the diametral test in order to
determine the minimum and maximum strength of the
metamorphic rocks tested. Based on this testing
methodology, a new anisotropy index, I d , was

Figure 3. Classification of metamorphic rocks based on

point load strength index, Ia 50 . (L): data from
literature.

Figure 4. Diametral point load strength as a function of

the angle,

a, for schist and gneiss samples tested in the present

study.

proposed which is defined as the ratio of the point load

strength

perpendicular to that parallel to the planes of weakness,

in the

diametral test (Saroglou &Tsiambaos, 2006).The comparison

of this index (I d ) with that proposed by ISRM, 1985 (Ia

(50) )

led to significant results.

The variation of the point load strength with the angle is

shown in Figure 4. The decrease of strength with angle is

more profound for the gneiss samples rather than the schist
Table 4. Anisotropy Index I a50 and proposed index I d from
diametral point load tests. Diam. Diam. Rock Is (50)⊥ Is
(50)// Descriptive term for type Ia 50 (MPa) (MPa) I d I d
(based on Table 2) Schist 2.9 1.3 0.8 1.6 Fairly –
moderately anisotropic Gneiss 3.4 4.7 1.7 2.8 Highly
anisotropic Marble 2.5 4.1 2.4 1.7 Fairly – moderately
anisotropic and that is due to the higher strength of
gneiss normal to the planes of weakness. The point load
strength recorded parallel and perpendicular to the planes
of weakness in the diametral test for the rocks tested, is
summarized in Table 4. Based on the results from the
diametral tests, it is obvious that there is a significant
difference between the two anisotropy indices, I d and Ia
(50) . Generally, the minimum strength, which is
encountered parallel to the planes of weakness, is closer
to the maximum strength for rocks with low intact rock
strength. This is true for the schist samples that were
tested. The proposed anisotropy index, I d , gives a better
correlation with the strength anisotropy index, Iσ ci , for
the metamorphic rocks tested. Thus, it can be used for the
determination of the degree of anisotropy of intact rocks
exhibiting inherent anisotropy (using the same ranges
proposed for Ia 50 , as in Table 2). 3.4 Wave velocity
versus wave velocity index The classification of velocity
anisotropy is obtained with the proposed index of the
longitudinal wave velocity, I Vp (equation 4).

Figure 5. Classification of metamorphic rocks based on

longitudinal velocity anisotropy. (L): data from
literature.

The proposed velocity anisotropy index, for both the data

of the present study as well as those from literature, corre

lates very well with the velocity of the longitudinal waves

perpendicular to the planes of anisotropy (V p90 ◦ ).This

velocity

is a characteristic property of the intact rock.

The velocity anisotropy index, I Vp , is higher for rocks

that

possess lower velocities of the longitudinal waves

perpendicu

lar to the planes of anisotropy,V p90 ◦ (Figure 5).The

correlation

of these parameters for all the samples is exponential and

is

given by the equation, V p = 5240 I −1.28 Vp (r 2 = 0.88),

while for

the rocks examined in the present study it is V p = 4615 I

−1.13 Vp

(r 2 = 0.95).

The velocity index I Vp doesn’t exceed the value of 2.0,

with

only exception the data of weathered intact gneiss which

give

a value of 3.0 (Dobereiner et al., 1993).

According to the velocity anisotropy index, I Vp , the

marble

examined is characterized as isotropic to fairly

anisotropic.

The schist tested as well as the schists from literature

are clas

sified as fairly to moderately anisotropic, while the

gneisses as

moderately to highly anisotropic (shown by the hatched areas

in Figure 5).

3.5 Scaling of index I Vp according to index Iσ c

In order to define the limits of the anisotropy categories

using

the velocity anisotropy index, I Vp , in the proposed

classifica

tion scheme, this index is scaled according to the

compressive

strength index, Iσ c , from uniaxial compression and ultra

sonic tests carried out on the same samples in the present

study. The data from literature were not taken into account

since they usually refer to the same rock but not to the
same

samples. Figure 6. Scaling of the proposed anisotropy index

I Vp based on anisotropy index Iσ c according to the
results of the present study. The scaling of the velocity
anisotropy index is shown in Figure 6. The proposed
classification scheme of anisotropy based on compressive
strength index, Iσ c , longitudinal velocity index, I Vp ,
and the proposed point load strength index, I d , is
presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Suggested classes for the classification of

anisotropic

rocks.

Anisotropy Strength index Proposed Proposed

category Iσ c ∗ index I Vp index I d

Isotropic Iσ c ≤ 1.1 – I d = 1.0

Fair 1.1 < Iσ c ≤ 2.0 I Vp ≤ 1.5 1.0 < I d ≤ 2.0

Moderate 2.0 < Iσ c ≤ 3.0 1.5 < I Vp ≤ 2.0

High 3.0 < Iσ c ≤ 5.0 I Vp > 2.0 2.0 < I d ≤ 4.0

Very high Iσ c > 5.0 – I d > 4.0

∗ The ranges of the categories of strength anisotropy given

in Table 1

(Ramamurthy, 1993) have been modified.

Furthermore, the classification charts of compressive

strength (Figure 2), point load strength (Figure 3) and

longi

tudinal wave velocity (Figure 5), allow also for the

character

ization of the anisotropic rocks concerning these mechanical

properties in junction with the corresponding indices.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The longitudinal wave velocity index of anisotropic intact

rocks, I Vp , can be used for the classification of

anisotropy. The

index is defined as the ratio of the wave velocity

perpendicular

and parallel to the planes of anisotropy.

In the present study, the classification of anisotropy
through

the velocity index was scaled based on the uniaxial com

pressive strength index, Iσ c , and anisotropy categories

were

proposed.

Additionally, the analysis of the anisotropy indices of com

pressive strength and wave velocity, shows that the degree

of

anisotropy tends to increase for rocks with lower uniaxial

com

pressive strength, σ ci , or with lower longitudinal

velocities, V p

(perpendicular to the planes of anisotropy).

The anisotropy of intact rock can also be classified with

the

point load strength index, Ia (50) . The use of index Ia

(50) can

lead to a misleading estimation of anisotropy degree for

some

rocks, as it occurred with the marble in the present study.

The

metamorphic rocks, in the present study, were characterized

as

highly anisotropic based on the point load strength index,

Ia 50 ,

which did not agree with their compressive strength

anisotropy

index, Iσ ci .

Consequently, a new anisotropy index, I d , was proposed

which is defined as the ratio of point load strength normal

to
planes of anisotropy to that parallel to them in the
diametral

test.

The characterization of the rocks tested according to the

pro

posed index, correlates quite well with the strength

anisotropy

ABSTRACT: The bore holes are usually analyzed by RQD method

in the rock engineering practice. The limitation of this

method mentioned by several authors: for example, RQD = 0%

(where the joint intercept (distance between the joint in
the

drill cores) is 10 cm or less), or RQD = 100%, the RQD

gives no information of the core pieces. It does not matter
whether the

discarded pieces are earth-like materials or fresh rock

pieces up to 10 cm length. At the beginning of 2003, more
than 3,000

meter long boreholes were analyzed parallel by two

different methods: the traditional RQD and the C-method,
introduced by

Hansági. According to the results, in case of very good or

very poor core drill, the C method shows the jointing
patterns better

than the RQD method. The goal of this paper is to present

the C-method and their advandages/disadvandages. Linear
regression

was found between the values between 10% < RQD < 90%, but
the C value is much more sensitive, than the RQD.

1 INTRODUCTION

In geotechnical engineering it is very important to know the

surrounding soil and rock masses. In rocks the most useful

are the rock mechanic properties. To get these drills

should be
made and the core should be gained from it intact. By
getting

a piece of the rock as it was in the original stat we can

examine

the jointing, the in fills, the weathering and a lot more.

For the

strength of the rock and deciding about the level of support

the knowledge of the jointing is the most relevant. The RQD

and the C methods are to make this property numerical.

After presenting the two methods, the comparison is based

on the drill data of preliminary exploration of the site of

the

Radioactive Repository at Bátaapáti. The data was given by

Mecsekérc Ltd. RQD and C was always calculated at every

drill.The calculations were made by the same person

therefore

the subjective mistake can be regarded as constant.

After several investigations the Central Hungarian Mórágy

basin was chosen for low and medium radioactive waste final

disposal facility. The average high of the hilly land,

which is

covered by mostly forest, is around 260–280 above sea level

while the deepest points of the valleys are approximately

160–

170 m above sea level.

The strata of the area can be easily described although

highly jointed by tectonic influenced. The main stratum is

the Palaeozoic granite from the carbon time. The upper part
of this stratum (more than 10 meters) is differently
weathered.

Above this about 50–60 m thick Pleistocene loess can be

found

(Gálos et al. 2002).

The allocated area (approximately 300 × 600 m) firstly was

investigated with geophysical methods before the bores were

carried out till different depth (300–500 m).

In this comparison more than 3,000 meters of core from 20

drills are used to make the statistics to show the relation

of

them clearly.

2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

The RQD method is one of the mostly used methods

for borehole investigations. In Hungary, parallel with the

RQD-method, the C-method is also applied. In this chapter
these two methods are presented. 2.1 RQD-method –
calculation and limitations RQD is the most often used
method for measuring the degree of jointing of rock masses.
This value is used to calculate the RMR and Q rock mass
classifications. In 1964 Deere developed RQD calculating by
the core with a diameter bigger than 54.7 mm (2.15 ′′ ),
but later it was converted to be able to calculate on the
rock surfaces as well. The appropriate definition of it is
“the percentage of intact core pieces longer than 100 mm in
the total length of core”. An example is shown on Figure 1.
(Deere, 1989). The lengths between two joints should be
measured along the axis Figure 1. Calculating RQD (Deere,
1989).

Table 1. Rock mechanic categorization of RQD based on

EUROCODE 7-1.

RQD Rock classification based Rock engineering

% on EUROCODE 7-1 description

>25 Very poor should be regarded as soil

25–50 Poor highly fractured

50–75 Good fractured

75–90 Very good slightly fractured

90–100 Excellent intact

Figure 2. Examples of minimum and maximum values of RQD for

various joints densities along drill cores (Palmström,

2005).

of the core. By dividing with the whole examined length we

get an average value therefore it is not imprecise to give a

single number as a result.

Based on the RQD result Eurocode 7-1 categorizes rocks

and gives a rock engineering description. The categories are

listed in Table 1.

On the recommendation of Eurocode 7-1 the fractures

caused during the drilling or the extraction of the core

should

not be counted as a fracture as they are not present in the

rock

mass in their natural stage. In case of slate rock types

the mea

surements must be carried out immediately after the drilling

in order to get a true idea of the degree of jointing in

the rock

mass. By not letting the core to relax further on we can

prevent

the development of more cracks in the core.

One limitation of this method is that we do not get any

infor
mation about the pieces shorter than 10 cm. Those parts
could

be soil like, full of fractures therefore appropriately

resulted as

RQD = 0%, just as the first core sample in Figure 2. However

those parts can be almost 10 cm long sound pieces – sec

ond core in Figure 2, with almost the same strength as other

parts of the rock mass that are about RQD = 20–30% or even

100%. The middle two core samples are seemingly the same.

The upper one contains only 9 cm long bits, while the lower

consists of exactly 10 cm or little longer pieces. The

differ

ence between them, is the one with the slightly shorter

bits is

RQD = 0%, while the other one is RQD = 100%. The fourth

core sample shows the limitation of RQD on the other

extreme.

Comparing it to the one with 10 long pieces it must have

much favorable rock mechanic and water conductive proper

ties. However RQD does not make difference between them,

both are considered as intact.

The value of RQD depends on the direction of the bore

hole in the rock mass as every one-dimensional measurement.

Therefore it does not give a realistic picture of the

jointing of

the whole volume, not just the core itself. One cause of
this is

that Deere does not count the fractures parallel to the

axis of
the core as a joint.As Figure 1. shows with the 20 cm long
piece

in the middle of the examined section it is to be

considered as

an intact piece.

The directional property of the method can cause very dif

ferent results even for one block. Figure 3 is an extreme

exam

ple for this. In the example the rock has three

perpendicular Figure 3. Example to show that RQD is
directional dependency (Palmström, 2005). joint systems.
The joint spacing of two sets is 11 and 15 centimeters, but
the third is spaced by only 9 cm. If boreholes are drilled
at a right angle to the first two joint sets RQD will be
100%. In the third direction the intact pieces will be
shorter than 10 cm therefore RQD result will be 0%. 2.2 C
(Kiruna) method Hansági developed the C method in 1965 in
order to eliminate the restriction of the diameter in
calculating RQD. C factor can be used at any diameters. C
factor is the average of two other factors, the C p sample
factor and the C m core length factor. C p factor is
similar to RQD. It gives the number of samples that can be
saw out of the intact pieces of the core that is, how many
times does the full diameter of the core fit to the length
of the piece. We get the sample factor by multiplying the
number of samples that can be gained with the actual
diameter and dividing it with the length of the examined
section. C m is calculated from the average lengths of the
intact pieces from the examined core. While determining the
core length factor one should be careful to measure all the
pieces. By simply dividing the whole length with the number
of fractures we do not get any information of the aperture
or the highly fractured zones. where: As C m is the ratio
of the average length and the full length it is a much
smaller value than the C p . By this it indicates the
joints of the rock mass. For example C p can be falsely
high if the core consists of about diameter long sound
parts. In this case the C m will be much smaller to correct
the final value of Kiruna. Kiruna can be calculated with
one equation that is the combination of the (3) and (4). 0
0.2

0.4

0.6
0.8 1 0 20 40 60 80 100 RQD

C p

Figure 4. Relation between C p and RQD factors.

While calculating C it is important to divide the core into

sections with similar rock mechanic properties in order to

get

a clear view of every significant portion of the rock it

self. We

can get values for the state of the blocks and the fault
zones

as well.

The value of Kiruna can vary between 1 and 0. C = 0 is the

outcome when the intact parts are shorter than the diameter

of the core. C = 1 is rare; it is possible only when the

rock is

sound and has no discontinuities in it. The difference

between

the block and the rock mass is not obvious in this case; the

core comes out in one long piece.

3 COMPARING THE RQD AND THE C METHODS

The comparison of the two methods is based on the data from

Bátaapáti Repository. All the calculations were made by one

person to eliminate differences in subjective

mistakes.Another

problem is the fractures caused by the methodology of the

drilling or the lack of experience of the people. It was

assessed

that the maximum number of this kind of fractures are only

11% of all the joints in a core.This way all mistake
possibilities

are made constant to make no great differences in the

values.

3.1 Comparison of C p and RQD

Figure 4 shows the similarity of the two factors. Both

measures

the sound pieces that are longer than a certain length.

Clearly

a linear relation can be determined between them.

3.2 Comparing C and RQD

To examine the relation of two sets of data it is important

to

know the enveloping curves. This way we can see the extreme

cases and the standard deviation from the exact relation

given

between them (see Figure 5).

The best approximation of the upper curve is linear:

While the lower enveloping curve can be converged with a

logarithmic equation: RQD = 65,28Ln(C) + 98 RQD = 222 C 0

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6
0,7 0,8 0,9 1 C-tényez (-) R Q D t é n y e z ( % )
Figure 5. Enveloping curves of RQD – C diagram. RQD
=175,75C - 2 R 2 =0,9079 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0,000 0,100 0,200 0,300 0,400 0,500 0,600 0,700 0,800 0,900
1,000 C-tényez (-) R Q D t é n y e z ( % ) Figure 6.
Relation between RQD and C values, in case of RQD between
10 and 90 %. From the curving lines we can see that the two
methods greatly defer at the extreme values. At RQD = 100%
Kiruna varies between 1 and 0.62, while at RQD = 0% it
varies between 0 and 0.22. This kind of variation of Kiruna
is general in the most jointed parts and the parts that are
assumed closely intact by the RQD. These cases are when RQD
is between 0 and 10% or 90 and 100%. Because of the great
dispersion a relation can not be given with these in it. To
get a more precise relation we examined only the values
between RQD 10% and 90%. This way we got a linear relation
between the two methods (Figure 6): Even in the examined
area the C shows the presence of the joint more precisely
than the RQD. It is because of taking the average lengths
of the intact pieces of the core into consideration which
is C m . 4 CONCLUSIONS RQD and C methods are both simple to
use and have a great importance in rock mechanic
calculation in designing any kind of underground
facilities. While RQD is used much more often – only Sweden
and Hungary use Kiruna – it has more limitations than C
method. The first advantage of Hansági’s C factor is the
elimination of the diameter restriction. The most important
innovation of the C method is the sensitivity in the
extremes. With the average core length factor

we get knowledge about the core pieces shorter than 10 cen

timeters, if it is soil like or intact pieces. This is how

the fault

zones can be found easier with it.The other extreme is

between

RQD 90% and 100%. With the same m factor Kiruna has more

information about the state and length of the sound core.

It is

not subsidiary to know if the logged section consist of more

smaller – but still minimum 10 centimeters long – intact

parts

or only of a few and much longer pieces.

Still leaving the extreme end data out a linear relation can

be mentioned between the two methods. However both of

them still have their limitation as the problem of

directional

property.

The safest way to get to determine the rock support is to

use

both methods and consider other thing as well to eliminate

all

limitations of each method or factor.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

B. Vásárhelyi is acknowledge the financial support for the

Bolyai Scolarship and the Hungarian National Research

Comparison of hand-mapping with remote data capture systems

for effective rock mass characterisation J.S. Coggan, A.
Wetherelt, X.P. Gwynn & Z.N. Flynn Camborne School of
Mines, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK

ABSTRACT: The use of remote techniques to capture the

geometrical characteristics of rock masses has seen
increased

use and development in recent years. Apart from the obvious

improved Health and Safety aspects, remote techniques allow

rapid collection of digital data that can be subsequently

analysed to provide input parameters for a variety of
geomechanical

models.

Recent research at the Camborne School of Mines, University

of Exeter has focussed on comparison of different remote
data

capture techniques in order to quantify their benefits and

limitations whilst comparing them with conventional
hand-mapping.

The paper describes the results of a detailed comparison

between hand-mapping, terrestrial photogrammetry and high
definition

surveying (laser scanning) methods of data collection.

Comments are made regarding the need to tailor data

collection to end-use requirements. There is also a need to
estab

lish a representative scale of measurement, so that key

features of the rock mass are captured and incorporated
during the

characterisation process.

1 INTRODUCTION
Priest (1993) highlighted the need for effective rock mass

characterisation prior to any excavation involving rock.

This

normally involves some form of field mapping that is con

ventionally undertaken by hand-mapping of representative

scanlines or windows for the rock mass under investigation.

Recent years have seen increased application and development

of remote data acquisition techniques in order to reduce

expo

sure of personnel to potential hazards, where access may be

a

potential safety issue, to increase the speed of data

collection

or for automation of data capture and subsequent processing.

The adopted techniques make use of either photogrammetry

(Donnadieu et al., 2003, Oka, 1998 and Poropat, 2001) or

high

definition surveying (Kemeny & Donovan, 2005).

After post processing these techniques can produce spa

tially accurate, densely detailed 3D representations of the

rock

mass. Measurements of discontinuities from these models

allow for collection of large quantities of data in a rea

sonably short space of time. In addition, where proposed

mapping areas are inaccessible or restricted, remote sensing

can record whole sections of a particular slope or exposed

rock surface. For example, in open pits and quarries the

techniques allow data to be collected rapidly (minutes) from

bench faces that may be too dangerous for manual data

collection. The increased data capture and subsequent anal

ysis can also remove some of the subjectivity involved in

interpretation.

As part of ongoing evaluation of the available remote data

acquisition techniques several sites have been identified

that

provide a range of rock types, different set-up problems,

dif

ferent target ranges and different scales of mapping in both

natural and man-made environments. The paper describes the

results of a detailed comparison of hand-mapping,

terrestrial

photogrammetry and high definition surveying of a blocky

rock mass at one of the project locations. 2 REMOTE DATA

ACQUISITION TECHNIQUES 2.1 Photogrammetry Photogrammetry is
described as the science of obtaining reliable information
from physical objects through processes of recording,
measuring, and interpreting photographic images (Slama,
1980). A single orientated photograph can only relay the
direction from which an object has originated. Combining
two images, a stereopair, containing the same object
enables the calculation of the distance and position of
that object using triangulation techniques (Crone, 1963).
The photogrammetric system used during the current project
was the computer program suite Sirovision (CSIRO, 2005).
Photographs were taken using a Nikon D100 digital SLR
camera and a 50 mm 1:1.4D Nikon lens. Data processing
within the software was then undertaken to create a 3D
image from two photographs centred on a common control
point. 2.2 High definition surveying High definition
surveying (HDS) or laser scanning uses infrared lasers to
collect spatial data of a scanned area. Two types of HDS
equipment were used as part of the project: the HDS3000
time-of-flight (TOF), and the HDS4500 phase shift, both
manufactured by Leica Geosystems (Leica, 2005). The basic
principle behind TOF is that a point’s position in 3D space
can be calculated by measuring its distance and orientation
from a known point using reflected laser pulses. A laser
scanner emits an infrared laser pulse and as the beam hits
surfaces of objects in the surrounding environment, some of
the beam’s light is reflected back to the scanner. A
detector within the scanner is able to make a distance
measurement based on the return signal. These distance
measurements are combined with internal angle measurements
of the scanner’s

rotating mirrors. A scanner can then establish a relative

X, Y,

Z position in space for each point on a surface. This

process

is repeated thousands of times, collecting many points that

can be represented as a 3D point cloud (Leica, 2005). Phase

shift laser scanners use a continuous laser beam rather than

pulses, providing quicker scans, but can only be used at

closer

distances from the subject.

3 CASE EXAMPLE: TREMOUGH ROAD CUTTING

The road cutting at the entrance to the Tremough Campus,

Penryn, Cornwall, UK, shown schematically in Figure 1, was

selected as a suitable location for comparison of the

techniques

over a short target range because of proximity to the Univer

sity and its relatively blocky structure, shown in Figure 2.

The mapped section of the coarse-grained granite rock face

is

approximately 40 m long and ranges from 5 to 8m in height.

Few access problems were encountered for either of the two

remote sensing techniques, but hand-mapping was restricted

to areas of the face that could be safely reached. Hand

mapping was carried out irrespective of weather, whereas the

photogrammetry and laser scanning were performed during

‘dry’ periods.

Photogrammetry was the first technique used to map the

road cutting, followed by detailed hand-mapping and finally

laser scanning. Individual features were specifically identi

fied so as to perform a feature-by-feature comparison for

the

different techniques used. The time taken to perform each

mapping technique and subsequent analysis was recorded to

allow comparison between the methods.

3.1 Photogrammetry

Five photogrammetrical models were created of the road

cutting, moving from West to East. Each model slightly over

lapped the former and was approximately 8 m wide.The height

encompassed all of the exposed features of the rock face

(5 m–6 m). The camera stations were set up approximately

15 m from the rock face. Using the Sirovision software, and

the

standard input for the camera and lens type, each model was

calculated to contain an average spatial resolution of 2 mm.

The cameras were positioned using a Leica TPS1200 Total

Station to a relative or local Eastings, Northings and

Elevation

coordinate system. The first camera location was assigned an

arbitrary position of 1000 m, 1000 m, 100 m. The photogram

metric control point was then surveyed at the centre of the

two

camera’s view of the face. Subsequently, for each new model

setup, the respective camera locations and control points

were

coordinated relative to the origin.

The digital photographs were then uploaded into Sirovi

sion’s 3D image creation module, Siro3D (CSIRO, 2005). The

images were corrected for lens distortion and orientated

using

the surveyed positional data. Point matching was run to cre

ate the final 3D models. An example 3D model, shown in

Figure 3, consists of an interlocking mesh of triangles, giv

ing the model its 3D nature. The orthophoto of the rock

face,

which is an image corrected for distortion, can also be

draped

over the mesh to aide feature or discontinuity recognition.

The 3D models were then imported into Sirovision’s

geotechnical analysis module, SiroJoint (CSIRO, 2005), for

further analysis and interpretation. Individual features or

dis

continuities were delineated from the 3D model of the rock

face and selected using the software. Figure 1. Schematic

plan of the Tremough Campus Entrance, showing camera, laser
scanner and control locations. Figure 2. Image showing
blocky nature of the granite rock mass at the Tremough
Campus road cutting. Figure 3. Example 3D mesh of blocky
rock face of the Tremough road cutting, created using
Sirovision. In order to assist identification of common
features between the hand-mapped data and the remotely
captured data handmapping of the rock face was undertaken
with the aid of digital photographs. The face was mapped
using a standard compass clinometer.
Figure 4. Example 3D point cloud of blocky rock face of the

Tremough road cutting, created using laser scanning and

subse

quently used in Split FX.

3.2 High definition surveying

The same section of the rock face was then scanned using the

Leica HDS4500. The scanner was set up 15m from the face,

approximately in the middle of the mapping region, using a

manually set point density of 5 mm. Only one setup location

was used to assess the effects of potential blinding. The

phase

shift scanner was used in preference to the time-of-flight

scan

ner to take advantage of its increased speed, and so avoid

ghosting created by any passing traffic.

The captured data points, example shown in Figure 4, were

then exported by the Leica software into a point cloud

geotech

nical analysis program called Split FX (Split Engineering,

2005) for subsequent analysis. Further details concerning

point cloud registration and triangulated mesh generation

are

described by Kemeny & Donovan (2005).The 3D mesh is gen

erated from the point cloud data which is then used to

delineate

specific discontinuities and an orientation determined from

the grouped triangles within the mesh. The software allows

automated identification, but hand-picking was undertaken

for this project. Identified planes were used for the
discontinu

ity orientation analysis as previous investigation

demonstrated

that fracture traces were less suitable for orientation

analysis.

4 COMPARISON OF RESULTS

A summary of the number of discontinuities identified by the

various techniques is given in Table 1 and pole orientation

shown in Figure 5. Overall there is reasonable correlation

between the measured and extracted orientations. It is not

unsurprising that hand mapping identified the least number

of features in view of the restricted area of the face that

could

be safely reached. A clear advantage of the remote systems

is

their ability to capture data for the whole rock face. Not
all

the features identified by photogrammetry were identified by

laser scanning.

The dip and dip direction measured by the three different

techniques were compared for individual features that could

be commonly identified.

4.1 Individual feature comparison

For the purpose of this exercise the dip and dip direc

tion recorded by hand mapping was used as the reference

Table 1. Number of planes identified using each mapping
technique. Photogrammetry Hand mapping Laser scanning 280
149 235 Figure 5. Lower hemisphere representations of poles
to identified features from laser scanning, photogrammetry
and hand mapping. orientation of each identified plane, so
that any differences derived by the remote data capture
techniques were measured as errors or variations in
orientation. Comparison between the dip and dip direction
was undertaken by polar representation on a stereonet; the
vector of each of the poles was resolved, converting their
orientations to a single number. This was performed using a
dip/dip direction to pole vector conversion formula
embedded within an Excel spreadsheet. Example visual
comparison of selected features is shown in Figure 6.
Comparisons were undertaken on 143 features that could be
identified from each of the mapping techniques. The data
analysis was then split to assess both photogrammetry
derived data versus hand-mapped data and laser-scanned
derived data versus hand-mapped data. The pole vector
difference of each plane was then plotted against the area
of the identified feature, which is automatically
calculated by the remote data capture technique when a
feature is delineated. Comparison of these values provided
an indication of the relative accuracy of each technique at
a range of plane sizes. Figure 7 shows that the smaller
planes identified by the remote data capture techniques
produced a higher variation or difference in orientation
when compared with the handmapped result. This is likely to
be due to the low point density or spatial resolution of
the 3D triangular mesh. Orientation variability of larger
surfaces may be the result of real variation over the
fracture surface or variations in the mesh topology. 4.2
Set statistics comparison The orientation data from each
mapping technique was also analysed separately using the
stereographic projection program, DIPS (Rocscience, 2006),
to identify potential sets for

Figure 6. Comparison of derived orientation data for

specific planes

using hand-mapping, laser scanning and photogrammetry.

Figure 7. Pole vector difference for remotely captured data

com

pared with hand-mapped orientation as a function of area of

the

identified fracture plane.

the respective data. Using both polar and contoured plots

four

comparable sets were identified for each data group. The

pole vector differences between the corresponding sets for

each remote technique and the data from hand mapping were

calculated and are displayed in Figure 8 and summarized in

Table 2.

The results show that the photogrammetry-derived set data

produced results that more closely match the hand-mapped set

data for the near-vertical features. The laser-scanned

derived

set data has relatively poor agreement with the hand-mapped

set data for near-vertical features. This is also depicted

in

Figure 5 by the lack of poles adjacent to the periphery of

the stereonet for the laser scanned data.

This variability may be the result of differing point

density,

mesh characteristics or blinding as a result of only one

set-up

location for the laser scanner. As part of further

evaluation

the laser scanning and subsequent mesh evaluation is to be

repeated with multiple set-up locations.

4.3 Field work and post-processing time comparison

One of the most obvious advantages that remote sensing has

over hand-mapping is the increased speed and amount of data

that can be collected.To confirm this, each mapping

technique

was split into individual processes, and the approximate

time
taken to complete them recorded. In order to normalise the

comparison, the number of features that were evaluated by

Figure 8. Lower hemisphere representations of poles to
identified features from laser scanning, photogrammetry and
hand mapping with set delineations. Table 2. Summary of
orientation data for each identified set to allow
comparison between hand-mapped data and that from both
laser scanning and photogrammetry. Hand mapping Laser
scanning Pole Dip Dip Vector Dip direct. Dip direct. Error
Set degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees 1 88 320 75 311
15.7 2 88 191 73 184 16.5 3 67 229 61 228 6.1 4 46 023 48
016 5.5 Hand mapping Photogrammetry Pole Dip Dip Vector Dip
direct. Dip direct. Error Set degrees degrees degrees
degrees degrees 1 88 320 84 318 4.5 2 88 191 85 184 7.6 3
67 229 69 221 7.7 4 46 023 52 020 6.4 each technique was
restricted to 100. Figure 9 shows time comparisons for both
field mapping and post processing to satisfy the output
parameters for one possible end use: that is to produce
data in a suitable format for subsequent analysis with the
discrete fracture network software FracMan (Dershowitz et
al., 1998). The biggest time saving of remote mapping
techniques when compared to hand-mapping is during the
field work stages. Surveying and data capture is relatively
quick and only takes approximately 2 hours to complete.
This will, however, depend on the method of locating the
camera or scanner station and the number of subsequent
set-up positions. Hand mapping over the restricted height
took the most time, approximately 10 hours.

Figure 9. Time comparison chart for data collection and post

processing for laser scanning, photogrammetry and hand

mapping.

Figure 10. Frequency percentages of mapped trace lengths com

paring photogrammetry and hand mapping derived data at a

range of

identified trace lengths.

Post processing requirements for each technique depend

on the specific end-use of the output data, but this

normally

takes a similar amount of time for each adopted method. Data

processing for the remote techniques is slightly quicker

due to

the digital nature of the recorded data. By delineating the

data

using the respective supplied computer programs, parameters

such as spacing and tracelength can be determined.

As part of further post processing, and in an attempt to

assess the use of photogrammetry-derived data for determina

tion of input data for FracMan, fracture traces were

identified

from both the 3D photogrammetric model and the digital

photographs used during hand mapping. Figure 10 shows

a comparison of trace length estimates from both the hand

mapping and photogrammetry. Both data sets show a log nor

mal distribution, but the photogrammetric-derived data tends

to underestimate the trace length. This is a particular prob

lem with longer fractures, which are often split into

segments

within post processing, and must be taken into account when

using automated analysis.

5 DISCUSSION

Comparison of remotely mapped data with hand-mapped data

raises questions regarding what is the necessary accuracy

and

appropriate scale of mapping required for effective and rep

resentative rock mass characterisation. From the orientation

data presented for the Tremough road cutting it would appear

that both remote mapping techniques provide a reasonably

good representation of the orientation of the fracture
network present within the rock mass, although from this
exercise the photogrammetry-derived data produced the best
comparison with hand-mapped orientation data.The
laser-scanned derived data may be improved with an
increased point density and multiple set-up locations. The
investigation suggests that, irrespective of the adopted
mapping technique, planar analysis is more reliable for
determining orientation data, whereas trace analysis is
required for evaluation of other parameters such as trace
length and spacing. This has implications for the post
processing, and suggests that data collection and
subsequent analysis needs to be tailored to end-use
requirements, taking into consideration specific input
requirements that depend on the complexity of the intended
analysis. For example, end-use may include kinematic
analysis of potential slope failure mechanisms that
primarily requires orientation data; two-and
three-dimensional discrete analysis of a blocky rock slope
that requires simplistic representation of the rock mass
fracture network; or more complex stochastic representation
of the three-dimensional fracture network using FracMan
that requires evaluation of fracture radius and intensity
as well as orientation distribution. This means both planar
and trace analysis should be part of post processing. The
results of the investigation also suggest that there is a
minimum level of detail or area of surface that remote
mapping can realistically capture. This will obviously
depend on the size of the overall window mapped and should
be considered when undertaking the site investigation. This
is not unlike hand-mapping where decisions are often made
in terms of a minimum fracture length or size of fracture
to include in rock mass characterisation. This in turn is
often related to the scale of the structure and whether or
not fractures have an influence on the engineering
behaviour of the rock mass. The key advantages of the
remote techniques are their speed, greater area coverage
and ability to map inaccessible areas. It also provides
uniformity in the type of data and the method by which it
is collected, eliminating many of the biases in data
selection and mapping technique adopted by an individual
user. This has particular advantages where it may be
necessary to map at different scales to provide improved
characterisation of the rock mass by using different set-up
positions or different lenses. Large scale mapping can be
undertaken to provide orientation and trace length data for
major structures which can be complemented by more detailed
mapping on a smaller scale. Further work is being
undertaken to quantify these effects. Clearly there is a
need to identify a representative scale of measurement for
a particular rock mass. Automated analysis is not yet
recommended and there is still a need for educated users to
provide manual intervention, spot checks and associated
interpretation. Rigorous mapping methodologies should be
developed to incorporate the key advantages of the systems
but there is also a need to develop robust guidelines for
efficient set-up and operation of the various techniques,
including hardware and any associated software. It is
important to minimise inaccuracies due to poor set-up and
reduce potential effects of blinding. There is also a need
to ensure consistency in data format between the various
systems. 6 CONCLUSIONS Remote mapping techniques have the
capability to revolutionise rock mass mapping, but there is
still a need to establish

rigorous mapping methodologies and robust guidelines for

efficient set-up and operation of the various techniques.

The results of the investigation show it is also necessary

to

establish guidelines for effective rock mass

characterisation,

to ensure that the necessary detail and scale effects are

taken

into consideration. This will be informed by the increased

use of improved methods for geomechanical modelling of the

scale effects, fracture persistence and fracture extension

under

loading, as is now possible with such combinations as Frac

Man and ELFEN (Dershowitz et al., 1998; Pine et al., 2006;

Rockfield Software Ltd, 2007). The time is fast approaching

that a new ISRM Suggested Method for Remote Rock Mass

Data Capture should be developed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge educational license

agreements with CSIRO, Split Engineering and Golder Asso

ciates. Xander Gwynn’s postgraduate studies are supported by

the European Social Fund.

Crone, D.R. 1963. Elementary Photogrammetry. London: Edward

Arnold.

CSIRO. 2005. User manual for Sirovision structural mapping

and

analysis system, Version 3.0, CSIRO Exploration and Mining,

Queensland. Australia. Dershowitz, W., Lee, G., Geier, J. &

LaPointe, P.R. 1998. FracMan: Interactive Discrete Feature
Data Analysis, Geometric Modelling and Exploration
Simulation. User Documentation. Golder Associates Inc.,
Seattle, Washington. See also www.fracman.golder.com.
Donnadieu, F., Kelfoun, K., van Wyk de Vries, B., Cecchi,
E. & Merle, O. 2003. Digital photogrammetry as a tool in
analogue modelling: applications to volcano instability.
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 123:
161–180. Kemeny, J. & Donovan, J. 2005. Rock mass
characterisation using LIDAR and automated point cloud
processing. Ground Engineering, November: 26–29. Leica.
2005. Leica Geosystems AG, Germany. Oka, N., 1998.
Application of photogrammetry to the field observations of
failed slopes. Engineering Geology 50: 85–100. Pine, R.J.,
Coggan, J.S., Flynn, Z. & Elmo, D. 2006. The development of
a comprehensive numerical modelling approach for
pre-fractured rock masses. Rock Mechanics and Rock
Engineering, 39, 5, p 395–419. Poropat, G.V. 2001. New
Methods for Mapping the Structure of Rock Masses. CSIRO
Exploration and Mining, Queensland Centre for Advanced
Technologies. Priest, S. D. 1993. Discontinuity Analysis
for Rock Engineering. London: Chapman and Hall. Rockfield
Software Ltd. 2007. ELFEN User manual, see also
www.rockfield.co.uk. Rocscience. 2006. DIPS User manual,
www.rocscience.com Slama, I. 1980. Manual of Photogrammetry
(4th Edition). American Society of Photogrammetry,
Virginia, USA. Split Engineering. 2005. SplitFX User
manual, Beta Version 1.0, Split Engineering LLC, Arizona,
US. 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Contribution for the knowledge of the fracturing and
hydraulic characterization of the granitic pluton of Castro
Daire region – Viseu (Portugal) L.M. Ferreira Gomes, L.
Andrade Pais & E. Mendes Univ. da Beira Interior, Dep. de
Eng. a Civil e Arquitectura, Covilhã, Portugal

ABSTRACT: Following several lithological, structural and

geoenvironmental studies on surface, which were made in the

central area of the Castro Daire Pluton, a drilling of 600

m depth was planned, with an initial length of 132 m
drilled in roto

percussion and the remaining 468 m drilled in rotation

drill core, in order to study the rocks fracture at great
depth and the

hydraulic and geothermic potential of the massif. The

pluton of granitic rocks in plant exhibits a circular shape
with 16km

diameter, it is involved in older schist rocks and it is

also cut by a large and depth geological fault of NE-SW
space position,

which is supposed to condition the local rock fracture. The

several aspects of the drilling made are presented, as the
length

of each sampling, the time wasted in each sampling,

drilling speed, recovery rate, RQD, discontinuity spacing
and alteration

degree and also the development in depth of the hydraulic

productivity and geothermic gradient. Besides, the main
results

of pumping test are also presented, allowing us to conclude

that we are in presence of an aquifer of mineral water with
the

possibility of exploring about 6.3 l/s by artesian and also

15 l/s in pumping, with 60 ◦ C of temperature.

1 INTRODUCTION

The main reason leading to make the drilling at 600 m length

was the need of collecting ground mineral water of the warm

sulphureous type to supply the Carvalhal SPA (Castro Daire

Viseu, Portugal). After making several geomorphological,

geological, structural and geotechnical studies, which
synthe

sis was presented in Ferreira Gomes et al. (2002), a

conceptual

standard for the hydraulic circuit of the mineral water was

made having in attention the fracture of the massif. Those

studies lead to the implantation of the drilling and

respective

boring-plan, considering at once the specific way to change

the drilling into definitive collecting at the end of the

works,

if the results in terms of mineral water production and its

mechanical and geometrical features could make it possi

ble. That aim was achieved. This work was therefore made

to present especially the features of the massif fracture

and

its hydraulic production. This could be an important example

contributing for better geotechnical knowledge of the

granitic

massifs at large depth and it could eventually be useful for

special subterraneous engineering works, which know-how is

scarcely within our reach due to the high costs that those
kind

of situations normally bring about.

The drilling place is shown with regard to the Pluton of the

granitic massif of Castro Daire, in Figure 1.

2 RESULTS

Among all works and in the sense of better understanding the

results, some aspects must be emphasized from now. On aver

age, the drilling presented an angle of about 4 ◦ with the
vertical

in a direction according to a NW line in order to intercept

the

main fracture plans with an angle of 90 ◦ approximately, in

plant.

For operational reasons and in order to obtain the foreseen

depth, the drilling was started with a large diameter to con

sequently bring forward to deepening, with successive reduc

tions. The initial length was made through roto-percussion

γ II γ II 2a 2b O QA : ordovicic rocks C BP , C BR , C Da
: ante-ordovicic schistose rocks Well AC-G1 CASTRO DAIRE
PLUTON C DA C BP C BR granite of fine grain Granite,
medium to coarse grain, with megacrystals Escala 1/400
000 ≈ O QA O QA Figure 1. Place of the studied drilling
with 600 m length on the granitic pluton (≈280 m. a.) of
Castro Daire – Viseu, Portugal (from SGP, 1992). system,
being afterwards extended to 5 m with a bit of the rotary
type of 41.9 cm diameter. Then we went forward to 132 m
through the roto-percussion system, having afterwards
advanced through rotation system with drill core to 600 m.
The geometry of the hole, the normal steel and the inox
steel tubes as well as the cement areas around the metallic
coatings are shown on Figure 2; it must be emphasized that
the 132 m

Hole geometry T (minutes) L (meter) V (mm/s) 0 25 50 75 100

125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475
500 525 550 575 600 0 200 400 600 D e p t h ( m ) Rotation
Roto-percussion 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275
300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475 500 525 550 575 600 0 1 2 3
4 Rotation Roto-percussion 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200
225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475 500 525 550 575
600 0 1 2 3 4 5 Rotation Roto-percussion

Figure 2. AC-G1 hole geometry, as well as the perforation

time (T) by manipulation, the length (L) of each
manipulation, and also the

progress speed (V), to the perforation of 600 meters, made

in the central area of pluton in Castro Daire region
(Viseu).
hole downwards remained in “open hole”. The coating was

only made after 400 m have been achieved with good results,

in order to avoid taking high economical risks. This should

be mentioned to better realize the results and especially

the

development of the flows in depth (Figure 3).

As far as the drilling went forward, the values recorded

till that depth were always increasing; from there downwards

the flows decreased roughly because whenever the column

had to be cemented till the 132 m, apart from having used

a provisional tube till the 400 m, lead to the flow

reduction

which was being achieved by artesian way.

The results obtained in terms of perforation time by manip

ulation, advance lengths by manipulation or by sample when

this had the same length as the drilling advance and also
the

progress speed are shown on Figure 2. It should be empha

sized that the advances of the initial length corresponding

to

the roto-percussion phase were of 3 m always as they were

cor

responding to the length of the drilling pole. From the 132

m

downwards, the sampling presented about 3 m length maxi

mum, and there were advances below 1 m length too many

times, what made the drilling advance to proceed very

slowly.
As an example of the greatest time obtained, a drill core
took

about 500 minutes in the phase of the achieve the 400 meters

depth. Also in this phase we must refer to the fact that

the relatively fast advances with the drilling in terms of
rotopercussion, which were higher than 2 mm/s from the
surface to 50 m depth, had afterwards decreased and tended
to speeds of about 0.5 mm/s at 130 m. Apparently the speed
would have developed to very low values: as far as it is
known this kind of perforation system remains extremely
restricted whenever there is too much water in the hole in
so far as to get energy through compressed air has not a
good performance due to the restricted capacity of the
compressors. An important detail is that, in general, the
speed in the long way length made through rotation with
drill core is around 0.3 mm/minute on average, with no
significant deviation. The Figure 3 shows the results of
the massif fracture, the alteration degree and also the
flows obtained after perforation by artesian means, and the
respective temperatures. The result of the temperature
measurement in depth after the hole is finished is also
shown. Among those results it must be enhanced that there
are no fracture elements or any visible sign of rock
material weathering on the first 132 meters, since the
drilling on that length only allowed to obtain quartz
detritus in sand shape, having always directed to a very
solid formation with excellent mechanical features. The
elements shown for the length of rotation with drill core
in general, according to the guide lines presented in ISRM
(1978, 1981), are as follows: 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 25 50 75
100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400 425 450
475 500 525 550 575 600 \ 0 20 40 60 80 100 RR (%) RQD (%)
W (-) F (-) Q(I/s) T (°C) 0 25 50 75

100

125

150

175

200

225

250
275

300

325

350

375

400

425

450

475

500

525

550

575

600

e p

t h

( m

) \\\ 0 21 3 4 5 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275

300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475 500 525 550 575 600 0 1 2 3
4 5 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350
375 400 425 450 475 500 525 550 575 600 \ 0 25 50 75 100
125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475
500 525 550 575 600 0 2 4 6 8 Initial water level Artesian
flow 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350
375 400 425 450 475 500 525 550 575 600 10 30 50 70 To Tf

Figure 3. Fracture parameters (RRrecovery rate, RQD – rock

quality designation, Wweathering, F – discontinuity
spacing), artesian flow

(Q) during the hole construction, temperature of the

groundwater during the hole construction (T 0 ) and after
the hole to be finished (T f ), to

the perforation of 600 meters (AC – G1), made in the

central area of pluton in Castro Daire region (Viseu).

– RR, recovery rate, corresponding to the rate value ( 0–

100%), estimated as the ratio between the length of the

sample collected from manipulation and the length drilled;

– RQD, Rock Quality Designation ( 0–100%), corresponding

to the ratio between the sum of the length of core sticks

more than 100 mm long and the total length of drill run;

the quality classification obtained from the RQD values is

according to the following: RQD (%) Quality classification

0–25 1 – Very poor 25–50 2 – Poor 50–75 3 – Fair 75–90 4 –
Good 90–100 5 – Excellent

– W, weathering corresponding to the various alteration

degrees based on the macroscopic observation, hit with the

geologist’s hammer and comparable experience, remaining

the W1 rock with no alteration sign and W5, on the other

extremity, as a rock with high alteration degree. – F,

Joint spacing, which being s from spacing, the following
designations are obtained: Spacing Classification s > 2 m
F1 – Extremely wide 0.6 < s < 2 m F2 – Very wide 0.2 < s <
0.6 m F3 – Wide 0.06 < s < 0.2 m F4 – Moderately wide 0.002
< s < 0.06 m F5 – Moderately narrow s < 0.002 m F6 – Narrow
Among the results obtained, it must be enhanced in the
present article that those results at first sight show a
massif of good quality because it shows in general W1-W2
alteration degree, always RR at 100%, the RQD not always
has values of good quality since the fracture spacing
sometimes has the F5 degree. The situation is not so bad
however, the granite being same very fractured, is also
much resistant, recovering so 100% of the material.
Regarding the hydraulic production it must be emphasized
that a pumping test made in 2004 for about 6 consecutive
-40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
20 22 24 Water flow (l/s) L e v e l ( m ) allowable flow
= 15 l/s

Figure 4. Pump test result in AC-G1 hole: characteristic

curve with

optimization of allowable flow, in Carvalhal SPA (Viseu).

days, made it possible to propose a allowable flow of about

15 l/s in pumping with 15 meters only of lowering of the

water

level (Figure 4); by artesian means at that time the maximum

flow was about 6.3 l/s to stabilize along the time with
about

4.2 l/s (without pumping); according to recent measurements,

the hole has been slightly developing towards the maximum

flow of about 10 l/s.

The quality of the water flow allows us to say that it is

exactly

the same as the existing mineral water until now explored in

Carvalhal SPA, with the difference of its temperature, which

is about 60 ◦ C in continuous exploration system, and 69.5

◦ C

obtained at 600 m of depth.

3 CONCLUSIONS

A new drilling of semi-vertical search with 600 m depth was

made in the middle of a typical granitic pluton, especially

aim

ing to obtain warm mineral water to supply the Carvalhal

SPA.

The drilling took place in the first 126 m in

roto-percussion

system and between 126 m and 600 m in core rotation system.

The works carried out led the following conclusions:

i) in terms of lithology, granite was always intercepted,

often

from fine to medium grain;

ii) the quality of the massif as to the alteration level,

of W1

W2 type often, led always to a good performance in the

perforation; therefore, collapse of the hole partitions has

never occurred. It must be emphasized that there was never

the need of making any cementing to stabilize the hole;

iii) the relative quality of the massif between the 126 m

and

the 600 m depth allowed us to recover all the samples

(RR = 100%); despite the RQD values often being from 60

to 80% and lower punctually, they point towards a classifi

cation from Fair to Good in terms of quality; this situation

is a result of the frequent occurrence of F4/F5

discontinuity

spacing; the F4 discontinuity spacing occurred frequently

ABSTRACT: For the purpose of determining orthotropic

anisotropy in deformability of rocks, a procedure of
loading test and

analysis has been established. Axial loading tests in 6

directions of X, Y, Z, YZ, ZX and XY are good enough to
determine

orthotropic anisotropy even if we do not know the

directions of anisotropic axes. In each loading test 4
rosette gauges are

attached on the side of the specimen and stress-strain

gradients are used for the analysis. The analysis of
determining anisotropy
is based on the non linear least square method.

The procedure has been applied to the Opalinus Clay from

Mont Terri underground laboratory. The fact that
analytically

derived directions of anisotropy and observed laminar plane

coincided well verifies the established procedure of
determining

orthotropic anisotropy without the knowledge of directions

of anisotropic axes.

Sedimentary rocks with bedding plane are often regarded as

transverse isotropy, but the result of Opalinus Clay shows
that

innegligible orthotropy can exist in such rocks.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock is more or less anisotropic because of disposition of

mineral crystals or microcracks and the anisotropy is

observed

among other things in deformability. For the purpose of engi

neering design of rock cavern or determination of rock

stress

by overcoring method, we need to assess the anisotropy of

deformability.

In the most general anisotropy case, triclinic system, there

are 21 elastic constants to be determined. In the

orthotropic

anisotropy case, which may be good enough for practical

engineering purposes, there are 9 elastic constants and 3

additional parameters about directions of anisotropic axes.

In the very simplified case of transverse isotropy, there

are

5 elastic constants and 2 additional parameters about the

direction. The target anisotropy of the present paper is the

orthotropic anisotropy without the knowledge of the direc

tions of anisotropic axes. In this case we need to

determine 12

unknown parameters.

There are two kinds of test to determine the elastic con

stants, one is loading test and the other is velocity test

of

elastic waves 1) . But for the engineering design or

overcoring

stress measurement purposes, loading test would be suitable

because of the consistency of strain level in tests and

engineer

ing. Therefore this paper adopts loading test. But the

authors

had no knowledge how we can determine the 12 parameters

from loading tests. In how many directions do we need to

prepare specimens, and in which directions do we need to

measure strain? Therefore the authors have set a practically

executable procedure of the loading test, applied the proce

dure to an anisotropic rock of Opalinus clay from Mont Terri

research tunnel, and analyzed the data to deduce the elastic

constants and directions of anisotropic axes. In the

analyses,

elastic constants as not only orthotropic anisotropy but

also as

transverse anisotropy have been determined to be compared.

The determined directions of anisotropic axes and observed
sedimentary laminar were also compared. The objectives of
this paper are, (1) to demonstrate that the devised test
procedure and analysis method can determine the 12 unknown
parameters of an orthotropic body without the knowledge of
the directions of the anisotropic axes, and (2) to
demonstrate an example that laminated rocks such as
Opalinus clay, which are often treated as transversely
isotropic, exhibit orthotropic anisotropy to an
innegligible degree. 2 PROCEDURE In this section, procedure
of analytical procedure for determining anisotropy and
procedure of test are described. 2.1 Analytical procedure
As we adopt loading test, information we need is a set of
stress–strain gradients with different directions of
loading and also measuring strains. The gradient G r is a
function of the stiffness matrixC 0 , directions of
anisotropic axes�, direction of loading L and direction of
measuring strain M . Here C 0 is expressed on the
anisotropic axes and �, L and M are on the global
coordinate. L and M are vectors of three elements. As�we
used three angles of rotation. C 0 and� are the unknown
parameters and L, M and G r are parameters we know or
measure. Therefore if we obtain measured data sets about
equation (1) in sufficiently many numbers, the unknown
parameters may be able to be determined by the least square
method.

The function G r is described a little in detail as follows.

When we adopt orthotropic anisotropy, C 0 is as follows.

The stiffness matrix C on the global coordinate is obtained

from C 0 and �.

When we load the rock with unit stress in direction L= (l 1

,

l 2 , l 3 ), the stress σ is expressed as follows.

And the strain is given by the following.

Normal strain e in the direction M = (m 1 , m 2 , m 3 ) is

given as

follows.

According to the definition,

If we presuppose and set initial values for C 0 and �, we

can calculate the strain gradient G r in M direction when we

load a rock in L direction using equation (1). There are 12

unknown parameters in C 0 and and here those are denoted

as u 1 , u 2 , „, u 12 . The initial values for those are

denoted as u ′ 1 ,

u ′ 2 , „, u ′ 12 .

Equation (9) is approximated using first order derivatives

as follows.

∂fn/∂u j are calculated using equation (1) around the

initial

value of u. Measured gradient is set as G r . Since equation

(10) is linear, we can determine the correction value of

each

unknown parameter �u j to obtain a better one. By repeat

ing this process of correction, unknown parameters u j will

be

obtained.

2.2 Test procedure

It would be convenient to set the loading directions and

make

test specimens according to an orthodox coordinate. The 6

directions adopted in this procedure are X, Y, Z, YZ, ZX and

XY. The coordinate may be taken as the global coordinate or

as an arbitrary one. Figure 1. Six directions of specimens.

In one columnar specimen, 4 rosette gauges are attached on
the side 90 degrees apart. 4 element gauges are in the
loading direction, 2 gauges are in a direction
perpendicular to the loading axis, other 2 gauges are in
another direction perpendicular to the former 2 gauges and
the loading axis. Remaining 4 gauges are in inclined and
different directions. Therefore 7 directions are
independent among the 12 gauges. In this way, we can have 6
× 7 independent data about equation (1). The loading is
done axially with constant confining pressure. The
stress–strain curves are observes and the gradient is
determined at a predefined stress level. 3 APPLICATION TO
OPALINUS CLAY 3.1 Specimen preparation The Opalinus Clay is
a kind of shale or mudstone of Jurassic period. Its general
properties are, pore ratio of 12 to 18%, Vp of 2.1 to 3.7
km/s and permeability of 1 × 10 −13 ∼ 5 × 10 −13 m/s. It
has distinct sedimentary laminar and exhibit strong
anisotropy. Clay mineral is contained 40 to 80% and it has
strong swelling capacity. Therefore water is not used for
drilling boreholes. At the research tunnel of Mont Terri
Project, core of dia. 20 cm was taken out from a distance
suitable to avoid the stress concentration around the
tunnel.The coordinate was set on the borehole.The borehole
mouth direction is the x axis, right side when looking into
the borehole end is the y axis, and z axis is automatically
determined as the right hand system. After observing and
taking a record including photo, the core was vacuum packed
with aluminum seal vinyl and sent to Japan. The preparation
of specimens from coreing to grinding was also done without
using water. The 6 directions of the specimens are shown by
black rectangles in Figure 1. The z” axis in the figure was
set after taking out the D20 cm core. The z axis is a
rotation of z” with 45 degree. The traces of the laminar
planes are schematically shown in Figure 2. The angles θ
and α are observed to be 20∼30 degrees and 7∼9 degrees
respectively. 4 specimens were made for each of the 6
loading directions and some of them were used for
preliminary test to determine loading rate and other test
parameters. 3.2 Result of tests Before loading each
specimen, Vp was measured. Then at the strain rate of
0.1%/min, uniaxial load was increased until the failure. No
confining pressure was applied. Figure 3 shows an example
of the specimen after the failure. They are photos of one
specimen seen from 4 directions 90 degrees apart. In

Figure 2. The schematic traces of laminar plane.

Figure 3. Example of photo after failure (4 sides of a

specimen).

this case, shear failure plane is parallel to the bedding

plane.

Figure 4 shows an example of stress vs strain curves of a

specimen. The gradient was read at the stress level around

2 MPa as the tangent line.

The uniaxial strength, Young’s modulus and Vp are shown

in Figure 5 as a function of loading angle. Loading angle is

taken as 0 when the loading axis and the normal of the

laminar

coincide. Since specimens are in 6 directions, data are

plotted

at one of the 6 loading angles. Dotted lines are drawn to

show

the tendencies. The tendency of the strength is that it is

the

maximum when loading angle is 0 and the minimum when the

loading angle is about 60 degrees. Young’s modulus increases

substantially as the loading angle increases. This infers

that

a kind of loosening between laminar has occurred. Vp also

increases as the loading angle increases. Figure 4.

Examples of stress vs. strain curves of a specimen. Figure
5. Uniaxial strength, Young’s modulus and Vp as a function
of loading angle. 4 DETERMINATION OF ANISOTROPY Observing
all the stress vs strain curves, irregular and abnormal
strain data were omitted.As a result, 16 specimens and 189
strain data were used for the anisotropy determination. Two
kinds of anisotropy were adopted for the analysis. One is
the orthotropic anisotropy without the knowledge of the
directions of the anisotropic axes. In this case, 9 + 3
unknown parameters need to be determined. Another one is
the transverse isotropy without the knowledge of the
direction of the normal of the bedding plane. In this case
5 + 2 unknown parameters need to

Table 1. Result of anisotropy determinations.

0R9ax3:0rthotropic aniso. Unknown axes (MPa)

8.07E+03 9.39E+02 7.67E+02 0 0 0

9.39E+02 6.39E+03 3.89E+02 0 0 0

7.67E+02 3.89E+02 1.19E+03 0 0 0

0 0 0 6.60E+02 0 0
0 0 0 0 9.65E+02 0

0 0 0 0 0 6.15E+03

ta, th, tn = 27.52002 −19.2389 −19.1369

θ, α= 26.1 8.7

residualerr 1.11E−06

TR5ax2 :Transverse iso. Unknown axes. (MPa)

9.56E+03 5.42E+02 6.04E+02 0 0 0

5.42E+02 9.56E+03 6.04E+02 0 0 0

6.04E+02 6.04E+02 1.17E+03 0 0 0

0 0 0 7.45E+02 0 0

0 0 0 0 7.45E+02 0

0 0 0 0 0 4.51E+03

ta, tb = 27.02364 −19.1475

θ, α= 25.7 8.7

residualerr 1.19E−06

Figure 6. Comparison of measured Vp and calculated Vp from

stiffness matrix obtained from loading test.

be determined. The parameters were determined according to

the analytical procedure described in the subsection 2.1.

In Table 1, the determined stiffness matrices are shown with

the angle parameters θ and α. The normal stiffness C 11 and

C 22 are substantially larger than C 33 . C 33 is the

stiffness for

the normal direction to the laminar. This infers that a

kind of

loosening has occurred as stated in the subsection 3.2. Com

paring C 11 and C 22 , difference of about 1.26 times
exists.

Sedimentary rocks with bedding planes are often treated as

transversely isotropic, but the result shows that

innegligible

level of anisotropy can exists within the bedding plane.

The analytically determined direction parameters θ and α

are about 26 and 9 degrees and they are agreeing well with
the

observed value of 20∼30 degrees and 7∼9 degrees respec

tively. This agreement is a verification of the procedures

of

test and analysis.

Since stiffness matrix and directions of anisotropic axes

are

determined, Vp in the 6 loading directions can be

calculated.

This calculated Vp and measured ones are compared in Fig

ure 6. Measured value is larger than the calculated value,

but

the tendency is agreeing well. One of the reason that

measured Vp is larger than that calculated from the result
of loading test may be the creep effect because loading
rate in the uniaxial test is much lower than that of Vp
test. 5 CONCLUSION For the purpose of determining
orthotropic anisotropy in deformability of rocks, a
procedure of loading test and analysis has been
established. Axial loading tests in 6 directions of X, Y,
Z, YZ, ZX and XY are good enough to determine orthotropic
anisotropy even if we do not know the directions of
anisotropic axes. In each loading test 4 rosette gauges are
attached on the side of the specimen and stress-strain
gradients are used for the analysis. The analysis of
determining anisotropy is based on the non linear least
square method. The procedure has been applied to the
Opalinus Clay from Mont Terri underground laboratory. The
fact that analytically derived directions of anisotropy and
observed laminar plane coincided well verifies the
established procedure of determining orthotropic anisotropy
without the knowledge of directions of anisotropic axes.
Sedimentary rocks with bedding plane are often regarded as
transverse isotropy, but the result of Opalinus Clay shows
that innegligible orthotropy can exist in such rocks. It
should be commented in the last that the observed
significant anisotropy of C 11 /C 33 = 6∼7 is the result
under the condition of uniaxial test of low stress level
about 2 MPa. Under a confined stress conditions, the
anisotropy may decrease to some extent but it is out of
this paper’s scope. REFERENCE 1) K. Shin: Simplified method
for the assessment of the stiffness anisotropy of rocks at
small strains, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, Vol.38,
No.1, p.41–58, 2005 11th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Determining fracture size probability
distribution functions from trace length probability
distribution functions F. Tonon University of Texas,
Austin, USA

ABSTRACT: Santalò closed-form integral solution is used to

derive a closed-form expression of the fracture size
distribution

for each of the most common trace length distributions,

i.e. uniform, exponential, gamma, and power-law. Numerical
integration

is used for the lognormal distribution. Expressions are

given for the mean fracture diameter as a function of the
mean trace

length and the minimum fracture diameter. It is shown that,

when the trace lengths are uniform, exponential, gamma,
lognormal

or power-law, none of fracture diameter distributions is

lognormal, exponential or gamma, as assumed in the
literature. Power

law trace length distribution yields a power law fracture

size. The minimum fracture diameter cannot be equal to zero
and plays

an important role in determining the fracture diameter

distribution. When the trace length distribution is defined
on an interval,
the diameter lower bound must be contained in the trace
length interval, and the upper bound must be equal to the
trace length

upper bound.

1 INTRODUCTION

Fracture size plays an important role in rock engineering

because it provides for several fundamental parameters neces

sary in the evaluation of mechanical and hydraulic

properties

of rock masses [1], the estimation of fracture intensity

[2],

blasting operations in mining and quarrying [3], and rock

mass characterization [4].Although fracture size is commonly

used in engineering applications, quantifying the fracture

size

remains a difficult task because directly measuring the

size of

each fracture would require to completely dismantling a

given

rock mass [5].

Research on estimating the fracture size probability distri

bution has turned to stereology in order to use available

frac

ture trace length probability distributions to obtain the

sought

fracture size distribution. Indeed, stereology is concerned

with

the determination of three-dimensional structures from two

dimensional or one-dimensional data [6–8].This seems to be a

promising way to estimating the three-dimensional properties

of fractures (including persistence) from exposed rock
faces,

such as natural outcrops, excavation faces, and boreholes.

In rock mechanics, Warburton [9] provided the starting

point for estimating the fracture size distribution using

stereol

ogy. InWarburton’s simple model of fracture size, the

fractures

are assumed to be flat circular discs of negligible

thickness,

parallel to each other and centered at random points, whose

volume density has a Poisson distribution. Because the frac

tures are assumed to be circular, the fracture size is

represented

by the fracture diameter. Under these assumptions, Warburton

derived the following relationship between the distribution

of

trace length, y, and the distribution of fracture diameter,

x:

and where: h(y) is the probability density function (pdf)

of the of trace length, y ; g(x) is the pdf of the fracture
diameter, x, and the subscripts L and A denote line
sampling and area sampling of trace length measurement,
respectively. Furthermore, in Eqs (1) and (2), m 1 and m 2
are the mean and the second moment of x, respectively. The
statistical characterization of trace length and fracture
size has been investigated by many researchers. Uniform
[10, 11], exponential [11–17], normal [10, 11], lognormal
[11, 15, 17–19], Gamma [15, 17] and power law (Pareto)
distributions [35–51] have been put forward to describe the
distribution of trace length. Since many researchers think
that the trace distribution is sensibly insensitive to the
choice of the fracture size distribution, i.e. the
inversion of Eq. (1) is ill posed [20], many published
methods [2, 19] hinge on Crofton’s theorem [21] and then
focus on deriving moments of the fracture size distribution
after assuming a specific kind of fracture size
distribution. Up to now, four specific fracture size
distributions have been hypothesized, namely exponential
[2, 19], lognormal [9, 15, 19, 22, 23], Gamma [2], and
power law (Pareto) [49, 52, 53]. To the writers’ best
knowledge, the problem of determining a relationship
between the pdf of circular discs and the pdf of the disks’
traces on a cutting plane was first solved by Santalò [24].
As noted by Santalò, Eq. (1) is identical to the
relationship first derived by Wicksell [25, 26] between the
pdf of sphere diameters and the pdf of the circles cut out
by a plane intersecting those spheres. Since one knows
either h A (y) or h L (y), the inverses to Eq.s (1) and (2)
would be the most useful. Several decades ago Santalò [24]
provided a closed-form inverse relationship for Eq. (1) by
first transforming Eq. (1) into an Abel integral equation:
From an historic point of view, a direct solution to Eq.
(1) was used by Wicksell in 1925 [25, 26]. Gorenflo and
Vessella [7]

show that Eq. (3) does not necessarily yield probability

distri

bution functions (i.e. non-negative functions whose integral

over the real line is equal to 1).

Interestingly enough, up to now no author seems to have

used Santalò closed-form integral solution, which gives the

fracture size distribution as a function of the trace

length dis

tribution. In this paper, closed-form solutions are given

for the

fracture size distribution corresponding to each of the most

common trace length distributions, i.e. uniform,

exponential,

and gamma. A numerical procedure is given when the trace

length distribution is lognormal. The detailed derivations

and

proofs that our results are correct can be found in ref.

[27].

2 USING SANTALÒ INVERSION FORMULA TO

DETERMINE THE FRACTURE SIZE DISTRIBUTION

As mentioned in Section 1, Eq. (3) is the Santalò’s

inversion

formula for Eq. (1). Since Eq. (1) has been obtained for
area

sampling of the trace length, strictly speaking the pdf of

the

trace, h(y), in Eq. (3) must be the distribution of the

trace

length obtained with area sampling.

Although numerical solutions to Eq. (3) are available and

are

well tested [6, 28–31], closed-form solutions can be derived

for some common trace length distributions (uniform, expo

nential, Gamma): this will be shown in this section.

Moreover,

based on Eq. (3), numerical solutions of the fracture

diameter

distribution can be derived for other trace length

distributions

(e.g., lognormal).

2.1 The distribution of fracture diameter when the trace

length is uniformly distributed

If the distribution of trace length, h(y), is uniformly

distributed,

h(y) is given as

where B 1 , B 2 are the minimum and maximum trace lengths,

respectively. Let us introduce Eq. (4) into Eq. (3); one

obtains

Since the trace length is bounded between B 1 and B 2 , the

fracture diameter too is bounded between B 1 and B 2 .
Indeed,

suppose that there exists a diameter, y ∗ , outside this

bound.

Then, there would be a non-zero probability that the trace

be

in the range [y ∗ -dy, y ∗ ], which is not included in the

range

[B 1 , B 2 ]; as a consequence, one should have that h(y ∗

) �= 0.

This contradicts the assumption that the trace is uniformly

distributed between B 1 and B 2 because this assumption

entails

that h(y ∗ ) = 0.

On the other hand, the minimum fracture diameter can be

any value, c such that B 1 < c < B 2 . Finally, the maximum

fracture diameter cannot be smaller than the maximum trace

diameter, and thus the maximum fracture diameter must be

equal to the maximum trace diameter, B 2 .

Let us introduce Eq. (5) into Eq. (1); one obtains The
mean, m, is obtained by imposing that the integral of g(x)
is equal to 1: where ArcCsch(·) is the inverse hyperbolic
cosecant. Now, g(x) can be given solely in terms of B 1 and
B 2 , 2.2 The trace length is exponentially distributed If
h(y) is exponentially distributed, h(y) has the form where
A > 0 and 1/A is the mean of y. Let us compute the integral
in Eq. (3) by integrating by parts After computation, one
can find where BesselK is the modified Bessel function of
the second kind [32, 33]. From a mathematical point of
view, the closed-form integration in Eq. (11) is valid only
for x > 0, BesselK[1, Ax] diverges for x → 0, and the
integral of BesselK[1, Ax] over the real line diverges to
infinity. Since g(x) is positive for x �= 0, and since the
integral of g(x) must be equal to one, the fracture
diameter must be bounded by a lower cutoff length, c > 0.
From a physical point of view, a zero fracture size means
intact rock. Since g(x) is a pdf, its integral over the
real line must be equal to 1, thus: From Eqs. (11) and
(12), the mean fracture diameter is With this expression in
hand, the pdf of the fracture diameter in Eq. (11) becomes
Eq. (14) reveals that the diameter distribution, g(x),
depends on c, the minimum length of the fracture diameter.
Let A be equal to 1, Figure 1 shows the pdf of the fracture
diameter for different values of c. The curves from the
left to the right are the graphs of g(x) when c equals
0.01,0.1 and 0.5, respectively.

Figure 1. The distribution of fracture diameter when the

trace length

is exponentially distributed for three values of the

minimum diameter

length, c.

2.3 The trace length is Gamma distributed

If h(y) is Gamma distributed, h(y) has the form

where �(k) = ∞ ∫ 0 t k−1 e −t dt is the Gamma function, 1/A

is the

mean trace length, k is a parameter, and A, k > 0.

Let us integrate by parts the integral in Eq. (3), then

substitute Eq. (15) and simplify

Let us denote

After computation, one can find the general expression for

the

distribution of fracture diameter is

In order to calculate the mean, m, one needs to integrate

g(x);

however, it is difficult to integrate the second addendum in

the second member of Eq. (17), which must be integrated

numerically. Define Table 1. Mean values of fracture

diameter for different c values: the trace length is Gamma
(1,2) distributed. c P m 0.01 0.636454 1.571205 0.05
0.633745 1.577922 0.1 0.627315 1.594095 0.5 0.527262
1.89659 Figure 2. The distribution of the fracture diameter
when the trace length is Gamma (1,2) distributed (c =
0.01). where c is the minimum fracture diameter. One can
perform numerical integration to get P, and then m. Table 1
shows some results for m for different values of c, when A
= 1. One can find that the mean fracture diameter depends
mildly on the value of the minimum fracture diameter, c,
because a two-order-of-magnitude change in c yield a 1%
difference in the mean fracture diameter. As an example,
let the distribution of trace length be Gamma (1,2) and the
minimum fracture diameter is 0.01, then from Table 1, m
equals 1.571205. According to Eq. (17), the expression for
the pdf of the fracture size distribution is and its graph
is given in Figure 2. 2.4 The trace length is lognormally
distributed If h(y) is lognormally distributed , h(y) has
the form where By inserting Eq. (21) into Eq. (3), one
obtains the integral

Figure 3. Histogram of the trace length assumed to be

lognormally

distributed (h(y)), and the calculated distributions g(x)

and g’(x).

Since it is difficult to get a closed-form solution to the

integra

tion in Eq. (22), one needs to resort to numerical

integration.

This is best illustrated using a case history:

a) Consider the available trace lengths (from ref. [34] in

this

case history), which are assumed to be lognormally dis

tributed. Compute the mean value of y, E(y) = 0.417 m and

the variance of y,var(y) = 0.3038 m 2 . Substituting E(y)and

var(y) into Eq. (23b), one obtains ε= 1.00533. The his

togram of these data and the graph of h(y) based on

calculated values of λ and ε are plotted in Figure 3. The

pdv in vertical axis means probability density value.

b) Plot the graph of g(x)/m to find the minimum value of x

(x min ). Because g(x) must be positive, g(x)/m should be

larger than zero. One can find that g(x)/m has a zero for

x min = 0.0216 m.

c) Integrate g(x)/m to get m. Because

Using λ=−1.38013, ε= 1.00533, x min = 0.0216 m and

g(x) (Eq. (22)), double numerical integration (with respect

to y and then respect to x), yields m = 0.2256 m.

d) Finally, g(x) has the form of Eq. (22) with m = 0.2256,

λ=−1.38013 and ε= 1.00533. In order to compare h(y)

and g(x), the graph of g(x) is also plotted in Figure 3.

Now, let us show that g(x) is not lognormal. A lognormal

distribution with var = 0.0686, and m = 0.2256 is shown in

Figure 3, where it is called g’(x). Since g’(x) differs

from g(x),

g(x) is not lognormal.

Figures 4(a)–4(e) graph g(x) for different values for the

coefficient of variation (V ) of trace length together with

the

corresponding g’(x), where g’(x) is the lognormal

distribution

with parameters var(x) and m obtained from g(x). Recall that

Figure 4, shows that only in some cases (i.e. V = 1.5 and

per

haps V = 2) is g(x) close to g’(x). However, in many other

cases of practical interest g’(x) is far from being

lognormal.

Maybe this is the main reason why many researchers deem

g(x) to be lognormally distributed when h(y) is lognormally

distributed (e.g., [15, 19, 22, 23]). 2.5 The trace length
is power distributed Two common forms of power law
distribution exist, depending on whether the range over
which the distribution is defined is finite or not. The
first form, defined over a semi-infinite range bounded by a
lower cutoff length, B 1 , is given as where f > 0 is the
trace length exponent. The second form of the power law
distribution is defined over a finite range bounded by the
lower cutoff and an upper cutoff, B 2 . In this case, the
pdf is given by Let us consider the semi-infinite range
first. By inserting Eq. (61) into Eq. (5), one obtains: The
condition that the integral of g(x) must be equal to one
yields the mean fracture diameter, m: where c is the
minimum fracture diameter. The final expression for the
fracture distribution is obtained by inserting the
expression for the mean (Eq. (28)) into Eq. (27) As for the
finite range power distribution, the fracture diameter
distribution is where β(·, ·, ·) is the incomplete Beta
function, which is defined as The mean fracture size is
obtained by imposing that the pdf has unit measure (a) (b)
(c) (d) (e)

Figure 4. Lognormally distributed trace length (h(y)) and

the calculated g(x) and g ′ (x) for different coefficient
of variations (V) of the trace

length.

where S is the following series in which a = 1/2 and (·) n

is the Pochhammer symbol or rising factorial The series is
rapidly converging, and 100 terms typically give a relative
error less than 10 −7 , which is enough for rock
engineering applications.

Table 2. Discontinuity diameter distribution and the mean

diameter for different trace length distributions.

Distribution of

trace length Mean diameter Distribution of discontinuity

diameter

uniform

exponential

Gamma(A,2)

Lognormal Numerical Algorithm Numerical Algorithm

Power-Law

(semi-infinite

range)

Power-Law

(finite range)

The final expression for the fracture size distribution is

given by Eq. (30) with the mean fracture size given by Eq.
(32)

Eqs. (29) and (35) reveal that the fracture diameter

follows a

power law, regardless of whether the trace length

distribution is

defined over a semi-infinite range or a finite range. This

result

is in line with the result obtained by Pigott [52]. Pigott

assumed

that the fracture diameter follows a power law

distribution, and

calculated the fracture size distribution

3 HOW TO APPLY THESE RESULTS IN PRACTICE

As explained in the Introduction, once fracture trace length

area sampling has been carried out and corrected for bias
[2, 5],

the trace length distribution can be determined using

statistical

techniques. The transition to fracture size distribution is

then

effected with the aid of Table 2.

4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we used Santalò closed-form integral solution

in order to derive closed-form solutions for the fracture

size

distribution for each of the most common trace length dis

tributions, i.e. uniform, exponential, gamma, and power law.

None of the diameter distributions was found to be exponen

tial, gamma and lognormal, whereas the trace length power

distribution creates a power law distribution for the

fracture

size.

When the trace length is lognormal, a numerical proce

dure based on the Santalò closed-form integral solution was

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STUK-YTO-TR 209/AUGUST 2004
(http://www.stuk.fi/julkaisut/tr/stuk-ytotr209.pdf). Last
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Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Development of rock joints with time and
consequences for engineering S. Hencher School of Earth and
Environment, University of Leeds, UK Halcrow China Ltd R.
Knipe School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds,
UK Rock Deformation Reseach Ltd., Leeds, UK

ABSTRACT: Evidence is presented that seemingly ancient sets

of joints only fully develop as mechanical fractures when
subject

to weathering at the Earth’s surface. It is argued that

spatial variability of joints may therefore only properly
be understood if

their geological origins and temporal nature are taken into

account. With reference to geotechnical logging, the usual
approach,

which is to treat all joints as individual geometrical

features without reference to origin, is considered
simplistic and generally

inadequate. Examples are given of slope failures associated

with geologically recently developed joint systems and
where joints

that are rare statistically have high engineering

significance. Recommendations are made to improve practice
in assessing the

jointed nature of rock masses.

1 INTRODUCTION

Fractures in rock are fundamentally important to the ways in

which rock masses behave in terms of settlement, stability
and

excavation in engineering projects and for the through-flow

and storage of liquids and gases. However the nature of and,

in particular, the origin of rock joints, faults and other

naturally

occurring structural discontinuities or fractures are dealt

with

rather superficially in most rock mechanics and engineering

geology textbooks and in standards for rock description. The

nature of joints and their origins remains the province of

the

structural geologist.

Consequently when it comes to characterizing rock masses

in rock engineering, joints and other structural

discontinuities

tend to be dealt with simplistically. Generally only open

frac

tures are routinely recorded in core logging. The choice of

“type” of fracture is limited to joint, fault, bedding or

cleav

age (BS5930:1999). In addition only geometrical attributes

such as dip and dip direction, roughness, aperture,

persistence

and termination are recorded routinely (e.g. Priest, 1993).

Data

are then often analysed statistically using a programme

such as

DIPS (Rocscience). The focus of interpretation is on geome

try and frequency and little attention is paid to origin,

strength
evolution or environmental setting of the fractures. It is
not

generally appreciated that joints and other fractures

develop

mechanical properties with time due to weathering and this

is

the focus of the paper.

2 THE NATURE AND ORIGINS OF JOINTS

Joints are fractures found in most rocks near to the surface

of the Earth and their origins have long been the subject of

debate (Pollard and Aydin, 1988). Joints are clearly the

result

of overstressing of the rock (even in its soil-like state).

Some

form in sedimentary environments, others in igneous bodies

due to cooling or other forces whilst others are the result

of

tectonic forces (e.g. Rawnsley et al, 1990; 1992). Some

joints

are the direct result of stress conditions at the Earth’s

surface Figure 1. Predominantly orthogonal (vertical and
horizontal) joint development in granite, Mount Butler
Quarry, Hong Kong. as discussed later. Einstein &
Dershowitz, 1990 review the formation of joints in tensile
and shear stress regimes based on modern concepts of
fracture mechanics. What remains poorly recognised however
is that many joints do not fully develop as visible
structures and controlling mechanical discontinuities until
the rock is significantly de-stressed and exposed to the
elements. They are locked in as weaknesses but only fully
develop at later stages. Almeida et al (2006) describe
recent work on orthogonal built-in planes of weakness in
granite – rift, grain and hardway – that are exploited in
the splitting of seemingly intact granite for the
production of dimension stone. In more weathered terrain
orthogonal sets of joints are typical of granite (Figure 1)
and it is reasonable to infer that the joints seen in such
partially weathered rocks have developed with time along
weakness directions defined at some very early stage during
the emplacement and cooling of the granite. 3 PROCESSES FOR
JOINT DEVELOPMENT The geohistory of a rock mass can be
defined as the set of geological conditions (stress, fluid
pressure, temperature and

Figure 2. Sheeting joints through conglomerate, the Olgas,

Australia.

fluid–rock interactions) experienced from formation to the

present. The history of these parameters and the time spent

under different conditions which define a geohistory path

can

contribute to the development and stability of joints in the

system. For example, the exposure to geological loading and

unloading during and after ice-ages or the combination of

weathering by the influx of different fluids may induce time

dependant changes to the strength of the rock mass. Small

changes in the cohesion between mineral phases across grain

boundaries, the expansion of porosity by slow mineral disso

lution or chemical reaction to weaker phases, or the removal

of load bearing “micro-bridges” within incipient joints may

all induce failure via a dynamic evolution of the strength.

Two

important end-member processes need to be considered in the

time-dependant behaviour and stability of joint systems.

3.1 Mechanical responses/processes

In the end-member case these do not involve chemical alter

ation but include the processes that impact on the

susceptibility
of opening discontinuities that can promote the initiation

and propagation of fractures or joints. These are fundamen

tally controlled by the rock fabric and mineralogy where

changes in the distribution, frequency, orientation and cohe

sion of grain boundaries during the geohistory (especially

the

recent and present conditions) impact on the susceptibility

to failure. Slow crack growth and the linking of disconti

nuities may promote a deterioration of the rock-mass and

may depend on the detailed elastic response of adjacent min

eral grains to changing geological conditions (loading or

unloading during freeze-thaw, wetting-drying or fluid pres

sure cycles). Figures 2 and 3 shows mechanically induced

fractures (sheeting joints) through conglomerate in

Australia. Figure 3. Close up of shallowly dipping sheeting
joint through conglomerate, the Olgas, Australia. Figure 4.
Rock bridge (grey unweathered) in incipient joint with
weathering around periphery of bridge. Pin for scale.
(Hencher, 1981). 3.2 Chemical responses/processes In the
end member case these processes involve chemical reactions
that change the strength of interfaces that can promote or
stabilize fracture growth. Processes such as dissolution,
corrosion, transformations, precipitation or wetting may
all induce changes in rock mass behaviour. Conditions that
promote rapid chemical alteration will be particularly
significant. In Material Sciences the chemical processes
that promote such strength changes (generally at higher
temperatures) are termed reaction-enhanced ductility and
transformational-enhanced ductility and similar processes
may act in the weathering development of rock joints.
Figure 4 shows the effect of gradual chemical weathering on
a relict rock bridge in an incipient joint in Hong Kong.
Both the mechanical and the chemical processes are well
known, but it is the combination and feedback between these
processes under different conditions that will control the
susceptibility to joint development and propagation at any
particular location. 4 GENERAL IMPLICATIONS It is argued
that joint systems measured at any location will owe their
properties to geohistory both with respect to the initial
development of flaws in geological time and to relatively
recent weathering and loading history. Dip and azimuth of
many sets are pre-defined in their geological past but
aperture, frequency and persistence are largely a function
of exposure and local stresses at the Earth’s surface.
Sheeting joints may

Figure 5. Possible modes of joint formation in sedimentary

sequences and likely appearance of joint sets on

stereographic

projections.

exploit previous weakness directions, particularly in

igneous

bodies but others develop as new fractures, totally in

response

to the stress state at the Earth’s surface. The argument

that

some sheet joints must be ancient because of the evident

antiq

uity of other cross cutting joint sets (see the well-argued

review

in Twidale, 1982) no longer holds true once it is accepted

that “ancient” joints only fully develop as visible,

mechanical

fractures on exposure and due to weathering.

The importance of considering the geohistory of joint

systems when characterising rock masses for engineering

purposes cannot be over-emphasised. A consideration of the

processes that have resulted in the joint sets and their

attributes

at one measuring location may indicate that some joints that

might be expected may be under-sampled. Models such as

those of Hancock (1991) allow a better analysis of the data.

Figure 5 provides examples of potential ways for joints to

form

in thick sediment piles and the likely distribution of

poles on

stereonets.

5 IMPLICATIONS FOR SLOPE STABILITY

The dangers of an overly-statistical approach to dealing

with

discontinuity data have been highlighted by Hencher (1985)

following a significant rock slope failure where rare but

impor

tant joints had been discounted in the design of the slope

(Hencher, 1983).

Furthermore the development and extension of joints in

engineering time can be very significant in slope

development.

Figure 6 shows an example of a sheeting joint along which

there was movement prior to eventual detachment of a large

landslide (Halcrow China Ltd, 2002; Hencher, 2006). The

rock above the sheeting joint along which intermittent move

ment had taken place over many years had become fractured

with the opening up of pre-existing flaws and development of

new fractures due to tensile stresses induced in the

displaced

slab. These fractures had then become infilled with

sediments

that contributed to the failure in restricting throughflow

and Figure 6. Fractured rock above geologically recent
sheeting joint (Hencher, 2006). allowing the development of
cleft water pressures (see further discussion in Malone,
2007). 6 IMPLICATIONS FOR UNDERGROUND WORKS There are
reported cases where the presence of pre-existing flaws
have only fully developed as mechanical fractures on
excavation with consequences for instability in tunnels
(Everitt & Latjai, 2004). Martin (1994) provides evidence
from the same site of the varying fracture state at
different levels within the same rock mass. Clearly there
are implications for nuclear waste repositories in that
fracture systems may extend and develop during development
of sites in response to stress state changes. Models formed
following ground investigation may represent the mass
inaccurately if temporal development of the fracture system
is not accounted for. Furthermore classification systems
such as RMR (Bienawski, 1989) and Q (Barton, 2000) use a
cursory treatment of rock fractures to characterise rock
masses. Joints are undifferentiated in terms of origin and
spatial variation. A consideration of geohistory when
forming geological and geotechnical models of tunnel routes
would no doubt be beneficial. Rock joint frequency and
therefore rock mass quality which is important both with
respect to excavatability and support will vary with degree
of weathering. Care must be taken when interpreting
conditions on the basis of data collected elsewhere. 7
RECOMMENDATIONS The authors advocate an approach to
measurement of joints in the characterisation of rock
masses that focuses on geological process and modelling,
especially when dealing with rock exposures rather than
boreholes where, of course, all data should be logged and
the analysis comes later. This rather conflicts with the
emphasis in most standards where recommendations are made
for scanline surveys and concentration is more on
orientation bias rather than proper geological analysis.
The authors believe that this emphasis rather belies the
importance of such data collection. Because the scanline,
supposedly objective, approach looks so routine and
foolproof, the tendency is to assume that it can be done by
any technician and provide the requisite data that can then
be fed into a statistical programme so that the
geotechnical engineer, in his office, can get on with the
important and demanding task of analysis. That is rock
engineering by numbers and not to be recommended.

The recommended procedure for assessing rock masses at

exposures, for example in quarries is:

1. Carry out a reconnaissance of the exposure. View it from

different directions.
2. Form an initial geological model, split into structural
and

weathering zones/elements. Sketch model.

3. Broadly identify those joint sets that are present, where

they occur and what their main characteristics are.

4. Measure data to characterise each set geologically and

geotechnically. This should include data on fractography

(hackle marks etc.) and coatings. Record locations on

plans and on photographs. Record variations in degree of

weathering and with structural regime.

5. Plot data and look at geometrical relationships. Consider

geohistory and how the various sets relate to one another

and to geological structures such as faults, folds and

intrusions.

6. Considering geohistory, decide whether all joints that

might be expected have actually been identified. Search

for missing sets.

7. Analyse and reassess whether additional data are required

to characterise the joints that are particularly important

for

the engineering problem.

8. Where data collection is remote from the actual project,

consider how data are likely to vary spatially.

9. Consider sensitivity of the joint systems and the

mechanical

behaviour to changes that might be brought about by the

engineering works.

10. Create a scorecard to highlight critical components of

the

discontinuities present and their potential impact.

8 CONCLUSIONS

Rock joints develop in time according to the geohistory at

any location. In particular weathering will influence joint

fre

quency, aperture and persistence. Data should be collected

and

analysed with due consideration to how the fracture system

has

developed and may further develop with time. Data should

only be extrapolated within structural regimes as emphasised

by Piteau (1973) and should similarly only be extrapolated

between different weathering zones with great caution. The

consequences of not following a proper geological thought

process when characterising and describing rock masses can

be serious. Important but rare fractures may be

under-sampled

in exposures and/or hidden following statistical analysis.

Data

collected “objectively” but without due consideration of the

geological structure including weathering regimes can be

confusing and generally unhelpful.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Research by the first author is supported in part by a

grant (nema-06-nh-05) from the Natural Hazard Mitigation

Research Group, National Emergency Management Agency,

ABSTRACT: For hard rocks as granite, rock mass class is

mostly associated with discontinuities. This paper presents
three

case histories of granite engineering projects in China.

Focuses are on distributive features of discontinuities by
means of

field investigation, stereographic projection, statistic

methods of structure and geo-stress. The discontinuity
includes faults,

joints, veins, contact zone and fissures with distinctive

scales and formation. Most commonly occurred are of joints
reflecting

geo-stress orientation. The most widely used rock mass

classification indices RMR, Q, BQ and T systems are
compared. By

means of interaction matrix, it was found that the

interaction coefficient of RMR and BQ is the largest, next
is the T values, the

last one is the Q value. The results indicate that

discontinuity density, orientations and hard rock are of
dominant parameters

in classification index for site selection and design of

tunneling projects.

1 INTRODUCTION

In China the exposed granite area is about 862 000 km 2 ,

with

granite body of 400 nos. (area > 25 km 2 ). As harder rocks,

they behave advantages for geo-engineering as large volume

of granite body, relatively lower permeability, existence of

faults and joints but closed at depth, and relatively

stable in

geological times. On the other hand, they have some disadvan

tages as high anisotropic property, complicated

distribution of

discontinuities and inaccuracy of measurements in 3D, espe

cially the response to excavation disturbance and secondary

variations during operation for a long time. In practice,

there

often occurred four unfavorable engineering geological con

ditions in faults (particularly active faults), densely

distributed

joints, weathering bags, and contact zone with alterations.

Cave-in and water burst accidents are mostly associated with

these unfavorable structures. The site selection, design and

construction in granites, to a great extent, are controlled

by

discontinuities.The distribution and features of them

affect the

feasibility of sites, design of cavern axis, and

reinforcement

and drainage parameters.

At present, some important projects are sitting in granites.

The three case histories concerned in this paper are for

sitting

of crude oils storage caverns at Jinzhou, Northeast China,

of

a neutrino oscillation experiment at Daya Bay, Southeastern

China, and of a permanental shiplock of Three Gorges. After

statistic values comparison of the three rock mass classifi

cation indices, this paper indicates the RMR and BQ system

are the most feasible for evaluation of rock mass classes

for
underground granitic engineering projects.

2 DISCONTINUITIES IN GRANITES

There different types of discontinuities in granites with

respect

to properties, formation phase and scales. Some types are

large

as regional and macro, some are micro as fissures. Uniaxial

compression strength (UCS) of granitic samples are larger

than 60 MPa, due to granites have smaller porosity with few

difference between natural and saturated UCS. On the other

hand, the mechanical results are discrete from different

places

(Figure 1). From engineering practice in the three sites as

20 30 40 50 60 70 Frictrion angle (Phi) 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0
1000.0 10000.0 100000.0 C o h e s i v e f o r c e ( k P a )
Figure 1. Mechanical parameters of granites and
correlations from 63 sets of samples in China. Table 1.
Number Percent of joints of granites in scale of length at
Daya Bay. Length (m) <1 1∼5 5∼10 10∼20 >20 Number percent
(%) 6.2 70.7 17.4 4.6 1.1 Jinzhou, Three Gorges and Daya
Bay, it is known that for the same region, the granite with
similar components, the mechanical results are still
discrete.The reason is that there exist some closed
fissures in some samples, though they are seemed like
intact rocks. 2.1 Types There are mainly 4 types of
discontinuities. They are faults, joints, veins, contact
belts. The scale varies to a large extent, from several km
to several cm. For example, in exposed granites at Daya
Bay, the percent of joints length is different (Table 1).
Generally, the acidic veins are favorable to rock stability
due to their high cohesive and concordant with granites,
while basic veins are unfavorable to rock stability due to
their sensitive to weathering and groundwater action. For
instance,

Figure 2. Distribution of joints of granites at Daya Bay.

a. Joint

strike rose maps; b. Stereographic projection of two sets

of joints
(1: 278∠ 67, 2: 202∠74); c. Orientation versus quantity of
granite

joints; d. Dip angle versus quantity of joints.

Figure 3. Quartz veins (including joints filled with

silica) orienta

tion rose map of granites at Daya Bay.

at Jinzhou, many local slopes were formed along the con

tact zone of diabasic dips. Some contact zones of granite

with sandstones as hosting rocks were alterated as

hornstones

behaving high strength at Daya Bay, some with clays from

alteration with lower shearing strength.

2.2 Spatial distribution

Complicated distribution of discontinuities contributes to

high

anistropic features of granites. In most case the

distribution of

joints with steep dip angles are controlled by geostress,

while

gently dipping joints are associated with cooling between

two

intrusive phase or unloading in shallow depth. The sets of

joints are from 2 to 5 with variations in plane and vertical

sections. In geomorphology, the joints in large scale affect

gullies distribution in granites. These are obvious at

Jinzhou

and Daya Bay. At former, the gullies are mostly in

orientation

of NNW and NE, controlled by the two sets of dominant

joints.
At Daya Bay (Figure 2), the geostress orientation is

280∼300 ◦ . From measured 2000 joints, it was found that

there

are three sets of joints in orientations of SN (350∼20 ◦ ),

NE

(30∼50 ◦ ) and NW (280∼300 ◦ ). The gullies are dominated by

the three sets of joints. The dips are in two sets, one is
200 ◦ ,

and another is 280 ◦ . The dip angle is mostly larger than

50 ◦ .

Most of their length are within a range of 1∼5 m. As for 339

veins of quartz, the orientation is on two sets as 110∼120

◦ ,

10∼30 ◦ (Figure 3).

The planar difference at different phase as center, margin

of granite body can be shown in a plane map. While from 4

boreholes in site, it is known that their distribution is

very dif

ferent in vertical sections, with some densely distributed

joints at a depth of 100 m, behaved by fractured rocks and
relatively higher geostress. The former two boreholes are
210 m deep, while the latter two are about 100 m deep. 2.3
Formation of discontinuities For different type of
discontinuities, they are formed in different mechanisms.
For contact zones, joints with steep dip angle and veins
are controlled by structural geology, while gently dipping
joints are with unloading and original intruding phases of
granites. So their formation in geological time and
distribution in space reflect the structural geology
controlling and the secondary destruction of weathering and
unloading. 3 GEO-STRESS AND DISCONTINUITIES Among the sets
of joints, usually one set is paralleled with orientation
of geostress, as shown in Figure 2. As for veins
distribution, most of them are concordant with one branch
of joints (Figure 3), but without obvious connections with
geostress. The steep dip angle reflects the shearing force
is dominant in granites (Figure 2). 4 FUNCTION OF
DISCONTINUITIES TO ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATION INDICES From
field investigation, cores from boreholes and geostress
data, the rock mass can be classified according to some
indices. Here four rock mass indices are computed and
compared: rating RMR (Bieniawskiz, 1973), quality Q
(Barton, 1974), basic quality (DHR, 1995), and total
evaluation T (DHR, 1999). The former two are widely applied
worldwide (Goel et al., 1996), while the latter two are
commonly used in China. The bq value is computed in the
equation (DHR, 1995) where Rc: saturated uniaxial
compressive strength, MPa; Kv: intactness index of rock
mass. If R c > 90 k v + 30, then put R c = 90 k v + 30 into
equation (1) If K v > 0.04R c + 0.4, then put K v = 0.04R c
+ 0.4 into equation (1) For underground engineering
application, the BQ value is modified to be where K
modification coefficient of, respectively, K 1 :
groundwater; K 2 : major discontinuity orientation; and K 3
: initial stress status. The index T is a summation of five
parameters as intact rock strength, integrity,
discontinuity status, groundwater and major discontinuity
orientation (DHR, 1999). The four systems have some
differences in account for parameters involved. And the
limits are somewhat different not only on their equations
(Table 2). For the RMR and T, the range of value is 0∼100,
for the Q, the range is 0.01∼1000, and for the BQ, the
range is 90∼700. For the three sites of Jinzhou, Three
Gorges and Daya Bay with relatively more data, the four
parameters are obtained

Table 2. Classification and limits of the four systems for

evaluation

of rock mass quality.

System Classification and limits

Q ∗ I 40 II 10 III 1.0 IV 0.1 V

RMR ∗ I 80 II 60 III 40 IV 20 V

BQ I 55 II 450 III 350 IV 250 V

T I 85 II 65 III 45 IV 25 V

∗ after Li, 1999. 300 400 500 600 BQ value 1 10 100 Q v a l

u e 40 60 80 100 T v a l u e

40

60
80

100

R M

R Jinzhou [BQ]~Q [BQ]~T [BQ]~RMR I II III IV I II III I II

III I II III IV I II III 300 400 500 600 700 BQ value 1.0
10.0 100.0 1000.0 Q v a l u e 40 60 80 100

R 40 60 80 100 T v a l u e Dayawan [BQ]~Q [BQ]~RMR [BQ]~T I

IIIII IV I II III I II III I II III IV I II III

Figure 4. Comparison of four system parameters at three

sites

of granites. a. Jinzhou; b. Three Gorges (data source:

Chen,1997);

c. Daya Bay.

(Figure 4). It is known that for the three sites granites

belong

to class II, with higher strength and better integrity. The

key

problem is the differentiation between classes II and III.

Here

RMR-system does not consider the stress condition of the

rock

mass, while the Q-system does not consider joint orientation

and intact rock strength as independent parameters. The

result 0.01 0.10 1.00 10.00 100.00 1000.00 Q 0 20 40 60 80
100 R M R Daya Bay Jinzhou Three gorges R = 0.644 Figure
5. Correlations of Q and RMR from Jinzhou, Three Gorges and
Daya Bay. shows that the Q-system is relatively not
feasible for hard rock tunneling in granites. There are
some equations of RMR with Q. From 324 nos data of the
three sites of granites, it was found that an equation with
a correlation coefficient of 0.64 (Figure 5) is It is
different from that with an correlation coefficient of 0.77
gave by Bieniawski (1984). For comparison of the four
indices, an approach of interaction matrix is applied
(Hudson and Harrison, 1992). The matrix is set up with them
listing along the leading diagonal. The off-diagonal
positions are taken by correlation curves of couples of
parameters. For one row of one parameter, the curves
represent its affects (as independent variable) on other
three parameters (as dependent variable). It was vice versa
for the column (Figure 6). The maximum of correlation
coefficient of BQ with T is 0.92, next is that of T and
RMR. The minimum of the value of Q with T is 0.51. After
summarization of the correlation coefficient in rows and
columns, respectively, a couple of interaction coefficient
of one parameter as impacts (cause and effect) in rock mass
classification can be obtained as shown in Figure 7. Then
it is known that the interaction coefficients of RMR and BQ
is the largest, next is the T values, the last one is the Q
value. The results implies that discontinuity density,
orientations and hard rock strength are of dominant
parameters in rock mass classification index for site
selection and design of tunneling projects. 5 CONCLUSIONS
Discontinuities make great contributions to granite
mechanical properties. Except of Q system, the other three
systems as RMR, BQ and T systems, which taking account of
discontinuity orientations and rock strength, have closed
correlations. The relation of discontinuity orientation
with tunnel axis is important for evaluation of rock mass
quality as in the three

Figure 6. Interaction matrix of the four parameters with

correlation curves. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Effect C a u s e Q T BQ RMR

Figure 7. Coefficients of cause and effect of the four

parameters.

indices. By interaction correlation, it is known that the BQ

and RMR is the most feasible, next is the T index. The Q

system is not feasible for rock mass classification of

granites

in underground engineering.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors appreciate the financial supports of the

ABSTRACT: Block caving is becoming an increasingly

important mining method for rock masses that were
previously

considered to be too strong or at greater than usual depth,

or as an extension of open pit mining. The behaviour of the
rock

mass is affected by the strength of the intact rock, the

orientation, continuity, spacing and strength of the
discontinuities and

the in situ stress. The caving rock mass passes through

several stages with changes to induced stresses, and at
each stage the

fragmentation increases. At several block caving sites we

are using all available jointing data (from boreholes,
photographs,

face mapping, etc.) to create integrated 3D stochastic

models of the rock mass using the discrete fracture
modelling suite

FracMan. The results from the discrete models at specific

sites will be compared with empirical block cave design
methods

(e.g. Laubscher, Stability Graph) and with other 3D methods

of rock mass/rock block size characterisation.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Block caving

Block caving is gaining greater importance as a mining

method due to the exhaustion of near surface high

tonnage/low

grade ore bodies that are amenable to open pitting. High ton

nage/low grade ore bodies (e.g. porphyry copper type) often

extend to below the depth of the stripping ratio of even

very
large open pits, and block cave mining allows a relatively

cheap and efficient method of extending the mine life. Block

caving is also now being applied to rock masses that have

pre

viously been considered either too hard and/or too deep for

the method to be used effectively. Successful block caving

is

the cheapest form of underground bulk mining in terms of

unit costs.

Block cave mining exploits the natural break up of rock

masses due to gravity and the redistribution of in situ

stress

within the crown of an undercut in a rock mass after a void

has been created under an ore body (Laubscher 2000). Frag

mentation initially occurs due to a combination of movement

on pre-existing fractures and extension of these fractures

join

ing together forming whole blocks. As the cave matures new

fractures are generated within the solid rock between

existing

fractures leading to smaller block sizes. The blocks fall

into a

moving draw column and grind together as the ore column

is drawn. This reduces their size (through greater fragmenta

tion) but can also have the unwanted side effect of creating

more fines.

Once continuous caving has been initiated, the rate of pro

duction from the block cave will depend on the rate at which
the cave propagates following draw of the muck pile and the

creation of a small air gap into which caved material can

fall

(Laubscher 2000).

Duplancic & Brady (1999) used a seismic monitoring

system to study the early stages of caving at the

Northparkes

Mine Lift 1, New South Wales, Australia. From this study,

they developed a conceptual model of caving (Figure 1). The

model contains five zones:

1. Caved zone. This zone consists of rock blocks that have

fallen from the cave back. Material in the caved zone

provides support to the walls of the cave. Figure 1.

Conceptual model of caving (after Duplancic & Brady 1999).
2. Air gap. During continuous caving, the height of the air
gap is a function of the supply and extraction rates of the
material to and from the caved zone. 3. Zone of loosening.
This zone no longer provides support to the overlying rock
mass. Large-scale displacement and disintegration of the
rock mass occur. 4. Seismogenic zone. In this zone an
active seismic front occurs due to slip on joints and
brittle failure of rock. This behaviour is due to changing
stress conditions caused by the advancing undercut and
progress of the cave. 5. Surrounding rock mass. Elastic
deformation occurs in the rock mass in this zone ahead of
the seismic front and surrounding the cave. 1.2 Discrete
fracture network modelling rationale It is impossible to
see complete discontinuities that are present within a rock
mass; only when the rock is exposed do the discontinuities
become visible and the 2D interaction between the
discontinuities and the exposed surface can be observed. In
order to assess accurately the fracture continuity,
intensity and potential block size, an understanding of the
3D geometry of the discontinuities is needed.

Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) modelling allows syn

thetic, unconditionally simulated fractures to be

stochastically
generated in 3D. Statistical data is determined from the 1D
and

2D exposures of the fractures and used to build the

synthetic

model. The mapped and modelled fractures can be compared

to validate and if necessary refine the model. Several

realisa

tions of the model can be run using the Monte Carlo method
to

gain average values and a measure of the variability

present.

An important parameter used in the DFN modelling is the

fracture intensity, which is described using the volumetric

intensity, P 32 (square metres of fracture area within the

target

rock mass volume). This measure is both scale and direc

tionally independent. The areal intensity of fracturing, P

21 ,

is defined as the ratio of total length of fracture traces

on

a surface to the area of that surface. The P 21 is scale

inde

pendent, but varies with direction. The fracture frequency

is

described by the P 10 (number of fractures per unit length).

Fracture intensity is clearly an important factor in

determin

ing both the initial and subsequent fragmentation of a

caving

rock mass, and is one of the key parameters considered in

this study. The stochastic DFN model combined with a Monte

Carlo method allows a range of potential P 32 values to be

explored and their effect on the block size determined.

1.3 Geomechanical modelling of block caving using DFN models

There are a number of different software packages that have

been used to model the break up of rock masses and the

flow of the particulate ore column in block cave mines.

These

include Rockfield’s Elfen and Itasca’s Particle Flow Code 3D

(PFC3D), FLAC3D and 3DEC. In principle the fracture dis

tribution determined by the DFN methods described above

should be applicable to all such codes. Most of our

experience

has been with Elfen.

Elfen uses a hybrid finite/discrete element modelling

method and may be used to simulate the response of frac

tured rock masses to changes in the induced stresses (Pine

et al. 2006a).

This study ultimately aims to combine the powerful tools

of stochastic DFN modelling with geomechanical modelling

to investigate the role that the initial fracture pattern

plays in

the subsequent fragmentation during caving, and the ensuing

critical hydraulic radius.

2 DFN MODELLING USE IN BLOCK CAVING

2.1 Obtaining rock mass data for DFN modelling in block

caving

The inputs required for the DFN modelling are typically

(Dershowitz et al. 2004):

1. Fracture sets; defined from field observations and

stereonet

analysis of fracture orientation data

2. Mean fracture orientation and dispersion from stereonet

analysis

3. Generation Model; such as Enhanced Baecher Model

(Baecher et al. 1977); Levy-Lee Fractal Model (Mandelbrot,

1985) or Nearest Neighbour Model

4. Fracture intensity; a volumetric intensity value, P 32

(m 2 /m 3 ) is derived from mapped areal intensity values,

P 21

(m/m 2 ).

5. Fracture radius distribution; 6. Fracture shape; usually

a polygon equivalent to a circle or possibly elongated in a
particular direction 7. Facture terminations; allows a
fracture set to terminate against another earlier fracture
set. DFN models include fractures as planar polygons. This
assumption is both realistic and useful, as it allows the
approximate representation of a wide variety of fracture
shapes by a single mathematical form (Dershowitz et al.
2004). Fracture mechanics suggest that in homogeneous rock
the general shape of an isolated fracture should be
elliptical, as is assumed in the Baecher model (Baecher et
al. 1977). However, as most rock is generally
heterogeneous, perfectly elliptical fractures are unlikely
to be formed, and in a practical sense little error is
introduced by representing the ideal, elliptical fracture
by a many-sided polygon of equivalent area. Dershowitz
(1984) has noted, moreover, that observed fractures are
generally polygonal due to terminations of the fractures at
intersections with other fractures. To obtain the necessary
data for the generation and assessment of DFN models,
traditional mapping and logging methods can be used that
would be employed for any geotechnical project.
Increasingly these methods are supplemented with remote
data capture methods. Useful remote methods for mapping
exposures in mines are photogrammetry and laser scanning
(Coggan et al. 2006). Other suitable remote data capture
methods include LIDAR and downhole geophysics. Remote
sensing allows for rapid and accurate acquisition of large
quantities of data that can be post-processed to generate
data similar to that gained from hand and photographic
mapping. The advantages over traditional methods is the
short turn around time from data acquisition to
interpretation, the ability to map areas which are normally
impossible to reach either due to risk or remoteness and
the ability to view the 3D architecture of the rock mass on
screen in a visualisation program (McCaffrey et al. 2005).
The fracture orientations, sets and truncation patterns are
measured and noted using a combination of direct
measurement and observation and any remote imaging data.
The intensity of fracturing in 2D is assessed using a
combination of mapping and measurements from scaled
photographs. To estimate the radius distribution of the
fractures in the rock mass the circular window mapping
method can be used (Zhang & Einstein 1998; Zhang & Einstein
2000). In this method the number of continuous and
truncated fracture traces are counted within a circle of
known radius and used to estimate the true fracture trace
length distribution. The method is conducted over a wide
area on exposures with different orientations and the
resulting fracture trace length distribution (in 2D) can be
used to estimate the fracture radius distribution (in 3D).
The method removes orientation bias and can again be
conducted using photographic images. 2.2 DFN modelling
methods When an initial synthetic fracture set is generated
the volumetric intensity of the fractures, P 32 , is not
known, and an initial estimate is used.To refine the
required P 32 value, the synthetic fractures must be
sampled to determine model values of P 10 or P 21 . These
values are then compared with the observed values using
Equation 1 to determine an updated value of P 32 . where
Obs = Observed; Mod = Modelled.

Once the P 32 is updated the model can be re-generated using

the new value and sampled once again to check that the model

is consistent with the mapped data.

The synthetic fracture sets can be sampled using their inter

sections with boreholes (or scanlines) in 1D and traceplanes

(representing exposed surfaces) in 2D. This data can then be

compared to the measured field data to ensure a good match.

Visual comparison of maps and photographs from the field

and the traces of the synthetic fractures on traceplanes can

be used to check if the synthetic sets appear similar to

those

mapped in the field. Orientation data can be checked by com

paring stereoplots generated from the synthetic fractures

with

the mapped data.The size and shape of the in situ blocks

can be

determined by generating a free surface in the DFN model,

and

then using an algorithm to find whole or nearly-whole blocks

created by its intersection with adjacent synthetic

fractures.

The DFN models can be generated a number of times using

a Monte Carlo simulation to determine the variability in the

in situ block size.

2.3 Correlation of DFN parameters with critical hydraulic

radius and in situ block size

In the current work it is proposed that the P 32 value for

a given

rock mass, as a measure of fracture intensity, can be corre

lated with the critical hydraulic radius (HR) of the

undercut

of a block cave at the on set of caving. This will be exam

ined with a number of block caving case examples. There

will also be a number of other factors to consider such as

the

in situ stress regime and the strength of the intact rock.

The
proposed P 32 /HR graph will be comparable to Laubscher’s

MRMR stability curve (Laubscher 1990, 1993, 1994; Jakubec

& Laubscher 2000) and Mathews’ Stability curve (Mathews

et al. 1980; Trueman et al 2000). The advantage of the P 32

/HR

graph compared to Mathews and Laubscher is the more robust

method of correlating rock mass caving performance with

fracture intensity rather than by empirical methods.

The ability to determine the representative fracture dis

tribution and potential block size in 3D using DFN models

should give an advantage over estimating block size from 2D

empirical mapping methods, as a more consistent and accu

rate estimate can be made. The in situ block size is used in

block caving as a proxy for the primary fragmentation. The

in

situ block size will be slightly larger than the primary

frag

mentation size so can be used as the upper limit for blocks

to

be considered in the design of the mine infrastructure (with

due allowance for block size reduction in the draw column).

3 NORTHPARKES CASE STUDY EXAMPLE:

ENDEAVOUR 26 LIFT 2

3.1 Northparkes Mines overview

The Northparkes Mines (NPM) is located approximately 27

kilometres NW of Parkes in New South Wales, Australia,

approximately 350 km NW from Sydney. It is a joint venture

between Rio Tinto and Sumitomo Group.

NPM mine Copper and Gold from cross-sectionally small,

low tonnage porphyry Cu-Au deposits.

Mining at NPM commenced in 1995 and has been con

ducted from three open pits (E22, E26 and E27) and one

underground block cave mine (E26).

E26 exploits two block caves; the uppermost is known as

Lift 1 (down to 485 m) and the lowermost Lift 2 (down to

835 m). The two Lifts have markedly different layouts, Lift
1 being more complex than Lift 2. 3.2 Northparkes geology
The E26 deposit consists of a zoned porphyry complex
ranging in composition from mafic monzonite to quartz
syenite (Lickfold 2000; Lickfold et al. 2003). Ore occurs
in porphyry, volcanics and equigranular monzodiorite to
quartz monzonite intrusive lithologies (Smith et al. 2002),
and is hosted in quartz-sulphide stockworks with
disseminated sulphide and sulphide fracture coatings.
Bornite is the dominant sulphide ore, grading outward
towards chalcopyrite-dominant zones. 3.3 E26 Lift 2 E26
Lift 2 is mined using 59 drawpoints on a 30 m by 18 m
herringbone layout. The undercut consisted of 14 parallel
drill drives running from east to west (Silveira 2002). The
lift contains a central tube of quartz monzonite porphyry
(QMP) and volcanics with Biotite Quartz Monzonite (BMQ) and
an andesite band intercepted in the upper reaches of the
lift (Duffield 2000). 3.4 Fracture characterisation in E26
Lift 2 The fracture characterisation was conducted using a
combination of existing geotechnical mapping data and new
data generated by photo-mapping. Due to the large amounts
of data available, initially mapping of Drill Drives (DD)
1, 7 and 13 was conducted to assess the variability across
the deposit. Mapping data from the wall and the advancing
faces was used along with the relevant photographs.
Stereoplots were produced using existing mapping data from
all DDs and these indicated three geotechnical zones: a
southern zone consisting of Drill DDs 1, 2, 3 and 4; a
central zone including DDs 5, 6, 7 and 8 and a northern
zone consisting of the remaining 6 DDs. The zones were
further broken down on the basis of lithology.
Photo-mapping using the ImageJ software (Collins 2004) was
then conducted on one drill drive from each zone: DD 1 from
the southern zone, DD 7 from the central zone and DD 13
from the northern zone. P 21 intensity and circular window
trace length mapping was carried out using photos of the
advancing faces taken approximately every 3 to 5 m, and
along the southern wall of each mapped drill drive. Photos
of the walls were merged where possible where possible
using the program Autostitch (Brown & Lowe 2003) to allow
the classification of longer fractures. 3.5 DFN model of
E26 Lift 2 For an initial determination, it was assumed
that the three mapped drives detailed above were
representative of the relevant zone. Three fracture sets
were determined for each zone using the analysis program
Dips (Rocscience 2007). A Fisher orientation distribution
(Fisher 1953) and a log normal fracture radius distribution
were chosen as the best fitting for all fracture sets. The
derived fracture data is given in Table 1. All fractures
were modelled as six sided polygons with no elongation and
no specific fracture terminations set. The Enhanced Baecher
model was used as the fracture generation model. An example
model is shown in Figure 2. There was a good correlation
between the P21 values, stereoplots, fracture spacings and
fracture trace lengths of the

Table 1. Fracture set data for E26 Lift 2. Dip/dip Mean

Geotechnical Fracture direction Fisher radius P 21

Zone Set degree K m m −1

Southern 1 63/357 9.7 0.8 1.49 2 85/255 20.5 0.6 0.78 3

21/106 27.9 4.4 0.50

Central 1 70/358 10.4 0.9 0.97 2 86/050 33.8 0.9 1.10 3

20/110 31.5 3.6 0.40

Northern 1 57/328 12 1 0.71 2 82/031 22.8 1.2 0.83 3 23/136

24.8 3.6 0.36

Figure 2. 3D section through the BQM in the southern

geotechnical

zone showing the relationship between the 3D fractures and

the 2D

walls and faces.

Figure 3. Comparison of a synthetic face (upper) and a

mapped face

(lower) in the southern geotechnical zone BQM Lift 2

Northparkes.
Size: 4.2 m × 4.5 m part of the mapped face is obscured by
muck. Table 2. P 32 values for each fracture set in the BQM
in each of the geotechnical zones. Fraction of Overall
Geotechnical Fracture P 32 total P 32 P 32 zone set m −1 %
m −1 Southern 1 1.56 52 2.99 2 0.81 27 3 0.62 21 Central 1
0.96 34 2.84 2 1.51 53 3 0.37 13 Northern 1 0.91 32 2.83 2
1.58 56 3 0.34 12 mapped and synthetic fracture sets, as
shown in Figure 3. The P 32 values are approximately the
same in all three zones, as shown in Table 2, which
superficially might suggest similar caving characteristics
for all zones. However, looking at the proportion of each
fracture set that makes up the total P 32 value, it can be
seen that the composition of the Southern zone is different
to the Central and Northern zones. This will affect the
size and shape of initial in situ blocks created by the
intersecting fractures, and this in turn will influence
block morphologies from future fragmentation during the
caving process. A comparison of the synthetic fractures
from the Southern Central and Northern zone is shown in
Figure 4. This highlights the need to look at the
individual fracture sets within a rock mass as well as the
overall fracture intensities to determine its cavability.
3.6 Comments The modelling of NPM Lift 2 completed to date
only uses data generated from the undercut level in the ore
body. To gain a better 3D understanding of the whole rock
mass, data from core can be used to compare fracture
frequency with P 10 values taken from synthetic boreholes
in the model. If the P 10 and the fracture frequency values
are similar then it can be assumed that the model holds
reasonably true for all the rock mass in the ore body above
and between mapped levels. The 3D fracture characterisation
of the ore body must be considered both in plan and
elevation, as variation in the intensity of fracturing will
affect the cavability of the rock mass. The higher the P 32
the more easily the rock mass will cave. There are some
limitations with the input data in that it is impossible to
correlate the fracture orientation data to specific
fractures seen on the photographs that were used to
determine P 21 and the fracture radius distribution. The
walls and faces in the photographs are not smooth so the
fracture trace lengths as measured may not be totally
accurate. There are also a number of “random” fractures
that are present in the Lift 2 rock mass. The DFN modelling
currently ignores these “random” fractures although they
could be included as a separate set if deemed necessary.
While this may cause a small underestimate in the overall
fracture intensity it is not considered significant. An
adjustment could be made by increasing P 32 within model
for the defined sets.
Figure 4. Comparison of the fracture geometries in the
Southern

(lower) and Northern (upper) zones for the BQM in E26.

4 DISCUSSION

There are many potential advantages of DFN modelling over

traditional methods in determining the cavability of a rock

mass and the in situ block size distribution.

The DFN modelling method is potentially more robust than

empirical methods such as Laubscher’s MRMR as the cavabil

ity assessment is correlated against testable stochastic

models

that can be run many times using the Monte Carlo method.

These models are based on the optimum use of all avail

able fracture measurements from exposures, boreholes and

geophysics.

The P 32 value for a rock mass can be plotted against the

critical hydraulic radius (HR) of the undercut at the onset

of

caving in a similar manner to the MRMR vs HR stability

curve allowing for the minimum undercut dimensions to be

established.

The 3D visualisation and interrogation capabilities of Frac

Man allow the in situ block size to be assessed in 3D rather

than having to estimate the size from 2D mapping.

Along with the P 32 vs HR stability curve assessment, once

DFN models have been completed they may then be used

in large-scale 3D models of the block cave using numerical

modelling packages such as Elfen.

A problem that affects all methods of block cave assessment

is the limited data available from mines, the limited

number of

mines that can be accessed for data and sometimes the

quality

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International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Effect of confining
pressure, intermediate principal stress and minimum
principal stress on the mechanical behavior of a sandstone
M. Kwas´niewski Faculty of Mining and Geology, The Silesian
University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland M. Takahashi
Research Center for Deep Geological Environments, AIST,
Tsukuba, Japan

ABSTRACT: Samples of a fine-grained sandstone were tested

under conventional (CTC) and true triaxial compression
(TTC)

conditions in an attempt to reveal the effect of confining

pressure, intermediate principal stress and minimum
principal stress

on the mechanical behavior of rocks. Under CTC conditions,

an increase in confining pressure resulted in a strong
increase in

pre-dilatant compaction, in the threshold of dilatancy, in

pre-peak ductility and in the ultimate strength. Under TTC
conditions,

both the intermediate principal stress and the minimum

principal stress cause some increase in the ultimate
strength and the

threshold of absolute dilatancy. However, the effect of

these stresses on the deformational properties is
different: an increase in

the intermediate principal stress arrests the process of

microcracking and causes the rock to behave in an
increasingly brittle

manner, an increase in the minimum principal stress causes

an increase in ductility. Mogi’s empirical failure
criterion has been

found the most appropriate to fit all the triaxial strength

data.

1 INTRODUCTION

This paper is a follow-up to a paper that was presented last

November at the 4th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium in

Singapore (Kwas´niewski & Takahashi 2006). In that paper the

effect of, independently, confining pressure (p),

intermediate

principal stress (σ 2 ) and minimum principal stress (σ 3 )

on the

ultimate strength and post-failure behavior of a

fine-grained

sandstone was discussed. In the present paper, results of

con

ventional triaxial compression and true triaxial compression

tests will be presented in more detail with special

emphasis on

the effect of p, σ 2 and σ 3 on the volumetric deformation

mode

of the rock in both the pre-and post-failure range (Fig. 1).

K. Mogi of the University of Tokyo was the first to study

the

volumetric deformational behavior of rocks (Mizuho trachyte,

Inada granite andYamaguchi marble) under true triaxial com

pression conditions. In the late 1960s Mogi designed and
built

an ingenious, novel true triaxial compression apparatus

which

Figure 1. General features of the volumetric deformation

mode –

The brittle field; OD – threshold of relative dilatancy, TD

– threshold

of absolute dilatancy, F – strength failure, f – faulting,

sd – immediate

stress drop, RS – residual stress. enabled him to load

rectangular prismatic rock samples independently in three
directions and to measure the corresponding strains (Mogi
1977, 2000). Koide andTakahashi of the Geological Survey of
Japan, having built a slightly modified version of Mogi’s
apparatus, tested samples of three different sandstones, a
shale and a marble (Takahashi & Koide 1989). In the 1990s
Haimson and Chang of the University of Wisconsin in Madison
built another, highly sophisticated version of a Mogitype
apparatus and studied the behavior of a KTB amphibolite and
a Westerly granite under high σ 2 and high σ 3 conditions
(Haimson & Chang 2000, Chang & Haimson 2000). However, in
all these [those] studies it was only the onset of
dilatancy that was investigated in detail. Moreover, no
attempts were made to study the effect of not only σ 2 but
also the effect of σ 3 on the volumetric deformational mode
of the rocks tested. As is shown in Figure 1, the so-called
onset of dilatancy (C’) or the threshold of relative
dilatancy (OD) is the stress level at which the volumetric
strain – differential stress characteristic starts to
deviate from the straight reference line typical for linear
elastic materials that undergo compaction when under
compression. At the threshold of absolute dilatancy (TD)
the compactant volumetric strain attains a maximum value,
which means that the volume of the loaded rock body becomes
minimum and the instantaneous Poisson’s ratio assumes a
value equal to 0.5. With a further increase in the
differential stress, the volumetric strain starts to
decrease and the volume of the rock body becomes greater
and greater, i.e. the rock undergoes absolute dilatancy
which, eventually, leads to the macroscopic failure (see
also Kwas´niewski et al. 2003). It is this particular
phenomenon of an absolute increase in volume that attracted
our attention as an imminent precursor of brittle failure.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM, APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE Samples of
a fine-grained Rozbark sandstone coming from the Upper
Silesian Coal Basin, Poland (a quartz arenite with

Figure 2. Rock sample assembly ready for testing. Note the

dis

placement transducers used to measure the axial strain (1)

and the

lateral strains(2 and 3).

a uniaxial compressive strength of 147.6 MPa) were tested

under uniaxial compression (σ 1 >σ 2 = σ 3 = 0),

conventional

triaxial compression (σ 1 >σ 2 = σ 3 = p > 0) and true

triaxial

compression conditions (σ 1 >σ 2 >σ 3 > 0). The conventional

triaxial compression tests were carried out at confining

pres

sures (p) equal to 12.5, 25.0, 37.5, 50.0 and 62.5 MPa. In
the

true triaxial compression tests the minimum principal stress

(σ 3 ) was equal to 25.0 MPa and the intermediate principal

stress (σ 2 ) was 1.5, 2 and 2.5 times higher than σ 3 , or

the

intermediate principal stress was equal to 62.5 MPa and the

minimum principal stress was equal to 0.4σ 2 , 0.6σ 2 and

0.8σ 2 .

The triaxial tests were carried out using a servo-controlled

true triaxial compression apparatus developed by H. Koide

and the second author at the Geological Survey of Japan. In

the triaxial cell of the apparatus, three principal

stresses can

be generated in rock samples independently. The maximum

and intermediate stresses are each induced by a pair of
rigid

pistons, while the minimum principal stress is induced by

oil

pressure. In all the tests rectangular parallelepiped

samples

of the dimensions 35 mm × 35 mm × 70 mm were used with

steel end pieces attached to the top, to the bottom and to

those

side walls of the sample that were to be loaded in the

direction

2, i.e. the direction of the intermediate principal stress

(σ 2 ).All

the exposed parts of the sample were covered with a silicone

rubber jacket (Fig. 2).

During the tests, the axial load (i.e. the load acting in

the direction of σ 1 ) was applied to rock samples with

a constant displacement rate of the vertical piston equal to

1.0 · 10 −3 mms −1 .

Axial strain (ε 1 ) and lateral strains (ε 2 and ε 3 ) were

mea

sured and recorded, thus providing a basis for the

calculation

of the volumetric strain (ε V ). Strain-gaged displacement

transducers were used for strain measurement (Fig. 2).

For data on the basic petrographic, physical and mechan

ical properties of Rozbark sandstone see Kwas´niewski &

Takahashi (2006).

3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Under uniaxial compression conditions, samples of fine

grained Rozbark sandstone displayed markedly dilatant fea

tures. When loaded to stress levels above the threshold of

Figure 3. Effect of confining pressure on the threshold of
absolute dilatancy (TD) and the ultimate strength (F) of
Rozbark sandstone. absolute dilatancy (where σ TD = 0.75σ C
), they underwent a significant, permanent, absolute
increase in volume ( F ε V < 0). Ductility of the rock,
understood as the total axial strain at peak stress,
amounted to approximately 0.5%. The conventional triaxial
compression tests revealed a typical monotonic increase in
the ultimate strength (F) of Rozbark sandstone as the
confining pressure was increased from 0 to 62.5 MPa. The
influence of confining pressure on the threshold of
absolute dilatancy (TD) was similar, with the ratio of (σ 1
− σ 3 ) TD to (σ 1 − σ 3 ) max increasing, at a gradually
decreasing rate, from 0.75 for unconfined conditions to
0.84 for confining pressure equal to 62.5 MPa (Fig. 3).
Under conventional triaxial compression conditions, an
increase in confining pressure resulted in a strong
increase in compaction that preceded dilation, in the
threshold of absolute dilatancy, in pre-peak ductility and
in the ultimate strength of the sandstone tested. After
strength failure of the rock material, samples continued to
deform, at a slightly decreasing differential stress,
without gross-fracturing, while at the same time undergoing
a significant increase in volume. Faulting occurred in a
well-advanced post-peak region. It was accompanied by a
small immediate stress drop. No audible acoustic effect
could be detected. The behavior of the rock samples tested
under true triaxial stress conditions was totally
different. Contrary to the effect observed when confining
pressure was increased in conventional triaxial compression
tests, increasing the intermediate principal stress to 62.5
MPa led to a decrease in the ductility of the rock material
(Fig. 4A). However, the effect of the minimum principal
stress was opposite. An increase in σ 3 from 25 MPa to 62.5
MPa, at σ 2 = 62.5 MPa, resulted in an increase of
ductility by nearly 48% (Fig. 4B). Higher ductility also
manifested itself in smaller values of the faulting ratio
(R f = (σ 1 − σ 3 ) f /(σ 1 − σ 3 ) max ) and smaller
immediate stress drops during faulting. As is shown in
Figures 5 and 6, when the minimum principal stress was 2.5
times lower than σ 2 (σ 3 = 25 MPa = 0.4σ 2 ), the rock
behaved in a highly brittle manner: faulting occurred just
at the peak differential stress (R f = 1.0) and immediate
stress drops were equal to about 64% of the stress at
faulting. Under axisymmetric stress conditions (σ 3 = σ 2 =
62.5 MPa), stress drops were considerably smaller, equal to
about 0.47(σ 1 − σ 3 ) f . Contrary to this effect,
increasing the intermediate principal stress under

Figure 4. Effect of confining pressure ( © ), intermediate

princi

pal stress (�) at σ 3 = 25 MPa (A) and minimum principal

stress

(�) at σ 2 = 62.5 MPa (B) on the ductility of fine-grained

Rozbark

sandstone.

true triaxial compression conditions resulted in a

significant

increase in the faulting ratio and in stress drops.

As we showed in the previous paper (Kwas´niewski &

Takahashi 2006), the process of microfracturing and deteri

oration of the rock material was arrested to some extent

under

high σ 2 conditions. This is why the effect of dilatancy was

hampered and faulting regularly occurred at a very early

post

peak stage accompanied by the release of a great amount of

the elastic strain energy, a very strong acoustic effect

and a

large stress drop.

The effect of intermediate principal stress and minimum

principal stress on the threshold of absolute dilatancy,

although

remarkable and significant (both stresses retard the onset

of an

absolute increase in the volume of the rock material), is

much
less pronounced than the effect of confining pressure
(Fig.7).

In this case both σ 2 and σ 3 affect the threshold of

absolute

dilatancy in very much the same manner as they affect

ultimate

strength.

In the conventional triaxial compression tests, the ultimate

strength of the sandstone tested markedly increased with an

increase in confining pressure (p = σ 2 = σ 3 ). At a

confining

pressure equal to 62.5 MPa, the maximum principal stress

Figure 5. Effect of confining pressure ( © ), intermediate
principal stress (+) at σ 3 = 25 MPa (A) and minimum
principal stress (+) at σ 2 = 62.5 MPa (B) on the faulting
ratio of fine-grained Rozbark sandstone. at failure ( F σ 1
) was, on average, 2.8 times higher than the uniaxial
compressive strength (Fig. 8). Results of the true triaxial
compression tests show that the effect of intermediate
principal stress (σ 2 ) on the ultimate strength of the
sandstone tested, although evident and significant, is,
however, considerably weaker than the effect of confining
pressure. In the case of samples tested at minimum
principal stress (σ 3 ) equal to 25 MPa, the maximum
principal stress at failure ( F σ 1 ) corresponding to σ 2
= 62.5 MPa was only about 19% greater than that
corresponding to σ 2 = 25 MPa (Fig. 8A). It was observed at
the same time that the rate of strength increase with an
increase in the intermediate principal stress (within a
range from 25 MPa to 62.5 MPa) decreases slightly. Studies
of the effect of minimum principal stress on the strength
properties of Rozbark sandstone have shown that σ 3 plays a
role that is similar to that of σ 2 . However, the rate of
strength increase with an increase of σ 3 was somewhat
higher than that observed when σ 2 was increased under
constant σ 3 conditions (Fig. 8).At an intermediate
principal stress equal to 62.5 MPa, the maximum principal
stress at failure ( F σ 1 ) corresponding to σ 3 = 62.5 MPa
was nearly 28% higher than that

Figure 6. Effect of confining pressure ( © ), intermediate

principal
stress (+) at σ 3 = 25 MPa (A) and minimum principal stress
(+) at

σ 2 = 62.5 MPa (B) on the immediate stress drop normalized

against

stress at faulting.

corresponding to σ 3 = 25 MPa (for detailed numerical data

from the triaxial tests see Kwas´niewski & Takahashi

(2006)).

The stronger effect of the minimum principal stress on the

ultimate strength of the rock tested in comparison to the

effect

of the intermediate principal stress may be explained in the

following way: When the minimum stress is increased relative

to σ 2 , the general triaxial state of stresses becomes

more and

more uniform (axisymmetric), which enhances the strength

ening of the material. On the other hand, when the

intermediate

principal stress is increased relative to σ 3 , an

increasingly

asymmetric or non-uniform state of stress is produced which

is disadvantageous to strength and at high stress

differences

(σ 2 /minus σ 3 ) may even lead to a decrease in strength.

Results of all experimental studies on the ultimate strength

of Rozbark sandstone under uniaxial and triaxial compressive

stress conditions can be described very well by the

following

criterion of brittle failure: Figure 7. Effect of confining

pressure (♦), intermediate principal stress (+) at σ 3 = 25
MPa (A) and minimum principal stress (+) at σ 2 = 62.5 MPa
(B) on the maximum principal stress at the threshold of
absolute dilatancy. where τ oct is the octahedral shear
stress, σ m,2 is the mean normal stress: and A and n are
certain empirical material constants. This criterion was
first proposed by Mogi (1971a, b) as a generalization of a
yield criterion: which – being associated with the
Huber-Mises-Hencky theory of limiting distortional or shear
strain energy – is applicable only to ductile materials.
According to Mogi, the octahedral shear stress at brittle
failure is not constant but increases monotonically with
the mean stress which, however, does not include the
intermediate principal stress and is calculated as an
arithmetic mean of the maximum and the minimum principal
stresses only. For the fine-grained Rozbark sandstone
tested, the fitting procedure employing the method of least
squares yielded

Figure 8. Effect of confining pressure ( © ), intermediate

principal

stress (�) at σ 3 = 25 MPa (A) and minimum principal stress

(�) at

σ 2 = 62.5 MPa (B) on the maximum principal stress at

failure.

values of parameters A and n equal to 2.879 and 0.740,

respectively.

It should be noted, that criterion (1) fits the results of

axisymmetric and asymmetric triaxial tests equally well

(Fig. 9). In the domain of true triaxial tests, it covers

results

obtained under conditions where at a given minimum prin

cipal stress, values of the intermediate principal stress

were

different, as well as those obtained under conditions where

the minimum principal stress values were different at a

given

intermediate principal stress.

4 SUMMARY AND FINAL CONCLUSIONS

The objective of the present studies was to reveal the
effect

of, independently, confining pressure, intermediate

principal

stress and minimum principal stress on not only differential

stress – axial strain, but also on differential stress –

volumet

ric strain characteristics of rocks, including the

threshold of

absolute dilatancy, ultimate strength, stress at faulting,

stress

drop accompanying faulting, ductility, volumetric strain at

the

threshold of dilatancy and volumetric strain at the peak

stress. Figure 9. Results of experimental studies on the
ultimate strength of fine-grained Rozbark sandstone under
uniaxial, conventional triaxial and true triaxial
compression conditions, plotted as the octahedral shear
stress versus mean normal stress at failure and fitted
using Mogi’s failure criterion. Under conventional triaxial
compression conditions, an increase in confining pressure
resulted in a strong increase in pre-dilatant compaction,
in the threshold of dilatancy, in prepeak ductility and in
ultimate strength. After strength failure of the rock
material, samples continued to deform, at a slightly
decreasing differential stress, without gross-fracturing,
while at the same time undergoing a significant increase in
volume. Faulting occurred in a well-advanced post-peak
region and was accompanied by a small immediate stress
drop. Contrary to the effect observed when confining
pressure was increased, increasing the intermediate
principal stress under true triaxial compression conditions
led to a decrease in the ductility of the rock material.
The effect of dilatancy was also strongly hampered. The
rock samples behaved in a highly brittle manner and
underwent faulting just at the peak differential stress or
at a very early post-peak stage. Faulting was violent,
accompanied by the release of a great amount of the elastic
strain energy and a large stress drop. The effect of
intermediate principal stress and minimum principal stress
on ultimate strength and the threshold of absolute
dilatancy is similar; both σ 2 and σ 3 cause some increase
in these two characteristic stress levels. However, the
effect of σ 2 and σ 3 on the deformational properties is
different. While an increase in σ 2 causes the rocks to
behave in an increasingly brittle manner, an increase in σ
3 causes, just as confining pressure does, an increase in
ductility. Higher ductility also manifested itself in
smaller values of the faulting ratio and smaller immediate
stress drops accompanying faulting. The rate of strength
increase with an increase in the minimum principal stress
was somewhat higher than that observed when the
intermediate principal stress was increased under constant
σ 3 conditions. This effect can be explained in the
following manner: When σ 3 is increased at a given σ 2
value, it becomes closer and closer to σ 2 , which means
that the triaxial state of stress approaches the
axisymmetric state, which favors the strengthening of the
rock material. On the contrary, when σ 2 is increased
relative to the given σ 3 value, the triaxial state of
stress becomes more and more asymmetric or non-uniform
which is disadvantageous to an increase in strength.

Mogi’s empirical criterion of brittle failure, which is a

gen

eralized Huber-Mises-Hencky yield criterion, has been found

the most appropriate to fit all strength data obtained under

uniaxial compression, conventional triaxial compression and

true triaxial compression conditions.

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ing mechanical properties of rock, and its use to determine

rock

strength and deformability of Westerly granite. Int. J.

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K. 1971b. Fracture and flow of rocks under high triaxial
compression. J. Geophys. Res. 76: 1255–1269. Mogi, K. 1977.
Dilatancy of rocks under general triaxial stress states
with special reference to earthquake precursors. J. Phys.
Earth 25, Suppl.: S 203–S 217. Mogi, K. 2006. Experimental
Rock Mechanics. Leiden: Taylor & Francis/Balkema.
Takahashi, M. & Koide, H. 1989. Effect of the intermediate
principal stress on strength and deformational behavior of
sedimentary rocks at the depth shallower than 2000 m. In V.
Maury & D. Fourmaintraux (eds), Rock at Great Depth, Vol.
1: 19–26. Rotterdam: Balkema. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Effect of joint parameters
on the stress-strain response of rocks G. Arunakumari & G.
Madhavi Latha Department of Civil Engineering,
IISc-Bangalore, India

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of parametric

numerical analyses carried out on elements of jointed
rocks. The

analyses are carried out using the commercial explicit

finite difference code FLAC, with special user defined FISH
functions to
simulate the exact behavior of the jointed rock mass.The
FISH function uses joint parameters as input to calculate
the joint factor

(J f ) and the joint factor along with properties of intact

rock is used to represent the overall behavior of the
jointed rock mass

using confining stress dependent hyperbolic constitutive

model. Triaxial test cases of different jointed rocks are
taken up and

the experimental stress-strain behavior is compared with

the results of numerical analyses. The results of analyses
are compared

for different strength and failure criteria to choose the

best criterion for the analysis of jointed rock mass
behavior. Then the

parametric analyses of the rock elements are carried out

varying different joint parameters to understand the effect
of each of

these parameters on the overall behavior of rock mass. The

results clearly demonstrated the efficiency of the
numerical model

and also the study has brought out the significance of each
joint parameter on the mechanical behavior of jointed rock
masses.

1 INTRODUCTION

Due to the increasing need of structures built in and or on

rock masses for various engineering applications like tun

neling, mining, rock slopes etc. it is of vital importance

to

thoroughly understand the stress strain behavior of jointed

rock masses. A systematic understanding and analyses of

jointed rock masses pose complex problems to the geotechni

cal engineers because of the variations in the joint

parameters
like orientation of joints, strength and frequency of joint

etc. The engineering behavior of jointed rock mass is highly

influenced by its inherent discontinuities like joints,

bedding

planes, fractures and fissures etc. The strength of jointed

rock

is several times less than its intact strength. Fig. 1

clearly

demonstrates this feature. The effect of various joint param

eters on the overall stress-strain behavior of rock mass is

of

greatest interest for solving rock engineering problems. It

is

highly difficult to know the strength of jointed rock mass

through field experimentation due to their complex behav

ior, high cost and practical difficulties involved. Hence

the

use of numerical models in which the rock mass is treated

0.0E+00 5.0E+03 1.0E+04 1.5E+04 2.0E+04 2.5E+04 3.0E+04
3.5E+04 4.0E+04 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Axial Strain D e
v . S t r e s s ( k P a ) Intact Jointed s 3 = 3.4 MPa

Figure 1. Stress-Strain behaviour of intact and jointed

specimens

of Gypsum Plaster. as an equivalent continuum material for

which the properties are assigned in such a way that the
overall response is a function of joint properties and
intact rock properties is attaining popularity in the
recent years. Some of the earlier researchers, Cai (1992),
Zienkiewicz et al. (1977) have developed the equivalent
continuum models to simulate the jointed rock mass. Some
researchers have developed empirical relations to estimate
the equivalent material properties of the jointed rock mass
from the geometrical and mechanical properties of
discontinuities. These equations can be incorporated in
other constitutive models for effective simulation of
jointed rock masses. e.g. Hoek and Brown (1980), Ramamurthy
(1994). Most of these models are developed based on
laboratory triaxial testing of small jointed rock samples.
Hoek and Brown failure criterion is most widely used for
the analyses of rock masses. However, this criterion
requires estimation of many rock mass parameters, which is
not feasible in some cases. The equations based on joint
factor to estimate the equivalent elastic modulus for
jointed rock mass proposed by Ramamurthy et al. (1994) from
extensive laboratory testing of intact and jointed rock
specimens are very simple and practical among all the
models stated above. These equations require the estimation
of two simple joint parameters, namely the number of joints
in the rock per meter depth i.e. joint frequency (J n ) and
the inclination of most critical joint set i.e. (β). 2
MODELLING OF ROCK SAMPLES AND FAILURE CRITERIA USED The
experimental data of triaxial test results for four
different rock samples namely Agra Sandstone, Jamrani
Sandstone, Gypsum Plaster and Plaster of Paris were
collected from the available literature (Fig. 1). The
properties of the intact rocks are given in Table 1. The
modeling and analysis of each of these elements at various
confining pressures and for different joint frequency (J n
) and joint inclination (β) is carried out using the
commercially available explicit finite difference code
FLAC, Version 4.0 (ITASCA (1995). Special FISH functions
are written to explicitly incorporate Mohr-Coulomb, Hoek
and Brown and Ramamurthy’s failure criteria as subroutines
along

Table 1. Properties of intact rocks. σ ci c φ

Type of Rock (MPa) (MPa) (Degrees)

Agra Sandstone 110 19 51

Jamrani Sandstone 55.07 8.52 54

Plaster of Paris 11.32 2.87 37

Gypsum Plaster 20 0 37

Table 2. Ramamurthy’s and Hoek-Brown parameters used in the

numerical analysis. Ramamurthy’s Hoek-Brown parameters

parameters

Rock Type J f α i B i m i s i

Agra Sandstone 61.5 0.75 3.35 15 1

Jamrani Sandstone 150 0.49 6.4 14 1

Plaster of Paris 130 0.87 1.74 6 1

Gypsum Plaster 633 0.86 2.05 7 1

with the confining stress dependent hyperbolic constitutive

model proposed by Duncan and Chang (1970), in the program.

Table 2 shows the parameters α i and B i for Ramamurthy’s

cri

terion and m i and s i for Hoek and Brown parameters used in

the present analysis.

Mohr-Coulomb failure equation is defined as

where (σ 1 − σ 3 ) f is deviator stress at failure. ‘c’and

‘φ’are the

shear strength parameters and σ 3 is the confining pressure.

Hoek-Brown failure criterion is defined as

where σ c is uniaxial compressive strength of the intact

rock,

σ 1 and σ 3 are the major and minor principal stresses at

failure,

m and s are the constants depending on the characteristics

of

the rock mass. Equation to calculate the values of m and s

are

presented by Hoek-Brown (1980).

Ramamurthy’s failure criterion (1994) is defined as

whereσ ′ 1 andσ ′ 3 are effective principal stresses,σ c is

the uniax

ial compressive strength and B and α are constants depending

upon characteristics of rock. B and α values for intact rock

could be obtained from a triaxial compression test on sample

of intact rock. B and α for the jointed rocks are related
to the

B and α values of intact rock using the equations developed

by Ramamurthy (1994).

where J f is called Joint Factor, J n is joint frequency, r

is

strength along critical joint. The values of n are for

various orientation angles and the joint strength parameter
r for various uniaxial compressive strengths of intact rock
are presented by Ramamurthy (1994). He has also presented
the equations to calculate the strength of jointed rock
mass and modulus of jointed rock mass from the properties
of intact rock and the joint factor. The FISH functions
adjust the values of cohesion and friction angle at each
step with variation in confining pressure, using the m and
s parameters in case of Hoek and Brown criterion and B and
α in case of Ramamurthy’s criterion. The material behavior
is modeled using the following nonlinear constitutive
equation (Duncan and Chang 1970) where, E i is the elastic
modulus of the intact rock, σ 1 and σ 3 are the major and
minor principal stresses respectively. K and n are
hyperbolic parameters for the intact rock. R f is failure
ratio given as where (σ 1 − σ 3 ) f is the failure stress
and (σ 1 − σ 3 ) ult is the ultimate or the asymptotic
value of stress. In the present work, efficiency of each of
these failure criterion in predicting the stress strain
behaviour is compared against the experimental values
(Arora (1987), Roy (1993), Yaji (1984) and Brown and
Trollope (1970)) and the best criterion is selected for
further analysis on parametric study to understand the
effect of each of joint parameter on overall behaviour of
jointed rock mass. 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Comparison
of failure criteria In the present paper the comparison
three well known failure criteria i.e. Mohr-Coulomb,
Hoek-Brown and Ramamurthy’s criteria are compared against
the experimental values forAgra Sandstone and Gypsum
Plaster and the results are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. From a
close observation of the figures, it is proved that all the
three failure criteria are predicting fairly well the
strength of jointed rock masses for near linear
stress-strain behavior. But for the highly non-linear
stress-strain behavior, Ramamurthy’s failure criterion
proved to be very good for all ranges of confining
pressures. However Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion predicts
lower values of strength than Ramamurthy’s failure
criterion in both the cases. 3.2 Parametric analysis-joint
parameters It is has been observed from the numerical
analyses that the results obtained from the Ramamurthy’s
failure criterion matches very well with the experimental
values than HoekBrown failure criterion. The variation in
the results from Hoek-Brown failure criterion may be due to
the reason that the difficulty associated with the
calculation of RMR and m and s parameters precisely. Hence
Ramamurthy’s criterion was chosen for the further analysis.
Then a systematic parametric 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 Axial Strain (%)

e v

S t

r e

s s

( M

P a

) Experimental Mohr-Coulomb Ramamurthy Hoek-Brown σ3=5 MPa

Figure 2. Comparison of failure criteria for Agra Sandstone

at

σ 3 = 5 MPa. 0.0E+00 5.0E+03 1.0E+04 1.5E+04 2.0E+04

2.5E+04 3.0E+04 3.5E+04 4.0E+04 4.5E+04 5.0E+04 0.00 0.01
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Axial Strain

e v

t r e

s s

( k

P a
) Ramamurthy Mohr-Coulomb Experimental σ3=13.8 MPa σ3=6.9
MPa σ3=1.4 MPa Hoek-Brown

Figure 3. Comparison of failure criteria for Gypsum Plaster

(at

different confining pressures). 0.0E+00 2.0E+04 4.0E+04

6.0E+04 8.0E+04 1.0E+05 1.2E+05 1.4E+05 1.6E+05 1.8E+05 0
0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 Axial Strain
D e v . S t r e s s ( k P a ) β=70,Jn=39 β=60, Jn=39 β=50,
Jn=39 β=40, Jn=39 β=30, Jn=39 β=20, Jn=39 β=10, Jn=39 β=0,
Jn=39 β=90, Jn=39 β=80, Jn=39

Figure 4. Parametric analysis onAgra sandstone (J n = 39,β

varied).

study has been done by varying two joint parameters govern

ing the joint factor in turn the strength and failure of

joint,

namely the inclination angle (β) and the joint frequency (J

n ).

The results are presented graphically and the importance of

each joint parameter on the strength of jointed rock mass

has

been brought out.

3.2.1 Effect of joint inclination parameter (β)

In this part the parametric analysis has been carried out

for the

rock elements namely, Agra Sandstone, Plaster of Paris and

Gypsum Plaster, keeping the joint frequency (J n ) constant

i.e

39 for Agra Sandstone and Plaster of Paris (σ 3 = 5 MPa) and

20 for Gypsum Plaster (σ 3 = 3.4 MPa). Joint inclination

(β) is

varied with an interval of 10 ◦ . The relative importance

of β in

the overall performance of rock mass has been brought out as

shown in Figure 4–6. It is very well evident from the
Figure 4–6 0.0E+00 5.0E+00 1.0E+01 1.5E+01 2.0E+01 2.5E+01
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 Axial Strain D e
v . S t r e s s ( M P a ) β=90 Jn=39 β=80 Jn=39 β=70 Jn=39
β=60 Jn=39 β=50 Jn=39 β=40 Jn=39 β=30 Jn=39 β=20 Jn=39 β=10
Jn=39 β=0 Jn=39 Figure 5. Parametric analysis on Plaster of
Paris (J n = 39). 0.0E+00 2.0E+03 4.0E+03 6.0E+03 8.0E+03
1.0E+04 1.2E+04 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Axial Strain D e
v . S t r e s s ( k P a ) β=15 β=20 β=30 β=40 β=50 β=60
β=70 β=80 Figure 6. Parametric analyses on Gypsum Plaster
(J n = 20). 0.0E+00 5.0E+04 1.0E+05 1.5E+05 2.0E+05 0 20 40
60 80 100 β (Degrees) D e v . S t r e s s ( k P a )
Agra-Sandstone Jamrani-Sandstone Plaster of Paris σ3=5MPa
Figure 7. Qualitative representation of critical
inclination angle. that the inclination parameter is proven
to be critical when it is 30 ◦ . The value of deviator
stress is minimal when β is 30 ◦ in all the cases, which is
evident from Figure 7, a qualitative representation. 3.2.2
Effect of joint frequency In the next phase of parametric
analysis, the joint frequency (J n ) is varied keeping the
joint inclination (β) constant i.e. 50 ◦ . The number of
joints is varied from 1 to7 in case of Jamrani Sandstone
and Plaster of Paris. In the case of Gypsum Plaster, it is
1 to 4. The effect of joint frequency on deviator stress is
shown in Figure 8–10. It can be observed from the Figures
8– 10 that the deviator stress is decreased as the joint
frequency increases. It is a known fact that as the number
of discontinuities increases, the rock mass becomes weak
and hence the strength will be in turn less. However, the
quantitative effect of J n on strength is evident from
Figure 11. It is observed from the Figure 11 that the
deviator stress decreases almost linearly with increase in
J n . 0.0E+00 2.0E+01 4.0E+01 6.0E+01 8.0E+01 1.0E+02
1.2E+02 1.4E+02 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035
Axial Strain

e v

. S

t r e

s s

( M

P a
) β=50 Jn=13 β=50 Jn=26 β=50 Jn=39 β=50 Jn=53 β=50 Jn=66
β=50 Jn=79 β=50 Jn=92

Figure 8. Parametric analyses on Jamrani Sandstone (J n

varied). 0 5 10 15 20 25 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01
0.012 0.014 Axial Strain

e v

. S

t r e

s s

( M

P a

) β=50 Jn=13 β=50 Jn=26 β=50 Jn=39 β=50 Jn=53 β=50 Jn=66
β=50 Jn=79 β=50 Jn=92

Figure 9. Parametric analyses on Plaster of Paris (J n

varied). 0.0E+00 2.0E+03 4.0E+03 6.0E+03 8.0E+03 1.0E+04
1.2E+04 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Axial Strain

e v

. S

t r e

s s

( k P

) Jn=5 Jn=10 Jn=13 Jn=15 Jn=20 Jn=25 Jn=30 Jn=35 Jn=40

Jn=45 σ 3=3.4 MPa

Figure 10. Parametric analyses on Gypsum Plaster. 0.0E+00

5.0E+04 1.0E+05 1.5E+05 2.0E+05 0 20 40 60 80 100 Jn

e
v .

S t

r e

s s

( k P

) Agra-Sandstone Jamrani-Sandstone Plaster of Paris σ3=5MPa

Figure 11. Quantitative effect of Jn on strength.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In the present study, numerical analysis of four different

rock

elements is carried out using Mohr-Coulomb, Ramamurthy’s

ABSTRACT:The present article discusses the effect of the

change in the continuity and area of the rock bridge on the
complete

failure behavior of the open rock joints. Forty five models

were prepared using plaster with dimensions of 15 cm × 15
cm

× 15 cm. The models consisted of 15 different types of rock

bridges that occupied 45 cm 2 , 63 cm 2 and 90 cm 2 out of
the

total fixed area, respectively. Different continuity

configurations were simulated in these models. Three
similar samples were

prepare for every variation in the continuity

configurations of the rock bridges and tested for direct
shear strength considering

3 different normal stresses. The results indicated that the

failure pattern and the failure mechanism were affected by
the

continuity configuration of the rock bridge. Furthermore,

with the reduction in the continuity of the rock bridge in
a fixed area,

the shear resistance showed a small reduction. The

investigations suggest that the increase in the area of the
rock bridge and

the normal stress would increase the shear resistance

dramatically.

1 INTRODUCTION

Shear slip is a common phenomenon in rock engineering fields

(Sonmez et al. 1998, Shen et al. 2004, Lin et al. 1998). It

is

well known that the decrease in strength of rock masses is

mainly induced by the presence of rock joints. In some rare

cases, it is possible that the failure in the rock mass is

limited to

a single discontinuity. Generally, several discontinuities

exist

in various sizes, which constitute a combined shear surface.

In this sense, the areas which are located between the neigh

boring discontinuities are called the Rock Bridges and have

the greatest importance for the shear resistance of the

failure

surface. (Eberhardt 2002, Hatzor et al. 2004, Wong et al.

1998,

Li et al. 2005). Therefore, a comprehensive study on the

shear

failure behavior of Rock Bridges can provide a good under

standing of both local and general rock instabilities,

leading

to an improved design for rock engineering projects. The

fail

ure behavior of jointed rock under shear loading has drawn

much attention from both researchers and practical engineers

over the last 3 decades and some extensive works on the coa

lescence pattern and shear resistance have been carried out

through a large number of experimental and theoretical stud

ies. In one of the pioneering works done by Lajtai (1969),

tensile wing cracks were found to first appear at the tips

of horizontal joints, followed by the secondary shear cracks

propagating towards the opposite joint. Savilahti (1990) did

some further study on the specimens of jointed rock under

direct shear tests where the joint separation varies in

both hor

izontal and vertical directions and joint arrangement

changes

from non-overlapping to overlapping using modeling material.

The coalescence patterns for the specimens indicated that

the

jointed rock failed in mixed mode for non-overlapping joint

configuration and in tensile mode for overlapping joint

form.

Gehle & Kutter’s (2003) investigation on the breakage and

shear behavior of intermittent rock joints under direct

shear loading condition showed that joint orientation is an
important influential parameter for shear resistance of
jointed rock. Zhang (2006) studied the shear behavior of
the intermittent rock joints, based on the change in their
geometrical parameters. The results show the clear effect
of the geometrical parameters of the rock joints on the
failure pattern, and the shear resistance is closely
related to the failure pattern and the failure mechanism of
the rock joints. In the studies undertaken on the rock
bridges, it was supposed that the continuity of rock bridge
is constant. Furthermore the estimated size of the rock
bridge was such that limited the analysis to only two
dimensions. In this article, the effect of the continuity
and area of the rock bridge on the failure pattern, failure
mechanism and shear resistance is studied. The sample sizes
are chosen in such a way that provides an insight into the
failure behavior in three dimensions. 2 PREPARING THE
SAMPLE The samples are prepared by mixing water and plaster
in the proportions of plaster/water = 1.5/1. The plaster
can be treated as a substance with characteristics similar
to rock and following benefits: • the possibility of
fabricating any number of samples • repeatability of the
tests, hence better checking of results In table 1, the
mechanical characteristics of the samples are listed. The
dimension of samples are 15 cm × 15 cm × 15 cm, and rock
bridges occupy 45 cm 2 , 63 cm 2 and 90 cm 2 of the total
shear surface (225 cm 2 ) respectively. The aperture of
joints is designed to be 1mm. Overall 15 model types
incorporating the variations in the continuity and area of
each rock bridge

Table 1. Mechanical parameters of specimens. Mechanical

parameters

Parameters Kg/cm 2 degree

Compressive strength 32

Tensile strength 5

Friction angle 26.6

Cohesion 13.7

Table 2. Geometrical specifications of the modeled rock

bridges.

Table 3. Loading parameters applied over the specimens.

Loading parameters

Parameters kg/cm 2 mm/min

Normal stress 3.33, 5.55, 7.77

Shear displacement rate 0.006

along the shear direction are prepared. table 2, presents

the

geometrical specifications of the various rock bridges.

In order to study the complete failure behavior, three

similar

blocks were prepared from every sample type, and tested for

direct shear under different normal stresses (σ n ). The

loading

parameters are listed in table 3.

Based on the change in continuity and area of the rock

bridges, it is possible to define the rock bridge

coefficient (�)

as the ratio of the area of the rock bridge surface to the

area

of the effective shear surface. This effective shear

surface is

an area of the total shear surface considering the area of

the

rock bridge and the immediate area along the shear path over

which the sliding of the rock bridge occurs. The amount of

the

effective shear surfaces and the rock bridge coefficient

(�) are Table 4. The rock bridge coefficients in the
modeled samples. presented in table 4. The effective shear
surfaces are indicated on the patterns in the form of
dotted lines. 3 THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 3.1 The influence
of rock bridge continuity (rock bridge coefficient) on the
failure pattern It can be found from Figure 1a, that in
fixed area of rock bridge, when the rock bridge coefficient
is �= 1 (the rock bridge is continuous), the shear failure
surface is in a wavy mode. Under these conditions, the
effective shear surface that is indicated in the table 4 by
dotted line, is the same as the rock bridge surface, and
has no joints present in the shear direction. Furthermore,
the stress interaction does not occur at any point. The
upper and lower tensile cracks propagate for a certain
distance and become stable as a result of the release of
tensile stress with the development of tensile cracks, so
the intact bridge area gets broken into two parts from the
middle with an uneven shear failure surface. When is equal
to 0.6, the rock bridge continuity is reduced and the
jointing occurs in the shear direction. Under these
conditions, a combination of the joint and rock bridge
surfaces that is indicates in the table 4 with dotted line,
are the effective shear surfaces. In this condition, stress
interaction between the tip of the joint and the tip of the
rock bridge on the opposite side is not so strong, which
infers that the shear failure surface is in a wavy mode
(Fig. 1b). For the model with �= 1, the failure surface of
rock-bridge is very wavy. But for �= 0.6, the failure
surface gets flat. For �= 0.5 and �= 0.43 as seen in Figure
1c, the upper tensile crack can propagate through the
intact portion area but the lower tensile crack develops
for a short distance, and then becomes stable so as not to

Figure 1. The failure patterns for various sample types.

coalesce with the tip of opposite side. Under these

conditions,

the amount of jointing increases in the shear direction

(table 4).

For �≤ 0.4, the stress interaction between the tip of the

joint

and the tip of the rock bridge on the opposite side is so

strong

that no new fracture produces in the midst zone and the

‘fish

eye’ failure mode appears (Fig. 1d). Under such conditions

that the rock bridge coefficients are 0.5 and 0.43, the
distance

between the joint tip and the rock bridge tip of opposite
side

is large; therefore the stress interaction between them is

not

enough to result in the fish eye failure mode.

It is to be noted that, in fixed area of effective shear

surface,

if the area of rock bridge is reduced, the failure pattern

will be

controlled by rock bridge coefficient and follows the

presented
patterns.

From the above discussion and analysis, it can be concluded

that, the failure pattern of the rock bridge is mainly con

trolled by the scale of effective shear surface in fixed

area of

rock bridges. For a smaller effective shear surface, is

larger

(�≥ 0.6) and the midst bridged rock ruptures in a rough

shear

mode with a single uneven shear failure surface. For a

larger

effective shear surface, is smaller (�≤ 0.4) and the rock

bridge ruptures in ‘fish eyes’ pattern.

3.2 The influence of rock bridge continuity (rock bridge

coefficient) on the shear resistance of the failure surface

The changes in the shear resistance (τ p ) along the failure

surface, based on the reduction in the continuity of a rock

bridge (reduction in the rock bridge coefficient), is shown

in Figure 2. These results are obtained considering three

dif

ferent normal stresses. Sections a, b, and c of Figure 2 are

depicting the results for rock bridges of 45 cm 2 , 63 cm 2

and

90 cm 2 area respectively. It can be observed that

reduction in

the continuity of rock bridges with fixed area in the shear

direction, (increase in effective shear surface and

reduction

in rock bridge coefficient), the shear resistance show a

small
reduction.

In fact, With reduction in the rock bridge coefficient, the

amount of jointing in the shear direction is increased,

which

results in the increased stress interaction between the tip

of the

joint and the tip of the rock bridge on the opposite side.
This

results in starting and propagating of the crack from the

tip Figure 2. Shear resistances along the failure surface
based on the reduction in the continuity of rock bridges.
a: rock bridge area 45 cm 2 , b: rock bridge area 63 cm 2 ,
and c: rock bridge area 90 cm 2 . of the joint. This
phenomenon is increasing with the decrease of the width of
the rock bridge. Furthermore, the stress concentration that
is formed at the tip of the joint insists to start and
propagate the crack from the tip which results in reduced
shear resistance. It is to be noted that, the tensile
and/or shear failure are controlling the value of the
resisting strength. Although the variations in strengths
are not that noticeable, this may be due to the non
homogeneity of the plaster models or due to the marginal
strength differences.

Figure 3. Peak shear strength verses area of rock bridge.

3.3 The effect of the rock bridge’s area and the normal
load on the peak shear strength

The linear variation of peak shear strength verses rock

bridge

area shown in Figure 3. The results obtained are presented

for three applied different normal stresses. The larger the

area

the higher will be the peak shear strengths. It is a known

fact

that the shear resistance is close to zero for an open

joint.

This is also evident from the fitted equations, as shown in

Figure 3. It is inferred from the deduced equations that the

shear stresses of an open joint, with no rock bridge, can be

0.29 kg/cm 2 , 0.27 kg/cm 2 and 0.2 kg/cm 2 under three

differ

ent normal stresses respectively. These values are very

close

to zero and are practical.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Investigations and experiments on different types of rock

bridges show that:

1. The effective shear surface plays a vital role in the

rock

bridge failure pattern. The rock bridge coefficient is

reduced with the reduction in the continuity of the rock

bridge (increase of effective shear surface). All together

three regions are defined;

a) For values of �≤ 0.4: in this region the tensile cracks

initiates longitudinally from the rock bridge tips, and
then turn roughly parallel to the joint plane, causing the
rock bridge to fail in the form of a fish eye.

ABSTRACT: One of the interesting features with the

ellipsoidal models of anisotropy presented in this paper is
their acceptance

of analytical solutions for some of the basic elasticity

problems. It was shown by Pouya (2000) and Pouya and Zaoui
(2006) that

many closed-form solutions for basic problems involving

linear isotropic materials could be extended by linear
transformation

to cover a variety of “ellipsoidal” materials. This paper

will describe two main varieties of ellipsoidal elastic
models and show
how well they fit the in situ data for sedimentary rocks;
numerical homogenization results for several varieties of
fractured

rock masses will also be provided.

1 INTRODUCTION

In some anisotropic elasticity problems, information is

avail

able on the values of an elastic parameter in the various

directions, to be used in identifying the elastic tensor.A

typical

case in Rock Mechanics involves deducing Young’s modu

lus from simple compression tests in different directions or

measuring the acoustic velocity in different directions on a

sample (Homand et al. 1993; Francois et al. 1998). Based on

the notion that material isotropy corresponds geometrically

to

the image of a sphere, an expression for anisotropy can nat

urally be sought through an ellipsoidal variation of a

number

of parameters in different directions. The uncertainty then

lies

in how to deduce the anisotropic tensor from this

assumption.

Saint Venant (1863) studied this specific question

intensively

by introducing the approximation of ellipsoidal indicator

sur

faces. The indicator surface of an elastic parameter c is

the

polar diagram c(n), where n is a unit vector and c(n) the

value
of parameter c in the material direction n. In recent years,

the concept of ellipsoidal anisotropy has been adopted as

a guideline for the phenomenological modelling of geomate

rials such as soils, rocks and concrete (Peres Rodrigues,

1970;

Daley and Hron, 1979).Yet, the concept of anisotropic

elastic

ity has at times been employed erroneously. For instance,

Peres

Rodrigues (1970) attempted using ellipsoids to fit, for

several

types of rocks,Young’s modulus values measured along differ

ent directions. It has been shown (Pouya, 2007a) however

that

the Young’s modulus indicator surface, i.e. the polar

diagram

of E(n), can never be an ellipsoid (different from a

sphere),

hence the parameters fitted by this author do not define any

possible elasticity tensor.The correct approach calls for

fitting

the diagram of 4 √ E(n) by an ellipsoid; this was performed

by

Saint Venant in 1863.

2 ELLIPSOIDAL MODELS

Let’s define the elastic coefficient and Young’s modulus in

the n direction, where n is a unit vector defining

direction in the material, respectively by: with C being
the fourth-order elasticity tensor and S=C −1 . The main
family of ellipsoidal materials considered herein has been
defined by the condition that the indicator surface of −4 √
c(n), i.e. the surface given by polar equation r(n) = −4 √
c(n), is ellipsoidal. This condition specifies a family of
materials that depends on 12 independent parameters (Pouya,
2007a). The intersection of this family and the family of
orthotropic materials in turn defines another family,
denoted here by 4 , that depends on 6 intrinsic parameters
(c 11 , c 22 , c 33 , c 12 , c 13 and c 23 ) in the
orthotropic coordinate axes, as described by the following
relations between elastic coefficients: The second family
to be taken into consideration in this study is the
subfamily of 4 , for which the indicator surface of 4 √
E(n) is also ellipsoidal. This family, denoted �, is
dependent upon four independent parameters c 11, c 22, c 33
and η; it is described by the following conditions: with
other coefficients obtained by means of index permutation
{1,2,3} and, correspondingly, {4,5,6}. This family can be

equivalently defined by the four parameters E 1 , E 2 , E 3

and ν,

as follows, with �:

Pouya and Reiffsteck (2003) remarked that some of Bohler’s

(1975) data on the Young’s modulus of various soils could be

fitted by (4); moreover, they demonstrated that this assump

tion allows simplifying foundation modelling. The

theoretical

features of �-type materials have been thoroughly explained

in Pouya and Zaoui (2006) and Pouya (2007a). For 4 -type

materials, Pouya (2007b) demonstrated that a closed-form

expression for Green’s function (displacement solution for a

point force within an infinite medium) can be derived, which

enables generating an explicit solution for many classical

elas

ticity problems, as well as developing numerical Boundary

Element methods for �-type materials.

3 APPLICATION TO SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

For the study of seismic wave propagation in geological lay

ers, Daley and Hron (1979) developed the concept of an

“elliptically anisotropic” medium, as distinct from the

ellip

soidal anisotropy considered in the present paper.This

concept

has been widely used in geophysical studies and Thomsen

(1986) undertook an examination within the context of “weak

anisotropy” for a large variety of sedimentary rocks. Thom

sen (1986) defined four dimensionless parameters ε, δ, δ ∗

and

γ , in order to characterise transverse isotropic

materials, and

provided their values for a wide array of sedimentary rocks.

Based on these parameters, the dimensionless elastic coeffi

cients c ∗ ; ij , defined as c ∗ ; ij = c ij /c 33 , can be

deduced. These

coefficients are given in table 1 for some of the samples

studied

by Thomsen.

Rock type and sample depth are presented in the first and

second columns of the table, respectively; these two data

elements allow identifying the precise corresponding mate

rial in the table established by Thomsen. The effort will

now be made to compare these materials with the ellipsoidal

anisotropy model (2). Since the context here is one of trans

verse symmetry (Fig. 1), the third condition expressed in

(2)

is automatically satisfied and the first two conditions

become
equivalent. The discrepancy between the anisotropy model of

these materials and the ellipsoidal model (2) can therefore

be

measured by the difference between the two sides of the

first

equality in (2). Figure 1. Ellipsoidal anisotropy with

transverse symmetry. Table 1. Dimensionless parameters for
several transverse isotropic sedimentary rocks, as deduced
from the Thomsen (1986) data (indirect measurements), along
with the distance d from the ellipsoidal model.The −4 √
c(n) indicator surface applies to a transverse isotropic
material with ellipsoidal anisotropy. Depth Rock (m) c ∗ ;
11 c ∗ ; 44 c ∗ ; 13 c ∗ ; 12 d Sandstone 4912.0 1.19 0.40
0.28 0.31 −0.004 5481.3 1.18 0.35 0.44 0.34 0.022 6542.6
1.16 0.34 0.32 0.36 −0.037 1582.0 1.16 0.70 −0.34 −0.23
−0.012 Limestone 5469.5 1.11 0.34 0.32 0.34 −0.027 Mud
shale 7939.5 1.16 0.33 0.45 0.43 0.019 Clay shale 5501.0
1.67 0.27 0.99 0.49 0.094 5858.6 1.38 0.30 0.59 0.58 0.003
3511.0 1.34 0.49 0.02 0.06 −0.069 450.0 1.22 0.17 0.74 0.76
−0.009 650.0 1.39 0.17 0.81 0.83 −0.009 Then, by applying c
11 = c 22 and c 13 = c 23 , we are able to define the
dimensionless distance d between the transverse isotropic
model and the ellipsoidal model as follows: The value of d
calculated for the materials listed in Table 1 is presented
in the last column of the table. The parameter C ∗ ; 11
serves to describe the anisotropy. As an example, it may be
noticed that for the clay shale sample at a depth of
5,858.6 m, with distinguishable anisotropy, i.e. c ∗ ; 11 =
1.38, the assumption of an ellipsoidal model induces an
error of just 0.3% (d = 0.003). The other rows of the table
indicate that despite the pronounced anisotropy, distance
to the ellipsoidal model remains relatively small.The mean
value of d calculated for all sandstone, limestone, mud
shale, clay shale and shale samples (about 25 in all)
presented in the Thomsen table (1986) equals approximately
0.03. The ellipsoidal model therefore seems to provide a
good fit for the anisotropic parameters of a variety of
sedimentary rocks.

Figure 2. Studied sedimentary rock mass (Chalhoub, 2006).

4 APPLICATION TO FRACTURED ROCK MASSES

Numerical homogenization represents a current method for

determining fractured rock mass properties (Pouya and

Ghoreychi, 2001; Min and Jing, 2003; Chalhoub, 2006).

According to this method, it proves easier to prescribe

simple

loads, such as simple compression or shear, along differ

ent directions and then calculate the corresponding modulus

value. Fitting numerical results to an ellipsoidal model sim

plifies both data analysis and interpretation, in addition

to

reducing the number of parameters to be determined and

providing effective approximate models for certain varieties

of rock masses. Moreover, it yields an estimation of elastic

parameter values in those directions not accessible through

numerical simulation methods.

Chalhoub (2006) offers a study example of a limestone rock

mass slope at the border of a main road in Lebanon (see

Fig. 2).

The rock mass geometry illustrated in this figure reveals

the

presence of two main sets of fractures, whose geometrical

and mechanical properties are listed in Table 2. The

geometry

indicates that the rock mass exhibits orthotropic behaviour

in

directions 1, 2 and 3.

The parameters obtained for the rock mass by homogenisa

tion are listed in Table 3.

Using the calculated 2D elastic parameters in association

with matrix transformation principles, the value of Young’s

modulus can be calculated in different directions. Figure 3

shows the indicator diagram of both E and 4 √ E and allows

stating that 4 √ E can be well described by an ellipse.

This result

is promising and suggests application of the ellipsoidal

model

to fit numerical data.

The 3D model with four parameters was chosen for

this purpose. Parameters E 1 , E 2 and E 3 , which

correspond

to the three orthotropic directions, can be deduced directly

from Table 3 results. The Poisson’s ratio ν of the model in

(4)

can then be deduced as an approximation, by means of the

following formulae, taken from the values in Table 3:

We obtained as a result: ν= 0.072. 2D numerical calculations

provide all the elastic compliance parameters, with the

excep

tion of elastic compliances s 44 and s 55 (Min and Jing,

2003).

By using the 3D ellipsoidal model in (4), these parameters

can

be expressed by a combination of three Young’s moduli and

one Poisson’s ratio ν. This result may be considered a

helpful Table 2. Geometrical and mechanical properties of
the rock mass. Joint filling material (limestone) l 1 :
infinite L 2 = 45 d 1 = 19 d 2 = 39 K n = 2870, K t = 768
Rock (clay) E = 20000 ν= 0.25 l(cm): average fracture
length; d(cm): average fracture spacing; K n (MPa/m):
normal fracture stiffness; K t (MPa/m): fracture shear
stiffness; E(MPa): Young’s modulus of the rock; ν:
Poisson’s ratio of the rock. Table 3. Calculated elastic
compliance parameters. E 1 E 2 E 3 G 12 Direction (MPa)
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa) ν 31 , ν 32 ν 13 , ν 12 ν 23 , ν 21 1–2
456 960 2.10 3 94 0.25 0.034 0.06 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 exact.:E^ 0.25 exact:E/150 -68°
2’ 1 2 1’ Figure 3. Indicator diagrams of E and 4 √ E(n)
obtained for a rock mass studied using the numerical
homogenization technique (Chalhoub, 2006). approximation of
these parameters, which are inaccessible by means of 2D
numerical homogenization methods. 5 CONCLUSION The concept
of ellipsoidal anisotropy seems to offer an attractive
guideline for the phenomenological modelling of anisotropic
elasticity of geomaterials, soils, rocks and rock masses;
it simplifies data analysis and serves to create models
with a reduced number of parameters and interesting
theoretical properties. As discussed in Pouya (2007a), this
concept also corresponds well to models of anisotropic
elastic tensors obtained for micro-cracked materials using
the micro-macro approach. The advantages offered in terms
of handling geotechnical problems have already been
discussed from a theoretical perspective in Pouya and
Reiffsteck (2003) and in Pouya and Zaoui (2006). This paper
has shown that

such models could also provide a good fit for the experimen

tal or numerical homogenization data on certain varieties of

sedimentary rocks. The potential application of these models

to wave propagation in rocks, for use in seismic analysis,

is

one of the promising avenues opened by the present work.

Boehler, J.-P. 1975. Contribution théorique et

expérimentale à

l’étude des milieux plastiques anisotropes. Thèse d’état

Institut

de Mécanique de Grenoble, France.

Chalhoub, M. 2006. Contributions of numerical homogenization

methods on the rock mass classifications, (Apports des

méthodes

d’homogénéisation numérique sur la classification des

Massifs
Rocheux Fracturés), Ph.D thesis, Ecole des Mines des Paris,
216 p.

Chalhoub, M., Pouya, A.: A geometrical approach to estimate

the

mechanical Representative Elementary Volume of a fractured

rock

mass. First Euro Mediterranean in Advances on Geomaterials

and

Structures – Hammamet, Tunisia, 3–5 May 2006.

Daley, P.F. & Hron, F. 1979. Reflection and transmission

coefficients

for seismic waves in ellipsoidally anisotropic media.

Geophysics,

44: 27–38.

Francois M, Geymonat G., Berthaud Y. 1998. Determination of

the

symmetries of an experimentally determined stiffness tensor

:

Application to acoustic measurements, Int. J. Solids

Structures,

Vol. 35, Nos. 31–32, pp. 4091–4106.

Homand, F., Morel, E., Henry, J.-P., Cuxac, P. & Hammade,

E. 1993.

Characterization of the Moduli of Elasticity of an

Anisotropic

Rock Using Dynamic and Static Methods. Int. J. Rock Mech.

Min.

Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., Vol. 30, No. 5: 527–535.

Min, K.B. & Jing, L. 2003. Numerical determination of the

equiv

alent elastic compliance tensor for fractured rock masses

using the distinct element method. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci., 40 : 795–816. Peres Rodrigues, F. & Aires-Barros, L.
1979. Anisotropy of endogenetic rocksCorrelation between
micropetrographic index, ultimate strength an modulus of
elasticity ellipsoids. Proc. 2nd Congress of the ISRM,
Belgrade, 1–23. Pouya, A. 2000. A transformation of the
problem of linear elastic structure for application to
inclusion problem and to Green functions. Comptes-Rendus de
l’Académie des Sciences de Paris, t. 328, Série II b, pp.
437–443. Pouya, A. Ghoreychi, M. 2001. Determination of
rock mass strength properties by homogenization., Int. J.
Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech., 25, (2001), 1285–1303. Pouya,
A. & Reiffsteck, Ph. 2003. Analytical solutions for
foundations on anisotropic elastic soils. Proceedings of
International Symposium FONDSUP, Presses des Ponts et
Chaussées, Paris. Pouya, A., Zaoui, A., 2006. A
transformation of elastic boundary value problems with
application to anisotropic behavior, Int. Journal of Solids
and Structures, 43 (2006) 4937–4956. Pouya A,. 2007a.
Ellipsoidal anisotropies in linear elasticity – Extension
of Saint Venant’s work to phenomenological modelling of
materials., Int. Journal of Damage Mechanics, 2007, Issue
1, Vol. 16, pp. 95–126. Pouya A,. 2007b. Fonction de Green
pour les matériaux à anisotropie ellipsoïdale.
Comptes-Rendus Mécanique, Acad. Sciences de Paris, in
press. SaintVenant, B. (de) 1863. Sur la distribution des
élasticités autour de chaque point d’un solide ou d’un
milieu de contexture quelconque, particulièrement lorsqu’il
est amorphe sans être isotrope. Journal de Math. Pures et
Appliquées, Tome VIII (2 ème série) pp. 257–430. Thomsen,
L. 1986 Weak elastic anisotropy. Geophysics, Vol. 51 No. 10
: 1954–1966. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3

Estimation of rock mass strength and deformability for a

30m cube in three dimensions including anisotropy – A case
study P.H.S.W. Kulatilake, Jinyong Park & Jeong-Gi Um
Department of Material Sciences and Engineering, University
of Arizona, USA

ABSTRACT:The rock fracture geometry data provided by

Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company were used

to develop a 3-D stochastic fracture geometry network model

for a 30 m cube of Äspö diorite rock mass located at a
depth

of 485 m at Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden. This

fracture geometry network model was validated. A New
procedure is
developed to estimate rock block strength and deformability
in 3-D allowing for the anisotropy and incorporating
statistical

variability associated with fracture geometry for the

selected cube. The laboratory test results available on
intact rock and

fracture geomechanical properties, and field test results

available on in situ stress for Äspö diorite were used in
the said

estimations. The mean rock mass strength was found to be

47% of mean intact rock strength of 297 MPa at the depth of
485 m.

The mean rock mass modulus was found to be 51% of the

intact rock Young’s modulus of 73 GPa. The rock mass
Poisson’s

ratio was found to be 21% higher than the intact rock

Poisson’s ratio of 0.28. These percentages indicate the
level of weakening

of the rock mass due to the presence of fractures. The

ratio of mean major principal rock mass strength/mean minor
principal

rock mass strength turned out to be 1.28. The ratio of mean

major principal rock mass modulus/mean minor principal rock

mass modulus turned out to be 1.21.

1 INTRODUCTION

Estimation of rock mass strength and deformability is impor

tant in evaluating rock mass stability of nuclear waste

disposal

sites. Swedish Nuclear Fuel andWaste Management Company

(SKB) provided a limited number of fracture geometry data,

in-situ stress data, and intact rock and fracture

geomechanical

property data applicable for the 400–500 m depth region at

the
Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL), Sweden to estimate rock

mass strength and deformability for several 30 m cubic

blocks,

each having a particular lithology. This paper reports

estima

tion of strength and deformability in three dimensions (3-D)

for Äspö diorite lithology, which is one of the lithologies

that

exist at Äspö HRL. A new procedure is developed to estimate

rock mass strength and deformability in 3-D allowing for the

anisotropy and incorporating the statistical variability

asso

ciated with fracture geometry. In conducting this research,

it

was necessary to use only the information provided by SKB.

For Äspö diorite, raw fracture data were available only from

one borehole labeled KAS02.

2 STOCHASTIC 3-D FRACTURE GEOMETRY

NETWORK MODEL FOR ÄSPÖ DIORITE ROCK

MASS

2.1 Software used for modeling

Kulatilake (1988) completed a software package named

FRACNTWK based on information given in more than ten

journal papers that he and his co-workers published between

1984 and 1997 on the topic of fracture geometry character

ization and network modeling (Kulatilake 1985, Kulatilake

et al. 1990a, b, 1993b, 1996, 1997, Kulatilake & Wu 1984a,

b, c, Wathugala et al. 1990). This package can be used to

analyze discontinuity data obtained from boreholes,

scanlines

and 2-D exposures such as rock outcrops, tunnel walls,

tunnel

roofs, etc. to perform fracture geometry characterization

and network modeling for discontinuous rock masses and to
generate rock discontinuity geometry systems in 3-D rock
masses. The package provides procedures (a) to identify
statistically homogeneous regions in a rock mass, (b) to
identify discontinuity clusters in a statistically
homogeneous region, (c) to apply corrections for sampling
biases associated with orientation, spacing and trace
length distributions of discontinuity clusters, (d) to
obtain best probability distributions for orientation,
spacing, trace length and discontinuity size in 3-D of
discontinuity clusters, (e) to obtain a map of the
discontinuity traces sampled through either scanline or
area sampling surveys, (f) to estimate 1-D discontinuity
frequency along mean normal vector directions of
discontinuity clusters using discontinuity spacing data
mapped from some other directions, (g) to estimate 1-D
discontinuity frequency in any direction in the rock mass,
(h) to estimate distributions for block size, number of
blocks per unit volume and number of discontinuities per
unit volume for the rock mass, (i) to estimate fracture
tensor parameters for each discontinuity cluster as well as
for the rock mass, ( j) to generate discontinuities in 3-D
for the rock mass and to obtain discontinuity trace
predictions on vertical and horizontal exposures, and (k)
to verify the used discontinuity geometry system models.
The package has 26 calculation and 24 graphical computer
programs. Some programs from this package were used to
build the stochastic fracture geometry network model for
the 30 m cube. To cut down the space, only a summarized
account of the built fracture geometry network is reported
in this paper. Details are given in Kulatilake & Um (2002).
2.2 Modeling of fracture orientation The selected 30 m cube
of Äspö diorite was located in the depth region 470–500 m
of borehole KAS02. To enlarge the fracture geometry
databank for Äspö diorite, orientation and spacing data
were obtained from the depth region 457.4–536.0 m of
borehole KAS02. These fracture geometry data indicated that
they are coming from a statistically homogeneous region. 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 3 1 1 3
3 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 33 3 E N

Figure 1. Fracture set delineation results on an upper

hemispherical

polar equal area projection.

Table 1. Delineated fracture sets and goodness-of-fit

results of

Bingham distribution for orientation data. MNV Chi-square

Fracture Trend Plunge test

Nobs. set # Npts. (deg.) (deg.) P

210 1 54 101.51 8.70 0.007 2 53 187.11 26.42 0.038 3 103

331.79 77.31 0.228

Note: Nobs. = Number of fractures observed on the bore

hole; Npts. = Number of fractures belonging to the fracture

set; MNV = Mean normal vector direction (upward) of fracture

set; Trend of MNV = Dip direction of fracture set; Plunge of

MNV = 90 ◦ -Dip angle of fracture set; P = Maximum

significance

level at which the tried distribution can be used to

represent the sta

tistical distribution of orientation of fracture set (a

minimum of 0.05

is required to represent the orientation data by the tried

distribution).

The fracture geometry data were analyzed using a com

puter program of FRACNTWK software package (Kulatilake

1998) according to the clustering algorithm of Shanley &

Mahtab (1976) and Mahtab & Yegulalp (1984) to find the

dense points and the resulting fracture sets. Even though

this
methodology suggests a procedure for finding the optimum

number of fracture sets using three objective functions, for

the analyzed data, it was not possible to find a unique num

ber for the optimum number of fracture sets only from the

results of this procedure. A number of fracture sets between

three and four was found to be suitable according to the

results

obtained from the applied method.Therefore, the quality of

the

separation between the fracture sets was considered in addi

tion to the values obtained for objective functions to make

a

decision on the optimum number of fracture sets. Figure 1

shows the orientation distribution of poles of fracture sets

on an upper hemispherical polar equal area projection. All

three fracture sets show high variability. This high

variabil

ity is partly reflected by the low number of data available

for orientation analyses. Table 1 shows the summary of frac

ture set delineation results and the goodness of fit test

results

for the Bingham distribution on fracture orientation data

(see

Kulatilake & Um 2002 for details). The Bingham distribution

Table 2. Goodness-of-fit results of hemispherical normal
distribution for raw orientation data and data corrected
for sampling bias. Upward mean normal vector Fracture Trend
Plunge set # Npts. (deg.) (deg.) K Sp. var. P (a) Raw
orientation data 1 54 101.6 8.7 9.04 0.11 0.009 2 53 187.4
25.5 7.92 0.12 0.047 3 103 8.0 60.9 2.48 0.40 <0.005 (b)
Data corrected for sampling bias 1 54 284.5 0.2 11.86 0.08
<0.005 2 53 182.7 11.0 7.47 0.13 <0.005 3 103 6.1 54.5 2.47
0.40 <0.005 Note: Npts. = Number of fractures belonging to
the fracture set; K =A parameter in the hemispherical
normal distribution; Sp. Var. = Spherical variance; P =
Maximum significance level at which the hemispherical
normal distribution is suitable to represent the
statistical distribution of fracture orientation data (a
minimum of 0.05 is required to represent orientation data
by a hemispherical normal distribution). is not suitable to
represent the statistical distribution of orientation for
fracture sets 1 and 2 even though it can be used to
represent the statistical distribution of orientation for
fracture set 3. The orientation bias was corrected using
the procedure given in Kulatilake (1998) which was obtained
by extending the general procedure given in Wathugala et
al. (1990). The expression for the sampling bias correction
has been derived by looking into the probability of
intersection between a borehole and each fracture in the
fracture set. The expression incorporates the effect of the
angle between the borehole direction and each fracture
plane belonging to the fracture set, borehole length,
borehole diameter and size of each fracture. Note that the
capabilities of this correction is far superior to the
traditional Terzaghi’s (1965) correction that incorporates
only the angle between the borehole direction and each
fracture plane belonging to the fracture set. Table 2 shows
the goodness of fit test results for hemispherical normal
distribution using the raw orientation data as well as the
data corrected for orientation bias. The hemispherical
normal distribution is not suitable to represent the
statistical distribution of orientation data for all the
three fracture sets. Note that the variability of a
fracture set increases with increasing spherical variance
and decreasing K. Comparison of the mean normal vector
directions given in Tables 2a and 2b provides the effect of
sampling bias correction on orientation data. The available
theoretical probability distributions (hemispherical normal
and Bingham distributions) were found to be insufficient to
represent the statistical distribution of orientation for
two of the three fracture sets.A number of previous studies
conducted by the authors have shown clearly that the
available theoretical probability distributions
(hemispherical normal and Bingham distributions) are
insufficient to represent the statistical distribution of
orientation data for many field sites (Kulatilake et al.
1990a, 1996, 2002a, Wang et al. 2002). For a fracture set
that cannot be represented by a theoretical orientation
probability distribution, the empirical orientation
distribution obtained from the corrected relative

Table 3. Mean spacings and linear frequencies along the

borehole KAS02 and mean normal vector directions for
fracture sets of Äspö

diorite. Orientation of Obs. mean Corr. mean 1-D fracture

Angle fracture set Dir. Of borehole spacing spacing
frequency between 1-D fracture along Length of along along
borehole frequency

Fracture Dip dir. Dip Trend Plunge borehole Borehole

borehole borehole & MNV along MNV

set # (deg.) (deg.) (deg.) (deg.) (m) (m) (m) (# per m)

(deg.) (# per m)

1 102 81 318 85 1.59 78.60 1.59 0.63 *70 (76.9) 1.84

2 187 64 318 85 1.62 78.60 1.62 0.62 60.06 1.23

3 332 13 318 85 0.69 78.60 0.69 1.44 18.08 1.51

MNV = Mean Normal Vector of fracture set.

∗ =Actual angle is 76.9 ◦ ; however the angle was limited

to 70 ◦ to calculate the 1-D fracture frequency along MNV
direction.

frequency data can be used for generation of orientation

values

(Kulatilake et al. 1990b).

2.3 Modeling of fracture spacing, 1-D intensity, size and

3-D intensity

The goodness of fit test results on fracture spacing

indicated

that all three probability distributions lognormal, gamma

and

exponential are highly suitable to represent fracture

spacing

along the borehole KAS 02 for any of the three fracture

sets.

The estimation of mean spacing and linear frequency

(1/spacing) are based on the measurements carried out on

a finite length of the borehole. However, unbiased estimates

of these parameters should be based on infinite length. A

cor

rection was applied for this sampling bias on spacing to

obtain

corrected mean spacing along the borehole according to the

procedure given in Kulatilake (1988). For each fracture set,

the spacing distribution, including the observed mean spac

ing and the standard deviation of spacing, is available

along

the borehole direction. Assuming the exponential

distribution

for spacing, the mean spacing corrected for spacing sampling

bias was calculated for each fracture set by using the

observed

mean spacing and the length of the borehole. For all 3

fracture

sets, the length of the borehole was found to be more than 9

times of the observed mean spacing. Therefore, no difference

was found between the observed and corrected mean spacing

for any of the fracture sets.

After the aforementioned calculations, for each fracture

set,

the corrected mean spacing is available along the borehole

direction. From the fracture set delineation analysis, the

mean

normal vector direction is known for each fracture set (see

Table 2). This information was used to calculate the mean

1-D fracture frequency along the mean normal vector direc

tion for each fracture set according to the procedure given

in Kulatilake (1988). When the angle between the borehole

direction and the mean normal vector direction of the

fracture

set increases beyond 70 degrees, the reliability of the 1-D

frac

ture frequency estimation decreases. Therefore in this

study,

when the angle is greater than 70 degrees, the 1-D fracture

fre

quency along the mean normal vector direction is estimated

using the angle of 70 degrees.All the obtained results are

given

in Table 3.

The 1-D fracture frequencies obtained along the mean nor

mal vector directions of the 3 fracture sets were then used

to estimate the 1-D fracture frequency in all the

directions in

3-D (Kulatilake 1998). Figure 2 shows the obtained results.

This figure also pin points the directions and magnitudes

for

the minimum and maximum fracture frequencies for the Äspö

diorite rock mass. N E Min Max 1DFREQ. 2.77542 2.575

2.37457 2.17414 1.97371 1.77328 1.57285 1.37242 1.17199
LENGTH UNIT: Meter Minimum Fracture Frequency: Maximum
Fracture Frequency: Magnitude (#/Length Unit): 1.1720
Magnitude (#/Length Unit): 2.9759 Trend (Deg.):
193.0000 Trend (Deg.): 128.0100 Plunge (Deg.): 9.6100
Plunge (Deg.): 50.5700 Figure 2. One-dimensional
fracture frequency distribution in 3-D on an equal-angle
equatorial upper hemispherical plot. For the project, no
raw data were provided on fracture trace length. However,
some summarized statistics about fracture size was
available (Hermanson et al. 1998). Previous projects on
fracture modeling conducted by the first author of this
paper on similar rock types have shown that a gamma
distribution is the best to represent fracture trace length
distribution in 2-D and equivalent fracture diameter
distribution in 3-D. Therefore, a gamma distribution with
mean = 5 m and coefficient of variation = 0.5 was selected
to represent fracture trace length distribution in 2-D for
all 3 fracture sets. A procedure available in the
literature to compute fracture diameter distribution in 3-D
from fracture trace length distribution on infinite size
2-D exposure (Kulatilake & Wu 1986) was used to estimate
the fracture size distribution in 3-D for the 3 fracture
sets as gamma distributed with mean = 5.26 m and standard
deviation = 2.25 m. The volumetric fracture frequency for
each set was calculated using the equation given in
Kulatilake et al. (1993a) that relates volumetric frequency
to linear frequency and the distributions of fracture size
and orientation. Volumetric fracture frequency values of
0.119, 0.080 and 0.098 per m 3 were obtained for fracture
sets 1, 2 and 3, respectively. 2.4 Fracture system
generation in 3-D and validation For a statistically
homogeneous rock mass, to describe the fracture geometry
pattern in 3-D, it is necessary to specify the number of
fracture sets, and the statistical distributions for the
following fracture geometry parameters for each fracture 0
5 10 15 East (m) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 N o
r t h ( m )

Figure 3. Fracture traces obtained from fracture generation

on a

horizontal square window of size 15 m placed at the

mid-level of

30 m cube.

set: (1) number of fractures per unit volume; (2)

orientation;

(3) diameter; and (4) location of fracture centers. Because

the

exponential distribution was found to be a suitable

distribution

to represent the fracture spacing for each fracture set,

accord

ing to the statistical theory, the Poisson distribution

could be
used to model the 3-D fracture intensity distribution for
each

fracture set with the calculated mean 3-D fracture intensity

value stated earlier. The empirical distribution obtained

for

the orientation was used to model the orientation

distribution

for each fracture set. For each fracture set, the diameter
was

represented by the selected gamma distribution stated

earlier.

Because the exponential distribution was found to be a

suitable

distribution to represent the fracture spacing for each

fracture

set, the location of fracture centers in 3-D can be modeled

using a uniform distribution. These probability models were

used to generate the fracture system in 3-D for a 30 m cube

having two vertical sides parallel to North-South.

Figure 3 shows the fracture traces obtained from the

fracture

generation on a horizontal square window of 15 m placed at

the mid-level of the 30 m cube. Out of the three fracture

sets,

the first two fracture sets are sub vertical and fracture
set 3

is sub horizontal (see Fig. 1). Therefore, fracture sets 1

and 2

should intersect the horizontal window better than fracture

set

3.According toTable 2, the mean strike values of fracture

sets 1
and 2 are S 15 ◦ W and S 87 ◦ E, respectively. Strike
directions

around these two strikes can be seen very well in Figure 3.

Although the mean strike for fracture set 3 is N 84 ◦ W,

because

it is a sub horizontal fracture set, strikes of the

fractures coming

from this set can cover a wide range (see Fig. 1).These
variable

strike directions are also can be seen in Figure 3. Figure 4

shows the fracture traces obtained from the fracture

generation

on a vertical square window of size 15 m having the strike

direction same as the trend direction of the borehole KAS02

(318 ◦ ) and placed at the middle of the 30 m cube. Note

that

fracture set 1 is almost vertical and the mean strike is S

15 ◦ W.

Therefore, fracture set 1 should intersect the chosen

vertical

window well and produce sub-vertical traces. Such traces can

be seen very well on Figure 4. Fracture set 2 strikes S 87 ◦

E and dips 79 ◦ S. Therefore, fracture set 2 should

intersect

the chosen vertical window well and produce traces having

moderately high apparent dip angles. Figure 4 shows such

traces very well. Fracture set 3 is sub horizontal.

Therefore, A 10m length of simulated KAS02 0 5 10 15 N42
W direction 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 V e r t i
c a l ( m ) (m) Figure 4. Fracture traces obtained from
fracture generation on a vertical square window of size 15
m having the strike same as the trend direction of borehole
KAS02 placed at the middle of 30 m cube. fracture set 3
should make sub-horizontal fracture traces on the chosen
vertical window. Figure 4 shows sub-horizontal fracture
traces very well. A 10 m length of KAS02 borehole is
simulated in Figure 4. The 1-D fracture frequency on this
simulated borehole is about 3.2 fractures per m. This value
compares quite well with the observed 1-D fracture
frequency of 2.7 fractures per m on actual KAS02 borehole.
Fracture traces simulated on a 40 m square vertical window
produced a mean trace length value of 4.28 m and a
coefficient of variation of 0.5. When the vertical window
size was increased to 55 m square, the mean trace length
value increased to 4.75 m keeping the value of coefficient
of variation almost the same. This shows clearly that the
mean trace length increases with window size. Note that for
infinite size window, a mean trace length of 5 m along with
a coefficient of variation of 0.5 was used in modeling the
fracture size.These numbers validate the used fracture size
model. The above findings show that the fracture geometry
features of the generated fracture system agree well with
the fracture data used to model the 3-D stochastic fracture
system. 3 PRINCIPAL IN-SITU STRESSES IN 3-D FOR THE CHOSEN
30 M CUBE Table 3 of Klasson & Leijon (1989) provides the
calculated vertical overburden stress, S v , minimum
horizontal stress, S h , and maximum horizontal stress, S H
, values at depths 426 m and 495 m resulting from the
in-situ stress measurements performed in borehole number
KAS02. The mean depth of the chosen 30 m cubic block is 485
m. The mean S v value at 485 m depth was calculated based
on the unit weight of rock calculated using the S v value
available at 495 m depth. The mean S v value estimated at
485 m was then used along with the ratios of S h /S v and S
H /S v available at 495 m to estimate mean S h and S H
values at 485 m depth. Table 4 of Klasson & Leijon (1989)
provides the direction for S H at depths 426 m and 495 m.
These values do not show a clear trend for the direction of
S H with depth. Therefore, the S H direction value
available at depth 495 m was used to represent the mean
direction of S H at depth 485 m. Mean value for the

Table 4. Estimates of magnitudes and directions of

principal in-situ

stresses.

Major principal mean magnitude (MPa) 22.75

stress, σ 1 mean trend (deg.) 143 mean plunge (deg.) 0

Intermediate mean magnitude (MPa) 13.90

principal stress, σ 2 mean trend (deg.) 53 mean plunge
(deg.) 0

Minor principal mean magnitude (MPa) 12.64

stress, σ 3 mean trend (deg.) – mean plunge (deg.) 90

direction of S h at depth 485 m was selected to preserve the

perpendicularity between S h and S H directions. The afore

mentioned estimated mean values are given in Table 4. For

depth 485 m, S H , S v and S h turned out to be the major,

minor

and intermediate principal stresses, respectively.

4 ESTIMATION OF INTACT ROCK STRENGTH IN 3-D

FOR THE 30 M CUBE

The 30 m cubic block was discretized into many intact rock

deformable blocks. A mean value of 2765 kg/m 3 (Nisca 1988)

was used to represent the density of intact rock. Mechani

cal behavior of each deformable block was represented by

an isotropic linear elastic model up to the peak strength

and

a strain-softening model between the peak strength and the

residual strength. Mechanical property values were selected

based on laboratory test results available for Äspö diorite

(Nordlund et al. 1999). Pre-peak deformation behavior was

represented by a Young’s modulus, E, value of 73 GPa and

a Poisson’s ratio, ν, value of 0.28. The peak strength was

represented by the Coulomb criterion with a tension cut-off

(cohesion, C = 49 MPa, friction angle, φ= 44 degrees,

tensile
strength, σ t = 14.7 MPa). The residual strength was repre

sented by a cohesion value of 1.23 MPa, a friction angle of

35.2 degrees and a tensile strength of 1.05 MPa.

The 30 m block was subjected to the mean principal in

situ stresses given in Table 4. Keeping two of the principal

stresses constant, the stress in the third direction was

increased

by applying a constant velocity of 0.05 m/sec in that direc

tion until the block failed. This was repeated in each of

the

three mean principal stress directions. These stress

analyses

were conducted using the 3DEC code(ITASCA Consulting

Group Inc. 1999).The intact rock strengths of 291.6, 297.0

and

303.2 MPa were obtained in major, intermediate and minor

principal in-situ stress directions, respectively. The

results

basically provide the anisotropic mean intact rock strength

val

ues resulting from the anisotropy of the in-situ stress

system.

5 ESTIMATION OF ROCK MASS STRENGTH AND

DEFORMABILITY IN 3-D FOR THE 30 M CUBE

5.1 Procedures

The estimated 3-D intensity of 0.30 fractures per m 3

produces

8100 fractures in a 30 m cube. In addition, these fractures

are of finite size. To perform stress analysis using the

3DEC

code (ITASCA Consulting Group Inc. 1999), it is necessary

to discretize the entire domain into polyhedra (Cundall

1998).

In general, the intersection of only the finite size

fractures

does not discretize the domain into polyhedra. However, the

needed polyhedra can be obtained by introducing fictitious
joints into the considered block and combining them with
the actual fractures (Kulatilake et al. 1992). Such a
procedure creates a large number of polyhedral blocks in a
30 m cube. Just one 3-D stress analysis of such a 30 m cube
using the 3DEC code on a personal computer can easily take
several months. Due to the time constraints of the project,
it was necessary to come up with a procedure to obtain 3D
stress analyses results for a 30 m cube that can capture
the anisotropy in 3D within about two weeks. The stress
analysis procedure given below was developed to fulfill the
needed requirement. After a few trial 3-D stress analysis
runs, it was decided to perform 3-D stress analysis at a
number of increasing cubic block sizes before reaching the
30 m cube. For each of these different cubic block sizes,
it was decided to limit the maximum number of fractures to
16. With this arrangement, it was possible to complete a
3-D stress analysis for a selected cube in one particular
direction within about 3 to 4 hours using a personal
computer having the Intel Pentium IV processor with a speed
of 1.5 GHz.The needed different block sizes were decided as
follows. First the largest 16 discontinuities that exist in
the generated 30 m cube were found.The size of the smallest
discontinuity out of these 16 discontinuities was noted.A
cubic block of this discontinuity size was then placed with
its center exactly coinciding with the center of the 30 m
cube.The largest 16 discontinuities of this second block
were found and the size of the smallest discontinuity out
of these 16 discontinuities noted.A cubic block of the
latter mentioned discontinuity size was then placed with
its center coinciding with the center of the 30 m cube.
This procedure was repeated until a block size was found
that contains less than or equal to 16 discontinuities.
Through this procedure the following sequence of block
sizes was obtained: 5.8, 7.2, 8.0, 9.6, 12.3 and 30.0 m.
Note that apart from the 30 m cube, all other block sizes
contain a discontinuity of size close to the size of the
block. In these blocks, a significant number of
discontinuities may intersect the block boundaries. On the
other hand, if the discontinuities that exist inside one of
these blocks are located inside the 30 m cube, most of them
do not then intersect any of the boundaries. In order to
simulate this situation in all the block sizes apart from
the 30 m cube, all the block sizes were set to the maximum
discontinuity size within the block plus the mean
discontinuity size in the block. With this adjustment, the
following sequence of block sizes was used to perform 3-D
stress analyses: 9.5, 13.5, 15.5, 18.3, 21.9 and 30 m.
Henceforth, in the paper, the different increasing block
sizes used are referred to as the smallest, second, third
block size so on. The 3-D stress analysis was first
performed on the smallest block size. Such a block contains
intact rock and actual fractures. Intact rock was
discretized into many deformable blocks. Intact rock
property values stated in the previous section were used to
represent the physical and mechanical behavior of these
intact deformable blocks. As mentioned before, fictitious
joints were introduced to the block to combine them with
actual joints to discretize the block into polyhedra. These
fictitious joints should then behave as intact material
elements. The constitutive models and the procedure given
in Kulatilake et al. (1992) were used to estimate the
fictitious joint parameters: joint shear stiffness, JKS, as
2852 GPa/m, joint normal stiffness, JKN, as 7130 GPa/m and
C, φ and σ t as the same values as for the intact rock. The
shear stress-shear displacement behavior of actual
fractures was modeled as linear elastic up to the peak
shear strength and perfect plastic beyond the peak shear
strength.

Table 5. Values used to represent mechanical properties of

actual

fractures. Mean value Sub-horizontal Sub-vertical

Mechanical parameter fractures fractures

JKS (GPa/m) 43.4 45.2

JKN (GPa/m) 1628 187

Friction angle, φ (deg.) 27 32

Cohesion, C 0 0

Tensile strength, σ t 0 0 Z, North X, East Y, Vertical

Horizontal Rotation + ve: clockwise rotation of Z
Vertical Rotation + ve: upwards rotation of Z The three
axes at zero degree rotation
Figure 5. Co-ordinate system and conventions used to keep
track

of block rotation.

Linear elastic shear behavior was represented by JKS. The

fracture shear strength was modeled by a Coulomb criterion

with a residual friction angle and zero cohesion and tensile

strength. The normal stress-normal displacement behavior of

actual fractures was represented by a constant JKN value.

Table 5 provides the values used to represent the mechani

cal properties of actual fractures based on the laboratory

test

results given in Lanaro (2001).

Due to time constraints, 3-D stress analysis was performed

only in three perpendicular directions for all the cubic

block

sizes that were less than 30 m cube. However, for the 30 m

cube, the stress analysis was performed in 18 directions to

cover the entire 3-D space (Kulatilake et al. 2002b). The

local

coordinate system shown in Figure 5 was introduced to the

cube to keep track of the block rotation. Note that the

coordi

nate system shown in Figure 5 rotates with the rotation of

the

cubic block.At the zero degree rotation, the Z and X axes

coin

cide with north and east, respectively and Y axis points in

the

vertical upward direction.All the block rotations are

expressed

with respect to the rotation of the Z axis. A clockwise rota

tion of Z on the horizontal plane and an upward rotation of

Z on the vertical plane are assumed as positive rotations.

For

each of the smallest cubic blocks, physical and mechanical

properties of intact rock, fictitious joints and actual

fractures

were assigned according to the values mentioned in the afore

mentioned paragraphs. On each face of a block as shown in

Figure 6 nine points were selected to monitor deformation

and

stress of each block.

The in-situ stress system for the block rotation of −135

degrees on the horizontal plane and 45 degrees on the ver

tical plane was calculated to apply for the smallest cube to

bring it to the in-situ equilibrium stress condition. Then

in

a direction perpendicular to one of the parallel faces, the

block

was subjected to a constant velocity boundary condition and

monitored the deformation and stress of the block. The dis

placements and stresses recorded on the monitoring points on

the two faces perpendicular to the direction of applied

velocity L L 0.12L 0.12L 0.12L 0.12L 0.38L 0.38L 0.38L
0.38L Figure 6. Location of the nine points selected on
each face to monitor the stress and deformation of each
block. were used to calculate the average stress-strain
diagram of the block in the applied velocity direction.
This stress-strain diagram was used to estimate the peak
shear strength and the rock mass modulus (tangent modulus
at 50% peak strength level) of the block in the applied
velocity direction (see Kulatilake et al. (1993b) for
detailed procedures). The monitored deformations of the
other faces of the block were used along with the monitored
deformations of the two parallel faces perpendicular to the
applied velocity direction to estimate two of the six
equivalent Poisson’s ratios of the block (see Kulatilake et
al. (1993b) for detailed procedures). Similar stress
analyses were performed by changing the applied velocity
direction to estimate the block strength and tangent rock
mass modulus perpendicular to other faces of the cube and
the remaining four equivalent Poisson’s ratios of the
block. The second block size level was considered to
consist of an equivalent continuum material that represents
the combined influence of intact rock and the fractures
that were present in the smallest block size level, the
next higher size level of actual fractures and a set of
fictitious joints to form necessary polyhedra in the block.
The 3 peak block strength results coming from the smallest
block size were used to draw Mohr circles to estimate the
new C and φ values that should be used to represent the
peak shear strength of the equivalent continuum material
for the second block size level. A significant drop of C
was observed when going from the smallest block size to the
next higher block size level. The value of φ was found to
be more or less the same value used for the previous block
size with a slight variation due to random variability. In
going from the smallest block size to the next higher block
size level, the new C and φ values represent the equivalent
continuum material behavior of the intact rock combined
with the fractures that were present in the smallest block
size. Therefore, intuitively, it is reasonable to assume
the same frictional component and a reduction of cohesion
component to represent the equivalent shear strength
behavior of the intact rock combined with the fractures
that were present in the smallest block size. It seems
reasonable to apply the same assumption in going from the
second block size to the next higher block size level and
so on. The reduction ratio of σ t was assumed to be the
same as the reduction ratio of C to calculate the new
tensile strength to represent the tensile strength of the
equivalent continuum material of the second block size
level. This assumption was used to calculate the newσ t for
the equivalent continuum material in going from second
block size to the next higher block size and so on. Table
6. Calculated mean in-situ stresses for the different block
rotations used. Rotation horizontal vertical (deg.) (deg.)
S xx S yy S zz S xy S xz S yx −135 45 −22.58 −13.36 −13.36
0.86 0.86 −0.72 0 0 −17.11 −12.64 −19.54 0.00 4.25 0.00 −45
0 −14.07 −12.64 −22.58 0.00 −1.22 0.00 −90 45 −19.54 −14.87
−14.87 −3.01 −3.01 −2.23 0 135 −17.11 −16.09 −16.09 3.01
3.01 −3.45 −45 45 −14.07 −17.61 −17.61 −0.86 −0.86 −4.97
Note: Sign convention for positive stress components are
given below

The residual strength parameter values of the equivalent

continuum material for all the block sizes were assumed to

be

the same as that of the intact rock.The three values

obtained for

the tangent rock mass modulus for the smallest block size
were

averaged to represent the rock mass modulus of the

equivalent

continuum material for the second block size level.The six

val

ues obtained for the equivalent Poisson’s ratio of the rock

mass

for the smallest block size were averaged to represent the

Pois

son’s ratio of the equivalent continuum material for the

second

block size level. The same procedure was used in estimating

the rock mass modulus and the Poisson’s ratio values for the

equivalent continuum material in going from the second block

size level to the next higher block size level and so on.

For block sizes second through the largest, the parame

ter values for fictitious joints were estimated based on the

property values of the equivalent continuum material in the

considered block size. The strength parameter values of

ficti

tious joints were represented by the calculated values of

C, φ
and σ t for the equivalent continuum material. JKS and JKN

values for fictitious joints were estimated according to the

procedure given in Kulatilake et al. (1992). The same discon

tinuity mechanical property values were used for the actual

fractures irrespective of the block size. The stress

analysis

performed for the smallest block size was repeated for each

increasing block size until the 30 m cube was obtained.

The 30 m cube was rotated in a number of directions

(Table 6) to obtain the corresponding actual fracture

system.

For each cube having an actual fracture system, necessary

fictitious joints were introduced to discretize the cube

into

polyhedra. The property values for equivalent continuum

material, fictitious joints and the actual fractures in the

block

were assigned as mentioned in the previous paragraph. The

mean in-situ stress system was calculated for each of the

block rotations (Table 6). First, the determined mean

in-situ Table 7. Mean mechanical property values used to
represent the equivalent continuum material and fictitious
joints of the selected block sizes (apart from the smallest
block size). Equivalent continuum material property
Fictitious mean values joint property Block Rock block
Poisson’s mean values size C σ t modulus ratio of JKS (m 3
) (MPa) (MPa) (GPa) rock block (GPa/m) 13.5 40.1 12.0 63.7
0.29 2469 15.5 31.2 9.4 59.0 0.30 2274 18.3 24.8 7.4 49.4
0.32 1878 21.9 21.1 6.3 42.9 0.34 1599 30.0 15.3 4.6 38.5
0.34 1431 Note: φ= 44deg.; JKN = 2.5 × JKS; Strain
softening properties for equivalent continuum material were
assumed to be the same as for the intact rock material. For
each block size, C, φ, σ t values of the fictitious joints
are the same as that for equivalent continuum material.
stress was applied to each 30 m block to bring it to the
equilibrium in-situ stress condition. Then the 3-D stress
analysis was repeated for the 30 m cube as for the previous
block sizes. However, note that for the 30 m cube 3-D
stress analysis was repeated for a number of block
rotations to calculate strength and deformability in 18
directions in 3-D to estimate the anisotropic properties.
5.2 Results Table 7 shows how the equivalent continuum
material and fictitious joint property values changed with
the block size. All

Table 8. Calculated values of mean rock mass strength and

rock

mass modulus in different directions in 3-D.

Direction

Trend Plunge Mean rock mass Mean rock mass

(degs.) (degs.) strength (MPa) modulus (GPa)

0 −90 152.5 38.2

0 −45 113.8 34.2

0 0 129.8 35.7

0 45 140.6 41.1

45 −45 136.0 32.8

45 0 145.2 36.2

45 45 164.5 39.9

90 −45 142.3 40.5

90 0 153.0 39.0

90 45 131.5 39.0

135 −45 135.0 34.5

135 0 139.5 38.8

135 45 137.5 34.2

180 −45 140.6 41.1

180 0 129.8 35.7

180 45 113.8 34.2

180 90 152.5 38.2

225 −45 164.5 39.9

225 0 145.2 36.2

225 45 136.0 32.8

270 −45 131.5 39.0

270 0 153.0 39.0

270 45 142.3 40.5

315 −45 137.5 34.2

315 0 139.5 38.8

315 45 135.0 34.5

Note: Downward plunge +ve.

Table 9. Principal rock mass strength and rock mass modulus

mean

magnitudes and their directions. Rock mass Rock mass

strength modulus

First Trend (deg.) 63 51

principal Plunge (deg.) 29 45

direction Magnitude 155.2 MPa 39.9 GPa

Second Trend (deg.) 295 296

principal Plunge (deg.) 48 23

direction Magnitude 143.6 MPa 38.7 GPa

Third Trend (deg.) 170 188

principal Plunge (deg.) 27 37

direction Magnitude 121.1 Mpa 33.1 GPa

Note: Downward plunge +ve.

the obtained block strengths and rock mass moduli for the

30 m cube in different directions in 3-D are given in Table

8.

These values were used in calculating the principal

directions

and magnitudes for block strengths and rock mass moduli

(see Table 9) using a procedure given in Wang et al. (2002).

Figures 7 and 8 show the levels of anisotropy for the rock

mass

strength and modulus, respectively for the Äspö diorite

lithol

ogy. All the obtained equivalent Poisson’s ratios for the

30 m

cube are given in Kulatilake et al. (2002b). These Poisson’s

ratios ranged between 0.28 and 0.40. 0 30 60 90 120 150 180

0˚ 45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚ 315 E (X)W N (Y) (MPa) 0 30
60 90 120 150 180 0˚ 45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚ 315˚ N
(Y)S Z (MPa) 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 0˚ 45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚
225˚ 270˚ 315˚ N45˚E45˚W Z (MPa) X = East Y = North Z
=Vertical (a) (b) (c) (d) 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 0˚ 45˚
90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚ 315˚ E (X)W Z (MPa) 0 30 60 90 120
150 180 0˚ 45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚ 315˚ N45˚WS45˚E Z
(MPa) (e) Figure 7. Variation of directional rock mass
strength on different planes: (a) on the horizontal plane;
(b) on the vertical plane striking N-S; (c) on the vertical
plane striking N45 ◦ E.; (d) on the vertical plane striking
E-W; (e) on the vertical plane striking N45 ◦ W. X = East
Y = North Z =Vertical (a) (b) (c) (e) 0 10 20 30 40 0˚
45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚ 315 E (X)W N (Y) (GPa) 0 10 20
30 40 0˚ 45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚ 315˚ N (Y)S Z (GPa) 0
10 20 30 40 0˚ 45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚ 315˚ N45˚ES45˚W
Z (GPa) 0 10 20 30 40 0˚ 45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚ 315˚ E
(X)W Z (GPa) 0 10 20 30 40 0˚ 45˚ 90˚ 135˚ 180˚ 225˚ 270˚
315˚ N45˚WS45˚E Z (GPa) (d) Figure 8. Variation of
directional rock mass modulus on different planes: (a) on
the horizontal plane; (b) on the vertical plane striking
N-S; (c) on the vertical plane striking N45 ◦ E; (d) on the
vertical plane striking E-W; (e) on the vertical plane
striking N45 ◦ W.
6 CONCLUSIONS

The validation exercise performed for the developed frac

ture network model turned out to be successful. The mean

rock mass strength was found to be 47% of mean intact rock

strength of 297 MPa at 485 m depth. The mean rock mass

modulus was found to be 51% of the intact rockYoung’s mod

ulus of 73 GPa. The equivalent rock mass Poisson’s ratio was

found to be 21% higher than the intact rock Poisson’s ratio

of

0.28. These percentages indicate the level of weakening of

the

rock mass due to the presence of fractures. The ratio of

mean

major principal rock mass strength/mean minor principal rock

mass strength turned out to be 1.28. The ratio of mean major

principal rock mass modulus/mean minor principal rock mass

modulus turned out to be 1.21.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company

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Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis
Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Estimation of
uniaxial compressive strength of clay-bearing weak rocks
using needle penetration resistance Z.A. Erguler & R.
Ulusay Department of Geological Engineering, Hacettepe
University, Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey
ABSTRACT: High quality core samples recommended by testing
standards or suggested methods for uniaxial compressive

strength (UCS) determinations cannot always be obtained

particularly from weak, thinly bedded and clay-bearing
rocks. Due

to this difficulty, some simple index test methods have

been developed in order to indirectly estimate the UCS.
However,

preparation of small specimens from such rocks for these

simple index tests is also difficult. In recent years, a
new and portable

testing device called needle penetrometer has been

developed. In this study, a comprehensive testing program
was conducted

on clay-bearing rocks in order to establish a prediction

equation to estimate the UCS from needle penetration
resistance (NPR).

Statistical analyses of test data revealed that there is

strong relationship between UCS and NPR. In addition, the
comparison

between the observed UCS values and those predicted from

the NPR values suggests that the developed empirical
equation

shows a good prediction performance.

1 INTRODUCTION

The uniaxial compressive strength of rock materials, that is

most often used in rock engineering applications and rock

mass classification systems such as RMR (Bieniawski, 1989),

is one of the important mechanical properties Except for

concrete in which cube samples are usually used for deter

mination of its strength, uniaxial compressive strength of

rock materials is determined on cylindrical rock core spec

imens. Standards (i.e. ASTM 1994) and suggested methods

(i.e. ISRM 1981) specify the requirements of test samples.

For example, ISRM (1981) suggests that the height to

diameter

ratio of core samples should be between 2.5 and 3 for appro

priate test results. But this ratio cannot always be

obtained

particularly from weak, stratified (thinly bedded) and clay

bearing rocks. Another aspect of the conventional uniaxial

compression test is the amount of time and labor necessary

for sample preparation.

Due to above mentioned difficulties and limitations, some

simple and cheap index tests such as the point load test,

Schmidt hammer test (ISRM 1981) and block punch index

test (Ulusay et al. 2001) have been suggested for estimation

of the UCS of rock materials. However, preparation of appro

priate specimens from these weak rocks is also difficult for

these simple index tests, because clay-bearing rocks heavily

disintegrate due to wetting and drying processes within rela

tively short time and are highly prone to weathering and

often

coring process breaks up the weaker core pieces, and they

are

to thin or fragmented to be used for index tests.

Recently, a new and non-destructive portable testing device

called needle penetrometer has been developed by a manu

facturer in Japan (www.maruto-group.co.jp). This device is

used to measure the penetration resistance (NPR) of weak and

soft rocks both in field and laboratory. It is designed in
accor

dance with the penetration testing method specified in the

Civil Engineering Society’s “Guideline for Examination and

Testing of Soft Rocks” (Maruto Corporation 2006). With cor

relation diagram of the NPR and the UCS provided on the

grip,

the instrument is adapted for indirectly determining the UCS

of soft rock or stabilized consolidated soil without

sampling. Based on the UCS and NPR database obtained from
artificial cemented-based samples and natural rock
specimens, the manufacturer suggested the following
correlation between UCS and NPR. But this database is
limited and seems not to represent a wide variety of soft
and clay-bearing weak rocks, and types of natural rocks are
not given by the manufacturer. In addition, except a study
on its use for assessing the depth of weathering on rock
surfaces (Oyama & Chigira 1999), there is no published work
on this test in literature. By considering this, to develop
an empirical relationship to predict the UCS from NPR, a
comprehensive testing program was conducted on a number of
specimens prepared from clay-bearing rocks (mudstone,
siltstone, marl and ignimbrite) which were selected 18
different locations in Turkey. Then the results of the
uniaxial compression and needle penetrometer tests were
statistically evaluated to establish a prediction equation
and compared to test the prediction performance of this
equation. 2 APPARATUS AND METHOD A general view of the
needle penetrometer is shown in Figure 1. The penetration
resistance scale ranges between 10 and 100 N with
graduations of 10 N. The maximum diameter and overall
length of the needle penetrometer are 40 mm and 285 mm,
respectively, and its weight is about 700 g.The device
consists of eight parts. The names and functions of these
parts are described below. In Fig. 1, part “1” is presser
that provides measurement of the penetration as well as
protection of the penetration needle, “2” is the chuck used
for fixing the penetration needle, “3” is the penetration
scale (0–10 mm with 1 mm graduation), “4” is the load
scale, “5” is the load indication ring, “6” is the UCS-NPR
correlation chart given by the manufacturer, “7” is the
removable cap (spare penetration needles contained in the
grip) and part “8” is the penetration needle produced
according to the Japan Civil Engineering Society’s
guideline.

Figure 1. Needle penetrometer and its parts (modified from

Maruto

Corporation 2006).

In order to change the needle, the presser (1) is removed

from the penetration scale (3) using vertical and horizontal

notches on it, then the chuck (2) is turned counterclockwise

and the penetration needle is inserted.Then the chuck is

turned

clockwise for fastening and fixing the needle and the

presser

is set using the vertical notch for zero point adjustment

of the

penetration scale (3). The load indication ring (Fig. 1,

part 5)

is a split type and is to be adjusted by sliding with

finger.

Before testing the surface, on which the test would be

carried out, might be clean and smooth. If there are some

asperities or the test would be carried out on a rock face

at

field, the asperities have to be removed by using sandpaper

or pocketknife. Then by holding rather tightly the removable

cap and the main body, the load is perpendicularly and

slowly

applied to rock surface. If the test is carried out in

laboratory,

the specimen should be fixed to prevent its movement during

penetration as shown in Fig. 2. For weak and saturated

rocks,
the needle may be penetrated to a maximum depth of 10 mm.

When this depth is reached, no more penetration could be

applied and the needle is slowly pulled out. Where the rock
is

hard and the penetration force has come up to 100 N before

the

needle penetrates for 10 mm, the needle is withdrawn. After

the test is completed, the load and penetration depth are

read

from the load scale (4) and the position of the presser on
the

penetration scale (3), respectively. Then the NPR is

calculated

from the following equation.

where F = load (N); and D = depth of penetration (mm).

Although there is no available standard or suggested method

for this test, the authors suggest that when the test is
carried out Figure 2. A view of the needle penetration test
carried out in laboratory. Figure 3. Schematic illustration
of an invalid test. on core specimens in laboratory (Fig.
2), the test results should be considered as invalid if
some fractures develop around the penetration hole as
illustrated in Figure 3. Since development of such
fractures during penetration may result in a loosened zone
which causes an abnormal further penetration. 3 EXPERIMENTS
AND PREDICTION MODELS For the purpose, block samples of
weak and clay bearing rock blocks were collected from
outcrops, quarries, open pit and underground mines at
different parts of Turkey. A total of 19 different
locations were selected for sampling. Based on the field
descriptions and the results of X-ray diffraction analysis,
the rock types included mudstone (5), claystone (3),
siltstone (6), marl (7) and ignimbrite (1). However, core
specimens suitable for uniaxial compression test couldn’t
be obtained from the claystone blocks due to their
fragmentation during coring, and therefore, the claystones
collected were not included into the testing program. A
total of 120 core specimens were extracted from these four
rock units and used both for UCS and NPR determinations.
Then UCS and NPR tests were carried out on dry and
saturated samples, and samples waited in a humidity room
with 90–100% relative humidity. The UCS tests were
performed in accordance with the suggestion outlined by
ISRM (1981) using a standard compression machine. A needle
penetrometer of Model SH-70 was utilized for the
measurement of NPR values. The number of NPR readings taken
from each specimen was between 3 and 10, and the Table 1.
NPR values of rocks having different water contents. NPR
(N/mm) Neogene Pre-Neogene NPR (D) 20.4–125.0 125.0–500.0
NPR (90–100%) 6.3–83.3 50.0–200.0 NPR (WS) 2.5–47.6
29.0–120.7 NPR (D) : dry samples; NPR (90–100% : samples
waited in a humidity room with 90-100% relative humidity;
NPR (WS) : saturated samples.

Figure 4. Relationship between the UCS and NPR based on the

data

from dry samples.

Figure 5. Relationship between the UCS and NPR for the

samples

waited in a humidity room with 90–100 % relative humidity.

mean of the NPR readings for each specimen was considered

in the statistical assessments.

Because different degrees of lithification of the studied

rock

units, summary of the needle penetrometer test results is

given

in Table 1 in terms of their geological ages. At P = 0.05

level

and based on the F-test statistics, the relationships

between

UCS and NPR for the specimens under different water condi

tions are statistically significant and yield high

coefficient of

correlations (Figs. 4 to 6).

By considering the highly sensitive feature of clay-bearing

rock materials against wetting-drying process, it is
concluded Figure 6. Relationship between the UCS and NPR
based on the data from saturated samples. Figure 7.
Relationship between UCS and NPR based on data from this
study and Maruto Corporation (www.maruto-group.co.jp). that
it would be better to suggest a general relationship
between the UCS and NPR including all available data from
the claybearing rock materials. For this reason, both the
test results from this study and the data from the
manufacturer were combined and evaluated by regression
analysis for establishing a general prediction model
between the UCS and NPR. Based on the regression analyses,
the following empirical relationship with a high
coefficient of correlation between the UCS and NPR was
obtained (Fig. 7). In order to determine the prediction
performance of Equation 3, the UCS values predicted from
this equation were compared to the measured UCS values
(Fig. 8). The points should be on the line with a 1:1 slope
for a perfect prediction, and on lines with 1:0.5 and 1:2
slopes when the prediction is half or twice the measured
value, respectively. As seen from Fig. 8, the majority of
the points fall very close to 1:1 line and between the
lines 1:1 and 1:0.5 indicating a general agreement between
the predicted and measured UCS values.

Figure 8. Comparison between the measured and predicted

values

of the UCS of the studied clay-bearing rocks.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In this study, the needle penetration and uniaxial compres

sion test results from clay-bearing weak rocks collected

from

Turkey were presented and then combined with those from

the manufacturer of the needle penetrometer to provide some

contributions to indirect estimation of the UCS from NPR.

On the basis of the results obtained in this study, the

following

conclusions are drawn.

The results show that there is a relationship between the

UCS and NPR. In addition, the UCS values obtained from

the prediction equation suggested in this study show a

general

agreement to those determined from the laboratory tests.

This is a cheap and practical test which can be carried out

both on rock outcrops in the field without any sampling or

in laboratory using a portable device. This test also seems

particularly useful for clay-bearing weak rocks from which

ABSTRACT: Results are presented of an experimental study of

failure patterns in transversely isotropic sandstone
samples

induced by the Brazilian tensile test. The variation of the

strength and the failure pattern is examined as a function
of the

inclination angle between the isotropic plane and the

loading direction. For each sample, the length of fractures
parallel to the

(isotropic) layers, as well as corresponding to other

directions are determined. For the transversely isotropic
sandstone in this

study, the transition angle range (45 ◦ –60 ◦ ) is

determined whereby the relative importance of both types of
fractures switches

(i.e. parallel to isotropic layers and others).

1 INTRODUCTION

In general, rock material near the earth’s surface has

mechani

cal properties that can change as a function of the

direction, or

in other words are anisotropic. More and more this

anisotropy

is taken into account when testing the rock material, as

input

for the design and for numerical modelling. Hence, the knowl

edge of the anisotropic properties is required in studies

of civil,

mining and petroleum engineering with applications like e.g.

stability of underground excavations, slope stability,

borehole

deformation and breakage of rock by mechanical tools and

explosives. Despite its importance, rock anisotropy is often

poorly understood.

In this study, one specific form of anisotropy is

considered,

namely transversal isotropy. The tests are conducted on

strat

ified sandstone and the Brazilian tensile method

(diametrical

loading of cylindrical discs) is applied.

Although in situ rock is mostly in compression, tensile

stresses could be encountered on a macro-scale in the

vicinity

of excavations or around boreholes and are certainly present

on micro-scale. The Brazilian test has proved to be a

simple,

fast and relatively reliable technique for tensile strength

esti

mation of rock (Jaeger & Cook 1969). Recently the Brazilian

test has been used to model the effect of linear

discontinuities

and their stiffness on the activation of the

discontinuities and
on the occurrence of newly induced fractures (Debecker et
al.

2006).

The experimental research in this paper focuses at macro

scale on the effect of the layering orientation on failure

strength

and failure pattern of transversely isotropic sandstone. To

study fracturing and the fracture pattern obtained in the

Brazil

ian tests on micro-scale thin sections perpendicular to the

fracture surface will be prepared in a further study,

similar

to studies by e.g. Van de Steen et al. (2002) and Ganne &

Ver

voort (2006). They studied also the correlation with

acoustic

emission measurements.

2 MATERIAL AND METHOD

Blocks of sandstone were taken from a quarry in Modave in

the South of Belgium. This type of sandstone is also known

as

“Psammite of Condroz” (Poty & Chevalier 2004). This sand

stone is characterized by numerous thin and parallel

layers. Figure 1. Disc shape sample and configuration of
layers in Brazilian tests. θ varies between 0 ◦ and 90 ◦ .
The plane of transverse isotropy is assumed to be parallel
to the apparent direction of rock layering. The rock was
cored in the laboratory by using a 50 mm diameter drill
bit. The direction of coring was parallel to the layering.
For the test, a thickness-to-diameter ratio (t/D) of 0.5
was taken. In this study, a total of 31 Brazilian tests
were conducted. All tests were carried out by using a
loading machine with a loading capacity of 100 kN, at a
constant displacement rate of 1 mm/min. The disc shape
samples were positioned as in Figure 1 and loaded
vertically. 3 BRAZILIAN TEST RESULTS The rock layers were
inclined at different angles θ ranging between 0 ◦
(perpendicular to the loading direction) and 90 ◦ (parallel
to the loading direction). Nine different values were
considered: 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 65, 70, 80 and 90 ◦ . Since
one sample is not necessarily representative for the
failure behaviour corresponding to a specific inclination
angle, two to five samples were tested per inclination
angle value. Figure 2 presents the variation of the average
Brazilian tensile strength (BTS) with the inclination angle
θ. The average BTS varies between 15.1 MPa and 9.5 MPa. The
smallest value corresponds to θ equal to 80 ◦ . This seems
to be consistent with the experimental results of Chen et
al. (1998) on two kinds of transversely isotropic
sandstone. However, the difference between the maximum and
minimum value of BTS was considerable for the experiments
of Chen et al. (1998), while in this study a relatively
small difference is considered. In the experiments of Chen
et al. (1998), the BTS-values for θ = 0 ◦ and 90 ◦ were
close. 0 5 10 15 20 0 15 30 45 60 75 90 Inclination angle,
θ (˚) B T S ( M P a )

Figure 2. Variation of average Brazilian tensile strength,

BTS, as a

function of the inclination angle θ.

Figure 3. Schematic representation of different fracture

types in

Brazilian test. (1) Layer activation, (2) Central fracture,

(3) Non

central fracture.

Figure 4. Schematic representation of combinations of

different

failure modes in Brazilian tests.

Similar to the idea introduced by Szwedzicki (2006) for

UCS-tests, different failure modes are suggested. By consid

ering the samples after failure different types of

fractures are

observed (see Figure 3): (1) Some fractures are parallel to

the
isotropic layers which are further called “layer
activation”;

(2) Some fractures are roughly parallel to the loading

direction

and they are located in the central part of the sample

between

the two loading lines. The central part is defined as 10% of

the diameter on both sides of the central line. These

fractures

are further called “central fractures”; (3) Fractures

outside

the central part are also observed. If they do not

correspond

to layer activation, they are further called “non central

frac

tures”. The latter are often curved lines, starting at or

around

the loading platens.

In most cases, two or three different fracture types occur

in the same experiment (see Figure 4). It is good to note

that

in case of θ = 90 ◦ and when a straight fracture between

both

loading platens is induced, this is classed as layer

activation

and not as central fracture.

The predominant failure mode of the samples are observed

as follows: (1) central fracture(s) when inclination angle

θ is

equal to 0 ◦ , 15 ◦ or 30 ◦ , (2) combination of central

fracture(s)

and layer activation when θ is equal to 45 ◦ or 60 ◦ and (3)

layer activation when θ is equal to 65 ◦ , 70 ◦ , 80 ◦ or
90 ◦ . Some

typical samples after failure are shown in Figure 5 for each

inclination angle. Apart from the predominant failure mode

some secondary fractures are also observed.

The failure patterns corresponding to θ = 0 ◦ and θ = 90 ◦

look similar. However for θ = 0 ◦ (layers perpendicular to

the loading direction) the average BTS is 14.1 MPa which

Figure 5. Observed failure patterns of Brazilian test for
different values of q (one typical sample for each group).
The predominant mode is put in parentheses, CF, = Central
fracture, LA = Layer activation. should rather correspond
to the tensile strength of the “intact” material, while for
θ = 90 ◦ (layers parallel to the loading direction), the
average BTS is 10.4 MPa. The latter should rather
correspond to the tensile strength of the “layers”. Figure
5 shows that for θ situated between 45 ◦ and 60 ◦ , both
failure modes are present, but as θ increases, layer
activation becomes more dominant. So it can be concluded
for this transversely isotropic sandstone that below a
certain transition angle, fractures are mainly in the
central zone (central fracture mode).Above that transition
angle, fractures are parallel to the isotropic layers
(layer activation mode). To determine more precisely the
transition angle, the failure modes are quantified by
estimating the fracture length. 4 FRACTURE ANALYSES The
fracture length within the various rock samples is
estimated and used as a tool to distinguish between the
different failure modes. First, the length of all fractures
in the samples is measured. Second, the length
corresponding to the various fracture types is considered.
When a fracture is classified as layer activation the
entire length, including the part within the central zone,
is put into the total sum of layer activation. In a similar
way, if the major part of a curved shape fracture (e.g. the
non central fracture in Figure 3) is outside the central
zone, the entire length including the small portion in the
central zone, is put into the total sum of non central
fractures. The fracture pattern in some of the samples is
true three dimensional and on both sides of the sample, the
fracture pattern is different. In such cases, averages of
the fracture lengths on both sides are considered.
Variation of the fracture length corresponding to layer
activation and to central fracture(s) as a function of the
inclination angle θ are plotted in Figure 6 for individual
samples. Figure 6a shows that when the inclination angle θ
exceeds 60 ◦ , a considerable decrease in the length
corresponding to central fracture(s) is observed. Figure 6b
shows that for inclination angle θ smaller than 45 ◦ , the
length corresponding to layer activation is very small,
sometimes even negligible. When θ exceeds 45 ◦ , layer
activation becomes significant. For θ between 45 ◦ and 90 ◦
, there is an increasing trend for this 0 50 100 150 200 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Inclination angle, θ (˚) F r a c
t u r e l e n g t h ( c e n t r a l f r a c t u r e ) , m m
(a) 0 50 100 150 200 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Inclination angle, θ (˚) F r a c t u r e l e n g t h ( l a
y e r a c t i v a t i o n ) , m m (b)

Figure 6. Variation of fracture length as a function of the

inclination

angle θ, (a) Central fracture(s), (b) Layer activation. 0

50 100 150 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Inclination angle,
θ (˚) A v e r a g e f r a c t u r e l e n g t h ( m m )
Total Layer activation Central fracture Non central
fracture

Figure 7. Variation of average fracture length as a

function of the

inclination angle θ.

length. By comparing Figure 6a with Figure 6b it can be con

cluded that a transition of fracture type probably occurs

for an

angle θ between 45 ◦ and 60 ◦ .

For all samples corresponding to one angle value, the aver

age fracture length is calculated. Variation of the three

types

of fractures, as well as the total fracture length is

plotted as a

function of the inclination angle θ in Figure 7. It shows

that for

θ smaller than 30 ◦ the fractures parallel to the isotropic

layers
are small and when θ exceeds 70 ◦ the fracture length cor

responding to central fracture(s) becomes small. This Figure

also illustrates that the non central fracture length is

nearly

constant and thus independent of θ, at least for the

interval

0 ◦ to 65 ◦ . When the inclination angle θ increases from

30 ◦

to 90 ◦ , the length of central fracture(s) decreases while

the

length corresponding to layer activation increases.

In Figure 8, the percentage of central fracture(s) and layer

activation compared to the total fracture length is given

as a

function of the inclination angle. Central fracture(s) is

pre

dominant for an inclination angle of 0 ◦ to 45 ◦ , while

layer

activation is the main failure mode above 60 ◦ .

From the above explanation, it can be concluded that the

transition angle, which indicates the change of failure mode

from central fracture to layer activation, is in the range

of 45 ◦

and 60 ◦ in this type of transversely isotropic sandstone.

0 20 40 60 80 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Inclination
angle, θ (˚) R e l a t i v e f r a c t u r e l e n g t h (
% ) Layer activation Central fracture Figure 8. Variation
of fracture length percentage corresponding to central
fracture(s) and layer activation as a function of the
inclination angle θ. 5 DISCUSSION The experimental study on
the sandstones from Modave in the South of Belgium, which
are assumed to be transversely isotropic, shows that the
failure stress and fracture pattern are considerably
affected by the layer orientation. However, some other
sandstone blocks of the same quarry were also tested, but
they did not show any effect of the disc orientation.
Further analyses must be undertaken to quantify the reasons
for this different behaviour, on relatively similar rock
material. Results of an experimental study of the Kaiser or
memory effect in cyclic Brazilian tests by Lavrov et al.
(2002) present the importance of disc rotation. They
studied limestone samples, which can be considered as
isotropic, and rotated the samples between loading cycles
while measuring acoustic emission. In the first loading
cycle, micro-fractures corresponding to the loading
direction are induced. By these micro-fractures, material
is not isotropic anymore at the start of the second loading
cycle. Somehow it becomes similar to transversely isotropy,
at least in the central zone. Lavrov et al. (2002) observed
that the Kaiser effect becomes gradually less pronounced
with increasing rotation angle and remains only detectable
for angles smaller than 10 ◦ . Rotation by more than 10 ◦
results in complete disappearance of the Kaiser effect. In
the experiments presented here, the influence of the
inclination angle corresponding to the material axes is
probably larger than 10 ◦ . Experiments of cyclic loading
of transversely isotropic sandstone with disc rotation
between cycles are planned. Another study which is
currently being performed is based on a transversely
isotropic siltstone. This study shows similar results, as
the ones presented in this paper, but also some interesting
differences are noted. The strength contrast between the
direction of layering (i.e. sedimentary bedding planes) and
any other direction in this siltstone is larger than
observed in the Modave sandstone. This results always in
layer activation of the siltstone samples, independent of
the inclination angle. Central fracture(s) may, however,
occur, but their length is always smaller than the length
corresponding to layer activation. In the siltstone
samples, the minimum length of layer activation occur
logically when layering is perpendicular to the loading
direction (θ = 0 ◦ ). For the siltstone the relative length
corresponding to layer activation and to central
fracture(s) are respectively 52% and 31%, while for the
Modave sandstone the values are respectively 1% and 82%. In
other words, for θ = 0 ◦ , the layer activation is
negligible for the Modave sandstone, but certainly not for
the siltstone. Again

further research should quantify the reasons for the

different

types of behaviour.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The financial support of the Research Council of the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (OT-project OT/03/35) is

gratefully appreciated.

Chen, C. S., Pan, E., Amadei, B. 1998. Determination of

deformabil

ity and tensile strength of anisotropic rock using

Brazilian tests.

Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 35: 43–61.

Debecker, B. & Vervoort, A. 2006. Fracturing in and around

a natural

discontinuity in rock: a comparison between boundary

discontinu

ity and discrete element models. 5th Int. Conf. Eng. Comp.
Tech.,

Proc. Paper 168, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 12–15 Sept

2006.

CivilComp LTD. Ganne, P. & Vervoort, A. 2006.

Characterisation of tensile damage in rock samples induced
by different stress paths. Pure appl. geophys. 163:
2153–2170. Jaeger, J. C. & Cook, N. G. W. 1969.
Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
Lavrov, A., Vervoort, A., Wevers, M., Napier, J.A.L. 2002.
Experimental and numerical study of the Kaiser effect in
cyclic Brazilian tests with disk rotation. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. 39: 287–302. Poty, E. & Chevalier, E. 2004.
L’activité extractive en Wallonie, Situation actuelle et
prespectives. Belgium, Ouvrage publié par le Ministère de
la Region wallonne. Szwedzicki, T. 2006. A Hypothesis on
Modes of Failure of Rock SamplesTested in Uniaxial
Compression. J. Rock Mech. Rock Eng. In press. Van de
Steen, B., Vervoort, A., Sahin, K. 2002. Influence of
internal structure of crinoidal limestone on fracture
paths. Eng. Geol. 67: 109–125. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Evaluation of fracturing
process of soft rocks at great depth by AE measurement and
DEM simulation Y. Mito, C.S. Chang & K. Aoki Kyoto
University H. Matsui & S. Niunoya Japan Atomic Energy
Agency M. Minami Tokyo Electric Power Company

ABSTRACT: The monitoring of EDZ (Excavation Disturbed Zone)

is one of the most important required technologies for the

design of rock caverns such as the high-level radioactive

waste repository. The authors developed the stress-based
evaluation

system of EDZ byAE monitoring and DEM (Distinct Element

Method) simulation, and verified the applicability of this
system to

the hard rock site. In order to apply this system to the

soft sedimentary rock site, the authors examine the
relationship betweenAE,

stress change and rock failure in the soft sedimentary rock

by conducting the high stiffness triaxial compression tests
including

AE measurements, and its simulations by DEM using the

bonded particle model. As the result of the triaxial
compression tests,

it is clarified that predominant AE frequency is a

significant AE parameters to monitor the stress change in
fracturing process

of soft sedimentary rocks. After that, the DEM simulation

of the triaxial compression test using the bonded particles
model is

conducted to visualize the fracturing process in the rock

specimen. As the results of the above examinations, the
relationship

between AE, stress change and rock failure in the soft

sedimentary rock is clarified. Furthermore the
three-dimensional DEM

simulation under the in-situ stress condition provides a

successful result to examine the borehole breakout observed
in the

actual deep borehole in the soft sedimentary rock, and the

applicability of the simulation to the actual field is
verified.
1 INTRODUCTION

Underground excavation causes Excavation Disturbed Zone

(EDZ) around the opening. It is very important to evaluate

the EDZ accurately for the safety assessment and the develop

ment of the basis for engineering technologies of the

high-level

nuclear waste repository. Especially in highly stressed

rocks

at great depth, the formation of EDZ is strongly influenced

by stress change in the rock mass. Therefore, it is

essential to

evaluate EDZ with stress change. For this purpose, AE mea

surement would be a suitable in both of scientific and

practical

point of views, and this will enable to evaluate EDZ

accurately.

In order to establish stress based evaluation system of EDZ,

the authors have already examined the relationship between

AE, stress change, and fracturing in highly stressed hard

rock

masses by theAE measurement and the DEM simulation using

the bonded particles model. Based on this relationship the

authors developed the EDZ evaluation system (Aoki et al.,

2004), and the applicability of this system is verified by

the

field applications (Aoki et al., 2005). However, there is a

few

case history that the AE monitoring was carried out in the

soft

sedimentary rocks because of the lowerAE counts, smallerAE

energy, and higher attenuation feature than those in the
hard

rocks, This study examine the EDZ evaluation system for the

soft sedimentary rock site at great depth. In order to

apply this

system to the soft sedimentary rocks, it is necessary to

clarify

the relationship between AE, stress change and rock failure

in the soft sedimentary rocks. The high stiffness triaxial

com

pression tests including AE measurements and its simulations

by DEM using the bonded particle model are carried out to

examine the AE behavior and rock fracturing process in the
soft sedimentary rocks. Furthermore the three-dimensional
DEM simulation under the in-situ stress condition is also
carried out to examine the applicability of the simulation
to the actual field. 2 LABORATORY TEST The high stiffness
triaxial compression tests including AE measurements are
carried out to examine the relationship between AE behavior
and stress change in the rock fracturing process of the
soft sedimentary rock samples. The rock specimens are
manufactured from the drilling core obtained from the deep
borehole at the Horonobe URL site (JAEA) in Hokkaido,
Japan. 2.1 The test specimens and the test method The 6
cylindrical specimens with a height of 100 mm and diameter
of 50 mm are manufactured from the drilling core obtained
from the soft sedimentary rocks at the depth of 380–460 m
in the Wakkanai formation (upper Miocene). The foliation
with a dip angle of 45 ◦ is perceived in every specimen.
The properties of the specimens are as follows; • Unit
weight: 18–19 kN/m3 • Ultrasonic velocity: 2.1–2.2 km/s •
Uniaxial strength: 5–20 MPa (*) • E50: 1000–3,000 MPa (*)

Before test After test 1 0 0 m m 50mm 150 400 350 300 250
200 P r e d o m i n a n t A E f r e q u e n c y [ k H z ] m
v a l u e 0 3.02.01.0 Strain [%] 1 6 5 4 3 2 0 150 120 90
60 30 A E c o u n t s [ c o u n t / s e c ] 0 300 240 180
120 60 D

i f f

e r
e n

t i a

l s

t r e

s s

[ M

P a

] yield peak residual Predominant AE frequency m-value

Differential stress AE counts

Figure 1. An illustration of the stress strain curve and

the behavior

of the AE parameters (confining pressure = 6.0 MPa).

(*) the result of uniaxial tests using the same kind of

specimens

at the depth of 380–460 m.

2.2 The test method

A stiff and servo-controlled triaxial compression testing

sys

tem that gives the complete stress-strain curve is used in

this

study. Two AE sensors are attached to the both pedestals.

The cylindrical specimen is subjected to the fixed con

fining pressure of 0.5, 2.0 or 6.0 MPa (in situ minimum

stress). The displacement-controlled loading with increasing

displacement rates of 0.05 mm/min is performed. The broad

band (100 kHz to 1 MHz) AE sensors are used for the AE

measurement. The gain of pre and main amplifier is 80 dB.

2.3 Test results and consideration

Figure 1 shows an illustration of the test results. The

stress,AE

counts, Predominant AE frequency, and m-value are plotted

as functions of the strain.

In every test case, AE counts is much less than that in the

hard rock masses. Before the stress reaches the peak stress,

the AE counts shows very low. Immediately after the stress

reaches the peak stress, the AE counts suddenly increases,

and

shows the maximum value before the stress is at the level

of the

residual stress. After that the AE counts suddenly decreases

and becomes almost 0. Such behavior ofAE counts is different

from that in hard rocks. This AE parameter is effective to

judge whether the rock is in the residual state or not, but

is not

effective to evaluate the stress concentration behavior

before

the residual state.

In most of cases, the m-value suddenly decreases and

becomes stable when the stress reaches around the yield

strength, and suddenly increases and becomes stable when

the stress reaches the residual strength as well as hard
rocks. However, it is difficult to calculate a significant
m-value when the AE couts shows very low because the
accuracy of m-value strongly depends on the number of AE
waves. In every test case, the predominant AE frequency
starts to decrease as the stress reaches the yield
strength, drastically decreases when the stress reaches the
peak strength, continues to decrease until the stress
reaches the residual strength, and becomes stable. In
general, the attenuation feature of the rock increases as
the fracturing process progresses. Higher frequency AE
waves are hard to propagate in the materials with high
attenuation feature than lower frequency AE waves. Thus the
observed predominant AE frequency decreases as the
fracturing process progresses. Furthermore, the observed
predominant AE frequency in the soft sedimentary rock shows
more characteristic behavior than that in hard rocks. It is
considered that the predominant AE frequency in the soft
sedimentary rocks is strongly influenced by the crack
initiation process because soft sedimentary rocks are more
homogeneous than hard rocks which frequently include
heterogeneous micro cracks. Hence, this parameter would be
an effective parameter to monitor the fracturing process in
soft sedimentary rocks. 3 DEM SIMULATION OF THE FRACTURING
PROCESS The DEM simulations using the bonded particle
models are carried out to examine the relationship between
AE behavior and rock fracturing process in the soft
sedimentary rock specimens. A series of the numerical
biaxial tests are implemented by applying the
servo-controlled confining pressure and the
displacement-controlled vertical load, as applied in the
triaxial tests. 3.1 The DEM modelling The contact bonded
particles model is used for the DEM simulations of the
laboratory tests. The micro-parameters which represent the
anisotropic properties of the soft sedimentary rocks listed
below are calibrated by the numerical biaxial tests. •
Elastic moduli of the particles • Strength of the contact
bonds between the particles that correspond to the intact
rock • Strength of the contact bonds between the particles
that correspond to the weak portion (line) on the foliation
• Spacing of the foliation (see Figure 2) • Persistence
(length and interval) of the weak portion on the foliation
(see Figure 2) The values of micro-parameters of the bonded
particles are specified such that (a) the complete
stress-strain behavior is similar to that of the tested
specimen, and (b) the macroscopic fractures generated in
the bonded particles are similar to those in the tested
specimen. 3.2 The results of the simulations Figure 3 shows
an illustration of the transition of crack distribution in
the simulation as the vertical strain increases. The white
circle expresses a newly initiated tensile crack while the
black circle expresses a newly initiated shear crack. The
gray circle also expresses a previously initiated crack.
The radius of the circle represents the increment of the
distance between the 1 0 0 m m 50mm l: length, b: interval
s: spacing s l b

Figure 2. Schematics of spacing and persistence of the

foliation. Crack aperture 10 20 30[µm] 0 3.02.01.0 Strain
[%] 0 40 30 20 10 0 40 30 20 10 C r a c k I n i t i a t i o
n r a t e yield peak D i f f e r e n t i a l s t r e s s [
M P a ] Tensile crack Pr vious crackShear crack e

Figure 3. An illustration of the transition of spatial

distribu

tion of micro-cracks as the vertical strain increases

(confining

pressure = 6.0 MPa).

bond-failed balls (equivalent to increment of aperture),

which

is strongly related to the released strain energy when micro

crack occurs. When the stress level reaches the yield

strength,

the local micro-cracks are initiated at some weak portions

on

the foliation. After the stress level reaches the peak

strength,

such micro-cracks are propagated and connected each other,

and the major fractures are generated. At that time, the

crack

initiation rate shows the highest value and the released

strain

energy by cracking shows the largest value. After the stress

level becomes low, the micro-cracks with small released

strain

energy are initiated at low rate only along the major

fractures.

4 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AE, STRESS

CHANGE AND FRACTURING

The relationship between AE parameters, stress change and

fracturing is examined here based on the above-mentioned lab

oratory tests and simulations. The measured behavior of each

AE parameter is compared to the computed crack initiation

behavior along an identical stress path.

As mentioned above, predominant AE frequency that

reflects the change in attenuation feature of rocks would be

an effective parameter to monitor the fracturing process in

soft sedimentary rocks. The behavior of predominant AE fre

quency can be interpreted by the cumulative density of the

Figure 4. The bonded particles model for the DEM
simulation. initiated cracks as a function of strain.
Predominant AE frequency starts to decrease after the
stress level reaches the yield strength as the micro-cracks
starts to be initiated. Then, predominant AE frequency
drastically decreases as the crack initiation rate shows
the maximum value after the stress level reaches the peak
strength. Finally, predominant AE frequency gradually
decreases and shows stable as the crack initiation rate
decreases and becomes almost 0, after the stress level
reaches the residual strength. Hence, the stress state and
the extent of fracturing can be inferred by the behavior of
predominant AE frequency. 5 FIELD APPLICATION The bonded
particles model of the soft sedimentary rock, which is
constructed in section 3, is applied to the examination of
the borehole breakout observed at the depth of 850 m in the
actual borehole in the soft sedimentary rock. The
threedimensional DEM simulation is carried out. The in-situ
stress obtained from the hydrofracturing method is applied
to the 3 dimensional bonded particles model, and the
cylindrical part in the center is removed (the borehole
excavation) as shown in Figure 4. As the result of the
simulation, the stress concentration is observed near the
borehole wall in the direction of minimum stress axis as
shown in Figure 5(a). The cracks are mainly initiated at
the region where the stress is changed. Furthermore the
cracks with large aperture are concentrated especially at
the region where the stress relaxation is occurred as shown
in Figure 5(b), and the change in porosity is large near
the borehole wall as shown in Figure 5(c). Figure 6 shows
the stress paths of several points around the borehole. In
this diagram, the failure envelope of the rock specimen
(the dotted line) is also plotted. The black curve
represents the stress path observed at the points where the
borehole breakout was occurred, while the white curve
represents the stress path observed at the points where the
borehole breakout was not occurred.Theoretically, the black
curve must intersect the failure envelope, while the blue
line must be located below the failure envelope.
Furthermore, the spalling limit (the thin line) should be
applied to the stress path at the points near the borehole
wall (i.e. depth of 10 mm) as shown in Figure 6, because
the large stress reduction of the minimum stress suddenly
occurred immediately after the borehole excavation. In fact
a lot of tensile cracks which are perpendicular to the
borehole wall are observed in the bonded particles model
near the borehole wall. Thus, we can have a relevant
failure envelope for the borehole failure in the soft
sedimentary rocks by examining the stress paths obtained
from the DEM simulation. This

Figure 5. The excavation disturbances around the borehole

simulated by DEM (The dotted line shows the borehole wall).

Figure 6. The stress paths of several points around the

borehole. The black curve represents the stress path
observed at the points where the

borehole breakout was occurred, while the white curve

represents the stress path observed at the points where the
borehole breakout was not

occurred.

fact shows the DEM simulation is effective to evaluate the

actual rock fracturing process under the in situ stress,

and the

applicability of the evaluation method is verified.

6 CONCLUSION

The authors examine the relationship between AE, stress

change and rock failure in the soft sedimentary rock by con

ducting the high stiffness triaxial compression tests

including

AE measurements, and its simulations by DEM using the

bonded particle model. As the result of the triaxial com

pression tests, it is clarified predominant AE frequency is

a
significant AE parameters to monitor the stress change in
the

fracturing process of the soft sedimentary rocks. After

that,

the DEM simulation of the triaxial compression tests using

the bonded particle model is conducted to visualize the frac

ABSTRACT: By modifying the method proposed byVasco et al.,

we developed a revised method for more accurately
estimating

a change in groundwater volume by an inverse analysis of

tilt data, and groundwater flow at the site of the Mizunami
Underground

Research Laboratory in the Tono area, Japan, was evaluated

during the excavation of two shafts, based on tilt data
measured

by four tiltmeters with a resolution of 10 −9 radians. The

revised method developed in this study reproduced the tilt
data

accurately, and the results obtained by the inverse

analysis showed that the heterogeneous flow of groundwater
occurred during

the excavation and that groundwater came mainly from the

sedimentary rock lying between two faults. The latter
result is

consistent with the previous finding that these faults have

low permeability and may act as a flow barrier.

1 INTRODUCTION

Groundwater flow must be evaluated for a large volume of

rock mass in designing underground repositories for high

level radioactive wastes. Although in situ measurements

using

boreholes can evaluate groundwater flow, they only provide

information in a relatively narrow region. Recently, a tech

nique for measuring tilt with a resolution of 10 −9 radians

has been demonstrated, and a method for evaluating ground

water flow by an inversion of tilt data has been developed

by Vasco et al. (1998). In this method, a change in ground

water volume is estimated from tilt data measured on the

surface by using a theoretical relation between tilt and a

change in groundwater volume in a homogeneous, isotropic

and water-saturated poroelastic half-space. In this paper,

we

refer to this method as Vasco’s method. Vasco’s method may

be an inexpensive tool for evaluating groundwater flow in

a large volume of rock mass, since a high-precision tilt

meter can measure a small change in tilt on the surface

when groundwater volume changes at a great distance from

the surface. Furthermore, this method can be used for long

term monitoring of groundwater flow once tiltmeters are

installed.

However, previous research has shown that the results

obtained by Vasco’s method did not always accurately repro

duce the tilt data that were used in the inverse analysis
(Vasco

et al. 1998, Nakagome et al. 2000) and accordingly, the

results

were not always sufficiently reliable. In this paper, by

modi

fying Vasco’s method, we proposed a revised method for more

accurately estimating groundwater flow by the inversion of

tilt

data measured on the surface. This method was used to the

site

of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) in

the Tono area, Japan, to evaluate groundwater flow during

the excavation of two shafts, based on tilt data measured
by four tiltmeters with a resolution of 10 −9 radians. 2 A
REVISED VASCO’S METHOD FOR EVALUATING GROUNDWATER FLOW 2.1
Theory and Vasco’s method We consider the i-th component of
tilt t i (x) (i = 1, 2) at a point x (x 1 , x 2 , x 3 ) on
the surface when a change in groundwater volume per unit
volume of rock �v(s) occurs at a point s (s 1 , s 2 , s 3 )
in a region V within which flow of groundwater occurs. The
x 3 -axis is vertical and positive in the downward
direction. The inversion for determining �v(s) in region V
is based on the following relation between t i (x) and
v(s) (Vasco et al. 1998): where B is the Skempton
coefficient of the rock and T i (x, s) is given by where ν
is the Poisson’s ratio of the rock and The tilt t i (x) is
a gradient (inclination) of the surface in the direction of
x i with respect to the coordinate x 3 and accordingly is
positive when the surface is inclined downwards in the

direction of x i . The value of x 3 is zero when the

tiltmeter lies

on the surface. In this study, �v is taken as positive when

the

groundwater volume decreases. Hereafter, we call �v simply

the change in groundwater volume for convenience. Note that

v is dimensionless.

In Vasco’s method, a region V where groundwater flow

occurs is divided into elements in which both the Skemp

ton coefficient B and the change in groundwater volume �v

are constant. Thus, from Equation (1), the tilt data t l (=

(t l 1 ,

t l 2 )) measured by the l-th tiltmeter are related to the

change in
groundwater volume in the j-th element �v j by the following

linear equations:

where G is a 2M × K matrix and

where M is the number of observation stations for tilt, K is

the number of elements and superscript t means transposition

of the matrix.

In most cases, there are much fewer tilt data than elements.

Accordingly, additional constraints are needed to determine

the most probable value of �v by a least-squares method.

Vasco et al. (1998) adopted the sum of the squared first

deriva

tives of �vwith respect to all coordinates.The first

derivatives

of �v, which is denoted by S, can be related to the value

of �v by using finite difference expressions. Thus, the

first

derivatives of �v is given by

where D is a 3K × K matrix. The most probable value of

v can be determined by minimizing the value given by the

following equation:

where w is the weighting coefficient for the sum of the

squared

first derivatives of �v. As the value of w increases,

solutions

of �v can be obtained more easily, while an error in tilt

(the

first term in Equation (7)) increases.

The method described above has a few problems that need

to be improved. First, since elements in which �v is
constant

(constant element) are used, the values of �v at the bound

aries of region V are not zero, while they are zero outside
of

region V. Accordingly, step-wise changes in �v occur at the

boundaries, which is not realistic. In particular, large

values

of �v at the boundaries predict that there are regions that

have

an appreciable value of �v outside of region V while �v out

side of region V is assumed to be zero. Second, the

constraints

of the first derivative of �v may produce an excessively

flat

distribution of �v unless w is sufficiently small.

2.2 A revised Vasco’s method

We developed a revised method by modifying Vasco’s method

for the terms described above. The features of this revised

method are that 1) a region V is divided into elements in

which

the change in groundwater volume �v and the Skempton coef

ficient B vary in a quadratic manner with the coordinates so

that the values of �v can be defined at nodes, 2) the values

of �v are set to zero at the boundaries of region V and 3)

the Figure 1. Site of the Mizunami Underground Research
Laboratory and the locations of the Main and Ventilation
shafts, boreholes for site investigation and tiltmeters.
sum of the squared second derivatives of �v is adopted as a
constraining condition that is weighed and added to the sum
of the squared errors in tilt. In the revised method,
relations similar to Eqs. (4) and (6) are obtained for
those between �v and both t and the second derivatives of�v
by interpolating�v at an arbitrary point in an element with
those at the nodes. The constraint of the second
derivatives of �v only makes the distribution of �v
smoother and does not distort the distribution appreciably.
Furthermore, the condition that the values of �v are zero
at the boundaries provides additional constraints to the
distribution of �v so that �v may approach zero as the
position of the node approaches the boundaries of region V,
which may control an overall trend in the distribution of
v. We determined the minimum value of w when the solution
of �v was obtained by increasing the power to 10 w from −20
in steps of 1. 3 APPLICATION OF THE METHOD TO THE MIU 3.1
Site of the MIU Figure 1 shows the site of the MIU with the
locations of the Main and Ventilation shafts under
construction, boreholes for site investigation and the four
tiltmeters. The tiltmeters are located within a distance of
120 m from the Main shaft and are called ME02, ME03, ME04
and ME05. For locations of tiltmeters within the MIU site,
we chose points with similar elevations and as a result,
four tiltmeters were placed nearly in a line. Among the
boreholes for site investigation, borehole DH15 is furthest
from the shafts, at a distance of about 500 m. Previous
investigations have shown that several faults exist at this
site and two of them have low permeability in the direction
perpendicular to the strike (Onoe et al. 2005). These
faults, A and B, have a high dip angle and are shown in
Figure 1. In this area, the basement consists of Toki
granite, which is covered by sedimentary rock with a
thickness of from 100 m to 200 m.The maximum difference in
the elevation of the surface is about 100 m. The surface of
the boundary between the Toki granite and the sedimentary
rock descends toward the east and the thickness of the
sedimentary rock increases toward the east. Furthermore,
geological survey has shown that the site of the MIU is
located above a valley of Toki granite, which descends
toward the SE direction (Nakano et al. 2003). The Main and
Ventilation shafts are 6.5 m and 4.5 m in diameter,
respectively. Figure 2 shows the progress of shaft

Figure 2. Progress of excavation and amount of daily

drainage of

groundwater at the Ventilation shaft.

Figure 3. Tilt data after removing noise.

excavation and the amount of daily drainage of groundwater

at the Ventilation shaft from February 1, 2005 to September

30, 2005. At the end of September, the depths of the Main

and Ventilation shafts from the surface reached about 160 m

and about 170 m, respectively, and the bottoms of the shafts

were located near the boundary between the Toki granite and

the sedimentary rock, but were still within the sedimentary

rock. Most of groundwater was drained from the Ventilation

shaft, where the amount of daily drainage rapidly increased

in

the middle of June. Thus, the drainage of water at the

shafts

caused groundwater flow in this area.

3.2 Measurement and tilt data

The four tiltmeters used in this study were all manufactured

by Pinnacle Technologies, Inc. and had a resolution of 10 −9

radians (nanoradians). The tiltmeters were installed in

silica

sand that filled a space within a distance of 100 mm from

the

bottom of a borehole 10 m long.The measurement of tilt began

on April 1, 2005, at intervals of 1 min. The raw tilt data

con

tained noise that was mainly caused by tidal force and

vibration

due to blasting at the shafts. The former produced a

variation

with a period of about 1 day and the latter produced a step

wise increase/decrease in tilt. We removed the noise caused

by tidal force and changes in both atmospheric pressure and

temperature by using BAYTAP-G (Bayesian Tidal Analysis

Program – Grouping Model) software (Ishiguro et al. 1984,

Tamura et al. 1991). For the noise caused by blasting, the

step

wise increase/decrease was simply removed so that data after

blasting would equal the data before blasting. Figure 4.

Model for a region of groundwater flow. Inverse analyses
were performed for the data after the tiltmeters were
stabilized, from April 21, 2005 to September 30, 2005. At
the beginning of the period, both shafts had already been
excavated to a depth of about 80 m from the surface. Figure
3 shows changes in tilt during this period. Open circles
indicate the tilt data at the end of the period. Large
tilts of a few tens of microradians (10 −6 ) were observed.
This is due to the fact that a large amount of groundwater
was drained at relatively shallow depths and the tiltmeters
are located near the shafts. The surfaces where tiltmeters
ME02, ME03 and ME05 were installed were inclined downwards
toward the WSW, SW and SE, respectively, and these
directions did not change appreciably during the period.
However, the direction of the tilt at ME04, which is
located closest to the Ventilation shaft, changed twice,
from W to SSE and from SSE to NNW. The directions of the
tilt at ME02, ME03 and ME05 suggest that the decrease in
groundwater volume occurred continuously mainly in the
south of the Main and Ventilation shafts. 3.3 Inverse
analysis As shown in Figure 4, region V was assumed to be a
rectangular prism with dimensions of x m , y m and z m in
the x 1 (N), x 2 (E) and x 3 (vertical) directions,
respectively. The center O’ is located at a depth of z 0
from the surface of a half-space. Since the bottoms of the
shafts were located at a depth of about 80 m at the
beginning of the period and reached a depth of from about
160 m to 170 m at the end of the period, as described
previously, the values of both z m and z 0 were determined
to be 160 m so that the depth of the upper surface of
region V is 80 m and that of the center O’ is 160 m, to
perform an inverse analysis for the total change in tilt
during the study period. Region V consists of 4 × 4 × 2
quadratic elements with 20 nodes. Among the overall 245
nodes, �v is to be determined for only 51, since the other
nodes lie on the boundaries where �v is zero. We assumed
that this area consists of a homogeneous rock with a
Poisson’s ratio of 0.25 and a Skempton coefficient of 0.9.
Measurements of water head in boreholes showed that the
flow of groundwater reached borehole DH15 (Fig. 1) where
the water head began to decrease in the middle of June.
Therefore, we considered that the region of groundwater
flow extended horizontally to more than 500 m from the Main
shaft, since borehole DH15 is about 500 m from the Main
shaft, as described previously. However, we do not have any
other evidence for determining the sizes of x m and y m .
Therefore, inverse analyses were performed for two sets of
x m and y m ; i.e., 1120 m × 1120 m and 2000 m × 2000 m,
which are called Model 1 and Model 2, respectively. From
the result of an inverse analysis, we determined a contour
map of the distribution of�v in the middle plane (x 3 = 160
m) of regionV.

Figure 5. Change in groundwater volume per unit volume of

rock (�v) at 160 m below the surface, estimated for the
total change in tilt for

(a) Model 1 and (b) Model 2.

3.4 Results and discussion

The inverse analyses showed that the minimum value of w

for which the solutions of �v could be determined was 10 −5

for both models. Since this value of w was sufficiently

small,

the error in tilt was also very small: less than 10 −12
radians.

Thus, the method proposed in this study reproduced the tilt

data very accurately. This means that the distribution of �v

was estimated without sacrificing the reproducibility of the

tilt data.

Figure 5 shows the contour map of �v within the middle

plane of region V (x 3 = 160 m), obtained for (a) Model 1

and

(b) Model 2. The locations of the Main and Ventilation

shafts

and the tiltmeters as well as the two faults A and B are

shown

in the figure. The Main shaft is located at the center of

the

map. The contour line for which �v is positive (decrease in

groundwater volume) is indicated by a solid line and that

for

which �v is negative (increase in groundwater volume) is

indicated by a broken line. Note that the unit of �v is10

−4 for

these figures.

These results show that heterogeneous flow of groundwater

occurred in this area. Regardless of the assumed size for

region

V, there are three regions where �v decreased, denoted by

D1,

D2 and D3, and two regions where �v increased, denoted by

I1 and I2. When the distribution of �v obtained for Model 1

(1120 m × 1120 m) is compared to that obtained for Model 2

(2000 m × 2000 m), they approximately coincide with each

other, although the locations of the center of the regions

where the volume in groundwater decreased or increased are

slightly different. In fact, �v obtained for Model 2 is

small in

most regions that are not included in Model 1, which is indi

cated by broken lines in Figure 5 (b). Thus, the assumed

size

for the region of groundwater flow has only a small effect,

although we adopted the assumption that the rock mass is

a homogeneous half-space.

The results also indicate that the decrease in groundwa

ter volume occurred mainly in the area surrounded by faults

A and B (Fig. 5 (a)), which is called region AB. This is con

sistent with the finding obtained in previous investigations

that the permeability of these faults is low in the

direction

perpendicular to the strike. Note that the Ventilation

shaft is

located within region AB and the Main shaft is located

almost

on fault A. The value of �v is much greater in D2 than that

in D1. Thus, groundwater mainly came from the sedimen

ABSTRACT: The Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar tests of frozen

clay are carried through at −5 ◦ C, −7 ◦ C, −10 ◦ C, −12 ◦
C,

15 ◦ C, −17 ◦ C and −20 ◦ C at four different strain rates

of 300/s, 600/s, 1050/s and 1450/s. The experimental
analyses show that

flow stress of dynamic stress-strain curves increases with

increasing strain rates at the same temperature, but when
the strain

rates goes up to a certain value, flow stress decreases

with increasing strain rates. The different dynamic
stress-strain curves

of the same strain rate at different temperatures are

converged. The higher the strain rate is, the more
obviously the curves are

converged. Test results indicate that the dynamic

stress-strain curves oscillate obviously. And the
oscillation becomes more

obvious with the decreasing temperature and rising strain

rate.

1 EXPERIMENTAL PRINCIPLE

The high-pressure air pushes bullet with a certain speed to

impact the input bar, and the input bar creates a stress
wave

in the input bar. When the stress wave reached the specimen,

it reflects many times between the input bar-specimen inter

face and the output bar-specimen interface. Stress of

specimen

increases rapidly and tends to be uniform. During the test,

the

two bars are always at elastic state. So the average

stress, aver

age strain and strain rate can be obtained respectively

through

the waveform recorded by strain gauges, which were pasted

on the two bars. Then the relationships among stress, strain

and strain rate of frozen soil can be obtained.

Where,

σ I (t), σ R (t), σ T (t)—amplitude of incident wave,

reflection

wave and transmitted wave;

A, A 0 —cross section of the specimen and the elastic bar;

ρ—density of the elastic bar;

c p —the propagation speed of elastic wave in the bar;

L m —the length of specimen.

Figure 1. Schematic of the SHPB (�37 mm) system used for

frozen clay test. 2 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The device for
impact compression experiment is split Hopkinson pressure
bar of �37 mm(figure 1). The wave impedance of frozen soil
is very low. The pressure bar is made of aluminum, and the
lengths of impact bars are 800 mm and 400 mm, respectively.
The samples were got from a certain shaft in Anhui
Province. The dry density is 1710 kg/m 3 , and water
content is 21.42%. The specimens are 33.5 mm in diameter
and 18.2 mm in thickness (figure 2). Data of input waves
and output waves is obtained by measuring technique of
strain gauge. Because the signal of transmitted wave is
deeply weaker, data of transmission waves is obtained
Figure 2. The specimens of frozen clay.

Figure 3. Stress-strain curves at 7 different temperatures

(Strain

rate is 1050/s).

Figure 4. Stress-strain curves at 7 different temperatures

(Strain

rate is 1450/s).

Figure 5. Stress-strain curves in 4 different strain rates

(−7 ◦ C).

by measuring technique of semiconductor gage. The tests

of frozen clay are carried through at −5 ◦ C, −7 ◦ C, −10 ◦

C,

−12 ◦ C, 15 ◦ C, −17 ◦ C and −20 ◦ C at four different

strain rates

of 300/s, 600/s, 1050/s and 1450/s.

3 EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSES

Dynamic stress-strain curves at different strain rates and

temperatures are shown in figure 3 and figure 10.

The experimental results show that flow stress will increase

with decreasing temperature at the same strain rate, and

the Figure 6. Stress-strain curves in 4 different strain
rates (−10 ◦ C). Figure 7. Stress-strain curves in 4
different strain rates (−12 ◦ C). Figure 8. Stress-strain
curves in 4 different strain rates (−15 ◦ C). Figure 9.
Stress-strain curves in 4 different strain rates (−17 ◦ C).

Figure 10. Stress-strain curves in 4 different strain rates

(−20 ◦ C).

temperature has obvious effects on the dynamic mechanical

properties of frozen soil. Flow stress of dynamic

stress-strain
curves increases with increasing strain rates at the same
tem

perature, but when the strain rates goes up to a certain

value,

flow stress decreases with increasing strain rates. It is

shown

that flow stress of frozen soil has strain rate effects. Low

temperature is correspond to high strain rate and high

temper

ature is correspond to low strain rate. Test shows that

different

dynamic stress-strain curves of the same strain rate at

different

temperatures are converged. The higher the strain rate is,

the

more obviously the curves are converged. The curves are con

verged to the curve at the highest temperature. The

different

dynamic stress-strain curves of the same temperature at dif

ferent strain rates are converged. The lower the

temperature is,

the more obviously the curves are converged. The curves are

ABSTRACT: The destruction of rock mass may be caused by

improper excavation in rock engineering, and the main
external

factors affect the rock slope’s stability may be

groundwater and seepage. To analyze the relationship
between unloading and

permeability coefficient of the rock, the method and steps

of experiment for the rock mass under unloading condition
are

put forward. The relationship curves of the

seepage-unloading at different phases are found by
experiments. According to the

experimental results, the seepage-stress relation of rock

mass under unloading has been established, and the
variation rule of the

unloading value with the permeability coefficient is

discussed. Two points can be concluded, i.e. the
permeability coefficient is

almost unchanged in the elastic phase of unloading process;

and the permeability coefficient is changed very much in
the plastic

phase of unloading process; especially, as the unloading

value reaches over 80% of ultimate one, the permeability
coefficient

increases rapidly.

1 INTRODUCTION

The mechanical essence of rock excavation usually belongs

to the category of unloading mechanics. In practical rock

project there is often complicated geological condition

accom

panied, it mainly includes high stress, groundwater, coal

bed

gas and so on. In these problems, the study of the coupling

mechanism of the seepage field and damage field for frac

tured rock masses is very important; by which the

co-operation

mechanism of geological condition such as groundwater etc

with the surrounding rock and support structure can be

known,

which has important significance for prevention and cure of

groundwater. Academician Wang Sijin, the president of Chi

nese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering had pointed

out: “Rock Mechanics is developing from the study on unitary

solid discontinuous material to multiple fields with

coupling

and multiphase movement”. The experts of rock mechanics

had noticed the important effect of water on the mechanical

behavior of rock mass. But, with the development of mechan

ical behavior of rock mass and the simultaneous existence of

the multi-fields of heat, flow, solid and chemistry etc, a

fur

ther study on their interaction and coupling mechanism

should

be carried out in the future.” [1] Moreover, now the study

on

characteristic of seepage from rock mass is mainly in

respect

of loading process, while the study of unloading process is

still less.

2 ANALYSIS ON ROCK UNLOADING PROCESS

The practice of many projects at home and overseas indicated

that almost all the destruction of rock mass does not

commence

at the start, but due to the variation of excavation

unloading,

after the rock excavation, there is stress redistribution

occurred

in the rock mass, leading to deformation of the rock mass at

the interface with the weak structure; there is a great

change

in fissures and the mechanical properties of rock mass are

deteriorated. Based on the process of rock mass unloading,

an

ideal curve may be drawn (Fig.1), on this curve some

specific

points can be found, such as the points o, a, b, c and d,

the compressive s t ra in e x c a v a t i o n u n l o a d i
n g s t e p o a b c d c o m p r e s s i v e s t r e s s ( M
P a ) a n a l o g u e u n l o a d i n g s t e p a n a l o g
u e l o a d i n g s t e p Y o r i e n t a t i o n Figure 1.
The loading and unloading curve. process of unloading is
divided into five phases with different characters: (1)
Phase I, section oa indicates the unloading below 30% of
extreme unloading, in this phase there is mainly elastic
deformation; (2) Phase II, section ab – unloading in range
of 30%–80% of extreme unloading, in this phase, there is
mainly elasticplastic deformation; (3) Phase III, section
bc – unloading in range of 80%–100% of extreme unloading,
in this phase there is mainly plastic deformation; (4)
Phase IV, section cd – above the extreme unloading, the
rock mass is under tensile deformation; (5) Phase V, after
point d, the tension of rock mass exceeds its tensile
strength. There are three states of the rock during the
whole process of rock unloading, elastic deformation state
(sections oa and ab), plastic deformation state (section
bc), fracture development state (section cd and after point
d). The rock enters the tensile deformation state when the
rock unloading value reaches the extreme and the crack
begins to develop from unstable to fracture spreading and
crack enlargement.

On the different section of the rock unloading curve, the

fis

sure varies with unloading. Based on the Darcy Law, the

water

seepage flow is mainly in the little channels at the

boundary

with rock fissure surface, therefore, the relationship

between

unloading and permeability coefficient at different phases

can

be gained through experiment.

3 EXPERIMENT SCHEME AND METHOD

OF ROCK MASS UNLOADING

The sample was taken from certain rock slope in Chongqing

University and the rock sample belongs to Middle Jurassic,

weathering sandstone. The sample is a cylinder with diameter

of 39 mm and height 80 mm.The experiment is carried out on

the three-axial tester SJ-1A.G made in Nanjing. The stress

path which the experiment had adopted is that firstly to

exert

the axial pressure up to close to the yield state then

carry out

unloading to simulate the stressing effect of rock slope

during

its formation process. The physic-mechanical parameters of

the rock sample are given in Table 1.

The steps of experiment are as follows: (1)Firstly, to exert

axial pressure to the sample, gradually increase the

pressure

to certain value 1MPa before rupture, keep it unchanged in

30 min. (2) Secondly, to exert the surrounding pressure up

Table 1. Physical-mechanical parameters of the rock sample.
SD/ u E/GPa W/% ρ (g/cm 3 ) P/% 0.34 0.489 10.10 2.656
2.265 22.84 0 . 0 E + 0 0 5 . 0 E 0 5 1 . 0 E 0 4 1 . 5 E 0
4 2 . 0 E 0 4 2 . 5 E 0 4 3 . 0 E 0 4 3 . 5 E 0 4 4 . 0 E 0
4 0 2 0 4 0 6 0 8 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 e f f e c t i v e u n l o
a d i n g %

p e

r m

e a

b i

l i
t y

o e

f f

i c

i e

n t

( c

/ s

) p o re wa te r p ressure i s 100kPa pore wa te r p

ressure i s 200kPa pore wa te r p ressure i s 300kPa

Figure 2. Relationship between permeability coefficient and

unloading value. Table 2. Experimental data of unloading

and permeability coefficient at different pore pressure.
100 kPa 200 kPa 300 kPa Unloading permeability Unloading
permeability Unloading permeability value coefficient value
coefficient value coefficient % cm/s % cm/s % cm/s 0
1.52E-05 0 2.18E-05 0.00 3.14E-05 14.28571 1.52E-05
16.66667 2.21E-05 20.00 3.29E-05 28.57143 1.64E-05 33.33333
2.34E-05 40.00 3.46E-05 42.85714 1.76E-05 50.00000 2.47E-05
60.00 3.65E-05 57.14286 2.01E-05 66.66667 2.93E-05 80.00
4.33E-05 71.42857 3.78E-05 83.33333 5.92E-05 90.00 7.60E-05
85.71429 5.94E-05 91.66667 1.27E-04 98.00 3.70E-04 98.57143
1.31E-04 98.33333 1.86E-04 to 800kPa, after 30min increase
the axis pressure to make σ 1 − σ 3 = 1 MPa, keep the rock
stable at this stress for 30 min. (3) Thirdly, to keep the
sample stable for 30 min under certain water pressure (such
as 100 kPa, 200 kPa and 300 kPa ), then to unload the
surrounding pressure and measure the seepage. Unloading is
carried out with a step of 100 kPa and interval of 30 min,
until the surrounding pressure is about 10 kPa more than
the pore water pressure. In addition, at each stage, the
seepage of the sample without unloading is measured for
comparing it with the influence of unloading damage on the
seepage. 4 ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIMENT RESULTS 4.1 Influence
of the unloading value on the permeability coefficient The
permeability coefficient changes greatly with the
increasing unloading value of the rock and the pore
pressure unchanged. Figure 2 is the relationship curves
between permeability coefficient and unloading value of the
rock at pore pressure of 100 kPa, 200 kPa and 300 kPa. The
permeability coefficient is increased with loading
increasing and corresponds to the unloading state in
different phases of unloading. The permeability coefficient
is unchanged basically in the elastic phase of unloading
process. Entering into plastic phases of unloading, the
permeability coefficient is changed very much, especially,
as the unloading reaches 80% of ultimate unloading value,
the permeability coefficient increases rapidly. From the
information presented, the plastic deformation of the rock
mass influenced the permeability coefficient greatly and
the tiny cracks in rock formed during unloading gradually
changed into expedite seepage pass [5–7]. The above given
relationship curves demonstrated the relation between the
increasing gradient of permeability coefficient and
unloading value. Fig. 2 illustrates the direct proportion
of the permeability coefficient with the unloading when the
pore pressure is low. With the increasing of pore pressure
the increasing gradient of permeability coefficient is
bigger under the same unloading value. Table 2 gives the
experimental data of unloading and permeability
coefficient. 4.2 Fitting analysis for experimental data of
seepage under unloading From the information presented in
Fig. 2, there were different data, but their form of
representation show definite

Figure 3. Analog curve of unloading and permeability

coefficient

at pore pressure 100 kPa.

Figure 4. Analog curve of unloading and permeability

coefficient

at pore pressure 200 kPa.

Figure 5. Analog curve of unloading – permeability

coefficient at

pore pressure 300 kPa.

comparability. Based on the Curve Expert1.3 the fitting equa

tion 1 has been obtained and the relationship equation of

unloading stress with permeability coefficient has been

estab
lished for further study on the variation rule of
permeability

coefficient and unloading. Fig. 3 to Fig. 5 are the analog

curves obtained by the relationship equation of stress and

permeability coefficient from experimental data curves and

ABSTRACT: In this paper an extension of the known

Hoek-Brown failure criterion to three dimensions is
presented. First

of all, a recompilation of compression, extension and true

triaxial tests made with rocks, present in the technical
literature, is

made. The main conclusion drawn from those tests is the

importance of the intermediate principal stress in the
failure strength

of rocks. Taking this idea into account, the Hoek-Brown

failure criterion is modified. The laboratory test results
are modelled

with this new criterion with great success, which proves

the goodness of the modification done.

1 INTRODUCTION

In many rock engineering problems it is necessary to have

a failure criterion able to reproduce correctly the real

stress

condition at failure under three-dimensional configuration.

Particularly, the spread in the use of Finite Element Method

programs that let calculate three-dimensional models

requires

compulsoryly the definition of three-dimensional failure cri

terion to be able to make adequate calculations.

By other hand, among other criteria present in the technical

literature, probably the most used model in Rock Mechanics

is the one developed by Hoek – Brown established in 1980.

In its latest version (Hoek et al., 2002), the criterion

can be

written using the following expression:

where σ 1 is the major principal stress at failure, σ 3 is

the

minor principal stress at failure, σ c is the uniaxial

compression

strength of the rock matrix and m b and s are constants that

depend on the characteristics of the rock and its degree of

fracturing. The following expressions are commonly used to

calculate those constants:

The values of m 0 are given for different rocks in Hoek and

Marinos (2000). GSI is the Geological Strength Index (Hoek

et al, 1992) of the mass rock and D is a factor which

depends

upon the degree of disturbance to which the rock mass has

been subjected by blast damage and stress relaxation. If the

study is based on laboratory specimens, GSI can be

considered

equal to 100 and D equal to 0, which means, from a practical

point of view, a minimal disturbance. Figure 1. Compression

and extension triaxial tests (Mogi, 1967). Having into
account these previous ideas, in this paper an extension of
the Hoek – Brown failure criterion is made to reproduce the
failure in three-dimensional stress states. 2 RECOPILATION
OF LABORATORY TEST RESULTS 2.1 Compression and extension
triaxial tests The first results that proved the influence
of the intermediate stress (σ 2 ) in the failure strength
were those obtained in the so-called triaxial compression
tests in which the intermediate stress is fixed equal
either to the minimum principal stress (as in the
compression test under confining pressure) or to the
maximum principal stress (as in the extension test under
confining pressure). Examples of these kinds of tests can
be found in Mogi (1967) who made 26 extension and 21
compression triaxial tests, in which Westerly granite,
Dunham dolomite and Solenhofen limestone were used. The
results obtained in that research can be seen in Figure 1.
The fact that the extension curve lies above the
compression curve indicates the marked influence of the
intermediate principal stress on the failure strength. This
idea is one of the main conclusions that can be drawn from
those particular results.

Figure 2. Results of true triaxial tests (Takahashi &

Koide, 1989).

2.2 True triaxial tests

Another step in the study of the dependence of the inter

mediate stress on the failure strength of rocks is to

perform

tests in which the three principal stresses can be fixed

inde

pendently. To do so, the best laboratory device is the true

triaxial compression apparatus, such the one developed by

Mogi (1971).

One of the most complete studies based on true triaxial

tests is the one carried out by Takahashi & Koide (1989) who

used in their research a true triaxial compression apparatus

based on the one designed by Mogi. These tests were made

with five types of rocks: Shirihama sandstone (SSSI),

Horonai

sandstone (HOSS), Izumi sandstone (SSIZ), Yuubari shale

(YUSH) and Yamaguchi marble (MAYA). 172 samples were

broken with nine different minor principal stresses (σ 3 ),

rang

ing from 5 to 50 MPa. In these tests, the so called “Lambe

parameter” [�= (σ 2 − σ 3 )/(σ 1 − σ 3 )] ranged between 0
and

0,7. The results obtained are shown in Figure 2.

One of the most important conclusions of this set of tests

is that the failure strength depends on both the

intermediate

and the minimum principal stresses. The way of dependence

can be seen in Figure 3, where the results obtained in the

tests performed with Shirihama sandstone are plotted, by the

authors, besides the curves that best mathematically fit

those

results. It can be deduced that, for a fixed minimum

principal

stress (σ 3 ), the failure strength increases while the

intermedi

ate stress (σ 2 ) gets larger until it arrives at a value

since which

the failure strength begins to decrease. This idea is

supported

on the fact that the best mathematical approximation got is

a

parabola, as it can be also deduced from Figure 3.

Other results found in the literature are due to Hojem &

Cook (1968, in Vutukuri, 1974) who studied the influence of

the intermediate principal stress on the strength of

specimens

of Karroo dolerite. The results, presented in Figure 4, also

show that the value of the intermediate principal stress

has a

significant effect on the compressive strength.

Mogi (1970, in Vutukuri, 1974) also extended his research

on the effect of the intermediate principal stress on the

com

pressive strength by making true triaxial tests with

specimens Figure 3. True triaxial tests made with Shirihama
sandstone (Takahashi & Koide, 1989). ( Figure 4. Results of
true triaxial tests. of the same rocks as mentioned before.
In Figure 4, the results obtained with Dunham dolomite are
also given. 3 FORMULATION OF THE 3D FAILURE CRITERION The
formulation of the 3D failure criterion, as an extension of
the Hoek – Brown failure criterion in 2D, requires the
introduction of two new parameters: α and η, that represent
the 3D dependence of the failure strength. In the following
expression, this mathematical extension is done: where the
parameters m b , s and a were defined before. For α= 0,
this 3D failure criterion reproduces exactly the Hoek –
Brown failure criterion for two dimensions. The results
that can be reproduced with the 3D failure criterion
expressed above have a shape as indicated in Figure 5. It
is important to note that when modelling laboratory tests,
the value of the parameter GSI is equal to 100, so the
parameters m b , s and a are equal to m o , 1 and 0,5,
respectively. The analysis of the results shown in Figure 5
makes it possible to highlight some characteristics of the
model: a. The influence of the intermediate principal
stress (σ 2 ) on the failure strength is clearly reproduced
by the model. b. The model produces different values, at
failure, for compression and extension triaxial tests. c. A
peak value of the maximum principal stress at failure (σ 1
) is obtained, for σ 3 being constant, depending on the
intermediate principal stress (σ 2 ).

Figure 5. Graphical results of the failure criterion for

different val

ues of the minimum principal stress (σ 3 ) and of Lambe

parameter

[�= (σ 2 − σ 3 )/(σ 1 − σ 3 )].

Figure 6. Results of the failure criterion for different

values of

parameter α.

Figure 7. Results of the failure criterion for different

values of
parameter η.

The model depends basically on four parameters: the uni

axial compression strength (σ c ), the parameter m 0 and the

three-dimensional factors α and η.The influence of the param

eters α and η in the values deduced of the failure strength

is

shown in Figures 6 and 7, respectively.

The following facts can be deduced from the results shown

in the previous figures:

a. The value of the maximum principal stress (σ 1 )

increases

when the value of constant m 0 gets larger, while the shape

of the curve that relates the two greatest principal

stresses

keeps roughly the same curvature.

b. The influence of the intermediate principal stress (σ 2

) is

more significant when the value of factor α gets larger, as

the shape of the curve that relates the two greatest

principal

stresses has more curvature. In the limit, if α is equal to

0, Table 1. Parameter values used to model the laboratory
tests. Name No tests σ c (MPa) m o α η Westerly Granite (1)
13 240 29 1,3 1,4 Solenhofem limestone (1) 16 300 3 1,0 1,1
Dunham Dolomite (1) 18 250 12 1,2 1,1 Shirihama Sandstone
(2) 55 65 15 0,9 1,0 Horonai Sandstone I (2) 19 70 19 1,1
1,0 Horonai Sandstone II (2) 17 90 19 1,1 1,0 Horonai
Sandstone III (2) 8 140 19 1,1 1,0 Izumi Sandstone (2) 21
220 19 1,5 1,0 Yuubari Shale (2) 26 90 6 1,1 1,0 Yamaguchi
Marble (2) 26 80 11 1,5 1,2 Karroo Dolerite (3) 10 425 18
1,4 1,0 Note: (1) Mogi, 1970; (2) Takahashi & Koide, 1989;
(3) Hojem & Cook, 1968. the value of the 3D failure
strength is constant and equal to the 2D compression
triaxial strength, so the curve becomes a straight line, as
it can be seen in Figure 6. c. The relation between the
values of the failure strength in compression and extension
triaxial tests for the same minimum principal stress
depends mainly on the value of the factor η, as it can be
seen in Figure 7. This means, according with Mogi’s
research (1967), that the value of η can never be less than
1. d. The maximum strength at failure is obtained when
Lambe parameter is between 0,6 and 0,8; this difference
depends mainly on factor η. 4 MODELLING OF LABORATORY TEST
RESULTS In this chapter, the results of the eleven sets of
different laboratory tests, collected previously, are
reproduced using the model developed in this paper. In
Table 1 the values of the parameters used in the modelling
are given. The following facts can be highlighted from
Table 1: a. The values of constant m 0 were taken directly
from Hoek & Marinos (2000) according to the type of rock.
b. The value of factor α, that bets fits the herein
proposed model, ranged from 0,90 to 1,50, with a mean value
of 1,1. c. The value of factor η, that bets fits the herein
proposed model, ranged between 1,1 and 1,4 in the tests
performed by Mogi (1967), which only consisted in
compression and extension triaxial tests. d. However, in
all the poliaxial tests made by Takahashi & Koide (1989),
except one of them, the best value of factor η was equal to
1. The results obtained when modelling the laboratory tests
are shown in the following figures. It can be seen the good
agreement between laboratory results and the values deduced
by the proposed model. 5 OTHERS 3D FAILURE CRITERIA Mogi
(1967) was one of the first researchers in studying the
influence of the intermediate principal stress on failure
conditions. After having made a great number of laboratory
test Mogi suggested the following expression to model the
results

Figure 8. Modelling of test results (Model:solid lines;

test results:

solid points).

obtained. The value of the parameter α probed to be nearly

0,1

for all the brittles rocks studied.

Takahashi & Koide (1989) developed a model based on

the effective shear strain energy stored in rock specimen

and

obtained good results when modelling their own laboratory

test results.

Haimson (2003) undertook a research to established the

ABSTRACT: To determine the response of a rock mass to an

applied stress field, one must first adequately
characterise that

rock mass. Numerical modelling is increasingly put forward

as a method of improving understanding of the behaviour of

rock masses. To achieve maximum potential from numerical

modelling, series of models that test the natural
variability and

uncertainty in fracture geometries and consequent rock mass

behaviour must be run. The proposed approach uses the
Discrete

Fracture Network (DFN) software FracMan to produce 3D

stochastic models of rock masses from mapped fracture data
that

contain the geometrical characteristics of the fractures.

Geomechanical modelling is carried out using the program
Elfen, which

assesses the influence of the initial fracture geometries

on the rock mass behaviour. This study focuses on the size
of sample

required to adequately characterise a fractured rock mass,

taking in to account the natural complexity and variability
of fractures

within rock masses.

1 INTRODUCTION

The 3D characterisation of the structural features of rock

mass

is a challenging problem facing engineering geologists.

There

are two main issues: firstly, what constitutes an adequate

char

acterisation of the rock mass. This will clearly depend on

the

purpose of the survey, and will be scale dependent. The sec

ond issue is the extrapolation of the collected data into 3D

descriptions of the features within the rock mass. Sampling

carried out in two dimensions (2D), via mapped windows on

exposures, or in 1D, via boreholes, must be extrapolated to

provide a 3D description of the rock mass. To some extent,

the second issue depends on the first: how accurate a rock

mass characterisation is needed. At a more fundamental

level,

it addresses the question of the statistical description of

rock

masses and their scaling properties.

Typically, rock mass characterisation has been based on

geotechnical mapping data. Traditionally, the collection of

geotechnical field data from exposures has been a manually

intensive, slow, laborious process. The increased

accessibility

of digital imaging technology such as photogrammetry and 3D

laser scanning (for example Coggan et al., 2006) has made it

possible to acquire large volumes of high quality spatial

data

associated with a given rock mass outcrop. This allows for a

much better quality of rock mass characterisation based on

the statistics of the gathered data, and allows the

possibility

of characterisation on multiple scales.

The proposed approach in this paper combines a stochastic

description of the fractured rock mass with geomechanical

modelling. This approach allows the natural variability of

the fractured rock mass to be explored and characterised

using the DFN program FracMan (Dershowitz et al., 1998,

http://fracman.golder.com). A Monte Carlo approach to the

geomechanical modelling, using the program Elfen (Owen

et al. 2004, http://rsazure.swan.ac.uk/index.html), can

incor

porate the range of initial fracture geometries within the

rock

mass, and assess their importance to the overall behaviour

of

the rock mass.

The FracMan modelling suite has been used on numerous

civil engineering, mining and oil and gas projects where a

good

understanding of the effects of fracture networks is

required. This included investigating potential radioactive
waste disposal sites (Heathcote et al. 1996), and
hydrocarbon reservoirs (Jolly et al. 2000). The
geomechanical modelling code Elfen was originally used for
the dynamic modelling of brittle solids (e.g. ceramics),
but has found increasing use in rock mechanics (Coggan et
al. 2003, Cai & Kaiser 2004). This study focussed on
investigating the size of sample needed to adequately
capture the geometric characteristics of a fractured rock
mass. It is recognised that variability in lithologies and
geomechanical properties as well as environmental features
such as water and weathering also need to be considered
when characterising a rock mass, and that these may in some
cases overshadow the effects of fracture geometry.
Initially generic FracMan modelling was carried out. Very
simple sets of fractures with different sizes of radii were
stochastically generated, and were sampled along 2D planes
to record intersecting fracture traces. The size of sample
plane needed to adequately represent those fracture
geometries was determined. The measure chosen to describe
the fractures was the fracture intensity, or P 21 , which
is defined as the mean total length (m) of fracture within
a given area (m 2 ). The P 21 is scale independent, and
varies with the orientation of the plane upon which it is
measured. It incorporates the number of fracture sets, the
fracture persistence, and the number of fractures present.
Assuming a random fracture location, the P 21 when
considered together with the fracture persistence also
provides information on the spacing of the fractures: the
same P 21 can be made up of many short fractures, or a few
long fractures (with associated wider spacings). It does
not provide information on the morphology of the fractures
themselves, and factors such as roughness or infill must be
considered separately. It is recognised that the fractures
are the result of previous stress fields and structural
loading events occurring throughout the history of the rock
mass which have determined their orientation, location,
size and density, within this study. However, it is assumed
that all fractures are randomly located in space. This is a
useful simplification for the stochastic generation of
fractures, and in most cases is a sufficient approximation
to natural rock mass.

The second half of this study uses Elfen modelling to inves

tigate the effect of sample size together with initial

fracture

geometries on the geomechanical behaviour of the rock mass,

especially focussing on small sample sizes. This approach

has

been taken based on the reality of most modelling: that limi

tations in computing power reduce the size and complexity of

model that can be run practically.

These assessments have then been carried out for the Hop

tonwood Limestone, as mapped in Middleton Mine, UK where

a previous rock mass investigation has been carried out

using

FracMan and Elfen (Pine et al. 2006). This study has

initially

been carried out in 2D, but can easily be extended to three

dimensions.

2 FRACMAN MODELLING

2.1 Model set up

The FracMan synthetic fracture models were set up to be as

simple as possible to examine the effect of the size of

sample

plane on the variability of fractures sampled.

For the initial generic models, constant fracture dip and

dip directions were used within the fracture sets. The frac

tures were all oriented such that the sample planes were

perpendicular to fracture strike, giving the “true” fracture

intersection trace. Each fracture set also had a constant

radius,

but radii were varied between sets and models. The fractures

were located randomly in space, following a Poissonian dis

tribution. In total five fracture sets were used, as shown

in

Table 1.

The P 32 parameter used in Table 1 is a three dimensional

measure of fracture intensity, defined as the total surface

area

of fractures (m 2 ) per unit volume (m 3 ). Like the P 21

it is scale

independent, but as a volumetric parameter, it is direction

independent.

The fractures were sampled using their intersections with

one hundred 2D planes dipping at 90 ◦ towards 000, as shown

in Figure 1. The planes were spaced such that no fractures

intersected more than one sample plane. The constant orien

tation and radii of the fractures allowed the expected

value of

P 21 on the traceplanes to be determined as 0.5 * (number of

fracture sets).

Several models were synthesised within FracMan to deter

mine the sample plane area necessary to provide an

“accurate”

associated P 21 value. This tolerance was taken as being

reached when the standard deviation of the P 21 of the one

hundred samples was equal to 10% of the value of the mean

P 21 . This was an arbitrary value, but was consistently

used

throughout the study. Henceforth, a “representative” sample

plane area will be assumed to conform to this tolerance.

2.2 FracMan results

2.2.1 Model series 1

The first series of models, 1a–d, was run using three

fracture

sets: V, D1 and D2 as described in Table 1, with radii 1.0

m,

0.5 m, 2.0 m and 4.0 m respectively. The expected P 21 on

the

sample planes for all these models is 1.50 m −1 . The

results

from model 1a, with radius 1.0 m, are shown in Table 2 and

Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 4 shows the results from Table 2, plotting the stan

dard deviation against the sample plane area. A power law

curve has been fitted to these results, with equation 1

shown Table 1. Fracture set properties used in modelling.
Dip Fracture Dip direction radius number P 32 set degree
degree m of sides m −1 V 90.0 090 2.0 6 0.5 H 00.0 000 2.0
6 0.5 D1 45.0 090 2.0 6 0.5 D2 45.0 270 2.0 6 0.5 D3 72.5
270 2.0 6 0.5 Figure 1. Example of a section of a FracMan
model containing three fracture sets (V, D1, D2 from Table
1). The front half of the box has been cut away to show
example 10 m × 10 m sample planes, with the associated
intersecting fractures (traces only on the left hand side).
Only 25% of the fractures are displayed for clarity. Table
2. Results of FracMan model 1a. Measured P 21 Sample Plane
plane area Mean Standard deviation Min Max m m 2 m −1 m −1
m −1 m −1 2.8 × 7 19.6 1.49 0.33 0.64 2.50 5 × 5 25.0 1.52
0.28 0.84 2.32 7 × 7 49.0 1.47 0.18 0.99 1.87 9 × 9 81.0
1.49 0.16 1.08 1.98 10 × 10 100.0 1.49 0.14 1.13 1.92
Figure 2. Plot of frequency versus measured P 21 for
different sized sample planes in model 1a, showing the
tendency for more tightly constrained values of P 21 with
increasing sample plane area.

Figure 3. Sample planes of sizes 2.8 m × 7 m, 7 m × 7 m and

10 m × 10 m from model 1a showing the fracture traces of

minimum

and maximum recorded P 21 s (as in Table 2). There is a

large disparity

between the two extremes for smallest plane, but this

becomes more

acceptable with increasing sample plane area.

Figure 4. Plot of standard deviation of measured P 21

versus the

sample plane area for model 1a.

in the plot. The Pearson product moment correlation coeffi

cient, R 2 , is also given, which shows the curve is a good

fit to

the data. A power law curve was found to be an acceptable

fit
for the corresponding plots for all models in this study.
This

graph suggests that at low sample plane areas, the P 21 can

not be measured with any accuracy, but increasing the area

quickly reduces the uncertainty in measured P 21 .

In this study the size of the sample planes are increased in

steps of 1 m in side length. It must therefore be noted that

the actual “representative” sample plane size required may

fall between those measured. In Table 2, the

“representative”

sample plane size is probably 9.5 m × 9.5 m. This will not

lead

to inaccuracies in the relationships between the parameters

determined. However, the aim of this part of the study is to

look at the trends in generic relationships, and not at

specific

cases.

The plot in Figure 5 shows a linear variation (equation 2)

in the sample plane area needed for an acceptable standard

deviation in P 21 with fracture radius for models 1a to 1d.

2.2.2 Model series 2

Model series 2 was run keeping a fracture radius of 2.0 m

for

all sets, and varying the number of fracture sets

synthesised.

Each fracture set had a P 21 of 0.50, so this had the

effect of

varying the P 21 . The results are shown in Figure 6.

Figure 5. Plot of “representative” sample plane area versus
fracture radius for model series 1. Figure 6. Plot of
variation in “representative” sample plane area with P 21
for model series 2. The best-fit trendline to the data
(equation 3) is also shown. Table 3. Fracture properties
for Middleton Mine. Associated parameters Fracture
Distribution Dip/dip direction P 32 set orientation degree
fisher K m −1 1a Fisher 89/308 41.5 0.80 1b Fisher 84/323
8.4 0.90 2a Fisher 88/319 17.2 1.15 2b Fisher 87/269 28.2
0.66 3a Fisher 46/260 22.4 0.27 3b Fisher 44/013 12.6 0.16
Radius Mean Standard deviation m m 1a Lognormal 38.9 9.0 1b
Lognormal 3.3 0.6 2a & 2b Lognormal 3.7 1.2 3a & 3b
Lognormal 3.7 1.5 2.2.3 Model series 3 The third series of
FracMan models was run using the fracture properties from
Middleton Mine, as shown in Table 3. All fracture spatial
locations followed a Poissonian distribution, and the
fractures were generated as 6-sided polygons. The sample
planes were oriented as vertical planes striking EastWest,
as in previous models. These fractures have dispersions
associated with both their orientations and radii, and are
thus far more realistic than those used in the generic
models so far. The expected P 21 on the sample planes was
3.02 m −1 . An adequate “representation” of the P 21 was
obtained with a 14 m × 14 m sample plane as shown in Figure
7.

Figure 7. Example 14 m × 14 m sample planes from model 3a,

showing the lowest, average and highest P 21 recorded.

There was no obvious way to compare this result to the

relationships determined from model series 1 and 2 above,

given the range of fracture radii in the Middleton model. A

second model, 3b, was therefore developed which used the

same properties as model 3a, but changed the fracture radii

distribution for each set to have a mean of 3.7 m and a

standard

deviation of 1.2 m. The P 32 values for each set were kept

the

same, and the resultant P 21 on the sample planes was still

3.02 m −1 . For model 3b, the “representative” sample plane

was found to lie between the 13 m × 13 m and 14 m × 14 m

sample plane sizes.

Using Equation 2 with a radius of 3.7 m, the predicted rep

resentative sample plane area is 402 m 2 , suggesting a

sample

plane of about 20 m × 20 m. However, this relationship was

derived for models with a P 21 of 1.50 m −1 , half that of

model

3b. This was then taken into account using equation 3:

suggesting a sample plane of about 13.5 m × 13.5 m, which

compares well with the size determined from model 3b.

To test this further, a third model, 3c, was generated with

all radii 3.7 m as in model 3b, but halving the P 32 of each

fracture set. This had the effect of halving the expected P

21 on

the sample plane. Using the above logic, it was predicted

that

the representative sample plane would be 400 m 2 in area.

When model 3c was sampled, it was found that the sample

plane required to adequately represent the standard devia

tion of the P 21 was 20 m × 20 m, giving an area of 400 m 2

as predicted.

It is interesting to note that the representative sample

plane

in model 3b was only fractionally smaller than that in model

3a, which contained fractures with a radius of 38.9 m. It

might

be expected that such a large fracture size would need a

repre

sentative sample plane of the order of several thousand

square

metres in area, and yet it appears to have little effect on

model

3a. This may be because there are many fracture sets in this

model, and set 1a only makes up 10% of the total P 21 ; the

remaining sets all have fracture radii of 3.3 m or 3.7 m.

If the

fractional contribution from set 1a increased, it is

expected its

effect on the size of the representative sample plane would

also increase.

3 ELFEN MODELLING

3.1 Model set up

Elfen employs a combination of finite and discrete element

(hybrid) approaches. The software allows a realistic

fracture

geometry to be entered. Subsequent loading of the model

Table 4. Intact rock material values for pillar modelling.
Property Unit Value Unconfined compressive strength MPa
48.0 Fracture energy Jm −2 19.5 Tensile strength MPa 3.8
Young’s modulus GPa 27.5 Poisson’s ratio 0.23 Density kgm
−3 2600 Cohesion MPa 9.2 Angle of friction degree 45.0
results in both fracture growth and the development of new
fractures. The geomechanical modelling discussed here is
simulated pillar loading in mines. However the results of
this study into the characterisation of the variability of
rock masses are more general. It is beyond the scope of
this paper to describe the Elfen modelling in detail, or
the background to it; a full review can be found in Pine et
al. (2006) and Elmo (2006). The modelled rock mass was
based on the massive Hoptonwood Limestone of Middleton
Mine. The geomechanical parameters are given inTable
4.These parameters were derived from laboratory tests and
typical values for similar limestones from the
literature.The Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion was used for
the intact rock, and a coupled Mohr-Coulomb and Rankine
formulation (Klerk 2000) was used for fracture development.
The Elfen models were based on a number of different 2.8 m
× 7.0 m cross sectional sample planes representing pillar
faces taken from FracMan models. FracMan fracture geometry
models are based on the Hoptonwood Limestone (Table 3) and
variations thereof. It is clear from the previous FracMan
modelling results that this is far smaller than a
representative area for this rock mass derived in section
2.2.3 (14 m × 14 m). These sized pillars were chosen for
their short model run times (a few hours). Even relatively
small 14 × 7 m 2D pillar models took of the order of weeks
to run in Elfen. Code developments for improved run time,
including parallel processing, are now in progress. The
pillars were simulated as if subject to uniaxial laboratory
loading, and taken to complete failure. The loadings were
in two stages, with an initial gravity loading followed by
a constant strain rate control on platen closure.All
simulations were conducted in plane strain. Values of the
peak axial stress were compared for each model. 3.2 Elfen
modelling results 3.2.1 Model series E1 A fracture geometry
model was generated in FracMan, based on those in Table 1,
using fracture sets V (radius 20 m), D1 (radius 1 m) and D2
(radius 1 m). The 2D planes modelled in Elfen are in the
same orientation as the sample planes in the FracMan
modelling above. Given a sample of rock mass, it is not
expected that the same initial fracture geometry would give
exactly the same response if loaded more than once, due to
the extremely complex nature of rock mass and the
interactions that occur within it.The software Elfen is
sophisticated enough to reproduce this variability.

Figure 8. Original model geometry and a typical peak stress

fracture

pattern for model E1a.

Figure 9. Comparison of axial stress/strain plots for

models E1a –

E1e. It can be seen that the curves are all fairly similar,
showing a rise

to a peak stress and a gradual decreasing of stress after

this “failure”

point.

Table 5. Peak axial stress and strain values for five runs
of the

same initial fracture geometry as shown in Figure 8.

Model Peak axial stress MPa % axial strain at peak

E1a 7.50 0.39

E1b 6.29 0.49

E1c 5.45 0.34

E1d 6.31 1.24

E1e 6.65 0.92

The model geometry, shown in Figure 8, was run several

times in Elfen to determine the variation in response of an

identical initial fracture geometry to loading.The models

were

compared at the point of peak axial stress, as shown in Fig

ures 8 and 9 and Table 5. Model E1a was run in Elfen version

3.7.0, and E1b – E1e were run in Elfen version 3.8.5.

Figure 10. Initial model geometries, model series E2 with P
21 = 1.62 m −1 . Table 6. Results of series E2 models.
Model Peak axial stress MPa % axial strain at peak Series
E1 average 6.44 0.68 E2a 4.64 0.43 E2b 4.62 0.17 E2c 4.33
0.29 The jagged nature of the curves in Figure 9 is due to
the creation of new fractures and the development of
existing ones within the model as a response to loading.
There are two peaks in the axial stress in the curves, one
occurring at about 0.3– 0.5% axial strain followed by a
sharp drop, and a build up to a second peak at about 1.0%
axial strain. The overall peak stress occurs at the first
peak in models E1a – E1c, and at the second peak in models
E1d and E1e. The mean peak axial stress is 6.44 MPa, with a
range of 2.05 MPa, and a mean axial strain at peak of
0.68%. 3.2.2 Model series E2 A series of models was run
maintaining a P 21 of 1.62 m −1 , as in models E1, but
changing the fracture geometry as shown in Figure 10. In
model E2a, the through-going vertical fracture was moved 1
m towards the right. Model E2b contains the same geometry
of diagonal fractures as series E1, but the two long
vertical fractures were changed into six shorter ones.
Model E2c was freshly generated in FracMan using fracture
sets V, D1 and D2 as before, but all with radii of 1.0 m.
The results of these models are given in Table 6. The
values of peak stresses are all lower than any measured in
series E1.At 2.8 m × 7.0 m, the model plane is much smaller
than the representative area suggested in the FracMan model
series (9.5 m × 9.5 m plane (model 1a in FracMan modelling)
for model E2c here). This places a greater significance on
the initial location of individual fractures within the
model. This may be the reason for the relatively low value
of peak axial stress in model E2a, which has just one
fracture moved compared to series E1. The FracMan modelling
showed that the lower the fracture radius, the smaller the
representative area needed to capture an accurate P 21 .
This will also extend to geomechanical modelling: a few
large fractures within an area will individually have a
much greater influence on the response of the rock mass to
loading than many shorter fractures amounting to the same P
21 within the same area. The models in series E2 follow the
expected trends described above, but given the large
scatter of peak stresses

Figure 11. Summary of all Elfen 2.8 m × 7.0 m models.

seen within series E1, these results can only be taken as an

indication of these behaviours.

3.2.3 Model series E3

Several 2.8 m × 7.0 m models have been run in Elfen using

variations of the geometries described above, varying the

frac

ture radii and the P 21 .The results all these models

described so

far are drawn together in Figure 11, which reveals the

overall

trend that decreasing the P 21 increases the strength of

the rock

mass, but with substantial scatter.

4 CONCLUSIONS

This paper introduced the concept of a minimum “represen

tative” sample plane area needed to accurately describe the

fracture geometry within a rock mass using the P 21 as a mea

sure of this accuracy. A power law relationship was found

between the sample plane area and the accuracy of the P 21

measured on it. The “representative” area varied linearly

with

fracture size, and as a power law with the P 21 . The

effect of a

few relatively large fractures within the rock mass has a

neg

ligible effect on these relationships as long as they make

up

only a small proportion of the overall P 21 .

Geomechanical modelling using Elfen shows that on top of

the variation in fracture geometry within a rock mass, there

will also be variability in the way that each geometry

responds

to an applied loading. This highlights the need for repeated

(Monte Carlo) simulations to gain true insight into the

range

of strength and deformability of the rock mass.

This methodology of characterisation should be considered

when designing any site investigation for the strength of

rock

masses, particularly where existing fractures are not

closely

spaced.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to acknowledge the support of colleagues and col

ABSTRACT: 3D terrestrial laser scanning is nowadays the

technique for 3D mapping and documentation of rock faces
and

tunnels that shows most potential. In this paper two

state-of-the-art methods are described to map rock mass
fractures on the

basis of 3D laser scan data: a semi-automatic method and a

fully automated approach. Both methods give good results
and

have both their advantages and disadvantages in terms of

practical implementation. Both methods make use of the very
high

level of detail and precision that the 3D laser scan data

provide. This, together with the rapid method and simple
way of data

acquisition makes 3D lasers scanning the most promising

fracture mapping tool in the future.

1 INTRODUCTION

In a rock engineering project, fracture mapping is one of

the

important steps, which provides the input data for further

rock mechanics analysis, rock engineering design and numer

ical modeling. Currently, fracture mapping at rock faces is

well-known performed by using compass and inclinometer,

and documentation by recording information on a notebook

and photographing with a camera. Although these so-called

traditional methods are now still used in most of the rock

engineering projects, the quality and quantity of the data

are

sometimes unable to meet the requirement in rock engineering

projects.

The most well-known drawback for traditional methods is

that too much personal work are involving in the in-situ

data

acquisition procedure, which is time-consuming, not accurate

enough, sometimes difficult and dangerous to reach the rock

faces physically. In addition, the way of data recording and

storing can not make the full use of modern IT and computer

technology to speed up the data processing, and then provide

the input data in a required format for further analysis and

designing.

Therefore, it has been recently realized that applying a new

method for in-situ data acquisition is the key point to

solve

the bottleneck problem for improving the rock face mapping

data with both quality and quantity. In recent years, the

efforts

of developing new techniques for in-situ data collection at

rock faces are in progress. Techniques, such as photogram

metry (e.g. Harrison, 1993; Coe, 1995), image processing

(e.g. Post and Kemeny, 2001), total station (Bulut and

Tudes,

1996; Feng, 1999) and laser scanning (Feng 2001, Slob et

al.,

2002, 2004), have been tested for measuring of different

joint

parameters and documentation of rock faces. The presented

method has applied a newly-developed 3D visual laser scan

ning technique to characterization and documentation of

joint

and jointed rock masses at rock faces. A 3D terrestrial

laser scanner can quickly record a great amount of digital
3D information of an object. Each scan takes just few
minutes with a high-speed sampling rate up to hundreds of
thousands of points per second, and covers up to hundreds
of square meters with the optimal scanning resolution in
the order of mm’s. Each scanning point can be recorded by 4
parameters, i.e. the 3D co-ordinates (X,Y, Z) and the
reflected intensity (I). Some laser scanners can in
addition provide colour information (R,G,B) through the
concurrent use of digital photography. Therefore, the
geometry of rock faces can be quickly recorded in three
dimensions with the 3D digital model and a grey-scale or
even colour image (3D gray-scale image or 3D colour
information). By measuring a few reference points for each
scan, the rock face can be transformed into a georeferenced
co-ordinate system, which enables the user to locate any
parts of a rock face in real 3D space. Therefore, 3D
measurement and documentation of a rock face can be more
quickly recorded in a 3D visual and digital format. The
largest problem so far has been to handle the data output.
It is not very difficult to carry out a 3D laser scan
survey, but it has been quite hard to convert the data to
useful information that can directly be used in rock
engineering practice. In this paper two different methods
are discussed to handle the large amount of point data that
a typical 3D terrestrial laser scanning survey yield. The
first method discusses a semi-automatic approach, which
makes use of the expert knowledge of the user to identify
important rock fractures in the scene. In this way, very
quickly, even in real-time, detailed measurements can be
made of the key fractures in the scanned face or tunnel
wall. The second method is based on a fully automated
approach, which identifies and measures every individual
fracture that can be detected. This method is more
time-consuming, but can be used to generate large amounts
of fracture data, which, in turn, can be used as input for
statistical analysis (e.g.

calculation of block size distribution) or can be used as

input

to numerical modeling tools (e.g. 3DEC).

2 SEMI-AUTOMATED PROCESSING OF LASERSCAN

DATA FOR MAPPING FRACTURES

By using the semi-automatic method, orientation of a

fracture

plane (e.g. dip and strike) can be determined interactively

or

semi-automatically from the 3D laser scanning data. The pre

sented method aims to not only make use of the advantage

of modern computer techniques, but also enable the operators

to utilize their geological background knowledge to control

the mapping results. A typical mapping procedure of this

method is not only taken by a computer software as virtual

mapping platform, but also interactively performed between

the computer and the operator: (1) select a part of rock sur

face from the whole 3D scanning model by the operator; (2)

choose a fracture exposed on the scanned rock surface, and

mark the exposed fracture surface interactively by the opera

tor; (3) Automatically calculate the best-fit fracture

plane by

the computer program, and then calculate the fracture orien

tation. Figure 1 shows an example for fracture mapping based

on 3D laser scanning data from an exposed rock face. Once

selecting an interesting area from en exposed rock surface

(Fig. 1a), a fracture can be interactively selected by a

soft

ware based on the user’s geological background from the 3D

digital model, which is important in the authors’ opinon, so

non-geological linear features can be avoided to be mapped.

Afterwards, a best-fit fracture plane can be created by the

com

puter (Fig. 1b), and then automatically calculate the

fracture

orientation (dip angle and dip direction). Therefore,

orienta
tion of fracture planes can be semi-automatically
determined,

which means that the geologists select the representative

frac

ture planes in 3D laser image, and the computer technology

is

employed to make the mapping procedure automatically.

By using this method, fracture mapping can be interactively

performed in 3D virtual model created by high-resolution

scanning data.Although taking a little while to select a

fracture

interactively, it is important to guarantee that a correct

fracture

is chosen for mapping. In addition, by the help of computer

technology, such as growing a plane from a seed point, rota

tion and moving a plane with accurate steps, a fracture

plane

can be accurately and quickly selected, and then

calculation of

fracture orientation and displaying of fractures in a 3D

digital

model become automatic and easy to handle, and can directly

input to further analysis and modeling.

Figure 1. Fracture mapping based on 3D laser scanning data:

(a) Scanned exposed rock face; (b) a best-fit fracture

plane created

from scanning data to determine fracture orientation. 3

AUTOMATED PROCESSING OF LASERSCAN DATA FOR MAPPING
FRACTURES 3.1 Automated processing through surface
reconstruction The first method of automated processing of
laserscan data is based on the creation of structure in the
pointcloud data through 3D surface reconstruction. This
method is documented and published in detail by Slob et al.
(2005) and Van Knapen et al. (2006). In short, the basic
idea behind this method was that the reconstructed virtual
computer-based 3D surface, which consists of a mesh of
triangular facets, contains all the discontinuity
information. Each meshed triangular facet has in fact an
orientation. By plotting of all the facet orientations in a
stereonet it is possible to detect trends in the data.The
trends then represent the discontinuity sets. Through fuzzy
kmeans clustering these sets can automatically be
recognised and thus the mean orientation of each set can be
determined. 3.2 Automated processing through direct
segmentation The other method is based on a direct
segmentation approach for processing of the point cloud
data. The direct segmentation approach makes use of the raw
point cloud data and the advantage is that it does not
require prior surface reconstruction, which is the case for
the previous method. The spatial structure of the point
cloud data is provided through a (kd) treebased structure.
The purpose of the tree structure is to speed up the
spatial search in the point cloud, which is important to
the efficiency of the direct segmentation approach. The
basic principle behind the segmentation method is
relatively simple: it starts with the selection of a seed
point around which the nearest neighboring points are
selected within a specified search distance. If it can be
mathematically verified that most of the neighboring points
lie close to the same flat plane, they are all labeled with
a (similar) label. From these labeled points, their
neighboring points are selected and it is again determined
whether most of these points are positioned close to the
same mathematical definition of a plane that is found
before. This process is repeated unless no new points are
found, which demarcates the extent of the discontinuity
plane. Then a new random (unlabelled) seed point is
selected and the process is repeated until all points in
the data set are classified. All points that have the same
class are thus part of the same discontinuity planes.
Consequently, a single mathematical expression in the form
of the plane equation can be determined for each
discontinuity. Therefore, the poles or normals to those
planes can also be plotted as orientations in a stereo
plot. The next step is to identify and demarcate the
discontinuity sets. The poles of the planes that are part
of the same Fuzzy or Fisher cluster can be re-classified as
belonging to the same discontinuity set. In this way the
entire dataset can finally be simplified as a number of
sets with average orientations. Since the plane equation of
each plane in a set is known, the calculation of
discontinuity set spacing becomes possible as well. In this
paper only one method is demonstrated for the mathematical
recognition of planes in the point data, namely: Principal
Component Analysis (PCA). Another method that could
successfully be used is a Hough transformation (Vosselman,
2005). The segmentation approach based on PCA is
implemented in a Matlab-based computer code. Both
procedures yield a segmented or classified point cloud
which is subsequently processed with Matlab to derive the
individual plane equations, to find the discontinuity sets
and compute

Figure 2. Rock exposure with well-developed discontinuity

sets

along a secondary road in Spain, from the towns of Falset

to Bellmunt

in Baix-Camp, Catalonia. The rock mass consist of

Carboniferous

Meta-Siltstone and Slates. According to BS: 5930:1999 the

rock

mass can be described as: dark-grey to black, silt-clay

size, small

tabular, slightly weathered META-SILTSTONES and SLATES. The

dimensions of the white boards are 60 × 60 cm. The size of

the out

lined area that is used for the laser scan analysis is 4 ×

4 meters (see

Figures 3 to 5).

Figure 3. This is a visualization of the laserscan

pointcloud of the

part of the rock exposure that is outlined in Figure 2. The

grey-scaled

value is the laser’s reflected intensity value.This

pointcloud consist of

616300 points, that are defined by their x,y and z

coordinate values.

The pointcloud is georeferenced, i.e. oriented with the

positive y-axis
towards the North and the entire set is level, i.e. the
positive z-axis

points straight upwards.

the set spacings. Both methods are applied to data of two

dif

ferent rock faces and the results are compared with manual

field measurements.

Below the illustrations clearly demonstrate the results and

possibilities of using the direction segmentation approach

to

derived discontinuity orientations data from a large part

of a

rock exposure. The various illustrations speak for

themselves

and demonstrate the various analysis and data processing

steps

in the method. Although at this moment the various steps

require some interference of the user in terms of data

import

and export to various software, the entire process can in

prin

ciple be fully automated so that in the future the results

can

be analyzed and displayed in real time, in the field.

Figure 4. This illustration is the same pointcloud, show in
Figure 3, but now each point is classified (‘segmented’) to
individual discontinuity planes. The various classes
(planes) are show with different colours. In this case a
total of 285 individual planes were recognised. Figure 5.
This illustration shows the segmented point, but now
classified according to the 5 discontinuity sets that are
identified in the stereoplot of all the 285 planes (please
refer to Figure 6.) Figure 6. The orientations of the 285
individual planes that were recognised after the pointcloud
segmentation are plotted in this stereo (polar) plot.
Visually, 5 discontinuity sets are recognised. The various
poles of the planes are clustered with Fuzzy k-means
clustering. The only user input is the number of joint
sets. The colour of the poles in the various sets
correspond with the coloured pointcloud in Figure 5, i.e.
the ‘red’ set (1) is the bedding, which is the same as the
slatey cleavage in this case.

Figure 7. This is the stereoplot of manual (scanline)

orientation

measurements. It is hard to compare both stereoplots. Only

two of

the discontinuity sets clearly correspond, while the other

sets show

little correlation.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, the new 3D terrestrial laser scanning is

intro

duced for 3D mapping and documentation of rock faces, which

enables one to capture 3D data of rock faces with high sam

pling speed and good resolution, especially 3D laser image

can help geologists to perform rock face mapping in a 3D

digital model, and speed up the data processing procedure.

Two methods, semi-automatic and full-automatic, are pre

sented to apply 3D terrestrial laser scanning data for

fracture

mapping, which show both their advantages and disadvantages

regarding to the practical applications. With a

semi-automatic

method, one can surely select a fracture for mapping with

the

background knowledge, and then speed up the mapping pro

cedure by the computer capacity. The full-automatic method

enables one to capture a large amount of data for statistic
analy

sis, and provide enough data for further analysis and

numerical

modeling.

In addition, the high-resolution scanning data with both

visual and special information can be not only used for

fracture

mapping, but also has a great potential application to

solving

different problems in rock engineering.

Bulut, F. and S.Tüdes. 1996. Determination of discontinuity

traces on

inaccessible rock slopes using electronic tacheometer: an

example

from the Ikizdere (Rize) Region, Turkey. Engineering

Geology 44,

pp. 229–233. BS 5930:1999. Code of practice for site

investigations. British Standard. British Standard
Institution, London. BSI 10-1999. 192 pp. Coe, J. A. 1995.
Close-range photogrammetric geological mapping and
structural analysis, Master thesis, Colorado School of
Mines, USA. Feng Q. 1999. Geodetic total station for
measuring geometry of discontinuities at exposed rock
faces. Licentiate thesis. Royal Institute of Technology,
Sweden. Feng Q., Anders B. and Stephansson O., 2001.
Fracture mapping at exposed rock faces by using close-range
digital photogrammetry and geodetic total station.
Proceedings of The 38th U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium,
Washington D.C. July 7–10. 2001. Feng Q. 2001. Novel
methods for 3-D semi-automatic mapping of fracture geometry
at exposed rock faces. Ph.D. Thesis, Division of
engineering geology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH),
Stockholm. ISBN 91-7283-113-8. Harrison, J.P. 1993.
Improved analysis of rock mass geometry using mathematical
and photogrammetric methods. Ph.D. Thesis, Imperial
College, London, U.K. Knapen, B. van. and Slob, S. 2006.
Identification and characterisation of rock mass
discontinuity sets using 3D laser scanning. In: IAEG 2006 :
Pre-proceedings 10th international congress International
Association of Engineering Geology : Engineering geology
for tomorrow’s cities : 6–10 September, Nottingham, United
Kingdom CD-ROM / London : Geological Society of London,
2006. paper 438. 11 p. Slob, S., Hack, H.R.G.K., van
Knapen, B., Turner, K. and Kemeny, J. 2005. A method for
automated discontinuity analysis of rock slopes with three
– dimensional laser scanning. In: Transportation research
record : journal of the transportation research board,
(2005) 1913, pp. 187–194. Slob, S., Hack, H.R.G.K. and
Turner, K. 2002. An approach to automatic discontinuity
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25–28, November 2002/ed. By C. Dinid da Gama and L. Riberia
e Sousa. Lisboa, Sociedade Portuguesa de Geotecnia, 2002.
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laser scanning as a new field measurement and monitoring
technique. In: Engineering Geology for Infrsutructure
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Hack,Rafig Azzam and Robert Charlier. Berlin, Springer
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Sithole, G. and Rabbani, T. 2005. Recognising structure in
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11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Geomechanical tests and their applications in rock
anchorage design Kang Hongpu & Lin Jian Beijing Mining
Institute, China Coal Research Institute, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: A newly developed fast geomechanical test system

for coal roadway anchorage design is presented in this
paper.

It includes in-situ stress measurement, strength

determination of roadway surrounding rock mass, and
borehole observation.

The applications of the system in Luan coal mining district

are introduced. The practice proves that the system is of
importance

for improving the safety level of roadway supporting.

1 INTRODUCTION

The roadway surrounding rock mass is an extremely com

plicated geological body. It has two characteristics.
First, it

has various discontinuous interfaces such as joints and fis

sures, but their existence apparently change the

characteristics

of strength and deformation, resulting in the extremely

large

strength differences between the rock mass and blocks con

sisting of the rock mass. Second, it has internal stresses

and the

magnitude and orientation of such stresses obviously affect

its

deformation and failure. Therefore, to understand thoroughly

the geomechanical characteristics of the roadway surrounding

rock is very imperative for works related to roadways such

as

their layout and support design, especially their anchor

support

design (Gale, 1993).

Beijing Mining Institute, China Coal Research Institute has

developed a fast geomechanical test system serving the coal

roadway anchor support. The system can rapidly and correctly

measure the geomechanical parameters of the surrounding

roadway rock mass and has been applied successfully in Lu-an

and Jincheng coal mining districts.

2 A GEOMECHANISC TEST SYSTEM FOR ROCK

MASS SURROUNDING ROADWAYS

The geomechanical test system mainly includes the following

three parts: the borehole stress measurement, the rock

strength

determination, and the borehole observation.

2.1 Borehole stress measurement

The method used by the system is the hydraulic fracturing

method. Compared with the stress relief test, it has

advantages

as follows (Li, 1985; Su, 1985): (a) capable of testing

stresses

at comparatively deep positions; (b) directly testing

without

understanding and measuring the elastic modulus of rock.

The test rig used is the SYY-56 Hydraulic Fracturing

Test Rig developed by Beijing Mining Institute, China Coal

Research Institute. It can rapidly and massively measure

stresses within a small diameter borehole (φ 56 mm). The

same borehole can also be used in the strength test of the

road

way surrounding rock mass. The rig is composed of sealing

tubes print tube, direction finders, hand pump, energy

storage

component, exploding-proof oil pump, and recorder (Fig. 1).

Test is carried out in the selected borehole segments with

complete rock cores. First, put the sealing tube in the

selected Figure 1. Schematic drawing of hydraulic
fracturing in situ stress test. borehole segment, then
bring pressure to bear on the borehole segment by the
exploding-proof oil pump until rock breaks up, and finally
record hydraulic fracturing curves and take fracture prints
by the print tube The measurement data recorded are
processed by a special software for the hydraulic
fracturing stress test (Cheung, 1989). 2.2 Rock strength
determination The used instrument is the WQCZ-56 test rig
(see Figure 2). It is composed of displacement reading
device, probe, hand pump, and installing rod. The diameter
of the probe is φ 54 mm. The testing depth of boreholes can
be up to 15 m. The instrument is very suitable for fast
rock mass strength measurement in underground mines. Test
is carried out in a borehole. First, drive the piston in
the probe by the hand (high oil pressure) pump and at the
same time push the needle to press the borehole wall until
the borehole wall is crushed, and then record the critical
pressure in the hand pump. Thus the uniaxial compressive
strength (UCS) of the rock mass can be derived from the
critical pressure through simple calculation. To obtain the
UCS along the whole borehole length, one test section is
selected every 200 mm ∼ 300 mm along the borehole. Test at
the section is curried at three points spanning 120 degrees
around the borehole axis. a span of are measured at each
section. The arithmetic mean value of three critical
pressures obtained is taken as the critical pressure of the
section. Manual pump Installing rod Read box Electric cable
High-pressure hose Detector

Figure 2. Schematic drawing of strength test in rock mass.

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Time (min) H y d r a u l i
c p r e s s u r e ( M P a )

Figure 3. Fracturing curve for stress test.

2.3 Borehole observation

The instrument used is the FS75 × 20 borehole observation

rig. It is composed of flexible optical fiber, lens,

eyepiece,

camera connector, miner lamp connector, and so on. The

observing depth is up to 6 m.

Borehole observation is to insert the instrument into the

borehole up to the maximum observing depth, and then

observe and record the rock texture in the borehole from the

eyepiece. While observation is ongoing, slowly turn and draw

out the instrument.

3 FIELD TESTING EXAMPLE

Nine sites had been measured successfully in Luan coal

mining district with the geomechanics test system.

3.1 Results and analysis of stress measurement

Figure 3 shows the pressure curve from a testing point in

Changcun Coal Mine.

The testing results indicate that there are two kinds of

stress

field in Luan coal mining district: (a) σ H >σ V >σ h , 7

test

ing sites having σ H /σ V = 1.03 ∼ 1.84; (b) σ V >σ H >σ h

, 2

testing sites having σ H /σ V = 1.29 ∼ 1.75. So the

horizontal

stresses are dominated in Luan coal mining district. The ori

entations of the maximum horizontal main stresses gather

between N11.8 ◦ W ∼ N55 ◦ W. 100 200 300 400 500 0 10 15 20

Stress(MPa) D e p t h ( m ) Vertical stress The maximum
horizontal stress The minimum horizontal stress 5 Figure
4. Variation of in situ stress values with depth in Luan
coal mining district. 0 10 20 30 40 50 U n i a x i a l c o
m p r e s s i v e s t r e n g t h ( M P a ) Wuyang Zhangcun
Shigejie Wangzhuang Immediate roof strength Coal strength
Changcun Figure 5. Distribution drawing for strengths of
coal and rock in Luan coal mining district. The testing
results also show that the in situ stresses vary linearly
with depth.The linear regression of their main stresses is
shown in Figure 4. 3.2 Results and analysis of rock
strength test What is tested here is mainly the strength
(USC) of rock and coal in a range of 10 m above the roadway
roof. The testing results show that the UCS of No.3 Coal
Seam is varying from mine to mine: the highest UCS is up to
18.30 MPa, and the lowest UCS is 9.60 MPa. The UCS of the
immediate roof of No. 3 Coal Seam is also varying: the
highest is more than 40 MPa and the lowest is about 13.08 ∼
22.16 MPa. The strength distribution of the coal seam and
the immediate roofs in Luan coal mining district are is
shown in Figure 5. 3.3 Results and analysis for borehole
observation The roadways observed through boreholes are of
two types: one is anchor supported and one is steel timber
supported. The latter is a passive support. It is observed
through boreholes that there occur massive separation,
cracking and breaking in steel timber supported roofs. It
seems that as soon as the overburden weight exceeds the
load-bearing capacity of the steel timber, it will be
destroyed. This destruction will bring great difficulties
to roadway maintenance and result in the great increase of

maintenance cost. On the other hand, it is observed through

boreholes that the supporting state of anchor supported

roofs

is much better than that of steel timber supported roofs.

For

example, there is no separation and destruction to be found

in anchor supported roofs of Changcun Coal Mine, showing

a good supporting state. And in drainage roadway No. 7516

of Wuyang Coal Mine, except light separation (about 0.24 m

above the roof ), coal and rock supported by anchors show

also

a good supporting state. Anchor support is an active

support.

The rock anchoring is an initiative support. This support

can bear not only the self-weight of the rock supported by

anchors, but also can transmit stresses from surrounding

rock.

In anchor supported roadways, therefore, it is important to

keep rock beds from separation and damage and to maintain

the stability of the overburden rock beds as much as

possible.

4 AN APPLICATION EXAMPLE

4.1 Background and test results

The example is the belt roadway of mining area No. 22 in

Zhangcun Coal Mine. The roadway was driven along the floor
of Coal Seam No. 3. It is 20 m from the boundary of the
mining

area and 25 m from the material roadway and is located at

the

depth of about 340 m in depth. Coal Seam No. 3 is about

6.51 m thick and has the average dip angle of about 2 ◦ .

The geomechanical test system was applied here. The aver

age UCS of Coal Seam No. 3 is about 9.60 MPa. A gray and

black shale layer above the coal seam is about 1.30 m thick

and has the average UCS of about 13.71 MPa. A thin coal

layer above the shale is about 0.30 m thick and has the aver

age UCS of about 6.75 MPa.A gray and black mud-shale layer

above the thin coal is about 7.20 m thick and has the
average

UCS of 20.92 MPa.

The hydraulic fracturing test results show that the orienta

tion and magnitude of the maximum horizontal main stress

is N54.7 ◦ W and 6.58 MPa, respectively. The minimum hori

zontal main stress is 3.53 MPa and the vertical main stress
is

8.50 MPa.

4.2 Design scheme

The section of the roadway designed is rectangular, 3.6 m

wide and 3.0 m high. The FLAC3.3 program (Kang, 1999)

was adopted in design. A reasonable anchor scheme was

selected by comparing multiple different designs obtained

through inputting stress, orientation and other parameters

into

FLAC3.3. The design scheme is as follows:

The roof is protected with φ 14 mm steel beam and wire

mesh.

The roof anchors are a φ 20 mm left-twisted steel bar, 2.4 m

long and without vertical lines. They are arranged in row:

the

row-to-row span is 0.9 m and the anchor-to-anchor space in

the same row is 0.8 m, that is, there are 5 anchors in

every row.

The anchor cable is 7.3 m long and is set up at the center

of

the roof. The combination frame for cables is made of No. 12

channel bars.

The side anchors are a φ 18 mm left-twisted steel bar, 1.8 m

long. They are arranged in row: the row-to-row span is 0.9 m

and the anchor-to-anchor space in the same row is 1 m, that

is, there are 3 anchors in every row. The sides of the roof
are

ABSTRACT: In Portugal groynes are one of the most common

shoreline protection structures. This study presents a
method

ological proposal for the mapping and assessment of the

block materials from coastal protection structures, such as
groynes.

An applied cartography for the armour layer of the Paramos

groyne case was first developed in a georeferenced GIS
base.

Geotechnical and geomechanical parameters, particularly,

petrophysical features, weathering grade and uniaxial
compressive
strength, were then assessed. The results obtained allowed
to define a geotechnical zonation for the Paramos armour
layer,

according to the type of lithology, weathering grade and

strength of the rock materials. The methodology developed
proved

economical and easy of use, providing a

geological-geotechnical characterisation valuable to
improve the diagnosis of the

groynes’ status, as well as the monitoring and maintenance

of the kind of structures. In addition, it contributes to
clarify our

understanding of the coastal management of Espinho area.

1 INTRODUCTION

The shoreline protection against coastal erosion is a com

plex problem. According to the specific framework, different

methods and coastal structures may be used to protect the

shoreline. Among the most generalized constructions in use

there are the so-called groynes. These are transverse

coastal

structures, whose function is to retain the littoral

sediment

transportation, in order to stabilize the beach. Normally

they

are built in groups and are designated as fields of groynes.

These coastal defence works may be integrated with longitudi

nal and adherent constructions, and in some cases, they may

be

artificially nourished (e.g., LCPC, 1989; CIRIA/CUR, 1991;

USACE, 1995). Due to their characteristics, these structures

are designed under the condition that maintenance and repair

works will certainly be needed during the structure’s life
(e.g.,

USACE, 1990; Silva, 1996; Santos et al., 2003).

This study provides a proposal for the geotechnical map

ping evaluation of the armour layer block materials in

groynes,

according to the type of lithology, weathering grade and

strength of the rock materials. This is a profitable

approach,

in the sense that it provides information crucial to extend

the

average life-time of these coastal protection structures.

It also

emphasizes the importance, and need, of geotechnical stud

ies for a more efficient planning of this kind of

constructions.

The cost of the structure, its expected behaviour, as well

as, the

consequences of its failure on the groyne’s base, do

justify the

geotechnical site investigations, which will help in the pro

cess of decision making concerning the time of maintenance

or repair or of works initiation.

2 OBJECTIVES AND STUDY AREA

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance

of coastal geology and engineering concepts for the plan

ning of maritime structures, such as groynes (e.g., Gomes,

Figure 1. Espinho location and the study area: Paramos
groyne (aerial photo by F. Piqueiro, 2005). 1977; LCPC,
1989; CIRIA/CUR, 1991; Mota Oliveira & Martins, 1991;
USACE, 2002). The main aim of both the mapping and the
systematic inspection of these structures is to define and
characterise the natural and artificial blocks constituting
the groynes. In addition, it is important to trace back the
mass blocks to their origin (i.e., the extraction quarries)
in order to typify and better evaluate the construction of
the whole structure since. This geotechnical evaluation of
the material is extremely relevant because it might
influence groynes behaviour and the duration of their
useful life (McCleese, 2000). The Paramos groyne, located
in the Espinho region, was chosen for this field survey.
This coastal area is situated on the Portuguese West
shoreline. Espinho is a municipality that belongs to the
district of Aveiro, being situated on the North Atlantic
coast approximately 16 km South from Porto (Fig. 1).

Figure 2. Datasheet created for the evaluation and

inspection of

block materials (adapted from Pires, 2005; Pires et al.,

2006a).

The Espinho town has a total area of 21.1 km 2 and a

population of about 33.000 inhabitants, including 5 parishes

(Espinho, Anta, Guetim, Silvalde and Paramos), about 20.000

of which are concentrated on the urban seafront of Espinho

(SOMAGUE, 1980;Veloso Gomes et al., 2002;Veloso Gomes

et al., 2006; Pires et al., 2006b).

3 METHODOLOGY

The work was based on the recommendations and terminology

of the “Manual of the Use of Rock in Coastal and Shoreline

Engineering” from CIRIA/CUR (1991), as well as on the pro

posal of geological and geotechnical characterisation of

rock

masses by ISRM (1978a, 1978b, 1981) and GSE (1995).

A geotechnical datasheet was created for the recognition

and visual evaluation of the rock material. Aerial images of

the area were used to set up a geo-reference GIS database

(Gonçalves & Piqueiro, 2004). A detailed mapping of the

rock blocks was then prepared with the support of the aerial

photographic database. Afterwards, more than 5.000 block

materials on the groyne’s superficial section (armour layer)

were vectorized in a GIS base. Sampling along a linear scan

line is an accurate method for the systematic collection of

geological and/or geotechnical information (Lamas, 1989;

Dinis da Gama, 1995). In several geotechnical situations it

is, moreover, the easiest and fastest way to collect data.

This

approach allowed us to obtain thematic maps of the Paramos

groyne armour layer useful to evaluate different geological

and

geotechnical parameters (adapted from ISRM, 1978b; Brown,

1981; Brady & Brown, 2004).

This assessment was also supplemented with walkover

surveys carried out, not only to record (with the aid of pho

tographs) the overall condition of the structure, including

any obvious rock movements, but also changes in the groyne

profile, type of lithology, etc. These visual evaluations

were

supported by the use of the inspection datasheet (Fig. 2)

where

the most important aspects and parameters were registered,

namely lithology, weathering grade, petrophysical character

istics, geomechanical features of block materials, scanline

segments. Additionally, it was carried out a meticulous

study

of the quarry control that provides the rock materials,

i.e., Figure 3. Lithological sketch from Paramos groyne
(Espinho area). Explanation: Lithology: I – Grayish-blue
granite, medium grained, essentially biotitic; II –
Reddish-rose granite, medium to fine grained; III
–Yellowish biotite-orthogneiss with feldspar megacrystals;
Materials: IV – Concrete. gneissic and granitic rocks in
the surroundings of the study area (Chaminé, 2000; Pizarro
et al., 2005). For the evaluation of the uniaxial
compressive strength of rocks and materials (concrete) in
the groyne, the Schmidt Hammer technique was used (e.g.,
Brown, 1981; Katz et al., 2000; Kahraman, 2001). This
methodology was further refined through the application of
several tools, such as GIS (Burke et al., 2001) and Strater
TM software (2004). While GIS was used to create thematic
geological and geotechnical maps of the groynes, Strater TM
helped to organize all the geological data observed and
measured in the defence structure. 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The materials used to construct coastal engineering
structures are critically important to the success and
longevity of the structure. Figure 3 shows the lithological
map of the armour layer of Paramos groyne, with more than
5.000 rock materials vectorized. Different lithologies were
recognized, such as: natural rocks (granite and gneiss) and
artificial material (concrete or a mixed material, i.e.,
concrete + aggregates). This applied cartography provided
an evaluation of the current condition of the structure and
the revetment material status. The Schmidt hammer rebound
values allowed to estimate the uniaxial compressive
strength of block armour materials along the crown wall of
the structure, according to ISRM (1981) geomechanical
classification (Fig. 4). The cross-check of all
geotechnical and geomechanical parameters, particularly,
petrophysical features, weathering grade and uniaxial
compressive strength, allowed to define a zonation for the
Paramos armour block materials (Fig. 5). Zone I (ZI)
corresponds to the crown wall, with maximum strength
(ranging from 195 to 250 MPa); this zone is predominantly
constituted by reddish-rose granite, with medium to fine
grain. Zones II (ZII, inner) and III (ZIII, head) have the
same geotechnical characteristics, namely grayish-blue
granite, with medium grain essentially biotitic and
strength ranging from 150 to 195 MPa. Finally, Zone IV
(ZIV) corresponds to the outer zone, with low strength
(ranging from 120 to 150 MPa); this zone is mostly
constituted by yellowish biotite-orthogneisses with
feldspar megacrystals.
Figure 4. Uniaxial compressive strength sketch map; photos
of the

Schmidt rebound tests and an example of Strater TM

application on

segment number 6. Explanation: I – >195 MPa; II – 150 to

195 MPa;

III – 120 to 195 MPa (118 geomechanical stations).

Figure 5. Armour block materials zonation: a tentative

synthesis

map. Explanation: a – high (ZIII – head); b – medium (ZII –

inner

zone); c – low (ZIV – outer zone); d – very low (ZI – crown

wall).

Table 1. Results of the field assays and the visual

inspection carried

out (ZI – crown wall; ZII – inner zone; ZIII – head; ZIV –
outer zone). Uniaxial Weathering compressive Present grade
strength σ c condition (ISRM, (MPa) (Deterioration

Designation 1981) [ISRM (1981)] level)

ZI W 1 195–250 [S 1 ] Very-low

ZII/ZIII W 1−2 150–195 [S 2 ] Medium/High

ZIV W 3 120–150 [S 2 ] Low

Table 1 synthesises the geotechnical features of the armour

block material zonation and the present deterioration level

of

the groyne. In this case, for Zones I, II/III, and IV the

dete

rioration levels are, respectively, very-low, medium to

high,

and low.

These results bring new insights pertinent for the mainte

nance of rock structures in coastal engineering. The work
was

based on the inspection and assessment of Paramos groyne

after workmanship, through the measurement of its struc

tural state and of geomechanical parameters. Moreover, it

puts

emphasis on the importance of establishing the availability

and

the geotechnical quality of rock materials for a particular

site

at an early stage (extraction areas – quarries) when

considering

Gonçalves, J. A. & Piqueiro, F. 2004. Geo-referenciação de

ima

gens aéreas de uma câmara digital não métrica: aplicação à

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Oeste de Portugal Continental entre a Figueira da Foz a

Nazaré.

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ESIG’2004, Oeiras. 1–8 pp.

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engineering purposes. Quarterly Journal of Engineering

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Geological Society, 28 (3): 207–242.

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gested methods for determining hardness and abrasiveness of

rocks. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., Geomech.Abstr. 15, pp.

89–97.

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gested methods for the quantitative description of

descontinuites

in rock masses. Int. Journ Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geom.
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geotechnical description of rock masses. Int. Journ Rock

Mech.

Min. Sci. & Geom. Abstr., 18, pp. 85–110.

Kahraman, S. 2001. Evaluation of simple methods for

assessing the

uniaxial compressive strength of rock. Int. J. Rock Mech.

Min.

Sci., 38, pp. 981–994.

Katz, O., Reches, Z. & Roegiers J.-C. 2000. Evaluation of

mechanical

rock properties using a Schmidt Hammer. Int. J. Rock Mech.

Min.

Sci., 37, pp. 723–728.

Lamas, L. N. 1989. Estudo da compartimentação de maciços

rochosos por uma técnica de amostragem linear e dos blocos

for

mados pelas descontinuidades: Aplicação a uma galeria do

Alto

Lindoso. 3 ◦ Congresso Nacional Geotecnia. SPG. 3: C33–C44.

LCPC – Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées 1989. Les

enrochements. Ministère de l’Équipement, LCPC: Paris, 106

pp.

McCleese, W. F. 2000. REMR Program Overview and Guide.

Repair,

Evaluation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation Research

Program.

Geotechnical Associates Networks, LLC, Engineer Research and

Development Center, US Army Corps of Engineers.

Mota Oliveira, I. B. & Martins, L. M. 1991. Obras de Defesa

e

de Reconstrução das Praias de Espinho. Revista da Associação

Portuguesa de Recursos Hídricos. Vol. 12. n ◦ 1 e 2. pp.

71–88.

Pires, A. 2005. Um programa de monitorização sistemática de

obras marítimas numa perspectiva da geoengenharia: o caso

dos esporões da região de Espinho. Departamento de Engen

haria Geotécnica, ISEP, Porto, 202 pp. + volume de anexos

(Unpublished Graduation Thesis).

Pires, A., Santiago Miranda, F., Gomes, A. & Chaminé, H. I.

2006a.

Cartografia e inspecção de esporões da região de Espinho:

uma proposta metodológica na perspectiva da geotecnia. In:
Actas do 10 ◦ Congresso Nacional de Geotecnia. Sociedade
Portuguesa de Geotecnia/Univ. Nova de Lisboa. 1: 165–174.
Pires, A., Gomes, A. & Chaminé, H. I. 2006b. Morfodinâmica
de sistemas costeiros: um exemplo de aplicação metodológica
de SIG na costa de Espinho. Livro de Resumos do 5 ◦
Simpósio sobre a Margem Ibérica Atlântica, Aveiro, pp.
167–168. (poster). Pizarro, S., Gomes, L., Dinis da Gama,
C., Lopes,A. & Chaminé, H. I. 2005. Aplicação de sistemas
ópticos na avaliação granulométrica de granitóides para
produção de inertes: o caso da pedreira de Malaposta (NW de
Portugal). Cadernos Lab. Xeol. Laxe. A Coruña, 30, pp.
57–73. Santos, J., Neves, M. & Silva, L. G. 2003. Rubble –
Mound Breakwater Inspection in Portugal. Coastal Structures
03. Portland, Oregon, Agosto de 2003. Silva, L. G. 1996.
Observação sistemática de quebra-mares de talude na costa
portuguesa. Revista da Associação Portuguesa de Recursos
Hídricos, APRH, 17 (1), pp. 13–24. SOMAGUE 1980. Obras de
defesa de Espinho: Ante-Projecto Memória descritiva e
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978-0-415-45084-3 Geotechnical properties in an alteration
profile of the granite of Covilhã V.M. Cavaleiro, P.G.
Almeida & J.F. Riscado Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

ABSTRACT: In the area of Covilhã the granite is on of the

more abundant lithologies. The superficial alteration,
controlled

by the fault system, leads to the formation of alteration

horizons in the vertical direction, which, on the
geotechnical point of

view, change their properties. This article presents some

preliminary results of the accomplished study, that tries
to establish

correlations between weathering degree and mechanical

properties.

1 INTRODUCTION
The geomechanical properties of rocks vary fundamentally

in function of the rock type, tectonics, fracturing degree

and

weathering.

The alteration degree is, of the referred factors, probably

the

most important in engineering, since its variation affects

the

dynamic behavior of the rocks, and so conditioning their

apti

tude characteristics, like rock mass if excavability, the

bearing

capacity or the behavior of materials in work along the

time.

This phenomena has been study by several authors, based

on weathering, compressive wave velocity or uniaxial com

pressive strength aiming on proposing a classification.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate, through sam

pling accomplished along ten boreholes, how the weathering

mechanisms and the different geomechanical parameters vary

in depth.

Laboratory testing accomplished on the samples bodies

(bulk volume weight, open porosity, water absorption, com

pressive waves velocity and uniaxial compressive strength)

allowed to establish correlations between the geomechanical

parameters.

2 GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY

Geomorphologically the area is known by Plateau of Torre

(Figure 1), and it was subject to the recent glaciations
(Vieira,

2004). The actual relief results of a commitment between the

erosion and tectonics phenomena that are well marked in the

entire area.

Tectonical behaviour generates on the all massif several

fracturing surfaces originating on hercinic age orogenic mov

ments and granitic intrusion resulting in strong litostatic

decompression in the framming lithologies.

The fracture network observed in aerial photo at a scale of

1/26000 is dense and it presents an predominant orientation

of NNE-SSW. A second family, almost perpendicular to the

first, appears with an orientation that oscillates of E-W

and

WSW-ENE.

In situ measurements of the existent fracture network

allowed the analysis of the geometry of these planes as it

is

observed in the Figure 2.

The spacing among discontinuites varies from family to

family, being the more representative values, from 0.25 to

0.40 m, those correspond, according to the classification

of Figure 1. Location of the study area in Serra da Estrela
mountain. Figure 2. Stereographic projection of joint sets
of granite in study area. ISRM (1976), to a degree F3 or
medium spacing between faults. The discontinuity surfaces
are quite narrow, 1 to 2 mm of opening and in general
showing traces of percolation with iron oxides or
caulinite. 3 GEOTECHNICAL CHARACTERIZATION Geotechnical
studies were conducted in two stages – field and laboratory
work. During the field work, a 1:5000 scale engineering
geology map of the study area was made (Figure 3). Studies
of the

Figure 3. Engineering geology maps: A) Geological map with

drilled boreholes; B) Generalized geological cross-section
of the slope with

drilled boreholes location. 2 5 12 30 51 0 10 20 30 40 50

60 70 80 90 100 0-25 25-50 50-75 75-90 90-100 RQD (%)

F r

e q

e n

c y

( %

Figure 4. Distribution of RQD values of granite in the

study área.

Table 1. Statistical evaluation of geomechanical properties

of

granite. Dry unit Water Compressive weight absortion

Porosity wave velocity (kN/m 3 ) (%) (%) (m/s)

Samples 20 20 20 20

Mean 25.48 1.16 2.94 2548.5

Maximum 25.99 2.77 6.82 3333.3

Minimum 24.62 0.42 1.08 1471.5

Standard 0.41 0.62 1.51 496.5

dev.

Table 2. Statistical evaluation of mechanical properties of

granite. Schmidt Uniaxial Static Dynamic hammer compressive
young young rebound strength modulus modulus (N) (MPa)
(GPa) (GPa)

Samples 20 20 20 20
Mean 44 95.75 7.70 28.75

Maximum 50 143.00 6.38 31.83

Minimum 35 28.24 9.01 25.67

Standard 6.10 30.22 1.86 4.36

dev.

direction, persistence, spacing, opening, roughness and

filling

of discontinuites in the granite and the degree of

weathering

along the joints was included.

Analysis was preformed for each 1.5 m sections of the total

length of 10 borehole cores determining RQD values as well

as weathering degree (ISRM, 1981).

Figure 4 shows the histogram with the obtained values of

RQD according to Deere (1964). It can be observed that the

massif corresponds to a class of good to excellent.

Laboratory tests were preformed to determine the geome

chanical properties of the rock material. Samples were sub

jected to testing for dry (γ d ) and saturated (γ s ) bulk

volume

weight, water absorption (A w ), porosity (n), compressive

wave velocity (V L ), Schmidt hammer rebound (N), uni

axial compressive strength (UCS) and Young modulus (E)

properties.

The obtained results of the characterization testing are

presented in Tables 1 and 2. Figure 5. Correlation between

porosity and depth. Figure 6. Correlation between
compressive wave velocity and depth. Figure 7. Correlation
between uniaxial compressive strength and depth. 4 DATA
PROCESSING The obtained results of the several laboratory
tests made allowed the accomplishment of several
correlations for some of the geomechanical parameters with
depth. In the collected samples of the boreholes with an
interval of 1.5 meters of depth, the mean values of the
geomechanical parameters were calculated as presented on
Table 1 and 2, and were correlated with the depth. In
figure 5 is shown the correlation found between porosity
and depth. From observation of figure 5 it can be verified
that the porosity of the material decreases as depth
increases, following the decrease of the weathering degree
of the massif. It was also possible to analyze the
correlations between the compressive wave velocity and the
uniaxial compressive strength with depth, resulting those
correlations presented in Figures 6 and 7. The observation
of figures 6 and 7 allows to verify that both compressive
wave velocity and uniaxial compressive strength UCS =
193,95e -0,2629n R 2 = 0,927 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 n (%) U C S ( M P a )

Figure 8. Correlation between uniaxial compressive strength

and

porosity. UCS = 66,002g d - 1586 R 2 = 0,821 0 20 40 60

80 100 120 140 160 24,4 24,6 24,8 25 25,2 25,4 25,6 25,8 26
26,2 γ d (kN/m 3 ) U C S ( M P a )

Figure 9. Correlation between uniaxial compressive strength

and

dry unit weight.

increases in depth, accompanying just as it had already hap

pened with the porosity the decrease of the weathering of

the

massif.

The results obtained from the laboratory tests, allowed cor

relating the geomechanical parameters between themselves,

namely the uniaxial compressive strength with porosity, com

pressive wave velocity, bulk unit weight and the value of

Schmidt hammer rebound. In figures 8 and 9 are shown corre

lations found between the uniaxial compressive strength and

porosity and bulk unit weigth respectively.

The observation of figures 8 and 9, allows verifying the

existence of a good correlation between these parameters, it

can also be seen, in the case of porosity, that an increase

rel

atively small of this parameter implicates a large decrease

of

the uniaxial compressive strength.

In the figures 10 and 11 it is possible to observe correla

tions obtained between compressive wave velocity, Schmidt

hammer rebound and uniaxial compressive strength.

5 CONCLUSIONS

This work intends to evaluate the way the measured physical

and mechanical parameters vary in depth. The drilling of 10

mechanical boreholes distributed equaly along 1000 meters,

allowed to evidence the following aspects:

1. The massif is considered of good to excellent quality

with

Influence of chemical attack on physical and mechanical

properties of some dimension stones from Brazil Messias de
Paiva Bastos, Eduardo Gomes Marques & Fabiano Jerônimo
Moreira Sossai Departamento de Engenharia Civil,
Universidade Federal de Viçosa

ABSTRACT: This work presents part of the results of a

comprehensive technological test campaign of 21 rock types
from

Espírito Santo state, Brazil, used as dimension stones.

From this initial group, 12 rock types were selected to be
submitted to
chemical attack throughout cycling with four different
reagents: hydrochloric acid (HCl – 18% V/V), diluted
detergent (20%

V/V) and distilled water. Mechanical and physical

properties were determinated both previously and after
chemical attack

for all rock types, in order to evaluate long time behavior

and influence of chemical weathering. Results show that all
rocks

tested presented sensitive visual changes such as stain

spots, bleeding, clouding and mineral oxidation. Some of
the rocks were

completely weathered by chemical attacks. Unexpectedly,

despite of those severe changes over visual aspects of rock
samples,

the influence of chemical attack over its physical

properties was not clear for some of the studied
properties. Although, it can

be noted an average reduction of specific weight and an

average increase for porosity and saturated water content.
Point load

strength results show a strength reduction of 25% for HCl,

24% for detergent, 27% for KOH and 13% for distillated
water,

characterization chemical weathering influence on

mechanical properties of those rocks.

1 INTRODUCTION

In general, a rock is selected to be used as dimension

stones

because of its beautifulness, which is given by minerals col

ors and rock texture. Yet, it is the specific properties of

each

mineral which determinates rock hardness, durability, color

and structure which will more adequate use of such rock as a

dimension stone (Aires-Barros, 2001).

In recent years, mainly because of its high durability
quality,

rocks turn back to be used as an important facing material

with

great architectural effects (Frazão & Farjallat, 1995 and

1996).

It is important to a good physical, chemical and mechanical

characterization of rocks used as dimension stones, as they

are subjected to several different stress and strength

loadings

as well as climate agents such as sun, acid rain,

temperature

variations and wind.

2 OBJECTIVES

The main purpose of this paper is to present the results

obtained by Sossai (2006) and Bastos (2006) on the study

of the influence of rock weathering on physical and mechani

cal properties for some of the most common dimension stones

from Espírito Santo State, Brazil.The effect of weathering

was

simulated throughout cycling tests using three different sub

stances: distilled water, detergent, chloride acid and

potassium

hydroxide.

3 MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twelve rock types were submitted to chemical attack for the

substances and concentrations presented on Table 1.

Tests procedures followed Brazilian standards (ABNT

1992a, 1992b, 1992c and 1997) for water-oven cycling, Table
1. Chemical substances and concentrations used for chemical
attack tests. Substance Concentration Hydrochloric acid
(HCl) 18% (V/V) Detergent 20% (V/V) Distilled water —
physical properties determination, uniaxial compression
strength, and chemical attack, respectively. Ten samples
for each rock type and for each chemical substance were
tested. Average values were calculated discarding both two
highest and lowest values for each test. Determination of
detergent concentration was calculated to obtain a
viscosity close to water’s in order to facilitate
penetration of this reagent into rock pores. Sound rock
samples were tested for point load strength tests. At the
end of 10 cycling tests physical indexes were determinated
and after 30 to 50 cycling tests (depending on rock type
and solution, due to operational problems) all samples were
submitted to point load compression strength tests in order
to compare with sound rock results. 4 RESULTS Both
qualitative and quantitative evaluation were done for all
tests. Qualitative analysis of cycling test has shown
severe visual damage for all rock types tested. The
following rock types have shown the most severe visual
changes during cycling tests: Midnight Green, Branco
Romano, Labareda Gold and Giallo Antico. Table 2. Number of
cycles and type of reagent test for each sample. Number of
chemical attack cycles for each reagent Rock name HCl
Detergent Water Amarelo Verniz 50 50 – Branco Torrone 40 40
30 Branco Romano 40 40 30 Giallo Firenze 50 50 – Juparanã
Rio 40 40 30 Labareda Gold 40 40 30 Midnight Green 40 40 30
Ocre Itabira 50 50 – Santa Cecília 40 40 30 Verde Ubatuba
50 50 – Vermelho Brasília 50 50 – Giallo Antico 40 40 30

Figure 1. Variation of dry specific weight during cycling

with HCl,

distilled water and detergent for Midnight Green rock type.

Figure 2. Variation of dry specific weight during cycling

with HCl,

distilled water and detergent for Giallo Antico rock type.

In order to exemplify the results obtained for studied rock

types only quantitative data from three rock types will be

presented on this paper.

Graphics from Figures 1 to 4 shows results of changing into

dry specific weight during chemical attack cycling for rock

types tested. Figure 3. Variation of dry specific weight

during cycling with HCl, distilled water and detergent for
Branco Romano rock type. Figure 4. Variation of apparent
porosity during cycling with HCl, distilled water and
detergent for Midnight Green rock type. Figure 5. Variation
of apparent porosity during cycling with HCl, distilled
water and detergent for Giallo Antico rock type. Figures 4
to 6 shows results of changing into for apparent porosity
during chemical attack cycling for rock types tested.
Figures 7 to 9 shows results of changing into for
absorption capacity during chemical attack cycling for rock
types tested. Figures 10 to 12 shows the results for point
load strength for sound rock and for rocks after chemical
attack. PorosityVariation During Cycling for Branco Romano
0,600 0,700 0,800 0,900 1,000 1,100 1,200 0 10 20 30 40 50
Cycles P o r o s i t y ( % ) HCl Water Detergent

Figure 6. Variation of apparent porosity during cycling

with HCl,

distilled water and detergent for Branco Romano rock type.

Absorption Capacity Variation During Cycling for Labareda
Gold 0,250 0,300 0,350 0,400 0,450 0,500 Cycles A b s o r p
t i o n ( % ) 0 10 20 30 40 50 HCl Water Detergent

Figure 7. Variation of absorption capacity during cycling

with HCl,

distilled water and detergent for Midnight Green rock type.

Absorption Capacity Variation During Cycling for Gialho
Antico 0,100 0,200 0,300 0,400 0,500 0,600 A b s o r p t i
o n ( % ) HCl Water Detergent 0 10 20 30 40 50 Cycles

Figure 8. Variation of absorption capacity during cycling

with HCl,

distilled water and detergent for Giallo Antico rock type.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Cycling tests caused severe visual and strength damage to

all

rock types tested.

Physical properties results show an average increase on

porosity and absorption capacity, while dry specific weight

is

reduced for all studied rocks. Some unexpected results were

observed for Branco Romano tested with detergent, as long

its

dry specific weight raised and its porosity decreased during

weathering. This result will be the purpose of future stud

ies regarding correlations between mineralogy and chemical

reagents for cycling of these rocks. Absorption Capacity

Variation During Cycling for Branco Romano 0,200 0,250
0,300 0,350 0,400 0,450 A b s o r p t i o n ( % ) HCl Water
Detergent 0 10 20 30 40 50 Cycles Figure 9. Variation of
absorption capacity during cycling with HCl, distilled
water and detergent for Branco Romano rock type. Reduction
Into Point Load Strength During CyclingWith HCl S t r e n
g t h ( M P a ) 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 40 Cycles Branco Romano
Labareda Gold Midnight Green Giallo Antico Figure 10.
Reduction on point load strength due to chemical attack
during cycling with HCl. Reduction Into Point Load Strength
During Cycling With Detergent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 40 Cycles
Branco Romano Labareda Gold Midnight Green Giallo Antico S
t r e n g t h ( M P a ) Figure 11. Reduction on point load
strength due to chemical attack during cycling with
Detergent. Reduction Into Point Load Strength During
Cycling With Distilled Water 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 30 Cycles
S t r e n g t h ( M P a ) Branco Torrone Labareda Gold
Midnight Green Giallo Antico Figure 12. Reduction on point
load strength due to chemical attack during cycling with
Distilled Water.

Point load compression strength has shown an average drop

of 25% for strength after HCl chemical attack cycling tests,

24% for Detergent and only 13% for distilled water. It can

be seen that for the first two reagents the results were
very

similar, while distilled water has a much lower weather

effect

over strength.

HCl directly influence the esthetical aspect of rocks, com

pletely changing the color of studied rocks.

For dark rocks, with a great amount of dark minerals, dis

tilled rock cycling has created a significant esthetical

change,

such as stain spots all over its surfaces due to mineral

oxida

tion. This effect can be easily noted for Midnight Green

rock

type.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thanks the Brazilian

ScientificAgen

cies – CNPq and CAPES for the financial support to the

development of the research.

ABNT. 1992a. Rochas para revestimento – Determinação da

resistên

cia à compressão uniaxial. NBR 12767. Rio de Janeiro:ABNT.

2p.

ABNT. 1992b. Agregados. Verificação do comportamento

mediante

ciclagem água-estufa. NBR 12696. Rio de Janeiro: ABNT. 3p.

ABNT. 1992c. Rochas para revestimento – Determinação da
massa específica aparente, porosidade aparente e absorção
de água aparente. NBR 12766. Rio de Janeiro: ABNT. 3p.
ABNT. 1997. Placas cerâmicas para revestimento –
Especificação e métodos de ensaios. Anexo H – Determinação
da resistência ao ataque químico. NBR 13818/1997. Rio de
Janeiro: ABNT __p. Aires-Barros, L. 2001. As rochas dos
monumentos portugueses tipologias e patologias, Vol. I e
II, Edição Instituto Português Património Arquitectónico
(IPPAR), Lisboa: IPPAR. 2001. Bastos, M.de P. 2006.
Caracterização tecnológica e da influência da
alterabilidade em algumas rochas ornamentais usadas como
revestimento. Relatório Final de Iniciação Científica –
Centro de Ciências Exatas e Tecnológicas, Universidade
Federal de Viçosa: Viçosa: UFV, 55p. Frazão, E.B. &
Farjallat, J.E.S. 1995. Seleção de pedras para revestimento
e propriedades requeridas. Rev. Rochas de Qualidade. No.
124. São Paulo. 8p. Frazão, E.B. & Farjallat, J.E.S. 1996.
Proposta de especificação para rochas. In: Congresso
Brasileiro de Geologia de Engenharia, 8. Rio de Janeiro,
1996. Rio de Janeiro: ABGE. 1: 369–380. Sossai, F.J.M.
2006. Caracterização tecnológica de rochas ornamentais.
Dissertação (M.Sc. Thesis) – Centro de Ciências Exatas e
Tecnológicas, Universidade Federal de Viçosa: Viços. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Interpretation of rock joint orientations exposed on the
rock faces using a multistage convergence photogrammetric
technique Jaedong Kim, Sung O. Choi & D.H. Kim Division of
Environmental and Geosystem Engineering, Kangwon National
University, Korea R.

ABSTRACT: To execute geological mapping works in the field

more objectively and correctly, it can be said that the pho

togrammetric mapping technique could be an alternative to

the conventional one. Though several methods has been
developed

in the fields of photogrammetry or computer vision, there

still lies some drawbacks when they are applied to the
geological sur

veying sites, such as, too many number of control points,

restrictions in positioning camera and so on. This study
was intended

to develop a system that is most adequately adoptable to

the investigation of rock joint structure, covering from
obtaining the

field data in the form of digital image to interpreting the

individual joint orientations, joint set analysis and
density analysis.

A new algorithm, which is a theoretical stem of the system,

was originally developed and named as ‘Guide Point Method’
by

the author. It can be categorized as a modified one of the

multistage convergence photographing technique.

1 INTRODUCTION
The orientation data of rock joints can be surveyed from
many

sources, such as surface survey, borehole wall scanning,

rock

core examination, and so on.

However, problems arise in the surveying process when it

is done conventionally. For example, information from

drilled

core provide a restricted range of data, setting up the

scanlines

on the rock face has a limitation in the surveying range in

setting scanlines and impossible cases frequently occur when

the surveyor cannot reach the accessible area (Priest,

1993).

To overcome these problems, this study was intended to

develop a system that is most adequately adoptable to the

investigation of rock joint structure, covering from obtain

ing the field data in the form of digital image to

interpreting

the individual joint orientations, joint set analysis and

den

sity analysis. A new algorithm, which is a theoretical stem

of the system, was originally developed by the author. It

can be categorized as a modified one of the multistage con

vergence photographing technique, named as ‘Guide Point

Method (GPM)’.

2 BACK GROUND

To constitute a collinear condition equation, the interior

and
exterior parameters of the camera should be determined. The

camera parameters present the location of the camera and the

photographing direction within a certain global coordinate

system.

These parameters should be determined in every case when

the location or the direction of the camera is changed. The

collinear condition can be defined as in Equation 1. Inte

rior parameters are the focal length f of the camera and

the principal point (x 0 , y 0 ) of the image. Exterior

parameters are rotation angle (ω, φ, κ) and translation
vector (X L , Y L , Z L ), which constitute the rotation
matrix. where X A , Y A , Z A are the global coordinates of
an arbitrary point A on the object, x a , y a are the image
coordinates of the point a which is the projection of the
point A on the image, k is a scalar and R is a rotation
matrix. To determine the camera parameters, several methods
are currently used like the resection method (Moffitt and
Mikhail, 1980), the DLT method (Abdel-Aziz and Karara,
1971) in photogrammetry and the Tsai method (Tsai, 1986) in
computer vision, respectively. Among the various cases
concerning photographing angle, the simplest one is
parallel stereo-photogrammetry (Moffitt and Mikhail,
1980).This can be regarded as a very simple analysis
method, which has been actually applied to rock slope. But
to solve the problems revealed from the cases of a blind
spot invisible on the image and to secure the largest
analysis area, it is necessary to develop a new method
which can fulfil the collinear condition equation under an
arbitrary photographing angle condition. The GPM developed
in this study, which can analyze global coordinates from
the images photographed from an arbitrary position, has a
fairly good advantage in overcoming the limitation in
photographing condition. 3 ANALYSIS METHOD In applying the
generalized collinear condition equation, only three ground
control points and one ground guide point were

Figure 1. Relationship of focal length, ground control

points and

guide point.

introduced in this method. There can be relative

relationships

among the axes of the global, camera and image coordinate

systems.

3.1 Calculation of focal length and perspective center

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram describing the

photo-graphing

layout of the camera location, the ground control points and

the ground guide point.

In Figure 1, f is the focal length, P is the perspective

center,

o is the principal point, C 1 , C 2 and C 3 are the ground

control

points, and G is the ground control point. The focal length

can be calculated using the proportional relation of lengths

between u 1 and u 2 in space and d 1 and d 2 in the image,

as in

Equation 2.

The position of the perspective center can be derived as in

Equation 3 by using point G and line I that connects G and

C 2 .g

is the distance between G and P. l, m and n are the

direction

cosines of line I . Figure 2. Rotation matrix by

directional cosine. 3.2 Rotation matrix The rotation matrix
that determines the directions of the camera can be derived
from the rotation angle of each axis of the camera
coordinate system. By applying ground control points and a
ground guide point, the rotation angle of each axis can be
simply induced from the direction cosines of the line I .
Figure 2 presents the relationship between the amount of
rotation of the image and the direction cosines in the
global coordinate system. The equation of the axis of line
I is where L = kl, M = km and N = kn. The direction cosines
can be defined as in Equation 5. Constituting the rotation
matrix using direction cosines gives The components of the
rotation matrix which have the same value as the direction
cosines of line I are The rotation matrix using rotation
angles, ω, φ and κ, can be written as Equation 8. The
rotation angle ω and φ can be obtained from the direction
cosines of line I and the rotation angle κ can be obtained
from the image coordinate (x, y) of the ground control
point C 3 (or C 1 ) and its corresponding coordinates (x ′
, y ′ ) calculated using the values of ω and φ.

3.3 Calculation of global coordinates

The generalized collinear condition equations derived from

left and right images are given in Equation 9.

X , Y and Z are the components of an arbitrary point on

the object for analysis and (x L , y L ) and (x R , y R )

are the coor

dinates of the points projected on the left and right image,

respectively. (X L , Y L , Z L ) and (X R , Y R , Z R ) are

the components

of perspective centers of both cameras.

Joint orientation could be determined by the normal vector

of the joint plane, which can be induced from the vector

prod

uct of the two vectors constituted by the three or more

arbitrary

points chosen on the joint plane. The global coordinates of

the

arbitrary points can be analyzed using the algorithm

explained

above.

4 PHOTOGRAPHING INSTRUMENTS

The photographing system consists of high resolution digi

tal camera (Qimaging, MP 3.3-RTV-CLR-10-C), theodolite

(Sokkia, model: EZS21S), notebook PC, camera controlling

device, ground guide point controlling device and lighting

system. The digital camera has 2048 × 1536 pixels(3.3 Mega

pixels) a frame in gray scale. A small viewing program was

specially coded to control the camera and to communicate

image data between camera and note PC. Two 500 W mer

cury lamps were used for the lighting system, to ensure

an intensity of illumination on the tunnel working face of

over 500 lx.

The guide point controlling device is the most unique and

original part in the system hardware. Especially, it has

been

improved through several years of field adaptation. Figure 3

is the feature after mounted on the tripod.

The camera and the ground guide point controlling device

were specially designed and assembled into a single unit to

ensure that the ground guide point could be correctly allo

cated on the extended spatial line connecting the camera

pinhole and the ground control point (C 2 ) on the rock

face.

This assembled unit was mounted on a tripod which has a

very precise adjustment function to control the

photographing

direction. Figure 3. Camera with guide point controlling

device mounted on the tripod and connected to notebook PC.
Figure 4. Layout of arrangement of photographing system at
a tunnel working face. 5 FIELD APPLICATIONTUNNEL FACE 5.1
Site condition and instrument set up Field application was
tested at a road tunnel construction site which is located
at Godang-ri,Yongin-si, Korea. The rock type was mainly
granitic gneiss and classified as type III by RMR. The
tunnel span was 9 m and the upper part, two thirds of the
tunnel height of 7 m, was being blasted. The tunnel working
face where the image shooting was done was about 120 m from
the tunnel portal. Figure 4 shows the layout of a typical
arrangement of the photographing system at a tunnel working
face. Field work was executed according to the tunnel
advance once a day during 7 days. 5.2 Input data for
analysis For the joint orientation analysis, the global
coordinates of three ground control points and two guide
points of left and right cameras are necessary as input
data (Table 1). These could be measured using a theodolite
at the beginning of the measuring process. 5.3 Window
sampling on image Measurement of joint orientations using
the photogram-metric technique has a great advantage in
being able to set up any pseudo-windows not on the real
test face but on the image after finishing field works.
Figure 5 shows a pair of images captured by left and right
cameras, on which pseudo-lines of a window were
established.

Table 1. A set of input data for photogrammetric

interpretation. Global coordinate (mm) X Y Z

C 1 −2286 14267 1772

C 2 14855 0 1973

C 3 2662 14626 1681

G left −2697 1373 −127

G right 3800 2501 −130

Image coordinate (pixel)

Left image Right image

c 1 c 3 c 1 c 3

X Y X Y X Y X Y

695 785 1398 790 715 767 1372 823

Figure 5. Images of a tunnel working face captured by left

and right

cameras with a pseudo-window (2048 × 1536 pixels, shooting

depth
12 m, camera distance 5.8 m, convergence angle 27 ◦ ).

5.4 Analysis results of joint orientations and frequency

In Table 2, the statistical results from window sampling are

summarized. Figure 6 shows the changes of dip, dip direction

and areal frequency of the major joint set according to the

tunnel advance.

The time necessary for photographing a pair of digital

RESUMÉ: Ce papier présente une méthode inverse pour la

détermination de la perméabilité d’une argilite en
conditions

partiellement saturées, à partir d’essais de séchage

réalisés au laboratoire. L’essai de séchage consiste à
mesurer les variations

de masse d’un échantillon de roche partiellement saturé

soumis à une diminution de l’humidité relative, imposée par
solution

saline, de la chambre hermétique dans laquelle il se

trouve. La cinétique des variations de masse et des
déformations est liée à

la perméabilité. Les couplages hydromécaniques et la

présence de gaz résultent en un problème de diffusion
couplé fortement

non linéaire dans le milieu partiellement saturé. Ce

problème non linéaire est résolu par la méthode des
éléments finis, en

considérant des calculs 2D axisymétriques, permettant de

prendre en compte les effets 3D dus à la géométrie et aux
dimensions

de l’échantillon. C’est le Code_Aster d’Electicité De

France qui a été utilisé pour la modélisation de l’essai de
séchage. Le

modèle de comportement considéré est le modèle

thermoporoélastique non linéaire de Coussy; différents
effets de couplage
ont été pris en compte.

ABSTRACT: The paper deals with the interpretation of

laboratory drying tests on a partially saturated argillite
for the deter

mination of its permeability, by an inverse method. The

drying test consists in measuring the transient weight loss
of a partially

saturated sample when submitted to a decrease of relative

humidity, imposed by saline solution in a hermetic chamber.
The

kinetic of variations of weight and deformation is linked

to the permeability. Both hydromechanical coupling and
presence of

gas result in a highly non linear coupled diffusion process

in the partially saturated media. The non linear problem is
solved

with a finite element method, considering 2D finite element

calculations under the hypothesis of axisymmetry, allowing
to

account for the 3D effects due to the geometry and

dimensions of the sample. The finite element code Aster
(Electricité De

France) has been used to model the drying test. The

constitutive model chosen is the non linear
thermoporoelastic model due

to Coussy, and various coupling effects are taken into

account.

1 INTRODUCTION

The principle of the determination of the permeability in

the

partially saturated domain is based upon measures of weight

loss and deformation of a sample during a drying test. The

kinetic of variations of weight and deformation is linked

to the

permeability.The presence of gas, as well as the hydromechan

ical couplings in rocks such as argillites, results in a
highly

non linear coupled diffusion process in the partially

saturated

domain. Numerical methods such as finite element have then

to be used to solve the direct problem (Chavant et al.

2002).

An identification method based on 1D linear and non linear

modelling of these tests has been presented by Giraud et al.

(2006). In the present paper, the non linear hydromechani

cal behaviour, as well as 3D effects due to both the

geometry

and the finite dimensions of the tested samples, is taken

into

account. The finite element code Code_Aster (Chavant et al.

2002) has been used to model the drying test. The

constitutive

model chosen in this paper is the non linear thermoporoe

lastic model developed by Coussy (2004). Various coupling

effects due to the presence of liquid, gas, surface tension

of

the capillary interfaces and the phase change between liquid

and vapour are accounted for. 2 COUPLED HYDROMECHANICAL

MODEL FOR PARTIALLY SATURATED POROUS MEDIA Let us consider
a porous medium, composed of a deformable matrix, and
partially saturated by a compressible liquid (subscript l)
in equilibrium with its vapour (subscript v), while the
vapour forms an ideal mixture (subscript g) with another
gas (dry air, subscript a). ρ i , M a , M v and R
respectively represent the volumetric mass of constituent i
(i = l, v, a), the molar mass of dry air, of water vapour
and the universal gas constant. Darcy’s and Fick’s laws are
respectively taken into account to model the diffusion of
the mixture (dry air and vapour) and the liquid, and the
diffusion of the vapour in the mixture. The vapour pressure
can be eliminated using the thermodynamic equilibrium
relation between water liquid and water vapour:

where the index 0 refers to a saturated reference state

(p 0 c = 0, p 0 l = p 0 g = p atm ), h r represents the

relative humid

ity. p 0 v denotes the vapour pressure in a water saturated

air

(p l = p g = p atm ). Two independent pressures can be

chosen as

state variables between liquid pressure p l , gas pressure

p g ,

and capillary pressure p c . In what follows, capillary and

gas

pressure have been chosen. Assuming isothermal conditions,

the non linear isotropic poroelastic constitutive equations

for

partially saturated media (see Coussy 2004) can be written

incrementally as:

where σ, σ m , s, σ ′ , ε v , e, m i , K O and G denote

respectively the

total stress tensor, the total mean stress, the deviatoric

stress

tensor, the effective stress tensor, the volumetric strain,

the

deviatoric strain tensor, the fluid mass supplies of the con

stituents, the drained (dp i = 0 for i = l, v, a) bulk

modulus and

the shear coefficient. The stress σ p represents the

mechanical

stress due to the fluids saturating the pores. S l is the

liquid
saturation of the porous media and b the Biot coefficient.

In most cases the gas pressure contribution (dp g ) is not

sig

nificant compared to the term (−S l dp c ) which includes

the

effect of the capillary interfaces. The coupling

coefficients

C ij are functions of saturation, derivative of saturation

and

partial pressures.

Neglecting the gravity effects, and applying Darcy’s gener

alised law for multiphase flow in unsaturated media

(Whitaker

1998), the velocity of liquid and average relative molar

velocity of gas mixture are governed by:

w i , λ i , k , K rel i and µ i denote respectively the

relative flow vec

tor and the Darcy’s conductivity for fluid i (i = l or g),

the

intrinsic and relative permeability and dynamic viscosity.

The

diffusion of the vapor in the gas mixture is accounted for

through Fick’s law, where F denotes Fick’s coefficient:

Combining Darcy and Fick relations, two conduction laws

can be written for water liquid, water vapour and dry air,
in

terms of capillary and gas pressure gradients:

The mass conservation equations for the water species and

dry air write: Figure 1. Experimental device for the drying

test. By inserting Darcy’s and Fick’s conduction laws, as
well as the constitutive equations, one can obtain the
field equations. The two non linear diffusion equations
write: C ij and K ij coefficients are functions of primary
variables p c and p g . The linear momentum equation can be
expressed through: The field equations have been solved
with the 3D coupled THM finite element code Code_Aster
developed by Electricité de France, which uses a
Newton-Raphson algorithm to solve the non linear coupled
equations at each time increment. 3 MODELLING OF THE DRYING
TEST 3.1 Presentation of the drying test The experimental
apparatus developed at the laboratory for the drying test
is shown on figure 1. The kinetic of variations of weight
is linked to the permeability. A cylindrical sample of
radius R and height L of a partially saturated rock is
introduced inside a hermetic chamber in which the relative
humidity is maintained constant with a saline solution. For
the tests presented in this paper, the relative humidity
range is 0.98–0.93. The chosen dimensions of sample for
experiments are R ≈ 25 mm and L ≈ 20 mm in order to obtain
maximal exchange on bottom (z = 0) and top (z = L) faces
relatively to lateral surface (r = R) and to minimize axial
diffusion time. Due to the very little dimensions of the
sample, the mass variations to measure are very small (see
Giraud 2006 for details). Capillary pressure imposed at the
boundary of the sample corresponds to the relative humidity
of the chamber. Initially, the sample is supposed to be in
thermodynamical equilibrium with the air in the airtight
and watertight chamber (with relative humidity h 0 r ). So,
the sample is partially saturated, and the capillary, gas
and vapour pressures inside the sample are homogeneous (p 0
i , σ 0 m ). For a given saline solution, at a

Figure 2. Variations of capillary pressure at the end of

test.

constant temperature T = 293 K, the initial pressures can be

assessed through the relations:

At time t = 0 + , the saline solution is changed which

results in

the change of the relative humidity of the air in the

chamber

to h imp r .

The measures of relative humidity show that, for all the

tests, a stable and constant relative humidity is obtained

in
the chamber approximately 4 to 5 hours after the change of

saline solution. In the numerical simulations of the drying

test, a linear step loading corresponding to this duration

(t m )

of stabilization of relative humidity in the chamber has

been

imposed and a constant value of capillary pressure has been

maintained after this progressive loading.This change

induces

a variation of the capillary pressure on the outer boundary

of

the sample (denoted ∂�) which is supposed uniform:

The forward problem is defined by Dirichlet hydraulic

boundary conditions and by zero normal stress. A compar

ison of the hydraulic boundary condition with an evaporation

boundary condition has shown the relevancy of the hydraulic

condition on the capillary pressure.

3.2 Results of finite element modeling of the drying test

In this part, we present results of a 2D-axisymmetrical

finite

element simulation of a drying test with Code_Aster, consid

ering the model presented in the first part of this paper.

We

consider sample B (see below), with relative humidity

varying

from 0.98 to 0.93. The test lasted 7 days.

Distribution of capillary pressure variations is represented

on figure 2. Modelling confirms that gas pressure variations

in the sample are negligible compared to the capillary pres

sure variations. 2D effects can be noticed on figure 3 which

represent the spatial distributions of saturation in the

sample.

A decrease of relative humidity induces a drying of the

sample associated with mass loss, deformation shrinkage and

stress variations. The very low permeability of the material

considered in this paper induces non uniform spatial

distribu

tions of liquid mass, capillary and gas pressures and

stresses in

the sample during the test. Drying results in a shrinkage

of the

sample and strong compressive effective stresses variations:

this is a coupling between hydric and mechanical behaviours.

The hydric loading is represented by the σ p stress. Figure

3. Distribution of liquid saturation at the end of test. 4
THE INVERSE PROBLEM 4.1 Identification problem In the non
linear approach for the direct problem of drying test, the
capillary capacity or storage coefficient as well as the
hydraulic conductivity are function of the capillary
pressure. The identification problem is then translated to
the parameters defining these function. The capillary
capacity function of capillary pressure is expressed as a
product of porosity and derivative of saturation (see
Giraud 2006 for details). It is then defined by the two
parameters a vv and b vv of the saturation function of
Vachaud-Vauclin type (Vachaud et al. 1979): The hydraulic
conductivity is defined as a product of intrinsic and
relative permeability divided by the viscosity of the
liquid which is assumed constant in isothermal
conditions.The intrinsic permeability has been identified
from pulse tests in saturated conditions so the unknown is
the relative permeability function. The following function
has been chosen for the relative permeability: Four
parameters define capacity and conductivity functions: a vv
and b vv from saturation function, a l and b l from
relative permeability function. The parameters a vv and b
vv affect both the capacity and the permeability because
the relative permeability is a function of the liquid
saturation. So, the transient evolution and the asymptotic
mass loss during a drying test both depend on the values of
the parameters a vv and b vv . The parameters a l and b l
only affect the permeability and so the transient
evolution. On the basis of a sensitive study performed on
the functions of saturation and relative permeability, two
parameters have been chosen for the identification problem:
a vv and a l . The vector of the constitutive parameters to
be identified is: 4.2 Inverse method developed The
interpretation of a drying test is an identification
problem that can be brought back, in the non linear case,
to an inverse problem. The objective of the inverse problem
is to quantify and minimize the difference between
experimental data and the corresponding computed value in
order to obtain unknown parameters. There exist a lot of
identification methods, a presentation of which can be
found in Giot (2004).

For the back-analysis of drying tests, a probabilistic

method

has been considered. It consists in minimizing the cost func

tional by calculation of its gradient. This allows us to

take into

account a priori information and covariance matrices on both

data and a priori information. A review of those methods can

be found in Tarantola (1987) and Bonnans (1997). The cost

functional which quantifies the difference between the exper

imental data and the corresponding numerical value is given

by the equation:

where θ mes and θ denote respectively measured and

calculated

total mass variations of the sample. The total mass

variation is

supposed equal to the total mass variation of the water

liquid.

Nmes represents the total number of measured data points. ω

i
and ν j are weight coefficients. c prior contains prior
values of

the parameters, inferred from previous knowledge on those

parameters. So the cost functional is the sum of two terms,

one quantifying the quadratic difference between measured

and computed water mass variation, the other accounting for

prior knowledge on the parameters to be identified.The

values

given by the one dimensional interpretation of the drying

test

can be considered as prior knowledge.

The minimisation problem is highly non-linear. Conse

quently an iterative minimisation approach is required. Gen

erally the optimisation procedures that use the gradient of

the

objective function are efficient. We used the modified

version

of the Gauss-Newton method due to Levenberg-Marquardt

(Gill 1982).

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Three samples of a Callovo-Oxfordian argillaceous forma

tion cored at a depth about 500 m have been submitted to

isothermal drying tests. The poroelastic data and intrinsic

per

meability have been deduced from pulse test in the saturated

case (see Homand 2005). The desorption curve of this mate

rial has been characterized thanks to microgravimeter tests.

Experimental results have been fited to a Vachaud – Vauclin

function. The results of an identification method based on
1D

linear and non linear modeling of drying test (see Giraud

2006)

have been used as prior information for the 2D

identification

of permeability. 5 tests have been interpreted. The results

for

the whole set of tests are presented in detail in Giraud

(2007).

In this paper, as an illustrative case, we only focus on

one test,

denoted sample B, submitted to a variation of relative humid

ity, from 0.98 to 0.93. Figure 4 gives the comparison

between

the mass variation calculated by 2D-axisymmetrical finite

ele

ment modelling, considering the values of the parameter a vv

and a l at the end of inversion.

The values of a vv and a l respectively varied from 6880 and

42 to 6580 and 63 during the inversion iterations. The

fitting

of calculated (after inversion) and measured mass variations

for the whole set of tests is quite good, the inversion

method

proved to be efficient. A comparison between estimates based

upon 1D linear modeling and 2D-axisymmetrical non linear

finite element modeling shows that he 1D interpretation

gives

correct order of magnitude of the permeability but overesti

mates its value. A presentation of all the results and a
detailed

comparison between 1D and 2D back analysis of drying test

RESUME:Le dispositif expérimental du laboratoire “3S”,

précédemment utilisé pour étudier le comportement
hydromécanique

des fractures à l’échelle du laboratoire, a été modifié

pour mesurer également le débit à travers la matrice
poreuse de l’échantillon

de roche. Les résultats des 3 essais ont été analysés par

modélisation numérique. Les codes VIPLEF/HYDREF utilisés
tiennent

compte de la double porosité de l’échantillon (fracture +

matrice) et permettent de reproduire avec précision le
chargement

hydromécanique imposé. Les analyses montrent que la

relation entre l’ouverture hydraulique de la fracture et la
fermeture

mécanique affecte fortement le débit simulé dans la

fracture. Les écoulements dans la matrice peuvent également
être légèrement

affectés par l’ouverture hydraulique de la fracture. La

réalisation de mesures simultanées des débits dans la
fracture et la matrice

devrait, à terme, permettre une évaluation globale de

l’approche conceptuelle utilisée.

ABSTRACT:The experimental device of “3S” laboratory,

previously used to study the hydromechanical behaviour of
individual

fractures on the laboratory scale, was modified to also

measure the flow through the porous matrix of the rock mass
sample

as well. The results of the 3 tests were analyzed by

numerical modelling. The VIPLEF/HYDREF codes used take into
account

of the double porosity of the sample (fracture + rock

matrix) and make it possible to precisely reproduce the
hydromechanical

loading. The analyses show that the relation between the

hydraulic aperture of the fracture and mechanical closure
strongly

impacts the fracture flow rate predictions. The rock matrix

flow rate can also be slightly affected by the fracture
hydraulic

aperture. The realization of simultaneous measurements of

flows in both fracture and rock matrix should enable us to
globally

evaluate the conceptual approach used.

1 INTRODUCTION

Waste deep geological disposal, as well as the natural

resource

management (water, gas and hydrocarbons), explain the

increased interest of the scientific community in studying

the

hydromechanical behaviour of rock masses. It is known that

these phenomena are affected both by the rock matrix poros

ity and the fracture network. Attempts have been made in the

field of oil engineering, but the concept of rock mass with

double porosity has seldom been employed in rockmechanics

applied to the underground works. More generally, convincing

experimental data is rarely available in this field.

The aim of the study presented in this paper was to develop

an experimental device that makes it possible to capture the

hydromechanical behaviour of the rock mass on the labora

tory scale. A first interpretation of the hydromechanical

tests

carried out is based on numerical modelling performed with

the VIPLEF/HYDREF codes.

2 HYDROMECHANICAL EFFECTS IN POROUS AND

FRACTURED ROCK MASS

Double porosity mediums are generally considered as the

superposition of two mediums that interact: the first one

accounting for the porosity of the poorly permeable rock
mass but with an important storage coefficient and the
second one accounting for the fractures, more permeable,
but with a lower storage coefficient. The first conceptual
models, developed primarily for the oil mining, neglect the
mechanical effects (Warren & Root 1963). The effects
related to the deformation of the fractured rock medium
have been taken into account gradually by many authors as
(Bai et al. 1999). It appears through the literature that
the conceptual model must include: (1) porous rock mass and
fractures constitutive laws relating the effective stress
tensor (Biot or Terzaghi) to the strain tensor; (2)
conservation and equilibrium equations of the fluid masses;
(3) a generalized Darcy law for the fluids diffusion; (4) a
continuity equation at interfaces between fractures and
rock matrix. 3 DESCRIPTION OF AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE
EXPERIMENTAL DEVICE The “3S” laboratory has developed a
device for characterizing of the hydraulic behaviour of the
fractured media (Fig. 1).This apparatus allows the
hydraulic properties of natural or artificial fractures to
be measured. This device is equipped with

Figure 1. Overview of the experimental device used for

hydrome

chanical tests.

Figure 2. Improvements to the experimental device aimed at

evaluating the hydraulic exchanges between fracture and

matrix.

5 electromechanical pistons allowing application of various

shear and normal stress load paths.The device is equipped

with

a high pressure hydraulic system (maximum injection pres

sure: 20 MPa; maximum injection flow rate: 1 l/min) enabling

water to be injected at the fracture centre and for it to be

collected at the periphery of the fracture using a

sectorized

membrane.

In order to highlight the rock matrix effects in the

laboratory,

it was necessary to modify this experimental device so as

to be

able to apply to the fracture a constant (or controlled)

pressure

over a sufficiently long time to make it possible for the

fluid to

diffuse in the porous rock matrix. The modifications

consisted

mainly in waterproofing the injection hole and setting up a

removable waterproofing collar at the periphery of the

fracture

(Fig. 2).

With the collar on, only the rock matrix (upper wall)

hydraulic permeability is mobilized (because the exit of the

fracture is sealed), while without the collar, both the

rock a b c Figure 3. Sample preparation and set up. a -
Without waterproofing of the fracture boundary Stress and
hydraulic pressure input during test 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 2 3
5 7 9 11 Ti T o 0, 0, 0, 0, H y d r a u l i c p r e s s u r
e P (MPa) (MPa) I 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 200 400 600
800 1000 1200 1400 Time (s) F l o w r a t e ( g / m n ) σ n
Qext_frac 00 90 81 72 63 53 me (s) T o t a l n o r m a l s
t r e s s 0 1 2 3 nput and ouput flowrate during test 1 b –
With waterproofing of the fracture boundary (with the
collar) Input and output flowrate during test 2 0 30 60 90
120 150 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 Time (s) F l o w r a
t e ( g / m n ) Qext_rock Qext_frac Qinj 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 5
1099 1644 2189 2734 Ti 0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 P (MPa) (MPa) 54 me
(s) c – Controlling leakage through the waterproofing
collar (as the injection hydraulic pressure becomes higher
than 0.5 MPa) Stress and hydraulic pressure input during
test 3 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 5 281 554 826 1099 Time (s) T o t
a l n o r m a l s t r e s s 0,0 0,4 0,8 1,2 1,6 2,0 H y d r
a u l i c p r e s s u r e P n (MPa) (MPa) I 0 200 400 600
800 1000 0 200 4 600 800 1000 1200 Time (s) F o w r a t e l
( g / m n ) Q_inj Q_ext_fract Qext_rock Qext_total nput and
output flowrate during test 3 00 Qext_rock Stress and
hydraulic pressure input during test 2 T o t a l n o r m a
l s t r e s s H y d r a u l i c p r e s s u r e σ n σ n
Figure 4. Applied stress and injection hydraulic pressure
(left) and flow rate input and output (right). matrix
hydraulic permeability (the upper part of the sample) and
the fracture hydraulic conductivity are mobilized. To
qualify the experimental device, the first tests were
carried out on sandstone samples coming from the Bleuville
quarry, in the Vosges region of France. This rock was
selected for its high permeability, estimated at K m = 5.10
−6 m/s. Laboratory permeability measurements are planned at
a later stage to check this value for the specific samples
we used (§ 5.2 will show that this value has probably been
overestimated). Figure 3 describes the various stages
necessary for the sample preparation and set-up into the
experimental device: (a) rock matrix water drainage device
(porous stone + plastic tubing) and fracture waterproofing
device (mastic + removable collar); (b) sealing of the rock
sample into the lower interior box using cement; (c) sample
set up into the L3S experimental device. 4 MEASUREMENT
RESULTS Several tests were carried out to characterize the
hydromechanical fracture behaviour (test 1 – Fig. 4a), and
the hydraulic exchanges between fracture and rock matrix
(test 2 and 3 – Fig. 4b, c).

Figure 5. (a) Effective normal stress vs. mechanical closure

obtained from laboratory tests – (b) Assumptions for

hydraulic

aperture vs mechanical thickness relation.

Figure 6. (a) Mesh of VIPLEF/HYDREF model; (b, c) water

pressure contours in the sandstone samples for test 1 and 2.

5 INTERPRETATION

We used the 2D hydromechanical finite element codes

VIPLEF/HYDREF, developed by the geoscience department

of the Paris School of Mines (Tijani et al. 1996) to

simulate

the previously described tests. The hydromechanical coupling

is represented in the framework of Biot’s theory allowing

the

evaluation of the effective stresses (for porous rock matri

ces and fractures) from strain and displacement (effect of

hydraulics on mechanics) and by introducing the volumet

ric strain rate in the source term into the diffusion

equation

(effect of mechanics on hydraulics). Pore pressure and total

stresses are assumed to be continuous at the fracture/rock

matrix interfaces.

The problem is simplified by assuming isotropy at the frac

ture plane, which makes it possible to simulate the tests

by a

2D-axisymetric model (Fig. 6a). All the media are assumed

to be homogeneous and isotropic and to have a linear elastic

behaviour. The fracture is assumed to behave mechanically

according to Bandis’hyperbolic relation (Fig. 5a, where V m

is

the maximum closure and K ni the fracture normal stiffness

at

zero effective normal stress), the hydraulic aperture “a”

vary

ing with the mechanical closure “u n ”. The modelling

results

confirm that the choice of this relation (which depends basi

cally on the slope k = (�a/�u n ) σ=0 and the residual

aperture
a res ) appears to have a considerable impact on flow rate
pre

diction. Because this relation is not well established in

the

literature, various cases (Fig. 5b) were investigated: k = 1

and a res = a 0 /2 (case C 1 ); k = a 0 /2V m and a res = a

0 /2 (case

C 2 ). V m and K ni were determined from mechanical displace

ment variation measurements during an unloading stress path

(V m = 8 10 −4 m, K ni = 4 GPa/m). -0 ,5 -0 ,4 -0 ,3 -0 ,2
-0 ,1 0, 0 0, 1 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 meas urem
en ts T1 C 1 a nd T1 C 2 Time (s ) M e c h a n i c a l d
i s p l a c e m e n t ( m m ) . . . . . . . urements C1 and
T1C2 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 Figure 7. Mechanical closure during
test 1. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 0 200 400 600 800 1000
1200 1400 Time (s) F r a c t u r e o u t f l o w ( g / m n
) measurements T1C1: a0 ; k=1 run 3 : a0 ' ; k=1 T1C2':
a0' ; k=0.03 a0 = 0.024 mm a0' = 0.051 mm Q f T1 C2: 1’
asureme 1: a0 ; k=1 a0' ; k=0. 3 k = (∆a/∆u n ) σ =0 1’:
a0' ; k=12 Figure 8. Computed and measured fracture outflow
for test 1. Total vertical stress and hydraulic pressure
time series were respectively applied on the top of the
model and at the injection point (Fig. 6a) in relation to
the imposed hydromechanical loading during each test (Fig.
4). The presence or the absence of the removable
waterproofing collar was simulated by changing the
hydraulic boundary condition at the fracture periphery. The
measured displacement includes the rock matrix
displacement. However the ratio between the relative rock
matrix and fracture displacement remains below 20 under the
loading test conditions Consequently, the measured values
are very closed to the fracture relative displacement. 5.1
Test n ◦ 1 Figure 7 shows the displacement variation
relating to stress variations imposed during test 1 (Fig.
4a). As long as the total stress remains equal to zero, the
increasing pressure induces a fracture mechanical opening
that the model does not correctly reproduced. The
mechanical displacement is, on the other hand, quite well
predicted for compressive effective normal stresses (after
580 s). The calculated flow rate at the fracture boundary
(flow at E f ) was compared with the measured flows (Fig.
8). Assuming the classical cubic law between hydraulic
aperture, pressure gradient and flow rate, a zero-stress
aperture a 0 = 0.024 mm has to be chosen to adjust the
computed flow rate to the measured value for the first
hydraulic pressure step (from 30 to 120 s). We can see that
the simulation correctly predicts the flow rate from 150 to
300 s (Fig. 8 – T1C1), but underestimates it when the
hydraulic pressure is increasing (from 300 to 550 s). The
flow rate is also highly underestimated for compressive
effective normal stress (after 580 s) even if the
simulation remain qualitatively correct (flow rate
decreasing). The fact that the flow rate remains small
leads us to believe that a 0 has perhaps changed during the
test. Indeed, the fracture aperture (especially between 300
to 550 s) may probably have induced a mismatching of the
fracture walls, which can explain that, at this stage of
the test, the hydraulic aperture at zero 0 30 60 90 120 150
0 5 1000 1 2000 2500 3000 measurements T2C2K1: Km = 5e-6
m/s T2C2K2: Km = 4e-5 m ; a0 T2C2'K2: Km = 4e-5 m/s ; a0' S
a n d s t o n e m a t r i x o u t f l o w ( g / m m n )
Time (s) Q I E 00 500 ts : K = 5e-6 m/s 2: K = 4e-5 m ;
a0 ' 2: K = 4e-5 m/s ; a0' m f

Figure 9. Computed and measured rock matrix outflow for

test 2.

effective normal stress is higher than at the beginning of

the

test. We have assumed that the new value of a 0 is the

hydraulic

aperture computed based on flow rate value of 180 g/min (at

t = 500 s) prior to any increase in total normal stress;

this value

is a ′ 0 = 5.1 10 −5 m. The results obtained in this case

(Fig. 8 –

T1C1’) show an increase in the computed flow rate. However,

the decrease in the flow rate as the normal stress increases

is too fast. This is linked to the assumption concerning the

relation a = f (u n ). Figure 8 (T1C2’) shows that the

slope k

must be strongly reduced to fit the measurements (from 1 to

a ′ 0 /2V m = 0.03). Following relevant literature, the

next step
will be to link the relation between hydraulic aperture and

mechanical closure to the fracture roughness evolution (the

experimental device allows it to be measured). Because the

results can be highly dependent on the quality of the

initial

fracture wall matching, new tests are planned to confirm the

conclusions.

5.2 Test 2

Test 2 was performed chronologically before test 1, so we

came

back to the initial choice for a 0 (=0.024 mm). From the pre

vious § 5.1 results, we have used “case 2” instead of “case

1”

type (defined in Fig. 5b) to define the a = f(u n )

relation, con

sidering k = a 0 /2V m (=0,015) and a res = a 0 /2. The

calculated

flow rate at the top of the sandstone sample along segment

E m 1 − E m 2 (flow through surface πr 2 e ) was compared

with the

measured flows.

The initial choice of K m = 5.10 −6 m/s as rock matrix per

meability underestimates the sandstone rock matrix outflow

(Fig. 9 – T2C2K1). To become closer to the measurement,

a permeability of 4.10 −5 m/s (T2C2K2) has to be assumed.

It must be noted that the choice of the relation a = f(u n

) for

the fracture has a small impact on the rock matrix outflow

value. Indeed changing a 0 to a ′ 0 , a 10% flow rate
decrease is

computed (Fig. 9 – T2C2’K2).

5.3 Test 3

During test 3, the collar around the fracture became perme

able while the injection hydraulic pressure exceeded 0.5 MPa

(Fig. 4c). The fracture leakage outflow remained significant

as long as the injection pressure was above 0.2 MPa. For the

simulation (Fig. 10), the fracture hydraulic boundary condi

tion at point E f is changed from zero-flow (test 2) to

imposed

flow (what is measured at point E f ). A hydraulic pressure

was still imposed at point I, which induced the measured

injection flow.

Figure 10 shows a fast decrease in the computed rock matrix

ABSTRACT: Breakouts are often observed in vertical

boreholes at deep depths or at highly stressed regime. In
those regimes,

the failures are affected and eventually dominated by

stress-induced fractures and recent studies on the
stress-induced failure

have revealed its significance. In this study, in order to

evaluate the relationships between breakout grade and
breakout initiation

stress and applied stress conditions, physical model tests

were carried out under various polyaxial stress conditions,
using a

new polyaxial testing system. According to visual

observation and acoustic emission detection, breakout
grades were classified

under three categories. The test results indicate that

where higher horizontal stress perpendicular to the axis of
the opening

(S H2 ) and horizontal stress parallel to the axis of the

opening (S H1 ) were applied, breakout grade decreased with
the same

vertical stress perpendicular to the axis of the opening (S

V ). Also breakout initiation stress was increased with the
increasing

S H1 and S H2 . From the multi-variable regression on

breakout initiation stress and polyaxial stress conditions,
f(S V , S H1 , S H2 )

was proposed. Numerical simulations using PFC 3D were

conducted for verifying and complementing the physical
model tests.

The crack initiation stress in PFC 3D can be seen to be a

good indicator for the prediction of breakout initiation
stress.

1 INTRODUCTION

Failure around an underground opening is a function of

in-situ

stress magnitudes, intact rock strength, and the

distribution

of fractures in the rock mass. At low in-situ stress, the

con

tinuity and distribution of natural fractures in a rock mass

predominantly control the failure processes. As the in-situ

stress increases, the natural fractures become clamped, and

the failure process becomes brittle. At high in-situ stress,

the failure process is affected and eventually dominated by

stress-induced fractures (Read & Martin 1996).

The failure around the opening in brittle material is usu

ally described as “spalling” or “slabbing”, and the shape of

the failure zone is commonly called “breakout”, “dog-ear”

or “V-shaped notch”. This failure is often observed in the

vertical borehole and some researchers have studied the rela

tionship between the breakout and in-situ stress for several

years both in the laboratory and in the field (Haimson 2003,

Brudy et al. 1997). Also, recent studies (Read & Martin

1996,

Martin et al. 1997) on the stressor excavation-induced rock

damage have revealed its importance, especially in a highly

stressed regime, where failure around an opening is

initiated

by localized spalling. However most of the researches were

conducted in biaxial stress conditions, because of the

simplic

ity of the equipment required, the convenience of tests, and

other factors. In addition, although researches in polyaxial

stress conditions were performed, there are few researches

carried out to evaluate the effects of the polyaxial stress

conditions.

This paper summarizes the physical model tests used to

study the phenomenon of breakouts around openings under

polyaxial stress conditions. The major objective of this

study

was to evaluate the relationship between the characteristics

of breakout around an opening and applied stress conditions.

For this purpose, we designed and manufactured a new polyax

ial testing equipment and performed physical model tests to

assess breakout around an opening under various polyaxial
stress conditions. 2 TEST METHOD 2.1 Specimen and testing
equipment The material used in the model tests was cement
mortar. The strength of cement mortar is lower than those
of rocks, but the ratio of uniaxial compressive strength to
tensile strength (i.e. brittleness index) is about 13,
which is similar to those of rocks. Thus it is suitable to
use as the brittle material. The size of the specimen was
290 mm × 290 mm × 290 mm. It had a half-excavated circular
opening of 60 mm in diameter. The model tests were
performed using a new polyaxial testing system, which
consists of two main parts: a biaxial loading apparatus and
a polyaixal pressure chamber (Cheon et al. 2006). During
these tests, acoustic emissions were measured using a AEwin
system with 8 channels, which was producted in PAC. 2.2
Test procedures The physical model tests were conducted to
investigate the relationship between the characteristics of
breakout and polyaxial stress conditions. The experimental
program was as follows: The prepared specimens were
carefully moved inside the polyaxial chamber. With the use
of the hoist and the electric lift, the chamber was settled
into the Interlaken rock testing machine. Next, the two
independent stresses (S V and S H2 ) were applied initially
at low stress level (about 1 MPa).Then S H1 , which was
parallel to the axis of the opening axis, was increased to
a constant value. After reaching the predetermined level of
S H1 and S H2 , S V was increased monotonically to a
constant level (S V > S H2 > S H1 ). The level of S V was
determined based on the information

Figure 1. Breakout around an opening.

gathered from the pretest and from accumulativeAE hits curve

and AE hits.

3 TEST RESULTS

Failure around the opening observed in the physical model

tests is shown in Figure 1. It is shown in figure 1 that

spalling

occurred parallel to the S V , in a V-shaped as seen in

previ

ous researches (Martin et al. 1994, Bae 2005). Little damage

occurred around the opening face because of the 3D arching

effects. As the distance from the opening face increased,

the
failure zone became wider and deeper.

3.1 Breakout grade

The breakout grade based on Bae (2005) was classified under

three grades. In gradeA, it is not possible to detect

breakout by

visual observation.This is called no failure grade. Grade B

can

be detected by visual observation as fragments begin to

occur,

known as visible macro crack. In grade C, heavy spalling is

detected. Figure 2 and Table 1 show the breakout grade in

the

physical model tests with applied stress conditions. The S V

required for spalling increased with increase of S H1 and S

H2 .

The results show that S H2 has an influence on an occurrence

of breakout and maximum stress level for spalling. Figure 3

shows the 3-dimensional breakout grade under polyaxial

stress

conditions.

3.2 Breakout initiation stress

The relationship between breakout initiation stress and

applied

stress conditions is investigated. Visual observation and AE

measurements are used to determine breakout initiation

stress.

In the visual observation, breakout initiation stress was

set at

no failure grade (grade A) in a conservative aspect. In the

AE measurements, the method proposed by Lee & Haimson

(1993) was used. They determined the breakout initiation

stress as the point at which the points of accumulative AE

hits curve and AE hits curve increase rapidly.

To compare our results with those of previous researches,

breakout initiation stress was plotted with S H2 not taking

into Figure 2. Classified breakout grade in physical model
tests. Table 1. Breakout grade with polyaxial stress
conditions (S V > S H2 > S H1 ). S H1 S H2 S V (MPa) (MPa)
(MPa) Grade 0 4.63 20.2 A 0 4.63 25.0 B 0 4.63 29.7 B 0
6.95 29.7 B 0 6.95 25.7 C 0 9.26 35.7 C 1.5 3.47 29.7 C 1.5
4.63 27.3 B 1.5 4.63 44.0 Specimen failure 1.5 6.95 27.3 A
1.5 6.95 41.6 Specimen failure 1.5 9.26 35.7 B 2.5 4.63
27.3 A 2.5 4.63 35.7 C 2.5 6.95 34.5 C 2.5 9.26 29.7 B 2.5
9.26 30.0 A 2.5 9.26 35.7 C 2.5 9.26 38.3 C account S H1
(Fig. 4). According to the researches of Castro (1996) and
Diederich (1999) etc. breakout initiation stress has a
linear relationship with applied stress. Martin et al.
(1997) especially reported breakout stress initiation is a
linear regression with deviatoric stress applied on the
cross section of an opening. As with previous researches,
our results showed that a linear regression is the most
appropriate. Applied stresses are normalized with uniaxial
compressive strength for comparisons with each research.
Figure 4 shows the relationship between vertical stress and
horizontal stress for breakout initiation of this study and
previous studies, and Equation (1) is the regression
equation obtained in our study.

Figure 3. 3D Breakout grade under polyaxial stress

conditions.

Figure 4. Relationship between vertical stress and

horizontal stress

required for breakout initiation.

We also investigated the effect of S H1 parallel to the open

ing axis for breakout initiation stress. The stress

required for

breakout initiation increased with increase of S H1 . As men

tioned above in Table 1, S H1 has an influence on an

occurrence

of breakout and breakout grade. A multi-variable regression

between breakout initiation and polyaxial stress conditions

was performed and resulted in equation (2).

From equation (2), Breakout initiation stress is more

affected

by S H1 (minimum principle stress) than S H2 (intermediate

principle stress).

Figure 5 shows 3-dimensional multi-variable regression

plots. A wireframe in figure 5 means the plane of multi

variable regression and black points mean breakout

initiation Figure 5. Breakout initiation stress from
physical model tests and multi-variable regression (S V > S
H2 > S H1 ). stress levels from the physical model tests.
As known in figure 5 and equation (2), breakout initiation
stress was affected by all of the polyaxial stresses and
had the positive relation with their magnitudes. We also
investigated the relationship between the heavy spalling
stress level and polyaxial stress conditions. Heavy
spalling stress level is determined by visual observation
and crack damage stress in the accumulative AE hits curve.
After the crack damage stress, theAE hits andAE sources are
rapidly increased and these points are considered as the
start point of heavy spalling. Equation (3) is the
multi-variable regression equation for heavy spalling
stress levels. To compare with the breakout initiation, the
effects of S H1 were relatively weak on the heavy spalling
stress. On the other hand, S H2 significantly affected the
heavy spalling stress level.This may mean that the applied
stress parallel to the axis of the opening greatly affects
whether the breakout initiation occurs or not, but once
breakouts are initiated, the effect of the stress parallel
to the axis of the opening decreases. This phenomenon was
also observed in the depth and extent of breakouts (Cheon
et al., 2006). 4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION To verify and
complement the physical model tests, numerical simulations
using PFC (particle flow code) were performed. PFC is known
as the program which can simulate the brittle failure and
breakouts around the opening. For numerical simulations,
micro-properties are determined through uniaxial
compressive tests. In PFC 3D simulations, it is difficult
to identify breakout grade, therefore we only use the
breakout initiation stress.

Figure 6. Breakout initiation stress from PFC 3D modeling

and

multi-variable regression (S V > S H1 > S H2 ).

The breakout initiation stress in physical model tests was

con

sidered as the crack initiation stress in simulations based

on

the reports of Martin et al. (1997) where they reported that

the crack initiation stress in a laboratory test is equal

to the

breakout initiation stress in a field test.

An equation (4) is a multi-variable regression equation

determined from PFC 3D simulation and it is vary similar to

the equation (3). The crack initiation stress in PFC can be

seen

to be a good indicator for the prediction of breakout

initiation

stress in physical model tests. Based on this result,

numerical

simulations were conducted as the polyaxial directions were

changed, in other words, the direction of minimum principle

stress was perpendicular to the opening axis. Figure 6 and

equation (5) are multi-variable regression plots and

equation

from PFC 3D simulation under S V > S H1 > S H2 conditions.

As shown in the equations (3), (4) and (5), although the

direction of minimum principle stress is orthogonal to the

opening cross section, there may be important factor such as

conventional failure criteria. However, we should note that

Laboratory testing methods for in-situ stress measurement

and time-to-failure prediction A. Lehtonen, S. Mononen & J.
Antikainen Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo,
Finland

ABSTRACT: A new application takes advantage on acoustic

emission in order to seek out the “stress memory” of rock
via

Kaiser Effect. The method is based on one highly similar

method that is currently in commercial use at Western
Australian

School of Mines. It utilizes multi-directional secondary

samples which are tested for Kaiser Effect in uniaxial
compression.

Acoustic emission signatures from the tests are then

analyzed, and the normal stress values thus obtained are
reassembled in

order to form the complete stress tensor. This method has

been researched at TKK since 2005, at first on Master’s
thesis level

and continued afterwards as an independent project. From

2006 on, acoustic emission research will continue in the
form of

post-graduate studies, which aim to produce an ISRM

Suggested Method for acoustic emission measurement of in
situ stress.

Another non-standard in-situ stress measurement testing

method called deformation rate analysis (DRA) will also be
tested

in the laboratory. The aim is to do DRA tests on sub

samples taken from CSIRO HI cell overcoring sample and
compare the

results in order to verify the suitability of DRA tests as

an in-situ stress measurement method for hard rocks in
Finland. Third

non-standard test experimented is the strain rate stepping

test. The main goal of conducted strain stepping
experiments was to

provide well-documented laboratory test cases for

comparison with data from numerical models. The results of
strain rate tests

can also be utilized directly for evaluation of

time-to-failure of brittle rock in triaxial stress state by
comparing the inelastic

strain rates at different total axial strain rates.

1 INTRODUCTION

The upgraded rock mechanical testing facility at the Labora

tory of Rock Engineering in Helsinki University of Technol

ogy (TKK) has been mainly utilized since its procurement in

1992 for standard uniaxial and triaxial compression tests,

as

well as indirect tensile (Brazilian) tests. In addition,

several

non-standard and experimental testing programs have been

conducted during past years. The initial system has been

grad

ually augmented in 1990-ies during these projects; a strain

gage measurement system was purchased in 1994 and an

acoustic emission system in 1999. In years 2005 and 2006,

three new testing programs, which utilize the potential of

all

available equipment, have been running.

Two out of these three methods are in essence indirect

methods for measurement of in-situ states of stress, which

are both currently considered as potential methods without

large-scale acceptance. The first one is called the Kaiser

effect
(KE) of acoustic emission, and is based on the “memory

effect” of rock.The memory is recalled by monitoring

acoustic

emission under uniaxial loading of a specimen, and the three

dimensional stress tensor is reassembled from six memorized

stresses in independent directions. The method is similar to

the one used by Villaescusa et al. (2002).

The second testing method, deformation rate analysis

(DRA) also uses the stress memory of rock, but seeks it out

with a different indicator. This method monitors the

difference

of strains between uniaxial loading cycles of a specimen

that

is plotted versus the level of stress. This graph will show

a

similar memory effect as the acoustic emission record of the

previous method. The complete stress tensor is composed the

same way as in the KE method.

The third method, the strain-stepping test has been devel

oped for the prediction of long-term strength of strong,

brittle

rock specimens. These new methods have greatly augmented

the abilities of the current facility, and brought new uses
to the two supplementary instruments. 2 KAISER EFFECT This
method of stress measurement relies on acoustic emission
(AE), a phenomenon in which the rapid release of stress
energy from a distinct micro-scale source generates
transient elastic waves. It is related to internal changes
of material that are driven by an external stimulus, e.g.
stress or temperature. The elastic waves propagate in the
material, causing displacement vibrations on the surfaces.
They are detected with displacement gauges or
accelerometers, which are called AE transducers;
piezoelectric transducers are the most common type.
Acoustic emission has many analogies with seismology, and
it is often called as microseismic activity (Li, 1993). The
Kaiser effect (KE) is a characteristic of AE, which shows
during cyclic stressing of a material. It is known to exist
in various types of material, e.g. wood, metals, rocks and
even in snow. The KE manifests during a subsequent loading
cycle, in which the emission is non-existent or negligible
until the stress level exceeds the peak level of previous
stress cycle.At that point, acoustic emission suddenly
starts or intensifies. The Kaiser effect can thus be
pointed out on a stress vs. emission curve. (Pollock, 1989)
In reality the KE point is often less distinct and starts
to break down as the delay between loadings comes longer.
If the peak load of previous cycle (pre-load) is known, a
quantitative quality measure called the Felicity ratio (FR)
can be calculated for the Kaiser effect. It is the ratio of
the stress level given by the AE-onset and the peak stress
of previous cycle, expressed as a percentage. Thus a
perfect KE would have a felicity ratio of 100%.

Figure 1. A sub-sampled overcore from HI stress measurement,

with the directions illustrated (Table 1.) This core has

been sampled

for the DRA method, but the directions are similar with the
KE.

Table 1. Sub sample orientations to core axis for the DRA

method. Plunge/Trend Character

Relation to axis degrees in Figure 1

Axial 90/000 a

Normal 00/180 b

Normal 00/90 c

Normal 00/135 d

45 ◦ 45/180 e

45 ◦ 45/270 f

2.1 Measurement procedure

The KE can only recall normal stress levels, which means

that
complete resolution of the three-dimensional state of stress

requires at least six independent normal stress results.

This

has been provided by sub-sampling the original in six

different

directions.The original sample needs to be intact and

oriented,

which is easiest to arrange with core samples. If cores are

used, the minimum diameter is 51 mm (closest to HQ size). A

minimum run of 2 meters is needed for one measurement.

The specimens are sub-sampled by drilling out a set of six

small (20–21 mm diameter) cores from the original sample in

a specific pattern (Fig. 1, Table 1.) The specimens are then

trimmed to an equal length and ground to make ends parallel.

The length/diameter ratio should be at least two to make

room

for the AE transducers. Otherwise the L/D ratio is not

crucial

in Acoustic emission tests.

One stress measurement is done from three sets of six cores,

which gives information on the quality (scatter of stress

levels

and clarity) of Kaiser Effects. The repetition is also

important

when tests fail, e.g. due to fractured specimens or the

absence

of AE.

When a set of specimens has been prepared, they are each

instrumented with two acoustic transducers and loaded uni

axially. The loading program consists of four subsequent

loading-unloading cycles with a similar peak load. The peak

stress level is set lower than the rock-specific crack

initiation

stress level. A 30 second pause is added between cycles so

that

the AE data can be saved and a new acquisition started.

When the tests are complete, the recorded data is imported

to a spreadsheet application and plotted. Three types of

graphs Figure 2. An example of a tangent intersection
method, which indicates a turning point at a stress level
of 13.5 MPa. are used, the first two display cumulative
numbers of AE events or counts. These graphs are studied
for the stress level of Kaiser Effect. The third one is
similar, but the events are sorted into five bands
according to their energy level. This graph is mostly used
in plotting the noisy data of the first loading cycle. Data
from other cycles are plotted with two former types of
graphs and examined for a turning point by tangent
intersection method (Fig. 2). If no clear points are found,
the normalized slope variation of the graph can be plotted
and used as a criterion for possible turning points. The
key result, stress tensor, is calculated from Cartesian
direction cosines and the KE stress levels of six
specimens. The results from a total of 18 tested specimens
(three from each direction) are averaged to obtain six
normal stress levels. The data are then input to a MATLAB
function that utilizes Gaussian elimination to calculate
the stress tensor and resolves the principal stresses (the
eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the tensor.) 2.2 Current
cases In international scale the KE method has been used in
several occasions, mostly in China, Japan and Australia. To
date, all Finnish applications of Kaiser Effect stress
measurement have been performed in Olkiluoto, as they were
funded by Posiva Oy.This company is jointly owned by two
major Finnish power companies and is responsible for the
disposal of spent nuclear fuel. A total of six measurements
have been made in three deep boreholes with measurement
depths ranging from 75 to 700 meters. The measurements were
part of two separate projects, of which the first was an
initial evaluation of the method. It included two
measurements in a single borehole, one at 80 m and one at
460 m depth. Both of the measurements were successful; the
deeper result correlated well with existing stress data.
The shallower result did not fit the regression as well,
but still had credible magnitudes. The second project
included four measurements from “unknown” samples. This
meant that sampling information was disclosed after the
measurements were completed. Three samples out of these
four were from one borehole at depths of 340, 490 and 660
meters. The fourth sample was taken from another borehole
at 330 m depth. One out of these four measurements was
successful in terms of stress magnitudes and directions.
Other three gave systematically lower stresses than
indicated by existing data.

To date, only three rock types (mica gneiss, gran

ite/pegmatite and veined gneiss) have been used for deter

mination of rock in-situ stresses. Thus, information on this

method’s feasibility is limited. Further study on Kaiser

Effect

is currently underway in form of a Doctoral thesis work.

3 DEFORMATION RATE ANALYSIS

One of the latest methods for rock stress measurement is the

deformation rate analysis (Yamamoto et al. 1990). The princi

ple behind DRA technique is that changes in the rate of

axial

strain with stress occur at the maximum stress level (along

the

axis of the sample) to which the sample had previously been

subjected.

Because only a small gradient change (ie. inelastic strain)

is expected between two successive cycles of uniaxial load

ing Yamamoto et al. (1990) introduced the strain difference

function δε i,j (σ) defined by:

where ε j (σ) = axial strain of a specimen in the i-th

loading at
an applied stress σ.

The strain difference function represents mainly the differ

ence of inelastic strain between the cycles. The previous

stress

can be read from the value of the applied stress (in the
strain

difference versus stress graph) where the strain difference

begins to change its gradient.

As in the KE method, at least six independently oriented sub

samples are needed in order to determine the six independent

components of the stress tensor. The sub sample orientations

used in both KE and DRA method are shown in Table 1.

A DRA test similar to that presented by Dight (2006) is

currently underway at TKK. The sub samples have been taken

from a core recovered from a successful CSIRO HI cell test

at

a tunnel in the centre of Helsinki. The aim is to verify

the suit

ability of DRA tests as an in-situ stress measurement method

for the crystalline hard rocks in the Baltic shield region.

4 STRAIN RATE STEPPING TEST

The ultimate goal of long-term testing of rock is usually to

construct a time-dependent model of rock strength or deforma

bility, or even both. It is shown that the problems in hard

rock creeping tests due to the heterogeneous rock material

can

be dealt with strain rate stepping tests. With strain rate

step
ping test a controlled failure of specimen is achieved
within

reasonable and predictable time.

4.1 Test description

The specimens are prepared according to the respective ISRM

Suggested Methods. The instrumentation of specimens con

sists of one strain gage glued onto the specimen surface and

two axial and one chain extensometer attached to the thin

protective neoprene jacket. The interpretation of strain

rate

stepping tests requires also results from triaxial tests

accord

ing to the ISRM SG (1983) as reference. The standard

triaxial

experiment is done at loading rates of 0.5–1.0 MPa/s The con

fining pressure P was 7 MPa which provided reasonably stable

failure process. The critical inelastic strain is a

function of

confining pressure (Lockner, 1998), so the confining

pressure

shall be selected for each case separately. With low

confining Figure 3. Interpretation of typical standard
triaxial test at a confining stress of P = 7 MPa for
determining reference values. Figure 4. Measured axial
strain rate, different axial stress, total strain and
calculated inelastic strain in a strain rate stepping test
at a confining stress P = 7 MPa. pressures (<1 MPa) the
failure process may become unstable. The specimen is tested
with axial strain rate control corresponding to the
selected loading rate. The peak differential stress value σ
po , inelastic strain rate ε o at peak stress and the
critical inelastic strain (strain at fault nucleation) ε n
are interpreted from the test results and utilized as
reference values (Fig. 3). The term “inelastic strain” by
Lockner (1998) should be understood here as “non-linear
component of total strain”. In the second experimental
set-up second specimen is subjected to a strain rate
stepping procedure. The specimen is loaded at the loading
rate of 0.5–1.0 MPa/s to 60% of the peak strength of the
triaxial test and then strain rate stepping is started. The
strain rates are varied stepwise from 10% to 0.1% of strain
rates in normal tests resulting in stepwise increasing
stresses (Fig. 4). For interpretation the measured stress
and strain values are plotted as a function of time (Fig.
4) and the value of inelastic strain rate ε i at selected
differential stress levels σ are recorded. The last regular
shaped step is used for interpretation because there the
inelastic strain is larger and change in stress smaller
than at previous steps. Also the possible elastic
non-linear component of inelastic strain is smallest. 4.2
Interpretation of the results The main goal of the
experiments in the context of this study is to evaluate the
time-to-failure t f under constant stress loading. The
inelastic strain rate sensitivity a o at constant
temperature and constant confining stress can be solved
from Equation 2 (Lockner, 1998):

Figure 5. Time-to-failure graph derived from Figures 3 and

4 with

equations (3)–(5).

and

By rearranging the terms in Equation 2 the inelastic strain

rate

is solved:

The apparent time to failure t f at selected value of differ

ABSTRACT: The objective of the investigation was to carry

out pull out tests on a scale model of rock anchors in
intact rock

samples and to determine the shape of the different failure

surfaces formed. Specifically, failure was forced to take
place through

the rock, not through any of the interfaces or through the

anchor itself, to allow studying the behaviour of the rock
at failure.

For this purpose, specific equipment has been designed and

constructed in the Geotechnical Laboratory of the CEDEX
(Centre

for Studies and Experimentation on Civil Engineering) in

Madrid, Spain. The testing equipment has been used with
different

materials (granite, limestone and sandstone blocks),

carrying out several tests for each one of these materials.
Different aspects

of the geometry of the test results have been analyzed.

This experimental data can be employed to contrast and
validate an

analytical calculation method to obtain the tensile

capacity of rock anchors based on nonassociated plasticity
and the variational

method, and to get a deeper insight in the behaviour of

rock at failure.

1 INTRODUCTION

At construction sites where many anchors are needed, it is

usual to make specific in situ pull out tests at the site

to improve

the anchor design. These tests are seldom carried out to

reach

the rock failure, because of too low anchor resistance or

prob

lems with the testing equipment, particularly when the

quality

of the rock mass is high. Usually, the anchor itself fails

much

before the rock, and even if failure takes place through the

rock, the failure surface is not measured.

During the works presented in this text, model rock anchors

have been tested, and the failure of the anchors have been

thoroughly studied (García-Wolfrum, 2005).

2 TESTING EQUIPMENT

A specific testing equipment has been designed and con

structed in the Geotechnical Laboratory of CEDEX (Centre

for Studies and Experimentation on Civil Engineering) to

carry out the pull-out tests. This testing equipment is com

posed by a hydraulic jack, a computerized control system and

a connection system with the different blocks (see Figure 1

and 2).

With testing device rock blocks with a base of 1 m × 1 m

can be subjected to an increasing force of up to 100 kN. The

vertical displacement of the jack and the pull-up force are

measured with a precision of 0,25 mm and 0,5 KN, respec

tively. The whole testing process is controlled by a

personal

computer. Data output Energy Hydraulic jack Tested block

Calibration box Protective fence Hydraulic compressor
Figure 1. Scheme of the testing device (base: 1 m × 1 m).
Figure 2. Testing device.

Table 1. Basic properties of the different rocks used for

the tests.

Base material Sandstone Limestone Granite

Density (kg/m 3 ) 2181 2397 2607

Uniaxial compression

strength (MPa) 24,22 36,57 119,40

Rebound Schmidt hammer 45 53 68

E d (MPa) 19621 34908 35227

Poisson’s coefficient ν 0,290 0,357 0,248

I 50 (MPa) 1,91 4,73 9,00

Indirect tensile 1,80 3,37 10,45

strength (MPa)

Table 2. Basic parameters for rock employed in the pull-out

tests.

Base material Sandstone Limestone Granite

Mohr-Coulomb C (MPa) 3,41 5,67 17,99

model 50,2 ◦ 52,4 ◦ 61,2 ◦

Hoek and m 21,80 18,71 22,62

Brown model s 1 1 1 σ c (MPa) 24,51 42,27 166,82

3 TESTED MATERIALS

Tests were carried out using as a base material some of the

rock kinds that are most usual in Spain: sandstone,

limestone

and granite.

3.1 Rock

Three sandstone blocks, two limestone blocks and two granite

blocks with a size of 1 × 1 × 0,4 m respectively were used

for

the tests. The basic properties of these rocks have been

studied

in laboratory through a wide range of tests.The most

important

results are shown in Table 1.

The behaviour at failure of the three different rock types

was found to be adequately described by two different

failure

laws: the linear Mohr-Coulomb and the non-linear Hoek and

Brown failure criterion (Hoek and Brown, 1980). The basic

parameters for these criteria are shown on the Table 2.

The values of the parameter m and σ c shown on Table 2 are

those which make the best fit for Hoek and Brown’s failure

criteria (Serrano and Olalla, 2006).

3.2 Anchor

The anchors used for these tests are steel rods made of
inoxid

able steel. Each steel rod is fastened into a drilled hole

in the

centre of the rock block with a two-component resin.

The lengths of the different anchor rods employed for these

tests varied from 19 to 185 mm. The diameter of the steel

rods

for all tests was 14 mm.

4 PULL-OUT TESTS ON ROCK

Pull out tests were further performed on seven intact rock

blocks of different kind, obtained from different quarries

of

Spain. 28 pull out tests were carried out on these blocks:

8 were

performed on sandstone, 10 on limestone and 10 on granite.

Figure 3. Pull-out test on an anchor set in sandstone,
granite and limestone, respectively. ROCK PULLOUT TESTS
66,98 11,46 22,94 26,26 27,67 11,94 13,85 67,32 38,89 78,47
31,63 71,2 81,06 27,7727,86 77,85 12,84 46,26 21,08 11,83
39,51 26,77 73,03 12,73 34,17 27,253 14,268 20,17 20,07
15,18 9,43 24,58 28,45 25,5 31,69 28,65 39,39 17,63 3,83
6,74 17,02 19,11 22,08 y = 0,0167x 1,7826 R 2 = 0,9453 y =
0,0473x 1,6476 R 2 = 0,9638 y = 0,1113x 1,6056 R 2 =
0,9892 y = 0,0656x 1,2515 R 2 = 0,6316 0 20 40 60 80 100
120 140 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Length L (mm) P u
l l o u t f o r c e T ( k N ) SANDSTONE LIMESTONE GRANITE
MORTAR Figure 4. Pull out strength-Anchor length for the
pull out tests on blocks of sandstone, limestone, granite
and mortar. From the 28 tests conducted, 3 had to be
discarded because of adherence problems at the rock-resin
interface and because of the rupture of the whole block.
From the pull-out tests (Figure 3), different aspects were
analyzed, concerning the maximum tensile load, the shape of
the failure surface and the length of the anchor. 4.1
Analysis of the pull out force The relation “Pull out
strength (T)-Anchor length (L)” is shown in Figure 4. Only
the results for the 25 valid tests are presented. The
exponents on the curves that best represent the behaviour
of the rocks vary from 1,80 for the sandstone to 1,60 for
the granite. The correlation factor r 2 is near to 1 in all
cases. It can be seen that, logically, the longer the
anchor the higher the pull out force that must be used to
produce failure. AVERAGE SHEAR STRENGTH τ AS % OF THE
UNIAXIAL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Slenderness ratio n (n=L/D)

n i

a x

i a

l c

o m

p r

e s

s i
v e

t r e

n g

t h SANDSTONE LIMESTONE GRANITE

Figure 5. Average shear strength acting at the contact

surface

between anchor and rock, expressed as a percentage of the

uniaxial

compressive strength.

These results can also be expressed using the average shear

strength (τ) acting on the contact surface between the

anchor

and the rock:

being T the pull out force, D the diameter and L the length
of

the anchor.

The average shear strength (τ) obtained from the different

test results can be expressed as a percentage of the

uniaxial

compression strength. In Figure 5 it has been plotted

against

the slenderness ratios n (n = L/D).

The average shear strength at the contact increases with

increasing slenderness ratio n.

The shear strength, expressed as a percentage of the

uniaxial

compressive strength decreases with an increasing value of

the
mi parameter of Hoek and Brown’s model obtained from the

characterisation tests (sandstone m i = 22. limestone m i =

19

and granite m i = 23). Values ranging from 10% to near to

50%

of the uniaxial compressive strength, respectively, have

been

obtained for the intact rock mass tested.

4.2 Analysis of the failure surface

Observing the different failure surfaces obtained from the

tests

(Figure 3 and 6), the following affirmations can be made:

• All the failure surfaces are extremely open

• The longer the anchors, the wider the failure surface

• The more resistant the rock is, the larger is the initial
angle

between the failure surface and the anchors axis

• The more resistant the rock is, the more widely does the

failure surface open

The failure surface, in its outer edge, forms with the

anchors

axis an angle that tends to 90 ◦ .

4.2.1 Maximum separation from the anchor axis

The maximum separation of the failure surface from the

anchors axis y max is an important parameter in the design

pro

cess of anchors. This factor may contribute to fix the

anchors

separation, when many anchors are set together in a group.

If the anchors are set close to each other, so that the sep

aration between the anchors is lower than y max , a

reduction

factor has to be considered for the resistance of each

anchor.

If they are separated more than y max , the total anchor

force

for the group can be obtained by just adding the full pull
out

resistance of each anchor of the group. FAILURE SURFACES

(SANDSTONE) -120 -100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 -400 -300 -200
-100 0 100 200 300 400 y (mm) x ( m m ) A1A1 A1A3 A1A4 A1A5
A1A6 A1A7 A2A1 A2A2 ext A2A3 A3A1 FAILURE SURFACES
(LIMESTONE) -100 0 100 -600 -400 -200 0 200 400 600 y (mm)
x ( m m ) C1A1 C1A2 C1A3 C1A4 C2A1 C2A2 C2A5 C2A6 FAILURE
SURFACES (GRANITE) -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 -300 -200 -100 0
100 200 300 x ( m m ) G1A1 G1A2 G1A5 G1A6 G1A7 G2A1 G2A2
G2A4 G2A5 G2A6 Figure 6. Failure surface of the pull-out
tests for sandstone, limestone and granite. MAXIMUM
SEPARATION FROM ANCHOR AXIS (ROCK) 0 100 200 300 400 500
600 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 Length L (mm) M a x i m u
m s e p a r a t i o n y m a x ( m m ) SANDSTONE LIMESTONE
GRANITE Figure 7. Maximum anchor separation from the
anchors axis y max for the different rock kinds. Figure 7
shows the relation between anchors length (L) and the
maximum separation from the anchors axis (y max ) obtained
from the tests. It is observed that the longer the anchor,
the more widely does the failure surface open. It is also
possible to observe a link between the rock’s uniaxial
compressive strength and the parameter y max : the higher
the uniaxial bearing strength, the more widely does the
failure surface open. 4.2.2 Initial angle of the failure
surface Another aspect from the failure surface that can be
analysed is the angle α 0 formed between the anchors axis
and the failure surface at the inner starting point of the
failure surface. To calculate this angle, the average of
the angles for each of the four measured diameters of the
failure surface at the vicinity of the anchors axis has
been taken. Figure 8 shows the angle α 0 resulting for the
different tests. It can be observed that the angle α 0 is
almost independent from the rocks type and from the anchor
length, varying its value between 10 ◦ and 30 ◦ . 4.2.3
Final angle of the failure surface It can be observed that
the angle formed between the anchors axis and the failure
surface at the outmost edge of the failure surface is an
angle tending almost to 90 ◦ (see photographs on Figure 3
and diagrams in Figure 6). INITIAL ANGLEα o

0,00

10,00

20,00

30,00

40,00

50,00

60,00

70,00

80,00 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Anchor length L (mm)

n g

l e

o SANDSTONE LIMESTONE GRANITE

Figure 8. Initial angle of the failure surface for

different rock kinds. ymax α eq

y D x L ymax(eq) α0

Real surface

Equivalent cone

Figure 9. Basic geometric parameters.

The hypothesis of a failure surface of an anchor under ten

sion as a cone with a constant angle between the anchors

axis

and the failure surface is a clear simplification.

4.3 Analysis of the volume enclosed by the failure surface

It is very frequent to approximate the failure surface of an

anchor to a cone. The angle of the equivalent cone α eq can

be

calculated from the volume enclosed by the measured failure

surfaces. The equivalent cone is the one with the same

volume

than the real failure surface (Figure 9).

The angle of the equivalent cone has been calculated for the

different rock types (see Figure 10).

It can be observed that the equivalent angle of the cone

varies from 37,65 ◦ to 62,7 ◦ for the sandstone, from 43,55

◦ to

59,4 ◦ for limestone and from 44,4 ◦ to 60,85 ◦ for the

granite,

with average values of 49,9 ◦ , 54,3 ◦ and 53,4 ◦ ,

respectively.

No clear trends are observed.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The pull out force necessary to rupture the intact rock

material

increases with the length of the anchor and with the

uniaxial

ABSTRACT: Shear re-activation of deep fractured rocks for

the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems is accom

panied by microseismicity. From our coupled

hydro-mechanical model for discrete fracture networks which
incorporates

stress drops with known amplitudes and neglects the

influence of static stress changes, it happens that the
moments of
induced seismic events are scaling with the power 3 of the
fracture size. It follows that the value of the slope in
the moment

frequency diagram, better known as the b’ value, obtained

from numerical experiments correlates with the exponent of
the

power law distribution used for the fracture size

generation. Our suggestion is therefore to use the in-situ
observed diagrams

for constraining the fracture network generator in the

numerical model and then accessing other hydro-mechanical
coupled

processes.

1 INTRODUCTION

Concepts for recovering energy from deep hot crystalline

rocks have gradually evolved as the data base was increased

by experiences from several Hot Dry Rock (HDR) projects

during the last 30 years. The early vision (Smith, 1983) pro

moted at the Los Alamos National Laboratory of tapping into

an inexhaustible and widely available energy using the so

called man-made-geothermal-system based on the creation of

parallel hydraulic fractures linking a pair of wells in homo

geneous impermeable rock had to be abandoned, and the

technology was adapted to the geological conditions under

ground.The concept forward to create a reservoir has

therefore

been the acceptance of the view that the interconnection of

boreholes over inter-well distances of commercial interest

occurs through the pre-existing volumetric network of frac

tures, faults and joints of hydraulic significance.

Hydraulic

experiments at high over pressure and elevated flow rates

per

formed into these pre-existing conductive structures

resulted

in a shearing and self propping process better known as

‘stim

ulation experiments’, a term therefore preferred to

‘hydraulic

fracturing’experiments.This way of thinking the development

of a reservoir was first applied in the Camborne School of

Mines (CSM) project run at Rosemanowes, Cornwall (Parker,

1989), then at Hijori site (Japan) and again in a graben

exten

sional setting at the Soultz sous Forêts site, in France,

where

valuable results with regard to scientific and

pre-industrial

objectives have been obtained at a depth of around 3.5 km

(Baumgartner et al. 1998). After this significant success at

moderate depth, the Soultz project has evolved toward a

three

well system at a depth of 5 km, and a temperature close to

200 ◦ C, with the aim of prefiguring a pilot plant of some

50

to 75 MWth of thermal power (Genter et al., 2000). Sim

ilar production objectives are assigned to the most recent

projects that started at Cooper basin, in Australia and

Basel in

Switzerland. 2 MECHANISM FOR INDUCED MICROSEISMICITY IN THE

FIELD OF ENHANCED GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS 2.1 A variety of
in-situ observations As an HDR reservoir is being formed
following the stimulation strategy, fracture walls and rock
blocks are moved very slightly by the pressure of the
injected fluid. Shear stresses are partly liberated and the
resulting small sliding movements give rise to low
frequency stress waves similar to, but much smaller than
those caused by earthquakes. Microseismic technology has
thus been developed from the early days to identify these
signals and locate their points of origin (figure 1). A
major goal of monitoring the induced seismicity is to
obtain information about the pattern, the size and
orientation of ruptured fractures away from the wells
(Cornet & Scotti, 1993) given the assumption that these
pressurized and damaged zones will further act as
preferential flow paths. However, as experiences were
accumulated at Soultz and other places, a new puzzling set
of questions surges, dealing with microseismic events with
magnitudes M in the range of 2 to 3. Moreover, these large
events tend to occur after injection ceases (figure 2) and
therefore are nearly out of control. Such small earthquakes
can however be felt and could alter the public acceptance
of HDR projects in urban areas. Although these events are
clearly resulting from the operator’s activity, their
mechanisms remain poorly understood and the question of
their prediction in time and space to manage the risks
without exceeding tolerable thresholds is a matter of
debates (Bommer et al., 2006). Interestingly, this problem
of seismic hazard did not rise in the early and shallower
UK project, most probably because of the local low
variability in the joint size distribution. Measured
magnitudes were very moderate, observed stress drops lower
than 0.1 MPa, and the b’ slope coefficient for the moment
distribution, shown by figure 3 is about 1 (Parker, 1989).

Figure 1. Plan view of the locations of the generated

events at Soultz

after the hydraulic stimulation of GPK2, GPK3, and GPK4

boreholes,

from north (top of the figure) to south respectively.

Figure 2. Log-log plot magnitude-frequency distributions of

events

recorded during and after the stimulations of GPK3 (2003

experi

ments) and GPK4 (2004 experiments) boreholes.

2.2 Toward a quantitative understanding of the
hydro-mechanical processes

Various attempts have been made to incorporate micro

seismicity in modeling work and some 3D numerical tools

have been gradually developed to account for this new but

sparse structural data. A review of codes specific to HDR

research is given in (Sanyal et al. 2005), but very few of

them are dedicated to the understanding of reservoir devel

opment and to the transient analysis of shear growth during

fluid injections, with estimates of the seismic moments.

The FRIP package (Hicks et al., 1996), developed in the

framework of the CSM project belongs to this set of very

first

modeling tools and took advantage of the rectangular blocky

Figure 3. After Parker, 1989. Distribution of seismic
moments at Rosemanowes, phase 2A, UK project, reprocessed
from figure 4.9, chap. 4.1.4, Source Inference. pattern of
the investigated rock mass. As a result shear could
propagate with fluid pressure, without any large rupture
generation. Owing to the more general random nature of the
fracture population in deep hard rock masses, discrete
fracture network (DFN) approaches have been promoted
(Willis-Richards et al., 1996, Tezuka et al., 2005) in
three dimensions with hydromechanical coupling capabilities
to describe the propagation of the shearing process, in
response to a fluid pressure perturbation at a well.
Applying the FRACAS code to data recorded in 2004 during
GPK4 stimulation at Soultz sous Forêts, Bruel (2007) showed
that the analysis of the seismicity migration is
appropriate to give reliable estimates of the virgin
hydraulic diffusivity and that the occurrence of late
events is predictable due to the low local hydraulic
diffusivity. At the edge of the reservoir, fluid pressure
can increase further during day-long periods, and events,
small or large, can be triggered as they were during the
injection period. 3 PROPOSAL FOR THE DERIVATION OF THE
FRACTURE SIZE DISTRIBUTION Following the above discussion,
we are now considering the possibility of deriving some
additional knowledge from the analysis of the temporal and
spatial spreading of the shear failure mechanism. A seismic
moment M 0 can be evaluated at any time when a displacement
consequent upon a shear rupture is calculated in the model,
according to M 0 = G.S.u, G being the shear modulus, S the
area of the sheared zone and u the displacement. From our
numerical hydro-mechanical coupling which incorporates
stress drops with known amplitudes and neglects the
influence of static stress changes, it happens that seismic
moments are scaling with the power 3 of the fracture size,
since the area S and displacement u are respectively a
quadratic and a linear function of fracture size. Stress
drops are controlled by the amount of shear in excess when
a Mohr criterion is met and by fracture cohesion, which is
cancelled at places where some displacement occurs. As is
common for fracture size description in hard rocks, we use
a power law distribution. The value of the slope of the
moment frequency diagram better known as the b’ value
obtained from numerical experiments should correlate with
the exponent a of this power law. The relation should be a
= 3b’. A direct outcome of this finding is that site
specific seismic moment-frequency diagrams or
magnitude-frequency diagrams might be directly usable as a
constraint for fracture

Figure 4. Cross sections of two fracture networks, obtained

with

different density and size distribution parameters, but

exhibiting the

same overall hydraulic diffusivity; Top a = 3.5, bottom a =

2.1.

network generation, provided a scaling relationship between

both measures like the one by Hanks & Kanamori (1979)

can be established for small events. This formula states

that

M = (2/3)logM0-10.7, thus giving the ratio b’/b = 2/3 .

At Rosemanowes site (figure 3), b’ is close to or larger

than

1. This might correspond to a power law exponent a ≥3 for

the

fracture size distribution. This behaviour would correspond

to
fracture networks where hydraulic properties are controlled
by

the fracture density (percolation theory) and not by the

occur

rence of large fractures. This fits with the average size

of the

joints estimated (Parker, 1989) at this site in the order

of 10 to

25 m. As some seismic magnitudes have been made available

(figure 2) for the Soultz site, we will address this

question

of the size of the ruptured fractures using the FRACAS code

upon a series of synthetic numerical networks.

4 NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS

4.1 Defining admissible networks with same hydraulic

diffusivity

Random networks are constructed as in (Bruel, 2007) using

different power law exponents, with the aim of having a

diffu

sivity of the shearing process of about 0.15 m 2 /s, i.e.

the in-situ

value characterized by Delepine et al. (2004). This is

obtained

by adjusting the total fracture density for each different

frac

ture size distribution law, in a way that the d 32 index

(fracture Figure 5. Sheared events reported in a
time/distance to source diagram, for ten equiprobable
realisations of the networks. Top a = 3.5, bottom a = 2.1.
area/unit rock volume) ratio is similar from one network
type to another. This ratio is known to control the
permeability at large scale (Mourzenko et al., 2004). The
threshold for the minimum fracture radius is set between
12.5 m and 15 m, depending on the a exponent, to avoid too
numerically cumbersome networks. A d 32 value of 0.038 m 2
/m 3 was obtained for the GPK4 area. Figure 4 shows two
cross sections of admissible networks. Figure 5 shows how
the same diffusivity can be obtained for two sets of 10
equiprobable networks with distinct a parameters. 4.2
Calculated moment-frequency distributions The shearing
process that develops during the seven days long injection
tests simulated in the series of 3D fracture networks can
also be illustrated by the distribution of seismic moments
(four days of injection, three days of shut-down). On the
loglog plot depicted by figure 6, a linear trend can be
identified with a b’ slope value of one third of the
corresponding a value. Events of small magnitudes are not
as numerous as in-situ, because of the prescribed minimum
fracture size, but the shearing process does sample large
fractures in a rock volume at the kilometer scale and
events of large moments are triggered. 5 RESULTS AND
PERSPECTIVES Comparing figure 6 and the data recorded in
figure 2 would suggest, using the Hanks and Kanamori (1979)
relationship, that an appropriate b-value for the Soultz
area is b ∼ 1.15,

Figure 6. Seismic moment frequencies reported in a log-log

plot for

two of ten network realisations, with respectively a = 3.5

and a = 2.1.

and hence b’∼ 0.85. This gives a in the range of 2.1 to 2.7.

Such low values correspond to networks where flow is partly

controlled by large fractures (multipath scheme) and not by

a very dense network of short elements. Most probably the

network is not of block type. This is a very valuable

output,

as no direct information on fracture size can be obtained

from

observations in deep bore holes.

Progress could also be gained in magnitude prediction,

by discussing the shear strength parameter. In the present

approach no stress is induced when a fracture fails. But

imple
menting a slip-stick process with an induced stress on the

remaining contacts or on the neighboring fractures is possi

ble in our DFN model, using a Discontinuity Displacements

technique. Fracture shear strength could be distributed non

uniformly on the cells that mesh the large fractures.

Gradual

rupture at the cell scale with calculations of stress

redistribu

tion at the fracture scale might allow the rupture criteria

to

be met at the stronger places of the fracture. The

dislocation

of the entire fracture would be the final step of the

rupturing

process, with a larger stress drop and therefore a

potentially

large magnitude.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research was supported by the European Commission,

and ADEME. The author would like to thank Heat Mining

ABSTRACT:The idea of obtaining rock joint strength

assessment from their roughness geometry appeared with
Patton’s model

(1966) and afterwards countless parameters to quantify

roughness, correlations among them and various indexes,
sometimes

of difficult insertion in the equations of limit

equilibrium models, appeared in the literature. In the
phase of dilatancy, these

equations are relations between shear and normal forces on

discontinuities through roughness parameters. But in
accordance
with these models, under identical circumstances,
homothetical roughnesses having different amplitudes and
the same slopes

have equal strengths expressed as shear sliding forces. But

the positional energy achieved by the upper sliding blocks
during

shear testing rises as roughness increases. Therefore, the

reliability of those limit equilibrium models of forces for
joint strength

assessment is dubious. This paper describes the development

of these topics and reveals advances towards the
geomechanical

insights on the true nature of joint roughness.

1 INTRODUCTION

The search for the best parameter to express rock joint

rough

ness together with a joint limit equilibrium model of forces

began when Patton (1966) experimentally demonstrated that

joint shear sliding forces in the phase of dilatancy depend

on

the normal stress exerted on the discontinuity, as well as

on

the residual friction angle (φ) and on the roughness slope

(i).

A profusion of parameters and indexes were proposed in the

academic environment for modelling this behaviour, but they

are not much used in practice. The basic idea of this

research

was to increase the precision of roughness descriptions,

which

in nature seem to have casual patterns and this allows a

closer
approximation to the limit equilibrium shear forces given by

models that appeared after Patton’s contribution. Parameters

describing the roughness texture connected with its slope

and

others connected with roughness amplitude, that is, with the

vertical distance between the asperity crests and the bottom

of the discontinuity surface, also appeared in the meantime.

However, the roughness is adequately defined by two

parameters: one textural and another of amplitude (Muralha,

1995); in the equations of limit equilibrium models, usu

ally there is just place for one of those parameters.

Probably

influenced by Patton and due to those equations, which are

relations between shear and normal forces, so that the textu

ral parameter, as a rule, is in question. Actually, among

the

above cited indexes, correlations were obtained, sometimes

between parameters having different contents and dimensions,

not withstanding the homogeneity of equations, in spite of

the

high correlation coefficients found for those relations.

The joint roughness coefficient (JRC) came to solve par

tially these problems. It is an experimental parameter

deduced

from Barton’s model, also correlated with the former param

eters, either of texture or of amplitude, through equations

of

high correlation coefficients.

The number and diversity of correlations between param

eters having very different contents are very wide, denoting

several attempts to understand the problem that were hardly

ever well solved, because without the help of additional

spec

ifications, there was usually a large increase of work and

equipment which made their utilization prohibitive;
therefore, the concept of roughness is variable and
uncertain. 2 THE CENTRAL PROBLEMS In accordance with limit
equilibrium models, under identical conditions,
discontinuities having the same roughness slope (i) but
different amplitude (h) have the same strength expressed by
sliding shear forces. This fact was reasonably demonstrated
with some tiny deviations, by pull tests made at UTAD
(Leal-Gomes, 2001) on moulded samples of Portland cement
mortar (with a density of 2 g/cm 3 ) having homothetical
triangular teeth, showing that the positional energy
achieved by the upper sliding block increases with
amplitude. However, energies involved in the process cannot
be measured but only calculated, which weakens this way of
assessing discontinuity stability. Therefore, to measure
whether forces or energies are involved in the process, an
ideal parameter to assess joint strengths is very
important. When energies are replaced by forces in
calculations, dimensions are lost in the process
definition. Actually forces are only indexes of the
involved energies. When force equilibriums on a structure
are set the so-called “logical mapping” is applicable
(Leal-Gomes, 2002). When the amplitude of homothetical
triangular asperities (h) is divided by their bases (b),
calculating tan i, likewise dimensions are lost because h
and b are expressed as lengths and i is an adimensional
number. So information is lost because the same i for
different proportional lengths of h and b is obtained, such
as in the substitution of energies by forces. The problem
is complex because the present limit equilibrium models of
joint sliding in the phase of dilatancy do not adequately
describe the reality for calculation purposes. 3 BARTON’S
JOINT ROUGHNESS CONCEPT The introduction by Barton of the
JRC concept was an important but not sufficient step for
the awareness of the question.

Actually, the JRC of typical profiles presented by Barton &

Choubey (1977) was experimentally deduced from pull tests

under a normal pressure on samples of approximately 1 kPa

(3 cm of rock thickness of upper block on the lower part).

These tests lead to a surprising result showing that samples

having higher roughness amplitude have greater JRC, implic

itly taking into account the effect of that amplitude. When

Leal-Gomes (1998) made pull tests on samples of an arti

ficial joint opened in porphyritic granite by tensile

stresses

he arrived to the same conclusion. He explained the effect

obtained through a model where only normal and shear forces

intervened (Barton’s model), therefore a force limit equilib

rium model, verifying that, in the limit, the failures were

sudden without premonitory movements. He suggested that

shear forces were accumulated on the irregular sample sur

faces against the highest asperities, reaching larger

intensity

and providing higher JRC values obtained by back-analysis

from Barton’s model (Leal-Gomes, 2000). In opposition to

these, tests on cement mortar moulded samples having regu

lar homothetical asperities with different heights showed

that

the upper block gradually rises, under its own weight, over

the asperity slopes of the lower block under a normal stress

of 0.7 kPa (Leal-Gomes, 2001). It means that in Leal-Gomes

(1998) and Barton & Choubey’s (1977) tests, the energy

excess

needed to overcome the higher asperities is converted into

increases of dilatancy angles that have no morphological cor

respondence. Therefore, an ambiguity about the true

dilatancy

angle results if it is deduced from shear and normal

stresses.

On the other hand, the amplitude of roughness effect will be

completely disregarded if dilatancies obtained through

record

ings of gauges or measurements of asperity morphologies are

introduced in limit equilibrium models.

Probably, for this reason, experts correlate many param

eters of the literature with JRC, which seemed a universal

solution of the exposed problems, by intending to obtain the

JRC discontinuity in the field by doing simple comparisons

with typical profiles of Barton & Choubey.

However, there are several objections to this procedure.

Barton’s model demonstrates that this comparison is only

legitimate if discontinuities in the field have the same JCS

(Joint Compressive Strength) and are under the same normal

stress as the more similar typical profile. Nevertheless,

JCS

changes very much with the lithology and the weathering of

discontinuity walls, thus only agreeing by chance. On the

other

hand, 1 kPa of normal stress in tests corresponds to a rock

column of 3 cm, while in the field thicknesses above joints

assessed in this way may be enormous. It is also observed in

Barton’s model that an increase of normal stresses on joints

may increase the roughness which actually participates in

sliding.

However, a comparison between typical profiles and dis

continuities in the field, brings intrinsic difficulties

indepen

dently of the previous considerations. Actually, there is a

tendency in such comparisons to choose the most conspicuous,

steepest and highest roughness, which leads to an overesti

mation of JRC (Leal-Gomes, 1998). On the other hand, the

increase or the reduction of typical profiles, even if only

mentally for comparison, are not legitimate, because there

are homothetical transformations which do not assure that

JRC are maintained.Actually, that comparison rises roughness

amplitudes and increases JRC of enlarged profiles and joint

strengths in nature, independently of all existent but

unknown

scale effects, making it useless. Besides, only the exposed

joint

roughness on the rock mass face is observed and not within

the Figure 1. Deduction of equation (1). rock mass.
However, Leal-Gomes (1998) suggested the independence of R
max (maximum roughness amplitude) from the shorter
dimension of the sample. So it is possible to determine R
max from the observation of a slice having the larger
dimension of the sample because the shorter dimension has
little influence on R max . Therefore, R max estimation is
suggested for field characterization of joint profiles. So,
Barton’s model has numerous handicaps in spite of being a
great advance – the greatest on this subject in last
decades. 4 GEOMECHANICAL APPROACH The present use of the
joint roughness concept is partially irrelevant because
joint strength models of limit equilibrium of forces do not
represent the profusion of sliding phenomena in practical
Geomechanics. The confusion on the most appropriate
parameters for the representation of roughness is a
consequence of that absence. However, the formulation of a
limit equilibrium model for the dilatancy phase where the
calculations of energies involved in the overcoming of a
regular triangular asperity having height h and slope i,
under a normal force on discontinuity N, is not difficult
to perform. Leal-Gomes (2001) obtained the equation where E
is the energy required for overcoming this asperity and φ
the friction angle along the asperity face (Figure 1). The
E values calculated through this formula are so low, that
they are unrealistic. For the above cited tests on samples
of cement mortar they are around 1 Joule, whereas at least
some kJoules must be involved in the tests. They created
fragments having the size of a nail and a lot of dust on
the pull test table on samples of an artificial joint in
porphyritic granite. Also, a large amount of dust resulted
in the pull test table with cement mortar samples having
regular homothetical teeth. Therefore, there are asperity
damages under normal pressures so low as 1 kPa and 0.7 kPa
respectively. The mixed process of dilatancy and asperity
cutting begins for normal pressures very low at the
discontinuities. This fact very much increases the true
involved energies required for joint overcoming. This is a
situation where the measurements of energies actually in
question would be of the greatest importance, which is not
easy to achieve. Everything that was reported only applies
to matched joints, ruled by Patton’s model. Mismatched
joints are ruled by another model, the Peres-Rodrigues &
Charrua-Graça’s model (1985), where the forces needed for
the upper wall to overcome the more conspicuous
irregularity of lower block in a non-parallel movement of
both parts, on the contrary to

Figure 2. Resultant force R’increases as upper block rises

the lower

block asperities.

Patton’s model were that movement is parallel, but in a rota

tional movement of upper block around the more conspicuous

asperity of lower block, are assessed. Therefore, here the

dila

tancy is lower than in matched joints and in Patton’s model

(Leal-Gomes, 1999).

Even in matched joints having regular teeth of cement mor

tar, like those referred by Leal-Gomes (2001), there are
slight

tiltings as the upper block rises over lower block

asperities.

The resultant force R’ increases as an asperity is overcome

(Figure 2). Therefore, an increase of shear force during the

rise over lower block asperities is necessary.

However, there was a tiny but consistent lowering of

i exp (dilatancy values calculated by back-analysis from Pat

ton’s model) as the height h of asperities increase, when h

approached 2.4 cm, becoming i exp < i. This conclusion seems

to oppose the above referred lack of levelling effect of

the pull

belt resulting in an increase of R’(h). Therefore, the impor

tance in the process of longer arms of shear forces T with

reference to asperity bottom, leading to lower shear forces

T

needed to produce slides because momentums of T are larger

as h is increased, was suggested. On the other hand, momen

tums causing upper block tilting also cause stress relief on

the asperities (Figure 3) the relief becoming greater as h

and i

increase. On the contrary, i exp > i is obtained for

shorter asper

ities, having 0.5 cm in height. Here, another very

controversial

mechanism is suggested. In the term tan(φ+ i) from Patton’s

model, φ and i are both angles but having very different con
tents: φ is derived from the quotient of two forces, T/N, in

accordance withAmonton theory, and i is given by tan −1

(h/b),

where b is the asperity base (see Figure 1). As b and h are

both

linear dimensions expressed in centimetres and i is a param

eter having geometrical and graphic expression while, φ is a

tribological parameter. Therefore, when h is very small, the

Amonton’s theory tends to prevail and (φ+ i) also prevails

as a whole as a friction angle, therefore only as a

tribologi

cal parameter having complex contents and evolution. More

research on this matter is required to achieve clear

conclusions.

This explanation is advanced to add a new element: dila

tancy values deduced from observation of roughness geometry

may put problems on the unsafe side of engineering as poten

tially movable blocks are higher and/or discontinuity

asperities

are higher and more inclined. These conditions may be found

in nature and are problematic when blocks have high gravity

centres. Pull tests having the levelled pull belt grazing

the top

of the highest asperity of the lower block seems to

simulate Figure 3. The occurrence of momentums by shear
forces acting on sliding blocks. better what happens in
nature. This is an additional question complicating these
already difficult problems. Besides, phases of dilatancy
and of asperity cutting are usually concomitant and the
acquisition of reliable and correct strengths from block
shapes is not possible. For large normal stresses on
discontinuities whenever there is clear and deep asperity
cutting and where Patton’s model for large normal stresses
would appear applicable, there always is some dilatancy,
depending on the original roughness and on the new surfaces
created by asperity ruptures. The most conspicuous
asperities tend to break in the first place and in such
cases dilatancies may be controlled by less prominent
asperities. 5 CONCLUSIONS The present limit equilibrium
models, either of forces or of energies, such as (1), do
not describe adequately the reality for practical
calculation goals. This fact is due to an unsatisfactory
approach to the phenomenon but there are no safer
alternatives. Therefore, it must be pointed out that
nowadays in Geomechanics when discontinuity stabilities are
calculated in practice there are no reliable parameters and
models. To a great extent there are not so many accidents
than those actually registered on account of the partial
description of the sliding phenomenon by present limit
equilibrium models, though in only a very restricted way.
On the contrary, the limit equilibrium concept is very
useful in Soil Mechanics because this branch of Geotechnics
does not make use of either any asperity roughness concept
or roughness parameter. Due to the drawbacks of limit
equilibrium models in Rock Mechanics, accidents may occur
with a frequency lower than expectations because engineers
intuitively feel that the matter is not well understood and
specify parameters on the safe side of calculations. On the
other hand (φ+ i) is dependent on the tangent and usually
greater than 45 ◦ so in most of cases estimations are
conservative. When (φ+ i) is greater than 45 ◦ , tan (φ+ i)
increases quickly and shear strengths rise quickly
guaranteeing the actual safety of works, which is
underestimated in calculations made taking lower parameters
than measured ones. As a rule, new formalizations aren’t
distinct from those already approached. New parameters
essentially are not very

different from the existing ones, because the basic

conditions

of the sliding phenomenon are known, as their evolution and

their interdependence.

All models assumed the existence of constant and eas

ily identifiable physical parameters and equilibriums

usually

analysed at limit situations, while reality is more complex.

The meaning of normal stresses, the intrinsic significance

of

parameters and scale effects are not yet adequately

dominated,

although they materialise the applicability of models to

natural

conditions.

Barton, N. & Choubey, V. (1977). The shear strength of rock

joints

in theory and practice. Rock Mechanics, 10, pp. 1–54.

Leal-Gomes, M.J.A. (1998). The scale effect on rock masses

– The

case of joint strength and deformability. PhD thesis,

University

of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal, pp.

I-XIX,

1-303, D1-D148 (in Portuguese).

Leal-Gomes, M.J.A. (1999). The practical meaning of shear

tests

on rock mass joints. Geotecnia n ◦ 87, Portuguese

Geotechnical

Society, Lisbon, pp. 53–59 (in Portuguese). Leal-Gomes,

M.J.A. (2000). Some reflections for an alternative rock
mass joint strength model. 7th National Geotechnical
Congress, Oporto, Portugal, pp.221–228, Vol. 1 (in
Portuguese). Leal-Gomes, M.J.A. (2001). The assessment of
safety of rock mass joints considering their amplitude of
roughness. ISRM Regional Symposium EUROCK 2001, Espoo,
Finland, pp.249–254. Leal-Gomes, M.J.A. (2002).
Considerations around an insufficiency of Patton’s model.
8th National Geotechnical Congress, Lisbon, Portugal pp.
483–494, Vol. 1 (in Portuguese). Muralha, J.J.R.D. (1995).
Probabilistic approach to the mechanical behaviour of rock
mass joints. PhD thesis, IST, UTL, Lisbon (in Portuguese).
Patton, F.D.(1966). Multiple modes of shear failure in rock
and related materials. PhD thesis, University of Illinois.
Peres-Rodrigues, F. & Charrua-Graça, J.G. (1985).Scale
effect on the strength characteristics of rock masses.
Proc. Int. Symp. on Role of Rock Mechanics in Excavations
for Mining and Civil Engineering, Zacatecas, Mexico. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 New model for
the volumetric strain of rocks under high differential
stress and large shear displacement M. Takahashi Research
Center for Deep Geological Environments, AIST, Tsukuba,
Japan T. Takemura Institute of Geology and Geoinformation,
AIST, Tsukuba, Japan M. Kato Faculty and Graduate school of
Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan M.
Kwas´niewski Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice,
Poland X. Li Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese
Academy of Science, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: To investigate precisely the internal structural

changes that occur in highly stressed Shirahama sandstone
with

increasing axial strain and confining pressure, we measured

the total porosity and bulk density using mercury injection

porosimetry and specific surface area using the gas

adsorption method. Under low confining pressures, the
specimen is

characterized by the existence of a main fault and

deformation is dominated by dilatancy. Under higher
confining pressures,

the specimen undergoes ductile deformation; volumetric

strain indicates progressive compaction throughout the
experiment.

The measurements of total porosity and specific surface

area support the finding of increasing porosity at higher
confining

pressures. Macroscopically, the specimens show persistent

compaction, yet microscopically the total porosity
increases with

increasing confining pressure. This phenomenon is

attributed to the formation of stress-induced microcracks
caused by grain

crushing and the development of small open spaces around

rock fragments that arose due to high degrees of compaction
and

large shear displacement.

1 INTRODUCTION

Permeability and specific storage are important parameters

in evaluating the transport property and storage capacities

of

soils, rocks, and geomaterials. These properties are

analyzed

using permeability measurements undertaken in laboratory

tests. Test results indicate that permeability decreases

with

increasing effective confining pressure, but the specific

stor

age does not show a clear correlation with changes in

effective

confining pressure. Zhu and Wong (1997) measured per

meability as a function of various stress states across the

brittle-ductile transition in five types of sandstone. They

compiled triaxial compression data for permeability ver

sus effective pressure, differential stress, porosity, and

axial

strain, and discussed the evolution of permeability in

various

porous sandstones in terms of mechanical deformation and

failure mode.

Aspects of the microstructural changes that occur under

conditions of high stress and large shear displacement have

yet to be studied sufficiently to yield definite conclusions

regarding their mode of occurrence. Additional, data are

also

required in terms of the changes in volumetric strain and

bulk density that accompany different deformation patterns.

In the present study, we focuse on the relationship between

changes in the internal structure, especially volumetric
strain and changes in bulk density change at a microscopic
scale, and mechanical deformation using data obtained from
mercury intrusion porosimetry and the gas adsorption
method. 2 EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES In this experiment, we
used the following two methods to evaluate volumetric
strain and the total volume of the specimen. 2.1 Pore
volume apparatus When the pore pressure was constant during
deformation of the specimen, the volume change of the pore
water that flowed out or was extracted from the specimen
was measured using a micrometering valve in which the inner
piston could be moved forward or backward to maintain
constant pore pressure. The change in pore volume change
was calculated based on the diameter of the metering valve
piston and the degree of rotation of the valve handle. The
sensitivity of this system was about 2.7 × 10 −4 cm 3
corresponding to a 6.36 micro-strain in terms of volumetric
strain.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the mercury intrusion

porosimetry method.

2.2 Mercury intrusion porosimetry

We used mercury intrusion porosimetry to measure the total

porosity and bulk density of the stressed specimen following

the experiment. The specific surface area was measured using

the gas adsorption method. Both methodologies are described

briefly in the following text.

In using mercury Intrusion porosimetry, a material’s poros

ity is measured by applying various levels of pressure to

a specimen immersed in mercury. The pressure required to

intrude mercury into pores within the sample is inversely

proportional to the size of the pores (see ASTM D4404-84).

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of this method.

2.3 Adsorption method

The BET surface area is measured using a The Tristar3000

analyzer, which makes use of physical adsorption and capil

lary condensation principles to obtain information about the

surface area and porosity of a solid material. The

analytical

technique is simple. A sample housed within an evacuated

sample tube is cooled to cryogenic temperature and exposed

to an analysis gas at a series of precisely controlled pres

sures. With each incremental pressure change, the number

of gas molecules adsorbed on the surface increases. The equi

librated pressure (P) is compared to the saturation pressure

(P0), and their ratio (P/P0) is recorded along with the

quantity

of gas adsorbed by the sample at each equilibrated pressure

(see http://www.micromeritics.com).

3 SAMPLE DESCRIPTION

The sample of Shirahama sandstone was collected from

Kii peninsular in Wakayama Prefecture, Central Japan. The

Figure 2. View of the sample assemblage and displacement
transducers for the axial and radial directions. sandstone
consists mainly of quartz grains without any cracks or rock
fragments that comprise aggregations of various types of
minerals. The quartz grains have an average size of about
150 microns. The pore sizes are dominantly around
approximately 1 micron, and the total porosity is about
13%. All of the specimens were ground to a cylindrical
shape with a length of 60 mm. Figure 2 shows the specimen
assemblage and displacement transducers in the axial and
radial directions.

Figure 3. Variations in axial differential stress,

volumetric strain
and permeability as a function of axial strain during a
loading under

four different confining pressures and a constant pore

pressure of

20 MPa. P c =40MPa, P p =20MPa 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 -3 -2 -1

0 1 2 3 V o l u m e t r i c R a t i o ( % ) 0 5 10 15 20 25
30 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 V o l u m e t r i c R a t i o ( % ) 0 5
10 15 20 25 30 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 V o l u m e t r i c R a t i
o ( % ) P c =0MPa Porosity = 14.47 % 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 -3
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 Log Radius (µm) V o l u m e t r i c R a t i o
( % ) Porosity = 12.59 % P c =80MPa, P p =20MPa Porosity =
13.52 % P c =100MPa, P p =20MPa Porosity = 16.24 % 0 5 10
15 20 25 30 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 V o l u m e t r i c R a t i o
( % ) P c =50MPa Porosity = 16.14 % Log Radius (µm) 0 5 10
15 20 25 30 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 V o l u m e t r i c R a t i o
( % ) P c =50MPa Porosity = 16.39 % Lo g Radius (µm) Log
Radius (µm) Log Radius (µm) Log Radius (µm)

Figure 4. Pore size distributions under various stress

conditions. 4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS : EVOLUTION OF
PERMEABILITY AND CHANGES IN INTERNAL STRUCTURE 4.1 Changes
of permeability Four specimens were deformed under various
confining pressures up to 100 MPa and constant pore
pressure of 20 MPa to investigate the relationship between
the volumetric strain and permeability (Figure 3). With
increasing effective confining pressure, we observed a
transition from strain softening to strain hardening. The
volumetric strain shows distinct dilatancy and persistent
compaction with increasing axial strain. In the brittle
regime, the permeability decreases over the range of
elastic deformation range, but shows a remarkable increase
at the same stress level with the onset of dilatancy
behavior. A distinctive feature of the permeability trend
is that following the deformation of a unique shear
fracture within the specimen, permeability is higher than
the initial permeability at the onset of the axial loading.
Although the permeability increases within the range of
inelastic deformation in the brittle-ductile and fully
ductile regimes, the rate of increase in the permeability
increases within the inelastic deformation range, the
increasing ratio lessens with increasing confining
pressure. It should be noted that the permeability after
loading is never higher than the maximum value obtained
during the experiment. In the unloading process, the
permeability at four progressively lower confining
pressures falls below the minimum value recorded during the
loading process.
12.0

13.0

14.0

15.0

16.0

17.0

18.0 0 204 0 608 0 100 Confining Pressure (MPa)

P o

r o

s i t

( %

) 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 B E T s u r f a c e a r e a ( m

2 / g ) porosity in deformed porosity in intact surface
area without fault plane surface area with fault plane
surface area in intact

Figure 5. Porosity and specific surface area as a function

of the

confining pressure.

Figure 6. Photomicrographs of the stressed specimen under

con

fining pressures of 90 MPa (dry condition, mechanical test)

and 100

MPa (wet condition, permeability test).

4.2 Microscopic observations

Figure 4 shows the pore size distributions for various con

fining pressures and a constant pore pressure of 20 MPa.

Figure 4 (a) and (b) are dry and wet conditions, respec
tively. For both conditions, the peak volumetric ratio in
the

radius shifts to a larger scale. This behavior means that

wide

stress-induced microcracks become dominant with increas

ing effective confining pressure. Figure 5 summarizes the

relationship between porosity as measured using mercury

intrusion porosimetry, and confining pressure. In addition,

the surface area obtained using the gas adsorption method

firmly supports the observation that porosity increases
with increasing confining pressure. Direct observations by
optical microscope and SEM reveal that grain crushing and
the compaction of strong rock fragments occurs in highly
deformed specimens under high confining pressure (Figure
6). We also recognized the existence of small open spaces
between quartz grains and compacted rock fragments. These
crushing-related fractures and slightly open spaces lead to
an increase in permeability during inelastic deformation
under high confining pressure and high deviatoric stress. 5
CONCLUSION The tested specimens are characterized by the
existence of a main fault and dominantly dilatant
deformation under low confining pressure. Under higher
confining pressure, the specimens behave in a fully ductile
mode, and the volumetric strain measured by displacement
transducers and changes in pore volume reveal persistent
compaction throughout the experiments. However,
measurements of total porosity by means of mercury
intrusion porosimetry reveal increasing porosity with
increasing confining pressure. This finding is supported by
measurements of the BET surface area of the pore space
obtained by the gas adsorption method. These findings
indicate that the deeper the burial depth, the greater the
porosity with inelastic deformation, although we
acknowledge that the real underground field is restricted.
Porosity corresponds to the specific storage in
hydrogeology, and it determines the ability of the fluid to
flow out of or be extracted from a rock or sedimentary
layer. Thus, we conclude that a rock mass subjected to
highly confined compression stress and high deviatoric
stress has a large capacity for storing the pore-fluid
volume. REFERENCE Zhu, W. & Wong,T.-f. 1997.The transition
from brittle faulting to cataclastic flow: Permeability
evolution. J. Geophys. Res. 102 (B2): 3027–3041. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 New peak
shear strength criteria for anisotropic rock joints using
quantified joint roughness parameters D.Y. Kim & Y.N. Lee
Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., LTD., Seoul, Korea

ABSTRACT: In this study, Barton’s profiles are investigated

precisely to clarify the validity of JRC and a new method
that

quantifies the JRC is proposed. Laser profilometer and the

direct shear strength testing system that simulates the
in-situ stress

and the boundary conditions have been developed and

employed to the shear test. The tests were conducted on the
joints molded

out of hydrostone. The joint surfaces were shaped to

simulate asperities from natural rock joint. Under a
constant normal stress

and a free condition of dilatancy, pitch and roll, direct

shear test were conducted. As a result, new equation of
peak shear

strength, which considered anisotropy of the joint

roughness has been proposed.

1 INTRODUCTION

The peak shear strength of rock joints shows anisotropic

properties due to roughness variation with shearing direc

tion in direct shear test. The roughness of rock joint

could be

described as JRC but the selection of the value is not

objective

and JRC could not present the anisotropy of rock joint well.

This paper presents (1) the quantification method

considering

whole roughness from small asperities to undulations of

joint

surface, and (2) new peak shear strength criteria

considering

anisotropy of joint roughness.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Among the equations that consider friction behavior and dila

tion of joint, the equation of Barton (1973) is widely used.

Barton and Choubey (1977) also presented a chart that shows

profiles and JRC value, and modified Barton’s equation.

Since JRC is not a parameter in physical concept but is

obtained from the back-calculated value using Barton’s equa

tion, it is not objective . In order to make up for this

problem,

numerous researches on quantification of joint roughness

have

been performed in various ways; using statistical

parameters,

fractal dimension and spectral analysis.

3 NEW QUANTIFICATION METHOD OF JRC

Among the various statistical parameters, major parameters

used in this study are as follows; Z 2 (root mean square of

profile gradient), A i (micro average i angle), and A i −

(micro

average – i angle):

where n = number of measurement of y; and y i = height of

profile at ith x. Tse & Cruden (1979) quantified Barton’s

profile at a sampling interval of 1.27 mm to propose the
Equation 3: The method suggested in this paper quantifies
JRC as follows; (1) obtain the numerical information of
Barton’s profiles at a constant sampling interval, 0.1 mm
by AutoCad (2) based on the result of (1), draw the plot of
sampling interval vs. statistical parameter (A i − and lnA
i , Equation 4 and 5, respectively) with change of sampling
interval from 0.1 mm to 10 mm, (3) regress the plots
linearly to find the slope and intercept of the graph as
shown in Figure 1, and (4) determine the JRC function of
two variables, slope and intercept, by multi-regression
analysis: where S = slope of the graph of A i − vs.
sampling interval; I = intercept of the graph of A i − vs.
sampling interval: where S = slope of the graph of lnA i
vs. sampling interval; I = intercept of the graph of lnA i
vs. sampling interval. In these equations, the slope
defines the degree of primary roughness and secondary
roughness. It defines both primary and secondary roughness
simultaneously at a small sampling interval while only
primary roughness (waviness or undulation) is defined at a
large sampling interval. The intercept defines the degree
of small asperities. Figure 2 shows the comparison between
Barton’s JRC and other JRCs predicted using Equations 4, 5
and the equation of Tse & Cruden (sampling interval = 1.3
mm). As shown in the figure, JRC using Equations 4 and 5
show a better agreement with Barton’s JRC value. 10
Sampling interval (mm) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

i JRC=0~2 JRC=2~4 JRC=4~6 JRC=6~8 JRC=8~10 JRC=10~12

JRC=12~14 JRC=14~16 JRC=16~18 JRC=18~20 0 2 4 6 8

Figure 1. Micro average angle(A i ) vs. sampling interval

for

Barton’s JRC profiles. 20 18 JRC

P r

e d

i c t

e d

R C -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Tse's Z 2 Eq.

(3) A i -,Eq. (4) lnA i , Eq. (5) 0 2 4 6 8 12 14 10 16 18
20

Figure 2. Comparison between Barton’s JRC and predicted JRC.

4 SHEAR TEST

4.1 Preparation of testing sample

The rock joints used in this research were obtained from the

surface of a granite sample and the surfaces of three gneiss

samples in Korea.

A pair of perfectly mated silicone rubber cast that

represent

the topographic features of the natural rock joints was

used to

prepare a series of specimen joints from smooth surface

(J1) to

rough surface (J4). Figure 3a provides the silicone rubber

cast

and Figure 3b-e show the scanned images of specimen joints.

Four samples from J1 to J4 are the laser-scanned images at a

sampling interval of 0.1 mm. These specimen joints are mix

tures of plaster of Paris, dental gypsum, sand and water

having

three different compressive strength such as LJ (low

strength Figure 3. Silicone rubber cast and four scanned
images of specimen joints. Table 1. Compressive strength
and basic friction angle of the joint samples. sample q u
(MPa), (average) basic friction angle, φ u ( ◦ ) LJ
20.4∼23.2, (22.2) 43.18 MJ 40.1∼42.4, (41.5) 41.61 HJ
50.4∼54.0, (52.6) 39.42 joint), MJ (medium strength joint)
and HJ (high strength joint) for each strength and basic
friction angle of specimen shown in Table 1. 4.2
Measurement of joint roughness Sampling X, Y, and Z data
was performed using the three dimensional laser
profilometer which was manufactured to move laser both
x-axis and y-axis. Measuring length of joint specimen was
110 mm for x-axis, and 100 mm for y-axis. Sampling interval
was 0.1 mm for x-axis and y-axis. The data for z-axis,
which indicates the topology of sample specimen obtained
from laser scanning, is a (1000 × 1100) matrix. A i − and
ln(A i ) were calculated from the matrix at each interval
of 0.1 to 10 mm with increment of 0.1 mm. The sampling
interval is 0.1 n (mm) (where n = 1, 2, 3 . . . , 100). The
average A i − of the whole sample is calculated using
Equation 6 for any sampling interval: where n = sampling
increment; (A i − i = averageA i − of ith profile in the
shearing direction; and l i = straight length of ith
profile in the shearing direction. Non-stationary part of
the surface profile is not expressed by statistical
parameters. Instead, it can be expressed by a linear
function with positive or negative slope. The slope angle τ
test (MPa) 0.0

τ B

a r

t o

n '

s E

q .

s i n

J R

C V

i s u

a l

( M

P a

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0
2.5

3.0

3.5 τ B a r t o n ' s E q . U s i n g J R C A i ( M P a )
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 a. Using visual JRC τ test
(MPa)

τ B

a r

t o

n '

s E

q .

s i n

J R

C l

n A

i ( M

P a

) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 τ predicted /τ test
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 P r o b a b i l i t y D e n s i t y 0 1
2 3 4 5 6 τ JRC(Visual) (1.218, 0.151) τ JRC( lnA i )
(1.120, 0.134) τ pre. /τ test (mean, standard deviation) c.
Using Equation 5 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 0.0 0.5 1.0
1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 τ test (MPa) b. Using Equation 4 0.0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 d. log-normal distribution τ
JRC( A i- ) (1.208, 0.172)

Figure 4. (a, b and c) Diagram of the predicted peak shear

vs.

test results and (d) log-normal distribution for predicted

peak shear
strength/test results.

(� I ) is estimated through linear regression analysis

(Kulati

lake et al. 1995).The average non-stationary slope of the

whole

sample joint is calculated using Equation 7:

where φ Ii = slope of regression equation of ith profile;

and

l i = length of straight line of ith profile.

4.3 Shear test of joint surface

Shear tests were performed in the direction of 0 ◦ , 30 ◦ ,

60 ◦ ,

90 ◦ , 180 ◦ , and 270 ◦ for sample MJ, while 0 ◦ , 30 ◦ ,

60 ◦ , and 90 ◦

for sample LJ and HJ. The tests were conducted with the
direct

shear test apparatus designed by Kim et al. (2006) allowing

dilatancy, pitch and roll under constant normal stress

condition

(0.01 <σ n /σ j < 0.3).

5 RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF BARTON’S PEAK

SHEAR STRENGTH EQUATION

For specimens with four different surfaces, JRC obtained

from

visual observation and JRC calculated from the Equations 4,

5 were substituted into Barton’s equation. The results were

also compared with the results of the shear tests. Figures

4a–c

show the comparison between test results and peak shear

strengths predicted from Barton’s equation with different
mea

suring methods of JRC. It is observed that all the three

methods

overestimate the peak shear strength than test results.

It is also observed that shear strength is more overesti

mated in the range of larger shear strength using JRC from

visual observation (Fig. 4a). Larger scattering of

predicted NRP Ai = a+bS+cl r 2 = 0.4651975 DF Adj r 2 =
0.45819135 FitStdErr = 2.0977563 Fstat = 100.03265 a =
-0.43217102 b = 21.89001 c = 2.1924637 Figure 5. NRP Ai −
surface expressed by S and I of A i − . values appears when
the parameters (slope and intercept) from A i − is used
than other methods (Fig. 4b). With use of the parameters
from ln(A i ), it shows a better agreement than other two
(Fig. 4c). The ratio of predicted peak shear strength to
tested peak shear strength was analyzed using log-normal
distribution in order to quantatively evaluate Barton’s
equation (Fig. 4d). The smallest standard deviation and the
highest probability density were obtained when ln(A i ) was
used, and average value was close to one. Large standard
deviation was obtained when using A i − , and it is due to
that anisotropy of roughness is not fully expressed on
Barton’s JRC profile. 6 SUGGESTION OF NEW PEAK SHEAR
STRENGTH EQUATION Equation 8 is used to predict peak shear
strength of joint surface using the slope (S) and intercept
(I) of sampling interval curve of A i − or ln(A i ): where
NRP (new roughness parameter) is a function of S and I from
the curve of A i − or ln(A i ). NRP can be decided from
either back calculation of peak shear strength (Eq. 9) or
peak dilation angle (d n ) obtained from shear test (Eq.
10): NRP surface is obtained from multi-regression analysis
with the variables, S and I. Figure 5 shows an example of
NRP surface with variables S and I from the A i − curve.
The multiregression of NRP includes results of all the
shear tests on joint surface and plane surface. Shear
strength was calculated substituting NRP obtained using
Equations 9, 10 into Equation 8. It shows better agreement
when using NRP from Equation 9 rather than using NRP from
Equation 10. It is so because peak dilation angle is
dependent on sampling interval of shear displacements thus
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5

τ N
e w

q .

s i n

N R

P A

i ( M

P a

) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
3.0 3.5 τ N e w E q . U s i n g N R P l n A i ( M P a ) 0.0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 a. NRPAi - vs. test b.
NRPlnAi vs. test τ test (MPa) τ τ τ τ test (MPa) τ

Figure 6. Diagram of the predicted peak shear strength vs.

test

results. 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
1.0 1.2 0.20.40.60.8 1.01.2 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 0 30 60
90 120

150

180

210 240 270 300 330 Test Results New Eq. 0. 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
3.0 3.5 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 51.01.52.02.5 3.03.5
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270
300 330 Test Results Barton's Eq. New Eq. τ(MPa) Barton's
Eq. τ(MPa) σ n =0.76 MPa for MJ1 σ n =1.89(MPa) for MJ4

Figure 7. Comparison by shear direction between shear

strength

prediction and test results (MJ1 and MJ4). σ n (MPa) 0.0

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

τ ( M
P a

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0 New Eq. using NRPA i Barton's Eq. , JRC Visual Test
Results MJ4, Shear direction : 90 o τ predicted/ τ test
-0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 P r o b a b i l i t y D e n s i t
y 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 τ JRC(Visual) (1.218, 0.151) τ NRP( A i
- ) (1.000, 0.110) τ NRP( lnA i ) (1.000, 0.113) τ
pre./ τ test(mean, standard deviation) a. Failure
envelopes b.Lo g-normal distribution

Figure 8. (a) Failure envelopes of suggested equation and

Barton’s

equation and (b) log-normal distribution of suggested

equation and

Barton’s equation.

NRP using Equation 10 can not be generally applied. With

NRP obtained fromA i − and ln(A i ) curve, predicted peak

shear

strengths using Equation 8 were plotted in the Figures 6a,

b,

respectively.

Figure 7 shows the peak shear strengths of MJ1 and MJ4

specimens in the shear direction of 0 ◦ , 30 ◦ , 60 ◦ , 90

◦ , 180 ◦ , and
270 ◦ .The shear strengths presented in Figure 7 include
the pre

dicted peak shear strength using NRP Ai− , peak shear

strength

using JRC, and test results. The method using NRP agrees

well with test results which show an anisotropy depending on

shear direction.

Figure 8a shows the result of shear test on specimen MJ4 in

the direction of 90 ◦ , and the failure envelopes from

Barton’s

equation and suggested equation. The figure shows that the

suggested equation matches well with peak shear strength by

normal stress.

Log-normal distribution for the ratio of predicted peak

shear

ABSTRACT: Upper Paleozoic to Mesozoic-age greywackes are

widespread throughout New Zealand. This paper describes the

characteristics of the greywacke rocks based on field

mapping, laboratory testing and rock mass classification
from sites around

the country. The rocks comprise hard sandstones,

interbedded sandstones and mudstones, and mudstones. Where
unweathered,

intact rock materials have unconfined compressive strengths

generally above 100 MPa and moderate to high modulus
ratios.

The rock masses, which are typically closely-jointed and

commonly tectonically disturbed, have an unusual
combination of

very high intact strength and joints with low persistence.

The effect of these properties on rock mass deformability
and strength
is illustrated by estimation of dam foundation
deformability from tiltmeter measurements and assessment of
critical foundation

failure mechanisms from estimates of defect and global rock

mass strengths.

1 INTRODUCTION

In New Zealand, the term ‘greywacke’ is applied to the

very well indurated to slightly metamorphosed, interbedded

mudstones and muddy sandstones belonging to the Torlesse

Supergroup. These Upper Paleozoic to Mesozoic-age base

ment rocks are widespread throughout New Zealand (Fig. 1)

where they are the bedrock of many of the country’s engi

neering projects and also an important source of roading

and concrete aggregate. Greywacke rocks are commonly

closely-jointed as a result of their complex geological

history.

Figure 1. Distribution of New Zealand greywacke rocks and

locations of main study sites. This paper is part of a

long-term New Zealand research project into the engineering
properties of unweathered greywacke. Studies at three sites
(Aviemore Dam, Belmont Quarry, Taotaoroa Quarry – Fig. 1)
have involved engineering geological mapping, laboratory
testing of intact rock and assessment of rock mass
properties (Read et al. 1999, 2003, Richards & Read 2006,
Read & Richards 2007). Postgraduate studies involving
mapping, laboratory testing and analysis of earlier in situ
testing (e.g. Cook 2001) also form part of the project.
This paper summarises geotechnical characteristics of
greywacke rock masses and discusses influences of defect
characteristics on their strength and deformation
properties. 2 GREYWACKE PROPERTIES 2.1 Rock material
Greywacke sequences (Begg & Mazengarb 1996) consist of
interbeds of: • Sandstone – coarse to medium grained, and
medium to dark grey. Individual grains are poorly sorted
angular quartz and feldspar, plus fragments of metamorphic
and igneous rocks. The intergranular filling is clay
minerals formed during induration or slight metamorphism. •
Mudstone – layers of clay, silt or mud, generally dark grey
to black, sometimes red from iron minerals. Proportions of
mudstone to sandstone vary between localities. For example,
at Waitaki near Aviemore, mudstone is the dominant
lithology, while elsewhere (e.g. Karapiro near Taotaoroa)
sandstone dominates. More massive beds of both lithologies
may be up to tens of metres thick, although more cyclic
deposition can result in interbedding with discrete beds
<0.5 m thick. Figure 2 summarises intact compressive
strength and deformation parameters for greywackes from a
number of sites. Sandstones, which have moderate modulus
ratios, have strengths >100 MPa with stronger rocks being
coarser 1 10 100 Uniaxial compressive strength, q u , MPa 1
10 100 Y o u n g ' s m o d u l u s , E i , G P a Sandstone
Mudstone Interbedded 1 2 3 + 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 1 6 12 6 7
12 1 Belmont 2 Aviemore 3 Whitehall 4 Taotaoroa 5 Benmore 6
Rangipo 7 GlobeProgressMine 8 Ruataniwha 9 Motu 10
Plimmerton 11 Karapiro 12 Moawhango very weak weak
moderately strong strong very strong ext. strong Lithology
Location M o d u l u s r a t i o = 2 0 0 : 1 M o d u l u s
r a t i o = 5 0 0 : 1 Strength divisions L o w M o d e r a
t e H i g h +

Figure 2. Strength and deformation properties of unweathered

intact greywacke using Deere & Miller’s modulus ratio chart.

Table 1. Hoek-Brown parameters for intact unweathered

greywacke (from Richards at al. 2001).

Location Lithology Tests σ ci m i

Aviemore Sandstone 5 87 11

Belmont Sandstone 11 240 13

Belmont Mudstone 9 65 9

Taotaoroa Sandstone 5 193 12

σ ci Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa)

m i Hoek-Brown constant for rock material

grained. Mudstones, with moderate to high modulus ratios,

are generally weaker than the sandstones and strong to very

strong.
There are fewer mudstone test data, as very close spac

ing of joints makes it difficult to obtain suitably-sized

intact

specimens for conventional testing. However, point load

tests involving a modified procedure with small samples

(10–20 mm width) indicated that the strength of small frag

ments was similar to that of larger pieces which could be

tested

by standard methods (Cook 2001, Read & Richards 2007).

Table 1 summarises the Hoek-Brown parameters (σ ci , m i )

for intact greywacke determined from uniaxial, triaxial and

tensile testing. The typical m i value of 12 for greywacke

sand

stone is outside the range of values suggested by Marinos &

Hoek (2000) for either greywacke (15 to 21) or sandstone

(13 to 21) while that for mudstone (9) is at the top of

their

range from 5 to 9 for siltstone.

2.2 Rock mass

With New Zealand’s plate boundary location, the greywacke

rock masses have a complex geological structure. Bedding is

generally steeply dipping (>70 ◦ ) and sometimes overturned

from tight folding with steep plunges. With more severe tec

tonic deformation, the rocks may be crushed, fractured or

sheared with thin mudstone beds often being more susceptible

to tectonic deformation. Figure 3. Logging

sandstone-dominated greywacke rock mass exposure at the
Taotaoroa study site. Greywacke rock masses have been
mapped (Fig. 3) and described for engineering geological
purposes at a number of sites, including those on Figure 1.
Methodologies have followed those described in Anon (1977).
Table 2 includes summary descriptions of greywacke
characteristics at the three main study sites. Defect types
include bedding, joints, veins, sheared zones and crushed
zones with typical defect characteristics shown in Table 3.
Greywacke rock masses rarely exhibit the regular blocky
structure of many other sedimentary rocks. There are often
in excess of six defect sets at any one location, and even
within the same geological domain there may be significant
variations. Figure 4 shows a stereographic plot of defects,
differentiated by type, from engineering geological mapping
at Waitaki near the Aviemore site (Fig. 1). Joints
generally comprise over 85% of all defect types and are
typically closely spaced (Table 3). Spacing is generally
wider in sandstones than mudstones, with corresponding
block sizes small and mostly <0.01 m 3 . Joint persistence
is generally low, often <2 m and rarely >10 m (Table 3).
Figure 5 shows persistence data from the mapping at
Waitaki. In the case of sheared zones, crushed zones and
bedding, the observations are limited by the size of
available exposures, with their continuity known to often
exceed 100 m. However, joint persistence distribution
follows a negative exponential form indicating an adequate
number of observations for statistical validity. Joint
apertures are generally <2 mm. The surface roughness of
most defects is planar rough or planar smooth using the
ISRM (1981) roughness profile classification. ISRM (1981)
also defines an index which describes the nature of defect
terminations based on mapping of exposures. Ends of
individual defects may terminate in rock (r), against other
defects (d) or extend beyond the exposure (x). The
Termination Index is defined as the percentage of defect
ends terminating in rock (�r) compared with the total
number of terminations

Table 2. Greywacke descriptions and rock mass

classification values from main study sites (locations on
Figure 1). Geological description Rock mass classification

Site Lithology & structure Defects RMR Q GSI

Aviemore Interbedded sandstone and mudstones Numerous minor

crushed and sheared <0–50 0.002–2 20–50

dam with quartz and calcite veining. Bedding zones,

especially along bedding. Joint dips steeply, mainly to
west spacing 50–150 mm, max 500 mm
Belmont Sandstone with mudstone beds 0.2–5 m Several minor
sheared and crushed 25–55 0.1–2 25–55

quarry thick. Bedding dips steeply to south-east. zones.

Four principal joint sets; Little secondary mineralisation.
spacing 40–200 mm, max 1000 mm.

Taotaoroa Sandstone with secondary mineralisation Several

minor sheared zones and one <20–50 0.02–1 10–40

quarry along joints. Several 1–5 m thick major crushed

zone. Three orthogonal mudstone beds. Bedding dips joint
sets, plus curving fractures; 35 ◦ –65 ◦ mainly to west.
spacing 50–250 mm, max 750 mm

RMR Rock Mass Rating (Bieniawski 1993); Q Rock Mass Quality

or Q-system (Barton & Grimstad 1994); GSI Geological
Strength Index

(Marinos & Hoek 2000)

Table 3. Descriptions of defects in New Zealand greywacke

rock masses. Bedding 1 Vein 1 Joint Sheared zone Crushed
zone 2

Physical Defect where parting Defect with Defect with

Roughly parallel sided Roughly parallel sided zone

description is parallel with secondary little or no zone

with closely with angular fragments rock texture
mineralisation displacement spaced joints including clay
and/or gouge

Proportion 0–8% 0–10% 80–100% 0–2% 0–2%

Spacing 10 mm–5 m Where present: 20–600 mm Where present:

Where present: 10 mm–2 m 1–20 m 1–20 m

Persistence <2 m−>10 m <1 m−<10 m <1 m−10 m 10−>100 m

10−>100 m

Width n/a n/a n/a <1 m <2 m

Filling Clean or silt/clay Secondary Clean or silt/clay n/a

n/a infill where mineralisation (e.g. infill where relaxed
calcite or zeolite) relaxed

1 Not considered a defect where bedding is textural only

(has no parting) or vein is annealed.
2 Fault is a generic term for crushed zones with
development of gouge from significant tectonic displacement
and may be >2 m wide. N Bedding [62] Crushed zone [13]
Joint [487] Sheared zone [54] TYPE [poles] Equal angle
projection Lower hemisphere 616 poles Contours at 1, 2, 3 &
4% of total per 1% area

Figure 4. Stereographic plot of greywacke defects from

Waitaki. Bedding n = 62 Joint n = 487 Crushed zone n = 13
Sheared zone n = 54 0 4 8 12 16 20 Persistence, m 0 0.2 0.4
0.6 F r e q u e n c y 0 4 8 12 16 20 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0 4 8 12
16 20 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0 4 8 12 16 20 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 F r e q u
e n c y F r e q u e n c y F r e q u e n c y Persistence, m
Persistence, m Persistence, m Figure 5. Frequency
distributions for persistence of greywacke defects in
Waitaki exposures.

Table 4. Descriptive classification for New Zealand

greywacke rocks (after Read et al. 2000).

Class Lithology Strength Defects Comments

I Homogeneous or faintly bedded Extremely Joint spacing

>150 mm, typically Little indication of major
medium-grained sandstone. strong to 200–300 mm, surfaces
rough tectonic deformation in Fine-grained sandstone with
very strong to smooth. rock mass. some widely spaced
interbeds Sheared , crushed or shattered of mudstone. zones
generally absent.

II Fine or very fine-grained Very strong Joint spacing

60–200 mm, surfaces Rock mass may contain minor sandstone
with mudstone laminae. to strong rough to slickensided.
very widely spaced zones of Interbedded sandstone Minor
narrow (<300 mm wide) sheared and crushed rock. and
mudstone. sheared, crushed or shattered zones.
Mudstone/sandstone with coarse podding.

III Mudstone with extensive Strong to Joint spacing <100

mm, surfaces Characterized by closely spaced
recrystallisation. moderately smooth to slickensided.
defects (may be shattered) or Interbedded sandstone and
strong Narrow (<300 mm wide) sheared, recrystallised rock
mass. mudstone, often with crushed, or shattered zones.
podding and some veining.

IV Interbedded sandstone Strong to Joint spacing <60 mm,

surfaces Characterised by very closely and mudstone, often
moderately smooth to clay-lined. spaced fractures with
sheared with extensive podding. strong Sheared zones with
crushed zones zones (i.e. shattered and sheared Mudstone or
very fine sandstone (typically <500 mm wide), and may rock
mass with some crushed zones with extensive veining.
contain thin (<25 mm) gouges. associated with fault zones).

V Mudstone or fine sandstone Strong to Joint spacing <20

mm, surfaces Characterised by very or extremely (rock
material generally moderately slickensided to clay-lined.
closely spaced fractures with crushed sheared and crushed).
strong Generally sheared or crushed zones and gouges (i.e.
crushed rock (or n/a) zones which contain gouges. mass
associated with major faulting).

Classification based on rock mass in the unweathered

(fresh) or fresh-stained state.

Podding refers to the disruption of bedding into irregular

lenses or pods. Recrystallisation refers to recementation
of the rock mass and is

often accompanied by veining.

(�r +�d +�x). The total number of terminations is twice

the total number of defects since the trace of each defect

in an

exposure has two ends.

More than 80% of greywacke defects terminate against

other defects so that the termination index is low and the

rock

mass may be described as sub-systematic (ISRM 1981). Off

sets of 1–2 cm are commonly observed where joints intersect

other defect planes.

2.3 Summary of greywacke characteristics

Greywacke is a complex rock mass to describe because of the

following factors:

• Typically intense geological deformation

• Variable proportions of mudstone and sandstone lithologies

• Large numbers of defect sets

• High persistence of bedding, sheared and crushed zones

• Low persistence of joints

• Defects often offset at terminations.

Table 4 gives a descriptive five-fold greywacke rock mass

classification scheme based on variations in rock material

(lithology) and rock mass defects. This scheme provides an

effective linkage between engineering geological

descriptions

and rock mass classifications such as RMR or GSI (Read &

Richards 2007). Figure 6 shows GSI ranges for the five

classes

of New Zealand greywacke in Table 4. I II III IV V Blocky

Intact or massive Very blocky Blocky/disturbed
Disintegrated Foliated/ laminated/ sheared < D E C R E A S
I N G I N T E R L O C K I N G O F R O C K P I E C E S
STRUCTURE DECREASING SURFACE QUALITY> S U R F A C E C O N D
I T I O N S V e r y g o o d G o o d F a i r P o o r V e r y
p o o r 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 5 N/A N/A N/A GEOLOGICAL
STRENGTH INDEX (GSI) 90 N/A Figure 6. Geological Strength
Index ranges for different classes of New Zealand greywacke
in Table 4 (from Read et al. 2000). Tailwater

Normal

range

Hornell gallery Normal range TILTMETER Middle gallery Cable

anchor Drain _ + Downstream For all tiltmeters X Tilt
convention greywacke Lake Air gallery TILTMETER 0 10m

Figure 7. Dam block 10 at Waitaki am with tiltmeter

locations.

3 ROCK MASS BEHAVIOUR

Greywacke is a closely-jointed rock mass which is typically

composed of high strength rock material together with tight

joints of low persistence which mostly terminate against
other

defects. The significant influence of this unusual combina

tion of factors on the mechanical properties of the rock

mass

is shown by the following examples of deformability and

strength of dam foundations.

3.1 Deformability

The Waitaki Dam comprises a 354 m long 36.5 m high curved

concrete gravity structure whose post-construction history

since 1934 has included improved drainage measures and

installation of stressed anchors (Walsh 1994). Electronic

bub

ble tiltmeters were installed in 1992 and 1994 in two of the

galleries in a central part of the dam (Block 10–Fig. 7)

with

a third installed in 1996 closer to the left abutment

(O’Reilly

et al. 1998). Lake temperatures, headwater and tailwater lev

els have been recorded regularly to correlate with the

tiltmeter

data.

Dam block 10 is founded on Class IV greywacke (Table 4)

with defect spacings of less than 60 mm and moderately

strong

to strong rock intact rock (>50 MPa). Most of the other dam

blocks are founded on Class II greywacke.

The results from a three-dimensional finite element analysis

of the dam were calibrated against the displacements

measured

by the tiltmeters.The best fit of the Block 10 tiltmeter

data was

obtained for a rock mass deformation modulus (E m ) of 10

GPa.

The intact rock modulus of elasticity (E i ) is 70 GPa and

the

corresponding a Modulus Reduction Factor (MRF = E m /E i )

is therefore 0.15. The rock mass has GSI = 20 and this MRF

is much higher than that empirically predicted by the

detailed

relationship of Hoek & Diederichs (2006) shown in Figure 8,

as is also discussed in Richards & Read (2006).

3.2 Shear strength

The Waitaki dam base varies from about 30 to 60 m in width

(Fig. 7). 60% of the joints at the dam site have a

persistence

<2 m, with few >6 m (Fig. 5). The shear strength of planar

failure surfaces was estimated using the approach in Hung &

Lee (1990), which interpolates between the strength of

joints 0 20 40 60 80 100 Geological Strength Index, GSI 0.0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 M o d u l u s R e d u c t i o n F a c t
o r , M R F , E m / E i Hoek & Diederichs equation D = 0 D
= 0.5 D = 1.0 Waitaki China/Taiwan database - test averages
Figure 8. Rock mass deformability ofWaitaki greywacke
compared with Hoek & Diederichs (2006) detailed
relationship. Figure 9. Comparison of rock mass and joint
strengths for Waitaki greywacke. and the strength of the
intact rock using a Continuity Ratio (C r ) where: Figure 9
gives strength envelopes derived for failure surfaces with
partial continuity together with rock mass strengths
estimated using the Hoek-Brown failure criterion

(Hoek & Brown 1997). Comparison of the strength envelopes

shows that:
• For lower rock mass quality (GSI = 20, such as beneath

Block 10), the predicted rock mass strength is less than

that

of joints which have a C r < 95%.

• For better quality rock (GSI = 35, a more characteristic

value for the dam foundations), the predicted rock mass

strength is less than that with joints with C r < 90%.

Structurally controlled failure mechanisms along low angle

joints are kinematically possible for the defect pattern in

Fig

ure 4; approaches for the assessment of strength with

respect

to defect patterns are given in Read et al. (2003). As

potential

failure planes in the dam base are >12 m in extent the low

persistence of joints (i.e. C r < 90%) gives rise to

strengths

in excess of the global rock mass strength. Bedding, sheared

zones and crushed zones, which have greater continuity than

the dam base, are not kinematically viable. Consequently,

the

controlling failure mechanism for stability assessment of

the

dam is the strength through the rock mass rather than along

the joints or other defects.

4 CONCLUSIONS

New Zealand greywackes comprise hard interbedded sand

stones and mudstones. They form complex rock masses in

which the most frequent defects are joints with close spac

ings, low persistence and frequent terminations against

other

defects.

Rock mass properties are significantly influenced by the

combination of high intact strength and low continuity of

joints. Deformation properties are often better than

predicted

by empirical methods such as Hoek & Diederichs (2006).

Strengths along joints, which are typically partially contin

uous, are likely to be in excess of global strengths

through the

rock mass.

Structurally controlled failure mechanisms are generally

limited to more persistent defects such as bedding, sheared

and crushed zones where they are kinematically admissible.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Nick Perrin, Chris Massey

and

Bernard Hegan for review comments and Meridian Energy

Ltd for access to data from Waitaki Dam. The study is

being performed under Foundation for Research, Science and

Technology (FRST) contract C05X0402.

Anon 1977.The description of rock masses for engineering

purposes.

Report by the Geological Society engineering group working

party.

The Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology 10(4): 355–388.

Barton, N. & Grimstad, E. 1994. The Q-System following
twenty

years of application in NMT support selection. Felsbau

12(6):

428–436. Begg, J. G. & Mazengarb, C. 1996. Geology of the

Wellington area. Sheets R27, R28 & part Q27, 1:50,000.
Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences geological map
22. Levin: Graphic Press & Packaging. Bieniawski, Z. T.
1993. Classification of rock masses for engineering: the
RMR system and future trends. In J. A. Hudson (ed.),
Comprehensive Rock Engineering; Vol. 3 Rock testing and
site characterisation. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Cook, G. K.
2001. Rock mass structure and intact rock strength of New
Zealand greywackes. MSc (hons.) thesis in Engineering
Geology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch. Hoek, E. &
Brown, E. T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock mass
strength. International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
Sciences 34(8): 1165–1186. Hoek, E. & Diederichs, M. S.
2006. Empirical estimation of rock mass modulus.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences
43(2): 203–215. Hung, J. J. & Lee, T. T. 1990. A study on
the shear strength of rock joint of partial continuity. In
N. Barton & O. Stephansson (eds.), Rock joints; Proc.
intern. symp., Loen, 4–6 June 1990. Rotterdam: Balkema.
ISRM 1981. Rock characterization testing and monitoring:
ISRM suggested methods. E. T. Brown (ed.) for International
Society on Rock Mechanics (ISRM). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2000. GSI: a geologically friendly
tool for rock mass strength estimation. In M. Ervin et al.
(eds.), GeoEng2000; Proc. intern. conf. on geotechnical &
geological engineering, Melbourne, 19–24 November 2000.
Lancaster: Technomic Publishing. O’Reilly, M., Read, S. A.
L & Foster, P. F. 1998. Monitoring dam performance using
tiltmeters. In I. Forster (ed.), Proc. 2nd ANCOLD/NZSOLD
conf., Sydney, 29 August–4 September 1998. Canberra:
Australian National Committee on Large Dams. Read, S. A. L.
& Richards, L. 2007. Characteristics and classification of
New Zealand greywackes. In D. Stead et al. (eds.), Proc.
1st Canada-U.S. rock mech. symp., Vancouver, 27-30 May
2007. Rotterdam: Balkema. Read, S. A. L., Perrin, N.D. &
Richards, L. 1999. Applicability of the Hoek-Brown failure
criterion to New Zealand greywacke rocks. In G. Vouille &
P. Berest (eds.), Proc. 9th congr. ISRM, Paris, 24–28
August 1999. Rotterdam: Balkema. Read, S. A. L., Richards,
L. & Cook, G. 2003. Rock mass defect patterns and the
Hoek-Brown failure criterion. In M. Handley & R. Stacey et
al. (eds.), Technology roadmap for rock mechanics; Proc.
10th congr. ISRM, Johannesburg, 8–12 September 2003.
Johannesburg: South African Institute of Mining &
Metallurgy. Richards, L. & Read, S. A. L. 2006. A review of
empirical methods for assessing rock mass deformability. In
D.P. Yale et al. (eds.), Golden Rocks 2006; Proc. 41st US
rock mech. symp., Golden, 17–21 June 2006. Alexandria:
ARMA. Richards, L., Read, S. A. L. & Perrin, N. D. 2001.
Comparison of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion with
laboratory and field test results for closely-jointed New
Zealand greywacke rocks. In P. Sarkka & P. Eloranta (eds.),
Rock mechanics – a challenge for Society; Proc. reg. symp.
ISRM Eurock 2001, Espoo, 3–7 June 2001. Lisse: Balkema.
Walsh, I. G. 1994. Refurbishment of the Waitaki Dam. In N.
Blaikie (ed.), Proc. 34th ANCOLD conf., Hobart, 26
November–1 December 1994. Canberra: Australian National
Committee on Large Dams. 11th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Non-destructive evaluation of the stable
behavior of a quasi-brittle sandstone M.P. Luong, M. Emami
Tabrizi, B. Halphen & J.C. Eytard LMS (Solid Mechanics
Laboratory) – CNRS UMR 7649, Civil Engineering, Departement
of Mechanics, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau Cedex, France

ABSTRACT:The paper introduces a non-destructive testing

technique in use to detect the occurrence of geomaterial
instability

subsequently causing damage and a specific data reduction

procedure to assess damage accumulation. It is assumed that
the

evolution of non-linear energy increase corresponds to the

evolution of the damage extent. The damaging process was
detected

by analyzing the signal evolution of ultrasonic pulses

propagating through a sandstone specimen subjected to
increasing

static compression loads up to failure. An input-output

non-parametric technique and a non-linear analyzer for data
reduction

procedure were chosen to portray the non-linear behavior.

Based on a multi-dimensional Fourier transform, the
non-linear

analyzer permits to separate linear and non-linear parts.

It can be used to monitor non-destructively and
continuously the overall
alteration or damage process of sandstone so that damage
mechanisms could be quantitatively estimated by a
dimensionless

parameter, the so-called non-linearity ratio.

1 INTRODUCTION

Interest in the non-destructive evaluation and testing for

civil

engineering projects, particularly in inspection and monitor

ing of geotechnical structures has increased very much in

recent years, for example, in the use of elastic wave, seis

mic and electrical methods in the evaluation of concrete

structure, foundations, etc.; because these methods are

rapid,

inexpensive, economic and portable in comparison with the

other methods. On the basis and the fact that the effect of

scale and the climatic and biological events are very impor

tant in the behavior and strength of rocks, application of

non-destructive evaluation for inspection and monitoring of

geotechnical structures seems to be in underdevelopment.

This paper introduces a non-destructive technique based on

ultrasound propagation characteristics to detect the

material

instability occurred in sandstone; thus providing a very use

ful early warning for the security of underground structure

or

rock slopes at high risk for environment. A non-destructive

evaluation of material stability in some sandstone specimens

under uniaxial compressive loading was successfully per

formed in laboratory. It uses a special testing technique to

detect the signal evolution of ultrasound pulses propagating

through the specimen subjected to increasing axial compres

sion loading.An input-output non-parametric technique based

on ultrasonic pulse propagation (Luong et al. 2005) and a

non-linear analyzer for data reduction procedure (Liu & Vinh

1991) were chosen to portray the non-linear behavior of a

sandstone subjected to increasing static compressive loads.

Based on multidimensional Fourier transform, the non-linear

analyzer permits to separate linear and non-linear parts.

It can

be used to monitor non-destructively and continuously the

overall alteration or damage process of a sandstone so that

damage mechanisms could be quantitatively estimated by a

dimensionless parameter the so-called non-linearity ratio.

2 EXISTING TECHNIQUES

Common experimental methods have been traditionally

used to obtain information concerning deformation, strains,

structural integrity and failure mechanisms in rock
infrastructure, using strain gauges, photoelasticity,
moiré, ultrasound and radiography, as well as acoustic
emission and thermographic methods (Luong 1992). Unlike
most metals that are mass homogeneously produced,
properties of rock are not unique especially in rock mass.
In most rocks, both acoustic velocity and attenuation vary
greatly. Eberhardt et al. (1998) observed that there is an
inverse relationship between grain size and acoustic
velocity. Also Prikryl et al. (2003) showed that theAE
parameters like acoustic rate or cumulative energy are
highly sensitive to fabric arrangement in rocks pronounced
fabric. This invites the use of non-destructive testing
(NDT) that can be applied directly to the part being
examined. Until today a practical method, that can
effectively and economically detect micro-cracked zones in
rock structure in the field environment, has yet to be
developed. The NDT method most extensively used at present
is probably the ultrasonic technique. Several authors
(Scholz 1968, Thill 1972, Rao & Ramana 1974, Lockner et al.
1977, Sobolev 1978) have used sonic and ultrasonic method
to study the behavior of rock and reported that cracking
noise occurred at about 60% to 99% of ultimate load. It was
recognized that these significant changes in rock
mechanical behavior are caused by micro-cracking resulting
in the increase of volume under compression and increase of
pseudo Poisson’s ratio (Brace 1971, Bieniawski 1967).
Laboratory measurements in rock specimens have indicated
that velocities are indeed sensitive to the presence of
existing microcracks but they indicate the failure process,
only at the start of dilatancy (unstable cracking) or
coalescence appearance.The early beginning of cracking
(phase 3 of Bieniawski’s model: stable cracking) cannot be
determined by the velocities (Couvreur et al. 1998).
Modification of waveform during propagation through the
material is a measure of the non-elastic components of
deformation (Bourbié et al. 1987). Attenuation may
therefore be more sensitive than velocity to defects, but
it is more complex to analyze (Lockner et al. 1977).
Moreover, acoustic emission AE is applied in a broad sense
to the sounds that are internally generated in a material
subjected to loading. There is a wide variety of mechanisms

known to be responsible for AE generation, ranging from

dislocation motion to crack propagation. Therefore the basic

AE monitoring techniques are applicable to a wide class of

materials and structures (Ouyang et al. 1991). Unfortunately

the interpretation of results still remains a delicate

affair. The

present work aims to introduce a non-destructive testing

tech

nique in use for detecting the occurrence of material

instability

and a specific data reduction procedure to access damage

accumulation.

3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The salient feature of rock behavior originates from their
inter

nal micro-cracking, announcing subsequent failure. Ultra

sound propagation in a damaged rock material, unlike in an

ideally perfect solid, is generally accompanied with attenua

tion and dispersion.

Attenuation refers to the diminishing of wave intensity or

wave amplitude as a wave propagates through a damaged

medium, while dispersion refers to the shape distortion of

a wave due to the frequency dependence of the effective

wave (phase) velocity. Both attenuation and dispersion

(shape

velocity) are measurable quantities and the amount of change

in attenuation and phase velocity can be correlated to the

level

of damage states. This feature is advantageously exploited

in this ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation, relying on

the

mechanism of ultrasound propagation through rock materials.

This provides an ideal means for detecting and

characterizing

micro-cracking in damaged rock material in infrastructure.

Techniques using ultrasonic waves are especially appealing

because of the direct connection between the characteristics

of the wave propagation and the damage states of a solid

(Achenbach 1990). The present analysis only considers, in

the framework of small perturbations, the propagation mecha

nism of a small wave through an elastic plastic solid
presenting

locally an unstable behavior.

Within the theory of plasticity, several postulates that

guar

antee the mechanical stability of frictional materials have

been suggested based on either energy or wave propagation

considerations. Mechanical stability is taken as the capa

bility of geomaterials to sustain a given stress state. For

a

non-associated plastic flow rule, localization can also

appear

during hardening. This type of instability, referred to as

pre-failure flow instability.

Note the instability of a material can occur when the prop

agation of a small perturbation in the form of stress wave

in

a certain direction is impossible (Mandel 1964). Based on

the

assumption that a stable material is able to propagate a

small

perturbation in the form of wave, Mandel proposed a

necessary

and sufficient condition for stability. He showed (1963)

that

a wave propagates in a material with an elastic plastic

matrix

A, along the direction α, if and only if all the

eigenvalues λ of

the matrix B are real and positive. This phenomenon is used

as a highly sensitive manifestation of geomaterial

instability

(Luong et al. 2005).

3.1 Proposed method

Volterra analysis is used here to deal with unknown

non-linear

systems. Although attempts have been made to identify the

governing equation of SDOF systems (Marmarelis 1989), it

is more usual to identify high order transfer functions char

acterizing the non-linear behavior of the mechanical

system. Volterra has described a series decomposition to
express the system dynamic response y(t) as a function of
excitation x(t). The response y(t) can be expanded in a
Volterra series in the following way: These series result
from the summation of multidimensional convolution products
between excitation and Volterra kernels h i (τ 1 , . . . τ
i ). The terms y 1 of the series correspond to the linear
component of the response, whereas the other terms
correspond to the non-linear components (Vinh & Tomlinson
1990, Liu & Vinh 1991). Working out the Volterra kernels
allows the characterization of the system by separating
linear and non-linear parts of the dynamic response. It
should be noted that the kernels are purely dependent on
the governing differential equation, i.e. the system
itself, and thence independent on excitation. If the system
is linear, high order kernels are constant and equal to
zero.Activation of nonlinear phenomena gives rise to
non-zero values in these high order kernels. For a
non-linear system, appearance of supplementary
non-linearities (such as instability, micro-cracking,
damage, etc.) increases the amplitude of original high
order kernels. The proposed method aims to evaluate the
significance of non-linear terms in the global response. If
these nonlinear aspects exhibit a sudden increase, it will
be associated to the occurrence of material instability
causing additional non-linear behavior. 3.2 Non-linearity
ratio A simple quantitative parameter on which a criterion
could be applied is necessary to characterize the system
response. The determination of kernels gives access to the
different terms of the series, and to their energies. The
energy l E i m of the ith component of l y i (t) for the
mth excitation the form: By comparing these energies, the
non-linear phenomenon significance may be evaluated. To
quantify the non-linear contributions in the global
response, l r m the non-linearity ratio at point l for the
mth excitation is defined as follows: According to Eq. (2),
Volterra kernels can be introduced in the former equation.
The non-linearity ratio is then written as:

Table 1. Physical and mechanical properties of the Vosges

sand

stone: γ: unit weight, n: porosity, σ c : unconfined

compressive

strength (USC).

Type of rock γ(kN/m 3 ) n(%) σ c (MPa)

A 26.16 17.5 38

B 26.24 13.7 54

Figure 1. SEM (scanning electron microscopy) images of

Vosges

sandstone. The dimension of grains measured is between 100

and

300 µm for type A, and between 85 and 150 µm for type B.

For N = 3, the non-linearity ratio can be expressed as a

function of a, so-called l ρ(a), assuming the form:

This function expresses the energetic part of non-linear com

ponents in the system response to an impulse excitation of

magnitude a.

4 EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION

The proposed technique has been applied in laboratory on two

different specimens of Vosges sandstone subjected to increas

ing levels of static compressive loading. In table 1, the

physical

and mechanical properties based on the ISRM recommen

dations are summarized, while in Fig. 1 two SEM scan are

presented. This rock type was selected because it is homoge

neous, weak, brittle, dilatant and not clayey. Such

properties

are definitely favorable in the framework of the research.

The pulse transmission technique, using scan piezoelectric

transducer V150 (0.10 MHz), has been applied as a non

destructive testing. A coupling agent was used to improve

the wave transmissibility through the interface between the

transducers and the rock specimen. The pulser section pro

duces an electrical pulse to excite a piezoelectric

transducer,

which emits an ultrasonic pulse. The pulse travels through

the

specimen that is subjected to a given static compressive,

to a

second transducer acting as a receiver (Fig. 2). The

transducer

converts the pulse into an electric signal that makes

available

for non-linear analysis. Three input pulses were used at

three

different amplitude levels (Fig. 3). Response signal

records at

different static stress levels have indicated the evolution

of the

ultrasonic pulse traveling through the specimen that is

loaded

by increasing static compressive loads (Fig. 4). The experi

mental set-up continuously monitored the applied load, the

axial and radial strains and the signals of ultrasonic

waves.
The data processing technique provides the variation of

non-linear energy normalized by the total energy and non

linearity contrast as a function of stress levels (Fig. 5,

6). Figure 2. Sandstone specimen under compression loading:
a) Sandstone type A, b) Sandstone type B. -0.10 -0.08 -0.06
-0.04 -0.02 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0 20 40 60 80 100
120 Time (µs) A m p l i t u d e ( V ) Level 1 Level 2 Level
3 Figure 3. Wave amplitudes (volts) versus time (sec) of
the three proportional, input ultrasonic pulses. -0.10
-0.08 -0.06 -0.04 -0.02 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0 20
40 60 80 100 120 Time (µs) A m p l i t u d e ( V ) Level 1
Level 2 Level 3 -0.10 -0.08 -0.06 -0.04 -0.02 0.00 0.02
0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Time (µs) A m p l
i t u d e ( V ) Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 a) b) Figure 4.
Wave amplitudes (volts) versus time (sec) of the three
proportional: a) output ultrasonic pulses before the
stability threshold, b) output ultrasonic pulses after the
stability threshold. 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
0.35 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Normalized Force (%)
N o n l i n e a r i t y R a t i o Stability threshold
Figure 5. Graphical definition of the stability threshold
ST for sandstone A subject to increasing compression
stress. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

-0.008 -0.006 -0.004 -0.002 0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008

Strain

o r

a l

i z

e d

o r

c e

( %
)

-0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 Non-linearity Ratio Axial strain

Lareral strain Volume change Non-linearity Ratio
Dilation ? Stability threshold

Figure 6. Graphical definition of the stability threshold

ST for

sandstone B subject to increasing compression stress.

They have evidenced a material stability threshold ST that

pre

cedes significantly the occurrence of crack initiation so

that

either load-controlled or displacement controlled tests can

be

used. This result has been confirmed by the infrared ther

mography technique (Luong 1992).The slope change of the

non-linearity ratio suggests that the quasi-brittle rock

speci

men presents two quite different behaviors: the former is

quasi

elastic and stable, the latter may lead to a sudden failure

(in

stress-controlled case) caused by the extension of the

unstable

zone that generates non-linear effects affecting the

ultrasonic

wave propagation mechanisms.

5 CONCLUSION

This paper demonstrates that the highly sensitive detection

of material instability occurred in sandstone could provide

a

very useful early warming for the security of work at high

risk
for environment. The underground structures and rock slopes

are often very complex. A non-destructive evaluation of mate

rial instability could offer an efficient field monitoring

before

failure initiation in order to reduce risk of imminent

failures

by giving advanced and sufficient warning for remedial mea

sures to be designed. The application of ultrasound scanning

to inspection and monitoring of underground geotechnical

structures relies on the fact that during the process of

micro

cracking, the sandstone may be locally unstable and hence

modifies and partially obstructs the propagation characteris

tics of ultrasound pulses. The authors hope that the

presented

method will be applied in the near future on the other rock

materials and will eventually be used commonly to monitoring

of geotechnical structures.

Achenbach, J.D. 1990. From ultrasonics to failure

prevention. Elastic

waves and ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation, S.K. Datta

et al.

(ed.), Amsterdam: North-Holland. Bieniawski, Z.T. 1967.

Stability concept of brittle fracture propagation in rock.
Eng. Geol., 2, pp.149–162. Brace, W.F. 1971. Micromechanics
in rock systems. Structure, Solid Mechanics and Engineering
Design. London : Wiley. pp. 187–204. Bourbié, T., Coussy,
O. & Zinszner, B. 1987. Acoustics of porous media. Paris:
Technip. Couvreur, J.F.,Thimus, J.F.,Vervoort,A. & King,
M.S. 1998. Damage process of sedimentrary rocks: Advanced
processing of ultrasonic waves. Ed. Yunmei L. Advances in
Rock Mechanics, World scientific Publishing Co, pp. 59–66.
Eberhardt, E., Stead, D., Stimpson, B. & Read, R.S. 1998.
Identifying crack initiation and propagation thresholds in
brittle rock. Can. Geotech. J. Vol.35, No.2, pp. 222–233.
Liu, H. & Vinh, T. 1991. Multidimensional signal processing
for nonlinear structural dynamics. Mechanical system and
signals processing. 5 (1), pp. 61–80. Lockner, D.A, Walsh,
J.B. & Byerlee, J.D. 1977. Changes in seismic velocity and
attenuation during deformation of granite. J. Geophys. Res,
Vol. 82, pp. 5374–5378. Luong, M.P. 1992. Infrared
thermographic observations of rock failure. Comprehensive
Rock Engineering – Principles, Practices & Projects, ed. by
J.A. Hudson, Pergamon Press., 4(26), pp. 715–730. Luong,
M.P., Emami Tabrizi, M., Halphen, B. & Eytard, J.C. 2005.
Non-destructive evaluation of the instability threshold of
a brittle sandstone under compressive loading. 17th
Russian-International Scientific-Technological Conference
on Non-Destructive Testing and Diagnostics, Ekaterinburg
Russia. Mandel, J. 1963. Propagation des surfaces de
discontinuité dans un milieu élastoplastique. Proc. Int.
Symp. Stress Waves in Anelastic Solids, Brown university.
Mandel, J. 1964. Conditions de stabilité et postulat de
Drucker. Rheology and Soil Mechanics, IUTM Symp., Grenoble,
ed. by J. Kravtchenko and P.M. Sirieys, Spring-Verlag,
Berlin, Germany. pp. 58–68. Marmarelis, V.Z. 1989.
Identification and modeling of a class of nonlinear system.
Mathematical and Computer Modeling. 12(8), pp. 991–995.
Ouyang, C., Landis, E. & Shah, S.P. 1991. Damage assessment
in concrete using quantitative acoustic emission. J.
Engineering Mechanics, 117 (11), pp. 2681–2698. Prikryl,
R., Lokajicek, T., Li, C. & Rudajev, V. 2003. Acoustic
emission characteristics and failure of uniaxially stressed
granitic rocks: the effect of rock fabric. Rock Mech. Rock
Engng. 36 (4), pp. 255–270. Rao, M.V. & Ramana, V. 1974.
Dilatant behavior of ultramafic rocks during fracture. Int.
J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 11, pp. 193–203.
Scholz, C.H. 1968. Experimental study of the fracturing
process in brittle rock. J. Geophys. Research., 73(4), pp.
1447–1454. Sobolev, G., Spetzler, H. & Salov, B. 1978.
Precursors to failure in rocks while undergoing anelastic
deformations. J. Geophys. Research, 83, pp. 269–274. Thill,
R.E. 1972. Acoustic methods for monitoring failure in rock.
New Horizons in Rock Mechanics, Proc. 14th Symp. Rock
Mechanics, University Park, ASCE., pp. 649–687. Vinh, T. &
Tomlinson, G. 1990. Dynamique des systèmes non linéaires.
Séminaire de perfectionnement, ISMCM Saint Ouen, tome III.
11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Numerical analysis of fracture toughness with Chevron Bend
test Taewook Ha, Won-Beom Kim, Ju-Hwan Jeong & Hyung-Sik
Yang Chonnam National University, Gwang-ju, Korea
Myung-Hwan Jang Korea Resources Corporation, Seoul, Korea

ABSTRACT: Standard methods to determine fracture toughness

which is one of the important factors in rock mechanics
were

suggested in 1988 and 1995 by the commission on testing

methods of ISRM. It is difficult to verify lab test because
of the wide

variation of test results and difficulty in reproduce.

Therefore verification by numerical analysis is preferred
to experimental

one. It is also possible to observe fracture propagation

into the model and to repeat the same simulation in
numerical analysis. In

this study 4 kinds of numerical analysis, FLAC 2D and FLAC

3D as continuum method and PFC 2D as discontinuum method,

were performed in order to estimate fracture toughness and

results were compared with actual Chevron Bend test
results. It

was found that fracture toughness values of 3D simulations

were closer to the lab test results than 2D simulations and
values

of discontinuum method were better than those of continuum

methods.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock failure can be evaluated with theoretical explanation

of

facture mechanics like as microscopic behavior that crack is

created inside the rock and grew enough to fragment rock

with propagation. Fracture mechanics is primarily used to

prevent and predict catastrophic failure of structures by

eval

uation of crack creation, growth and propagation.

Especially,

the fracture toughness is used in order to determine the

possi

bility of failure.The fracture toughness expresses

resistance to

crack extension or fracture energy consumption rate required

to create new surface.

After the suggestion of standard fracture toughness test

methods by ISRM commission on testing methods(1988,

1995), several studies were carried out to estimate fracture

toughness by numerical analysis(Synn et al, 2000, Yoon &

Jeon, 2003).

In this study, 3 numerical analysis codes, FLAC 2D and

FLAC 3D as continuum method and PFC 2D as discontinuum

method, were carried out to estimate the influence of each

code to the calculation of fracture toughness and to compare

results of each code.

2 CHEVRON BEND TEST(CB)

Suggested standard test method for determining fracture

toughness with Chevron Bend test by ISRM has two levels,

one is called level I test, that only maximum load is consid

ered to calculate fracture toughness, and the other is

called

level II and continuous measurement of load and displace

ment beyond the maximum load are considered to calculate

fracture toughness.

The description of level I test is run under load control

and

load has to record until the specimen fails.The minimum aver

age stress intensity rate during the test is 0.25 MPa √
(m)/sec

and the rate has to be controlled that failure occurs within

10 sec of initial load application. Only maximum load is

Figure 1. The diagram of Chevron Bend test and section of
specimen. considered to calculate fracture toughness with
equation 1 and 2. Where, F max is maximum load, D is
diameter of specimen, a 0 is Chevron tip distance and S is
distance between support points. Figure 1 shows diagram of
the Chevron Bend test and dimensions of specimen are as in
table 1. 3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS In order to observe effect to
fracture toughness by numerical analysis method, 4 codes
were used to estimate and compare

Table 1. Dimensions of Chevron Bend specimen (ISRM).

Modeling

Geometry parameter Value Tolerance size

Specimen diameter D >10 × grain size 54.0 mm

Specimen length, L 4D >3.5D 216.0 mm

Support span, S 3.33D ±0.02D 180.0 mm

Subtended chevron 90.0 ◦ ±1.0 ◦ 90.0 ◦

angle, θ

Chevron V tip 0.15D ±0.10D 8.1 mm

position, a 0

Notch width, t <1.0 mm <0.03D 1.0 mm

Table 2. Mechanical properties of Jechon granite (Kim &

Baek,

1992).

Density σ c σ t σ s E φ

(kg/m 3 ) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (GPa) ν (degree)

2680 143.0±7.0 9.1± 2.1 15.0 57.8 0.26 55.0

Figure 2. Numerical model for each code.

result with that of lab test in previous study. FLAC 2D and

FLAC 3D were carried as continuum method and PFC 2D

as discontinuum. Specimen size and properties by lab test of

reference were used as numerical model size and assigned

properties to numerical model. Mechanical properties of

specimen are as table 2.

Numerical model for 2 dimensional code was generated in

the middle part of specimen which section was cut through

tip

of chevron notch to have maximum length. In case of 3 dimen

sional, numerical models were created same as suggested

method by ISRM. Boundary condition that fixed vertical dis

placement at the location of both support point was used

instead of support rollers in FLAC. Instead of support

rollers,

vertical displacements at each support point were confined

as boundary condition in FLAC. In PFC, ball elements were

made as support roller and fixed vertical displacement. The

loading roller was assigned as boundary condition in FLAC,

and as ball element in PFC. Loading rate was kept as 3kN

per second in both of them. Diagrams of numerical model for

each code are shown in figure 2. Table 3. Converted micro

parameters for PFC 2D. Input parameters PFC 2D density[kg/m
3 ] 2680 kn[kN/m] 2.0e8 ks[kN/m] 4.4e7 Friction[degree] 0.5
n_bond[kN] 2.0E4 s_bond[kN] 1.0E5 (a) Aspect of crack
growth simulated by FLAC 2D. Each figure represents
condition in 0, 21.0kN, 26.0kN, and 38.8kN as loading. (b)
Aspect of crack growth simulated by FLAC 2D. Each figure
represent condition in 0, 13.9kN, 15.6kN, and 18.8kN as
loading. Figure 3. Simulation results with 2 dimensional
codes. Mechanical properties for FLAC model were used same
value as result of reference study like in table 2. Because
micro properties are particularly used for PFC instead of
result of lab test, micro properties converted from macro
properties were used for PFC model through simulation of
compressed and Brazilian test and the description is in
table 3. Constitutive model was used Mohr-Coulomb model for
FLAC and ContactBond model for PFC. 4 RESULT OF NUMERICAL
ANALYSIS Figure 3 shows the result of analysis by
2dimesional codes and figure 4 shows that by 3 dimensional
codes. Both of them

Figure 4. Simulation result with 3 Dimensional code. Each

figure

represent condition in 0, 0.6kN, 1.7kN, and 2.8kN as

loading.

Table 4. Detail of specimen, maximum load and fracture

toughness

in each code. A min Notch Span F max K CB D(mm) (mm) degree

(mm) (KN) (MPa/ √ m)

Experiment 56.00 8.95 89.90 186.5 2.26 1.83

FLAC 2D 54.00 10.43 90.00 180.0 38.80 32.25

FLAC 3D 54.00 10.43 90.00 180.00 2.80 2.33

PFC 2D 54.00 10.43 90.00 180.00 18.8 15.60

Figure 5. Contour of maximum principal stress in the state

of crack

opening.

show that crack induced by tensile stress was generated on

tip

of the notch and propagated form initial crack to loading

point

with tensile failure.

Fracture toughness computed by each numerical code is

described in table 4. Fracture toughness by numerical anal

ysis was larger at least about 8 times of experiment as

15.6 MPa/ √ m. But in FLAC 3D, it was possible to get more

approximate value than 2D codes as 2.33 MPa/ √ m. The rea

son of this difference is that basic assumption in 2-D

analysis

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the

mechanism of flow in a rock joint using a developed flow
simulation

method taking into account the aperture distribution of a

rock joint. Shear-flow coupling test has been conducted
under constant

normal stress condition after that, the developed flow

simulation method has been applied based on the comparison
between

test and simulation results, this simulation method can

adequately express the change of flow rate in a rock joint
during shear.

As a simulation result, the contact area is reduced and a

variable channeling flow appears as the shear displacement
increases

until peak shear stress. After that, the contact area

localizes and the channeling flow is stable in the residual
shear stress region.

Furthermore, these phenomena are characterized by change of

the flow path (tortuosity).

1 INTRODUCTION

For the construction of underground structures utilizing the

sealing characteristics of rock mass, evaluating the

hydraulic

and mechanical properties of rock joints is very important.

A joint is a mechanical weak plane in rock mass, in addi

tion it becomes a factor of permeability variation in rock

mass. Therefore, for the safe and appropriate development

of the underground structures utilizing the isolation
property

of rock mass, it is important to evaluate the

characteristic of

rock joints. The permeability of a rock joint is

fundamentally

dominated by the width of the aperture, and it is generally

evaluated as a parallel plate model for a rock joint (Wither

spoon et al., 1980). Furthermore, it is indispensable to

evaluate

simultaneously, mechanical and hydraulic properties of a

rock

joint, since the aperture width of a rock joint is very

sensitive

to various stresses conditions. Although a number of studies

have been carried out the hydro-mechanical properties of a

rock joint (Olsson et al., 2001 etc.), the mechanism of

flow in

a rock joint has not been clarified.

In this paper, the change in permeability through the

shear process of a rock joint is clarified experimentally.

Subsequently, a flow simulation method considering the

distri

bution of aperture is developed. According to the comparison

between experimental and simulation results, this new method

verifies the change of flow in a rock joint during shear.

Finally,

the mechanism of flow in a rock joint is clarified by the

flow

simulation results.
2 EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS

Concerning the experimental test, a previously developed

shear-flow coupling apparatus is used (Mitani et al., 1999).

The direct shear method is adopted in this apparatus. The

upper and lower shear boxes are separated, and contact is

made

only through the enclosed sample. The upper box is connected

by a pair of tie rods to a horizontal jack and constrained

to

have only vertical movement and rotation. These shear rods

are aligned along the joint surface and consequently measure

shear load, devoid of augmented moment. This apparatus has

two normal loading jacks in order to control the inclination

of the upper shear box. The normal-load jacks can be con

trolled independently. At low normal stresses, the upper

box may incline, unevenly distributing normal stresses, and
exerting a large effect on joint permeability. The lower
shear box moves forward to apply the shear load which is
controlled by shear displacement, while vertical boundary
conditions are controlled by two jacks. Furthermore, one
dimensional permeability test can be carried out, at the
condition of temporarily stopping of the shear test.
Permeability testing is performed under controlled
hydraulic head differential. The hydraulic head is
prescribed at the joint inlet, and the joint exit
overflows. 3 TEST RESULTS The test specimen consists of
granite (unit weight 26.4 kN/m 3 , uniaxial compressive
strength 172 MPa), from Fujian (China). An artificial joint
is made at the mid-height of the specimen. The specimen is
180 mm (Length), 100 mm (width) and 80 mm (height). After
making the artificial joint, the joint is once opened and
the each joint surface roughness is measured by the laser
scanning system. Shear-flow coupling tests are conducted
under constant normal stress (3 MPa) taking into account
the damage of joint asperity, no production of gouge
materials. The inclination of the upper shear box during
shear is controlled, shear displacement is applied up to 20
mm. One-dimensional flow test is performed under constant
head method, the inlet head pressure is 3.0 m and outlet
head pressure is 1.0 m. The experimental results are shown
in Figure 1. Shear stress increases linearly with shear
displacement, a sharp peak at a shear displacement of 1.4
mm, and then falls, showing strainsoftening behaviour, to a
constant residual shear stress with increasing shear
displacement. In this figure, normal displacement is
converted to the average aperture width of the joint using
the initial joint aperture. Average aperture width slightly
decreases until the shear displacement previous to the peak
stress. After that, the dilation rapidly occurs and the
average aperture is expanded. The variation in dilatancy
rate is maximum at the shear displacement corresponding
with the peak shear stress. Afterward, average aperture
width increases with shear. Equivalent hydraulic
conductivity decreases slightly at 1.0 mm of shear
displacement, and rapidly increases, by about 3 orders of
magnitude from the initial value. The equivalent Hydraulic
conductivity

-1

7 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0 5 10 15 20

S h

e a

r s

t r e

s s

[ M
P a

] A p e r t u r e [ m m ] Shear disp. [mm] Shear stress

Aperture H y d r a u l i c c o n d u c t i v i t y [ c m /
s e c ] 10 -3 10 -2 10 -1 10 -0 10 1 10 2

Figure 1. Experimental results of shear-flow coupling

properties.

hydraulic conductivity is nearly constant, showing the small

fluctuation in the post-peak regime although increasing the

average aperture width. Finally, it increases by about 4

orders

of magnitude over the initial value.

4 ESTIMATION OF APERTURE DISTRIBUTION

A joint is usually expressed as a single line or one plane

(Barton

et al., 1985). However, a joint is fundamentally composed of

two surfaces (upper and lower surface). Joint properties

such

as mechanical and hydraulical properties are controlled by

the

contact of the upper and lower surface. Therefore, joint

should

be estimated using the three dimensional distribution of the

aperture width.

In order to estimate quantitatively joint aperture distribu

tion, asperity heights of the upper and lower joint

surfaces are

measured using the 3-D laser scanning system. The specimen

is set on the positioning table, which moves in the X,Y

direc

tion. Asperity height is measured by the laser displacement

meter (spot diameter 45 µm × 20 µm, resolution 0.5 µm).The

accuracy of this system can ensure ±3 µm in the X, Y direc

tion, and ±0.01 mm in height direction. The measurement

is carried out in the X, Y direction on a grid resolution of

0.2 mm × 0.2 mm.

Geographic Information System (GIS) is used for quan

tifying the aperture distribution. The X-Y positional data,

and linked elevations are implemented as a GIS raster data.

In the GIS, the joint surface is meshed (each mesh size is

0.2 mm × 0.2 mm) and each mesh has the value of height. The

digital raster data for the upper surface is overturned,

and the

topography of each joint surface is constructed as a layer.

It is necessary to register the upper and lower joint sur

faces, which is an initial joint aperture. It is very

difficult to

specify this joint aperture, since it is very sensitive to

normal

stress. Initial joint aperture is evaluated from the

results of nor

mal loading tests. After conducting the normal loading test,

the normal displacement curve is obtained, which includes

the deformations of the joint itself, the intact rock, and

the

test apparatus. The normal stiffness of the intact rock and

the

apparatus is more strongly linear than that of joint itself

at

high normal stresses. The deformation curve of the joint

itself

is obtained by subtracting this linear component from the

total

deformation curve. Finally, the initial joint aperture

according

to the normal stress is evaluated by this curve.

After defining the initial joint aperture, the upper and

lower

joint surfaces are moved respectively to the dilation curve

obtained from the shear test results, while the upper and
lower (b)Shear disp. = 3.0 mm Mean aperture = 0.660
(a)Shear disp. = 0 mm Mean aperture = 0.093 Shear disp. =
10.0 mm Mean aperture = 1.659 Figure 2. Aperture
distribution during shear. (blank: contact area). surfaces
are kept parallel. As a result, the change of the asperity
distribution of the joint, induced by shear, is obtained by
applying the GIS spatial analysis function (Mitani et al.,
2003). The change of aperture distribution during shear is
shown in Figure 2. 5 FLOW SIMULATION Flow simulation is
modeled as permeability changes locally according to the
change in aperture distribution. Though it is ideal to
model the flow in three dimensions, it is modeled here as a
two dimensional flow, vertical flow is neglected because
the joint roughness and surface undulation are relatively
small. Then, it conforms to the fundamental flow equation
under the condition of laminar flow, steady state,
incompressible fluid, and the solution is obtained. In the
modeling process, the joint surface is modeled by columns,
as shown in Figure 3. The hydraulic conductivity of each
mesh is calculated in proportion to the aperture width
according to ‘cubic law’. The aperture width is defined
from the relationship between adjoining mesh. For
contacting portion of the mesh, the aperture width is
assumed to be 0.001 mm (corresponding hydraulic
conductivity: 8.1 × 10 −7 cm/sec) because the rock mass
itself has finite permeability and the Lower wall Upper
wall Aperture x y z ∆Y Shear direction X cross section
Contact Mesh (i,j) d x2(i,j) dx1(i,j) Lower wall Upper
wall ∆X

Figure 3. Joint aperture model for flow simulation. 10 -7

10 -6 10 -5 10 -4 10 -3 10 -2 10 -1 10 0 10 1 10 2 10 3 10
4 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 10 15 20 Simulation Experiment
Tortuosity T o r t u o s i t y Shear disp. [mm] F l o w r a
t e [ c m 3 / s e c ] Frow rate 0 5

Figure 4. Comparison of flow rate between experimental and

simulation results, and change of tortuosity during shear.

Figure 5. Flow simulation results. a) shear disp. = 0.0 mm,

b) shear disp. = 1.4 mm, c) shear disp. = 3.0 mm, d) shear
disp. = 10.0 mm,

i) contact area, ii) flow rate distribution, iii) particle

paths (Ave.: average length of flow path, Rep.: length of
the representative flow path). precision of measurement of
the asperity height is limited. Boundary conditions
equivalent to test conditions are applied and analysis is
conducted by an original program using finite difference
method. All of the preand post-processing of this analysis
is carried out in the GIS. 6 RESULT OF FLOW SIMULATION 6.1
Comparison of the experimental and simulation result The
changes of flow rates in simulation and test result during
shear are shown in Figure 4. The flow rate of test result
slightly decreases, but simulation result increase in the
initial shear stage. And, initial flow rate of simulation
result is smaller than the one of test results. However,
the flow rate, which rapidly increases with initial shear
stage and becomes constant in residual shear region, can be
simulated. The difference between experimental and
simulation results is caused by generation of turbulent
flow locally in spite of assumption of laminar flow in this
model. Furthermore, it is caused by the production of gouge
materials in a rock joint.

6.2 Examination of the situation of flow in a rock joint

Figure 5 shows the distribution of contact area in a rock

joint,

flow rate distribution and the path of particle. Concerning

the path of particle, the path which maximizes accumulation

flow rate from the optional inlet point to outlet point

using

the function of Network Analysis of GIS is obtained as a

flow

path. Then, tortuosity is defined as the ratio of the flow

path
length showing the maximum flow rate (representative flow

path) to the length of a rock joint. As the result, the

change of

tortuosity during shear is shown in Figure 4.

At a shear displacement of 0 mm, the ratio of contact area

is 50.45%. The water head value is distributed in proportion

to the distance from the inflow side. Each flow rate is

small

and the flow situation is almost uniform because the contact

area is uniformly distributed in a rock joint. Tortuosity

value

is 1.5 and flow path is directly connected from inlet to

outlet

side with minutely vibrated.

At shear displacement of 1.4 mm, where occurs the peak

shear stress, the ratio of contact area decreases to approxi

mately 33.98%. Before this shear displacement, the flow rate

indicates a minimum value.And the variation of flow rate

indi

cates maximum at this shear displacement. The contact area

is

shown as a black stripe and is primarily perpendicular to

the

direction of shear. This contact area affects the flow of a

rock

joint.The concentrated flow rate develops and clearly

appears.

It diverts flow around the contact area. The flow paths are

distributed in accentuated channels Therefore, the flow is

con
trolled by the contact area.As represent of this behavior,
tortu

osity rapidly increases and indicates a maximum value of

2.8.

As the shear displacement increases, for a shear displace

ment of 3.0 mm, in strain-softening region, the ratio of

contact

area rapidly decreases to approximately 8.13% and its distri

bution is localized. At this shear displacement, flow rate

is

increasing and a lot of flow paths are generated.As the

result of

this, tortuosity tends to decrease. However, flow paths are

not

suitable. The flow path changes significantly with

increasing

shear displacement.

At a shear displacement of 10 mm in the residual shear

stress

region, the ratio of the contact area is 6.8% and its

distribution

is quite localized. Distinct flow paths become developed and

the previously generated flow paths are not changed in the

residual region. Finally, the constant flow field not

depending

on the shear displacement is established in a rock joint.

It can

be also explained that the tortuosity does not change after

shear displacement of 10 mm.

As a result of this, the flow path is not fixed from the

initial
ABSTRACT: The aim of the study reported in this paper is to
contribute to the understanding of the mechanical behaviour
of

bimrock, and to the definition of a methodology for its

modelling, by using a numerical approach. A number of
unconfined

or laterally confined tests on bimrock specimens have been

numerically simulated, to identify the strength and
deformability

laws that are needed to model the material as a homogenized

equivalent continuum. The finite difference and the finite

element methods, implemented in the FLAC and the ADINA

codes, respectively, have been used to investigate possible
model

dependent responses. A novel approach has been used, in

which the size, orientation and position of rock blocks
contained

in a two-dimensional specimen are generated according to a

random process that produces representative samples of
block

populations with assigned statistical properties. Different

volumetric proportions and aspect ratios of the blocks have
been

considered and the effects on the strength and

deformability of bimrock are presented.

1 INTRODUCTION

Bimrock, block in matrix rock, is a particular type of rock

that

is characterized by a heterogeneous structure. Bimrock has

been well defined by severalAuthors (Medley 1994, Lindquist

1994) as a material that is constituted by rock blocks,

contained

in a small-grained, well cemented material (matrix) with

lower

mechanical characteristics.
Bimrock is a very peculiar material, which can give rise to

serious engineering application problems. In particular, it

is

difficult use to estimate the strength and deformability

param

eters to use in numerical analyses that are needed to

assess,

for instance, the safety of tunnel excavations or the

stability

of slopes.

The studies reported in literature have pointed out some of

the main characteristics of a rock mass that can be

classified

as a typical bimrock (Medley 2002):

• The block size distribution is scale independent, that

is, the

lab and site size scale behaviour is the same.

• The ratio between the block and matrix strength is greater

than 2.

• The maximum and minimum sizes of the blocks are conven

tionally assumed to be 75% and 5% of the characteristic

engineering length (tunnel diameter, thickness of a land

slide, laboratory rock specimen diameter, etc.). In this

range, the block size distribution has a power law with an

exponent of −2.3.

• The strength and deformability of a bimrock depend on the

volumetric proportion and orientation of the blocks.

Different methods are available to evaluate the volumet

ric proportion of the blocks (BVP in the following): one

dimensional (drilling and outcrop mapping), two-dimensional

(photographs and maps analysis) and three-dimensional (labo

ratory analysis). It has been observed that the first two

methods

underestimate the BVP, and lead to significant mistakes.

A numerical approach has been used in the present study to

study the influence of the BVP on the strength and deforma

bility characteristics of bimrock, as an equivalent

continuum.

A number of two-dimensional bimrock specimens, with or

without lateral confinement pressure, have been numerically

Table 1. Mechanical properties of the materials. E σ t φ ′

c ′ GPa ν MPa deg MPa

Matrix 2.5 0.25 0.712 24.7 2.28

Blocks 5.0 0.25 1.268 38.3 3.07

E: Young modulus, ν: Poisson ratio, σ t : tensile strength,

φ ′ : friction

angle, c ′ : cohesion.

mesh is obtained, and, as in the previous case, the

mechanical

properties of the matrix and inclusions are then assigned.

2.2 Numerical model

Rectangular specimens 5 cm wide and 10 cm high were mod

elled. The characteristic engineering length is 5 cm (the

width

of the specimen), therefore the maximum and minimum

sizes of the blocks are 0.2 cm and 3.75 cm, respectively.

The

following assumptions were made:

• The blocks have circular or elliptical shapes.

• The matrix and blocks are described by elastic-perfectly

plastic behaviour, with a Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion

with associated flow rule (parameters listed in Table 1).

As far as the boundary conditions are concerned, the base of

the specimen is fixed and the top can only move in the
vertical

direction. In unconfined tests, the axial displacement (or

the

vertical load) of the upper edge of the specimen is imposed,

while the side edges are free to move. In confined tests, a

constant uniform pressure is applied to the side edges.

2.3 FLAC analyses

Samples with circular and elliptical blocks with axis ratio

of 2 and random orientation were examined. The specimens

were discretised with quadrilateral, possibly distorted

cells

(Figure 1) and analysed in plane strain conditions. Four

differ

ent BVP were considered for specimens with circular blocks:

12%, 24%, 38%, and 54%. Three BVP were considered for

specimens with elliptical blocks: 12%, 24%, and 37%. The

following tests were simulated for each BVP:

• Three unconfined tests, on specimens with circular and

elliptical blocks.
• Two confined tests for each lateral pressure (0.5, 1.5,

3.0 MPa) on specimens with elliptical blocks.

Homogeneous specimens, constituted by only matrix or

block material, were also analyzed for reference and model

validation.

The tests were simulated as a loading-controlled process

until the axial stress was close to the peak value, then

displacement-controlled conditions were adopted.

2.4 ADINA analyses

FEM analyses were only carried out on specimens with cir

cular blocks. The specimens were discretised with triangular

three-noded elements (Figure 2) in plane strain conditions.

Seven different BVP were chosen: 14%, 22%, 34%, 48%,

61%, 68%, and 72%. The following tests were simulated for

each BVP:

• One unconfined test.

• One confined test for each lateral pressure (0.5, 1.0, and

2.0 MPa). Figure 1. Examples of the specimens with circular

(top) and elliptical (bottom) blocks in the FLAC analyses
(BVP 12%). Figure 2. Examples of the specimens with
circular blocks in the ADINA analyses (BVP 22%). Only
specimens constituted by matrix or block material were also
analyzed in this case. The tests were simulated in
displacement-controlled conditions. 3 RESULTS The
load-displacement curves were plotted for each numerical
test, both in the FLAC and ADINA analyses (Figure 3). In
all cases the maximum load attained during the test was
used to calculate the strength of the specimen. In what
follows, the term unconfined strength is adopted to
indicate the value determined in the absence of lateral
pressure. The analyses carried out using the two numerical
methods produced quite comparable results so that, in most
cases, it was possible to interpret all the data together,
even though some differences emerged, as discussed below.
As a general remark, it is important to state that the
geometry of the blocks was more accurate in the ADINA
model, thanks to the triangular element mesh. Instead, due
to grid limitations, it was only possible to simulate low
values of BVP with the FLAC code. In unconfined loading
conditions, plasticization starts and spreads in the
matrix, and tensile strength is reached in some points
along the block-matrix interface. When the applied load 0 2
4 6 8 10 12 14 0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010 Axial
strain (-)

e v

i a

t o

r i

s t

r e

s s ( M P a ) 0.5 MPa 1.5 MPa 3 MPa

Figure 3. Typical stress-strain curves for specimens in

confined

conditions (FLAC results).

Figure 4. Example of the evolution of yielding

(lighter-grey zones)

at 60% (left) and 95% (right) of the maximum load (ADINA

results).

is close to the peak value, yielded points also appear

within

the blocks (Figure 4). The maximum load is attained when

a continuous yielded zone spreads across the specimen. This

process is influenced by the BVP.

3.1 Effects of the BVP and block shape on the unconfined
compressive strength and the deformability

The influence of the BVP on the unconfined compressive

strength of bimrock is shown in Figure 5. It should be noted

that different responses are obtained from the two numerical

models. FLAC results are limited to a maximum BVP equal

to 37%, due to limitations in the adaptation of the quadran

gular grid to the underlying block population. Beyond this

value, only ADINA results are available, and these show that

the compressive strength increases more rapidly with higher

values of the BVP.

The FLAC specimens generally offer an underestimation of

the strength, possibly due to the fact that the mesh is not
suffi

cient refined to take into account the smallest inclusions.

The

shape of the blocks does not seem to influence the

compressive

strength trend.

The tangent deformation modulus, evaluated at 50% of the

compressive shear strength, increases with the BVP, in a

linear

trend. The trend is always the same irrespective of the

block

shape (Figure 6). 0 20 40 60 80 100 15 10 5 BVP(%) 0 FLAC -

circular blocks FLAC - elliptical blocks ADINA - circular
blocks U n c o n f i n e d c o m p r e s s i v e s t r e n
g t h ( M P a ) blocks matrix Figure 5. Influence of BVP on
the unconfined compressive strength of bimrock specimens. 0
20 40 60 80 100 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 FLAC - elliptical blocks
ADINA - circular blocks FLAC - circular blocks blocks
matrix BVP(%) D e f o r m a t i o n m o d u l u s ( G P a )
Figure 6. Influence of BVP on the deformation modulus of
bimrock specimens. 3.2 Influence of BVP on the strength
properties The Hoek-Brown strength criterion (Hoek & Brown,
1997) was used to interpret the tests results obtained for
bimrock with circular and elliptic blocks. The results from
all the available tests were considered, and the specimens
were grouped into BVP classes in the 0–20%, 20–40%, 40–60%,
and 60–80% ranges. The parameters m and σ ci were
calculated for each class by regression of all the relevant
data. The points in Figure 7 show the stress at failure,
while the lines represent the corresponding Hoek-Brown
failure envelope. The results obtained for homogeneous
specimens are also reported. The positive influence of the
BVP on the strength of bimrock is made more evident by
plotting the Hoek-Brown parameters m and σ ci for the four
BVP classes (Figure 8). It should be noted that the values
of the same parameters are σ ci,m = 7.0 MPa, m m = 3.8 and
σ ci,b = 12.0 MPa, m b = 9.9 for the matrix and block,
respectively. 4 CONCLUSIONS The results of the numerical
modelling of compressive tests on bimrock specimens
highlighted some interesting aspects concerning the
behaviour of the material: • The compressive strength
increases with the BVP, with a more marked effect for
higher BVP values. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 matrix <20% 20-40%
40-60% 60-80% block 0 1 2 3

( M

P a

) σ 3 (MPa)

Figure 7. Failure data for all the tests. The lines

represent the

Hoek-Brown envelope for the indicated BVP ranges. 0 2 4 6 8

10 12 <20% 40-60% BVP m ( ) , σ c i ( M P a ) m Unconfined
compressive strength 20-40% 60-80%

Figure 8. Values of the m parameter and of the unconfined

compressive strength σ ci of the Hoek-Brown criterion.

• Yielding starts and spreads in the matrix, and tensile

strength is reached in some points along the block-matrix

interface. When the applied load is close to the peak value,

yielded points also appear within the blocks.

• In confined conditions, the blocks are less affected by

yield

ing, and the matrix also shows tensile failure along the

block-matrix interface. The response of bimrock to com

pression seems to be influenced by the behaviour of the

material at the interface between the matrix and the blocks.

• The bimrock deformation modulus is proportional to the

BVP, according to a simple rule of mixtures.

• The analyses on bimrock with elliptical blocks provided

results that are very similar to those obtained for circu

lar blocks. It should be noticed that, due to limitations

of the generation process, only low values of BVP were

considered in the case of elliptical blocks. Therefore, the

interpretation of the behaviour of simulated bimrock with

a high volumetric proportion of elliptical blocks is not

ABSTRACT: A quantitative approach to estimate the peak and

residual strength parameters and deformation modulus of

jointed rock masses is presented in this paper. The method

is based on the characterization of rock block volume and
joint

surface condition from field mapping data and applying the

GSI system. It provides a complete set of mechanical
properties

(Hoek-Brown peak (m b s, a) and residual (m r s r , a r )

strength parameters, or the equivalent Mohr-Coulomb peak (c
and φ) and

residual (c r and φ r ) strength parameters as well as

deformation modulus (E) for design purpose.

1 INTRODUCTION

Numerical tools are widely used in design of many

engineering

structures in or on rocks such as foundations, slopes and

open

pits, tunnels, underground caverns, mining developments and

stopes. Knowledge of the rock mass strength and defor

mation behaviors is required for conducting the numerical

modeling.

Unfortunately, the determination of the global mechanical

properties of a jointed rock mass remains one of the most

difficult tasks in rock mechanics.Traditional methods to

deter

mine these design parameters include field tests (plate-load

tests for deformation modulus and in-situ block shear tests

for

strength parameters). These tests can only be performed when

the exploration adits are excavated and the cost of

conducting

in-situ tests is high. Alternatively, parameters are

obtained by

back-analysis but this again requires established

excavations.

Furthermore, the resulting parameters are largely dependent

on the adopted constitutive models.

Few systematic attempts have been made to develop meth

ods to characterize the jointed rock mass to estimate the

deformability and strength indirectly.The Geological

Strength

Index (GSI), developed by Hoek et al. (1995), is one of

them. It

uses properties of intact rock and conditions of jointing

to clas

sify the rock but most importantly to arrive at an estimate

of

rock mass deformability and strength parameters. It provides

a set of mechanical properties (Hoek-Brown peak strength

parameters m b and s, or the equivalent Mohr-Coulomb peak

strength parameters c and φ, as well as elastic modulus E)

for

design purpose.

A method to obtain a compete set of design parameters

using the GSI system is presented in this paper. Based on

results from numerical simulation and laboratory and field

tests, the GSI system is extended to cover the residual

strength

of jointed rock masses. The idea is to obtain peak GSI value

from field mapping and adjust the peak GSI to the residual

GSI r value based on the two major controlling factors in

the

GSI system, i.e., the residual block volume V r b and the

resid

ual joint surface condition factor J r c . Methods to

estimate the

residual block volume and joint condition factor are

presented.

The peak and residual strength parameters as well as defor

mation modulus thus determined from the GSI system can

be used in the numerical analysis for safe and
cost-effective

design. 2 ROCK MASS CHARACTERIZATION FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN

Rock mass characterization is the process of collecting and
analyzing qualitative and quantitative data that provide
indices and descriptive terms of the geometrical and
mechanical properties of a rock mass. It is a significant
part in any field geological investigation involving rock
engineering problems. This process requires the collection
and recording as well as analyzing a sizable amount of
geological data. Methods for rock mass characterization
include core logging, borehole logging, scanline surveying,
cell mapping, geologic structure mapping, and rock index
testing. New technologies, such as digital image processing
of fracture information and laserbased imaging of joint
roughness, can be applied for rock mass characterization.
Many rock mass classification systems (e.g. RMR (Bieniawski
1976), Q (Barton et al. 1974), GSI etc.) have been proposed
and used in engineering practice. Of the many alternatives,
the GSI system seems to be the best choice for design
employing numerical tools because it can provide a complete
suite of input parameters for numerical analysis. The GSI
system has been developed and evolved over many years based
on practical experience and field observations. The GSI
value is estimated based on geological descriptions of the
rock mass involving two factors, rock structure or block
size and joint or block surface conditions. Although
careful consideration has been given to the precise wording
for each category and to the relative weights assigned to
each combination of structural and surface conditions, the
use of the original GSI table/chart involves some
subjectivity. Hence, long-term experiences and sound
judgment is required to successfully apply the GSI system.
A means to quantify this approach by use of field
measurement data, which employs the block volume V b and a
joint surface condition factor J c as quantitative
characterization factors, is presented by Cai et al.
(2004). The quantified GSI chart is presented in Figure 1.
The block volume can be calculated from joint spacings of
joint sets. The effect of joint persistence on the block
volume can also be considered. The joint surface condition
factor is obtained by rating joint roughness depending on
the large-scale waviness, small-scale smoothness of joints,
and joint alteration depending on the weathering and
infillings in joints. The quantitative approach P o t e n t
i a l b r i t t l e f a i l u r e z o n e B r i t t l e f a
i l u r e z o n e 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10E+3 100E+3 1E+6 10E+6
B l o c k V o l u m e V b ( c m )
Blocky - very well interlocked

undisturbed rock mass consisting

of cubical blocks formed by three

orthogonal discontinuity sets

Joint spacing 30 - 100 cm

Very Blocky - interlocked, partially

disturbed rock mass with multifaceted

angular blocks formed by four or more

discoutinuity sets

Joint spacing 10 - 30 cm

Blocky/disturbed - folded and/or

faulted with angular blocks formed by

many intersecting discontinuity sets

Joint spacing 3 - 10 cm

Disintegrated- poorly interlocked,

heavily broken rock mass with a

mixture or angular and rounded

rock pieces

Joint spacing < 3 cm 75 50 30 70 65 60 55 45 40 35 25 20 15

10 80 85 90 95

Massive - very well interlocked

undisturbed rock mass blocks formed

by three or less discontinuity sets

with very wide joint spacing

Joint spacing > 100 cm 5 N/A N/A

Foliated/laminated/sheared- thinly

laminated or foliated, tectonically sheared

weak rock; closely spaced schistosity

prevails over any other discontinuity set,

resulting in complete lack of blockiness

Joint spacing < 1 cm V e r y g o o d V e r y r o u g h , f

r e s h u n w e a t h e r e d s u r f a c e s G o o d R o u
g h , s l i g h t l y w e a t h e r e d , i r o n s t a i n
e d s u r f a c e s F a i r S m o o t h , m o d e r a t e l
y w e a t h e r e d o r a l t e r e d s u r f a c e s P o o
r S l i c k e n s i d e d , h i g h l y w e a t h e r e d s
u r f a c e s w i t h c o m p a c t c o a t i n g o r f i l
l i n g s o f a n g u l a r f r a g m e n t s V e r y p o o
r S l i c k e n s i d e d , h i g h l y w e a t h e r e d s
u r f a c e s w i t h s o f t c l a y c o a t i n g s o r f
i l l i n g s 12 4.5 1.7 0.67 0.25 0.09 Joint Condition
Factor Jc GSI 20 30 cm 60 100 cm 40 50 10 cm 70 80 90 5 2 1
cm 3 150 (1 m ) 3 (1 dm ) 3 Block Size Joint or Block Wall
Condition 3

Figure 1. GSI chart (Cai et al. 2004).

was validated using field test data and applied to the

estima

tion of the rock mass properties at two cavern sites in

Japan.

This approach adds quantitative means to assist in the selec

tion of modeling parameters and is of particular interest

to site

engineers. In addition, this approach facilitate the use of

prob

abilistic design approach to tunnel and cavern design using

the

GSI system (Cai & Kaiser 2006a).

3 PEAK AND RESIDUAL STRENGTHS OF

JOINTED ROCK MASSES

3.1 Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion

The generalized Hoek-Brown criterion for jointed rock masses

(Hoek & Brown 1988) is

where m b , s, a are constants for the rock mass, and σ c

is the

uniaxial compressive strength of the intact rock. In order

to

apply the Hoek-Brown criterion for estimating the strength

of

jointed rock masses, three properties of the rock mass have

to

be estimated.The first one is the uniaxial compressive

strength

of the intact rock. The second is the value of the constant

m i

for the intact rock and the last one is the value of GSI
for the

rock mass. σ c and m i can be determined by statistical

analysis

of the results of a set of triaxial tests on carefully

prepared core

experienced tensile and shear fracturing. After the peak

load,

the rock mass becomes less interlocked, and is heavily

broken

with a mixture of angular and partly-rounded rock pieces.

The

strength of a fault can be regarded as the lower bound

strength

of the rock mass. Shearing disintegrates and damages the

rock

mass and weathering further weaken the fault strength. Block

sizes observed from fault outcrop, extremely sheared zones,

and in-situ block shear tests suggest that block sizes of

rock

mass at residual state are 1–5 cm in size. The residual

block

volumes can be considered independent of the original (peak)

block volumes for most strain-softening rock masses. The

fractured residual rock mass will have more or less the same

residual block volume in the shear band for intact rocks,

mod

erately jointed and highly jointed rock masses. As an

estimate,

if the peak block volume V b is greater than 10 cm 3 ,

then, the

residual block volume V r b in the disintegrated category

can

be taken to be 10 cm 3 . If V b is smaller than 10 cm 3 ,

then, no

reduction to the residual block volume is recommended, i.e.,

V r b = V b .

3.3 Peak and residual joint surface condition factors

In the GSI system, the joint surface condition is defined

by the roughness, weathering, and infilling condition (Hoek

et al. 1995, Cai et al. 2004). The combination of these

factors

defines the strength of a joint or block surface. The peak

joint

surface condition factor is defined as

where J W , J S , and J A are the joint large-scale

waviness factor,
small-scale smoothness factor, and alteration factor, respec

tively. The tables for peak J w , J S , and J A are given

in Cai et al.

(2004).

The failure process affects the joint surface condition,

especially the joint roughness. The concept of ultimate mobi

lized joint roughness was suggested by Barton et al. (1985).

According to their model, the joint surface roughness is

grad

ually destroyed during the shearing process and the ultimate

mobilized roughness is about half of the peak roughness

(JRC mob /JRC peak = 0.5). The mobilized joint residual

rough

ness is zero, which can only be achieved when the joint

experiences a very large shearing displacement. It is

therefore

proposed here that the large-scale waviness and the small

scale smoothness of joints be calculated by reducing its

peak

value by half to calculate the residual GSI value. In a

short

time period, joint alteration is unlikely to occur so that

the joint

alteration factor J A will be unchanged in most

circumstances.

However, when water and clay infill material is involved,

the

fractured rock surface can have a lower residual J A .

Hence, the residual joint surface condition factor J r c is

calculated from
where J r W , J r S , and J r A are residual values for
large-scale

waviness, small-scale smoothness, and joint alteration

factor,

respectively. The residual values are obtained based on the

corresponding peak values assessed from field mapping. The

reduction of J r W and J r S are based on the concept of

mobilized

of the rock mass. Future research will address the issue of

the

rate of GSI value decrease associated with the plastic

strain

as well as the gradual decrease of the deformation modulus.

6 CONCLUSIONS

The GSI system is a rock mass classification system that

is directly linked to engineering parameters such as Mohr

Coulomb or Hoek-Brown strength parameters or rock mass

modulus. A supplementary, quantified approach for the GSI

system is introduced by incorporating quantitative measures

of block volume and joint surface condition factor. It

provides

a means for consistent rock mass characterization and thus

improves the utility of the GSI system. In addition, the con

cept of residual block volume V r b and residual joint

surface

condition factor J r c is introduced to extend the GSI

system for

the estimation of rock mass’s residual strength. The

proposed
method for both peak and residual strength estimation
extends

the GSI system and adds quantitative means to determine a

complete set of rock mass properties needed for engineering

design.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank Tokyo Electric Power Services

Co. Ltd (TEPSCO) and Tokyo Electric Power Company

(TEPCO) for their financial support to this study, and the

con

structive comments provided by Dr. E. Hoek of Evert Hoek

Consulting Engineer Inc., Mr. Y. Tasaka and Dr. H. Uno of

ABSTRACT: Identification of weathering grades

quantitatively by index tests has obvious advantages and
the Schmidt hammer

has attracted considerable attention in recent years in

this context. However, due to intricate weathering induced
changes in

rock materials, the ranges of Schmidt hammer rebound values

in neighboring weathering classes often notably overlap.
This

study aims to improve the prediction of weathering grades

of granitic materials from Southeastern Brazil by Schmidt
hammer

test and also involves investigation of dry density and

ultrasonic velocity as additional indices. It was found
that changes

in rebound values due to Schmidt hammer multiple impacts at

one representative test point are more efficient in
predicting

weathering grades than conventional averaged single impact

rebound values, P-wave velocities and dry densities. P-wave

velocity variations due to multiple impacts, however, did

not depict any consistent pattern. N hammer performed
better than L

hammer in predicting both weathering grades and material

properties.

1 INTRODUCTION

The descriptions and classifications of weathered rocks for

engineering purposes has been a subject of debate since engi

neering geologists first produced standards and codes (GSL

1995). Consequently, a number of classification schemes for

both weathered rock mass and material have evolved in last

five/six decades. As most of these classifications are based

on subjective criteria, identifying and assigning weathering

grades objectively and quantitatively by index tests have

obvi

ous advantages. In a comprehensive review of engineering

and weathering indices, Martin (1986) indicated that a

simple

quantitative assessment of degree of weathering can be estab

lished based on a reliable index of any rock property which

changes unidirectionally throughout the weathering spectrum

and can readily be quantified at any weathering stage. A

large

number of studies have been devoted to achieve this goal

and the Schmidt hammer has attracted considerable atten

tion in recent years in this context. This paper first

presents a

background on weathering grade assessment by the Schmidt

hammer followed by a weathering classification of granitic

rock materials from Southeastern Brazil and evaluates
indirect

assessment of weathering grades of the investigated rocks by

Schmidt hammer test along with density and ultrasonic tests.

2 BACKGROUND

The Schmidt hammer consists of a spring loaded piston. When

the hammer is pressed orthogonally against a surface, the

pis

ton is automatically released onto the plunger and the

rebound

height of the piston is considered to be the index of

surface

hardness. Theoretically speaking, a complicated problem of

impact loading and stress wave propagation is involved in

a Schmidt hammer rebound test. Partial consumption of the

impact energy is caused by the interaction between the

plunger

and the surface and by the mechanical friction in the instru

ment. As the energy absorbed by the surface depends on the

stress-strain relationship of the material, rebound values

are

early weathering stage. Aydin & Basu (2005) demonstrated

that degree of such overlapping between adjacent grades (in

material scale) increases as weathering advances in granitic

rocks of Hong Kong. This is expected as the general order

of decomposition for granitic constituents indicated by sev

eral researchers is biotite, plagioclase, K-feldspar and

quartz

which means increasing degree of weathering intensifies rock

heterogeneity resulting in high scatter in the single impact

rebound values. It is anticipated that weathered state

could be

better represented by multiple impacts at single representa

tive test point in terms of increasing compaction nature

than

by single impacts. This study evaluates both single and

multi

ple impact options in predicting weathering grades of

granitic

materials from Southeastern Brazil.

3 SAMPLES

Granite core samples of various weathering grades collected

from the site of Porto Goes Hydroelectric Power Plant were

used for the investigation. No soil material was included in

this study. The rocks belong to the Itu Granitic Complex

(IPT

1981) and NW-SE trending faults are predominant in the prox

imity of the site (Figure 1). Therefore, although

intactness and

uniformity of weathered states were the primary criteria to

select cores, attention was also given to exclude core

portions

with densely spaced fractures, any shear signature or mixed

Figure 1. Site location and geology (IPT 1981) in and

around the

site. lithology and their proximities.A total of 20 samples

were chosen for the investigation. Preliminary visual
inspection of the cleaned core surfaces was performed in
the laboratory to ascertain comparable mineralogy and
texture of the samples. All samples, brown/pinkish brown in
color, were medium grained granites and displayed
equigranular phaneritic texture. 4 WEATHERING
CLASSIFICATION The most widely used weathering
classification systems for rock materials in the world
(e.g. GSL 1995, BS5930 1999) by and large resemble the
6-fold classification scheme developed by Moye (1955) where
Grades I to IV represent rocks whereas higher grades stand
for soils. The grades in this 6fold scheme is based on
chemical rather than mechanical weathering (Hencher &
Martin 1982). As Southeastern Brazil experiences a humid
tropical climate with a markedly annual rainfall, chemical
weathering supported by rock structural discontinuities is
the most dominant weathering process. In the borehole logs
of the collected cores, degree of alteration is indicated
with depth interval according to the proposed
classification by Vaz (1996). However, this classification
is mainly about rock masses and not specifically for rock
materials. Moreover, according to this classification,
there are only three divisions of weathered states of rocks
whereas it is well Table 1. Characteristics and assigned
weathering grades (WG) of the investigated granitic
materials. Granites Characteristics WG • No discoloration I
• Grains have vitreous luster • Equigranular texture with
intact grain boundaries • Slight to moderate staining II •
Grains have vitreous to sub-vitreous lustre • Intact grain
boundaries • Grains have sub-vitreous to II–III dull luster
• White clay minerals are common • Intact grain boundaries
• Not easily broken by a geological hammer • Moderately
decomposed III • Abundant soft white clay minerals can be
scratched by nail • Intact grain boundaries • Can be broken
easily by a geological hammer • Highly decomposed (powdery
IV feldspars) with loose grain boundaries • NX core can be
broken by hand • Does not readily slake in water 2 cm

acknowledged that although the common 6-fold scheme is

adequate for general descriptions, even subdivision of the

grades may be justified if a more detailed description is

required; for example while relating laboratory test results

with degree of decomposition. In the present study,

therefore,

attempt was made to capture the gradational variability of

weathering induced changes of the concerned granitic mate

rials (uniform volumes of intact rocks) in detail. A set of

five

recognition factors (discoloration and/or staining, grain

lus

ter, grain boundaries, relative strength and

disintegration) was

identified and used to describe gradational changes of the

rocks over weathering spectrum. Table 1 presents the weath

ering classification for the investigated rock materials

which

is by and large conformable to the common 6-fold mate

rial classification scheme. However, a subdivision ‘Grade

II–III’ is assigned in the Table 1 with its distinct

differen

tiable decompositional characteristics compared to Grades II

and III.

5 INDEX TESTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Representative specimens were obtained by cutting the

selected core samples. In order to achieve reasonable

accuracy

in the parallelism and smoothness of the specimen end faces

and their perpendicularity to the axis especially for

ultrasonic

testing, the cut faces were subjected to grinding.All

specimens

were comparable in terms of their volumes (L ≈ 155.5 mm;

D ≈ 75 mm) and were air-dried to constant mass.

Dry density (ρ dry ), the most often used physical index,

was calculated from the measured volume and mass for all

specimens. The given sample numbers within each assigned

weathering grade were as per the descending order of ρ dry

(Table 2).

For ultrasonic and Schmidt hammer investigation, a tailor

made test setup schematically represented in Figure 2 was

Table 2. Weathering grades, dry densities, ultrasonic

velocities and rebound values. R L * R N * Range

Sample ρ dry V P

No. WG (gm/cm 3 ) (m/s) mean var. mean var. ρ dry V P R L R

N

1 I 2.67 5201 53.12 3.76 63.04 1.76

2 I 2.66 5514 55.38 3.44 64.74 1.84

3 I 2.66 5218 51.60 6.24 63.60 1.84 2.67–2.65 5514–5201

55.38–51.60 64.74–62.09

4 I 2.65 5362 52.55 2.24 62.09 0.56

5 I 2.65 5423 53.49 2.64 62.28 1.20

6 II 2.65 4726 51.98 9.20 59.07 2.24

7 II 2.64 4952 50.85 4.16 60.01 3.84

8 II 2.64 4859 48.77 7.44 57.75 4.96 2.65–2.63 4952–4698

51.98–46.69 60.01–56.61

9 II 2.63 4698 46.69 5.44 56.61 5.20

10 II 2.63 4733 47.06 4.56 57.56 3.76

11 II–III 2.64 4741 46.50 8.56 53.26 7.36

12 II–III 2.63 4684 48.01 9.04 57.75 7.84

13 II–III 2.62 4430 43.79 9.36 53.02 6.56 2.64–2.55

4741–3987 48.01–41.76 57.75–47.71

14 II–III 2.59 3987 41.76 9.36 47.71 7.84

15 II–III 2.55 4481 42.33 10.56 52.07 8.96

16 III 2.58 3868 42.71 14.16 48.09 9.20

17 III 2.54 4000 37.89 16.65 45.11 11.23 2.58–2.46

4000–3642 42.71–36.24 48.09–43.16

18 III 2.49 3642 40.62 12.40 46.01 10.16

19 III 2.46 3747 36.24 11.84 43.16 9.36

20 IV 2.11 1938 20.64 20.96 24.21 16.40

-2.11-1938-20.64-24.21

*R L and R N are the averages from five random single

impact rebound values from individual samples.

Abbreviations: WG =Weathering grade; ρ dry = Dry density; V

P = Ultrasonic P-wave velocity; R L and R N = Rebound
values by L and N type

hammers respectively; var. =Variance. used. Direct pulse

transmission technique was employed for ultrasonic testing
with the coaxial arrangement of the specimen and the
transducers at a constant coupling pressure. P-wave
velocities (V P ) were determined (Table 2) from the
measured travel times through the specimens. Five random
test points (any two points separated by more than one
plunger diameter) on each specimen surface were selected to
apply each of Land N-type Schmidt hammers (impact energies:
0.735 Nm and 2.207 Nm respectively). Considered five single
impacts by each hammer were those which did not cause any
visual damage of the rock surface. All these rebound values
were normalized in horizontal direction according to Basu &
Aydin (2004) in order to nullify the gravity effect. For
individual samples, the normalized rebound values (R) by
each hammer were averaged and their variances were
calculated (Table 2). T R Rock core Heavy steel base with
‘V’ notch Ultrasonic tester Transducer S c h m i d t h a m
m e r Screwing device Figure 2. Schematic representation of
the experimental program. Note that during ultrasonic
testing, thin insulating foam paper was placed beneath the
rock core. y = 1,1871x - 0,2755 r 2 = 0,9762 20 30 40 50
60 70 20 30 40 50 60 R L R N y = 100,42x - 70,916 r 2 =
0,9437 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 20 30 40 50 60 70 R L
V P ( m / s ) y = 84,707x - 53,849 r 2 = 0,9694 0 1000
2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 20 30 40 50 60 70 R N V P ( m / s
) y = 0,0147x + 1,9159 r 2 = 0,8703 2,10 2,20 2,30 2,40
2,50 2,60 2,70 20 30 40 50 60 70 RL ρ d r y ( g m / c m 3 )
y = 0,0122x + 1,927 r 2 = 0,8712 2,10 2,20 2,30 2,40 2,50
2,60 2,70 20 30 40 50 60 70 RN ρ d r y ( g m / c m 3 )
Figure 3. Relation between L and N hammer rebound values and

their correlations with dry density and P-wave velocity.

ρ dry and V P are inherent to materials. Nevertheless, their

ranges in adjacent grades overlapped (Table 2). However,

such overlaps could partially be attributed to unavoidable

experimental errors. Although overlapping ranges of R in

neighboring weathering classes existed for both L and N ham

mers, R N resulted in less overlaps than R L (Table 2). R N

was 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 1 2 3
4 Sequence of impacts R L 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
Sequence of impacts R N N o r e b o u n d N o r e b o u n d
Range WG R L2 -R L1 R N2 -R N1 I 0.94-1.42 1.42-2.36 II
1.89-3.78 2.83-3.78 II-III 3.78-4.74 4.73-6.63 III
4.75-6.65 7.10-8.54 IV -7.75-11.091 2 3 4
Figure 4. Rebound nature of Schmidt hammer multiple impacts
(at one representative point) with reference to degree of
weathering. R L2 -R L1 /R N2 -R N1 is the difference
between the 2nd and the 1st impact rebound values. also
less variant than R L which suggests that high impact
energy is less sensitive to material heterogeneity than low
impact energy. In order to check the performances of both
hammers in estimating material properties, ρ dry and V P
values were plotted against R. Figure 3 depicts that
although there exists an excellent correlation between R L
and R N , R N is more efficient than R L in predicting
these properties. For examining the rebound nature of the
Schmidt hammers due to multiple impacts at one point in
response to weathered states of the investigated rocks, one
representative test point on each specimen giving a rebound
value +/−2 of the mean value of individual hammers was
chosen. Test point comprising single mineral grain
resulting in desirable R was not considered. Four
consecutive impacts including the initial impact were
performed at the chosen point. Trends of R in each sequence
were plotted and were related to weathering grades (Figure
4). In general, the steepest increase in R (or maximum
compaction) was caused by the second impacts whereas minor
increase in R resulted from following impacts

Figure 5. Effect of N hammer multiple impacts on plaster

and highly

weathered granite.
(Figure 4). Minor decreases in R at the third and/or the
fourth

impacts were also noted (Figure 4) which actually were the

results of minor chipping or fragmentation just next to the

center of the compaction zone. Grade IV specimens, however,

could not sustain the entire impact sequence (Figure 4). It

is

interesting to note that although there are some overlaps

of the

trend lines among neighboring weathering grades in terms of

absolute R, the differences of R between the second and the

first impacts are quite typical of the weathering grades

(Fig

ure 4). This implies that nature of compaction of the chosen

test point is more representative of the behavior of

constituent

minerals and microstructures or in other words, weathered

state of the concerned material. N hammer proved to be more

efficient than L hammer in discriminating weathering grades

which points out that stress wave induced by higher impact

energy influences larger effective volume in terms of com

paction than that induced by lower impact energy with the

same plunger tip diameter.

In order to obtain an additional control on the nature of

com

paction during the impact sequence, V P was measured after

each blow. It was anticipated that V P would reflect the com

paction pattern. Surprisingly, V P did not show any increase

with the progress in impact sequence, rather V P dropped sig

nificantly in few test sequences. This observation could be

explained by the fact that volume of the compaction zone

due to Schmidt hammer multiple impacts is not very signif

icant compared to the volume of the specimen particularly

in a polymineralic medium grained rock where the impact

energy dissipates quickly along the grain boundaries. The

compaction zone, existing only in the close proximity of the

specimen surface, does not significantly modify the propaga

tion time of the ultrasonic wave with a small beam spread

angle. The occasional falls in V P , on the other hand, are

caused by probable cracks (induced by multiple impacts) that

propagate deep inside the specimen causing delay in wave

propagation. In order to verify such explanation, an

additional

investigation was carried out on an artificial plaster

specimen

(ρ dry = 2.08 gm/cm 3 , close to that of Grade IV material)

with

the same volume as the rock specimen. Although the plaster

specimen had lower density than the Grade IV specimen, V P

was higher (2142 m/s) in the plaster than the rock specimen

which implies more scattering of ultrasonic waves at grain

boundaries and microcracks in Grade IV rock material than in

the plaster (assumed to be virtually homogeneous material).

Hencher, S.R. & Martin, R.P. 1982.The description and

classification
of weathered rocks in Hong Kong for engineering purposes.
Proc.

7th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conference, Hong Kong: 125–

142.

IPT. 1981. Mapa Geológico do Estado de São Paulo.

Irfan, T.Y. 1996. Mineralogy, fabric properties and

classification of

weathered granites in Hong Kong. Quarterly Journal

Engineering

Geology 29: 5–35.

Irfan, T.Y. & Dearman, W.R. 1978. Engineering

classification and

index properties of a weathered granite. Bulletin of

International

Association of Engineering Geology 17: 79–90.

Irfan, T.Y. & Powell, G.E. 1985. Engineering geological

investi

gations for foundations on a deeply weathered granitic rock

in Hong Kong. Bulletin of International Association of
Engineering Geology 32: 67–80. Karpuz, C. & Pasamehmetoglu,
A.G. 1997. Field characterization of weathered Ankara
andesites. Engineering Geology 46: 1–17. Martin, R.P. 1986.
Use of index tests for engineering assessment of weathered
rocks. Proc. 5th Int. IAEG Cong., Buenos Aires 1: 433–450.
Moye, D.G. 1955. Engineering geology for the Snowy Mountain
scheme. Journal of Institution of Engineers 27: 287–298.
Vaz, L.F. 1996. Classificaçao genética de solos e
horizontes de alteraçao de rocha em regiões tropicais.
Revista Brasileira de Geotecnia 19(2): 117–136. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Probabilistic
analysis of block stability in underground excavations
using realistic fracture network models K.M. Moffitt & S.F.
Rogers Golder Associates Ltd., Vancouver, BC, Canada

ABSTRACT: Conventional tools for key block stability

analysis commonly require a series of simplifying
assumptions regard

ing the fracture system and the excavation geometry. A

Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) approach however allows a
realistic

representation of the geometry and properties of the

fracture system, as well as allowing probabilistic
consideration of block

formation within complex underground excavation geometries.

The DFN analysis approach uses the same basic kinematic

equations as conventional block stability analyses but does

not impose any limitation on the number of planes that
define either

the excavation geometry or the blocks predicted to develop

on the exposed faces. Using a Monte Carlo simulation
technique

allows estimation of the spatial frequency of unstable

block occurrence, or expressed otherwise, the probability
of a failure

event within a given distance of excavation. The result is

an ability to optimize excavation and ground support
designs with a

method that intelligently handles the natural heterogeneity

imposed by the fracture system.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) approach is a modeling

methodology that seeks to describe the geometric and other

properties of a fracture system in statistical ways by

building

a series of discrete fracture objects based upon field

observa

tions of fracture size, orientation, intensity etc. To date

there

has been relatively limited application of the DFN approach

to rock engineering problems in strong fractured rock masses

despite their obvious suitability.

The advantage of DFN models is their ability to cap

ture the heterogeneity and uncertainty of the fracture sys

tem by explicitly and stochastically describing key elements

of the system. This provides a clearer and more repro

ducible route from site investigation data to modelling

since

real fracture properties are preserved through the modelling

process.

The DFN approach has wide potential application in the

geotechnical analysis of fractured rock masses. This paper

describes a DFN method of kinematic block analysis devel

oped to provide a robust, probabilistic approach to surface

and

underground block stability and ground support design. The

more widely used deterministic approaches require gross sim

plifications in all aspects of the problem description with

no

certainty of whether or not these simplifications are conser

vative. By defining fracture properties (e.g.,fracture size

and

orientation) stochastically and using Monte Carlo techniques

to generate many samples of the network, a DFN approach

can generate a statistically valid series of

representations of

the actual rock mass. This allows a risk-based assessment of

excavation geometry and support requirements.

2 DERIVATION OF DFN MODEL INPUTS

The primary fracture properties that need to be defined in

order

to build a DFN model for geotechnical analysis are

intensity,

orientation and size. More refined analyses may also

consider

the variation of joint condition between fracture sets.

Fracture intensity is typically defined either from
borehole data (fracture logging or borehole imaging tools)
or from fracture mapping on surfaces such as rock slopes or
tunnel walls. Care needs to be taken in the use of these
data as they are highly directionally biased. DFN model
input requires an estimate of the volumetric fracture
intensity, known as P32 (fracture area/unit volume) which
is an intrinsic rock mass property. It cannot be measured
directly but can be inferred from the 1D and 2D data
available from boreholes and mapping using a simulated
sampling methodology. Fracture orientation, as with
fracture intensity, is defined from borehole imaging data
or structural mapping. Where fracture orientation data are
highly systematic and organized into distinctive fracture
sets, the statistical properties of these sets can be
defined and used as a key stochastic input into the DFN
model. Often however the data have a more dispersed
orientation that doesn’t support this approach. In this
case, ‘bootstrapping’ can be used, a statistical method
based upon multiple random sampling with replacement from
an original sample to create a pseudo-replicate sample of
fracture orientations. A degree of dispersion is introduced
to each sample to ensure that each pseudo sample is
slightly different. Multiple realizations will then result
in a similar but unique orientation model. Definition of
fracture length or persistence typically comes from
structural mapping of exposed rock surfaces, although there
are methods for deriving these data from borehole image
logs (La Pointe et al, 1983) and other methods. Fracture
lengths need to be converted to an equivalent fracture
radius for inclusion within the DFN model with the radius
being described by a number of different statistical
distributions such as the log-normal or exponential
distribution. Further model refinement for analysis of
local areas can be achieved by conditioning the model to
match the depth, orientation, and condition of fractures
recorded in actual boreholes. In this case, fractures will
initially be generated stochastically but their depth and
properties will be adjusted locally to match the actual
borehole structure log.The continuity of each structure may
be defined by a stochastic size distribution.

3 ADVANCES IN FIELD CHARACTERIZATION

OF ROCK STRUCTURE

There have been dramatic improvements in data collection and

processing technology in recent years that have

significantly

improved the ability to accurately describe rock structure.

These include the relatively widespread use of high

resolution

geophysics tools, borehole televiewers, optical borehole cam

eras, high resolution photography, laser scanning, and

satellite

imagery.

Small modifications to conventional data collection proce

dures and the use of these advanced tools as part of routine

field investigation programs allow relatively quick construc

tion of representative DFN models for analysis of common

geotechnical problems. For strong, fractured rock masses,

some examples include:

• Use of borehole televiewers to obtain fracture orientation

data from diamond drillholes. In addition to core orienta

tion, data from acoustic and optical televiewers allow an

indirect assessment of fracture continuity (e.g., from frac

ture aperture and roughness), particularly when used in

combination with other borehole geophysical tools.

• Structures that are more transmissive may be inferred to

be more continuous with their detection provided by tools

such as flow meters, fluid conductivity probes, and fluid

resistivity probes.

• Photogrammetric imaging to estimate fracture continuity,

orientation and termination characteristics on exposed rock

surfaces.This is used in combination with physical mapping

(which provides fracture condition data). Processing of the

photogrammetric images provides fracture data for a larger

area with reduced effort.

4 DFN BLOCK STABILITY ANALYSIS

In response to the recent advances in the ability to

character

ize the spatial variability of rock mass structure, a

Discrete

Fracture Network (DFN) method of block analysis has been

developed to provide a robust, probabilistic approach to sur

face and underground block stability and ground support

design.

To evaluate key blocks using a DFN approach, the analy

sis is carried out using the modelled fracture network with

its fully defined spatial and geometrical properties. Rather

than simply considering the possibility of wedges forming,

the DFN approach considers the probability of adverse wedge

formation.

The initial step for DFN block stability analysis is the con

struction of an appropriate DFN model, as shown in Figure 1.

This should be generated based on the appropriate site geo

logical and geometrical model and where possible conditioned

to borehole and trace map data. The fracture geometry may

include major structural features such as faults, fracture

zones

and stratigraphic contacts as deterministic elements as

well as

spatial variations in stochastic fracturing patterns.

The geometry of excavations subject to block stability anal

yses can be general three dimensional shapes rather than

being limited to simple two-dimensional tunnel profiles; a

practical example is shown in Figure 2. This allows for

assess

ments of all 3D rock blocks that may form on the boundaries

of a complex excavation geometry (e.g., underground mine

workshops, crusher excavations, shaft loading pockets, drift

intersections, etc.). To achieve this, a trace map for the

DFN Figure 1. Example DFN model. Figure 2. Example
simulation of block analysis. fracture intersections with
the excavation boundary is generated. Once this trace map
has been created, rock blocks are constructed by
identifying those fractures which form closed
two-dimensional shapes in the trace map, forming trace maps
of those shapes and repeating the process until all
fractures participating in fracture trace maps have trace
maps of their own. The block faces identified from this are
processed using an “unfolding” algorithm to generate the
minimum volume polyhedron which connects to the excavation
face. The rock block volume is computed by a process of
three-dimensional tessellation with the associated block
mass being calculated using this computed volume and the
assigned rock density. The stability analysis for blocks
defined by realistic fracture geometries from a DFN model
is functionally identical to other

key block analysis tools. The fundamental difference is that

the analysis is carried out for actual defined 3D blocks
for a

specific realization of the fracture geometry, rather than

on a

combinatorial approach of infinite fractures.

The stability analysis is carried out by checking whether

each identified block satisfies the criteria for

unconditional

stability, whether the block may slide (along one or two

sides),

or whether it is a free falling block. The factor of safety

is then

calculated based on limit equilibrium assumptions.

For single plane sliding and the Mohr Coulomb failure

criterion;

Where A is the area of the face; C is the cohesion

parameter;

N’ is the normal force to the face; φ is the friction

angle; and

S is the magnitude of the shear force.

For two plane sliding: Using the Mohr-Coulomb model:

Where N i is the normal force to face I ; Ai is the area of

face

I ; S 12 is the shear force along the edge created by faces

1 and

2; c i is the cohesion parameter of face i; and φ i is the

friction

angle of face i.

5 DISCUSSION

The ability to more accurately describe rock fabric has

improved dramatically in recent years as a result of
advances

in data collection and processing techniques. Very detailed

information on rock structure can now be obtained from the

very early days of exploration/investigation through to exca

vation/construction. Collection of these detailed data is

only

justified if they can be used explicitly in analyses.This

leads to

demands for methods of geotechnical analysis that can

extract

value from the data.

Conventional methods of analysis rely on simplifying

assumptions (i.e. infinitely continuous, ubiquitous

fractures

within a limited number of sets) to assess the possibility

of

an unsupported wedge with a given ground support scheme.

ABSTRACT: Sedimentary phase in Nanning, Guangxi, P.R. China

were formed in paleoclimatic sequence of arid, semiarid,

humid, semi-humid, semiarid, and semi-humid, etc.As a

result of ancient atmosphere circumstance evolution, weak
consolidation

becomes an important property of the gray lagoon deposited

mudstone layers in the Nanning Basin. On the other hand, it
is

difficult to divide the categories for a weathered soft

rock, which may be affected by the sedimentary formation of
soft and hard

interbed alternately. Categorizing weathered soft rock

largely depends on the experiences of engineers. There is a
significant
lack of knowledge in categorizing soft rock during site
investigation because soft rock cannot be kept intact
during drilling

borehole. Mudstone is considered as a typical soft rock

which is in an intergradation between rock and soil. It is
very important to

find a simple, convenient and feasible method to judge the

borderline of distinguishing between ‘rock’ and ‘soil’ for
mudstone.

In this study, mudstone stability subject to water will be

taken as the standard evaluation method of the borderline
between

rock and soil, the experimental results show that the

method is applicable in practical engineering.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 History of depositional evolution

Area of the Nanning basin is approximately 948 square kilo

meters. It is the system of Gary’s fold in the southeast of

China

located on the compound upheaval belt, namely, a raising

belt

of the earth’s crust, of the early Paleozoic era and the

late

Paleozoic era in the DaMing mountain-Kunlun Mountains.

It has an asymmetrical wedge-shape. The Nanning basin is

separated as NW-SE NaLong hollow and NE-EW BeiHu hol

low by Yangmei basin protuberance in the middle of basin.

BeiHu hollow is an irregular diamond shaped fault basin,

which is steeply inclined along the north plane of the fault

and is sloped gently along the south plane. The basin subsi

dence had controlled by the fault in the northern margins of

the basin, the southern plane of the fault is a flat belt
of a

slope. The majority of materials of the Cainozoic era sedi

mentary origin in the Nanning basin comes from the northern

and western direction of the basin, while the secondary sed

imentary origin were provided by the northern and southern

direction in the basin. The two directions to the north and

west

are the far sedimentary origin rivers delta sedimentary

phase,

the down-throw side of the fault in the northern margin of

the

basin is a fan-shaped delta sedimentary phase and that in

the

southern margin of basin is nearly a sedimentary origin

river

delta sedimentary phase. The BeiHu hollow is divided into

six large sedimentary phases, i.e., I. Dry alluvial

fan-shaped

sedimentary phase, II. Wet alluvial fan-shaped sedimentary

phase, III. Fan-shaped delta sedimentary phase, IV. Delta

sed

imentary phase, V. Normal lacustrine sedimentary phase. VI.

Salty lacustrine sedimentary phase. The depositional phases

were influenced by the palaeo-structure topography, palaeo

climatology, sedimentary origin and palaeo-hydrology, etc.,

which indicates obviously regional, inheritable and gradual

characteristics. 1.2 Basic characteristics of the

lacustrine phase sedimentary soft rock Mudstone in the
middle of the Nanning basin is classified as Nanhu group,
Licai group and Beihu group from the older to the younger
in sequence. In general natural state, the uniaxil
compressive strength is 5–25 MPa, or lower than the values
of 5 MPa. Basic characteristics of the mudstone are (1)
short diagenesis time, poor diagenesis, obvious variation
of rock character, low rock mass strength and weak cemented
degree, (2) Having many original micro-cracks on surface or
inside, but these micro-cracks stay stable until being
dehydrated, or be collapsed and softened when they are
immersed in water, (3) property of higher
over-consolidation. The pre-consolidation pressure is much
higher than the quaternary over-consolidated soil, (4)
difficult to divide weathered zones. In geological section,
vertical distribution of the mudstone layers often appears
the phenomenon that the soft and hard interbeds are
occurred alternately, (5) preparing intact sample is
difficult, and the discrepancy of test data is remarkable.
The mudstone often breaks in preparing sample in a dry
condition. Due to collapsing and softening in the
saturation condition, the strength will become lower and it
generally can not be adopted in engineering practice. It is
obvious that the characteristics of mudstone are very
different comparing to hard rock and stiff soil. 2 ANALYSIS
OF EXISTING PROBLEMS 2.1 Soft-hard rock interbeds and
weathered zones Because the particularity of sediment, not
only the lithology exchanges with each other, but also the
soft and hard interbeds appear in turn. The sedimentary
sequence is normal and does not reverse in the Nanning
basin. It is difficult to explain the characteristics of
such soft and hard interbeds

by using concept of weathered degree as the depth increases.

For example, when a site investigation company carried out

drilling process in the Nanning basin, in order to explain

the

lithology exchanges and interbeds, they divided the sequence

of sediment as unweathered, highly weathered, moderately

weathered, slightly weathered, etc. by weathered degree.

Find

ing out a simple and convenient classification method to

take

place the classical weathered degree based method becomes

very important to explain the the lithology exchanges and

interbeds.

2.2 Soft rock disturbance and parameter variability

Geotechnical engineers often meet such a case, i.e., the

actual

value of the soft rock strength (from experiments) is lower

than

the theoretical prediction, sometimes the experimental

result

is in a comparable level with soft soil. In the natural

condi

tion, the soft rock is more integrated than soil, therefore

its

mechanical property should be much better. However, the soft

rock expands, collapses and softens rapidly subject to

water,

and the characteristics of soft rock change remarkablely,

the

mechanical properties also reduced significantly. Usually,

it

has worse engineering characteristic subject to the

conditions

of wet and dry alternately.Therefore, research on the

disturbed

factors of soft rock and controlling the main factor, for

exam

ple designing extra experimental method, has a comparable

significance for application in surface soft rock

engineering,

for solving the problem such as discrete property,

variability

and unavailability of the experimental parameters as the

result
of disturbance.

2.3 Geotechnical borderline between rock and soil and

uncertainty of experiential method

At present, when engineer decide experimental item, they

often finish all experiments of rock and soil. The

experimental

item mainly includes: bulk density, moisture, saturation,

ratio,

liquid limit, plastic limit, shrinkage, expansive and

collapsing

experiments, shearing test, triaxial compressive test,

compres

sive test, uniaxil compressive test, site shearing test and

plate

load test etc. Moreover, we often still have to carry on

some

tests of chemical and mineral composition when we do special

research. Compared with soil experimental items, experimen

tal items of soft rock doesn’t has obvious difference.

However,

one confusion is that the soft rock should be considered as

hard

rock or soil and how to make choice of the test items. It

is diffi

cult to decide for engineers and technicians. Looked from

the

aspect of weathering class, how to experiment, it is

relevant

with the weather degree of soft rock. However, the division

of

weathering class and weathering zone is still a puzzle for

soft
rock in our country at present, moreover, it still lacks
assess

criterion. Therefore, the engineers often judge the weather

ing class according to their subjective experience when it

is

still unclear or can’t be judged, so the first question

engineers

faced is the division of soil and rock borderline, namely

the

division of rock and soil experiment borderline.

3 SOLUTION OF LABORATORY TEST

3.1 Division criterion of geotechnical borderline

The engineering location soft rock locates: firstly, it is

taken

as the subgrade, mainly involves the bearing capacity

problem

of the shallow and the deep foundation; secondly, it is

taken Figure 1. Test pattern of mudstone. as the earth
structure, mainly involves stability and the problem of
environmental geotechnical engineering; thirdly, it is
taken as construction materials, mainly involves some
problems of engineering characteristic. The two formers
mainly do research on mechanics properties and the latter
mainly does research on the problem about availability and
engineering characteristic. Although they have different
emphasizing points, they involve the same problem – the
water-stability of the mudstone subjecting to water. Being
good or bad of the soft rock water-stability is relevant
directly to the fanout capability of itself engineering
properties. In the project, the soft rock often locates
differently: One is in the shallow, which is often taken as
the bearing stratum, earth structure such as slope etc. In
such scope, mudstone locates in the depth of atmospheric
influence. It is easily affected by the external
environment, especially the water environment. Being good
or bad of soft rock’s water-stability will affect the
engineering prosperities, the fanout capability of bearing
capacity directly, therefore it’s very important to judge
the water-stability of mudstone. The other is in the deep
location, which is taken as the bearing stratum of pile.The
soft rock in such scope is out of atmospheric influence,
and it isn’t affected easily by the external environment.
Being good or bad of soft rock’s water-stability doesn’t
influence the engineering prosperities directly. Therefore,
it’s not especially important to judge the waterstability
of mudstone in project working after construction.
Considering the water-stability and the engineering
location of mudstone, we can do experiment of mudstone and
judge the water-stability according to the pattern in
Figure 1. We can choose collapses experiment as the
division criterion of the soil and rock borderline. In the
collapses experiment, sample of mudstone is air-dried,
weighted and put it in water-ware, record the time of
collapses completely and determine dry-saturated aquiferous
ratio. In order to reflect the dry-wet circulation and
mechanical disturbance frequently that the mudstone
expands, shrinks, collapses, softens, weathers and
disintegrates in the natural environment, we air-dry and
immerse the mudstone with several circulation experiments
for describing the disintegration characteristic of
mudstone. Sensitive mechanical properties of mudstone
subjecting to water had been tested, which conclusion is
consistent with results of collapse experiment, therefore
it is feasible to take applicative collapse experiment as
division criterion of mudstone geotechnical boundary:I. the
method of collapse experiment can reflect the ingredient of
mudstone, the nature

of cementation, the structure and diagenesis. II. It can

facilitate

the engineers and technicians to judge.

3.2 Design for the inchoative condition of test in lab

Mechanical disturbance and water have influence on the mud

stone in the process of drilling borehole. Due to the

existence

of disturbance, it make the mudstone stress to be released,

the natural structure to be destroyed, the strength to be

attenu

ated. Furthermore the mudstone natural water content changes

under subjecting to the water, interaction of the water and

mudstone have a series of physical chemistry reaction: the

mudstone ingredient and the structure are changed, state of

the

structure and the stress causes variation, finally lead the

rock

mechanics property to be deteriorated. Mudstone experimen

tal parameter in lab show a big difference to the

anticipated

result, parameter is too low, so that mudstone can’t be used

as engineering subgrade. In order to solve this engineering

question, design a series of test methods in lab, for

example

methods of recover the original stress condition of mudstone

and recover its real engineering property, so that we may

look

for some methods for the reliability analysis of mudstone

parameter.

3.3 Restoration of the stress – The consolidation and the

shearing test

Because the obtain of soft rock sample experienced distur

bance and unloading. unload–rebound play a outstanding

function in this process, just like a sponge, when

unloading,

it will rebound, deformation occur in vertical and horizon

tal direction, the draw water of mudstone sample is like

this

‘sponge’, due to this behavior, it bring mudstone structure

variably, void ratio is enlarged, so the strength is

reduced. In

order to eliminate the effect caused by this part of

rebounce

deformation, pre-press is adopted in the test, be called as

pre-press consolidation test. In the shearing test, use

triaxial

compressive test to consolidate the sample via exert

surround

press, eliminate all kind of influence caused by the

unloading,

recover the initial stress state.

3.4 Restoration of water disturbanceNon-loading expansive

rate test

In drilling borehole, water is another main factor besides

the

mechanical disturbance. There is such kind of fact in the

borehole: water function and especially the expansive mud

stone will produce deformation, while unload – reboundance

will produce deformation too. Generally we don’t consider

its

influence in the lab test, and such deformation will have a

remarkable influence on the result of test. We can imitate

the

process of drilling and deformation to be produced, analyses

the relation between the deformation to be produced by water

function and original stress after restoration. For

example, we

can simulate reboundance quantity in mechanical disturbance

and the deformation quantity in water function.

3.5 Basic experimental principles

I. First principle: recover the initial structure state of

mud
stone; II. The second principle: considerate the main factor

ABSTRACT: Large isolated fractures may happen to occur

aligned or roughly so, separated by a portion of the host
rock

often called a rock bridge. Depending on how failure is

defined, a bridge as such may fail as a result of the
change in the state

of in situ stress. Distinct Element program, 3DEC, was used

to study the behaviour of the system
“fracture-bridge-fracture”.

Fractures in question were circular in shape and were

conditioned to propagate past their periphery, also into
the rock bridge.

Clearly the size of a bridge is decisive whether or not it

fails. However, even if a bridge did not fail; it remained
mechanically

intact; the excessive loading would lead to the

interconnectivity of the fractures, separated by a bridge,
from a geohydrological

standpoint.

1 INTRODUCTION

A familiar two-dimensional picture from mapping of an

exposed surface of a rock mass at different scales almost

always shows a number of finite rock fractures together with

presumably intact rock parties in between, see, e.g., Shen

(1993). When groups of finite fractures tend to be aligned

or nearly so, the segments of intact rock that separate the

frac

tures are often called rock bridges. How intact rock

bridges are

is a matter of definition. In reality they are less intact

than what
one believes. This is simply because there exist quite a
number

of minor fractures that are hidden, and a conventional

surface

mapping cannot reveal those. In a real three-dimensional sit

uation it may be somehow difficult to describe the geometry

of a rock bridge and therefore major simplifications would

normally be needed in a numerical study incorporating a rock

bridge.

The fracture mechanics of the system “fracture – bridge –

fracture” has been investigated by a number of

investigators;

see for example Petit & Barquins (1988) and Shen, (1993). In

the context of repository design for final storage of

radioac

tive waste, a question that arises in relation to the

safety of a

canister hole may tentatively be formulated as follows:

could a

new episode of tectonic activity exert forces on rock

bridges,

found at a candidate site, of such magnitudes that some of

those bridges fail?

Basically, the failure of a bridge in between two roughly

aligned finite fractures could mean that, at least, one new

fracture would propagate between the nearest tips of the

two fractures in question. Should this occur, the two newly

connected fractures may mechanically act as a larger single

fracture and, as a result, larger shear displacement may

occur.

Assume a fracture with an approximate trace length of 100

meters, neighboring a canister hole, was looked upon as safe

from the view point of the mechanical integrity of a canis

ter hole/canister. If the fracture were connected to a

second

fracture of roughly the same size by tectonic forces, would

the newly-formed fracture endanger the safety of the canis

ter/canister hole by a comparatively larger shear

displacement

that it would be expected to undergo? 2 CONDITIONS FOR

PROPAGATION The set of conditions that allows propagation
of a fracture tip into the rock is not always met within a
natural rock mass. In a typical situation, the shear
displacement of a fracture is accompanied by the
deformation of the two opposite fracture surfaces and the
resultant displacement-deformation is accommodated within
the fixed boundaries of the fracture. No enlargement beyond
the fracture outline takes place.The set of conditions,
however, may happen to allow propagation. This certainly
calls for a closer look at the propagated part. Propagation
of larger geological structures has usually been studied
under predominantly in plane Mode II of loading , see
Segall & Pollard (1980), Petit & Barquins (1988) and Li
(1991). In a previous study that included the use of the
three dimensional Distinct Element code 3DEC, Itasca
(2003), the conditions that would allow the propagation of
a large, circular fracture periphery into the surrounding
rock was studied, see Hakami (2006). The virtual rock and
the large fracture contained in the numerical model were,
pre-conditioned such that the extension of the fracture
would be possible. The pre-conditioning of the surrounding
rock was made based on the following premises • The
propagation of the circular fracture was bound to take
place in the plane of the fracture. • The formation of a
Propagation Bed, much larger than the fracture limits,
preceded the emergence of the circular fracture. • The
strength of the Propagation Bed, which, compared with the
rock mass, is reduced by a larger number of cracks and
micro cracks, may be described by its “inherent” cohesion.
In contrast to the “apparent” cohesion, the inherent
cohesion is the true cohesion that a rock, here the rock
contained in the Propagation Bed, is able to secure, before
a fully localized shear fracture emerges out of that rock.
• Upon the encroachment of the driving force, prevailing at
the tip of the circular fracture, onto the surrounding
rock, the inherent cohesion of the Propagation Bed is lost.
The loss of inherent cohesion is immediately followed by
frictional

Figure 1. An illustration of the conditions for the

localisation of a

fracture and its subsequent propagation: (a) Propagation

Bed, (b) Cre

ation of the fracture and (c) Propagation of the fracture.

Simplified

sketches at the lower half of the figure show how the

process was

incorporated into the numerical model. Uniaxial compressive

strength Tensile strength Inherent cohesion σ τ

Figure 2. A tentative definition of the inherent cohesion.

From the

range shown, selected values entered the numerical

computations.

forces being mobilized, and the newly-extended portion of

the circular fracture behaves thereupon following the Mohr

Coulomb criterion.

Figure 1 is an illustration of the progress in the

formation of

a fracture and its subsequent extension. Simplifications

were

made to include the process in the numerical model.

Inherent cohesion, which indeed is the adhesion between

the grains of, e.g. a rock, is difficult to measure. Yet

standard

tests such as uniaxial compressive strength and uniaxial

tensile
strength (may also be obtained indirectly by Brazilian test)

yield values that may be considered as measures of the

inherent

cohesion of a rock.

Figure 2 shows the range of values for the inherent cohe

sion, a selection of which may be made in order to enter the

numerical computations.

3 THIS STUDY

In this study, a simple geometry was incorporated into a

3DEC,

Itasca (2003) numerical simulation. The geometry chosen

Figure 3. Sketch showing two circular fractures , bridge in
between and the definition of the bridge width. Figure 4.
The shear displacement contours across the plane including
the two fractures with a diameter of 100 m each. Maximum
shear displacement of around 20 mm occurred at the central
area of the fractures. included two circular fractures,
both belonging to the same oblique plane with a dip of 40
degrees and striking at right angle to the direction of the
major principal stressσ 1 .As shown in Figure 3, the
distance between the two nearest tips of the two fractures,
here may be called the Bridge Width, enters the
computations as an input parameter. Assume that the two
circular fractures have a diameter of 100 meters each.
After some introductory analyses, a Bridge Width of 60
meters was chosen to lie between the two fractures in the
numerical model. The input parameters selected were as
follows: (a) Rock Mass E Rock mass = 40 GPa (b) Fracture
properties and size Fracture Diameter = 100 m Kn = 1 GPa/m
Ks = 0.3 GPa/m φ= 20 ◦ (c) Bridge Kn = 10 GPa/m Ks = 3
GPa/m φ= 25 ◦ The expressions defining the in-situ stress
field, valid for a depth range of 350–650 m, were borrowed
from SKB, 2005:

A hydrostatic pore pressure was included in the numeri

cal model. The centre of the model block had a depth of

500 m; a depth relevant for the placement of a repository in

Sweden.
Figure 4 shows the contours of the shear displacements

across the plane containing the extended fractures. It is

clear

from the displacement contours that the two fractures are

being

sheared independently; larger shear displacements of around

20 mm occur at and around the centre of each fracture. The

bridge, even though suffering from some damage (see later),

does not fail mechanically.

In the next analysis performed the Bridge Width was

reduced to 30 meters. The results showed that the bridge

failed

in the sense that the two fractures involved became inter

connected through a newly formed fracture and proceeded

to behave as a single fracture. Figure 5 shows how the inter

connection went on.To some extent, the two fractures behaved

independently, but further shearing forced the two

fractures to

join and behave as if only one fracture existed.

4 DISCUSSION

It is informative to make comparisons between the maximum

shear displacement a single, propagating fracture undergoes

and the case where the same fracture is a member of the sys

tem fracture-bridge-fracture. Choosing one circular fracture

with a diameter of 100 m – which was set to propagate under

an identical set of parameters as for the case of two

fractures
separated by a bridge with a width of 60 m – it was noted

that the maximum shear displacement was nearly 25 mm.

This is to compare with a maximum shear displacement of

nearly 19 mm, where the fracture was a member of the system

fracture-bridge-fracture (Figure 4). It should be evident

that

the discrepancy has to do with the fact that the same

reserve of

energy – stored in two identical model blocks, containing

one

and two fractures – was expended on propagating/displacing

one and two fractures respectively.

Despite the fact that the analysis incorporating a bridge

with

a width of 60 meters shows that the bridge does not fail;

i.e.

the two fractures involved remain to behave independently,

it is informative to look for how far from the initial

outlines

the propagations associated with the two fractures may have

reached.

Figure 6 shows the shear displacement contours taken

from the same analysis but plotted in the narrow range of

0.0–0.85 mm. It is interesting to note that the propagation

has

indeed proceeded in form of patches sheared not more than –

on average – about 0.15 mm and that the two fractures have

been interconnected by two of those patches. This connec

tivity, which was noticed had no effect on the mechanical

integrity of the bridge, could result in hydraulic connectiv

ity. One would perhaps become concern about the role such

hydraulic inter-connectivity may play as regards the safety

of

a canister hole/canister.

Trying to translate the above finding – which so far is just

a product of the numerical investigation reported – to the

sphere of natural rock fractures, one may speculate that a

nat

ural fracture that evidently has extended beyond its

outermost

boundary may even have propagated to a much larger area,

without the propagation being detected by the naked eye. One

should then make a distinction between visible and invisible

parts of a propagated fracture in order to draw conclusions

out

of a wider perspective. (a) (b) (c) (d) Figure 5. (a), (b),

(c) and (d). Sequential stages in failure of a bridge. The
bridge had a width of 30 meters.

Figure 6. Shear displacement contours of the same two

fractures

as shown on Figure 4. Because of the very small range of

shear

displacements deliberately chosen (less than one mm), the

contours

of the much larger displacements occurring at the central

parts of

the fractures (larger than few mm) are plotted erroneously

and were

removed from the figure.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work was financed by the Swedish Nuclear Waste

Real-time CT testing of rock damage evolution mechanism

under triaxial compression Xiurun Ge Key Laboratory of Rock
and Soil Mechanics, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanincs,
CAS, Wuhan, Hubei, China Institutive of Geotechical
Mechanics and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University,
Shanghai, China Jianxi Ren School of Architecture and Civil
Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology,
Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

ABSTRACT: In this paper, specified triaxial loading

equipment corresponding to the X-ray computerized
tomography (CT)

machine has been developed. It can be used to accomplish

meso-damage evolution CT real in time testing of rock,
soil, frozen

rock, frozen soil and ice under triaxial compression

loading, unloading, fatigue and creep stress state. The
real-time CT testing

of the meso-damage propagation law of the whole sandstone

failure process under triaxial compression has been
completed

using the above equipment. Through the CT scanning, the

clear CT images, which include from the microcracks
compressed

stage to growth stage, bifurcation stage, development

stage, crack fracture stage, the rock sample failure until
to unloading

stage in the different stress states were obtained. The CT

values, CT images and the other data have been analyzed.
Based on

the results of the CT testing of meso-damage evolution law

of rock, the stress threshold value of meso-damage of rock
is given,

and the stress-strain complete process curve of rock is

divided into 5 segments. The initial rock damage
propagation law is

given in this paper.

1 INTRODUCTION

The study of rock damage mechanics is, at present, one

of the important topics in rock mechanics (Dragon and

Mroz, 1979). Meso-testing provides an experimental basis

for macro-damage theory and helps in the understanding of

the rock damage mechanism when using either the scanned

electronic microscope or the optical microscope; the com

puterized tomography(CT) technique has many advantages in

non-destructive scanning,designation of multiple planes, and

introduction of international standard specimens.

Yang et al. (1998) and Kawakata et al. (1997) conducted

studies on the initial meso-damage properties of rocks by

using

CT scanning and discussed the characters of damage propa

gation. It should be noted that the experimental studies

were

performed on specimens that were pre-damaged by using a

MTS testing machine. Obviously, such a CT scanning pro

cedure is not carried out under real-time and the unloading

procedure used has considerable effects on CT examination

results.

It is the purpose of the present technical note to develop a

real-time CT scanning equipment to be used for studying the

damage evolution law of rocks during triaxial compression

tests. No reports have been published on the subject so far

and the testing method described is to be considered highly

innovative in rock mechanics.

2 SPECIAL TRIAXIAL LOADING EQUIPMENT

2.1 Principle

The main parts of CT testing system consist of cold bathing

control sub-system, displacement and loading control sub

system, triaxial chamber and image processing sub-system

(Figure 1). It allows one to perform a real-time

examination 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 12 13 14 15 8 11 1. cold
bathing control sub-system 2. displacement and loading
control sub-system 3. scan frame of CT machine 4. X-ray
source 5. sample installing tank 6. loading sensor 7. CT
mold/data convertor 8. sample 9. scan section 10. pressure
head 11. triaxial chamber 12. detector 13. image processing
sub-system 14. displacement sensor 15. testing platform
Figure 1. Principle of special triaxial loading testing
equipment. of rock or soil specimens subjected to triaxial
compression in normal or below-zero temperature
environments. A tomograph is employed to perform a
multi-plane damage examination by CT images of a given
special cross-section at different stress levels. A real
3-D image is made to describe the damage configuration of a
rock specimen by using a rebuilding technique of images.
The cylinders used for testing are 50 mm in diameter and
100 mm in length. The triaxial testing chamber is 240 mm in
diameter and 1000 mm in height. It was designed for 400 kN
axial compression load and a 20 MPa confining pressure. The
chamber is placed in the scanning area of the tomograph in
order to reduce the effect of chamber material on the
scanning results.

Table 1. Kinds of CT testing of special triaxial loading

testing

equipment.

Media Rock, soil, frozen rock, frozen soil, ice

Temperature Normal atmospheric temperature, negative

temperature

Loading method Successive compression loading, unloading,

fatigue loading, creep loading
Confining pressure Triaxial, uniaxial

Figure 2. Photo of real-time CT testing scene.

It is made of top-quality light metal of LY12—a kind of

carbide for aeroplane manufacture. The triaxial testing cham

ber is designed by the CT unit of the State Key Laboratory

of

China Frozen Soil Engineering.

A X-ray spiral tomograph of SIEMENS SOMATOM plus

type, having a spatial resolution of 0.35 mm × 0.35 mm, capa

ble of identifying a minimum volume of 0.12 mm3 (1 mm in

layer thickness) with the resolution of density contrast

being

0.3%(3Hu), is used for the CT equipment. The above resolu

tion meets the requirement of lower size limit(10 −4 m)that

is

necessary for meso mechanics experiments.

2.2 Function

The above special triaxial loading testing equipment can be

used to accomplished many kinds of CT testing (Table 1).

2.3 Testing method

The testing chamber is placed horizontally on a bed and the

rock specimen is positioned within the scanning limits of

the

CT unit (Figure 2). The difference section can be scanned in

difference stress-strain state in the processing of loading

of

sample. The change law of CT images and CT number of

sample can be researched.

It is advisable to carry out a series of tests in a stiff
testing

machine before performing the meso CT tests, given the cost

of CT examination.

Comparing to the CT testing in normal atmospheric tem

perature, the difference point of CT testing in negative tem

perature is that it is needed negative temperature

condition by

the cold bathing control sub-system.

2.4 Testing results

Using the above equipment, the large CT real-time testing of

meso-damage evolution of rock,soil,frozen rock,frozen soil

Figure 3. Scan section position with the rock sample. and
ice have been accomplished (Ge et al ,2004). The damage
variable based on CT number is given. The concept of CT
number reduction rate is defined. The estimate formula of
width of CT crack is given. The equation of rock damage
evolution and constitutive is created (Ge et al, 1999,
2004). The results of the meso-damage propagation mechanism
of sandstone under triaxial loading compression will be
showed in the following fragment. 3 REAL-TIME EXPERIMENTS
OF ROCK DAMAGE PROPAGATION 3.1 Procedure and method In
order to increase reliability and allow for appropriate
comparison of data, all the specimens to be tested should
be as far as possible homogeneous in nature. For this
reason, both sampling and specimen preparation need to be
performed in strictly controlled conditions by overcoving
from a large size rock block and by avoiding any possible
disturbance. The sandstone blocks used in this work were
sampled from the Nanqiao Coal Mine of Pubai Mining Bureau,
Shan’xi Province. The real-time CT scanning experiments
were performed on sandstone specimens under triaxial
compression testing conditions. Four tomographic planes
were selected for each specimen, as shown in Figure 3,
where numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 indicate these planes. During
loading, the real-time CT scanning was performed on the
tomographic planes for various loading levels; the
variation in image during the complete loading process
(fracture initiation, branching development and failure) of
each tomographic plane has been carefully observed, in
order study the damage mechanism from the point of meso
scale. 3.2 Interpretation of testing results Taking as an
example the sandstone specimen No. 5, the results obtained
with be illustrated in the following. The test was carried
out in closely controlled conditions with a static rate of
2.75 × 10 −5 /s and 55 minutes duration.The fifth
generation of spiral CT unit was employed for testing. This
tomograph has a stronger parallel processing capacity, so
that the scanning on a certain tomographic plane starts
when the scanning on the previous plane has not been
completed.Accordingly, the scanning of all the four
cross-sections can be performed almost simultaneously
within a short time. If the old CT unit had been used, the
scanning work would have required a couple of minutes; in

Table 2. Stress state corresponding to each scanning on

specimen

No.5 (σ 2 = σ 3 = 10 MPa).

Sequence of

scanning σ 1 /MPa σ 1 –σ 3 /MPa ε 1 /‰ Remarks

1 11.88 1.88 0.63

2 22.63 12.63 2.5

3 35.92 25.92 5.0 Threshold value

4 45.66 35.66 6.9

5 48.85 38.85 7.6

6 49.47 39.47 7.9

7 51.71 41.71 8.5

8 40.79 30.79 11.6 Unloading

Note: σ 1 :axial stress, σ 2 , σ 3 : confining pressure, ε

1 : axial strain.

Table 3. Testing results (1).

Sequence of 1st scan section 2nd scan section

scanning CT number/variance CT number/variance

1 1625.6/98.95 1630.0/102.07
2 1626.6/104.52 1633.6/104.51

3 1627.6/105.50 1634.3/104.74

4 1626.6/105.63 1634.2/102.19

5 1625.9/104.35 1632.0/101.07

6 1624.5/101.54 1627.4/100.71

7 1622.9/97.53 1621.5/99.87

8 1609.9/91.56 1604.3/113.37

Table 4. Testing results (2).

Sequence of 3rd scan section 4th scan section

scanning CT number/variance CT number/variance

1 1592.6/105.01 1582.3/172.03

2 1598.2/105.10 1583.5/172.86

3 1601.1/104.94 1584.5/166.57

4 1602.3/104.07 1585.2/166.76

5 1601.9/101.05 1584.8/166.67

6 1596.7/97.11 1581.5/165.44

7 1591.0/98.84 1578.7/165.74

8 1576.9/115.51 1565.4/183.29

other words, the continuous evolution of rock damage within

this time internal would have had serious effects on both

qual

ity and realism of CT images (corresponding to a given state

of stress). The stress conditions corresponding to an 8-time

scanning sequence on sandstone specimen No.5 are shown in

Table 2. The CT testing results can be found in Tables 3, 4.

The CT images can be found in Figure 4. The complete stress

strain curve obtained during testing of the same specimen is

illustrated in Figure 5,where also shown are the numbers 1

to 8

which give the scanning sequence. In the meantime, the num

bers 1 to 8 which denote the scanning sequence of specimen

No.5 is shown in Figure 5. Figure 6 is the change law of CT

number of specimen No.5. It is observed that the

stress-strain

complete process curve of rock can be divided into 5

segments

based on CT number change law (Figure 7).

The first stage (OA segment in Figures 6 and 7) is inter

preted as damage weakening. In this stage, axial stress σ 1

increases from 11.88 MPa to 22.63 MPa; the CT number of a.

σ 1 = 35.92 MPa b. σ 1 = 45.66 MPa c. σ 1 = 48.85 MPa d.
σ 1 = 49.47MPa e. σ 1 = 5171MPa f. σ 1 = 40.79 MPa
Figure 4. CT images of section 1 after threshold value.
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 6 0.00
4.00 8.00 12.00 a x i a l s t r e s s axial strain (ε 1 /‰)
σ 1 /MPa Figure 5. Stress state corresponding to each
scanning condition. 0.00 4.00 8.00 12.00 1580.00 1590.00
1600.00 1610.00 1620.00 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 O A B C D E a x i a
l s t r e s s axial strain (ε 1 /‰) Figure 6. Relationship
between scanning condition and change law of CT number.
four tomographic sections or the CT number of the rock
specimens (mean value of four tomographic CT numbers)
increases, initial micro-cracks and void (primary damage)
close, to cause closing-up and increment of density (the
image is omitted owing to limited space). During the second
stage (AB segment in Figures 6 and 7), σ 1 increases from
22.63 MPa to 35.92 MPa. We can see that both the CT number
and its variance keep nearly constant as the rock is in
elastic deformation. As shown in Figure 4a, the initiation
and branching of a small number of cracks appear just when
σ 1 = 35.92 MPa. It is the stress threshold values of
specimen No. 5. ε 1 /‰ σ 1 / M P a O A B C D E

Figure 7. Segment of stress-strain whole process curve.

The third stage (BC segment in Figures 6 and 7) starts

after stage 2 and ends when the threshold value increases

to 49.47 MPa,i.e., it is the stress value where damage evolu

tion starts and develops in a stable manner. When σ 1

reaches

45.66 MPa, the CT number of the first and second tomo

graphic sections decreases and extension and branching of

original cracks take place accompanied by initiation of new

cracks, as shown in Figure 4b. This is interpreted as an

indica

tion of crack initiation, as shown in the last

scanning—bright

points (lower density areas) arise locally on the scanned

sec

tion. In the meantime, the CT number of the third and fourth

scanned sections increases a little, accompanied by crack

initiation, which results in inhomogeneity in damage evo

lution as obtained from meso experimental results. When

σ 1 = 48.85 MPa (Figure 4c), the cracks initiating in the

pre

vious stage start extending, with a number of new cracks

initiating simultaneously when the CT number of all scanned

sections starts to decrease. Besides, variance of CT number

has somewhat increased and micro cracks initiate and develop

in the rock specimen.

In the fourth stage (CD segment in Figures 6 and 7) damage

develops rapidly. As shown in Figure 4e with an increment of

σ 1 from 49.47 MPa to 51.71 MPa, a great number of micro

cracks in each tomographic section penetrate into each

other,

showing an indication of failure. In this stage, the damage

of rock specimen develops rapidly. When σ 1 = 53.12 MPa,

i.e. when the peak axial strength is reached, the cracks

pene

trate through the specimen completely and the CT scanning

fails due to rapid decrease of stress. In this stage, the CT

number decreases at a higher velocity, the increment in vari

ance increases, the micro-cracks go through the specimen and

micro joints appear, and the rock specimen quickly reaches

its

peak strength.

In the fifth or final stage (DE segment in Figures 6 and

7), post damage (after peak value) develops rapidly. When

σ 1 is unloaded from σ c1 (peak value) to 40.79 MPa, several

major thoroughgoing joints are widened, as shown in Figure

4f. We have observed at this stage a sudden decrease in the

ABSTRACT: We discuss recent developments for automatic

identification of rock discontinuity sets based on their
orientation.

In particular, two methods are compared: a fast and

mathematically self-consistent vector quantization
approach, and a spectral

clustering approach that performs a transformation into a

space where clustering is more easily performed using fuzzy
K

means. Both methods minimize human interaction and do not

require calculation of contour density plots. Performance
is
studied using artificial and real-world data sets commonly
employed as benchmarks for clustering algorithms of
orientation

data. Results show that both algorithms provide very

similar clustering parameters both for cluster mean values
and assignments

of discontinuities to each cluster.

1 INTRODUCTION

The analysis of directional data of discontinuity

orientations

to identify discontinuity sets is a fundamental problem in

the

characterization of rock masses for engineering applications

and in other geological disciplines (see e.g., Priest 1993a,

Klose et al. 2005).

A wide variety of methods have been proposed to clus

ter discontinuities based on their orientations.

Stereographic

plots obtained using techniques for hemispherical projection

of discontinuity poles (i.e., unit vectors normal to rock

discon

tinuities), have been commonly used for visual

identification

of discontinuity sets; visual identification is performed on

density contour plots computed by counting the number of

poles that fall inside a reference circle (see e.g.,

Schmidt 1925,

Priest 1985, 1993b). However, counting methods are cumber

some due to sampling biases (see e.g., Terzaghi 1965, Priest

1993b), to variability of contouring results with the size

of the

counting circle (Harrison 1992), and to the influence of the

observer’s subjectivity.

More recently, there have been efforts for the develop

ment of methods for automatic identification of discon

tinuity sets that overcome the aforementioned difficulties

of the contour plot counting methods: the vector quantiza

tion approach developed by Klose et al. (2005) (see also

Klose 2004) and the spectral clustering approach discussed

by Jimenez-Rodriguez & Sitar (2006) (see also Ng et al.

2002, Jimenez-Rodriguez 2006).To illustrate the performance

of these clustering algorithms, we work with a randomly

generated toy data set with four isotropic clusters of poles

employed by Klose et al. (2005). Mean orientations of fami

lies used for generation of the synthetic data set are

listed in

Table 1. Furthermore, we also work with discontinuity

orienta

tions corresponding to three discontinuity sets at San

Manual

copper mine in Arizona, USA (Shanley & Mahtab 1976).

2 THE VECTOR QUANTIZATION APPROACH

In the vector quantization algorithm (Klose et al. 2005),

directional data are grouped into disjoint isotropic

clusters. Table 1. Clustering results of the synthetic data
set: Direction of mean vectors for each discontinuity set.
Vector Fuzzy Fuzzy Set Generation quantization spectral
K-means 1 (◦) 110/45 113/44 110/44 110/45 2 (×) 000/45
002/45 000/44 000/44 3 (�) 200/10 196/10 195/12 196/10 4
(+) 110/01 114/02 109/02 110/03 Grouping is achieved by
minimizing the average distance between the data points and
the average values which characterize the cluster to which
the data points belong. No heuristics is being used because
the grouping of data points, the binary assignment of new
data points to clusters, and the calculation of the average
cluster values are based on the same cost function. The
vector quantization approach assumes that each data point
x k , k = 1, . . . , N , belongs to only one discontinuity
set �w l , l = 1, . . . , M . The distance measure d(�x,�w)
between two pole vectors �x and �w must then satisfy the
following conditions: 1. d(�x, �w) = min ⇔, �x and �w are
equally directed parallel vectors, i.e., �x T �w = 1. 2.
d(�x, �w) = max ⇔, �x and �w are orthogonal vectors, i.e.,
x T �w = 0. 3. d(�x, �w 1 ) = d(�x, �w 2 ) if �w 1 and �w 2
are antiparallel vectors, i.e., �w 2 =−�w 1 . The
arc-length between poles on the unit sphere is proposed as
the distance measure, i.e., where |.| denotes the absolute
value. The average dissimilarity between the data points
and the pole vectors of the directional data they belong to
is given by

Figure 1. Discontinuity sets computed with different

clustering methods for the synthetic data set in Klose et
al. (2005).

from which we calculate the optimal partition by minimizing

the cost function E, i.e.,

Minimization is performed iteratively in two steps. In the

first step, the cost function E is minimized with respect

to the

assignment variables {m lk } using

In the second step, cost E is minimized with respect to the

angles l = (α l , θ l ) T which describe the average pole

vectors

w l . This is done by evaluating ∂E/∂ l = 0, where 0 is a

zero

vector with respect to 1 = (α l , θ l ) T . This iterative

procedure

is called batch learning and converges to a minimum of the

cost, because E can never increase and is bounded from

below.

3 THE SPECTRAL CLUSTERING APPROACH

The algorithm for spectral clustering of rock discontinu

ity orientations groups discontinuities using eigenvectors

of

similarity matrices derived from the data. We use the sine

of the acute angle between discontinuity poles as a mea

sure of their similarity. Such sine-based distance results

in

d 2 (x1, x2) = 1 − (x T 1 · x 2 ) 2 (Hammah & Curran 1999).

Here, we present a short description of the spectral cluster

ing approach for clustering of rock discontinuity sets. (For

further details of why the algorithm works, see Ng et al.

(2002).) Assuming N observed rock discontinuity orienta

tions to be clustered into K sets, the spectral clustering

algorithm performs an initial transformation of observations

to a K-dimensional space where the transformed points are

expected to cluster around K well separated points. The

partitions in the transformed space correspond to the par

titions in the original space (Ng et al. 2002); therefore,

it

is easier to perform clustering in the transformed space

and then assign the computed partition labels to the
corresponding discontinuity measurements in the original
space. (The algorithm has been shown to provide good
clustering results even in non-standard cases; see
Jimenez-Rodriguez & Sitar (2006).) Clustering can be
performed in the transformed space by any algorithm that
partitions the data into K groups, such as K-means
(Jimenez-Rodriguez & Sitar 2006) or fuzzy Kmeans
(Jimenez-Rodriguez 2006). The advantage of using fuzzy
K-means is that we can compute estimates of the uncertainty
of the assignments – i.e., degrees of membership to each
discontinuity set – that can be regarded as probabilities
to be exploited in simulations using Monte Carlo sampling
(Munier 2006). 4 RESULTS Figures 1(a) and 1(b) show
clustering results of the synthetic data set of four
discontinuity sets (i.e., K = 4). Figure 1(c) illustrates
the partitions computed using fuzzy K-means (in the
original space of discontinuity orientations) with the
Kentbased distance metric (Hammah & Curran 1998).
Similarly, Figures 2(a) and 2(b) present the partitions of
San Manual mine data set into three discontinuity sets
(i.e., K = 3) performed with the same algorithms. Estimates
of the uncertainty of the fuzzy assignments are represented
in Figures 1 and 2 by means of the gray scale shown in
Figure 3. Tables 1 and 2 list the average directions (in
trend/plunge notation) and numbers of assigned data points
of each discontinuity set identified in the synthetic data
set. The average directions used for numerical generation
of the data sets are indicated as well. Tables 3 and 4 show
the computed average directions and numbers of assigned
data points for the San Manual mine data set. The fuzzy
spectral method allows degrees of membership of
observations to discontinuity sets, whereas, the vector
quantization algorithm considers clear (crisp) assignments
of observations to discontinuity sets. When available,
average directions are computed considering information
about degrees of membership of fuzzy assignments.

Figure 2. Discontinuity sets computed with different

clustering methods for the San Manual Mine data set.

Figure 3. Gray-scale representation of degrees of

membership of

discontinuities to each set.

Table 2. Clustering results of the synthetic data set:

Number of

assigned data points for each discontinuity set. Vector

Fuzzy Fuzzy

Set Generation quantization spectral K-means

1 (◦) 100 101 100 101

2 (×) 100 100 100 100

3 (�) 20 19 20 19
4 (+) 20 20 20 20

Table 3. Clustering results of the San Manual mine data set:

Direction of mean vectors for each discontinuity set.

Shanley Vector Fuzzy Fuzzy

Set & Mahtab quantization spectral K-means

1 (◦) 072/14 068/15 073/12 070/10

2 (×) 163/14 171/10 167/08 166/09

3 (�) 303/81 310/73 305/75 308/73

Table 4. Clustering results of the San Manual mine data

set: Number

of assigned data points for each discontinuity set. Shanley

Vector Fuzzy Fuzzy

Set & Mahtab quantization spectral K-means

1 (◦) 127 118 124 115

2 (×) 112 113 107 115

Hammah, R. E., & Curran, J. H. 1999. On distance measures

for the

fuzzy K-means algorithm for joint data. Rock Mechanics and

Rock

Engineering, 32(1): 1–27.

Harrison, J. P. 1992. Fuzzy objective functions applied to

the analy

sis of discontinuity orientation data. In: Hudson, J. A.

(ed), Rock

characterization: Proceedings of ISRM symposium, Eurock’92.

London: Thomas Telford, for British Geotechnical Society.

Jimenez-Rodriguez, R. 2006. Fuzzy spectral clustering for

identi

fication of rock discontinuity sets. Rock Mechanics and Rock

Engineering.

Jimenez-Rodriguez, R., & Sitar, N. 2006. A spectral method

for clus

tering of rock discontinuity sets. International Journal of

Rock

Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 43(7): 1052–1061.

Klose, C.D. 2004. A new objective approach for fracture

grouping –

theory and advantages. In: Schubert, W. (ed), Rock

Engineering

Theory and Practice. ISRM Regional Symposium Eurock 2004 &

53rd Geomechanics Colloquium. VGE.

Klose, C.D., Seo, S., & Obermayer, K. 2005. A new clustering

approach for partitioning directional data. International

Jour

nal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanical

Abstracts, 42(2): 315–321. Munier, R. 2006. Personal

communication. Ng, A. Y., Jordan, M., & Weiss, Y. 2002. On
Spectral Clustering: Analysis and an algorithm. Pages
849–856 of: Dietterich, T. G., Becker, S., & Ghahramani, Z.
(eds), Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems
14. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Priest, S. D. 1985.
Hemispherical projection methods in rock mechanics. London;
Boston: Allen & Unwin. Priest, S. D. 1993a. Discontinuity
analysis for rock engineering. 1st edn. London; New York:
Chapman & Hall. Priest, S. D. 1993b.The collection and
analysis of discontinuity orientation data for engineering
design, with examples. Pages 167–192 of: Hudson, John A.
(ed), Comprehensive rock engineering; principles, practice
& projects: Rock testing and site characterization. Oxford:
Pergamon Press. Schmidt,W. 1925. Gefugestatistik.
TschermaksMineral PetrolMitt, 38: 392–423. Shanley, R. J.,
& Mahtab, M. A. 1976. Delineation and analysis of clusters
in orientation data. Journal Mathematical Geology, 8(1):
9–23. Terzaghi, R. D. 1965. Sources of errors in joint
surveys. Geotechnique, 15: 287–304. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Sensitivity analysis of the
Hoek-Diederichs rock mass deformation modulus estimating
formula P. Ván Department of Theoretical Physics, Research
Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, HAS, Budapest,
Hungary Bergen Computational Physics Laboratory, BCCS,
Bergen, Norway B. Vásárhelyi Dept. Engng. Mat. & Engng.
Geol., Budapest University of Technology and Economics,
Budapest, Hungary

ABSTRACT: There are several empirical formulas in the

literature to determine the rock mass modulus (E rm ) from
rock

mass classification (ie. from RMR, Q, GSI or RMi values).

Recently, Hoek and Diederichs (2006) examined a large set
of

field measurement data and suggested new formulas to

estimate the deformation modulus of the rock mass (E rm ),
using the

Geological Strength Index (GSI ) and the disturbance factor

(D).Their formula is based on the observation that a
sigmoid function

can be fitted well, both for the usual test data of

empirical estimation formulas and for the larger data set
of measurements.

Determination both the GSI and the disturbance factor (D)

are mostly subjective, thus it is important to know how
sensitive

E rm measurements using the published Hoek-Diederichs

equations are as a consequence of this subjectivity. The
goal of this

paper is to determine the sensitivity of these equations.

1 INTRODUCTION

All in situ deformation tests are expensive, often

difficult to

measure and time-consuming. Because of this, the modulus

of deformation is often estimated indirectly from observa

tions of relevant rock mass classification systems – such as

Rock Mass Rate (RMR, introduced by Bieniawski, 1973),

Tunneling Quality Index (Q, see Barton et al. 1974), Rock

Mass index (RMi, developed by Palmström, 1995) and Geo

logical Strength Index (GSI, published firstly Hoek et al.

1995). Palmström and Singh (2001) compared these empirical

relationships, determining the validity of them.

Recently, Hoek and Diederichs (2006) examined a large

set of field measurement data and suggested new formulas

to estimate the deformation modulus of the rock mass (E rm

),

using the Geological Strength Index (GSI ) and the

disturbance

factor (D). Their formula is based on the observation that a

sigmoid function can be fitted well, both for the usual test

data of empirical estimation formulas (Serafim & Pereira,

1983; Bieniawski, 1978; and Stephens & Banks, 1989) and for

the larger data set of Chinese and Taiwanese measurements

(Hoek & Brown, 1997). Sigmoid functions are common in

several areas of technology and physics (e.g. the

Fermi-Dirac

distributions in quantum ideal gases).

Determination both the Geological Strength Index (GSI )

and the disturbance factor (D) are very subjective.

Recently,

Edelbro et al. (2007) published their results, determining

the

different rock mass values by 11 independent participants,

get

ting high differences between the minimum and the maximum

values. The disturbance factor can be more difficult to
deter

mine exactly – up to now it is not standardized. This is

why so

important to know how sensitive E rm measurements using the

published Hoek-Diederichs equations are as a consequence of

this subjectivity (Hoek & Diederichs, 2006).

The published analysis method can be used to determine

the sensitivity for the other applied rock mass deformation

modulus empirical equations (summarized and analyzed them
e.g. Palmström & Singh 2001), as well. 2 HOEK-DIEDERICHS
FORMULAS The Hoek-Diederichs formulas (Hoek & Diederichs,
2006) are based on the value of the Geological Strength
Index (GSI ) and the disturbance factor (D), which factor
was firstly introduced by Hoek et al. (2002). Hoek et al
(2002) and Hoek and Diederichs (2006) give several examples
to estimate the disturbance in particular practical
situations, however it is very subjective: it is assigned a
value between 0 (undisturbed) and 1 (fully disturbed). The
introduced formula of Hoek and Diederichs (2006) calculates
the deformation modulus from the GSI value and D factor as:
or if the deformation modulus of the intact rock (E i ) is
known, equation (1) can be modified to: The simplified (Eq.
1) and the more comprehensive HoekDiederichs equation (2),
are shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. Using the two
formulas the estimated deformation moduli are not the same,
they depend on the deformation modulus of the intact rock –
the ratio of the two results in case of low GSI values can
be large. For different disturbance factors (D = 0, 0.5 and
1), these differences are plotted on Figures 3–5,
respectively.

Figure 1. Simplified Hoek-Diederichs equation (1) for

empirical

estimates of rock mass deformation modulus based on GSI and

D

only.

Figure 2. Hoek-Diederichs equation (2) for empirical

estimates of
rock mass deformation modulus based on GSI, D and intact
rock

modulus E i .

3 APPLIED SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

The sensitivity of a function f regarding the uncertainties

of

the variables can be characterized by the formula commonly

known as propagation of error (Bronstein & Semendjajew,

2004).

Let us suppose that f is a real function which depends

on n variables x 1 , x 2 , . . . x n and the uncertainty of

each we

can calculate the uncertainty �f of f that results from the

uncertainties of the variables: Figure 3. The ratio of Eq.

(2) and Eq. (1) as a function of deformation modulus of
intact rock in case of different GSI values (D = 0). GSI =
(10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100) from above, respectively. 20 40
60 80 100 E i 2 4 6 8 10 Eq(2)/Eq(1) D=0.5 Figure 4. The
ratio of Eq. (2) and Eq. (1) as a function of deformation
modulus of intact rock in case of different GSI values (D =
0.5) GSI = (10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100) from above,
respectively. 20 40 60 80 100 E i 2 4 6 8 10 Eq(2)/Eq(1)
D=1 Figure 5. The ratio of Eq. (2) and Eq. (1) as a
function of deformation modulus of intact rock in case of
different GSI values (D = 1), GSI = (10, 20, 40, 60, 80,
100) from above, respectively. 4 SENSITIVITY OF THE H-D
EQUATIONS The sensitivity of different empirical formulas
to parameter uncertainty is an important factor for a
designer. To establish good empirical formulas one should
have some sense on the effect of variations in the input
parameters to judge the acceptability of the design. In
this note we analyze the above 20 40 60 80 100 GSI

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 E rm
∆E rm

Figure 6. Relative sensitivity of the simple

Hoek-Diederichs func

tion (Eq. 1) as a function GSI, in case �D = 0.05, �GSI/GSI

= 0.05

if D = 0, 0.5 and 1 (from below). 20 40 60 80 100 GSI

20

40

60

80

100

E rm

Figure 7. Absolute sensitivity of the simple

Hoek-Diederichs func

tion (Eq. 1) as a function GSI, in case �D = 0.05, �GSI/GSI

= 0.05

if D = 0, 0.5 and 1 (from below). The dashed lines around

the solid

ones denote the sensitivity bar levels.

formulas from this point of view, giving some practical

tools

to enable rapid sensitivity analyses.

In estimating the sensitivity, it was assumed that the vari

ables are uncorrelated, therefore, one can apply equation

(3)

(Bronstein & Semendjajew, 2004). Assuming that the sensi

tivity in the disturbance factor D is �D and in the GSI it

is

GSI, one can get:

where A = e (GSI−75−25 D)/11

The relative sensitivity for the simple Hoek-Diederichs cri

teria of equation (1) is plotted in the case of �D = 0.05

and

GSI/GSI = 0.05 in Figure 6 for disturbance values of D = 0,

0.5 and 1. One can see that the sensitivity in the rock mass

modulus is between 15–35% and strongly depends on the

GSI value. There is a peak in the sensitivity between GSI

val

ues of 60 and 80. Figure 7 shows the corresponding absolute

20 40 60 80 100 GSI 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 ∆E rm E rm
Figure 8. Relative sensitivity of the modified
Hoek-Diederichs equation (Eq.2) as a function GSI, in case
D = 0.1 and �GSI = 0 if D = 0, 0.5 and 1 (from below at
left). Figure 9. Absolute sensitivity of the modified
Hoek-Diederichs equation (Eq. 2) as a function GSI, in case
D = 0.05, �GSI/GSI = 0.05 if D = 0, 0.5 and 1 (from below).
The dashed lines around the solid ones denote the
sensitivity bar levels. sensitivity according to equation
(4).The law of Gauss applied to the modified
Hoek-Diederichs criteria (Eq. 2) gives where A = e
(GSI−60−15 D)/11 The relative sensitivity estimated by
equation (4) is plotted for �D = 0.05 and �GSI/GSI = 0.05
in Figure 8 for values of D = 0.0, 0.5 and 1.0. The
sensitivity in the rock mass modulus is between 0.5–22 %
and again, it strongly depends on the GSI value. The peaked
property is even more apparent in this case, with the
greatest sensitivity occurring for GSI values between 40
and 60. Figure 9 shows the corresponding absolute
sensitivity according to equation (5). 5 CONCLUSIONS Using
the Hoek-Diederichs equations, the rock mass deformation
modulus can be determined if the Geological Strength

Index (GSI) and the disturbance factor (D) are known. The

determination of each parameter is subjective, and thus, to

know the sensitivity of these equations is very important.

Using the formula of Gauss, the sensitivity of the equations

was analyzed for �D = 0.05 and GSI/GSI = 0.05 for D = 0,

0.5 and 1. It was shown, that in case of simple H-D equation

the sensitivity in the rock mass modulus is between 15–35 %

and for the modified H-D equation it is between 0.5–22 %. In

both cases the sensitivity strongly depends on the GSI

value.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors are acknowledge the financial support for the

Bolyai Scolarship and the Hungarian National Research Foun

dation (OTKA T048489, K60768 and D48645) and by the

EU-I3HP project.

Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering

classification of

rock masses for design of rock support. Rock Mech. 6:

189–236.

Bieniawski, Z.T. 1973. Engineering classification of

jointed rock

masses. Trans. S. African Inst. Civ. Engrs., 15: 335–344.

Bieniawski, Z.T. 1978. Determining rock mass deformability

– expe

rience from case study. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.

Geomech.Abst.,

15: 237–247. Bronstein, I.N. & Semendjajew, K.A. 2004.

Handbook of Mathematics, Springer, Berlin (4th edition).
Edelbro, C., Sjöberg, J. & Nordlund, E. 2007. A
quantitative comparison of strength criteria for hard rock
masses. Tunneling & Underground Space Techn. 22: 57–68.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates or rock
mass strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abst.,
34: 1165–1186. Hoek, E. & Diederichs, M.S. 2006. Empirical
estimation of rock mass modulus. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 43: 203–215. Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum,
B. 2002. Hoek-Brown failure criterion – 2002 Edition. Proc.
5. North American Rock Mech. Conf. 1: 267–271. Hoek, E.,
Kaiser, P.K. & Bawden, W.F. 1995. Support of underground
excavations in hard rock. Balkema. Palmstöm, A. 1995. RMi –
a rock mass characterization system for rock engineering
purposes. PhD These. (www.rockmass.net) Palmström, A. &
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comparisons between in situ tests and indirect estimates.
Tunneling & Underground Space Techn. 16: 115–131. Serafim,
J.L. & Pereira, J.P. 1983. Consideration of the
geomechanical classification of Bieniawski. Int. Symp.
Engng Geol. & Underground Constructions. 1/II: 33–44
Sonmez, H. & Gokeceoglu, C. 2006. Discussion of the paper
by E. Hoek and M.S. Diederichs “Empirical estimation of
rock mass modulus”. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 43:
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11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Setting up a new direct shear testing apparatus G. Barla,
M. Barla, M. Camusso & M.E. Martinotti Department of
Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Politecnico di
Torino, Torino, Italy

ABSTRACT: A new direct shear testing apparatus with unique

features has been designed and developed by Politecnico di

Torino and G.D.S. Instruments Ltd. In the apparatus shear

tests can be performed by applying a given back pressure to
the

specimen. Also shear testing may be conducted on a rock

joint with a given fluid pressure acting within it. The
apparatus is

designed to work under high loading conditions with intact

specimens of hard soils/soft rocks or with
natural/artificial rock

joints. The construction of the apparatus stems from the

interest to carry out tests on specimens taken from a deep
shear zone,

along which the movements of a Deep-Seated Gravitational

Slope Deformation interact with an arch gravity dam in
North Italy.

In this paper, the specific features of the apparatus are

described, together with the results of some preliminary
calibration tests
performed on artificial joints.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock masses are not continuous and their mechanical

behaviour is significantly affected by discontinuities such

as bedding planes, joints, faults and fractures. In the case

of Deep-Seated Gravitational Slope Deformations (DSGSD)

in the Alps, slope movements may be governed by a major,

deep-seated shear zone which may have a thickness of several

meters.

Laboratory direct shear tests generally are used to charac

terize the behaviour of joints and discontinuities. Joints

may

be artificially created from rock samples or retrieved

directly

from the site and tested. When dealing with a shear zone,

such as defined above, there is not a definite joint

surface to

be tested but intact specimens of the sheared material can

be

tested.

Therefore, the objective is to determine the shear strength

and deformability characteristics, including creep

behaviour,

of such material under the desired effective in situ state

of

stress. These testing boundary conditions may not be com

pletely reproduced in a traditional direct shear apparatus.

A new direct shear apparatus with unique characteristics was

therefore designed and developed during the last year by

Politecnico di Torino and G.D.S. Instruments Ltd.

Tests will be conducted on rock materials obtained from a

230 m deep shear zone characterised by slow sliding move

ments of a DSGSD affecting the stability of a dam in North

Italy. In this paper, the specific features of the

apparatus will

be described in detail together with the results of

preliminary

calibration tests.

2 BACKGROUND

The case study is concerned with the Beauregard dam (Italy)

and its left slope.The Beauregard dam is a 132 m high

concrete

arch-gravity dam on the Dora di Valgrisenche river (Figure

1).

The rock mass foundation is comprised of gneiss and mica

schist with prasinite intercalations.The two slopes of the

valley

have different characteristics: on the right slope the rock

mass

is of good to excellent quality, on the left slope it is

heavily

fractured, cataclastic and mylonitic. Figure 1. Aerial view

of the Beauregard dam (2005). Detailed site investigations
of the left slope carried out between 2003 and 2006 (Barla
et al., 2006) have allowed one to gain insights into the
underlying rock mass conditions and to identify a
through-going shear zone, that acts as a shear surface for
the active portion of the DSGSD depicted in Figure 2.
Essential in this interpretation have been the results of
both seismic refraction and seismic reflection surveys, and
the drilling of two boreholes, which both crossed the shear
zone characterised by the presence of sheared and crushed
rock, locally reduced to a soil-like material with silt and
clay. Installation of an extensive instrumentation system
occurred between the time of the completion of the dam to
2006, including instruments installed both in the dam and
in the left slope. The most accurate record of the left
slope movements extends from 1967 to the present and
consists of geodetic measurements of a number of surface
targets (since 1996 a computer-based theodolite, total
station was used) and displacement measurements along three
plumb lines installed in the lower portion of the slope.
Monitoring of the slope through the years has revealed that
the rate of displacement (4–6 mm/year with the reservoir
level at 1705 m asl approximately) is correlated to the
water level in the reservoir and is undergoing a
displacement cycle,

Figure 2. Cross section of the left slope with P-wave

tomographic

interpretation and shear surface (Barla et al., 2006).

with displacement occurring during the spring (May-June) to

late summer-early autumn (September-October) period, when

snow melt takes place along the slope. Limited or no dis

placements are observed during the late autumn to late

winter

period. Continuous piezometric monitoring since 2003 indi

cates that following snow melt, piezometric levels increase

as

much as 15 m in the slope and that these elevated levels are

strictly correlated with accelerated displacements

triggered in

the slope.

Ongoing research activities on the case study are aimed at

developing numerical models that can be used as predictive

tools for both the slope and dam behaviour. Integration of

monitoring and numerical modelling will allow a continuous

assessment of the stability conditions of both the slope
and the

dam and will form the basis for risk management at the site.

Essential in this work is the appropriate representation of

the

behaviour of the material in the shear zone. The development

of the new direct shear apparatus described in this paper is

aimed at deriving parameters for the constitutive models to

be

used.

3 DESCRIPTION OF THE SHEAR APPARATUS

3.1 General overview

A new servo controlled direct shear apparatus (High Pressure

Back Pressure System – HPBPS) was designed and developed

by Politecnico di Torino and G.D.S. Instruments Ltd (Fig

ure 3). It has been specifically built for testing soil and
rock

specimens collected at great depth.

The apparatus allows tests to be performed under closely

controlled conditions in terms of axial load and back

pressure

applied to the specimen. In addition, tests can be

performed on

rock joints/interfaces with fluid pressure imposed. The appa

ratus is specifically designed to operate with undisturbed

and

remoulded specimens of weak rock such as cataclastic rocks

and material resulting from sheared and faulted zones.

The shear box can host specimens of 50 or 100 mm in diam

eter. If a test is to be conducted on a joint, different
gaps (up

to a maximum of 10 mm) may be set between the two parts of

the shear box, due to the presence or absence of a metal

plate

with a given thickness located below it. This allows tests

to be

run on rough or filled discontinuities.

A schematic view of the apparatus is shown in Figure 4.

The system comprises a shear box which is inserted into a

pressure chamber. Loading actuators and a pressure

controller

allow the operator to apply appropriate loading conditions

to Figure 3. Photograph of the shear apparatus. Back
Pressure Controller S e r i a l P a d Pressure chamber
Shear Vertical potenziometer Horizontal potenziometer
Personal Computer Water Reservoir Loading Actuators Axial
Figure 4. Schematic view of the shear apparatus. the
specimen. A measuring and acquisition system is directly
connected to a control unit based on a PC. Figure 5 shows a
sketch of the shear box placed inside the pressure chamber.
It consists of a lower and an upper part. The upper part of
the box is rigidly connected to the top of the pressure
chamber by four bolts. Shearing of the specimen is achieved
by moving the lower part of the box in the horizontal
direction. The axial load is applied to the specimen by a
transverse steel bar joined both to the loading ram and to
two uprights. A servo-controlled electrical motor allows
the transverse bar to shift downwards applying load to the
specimen. The horizontal load also is applied by a
servo-controlled loading ram connected to the pedestal of
the shear box. The maximum loading capacity both in the
axial and the horizontal direction is 100 kN. The back
pressure is applied by an hydraulic servocontrolled
actuator. A piston gives pressure to the fluid contained in
a steel cylinder, which is directly connected to the
pressure chamber by tempered steel circuits. The piston is
moved by an electrical motor and a worm screw. The rotation
of the motor is not continuous but it follows constant
angular increments; each increment allows a fixed volume of
fluid to be moved. The maximum back pressure that can be
achieved is 10 MPa. A water reservoir is available for
filling both the pressure chamber and the hydraulic
actuator.The reservoir is connected to a vacuum pump so
that water can be de-aerated before being introduced into
the drainage circuit. Transverse bar Bolt Horizontal
potenziometer Axial loading ram Shear box

Membrane Axial load cell Axial

potenziometer Specimen

LVDT Shear loading ram

Shear load cell

Figure 5. Cross section of the shear box and the pressure

chamber.

3.2 Measuring system

The apparatus is equipped with a number of measuring trans

ducers that allow for testing to be performed in closely

controlled conditions (Figure 5).The axial load is measured

by

a load cell integrated into the loading ram. The axial

stress is

computed from the measured axial load by taking into account

the influence of the pore pressure.

The shear load is measured by a different load cell con

nected to the pedestal of the shear box and to the

horizontal

loading ram. While shearing, the horizontal load is measured

by the bending of the cell. To prevent the cell from any dam

age, it is submerged in silicon oil, separated from the

water in

the pressure chamber by a rubber membrane. The membrane

allows the load cell to slide and, at the same time, it main
tains the oil at the same pressure of the water in the
pressure

chamber.

The pore pressure is measured by a pressure transducer in

the hydraulic actuator. The short steel circuit and the high

tightness taps justify the assumption that the pressure in

the

pressure chamber is the same as that in the actuator.

With reference to displacement monitoring, a number of

displacement transducers, both external and internal, are

avail

able. The vertical displacement is measured at two external

locations. One measurement is given by the rotation of the

driving system of the electrical motor that moves the

loading

ram. Since this may be affected by mechanical clearance, a

potentiometric transducer directly connected to the loading

ram is positioned over the pressure chamber.

The horizontal displacements are monitored at three differ

ent positions. Again, two external measurements are due to

the loading system and to a potentiometric transducer

directly

connected to the shear loading ram. An additional shear dis

placement measurement is taken inside the pressure chamber

by means of an LVDT assembly. The LVDT is rigidly connected
to the lower and the upper parts of the shear box. By
measuring the displacement at this location, the
deformability of the loading ram is not affecting the
measurement. The maximum relative displacement that can be
measured with the LVDT is 5 mm while the potentiometric
transducers can reach 50 mm. 3.3 Data acquisition and test
control A data acquisition system and control software were
specifically designed and developed by G.D.S. Instruments
Ltd. for this apparatus. The software, which runs in a
Windows environment, is user friendly and allows for easily
managing typical aspects of the test, such as data saving
procedures and storing specimen specifications. Data are
saved in a log file that can be managed with Excel.The
software allows user control of the test procedure by
defining different testing phases, governing actuators,
setting limits and specify end conditions. 3.4 Types of
tests Direct shear tests can be conducted on either soils
or soft rocks. Hard rock can be tested only if sheared
along a planar discontinuity. Due to the gap between the
lower and the upper part of the shear box, either filled or
unfilled joints can be tested. The apparatus can operate as
a traditional direct shear device for rock joints if no
back pressure is applied and only axial and shear loads are
applied to dry specimens. Alternatively, in situ stress
conditions may be simulated by its loading systems to model
saturated specimens and water pressure action. When testing
a rock joint, the back pressure may also be applied
directly to the joint surface by making a small hole in the
lower half of the specimen. In this case, the sample is
within a membrane so that the back pressure is applied only
to the joint while the pressure chamber is empty. Normally,
shear tests are conducted under constant normal load (CNL)
boundary conditions. Also, tests can be performed under
constant normal stiffness (CNS) conditions. In the specific
case of the testing programme envisaged for the Beauregard
case study described above, the material to be tested by
the new apparatus is the cataclastic rock of the shear zone
as shown in Figure 2. In this context, the objective will
be to conduct shear-creep tests under different back
pressures in the pressure chamber to simulate the influence
of the snow melt pore pressure variations on the mechanical
behaviour of the material in the shear zone. 4 CALIBRATION
TESTS In order to help calibrate the apparatus, some
preliminary tests have been completed on artificial joints
obtained by cutting a gneiss sample retrieved by borehole
drilling in the SusaValley, near Torino. The gneiss rock
under study is characterised by a schistosity plane, and
the artificial joints are obtained by sawing parallel to
the schistosity. Figure 6 shows a photograph of a typical
sample (GN_01) before shearing. The tests were performed to
estimate the base friction angle φ ′ b for the joint and to
investigate the influence of a constant back pressure
acting in the chamber. A total of four cyclic direct shear
tests have been performed with a constant normal

Figure 6. Top (a) and bottom (b) surfaces of sample GN_01.

Table 1. Typical tests performed. Back Effective axial
pressure Shear displacement

Test stress [MPa] [MPa] velocity [mm/min]

GN_01 10 0 ≤0.15

GN_02 15 0 ≤0.15

GN_BP_01 10 1 ≤0.15

GN_BP_02 15 1 ≤0.15

-10.0 -7.5 -5.0 -2.5 0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 6

10 ε h [%]

[ M

P a

] 84 10.0 Potenziometer External device LVDT

Figure 7. Shear stress versus horizontal strain plot

(external

measurements) during the cyclic shearing stage.

stress being applied (either 10 or 15 MPa), two with the

pres

sure chamber empty and two with a back pressure of 1 MPa,

as given in Table 1.

All tests were performed in two stages. At first, the nor

mal load, and eventually the back pressure, was applied to

the

specimen, then a cyclic shearing phase was imposed, with an

amplitude of 5mm and a period of 240 minutes. The results

of the tests performed are shown in Figures 7 and 8. Figure

7

shows a typical plot of the shear stress versus the

horizontal
strain during cyclic shearing for test GN_02. The difference

between the external and the internal measurements clearly

are shown. It is to be noted that the LVDT goes out of scale

during the negative part of the cycles. Figure 8 shows the

fail

ure envelope in terms of the Mohr-Coulomb strength

criterion. ϕ ~ 37 [˚] 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 5 10 15 20
25 τ [ M P a ] With Back Pressure Without Back Pressure σ n
[MPa] Figure 8. Shear stress versus normal stress plot. The
plots refer to the effective normal and shear stresses
considered for the first cycle of each test. The open dots
show the results of tests without back pressure while the
filled dots refer to the other case. The base friction
angle estimated for gneiss is 37 ◦ . 5 CONCLUDING REMARKS
An innovative servo-controlled direct shear testing
apparatus has been developed. Some preliminary calibration
tests have been conducted on saw-cut gneiss samples . The
innovative features of the apparatus can be summarized as
follows: 1 a back pressure can be applied in the shear box
(up to 10 MPa), to simulate the behaviour of saturated
soils and soft rocks under high effective stress
conditions; 2 both rough and filled discontinuities with
different apertures can be tested; 3 tests can be run
either under loading or stiffness control conditions. The
above features allow for the apparatus to be used to study
the behaviour of shear zones at considerable depth, typical
of DSGSD in the Alps. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors
thankfully acknowledge the permission of CVA SpA to publish
the photograph of the Beauregard dam (Figure 1), the help
of MS studentsAldo Boffa and Diana Lombana and review
comments from S.M. Miller. REFERENCE Barla G., Ballatore
S., ChiapponeA., FrigerioA., Mazzà G. 2006.The Beauregard
dam (Italy) and the deep-seated gravitational deformation
on the left slope. Hydropower 2006, Kunming, 23–25 October
2006. 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Shear behavior of rock joints under CNS conditions Yongjun
Kim, Sunki Kim & Juhwa Kim Department of Civil Projects,
Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd., Seoul, Korea

ABSTRACT: The shear characteristics of rock mass are

subjected to not only to the shear force but also to the
boundary
conditions given by neighboring rock mass. The boundary
conditions of the rock mass can be classified into four
categories

according to the stress state of the rock joint. The

constant normal load (CNL) is the most widely used for
shear test and

produces the lowest shear strength and different behavior.

In this study, the shear behavior under constant normal
stiffness

(CNS) condition is replicated by graphic method normalizing

the test results under constant normal load (CNL)
condition.

1 INTRODUCTION

The discontinuities in the rock mass reduce their resistance

capacity to shear loading and provoke the displacement of

the

rock mass. In order to understand the behavior and

stability of

rock structures, such conditions highlight the importance

for

the engineer to apply analysis and test methods that comply

with circumstances of the field subjected to

discontinuities.

Leichnitz (1985) studied and stressed the importance of the

boundary conditions in underground openings which is con

strained by the surrounding rock masses using numerical

approach. Ohnishi (1990) attempted to simulate rock joints

conditions by installing a spring with stiffness at the top

of

the rock joints, and Mouchaorab et al. (1994) developed an

experimental device which is able to simulate the rock joint

behavior using a hydraulic servo control system.

This study investigates a predictive method for the behavior

of rock joints under constant normal stiffness (CNS) using

the

results of shear test that is performed under constant

normal

load (CNL). The study processed by performing a series of

tests on saw-toothed specimens with constant angle, and then

predicting the shear behavior of CNS from the prior CNL test

results using partially modified graphic method of Saeb &

Amadei (1990).

2 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Apart from the structural features of the rock joints, the

shear

characteristics of rock mass are subjected not only to the

shear

force but also to the boundary conditions in the neighboring

Figure 1. Example of boundary conditions. (Mouchaorab &

Benmokrane, 1994). the rock mass. For example, the boundary
conditions of masses of behaving freely in a slope differ
from that in an underground opening constrained by the
surrounding rock masses. Mouchaorab et al. (1994)
classified the two boundary conditions of rock masses into
CNL and CNS conditions, as illustrated in Figure 1. As
shown in the figure 1, the rock is not constrained under
CNL conditions and normal load acting on the rock joint is
constant, while CNS conditions stand for underground
openings, rock-socketed piles or grouted rock anchors where
normal load acting on the rock joint increases due to the
stiffness (K) of the surrounding rock mass when normal
displacement develops at the rock joint. The latter
exhibits larger shear strength than CNL conditions since
normal load increases due to the stiffness of the
surrounding rock mass. Numerous researchers made efforts to
examine the behavior of rock joints regarding the boundary
conditions. According to their results, the boundary
conditions of rock masses can be classified into 4
categories as follows with respect the stress state
developed in the rock joints. • Constant Normal Load (K =
0): Normal load acts on the joint surface is constant. In
this case, the shear behavior can be expressed in terms of
the geometric conditions of the rock joint and the initial
normal load level. • Constant Normal Stiffness (K =
constant): Normal load varies constantly during sliding.
The variation of the normal load is governed by the size of
the stiffness and the characteristics of the normal
displacement induced by the roughness and strength of the
rock joint.

Figure 2. Ratio of required support force F to block weight

W for

different boundary conditions. (a) Free body diagram. (b)

F/W –

vertical displacement.

• Variable Normal Stiffness (K �= constant): Stiffness of

the

rock mass is variable. As rock joint is closed, normal

load increase more than normal displacement in normal

compression test. In reality, stiffness of rock mass is

nonlinearity.

• Constant (Zero) Normal Displacement (K =∞): In the

case of asperity strength of rock joint is low or normal

load

level is very high, dilatancy is zero. Shear strength is

devel

oped by the asperity strength and surface of contact of the

rock joint instead of the dilation due to roughness.The

shear

strength grows higher as the surface of contact and asperity

strength of the rock joint is larger.

Saeb & Amadei(1990) proposed a calculation method for

the support force according to the displacement of the block

in the underground opening. Figure 2 represents the varia

tions of the support force with respect to boundary

conditions.

Figure 2(a) illustrates a symmetric wedge block generated at

the top of an opening. Assuming that the displacement of the

wedge block which is generated by two discontinuities occurs

to the vertical direction, material properties of two discon

tinuities is identical, and variations of the normal stress

are

equal in both discontinuities. The sum of horizontal forces

is

zero and the equilibrium of the whole block is defined by

the

normal components as expressed in Equation 1. Figure 3.

Joint response curves for constant normal stress
conditions. (a) Joint closure curve. (b) Shear stress vs.
shear displacement. (c) Normal displacement vs. shear
displacement. Where F is the support force, W is the weight
of the block, h is the height of the wedge, γ is the
specific weight of the rock mass, and 2α is the angle
between the two discontinuities. Figure 2(b) plots the
relationship of the support force required to achieve
equilibrium of the wedge block according to the shear
displacement for each type of boundary conditions. These
curves are similar to the ground reaction curves used to
calculate the support time and quantities of timbering in
tunnels. In Figure 2, it can be observed that the required
support force obtained under CNL conditions is excessive
compared to that under CNS conditions. 3 GRAPHIC METHOD
Saeb & Amadei(1990) suggested a graphic method that the
behavior of rock joints is accorded to the boundary
conditions and using the shear behavior which is obtained
from normal compression tests and CNL tests, of which
results are plotted in Figure 3. Figure 3(a) represents the
relationship between the normal stress and joint closure in
the normal compression test, where A is an arbitrary
constant. Figure 3(b) represents shear stress – shear
displacement curves by means of a constant peak shear
displacement model. Figure 3(c) plots the normal
displacement of the joint by level of normal stress which
is accorded to the shear displacements of Figure 3(a). The
peak shear stress occurs at shear displacement U4
regardless of the normal stress levels, and the normal
displacement is assumed to be constant after U4. Figure 4
represents the relationship between normal stress and
normal displacement according to the shear displacement,
using the results of Figure 3. The values of the normal
stress

Figure 4. Normal stress vs. normal displacement curves at

different

shear displacement levels. (Saeb & Amadei, 1990)

Figure 5. View of direct shear test apparatus for rock

joint.

(σ n ) and normal displacement (v) are the ones

corresponding

to that of each of the shear displacements U 0 , U 1 , U 2

, U 3 ,

U 4 , . . . represented in Figure 3(c). Observing Figure 4

gives

information on the variations of the normal stress and

displace

ment according to the shear displacement when the stiffness

(K) varies linearly from 0 to ∞ for an arbitrary normal

stress

level or when the stiffness is not constant.

4 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

In order to perform shear tests considering the boundary con

ditions of the rock joint, a device has been developed to

achieve

variations of the stiffness under the 4 categories of

boundary

conditions (K = 0, K = constant, K �= constant, K =∞). The

new direct shear test apparatus is constituted by an

hydraulic
pump to produce compression, an actuator to apply normal

load and shear load, a load frame to support the loads devel

oped by the actuator, a special shear box to remove

undesirable

frictions occurring in the specimens, a controller to

control

input and output signals from the measuring devices

installed

in the apparatus, and a computer to control the apparatus

and to

store data. Two LM guide bearings with very small

coefficient

of friction below 0.0001 are disposed between the loading

sys

tem and the top of the shear box in order to control and
prevent

the eccentric load and movement of the shear box during the

shear test.

Shear box is also fixed between the two roller bearings

installed at the end point of the shear boxes, and cyclic

test is

possible. In addition, two load amplifiers are equipped in

the

controller controlling the input and output of the

apparatus in

order to ease control, and four servo-amplifiers are

installed to

control displacement and loading in each direction. The

setup Figure 6. Test results normalized by graphic method.
(a) Joint closure curve. (b) Shear stress vs. shear
displacement (c) Normal displacement vs. shear
displacement. of the developed direct shear test apparatus
is illustrated in Figure 5. 5 PREDICTION OF THE SHEAR
BEHAVIOR OF ROCK JOINTS Numerous researchers attempted to
develop theoretical as well as experimental approaches to
identify systematically the characteristics of the shear
behavior under CNS conditions. Among these researches,
Dight et al. (1983), Skinas et al. (1990) and Saeb & Amadei
(1990) tried to predict the shear behavior according to the
stiffness (K) of the rock mass subjected to CNS conditions
using the results of the widely performed CNL test.The
common opinion of these researches is that the variation of
the normal stress and shear stress obtained from the stress
paths in the CNS test is equal to the corresponding with
the peak shear strength obtained under CNL conditions or
its slight lower values due to the roughness reduction of
the rock joint. In addition, Ohnishi(1990) demonstrated
experimentally that the peak shear strength obtained under
CNL conditions appear in the stress path obtained from CNS
test, regardless of the initial normal stress (σ ni ) and
variation of stiffness (K). This study performs a series of
shear test under CNL conditions to predict the shear
behavior under CNS conditions using the graphic method
proposed by Saeb &Amadei (1990). The rock specimens used in
the tests are rock-like specimens of saw tooth shapes (i =
15 ◦ , amplitude 10 mm). Figure 6(a) plots the normal
compression test results. Figures 6(b) and (c) present the
results of CNL test performed at normal stress (σ n )
levels of 1, 3, 5, and 10 kg/cm 2 . Figure 7 displays the
normal stress(σ n )-normal displacement(v) relationship
regarding the shear displacement(u) at intervals of 0.25
mm. Saeb & Amadei (1990) normalized the normal
stress-normal displacement curves developed with respect to
shear displacement as

Figure 7. Normal stress vs. normal disp. curves with

respect to the

shear displacement Levels.

Figure 8. Shear behavior predicted by the modified graphic

method.

(a) Normal displacement vs. shear displacement. (b) Shear

stress vs.

shear displacement.

shown in Figure 4, assuming convergence to the constant nor

mal compression curve for the specimen with matching joints.

The experimental results were normalized by means of their

proposed method and the predicted behaviors were compared

with results of CNS test. A little differences can be

observed.

The differences may be attributed to the different normal

com

pression between matching joints and non-matching joints

during shear. Instead of applying convergence of the normal

stress-normal displacement curves developed during shear to

the normal compression curves, this study performed fitting

of

each of the curves so as to normalize the normal

stress-normal

displacement relationships regarding the shear displacement,

as shown in Figure 7. Accordingly, Figure 7 plots the normal

stress-normal displacement curves with respect to the shear

displacement for stiffness (K) of 20, 50, and 120 kg/cm 3

under

ABSTRACT: A computer program has been developed to simulate

the installation of cable bolt anchors. The simulation

is based on mechanisms that have been investigated both

theoretically and experimentally. The experimental results
have

demonstrated the applicability of the results predicted by

the theory. An important component of the computer program
is the

visualisation of the processes involved in the installation

of cable bolt anchors. It is anticipated this visualisation
capability will

allow the important features of cable anchor installation

to be more clearly understood by engineers, supervisors and
the miners

ultimately responsible for anchor installation. It is hoped

that this will lead to an improvement in the quality and
effectiveness

of cable bolts, particularly those that rely solely on the

anchor at the collar of the borehole to transfer load from
the rock mass

to the strand.

1 INTRODUCTION

Cable bolts are widely used for both temporary and perma

nent reinforcement of the rock mass surrounding large

surface

and underground excavations in both civil and mining appli

cations. A cable bolt comprises multiple wire, high strength

steel strand that is installed in boreholes drilled in the

rock

mass, The strand is usually coupled with cement grout to the

rock. A barrel and wedge anchor is used at the collar of the

borehole to restrain a plate and other surface hardware such

as steel wire mesh or shotcrete.

Theoretical investigations by the writer (Thompson, 1992;

Thompson and Windsor, 1995; Thompson, 2004 and Hassell

et al., 2006) and other authors (e.g. Chacos, 1993, Marceau

et al., 2001 and Marceau et al., 2003) have resulted in

excel

lent models for quantifying the performance of cable bolt

anchors. The writer’s investigations have particularly

concen

trated on the installation of barrel and wedge anchors

using the

equipment and procedures adopted by the mining industry in

Australia (Thompson et al., 1987). These theoretical, labora

tory and field investigations have demonstrated that the

cable

bolt may have a wide range of tension after installation.

The

tension has been shown to depend mainly on the cable bolt

free length, the barrel and wedge geometry and its relation
to

the equipment used for installation.

Despite the results from these systematic investigations,

many poorly installed cable bolts are observed in operating

mines. The reasons for this are several fold. One of the
main

reasons is a lack of understanding of the complex mechanics

of the many interactions between the various components of a

cable bolt during anchor installation and subsequent removal

of the anchor installation equipment.

A computer program has been developed to simulate and

display both the installation of a barrel and wedge anchor

and

the behaviour of the overall cable bolt system after

removal of

the anchor installation equipment. The computer simulation

can be used to show visually how the various components

behave during installation.

2 CABLE BOLT CONFIGURATIONS

The various arrangements of cable bolt systems currently

in popular use can be considered to be generally as shown

Steel Plate Strand Decoupliing Sleeve Cement Grout
Borehole Fixed Anchor Length Free Length Barrel and
Wedge Anchor Figure 1. Schematic representation of a cable
bolt. Figure 2. Schematic representation of barrel and
wedge anchors with twoand three-part wedges. schematically
in Figure 1. The major differences between cable bolt
configurations is the length of the decoupling sleeve
between the fixed anchor and the anchor at the collar. The
fixed anchor most usually is formed using cement grout to
fill the annulus between the strand and the borehole. The
external fixture is most usually a barrel and wedge anchor
shown in Figure 2. The physical and mechanical properties
of the barrel and wedge anchor and the equipment used have
the most influence on the outcome from the installation
process. 3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 3.1 Anchor installation
In general, two stages are involved in the stressing
process: Stage 1: Tensioning. This involves the application
of a tensioning force to the strand to establish an initial
tension.

During tensioning, the surface hardware is pushed, and held

tightly, against the rock face.

Stage 2: Relaxation. This involves securing the external

fixture to the strand and removal of the tensioning force. A

reduction of strand tension usually accompanies this second

stage to leave a residual tension in the cable bolt.

The initial tension that can be produced in the strand and

the residual tension depend on the cable bolt system config

uration, the installation procedures, the stressing

equipment

and the values of several critical parameters.

3.2 Stressing equipment

The stressing equipment for cable bolts consists

essentially of

a hollow hydraulic cylinder, an anchor to grip the strand

and

an auxiliary assembly to push on the anchor. These assem

blies result in the tensioning force being distributed
differently

between the barrel and the wedge of the external fixture.

The

design of the assembly influences the initial tension

produced

during tensioning and the residual tension after relaxation.

Relaxation is due mainly to the displacements between the

strand and the barrel of the anchor due to draw-in of the

wedge.

In general, the design of the nose assembly results in one

of the three following conditions during anchor

installation:

• Full tensioning force applied to the barrel.

• Full tensioning force applied to the wedge.

• Tensioning force distributed between the barrel and the

wedge.

In addition, a force may be applied to the wedge before

release of the tensioning force. There are two methods:

• Application of a force to the wedge by a secondary

hydraulic

cylinder.

• Application of the tensioning force to a “shear ring” on

the

barrel. At a predetermined load, the ring shears, simultane

ously causing the jack nose to firmly drive the wedge home.

(Amalgamated Reinforcing 1996).

All of these conditions that occur during installation may

be simulated by the software.

3.3 Parameters influencing behaviour

There following parameters have been found to influence the

behaviour during application of the tensioning force:

• Barrel/wedge taper angle.

• Barrel/wedge friction.

• Wedge/cable friction.

• Distribution of the force applied to the barrel and to the

wedge.

For example, the strand tension (T) is given by:

where:

P i = force supplied by the hydraulic cylinder

K i = tension reduction factor given by: 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6

0.8 1.0 1.2 Barrel/Wedge Friction Angle(a) I n i t i a l T
e n s i o n F a c t o r ( K i ) 0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
70% 80% 90% 100% Pw/Pi a = 7.5º (measured) c = 45º
(measured) 25 35 45155 Figure 3. Variation of initial
tension factor (K i ) for different magnitudes of wedge
force during tensioning. α = wedge taper angle φ B =
friction angle between barrel and wedge φ C = friction
between cable and wedge P W = force applied to the wedge P
B = force applied to barrel = P − P W The value of K i for
various values of P W /P i and barrel/wedge friction angles
are given in Figure 3. It can be seen that any force
applied to the wedge results in the strand tension being
less than the applied tensioning force. The
force-displacement responses of the strand, internal
fixture and draw of the wedge into the barrel all have an
effect on the behaviour after removal of the tensioning
equipment. The main parameters that influence these
responses are: • Strand free length. • Force applied to the
wedge before removal of the tensioning force. Figure 4
shows the load relaxation due to wedge draw-in for a
relatively long strand free length of 5 m. Load relaxation
can be unacceptably high when there is a short strand free
length combined with a small force applied to the wedge. 4
SIMULATION AND VISUALISATION SOFTWARE Simulation and
visualisation software has been developed to quantify and
display various results from the application of the theory
associated with the installation of cable bolt anchors.The
simulation software has been developed using the Microsoft
Visual Basic 6 and OpenGL has been used for the
visualisation. 4.1 Simulation The first stage of simulation
is the specification of the cable bolt system and the
equipment used. The data are defined using the interface
shown in Figure 5. The variables that are specified
include: • Type and diameter of strand. • Strand free
length. • Barrel/wedge interface taper angle. 0 20 40 60 80

100

120 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Strand Displacement (mm)

S t

r a

n d

o r

c e

( k

N ) Equilibrium Condition Strand Unloading Wedge Draw-In

Initial Wedge Condition

Figure 4. Theoretical prediction of strand tension loss due

to wedge

draw-in for a 5 m free strand length. Anchor installed with

100 kN

pre-tensioning equipment (estimated 10 kN applied to the

wedge

90 kN to barrel and ∼95 kN in strand free length).

Figure 5. User interface for input data specification.

• Condition of the barrel/wedge and wedge/strand interfaces

(from which friction angles are derived).

• The type of hydraulic cylinder (either maximum pressure

or maximum force to be used during installation may be

specified).

• The type of “nose” assembly

• An estimate of the distribution of the total tensioning

force

applied to the barrel and to the wedge

• When the wedge force is applied (i.e. during or after

reaching the maximum force).

The residual strand tension after removal of the tension

ing equipment is displayed on the user interface immediately

after the calculations are completed. More details of the

cable

bolt system forces and displacements may be displayed during

tensioning as shown in Figure 6.

4.2 Visualisation utility

The following components of the cable bolt system are simu

lated and displayed as shown in Figure 7:

• Strand.

• Decoupling sleeve. Figure 6. Details of component forces

and displacements during tensioning. Figure 7. Display of
cable bolt components. • Internal fixture (cement grout)
between the borehole and strand. • Rock borehole and
surface. • Plate. • Barrel. • Wedge. The visualisation
utility allows the user to rotate the scene and to zoom in
to examine any components in finer detail. The following
components of the installation equipment are simulated and
displayed as shown in Figure 8: • Hydraulic jack body. •
Hydraulic jack piston. • Nose assembly. • Strand grip (not
shown). • Other equipment such as the hydraulic pump and
pressure gauge can also be displayed. In addition, the
values for the following variables are displayed during
application of the tensioning force. • Tensioning force. •
Barrel force. • Wedge force and displacement.
Figure 8. Display of installation equipment components.

Figure 9. Display of variable values after removal of the

tensioning

force and subsequent load relaxation.

• Strand force and elongation.

• Internal fixture displacement.

• Plate displacement.

Tensioning may be paused at any stage and feedback on these

variables may be obtained by selecting any one of the com

ponents of the cable bolt system. The following variables

are

displayed during load relaxation:

• Strand force and displacement.

• Wedge force and displacement.

The detailed results at the completion of load relaxation

can

be displayed as shown in Figure 9.

5 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Software has been developed for the simulation and visualisa

ABSTRACT: Many engineering structures like tunnels,

caverns, slopes and dams are often constructed in/on the
rock

formations. The behaviour of rocks is very complex and the

characterisation of their behaviour forms an important step

in the rational design of structures. Many rocks exhibit

strain softening behaviour both in tension and compression.
Therefore,

inclusion of strain softening behaviour in the constitutive

models is very essential for the realistic prediction of
the behaviour
of structures in/on rock by powerful numerical method such
as finite element method. The present paper deals with the
testing

and characterization of the behaviour of biotite schist

using closed-loop servo-controlled testing machine in the
laboratory.

The testing on the biotite schist is performed using strain

controlled loading under confining pressures of 0, 7, 10,
20, 30

and 40 MPa. The behaviour of biotite schist is predicted

with strain softening Mohr-Coulomb model available in FLAC
soft

ware package. The material parameters for the models are

determined from the experimental results. The
stress-strain-volume

change response of the biotite schist is then predicted

using the material parameters and is compared with the
observed

results.

1 INTRODUCTION

Various civil engineering projects such as dam foundations,

slopes, underground structures including powerhouse cav

erns, traffic and transportation tunnels, storage spaces and

mining tunnels are increasingly located in/on rock mass. The

heterogeneity and anisotropy in the rock dominates its engi

neering behaviour. Many rocks exhibit the phenomenon of

strain softening under loads. The onset of inhomogeneous

deformation in rocks is responsible for the phenomenon of

strain softening. The strain softening behaviour is charac

terised by the progressive loss of strength when the

material

is compressed beyond the failure (Karstunen et al. 1997).

The use of strain softening behaviour is of paramount impor

tance in arriving at rational design of the structures con

structed on the rocks. The behaviour is elastoplastic in

nature

(Bazant et al. 1984). The rock behaviour is normally

obtained

by testing the rock samples in the laboratory under vari

ous loading conditions. With conventional equipments, the

stress-strain behaviour can be obtained upto peak only and

it is not possible to capture strain softening behaviour of

rocks. These results are useful to get strength parameters

for conventional design purpose. The strain softening can

be obtained only by using stiff testing machine or closed

loop servo-controlled testing machine (Hudson et al. 1971 &

1972). The constitutive models used to characterize the

strain

softening behaviour are elastoplastic (Shang & Yao 1999),

elasto-viscoplastic (Nemes & Speciel 1996). The paper deals

with triaxial testing of biotite schist in the laboratory

under

confining pressures of 0, 7, 10, 20, 30 and 40 MPa, using

closed-loop servo-controlled testing machine. The paper also

presents the constitutive modeling of biotite schist using

strain

softening Mohr-Coulomb model available in FLAC software

package. Table 1. Index properties of biotite schist.

Property Value Dry density (kN/m 3 ) 28.00 Saturated
density (kN/m 3 ) 28.10 Void Ratio 0.0036 Porosity (%)
0.356 Water absorption (%) 2.18 Tensile strength (MPa) 9.15
2 ROCK USED The rock used for testing is biotite schist.
The rock is fine grained and light green in colour. The
specific gravity of the rock is 2.83. The index properties
of the rock as per ISRM are determined in the laboratory
and are presented in Table 1. 3 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME The
strain controlled compression tests were conducted on
biotite schist under the confining pressures of 0, 7, 10,
20, 30 and 40 MPa using a closed-loop servo-controlled
testing machine. The machine used for testing has a loading
capacity of 1000 kN and has loading rate capability in the
range of 0.001 mm/s to 10 mm/s. High pressure triaxial
cell, which has the capability to withstand 0-140 MPa
confining pressure and has sufficient space to accommodate
extensometers inside, is used for the testing. The samples
were prepared with 54 mm diameter and 108 mm height as per
ISRM guidelines. The strains were measured with the help of
the strain gauges and extensometers. The axial and lateral
extensometers having a

Figure 1. Details of test equipments.

gauge length of 82 mm and 25.4 mm respectively, were placed

on the centre of the specimen and held in position with the

help

of springs. The tests were conducted at a constant axial

strain

rate of 9.259 × 10 −6 /s.The servo-control-testing machine,

tri

axial cell, sample with extensometers and data acquisition

system are shown in Fig. 1.

4 CONSTITUTIVE MODELING

The material behaviour can be characterized by various con

stitutive models such as local models (Chambon et al. 2001),

continuum damage mechanics models (Williams et al. 2003),

smeared crack models (de Borst 2002), Cosserat continuum

models (Suker et al. 2001), visco-plastic models (Cazacu

1997) and models based on the disturbed state concept (Desai

2001 & Varadarajan et al. 2001).

In the present paper, strain softening Mohr-Coulomb model

incorporated in FLAC software package has been used to

model the behaviour of biotite schist. The salient features

of

the model are briefly presented herein. The non-associated

shear and associated tension flow rules are used. The differ

ence, however, lies in the possibility that the cohesion,

friction,

dilation and tensile strength may harden or soften after the

onset of plastic yield. In the conventional Mohr-Coulomb

model, the properties are assumed to remain constant. Here,

the user can define the cohesion, friction and dilation as

piecewise-linear functions of a hardening parameter measur

ing the plastic shear strain. The yield and potential

functions,

plastic flow rules and stress corrections are identical to

those

of the Mohr-Coulomb model.

The failure envelope for shear is defined by the Mohr

Coulomb yield function

and tension yield function of the form Table 2. Elastic

parameters for biotite schist. Confining Bulk modulus Shear
modulus pressure (GPa) (GPa) 0 37.53 15.36 7 MPa 34.00
16.45 10 MPa 32.53 16.85 20 MPa 31.10 17.92 30 MPa 30.77
18.46 40 MPa 27.44 18.96 Table 3. Strength parameters for
biotite schist. Plastic shear strain Cohesion (MPa) 0 35.00
0.000275 31.00 0.000720 26.00 0.001430 6.86 0.002900 1.10
where φ is the friction angle; c the cohesion; σ t the
tensile strength and Plastic shear strain is measured by
the shear hardening/softening parameter e ps , whose
incremental form is defined as where, and �e ps j , j = 1,
3 are the major and minor principal plastic shear strain
increments, respectively. The details of the model are
given in FLAC Version 4.0 manual (2002). 5 DETERMINATION OF
PARAMETERS The material parameters i.e elastic and strength
parameters for biotite schist were determined from
experimental results. The parameters are presented in
Tables 2 & 3. The parameters in Table 2 are determined for
each confining pressure. The strength parameters for
biotite schist are given in Table 3. The friction angle for
biotite schist is 8 0 . 6 PREDICTIONS The
stress-strain-volume change response of the biotite schist
was predicted by the strain softening Mohr-Coulumb model
using FLAC package.The results of the analysis were
obtained in terms of deviatoric stress, and axial, lateral
strains, and volumetric strains. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
90 100

-0.003 -0.002 -0.001 0 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005

e v

i a

t o

r i

s t

r e

s s

( M

P a

) Predicted (UCS) Predicted (UCS) Observed (UCS) Observed

UCS) Predicted (7 MPa) Predicted (7 MPa) Observed (7 MPa)
Observed (7 MPa)

Figure 2. Stress-strain behaviour for σ 3 = 0 & 7 MPa.

-0.001

-0.0005 0 0.0005 0.001 0.0015 0.002 0 0.001 0.002 0.003

0.004 Axial Strain
V

o l

u m

e t

r i

c S

t r

a i

n Predicted (UCS) Observed (UCS) Predicted (7 MPa) Observed

(7 MPa)

Figure 3. Volume change response for σ 3 = 0 & 7 MPa.

0.00E+00 2.00E+01 400E+01. 6.00E+01 8.00E+01 1.00E+02
1.20E+02 -4.00E03 -2.00E03 0.00E+0 0 2.00E03 4.00E03
6.00E03

e v

i a

t o

r i

S t

r e

s s

( M

P a

) Predicted (10 MPa) Predicted (10 MPa) Observed (10 MPa)

Observed (10 MPa) Predicted (20 MPa) Predicted (20 MPa)
Observed (20 MPa) Observed (20 MPa) Lateral Strain
Axial Strain Lateral Strain Axial
Strain

Figure 4. Stress-strain behaviour for σ 3 = 10 & 20 MPa.

7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The experimental results of biotite schist in terms of

stress

strain-volume change response are presented in Figs. 2–7.

The -1.50E-03 -1.00E-03 -5.00E-04 0.00E+00 5.00E-04
1.00E-03 1.50E-03 2.00E-03 0.00E +00 1. 00E03 2. 00E03 3.
00E03 4. 00E03 5. 00E03 6. 00E03 Axial Strain V o l u m e t
r i c S t r a i n Predicted (10 MPa) Observed (10 MPa)
Predicted (20 MPa) Observed (20 MPa) Figure 5. Volume
change response for σ 3 = 10 & 20 MPa. 0.00E+00 2.00E+01
4.00E+01 6.00E+01 8.00E+01 100E+02. 1.20E+02 1.40E+02
1.60E+02 -5.00E-03 0.00E+00 5.00E-03 1.00E-02 D e v i a t o
r i c S t r e s s ( M P a ) Predicted (30 MPa) Predicted
(30 MPa) Observed (30 MPa) Observed (30 MPa) Predicted (40
MPa) Predicted (40 MPa) Observed (40 MPa) Observed (40 MPa)
Lateral Strain Axial Strain Figure 6.
Stress-strain behaviour for σ 3 = 30 & 40 MPa. -2.50E-03
-2.00E-03 -1.50E-03 -1.00E-03 -5.00E-04 0.00E+00 5.00E-04
1.00E-03 1.50E-03 2.00E-03 0.00E+00 2.00E-03 4.00E-03
6.00E-03 8.00E-03 Axial Strain V o l u m e t r i c S t r a
i n Predicted (30 MPa) Observed (30 MPa) Predicted (40 MPa)
Observed (40 MPa) Figure 7. Volume change response for σ 3
= 30 & 40 MPa. predicted results of biotite schist in terms
of stress-strainvolume change response using FLAC are also
presented in Figs. 2–7. The effect of confining pressure is
clearly noticed from Figs. 4 & 6. With increase in
confining pressure, there is marked increase in residual
strength and eventually at confining pressure of 40 MPa the
rock behaviour changes from brittle to ductile. Brittle to
ductile transition behaviour is also seen from the Fig. 6.
The observed and predicted failure envelopes are shown in
Fig. 8. The prediction is found to be generally
satisfactory and comparable with experimental results. 0 20
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 0 10 20 30 40 50 Confining
Pressure (MPa) A x i a l S t r e s s ( M P a ) Observed
Predicted

Figure 8. Observed and predicted failure envelopes for

biotite

schist.

8 CONCLUSIONS
The strain controlled triaxial compression tests have been
con

ducted on biotite schist under confining pressures of 0, 7,

10, 20, 30 and 40 MPa in the laboratory using closed-loop

servo-controlled testing machine at a constant axial strain

rate of 9.259 × 10 −6 /s. The strain softening Mohr-Coulumb

model in FLAC package has been used to predict the rock

behvaiour. The predicted behaviour and observed behaviour

for biotite schist were found to be in satisfactory

agreement. It

is observed that with increase in confining pressure, the

resid

ual strength of rock increases. The brittle to ductile

transition

occurs at a confining pressure of 40 MPa. The observed and

predicted failure envelopes for biotite schist are also

matching

satisfactorily.

Bazant, Z.P. and Belytschko, T.B. 1984. Continuum theory

for strain

softening. J. Engg. Mech. ASCE, 110(12): 1666–1692.

Cazacu, O., Jin, J. and Cristescu, N.D. 1997.A new

constitutive model

for alumina powder compaction. KONA Powder and Particle, 15:

103–112. Chambon, R., Caillerie, D. and Matsuchima, T.

2001. Plastic continuum with microstructure, Local second
gradient theories for geomaterials: Localization studies.
Int. J. of Solids and Structures, 38: 8503–8527. de Borst.
2002. Fracture in quasi-brittle materials: A review of
continuum damage based approaches. Engg. Fracture
Mechanics, 69: 95–112. Desai, C.S. 2001. Mechanics of
materials and interfaces: The disturbed state concept. Boca
Raton FL, USA: CRC Press. FLAC (version 4.0). 2002. Theory
and background manual. Hudson, J.A., Brown, E.T. and
Fairhurst, C. 1971. Shape of the complete stress-strain
curve for rock; Proc. 13th US Symp. Rock Mech., Univ.
Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, U.S.A. Hudson, J.A., Crouch,
S.L. and Fairhurst, C. 1972. Review-soft, stiff and
servo-controlled testing machines: A review with reference
to rock failure. Engg. Geology, 6: 155–189. Karstunen, M.,
Pande, G.N. and Desures, J. 1997. Strain localisation and
rotation of principal stress axis in biaxial test; Proc.
9th Int. Conf. Comput. Meth. Adv. Geomech., Wuhan, China:
J.X. Yuan (Ed). Nemes, J.A. and Speciel, E. 1996. Use of a
rate-dependent continuum damage model to describe strain
softening in laminated composites. Comput. Struct., 58(6):
1083–1092. Shang, D.G. and Yao, W.X. 1999. A non-linear
cumulative model for uniaxial fatigue. Int. J. Fatigue, 21:
187–194. Suiker, A.S.J., Metrikine, A.V. and de Borst.
2001. Comparison of wave propagation characteristics of the
Cosserat continuum model and corresponding discrete lattice
models. Int. J. of Solids and Structures, 38(9): 1563–1583.
Varadarajan, A., Sharma, K.G., Desai, C.S. and Hashemi, M.
2001. Constitutive modeling of a schsitose rock in the
Himalaya. Int. J. of Geomechanics, 1(1): 83–107. Williams,
K.V.,Vaziri, R. and Poursartip,A. 2003.A physically based
continuum damage mechanics model for thin laminated
composite structures. Int. J. of Solids and Structures,
40(9): 2267–2300. 11th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Stress paths in laboratory rock joint
shear tests José Muralha Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia
Civil (LNEC), Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: Laboratory shear tests of rock joints are the

common tool to evaluate the shear strength. Their results
are

fundamental to assess the safety conditions of Rock

Engineering projects. This paper will present the different
types of tests

that can be carried out, with a special focus in what

concerns the stress paths applied through out the tests.
The advantages

and disadvantages of using the same joint sample to perform

several slidings will be discussed, along with other issues
related

to the joint re-positioning and surface wear. The

importance of the stress path of the normal stress prior to
each sliding is an

important factor to assure that all slidings are performed

under conditions as approximate as possible.

1 INTRODUCTION

Since early days of Rock Mechanics, the shear strength of

rock

discontinuities has been a major topic and some well known

papers are frequently quoted (Barton & Choubey 1977, Bandis

et al. 1983). Its relevance arises in Rock Engineering works

where stresses are low in comparison with the strength of

intact

rock. In these cases, the rock mass stability and the

safety con

ditions are controlled by block movements defined along or

by discontinuities (joints, bedding planes, shear zones,

faults,

and cleavage or foliation planes). Safety evaluation of

blocky

systems requires the estimation of the shear strength of the

rock discontinuities, which can be determined by shear tests

(Goodman 1989, Hoek 2007). Due to their duration and cost,

it is common practice to perform laboratory shear tests on

rel

atively small samples of rock joints, instead of in situ

direct

shear tests.

As in Soil Mechanics, the basic principle of common rock

joint direct shear tests is to subject a joint sample to

various

normal stresses and in each case to determine the shear

stresses

required to produce a certain shear displacement (ISRM 1974,

ASTM 1995). This paper discusses the different possibilities

to perform these tests.

2 SHEAR TESTS

Rock joint shear tests are often included in the

geomechanical

characterization of rock masses for large and relevant

projects.

These studies also include the assessment of the main joint

sets and the shear tests should also direct their attention
to

the evaluation of the mechanical characteristics of such

sets.

The analysis of several groups of joint shear tests from dif

ferent types of rocks showed that the variability of the

results

is quite important. Coefficients of variation higher than

30%

are very common, and smaller values around 10% are only

found for particular joint sets with very low roughness,

such

as schistosity or foliation planes (Muralha 1995). If

possible,

a statistically significant number of laboratory tests

should

be performed to estimate the shear parameters for a given

joint set. A number around 20 usually offers a satisfactory

compromise between statistical significance, sampling diffi

culties and costs. It has to be stressed that trying to

estimate

shear parameters from the results of very few tests (less

than 10) can be misleading and turn up to be very
dangerous; it only possible in very particular situations
when carried out by experienced consultants with previous
site knowledge. Several types of equipments can be used to
perform such tests and different procedures can be
followed. Since Rock Mechanics early times, several types
of laboratory equipments have been design and built to
perform direct shear tests devised to evaluate the shear
strength of joints (e.g. Natau 1980, Franklin 1985, Skinas
et al. 1990, Wibowo et al. 1992, Esaki et al. 1995, Souley
1995, Kerstiëns 1999). In most of these equipments the rock
joint sample is placed horizontally in a shear box after
being encapsulated with cement mortar or a synthetic resin,
so that it can be tightly fastened inside the box.
Generally, it is the upper half of the shear box (and of
the rock joint) that slides while the lower half is fixed.
The shear box can hold joint samples with sheared areas
ranging from 200 to 400 cm 2 , though in some cases larger
samples can be tested. The normal and shear forces are
usually provided by a couple of hydraulic jacks that can be
actuated by an electrical pump with or without some kind of
servo regulation. In some cases, a cantilever system is
used to apply the normal force as a dead-weight and a
mechanical gear drive system is used to provide the shear
force in others. The jacks are mounted in a reaction
structure or frame that also holds the fixed part of the
shear box. The normal and shear forces are directly
measured by load cells or indirectly by pressure gauges or
transducers. Displacement transducers are used to measure
the displacements. It is common practice to perform almost
continuous measurements of these parameters using computer
based data acquisition equipments. Boundary conditions are
also relevant in these tests, since as shear displacement
(sliding) develops, dilation (normal displacement with
joint aperture increase) also has to occur due to joint
roughness that forces one of the halves of the joint to
override the other. It is common to perform tests under
constant normal stress, which is maintained during sliding
by the servo-control of the hydraulic equipment or by
actuators. The equipments that use a cantilever and a
dead-weight to apply the normal stress are particularly
suited to the analysis of slope stability, since they
reproduce in the laboratory the natural joint conditions
with a constant normal stress and no normal stiffness
(completely unconstrained joint displacement in the

normal direction).The servo-controlled equipments also allow

to perform tests under particular boundary conditions such
as

constant normal stiffness and constant normal displacement

(Johnston et al. 1987, Indraratna et al. 1998). However,

these

are not common tests and are usually carried out in research

programs.

It is well known that the principle factors affecting the

shear

strength of rock joints are the roughness (at a laboratory

scale)

and the waviness (at a natural scale), and the strength of

the

joint walls in comparison with the normal stress (Patton

1966,

Barton 1973). The type of rock is not so important, and the

presence of fillings is not considered in this paper. When

joints

shear, the shear strength is the sum of a basic friction

angle,

a geometric component due to surface roughness and a rock

shearing part. This last component wears the rock walls, pro

duces small pieces and debris of rock, and is recognizably

more important when the normal stress is larger.

Direct shear tests procedures are described in the ISRM

Suggested Method (1974) and in the ASTM standards

D-5607-95 (1995). Though some differences between the pro

cedures can be found, both standards define the following

basic mechanism for rock joint shear tests: an external

shear

force is increased, while maintaining a normal force

constant.

The forces, the corresponding displacements, and the nominal

shear area should be recorded for calculating the results.

The

standards pay particular attention to the care to be taken

with

the sampling, transport and storage of the discontinuity sam

ples, since they can be damage the joint surfaces or change

their natural water content.

The purpose of shearing is to establish values for the peak

and residual shear strength. So, the shear force should be

applied as continuously as possible to control the rate of

shear displacement. Using current data acquisition systems

and servo-controlled equipments it is possible to define a

con

stant displacement rate and to take enough readings to

define

an almost continuous graph. Hence, the reading rates defined

in the Suggested Method and in the ASTM standards should

be revised.

Frequently, prior to a set of shear tests, rock joints

undergo

normal closure tests, consisting of a series of loading

unloading normal stress cycles with measurement of the joint

aperture (normal displacement) to determine the joint normal

stiffness. This particular part of joint testing is beyond

the
subject of this paper.

3 TEST PROCEDURES AND STRESS PATHS

Since the purpose of these tests is to evaluate the

relations

between the shear and the normal stresses at failure,

several

different normal stresses have to be applied to define a

failure

envelope. If each joint could only be tested under a single

normal stress, a large amount of joint specimens would have

to

be sampled. So, generally particular multistage test

procedures

are followed to evaluate the shear envelope from each single

joint. One of the possible procedures for performing several

shear tests under different normal stresses using the same

rock

joint is presented in Figure 1. This figure shows that the

starts

with an increase of the normal stress up to the 0.5 MPa (1),

followed by the shearing of the joint displayed by the

increase

of the shear stress and corresponding shear displacement

(2);

when the shear stress appears to reach a constant value, it

is

taken back to 0 and the normal stress is increased to 1.0

MPa

(3) and a second shearing is applied (4); the same

procedure 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
6.0 Shear displacement (mm) N o r m a l s t r e s s ( M P a
) (4) (1) (2) (3) (5) (6) (7) (8) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
0.0 Shear displacement (mm) S h e a r s t r e s s ( M P a )
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0
Figure 1. Test procedure without repositioning. is followed
for a normal stress of 1.5 MPa (5) and (6) and for the last
normal stress of 2.0 MPa (7) and (8). This type of
multi-stage enables to perform several shearings or
slidings with the same joint sample, allowing to determine
a failure envelope. However, only the first sliding starts
with the joint placed in its natural and mated position,
and all the following slidings start at different values of
the shear displacement. It is not possible to pre-define
the value of shear displacement required to reach the shear
strength and sometimes it is difficult to define precisely
the value of the shear strength. Another type of
multi-stage shear test is currently performed at LNEC.The
procedure is an adaptation of both ISRM and ASTM
procedures. The shear test of a joint sample consists of a
series of 4 or 5 slidings at different normal stresses. The
first sliding takes place under the lowest normal stress
and the following slidings are performed under different
normal stresses, each one being carried out under a normal
stress larger than the previous, so that the last sliding
will be done under the highest normal stress. This normal
stress sequence was also followed in the procedure
presented above. The main difference is that all slidings
start with the two joint halves placed or reset in their
mated or natural position. This practice tries to minimize
the influence of each repetition that wears the joint
surface and breaks the roughness and asperities. To further
reduce this inconvenient, a special care is put on the
careful removal of all debris from the joint surfaces when
it is 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50
Normal displacement(mm) N o r m a l s t r e s s ( M P a )

Figure 2. Pre-loading of a joint before a shearing under a

normal

stress of 1.0 MPa.

positioned in its initial mated position previously to each

slid

ing.To further minimize this effect, the normal stresses

are not

chosen covering equally the range of stresses that are

expected

to be found in the project (e.g. 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 MPa).
Instead, a geometric progression is used; for instance, for
tests

up to a normal stress around 3 MPa, the following normal

stresses would be used: 0.4, 0.8, 1.6 and 3.2 MPa. Barton’s

law that that includes a log relation between the JCS and
the

normal stress supports this principle of doubling the normal

stress for the next sliding.

Moreover, the wear of the joint roughness will tend to

reduce

the shear strength and to render conservative values for the

shear strength. Since the shear strength reduction due to

rough

ness wearing does not take effect for the first sliding
(under

the lowest normal stress), if a Coulomb linear envelope is

con

sidered, the friction angle is reduced but the apparent

cohesion

can display a small increase.

ISRM andASTM procedures state that the normal load is to

be continuously increased at a constant rate until the

selected

normal stress is attained. In order to reach conditions as

similar

as possible before all slidings, a loading-unloading cycle

up

to a high normal stress is performed prior to the increase

of

the normal stress up to the selected value. Figure 2

presents
an example of a normal stress vs normal displacement graph

performed before a joint shearing under a normal stress of

1.0 MPa.

The steps of this type of joint shear test procedure can be

described as follows:

(1) Loading-unloading cycles up to a high normal stress;

(2) Loading of the joint up to the first (lower) normal

stress;

(3) Shearing of the joint under this normal stress

maintained constant through out;

(4) Removal of all wear debris and cleaning of the joint

surfaces;

(5) Placing of the joint in its initial and mated position;

(6) Repetition of steps (1) to (5) but with the second

normal stress;

(7) Repetition of steps (1) to (5) but with the third

normal stress;

(8) Repetition of steps (1) to (5) but with the last normal
stress.

Beyond providing regular and similar conditions for the suc

cessive shearings at different normal stresses, plotting

just the 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 0 0,05 0,1 0,15 0,2 0,25
Normal displacement (mm) N o r m a l s t r e s s ( M P a )
Figure 3. Pre-loading curves of a joint with common normal
closure behaviour. 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 0 0,05 0,1 0,15 0,2
0,25 Normal displacement (mm) N o r m a l s t r e s s ( M P
a ) Figure 4. Pre-loading curves of a joint with an unusual
normal closure behaviour. last loading cycles displayed an
important feature: they all followed the same plot,
revealing that this pre-loading procedure proved to be very
effective in establishing similar conditions for each
sliding. Figure 3 presents an example with a joint
displaying the usual hyperbolic type of curves for its
closure. Figure 4 shows an example with a joint showing an
unusual behaviour. The normal closure graphs of this joint
begin with a decrease of the normal stiffness and display
an inflexion point, and due to the pre-loading they are
quite similar though between each one of them was obtained
a shearing was made. Finally, Figure 5 presents the results
of a rock joint shear test with all shear displacements
starting at the same (in this case initial, mated relative
position of the joint), and the normal stresses with in a
geometric progression. If shear strength values were
estimated from each graph and plotted against their
respective normal stresses an almost linear relation would
be found. 4 CONCLUDING REMARKS The determination of rock
joint shear strength involves a significant number of
laboratory shear tests. It is not practical to use a joint
sample to perform a single shearing under a constant normal
stress. Instead, several shearings under different normal
stresses are performed on the same joint, enabling the

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 Shear displacement (mm)

S h

e a

r s

t r e

s s

( M

P a

) 0,5 MPa 1,0 MPa 2,0 MPa 4,0 MPa

Figure 5. Rock joint shear test with re-positioning and

pre-loading.

assessment of its failure envelope. These multi-stage types

of tests can be carried out according to different
procedures

concerning the respective stress paths. In this paper some

pro

cedures were presented and the advantages of repositioning

the joint in the initial position prior to every shearing

were

pointed out. It was also shown the relevance of performing

a pre-loading cycle up to a high normal stress before each

shearing to assure that all shearings are performed under

the

most similar conditions.

Regarding the stress paths followed by the normal and shear

stresses during the tests, it should be pointed out that

they don

not act in accordance with real field conditions. For

instance,

in the case of rock slopes what can happen is that the

normal

stress decreases while the shear stress is approximately con

stant, thus producing failure following a quite different

stress

path from that of common shear tests (increase of the shear

stress under constant normal stress).

ASTM 1995. Standard test method for performing laboratory

direct

shear strength test of rock specimens under constant normal

force, Designation D5607-95, Annual book of ASTM standards:

384–392.
Barton, N. R., and Choubey,V. 1977.The shear strength of
rock joints

in theory and practice. Rock Mechanics, 10, 1–54. Barton,

N. 1973. Review of a new shear strength criterion for rock
joints, Engineering Geology, 7, 287–332. Bandis, S.,
Lumsden, A. C., and Barton, N. R. 1983. Fundamentals of
rock joint deformation. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
Geomech. Abstr., 206, 249–268. Esaki, T., Nakahara, K.,
Jiang,Y. and Mitani,Y. 1995. Effects of preceding history
on shear-flow coupling properties of rock joints. Symp.
Mechanics of Jointed and Faulted Rock, Viena, Austria.
Balkema, Rotterdam. Franklin, J.A. 1985. A direct shear
machine for testing rock joints. Geotechnical Testing
Journal, 8 1: 25–29. Goodman, R.E. 1989. Introduction to
Rock Mechanics. 2nd ed. John Willey & Sons. Hoek, E. 2002.
Practical Rock Engineering. Available on
http://www.rocscience.com. ISRM 1974. Suggested methods for
determining shear strength, Commission on Standardization
of Laboratory and Field Tests, Committee on field tests,
Final draft, February 1974, Pergamon, Oxford. Indraratna,
B., Haque, A., and Aziz, N. 1998 Laboratory modelling of
shear behaviour of soft joints under constant normal
stiffness conditions. Geotechnical and Geological
Engineering,Volume 16, Number 1/March, pp. 17–44. Johnston,
I. W., Lam, T. S. K., and Williams, A. F. 1987. Constant
normal stiffness direct shear testing for socketed pile
design in weak rock. Geotechnique, 37, 83–89. Kerstiëns,
C.M.D. 1999. A generic UDEC model for rock joint shear
tests, including roughness characterisation, Memoirs Centre
Eng. Geology, No. 182, Faculty Civil Engineering
Geosciences, TU Delft, Netherlands. Muralha, J. 1995.
Statistical description of shear parameters of rock joints.
8th Congress of the ISRM, Tokyo, Japan. Balkema, Rotterdam.
Natau, O. Leichnitz, W., and Balthasar, K. 1980.
Construction of a computer-controlled direct shear testing
machine for investigations in rock discontinuities, 4th
Congress of the ISRM, Vol. 3, Montreux, Switzerland.
Balkema, Rotterdam. Patton, F. D. 1966. Multiple modes of
shear failure in rock. 1st Congress of thr ISRM, Vol. 1,
509–513, Lisbon, Portugal. Skinas, C.A., Bandis, S.C., and
Demiris, C.A. 1990. Experimental investigations and
modelling of rock joint behaviour under constant stiffness
shearing, Int. Symp. on Rock Joints, Loen, Norway. Balkema,
Rotterdam. Souley, M., Homand, F., and Amadei, B. 1995. An
extension of the Saeb and Amadei constitutive model for
rock joints to include cyclic loading paths. Int. J. Rock
Mechanics Min. Sci. Geomech. Abst., 32 2: 101–109. Wibowo,
J.T., Amadei, B., Sture, S., Robertson, A.B., and Price, R.
1992. Shear response of a rock joint under different
conditions: an experimental study, Conf. Fractured and
Jointed Rock Masses, Lake Tahoe, California. 11th Congress
of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e
Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis
Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Stress recovery
procedure for discontinuous deformation analysis Z.Y. Zhao,
J. Gu & H.R. Bao School of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

ABSTRACT: The Discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) has

been widely used to model the motions of blocky masses.

A linear polynomial function often used in the DDA can ease

the complex contact determination between the blocks.
However,

this linear displacement function generates constant stress

field within a block, which can not effectively model the
stress

variation within a block or across the block interface. In

this paper, a stress recovery procedure is proposed for
those DDA

blocks which are glutted together as continuous objects.

Such a procedure can improve the stress accuracy along the
block

interfaces and can be used for more accurate contact

determination in the future. Two numerical examples are
presented to

study the stress accuracy of the proposed method, and the

results verify that the proposed stress recovery method
provides

better accuracy than the direct DDA and the averaging

method.

1 INTRODUCTION

The basic frame work of the discontinuous deformation analy

sis (DDA) was proposed and implemented by Dr. Shi in 1988

(Shi, 1988). Due to its special feature in modeling the dis

continuous rock mass, many studies on the DDA have been

carried out over the last decade, and its applications haven
been extended to many rock engineering areas (MacLaughlin

et al., 2003).

A linear polynomial function is often used in the standard

DDA as it can ease the complex contact determination between

the blocks. However, this linear displacement function gen

erates constant stress field within a block, which can not

effectively model the stress variation within a block or

across

the block interface (Hatzor et al., 2003).Various

developments

have been proposed to improve the displacement/stress accu

racy, such as the introduction of finite element mesh within

the blocks, the coupling of DDA with FEM, or using a higher

order DDA. In general, those improvements need either sub

stantial more computing time or extra compatibility along

the

FEM/DDA interface.

Many natural materials (like rock mass) contains weak

layers (such as joints), one method in fracture propagation

simulation is to consider each mesh line as a potential

crack,

and evaluate inter-element forces/stresses along the mesh

line, and determine the crack opening or sliding based on

appropriate strength criteria. As DDA’s blocks are all

indepen

dent with each other, the nodes on the interface of the

blocks

are originally assigned double nodes.There is no need to

insert

zero-thickness interface elements with double nodes along

each line of the block system as commonly used in the FEM.

Therefore, the DDA is ideal to use the block boundary as a

potential crack. These interfaces are assigned a relative

elastic

stiffness which may be interpreted as the penalty

coefficient

necessary to evaluate stress traction transmitted across

their

surface. Thus, an accurate stress evaluation for these inter

blocks will become essential in the crack propagation

analysis.

As this inter-block stress is not as accurate as the stress

field

inside the block, it is preferable to use some

post-processing

techniques to recover the stress along the inter-block

boundary. In the present paper, the concept of glutting the

blocks as continua is adopted to simulate stress field
before the blocks separate and slide. A stress recovery
procedure is developed for improving inter-block stress
evaluation. Two numerical examples are presented.The
recovered stress tensors and interblock forces are compared
with that from the traditional stress average smoothing
method and the theoretical solutions. 2 CONCEPT OF GLUTTING
BLOCKS AS CONTINUA The Discontinuous Deformation Analysis
(DDA) is formulated based on block theory where each block
can move and deform independently, and the interaction
between blocks is idealized by contact springs. For the
two-dimensional problems, the displacement (u, v) at any
point (x, y) of a block can be represented by six
displacement variables (u 0 , v 0 , r 0 , ε x , ε y , γ xy
) by the following equation: where u 0 , v 0 are the rigid
body translation of a specific point (x 0 , y 0 ) within
the block; r 0 is the rotation angle of the block with the
rotation center at (x 0 , y 0 ). ε x , ε y , γ xy are the
normal and shear strains of the block. Individual blocks
form a system of blocks through contacts among blocks and
displacement constraints on individual blocks. For a block
system, the simultaneous equilibrium equations are the same
as that of the FEM which is called the global stiffness
matrix:

Eq. (2) is generated from the differentiations of the total

potential energy of the block system:

DDA’s block displacement function is proved to be equivalent

to the first order approximation of the displacement in the

FEM, but the blocks used in the DDA can assume any given

geometry as opposed to the simple geometry of the FEM ele

ments. The choice of the linear displacement function in the

DDA is because it can ease the complex contact determina

tion between the blocks, so that the DDA can model the
object

material as a system of individually deformable blocks that

move independently without any interpenetration.

The whole block system can be considered as a continuous

field before block separation appears. All blocks are

glutted

together during the analysis when the inter-block stress is

less

than the joint strength. Block relative movements start to

occur

when the inter-block stress exceeds the joint property (i.e.

opening when the normal stress exceeds the tensile strength,

and sliding when the shear stress exceeds the shear strength

based on Coulomb’s friction law). With strong joint prop

erties (large friction angle, cohesion, and tensile

strength),
the glutted blocks just behave like the continuous finite
ele

ments. Therefore, an accurate inter-block stress evaluation

is

the first important step towards to block separation

analysis

in the DDA.

However, the linear displacement function in the DDA gen

erates constant stress field within a block, which can not

effectively model the stress variation within a block or

across

the block interface. One way to improve the stress accuracy

over the block-interface is the use of small blocks glutting

together for the area with large stress concentration, but

too

many blocks lead to a high computing cost. In the following

section, a stress recovery procedure is developed for better

interface stress evaluation which follows a recent paper on

the FEM stress recovery (Ciancio, et al. 2006), with revised

formulas suitable for DDA implementation.

3 STRESS RECOVERY PROCEDURE

3.1 Inter-block forces and stresses

Nodal force vector for a block may be expressed as:

where B is the strain matrix, σ is the stress field in the

block

and A is the block area.

The DDA program gives the value of nodal force f in

each block. For a generic node (see Figure 1), these inter
block forces are the sum of the nodal force contributions
from

each surrounding block, but they are not uniquely defined.

The corresponding f at node N does not lead to a distribu

tion of this force between the inter-block forces r and

gravity

load of block g. This suggests that evaluation of such inter

block forces at (and, subsequently, the stress tractions

near) the i i g (N) 4 3 -r (N-1) 2 1 N g (1) -r (N-1) r (N)
r (1) g (2) -r (1) r (2) -r (2) g (3) r (3) f -r (3) g (4)
r (4) f (3) f ( 2 ) f ( 1 ) (N) f (4) Figure 1. Forces
equilibrium at nodes with gravity load. corner nodes, will
require some additional equations or principles. We can
write the equilibrium equations at each node in vector
notation as: Here we choose r (1) as the arbitrary
2-component vector and assume r¯ = r (1) as a known values,
the remaining unknowns from Eq. (5) can be written in the
expanded form as: The inter-block stress is defined as the
stress that acts along the surface shared by two blocks. It
uses the simple concept of spreading the inter-block forces
over the contributing area, leading to a constant stress
distribution. These areas can be determined using the
principle of virtual work in a way similar to the standard
procedure to calculate nodal forces equivalent to external
distributed forces. If we use r x and r y as the forces in
the global coordinate, we can get the relationship of force
and stress as: where is the block side relative area. For
linear functions (two-node edge) in DDA analysis, the nodal
area is equal to half of the total surface of the
interface. Q is the rotation matrix from the global to the
local system. The components of the local reference system
for the normal and tangential stress along the oblique face
can be defined as n = (cos θ, sin θ) and t = (− sin θ, cos
θ). 3.2 Stress recovery The value of the traction vector σ
(k) for each plane k can be computed as a function of r¯.
But due to the arbitrary value of r¯, the coordinates of σ
(k) on Mohr’s space will be representative of points that
in general do not belong to any single circle. To find the
value of r¯, an intrinsic error between the projection of T
onto the plane k and the stress vectorσ (k) {r¯} (which
means

expressed by the variables) should be measured. Borrowing

the concepts from micro-plane model, a global equation for

that error may be expressed in the following form (Ciancio

et al., 2006):

where n (k) Tn (k)T and t (k) Tn (k)T represent the normal

and shear

components of the projection vector T on plane k .

In Equation 8, the only unknown variables are the compo

nents of the stress tensor T (σ x , σ y , τ xy ) T , if the

value of σ (k) {r¯}

is assumed known. Then minimization of with respect

to T (∂φ/∂σx = 0, ∂φ/∂σy = 0 and ∂φ/∂τ xy = 0), leads to the

following matrix form:

where

After the stress tensor T (σ x , σ y , τ xy ) is obtained

form Eq. (9),

we can set free r¯, and minimize it again with respect to r¯

(∂φ/∂r¯x = 0 and ∂φ/∂r¯y = 0), to obtain the unknown vari

ables r¯x and r¯y. Once r¯ is obtained, the inter-block

forces,

inter-block traction and the stress tensor T can be computed

expediently. The equations for the recovery procedure are

derived by the software “Mathematica”.

4 APPLICATION EXAMPLES

4.1 A squared plate problem

A square domain of 1 × 1 m dimension with elastic modu

lus E = 10 GPa, and Poisson ratio υ = 0.2, is shown in Fig.

2.

Each node of the triangle block is subjected to one third

gravity

load of that block. The simulation is performed in static

anal

ysis and plane strain condition. The specific mass is 1

kg/m 2

and the gravity acceleration is 10 N/kg. An irregular block

system which consists of 12 arbitrary blocks is used in the

DDA model. The corner node A (0.5 m below the top free sur

face) has 7 blocks around it and the node B (0.8 m below the

top free surface) connects 4 surrounding blocks. The bottom

side is fixed at y direction while the other three sides

are free

surfaces.

The stress at y direction for nodes A and B is calculated

using the new recovered procedure and are represented in

Table 1.

Theoretically, it is known that the stress state in y

direction

at nodes A and B should be σ y =−5.0 and −8.0 Pa, while σ x

and τ xy are close to zero. From Table 1, it can be observed

that the proposed recovery procedure has improved the stress

accuracy substantially, and the relative error for both

nodes has

been reduced by about 50%. This shows that for the irregular

finite block system, the recovered method is better than the

average smoothing method. B A 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Figure 2. Squared plate specimen under gravity load. Table
1. Stress result comparison. 7 Points (Node A) 4 Points
(Node B) σ y Error σ y Error Average −4.82 3.6% −7.83 2.1%
Recovered −5.09 1.8% −8.07 0.9% Analytical −5.0 −8.0 Figure
3. Block system of a circular tunnel. 4.2 A circular tunnel
in an infinite elastic medium In this case, the application
of the DDA is presented for an infinite elastic medium.A
circular tunnel exists in an isotropic infinite medium that
is subjected to uniform uniaxial far-field stress σ ∞ . Due
to symmetry, only one quadrant of the problem needs to be
modeled as shown in Figure 3, and the problem domain is
selected as 10R by 10R where R is the radius of the tunnel.
The analytical solution by theory of elasticity gives the
stress state in vertical direction as: where r is the
distance of the measured point to the center of the hole,
which gives the maximum stress σ ymax = 3σ ∞ . From the
above description, the input data used in DDA analysis are
as below: The domain size is 10 m × 10 m with a 1 m × 1 m
hole. The far-field stress in y direction is modeled as a
normal tensile traction 1 MPa loaded on the upper surface.
The material is isotropic with E = 200 GPa and υ = 0.3. The
model contains 384 triangular blocks as shown in Fig. 3. 14
15 13 16 20 19 18 17 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (2) (1) (3)
(4) (5)

Figure 4. Area of measured points (Enlarged domain A).

Stress in the y direction 1,0 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2,0 2,2 2,4
2,6 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 5,0 r Theoretical
Average Recovereda σ y

Figure 5. Comparison of σ y at different distance from the

hole.

Rolling boundaries are set on the symmetrical axes, and the

upper and right boundaries are free surfaces.

5 measured nodes are selected in the model. 4 irregular

blocks are selected for the node 2, while the block areas

around other nodes are proportionally almost the same

(regular

blocks), as shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 5 shows the recovered results of the measured nodes

from the average smoothing method and the recovered proce

dure. Both are in good agreement with the analytical

solution.

For the nodes surrounded by the regular blocks, the value of

σ y by the recovered method is slightly closer to the
analytical

results than the average method. For the node surrounded by

the irregular blocks (node 2), the recovered method has an

evident advantage. The relative error for this node has been

reduced from 3.7% (the average method) to 1.5%, a nearly

60% reduction. It also can be observed in Fig. 6 that the

recov

ered traction tensors in the Mohr’s circle are much closer

to

the analytical results at node 2.

From this example, it shows that the recovered method can

provide a more accurate stress state at the node than the

aver

age method, especially for the irregular blocks or coarse

block

system. This is very useful for the rock mass which need to
be

arbitrarily blocked to model its heterogeneous material prop

erties. When a node is surrounded by a large number of

regular

blocks, the results from both the average smoothing method

ABSTRACT: In order to investigate the behavior of crack

propagation in a rock material, a numerical modeling by DEM
and

fracture toughness testing are carried out. The paper

firstly describes the numerical modeling, using the
Particle Flow Code

(PFC2D) for biaxial compression tests and Brazilian tests,

to clarify the relationship between the micro-scopic
parameters,
which are the input parameters for PFC2D, and the
mechanical properties of the rock. The relationships
between each micro

scopic parameter and the mechanical properties of the rock

are established. Using these relationships, proper input
parameters

can be selected for the modeling. Then, fracture toughness

testing is conducted using SENRBB (Single-Edge Notched
Round

Bar in Bending) specimens. From the results, a value for

fracture toughness is determined. In addition, the
progressive crack

propagation during the testing is evaluated. This

information will be extremely useful when carrying out a
numerical modeling

for fracture toughness testing in future research works.

1 INTRODUCTION

Fracture toughness is a parameter which indicates crack

initi

ation or the propagation of a material. Fracture mechanics

is

becoming increasingly important in mining and civil engineer

ing for problems related to rock strength. For example,

fracture

mechanics is utilized in the analysis of surface and under

ground mine structures. The determination of the strength

and

the stability of mine structures is particularly important

for

nuclear waste containment in proposed underground repos

itories. For the long-term use of an underground rock mass

structure, the design must satisfy a high degree of

structural
integrity. A number of research works have been conducted

in order to determine values for the fracture toughness of

various types of rock (i.e. Funatsu et. al. 2004). However,

fracture toughness is not commonly used for numerical mod

eling. This is because numerical modeling, which is based

on continuum mechanics, is basically unable to express sep

aration. Therefore, the authors of the present paper focus

on

the distinct element method, because it is based on discon

tinuum mechanics. In this method, a material is expressed

as an assemblage of rigid circular particles, and the input

parameters are not the mechanical properties of the

material,

such as Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio, but microscopic

parameters related to each particle. As a result, the value

for

fracture toughness is not directly input either. It is

possible,

however, to indirectly input the value for fracture

toughness

when the relationships between fracture toughness and each

input parameter are clarified.

This paper firstly describes the numerical modeling using

the Particle Flow Code (PFC2D) for biaxial compressive tests

and Brazilian tests so that the relationships between the

micro

scopic parameters and the mechanical properties of rock,

such

as Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and the tensile

strength,

can be understood. The fracture toughness testing is simu

lated for the parametric studies in order for the

relationships between the microscopic parameters and
fracture toughness to be understood. Then, the results of
the simulation are compared with the results of the
experiments conducted in a laboratory. In the laboratory
testing, single-edge notched round bar in bending (SENRBB)
specimens are adopted as the specimens, and sandstone is
used. Crack propagation in the specimens during testing is
also evaluated by the simulation for fracture toughness. 2
DETERMINATION OF THE MICRO-PARAMETERS CORRESPONDING TO
KIMACHI SANDSTONE In general, analytical methods based on
continuum mechanics are used for numerical modeling of rock
mass structures, such as mountain tunnels, underground
mines and so on. However, it is difficult to simulate the
different types of failure, such as the separation of
materials, slips, and so on, with these methods. In
particular, initiation and propagation of pre-existing
crack affect on the stability of the rock mass structures.
In this research, therefore, the distinct element method
(DEM) (Candall & Strack 1979) is used, with the
twodimensional discontinuum program called PFC2D, to
simulate the crack propagation in rock. PFC2D simulates the
mechanical behavior of a material by representing it as an
assemblage of circular particles that can be bonded to one
another. The most basic mechanical properties, for example,
Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio, are derived from
laboratory tests. In a continuum model, such elastic
properties can be directly inputted. In PFC2D, however, the
mechanical behavior of the assemblage is dominated by the
micro-properties of the particles and the bonds between
them. These micro-properties cannot be obtained from
laboratory tests. Thus, the relationship between the
micro-properties and the macro-properties should be
determined prior to the simulation of mode I fracture
toughness.

Table 1. Mechanical properties of Kimachi sandstone (σ c :

Uniax

ial compressive strength, σ t : Tensile strength, E 50 :

Tangent Young’s

modulus at a half of compressive strength, n: Poisson’s

ratio, V P :

Velocity of P-wave).
σ C σ t E 50 V P

(MPa) (MPa) (GPa) ν (km/sec)

59.0 ± 2.5 4.82 ± 0.12 8.23 ± 1.43 0.22 ± 0.10 2.91±0.02

Figure 1. Model of (a) biaxial test specimen, and (b)

Brazilian test

specimen.

2.1 Test material

The material used for the tests is Kimachi sandstone which

is produced in Japan. The properties of this rock are given

in

Table 1.

2.2 Biaxial tests to determine the micro-parameters for the

compressive strength

As mentioned in the previous section, the input parameters

used for the PFC2D code are micro-parameters that have to

be identified through biaxial tests before the simulation is

modeled. For the biaxial tests, the top and the bottom
walls,

as loading platens, and the velocities of the lateral walls

are

controlled by a servo mechanism which maintains a specific

confining pressure. Under a confining pressure of 0.1 MPa, a

set of biaxial compressive tests is conducted with the

associ

ated stress-strain behavior. The model for the biaxial

tests is

shown in Figure 1(a).

The input parameters corresponding to the experimental

results for the biaxial tests are listed in Table 2. The
stress

versus strain curve is shown in Figure 2.

2.3 Brazilian tests to determine the micro-parameters for

the tensile strength

A numerical modeling for the Brazilian tests is conducted in

order to clarify the relationship between the

micro-parameters

and the tensile strength of the Kimachi sandstone. A model

of

the Brazilian test specimen is shown in Figure 1(b). The

input

parameters corresponding to the experimental results for the

Brazilian tests are listed in Table 3.

2.4 Summary of the relationship between the microparameters

and the mechanical properties of Kimachi sandstone

By modeling both the biaxial tests and the Brazilian

tests, two different sets of micro-parameters are obtained.

Table 2. Input parameters for the biaxial tests. Input
parameters Value Minimum Ball Radius (mm) 1 Ball Density
(kg/m 3 ) 2630 Contact Modulus (GPa) 235 Normal/Shear
Stiffness Ratio 40 Friction Coefficient 0.5 Contact Bond
Normal Strength (MPa) 55 Contact Bond Shear Strength (MPa)
500 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 D e v i a t o r
i c s t r e s s ( M P a ) Axial strain (%) Figure 2.
Deviatoric stress versus axial strain curve. Table 3. Input
parameters for the Brazilian tests. Input parameters Value
Minimum Ball Radius (mm) 1 Ball Density (kg/m 3 ) 2630
Contact Modulus (GPa) 245 Normal/Shear Stiffness Ratio 43
Friction Coefficient 0.5 Contact Bond Normal Strength (MPa)
15 Contact Bond Shear Strength (MPa) 500 A mismatch could
arise due to different grain shapes. Potyondy and Cundall
(2004) reported that the ratio of the Brazilian tensile
strength to the uniaxial compressive strength was too high
for PFC2D. They also mentioned that using grain shapes
which more closely resemble the complex-shaped and highly
interlocked crystalline grains in granite might reduce the
discrepancy in the ratio. In this study, we do not consider
the grain shape, but we adopt parameters which correspond
to the tensile strength for the modeling of the fracture
toughness testing, since there is a linear relationship
between fracture toughness and tensile strength (Zhang
2000). 3 NUMERICAL MODELING OF MODE I FRACTURE TOUGHNESS
TESTING 3.1 Mode I fracture toughness experiments Specimens
are prepared by slicing rock cores while noting the
direction of the bedding. Lastly, a straight notch is
introduced using a circular diamond saw. A circular saw,
with a blade thickness of 0.3 mm, is used to cut the notch
during the test

Figure 3. Testing machine configuration.

Figure 4. Photo of the SENRBB specimen.

Figure 5. Load versus load point displacement curve.

program. Very little machining is required as only a

straight

edge notch is introduced. The specimens are oven dried at

60 ◦ C for five days and all the dimensions are recorded

prior

to the testing.

The testing machine is custom manufactured to facilitate

specimens under three-point bending. The configuration of

the testing machine is shown in Figure 3.

SENRBB specimens, 30 mm in diameter and 110 mm in

length, are used for these tests (see Figure 4). The
specimens

are then tested to failure under load-point displacement con

trol.The loading rate for each of the tests is 0.075

mm/min.The

load, the load-point and displacement are recorded as func

tions of time during each test. An example of a load versus

load-point displacement curve is shown in Figure 5.

The fracture toughness, K IC , is determined using the peak

load, the non-dimensional stress intensity factor, and the

specimen dimensions (Ouchtelony 1981). For the SENRBB

specimens, K IC is given as Figure 6. Model of the SC3PB

specimen. Figure 7. Displacement distribution. where Y ′ I
is the non-dimensional stress intensity factor, Fmax is the
maximum load, S is the span length between two support
rollers, and D is the specimen diameter. The
non-dimensional stress intensity factor, Y ′ I , is given
by where ρ= (S/D)/3.33 and a is the notch length. Using
equations (1) and (2), the fracture toughness of the
Kimachi sandstone is evaluated as K IC = 0.46 MPam 0.5 .
3.2 Numerical modeling of the mode I fracture toughness As
a 2-dimensional simulation is adopted here, it is not
possible to model the core-based SENRBB specimens. Thus, a
single-edge straight-through cracked rectangular plane in
three-point bending (SC3PB) specimens is adopted for the
modeling instead of the SENRBB specimens used for the
experiments. The shape of a SC3PB specimen is shown in
Figure 6. The stress intensity factor for this specimen is
given by the following equation (3)(ASTM 1990): where F is
the applied load, S is the span between the support
rollers, B is the thickness of the specimen, W is the
height of the specimen, a is the notch length, and α= a/W .
The non-dimensional stress intensity factor, f (α), is
given by the following equation (4): To evaluate the
fracture toughness with equation (3), maximum applied force
F max is used. The input parameters are shown in Table 3.
Figures 7 and 8 show the displacement distribution and the
contact force distribution for the SC3PB specimens just
before the peak load. As shown in these figures, there is
an opening in the notch mouth and the high tensile force is
concentrated at the tip of the notch.

Figure 8. Contact force distribution. 0 5 10 15 20 25 0

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 L o a d ( k N ) Load line displacement
(mm) (a) (b) (c)

Figure 9. Load versus load-line displacement curve for the

simulation.

Figure 10. Crack propagations during loading.

Figure 9 shows the load versus load-line displacement

curve. As seen in this figure, the relationship between the

load and the displacement is linear, and the material behav

ior is elastic before the load reaches the maximum value.

ABSTRACT: The strains of swellable rocks under cyclic

wetting and drying (cyclic swelling) were investigated by
few authors

in recent years. But there is a lack of research concerning

the swelling pressure in confined conditions under repeated
wetting

and drying. The paper describes the testing procedure and

gives first results. Mudstone samples from Aghajari
formation of the

Masjed-Soleiman region in south of Iran were selected to do

the tests. Under oedometric conditions the samples are
subjected

to cyclic wetting and drying. The swelling pressure of the

samples was measured in axial direction over the time. The
rate

of swelling pressure development and the maximum swelling

pressure increased with each cycle. After five cycles it
finally

reached to an almost steady state. The air breakage

phenomenon, opening of new crack inside the structure of
the mudstone

and reaching the water to interlamella clays and the stress

relief in edges of the new cracks cause this behavior. In
cases were

changing water supply can cause a cyclic swelling, it is

not sufficient to estimate swelling pressures from single
stage tests,

especially if these tests had to be carried out under

limited duration.

1 INTRODUCTION

Mudstone is a general term for sediments composed mainly of

silt (4 to 62 µm) and clay (<4 µm) sized particles. Mudstone

is mainly composed of clay minerals and silt-grade quartz

grains; other minerals may also present. Organic materials

may also reach several percent and higher. Nodules com

monly develop in mudstone, usually of calcite, dolomite,

siderite or pyrite (Tucker, 2003). Because of clay minerals

in mudstones, they absorb water easily and in large amounts

(Blatt, 1982).

Mudstone experiences periodic swelling and shrinking

behavior during alternate wetting and drying cycles over

time. Such cyclic swell-shrink behavior of rock masses

causes

considerable damage to the structures constructed in them.

Consequently, determining the behavior of swelling rocks has

been the topic of numerous investigations in recent years.

In focus of expansive clays, some researchers (Popesco

(1980), Chen et al. (1985), Chen and Ma (1987), Subba Rao

and Satyadas (1987), Osipov et al. (1987), Dif and Bluemel

(1991), Day (1994) and Basma et al. (1996)) have addressed

the problem of cyclic swelling and shrinkage of expansive

clays.

Complications in describing the swelling behavior of weak

rocks (i.e. mudstone) have led to a few researches for

describ

ing the observed behavior of these rocks. Among impor

tant contributions is the work of Seedsman (1993), which

described the mechanism of swelling. When moisture in

soil or rock decreases, air enters the pores and when mois
ture returns by capillarity, air is captured and its
pressure

increases in internal pores. This phenomenon can be an

important disaggregation mechanism since pressure develop

ment can breakdown the integrity of sedimentary rocks. This

phenomenon is referred to as “air breakage”. According to

Seedsman, induced air pressure as a result of capillary pres

sure is related to the surface tension of the fluid

(generally water) and pore radii. where P = capillary
pressure, s = surface tension of water, r = radius of the
pore, (p/p 0 ) = relative humidity, R = gas constant, T =
absolute temperature, and V = molar volume of water. Huang
et al. (1995) performed some cyclic wetting and drying
tests on shales and approximated the relation of swelling
potential (i.e. pressure and strain) of shales between the
first and the second cyclic tests using regression
analysis. Maximum swelling pressure measured in the second
cycle test decreased significantly. Pejon and Zuquette
(2002) focused on the impact of cyclic wetting and drying
on swelling behavior of mudstones.They demonstrated that
accumulated maximum axial swelling strain of different
mudstones varied according to number of wetting and drying
cycles. They fit a straight line to maximum axial swelling
strain versus number of cycles.The rate of swell is related
to the behavior of different argillaceous sedimentary rocks
in the presence of water. It appears that texture,
structure, clay content, bulk density, specific gravity,
dry density, initial moisture content, initial void ratio,
porosity, degree of saturation, blue of methylene value
(vb), cataion exchange capacity (CEC), clay activity index
(Acb), carbonate content and mercury porosity are effective
parameters. In this paper swelling pressure of mudstone in
confined conditions under repeated wetting and drying is
investigated. 2 TESTING PROCEDURE 2.1 Apparatus The
apparatus (Fig. 1) consists of a stiff four-columned load
frame (1) with a screw-driven plunger (2). The thrust is

Figure 1. Swelling test apparatus.

manually controlled by a strongly reduced gear (3). The dis

placement is measured by a high precision mechanical gauge

(4) with resolution of 0.001 mm. The force is measured with

an electronic 40 kN-load cell (5) at the bottom of the load

frame.

The sample (7) is mounted in a watering unit which is

installed between the plunger and the load cell. The water

ing unit consists in a massive ring of brass (6) with an

internal

diameter of 60 to 80 mm and a height of 20 to 40 mm and a

wall thickness of 10 mm. The sample is prepared on a lathe

using air flushing and fits exactly in the ring which

prohibits

lateral strain. The end faces of the sample are prepared on

the lathe as well. The sample height is 1 to 2 mm less than

the height of the ring. The arising deepening is used to

place

5 mm thick filter slabs (8) on both end faces. The diameter

of

the filter slabs is 0.2 to 0.4 mm less than the internal

diam

eter of the ring. A load distribution slab (9) is placed on

the

upper filter slab. The load is transmitted through a steel

ball

(10) to allow slight rotations of the filter slabs. The

water

ing unit is set in a water basin which consists of a

plexiglass

tube (11) with a diameter of 150 mm and a 20 mm thick base

plate.

The whole apparatus is placed in a climate chamber where

temperature and air moisture can be controlled.

2.2 Testing procedure

The sample with the watering unit is installed in the load

frame and an initial load of 0.1 kN is applied. After 24

hours

water is filled in up to a level just under the top of the

ring.

Water enters the sample from the bottom and air in the
sample

can escape over the top. Later the sample is fully set under

water. In a swelling pressure test the axial strain ε a is

kept

equal to zero and the swelling pressure σ a is measured over

time. When the swelling pressure has reached an almost con

stant value, the water is removed and the sample is dried by

raising the temperature up to 50 ◦ C. The swelling pressure

decreases down to zero. This procedure is repeated in each

cycle. Figure 2. Disintegration of the mudstone in 3 cycles

of wetting and drying. 3 RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION 3.1
Results of characterization tests The material investigated
is a mudstone from Aghajari formation of the
Masjed-Soleiman region in south of Iran. Granulometrically
seen it is a clayey siltstone with a clay contents in the
range of 30 to 40%. The silt grains consist mainly of
rounded carbonate particles. About 15% of the minerals 0.00
0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
35 40 45 50 Time (Day) S w e l l i n g p r e s s u r e ( M
P a )

Figure 3. Cyclic swelling pressure test with five cycles

(M.1). 0 0 0.1 1 0.2 2 0.3 3 0.4 4 0.5 5 0.6 6 0.7 7 0.8 8
Time (Day) S w e l l i n g p r e s s u r e ( M P a ) 1st
cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle 4th cycle 5th cycle 0 0 0.2 2 0.4
4 0.6 6 0.8 8 1 1.2 Time (Day) S w e l l i n g p r e s s u
r e ( M P a ) 1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle 4th cycle 5th
cycle 0.00 43210 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 Time
(Day) S w e l l i n g p r e s s u r e ( M P a ) 1st cycle
2nd cycle 3rd cycle 4th cycle 5th cycle 6th cycle (a) (b)
(c) 9 5 6 7 8 9 10

Figure 4. Swelling pressure of sample M.1 (a) , M.2 (b),

M.3 (c) in

each cycle. Table 1. Results of swelling pressure tests of

the samples. Samples M.1 M.2 M.3 Maximum swelling pressure
0.55 0.85 0.65 in ordinary test (MPa) Maximum swelling
pressure 0.47 0.74 0.54 in 1st cycle (MPa) Maximum swelling
pressure 0.64 0.84 0.76 in 2nd cycle (MPa) Maximum swelling
pressure 0.70 0.95 1.04 in 3rd cycle (MPa) Maximum swelling
pressure 0.76 1.01 1.11 in 4th cycle (MPa) Maximum swelling
pressure 0.76 1.01 1.24 in 5th cycle (MPa) Maximum swelling
pressure —– —– 1.24 in 6th cycle (MPa) Increase of maximum
38 19 90 swelling pressure in final cycle with respect to
the ordinary test (%) Number of required cycles 5 5 6 to
reach the equilibrium content is swellable clay. The dry
density ranges from 2.50 to 2.55 g/cm 3 , porosity is about
15%. Figure 2 shows the disintegration of a 100 mm sample
in 3 cycles of wetting and drying. In each cycle the sample
disintegrates to the fracture pattern shown in the pictures
shortly after filling the pot with water. The
disintegration did not proceed in the same cycle over a
time of several days. Only after complete drying and a
repeated wetting a new fracture pattern with a higher
degree of fragmentation occurred. This means that the
pathway of water to the swellable clay minerals was
improved. 3.2 Results of swelling tests Figure 3 shows the
result of swelling pressure test with five cycles of
wetting and drying for sample M.1 (as a representative of
other samples). The primary swell pressure tests show that
samples will reach to near the maximum swelling pressure in
7 days. Therefore swelling time was kept constant in each
cycle as 7 days to be able to compare the results. The time
dependent swelling pressure of the tested samples (M.1, M.2
and M.3) under cyclic wetting and drying are shown in
Figure 4. The results show that swelling pressure of
mudstone at each cycle is increased in comparison with
previous cycle but the rate of increase is reduced
gradually. Table 1 shows the results of swelling pressure
tests under wetting and drying cycles in comparison with
ordinary single stage tests. All the samples presented
increasing swelling pressure after each cycle of drying and
wetting according to Table 1. The maximum swelling pressure
of final cycle is considerably more than the maximum
swelling pressure in ordinary test. Figure 5 shows the
trend of maximum swelling pressure for studied samples
under cyclic wetting and drying. According to Table 1 and
Figure 5, it has appeared that maximum swelling pressure
increases with cycles but it has a bound. The stable
condition is usually reached after 5 cycles. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
0.8 1 1.2 1.4 0 6 Cycle number

a x

i m

u m

e l

l i n

p r

e s

s u

r e

( M

P a

) M.1 M.2 M.3 2 4 7 5 1 3

Figure 5. The trend of maximum swelling pressure of samples

in

cycles. 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0 1 2 4 6 7 8

Cycle

S w

e l

l i n

g
p r

e s

s u

r e

( M

P a

) 15Minutes 1Hour 3Hours 5Hours 12Hours 1Day 2Days 3Days

4Days 5Days 6Days 7Days 3 5

Figure 6. The trend of swelling pressure in equal times of

cycles

(Sample M.1).

Figure 6 shows the trend of swelling pressure in equal times

of each cycle for sample M. 1 as a representative of other

samples.

It shows that swelling pressure will always increase with

cycles for a specific time; therefore, all of the graphs

have a

positive slope. The increase of swelling pressure at the

first

hours of final cycles is high and it decreases at last

hours in

comparison with first cycles. The sudden decrease in

swelling

pressure at the forth cycle (for readings below 12 hours) is

believed to be due to entrapment of air between the sample

and the filters. The air is escaped after 12 hours and

water is

reached to the sample and drop is recovered.

The change of swelling pressure for the same time inter

vals (from Day1 to Day7) in the initial cycles is more

than the change of swelling pressure in last cycles. In

ABSTRACT: The AE phenomenon can disclose the laws of rock

mass break well. Synergetics is used to study the AE laws
in

the rock mass fracture process. The laws of rock mass break
are further studied through the relationship betweenAE and
damage

evolvement. The AE count rate is taken as the order

parameter to study the rock mass failure process. Firstly,
the evolvement

equation of AE order parameter is established according to

the relationship of AE and damage. Secondly, solutions of
stationary

state and nonstationary state are obtained and analyzed.

The synergetic characteristics of AE are described
generally. At last,

the AE phenomena of rock mass break are simulated with the

software of RFPA. The synergetic effects of rock mass AE

are verified through numerical simulation firstly. The

feasibility of AE technique applied in rock damage process
was further

demonstrated.

1 INTRODUCTION

AE, which is shortened from Acoustic Emission, is a natural

phenomenon describing the release of part strain energy with

elastic wave when deformation or damage occurs in materials

or structure (Ji, 2004). AE technology is applied success

fully in many fields such as material engineering, pressure

container evaluation and structural integrity evaluation.

AE technique is used as a nondestructive, non-contact and

real-time technique to study the progressive damage
processes

and failure mechanism of rock mass subjected to given load

since 1959. Experimental studies showed that AE phenom

ena might be generated from crystals dislocation, crystals

slipping, generation and expansion of cracks. AE signals are

affected by many dynamic and static factors such as material

feature, deformation characteristic and damage propagation,

etc. So AE signals are very complicated and difficult to

recog

nition and quantization. Now application of AE technique in

rock mass failure progress are restricted and limited. New

the

ories and methods are needed to be introduced to study AE

laws of rock mass.

Modern nonlinear science offers more points of view to

study the rock mass AE. Hirata (1987) pointed out the
fractal

characteristics and dimension of AE changed with the stress

and deformation during the rock failure progress, Xie (1997)

analyzed the mutation phenomenon during rock mass damage,

Yu (2004) studied the chaos effect of cracks evolution in

rock

mass, etc.

In this paper, synergetics is used to exploring study the

rock mass AE laws. At the same time AE laws of rock mass is

simulated visibly with RFPA to verify the theoretical

results. 2 SYNERGETICS DESCRIPTION OF ROCK MASS AE 2.1
Relationship between AE parameter and damage evolvement of
rock mass Qin (1992) pointed out that sum of AE counts in
the plastic deformation is: Where A ′ is a constant; m is a
parameter about material characteristic and experiment
condition; K is stress intensity factor; and Kc is the
critical stress intensity factor. From equation (1), when
material characteristic and experiment condition are fixed,
more cracks means more AE counts, and most AE counts occur
during the cracks expansion. Qin (1993) pointed out that in
the course of microcracks generation and propagation, the
relationship between AE counts and the expansion of crack
is as follows: Where dφ/dt is AE rate, ξ is a parameter
decided by material characteristic and experiment
condition, and dl/dt is crack expansion speed. As mentioned
above, most AE signals generate from the dehiscence and
expansion of microcracks. AE parameters change with the
evolution of damage in the rock mass.

2.2 Evolvement equation of AE order parameter of rock mass

2.2.1 Selection of order parameters

There are many parameters describing rock mass AE. Two

main kinds of change rates are used to study AE signals

changes in the rock mass failure process. One is AE count

rate N 0 , which means the sum of AE signals in a stated

time.

The other is AE count rate of large-scale N b , which means

the sum of AE signals of large-scale in a stated time. N 0

is

corresponding with crack enlarging and N b is corresponding

with large-scale cracks enlarging. It is obvious that AE

signals

changes with the expansion of cracks. So N 0 and N b can be

as

order parameters describing the damage process of rock mass.

2.2.2 Deduction of main equation of order parameters

evolution

Harkris (1963) pointed out that the increment rate of

bifurca

tion counts of crack expansion is proportional to the square

of original large-scale counts. So the equation of

large-scale

counts can be showed as follows:

Where r 0 is attenuation coefficient of N 0 , i 0 is

increment

coefficient of N 0 . Both of them are positive numbers. And

a 0 is relevant coefficient associated with the influence of

large-scale AE signals.

Evolvement equation of N b in view of the influence of N 0

can be shown as follows:

The meaning of every coefficient is just as above. Supposing

that large-scale AE signals increment rate is proportional

to

the AE counts.

Based on the two equations and using method of thermal

insulation elimination, the main equation of order parameter

N 0 can be obtained.

Supposing

Substituting it into Eq. (4), we can get

Substituting Eq. (6) into Eq. (3), we can get main equation
of

the order parameter as follows:

Where m = i 0 − r 0 ; and n = α o α 2 b (i b − r b ) 2 .
2.2.3 Analysis of main equation of order parameters
evolution 2.2.3.1 Steady-state solutions and stability
analysis In Eq. (7), supposing Two steady-state solutions
can be obtained as follows: N 01 is the AE counts of rock
mass without loads, so it is a steady-state solution about
the equilibrium condition obviously. The linear stability
of N 02 can be analyzed with perturation method, supposing
δ(3) is the infinitesimal disturbance, namely and
Substitute Eq. (11) into Eq. (7) and omit the differential
quadratic term of δ, Its solution is: Where δ(0) is initial
disturbance. It is known from Eq. (7) that stability of N
02 depends on notation of m. If m is positive number,
steady state solutions of equation (14) are stable. Namely,
when rate of increase of AE event is over its decrement,
the order of AE signals is stable. As the same way, if m is
negative number, the steady state solutions are unstable,
and the order of AE signals is stable. 2.2.3.2
Nonstationary state solutions and stability analysis
Nonstationary-state solution of Eq. (7) is: Where k 1 =− m
n , k 2 = 1 N o (0) + n m , N 0 (0) is the initial value of
order parameter under certain condition. When m is positive
number, namely i 0 is over r 0 , increment coefficient of
AE event is over its decrement coefficient. It happens
during the cracks progressive expansion in the early stage
of load. In this course,AE counts rate increases gradually
with the load growth.

When m is equal to zero, the AE counts rate keeps relative

stable and the AE change rate is at the critical condition.

And

main equation of order parameters is:

nonstationary state solution is:

Where N 0 (t) is the initial value of the AE counts rate

corre

sponding to the critical condition. During this stage, if n

is

less than zero, namely α o is less than zero, the order

parame

ter of N 0 (t) will decrease as time increase. For the

system of

rock mass, the inner stresses redistribute with the

frequent big

break events, and AE counts in the unit time decrease. If n

is

over zero, the order parameter of N 0 (t) will increase

gradually

with time increment. Once the value of N 0 (0)nt decreased

to

1, AE counts in the unit time will approach to infinite,

and the

system catastrophe will happen.

When m is less than zero, namely i 0 is less than r 0 ,

increment

coefficient of AE event is less than its decrement

coefficient.

From Eq. (16) we see that AE counts rate decreases gradually

with the load growth.

3 SYNERGETICS DESCRIPTION TO AE OF

ROCK MASS FRACTURE PROCESS

AE phenomena of rock mass can be described as follows: in

the early stage of loading, original and new cracks extend

gradually, and AE counts increase steadily with time increas

ing. When load increased to certain value, all kinds of

cracks

extend rapidly and AE counts increase fast. During the

stage,

rock mass catastrophe will happen with the discontinuous

damage. After this failure process, stresses in rock mass

redis

tribute and the speed of cracks expansion decrease to

another

stable value. The AE counts decrease correspondingly. Then

with load increasing, a new cycle begins as above. So, the

AE counts change laws can be generalized to the cycle of rel

atively steady increasing, catastrophe, attenuation,
relatively

steady increasing and catastrophe. It is found that AE

counts

are mainly increasing before the yield strength of rock mass

and AE counts are mainly decreasing after the yield strength

of rock mass.

4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF ROCK MASS AE

Damage processes of rock mass are simulated with the soft

ware of RFPA. The loading is controlled by displacement. The

sizes of sample is 150 mm × 150 mm. Poisson’s ratio is 0.2.

The compression strength is 30 MPa and Young’s modulus is

30000 MPa, every step of loading is 0.001 mm. The results of

simulation are shown as Fig. 1 to Fig. 6.

Fig. 1 shows the AE counts change trend of step 1–59.

AE counts are zero at the beginning of loading. Before the

critical value, the fracture intensity factor of original

cracks

increase progressively along with load increasing. Then with

the load increasing, existing cracks extended rapidly and

the

AE counts are mainly increasing. Along with every big frac

ture, the stresses redistributed and the AE counts

decreased in

the following short stage. 0 20 30 40 50 60 -10 0 10 20 30

40 50 60 70 80 A E c o u n t s Load steps 10 B Figure 1.
The changing AE counts of step 1–60. 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
95 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 A E c o u n t s Load steps B
Figure 2. The changing AE counts of step 61–97. -50 0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 -500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
3000 3500 4000 A E c o u n t s Load steps B Figure 3. The
changing AE counts of the entire course. Fig. 2 shows the
AE counts change trend of step 61–97. The sample fractured
at step 60. From step 61 to step 65, the cracks extended
rapidly and AE counts fluctuated in wide range. With the
load increasing, the sample fractured again at step 73. AE
counts decreased fast in large range. Then AE counts are
mainly decreasing till the load end. Fig. 3 show the
changing AE counts of the entire course. The catastrophe
characteristic in the damage process is that the AE rate
maximum at the failure is bigger than other’s in large
scale. When the load approached to maximum, AE counts
increase rapidly and reached the maximum in very short
time. AE counts decreased fast along with the sample
catastrophe. Then the AE rate began to increase
progressively till next catastrophe. 0 20 40 60 80 100 0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 A E c o u n t s Load steps B

Figure 4. AE counts of step 60 (magnified 100 times).

Figure 5. Stress map of step 59.

Figure 6. Stress map of step 60.

Fig. 4 is AE counts of step 60 magnified by 100 times. It

ABSTRACT: This paper is intended as a contribution to the

knowledge of the mineralogical and physical characteristics
as

well as their variations with the state of weathering for

the rock materials belonging to the Baixo Alentejo Flysch
Group, in the

south of Portugal. The study was made by using both shales

and greywackes that constitute these flysch-type deposits.
Samples

of these two rock materials, with different states of

weathering, were collected during a planned fieldwork
survey. A laboratory

tests programme was then carried out, which included

mineralogical analysis by X-ray diffraction and physical
tests namely

dry density, porosity, quick absorption, slake-durability

and methylene blue adsorption tests. Considerations are
drawn in the

paper about the results of the study and some correlations

are established between the different physical parameter
values and

also between some of these and the mineralogical

characteristics of the shales and greywackes.

1 INTRODUCTION

The establishment of correlations between different parame

ters within the scope of the study of rock materials seems

to be

very important task because it emphasizes the tendencies on

the behaviour of the rock materials and allows the

assessment

of the most suitable parameters for their characterization.

2 GEOLOGICAL SETTING

The rock material selected for this study belongs to the

Baixo

Alentejo Flysch Group (BAF), a stratigraphic unit with an

approximate area of 8000 Km 2 , which extends across more

than a half of the South Portuguese Zone depositional area

(Figure 1).

This group comprises gravity flow sediments that form

a continuous turbiditic succession (Oliveira, 1990). Sedi

mentological and stratigraphic characteristics indicate

three

basin-wide formations: the Mértola Formation of late Visean

age, the Mira Formation of latest Visean to Namurian age and

the Brejeira Formation of mid Namurian to early Westphalian

age (Oliveira, Horn & Paproth, 1979; Oliveira, 1983). These

lithostratigraphic units of the BAF are constituted, as a

rule, by
thick sequences of turbidites where greywackes beds, usually

of few tens of centimetres thick but sometimes reaching some

metres thick, with lenses or pockets of fine grained conglom

erates, are intercalated with thin, black / dark-grey shale

beds.

3 TESTING PROGRAMME AND RESULTS

A set of samples of shale and greywacke which represent dif

ferent states of weathering, belonging to the Mértola, Mira

and Brejeira formations of BAF, was collected in excavation

slopes of some main roads and from exploratory boreholes,

in the Alentejo region in the South of Portugal (Figure 1).

The

samples are fully described in Pinho (2003). Figure 1. Site

location. The mineralogical composition of shales and
greywackes is similar, with the relative proportion of the
occurring minerals varying. Both rock types are formed by
quartz, feldspar (mainly calcium feldspars), micas and clay
minerals, particularly kaolinite, illite and chlorite. In
some samples, carbonates (mainly calcite, and siderite),
pyrite and haematite occur in smaller percentages. The
greywackes are formed mainly by quartz and calcium feldspar
that were involved by a cemented material mainly composed
of phyllosilicates, but also of calcite, siderite and
pyrite.

Table 1. Physical parameters in shale samples.

SlakeMethylene

Dry Void durability blue

density Porosity index index adsorption

(kg/m 3 ) (%) (%) (%) (g/100 g)

1968–2631 4.4–29.6 0.4–16.7 65–99 0.4–1.32

Table 2. Physical parameters in greywackes samples.

SlakeMethylene
Dry Void durability blue

density Porosity index index adsorption

(kg/m 3 ) (%) (%) (%) (g/100 g)

2051–2719 1.3–25.5 0.1–10.3 88–99 0.1–1.33

The shales, on the contrary, are mainly constituted by phyl

losilicates, namely micas and clay minerals, with smaller

amounts of quartz and feldspar. In smaller percentages,

calcite, siderite and haematite were identified.

Laboratory testing was carried out to determine the fun

damental physical properties and index parameters of the

rock material (dry density, porosity, void index and slake

durability index) according with the methods suggested by

ISRM (1979), and the methylene blue adsorption by means of

the stain test according with the method suggested by AFNOR

(1993), which are described in detail by Pinho, (2003). The

results obtained in the physical tests showing the range of

values, are summarized in Table 1 for shales and Table 2 for

greywackes.

4 CORRELATIONS OBTAINED

Statistical analyses were applied for shale samples and

greywacke samples in order to evaluate the physical tests

results and obtain the best correlations between the

physical

properties and related index parameters.

In the Figure 2 the more significant correlations obtained

are presented, showing the linear correlation coefficient

for

each relationship between the physical properties.

4.1 Dry density and porosity

The relationship between dry density (ρ d ), and porosity

(n),

for the rock materials under study is expected, as the

greater

the porosity of the rock the lower should be its density.

How

ever, the distinct geotechnical behaviours of the shales and

greywackes of BAF justify this correlation attempt.

It is verified a very significant relationship between dry

density and porosity for shales and for greywackes with high

linear correlation coefficient (r = 0.97) for both rock

materi

als. As shown in Figures 2 such correlations follow a

similar

tendency for both rock types, although the shales present a

little more scatter of the data than the greywackes due to

its

more heterogeneity.

Sabatakakis, Tsiambaos & Koukis (1993) and Kanji &

Galván (1998), have obtained similar linear relationships

between these two physical properties for different types of

rock materials. 4.2 Dry density and void index As shown in

Figure 2 the relationship between dry density (ρ d ), and
void index (I v ), with a significant linear correlations
(r = 0.86 for shales and r = 0.89 for greywackes), is very
similar to that one that is verified between dry density
and porosity because this index is nothing but a measure of
porosity of the rock. This relationship indicate that the
quick absorption technique method used in this study to
determine the void index, is a good way to predict dry
density and also the porosity of the rock materials under
study because it has the advantage of being a very simple
and rapid test. Sabatakakis, Tsiambaos & Koukis (1993),
have obtained similar linear relationships between dry
density and void index for Neogene soft marly rocks of
Athens basin. Some scatter of the data, mainly in
greywackes, may correspond to cases where the voids between
mineral grains might not be continuous due to partial
filling of cementing material that leads to closing of
voids. 4.3 Slake-durability index and porosity As shown in
Figure 2 the slake-durability index (Id 2 ), correspondent
to the second cycle of slaking, show a decrease of its
values with the increasing of porosity (n), more emphasized
in the greywackes than in the shales. The relationship
between these two physical parameters with a significant
linear correlations (r = 0.85 for shales and r = 0.86 for
greywackes), is very similar to that one that can be
expected between the slake-durability index and void index.
4.4 Slake-durability index and methylene blue adsorption
The methylene blue adsorption was carried out by the stain
test because it is a very simple technique. As the
methylene blue is only adsorbed by the clay minerals, it
allows to measuring its hydrophilic capacity and in this
way to characterize the clay fraction activity and quantity
of the rock materials without being necessary to isolate it
of the rest of the material. The methylene blue adsorption
is appropriate to assess the degradations of the rock such
as decrease of strength, increase of the volume by
expansion, retraction by drying and decrease of its
durability. The relationship between slake durability index
(Id 2 ) and the methylene blue adsorption value (V am )
were analysed for the set of samples of shale and
greywacke. As shown in Figure 2 for both shales and
greywackes, the samples with high clay minerals content or
those ones more weathered in which the clay minerals are
more deteriorated due to the weathering process, present
low values of durability. The linear relashionship between
slake-durability index and methylene blue adsorption value
showing a decrease of the former with the increase of the
latter presents a correlation coefficient value of 0.90 for
greywackes and 0.73 for shales. The scatter observed in
shales may be attributed the durability of shales is not
dependent only to their mineralogical composition mainly
constituted by water sensitive materials like micas and
clay minerals but also to their foliated texture. 5
CONCLUSIONS With the aim of contributing to the knowledge
of the physical characteristics of the shales and
greywackes that constitute Shales Dry density (ρ d ) -
Porosity (n) r = 0,97 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 0 5 10
15 20 25 30 n(%) ρ d ( K g / m 3 ) ρ d = 2753,9 - 27,46 n
Greywackes Slake-durab. index (Id 2 ) - Methylene blue
ads.(V am ) Id 2 = 99,999 - 9,158 Vam r = 0,90 70 80 90
100 110 0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,2 1,4 V am (g/100g
fines) I d 2 ( % ) Shales Dry density (ρ d ) - Void index
(I v ) ρ d = 2516,8 - 41,97 I v r = 0,86 1800 2000 2200
2400 2600 2800 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 I v (%) ρ d ( K g
/ m 3 ) ρ d = 2612,5 - 65,15 I v r = 0,89 1800 2000 2200
2400 2600 2800 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 I v (%) ρ d ( K g /
m 3 ) Greywackes Dry density (ρ d ) - Void index (I v )
Greywackes Dry density (ρ d ) - Porosity (n) ρ d = 2700 -
25,89 n r = 0,97 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 0 5 10 15
20 25 30 n(%) ρ d ( K g / m 3 ) Id 2 = 101,68 - 0,397 n
r = 0,85 70 80 90 100 110 5 10 15 20 25 30 n (%) I d 2 ( %
) Shales Slake-durability index (Id 2 ) - Porosity (n) 0
Greywackes Slake-durability index (Id 2 ) - Porosity (n)
Id 2 = 105,22 - 0,899 n r = 0,86 70 80 90 100 110 0 5 10
15 20 25 30 n (%) I d 2 ( % ) Shales Slake-durab. index (Id
2 ) - Methylene blue ads. (V am ) Id 2 = 100,66 - 7,097 V
am r = 0,73 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8
1,0 1,2 1,4 V am (g/100g fines) I d 2 ( % )

Figure 2. Correlations between physical properties for

shales and greywackes.

the flysch-type deposits of the Baixo Alentejo in the south

of

Portugal, as well as their variations with the state of

weather

ing, some statistical relationships are presented between

the

different physical parameters and also between some of these

parameters and the mineralogical features of these two rock

materials.

The mineralogical composition of shales and greywackes

is similar, but the relative proportion of the occurring

miner

als varying. In relation to the clay minerals, kaolinite is

the

predominant mineral in both rock materials. Illite is more

abundant than chlorite for the shales, and, on the contrary,

chlorite is predominant relatively to illite for the

greywackes. Physical properties such as dry density,
porosity and void index show a very significant correlation
between them and are according to the theoretical and
expected relationships. In this way, the quick absorption
technique used in this study for void index determination
seems to be a good index test for the estimation of the dry
density and the porosity and therefore, for the preliminary
evaluation of rock quality. The wide range of values for
dry density and porosity show rock materials with different
compactness as result of distinct states of weathering
given that the weathering leads to the increase of the
volume of voids and therefore, an increase of porosity. It
is verified that for a given state of weathering

the values for dry density is bigger for greywackes than

for shales showing that the compactness is biggest for the

greywackes.

The relationships presented in this paper between slake

durabitity index and others parameters like porosity and

methylene blue adsorption, for the rock materials under

study,

mainly for shales, show some scatter of the data that may

be explained by the fact that the durability of these materi

als depends so much from the type and quantity of the clay

minerals as from the texture of the rock.

AFNOR 1993. Measuring the argillaceous fraction activity

and quan

tity. Determination of the methylene blue value of a soil

by means

of the stain test. French Standard, NF P 94–068, Nov. 1993,

8p.

AFNOR. Paris.

ISRM 1979. Suggested methods for determining water content,

porosity, density, absorption and related properties and
swelling

and slake durability index properties. International

Journal of

Rock Mechanics Mining Sciences and Geomechanics Abstracts,

16, (2), 141–156. Kanji, M.A. & Galván, V.R. 1998.

Correlation of properties of soft rocks. The Geotechnics of
Hard Soils – Soft Rocks. Proc. 2nd Int. Symp. Hard Soils –
Soft Rocks, Naples, Italy, 1998, vol.1, pp. 239–244.
Oliveira, J.T 1983. The marine Carboniferous of South
Portugal: a stratigraphic and sedimentological approach. In
Sousa, M.J.L & Oliveira, J.T. (eds), The Carboniferous of
Portugal. Memórias dos Serviços Geológicos de Portugal, 29,
Lisboa, 3–37. Oliveira, J.T. 1990. South Portuguese Zone.
Stratigraphy and Synsedimentary Tectonism. In R.D.
Dallmeyer & E. Martinez Garcia (eds), Pre-Mesozoic Geology
of Iberia, Springer-Verlag, 334–347. Oliveira, J.T, Horn,
M. & Paproth, E. 1979. Preliminary note on the stratigraphy
of the Baixo Alentejo Flysch Group, Carboniferous of
Portugal, and on the palaeogeographic development compared
to corresponding units in northwest Germany. Comunicações
dos Serviços Geológicos de Portugal, 65, 151–168.
Pinho,A.B. 2003. Geotechnical characterization of weak rock
masses the Baixo Alentejo Flysch Group. PhD. Thesis.
University of Évora, 272p. (in Portuguese). Sabatakakis,
N., Tsiambaos, G. & Koukis, G. 1998. Index properties of
marly rocks of the Athens basin, Greece. Geotechnical
Engineering of Hard Soils – Soft Rocks. Proc. Int. Symp.
Proc. Int. Symp. ISSMFE / IAEG / ISRM, Athens, Greece,
1993, vol. 1, pp. 275–279. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 The dilation potential of
rough rock joints under CNL and CNS conditions M. Pötsch &
M. Blümel Institute for Rock Mechanics and Tunnelling, Graz
University of Technology, Austria T. Schieg ILF Consulting
Engineers, Innsbruck, Austria C. Seywald Consulting
Engineers Laabmayr & Partner ZT GmbH, Salzburg, Austria

ABSTRACT: Since rock joints play an important role for the

determination of the rock mass behaviour, the proper
estimation of

the joint’s shear strength and behaviour is critical. The

dilation of rough rock joints significantly influences the
shear behaviour,
especially if a change of the boundary condition takes
place. This paper outlines the basic stages of the shear
process and

focuses on the particularities of confined shearing. A

normal stiffness model is established which allows
determining the total

dilation of a rough joint under confined conditions and, in

consequence, separating dilational and frictional
contributions from

the shear resistance. The dilation potential is introduced

as a measure for the potential normal displacement of a
joint under

applied normal stress and stiffness. A series of direct

shear tests of joint replicas under varying normal
stiffness, initial normal

stress and shear directions shows the influence of these

parameters on the peak dilation angle and the dilation
potential.

1 INTRODUCTION

Natural rock joints usually show significant displacements

perpendicular to the shear plane in direct shear due to the

irregularity of the surface. This phenomenon is referred to

as joint dilation. The dilation influences the behaviour of

the

joint along the shear displacement and contributes to the

joint

shear resistance (Patton 1966, Ladanyi & Archambault 1970).

Dilation obviously depends on the morphology of the joint

sur

face, on the asperity strength and on the stress condition

on

the joint. Joints in a rock mass are exposed to different

bound
ary conditions. Shear displacements of unsupported blocks

at the surface typically result in an unconfined normal dis

placement in which the normal loads are not affected by the

normal displacement. On the other hand, joints around under

ground excavations are confined by the surrounding rock

mass. Hence, shear displacements along these joints cause

normal displacements which affect the normal load on the

joint due to the confinement (Saeb & Amadei 1992, Seidel

& Haberfield 1995, Indraratna & Haque 2000). Due to the

variation of the stresses the dilation develops differently

from

the unconfined situation.

The consideration of joint confinement in a mechanical

model is simulated by a spring which is usually referred to

as

the joint normal stiffness. Conditions with stiffness

boundary

conditions are denoted as constant normal stiffness

conditions

(CNS) while unconfined conditions are constant normal load

conditions (CNL). It will be shown that the assumption of a

purely constant external normal stiffness in the mechanical

analysis, e.g. Dong & Pan (1996), is not capable to describe

the joint shear behaviour properly.

This paper shows the results of a series of direct shear

tests

of joint replicas with the focus on the dilational character

istics. The tests have been performed with varying external

normal stiffness, initial normal stress and different shear
directions. In order to properly analyse the shear tests, a
multi-spring model is used to account for the normal
stiffness characteristics. 2 THE DILATION AS AN INTEGRAL
PART OF THE SHEAR BEHAVIOUR 2.1 The unconfined shear
process The shear process is initiated after loading the
joint sample with a normal stress. From a general point of
view, it can be distinguished into three stages. First of
all, the sample shows an elastic behaviour. Deformation
includes predominantly shear strains while slip on the
joint does not take place. The shear stress mobilises with
shear displacement leading to a rotation of the resultant
force towards the shear direction. The second stage starts
once the inclination of the resultant force exceeds the
basic friction angle of the joint (The basic friction angle
is the friction angle of a flat surface). In this stage the
dominating deformation takes place on the joint. Slip
occurs on flat portions of the irregular joint surface.
With increasing shear stress the portions on which slip
occurs become gradually steeper. Kinematically, normal
displacements have to take place at the slip surfaces. In
this stage the dilation increases steadily. Due to the
joint slip the stress concentrates at steep asperities. If
they cannot sustain the stress any more, they are sheared
off. The resistance of individual asperities against
shearing depends apart from the material properties on the
geometry of the asperities. Due to the frictional
properties of the joint surface there is an upper limit of
asperity angles on which sliding can occur. Asperities
steeper than this limit are sheared off even though there
is no normal stress in the shear plane. In this stage the
shear stress approaches its maximum.

The sliding process on the asperities causes both a stress

concentration and a reduction of the contact area on the

asper

ities. Hence, with increasing shear displacement more and

more asperities fail. After a certain shear displacement a

max

imum dilation rate has been reached, which corresponds to

the maximum shear stress. Beyond this limit the joint

surface

starts degrading with a simultaneous decrease of the dila

tion rate. The surface becomes smoother due to the failure

of the asperities and filling of the void with crushed and

com

pacted material. The average normal stress remains constant

throughout the entire shear displacement.

2.2 Confined shearing

Under confined conditions normal displacements affect the

normal stress. The joint dilation leads to an increase of

nor

mal stress while contraction causes a normal stress

decrease.

In consequence, a variation of the normal stress affects the

behaviour and failure modes of the asperities. On the one

hand, higher normal stresses ease the elastic deformations

of

the asperities (Seidel & Haberfield 1995) and increase the

joint contact area (Gentier et al. 2000). On the other hand,

increased normal stresses rotate the resultant towards the

joint

normal, thus impeding slip on the asperities. The increased

stresses finally cause a higher portion of asperities to be

sheared off.

Modern shear test systems, as described in chapter

4.1.3, allow complex test procedures. They are usually

servo-controlled and facilitate computer-controlled interac

tion between displacement sensors and load pistons (Blümel

et al. 2002). A CNS procedure includes a variation of the

normal load depending on the sensor feedback of the normal

displacements. The normal load increases proportionally to

the measured displacement increment according to expression

eq(1) for constant normal stiffness.

v ∗ is the measured normal displacement increment (sensor

feedback). K ext is referred to as the external normal

stiffness

and can be zero, finite and infinite. A zero normal

stiffness

does not affect the normal load and such test procedure is

referred to as constant normal load. In the case of an

infinite

external normal stiffness the normal load variation does not

allow any normal displacement. Nevertheless, the variation

of the normal load is finite. In the test apparatus the

normal

displacement is measured outside the shear box in which the

sample is installed. The variation of the normal load causes

also displacements of the sample and the joint.These

displace

ments are controlled by the internal normal stiffness k i

which

is physically the deformability of the sample. They cannot

be

measured by displacement sensors, since they are suppressed

by the internal normal stiffness.

The shear behaviour is governed by the total dilation which

occurs on the joint. In order to account for the total

dilation
a multi spring model has to be considered (Figure 1). Since

the normal stiffness usually shows a nonlinear behaviour,

the

multi-spring model allows the mathematical treatment of this

phenomenon. It also eases the combination of the external

and

internal normal stiffness.

Figure 1 shows that the increment of the total normal dis

placement taking place directly in the joint can be

obtained by

expression (2). Figure 1. Triple spring model of a joint. K

ext is the external normal stiffness while k 2 and k 3 are
the internal normal stiffnesses with possibly different
characteristics. For instance, k 2 describes a linear
behaviour and k 3 a hyperbolic (Bandis et al. 1985). K tot
is the total normal stiffness and considers several
stiffnesses and characteristics. For a triple spring model
it can be obtained by expression (3). 3 THE DILATION
POTENTIAL It has been shown in the previous chapter that
the normal stiffness of the joint as well as the
confinement influence the mechanisms involved with joint
dilation. In order to objectively compare the influence of
the normal stiffness and initial normal load on the joint
dilation it is required to combine both effects into one
representative parameter. The dilation potential has been
introduced to describe the joint’s capability for normal
displacement. For CNL conditions the dilation potential is
identical with the measured final normal displacement. For
CNS conditions it contains both, measured normal
displacements and those compensated by joint and sample
deformation. The dilation rate of rock joints is usually
related to the dilation angle i at a certain shear
displacement. Expressing the dilation rate by means of an
angle eases the combination of frictional and dilational
components of the shear resistance (Bandis et al. 1985).
The dilation potential can be obtained by integration of
the dilation rate over the shear displacement. Expression
(4) represents the general form. I dil is the dilation
potential of a rough joint. It is a measure for the maximum
normal displacements which can be achieved

Figure 2. The shear behaviour of a confined shear test. The

upper
diagram includes the total shear resistance, the frictional
contribu

tion, and the measured and total dilation rate in terms of

an angle.

The shaded area is the dilation potential. The lower

diagram includes

the corresponding normal and shear stress.

during shearing a joint under certain boundary conditions.

Its

unit is [m].

Figure 2 shows the general relationships between the joint

shear behaviour and the dilation potential for a confined

shear

test. It is an example with an external normal stiffness of

5000 MPa/m. The upper diagram shows the shear resistance

in terms of friction and dilation angle throughout the shear

displacement. The upper black line is the shear resistance

containing frictional and dilational parts (ϕ+ i). It is

derived

from the shear and normal stress lines in the lower diagram

in Figure 2. The upper grey line represents the

contribution of

friction to the shear resistance (ϕ basic ).The difference

between

both lines, the grey shaded area, is the effect of dilation

on the shear behaviour. The lower grey line is the dilation

angle determined from measured normal and shear displace

ments (i measured ). The black line is the dilation angle

which
considers the measured displacements and the internal dis

placements (i total ). It can be clearly seen, that the

difference

between the two lines is approximately 5 ◦ at the peak

dilation

angle.

Expression 4) suggests integrating from a shear displace

ment of zero to infinity. In a shear test the upper limit is

obviously the maximum shear displacement which can be

performed by the test apparatus. Figure 2 indicates joint

contraction starting from approximately 12 mm of the shear

displacement. The behaviour change also poses an integra

tion limit for two reasons: On the one hand, the contraction

decreases the dilation potential (which should represent the

maximum possible dilation). On the other hand, this contrac

tive behaviour is a result of a change in the failure

mechanism

of the sample. In this case the lateral parts of the sample

break

away and form a slope on which the sample can contract.

Table 1. Mechanical parameters of the sample material.
Parameter Mean Standard deviation UCS [MPa] 54.2 5.9 σ t
[MPa] 2.0 0.1 E reload [MPa] 21500 1340 E unload [MPa]
22440 1230 ν [-] 0.13 – ϕ basic [ ◦ ] 39 – 4 SHEAR TESTS
4.1 Shear test series For this study 31 individual direct
shear tests on samples with the same joint roughness have
been performed under different initial normal stresses and
normal stiffnesses.Additionally, the samples have been
sheared in four different directions with an initial normal
stress of 0.5 MPa. 4.1.1 Sample material All test samples
consist of a prefabricated mixture of anchor mortar with a
maximum grain size of 1 mm. It shows a low potential for
shrinkage. Table 1 highlights the mechanical properties of
the sample material with an age of 17 days determined from
unconfined compression tests, Brazilian tests, indirect
tension tests, and multi-stage shear tests. 4.1.2 Joint
surface The joint surface is a replica from an anisotropic
“Stainzer Plattengneis” which is a mylonitic gneiss with a
distinct planar syn-metomorphic fabric. The characteristic
features of this gneiss are a near-perfect tabular
possility parallel to the tectono-metamorphic layering and
mineral alignment, and a penetrative stretching lineation
(Brosch et al. 2000). The surface has been characterised
using the JRC and a 3D surface description (Grasselli et
al. 2002) parallel to the shear directions.The shear
directions are shown in Figure 3 in which the arrows
indicate the direction of the top piece. The JRC has been
determined in two orthogonal directions (0–2 and 1–3) by 20
people by visual comparison following the procedure after
Beer et al. (2002). For direction 0–2 the mean of the JRC
has been assessed with 6.6 with a standard deviation of
1.8, while for direction 1–3 it is 7.9 with a standard
deviation of 1.9. Grasselli’s method suggests the
characterisation of the surface morphology by the
relationship between the potential contact area and an
apparent threshold dip angle. It is a fully 3D approach,
thus it is possible to consider different shear directions.
The function describing this relationship requires three
parameters: the maximum potential contact areaA 0 , the
maximum apparent dip angle� ∗ max and the roughness
coefficientC. The parameters are derived from a digital
surface model which can be obtained from mechanical or
laser profilometers, laser scanners or 3D imaging systems.
In this study the image-based 3D measurement and assessment
system “ShapeMetriX3D” (Gaich et al. 2006) has been
applied. The surface parameters have been determined for
the shear directions indicated in Figure 3 and are
summarised in Table 2. Figure 3 also shows the surface
irregularity in terms of apparent asperity dip relative to
shear direction 1. The grey scale corresponds to the
apparent dip angles (see grey scale chart). The roughness
amplitude is 7 mm.

Table 2. Surface parameters of the tested joint after

Grasselli

determined by Schieg (2006). A 0 ∗ max C

Shear direction [-] [ ◦ ] [-]

0 0.51 58 2.23

1 0.52 47 1.77

2 0.48 57 2.34
3 0.47 70 2.87

Figure 3. Shear directions and surface irregularity. The

arrows

indicate the shear directions of the top piece. The grey

shading

corresponds to the asperity dip relative to shear direction

1.

4.1.3 Direct shear system

The used shear test system provides a maximum normal force

of 500 kN and maximum shear force of +250/−160 kN. Spec

imens up to 200 mm in dimension can be tested in direct

shear, with the capability to run tests with different

boundary

conditions, programmable control processes, as well as high

accuracy measurements of displacements and forces. Besides

the displacement measurements in both pistons, 4 vertical

and

2 horizontal linear variable differential transducers

(LVDTs)

are used to record the displacements.They are positioned at

the

shear box in the initial specimen joint shear plane in

multiple

locations. Horizontal motion is guided by a precision linear

bearing, which is designed for low friction and a single

degree

of freedom (translation only). The long wheelbase of the lin

ear guide bearing provides resistance to overturning moments

that might be induced by joint asperities. The maximum shear

displacement is 25 mm (Blümel & Bezat 1998).

4.1.4 Test procedures

In this study the test procedure consists of normal loading

loops, the shear test and a controlled unloading of the

sample.

The normal loading loops are primarily used for the determi

nation of the internal normal stiffness and to ensure a

robust

load transfer from the load unit to the sample. The

controlled

unloading of the sample provides information about the varia

tion of the internal normal stiffness of unsheared and

sheared

samples. Table 3. Varied parameters of the shear procedure

for shear direction 1. Initial normal stress 0.25 – 0.50 –
1.0 σ ni [MPa] 2.50 – 5.00 External normal stiffness 0 –
500 – 5000 K ext [MPa/m] ∞ (no dilation allowed) Figure 4.
Direct shear system showing the shear box, loading seat,
and LVDTs. Schieg (2006) performed two normal loading loops
between 0.4 and 1 MPa. A linear characteristic of the
internal normal stiffness could be derived from these
loops. Seywald (2006) performed several normal loading
loops with a stepwise increase of the normal load after
every second loop. The last loop has been performed three
times. The lower limit of the normal load has been 0.23 MPa
while the steps of the upper limit have been 1, 4, 7 and 15
MPa (1, 4, 10 and 20 MPa for tests with σ ni = 5 MPa).
These loops allowed the determination of the nonlinear
characteristic of the internal normal stiffness. The shear
tests have been conducted with several combinations of
initial normal stress, external normal stiffness and shear
direction. Shear tests in the shear directions from Figure
3 have been performed with σ ni = 0.5 MPa and with all
external normal stiffnesses from Table 3. Another test
series in direction 1 combined the parameters from table
3.The shear rate has been 0.4 mm/min for all tests with a
maximum shear displacement of 25 mm. 4.2 Results The shear
tests have been evaluated with respect to the influence of
the shear direction, the initial normal stress and the
external normal stiffness on the dilational behaviour of
the joint. As shown in chapter 3 dilation varies with the
shear displacement.Therefore, two characteristic values for
the dilation are presented: the peak dilation rate in terms
of the peak dilation angle, and the dilation potential.
4.2.1 Peak dilation angle The peak dilation angle
corresponds to the maximum shear stress relative to the
current normal stress. It decreases with increasing initial
normal stress and normal stiffness. This decrease can be
predominantly explained by the failure of larger asperities
under higher stresses. Figure 5 shows the peak dilation
angle versus the corresponding normal stress for the tests
in direction 1. Grey dots are values from Schieg (2006),
while black dots are values from Seywald (2006). No
significant discrepancy between both data sets can be
observed, even though the normal loading loops prior to
shearing have been different. With increasing normal stress
the peak dilation angle decreases from 21 ◦ to 5 ◦ .
Expression (5) represents

Figure 5. Stiffness-corrected peak dilation angles vs.

correspond

ing normal stress. The solid line is a regression line

using expression

(5) with varying JRC while the dashed line has been
predicted using

a JRC determined from visual comparison.

the dilational part of the shear strength criterion after

Barton & Choubey (1977). The solid line in Figure 5 is the

result of a regression with the data set using a JCS of

54.2 MPa.

It gives the least error with a JRC of 8.8.The average

deviation

is 1.3 ◦ . The dashed line is the prediction of the peak

dilation

angle using a JCS of 54.2 MPa and a JRC of 7.9 (see 4.1.2).

Although expression (5) has been derived from CNL tests, it

shows good agreement with the data obtained from CNS tests,

if the peak dilation angle considers the total normal

stiffness.
In this example the prediction of the dilation angle using a

JRC determined by visual comparison shows a good accuracy.

However, it should be kept in mind that the determined JRC

is

a mean value of 20 individual estimations with a

considerable

spread. It is also derived from a linear profile and does

not

account for the 3D properties of the surface. Thus, a more

objective assessment of the roughness properties would be

desirable.

4.2.2 Dilation potential

The dilation potential is a measure for the final normal dis

placements due to shearing under applied normal stress and

stiffness. Figure 6 show the determined dilation potential

from

shear tests. The data considers the total normal stiffness

of

the sample. The grey bars are data from Schieg (2006) while

the black bars are from Seywald (2006). Each value is the

result of a combination of σ ni and K ext . The dilation

potential

decreases from 2.76 mm to 0.3 mm with increasing initial nor

mal stress and external normal stiffness. For comparison,

the

difference in elevation of the asperieties in the joint

surface is

approximately 7 mm.

The grey bars show a different behaviour from the black

ones. The shear test with σ ni = 0.5 MPa with zero normal
stiff

ness has been performed as a multi-stage shear test. Several

discrete increases of the normal stress led to a change of

the

boundary conditions and caused a significant decrease of the

dilation potential.

The CNS shear tests with σ ni = 0.5 MPa have been per

formed with different normal loading loops. For higher

external normal stiffness the normal stresses during shear

ing exceeded the normal stress level from the normal loading

loops. Hence, the sample behaved softer (first loading vs.

reloading) than in the other cases. Additionally, the normal

stiffness has been linearly considered (Figure 7). The tests

show the strong influence of the normal stiffness on the

dilation potential. Figure 6. Dilation potential for

varying initial normal stress and external normal
stiffness.Values from black bars consider a nonlinear and
grey bars a linear normal stiffness characteristic. Figure
7. Typical nonlinear and linear normal stiffness
characteristics determined from normal loading loops. 9
loops preceded the nonlinear and 2 loops the linear data
set.The data sets show unloading branches. Figure 8 shows
the dilation potential for shearing in the directions
indicated in Figure 3 (σ ni = 0.5 MPa). For the CNS tests
it shows only slight variations except for direction 0.
Since the CNL tests have been performed as multi-stage
tests, they cannot be directly compared due to discrete
variation of the normal stress. 5 CONCLUSION This paper
shows the influence of different normal stresses and
stiffnesses on the dilational behaviour of rough rock
joints. The dilation has been studied in a series of direct
shear tests on joint replicas under varying normal stress
and stiffness, and for different shear directions as well.
The behaviour of characteristic parameters for dilation,
such as the peak dilation
Figure 8. Dilation potential for shearing in four
orthogonal direc

tions. σ ni = 0.5 MPa. The CNL tests have been performed as

multi-stage tests.

angle and the introduced dilation potential, has been evalu

ated. For the investigated joint a decrease of the peak

dilation

angle from 21 ◦ to 5 ◦ and the dilation potential from 2.76

mm

to 0.3 mm has been observed for increasing normal stress and

stiffness. It should be noted that the conclusions refer to

labo

ratory tests. For engineering applications the scale effect

has

to be considered which was out of the scope of the paper.

Direct shear tests are used for the determination of shear

parameters of joints. Suitable parameters can only be

obtained

if the applied test boundary conditions meet the boundary

conditions in the rock mass. Stiffness controlled shear

proce

dures together with the determination of the sample’s normal

stiffness characteristic are used to provide shear

parameters

under realistic boundary conditions. The characterisation of

the joint surface allows relating the shear behaviour with

joint

roughness and boundary conditions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work has been funded by 3G Software & Measurement

GmbH and the FFG Austrian Industrial Research Promotion

Agency Ltd.

Bandis, S. C., Barton, N. R. & Christianson, M. 1985.

Application

of a new numerical model of joint behaviour to rock

mechanics

problems. In Stephansson (ed.), Proc. Int. Symp.

Fundamentals of

Rock Joints. Björkliden, 15–20 September 1985, 345–355.

Barton, N. & Choubey, V. 1977. The shear strength of rock
joints in theory and practice. Rock Mechanics 10(1–2):
1–54. Beer, A. J., Stead, D. & Coggan, J. S. 2002.
Estimation of the Joint Roughness Coefficient (JRC) by
Visual Comparison. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering
35(1): 65–74. Blümel, M. & Bezat, F. A. 1998. Advanced
control techniques for direct shear testing of jointed rock
specimens. In Marr & Fairhurst (eds.), Nondestructive and
Automated Testing for Soil and Rock Properties. ASTM STP
1350, Am. Soc. Test. Mat., 276–289. Blümel, M., Button, E.
A. & Pötsch, M. 2002. Steifigkeitsabhängigies
Scherverhalten von Fels. Felsbau Rock and Soil Engineering
20(3): 22–32. Brosch, F. J., Schachner, K., Blümel, M.,
Fasching, A. & Fritz, H. 2000. Preliminary investigation
results on fabrics and related physical properties of an
anisotropic gneiss. Journal of Structural Geology
22(11–12): 1773–1787. Dong, J.-J. & Pan,Y.-W. 1996. A
Hierarchical Model of Rough Rock Joints Based on
Micromechanics. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech.
Abstr. 33(2): 111–123. Gaich, A., Pötsch, M. & Schubert, W.
2006. Basics, principles and application of 3D imaging
systems with conventional and high-resolution cameras. In
Tonon & Kottenstette (eds.), ARMA Workshop on Laser and
Photogrammetric Methods for Rock Face Characterization,
Golden, Colorado, 17–18 June 2006, under preparation.
Gentier, S., Riss, J. Archambault, G., Flamand, R. &
Hopkins, D. 2000. Influence of fracture geometry on shear
behaviour. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 37: 161–174.
Grasselli, G., Wirth, J. & Egger, P. 2002. Quantitative
threedimensional description of a rough surface and
parameter evolution with shearing. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 39, 789–800. Indraratna, B. & Haque, A. 2000. Shear
Behaviour of Rock Joints. Balkema: Rotterdam, Brookfield.
Ladanyi, B. & Archambault, G. 1970. Simulation of shear
behavior of a jointed rock mass. In Proc. 11th Symp. on
Rock Mechanics: Theory and Practice, AIME, 105–125: New
York. Patton, F. D. 1966. Multiple modes of shear failure
in rock. In Proc. 1st Congr. Int. Soc. Rock Mech., Vol. 1,
509–513: Lisboa. Saeb, S. & Amadei, B. 1992. Modelling rock
Joints under Shear and Normal Loading. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 29(3): 267–278. Seidel, J. P. &
Haberfield, C. M. 1995. The Application of Energy
Principles to the Determination of the Sliding Resistance
of Rock Joints. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 28(4):
211–226. Seywald, C. 2006. Investigations on the
relationship between surface roughness and dilation of rock
joints in direct shear. Diploma Thesis, Institute for Rock
Mechanics and Tunnelling, Graz University of Technology,
Austria. Schieg, T. 2006. Investigations on the shear
behaviour of artificial rock joints. Diploma Thesis,
Institute for Rock Mechanics and Tunnelling, Graz
University of Technology, Austria. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 The effect of scale on the
surface damage and asperity degradation of rock joint N.
Fardin Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: During the shear sliding under normal and shear

load, the both surfaces of a rock fracture are subjected to

damage when the yield strength of fracture is reached.

Laboratory shear tests on samples with different sizes
showed that the

real contact area is only a small portion of the total area

and the contact areas for the same rough surface vary when
changing

applied normal load. The common characteristic among all

those contact areas is that they are located in the
steepest zones

facing the shear direction. The results also show that the
structural non-stationarity of roughness controls the
damage zones

and asperities degradation of the fracture surfaces and the

contact areas of the fracture largely depend to the sample
size. It is

concluded that for accurate characterization of the

morphological and mechanical properties of rock joints in
the laboratory

and field scales, samples with size equal to or larger than

stationarity threshold are required and samples of smaller
size are

not representative for the natural rock joints at the field

scales.

1 INTRODUCTION

It is well-known that surface roughness of rock fractures is

structurally non-stationary at small scales and the

structural

non-stationarity of surface roughness mainly affects

accurate

characterization of the morphological properties of rock

joints

(Fardin et al., 2001). Non-stationarity of natural fracture

sur

faces means that the roughness features change with respect

to their position and mostly occur over a broad range of

scales.

This paper investigates the effect of scale on the surface

damage and asperity degradation of rock joint by performing

several mechanical shear tests on samples having different

sizes.

2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

2.1 Sample preparation

A pair of silicon-rubber moulds was made from surfaces of a

parent joint sample (Lindfors, 1996) consisting of both

lower

and upper surface parts. High-strength concrete replicas of

the parent joint sample having different sizes were then

made.

The concrete used to produce the replicas is a premixture

high

strength concrete, Densitop ST, which is normally used for

very high strength industrial floors.

The water cement ratio is between 0.2–0.5, according to

the manufacturer, which is rather low compared with nor

mal concrete. The concrete samples were casted carefully to

avoid entrapment of air near the joint surface and

conditioned

with moisture of 100%. Figure 1 shows the method of sample

preparation.

The mechanical properties of the replicas, determined by

Olsson (1998) through different uniaxial and Brazilian tests

on dry core material with a diameter of 42 mm and direct

shear

tests on saw-cut dry surfaces are listed in Table 1.

The upper parts of concrete fracture replicas of differ

ent sizes, shown in Figure 1, are coded as a, b, c and d

for sample with a size 50 mm × 50 mm, 100 mm × 100 mm,

150 mm × 150 mm and 200 mm × 200 mm, respectively. In

total, 16 concrete fracture replicas were casted and tested

(Fardin et al., 2003b). (a) (c) (c) (d) Figure 1. The upper
part of the concrete fracture replicas of different sizes.
a: 50 mm × 50 mm, b: 100 mm × 100 mm, c: 150 mm × 150 mm
and d: 200 mm × 200 mm (Fardin, 2003b). Table 1. Mean
values and standard deviations of the mechanical parameters
for dry DensitopT2 used for replicas (after Olsson, 1998).
Parameter Unit Dry samples Young’s modulus,E GPa 57 ± 3
Poisson’s ratio, ν – 0.25 Uniaxial compressive MPa 215±13
strength, σ c Tensile strength, σ t MPa 9.1 ± 1.1 Density,
ρ Kg/m 3 2600–2650 Basic friction angle, φ b Degree 32.5 ±
2.5 2.2 Mechanical tests The experimental study of the
scale effect on the surface damage and asperity degradation
of rock joint was based on direct shear tests under
constant normal load conditions, using servo-hydraulic
direct shear test equipment at the TESTLAB of Luleå
University ofTechnology (Olsson, 1996; Fardin, 2003b).
After conducting the normal loading tests, the shear tests
were performed on the samples under four different normal
stresses – 1, 2.5, 5 and 10 MPa – for each sample size. The
shear velocity was kept constant at about 1 mm/min during
shear test. The shear tests were performed after a total
shear displacement of about 20 mm, the shear force was
halted and the normal load was removed from the samples.

Figure 2. Identification of the damages zones during

shearing of

the all samples (Fardin, 2006).

The results obtained from direct shear tests on the samples

are presented in Fardin et al., (2003a). The upper parts of

the

samples were broken at a shear displacement of about 10 mm

(see Figure 2).

It was found that the breaking of the samples were due

to the structural non-stationarity of the fracture

surfaces. The

structural non-stationarity of the fracture surface plays a

major

role in their roughness characterization. Figure 3.

3D-laser measuring of the concrete replica at the
Laboratory before and after opening using relocation
technique (Fardin et al., 2003a). 3 SCALE EFFECT ON THE
SURFACE DAMAGE AND ASPERITY DEGRADATION OF THE JOINT
SAMPLES The method of predicting the contact areas
developed by Grasseli (2002) is modified and applied to
recognize the possible damaged areas before performing the
direct shear tests (Fardin, 2006). First, A 3D-laser
scanner with an accuracy of ±20 µm and a resolution of 10
µm was used to measure the topography of the replicas. The
concrete fracture replicas were digitized with a high
accuracy of 0.2 mm using the 3D-laser scanner, as shown in
Figure 3. The scanned surfaces were divided to square
windows of 1 mm length and then their best fitting plane
were found using least-squares regression analysis (as
shown in Figure 4 for the lower part of sample a). After
finding the best fitting planes, their dip direction and
dip angle, defined as 3D-co-latitude (α, θ), were
calculated with respect to the shear direction. Since the
shear is in +x and −x directions for lower and upper parts
of the samples, respectively, the fitting planes with a dip
direction facing to shear direction, i.e. −x for the lower
and +x for the upper block, were in contact during shearing
process. The fitting planes facing to the shear direction
with an apparent dip angle ranging from 0 to θ ∗ max (with
5 ◦ interval) were plotted to determine the damaged areas.
Under low normal stress, the squares with a higher dip
angle will take part in the shearing process while other
ones with lower dip angle will participate in shearing
under higher normal stress. Grasselli (2002) has found
following relation to predict the total potential contact
area, A θ ∗ : where, A 0 is the maximum possible contact
area, θ ∗ max is the maximum apparent dip angle in the
shear direction and C is a “roughness” parameter. The
predicted damaged areas of both lower and upper blocks as
well as the damaged surfaces of the samples after shear
tests under 10 MPa of applied normal stress are also
plotted

Figure 4. The fit planes of square sampling windows of size

1 mm,

determined for the lower part of sample A (Fardin, 2006). 0

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 A θ * Sample A
Sample B Sample C Sample D 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0
Sample A Sample B Sample C Sample D 10 20 30 40 50 60 θ*,
deg θ*, deg

A θ *

Figure 5. Relation between the total contact area, A ∗ θ ,

and the appar

ent dip angle, θ ∗ , for lower and upper surfaces of the

concrete fracture

replicas of different sizes (Fardin, 2006).

together in figure 2. The squares facing to the shear

direction

with a minimum apparent dip of 25, 20, 15 and 10 degrees

were taken into account to predict the damaged areas of the

samples tested under 1, 2.5, 5 and 10 MPa of applied normal

stresses, respectively.

It should be noted that the darkest squares correspond to

the steepest fitting planes. The visual comparison between

the computed damaged area map and the image of the joint

surface after shearing shows that the prediction agrees well

with the experimental observations.

It is clear from the figures that under lower normal stress,

the areas with steepest fitting planes are in contact and

under

higher amount of normal stress the fitting planes with lower

dip angle will participate in shearing process. As can be

seen

from these figures, the lower block of the sample D as well

as upper parts of the samples A, B and C under the applied

normal stresses were broken during shearing.

This was due to the structural non-stationarity of the sur

face roughness, where under normal stress, both blocks of

the

joint sample are interlocked and a high amount of stress is

0.5 0.52 0.54 0.56 0.58 0.6 0 50 100 150 2 00 Sample size,
mm A 0 Lower Upper 3 3.5 4 4.5 0 50 100 150 200 Sample
size, mm C Lower Upper Figure 6. Maximum possible contact
area, A 0 , and “roughness” parameter, C, of the both
surfaces of the concrete fracture replicas as a function of
the sample size (Fardin, 2006). concentrated in the contact
parts. As a result, the blocks are broken to the several
pieces. It should be noted that, due to the breakage of the
upper blocks, the blocks are slightly tilted and as a
result, new contact areas are generated that is not
predicted before performing the shear tests (Fardin, 2003).
The total potential contact area, A ∗ θ , of the lower and
upper surfaces of all samples were calculated and plotted
in Figure 5, as functions of the apparent dip angle. Figure
5 shows that the concavity of the fitted curves generally
increase with increasing the sample size.As a result, the
maximum possible contact area decreases with the increasing
the sample size, which in turn mainly controls the shear
strength of the joint samples. The maximum possible contact
area, A 0 , and the “roughness” parameter, C, of each
fracture surface were then calculated using the
above-mentioned method and plotted in Figure 6 as a
function of the sample size. The result shows that the
maximum possible contact area decreases with increasing the
sample size. This means that under the same applied normal
stress, sample with smaller size have larger contact area
with respect to the shear direction. Figure 6 shows that
the “roughness” parameter, C, increases with increasing the
sample size.According to Grasselli (2002), relatively high
values of C correspond to surfaces with a relatively low
degree of roughness. Therefore, the surface roughness of
the fracture, studied in this paper, decreases with
increasing the scale, which agrees well with the
backcalculated JRC values (Fardin, 2006). After each shear
tests, the joint surfaces were also gently cleaned from
gouge material using a vacuum cleaner. The collected gouge
materials were weighted and their weights were plotted as a
function of the applied load in Figure 7. Figure 7 shows
that with increasing the normal stress, the obtained gouge
materials increase and it has larger values for sample with
larger size. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Normal
stress, MPa G o u g e m a t e r i a l , g r Sample A
Sample B Sample C Sample D

Figure 7. The gouge materials of the concrete fracture repli

cas of different sizes as a function of the applied normal

stress

(Fardin, 2006).

However, due to the high strength of the concrete fracture

replicas, asperities damage was extremely low compared to

the one obtained for the soft rock joint at the laboratory
by

other researchers.

4 CONCLUSIONS
The effect of structurally non-stationarity of surface
roughness

on the morphological and mechanical properties of a rough

rock fracture was investigated at different scales.

The mechanical tests on the concrete fracture replicas of

different size, showed that mechanical properties of the

joint

samples are all scale dependent and their values decrease

with increasing the sample size and/or decreasing the

applied

normal stress.

The results also show that the structural non-stationarity

of

roughness controls the damages zones and asperities degra

dation of the fracture surfaces and the contact areas of the

fracture largely depend to the sample size as well as

direction

of the shearing.

It is concluded that for accurate characterization of the

mor

phological and mechanical properties of rock joints in the

laboratory and field scales, samples with size equal to or

larger

than stationarity threshlod are required and samples of

smaller

size are not representative for the natural rock joints at

the field

The effect of stone consolidation on the physical

properties of porous limestone: A rock mechanical approach
Z. Pápay & Á. Török Dept. Const. Mat. & Engineering
Geology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics,
Budapest, Hungary

ABSTRACT: Cylindrical specimens of two types of porous

oolitic and fine-grained limestones of Miocene age were
used for

consolidation tests. These stone types are common in the

monuments of Hungary, and are often treated by stone
consolidants on

site during restoration works. Two types of silica acid

esters were tested under laboratory conditions by using
vacuum impreg

nation. Density, porosity, ultrasonic sound velocity and

strength parameters of untreated and treated limestones
were recorded.

Although both consolidants increase the strength of the

limestones significant variations in rock mechanical
parameters were

recorded. The increase of densities and tensile strength

are closely related to pore-size distribution and
pre-treatment properties

of limestones. These experiments have shown that rock

mechanical tests provide valuable information for selecting
proper

consolidants.

1 INTRODUCTION

Weathering processes and human activity often cause irre

versible changes in stone monuments. These changes affect

not only the aesthetic appearance of stones but also cause

structural damage. Air pollution and related chemical and

physical changes are the ones that results in rapid stone

deterioration Stone consolidation is aimed to slow down

these adverse processes and/or strengthen the already weath

ered stones during repair works. The selection of the proper

consolidant is one of the key challenges of restoration
works.

Silica-acid-ester is used for consolidating of various stone

types especially sandstones (Malaga et al. 2004, ), volcanic

tuffs (Wendler et al. 1996) and limestones (Lukaszewicz

2004). The present study is focused on a silica acid ester

consolidant that has been applied for two types of porous

limestone in two different concentrations. The limestone

specimens were treated with the consolidants and physi

cal parameters such as density, strength, porosity,

ultrasonic

sound velocity were measured before and after the consoli

dation tests. The performance of consolidants was evaluated

based on the mechanical parameters of non-consolidated and

consolidated test specimens. The Hungarian limestones used

in these tests are very similar to other porous limestones

and

the applied consolidants are used worldwide thus the test

results can be applied for the pre selection of consolidants

for other porous limestones.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

Two types of porous Miocene limestones (from Sóskút quarry)

were used for the tests. These limestones were commonly

used in Hungarian monuments, and now show severe signs of

decay (Török 2002). Emblematic buildings of Budapest such

as House of Parliament, Opera House and Mathias Church

were made of the porous limestone. This type of limestone

was also a very popular stone in other parts of the Austro

Hungarian Monarchy during the 19th and 20th century (Török

et al. 2004). Similarly to Budapest numerous monuments in

Figure 1. Fabric and microscopic image of medium-grained
(a, b) and fine-grained (c, d) limestone. Vienna were also
constructed from the Austrian counterparts of this porous
Miocene limestone. A medium-grained oolitic type and a fine
grained more micritic variety was chosen for the tests.
Both limestones are white to pale yellow and have high
interconnected porosity. The first type is oolitic
grainstone with average porosity of more than 23% while the
fine-grained one is a packstone with average porosity of
over 37% (Figure 1). According to mercury porosimetry the
pore-size distribution of the two types is different since
in the medium-grained limestone pores below 10 µm are
dominant while in finegrained limestone pores larger than
10 µm are the most common (Figure 2 and Figure 3). The
amount of micro-pores is very similar in both types. X-ray
diffraction analyses (Philips diffactometer, Cu-anode and
monochromator, 40 kV, 20 mA, measuring range was between 5
◦ –70 ◦ ) have shown that calcite is the main mineral in
both limestones. The quartz is an accessory mineral in both

Figure 2. Pore-size distribution of fine-grained limestone.

Figure 3. Pore-size distribution of medium-grained

limestone.

type but medium-grained limestone contains more quartz than

fine-grained one.

For consolidation tests cylindrical specimens of 5cm in

diameter and 5 cm of height were drilled from blocks of

Sóskút quarry.

Prior to consolidation tests specimens were divided into

analytical groups by using physical parameters and non

destructive tests such as apparent density and ultrasonic

sound

velocity.The groping aimed to minimize the minor

lithological
differences to obtain samples with similar range of
properties.

For the tests one type of commercially available and

commonly

applied silica-acid-ester was used in two different

concentra

tions (to simplify from here onward A and B). Type A

consists

of 100 m% of silica-acid-ester, while type B consists of 20

m%

of silica-acid-ester which solved in aliphatic

carbo-hydrates.

The silica-acid-esters are compounds of quartz (SiO 2 ) and

ety

lalcohol (C 2 H 5 OH). The binding mechanism is related to

an

evaporation process and water vapor. While the alcohol evap

orates silica-dioxide is formed in the presence of water

vapor.

The reaction product is a silica gel that is formed in the

pores

providing additional bond between the particles. The consol

idation tests were performed in a vacuum chamber to obtain

a full saturation of pores. Ultrasonic sound velocity, appar

ent density, open porosity and linear thermal expansion were

measured before and after the treatment of specimens to

detect

physical changes.

Density, apparent porosity, ultrasonic sound velocities and

linear expansion coefficient were measured according to

European standards (EN 14579:2005, EN 1936:2000) on both

non-treated and treated specimens. The consolidating effect

was compared by measuring indirect strength tests (Brazil

ian tests) of silica-acid-ester treated and non treated test

specimens. Figure 4. Ultrasonic sound velocity changes of

untreated and treated limestones. Figure 5. Tensile
strength of untreated and treated fine-grained and
medium-grained limestones. 3 RESULTS According to weight
measurements the amount of silica gel formed in the pores
of the two limestones are very similar. In medium-grained
type 3,75V% (Type A) and 3,23V% (Type B) were formed, while
in fine-grained type 5,19V% and 4,03V%, respectively. Thus
the apparent densities of both limestones have increased
when consolidants were applied. The increase in density is
more in fine-grained type where the concentrated type (A)
caused an 8.7% increase while the dilute agent (type B)
increased the density by nearly 6.3%. The density increase
in medium-grained limestone is 3.8% and 2.6%, respectively.
The ultrasonic sound velocities show similar trends which
is in accordance with the observation that fine-grained
type absorbed more consolidant than the medium-grained one.
The decrease in porosity is more significant for the more
porous fine-grained one, than for the less porous
medium-grained one. This also corresponds to the
differences in pore-size distribution. Although the decease
in porosity is 4% (type A) and 5,2 % (type B) in
fine-grained limestone and it is 3.2% (type A) and 3.8%
(type B) for medium-grained limestone, the ratio in
porosity decrease is more significant for medium-grained
limestone. Comparison of ultrasonic sound velocities of
treated and non – treated limestones clearly shows that
dilute consolidant (Type B) increased the sound velocity
more than that of concentrated one (Type A) (Figure 4).
Similar trend was observed when tensile strength values
were compared (Figure 5). An increase of 36.9% in tensile
strength of Type B consolidant treated medium-grained
limestone is compared to the increase of 22.5% of Type A
consolidant treated specimens. By contrast, fine-grained
varieties show a tensile strength

Figure 6. Tensile strength changes of untreated and treated

lime

stones.

Figure 7. Correlation between tensile strength and

ultrasonic sound

velocities of treated and untreated limestones.

increase of 19.7% (Type A) and 25.8% (Type B), respectively

(Figure 6).Thus it seems that dilute consolidant caused a

larger

increase in strength for both limestones.

Fairly good correlation was found between the ultrasonic

sound velocities and tensile strength of treated and

non-treated

porous limestones (Figure 7).

Strength values seems to be less predictable based on den

sities since no such correlation was found when these two

parameters were compared.

4 DISCUSSIONS

The largest documented tensile strength increase (+36.89%)

was recorded in medium-grained limestones which were

treated with Type B, while the smallest change (+19,70%)

was observed in fine-grained limestones which were saturated

withTypeA consolidant (Figure 6).Type B consolidant caused

a higher increase in tensile strengths than Type A despite

the

fact that more silica acid ester was found in Type A treated

specimens. When the affectivity of various consolidants is

compared the densities are often considered as good indica

tors of consolidant penetration and strengthening. In this

study

it has been proved that the concentrated (Type A)

consolidant
caused a slightly larger increase in density for both
fine-and

medium-grained limestone than that of its dilute counterpart

(Type B). This increase in density seems to be not propor

tional with the increase in strength. To the contrary, Type

B consolidant which indeed formed fewer amounts of silica

compounds in both limestones augmented more the ultrasonic

sound velocities and the tensile strengths. The better

perfor

mance of dilute silica acid ester consolidant (Type B) might

ABSTRACT: This work presents a stochastic local degradation

model to simulate brittle failure and
directionally-dependent

behaviour of heterogeneous rocks with anisotropic

microstructures such as bedding, cleavage, and foliation.
Using an auto

correlation function and geostatistical techniques, this

model generates spatially correlated mechanical
heterogeneity at the

element scale, and allows numerical simulation of damage

initiation and propagation resulting from progressive
elemental

mechanical breakdown. Deformation and fracturing of a

typical laboratory specimen-scale rock sample subjected to
uniax

ial compression is simulated and compared with published

data. The modelling results qualitatively capture the
fracturing

mechanisms of rock containing preferentially oriented

microstructures, and shows the model’s potential in the
analysis of rock

engineering problems in layered rock materials.

1 INTRODUCTION
Mechanical anisotropy resulting from preferably oriented

microstructures, such as bedding planes in sedimentary for

mations, or foliation and cleavage in metamorphic rocks,

gives rise to directional mechanical behaviour of rocks,

and has considerable influence on overall ground response

and performance of rock engineering structures. Numer

ous laboratory-scale experimental data show the significant

directionally-dependent behaviour of such materials, with

planes of anisotropy inclined at about 60 ◦ to the minor

princi

pal stress exhibiting the lowest peak strength (Donath,

1964;

McLamore and Gray, 1967; Gottschalk et al, 1990; Rawling

et al, 2002).

Jaeger’s Single Plane of Weakness model, which uses the

linear Mohr-Coulomb criterion to examine both shear along

weakness planes and fracturing of intact rock, is arguably

the best known approach to assessing strength anisotropy.

Whilst it is intrinsically not correct to use this

criterion for

assessing strength anisotropy of intact rock, a number of

ana

lytical and empirical approaches have been developed in a

similar vein: McLamore and Gray (1967) used directionally

dependent cohesion; Tien and Kuo (2001) and Colak and

Unlu (2004) introduced directional material parameters into

the Hoek-Brown failure criterion; and Rawling et al. (2002)

applied fracture mechanics to a medium containing both ran

domly oriented pre-existing microcracks and cleavage cracks

preferentially oriented with the foliation.

The main focus of these approaches has generally been to fit

the directional strength locus to the orientation of the

planes of

anisotropy. Little attention has been paid to damage

initiation

and propagation as failure is approached, despite the fact

that

this is recognised to be the principal micromechanical

failure

mechanism.

In this work, we extend the stochastic local degradation

approach (Fang and Harrison, 2002) through the use of spa

tially correlated elemental heterogeneity, with the aim of

examining the damage initiation and propagation that occurs

when such materials are subjected to uniaxial compression,

thereby showing how anisotropic behaviour emerges as a

result of this particular form of heterogeneity. 2

STOCHASTIC LOCAL DEGRADATION 2.1 Local degradation approach
The local degradation approach is based on degradation and
dilatancy models that simplify typical mechanical response
curves obtained from triaxial compression tests in the
laboratory into suites of idealized, piece-wise linear,
pressure-sensitive elastoplastic constitutive relations
(Fang and Harrison, 2002;Yuan and Harrison, 2004).With
elemental scale material heterogeneity, and a suitable
failure criterion, the local degradation approach is
capable of simulating damage evolution that ultimately
leads to failure of the material (Fang and Harrison, 2002;
Yuan and Harrison, 2005). 2.2 Generation of spatially
correlated random variables Here, we extend the local
degradation approach by incorporating spatial correlation
of elemental properties.This correlation is generated using
the exponential auto-correlation function where λ x and λ y
are the characteristic correlation distances, and l x and l
y are the distances from the reference point in the xand
y-directions, respectively.The auto-correlation function
reduces to zero outside the characteristic correlation
distances, thus allowing specification of the correlation
lengths in both x and y directions. The ratio of the
spatial correlation values in the xand y-directions is
termed the anisotropy ratio, i.e. γ = λ x / λ y . To aid
subsequent determination of material properties, we
generate sets of random variables in the range of [0,1]
using Equation 1. By controlling the anisotropy ratio and
the correlation lengths, realizations featuring different
anisotropic structures can be stochastically produced, as
shown in Fig 1. The case of λ x = λ y = 0 refers to
uncorrelated heterogeneity (statistically independent
elemental values). As the figure shows, increasing
correlation lengths lead to more distinct

Figure 1. Stochastic realizations (40×96 elements) with (a)

λ x = λ y = 0; (b) λ x = λ y = 2; (c)λ x = 2, λ y = 4; (d)

λ x = 4, λ y = 2;

(e) λ x = 8, λ y = 2; and (f) λ x = 8, λ y = 4. 0 30 60 45

90

Figure 2. Spatially correlated random variables (γ = 20)

having

different orientations relative to the principal stress

state (upper dia

gram), and the practically equivalent of taking cores from

a block of

anisotropic rock (lower diagram).

microstructures, with values of anisotropy ratio depart

ing from unity resulting in preferentially oriented planar

microstructures of similar values.

To focus on progressive failure of rock containing an

anisotropic micro-structure at various orientations

relative to
the applied principal stress state, we have used λ x = 1, γ
= 20

in a Cartesian (x, y) coordinate system, and then rotated

the

generated values into a (x ′ , y ′ ) system using the

transformation

matrix

where β is the angle of rotation with respect to (x, y),

coun

terclockwise positive. Finally, simple kriging (Deutsch and

Journel, 1998) is used to interpolate the data on to a

regular

and equally spaced grid. Example realizations with planes of

anisotropy at different orientations are shown in Fig 2,

along

with the analogous practical case of taking rock cores from

anisotropic rock.

2.3 Assigning geomechanical properties

Following previous work (Fang and Harrison, 2002;Yuan and

Harrison, 2005), we use the Weibull distribution (Weibull,

4 5 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 m w =5 m =4 w m =3 w m w =2 m w =1
f(x) x 3210 Figure 3. Examples of the Weibull distribution.
1951) to transform random values in the range [0,1] into
mechanical parameters. The 2-parameter probability density
function (PDF) of the Weibull distribution is given by
where m w is a shape parameter describing the scatter of x,
and x 0 is scale parameter that is proportional to the mean
of x. This PDF has the advantage that different forms of
distribution can be easily achieved by varying the single
shape parameter m w , as shown in Fig 3 (where x 0 = 1).
Here, elemental stiffness and strength both follow the
Weibull distribution, and are positively correlated. This
means that elements of lower stiffness have lower strength,
as is generally the case with planar structures such as
discontinuities. 3 RESULTS For this work, the degradation
model with spatial correlation was implemented in plane
strain using the explicit finite difference continuum
simulator FLAC. To model progressive fracture, we
numerically apply axial strain whilst computing the overall
axial stress, in a fashion directly analogous to the
uniaxial compression laboratory testing procedure. The
implementation procedure is described in Fang and Harrison
(2002). For each of the models with planes of anisotropy
inclined at 0 ◦ , 30 ◦ , 45 ◦ , 60 ◦ , and 90 ◦ to the
minor principal stress, five realizations were generated
and analysed to obtain complete stress-strain and
deformation responses in uniaxial compression. Here, we
present results for orientations 0 ◦ , 60 ◦ , and 90 ◦ in
order to show how the model predicts fracturing mechanisms
comparable with those occurring in real rocks. 3.1 Damage
and fracturing mechanisms For the case of β= 0 ◦ , the
planar structures are perpendicular to the major principal
stress, and damage initiates in those layers comprising
elements of weaker material (as expected), propagating
axially in the form of tensile cracks (Fig 4(a)). The
damaged zones seem to be bounded by layers of stronger
material, and are later subsumed by shear nucleation (Fig
4(c)) that commences close to the free surface. The final
macrofracture seems to be the result of coalescence of
these damaged zones, as the material is loaded to post-peak
(Fig 4(e)). For the case of β= 90 ◦ , the direction of
greatest correlation is generally parallel to the axis of
the specimen, and the initial 0 2 4 6 Axial strain
(millistrain) V o l u m e t r i c s t r a i n ( m i l l i s
t r a i n ) A x i a l s t r e s s ( M P a ) abc d e
Volumetric strain Axial stress 0 10 20 30 40 20 0 -20 -40
-60 -80 Degrading rock element Degraded rock element
Undegraded rock element e a b c d

Figure 4. Simulated stress-strain and volumetric responses,

and

damage evolution for Realization 4, angle between normal to

structure and major principal stress = 0 ◦ .

damage takes the shape of long, thin, axially oriented

damage

zones extending over almost the entire length of the sample

(Fig 5(a)). The formation of these slender zones parallel

to the

major principal stress gives rise to spalling that grows

from
the free surface into the core (Fig 5(b), (c), (d)), with
axial

splitting being the eventual failure mode.

As with the two previous cases, when β= 60 ◦ the damage

develops along the direction of greatest correlation as the

axial

stress increases. Fig 6(a) shows en echelon crack arrays

tend

ing to initiate along weaker zones, growing into shear

fractures

with axial tensile damage propagating away from their tips,

and eventually forming through-going shear bands along the

anisotropy planes (Fig 6(e)).

3.2 Strength and deformability

Figure 7 presents modelling results from a single

realization

across a range of orientations, and shows that the

stress-strain

curves and volumetric responses of the material are signifi

cantly influenced by the orientation of the planar

structures

relative to the major principal stress. Of the five

different

orientations, that with planes of anisotropy parallel to the

major principal stress shows the highest peak strength,

stiff

ness, and dilatancy, with a damage pattern characterized by

spalling parallel to the direction of the major principal

stress

(cf. Fig 5). In the case of planes of anisotropy perpendic

ular to the major principal stress, the model exhibits lower

stiffness, with distributed tensile splitting initiating in

weaker

layers and confined by the stronger layers (cf. Fig 4). The

model with planes of anisotropy inclined at about 30 ◦ to

the

minor principal stress has the lowest peak strength, and

fails

by a combination of dislocation along weak planes and axial

splitting (cf. Fig. 6). 0 6 Axial strain (millistrain) V o

l u m e t r i c s t r a i n ( m i l l i s t r a i n ) A x i
a l s t r e s s ( M P a ) abcd e c d e Volumetric strain
Axial stress 0 20 40 60 80 -100 -80 -40 0 40 Degrading
rock element Degraded rock element Undegraded rock element
a b 2 4 Figure 5. Simulated stress-strain and volumetric
responses, and damage evolution for Realization 1, angle
between normal to structure and major principal stress = 90
◦ . 0 6 Axial strain (millistrain) V o l u m e t r i c s t
r a i n ( m i l l i s t r a i n ) A x i a l s t r e s s ( M
P a ) a b c d e c d e Volumetric strain Axial stress 0 10
20 30 40 -60 -40 -20 0 20 Degrading rock element Degraded
rock element Undegraded rock element 2 4 b a Figure 6.
Simulated stress-strain and volumetric responses, and
damage evolution for Realization 1, angle between normal to
structure and major principal stress = 60 ◦ . 0 20 40 60 80
0 2 6

-100 -80 -40 0 40 Axial strain (millistrain)

V o

l u

e t

r i c

t r a

i n
( m

i l l i s

t r a

i n )

A x

i a

l s

t r e

s s

( M

P a

) 90 60 45 30 0 60 90 0 45 30 4

Figure 7. Stress-strain curves and volumetric responses of

simu

lated rock samples of realization 1 in terms of angle

between normal

to structure and the major principal stress.

4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The approach presented in this paper is essentially general,

and the results are not intended to be representative of any

particular rock. The method is clearly capable of capturing

the essence of the progressive failure process of

anisotropic

rock materials as observed in the laboratory.

As noted in the Introduction, it is well known from

published

experimental triaxial compression data on various

intrinsically

anisotropic rocks that strength is a function of the orienta

tion of the plane of anisotropy relative to the major

principal

state. The general trend of the peak strength locus obtained

from the average of five realizations (Fig 8(a))

demonstrates

qualitative agreement with this finding. Although some rocks

(Green River Shale, Blue Penrhyn slate, Tournemire shale)

show almost the same magnitude of peak strength at both

β= 0 ◦ and β= 90 ◦ , our results predict higher strength

when

the planes of anisotropy are parallel to the major principal

stress ( β= 90 ◦ ) than when they are perpendicular to it

(β= 0 ◦ ).

These results agree with those obtained for the Austin slate

(McLamore and Gray, 1967), Four-mile gneiss (Rawling et al,

2002) and artificial layered rocks (Tien and Kuo, 2001).

Fig 8(b) shows that Young’s modulus is not as sensitive to

loading direction as peak strength, but material with β= 90

◦

seems to be generally stiffer than that with β= 0 ◦ . This

fea

ture is consistent with results obtained using Four-mile

gneiss

(Rawling et al, 2002). Realization 1 Realization 2

Realization 3 Realization 4 Realization 5 Mean 0 10 20 30
40 50 60 70 30 60 90 P e a k s t r e n g t h ( M P a ) β
(degree) Y o u n g ’ s m o d u l u s ( G P a ) 0 Figure 8.
Variation of peak strength andYoung’s modulus with angle
between normal to structure and major principal stress It
is generally recognised that fracture of anisotropic rocks
falls into three principal groups: failure through intact
rock, shearing along planes of weakness, and both. The
simulated damage patterns shown in Fig 4, 5 & 6
qualitatively resemble these. To date, little attempt has
been made to numerically reproduce the micro-mechanisms
associated with the failure process of anisotropic rocks,
despite the importance of this for rock engineering. For
example, it has been suggested that the absence of the
third of these mechanisms from the Single Plane of Weakness
model is why it fails to model strength reduction at some
orientations of anisotropy (Hoek and Brown, 1980). On the
basis of our work, we further suggest that the spatial
disposition of damage development is also significant.
Although this work clearly shows that the local degradation
approach provides enlightenment on the progressive fracture
of anisotropic rocks, its application brings other
benefits. Firstly, anisotropic properties are modelled by
introducing spatially correlated heterogeneity, which has
better physical justification than methods using parameters
such as ‘variable’ cohesion and uniaxial compressive
strength (usually cast as a function of loading
orientation). Such parameters often bear no physical
meaning in terms of fundamental rock properties (Donath,
1964). Secondly, the approach is able to reproduce both the
directional mechanical responses and corresponding
distinctive damage patterns that emerge at the macroscale
as a result of elemental interaction. As a result, we would
expect this model to also have applications in structural
geology, where it could be used to model the
geologicallyinduced progressive failure of anisotropic
rocks. In addition to planar structures simulated through
control of correlation length within an autocorrelation
function,

the methodology presented here could be extended further

to model the behaviour of real rocks with arbitrary micro

structures. This will require comprehensive characterization

of rock structures in conjunction with advanced

geostatistical

techniques.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated the potential of this

approach to both analyse engineering problems and model

geological processes in layered rocks, a material that is

essentially ubiquitous in nature.

Colak, K.,T. Unlu. 2004. Effect of transverse anisotropy on

the Hoek–

Brown strength parameter ‘m i ’ for intact rocks. Int. J.

Rock Mech.

Min. Sci., 41, 1045–1052.

Deutsch, C.V., A.G. Journel. 1998. GSLIB: Geostatistical

Software

Library and user’s guide. New York, Oxford University Press.

Donath, F.A. 1964. Strength variation and deformational

behaviour in

anisotropic rock. In: State of Stress in the Earth’s Crust,

W.R. Judd

editor, 281–297.

Fang, Z., J.P. Harrison. 2002. Application of a local

degradation

model to the analysis of brittle fracture of laboratory

scale rock

specimens under triaxial conditions. Int. J. Rock Mech.

Min. Sci.,

39, 459–476. Gottschalk, R.R., A.K. Kronenberg, J.E.

Russell, J. Handin. 1990. Mechanical anisotropy of Gneiss:
Failure criterion and textural sources of directional
behaviour. J. Geophys. Res. 95(B13): 21613–21634. Hoek, E.,
E.T. Brown. 1980. Undergound Excavations in Rock.
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. McLamore, R., K.E.
Gray. 1967. The mechanical behaviour of anisotropic
sedimentary rocks. Trans. ASME, 62–74. Rawling, G.C., P.
Baud, T.-F. Wong. 2002. Dilatancy, brittle strength, and
anisotropy of foliated rocks: experimental deformation and
micromechanical modeling. J. Geophys. Res. 107(B10): 2234.
Tien, Y.M., M.C. Kuo. 2001. A failure criterion for
transversely isotropic rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.,
38, 399–412. Weibull, W. 1951. A statistical distribution
function of wide applicability. J. Appl. Mech. 18: 293–297.
Yuan, S.C., J.P. Harrison. 2004. An empirical dilatancy
index for the dilatant deformation of rock. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci., 41, 679–686. Yuan, S.C., J.P. Harrison.
2005. Development of a Hydro-Mechanical local degradation
approach and its application to modelling fluid flow in
progressively fracturing heterogeneous rocks. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci., 42, 961–984. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 The Mogi-Coulomb
true-triaxial failure criterion and some implications for
Rock Engineering Adel M. Al-Ajmi Department of Petroleum &
Chemical Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat,
Oman Robert W. Zimmerman Division of Engineering Geology,
KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

ABSTRACT: Most analyses of rock mechanics problems that

involve failure or potential failure utilize Mohr’s
assumption that

failure is controlled only by the minimum and maximum

principal stresses, σ 1 and σ 3 . However, evidence has
been accumulating

for several decades that the intermediate stress has a

“strengthening effect”, in the sense that, for a given
value of σ 3 , the value

of σ 1 required to cause failure will be higher if σ 2 >σ 3

than it would be if σ 2 = σ 3 . Mogi proposed that the
failure criterion

should be of the form τ oct = f (σ m,2 ), where τ oct is

the octahedral shear stress, and σ m,2 = (σ 1 + σ3)/2.
Analysis of many sets of

data from the literature shows that most can be fit

reasonably well with a linearized form of Mogi’s criterion,
τ oct = a + bσ m,2 .

This criterion has several advantages: it accounts for the

strengthening effect of σ 2 , the coefficients a and b can
be expressed

in terms of the cohesion and coefficient of internal

friction that appear in the Mohr-Coulomb criterion, and its
linear form

allows it to be used in analyzing engineering problems. For

the specific problem of the stability of a vertical
borehole, this
criterion leads to substantially different predictions for
the minimum required mud weight, as compared to those found
using

the Mohr-Coulomb criterion.

1 INTRODUCTION

Among the large number of shear failure criteria that have

been

proposed for rocks, the Mohr-Coulomb criterion is the most

commonly used in practice. There are two major components

of this criterion. The first is the assumption that, at

failure, the

major principal stress σ 1 is a linearly increasing

function of the

minor principal stress, σ 3 .The second aspect is the

assumption

that the value of the intermediate principal stress, σ 2 ,

has no

influence on the rock strength.

Neither of these assumptions is precisely true for most

rocks. Failure data for most rocks shows a nonlinear fail

ure envelope with a negative second derivative, although the

degree of nonlinearity varies from rock to rock. Much effort

has been expended over recent years on deriving nonlinear

failure criteria. These are typically fit to traditional

failure

data in which σ 2 = σ 3 , and are then used under the

implicit

assumption that, if σ 2 >σ 3 , failure will not depend on

the

actual numerical of σ 2 .
However, evidence has been accumulating over the past

several decades to suggest that the intermediate principal

stress does have an influence on rock strength (Handin 1967,

Hoskins 1969, Mogi 1971, Haimson 2002). Many sets of such

data have recently been collected by Colmenares & Zoback

(2002), and in the monograph by Mogi (2006). A striking

example of the extent to which real rock failure data may

not

comply with the assumption that failure depends only on σ 1

and σ 3 is shown in Figure 1, replotted from Haimson & Song

(1995). The data from borehole breakouts, which occur under

a true-triaxial stress state, clearly do not fall near the

curve

obtained from traditional (σ 2 = σ 3 ) triaxial compression

tests.

Nevertheless, the use of true-triaxial failure criteria for

anal

ysis or design purposes has progressed very slowly. Three

reasons may be hypothesised for this: (a) a reluctance to

accept that the influence of σ 2 is a real attribute of

rock rather 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 10 20 30 40
triaxial compression borehole breakout σ 1 ( M P a ) σ 3
(MPa) Westerly granite � σ 1 = 192 + 11.3σ 3 Figure 1.
Failure data from Haimson & Song (1995) on Westerly
granite, obtained under traditional triaxial compression (σ
2 = σ 3 ) and true-triaxial (σ 2 >σ 3 ) stress conditions.
than an experimental artifact, (b) the lack of
well-validated true-triaxial failure criteria, and (c) the
additional mathematical complexity that results when
analyzing problems using a true-triaxial failure criterion.
In this paper, and more so in some other recent papers that
we summarize below, each of these three issues is
addressed. First, by examining data from the literature, it
is found that the influence of σ 2 on failure is the rule,
rather than the exception. Next, a simple but relatively
accurate true-triaxial failure law whose parameters can be
obtained from traditional σ 2 = σ 3 data is proposed and
validated. Finally, it is shown that it is indeed practical
to use this new true-triaxial criterion in rock mechanics
analysis, specifically using it to examine the stability of
vertical boreholes.

2 REVIEW OF VARIOUS FAILURE CRITERIA

Coulomb suggested that failure in compression takes place

when the shear stress, τ, on any plane reaches a value that

is

sufficient to overcome both the natural cohesion of the rock

plus the frictional force that opposes motion along that

plane.

The criterion can be written as

where σ n is the normal stress on the failure plane, c is

the

cohesion, and φ is the angle of internal friction. Since

criteria

(1) will always first be satisfied on a plane that lies in

the

direction of σ 2 , the value of σ 2 will not influence σ n

or τ,

and so this failure criterion implicitly assumes that σ 2

has no

effect on failure. The Coulomb criterion can also be

expressed

in terms of the maximum shear stress, τ max , and the

“effective

mean stress”, σ m,2 (Jaeger et al. 2007):

where

From this form of the Coulomb criterion, it is seen that the

stress that resists the creation of a failure plane is σ

m,2 .
Mohr generalized the Coulomb criterion by suggesting that,

at failure, the normal and shear stresses across the

failure plane

are related by

A linear form for the function f is equivalent to the

Coulomb

criterion. Consequently, the failure criterion (1) is often

known

as the “Mohr-Coulomb” criterion.

Incorporation of the effect of σ 2 into failure criteria

occurred earlier in soil mechanics than in rock mechanics.

Drucker & Prager (1952) proposed a criterion of the form

where τ oct and σ oct are the octahedral shear stress and

octahedral normal stress, respectively, defined by

where k and m are material constants.Although there seems to

be little experimental evidence that this criterion is

applicable

to rocks, it continues to be occasionally used in petroleum

geomechanics analysis.

Mogi (1971) verified experimentally that brittle fracture

always occurs along a plane striking in the σ 2 direction.

He

also found that the intermediate principal stress indeed

has a

strengthening effect. Mogi concluded that the mean normal

stress that opposes the creation of the fracture plane is σ

m,2 ,

rather than the octahedral normal stress,σ oct , since the

fracture
plane strikes in theσ 2 direction. Subsequently, Mogi
suggested

a new failure criterion of the form

The function f is usually taken to be a power-law. Such a

criterion has been criticized because its parameters cannot

be easily related to the Coulomb parameters, c andφ
(Colmenares & Zoback 2002). To circumvent this problem, and
to simplify borehole stability analysis, Al-Ajmi &
Zim-merman (2005) proposed taking f to be a linear
function, For conventional triaxial tests, σ 2 = σ 3 , and
we have The linear Mogi criterion, Equation (9), then
reduces to Comparison with Equations (2,3) shows that for
traditional triaxial data, the linear Mogi criterion
coincides with the Coulomb criterion, if we make the
following identification: Hence, for triaxial stress states
(σ 2 = σ 3 ) the linear Mogi criterion given by Equation
(9) is exactly equivalent to the Coulomb criterion. Al-Ajmi
& Zimmerman (2005) searched the literature for polyaxial
failure data, and located eight data sets: Dunham dolomite,
Solenhofen limestone, Mizuho trachyte, coarsegrained dense
marble, Shirahama sandstone, Yuubari shale, KTB
amphibolite, and Westerly granite. The original sources of
these data can be found in Al-Ajmi & Zimmerman (2005) and
Colmenares & Zoback (2002). In each case, the data fall
more nearly on a single curve if plotted in the Mogi plane,
(τ oct , σ m,2 ), than if plotted in either the Mohr plane,
(τ max , σ m,2 ), or the Drucker-Prager plane, (τ oct , σ
oct ). Figure 2 shows the KTB amphibolite tested by Chang &
Haimson (2000). The traditional triaxial data are shown as
large black circles, along with the best-fitting straight
line; the truetriaxial data are plotted as empty circles.
The data fall most nearly on a single curve when plotted
using Mogi’s variables. This conclusion is not tied to the
use of a linear failure criterion: when using the
Drucker-Prager variables, the data show much scatter, and
no curve, linear or not, can give a good fit. 3 STRESSES
AROUND A VERTICAL BOREHOLE Drilling a borehole will alter
the in situ principal stresses, which usually are the
vertical stress (σ v ) and the maximum and minimum
horizontal stresses (σ H and σ h ). This leads to a stress
concentration around the borehole. In a linear elastic
material, the largest stress concentration occurs at the
borehole wall. Therefore, borehole failure is expected to
initiate there. According to the Kirsch solution, the
stresses at a vertical borehole wall are given by (Jaeger
et al. 2007) where σ r is the radial stress, σ θ is the
tangential stress, σ z is the axial stress, P w is the
internal borehole pressure, and ν is the Poisson ratio of
the rock. The angle θ is measured clockwise 0 100 200 300
400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 σ oct (MPa) τ o
c t ( M P a ) 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400
500 600 700 τ o c t ( M P a ) σ m,2 (MPa)

Figure 2. Failure criteria based on traditional triaxial

test data (black

circles), compared with true-triaxial test data (empty

circles) for KTB

amphibolite: (top) Drucker-Prager, (bottom) Mogi-Coulomb.

from the σ H direction. Since there are no shear stresses,

σ r ,

σ θ and σ z are the principal stresses.

Inspection of Equations (14,15) reveals that the tangential

and axial stresses reach a maximum at θ =±π/2, and a min

imum at θ = 0 or π. These critical positions remain the same

for any values of the in situ stresses. Hence, we know a

priori

that failure can occur only at these points.

The tangential and radial stresses in Equations (13,14), σ θ

and σ r , are functions of the mud pressure, P w , but the

verti

cal stress σ z is not. Hence, any changes in the mud

pressure

will only affect σ θ and σ r . There consequently are two

pos

sible cases: either σ θ ≥ σ r , or σ r ≥ σ θ , which are

associated

with borehole collapse or hydraulic fracturing,

respectively.

The case of fracturing is discussed by Al-Ajmi & Zimmerman

(2006a), and due to space limitations will not be repeated
here,

where we focus on borehole collapse. When P w decreases,

σ θ increases towards the compressive strength of the rock.

Thus, the lower limit of the mud pressure, P wb , is

associated

with borehole collapse, in which σ θ should be greater than

σ r . Bearing in mind this constraint, there are three

permuta

tions of the three principal stresses that need to be

investigated

in order to determine the minimum allowable mud pressure:

(1) σ z ≥ σ θ ≥ σ r , (2) σ θ ≥ σ z ≥ σ r , and (3) σ θ ≥ σ

r ≥ σ z . The

compressive strength of the rock will first be exceeded at

the

position associated with the maximum value of σ θ or σ z

(i.e.,

θ =±π/2), and so the principal stresses at the borehole wall

become Table 1. Collapse pressure in vertical boreholes

(Mohr-Coulomb). Case σ 1 ≥ σ 2 ≥ σ 3 Minimum required P wb
1 σ z ≥ σ θ ≥ σ r P wb1 = (B − C)/q 2 σ θ ≥ σ z ≥ σ r P wb2
= (A − C)/(1 + q) 3 σ θ ≥ σ r ≥ σ z P wb2 = A − C − qB
where 4 MOHR-COULOMB BOREHOLE ANALYSIS Using the effective
stress concept to account for the pore pressure, P 0 , the
Mohr-Coulomb criterion becomes Equation (18) can be
rearranged into the form Consider now the case where σ z ≥
σ θ ≥ σ r . Applying the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion as
expressed by Equation (2), and introducing Equation (19),
the lower limit of the mud pressure corresponding to case
1,P wb1 , is given by Following the same procedure, the
minimum allowable mud pressures corresponding to the other
two cases are shown in Table 1. As the mud pressure
decreases, the principal stresses will alternate from one
case to another. Therefore, the collapse pressures given in
Table 1, should be used to recalculate the principal
stresses (σ r , σ θ , σ z ) by applying Equations (13–15),
where P w = P wb . For each case, the principal stresses
are then substituted into Equation (20).The lower limit of
mud pressure is associated with the case in which the
principal stresses have satisfied the Mohr-Coulomb
criterion. In the field, generally, borehole collapse
corresponds to case 1 or case 2, where the radial stress is
the minimum principal stress. It would be advantageous if
the mud pressure related to these two common cases could be
determined from one single equation. After some
mathematical manipulation, the lower limit of the mud
pressure corresponding to these cases becomes where S and R
are given by 5 MOGI-COULOMB BOREHOLE ANALYSIS In terms of
the first and second stress invariants, I 1 and I 2 ,
defined by

Table 2. Collapse pressure in vertical boreholes

(Mogi-Coulomb).

Case Minimum required mud pressure, P wb

σ z ≥ σ θ ≥ σ r {3A + 2b ′ K − [H + 12(K 2 + b ′ AK)] 1/2

}/(6 − 2b ′2 )

σ θ ≥ σ z ≥ σr A/2 −{12[a ′ + b ′ (A − 2P 0 )] 2 − [3(A −

2B) 2 ]} 1/2 /6

σ θ ≥ σ r ≥ σ z {3A − 2b ′ G − [H + 12(G 2 − b ′ AG)] 1/2

}/(6 − 2b ′2 )

and utilizing the effective stress concept, the Mogi-Coulomb

criterion can be expressed as

where

There are six permutations of the principal stresses (σ r ,

σ θ , σ z )

that needed to be investigated. Since the first and second

stress

invariants have the same form in all the cases, only the
inter

mediate principal stress will vary from one case to another,

as per Equation (25). Consequently, the six permutations of

the principal stresses can be represented by three

scenarios in
which σ 2 can be σ θ , σ z , or σ r .

The principal stresses at the borehole wall given by Equa

tion (16) represent the highest stress concentration that

may

result in compressive failure. By introducing Equation (16)

into Equation (24), the stress invariants are given by

Consider the scenario of borehole collapse, where σ 2 = σ θ

=

A–P w and P w = P wb1 . Implementing the Mogi-Coulomb fail

ure criterion as formulated by Equation (25), and

introducing

Equation (27), gives

where

Solving this equation for P wb1 will give two roots. Since
we

are concerned with borehole collapse, the smaller root is

the

lower limit of the mud pressure, that is,

Similarly, the minimum allowable mud pressures correspond

ing to the other stress states are listed in Table 2, where

G =

K+b ′ A, and all other parameters are as defined previously.

However, borehole collapse will usually be related to case

1 and case 2. For case 1 to occur, it must be the case that

Introducing Equations (16,17) into Equation (32) gives

Considering the practical range of Poisson’s ratio (0–0.5),

deep hole amphibolite. Journal of Geophysical Research 105:

18,999–19,013.
Colmenares, L.B. & Zoback, M.D. 2002. A statistical
evaluation of

intact rock failure criteria constrained by polyaxial test

data for

five different rocks. International Journal of Rock

Mechanics 39:

695–729.

Drucker, D.C. & Prager, W. 1952. Soil mechanics and plastic

analysis

or limit design. Quarterly Journal of Applied Mathematics

10:

157–165.

Haimson, B.C. & Chang, C. 2002. True triaxial strength of

the KTB

amphibolite under borehole wall conditions and its use to

estimate

the maximum horizontal in situ stress. Journal of

Geophysical

Research – Solid Earth 107(B10): art. no. 2257.

Haimson, B.C. & Song, I.S. 1995. A new borehole failure

criterion

for estimating in situ stress from breakout span. In T.

Fujii (ed.),

Proc. 8th Int. Cong. Rock Mech., vol. 1, Rotterdam: Balkema,

pp. 341–346. Handin J., Heard, H.C. & Magouirk, J.N. Effect
of the intermediate principal stress on the failure of
limestone, dolomite, and glass at different temperature and
strain rate. Journal of Geophysical Research 72:611–640.
Hoskins, E.R. 1969. The failure of thick-walled hollow
cylinders of isotropic rock. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics 6:99–116. Jaeger, J.C., Cook, N.G.W. & Zimmerman,
R.W. 2007. Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics, 4th ed. Oxford:
Blackwell. McLean, M. & Addis, M. 1990. Wellbore stability:
The effect of strength criteria on mud weight
recommendations. In Proc. 65th Ann. Tech. Conf. Exh. SPE,
New Orleans, 23–26 Sept. 1990, paper SPE 20405. Mogi, K.
Fracture and flow of rocks under high triaxial compression.
Journal of Geophysical Research 1971;76(5):1255–1269. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 The strength
of rock defects – numerical analysis of scale effects
Z.H.F. Lai & K.J. Douglas School of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia G.
Mostyn Pells Sullivan Meynink Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW,
Australia

ABSTRACT:Although a seemingly simple problem, there is

still a large degree of conjecture as to how to estimate
the strength

of a rock defect. At the laboratory scale (approximately

100 mm) there are numerous models available most notably
the Barton

criterion and what is generally defined as the Patton

criterion.These models, developed on the basis of curve
fitting to laboratory

results, perform reasonably well at this small scale.

Issues arise where these criteria or the results from the
laboratory testing

are used to predict the strength of critical defects

encountered in the field. Current models in use require an
estimate of a basic

friction angle, small roughness component and a field

roughness or dilation angle that represents the friction
the defect ‘sees’

in the field. In this paper, the authors have performed

numerical analyses on rock defects of varying scales using
PFC 2D . The

results are presented with a comparison with the Bandis

scale effect equations.

1 INTRODUCTION

Most shear strength criteria were developed predominately

from laboratory samples. Larger specimens require field

tests

which are costly and yet, even the largest test may not be
able to simulate the behaviour of defects of hundreds of

square metres. The most practical method is then to carry

out

small-scale tests, and extrapolate from these the

properties of

full-scale defects. The issue of how to achieve this

remains a

continual topic of research and discussion.

The authors are currently assessing the effect of defect

length or area on strength using published data,

back-analysis

and numerical methods. Cundall (2000) used the microme

chanical model PFC 2D (Particle Flow Code in two Dimen

sions) to simulate the behaviour of rock defects in a direct

shear test. In this paper, the work by Cundall is extended

to

investigate the effects of scale on the shear strength of

rock

defects. This study extends this work by modelling a similar

defect at different scales. The results are compared with

those

obtained by Bandis et al. (1981).

2 PREDICTING DEFECT STRENGTHS

Patton (1966) showed a bi-linear equation, Equation 1, could

be used to estimate the shear strength of defects.

The issue with this equation is that the dilation angle, i,

is

stress and scale dependent.

There is, at present, no definitive way of measuring the

dilation angle, i, for field scale defects. The approach by

McMahon (1985) or similar, where asperities are measured

for a certain wavelength (or interlimb angle) of the defect

and

used to predict i, is probably the best current approach.

Stacey and Page (1986) suggest an additional increase in

friction angle of up to 14 ◦ could be made to a field scale

defect

based on the 100 mm scale roughness contribution. Barton

and his co-workers (Barton and Choubey, 1977 and Barton and
Bandis, 1982) developed a shear strength criterion that
attempted to account for the effect of normal stress
(relative to defect compressive strength) and roughness on
a 100 mm defect. The equation takes the form: where, JRC =
Joint roughness coefficient; and JCS = Joint compressive
strength. Note i is a field roughness component used where
there is a change in roughness wavelength from that of the
100 mm sample. Bandis and his co-workers undertook a study
of scale effects using plaster models of real joints
(Bandis, 1980; Bandis et al., 1981). Their results showed a
scale effect where shear strength decreased with increasing
length. They attributed this to a reduced dilation angle,
i, and asperity failure component with increasing sample
length. Empirical relationships were developed and are
given below.A scale effect size limit of the in-situ block
size was suggested. where, JRC n , JRC 0 = JRC for joint
lengths L n and L 0 respectively; JCS n , JRC 0 = JCS for
lengths L n and L 0 respectively. These equations are now
widely used to predict the shear strength of defects in the
field. However, Douglas (2002) argues that Equation 3 is
only appropriate for defect lengths less than 1 m (the
scale at which the equations were developed). The general
trend of the equation implies that two long defects (say
100 m) that are identical except for small-scale roughness
would have reversed larger scale JRC. This has

important implications where at least part of a failure

surface

is controlled by long defects.

3 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF A ROCK DEFECT

Cundall (2000) described a process by which a 100 mm rock

defect could be modelled and tested in shear using the

Distinct

Element Method as incorporated in the model PFC 2D . The

results from Cundall’s numerical experiments corresponded

well to the Barton-Bandis model for 100 mm long rock joints.

The authors have extended this work to investigate the

effects

of scale on defect shear strength.

3.1 Simulation of rock with bonded particles in PFC 2D

Rock may be considered a heterogeneous material that can

develop numerous microcracks during the loading process.

Cundall (2000) modelled a rock sample as a collection of par

ticles bonded together at their contact points. The

simulated

material developed microcracks as individual bonds broke as

the sample was loaded. Larger scale cracks developed natu

rally as individual bonds broke progressively and

microcracks

combined into bands or linked up with others. Although par

ticles were assumed to be rigid in PFC 2D , the assembly

still

deformed as normal and shear springs were used to repre

sent compliant contacts between particles. Each spring had a

strength that represented intact bonding. When a tensile,

nor

mal or shear force limit was exceeded, the bond broke and

carried no further tension.

3.2 Material genesis procedure

A rectangular vessel, of length w and height h, consisting

of

four planar frictionless walls was created. An assembly of

arbitrarily placed particles was generated to fill the

vessel. A

uniform particle-size distribution bounded by 0.025 and

0.040

units was used. The number of particles was determined such

that overall porosity in the vessel was 17% ensuring a

tight ini

tial packing. The particles, at half their final size, were

placed

randomly such that no particles overlapped. The particle

radii

were then increased to their final values and the system was

allowed to rearrange under a low friction coefficient of

0.05.

The radii of all particles were reduced uniformly to achieve

a specified isotropic stress, σ 0 , defined as the average

of the

direct stresses. The stress was set equal to approximately

1%

of the UCS, to reduce the magnitude of the locked-in forces

that would develop after contact bonds were added and the

specimen was removed from the material vessel and allowed

to relax.

The radii of unbonded particles were iteratively modi

fied using a floater elimination procedure which produced

a bonded assembly for which nearly all particles away from

the specimen boundaries had at least three contacts. This
pro

duced a densely packed and well-connected assembly which

mimicked a highly interlocked collection of grains.

3.3 Formation of the rough defect

Once any floaters were eliminated the confining walls were

removed. The system was then allowed to step to equilibrium

and the set of boundary particles was identified. This set

was

divided into two groups, separated by the horizontal

centreline

of the assembly, to form the top and bottom containers of a

simple shear box. In this study, three samples with

lengths, Figure 1. Defect set up with close-up of sample.
w, of 20, 100 and 200 units were prepared (these
represented 100 mm, 500 mm and 1000 mm respectively).
Sample height remained constant at 2 units. All normal and
shear contact bond strengths corresponding to the defect
were assigned a value of zero prior to testing. The defect
roughness profile used consisted of the sum of two periodic
waves, given in Equation 5. where y is the deviation from
the horizontal centreline and x is the distance from the
left side of the shear box. The defect amplitude decayed
linearly to zero within four units from the ends of the
shear box to ensure smooth entry and exit conditions.
Contacts within a distance of 0.08 units of the defect
track were given bond strengths of zero. All other contacts
were given equal shear and normal bond strengths of 10 6
units. Contacts within a distance of 0.5 units from the top
and bottom edges of the shear box were given strengths of
10 7 units to prevent spurious failures at the boundaries.
Shear and normal contact stiffnesses were linear, with
spring constants equal to 0.7 × 10 9 units. A general view
of the shear box is shown in Figure 1, showing unbonded
particles (representing the defect). A close up of the
right-hand end is also included. The contact bonds are
shown as black lines connecting particle centres. Unbonded
defect material can be identified as the area of particles
without bonds. 3.4 Preliminary tests Preliminary tests were
performed to determine two parameters, the unconfined
compressive strength (UCS) and basic friction angle,
required for comparing the numerical results with Barton’s
JRC/JCS shear strength criterion. The UCS was determined by
numerically modelling a uniaxial compressive test in the
manner suggested by Cundall (2000). The sample was bonded
with the same contact bond strength of 10 6 units
throughout and divided equally into eight square
sub-samples with lengths of 2 units. Rigid vertical motion
was applied to both ends of all the sub-samples

simultaneously by assigning a constant vertical velocity to

the

top and bottom walls. By averaging the vertical reaction

forces

on the two walls, the peak stress (i.e. UCS) was determined
to

be 1.965 × 10 7 units.

The basic friction was obtained by modelling samples with

their roughness set to zero (i.e. planar smooth defect). It

was

observed that the basic friction angle was 33.5 ◦ .

3.5 Direct shear test procedure

The two groups of boundary particles comprising the bottom

and top halves of the shear box were controlled to perform

the direct shear test. The bottom half of the box was held

fixed throughout the test, while the top half was

translated as

one rigid unit with constant velocity in the horizontal

direction

until a shear displacement of about 0.5% of the sample

length,

w, was reached. By summing the vertical and horizontal out

of-balance forces of the particles comprising the two halves

and dividing them by two, both the vertical and horizontal

reaction forces on the top half were evaluated and recorded

continuously.

The vertical motion was controlled by a numerical servo

mechanism which aimed to keep the vertical reaction force

constant at some specified value. Six vertical stresses (nor

malised to UCS) were applied: 0.153, 0.382, 0.509, 0.662,

0.891 and 1.170. In each test, the vertical force required

was

determined by multiplying the vertical stress to be applied

by

w. A corresponding vertical velocity was then imposed on all

particles comprising the top half by comparing the measured

reaction with the force required.

4 PFC 2D MODELLING EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

AND DISCUSSION

Six direct shear tests for each of the sample lengths (20,
100

and 200 units) were performed. These represented 100 mm,

0.5 m and 1.0 m lengths of defect respectively. The 0.5 m

and 1.0 m samples contained defects with exactly the same

roughness profile as that for the 100 mm sample. They can

be visualised as being prepared by placing five and ten

100 mm samples side by side respectively (the decay of

defect

amplitude only occurred at the ends of all samples).

4.1 Behaviour and conformity to the JRC/JCS criterion

Figure 2 shows the shear strength results for the six 100 mm
shear tests compared with predictions by the JRC/JCS crite

rion. Numerical results are denoted by solid dots and the

dotted

line gives the JRC/JCS prediction (JRC = 20, φ b = 33.5 ◦

and

JCS = UCS). The numerical results do not conform very well

to those predicted by Barton’s equation. However, slightly

reducing the basic friction angle to 30 ◦ gives a much bet

ter result. This is shown as a solid line in Figure 2. These

results for the 100 mm sample are similar to those reported

by

Cundall (2000). Similar plots for the 500 mm and 1000 mm

samples were also produced and showed good agreement with

Barton’s criterion (Lai, 2006).

4.2 Scale effects in the shear strength of rock defects

4.2.1 Variation in general shear and dilation behaviour

The shear strength vs shear displacement curves and dilation

vs shear displacement curves for a normalised normal stress

of 0.509 for the three scales are superimposed in Figures 3

and 4 respectively. The curves show similarities in their

gen

eral trends and they all reach similar peak and ultimate
shear Figure 2. Shear strength versus normalised normal
stress for a 100 mm sample. Figure 3. Shear stress – shear
displacement for a normalised normal stress of 0.509 for
the three samples. Figure 4. Dilation – shear displacement
curves for a normalised normal stress of 0.509 for the
three samples. strength, peak dilation and ultimate
vertical displacement. This similarity is also evident for
other values of normal stress (Lai, 2006). These results
differ significantly from the scale effects documented in
Bandis et al. (1981), where there was an obvious decrease
in peak strength and dilation angle with scale and an
apparent transition from ‘brittle’ to ‘plastic’ failure.
Bandis et al. (1981) investigated scale effects using
plaster models of real joints. They divided a full length
joint into smaller sub samples, tested them individually
and averaged the results to obtain cumulative mean curves.
Since the smaller

Table 1. Variation in normalised shear strengths, and

correspond

ing percentage change with scale.

Normalised Sample length Change

normal stress 100 mm 500 mm 1000 mm %

0.153 0.176 0.182 0.193 10

0.382 0.303 0.326 0.335 11

0.509 0.354 0.384 0.390 10

0.662 0.431 0.432 0.443 3

0.891 0.511 0.503 0.509 −0.4

samples contain different portions of the full length joint

(and

hence different ‘critical asperities’), there is high

variability

in their shear behaviour. Hencher et al. (1993), who

attempted

to repeat the work of Bandis, noted that: ‘despite

considerable

care in their construction, model halves would never match

precisely’ and ‘this is a contributing factor in the

variability

of shear behaviour’.

However, in this study, the 500 mm and 1000 mm samples

are exact duplications of the 100 mm sample and hence the

defect profile and location of asperities are exactly the
same

for all three samples. The critical asperities controlling

the

shear behaviour of the 100 mm sample may control that of

the larger samples as well and this may explain why their

behaviour are so similar.

4.2.2 Scale effects on peak shear strength

The variations in normalised shear strength with scale for

the

different normalised normal stresses and the corresponding

percentage change in strength from the 100 mm to 1000 mm

samples are tabulated in Table 1.

With the exception of the 0.891 normal stress, all show some

increase in shear strength with scale. However, this

increase

is insignificant when compared to the amount of decrease

predicted by Barton’s scaling equations which ranges from

−41% for a stress of 0.153 to −20% for 0.891.

As discussed in the previous section, samples of different

scales in this study behave in a similar fashion and this

increase

in shear strength with scale may well be due to experimen

tal variability, rather than an actual change in the

shearing

mechanism with increasing scale. This argument is further

supported by examination of the peak shear displacement and

peak dilation angle data.

Bandis et al. (1981) believed that peak shear displace

ment was a measure of the distance a defect has to travel

before effective contact is made between critical asperities

that control peak resistance. For these experiments, the dis

tance remains fairly constant and no real trend is evident

when

sample lengths increase. This is consistent with the observa

tion that all samples behave similarly and that they

contain the

similar critical asperities, hence exhibiting peak shear

stress

at roughly the same shear displacement.

Peak dilation angles determined in this study, were calcu

lated from the portions of the vertical – shear displacement

curves around which peak shear stress occurred. The peak

dilation angles varied only slightly with scale with most

ABSTRACT: The Synthetic Rock Mass approach to jointed rock

mass characterization (Pierce et al. 2007) is reviewed
relative

to existing empirical approaches and current understanding

of jointed rock mass behaviour. The review illustrates how
the key

factors affecting the mechanical behaviour of jointed rock

masses may be considered and demonstrates that the SRM
approach

constitutes a significant step forward in this field. This

technique, based on two well-established methods, Bonded
Particle

Modelling in PFC3D (Potyondy and Cundall, 2004) and

Discrete Fracture Network simulation, employs a new sliding
joint

model that allows for large rock volumes containing

thousands of pre-existing joints to be subjected to any
non-trivial stress

path. Output from SRM testing includes rock mass

brittleness and strength, evolution of the full compliance
matrix and primary

fragmentation.

1 INTRODUCTION

“We don’t know the rock mass strength. That is why we need
an

International Society,” was the response of Professor

Leopold

Müller, when asked, in Salzburg in May 24, 1962, why he had

just established the ISRM.

Given the obvious difficulty of direct full-scale testing

of a

rock mass, progress in estimating the strength and general

con

stitutive behavior of rock masses has been slow, and

reliance

has been placed on empirical classification rules and

systems

derived from practical observations.

We do know that rock mass stiffness and strength typically

decrease with increase in the scale of both size of the

structure

and duration of loading. This is usually attributed to the

pres

ence of joints and similar ‘planar’ discontinuities in the

rock

mass that are weaker than the intact rock. Reduction of

strength

with time of loading tends to be attributed to

‘weakening’of the

‘bridges’ of intact rock between the larger planar

discontinu

ities (Einstein and Meyer, 1999) or, equivalently,

‘sub-critical

crack growth’ (Kemeny, 2003) or ‘stress corrosion’ at the

tips

of discontinuities.

Rock Mass Classification (RMC) systems were devel

oped for use in Civil and Mining Engineering in response

to the need for ways to ‘rank’ a specific rock mass, based

in large part upon the joints and their weakening effect on

the rock. By compiling histories of rock mass ranking rela

tive to performance, it has been possible to develop

relations

for quantitative prediction of rock mass strength and mod

ulus. Despite the fact that RMC systems and relations are in

widespread use in engineering design, their ability to

consider strength anisotropy (resulting form the joint
network) and strain softening/weakening remains limited.
Another important limitation of such systems is the
inherent uncertainty of extrapolation beyond the limits of
the experience from which the rules have been derived. A
comprehensive discussion on this matter can be found in Mas
Ivars (2007). Continuum mechanics is also applied to great
benefit in rock mechanics and rock engineering, but it too
has limitations. Trollope (1968), for example, has
commented as follows: “In the field of geomechanics,
granular media and blockjointed rock masses are obvious
examples where the concept of the ideal physical
continuumone in which no gaps are formed – cannot be
expected to apply….Indeed, it is the writer’s view that
only with clastic models or some further development
thereof can the problem of predicting the complete
load-deformation behaviour of solids be tackled
optimistically”. There are important problems where
progress in understanding requires that the heterogeneous
and discrete microstructure of rock and, on a larger scale,
jointed or blocky masses, be analyzed by discontinuum
mechanics. This is particularly the case when the rock
deforms inelastically and progresses to disintegration, as
in controlled collapse mining operations, such as block
caving. Although loads in rock engineering problems are
often ‘dominantly compressive’, the heterogeneous structure
of rock at all scales results in localized tensions and
tensile fracturing that ‘conditions’ the subsequent
deformation. ‘Shear fracture’ is often the final stage of
extensive tensile

microfracturing. On the larger scale, the processes of

discon

tinuous slip on joints and fracture development through

‘intact

bridge’ regions between the joints is complex (Fairhurst et

al. 2007) and difficult to represent in continuum terms. In

such cases, it is necessary to use discontinuum and particle

mechanics modeling if the essential nature of the fracturing

and disintegration behaviour is to be captured. In some

cases,

the behaviour exhibited in the discontinuum model can assist

post facto in developing a useful continuum representation.

This approach is used in the caving analysis described in

this

paper.

The relatively recent development of numerical models

based on particle mechanics and the remarkable advances in

computer power now allow detailed examination of the inter

action between rock discontinuities and the bridges of

‘intact

rock’ for a variety of cases and scales. It is now possible

to
simulate a rock mass and conduct ‘numerical experiments,’

analogous in some respects to physical experiments, and to

obtain considerable insight into the nature of both size and

time effects on the strength and constitutive behavior of

rock

masses.

This paper describes a recent significant step forward, the

Synthetic Rock Mass (SRM) approach (Pierce at al. 2007),

and presents results from its application on a caveability

study.

Predictions are checked against observation of the stress

redis

tribution and caving process using a 3D microseismic array

installed around the cave region. Results to date are very

encouraging.

Although the specific application is in mining, the SRM

approach is of general interest for rock mechanics since

defor

mation and failure behaviour is followed on a large scale

(several hundreds of meters) to complete collapse. Clearly,

whether the aim be to promote or prevent collapse of the

rock

mass, an understanding of the region of discontinuous slip,

rotation, disintegration and, eventually, collapse is

important

to safe design in rock engineering.

Based on the Bonded Particle Model for rock (Potyondy and

Cundall, 2004), the SRM has the recently added capability of

embedding a three-dimensional fracture network of impersis

tent disc-shaped joints. The SRM method has been developed

to apply to rock masses in the scale of 10–100 m, therefore,

aspects affecting the rock mass behavior at the grain-scale

such

as grain size, mineralogical composition, metal content,

foli

ation, porosity, pore structure, inter and intra-grain

cleavage,

etc, are not addressed explicitly.

This paper describes some of the advantages of the SRM

approach relative to empirical approaches and with reference

to the literature on jointed rock mass behavior. Some

possibil

ities for further development are also discussed,

particularly

with respect to time dependency.

2 SYNTHETIC ROCK MASS (SRM) APPROACH

The SRM technique is essentially used as a ‘virtual

laboratory’

to complement empirical methods of property estimation.

This technique extends the approach of Park et al. (2004)

to 10–100 m diameter spherical volumes of rock containing

thousands of impersistent joints, made possible by the devel

opment of a new sliding joint model, and subjects these SRM

samples to site-specific stress paths. Estimates of rock

mass

strength and brittleness are derived from these tests for

direct
input to standard continuum large-scale models in a zone-by

zone basis, which can incorporate other features such as

major

structures, adjacent excavations and surface topography.

Figure 1. Stress paths, fitted peak-strength envelope and
damage threshold observed in SRM sample. SRM samples are
three-dimensional and simulate rock as an assembly of
bonded spheres (intact rock) with an embedded discrete
network of disc-shaped flaws (joints). The samples,
constructed in PFC3D (Itasca, 2003), are spherical in shape
to facilitate application and rotation of strains during
testing. An added advantage of using a spherical (rather
than cylindrical or cubic sample) is that the number of
particles required to achieve a given resolution is
significantly reduced. The size of the SRM sample to be
generated for testing must be large enough to be considered
a representative volume but small enough to ensure rapid
solution times (Pierce et al. 2007). An SRM sample is
created and tested in three main steps: 1. Calibration of
the intact rock material against laboratory tests results
(scaled to account for the average in situ rock block size)
and generation of the spherical intact rock sample using
the procedures outlined by Potyondy and Cundall (2004) for
creation and testing of a parallel-bonded material. 2.
Generation of a representative discrete fracture network
from the available joint data using 3FLO (ICSAS, 2006) and
incorporation into the SRM sample. 3. Subjecting the SRM
sample to the desired stress path to failure. This
procedure is described in Pierce et al (2007). Figure 1
shows an example of fitted peak strength envelope to two
different stress paths imposed on the same SRM sample (the
total number of particles in this sample was around 255.000
with a uniform distribution in diameter from 12.4 to 20.6
cm. The sample has 12 m diameter and contains 20.000 joints
approx.). The onset of damage occurs well before peak
strength is reached and it is indicated by the breakage of
interparticle bonds (cracks).After approx. 1000 cracks, the
samples began to dilate and deviate from the desired stress
path (due to changes in compliance). As shown in Figure 1,
there is good correspondence between this point and the
lower limit of the empirical damage threshold criterion
discussed by Diederichs (1999). The following sections
outline some of the advantages of the SRM approach in
estimating strength (as demonstrated 0

10

20
30

40

50

60

70

80

90 Baseline DFN from different simulation Constant joint

orientation Reduced joint friction (25 degrees vs. 30)
Reduced joint persistence (75% of baseline joint diameters)

o c

a s

s U

C S

( M

P a

Figure 2. Comparison of UCS values from sensitivity study

SRM

samples (Mas Ivars, 2007).

above) and other mechanical properties of large masses of

in-situ discontinuous rock:

1. The in situ joint fabric is explicitly accounted for in

three

dimensions, including consideration of stiffness, strength

and dilation. In this way the anisotropy induced by the ini

tial jointing is fully captured and its effect on strength,

brittleness and fragmentation considered. Despite the exis

tence of well-established methods for the characterization

of joint networks and their mechanical properties (Barton,

1976,1993; Stephansson, 1985; Barton and Stephansson,

1990; Brown, 2003) the combined effect of these factors

remains poorly accounted for within empirical methods

for rock characterization. This may be due to the fact that

a large degree of uncertainty often exists due to the scarce

data gathered in comparison to the total study volume and

the scale effect on fracture properties (Pinto de Cunha,

1990; Fardin, 2003). In order to account for the joint

fabric

within SRM samples, a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN)

is produced and calibrated to available measures of joint

frequency, trace length and strength. There are a number of

well-established tools available to generate DFN [e.g. Frac

Works XP (www.fracman.com); 3FLO (ICSAS, 2006)].

The impact of uncertainties in the joint network or strength

can be quantified by conducting sensitivity studies on a

series of SRM samples. Figure 2 shows the derived UCS

value for SRM samples with different joint structure and

joint strength.

2. The full elastic/inelastic compliance matrix can be eas

ily derived at any stage along the tress path. Empirical

approaches generally only estimate an isotropic modulus

or a ‘directional modulus’ and do not directly account for

non-linear behaviour from the effects of stress, damage or

joint closure.

3. Application of any non-trivial full tensor stress path to

failure allowing rotation of stresses and the effect of con

fining stress, including intermediate principal stress, to

be

accounted for. Confining pressure is an important consider

ation since it affects brittle fracture strength by

suppressing

the growth of dilatant microcracks, a process which is gen

erally enhanced by deviatoric stress and suppressed by

mean stress. The experiments of Hudson et al. (1972) and

many other researchers (e.g., Rummel and Fairhurst, 1970;

Ribacci, 2000) have revealed that the tendency of intact and

jointed rock samples to fail in a plastic or brittle manner

depends strongly on the confinement pressure – behaving

like a brittle material in uniaxial compression and becom

ing increasingly plastic with increased confining pressure.

Figure 3. Stereonet plots of poles to joints slipping at
the onset of damage in two SRM samples subjected to
different stress paths. In addition, the common assumption
of neglecting the effect of the intermediate principal
stress on the failure strength and failure mode cannot be
sustained based on the ‘true triaxial’ measurements
reported (Mogi 1967, 1971; Haimson, 1978; Haimson and
Chang, 2000; Colmenares and Zoback, 2002). 4. Slip on
joints. By plotting poles to slipping joints on a stereonet
at any desired stage along the stress path, it is possible
to see the impact of differing stress magnitudes and
orientations relative to the joint fabric within the SRM
sample (Figure 3). 5. Brittleness. The brittleness of the
SRM samples is obtained by tracking plastic shear strains
relative to the evolving cohesion as they soften from their
peak strength to residual strength. Accumulated plastic
shear strain is a common metric for irreversible shear
strains in geomaterials and, in a more general sense, can
be considered as a measure of damage. The cohesion versus
plastic shear strain obtained from five different SRM
samples in this manner are normalized to cohesion for
comparative purposes in Figure 4. There is a significant
variation in brittleness, which is a direct results of
variations in intact strength and stress path between the
samples. As discussed by Hajiabdolmajid and Kaiser (2003)
brittleness is known to be simultaneously dependent on
material properties, on the geometry and size of test
samples, and on the loading conditions. The SRM methodology
is capable of capturing the impact of all these effects on
brittleness.The ability to obtain the predictions of rock
mass brittleness in this manner is considered a significant
step forward since there are no established guidelines

Figure 4. Estimates of brittleness obtained from testing of

five

different SRM samples (Domain1–5). (Steep lines indicate

high

brittleness – i.e. less plastic strain required to lose

cohesion.)

Figure 5. Evolution of fracturing in SRM sample on a

vertical

cross-section through the centre. Solid colours denote

contiguous

blocks of bonded material (i.e. isolated intact rock

blocks).

for selection of values for use in modeling the behavior of

jointed rock masses on the scale of 10–100 m.

6. Fragmentation. By examination of contiguous blocks

within the SRM material – i.e. isolated blocks of intact

rock within the sample whose component particles can all

be reached via one another through bonded contacts – it is

possible to see how the initially intact rock mass disinte

grates and to visualize the fractures (in the form of block

defining features) that lead to this disintegration (Figure

5). The evolving fragment size distribution that accompa

nies fracturing was estimated by converting the volume of

each continuous block to an equivalent spherical diameter,

as shown in Figure 6.

7. Nature of fracturing. The large number of competing

effects that influence the fracture process in jointed rock

has precluded the development of a universal law that can

be used in any practical way to predict the strength of an

arbitrary rock mass (Lockner, 1995). Rather than modelling

a generic rock mass, SRM samples aim to reproduce the

measurable features of a specific rock mass and to permit

testing of this rock mass under site specific stress paths.

By

analysing breakage sequences in the assembly of bonded

particles representing intact rock, the SRM tests can be

used to understand the evolution of new fractures, either

as extensions of existing joints or as isolated new frac

tures. The nature of the bonded particle model is such that

it mimics the heterogeneous nature of natural rock, giving

rise to various types of flaws or local stress concentrators

within the intact blocks that are known to act as sources

for growing microcracks in real rock (Kemeny and Cook,

1991). Slip on joints also produces tensile stresses at the

tips of pre-existing joints, which can lead to wing-crack

propagation, as observed in many experimental studies

(Dyskin et al. 1994a,b, 1999; Germanovich et al. 1994;

Figure 6. Evolution of isolated block size distribution
within the SRM sample as it passes from peak to residual
strength. Bobet, 1997; Bobet and Einstein 1998a; Sagong and
Bobet 2002; Germanovich and Dyskin, 2000; Wong et al.
2001). Other researchers have achieved the same effects by
activating appropriate elements within a ‘lattice’ array of
regular or randomly distributed crack elements (Lockner and
Madden, 1991a,b; Sellers and Napier, 1997; Napier and
Malan, 1997; Chiaia et al. 1997) or by chaining successive
displacementdiscontinuity boundary elements end to end in
calculated orientations (Scavia, 1992 and 1995); Napier and
Hildyard, 1992; Bobet and Einstein, 1998b and Shen et al.
2004). Other numerical procedures such as the so-called
‘smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH)’ method are
representative of a class of ‘mesh-free’ methods that do
not rely on the problem region subdivision into explicit
computational grids (Monaghan, 2000; Gray et al. 2001;
Jing, 2003). The advantage of the bonded particle approach
employing an embedded joint network is that complex
fracture patterns and material behaviours result without
having to employ elaborate continuum constitutive models.
The fracture patterns observed within the SRM samples can
be correlated with observations of fracture geometries,
failure properties and growth evolution derived from
highresolution microseismic data. As part of a caveability
study comparison of the SRM evolving fracturing pattern
obtained from SRM tests on different rock domains and the
one derived from the seismicity registered in-situ showed
good agreement (Reyes-Montes et al. 2007). The output
obtained from the application of the SRM method was
employed within a mine-scale caveability model that
successfully simulated the observed rate and extent of cave
progression (Pierce et al. 2006). 3 POTENTIAL FOR FURTHER
DEVELOPMENT To date, no consideration has been given to
time-dependency, temperature or pore pressure within the
SRM approach. The importance of these factors and the
potential for further developing the SRM approach to
include these effects is discussed briefly here. Time
dependence. Rock mechanics practitioners recognized long
ago that both of the components of a jointed rock mass
(intact rock and joints) exhibit time-dependent behaviour.
It is well established that the brittle fracturing process
is dependent

on the time scale of load duration (Potyondy, 2006).The mech

anism responsible for the time dependence of brittle creep

is thought to be stress corrosion (chemically assisted crack

growth), and creep rates are thought to be controlled by the

rate of slow growth of tensile cracks. The Parallel-bonded

Stress Corrosion model, developed by Potyondy (2006) within

PFC3D, offers a means to represent the time-dependent nature

of intact rock failure within the SRM methodology.Additional

development would be required to incorporate time-dependent

joint slip. Additional effects such as crack healing,

cementa

tion and densification are also worthy of investigation and

inclusion within the methodology.

Temperature. Since high temperatures are known to reduce

intact rock strength and fracture strength (Wong, 1982), it

may

be useful in specific cases to employ the thermal logic

already

available within PFC3D.

Pore pressure. The nature of fracturing can change due

to changes in pore pressure i.e. increase in pore fluid pres

sure will diminish the effective stress and tensile

fracturing

can occur due to low or zero effective minor stress. Further

increase in pore pressure will result in hydraulic

fracturing

(Einstein and Dershowitz, 1990). Change in pore pressure

affects also the joint strength (Lockner, 1995; Secor 1965,

1968; Byerlee 1990, 1992). The SRM methodology could

readily adopt any pore pressure logic that is added to

PFC3D.

Additional development would be required to handle fluid

pressure within the joints.

4 CONCLUSION

The Synthetic Rock Mass approach is proposed as an appeal

ing way to better understand and predict jointed rock mass

behavior. The methodology, based on the bonded-particle

model for rock (Potyondy and Cundall, 2004) involves con

struction of a synthetic ‘sample’ of the rock mass in three

dimensions by bonding together thousands of spherical par

ticles and embedding the fracture network of impersistent

pre-existing joints.

The SRM method allows the observation of deformation,

fracturing and damage of a given rock mass domain as a func

tion of all the key factors involved in the process:

non-trivial

stress path, intact rock stiffness and strength, and

jointing

(including orientation, persistence, spacing, stiffness,

strength

and shear dilation). Specific studies can be carried out

with

models to evaluate the impact of the most critical aspects

cur

rently under-represented in empirical and continuum numer

ical modelling approaches (joint structure, time-dependent

failure, etc). The full compliance matrix, nature of fractur

ing and fragmentation can be evaluated at any stage while

the

SRM sample is subjected to the desired stress-path to

failure.

Additionally, the output on rock mass strength and

brittleness

can be used as input in standard large-scale continuum

models

which can incorporate the effect of adjacent excavations,

large

faults and topography. Overall, the SRM approach should sig

nificantly improve our understanding of the deformation and

failure process. It provides a basis for development of a

ratio

nal framework for estimation of rock mass deformation and

strength.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The research reported has been funded by the Mass Mining

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Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 The use of a bonded-particle
model for studying the mechanical behavior of weak rock
Fu-Shu Jeng, Hung-Hui Li & Tsan-Hwei Huang Department of
Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei,
Taiwan Yo-Ming Hsieh Department of Construction
Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

ABSTRACT: According to the studies of laboratory

experiments and of petrographic analysis of weak rock in
Taiwan, it was

found that the key parameters influencing unconfined

compressive strength (UCS) are porosity and grain area
ratio (GAR).

However, how the relative properties between grain and

matrix affect the macro behavior is still uncertain.
Therefore, this study

adopted a numerical method based on a distinct element

method (DEM) to identify quantitatively the influence of
porosity and

GAR. The numerical results were consistent with the

empirical function and show that the strength and the
deformability of

rock can be expressed in terms of porosity and GAR.

Accordingly, the proposed model may help in research how
the relative

properties between grain and matrix affect the strength and

the deformational behavior.

1 INTRODUCTION

Owing to a relatively short rock forming period, most of

the rocks in western Taiwan, including sandstone, shale and

mudstone, are poorly cemented and porous. The typical

strength ranges from 10 to 80 MPa (Jeng and Huang, 1998);

these sandstones were often characterized as medium weak

rocks. Laboratory experiments were conducted to explore the

geotechnical characteristics of more than 13 Tertiary sand

stones from northernTaiwan by Jeng et al. (2002). It was

found

that the mechanical behavior of these sandstones differs

from

that of many hard rocks in terms of having significant shear

dilation and wetting softening behavior.

In addition, since grains, matrix and porosity constitute

the whole sandstone; how this composition affects the macro

behavior is of interest. Through petrographic analysis, the

influences of microscopic parameters (or petrographic param

eters) on the macroscopic mechanical behaviors had been

studied, and the porosity and the grain area ratio (GAR) are

found to be the key parameters. The GAR, defined by Eesoy

and Waller (1995), represents the percentage of grain within

rock as show in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The definition of GAR is the percentage of total

grain

area Ag within a chosen area A of a thin section of rock.

As a result, empirical relation of UCS, expressed in terms
of porosity and GAR shown in equation (1) and Figure 2, was
proposed by Jeng et al. (2002). Figure 2. Influence of
petrographic paremeters on UCS. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10
15 20 25 30 Porosity (%)

( G

P a

) Experimental results (Jeng, 1999; Jeng et al., 2002) 35

55 75 Simulated GAR(%) Regressive curve (GAR=75) Regressive
curve (GAR=35)
(a) Young’s modulus difference versus porosity 0 5 10 15 20
25 30 0 20 40 60 100 GAR (%)

( G

P a

) Experimental results (Jeng, 1999; Jeng et al., 2002)

Regressive curve (n=10%) Regressive curve (n=25%) 10 15 20
25 Simulated n(%)

(b) Young’s modulus difference versus GAR 80

Figure 3. Influence of petrographic parameters on Young’s

modulus.

According to the same data and analysis procedure by Jeng

et al. (2002), another empirical relation ofYoung’s modulus

is

shown in equation (2) and Figure 3.

However, the influences of relative mechanical properties

between grain and matrix, and the mechanism of the wetting

weakening are difficult to be studied either by the labora

tory experiments or by the petrographic

analysis.Accordingly,

this research employs a numerical method to analyze how

the macroscopic strength and stiffness were affected by the

above-mentioned petrographic factors.

2 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Description of bonded particle model

A two dimensional distinct element method software PFC2D

(Itasca, 2002) was adopted to model the influence of the

porosity and the GAR. The basic assumptions of PFC2D are:

(1) the particles are considered as homogenous rigid balls;

(2) the interaction between particles is described as a soft

contact, which occurs over an infinite small area; (3) the

par

ticles are allowed to overlap slightly at the contact

points;

(4) the slip condition between particles is governed by Mohr

Coulomb friction. In addition, there are two basic bonding

models, including a contact-bond model and a parallel-bond

0 20 40 60 80 100 0.010.1110100 Grain or particle size (mm)
P e r c e n t f i n e r b y w e i g h t o r a r e a ( % )
MS2 PFC2D, GAR35 PFC2D, GAR55 PFC2D, GAR75 Figure 4. Grain
size distribution of the MS sandstone and the BPM. model,
supported in PFC2D, and it can be used to model a brittle
solid. Furthermore, to ensure all particles being well
connected and low locked-in forces, a material-genesis
procedure was proposed by Potyondy and Cundall (2004) to
built a bonded-particle model (BPM) for rock, and it
includes the following five-step process: (1) compact
initial assembly; (2) install specified isotropic stress;
(3) reduce the number of floating particles; (4) install
parallel bonds; (5) remove from material vessel. 2.2 Model
size and the grain size distribution In this study, the
material-genesis procedure is followed and further modified
to build a BPM. The size of the numerical specimen is 55 mm
in width and 130 mm in height. Due to the 2D nature of the
model, the thickness is considered as the unit length. The
upper and lower boundaries are considered as frictionless
rigid plates, and lateral boundaries are unconstrained. The
uniaxial compression test is simulated by moving vertically
both upper and lower plates toward the center of the
specimen at a constant velocity of 10 −2 m/s. This loading
rate, confirmed in this study and by Iverson (2003), is the
upper limit for which the loading rate poses little effect
on the resultant UCS. The grain size distribution of the
studied sandstone specimen is up-scaled to determine the
number of particles and their sizes in the BPM, as shown in
Figure 4. The particles with diameter less than 2 mm are
defined as matrix particles (MP) or porous matrix particles
(PMP), and only particles with diameter larger than 2 mm
are considered as grain particles (GP). 2.3 Control of the
porosity and GAR To achieve an adequate simulation, the
porosity and GAR of the BPM should be controlled first. It
was set that the initial porosity of the BPM is around 10%.
In this study, some MP is replaced by PMP by reducing the
stiffness and the radius multiplier λ of particle to
simulate the variation of porosity from 10% to 25%. In
addition, three models were setup with GAR 35%, 55%, and
75% by controlling the area ratio of MP and GP, and these
models contains 12113, 8487, and 7606 particles
respectively in total. 2.4 Parameters of the studied model
According to Potyondy and Cundall (2004), The macroscopic
behavior of BPM is governed by grain microproperties

Table 1. Microproperties of grain, matrix and porous matrix

particles. porous

Items (units) Grain Matrix Matrix

Particles

Density, ρ (kg/m 3 ) 2660 2660 2660

Modulus (GPa) E g = 23.9 E m = 4.5 0.8E m

Normal/shear stiffness 2.4 2.4 2.4

Friction coefficient, µ 0.5 0.5 0.5

Parallel bond

Radius multiplier, λ 1 1 0.08

Modulus (GPa) E g = 23.9 E m = 4.56 0.8 E m

Normal/shear stiffness 2.4 2.4 2.4

Normal strength (MPa) σ g = 35.8 σ m = 143.7 σ m

Shear strength (MPa) τ g = 35.8 τ m = 143.7 τ m 0 5 10 15

20 25 30 35 40 45 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 Axial strain
(%)

x i

a l

s t

r e
s s

( M

P a

) PFC2D simulation results Experimental results

Figure 5. Experimental and simulated stress-strain curves

in uni

axial compression test.

(including kn, kn/ks and µ) and cement microproperties

(including λ, kn, kn/ks, σ and τ), where kn and kn are nor

mal stiffness of the grain and cement particles; ks and ks

are

shear stiffness of the grain and cement particles,

respectively;

µ is the grain friction coefficient; λ is the radius

multiplier

used to set he parallel-bond radii; and σ and τ are the

tensile

and shear strength, respectively.

In this study, the parallel-bond model is used as the inter

particle bonding model to describe the constitutive behavior

of a finite-sized piece of cementitious material deposited

between two particles. The width of parallel bonds is

defined

by 2 λ min (R A , R B ), and the radius multiplier λ

controls both

the tensile and the bending strength of the parallel bond.

All

parameters needed in BPM model are shown in Table 1, and

these parameters are determined through a calibration

process

by matching the observed material strength with the computed

strength by the adopted BPM model.

2.5 Model calibration

In order to verify the numerical model, the experimental and

simulated stress-strain curves were compared as shown in

Figure 5. The UCS and theYoung’s modulus of the experimen

tal results are 39.62 MPa and 7.94 GPa, and the simulated
UCS

and Young’s modulus is 41.20 MPa and 9.64 GPa. The exper

imental and simulated failure pattern are brittle, as shown

in

Figure 6. Figure 6. The failure pattern of the MS sandstone

and of the BPM. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 1 3 5 7 8 9 10
Packing No. U C S ( M P a ) simulated UCS mean value 2 4 6
(a) Simulated UCS vs.packing no. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1
10 Packing No. E ( G P a ) simulated Young's modulus mean
value 2 4 (b) Simulated Young’s modulus E vs.packing no. 3
5 6 7 8 9 Figure 7. PFC 2D simulated results with different
packing arrangement: (a) UCS; (b) Young’s modulus. In
addition, 10 PFC2D models with different packing
arrangements were created to simulate the uniaxial
compression test. According to the simulated results, the
mean value and standard deviation of the UCS are 41.60 MPa
and 2,57 MPa, as shown in Figure 7(a); the mean value and
standard deviation of the Young’s modulus are 8.4 GPa and
0.15 GPa, as shown in Figure 7(b). It indicates that the
simulated UCS andYoung’s modulus are not affected by the
packing arrangements in the adopted model. Consequently the
influences of the packng arrangements are not considered in
the followed analysis.

3 INFLUENCES OF PETROGRAPHIC PARAMETERS

ON NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

In this study, the influence of increasing porosity was sim

ulated by decreasing the Young’s modulus E m and E m and

parallel bond radius multiplier λ, as shown in Table 1, on
some

part matrix particles. It was set that the initial porosity

of the

numerical model is around 10%. Later on, the modulus and

the radius multiplier λ of part of the particles will be

reduced

to simulate the variation of porosity from 10% to 25%.

According to the simulated results, it can be found that

the UCS decreases with increasing porosity and with increas

ing GAR, as shown in Figure 2; and the Young’s modulus

decreases with increasing porosity and with decreasing GAR,

as shown in Figure 3. The numerical results were consistent

with the empirical function showing that the strength and

the

deformability of rock can be expressed in terms of porosity

and GAR, and it indicates that the adopted model and param

eters can simulate the influence of the porosity and GAR on

the macroproperties of rock.

4 DISCUSSION

In this study, the BPM is capable of describing the macro

scopic mechanical behaviors reasonably well. The parameters

of grain and the matrix particle were decided according to

the

empirical function, and it shows that the grain particle has

stronger bonding strength and lower Young’s modulus then

the matrix particle. Besides, the proposed porous matrix can

reflect the decreasing tendency of UCS and Young’s modulus

of sandstone with the increasing porosity.

The model is then used to study the bonding strength

σ mg , which exists between grain particles and matrix parti

cles. It was found that its range is between 35.83 MPa and

143.69 MPa. According to the simulated results with various

porosity, GAR and σmg, the simulated UCS can be expressed

in terms of porosity, GAR and σ mg shown in equation (3).

When σ mg is 50 MPa, the three dimensional surface of UCS,

porosity and GAR shown in Figure 8 closely resemble results

obtained from laboratory experiments (Weng, 2002).

5 CONCLUSION

According to the simulated results, the adopted BPM reveals

ABSTRACT: Particle cluster routines were tested using PFC

software. The numerical specimens matched the mechanical

properties of Westerly granite. The results from PFC2D and

PFC3D simulations were compared against the actual
laboratory

data. After the mechanical tests the PFC3D cubic specimens

were heated up to 450 ◦ C. During the heating cracking, AE
activity

and temperature evolutions were monitored. P wave velocity

measurements were conducted for each numerical specimen.
The

responses were compared against similar thermal laboratory

data. The results showed similar P wave velocity decrease
due the

heating up to temperature of about 250 ◦ C.

1 INTRODUCTION

The paper describes steps taken to implement and test

enhanced particle clustering routines in PFC (Itasca Consult

ing Group, Inc., 2005). The study relates to the underground

storage of high-level nuclear waste and the concept of

placing

fuel canisters in underground cavities. The canisters

produce

heat due to fission. The thermal changes in rock could poten

tially lead to the opening of existing cracks and the

initiation

of new cracking. Such damage may have serious implica

tions such as increasing the permeability of the rock

designed

to function as a barrier to groundwater contamination for

example.

Measured macroscopic properties of rock tend to change

with changing temperature. (Mahmutoglu 1998, Jackson et al.

1999). Elastic velocity measurement is a way to monitor some

of the change, for example, David et al. (1999) used

velocity

techniques to study La Peyratte granite. Davidge (1981) and

Homand-Etienne and Houpert (1989) among others studied

thermal cracking at the grain scale and concluded that it

is due

to the mismatch in the thermal expansion coefficient between

adjacent minerals and produces intergranular cracking.

The work presented in the paper is part of the research

to better understand mechanical damage induced by thermal

loading. The numerical results are compared against results

from thermal laboratory experiments on Westerly granite.

The presented thermal modeling builds on the PFC2D ther

mal numerical experiments reported by Wanne and Young

(2006).

2 MODELING METHOD

2.1 Particle Flow Code

Commercially available PFC was used in the particle clus

ter development and thermal simulations. The numerical

approach models the movement and interaction of circu

lar/spherical particles by the distinct element method. The

method represents solid rock by an assembly of particles

joined by breakable bonds. The damage occurs by bond break

ages, thus the material can evolve from solid to granular.

PFC

has been used to simulate hard rock in several studies. A

thorough description of the method is given in (Potyondy &

Cundall 2004). 2.2 Acoustic emission and velocity

measurements PFC uses an explicit time-marching calculation
scheme to simulate material behavior. This allows dynamic
simulations to be performed in which seismic waves
propagate across material at a speed that depends on the
material properties. The approach permits realistic
acoustic emission simulations (Hazzard & Young 2002). The
numerical seismic monitoring technique has been used in
studies reported by Young et al (2000) and Hazzard and
Young (2004). Seismic velocities of the numerical specimens
were measured by propagating pressure waves through them.
Ricker waveform was used as the transmitting wave (Hazzard
& Young 2004). The dominant frequency of the wave was set
depending on the particle sizes in the specimen. It varied
around 400 kHz. The velocity was calculated from the time
difference between the first peaks of the source and
received waves. 2.3 Clustering PFC particles A particle
cluster is defined as a set of particles that are in
contact to each other. The routine is controlled by one
parameter, the maximum number of particles in a single
cluster. The contacts, and bonds, are distinguished as
intracluster (between particles inside a cluster) and
intercluster (between particles in different clusters). The
cluster routine provided with PFC is described by Potyondy
and Cundall (2004). The use of PFC particle clusters is a
relatively new concept which is becoming more feasible due
to increasing computer power and more popular due to the
way it more closely matches the microstructure of complex
materials such as rock. Few studies exist regarding the PFC
clusters. (Boutt & McPherson 2002) studied the effect of
PFC2D cluster size and strength on simulated failure
envelopes and damage types in sedimentary rocks. The
clustered material seemed to increase the slope of the
compressive failure envelope. Potyondy and Cundall (2004)
showed similar observations using granitic rock model.
Landry et al. (2006) used PFC3D to model manure products in
an agriculture related problem. Clusters were introduced to
better model the friable and clumpy nature of organic
fertilizers. The new, developed routines allow grouping of
clusters to groups and assignment of different mechanical
and thermal

properties to the different cluster groups. This enables

stud

ies like the thermal damage evolution with respect to grain

boundary cracking. It is believed that this method is more

realistic for representing rock containing more than one min

eral type. The expansion contrast between adjacent clusters

allows simulation of the hypothesis regarding thermal damage

in the proposed PFC material. Heated laboratory experiments

provide the necessary data for comparison of the simulated

results.

The PFC3D specimens used in the heated experiments had

about 48000 particles, forming about 9500 clusters, divided

into three equally sized groups.

2.4 Thermal modeling routines

Thermal routines allow the simulations of heat conduction

and thermally induced strains. The thermal material is pre

sented as a network of heat reservoirs (particles) and

thermal

pipes (contacts). Heat flow occurs via conduction in the

pipes. A description of the thermal routines is given by

Itasca

Consulting Group, Inc (2004).

Temperature changes produce thermal strains via thermal

expansion.This is accounted for by changing particle radii

and

modifying bond forces. Particle radii are modified based on

the linear thermal expansion coefficient of each particle.

Each

bond between two particles carries components of the force.

Thermal expansion is accounted for in the normal component

of the force vector by effectively changing the bond

length.The

approach gives a force increment due to thermal expansion.

3 NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS

3.1 Mechanical data

The numerical specimens for Westerly granite were created

based on the strength and deformation properties recorded by

Janach (1977) and Pettitt (1998). The specimens were par

allel bonded and created using material genesis procedures

described by Potyondy and Cundall (2004). The PFC speci

mens used clusters to represent the mineral entities. The

bond
strengths inside a cluster were twice the bond strength
between

clusters. A single cluster was composed of about 7

particles.

The strength ratio was rationalized by Tromans and Meech

(2002).

Uniaxial and triaxial tests were performed on the specimens

to determine their macroscopic properties. The specimens

were rectangular (PFC2D) and cylindrical (PFC3D) with

height of 120 mm and width/diameter of 54 mm, and had about

4000 and 80000 particles.

The mechanical properties of Westerly granite and the PFC

specimens are as follows. The UCS is 229 MPa for granite,

and values for PFC2D and PFC3D specimens are 226 and

200 MPa, respectively. The corresponding Young’s modulus

values are 64, 64, and 57 GPa. The strength envelope for the

granite yields friction angle and cohesion values of 49 ◦

and

43 MPa. For PFC specimens the values are 25 ◦ and 73 MPa

for confining pressures up to 100 MPa.

3.2 Thermal data

Data from thermal laboratory experiments by Nasseri et al.

(2007) was compared against the numerical results. They

slowly heated four sets of Westerly granite samples to 250,

450, 650, and 850 ◦ C. The thermal cracking decreased the

mechanical strengths and P wave velocities. The maximum

Figure 1. Evolution of the normalized P wave velocity PFC3D
(circle) and laboratory data (triangle), PFC3D AE hits, and
broken bonds (square) against the temperature. velocity
decreased by 80% when heated to 850 ◦ C. The biggest drop
occurred between 450 and 650 ◦ C due to phase transition of
quartz. Microscopic study revealed the increase in grain
boundary cracking due to heating. The numerical heating
experiments used 45 mm PFC3D cubes. The specimen had 48083
particles with average particle diameter of 1.3 mm. There
were 9661 particle clusters divided into three equally
sized groups. The particles belonging to each group were
assigned different thermal properties resembling the
homogeneous microstructure ofWesterly granite. Thermal
expansion coefficients of quartz, microcline, and
plagioclase were reported by Fei (1995). The applied values
were respectively 25, 10, and 5 [×10 −6 1/ ◦ C]. Heating
was simulated by increasing the specimen temperature in
steps of 5 ◦ C, after which the model was cycled to
equilibrium before increasing the temperature until the
target temperature was reached. Four experiment sets were
conducted heating specimens up to 150, 250, 350, and 450 ◦
C. The phase transition of quartz near 600 ◦ C chances its
thermo-mechanical response (Simmons & Cooper, 1978).The
phenomenon wasn’t included into PFC thermal routines and
therefore the maximum temperature was capped at 450 ◦ C in
the simulations. 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION AE activity was
monitored during the thermal simulations. Seismic
velocities of the numerical specimens were measured before
and after each heating. The behavior is similar to the
laboratory observations. Damage increases with the
temperature. The measured P wave velocities decrease with
the damage and there is an increase in AE hits. Figure 1
shows P wave velocities, AE hits and percentage of broken
bonds with respect to the thermal treatment. Up to 250 ◦ C
the normalized P wave velocity trend is strikingly similar
to that of the laboratory experiment. At the temperatures
of above 300 ◦ C the velocity measurements are inaccurate
due to the damage. At the temperature of about 400 ◦ C the
specimens disintegrates and no velocity measurements are
available.At that point more than 30% of the particle bonds
were broken. In the laboratory experiment the rock is still
intact at the temperatures of 850 ◦ C.

Preliminary observations of the cracking in the PFC3D

specimens show that the cluster boundary cracking is dom

inant similar to the grain boundary cracking in the

laboratory

experiment.
The strong thermal expansion contrast between the adja

cent particle clusters gives rise to high stresses. The

numerical

specimens are structurally perfectly in a sense that there

are

no microcracks or flaws present. When a specimen is heated,

at some point there is no more space for clusters to expand

anymore and local cracking leads to a major failure and to

specimen fragmenting.

5 CONCLUSION

Particle cluster groups were introduced into a PFC3D mate

rial to better model the thermal behavior of hard rock. The

clustered specimens were calibrated to match the mechani

cal properties of Westerly granite. Cubic PFC3D specimens,

each having 9661 breakable particle clusters, were heated up

to 450 ◦ C. Heating induced damage was observed by AE mon

itoring and P wave velocity measurements. The comparison

against existing laboratory data showed similar behavior.

Boutt, D. F., & McPherson, B. J. O. L. 2002. Simulation of

sed

imentary rock deformation: Lab-scale model calibration and

parameterization. Geophysical Research Letters, 29(4), 13-1.

David, C., Menendez, B., & Darot, M. 1999. Influence of

stress-induced and thermal cracking on physical properties

and

microstructure of la peyratte granite. International

Journal of

Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 36(4), 433–448.

Davidge, R. W. 1981. Cracking at grain boundaries in
polycrystalline

brittle materials. Acta Metallurgica, 29(10), 1695–1702.

Fei,Y. 1995.Thermal expansion. InT. J.Ahrens (Ed.), Mineral

physics

& crystallography:A handbook of physical constants (pp.

29–354).

Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union.

Hazzard, J. F., & Young, R. P. 2004. Dynamic modelling of

induced

seismicity. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and

Mining

Sciences, 41(8 SPECISS), 1365–1376.

Hazzard, J. F., & Young, R. P. 2002. Moment tensors and

microme

chanical models. Tectonophysics, 356(1–3), 181–197.

Hazzard, J. F., & Young, R. P. 2004. Numerical

investigation of

induced cracking and seismic velocity changes in brittle

rock.

Geophysical Research Letters, 31(1), 01604–1.

Homand-Etienne, F., & Houpert, R. 1989. Thermally induced
microcracking granites: Characterization and analysis.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
& Geomechanics Abstracts, 26(2), 125–134. Itasca Consulting
Group, Inc. 2005. PFC3D, optional features volume, thermal
option. Minneapolis, USA: Itasca Consulting Group. Itasca
Consulting Group, Inc. 2005. Particle flow code in 3
dimensions (3.1st ed.). Minneapolis, USA: Itasca Consulting
Group, Inc. Jackson, R., Lau, J. S. O., & Annor, A. 1999.
Mechanical, thermomechanical & joint properties of rock
samples from the site of AECL’s URL. Proceedings of the
42nd Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Oct 23–25 1989,
41–49. Janach, W. 1977. Failure of granite under
compression. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts, 14(4), 209–215.
Landry, H., Lague, C., & Roberge, M. 2006. Discrete element
representation of manure products. Computers and
Electronics in Agriculture, 51(1–2), 17–34. Mahmutoglu, Y.
1998. Mechanical behaviour of cyclically heated fine
grained rock. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 31(3),
169–179. Nasseri, M. H. B., Schubnel, A., & Young, R. P.
2007. Coupled evolutions of fracture toughness and elastic
wave velocities at high crack density in thermally treated
westerly granite. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences, In Press, Corrected Proof. Pettitt, W.
1998. Acoustic emission source studies of microcracking in
rock (Thesis Ph.D. ed.). UK: Keele University. Potyondy, D.
O., & Cundall, P. A. 2004. A bonded-particle model for
rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences, 41(8 SPECISS), 1329–1364. Simmons, G., & Cooper,
H. W. 1978. Thermal cycling cracks in three igneous rocks.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
& Geomechanics Abstracts, 15(4), 145–148. Tromans, D., &
Meech, J. A. 2002. Fracture toughness and surface energies
of minerals: Theoretical estimates for oxides, sulphides,
silicates and halides. Minerals Engineering, 15(12),
1027–1041. Wanne, T. S., & Young, R. P. 2006.
Bonded-particle model for thermally fractured granitic
rock. Multiphysics Coupling and Long Term Behaviour in Rock
Mechanics (Proceedings of ISRM Eurock 2006, Liège, Belgium,
may 2006), 261–266. Young, R. P., Hazzard, J. F., &
Pettitt, W. S. 2000. Seismic and micromechanical studies of
rock fracture. Geophysical Research Letters, 27(12),
1767–1770. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Thermo-mechanical analysis of jointed
rock masses under cryogenic conditions Chulwhan Park,
Eui-Seob Park, Chan Park & So-Keul Chung Korea Institute of
Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon, Korea
Ho-Yeong Kim & Dae-Hyuck Lee SK Engineering & Construction
Co., Ltd., Seoul, Korea

ABSTRACT: The thermo-mechanical behavior of rock masses

having numerous discontinuities is different from that of
fresh

rock. It is important to investigate its effects on

discontinuities related to the crack occurrence and the
propagation of pre

cracks due to cooling down. Thermo-mechanical analyses are

performed with a jointed rock mass model using PFC2D code
to

investigate the effect of discontinuities during cooling

down.The thermal stresses induced by a temperature drop
were calculated

to figure out the amount of induced stresses only,

excluding initial stresses, in the model. The magnitude of
induced thermal

stresses becomes larger when the thermal expansion

coefficient is increased. The induced thermal stresses
become larger until

fractures are generated as the temperature drop increases.

But the magnitude of induced stresses has decreased steeply
to below

−50 ◦ C, where the fracture initiates, and a fair amount of

fractures are generated in the model as the temperature
drops more.

The results found in this study are not entirely comparable

with the observations obtained from real sites due to
complicated

geological and groundwater conditions. However, it is

possible to estimate the fracture mechanisms for jointed
rock masses

under cryogenic conditions with PFC2D models.

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the important problems related to underground storage

of cryogenic material is preventing the leakage of liquid

and

gas from the containment system to the rock mass caused by

tensile stresses due to shrinkage of the rock mass around

the

caverns (Monsen & Barton, 2001).

In general, it has been regarded that when numerous discon

tinuities exist in rock masses, the extension of joints is

much

easier to achieve than occurrences of new cracks in fresh

rock
during cooling down. This means that fractures can be initi

ated or developed more easily under lower induced thermal

stresses because the mechanical characteristics of the

discon

tinuities of the fractured rock are weaker than those of the

fresh rock.

Groundwater generally flows through discontinuities in

rock mass but it would stay in discontinuities locally if

rock

masses around caverns were badly drained during the con

struction of caverns. In this case, groundwater could be

frozen

during LNG storage and frost-heaving pressures could be

created in the discontinuities.

Therefore, it is important to figure out the effects of

thermo

mechanical behavior on discontinuities related to the crack

occurrence and the propagation of pre-cracks during cooling

down because the thermo-mechanical behavior of jointed rock

masses would be different from that of fresh rock. In this

study,

thermo-mechanical analyses are performed with a jointed rock

mass model using PFC 2D code.

2 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CRACKS

In the cases of the crack occurrence and the propagation of

pre-cracks in jointed rock masses, the presence of joints in

rock mass before cooling down should be considered. 2.1

Crack occurrence due to cooling down It is known that when
rock is cooled slowly thermal cracks are generated due to
differences in thermal expansion between components of
rock, although the temperature gradient is not steep (Lee,
1993). Therefore, a micro crack could be generated when a
thermal stress exceeds the tensile strength of a rock.
However, crack generations due to thermal shock would be
suppressed because there is an effect of compensating for
tensile stresses with thermal stresses when initial
stresses (compression) are present. The criterion of LNG
storage suggested by Goodall et al (1989) is given in Eq.
(1). 2.2 Propagation of pre-cracks To understand the
propagation mechanism of pre-cracks, the presence of
pre-cracks in rock mass before cooling down should be
considered. As rock mass generally has numerous
discontinuities, the propagation of pre-cracks is much
easier than the generation of new cracks in fresh rock
during cooling down. Therefore, the propagation mechanism
of a pre-crack can be explained through the relations
between the stress intensity factor (K) and fracture
toughness (Kc) at a crack tip, as shown in Figure 1. 3
THERMO-MECHANICAL ANALYSES 3.1 Induced thermal stresses The
induced thermal stresses due to cooling down during LNG
storage were calculated to figure out the amount of induced
stresses only, excluding initial stresses, in the model.
Figure 2

shows the model shape and boundary conditions for the T-M

analyses.The dimension of each model is 2 m high × 2 m wide

and displacements of all boundaries are constrained to

induce

thermal stresses from shrinkage.

Table 1 represents the results of theT-M analyses, according

to a temperature drop. As the temperature drop or the

thermal

expansion coefficient is increased, the magnitude of induced

thermal stresses becomes larger.

As shown in Table 1, the induced thermal stress in the

model varies from 6.4 MPa (α= 2.62 × 10 −6 / ◦ C) to 13.3

MPa

(α= 5.78 × 10 −6 / ◦ C) under the different coefficient of

thermal expansion (α), if the maximum temperature drop is

assumed to be −70 ◦ C (where the initial temperature of the

rock mass is assumed to be 20 ◦ C). Based on the design

concept

Figure 1. Criterion of suppression of fracture propagation.

Figure 2. Model used for T-M analysis and measurement

circles. Table 1. Thermal stresses according to thermal
expansion coefficient. Thermal expansion coefficient (×10
−6 / ◦ C) Temp. x drop 2.62 3.711 5.78 −40 ◦ C 3.95 MPa,
3.89 MPa 5.33 MPa, 5.24 MPa 7.93 MPa, 7.80 MPa −50 ◦ C 4.78
MPa, 4.70 MPa 6.49 MPa, 6.39 MPa 9.74 MPa, 9.59 MPa −60 ◦ C
5.60 MPa, 5.51 MPa 7.66 MPa, 7.54 MPa 11.56 MPa, 11.38 MPa
−70 ◦ C 6.42 MPa, 6.32 MPa 8.82 MPa, 8.69 MPa 13.37 MPa,
13.17 MPa −80 ◦ C 7.25 MPa, 7.13 MPa 9.99 MPa, 9.83 MPa
15.19 MPa, 14.95 MPa −90 ◦ C 8.07 MPa, 7.94 MPa 11.15 MPa,
10.98 MPa 17.00 MPa, 16.74 MPa −100 ◦ C 8.89 MPa, 8.75 MPa
12.32 MPa, 12.13 MPa 18.82 MPa, 18.53 MPa Notes: σ xx
(horizontal stress), σ yy (vertical stress) of underground
lined rock caverns for storing LNG, the minimum temperature
of surrounding rock mass should be kept above −50 ◦ C, even
after 30 years of LNG storage operation. 3.2 The PFC model
for jointed rock masses Figure 3 shows the PFC jointed rock
mass models for T-M analyses. The dimension of each model
is 30 m high × 30 m wide, and displacements of all
boundaries are constrained to induce thermal stresses from
shrinkage. The PFC model is built through the following
steps. First, the intact rock is modeled as a single rock
block of the model size. Then, the fracture traces are
integrated in the model. The fracture model in PFC2D was
generated from 2D trace sections extracted from the 3D DFN
model developed for the Äspö ZEDEX tunnel – see Figure
3(a), (b) and (c). In the PFC2D model, a fracture is
identified as a contact that exists between particles that
fall on opposite sides of the joint plane. The fractures
are modeled by generating bands of particles within the
matrix. Band particles are assigned microproperties, which
are different to those possessed by the matrix particles.
3.3 The results of thermo-mechanical analyses In order to
find out the effect of joints on the crack occurrence and
propagation of rock masses under cryogenic conditions, the
coupled T-M analyses were carried out on the condition of
different numbers of joint sets and mechanical properties
of joints. Figure 4 shows the results of T-M analyses on
the different numbers of joint sets, which was varied from
1 to 3 sets, with constant joint properties.As the number
of joint sets increases, the amount of crack occurrences
has been reduced. Figure 5 shows the results of T-M
analyses on different joint properties, which was varied
from 1/10 to 1/10,000,000 of fresh rock properties, with a
constant number of joint sets. As the joint properties
decrease, the amount of crack occurrences also has been
reduced. As shown in Figure 4 and 5, new cracks occurred
and propagated mostly along joints during cooling down. It
can be surmised that because the mechanical properties of
the joints are much smaller than those of the surrounding
rock, the joints opened wider due to contractions that
occurred during the cooling down of rock mass.
Consequently, an induced stress is concentrated at the tip
of joints and it causes the joints to expand gradually. (a)
One joint set (b) Two joint sets (c) Three joint sets

Figure 3. The resulting rock mass model with fracture

traces in

PFC2D code.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The following results were obtained through thermo

mechanical coupled analyses using PFC2D code.

The magnitude of induced thermal stress becomes larger

when the temperature drops, as well as when the ther

mal expansion coefficient is increased. But its magnitude is

decreased steeply to below −50 ◦ C, where cracking initiates

and then fractures are generated considerably on the model

as

the temperature drops more. Based on the new design concept

for LNG storage, the minimum temperature of surrounding

rock mass should be kept above −50 ◦ C, even after 30 years

of LNG storage operation.

As the number of joint sets increases or the joint

properties

decrease, the amount of crack occurrence has been reduced.

So it could be concluded that the presence of joints in rock

masses plays an important role in making and propagating

(a) One joint set (b) Two joint sets (c) Three joint sets
Figure 4. Crack patterns occurred in the PFC model with a
different number of joint sets during cooling down. cracks
under cryogenic conditions because the mechanical
characteristics of the discontinuities of the fractured
rock are weaker than those of the fresh rock. The results
of this study are not entirely comparable with the
observations obtained from real sites due to complicated
geological, geomechanical and groundwater conditions.
However, it is possible to estimate the fracture mechanisms
of jointed rock masses under cryogenic conditions with
PFC2D models. (a) 1/10 of fresh rock (b) 1/10,000 of fresh
rock (c) 1/10,000,000 of fresh rock

Figure 5. Crack patterns occurred in the PFC model with

different

Three – dimensional continuum modeling of masonry

structures application to the SE/E corner of the Acropolis
wall of Athens I. Stefanou Department of Applied Mechanics
and Physics, National Technical University of Athens,
Greece J. Sulem CERMES, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et
Chaussées/LCPC, Institut Navier, Paris I. Vardoulakis
Department of Applied Mechanics and Physics, National
Technical University of Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT:The SE/E corner part of theAcropolis wall inAthens

is an ancient masonry structure with appreciable
fissuration.

Ancient masonry structures can be seen as a set of rigid

blocks where all the deformation is taking place at the
interfaces between

the blocks. Rocking, twisting and sliding between them are

possible mechanisms, which actually take place under static
or

dynamic loading. The numerical analysis of such

discontinuous blocky structures can be dealt by discrete
and finite element

codes. In the latter case, special interface elements are

needed in order to account for the unilateral kinematics of
the blocks’
joints.

However, the computational efficiency comes at a price and

homogenization seems promising for modeling such
structures.

Homogenization is a group of techniques that their purpose

is to substitute the periodically heterogeneous medium with
a

macroscopically equivalent homogeneous one. Here we make

use of the homogenization by differential expansions
technique,

which is based on the derivation of a continuous model by

replacing the difference quotients of the equations that
describe

the periodic heterogeneous medium with corresponding

differential ones. The derived continuum model is a 3D
Cosserat

continuum.

Non-linearities could then be introduced to the continuous

model by formulating yield criteria. These criteria may
represent

different failure mechanisms at the micro-level of the

brickwork, i.e.: a/ yield at the masonry joints, b/ the
tilting of the masonry

blocks and c/ the breakage of the building blocks of the

masonry. Finally, an additional non-linearity could be
introduced to the

model by considering the reduction of the effective area of

the joints due to the relative displacement of the masonry
building

blocks. This procedure can be seen as a degradation process.

1 INTRODUCTION

The general hydrogeological conditions that are prevailing

in

the SE/E part of Acropolis hill in Athens, the dense

network of
discontinuities in the rock and the fallen rock blocks that
are

observed around the rocky slope are the main reasons that
ear

lier studies (Andronopoulos & Koukis 1976) characterize the

same part of theAcropolis hill as a zone of significant

damage.

An additional factor affecting the stability of the rock

slope is

the negative slope at its base, which can be distinguished

in

the picture below that was taken in 1880 (Figure 1). Exam

ining photographs that were taken before the restoration and

the in parts reconstruction of the SE/E part of the

Acropolis

wall, like the one below that is dated back to 1920 (Figure
2),

one can easily ascertain its sharp vertical and diagonal fis

suration. Moreover, some of the fissures are believed to be

connected to the discontinuities of the rock mass

underneath.

Despite the reparations that have been made by filling and

covering these fissures, today the wall appears again

fissured

(Figure 3). Because of the above conditions and observations

one could argue that the system rock-wall is evolving.

According to existing geological studies (Andronopoulos &

Koukis 1976) the region of Athens is covered by the Athenian

Schist, which also forms the base of the rocky foundation

of the wall we study. It is a flysch formation, which is

Figure 1. Photo of the SE/E part of the Acropolis hill in
Athens in 1880. The negative slope of the rocky slope is
easily distinguishable (Committee for the preservation of
Acropolis Monuments 2004). constituted by argileous schist,
sand-stone, quartzitic sandstone, marl, limestone and the
transitive combination types of the above rocks (i.e.
sand-stone marls or argileous schist limestones).The
limestone rocks appear mostly to the upper

Figure 2. Photo of the SE/E part of the Acropolis hill and

wall

in Athens taken in 1920. The wall is sharply vertically

fissured

(Committee for the preservation of Acropolis Monuments

2004).

Figure 3. Recent photo of the SE side of the SE/E part of

theAcrop

olis wall in Athens. The fissures on it are apparent

(Committee for

the preservation of Acropolis Monuments 2004).

soil layers of the region of Athens and they are related to

the

presence of Acropolis hill, Filopappou hill, Lycabetus hill

and

others. Generally the limestone that constitutes the SE/E

part

of the rock of Acropolis is not laminated; it is not covered

by soil and therefore it is susceptible to erosion; it is

carsted

and hydropermeable and intensively fractured. Mostly the dis

continuities are filled with soil material, which according

to

sampling measurements (Monokrousos 1995) it is composed

of 64% sand, 32% silt and 4% clay.

Particularly at the SE/E part of theAcropolis hill we

observe

many smooth surfaces which are considered to be the sliding

or

detachment surfaces of the rock blocks, which are found

fallen

around the rocky slope. A total of 24 fractures were

identified

at this part of the rock slope (Stefanou & Vardoulakis 2005,

Monokrousos 1995, Andronopoulos 1976). Due to the limited

geotechnical and topographic data that were provided to the
authors until now, the derived 3D models may not represent
the exact topography and tectonics. Here we focus on the
development of a continuum theory for the modeling of the
SE/E part of Acropolis wall. In section 2 a description of
the problem is made and the results from previous analyses
with the Distinct Element Method are presented. The DEM
code that it was used is 3DEC (Itasca 2003), which is a
three dimensional software especially adapted to problems
of Rock Mechanics and of blocky structures in general.
Further, in section 3 we summarize the homogenization
procedure followed for the derivation of the continuum
model and we present the constitutive relations of the
derived 3D Cosserat continuum. In Section 4, we present the
results of a preliminary finite element model in elasticity
and we discuss the results qualitatively. Finally in
Section 5, we propose the introduction of some
nonlinearities that the continuum model should embody to
better represent the deformation of the structure. 2 THE
SE/E PART OF THE ACROPOLIS WALL Analyzing the SE/E part of
the Acropolis rock mass we determined the vertical
displacements of the various rock blocks at the base of the
SE/E part of the Acropolis wall (Figure 4). As we have
already mentioned the Acropolis hill rests on the Athenian
schist. Due to the lack of experimental data for the
mechanical properties of the schist at the base of the rock
slope we study, we will consider the mechanical properties
of the schist at nearby regions. As far it concerns the
joints’ mechanical properties we assume that they behave
elastically under compression provided that sliding did not
occur at the joint interface. Consequently we will use the
mechanical properties (Young Modulus) that were specified
at previous studies (Monokrousos 1995). Considering the
above hypotheses for the mechanical properties of the
system, we applied at the region of the rock mass that the
wall occupies (Figure 5) a uniformly distributed vertical
loading of 0,1 MPa (approximately three times the weight of
the wall and the filling material behind it). The
application of the aforementioned loading lead us to
determine the differential subsidence at the base of the
wall and therefore to the study of the behavior of the wall
structure. At Figure 5, the vertical displacements at the
base of the SE/E part of the Acropolis wall are presented.
It should be mentioned that at the wall corner the vertical
displacement of the rock mass is much lesser than the
vertical displacements at the two sides of the wall. The
building blocks that construct the SE/E part of the
Acropolis wall vary in size and quality. The total
nonhomogeneity of this part of the wall is being increased
by previous reparations and fillings of the damaged
segments of the wall with building blocks of different size
and quality. The thickness of the wall is approximately 6 m
but it varies a lot from place to place. For the numerical
analysis we made the following simplifications-assumptions
in our model: • The building blocks of the wall are
considered as orthogonal parallelepipeds of the same
dimensions. Their dimensions have been chosen to be equal
to the average dimensions of the wall blocks (1,2 m width,
0,7 m height and 0,6 m thick). • The modeled wall is being
constructed by only one layer of blocks (in cross section).
• The system wall-rock mass is considered uncoupled,
meaning that the mechanical behavior of the wall does not

Figure 4. With dashed line are depicted the vertical

displacements

in millimeters of the base of the wall in our 3DEC model

after the

application of a vertical uniformly distributed loading of

0,1 MN/m 2

to the area that the wall occupies.The straight line

depicts the average

values of the results from 3DEC per rock block. This

diagram shows

also the rotation of the rock blocks (Stefanou &

Vardoulakis 2005).

Figure 5. The region that the SE/E part of the Acropolis

wall occu

pies. The number in the brackets express the different rock

blocks of
the rock mass that the wall is based on and the numbers in
the paren

thesis are the displacement monitoring points in 3DEC

(Stefanou &

Vardoulakis 2005).

influence the mechanical behavior of the rock mass. Con

sequently it is possible to study separately, in a different

numerical model, the mechanical behavior of the wall. The

simulation of the wall is carried out introducing the verti

cal displacements of the rock mass that we had previously

determined at the base of the wall structure.

As a result of these simplifications-assumptions is the fact

that the interlocking of the wall blocks in the vertical

direction

of the wall length is ignored and that the mechanically weak

zones (repaired areas of the wall) are not taken into

account.

Thus the analysis is focused on the investigation of the

impact

of the rock mass displacements on the wall fissures. In

Figure 6

we present the results from a previous simulation using the

Distinct Element code 3DEC (Stefanou &Vardoulakis). Com

paring the results from 3DEC with the fissures superficially

observed (Figure 2 & Figure 3) we could easily distinguish

the similarities.

3 THE CONTINUOUS MODEL

The interest of developing continuous models for discrete

structures is that discrete type analyses are very computer
Figure 6. Vertical displacements vectors of the bricks of
the SE/E part of the Acropolis wall because of differential
subsidence of its foundation.The displacements have been
multiplied by a factor of ten for visualization reasons at
3DEC (Stefanou & Vardoulakis 2005). time intensive and, at
least for periodic structures, one might argue that
homogenized continuum models would allow for a much more
elegant and efficient solution. One could list the
advantages of the development of continuum models for
describing the mechanical behavior of such structures: a/
there are extremely flexible when used with finite element
codes since no interface elements are needed and since the
topology of the FE discretization is independent of the
block size and geometry; b/ quite a number of analytical
solutions can be provided giving insight to the fundamental
properties of the system; c/ unconditionally stable
integration through implicit algorithms can be performed
unlike discrete models where conditionally stable explicit
integration schemes are used. Continuum models are usually
based on micro-mechanical mechanisms, which govern the
material behavior in the medium to large wavelength range.
However, an important limitation of the homogenization of
layered or blocky structures with classical continuum
theories (Boltzmann continuum) is that they cannot account
for elementary bending due to inter-layer or inter-block
slip and may thus considerably overestimate the
deformation. In order to overcome this limitation and to
expand the domain of validity of the continuum approach,
one has to consider the salient features of the
discontinuum within the frame of continuum theories with
microstructure. The two dimensional Cosserat theory has
been used with some success in the recent years for
analyzing laminated and blocky systems (Masiani et al.
1995, Masiani & Trovalusci 1996, Sulem & Mühlhaus 1997).
For blocky rock systems various failure modes, such as
inter-block slip and block tilting, can then be easily
described. In these previous studies, developed within the
frame of two-dimensional Cosserat theory, only one
rotational degree of freedom was considered for the blocks.
Here, we extend this work in the three dimensional space by
adding two rotational and one translational degree of
freedom. The resulting model is a three dimensional
Cosserat model for masonry walls. The enriched kinematics
of the 3D Cosserat continuum allows modeling the in and the
outofplane deformation of such structures. Starting with a
linear elastic contact law at the masonry joints, we derive
a three dimensional lattice model, i.e. the discrete model.
A continuum model is then obtained by replacing the
difference quotients of the equations of the discrete model
by corresponding differential quotients. This
homogenization procedure leads to an anisotropic 3D
Cosserat continuum. For a detailed description of the
homogenization procedure followed here, we refer at
Stefanou et al. 2007. The proposed model describes the
macroscopic behavior of the wall by assuming rigid building
blocks with deformable interfaces. It is also assumed that
the bed and the cross joints of

Figure 7. Elementary cell of the periodic masonry structure.

Figure 8. Stresses developed at the interfaces of the

blocks of the

elementary volume and the equivalent forces and moments.

the brickwork (horizontal and vertical interfaces

accordingly)

have the same mechanical properties. The developed stresses

b at the interfaces of the blocks are assumed to be linearly

distributed over them and the constitutive law of the joints

is assumed to be linear elastic (Figure 8). The assumption

of

linear stress distribution is justified in the recent

publication

of Milani et al. 2006, where the authors show that linear

stress

distributions at the interface give good results as

compared to

constant and quadratic stress distributions.

After calculating the elastic energy density of the elemen

tary cell of the masonry lattice model and applying a Taylor

expansion to replace its discrete quotients with continuous

translational and displacements fields, we set it equal to

the

average elastic energy density of the Cosserat continuum

over

the volume of the elementary cell. For the formulation of

the constitutive law we need deformation measures, that are

invariant to rigid body motions; i.e. the infinitesimal

strain

tensor:

and the curvature tensor:

Equations (1) and (2) are combined to give the following

components of the so-called relative deformation tensor,

Figure 9. Stresses on element (dx 1 , dx 2 , dx 3 ). The 18
deformation measures, Eqs. (2) and (3), are conjugate in
energy to eighteen stress measures: the 9 components of the
non-symmetric stress tensor, that are conjugate to the
nonsymmetric deformation tensor, and the 9 moment stresses,
which are conjugate with the 9 components of the
deformation curvature tensor. The constitutive relations
can be obtained directly by differentiating the elastic
strain energy (Figure 9): We define the following
dimensionless quantities which will be used in the
following: where c N the normal elastic stiffness of the
interface and c Q the shear elastic stiffness of the
interface with dimensions [F]/[L] 3 , ρ is the density of
the material of the blocks and L a scale length. The
constitutive equations of the equivalent elastic Cosserat
continuum are obtained as:

The domain of validity of the above continuous model is

discussed by comparing it with the discrete model in terms

of the dispersion function at Stefanou et al. 2007. It is

found

that the Cosserat model approximates well (error less than

10%) the lattice model even for dynamic excitations, when

the wavelength is seven times bigger the size a of a

building

block.

4 APPLICATION TO THE SE/E PART OF ACROPOLIS

WALL – QUALITATIVE APPROACH

The equations of the above derived continuum model can be

solved to give the 3D mechanical response of masonry walls.A

Cosserat finite element was programmed and introduced to the

finite element code ABAQUS, using its User Element (UEL)

interface.The above mentioned Cosserat finite element has

six

degrees of freedom. These are the 2 translational and 1 rota

tional degrees of freedom for the inplane deformation of the

wall and the 2 rotational and 1 translational degree of

freedom

for the outofplane deformation of the wall. According to the

continuum model, the translational degrees of freedom corre

spond to the displacements of the blocks and the rotational

to

the rotation of the blocks.

Here, we apply the aforementioned Cosserat finite element

in order to investigate the impact of the differential subsi

dence of the foundation of the SE/E part of the Acropolis

wall.

The assumptions mentioned in Section 2 are also considered

for the finite element analysis. In this preliminary

approach

the top boundary of the wall was considered free, and at the

rest boundaries we imposed the vertical subsidence

calculated

from DEM rock mass analysis. At Figures 10, 11 and 12 we

present the resulting vertical displacements of the masonry

corner from the application of the Cosserat finite element.
Figure 10. Cosserat finite element model: vertical
displacements of the SE/E part of theAcropolis wall because
of differential subsidence at its foundation. Figure 11.
Cosserat finite element model: vertical displacements of
the SE segment of the SE/E part of the Acropolis wall
because of differential subsidence at its foundation.
Figure 12. Cosserat finite element model: vertical
displacements of the E segment of the SE/E part of the
Acropolis wall because of differential subsidence at its
foundation. Obviously, these results are similar with those
of the DEM computation. 5 NON-LINEARITIES The above FE
analysis was performed in elasticity. However, the joints
of the buildings blocks may fail, because of shearing
and/or tension. Starting from the micro-level one could
determine the continuous equivalent of the interblock
shearand normal forces and bending and torsion moments.
These forces can then be converted to the equivalent shear
and normal stresses acting at the blocks interfaces. We
explore the conditions for which these stresses exceed the
mechanically acceptable limits of the joints, i.e. maximum
normal and shear strength. In Figures 13 and 14 we present
the regions where the stresses in the vertical joints reach
the tensile and shear strength respectively. For the joints
we assumed zero tensional strength and Mohr-Coulomb type
shearing strength with an angle of friction of 40 ◦
(Raffard 2000). Starting again form the microstructure
additional failure criteria can be formulated. Such failure
criteria may be related to the tilting or the breakage of
the masonry blocks but their derivation exceeds the scope
of the current paper. Considering the above mentioned

Figure 13. Cosserat finite element model: Dark color

represents

the regions where the opening failure criterion is met at

the vertical

joints (zero tension strength).

Figure 14. Cosserat finite element model: Dark color

represents

the regions where the shearing failure criterion is met at

the vertical

joints (angle of friction 40 ◦ ).

failure criteria, the non-linear behavior of masonry

structures

could then be described.

When a masonry wall is deforming the relative movement

and rotation of its building blocks results to the

reduction of

the effective interface area. This effect can be modeled by

reducing the elastic normal, c N , and shear, c Q ,

stiffness of the

interfaces. This is an additional non-linearity which can be

seen also as a degradation process.

The reduced elastic stiffness of an interface is defined by:

where cˆ is the normalor shearelastic stiffness of an

interface

(vertical or horizontal joints) before the deformation, A E

is the

effective, after the deformation, area of the interface,

whose

value is calculated through the homogenization procedure,

and

A is the initial are of the interface.

6 CONCLUSION

When dealing with blocky or layered structures or more gen

ABSTRACT:The use of underground facilities such as waste

reservoirs and power station caverns is increasing. The
excavation

of underground openings results in a change in stress

distribution which may lead to the development of a plastic
zone around

the tunnel, termed as excavation disturbed zone. Such

changes alter the mechanical properties of rock mass such
as strength
and deformability, and the hydraulic conductivities and
hence influence contaminant pathways. To characterize the
behavior

of excavation disturbed zone as well as host rock, time

influence on the mechanical properties of rock is of great
importance.

For instance, when considering deep excavations for

disposal of high-level radioactive waste in rocks,
assessment of the time

dependent stability of rock mass under deep geological

environment is necessary. With this in mind, creep tests
were carried

out on Inada granite under confining pressure: 40 and 80

MPa for dry and wet samples. The conclusions are summarized
as

follows: Shear zone developed just before tertiary creep is

similar to the onset of the macroscopic failure under
conventional

loading condition (short term).

1 INTRODUCTION

Crystalline rock such as granite is a one of candidate geo

materials for deep underground excavations for the disposal

of high-level radioactive waste. It is well known that both

nucleation and growth of cracks, called cracking, are respon

sible for inelastic deformation of crystalline during the

pre

and post-failure stages and during creep (e.g. Wawersik and

Brace, 1971, Kranz, 1979). Cracking are an important factor

in evaluating the hydro-mechanical properties of a plastic

zone

around a tunnel, termed the excavation disturbed zone (EDZ).

The mechanism of cracking in relation to the formation of

the EDZ may be stress-induced cracking or time-dependent

cracking. Accordingly, to isolate radioactive waste from

areas

of human activity over the long term, for example over a

period

of 100,000 years, time-dependent hydro-mechanical behavior

is of great importance in assessing the long-term stability

of

a rock mass.

To predict and evaluate the long-term stability of a rock

mass, a number of creep experiments have been carried out to

obtain parameters for models based on visco-plastic theory,

as such models can be used to estimate the creep life of

rocks.

However, the models do not take into account crack evolu

tion associated brittle failure. Thus it is difficult to

evaluate

changes in permeability because the models do not include

crack geometry such as length, orientation, and aperture.

For brittle rock, time-dependent cracking, called sub

critical crack growth, takes place as brittle failure under

a

constant load. In the moisture condition, sub-critical crack

growth is induced by the stress corrosion of silicate

materials.

In the past two decades, a large number of creep tests have

been carried out using silicate rocks to investigate from

the viewpoint of earthquake and rock engineering.
Unfortunately, few reports have explored the crack
evolution under creep conditions. In the present study, we
conducted experiments to investigate changes in crack
geometry, such as density and orientation, associated with
creep failure. 2 TESTING PROCEDURE AND ANALYSIS METHOD 2.1
Test material Blocks of Inada Granite were sampled from a
quarry in Ibaraki, Central Japan. The granite consists
mainly of quartz (37% by volume), plagioclase (33%),
orthoclase (24%), and clay minerals such as biotite (6%);
the mean grain size is about 2.0 mm. The Inada Granite
appears homogenous in the mesoscale, without any visible
mineral foliation, and the c-axes of minerals are almost
randomly distributed. A large rock mass splits more readily
along the rift and grain planes than along the hardway
plane. For convenience, three orthogonal directions
oriented normal to these planes are taken as the reference
axes x i (i = 1, 2, 3), and the plane oriented normal to
one of these reference axes is called the x i -plane. For
more details, see Takemura & Oda (2004). 2.2 Creep test We
carried out a creep test in which the confining pressure σ
3 and water content (dry/saturated) were varied to examine
the effect of these parameters on creep failure, as is
typical in the deep geological environment. The dry samples
used in these tests were dried in desiccators with silica
gel for more than 2 weeks and were kept in the desiccators
until

immediately prior to testing. Saturated samples were

forcibly

saturated with pure water under a vacuum for more than 2

weeks. Cylindrical samples (50 mm in diameter and 100 mm

long) were taken from the block and the top and bottom sur

faces of each sample were ground to within ±0.0035 mm of

parallelism using a high-precision surface grinder. The test

ing machine was an MTS Model 815 quipped with a digital

servo controller. Samples were axially loaded at a constant

differential stress, (σ 1 − σ 3 ), at a rate of 1 MPa/s up

to the

onset of creep stress ratio CSR. For convenience, we use a

CSR defined as the ratio of (σ 1 − σ 3 )/(σ 1 − σ 3 ) f in

order to

indicate the magnitude of applied deferential stress, where

(σ 1 − σ 3 ) f is the peak differential stress. (σ 1 − σ 3
) f of the CSR

was obtained from a constant-loading failure test.A water

sup

ply and drainage system were attached to the testing

machine,

with the drain used for experiments involving wet samples.

All tests were conducted at a constant room temperature of

25 ◦ C.

Tests of the time to creep failure and damage growth were

carried out under the following conditions.

Creep failure test: The first group, Group A, consisted of

28 samples that were loaded to CSR = 0.90, 0.92, 0.95, and

0.98 under confining pressures of 40 and 80 MPa and with

dry and wet conditions. After the differential stress (σ 1

− σ 3 )

had reached the CSR setting, (σ 1 − σ 3 ) was held constant

until

failure occurred. In these tests, the loading axis was

variably

oriented parallel to each of the reference axes x i (i = 1,

2, 3).

Time-dependent damage growth test: The second group,

Group B, consisted of four damaged samples, all of which

were

loaded to CSR = 0.95 under a confining pressure of 40 MPa

and dry conditions. After the differential stress (σ 1 − σ

3 ) had

reached the CSR setting, (σ 1 − σ 3 ) was held constant.

When
the relationship between volumetric strain ε v = ε a + 2ε l
and

elapsed time had reached the primary, secondary, and ter

tiary creep points (Figure 1), the applied differential

stress

was unloaded. The sample was then taken out of the pressure

vessel and subjected to a wave velocity test.

2.3 Crack-related fabric determined by wave velocity

After a sample was damaged in the time-dependent amage

growth test, it was cut down in size to leave the central

part

such that both the diameter and length were 5 cm. As the top

ε v

( x 1

0 2

) T f (sec) 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 5000 (b) (c) (d)

Figure 1. Unloading point for time-dependent growth test.

(b)

CSR = 0.95, (c) secondary creep, (d) tertiary creep. and

bottom ends of the damaged sample typically record few
microcracks [e.g., Oda et al., 2002], we used only the
central part of the sample for the longitudinal wave
velocity test. The central half of the sample was then cut
to make a polyhedron consisting of nine pairs of parallel
faces located about 45 mm apart. Each pair was carefully
ground to parallelism with a tolerance of ±0.0035 mm
(Figure 2(a)). After grinding, the sample was air-dried and
stored in a desiccator for at least 2 weeks.The
longitudinal wave velocities v in nine directionsk 1 , k 2
, . . . , k 9 (unit vectors) were measured using a
conventional ultrasonic transmission method.The
transmission and receiver were made of lead zirconate-lead
titanate, with 400 kHz as a longitudinal wave center
frequency. The longitudinal wave data for each shot were
stored digitally in a computer using an 8-bit A/D converter
with a sampling rate of 100 ns. The transmission and
receiver were attached to a sample through silicon grease
to minimize energy loss at the contacts. The wave
velocities for each of the nine directions were plotted on
a Schmidt equal-area net such that the plotted points
corresponded with the nine directions k 1 , k 2 , . . . , k
9 in Figure 2(b). Using the wave velocities of these 13
directions, we were able to construct a contour plot on the
net using the Kriging method. 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1
Time-dependent failure Two experiments were performed on
saturated specimens under a confining pressure of 40 MPa:
one that involved increasing axial stress to the failure
point and the other with a steady CSR of 92%. Figure 3
shows the relationships between differential stress, axial
strain εa, circumferential strain εr, and volumetric
strain.The dashed line in Figure 3(b) represents the
elasticity line, while the distance from the line
represents the inelastic volumetric strain εv(c). εv(c) is
related to the crack density and is closely related to
brittle failure, as described below. Figure 4 shows the
relationships among confining pressure, CSR, and time to
failure Tf under wet and dry conditions. No variations were
observed in Tf with direction of axial loading under any of
the conditions. However, it is clear from a comparison of
the results obtained under σ 3 = 40 MPa and 80 MPa that
failure occurred earlier under lower confining pressure,
even if creep initiated at an equivalent CSR in both cases.
Comparing the saturated and dry results for σ 3 = 40 MPa,
failure occurred about 10 times more quickly under
saturated conditions than under dry conditions, even when
creep initiated at H G R (a) (b) R G H k 1 k 6 k 8 k 7 k 5
k 2 k 3 k 9 k 4 Figure 2. (a)A polyhedron specimen for
longitudinal wave velocity test, (b) Plotted point on the
Schmidt equal-area.

the same CSR in both cases. These results indicate that

crack

development in Inada granite under creep is slowed under

high

confining pressures such as those that occur at deep geologi

cal condition, however, the presence of water accelerates

the

rate of cracking.

3.2 Time-dependent damage growth and failure

We collected damaged samples in the experiment with

CSR = 0.95 under dry conditions and constructed stereonet

plots of the distribution of longitudinal wave velocity (Fig

ures 4). The x1 axis in the stereonet corresponds to the

rift axis, x2 to the grain axis, and x3 to the hardway axis.

Here, the loading axis is the hardway axis. Figure 4(a)

shows

directional changes in longitudinal wave velocity in intact

sample, and the longitudinal wave velocity is highest in the

x3 direction. The greater the number of cracks, the slower

the elastic wave velocity, therefore, the cracks are

parallel to

the x1 plane.

Figure 4(b) shows the directional changes in longitudinal

wave velocity at CRS = 0.95. Here, we compare the intact T

f (sec)

C r

e e

s t

r e

s s

r a

t i o

; C

S R Rift (σ 3 = 80MPa) Grain (σ 3 = 80MPa) Rift (σ 3 =

40MPa) Grain (σ 3 = 40MPa) Hardway (σ 3 = 40MPa)
Grain,wet (σ 3 = 40MPa) Hardway,wet (σ 3 = 40MPa) 10 0 10
6 10 4 10 2 85 90 95 100

Figure 3. The relationship between creep stress ratio and

creep

failure time. -0.008 -0.006 -0.004 -0.002 0 0 1000 2000

3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 Tf (secÅj) Å @ Å @ I n e l a s t
i c v o l u m e t r i c s t r a i n Å @ Å @ Å (a) (d) (c)
(b) 4.5 4 . 5 4 . 7 H G R 3.8 3.5 H G R 3.5 G R 3.6 3.2 3.2
G R 3.5 3.2 H H

Figure 4. Directional changes in longitudinal wave velocity

of samples; (a) Intact, (b) CSR = 0.95, (c) secondly creep
and (d) tertiary creep. sample with the sample that reached
the differential stress at CSR = 0.95. It is clear that the
longitudinal wave velocity is reduced parallel to the x3
axis of the specimen, as crack growth occurred on the plane
oriented perpendicular to the x3 axis. Figure 4(c) and (d)
show the directional changes in longitudinal wave velocity
of samples that reached secondary and tertiary creep.The
longitudinal wave velocity is drastically reduced once the
sample reaches tertiary creep. Figure 5 shows the inelastic
volumetric strain at failure under a conventional
constant-loading test and a creep test. The solid circles
represent the inelastic volumetric strain at failure, while
the slashed lines represent samples that contained visible
micro-shear planes under the constant loading test and open
circles represent inelastic volumetric strain at the creep
failure. In the constant loading test, we observed
microshear planes in the post-failure region. Micro-shear
planes were also observed at tertiary creep in the creep
test. In terms of inelastic volumetric strain, our
experiments revealed that the internal structure, e.g.,
crack density, of granitic samples damaged at tertiary
creep was almost the same as that obtained in the
post-failure region in the constant loading test. σ 3
(MPa) ε v ( c ) ( x 1 0 − 2 ) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 0
50 100 Conventional triaxial test Micro-shear plane Creep
failure Figure 5. Relationship between inelastic volumetric
strain at failure and confining pressure.

4 CONCLUSION

We carried out creep tests to investigate creep failure mech

anisms and damage growth under various environmental

conditions. Using these results, we were able to determine

the
time-dependent parameters of microcrack growth. By apply

ing these parameters to the numerical model proposed by

Golshani et al. (2005), it will be possible to predict

damage

growth and the formation of an EDZ around a tunnel.

Kranz, R. L. (1979) : Crack growth and development during

creep

of Barre granite, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech

Abst.,

Vol. 16, pp. 23–35. A. Golshani, A., Oda, M., Okui, Y.,
Takemura, T. and Munkhtogoo, E. (2006) : A micromechanical
model for brittle failure of rock and its relation to crack
growth observed in triaxial compression tests of granite,
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. (in press) Oda, M., Katsube,
T. and Takemura, T. (2002) : Microcrack evolution and
brittle failure of Inada granite in triaxial compression
tests at 140 MPa, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 2233,
doi:10.1029/2001JB000272 Takemura, T. and Oda, M.(2005)
Crack density and wave velocity change with damage growth
in granite. J. Geophys. Res, 110, B05401,
doi:10.1029/2004JB003395. Wawersik, W.R. and W.F. Brace,
Postfailure behavior of a granite and diabase, Rock
Mechanics, 3, 62–85, 1971. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Uniaxial compression
behaviour of the Jarmelo granite (Guarda, Portugal) M.
Quinta-Ferreira Department of Earth Sciences, University of
Coimbra, Portugal A.M. Antão Department of Civil
Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Guarda, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The behaviour of the Jarmelo granite (Guarda,

Portugal) in uniaxial compression is presented. The grain
size,

texture and mainly weathering are responsible for the

variation of the strength and deformation properties of the
granite. The

weathering process increase the porosity and reduces the

unit weigh.The increase of porosity above 2% is marked by a
significant

reduction of the mechanical properties of the granite. The

strength of the granite reduces 94% from grade I to grade
IV and

increases the dispersion of the results. The rupture

behaviour is brittle. The tangent, secant and initial
deformation modulus, all

decrease with weathering. In the first three grades of

weathering the stiffness of the sample increases with
deformation while

the opposite occurs for grade IV. The maximum axial strain
at rupture increases proportionally with weathering,
presenting a

low variation coefficient.

1 INTRODUCTION

The strength and deformability of crystalline rocks has been

studied by a great number of authors in the last decades. As

each material has its own behaviour, influenced by the miner

alogy, texture and weathering, it is necessary to conduct

tests

to obtain its specific properties. This work concerns with

the

study of the Jarmelo granite, close to the city of Guarda,

central

Portugal.

2 MATERIALS

The Jarmelo granite, as well as the surrounding granites are

derived from the partial melting of relatively hydrated sed

iments, considered as sin-orogenic, sin-F3 (Ferreira et al.,

1987). The sampling of the granite with weathering grades

from I to IV, according to the classification of the IAEG

(1981), was done after a surface geological reconnaissance.

The average grain size of the Jarmelo granite is 3 mm
(Teixeira

et al, 1963) and the texture is granular. The main minerals

are

quartz, microcline, albite, oligoclase, and muscovite.

Biotite,

apatite, sphene, zircon and magnetite can also be found. Sec

ondary minerals are caolinite, sericite, chlorite, iron

oxides,

iron hydroxides and epidote. The mineralogical study was

done under the optical microscope, allowing obtaining the

modal composition presented in figure 1.

A summary of some physical index properties of the rock

material, with increasing weathering, is presented in table

1.

The samples used to determine the index properties were the

same that were used to execute the mechanical tests.

3 METHODS

3.1 Sample preparation

The samples were obtained in the field by coring, using

diame

ters from 80 to 100 mm. Later, in the laboratory, the

cylindrical

samples were prepared for testing, cutting their bases and

cor

recting the surfaces, considering a height to diameter

ratio Figure 1. Modal composition of the Jarmelo granite.
arround 2. To allow handling the more weathered samples
(grade IV), a latex membrane was used in the bases (Antão,
2004), as recommended by the ISRM (Fairhurst & Hudson,
1999). The samples were tested with the water content
resulting from air-drying. 3.2 Tests procedures Uniaxial
compression (UC) tests with controlled strain were executed
(Fairhurst & Hudson, 1999; Brown, 1981). To evaluate the
deformations, two alternative measurements were used: 1) a
system using linear transducers; 1.a) three LVDT at angles
of 120 ◦ for the measurement of the axial deformations;
1.b) four LDT at angles of 90 ◦ located at half height of
the test samples, for the measurement of the lateral
deformations; 2) electrical strain gauges glued to the
samples (encapsulated strain gauges of 20 mm long and 350
ohm). Its appliance did not offered problems in the less
weathered granite, in opposition to the weathered samples
of grade IV. One of the objectives to instrument the
samples with two different deformation measurement systems
was to evaluate their reliability. It was also intended to
follow the behaviour of the equipments throughout an UC
test, mainly in the phase of rupture and after-rupture.

Table 1. Physical index properties of the Jarmelo ganite. n

(%) w max . (%) γ d (kN/m 3 ) γ sat (kN/m 3 )

Weathering

grade G Min. Max. Aver. Min. Max. Aver. Min. Max. Aver.
Min. Max. Aver.

I 2.66 1.00 1.13 1.13 0.38 0.47 0.43 25.7 25.8 25.79 25.8
25.9 25.9

II 2.64 2.01 4.22 3.22 0.79 1.67 1.26 24.9 25.4 25.07 25.3
25.6 25.4

III 2.64 3.82 6.96 5.18 1.51 2.84 2.07 23.9 24.9 24.55 24.7
25.4 25.1

IV 2.58 9.07 11.38 10.25 3.77 5.07 4.22 22.2 23.6 22.75
23.2 24.5 23.8

G-specific gravity; n-porosity; w max .maximum water

content; γ d dry unit weight; γ sat saturated unit weight.

Table 2. Results of the uniaxial compression tests.

Dimensions

Weathering Sample (mm) Test speed σ c M E i E t50 E s50 E

tpp ε a rot.

grade N ◦ h × Ø (mm.s −1 ) (mpa) (gpa) (gpa) (gpa) (gpa)

(gpa) (%)

I J36 185.0 × 103.0 0.005 132.74 17.15 37.19 29.19 554.43

0.426 J37 185.0 × 103.4 0.002 113.65 234.40 24.26 33.30
26.70 591.40 0.466 J39 185.5 × 103.5 0.001 130.21 675.10
31.03 37.08 28.50 166.14 0.462 J40 185.4 × 103.5 0.001
132.00 19.46 33.14 27.77 372.72 0.476 J41 186.1 × 103.6
0.005 134.17 518.80 16.31 33.72 26.99 165.50 0.468 J42
185.4 × 103.5 0.005 127.46 239.70 20.65 32.92 23.74 567.55
0.518

II J2.1 130.1 × 82.9 0.005 56.28 27.10 7.05 7.43 7.14 0.720
J3 156.4 × 83.0 0.005 55.89 16.60 6.45 8.44 5.40 27.03
0.879 J8 198.0 × 103.0 0.005 60.44 6.25 9.00 6.70 39.20
0.904 J9 195.1 × 103.2 0.005 56.92 12.60 5.66 13.21 5.27
15.24 0.905 J11 195.7 × 103.2 0.001 53.80 3.92 8.84 6.27
9.89 0.788 J12 199.9 × 102.9 0.005 66.32 30.60 7.41 17.20
8.28 90.14 0.735

III J14 196.0 × 103.0 0.005 28.78 2.97 2.66 2.34 11.29
1.292 J15.1 196.5 × 102.9 0.005 35.90 5.10 3.01 4.95 3.05
11.03 1.111 J22 203.5 × 103.2 0.005 33.04 10.50 2.57 6.69
3.67 14.00 0.975 J25 199.0 × 103.3 0.005 31.04 6.00 4.97
3.14 2.74 22.47 1.206 J26 199.0 × 103.3 0.005 35.15 1.11
3.98 3.68 8.18 1.115 J29 200.6 × 103.3 0.005 36.80 6.50
3.19 6.50 3.02 18.81 1.164

IV J19 165.2 × 103.3 0.005 20.95 2.50 3.18 1.75 1.42 2.51
1.502 J30 202.8 × 103.0 0.005 8.87 0.70 2.10 0.99 0.68 1.84
1.757 J32 202.5 × 101.1 0.005 8.15 1.71 0.63 0.82 1.52
1.445 J53 163.0 × 82.5 0.005 3.76 0.40 2.11 0.32 0.33 0.67
1.467 J54 162.9 × 81.3 0.0025 3.56 0.40 1.35 0.39 0.37 0.66
1.413 J55 162.2 × 82.5 0.005 4.04 0.60 2.42 0.35 0.50 0.87
1.284

σ c – uniaxial compressive strength; M – permanent

deformation modulus obtained in the cyclic tests; E i –
initial deformation modulus;

E t50 – tangent deformation modulus at 50% of the maximum

stress; E s50 – secant deformation modulus at 50% of the
maximum stress;

E tpp – tangent deformation modulus at 50% of the maximum

after-rupture stress; ε a rot – maximum axial deformation
at rupture.

All the equipments used to measure the deformations were

calibrated.

The UC tests were executed with deformation control at a

constant rate ranging from 0,001 to 0,005 mm/s, and the

tests,

whenever possible, were extended until the total discharge

of

the stress-strain curve. Cyclical UC tests were also done,

using

at least three cycles with constant controlled deformation,

without pre-loading the samples.

The effect of the latex membrane in the samples rigidity was

determined by the procedure proposed by Head (1994), and it

was concluded that the correction was negligible in respect

to

the rigidity of the rock.

4 ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

The weathering process increase the porosity, reduces the

unit

weigh (table 1) develop fissures and pores, decrease the

iron,

magnesium, calcium and titanium content while the aluminum

increases (Antão, 2004). The parameters obtained from de

uniaxial compression tests are: uniaxial compressive
strength (σ c ) and axial strain at rupture (ε a rot )
determined according to the ISRM (Fairhurst & Hudson, 1999;
Brown, 1981); initial deformability modulus (E i ) computed
according to Gupta and Rao (2000); permanent deformation
modulus (M) proposed by Goodman (1989), permanent
after-rupture deformation modulus (E pp ) determined
according to Lama and Vutukuri (1978); secant and tangent
deformation modulus at 50% of the maximum stress according
to Fairhurst & Hudson (1999). The results obtained are
presented in table 2. Concerning the strength of the
granite with weathering, there is a reduction of 94% from
grade I to grade IV. The strength values of the more
weathered samples (grade IV) have larger dispersion than
the unweathered samples. A few examples of stress-strain
curves of the Jarmelo granite with weathering are presented
in figure 2. Concerning the behaviour of rock failure in
uniaxial compression, these granites can be classified of
class I (Fairhurst & Hudson, 1999). 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
140 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 Strain (%) S t r e s s ( M
P a ) ε t ε t ε t ε t ε v ε v ε v ε v ε a ε a ε a ε a J39
(I) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 -1.8 -1.2 -0.6 0 0.6 1.2 1.8 Strain
(%) S t r e s s ( M P a ) J3 (II) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 Strain (%) S t r e s s ( M P a )
J22 (III) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 -2.5 -1.5
-0.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 Strain (%) S t r e s s ( M P a ) J54 (IV)

Figure 2. Stress-strain behaviour of the Jarmelo granite.

J39 – sample number; (I) – weathering grade; ε a – axial
deformation; ε t – tangent

deformation; ε v – volumetric deformation

The samples with weathering grades from I to III present

four

phases (Andreev, 1995) of the stress-strain curve. In the

sam

ples with weathering grade IV, the first phase

corresponding to

the closure of the microfissures, could not be observed,

while

phase III is larger, occurring the yield at lower values

than

the maximum load. Despite this, the after peak behaviour is

still brittle, as can be inferred from the low value of the

axial

deformation at failure and from the good recovering of the

deformation observed in the after peak cycles (e.g.: sample

J54 in figure 2).

In the weathering grade I the recovering of the deformation

after the cycles of load-unload is almost total. These

samples

have a permanent deformation modulus very high (table 2)

reaching more than 15 times the modulus of the samples of

grade II. In the cyclic tests, the tangent and secant defor

mation modulus were obtained in the pre-peak curve. The

tangent, secant and initial deformation modulus, together

with

the uniaxial compressive strength, all decrease with weather

ing (table 2). The reduction of the initial deformation

modulus

(83% to 89%) and of the tangent modulus (94% to 98%) is

lower than those obtained by Gupta and Rao (2000). In the

first

three grades of weathering, the initial deformation modulus

is lower than the tangent modulus, indicating an increase of

stiffness of the sample with crescent deformation. The oppo

site occurs in the more weathered samples (grade IV). The

initial deformation modulus versus porosity, is presented in

figure 3. In the samples with porosity below 2% the initial

deformation modulus (Ei) can show a large variation from

around 10 GPa up to more than 30 GPa. For the samples with
porosity above 2%, Ei is below 10 GPa and decreases with
increasing porosity. Lumb (1983), for the Hong Kong
granites, also found this same behaviour, but obtained an
inflection point around 5%. The increase in the porosity
allow an easier development of the fissures that start to
develop in the elastic phase of the UC test. The permanent
deformation modulus (M) in weathering grades I and II is
high and above the values of the tangent and secant
modulus. In the weathering grades III and IV the permanent
deformation modulus (M) exhibits a strong reduction (99.5%
to 99.8%) presenting a more ductile behaviour, with
unrecoverable deformations in the initial stretch of the
stress-strain curve. The tangent deformation modulus at 50%
of the maximum after peak stress shows higher values than
the tangent and secant modulus in the more weathered
samples. The maximum axial strain at rupture (ε a rot )
increases significantly with the weathering, presenting a
low variation coefficient. In figure 4 is presented the
relation between ε a rot and the ratio E t50 /σ c ,
proposed by Ramamurthy (2001). As these granites are
characterized by a brittle fracture, the development of
fissures and fractures before reaching the peak strength is
common. The primary fracturing usually of brittle
behaviour, is mainly observed in the less weathered grades
(I and II) leading to a heterogeneous evolution of the
lateral deformation (samples J37, J41, J9 and J12). 0 5 10
15 20 25 30 35 0 10 100 n (%) E i I n i t i a l d e f o r m
a t i o n m o d u l u s ( G P a ) 1

Figure 3. Variation of the initial deformation modulus (Ei)

with

porosity (n). εa rot = 2,52(E t50 /σ c ) -0,26 R 2 = 0,81

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 0 100 200 300
400 500 E t50 /σ c ε a r o t A x i a l s t r i a n a t r u
p t u r e ( % )

Figure 4. Relation between the axial strain at rupture (ε a

rot ) and the

ratio (E t50 /σ c ).

5 CONCLUSION

The tests executed allowed a better understanding of the

behaviour of the Jarmelo granite. The difficulties in

testing

the more weathered samples were compensated by the rel

ABSTRACT: The underground works of the Rogun dam project in

Tadjikistan comprise: machine hall 20 m wide, 70 m high

and 220 m long and transformer hall 18 m wide, 37 m high

and 182 m long.

To assess deformation properties of the rock masses

composed of sandstone and aleurolite which surround the
underground

excavations, a set of methods was applied including

dilatometers, seismic and ultrasonic measurements,
determination of

moduli of deformations by the Hoek and Brown method

applying the Bieniawski rock quality classification as well
as defining
the values of moduli from the measured convergence of the
machine hall walls by solving a number of 2-D and 3-D
problems to

estimate the stress-strain state of the “host

rock-underground excavation” system at different phases of
construction. Described

herein below are the technique and results of conducted

investigations as well as comparative evaluation of the
moduli of

deformation obtained by different methods.

1 INTRODUCTION

Deformability of the rock masses serving as the foundation

for the surface structures and as host medium for the under

ground works is one of the major factors governing behavior

and safety of the entire “structure–foundation” system. The

criteria of rock deformability – the moduli of elasticity

and

deformability – are the major parameters used to analyze the

rock masses on the computational models (Technical Report

2005, 2006).

For the real rock masses featuring their structural hetero

geneity and anisotropy as well as certain primary stressed

state, estimation of their deformation properties is a

complex

and critical engineering task. Solution of this problem con

sidering the size of the bearing area and the type of

surface

structures or volumes of underground excavations is aggra

vated by the presence of the scale effect i.e. dependence of

magnitudes of the moduli of elasticity and deformation on

the

applied scale of investigations (Savich & Kujundzic´, 1985).

Today’s engineering practice uses various direct and

indirect

methods of determining the moduli of elasticity and deforma

tion, as well as Poisson’s ratio for the rock masses in

their

pristine state including the rating approaches to assess the

above parameters by a set of geological features of the rock

masses in question (Bieniawski 1979, Bieniawski 1989, Bar

ton et al. 1974). The final results of these determinations

can

materially vary and therefore there arises necessity of

select

ing those data which most correspond to the specified design

computational model and the real behavior of the “structure–

foundation” system. Such a problem arose in construction of

a large underground machine hall at the Rogun dam project

on the Vakhsh river in Tajikistan.

2 CHARACTERISTIC OF PROJECT AND

UNDERGROUND WORKS LOCATION

The underground works of the Rogun dam project comprise:

– machine hall 20 m wide, 70 m high and 220 m long;

– transformer hall 18 m wide, 37 m high and 182 m long

located at a distance of 63,5 m (within center lines) on

downstream from the machine hall, and

– various underground excavations. Excavation of the

machine hall cavern began in 1986 and excavation was
carried to the full width of the cavern in 6– 11 m deep
benches. The crown and side walls were supported with rock
bolts, reinforced concrete lining and pre-stressed cable
anchors. By the year 1990, the machine hall cavern had been
benched down to a depth of 36 m, the transformer hall
cavern had been excavated to a depth of 16 m before
excavation operations were suspended. The rock mass hosting
the major caverns of the Rogun power house about 400 m
beneath the surface is a massive rock strata consisting of
unevenly alternating inequigranular sandstone and
aleurolite with argillite intercalations. During the design
phase, site investigations the structure and properties of
the rock mass surrounding the underground works had been
intensively studied. It has been established that due to
its jointing the rock mass represents a discrete medium
with corresponding non-uniformity in the distribution of
the rock deformation modulus and strength properties
(Kolichko 2000). At the design phase, deformation
properties of the sandstone and aleurolite mass were
derived from field measurements of longitudinal and
transversal elastic waves propagation through the mass with
natural moisture content, by detail study of fracturing and
by some in-situ determinations of the modulus of
deformation.These studies covered different geological
zones of the rock mass. It has been shown that anisotropy
of the rock mass deformability works out to be on the order
of 20%, and this allows the rock mass to be treated in
analysis conventionally as isotropic in terms of its
elastic and deformation properties. As outcomes, averaged
design strength and deformation characteristics of the
sandstone and aleurolite and argillite were determined (see
Table 1). It has been found that the field of primary
stresses in the machine hall zone of the rock mass is
characterized by the following parameters: vertical
stresses – 14,0 MPa; horizontal stresses – 18,0 MPa. During
excavation of the machine hall and afterwards the cavern
outline had sustained big deformations due many

Table 1. Strength and deformation properties of rocks.

Strength in sample, MPa Modulus of deformation, MPa
Poisson’s ratio

Rock R c R t In virgin rock mass In stress relief zone ν

Sandstone 100 10 9000 6000 0,22

Aleurolite 70 7 5500 4000 0,30

R c – strength in compression; R t – strength in tension.

Table 2. Convergence of machine hall walls at Rogun Dam
Project (at crane beam level). Magnitude of convergence, mm
In sandstone,

Measurement phases Construction stages Time period In

aleurolite In sandstone fault zone 70

Before instrumental Excavation of bench III October 1988–

150 60 70

measurements ∗) (el 985-973 m) October 1989

Measurements during Excavation of bench IV October 1989– 85

30 35

construction (el 973-964,2 m) May 1990

Measurements during Installation of anchors on June 1990–

120 60 65

construction cavern walls at bench IV December 1992

Measurements after – 1993–2005 155 15 25

suspension of works

Total: 510 165 195

∗) Indicated magnitude of convergence is a forecast based

on analysis of data on monitoring during construction of
caverns at Rogun dam

project and similar projects.

causes and primarily because of high primary stresses in the

rock mass: convergence of the machine hall side walls in the

aleurolite had exceeded 500 mm by the year 2005.

In 2005 in connection with resumption of construction

activities on the Rogun dam project, the main power house

caverns were thoroughly examined and information has been

obtained on the state of the rock mass and the underground

excavations. Basing on the findings of examinations it was

decided to conduct a repeat cycle of determinations of host

rock deformation properties with a view of detecting and

quantifying the changes in its properties that occurred dur

ing prolonged suspension in construction of the project and

flooding of the machine hall cavern that took place.

The Obigarm rock formation, which surrounds most of the

underground works was of particular interest in the repeat

studies. This formation consists of two units: lower Obigarm

composed of brown color aleurolite with interlayers of brown

and gray argillite, and upper Obigarm unit composed of mas

sive thickly bedded brown and gray-brown sandstone with

sparse thinly bedded aleurolite and argillite partings.

Quart

zous sandstone on the carbonaceous and argillaceous cement

is primarily fine and medium grained hard practically not

prone to weathering. The aleurolite has a composition sim

ilar to that of sandstone but cemented with the argillaceous

cement. The aleurolite features a rather interesting

peculiar

ity: in the unaltered mass, the aleurolite has a massive

structure

as such free of jointing with the presence of weakness

planes

which are parallel to the bedding and principal sets of

joints.

On de-stressing, for example, in open or underground excava

tions the potential surface of weakening turns into joints.

The
process of joint formation in the aleurolite during
underground

excavation takes several days resulting in the formation of

complete joint sets with an average degree of jointing.
Characteristic of them is rapid weathering and resultant
continuous spalling of rock in the roof and walls of the
excavations. 3 PROCEDURE AND RESULTS OF DETERMINATION OF
DEFORMATION PROPERTIES The following methods have been
chosen for determination of deformation properties: 1
Rating determinations basing a set of geological inputs
using the Hoek-Brown method. 2 Geophysical determinations
using velocities of elastic waves and various correlative
relationships. 3 In-situ measurement using dilatometer
probes. 4 Computational determinations basing on the
results of 2-D and 3-D analyses using data on measurement
of wall convergence. The data on convergence of the machine
hall walls which had been monitored over many years was the
main criterion of validity of the values of sandstone and
aleurolite deformability entered in the analyses.
Measurements of convergence of the machine hall walls were
started in 1989 during excavation of the cavern and after
completion of the excavation operations.These measurements
were conducted by the geodetic method using the control
marks installed on the both side walls at the level of the
crane beam (within elevations of 985-983 m) (Kolichko
2000). The values of wall convergence given in Table 2 were
specified as inputs for determination of the deformation
and strength properties of the sandstone and aleurolite
mass,

basing on the results of field measurements and examination

of the data on monitoring during construction of the caverns

at the Rogun dam project.

3.1 Assessment of rock deformation modulus by Hoek-Brown

method

In recent years this method along side with the Bieniawski

method has found a wide application in the engineering

practice of many countries.

Assessment of the rock mass quality suggested by Prof Z.

Bieniawski (1979, 1989) is based on analysis of the

following
6 parameters:

– Rock compressive strength (from 0 to 15 points);

– Core sample quality RQD (from 3 to 20 points);

– Distance between blocks forming joints in rock mass (from

5 to 20 points);

– Characteristic of joints in rock mass – their roughness

and

aperture, availability of infilling material and degree of

joint

wall weathering (from 0 to 30 points);

– Availability of ground water and/or intensive ground water

inflow to underground excavations (from 0 to 15 points);

– Orientation of joints with respect to structure (from 12

to 0

points).

Depending on estimation of each indicated parameters, this

parameter is assigned a certain number of points. The sum of

points for all 6 parameters yields the value of the Rock

Mass

Rating. According to Bieniawski, the rocks in question are

rated as follows:

• for sandstone: RMR = 63 points,

• for aleurolite: RMR = 51 point.

Thus, the value of the common rating derived for the sand

stone corresponds to the rock mass of a good quality, for

the

aleurolite it corresponds to an average quality of the rock

mass.
According to the relation offered by Hoek (Hoek & Brown

1980, 1997, Hoek et al. 2002):

where: GSI = RMR – 5,

D – parameter characterizing degradation of the rock mass

properties due to man induced impacts (taken equal to 0,3)

R c – rock strength in uniaxial compression MPa,

The following values of the modulus of deformation have

been derived:

• for sandstone: E = 15.100 MPa,

• for aleurolite: E = 5990 MPa.

3.2 Estimation of modulus of deformation by geophysical

exploration

Comprehensive geophysical explorations using the seismic

and ultrasonic methods were conducted in 2005 to assess

deformation properties of the rock mass surrounding the

Rogun underground works. These explorations were carried

in the representative areas reflecting variety of the

geological

conditions. The formation of a stress relief zone and

peculiar

ities of time-dependent changes in the state and properties

of the rock mass in this zone were studied using seismic
sounding, seismic profiling, ultrasonic and seismic logging
in the boreholes. As seen from the conducted explorations,
the sandstone in the rock mass area (in the vicinity of the
machine hall cavern) which has not been affected by
excavations and which is free from ground water, is
characterized by average values of the longitudinal wave
velocities in the seismic range of frequencies V c p = 3,72
km/s, and the aleurolite is characterized by V c p = 3,72
km/s. In the rock mass weakened by excavations, values V c
p equal 3,40 km/s and 3,20 km/s respectively for the above
varieties of the rock. The generalized coupling equations
of E and E d (where E d – dynamic modulus of elasticity)
are used in passing from measured V p to moduli of
deformation E at maximum load P max = 8 MPa, given in paper
(Savich & Kujundzic´ 1985). In these equations E II –
modulus of deformation for the second cycle of loading, E –
modulus of total deformation at multiple and sustained
loading. Values of the moduli given in the equations have
dimensionality of MPa. According to the correlative
relations (Savich & Kujundzic´ 1985), we derive • for
sandstone: E II = 11.000 MPa, • for aleurolite: E II = 8100
MPa. The modulus of total (summated) deformation which
reflects the relation between the applied load and total
deformation of the loaded rock area that develops over long
time, works out to be: • for sandstone: E = 8400 MPa, • for
aleurolite: E = 6100 MPa. Results of the geophysical
exploration conducted both in the zone of unaltered rock
and in the zone of decompression are given in Table 3.
Examining data of Table 3, it is pertinent to note
significant difference of the moduli corresponding to the
second cycle of loading E II and total deformation E . 3.3
Determination of deformation properties by dilatometer
tests Dilatometer tests to assess deformation properties of
the sandstone and aleurolite masses were conducted not in
the machine hall area but in the area of two access tunnels
as well as from an auxiliary adit where 5 × 30 m deep
boreholes and one 24 m deep holes were drilled. The
boreholes were made by the core drilling method using hard
alloy and diamond bits. The boreholes were 112 mm in
diameter drilled with recovery of core for geological
description.All 56 dilatometer probes have been made to
determine the modulus of deformation of the foundation
rock. Table 4 shows the outcomes of processing of the data
on these tests carried in the water bearing aleurolite and
sandstone. The mean values of rock deformation modulus for
the IInd cycle of tests were: for aleurolite – about 3500
MPa, for sandstone – 4600 MPa. Considering small sizes of
the dilatometer pressure area it may be stated that the
zone of decompression around the borehole tells on the
obtained results.

Table 3. Values of modulus of deformation derived for rock

of machine hall zone from geophysical data. Unaltered rock
Zone of weakened rock V c pu , E IIu , E �u , V pw E IIw ,
E �o ,

Name of rock km/s MPa MPa km/s MPa MPa E u E IIu E �w E IIu
E �w E �u

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sandstone 3,80 11000 8400 0,764 3,40 8300 6250 0,753 0,744

Aleurolite 3,72 8100 6100 0,753 3,20 5800 4300 0,741 0,705

Table 4. Results of processing of dilatometer probes. Mean

values of deformation Coefficient of modulus, MPa variation
Number

Rock of tests I cycle II cycle I cycle II cycle

Aleurolite 37 2832 3463 0,42 0,29

Sandstone 19 3549 4587 0,37 0,32

Table 5. Velocities of elastic waves and deformation moduli

in water

bearing unaltered rock mass in zone of dilatometer probes.

V s p , V us p , E us II ,

Rock km/s km/s E s II , MPa MPa

Aleurolite 4,14 4,90 8800 14400

(below ground

water level)

Sandstone 3,80 4,70 9500 18500

(below ground

water level)

It is worth of noting that the studied rocks feature non

uniformity of deformation which is corroborated by rather a

high coefficient of variation of the rock deformation

modulus.

Data of geophysical (seismic and ultrasonic) explorations

have been used in comparative assessment of the properties

of

the above areas since the dilatometer tests were conducted

not

in the machine hall area but in the water bearing part of

the

rock mass which is closer to the daylight surface. According

to the results of these investigations, the water bearing

mass

of the aleurolite and sandstone in the zone of the pressure

measurements features the values of elastic wave velocities

and rock deformation moduli given in Table 5.

Comparing the above indicated values of the moduli with

the values given in Table 3 it should be pointed out that

within

the scale of seismic measurements, the moduli for the sand

stone in the machine hall area are by about 16% higher and

those of the aleurolite are by 8% lower than in the zone of

dilatometer probe.

3.4 Determination of rock deformation moduli by

computational methods

The stress-strain state and displacements of the excavation

outlines were analyzed to determine by this method moduli of

deformation for the sandstone and aleurolite. The above com

putations have been carried by the “Geodynamic Research

Center” employing services of the Tunnel Association of
Russia, “RusEngineering” Ltd and “RUSAL-UK” Ltd in the
context of the updating project to assess possibilities for
completion of the underground works and to optimize
construction stages and rock support systems.The problem
was analyzed by the FEM method in the elastic and plastic
formulation simulating the primary stress state of the rock
mass, stress relief zones around the underground openings,
supporting of the excavations with concrete lining and
passive and active anchoring systems, actual excavation
sequence stages and stabilization of excavations. To define
the calculated values for the deformation and strength
properties both of the original sandstone masses and
respective zones of decompression, the studied models were
calibrated applying the criterion for concordance of the
calculated and measured horizontal displacements
(convergence) of the side walls in the machine hall cavern.
By varying the parameters of rock mass deformability degree
and its strength as well as the zones of decompression
around the excavations it has been found possible to define
those parameters of the geological medium which permitted
estimating the displacements of side walls in the machine
hall cavern by the mathematical modeling similar in the
nature and values to the measured displacements. These
investigations have been carried using two special
programs: RocScience-Phase2 (Canada) and Z-Soil
(Switzerland). 3.4.1 Two dimensional planar analysis The
2-D models were analyzed using the specialist program:
«RocScience-Phase2» 1 , developed in the University of
Toronto (Canada). Two characteristic sections of the
underground excavations located in the sandstone and
aleurite were analyzed (Technical Report 2005). The
deformation moduli for the sandstone and aleurolite derived
from the computations which satisfied the conditions of
securing the required magnitude of convergence of the side
walls in machine hall cavern (ref. to Table 2) are given in
Table 6. 3.4.2 Three-dimensional analysis The stress-strain
state of the caverns and the rock masses surrounding the
underground works and nearby underground excavations have
been simulated also by the 3-D analysis using the Z-Soil 2
program. 1 RocScience Geomechanics Software & Research,
PHASE2 Finite element analysis and support design for
excavations, Rocscience Inc., Toronto, Canada, 1999.
Analyses have been made by Dr E. Gaziev. 2 Z-Soil 2003.
User manual. Zace Servicer Ltd. Report. Lausanne, Elmepress
International, 1985–2003. Studies were conducted under
guidance of Dr. V.I. Bronshtein. Analysis was made by
D.Ustinov.

Table 6. Parameters of deformability degree and strength of

rock mass surrounding underground excavations (results of
2-D analysis). Sandstone Aleurolite Unaltered mass Zone of
weakness Unaltered mass Zone of weakness Elastic Plastic
Elastic Plastic Elastic Plastic Elastic Plastic

Parameter zone zone zone zone zone zone zone zone

Modulus of 9000 – 6000 – 5500 – 4000 –

deformation E, MPa

Poisson’s ratio, ν 0,22 – 0,3 – 0,3 – 0,33 –

Angle of dilatancy i, dgr. – 15 – 5 – 5 – 0

R t , MPa 0,6 – 0,4 – 0,4 – 0,25 –

ϕ, dgr 50 47 45 42 45 42 40 37

Cohesion C, MPa 3,0 2,0 2,0 1,5 2,0 1,5 1,5 1,0

Table 7. Strength and deformation properties of rock mass in

machine hall area (results of 3-D analysis). Sandstone

Aleurolite Weakened Weakened (stress(stressUnaltered
relieved) Unaltered relieved)

Parameters mass zone mass zone

ϕ, dgr 42 38 36 32,5

Cohesion C, 1,64 1,1 0,75 0,5

MPa

Modulus of 7500 5000 4000 2670

deformation

E, MPa

Poisson’s 0,22 0,30 0,30 0,33

ratio, ν

Several series of calibrating calculations have been per

formed with a view of selecting the sandstone and aleurolite

strength and deformation properties in the altered and decom

pressed zones of the rock mass so that the outcomes of

numerical modeling have agreed satisfactorily with the data

of field observations.

The computations resulted in deriving of the values of sand

stone and aleurolite strength and deformation properties

given

inTable 7 (Technical Report 2006). With the given

parameters,
the magnitudes of wall displacements have been obtained for

the characteristic sections of the machine hall cavern at

the

crane beam level which check satisfactorily with the

displace

ments measured in the field. The last circumstance may serve

the ground to believe that the values of moduli of

deformation

and strength corresponding to this solution, are close to

the

actual figures of the moduli of deformation and strength of

the rock mass in question.

4 EXAMINATION AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

In examining the outcomes of determinations of the defor

mation moduli by different methods whose summary is given

in table 9 we can note, that they differ significantly. At

the

same time good concordance is observed between the results

of the deformation modulus determinations for the sandstone
and aleurolite by the computational methods and by seismic
measurements (values E ), while for the aleurolite also by
dilatometer probes (for weakened zone) and by rating
assessment (for unaltered rock masse). The correspondence
recorded between the calculated values of moduli obtained
from the long time movements of the machine hall walls and
the value of E , characterizing the total deformations in
contrast to modulus E II is well explainable. As for
dilatometer probes, thorough examination of the conditions
of performance of the tests in question has revealed that
the technique used in drilling the test holes causes
formation of the 3–5 mm thick weakness zones around the
boreholes whose properties differ materially from the rock
mass not affected by drilling. As ultrasonic explorations
show values of V s in this zone tend to decrease by 10–15%
which corresponds 25–35% change in the modulus of
deformation. It is evident that the presence of such a zone
tells on the results of dilatometer probes towards their
significant decrease. Therefore, the data of pressure
measurements given in Table 8 should rather be treated as
indicators of rock properties in the zone of decompression.
Given the zone of dilatometer probes was located in the
weakened area of the rock mass the secured dilatometer
probes data will well agree with the values of rock
deformation properties in the zone weakening, established
by other methods. 5 CONCLUSION Summing up the above said,
the following can be derived from the findings of performed
explorations: 1 Most credible averaged values of the
deformation moduli for the sandstone and aleurolite of the
machine hall rock mass at the Rogun dam project have been
obtained by geophysical methods with computation of the
modulus of total deformation E and calibrating computations
of mathematical models basing on the values of convergence
of walls in the underground excavations, which were
measured in the field. 2 Deformation properties of the
sandstone and aleurolite in the rock mass area not altered
by excavation operations are characterized by the modulus
of common deformation equal to 8300 ± 700 MPa and 5200 ±
500 MPa respectively. In the zones of the rock weakened by
excavation

Table 8. Summary of moduli of deformation derived by

different methods. Values of modulus E in MPa Sandstone
Aleurolite Unaltered Weakened Unaltered Weakened

Method rock mass zone rock mass zone

Rating by Hoek-Brown 15.000 6000

classification

Geophysical methods 11000 8400 ∗) 8300 6250 ∗) 8100 6100 ∗)

5800 4300 ∗)

Seismic prospecting

Pressure measurement 4600 3500

Computational 2-D model 9000 6000 5500 4000

methods 3-D model 7500 5000 4000 2670

∗) upper figure indicates value of E II , lower figure

indicates – modulus E .

and by decompression of the rock, the total modulus of

deformation E works out to be 5900 ± 500 MPa, those

corresponding to the second cycle of loading are by about

30–35% higher than the given values of modulus E .

3 For the aleurolite, the data of seismic determinations and

rating estimations by the Bieniawski-Hoek-Brown classi

fication method well agree with the calculated values of

the modulus of deformation.

4 The results of dilatometer probes are distorted by impact

of

the zones of weakening around the exploration boreholes.

The data secured in these tests tally to a greater extent

with

the properties of rock in the zones of weakening around

excavations and may be regarded to be a lower limit of the

moduli of deformation for studied varieties of the rock.

Barton N.R., Lien R., Lunde J. 1974. Engineering Classifica

tion of Rock Masses for the Design of Tunnel Supports. Rock

Mechanics, 6.

Bieniawski Z.T. 1979. The Geomechanics Classification in

Rock

Engineering Applications. Proc. 4th Congress of the Int.

Society

for Rock Mech., Montreux.

Bieniawski Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass

Classifications. John

Wiley & Sons. Hoek E. & Brown E.T. 1980. Empirical Strength
Criterion for Rock Masses. J. Geotech. Engng Div., ASCE.
Hoek E. and Brown E.T. 1997. Practical Estimates of Rock
Mass Strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. and Min. Sci., Pergamon,
vol. 34, No. 8. Hoek E., Carranza-Torres C., Corkum B.
2002. Hoek-Brown Failure Criterion – 2002 Edition. 5th
North American Rock Mechanics Symposium and 17th Tunneling
Association of Canada Conference, Toronto. Kolichko A.V.
2000. «Today’s State of Underground Machine Hall at Rogun
Dam Project», Hydrotechnical Construction, No 4. Savich
A.I, Kujndzic´ B.D. (Edit.) 1985. «Guidelines for
Application of Geophysics in Study of Deformation
Properties of Rock Masses», Institute Hydroproject,
Moscow-Beograd. Technical Report 2005. «Computational
Studies of Behavior of Underground Excavations at Rogun Dam
Project During Construction, in Normal Operating Conditions
and during Earthquakes», Geodynamic Research Center, 2005.
Technical Report 2006. «Computational Studies of Behavior
of Underground Excavations at Rogun Dam Project During Its
Completion», Geodynamic Research Center, 2006.
3 3. Slopes, foundations and open pit
mining

ABSTRACT: This paper studies the pressures acting on

retaining walls assuming the following basic assumptions:

• the failure surface is plane and lies on the toe of the

wall

• the stress mobilised on the failure plane is uniform

• the ground surface on top of the wall is horizontal

• the material follows the non linear Hoek-Brown strength

criterion

• the material has a constant dilatancy angle

• the validity of Coulomb’s theory for earth pressures.

Taking into account these assumptions, the earth pressures

are calculated on a simplified model of wall retaining
earth.

Different values of the dilatancy angle at failure are

considered in the calculations.The Hoek-Brown failure
criterion is expressed

in parametric form that simplifies equation solving

(Serrano & Olalla (1994)).This whole study is done
adimensionally, resulting

in a series of general charts for practical use, requiring

only the geometrical data and the density and strength
parameters of

the earth. They are useful for all the materials following
the Hoek-Brown strength criterion.

1 BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

The following basic assumptions are adopted in order to

calculate the earth acting on a wall:

• the failure plane passes through the foot of the wall

• the stress mobilised on the failure plane is uniform

• the earth pressure against the wall is horizontal

• the ground at the top of the wall is horizontal

• the strength is assumed to be Mohr type, given by a non

linear Hoek-Brown law, defined by the Serrano & Olalla

(1994) parameters (β and ζ) and Coulomb strength law on

the failure planes, as shown in Figure 1. There is a

constant

dilatancy angle.

Mohr strength (in Lambe parameters):

where β and ζ are parameters depending on m and s Hoek

Brown parameters.

Coulomb strength, point R, on the failure plane, when a

sinψ dilatancy exists is expressed as: Figure 1. Mohr and

Coulomb strength laws on the failure planes. To be
conservative, the cohesive term (ζ = 0) is neglected. 2
GEOMETRY AND LOADS Figure 2 gives the diagram used, where:
• H: wall height • α : failure plane inclination • φ R :
auxiliary variable, φ R = 2α±π/2. (plus sign in active
earth pressure and minus sign in passive earth pressure).
Length, l, of the failure line is:

Figure 2. Geometry of the wall and acting forces a) Active

case, b) Passive case.

Length, l, of the failure line is:

The failure prism area (a) is:

The normalised adimensional height, N, is defined as:

The weight of the prism, expressed per unit of transverse

length, is:

and can be expressed adimensionally as:

The active and passive pressures on the wall can be

expressed as a function of a coefficient, λ, such that:

and can be adimensionally expressed as follows:

All the pressures will be expressed in adimensional form,

dividing them by the strength parameter, β, that is: The

resulting normal and tangential reactions on the failure
plane are: Both can be similarly expressed adimensionally
as follows: The essential aim of this study is to provide λ
coefficient for each adimensional slope height, N. Thus,
having ascertained the geometrical parameters (height H)
and the earth parameters (specific gravity, γ , strength,
β, and dilatancy, ψ), the value of λ coefficient can be
determined and with this the earth pressure against the
wall can be estimated. For this entire calculation,
parameter ζ is assumed to be equal to zero (disregarding
the cohesion), which leaves this calculation on the safe
side. Furthermore, β and ψ parameters can be estimated as a
function of the specific gravity of the rock and of its GSI
geomechanical index, as per the method explained in Serrano
et al (2007). 3 EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES The polygon of forces
is indicated in each case in Figure 2. The following
expressions can be deduced by projection over P and over T
R directions: Taking into account the above expressions
(1), the following results are obtained: which can be
written as follows:

or else, as a function of the auxiliary angle,φ R :

4 STRENGTH

The Hoek-Brown (1980) strength law is adopted for the case

of non cohesive material (ζ = 0), expressing it in the form

of

adimensional stresses, that is (point T):

with A and B parameters defined as:

where ψ is the rock dilatancy angle.

5 EARTH PRESSURE COEFFICIENT, λ, AND WALL

HEIGHT

Raising the expressions for σ ∗ n and τ ∗ r , (2) and (3),

to strength

law (4) for a certain wall with a height of N, gives

parameter,
λ, as a function of the inclination of the failure plane,
α. Fol

lowing Coulomb’s earth pressure theory, α is varied to find

the

maximum and minimum values of λ, which will be the ones

to produce failure in active and passive cases,

respectively.

6 RESULTS

6.1 Active pressure

For three values of the dilatancy angle, ψ, and as a

function

of the normalised height, N (N = γH/β), Figure 3 provides

the values of the angle of inclination, α, of the failure

plane.

Dilatancy angles at failure are provided by Hoek & Brown

(1997) for three different GSI values.

In the same manner, for the same three values of the dila

tancy angle, ψ, and as a function of the normalised height,

N

(N = γH/β), Figure 4 shows the values of the earth pressure

coefficient, λ. The higher the wall, the more the earth

pressure

coefficient increases.

Finally, for three values of the dilatancy angle, ψ, and as

a function of the normalised height, N (N = γH/β), Figure 5

shows the values of the equivalent angle of friction (φ R )

of

a material governed by a linear strength law giving the same

earth pressure.
The earth pressure data appearing in Figures. 3, 4 and 5

were obtained for materials with slight particle

imbrication.

For stacks and dumps with no compaction whatsoever, etc.,

the earth pressures could be somewhat greater. In these

cases,

A and B coefficients should be determined with negative

dilatancy angles. Figure 3. Variation of the angle of the

failure surface (α) with the normalised wall height (N =
γH/β). Active state. Figure 4. Variation in earth pressure
coefficient (λ) with the normalised wall height (N = γH/β).
Active state. Figure 5. Variation of the equivalent angle
of friction (φ R ) with the normalised wall height (N =
γH/β). Active state. Application example: earth pressure of
volcanic agglomerates. The case involves ascertaining the
pressure produced by certain volcanic agglomerates with an
in-situ density of 11.0 kN/m 3 and geomechanically compact
(GSI ∼ = 50) on an 9-m high wall. Equally, it involves
ascertaining the angle of the failure surface and the
equivalent working linear angle of friction with which
these agglomerates can be considered if a linear strength
law were adopted. Solution: with a GSI of 50 and a specific
gravity of 11.0 kN/m 3 and in accordance with Figure 6
(taken from Serrano et al. 2007) the values that can be
deduced are equal to β ∼ = 200 kN/m 2 and ψ ∼ = 4 ◦ ,
assuming ζ ∼ = 0.

Figure 6. Variation of parameter β with specific gravity

(γ) and

GSI (Serrano et al. 2007).

Figure 7. Variation of the earth pressure coefficient (λ)

with the

normalised wall height (N = γH/β). Passive state.

The normalised height is equal to N = γH/β= 0.5.

Using Figures 2, 3 and 4 produces: λ= 0.165, α= 67.5 ◦

and φ R = 45 ◦ .

The pressure the earth will exert on the wall will therefore
be equal to:

6.2 Passive pressure

This case involves ascertaining the passive or maximum pres

sure the earth can withstand before it fails, when the wall
exerts

a pressure on it.This case can be applied for calculating

bridge

or dam abutments.

For three values of the dilatancy angle, ψ, and as a

function

of the normalised height, N (N = γH/β), Figure 7 shows the

values of the angle of inclination, α, and of the failure

plane

in the case of ground failure as a result of passive

pressure.

Equally, for three values of the dilatancy angle, ψ, and as

a function of the normalised height, N (N = γH/β), Figure 8

shows the values of earth pressure coefficient λ. In this

case,

the higher the wall, the more the earth pressure coefficient

decreases.

Note that the dilatancy has a very small effect as from a

certain normalised height of the wall.

Finally, for three values of the dilatancy angle, ψ, and as

a function of the normalised height, N (N = γH/β), Figure 9

ABSTRACT: Keyblock analysis plays an important role in the

evaluation of the behaviour of jointed rock. Remote sensing

technologies are nowadays frequently used to provide the

basis for those analyses. Metric 3D images provide accurate
and

detailed data on the rock mass structure and topography.

This contribution outlines the use of metric 3D images for
keyblock

analysis. First of all, the generation of a 3D image is

discussed using the JointMetriX3D and ShapeMetriX3D
systems. The

following sections describe the evaluated data and its use

for the identification of finite blocks in rock faces, the
kinematical

analysis of blocks, and the calculation of block reaction

curves.

1 INTRODUCTION

The analysis of blocks is an integral part in the stability

assess

ment of an excavation in hard, jointed rock. There are

several

analysis methods which aim at the consideration of blocks in

their analysis (for instance Goodman & Shi 1985, Warbur

ton 1987, John & Deutsch 1974, Londe et al. 1970). These

methods were developed prior to the extensive application of

computational power and rely on data obtained from tradi

tional site investigation. The increase of the computational

power in the last decades, the use of off-the-shelf digital

cam

eras, and the development of an appropriate mathematical

framework led to new technologies within the geological data

acquisition. These technologies allow also for new methods

in

the stability analysis of jointed rock masses.

This paper outlines a consistent procedure for the analysis

of slopes and underground excavations in hard and jointed

rock. The procedure includes

• Acquisition of the geometry of exposed rock faces by means

of 3D imaging

• Contact free measurement of the geometrical properties of

the rock mass, especially discontinuity properties

• Integration of the data into a geometrical model of the

slope or excavation which includes the geometry of the

discontinuity system and the free surfaces as well

• Identification of finite blocks in the geometrical model

• Mechanical analysis of the finite blocks including kinemat

ical analysis, mode analysis, and stability analysis.

The procedure allows processing digitised data of the rock

mass from the early stage of geological investigation to

the final engineering expertise. It relies on

well-established

methods and principles as well as recently developed and

generalised algorithms to ease a robust performance of the

analysis. The procedure is a synthesis of principles from

different branches including photogrammetry, digital image

processing and 3D computer vision, computational geometry,

engineering geology, and rock mechanics. 2 3D IMAGING

TECHNOLOGY 3D imaging is a remote sensing technology using
a passive approach. It relies on principles from
photogrammetry, digital image processing and computer
vision (Faugeras 1993). The result of a survey by 3D
imaging is a metric 3D image which comprises the topography
of the surveyed object and a digital image draped on it. It
eases the contact-free measurement of geometrical joint
properties. 2.1 Data acquisition The application of the
JointMetriX3D and ShapeMetriX3D systems (Gaich et al.
2006), which have been applied in this work, for the
generation of a metric 3D image require the following data
to be provided during the field procedure: • Stereoscopic
image pair: It is a pair of digital images of the object
captured from different standpoints • Information on
registration: (a) Ground control points (reference points):
At least three points whose coordinates are known allow the
registration of the 3D image to a global coordinate system,
or (b) Scale figures: Using scale figures the 3D image can
be scaled and registered to a local coordinate system.
Metric 3D images require the use of calibrated cameras in
order to account for the distortions caused by the
imageformation process. ShapeMetriX3D uses pre-calibrated
offthe-shelf cameras (single lens reflex) with fixed or
zoom lenses. The image size is 10 Megapixels. Figure 1
shows the application of the use of the SLR camera during
tunnel excavation. The applied monopod accounts for the
reduced illumination for the generation of crisp images.
Figure 2 shows the application of the JointMetriX3D
panoramic line scanner for imaging a mine slope. It is used
for the generation of large images with an image size up to
100 Megapixels. This allows capturing large areas even with
fine details. In order to keep the system flexible, a zoom
lens

Figure 1. Application of the ShapeMetriX3D imaging system

during face documentation in conventional tunnelling.

Figure 2. Application of the JointMetriX3D imaging system

in an

open pit mine at a distance of 400 metres.

is used which is calibrated after acquiring the stereoscopic

image pair using a calibration panel.

The 3D image generation requires several steps which are

automatically performed:

• Image matching: Identification of corresponding points in

the stereoscopic image pair

• Determination of the relative orientation between the two

images

• Reconstruction of the 3D points by forward intersection

• Triangulation of the 3D point cloud to a surface

description

• Draping the digital photograph onto the triangulated

surface

• Registration of the generic 3D image to a local or global

coordinate system using ground control points or scale fig

ures. This step is performed by interactively identifying

markers in the image.

2.2 Measurements

The 3D images are used to take measurements of the rock

structures. These measurements are gained from the size and

orientation of the individual (small) triangles forming the

surface of the 3D image. In order to ensure accurate mea

surements the 3D images must show fine details where the

Figure 3. Measurement of linear and area elements from a 3D
image. Left: Trace of a discontinuity with orientation
(triangle). Right: Discontinuity plane with orientation
(arrow). Figure 4. Sketch of an evaluated metric 3D image
(ShapeMetriX3D) of an outcrop. attention to detail depends
on the application and the focussed results.
Discontinuities in an outcrop can be identified as area
elements and linear elements. Usually area elements are
assigned to discontinuities and appear on the surface as an
area with limited extent. Conversely, linear elements are
assigned to discontinuities which appear as a linear trace
on the surface. During evaluation using JointMetriX3D or
ShapeMetriX3D the structures are directly marked on the 3D
images. The marked structures are analysed by the software
and their properties calculated. The location of the area
elements is defined by the marked points on the surface,
their extension is defined by a closed polygon and
expressed as the area enclosed by the polygon. Conversely,
the extent of linear elements is defined by an open polygon
on the 3D image and expressed as the length. For both, area
and linear elements, orientations can be determined. They
are represented as the normal vector of the orientation for
area elements and as a spatial triangle (representing the
discontinuity plane) for linear elements (Figure 3). The
evaluation of a 3D image is an interactive process, hence,
the user has to identify the relevant rock mass structures.
The topography describing the shape of the outcrop eases
the identification of flat regions as joint areas.The
highly detailed image (Figure 4) allows the discrimination
of natural structures (traces of foliation, joints, faults,
etc.), man-made structures (excavator scratches, etc.), or
other geological features such as lithological boundaries.
The combination of both sources of information allows the
establishment of a consistent discontinuity network and an
audit of the evaluation.

Figure 5. Geometrical model (left) including irregular

slope surface and trace map; Closed polygons (middle)
representing the free surface

of blocks; Finite blocks (right) identified from search

algorithms.

3 BLOCK IDENTIFICATION

The information obtained from the 3D images has to be

sampled to a geometrical model which allows identifying

finite blocks.

3.1 Geometrical model

The geometrical model contains the information on the dis

continuity system and the free surface. It includes both,

orientations and locations of planes. The discontinuity

system

forms a trace network on the excavation surface. (Figure 5

left)

The traces are lines or polygons and have a limited length.

The

processing of geometrical data is done by vector analysis.

The

data required for the subsequent analyses has therefore to

be in
a vector format in terms of position and direction vectors.

3.2 Criteria for finite blocks

Block theory provides necessary and sufficient criteria for

finite blocks. A block is finite if and only if its block

pyramid

is empty. The block pyramid is the intersection of

halfspaces

of the joints and free surfaces forming the block where the

corresponding plane is shifted to the origin.

A block can only be formed by a closed polygon within the

trace network on the free surface. Since a closed polygon on

a surface is always a non-empty joint pyramid, these blocks

can be classified as finite and infinite blocks. Tapered

blocks

comprise an empty joint pyramid. This is the case if the

joints

forming the closed polygon of an infinite block are

intersected

by a joint which does not daylight within the polygon. As a

consequence, finite blocks identified in a trace network on

a

free surface are simultaneously removable. In order to

identify

finite blocks from a trace network it is sufficient to find

all

possible closed polygons and classify the corresponding

block

pyramid.

3.3 Search algorithms

Several authors presented algorithms for the determination
of

blocks in a model of a jointed rock mass (for instance Lu

2002, Chan 1987, Lin et al. 1987). The attempts were differ

ent focussing on the identification of removable blocks

while

others aimed on the determination of the entire block

system.

Although the goal of the two approaches is different, some

ideas from both have been used to develop a new algorithm

for the calculation of areas of closed polygons in a trace

map. The proposed algorithm only examines the chords
between joint intersections at the free surface. This eases
the consideration of irregular excavation shapes. The
algorithm in its core includes the following steps: •
Determination of all chords between intersection points •
Classification and orientation of all chords belonging to
one intersection point. Chords have to point away from the
intersection point. They are classified into four possible
directions • Establishment of a sequential connectivity
matrix (SCM) for each intersection point. The SCM controls
the search path during the later calculation of the chord
chains • Establishment of geometrical initial and target
conditions • Calculation of chord chains according to the
SCM and check whether target conditions apply • Storage of
closed chord chains. The chord system has also to be
checked for special cases such as one-chord blocks at
convex edges or one-joint blocks at convex corners.
Finally, the joint planes and the corresponding free
surfaces as well including their halfspaces are assigned to
the closed chord chain. Therefrom, the joint pyramid and
block pyramid is calculated and finite blocks are
determined (Figure 5 right). 4 MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF
BLOCKS The finite block is a polyhedron which comprises an
arbitrary number of planes maybe having a non-convex shape.
It is considered as a rigid body.The mechanical analysis
comprises three steps including kinematical analysis, mode
analysis, and stability analysis. 4.1 Kinematics Kinematics
deals with the potential displacement vector orientations
of the block under the boundary conditions of the
excavation. The investigated system consists of the block,
the surrounding rock mass and the free space. Since joints
(contact between block and rock mass) represent a
constraint, block motion can only take place towards the
free space. Block motion has to be distinguished into
translation and rotation. The kinematical analysis of
translational motion for blocks has already been described
by Goodman & Shi (1985). Blocks with a potential for
translational motion are called removable.

Figure 6. Corner displacement �x due to rotational motion

about

rotation axis r. For �x to be kinematically feasible it has

to point

into the halfspace defined by the joint planes of the

corner C j . R is

a point fixed in space.

For a block to be removable all displacement vectors have to

simultaneously point away from the rock mass. Since for a

translational motion all displacement vectors are parallel,

it

is sufficient to investigate the properties of individual

vector

orientations. A sufficient criterion for removability is to

iden

tify if the block pyramid is empty while the joint pyramid

is

non-empty. It has been stated in a previous chapter that

finite

blocks from a trace map are simultaneously removable.

The kinematical analysis of block rotations is based on

the same concept of displacement vector orientations. How

ever, rotational displacements are not parallel but related

to a

rotation axis. Mauldon (1992) showed that removability is a

necessary criterion for rotatability for blocks with only

three
joints. Hence, blocks with four or more joints can be rotat

able even if they are tapered. Chan & Einstein (1981) showed

that rotational failure modes are usually more critical than

translational ones.

Figure 6 shows the geometrical relationships between

joints, the rotation axis, and the corresponding

displacement

vector. It can be seen that a displacement vector is

kinemati

cally feasible if it forms part of the joint pyramid of the

block

corner. This criterion has to simultaneously apply for all

block

corners constrained by joints. The aim of the analysis is to

find all rotation axes which allow for kinematically

feasible

displacements. A rotation axis is defined by its location

and

orientation. The corresponding displacement vector depends

on the vector C j R which is related to the location of the

rota

tion axis. There are an infinite number of possible

locations

in space. The analysis is therefore restricted to the pure

rota

tions in which the rotation axis is fixed to the block

corners.

Remote locations are not considered. In this case C j R can

be

determined from the block geometry. Together with the orien

tations of the joint planes the rotation space of a block
related

to its corners can be determined (Pötsch & Schubert 2006).

If

the rotation space is not empty, the block is considered to

be

rotatable.

The rotation space is the intersection of halfspaces of so

called limit planes. These limit planes are defined by the

normal vectors of joints forming a block corner and the

corre

sponding vector C j R from the corner to an arbitrary point

on

the rotation axis. For pure rotations this point can be

selected

at a block corner on the free surface. Figure 7 shows the

rota

tion space for a tetrahedral block in a perspective view.

The

rotation spin is right-handed.

4.2 Modes

The kinematical mode analysis provides information on the

mode how a block exposed to loading will fail. Transla

tional failure modes have been discussed and described by

Goodman & Shi (1985). These authors distinguish between Z Y

X C3 C1 C2 C4 Joint plane 1 Joint plane 3 Joint plane 2
Free face Figure 7. Perspective view of a tetrahedral block
with three joints and one free surface including the
rotation space for right-handed rotation at the superficial
block corners. The rotation space defines possible
orientations of rotation axes for kinematically feasible
displacements. Falling/Lifting, Single Plane Sliding, and
Double Plane Sliding. The rotational modes have been
discussed by Mauldon (1992) and more generally by Tonon
(1998). Corner and edge rotation modes can be
distinguished. For their determination the unconstrained
motion of the block is considered. For corner rotation a
compressive reaction has to develop at joints of the static
corner while separation at the other corner takes place.
For an edge rotation a compressive reaction has to develop
at both corners forming the edge while separation at the
other corners takes place. Since general loading consists
of forces and moments, the unconstrained displacements can
only be determined taking into account the inertia
properties (mass and inertia tensor) of the block. These
properties depend on the geometry of the block. 4.3
Stability Based on the kinematical and mode analysis the
stability of the blocks can be assessed. The stability
analysis investigates the block behaviour under active
loads and mobilised resistance. The resistance usually is
referred to as the shear resistance of joints for sliding
modes. In nature, an additional source of resistance is the
tensile strength of intact rock bridges. It is not
considered here, since blocks are formed by persistent
joints. For completeness, the block exerts resistance
against motion due to its inertia. Resistance from
artificial support is not considered in this paper. The
failure modes can basically be classified into detachment
modes and sliding modes. The detachment modes comprise
falling/lifting, corner rotation and edge rotation.The
principal properties of the detachment modes is that
simultaneous detachment of the block from the rock mass
takes place at every joint without relative shear
displacements. In the rotational detachment modes the block
remains in contact at one corner or edge. From rigid body
mechanics can be stated that the block motion is governed
only by the block’s inertia properties and the active
loads. In this case falling/lifting modes are always
considered to be unstable while the stability of the
rotational modes is governed by block accelerations due to
the (timely varying) active loads and the moment of
inertia. Several authors (Goodman & Boyle 1986, Karzulovic
1988, Pötsch 2002) showed that detaching joint planes can
be more properly analysed using the method of the block
reaction curve. It shows the interaction of driving and
resisting forces with block displacement (Figure 8). In
this method stress conditions around the block, the
deformability of the rock mass and the dilation of rough
rock joints are considered. 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 0 5 10
15 20 Block displacement [mm]

F a

c
t o

f s

f e

t y

[ ] 75˚ 60˚ 45˚ 30˚

Figure 8. Block reaction curves for pyramidal blocks with

different

joint dip angles located in the tunnel crown at the

face.The interaction

of driving and resisting forces is expressed as the factor

of safety.

Figure 9. Block reaction curve of a block exhibiting a

torsional

slide and shear stress – displacement characteristic.

The sliding modes comprise the single plane sliding, double

plane sliding, and the torsional sliding (Goodman 1995). In

these modes at least one joint of the block remains in

contact

with the rock mass in which relative shear displacements

take place. Traditional analyses rely on the Coulomb shear

strength criterion for the calculation of the factor of

safety.This

approach assumes that the maximum shear resistance has been

simultaneously mobilised at the same instant of maximum

active loads. In nature, joint planes usually show individ

ual mobilisation rates. The torsional sliding mode basically

requires special consideration of the characteristic

mobilisa

tion of the shear stresses with block displacement. The

shear

displacement rates vary within the sliding plane and

increase

with the distance to the rotation axis. Thus, the

assumption of

simultaneous mobilisation of the maximum shear resistance

in the joint plane leads to an unconservative result.

Figure 9

shows the block reaction curve of a block exhibiting a

torsional

Techniques. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr.

24(6),

331–338.

Londe, P., Virgier, G. & Vormeringer, R. 1970. Stability of

rock

slopes, graphical methods. J. Soil Mech. Found. Div. ASCE

96:

1411–1434.

Lu, J. 2002. Systematic identification of polyhedral rock

blocks with

arbitrary joints and faults. Computers and Geotechnics 29:

49–72.

Mauldon, M. 1992. Rotational failure modes in jointed rock:

a

generalization of block theory. PhD dissertation,

University of

California, Berkeley.
Pötsch, M. 2002. Influence of the Three-Dimensional Stress
Con

dition at the Tunnel Face on the Stability of Removable

Blocks. Diploma Thesis, Institute for Rock Mechanics and
Tunnelling, Graz University of Technology. Pötsch, M. &
Schubert,W. 2006. Rotational kinematics of rock blocks with
arbitrary geometries. Felsbau Rock and Soil Engineering
24(3): 30–36. Tonon, F. 1998. Generalization of Mauldon’s
and Goodman’s Vector Analysis of Keyblock Rotations. J.
Geotech. Geoenviron. Engineering 124(10), 913–922.
Warburton, P. M. 1987. Implications of Keystone Action for
Rock bolt Support and Block Theory. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 24(5), 283–290. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Analysis of laser scanner
data collected during a survey of faces in a rock quarry T.
Rotonda Dept. of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering,
Sapienza University, Rome, Italy M. Marsella Dept. of
Hydraulic, Transportation and Road, Sapienza University,
Rome, Italy L. Lizzadro & A. Ricca Dept. of Structural and
Geotechnical Engineering, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

ABSTRACT:A terrestrial laser scanner survey was carried out

in a marble quarry on differently oriented faces, either
excavated

or along the intact slope. A quantitative analysis devoted

to the estimation of the discontinuities orientation, which
is one of

the peculiar parameters relevant to the stability of rock

masses, was performed. Laser data belonging to each
recognized

discontinuity were extracted and processed by applying a

Total Least Squares adjustment method for estimating
representative

plane. The results of this approach allowed to describe how

the variance model is conditioned by the constraints of the
problem.

The laser survey, which revealed the presence of four sets

of discontinuities, was compared to a traditional compass
survey

demonstrating the usefulness of the laser data and the good

reliability of the applied numerical method.
1 INTRODUCTION

Topographical surveys represent a good alternative to tradi

tional compass surveys for instance when very high rock

faces

or not easily accessible areas are present, as it often

occurs

in quarries. Indirect measurements, such as those collected

by means of laser scanner and photogrammetric surveys, do

not require to access potentially instable areas for

positioning

instruments on the exposed faces. These methods permit to

describe the rock mass morphology at higher resolution than

normally, providing an almost continuous data coverage on

the whole exposed surface.

Recent literature extensively reports on applications of

3D laser scanner surveying techniques to the study of rock

faces, emphasizing their appeal and also their limits. The

more straightforward application of such surveys in Rock

Mechanics is the estimation of discontinuities orientation

(Lemy & Hadjigeorgiou 2004, Voyat 2005). An interesting

aspect regards the possibility of reconstructing the

orientation

of exposed surfaces by automated analytical procedure (Slob

et al. 2002, Slob et al. 2004).

Comparisons with traditional surveys carried out by com

pass indicate that the method is reliable even if some dif

ficulties are reported, such as failures in the extraction

of

sub-horizontal joints (Voyat 2005).

Numerous are the possible applications of laser measure

ments, other than orientation: estimation of typical

geometri

cal characteristics usually sampled at exposed rock faces,

such

as spacing, length and persistence of traces (Feng & Roshoff

2004); slope monitoring by comparing laser scanner surveys

at different times; morphometric analysis of the 3D data

allow

ing the reconstruction of profiles, useful for estimating

run out

of blocks detached from rock slopes or lost volumes in case

of rock falls.

Most applications have provided results that are as accurate

as those from topographical surveys (Bornaz 2005). Other

achievements can be obtained from further numerical
elaboration of the raw data aiming to describe roughness
and waviness of discontinuities. An interesting method
recently developed is based on fractals which produces a
description of scales of roughness both along scanlines and
on 2D surfaces (Fardin et al. 2004). In our work a
terrestrial laser scanner survey was carried out in a
marble quarry on differently oriented faces. Laser point
clouds were filtered, combined and interpolated to
reconstruct a unique digital model of the surveyed surface.
The analysis of the 3D surface model allowed to identify
exposed discontinuities for which to compute orientation
parameters. To estimate each identified plane an adjustment
of the corresponding randomly spaced 3D points was
performed by means of a Total Least Squares (TLS)
technique. The results of the laser survey were then
compared to those obtained using compass in order to
evaluate its performance as far as capability of extracting
different oriented faces and to assess the achieved
accuracy. 2 THE LASER SCANNING SURVEY The laser scanning
survey has been carried out to understand the capability of
this technology in support of stability assessment analysis
within quarry areas. The investigated marble quarry is
characterized by a very deep gully confined by vertical and
sub-vertical faces. The investigated area presents a height
of about 100 m, where a steep slope overhangs the quarry
(Fig. 1). The quarry morphology is characterized by large
stepped sectors formed in consequence of the excavation
activity. Thus in consideration of the complex morphology
to be surveyed and in order to reduce occultation areas,
the laser has to be collected from different locations.
Dataset covering adjoining areas should be then combined
using surface Face N140E Face N40E Face N180E Face N180E 0
10 20 30 m

Figure 1. Contour line map of the portion of the quarry

surveyed

by laser scanner.

matching procedures based on the use of common control

points conveniently distributed in the area.

The laser sensor adopted for the survey (Riegl 420i) allowed

to collect range measures up to a distance of 800 m

providing

precision better than 10 mm. The instrument can acquire data

at a frequency ranging from 6000 to 18000 pt/sec and is able

to rotate from 0–90 ◦ and 0–360 ◦ along the vertical and hor

izontal direction, respectively. The Class 1 laser beam has

a

wavelength of 0.9 µm (NI) and a divergence of 2 mrad. This

allows to collect measures at a minimum angular

interdistance

of 0.01 ◦ , resulting in 0.002 ◦ and 0.0025 ◦ respectively

for the

vertical and horizontal resolution.

The first phase of the data processing included pre

processing of the separated datasets to reduce the laser

measures to 3D point clouds associated with the correspond

ing RGB attributes, combining different datasets to form a

unique 3D model and, finally, editing and filtering to elimi

nate outliers and features not relevant to the scope of the

survey

(vegetation, obstacles, working machines, etc.).

The processed data were then archived in binary, vector and

ASCII for different types of applications. Additionally,

digital

images were collected and rectified to help the

identification

of discontinuities.

The starting point for carrying out a rock survey using

laser

data is the reconstruction of a digital surface model

accurately

describing the jointed rock mass and allowing the

extraction of

useful features and data for further investigations.This

surface

can be obtained by properly interpolating the scattered

points

forming the laser data clouds in order to arrange them on

regular (GRID) or irregular networks forming a “continuous”

surface to be further elaborated.

The interpolation procedure permits to estimate new points

on the basis of the surrounding value of each node of the

network; the new values are attributed by using statistical

esti
mation methods. In this work the kriging method was chosen
in

consideration of its capability of taking into account

local vari

ations of structural characteristics, such as those

associated

with rock discontinuities.

3 ESTIMATION OF THE PLANES

Once the data belonging to the identified discontinuity have

been selected, it is possible to proceed with the estimation

of the best plane representing it. The problem can be

solved trough regression methods, which are typically based
on the minimization of the sum of squared differences
between data and mathematical model. A basic regression
method is the Ordinary Least Squares method, where the
difference to be minimized corresponds to the distance
parallel to a preferred axis, which we suppose to be the
only one affected by errors. In our case this hypothesis is
unrealistic and the choice of the dependent variable is
arbitrary. Errors in laser data are randomly distributed
along the three components due to natural variability of
discontinuity (roughness and waviness) and to the method of
data acquisition. Therefore a first order hypothesis is
that we do not have information for different degree of
errors in the three directions. A more rigorous approach to
adjust our data is represented by the regression method
called Total Least Squares, which minimizes the Euclidean
distance that is the perpendicular distance between
surveyed data and the plane (van Huffel & Vandewalle 1991,
Fienen 2005). This hypothesis is equal to considering
errors unbiased in the three directions and across
measurements. Our data are assumed to be composed of the
true, but unknown, solution and an additive error. Let A be
the matrix (N × 3) whose columns consist of the N
observations, properly scaled to their centroids as it is
required for A to have null medium values. The equation for
a plane could be expressed by ax + by + cz = 0, where a, b,
and c are the Cartesian components, or by n = (a, b, c),
the vector of unit length normal to it. Given the
overdetermined set of equations An = 0, which applies to
our case, we have to find a vector n that satisfies the
condition of minimizing the difference between data (A) and
estimated model (Â), that is where the symbol F is the
Frobenius norm. If the errors are zero-mean and
uncorrelated, minimizing in rel. (1) is the same as
minimizes algebraic distance, which is the Euclidean norm.
The optimal direction is given by the unit vector n that
solves the following where the normal matrix �= (A T A) has
dimension (3 × 3) and is proportional to the covariance
matrix of the observations. Thus the Total Least Squares
solution leads to an eigensystem problem, where the
solution is given by the right singular vector of A, or by
the eigenvectors of the matrix corresponding to the
smallest singular value. As the vector q = n T �n in rel.
(2) presents positive definite values, geometrical
considerations show that q = const describes an ellipsoid
in the 3D space. The main axes of the ellipsoid are given
by the eigenvectors of the matrix and q is minimized by the
eigenvector corresponding to the smallest eigenvalue of �.
Given the components for n, we can obtain the orientation
parameters (dip and dip direction) of the plane
representing each discontinuity. 10 -5 10 -4 10 -3 10 -2 l
o g V a r i a n c e ( m

2 ) 10 100 1000 10000 log N

Figure 2. Variance of the model versus number of points.

The solid

line represents a linear regression model for the variables

not in

logarithmic scale. 0 0.001 0.002 0.003 V a r i a n c e ( m

2 ) 0 20 40 60 80 h(m)

Figure 3. Variance of the model versus difference in height

between

instrument and plane. The solid line represents a linear

regression

model.

4 ANALYSIS OF THE ESTIMATES

In order to evaluate the quality of the solution obtained by

means of the TLS approach, we have analyzed the variance

of the model, which coincides with the smallest eigenvalue

of

the solution.
The influence of spatial variability is reported in Figure
2,

where the dispersion graph of the variance is represented

as a

function of the number of points belonging to a single

plane.

The maximum extension of a single discontinuity has been

found to be 12.5 m 2 (5000 points). A correlation between

variables is confirmed by a statistical analysis based on

t-test, which for the linear relation gives a level of

confidence

higher than 99.9 %. As the nature of errors and the

hypothesis

that the error due to instrumentation is not biased, the

higher

values of variances at major scales could be considered as

the

deviation of the discontinuity by a plane, due to curvature

or

waviness of the discontinuities.

To investigate the influence of the incidence angle of the

instrument, in Figure 3 we represents the variance of the

model

as a function of the difference in height between instrument

and plane. The figure shows the occurrence of a correla

tion between variables; the linear relation gives a

confidence

level higher than 99.9 %, confirming that incidence angle

and

distance influence the results. N N Figure 4. Stereographic

projections representing poles of planes for two of the
investigated faces (represented by mean great circles).
Figure 5. Stereographic projection representing all
estimated poles of planes (open squares). Mean poles of the
sets of discontinuities are also reported (triangles: laser
scanner survey; circles: compass survey). 5 COMPARISON WITH
CONVENTIONAL SURVEYS The analysis of data from laser survey
provided 75 poles of plane (42 on the quarry faces and 33
on the upper slope), from which dip and dip direction of
the planes have been determined. The investigated zone has
been preliminary grouped in four different sub-vertical
faces (Fig. 1). The estimated planes have been taken into
account separately for each of the faces; in Figure 4 are
drawn two of the four different equal-area hemispherical
projections reporting the acquired poles of planes. The
results highlights that the survey preferably identify
discontinuities having around the same strike of the face
where the poles have been determined. All the 75 estimated
poles of planes are represented in Figure 5 on an
equal-area stereographic projection.The spatial
distribution of the poles evidences that four sets of
discontinuities (mean poles represented by triangles) have
been identified. On the contrary the compass survey
recognized five sets of discontinuities, including one (J d
) that in the surveyed area is less frequent and also not
persistent. The mean poles of

the five sets of discontinuities are also represented

(circles)

in Figure 5. Comparison between the mean poles deriving

from the two methods shows a good correspondence and that

discrepancy is about ten degree for dip direction and even

less

for dip.

Most of the measured poles, as well as indicated by the

compass survey, belong to the sets of discontinuities J a

and

J c . These discontinuities have been determined mostly on

the

favourable oriented faces (N180E), as the other faces

present

a strike at about 90 ◦ .
As the absence of sub-horizontal discontinuities in the
zone,

it was not possible to investigate the capability of the

method

in extracting these planes.

6 CONCLUSION

The evolution of morphology of a quarry due to excavations

implies that some of the geometrical characteristics can be

modified or are possible of being modified. Thus it is impor

tant to deepen the study of techniques that make simpler or

quicker the acquisition of the geometrical characteristics

of

rock mass discontinuities, such as that here presented based

on the use of a high resolution 3D surveying techniques.

A rigorous numerical method for estimating the orienta

tion of a single discontinuity, geometrically represented by

a plane, has been here applied. The quality of such method

has been evaluated by performing variance analyses to under

stand the influence of the experimental data distribution

and unfavourable geometrical configurations (high angle of

incidence).

The orientations of the sets of discontinuities basically

coincide with that surveyed by means of compass; higher dif

ferences are around ten degree for the dip direction and
are of

the same order of that due to the geometrical dispersion.

The analysis of the results indicates that a geometrical con

straint is, as expected, the relationship between the
orientation

of the front faces and discontinuities. To obtain a definite

knowledge of the discontinuity orientations and of the

number

of sets it is important to investigate differently oriented

faces.

The present paper has assessed the proven capability of the

terrestrial laser scanner to carry out surveys of

discontinuity

orientations. Finally it is worth mentioning that the

present

application could be considered one of the most favourable

conditions due to the presence of well exposed sub-vertical

ABSTRACT: The work deals with the evaluation of the

stability conditions of several steep slopes hanging along
a

motorway track in the far east. The slope rock mass

structure determines the possible unstable blocks that can
induce rock fall

phenomena. Consequently the stability analysis must be

based on an accurate geo structural survey performed by
using laser

scanner to obtain a precise 3D digital model (DSM) of the

rock surface. Discontinuity orientations and positions on
the rock

face are derived from the DSM in order to perform the

reconstruction of the rock mass and to identify blocks
lying on the

slope. Stability analyses are determined by evaluating the

kinematically feasibility of different failure mechanisms.
The rock

block shapes and volumes are computed by performing 2D and

3D analyses whereas the failure mechanisms are examined by
Key Blocks methods.

1 INTRODUCTION

In mountainous regions transportation corridors are often

sus

ceptible to landslides and, in particular, rock falls

constitute

a major hazard in numerous rock cuts. This is the case illus

trated in this work, that regards a highway segment, about

5 km in length, excavated through 8 slopes and affected by

several rock falls that determine a possible risk for

highway

users.

The aim of the study was to establish the prevailing rock

mass characterisation on the 8 slopes for the evaluation of

instability phenomena based on traditional geostructural sur

vey coupled with the LIDAR technology, in order to assess

a relative hazard for the slopes, thus providing recommenda

tions for remedial works.

LIDAR application has enabled the acquisition of a very

large number of measurement points in a short space of

time. This measurement methodology has permitted the real

isation of a 3D model of the rock slope (Digital Surface

Model DSM). This model composed by a “cloud” of points

is related to an image of the rock slope and it allows,

through

a specific software, the reconstruction of slope topogra

phy and the identification of the discontinuities in terms

of

position on the slope and orientation, spacing, persistence

and joint hierarchy. Data acquired with the two different

approaches (compass and LIDAR) have been merged together

in a consistent data sample of the discontinuity and

statisti

cally treated. This has led to recognize typical

discontinuities

for each slope describing them from a geomechanical point

of view.

Once determined both the topography of the slope and the

geo structure, stability analyses have been performed using

the

Key Block method. The different possible kinematics modes

have been determined and the possible unstable blocks factor

of safety and volumes calculated. On this base remedial work

typologies have been suggested. 2 IN SITU SURVEY 2.1

Geological setting From a geological point of view the
slopes are composed of porphyritic biotite granite
belonging to Kledang Range of Triassic Age. Quartz veins,
aplite dykes and pegmatites of variable orientation and
size are also present within the granite bedrock. A variety
of structural discontinuity planes cut the granitic
bedrock; the discontinuity planes are of variable
orientations, spacing and extents and they give origin to
rock block of variable dimensions and geometry. Fresh to
slightly weathered granite bedrock is only exposed in the
lower benches of the selected slope cuts, the upper benches
being excavated in moderately to completely weathered
bedrock. 2.2 Geostructural survey 2.2.1 Traditional methods
A geological-geostructural mapping was carried out for the
8 slope through the definition of geostructural domains and
the geomechanical description of the rock mass. More than
50 geostructural traverses were performed with a total of
about 2400 discontinuities collected in terms of
orientation and characteristics of the rock mass (according
to ISRM standard). In order to identify the predominant
joint sets, all data collected were statistically analysed
separately for each traverse and together for the 8
different slopes, using 2 geo-statistical codes. The
combined use of these tools permitted the determination of
dispersion around the mean value, in terms of cone of
confidence, and the precision of the data for each family
of joint. For each one of the slopes a preliminary
geometrical description was given with the definition of
geostructural domains and principal joint sets; then a
series of

Figure 1. Methodological flow chart.

geostructural surveys along scanlines of 10 m length were

performed. During the traditional survey in situ

observations

of local instabilities, water presence and existing

protections,

were noted separately to be compared with and for

integrating

the results of the surveys.

2.3 Laser scanner survey

The Digital Surface Model (DSM) generation for the eight

slopes has been obtained by using the LIDAR (Light Detec

tion And Ranging) terrestrial laser scanner technique, that

utilizes a system constituted from a laser telemeter and a

scan

ning mechanism. A pulse emitted from the laser source is

reflected by the object surface, its echo is captured by the

optics, measuring the time-of-flight, the sensor-to-object

dis

tance is computed. Terrestrial lasers are equipped with two

mirrors mounted on two orthogonal axes; when the instru

ment is levelled, the synchronized rotation provide

scanning in
azimuth and zenith; the polar coordinates of the target are
then

converted to a local cartesian frame with origin in the

instru

ment centre, z-axis vertical and x-axis in arbitrary

direction.

A point clouds generation of rock faces, (operating ranges

are from 100 to 800 m and more), with accuracies of the 3D

coordinates in the range 0.5 ÷ 3 cm and scanning speed from

2000 to 12000 pts/s has been obtained. Angular scanning res

olutions are in the order of 100 mrad and allow for a very
high

sampling density on the object in relatively short

acquisition

times, resulting in millions of points to be measured on the

object surface.

For the 8 analysed slopes the used instrument was a Riegl

LMS-Z420i with a calibrated Nikon D70 digital camera

mounted on it. During the survey, many scan positions were

adopted in order to avoid hidden zones. In addition, in each

slope two different survey resolutions were adopted:

• for the general description of the slope a point every 5

cm is

acquired, whereas in the taking of digital images a 20 mm

calibrated focal lens is used;

• a detailed survey is carried out in zones, having

dimension

of 10 m × 10 m (a point every centimeter, calibrated focal

lens 84 mm).

Consequently millions of points have been collected in

terms of absolute coordinates x, y, z. Figure 2. Principal

joint sets observed on one of the 8 rock slopes.
Furthermore a preliminary survey phase was carried out, in
order to georeference the acquired data. A local network is
materialized, documented and surveyed by means of a fast
static GPS survey. The used instruments were 2 Trimble
receivers: a Trimble 4000 ssi double frequency receiver; a
Trimble 4600 single frequency receiver. A topographic
survey was carried out by means of a “total station”
(LeicaTC 1105): in this phase all the reflecting targets
and the topographic ones put on tripods, on the reference
vertices, were measured. In this way it was possible to
convert all the local measurements into a mapping system
and reference all data to north position. 2.4 Geo
structural data analysis and comparison Laser scanner
supplies the coordinates of points in the space. The
following step to realise a geometrical model of the rock
mass is the determination of the planes that form the
slope. Firstly points have to be divided into groups of
points belonging to a single plane. In other words, the DTM
has to be analysed in order to identify the points
belonging to each plane existing on the slope. For this
purpose laser scanner measurements have been superimposed
onto the slope photograph in order to determine both slope
geometry and identify rock discontinuities by means of a
software. This tool, specifically developed, is based on
segmentation algorithm able to identify the number of
planes present in a point cloud and their relative
equations. By knowing the plane equation, dip and dip
direction of each plane can be computed (Roncella et al.,
2005, Voyat et al., 2006). Other statistical analysis have
been performed using, as input data, the Lidar survey and
then compared with the data acquired by the analysis of
traditional compass survey for each scanlines and for each
slope. Figure 4 shows one example of the comparison of the
two stereonets obtained plotting the data resulting from
the traditional compass method and by LIDAR data. This
analysis appears in good correspondence with the
preliminary in situ observations. Similar analysis have
been performed for all slopes divided in homogeneous
domains and discontinuity sets have been identified in
terms of average dip, dip direction and spacing. Stability
analyses have been then performed by considering the
presence of the joint sets determined for each slope. The
rock mass has shown a relative homogeneous structure in the
analysed rock masses since main joint sets are constantly
present in all slopes although some of the slope have shown
a local variation. In particular in some slopes a joint set
parallel to the rock face has been

Figure 3. DTM model superimposed to the photograph with the

discontinuity identification.

Figure 4. Joint set identification determined by the

geological

traditional survey (A) and by laser scanner DTM (B) on the

slope

W8 (upper hemisphere).

observed by in situ survey that cannot be identified on the

LIDAR data.

3 STABILITY ASSESSMENT

Fractured rock masses are often geometrically complex and

can be regarded as an assemblage of many individual poly

hedral blocks whose shape and volume are strictly connected

to number, orientation and spacing of discontinuity systems
present in the rock mass. When such a rock mass is
subjected to mechanical disturbance, through for example
the excavation of slopes, the rock blocks can displace,
rotate and detach from the backward rock mass. In order to
identify shape, dimension, type of kinematism and factor of
safety of the blocks that can detach from the rock mass,
the code Rock3D has been utilized. This code has been
implemented to form a block system by the joint sets
present in the rock mass, introduced in a deterministic way
by knowing their orientation and position on the rock
front, or by automatically generating them in a statistic
way on the basis of the surveyed discontinuities, by means
of statistical distribution. Rock3D allows to conduct slope
stability analysis following four steps: cluster analysis
to identify the joints sets by hierarchic clustering
procedure; kinematics analysis based on Key Block Theory
(Goodman & Shi); geometrical reconstruction of the blocks
by creating map of discontinuity on the rock front in
pseudo casual way, based on the statistical distribution of
the discontinuity measured on the slope; stability analysis
by applying limit equilibrium method to compute factor of
safety of each finite and removable blocks and, in case of
unstable blocks, the stabilization forces too. The
evaluation of the rock block volume has been determined by
considering the discontinuity orientations and the relative
persistence. The code determines a statistical
reconstruction of the joint traces on the bases of the
discontinuity measured (both by the laser scanner method
and by the traditional method) in a window of known
dimensions. The discontinuity position and consequently
their spacing and persistence can also be directly
measured. These experimental data are treated statistically
and the centroid of each family has been determined such as
average joint spacing and persistence. For each analysed
kinematism the block shape is defined by the joint
intersection and consequently each block volume can be
easily determined by simply analytical geometry equations.
This method has been applied to each analysed slope,
considering all the acquired discontinuity data got from
traditional and laser scanner surveys. The results, in
terms of key block analysis, pseudo-casual map of
discontinuities reconstruction, type of kinematism,
geometric features of free and removable blocks identified
and limit equilibrium analysis results, are reported in
figure 5 for slope 8.

Figure 5. Joint pyramids obtained for slope 8 and relative

types of kinematism, maximum volume of the free and
removable blocks,

pseudo-casual maps and two blocks projection obtained for

three-dimensional sliding along the intersection J3–J4.

Table 1. Geometrical characteristics of the analysed slopes

and results obtained in terms of possible kinematics and
volumes. Free and Types of removable Max blocks Average
block Height Length Dip kinematism blocks volume volume

Slope [m] [m] [ ◦ ] # # [m 3 ] [m 3 ]

S1 40 180 60 4 23 1,118 0,291

S2 135 750 75 6 59 23,0 1,830

S3 30 100 75 3 15 0,556 0,107

S4 30 90 75 3 9 5,217 0,614

S5 40 50 80 6 31 5,430 0,896

S6 50 130 82 3 28 3,411 0,336

S7 50 250 85 3 38 4,342 0,588

S8 50 50 80 4 22 0,983 0,134

In Table 1 the results obtained for all the eight slopes

analyzed are summarized.

4 CONCLUSION

The study of the stability conditions of 8 rock slopes hang

ing along a motorway in Far East have been carried on by

means of the key block method based on accurate rock mass

surveys. The surveys have been performed by laser scanner

acquisition that allows the DSM determination. Slope point

clouds have then been treated by a specific software devel

oped by the University of Parma for the determination of the

rock discontinuities visible on the rock faces by means of

the

application of a segmentation algorithm. Discontinuities dip

and dip direction and positions have also been computed. Sta

tistical data analysis at different scales, supported by in

situ

observation, allowed the determination of the rock structure

subdivision into homogeneous sub domains and the definition

of the rock mass structures in terms of joint set

orientation and

spacing.

Consequently finite and removable rock blocks have been

Anchoring mechanism of self-locking pre-stressed anchor

cable and design of self-locker Zhu Benzhen, Liu Qingyuan &
Wu Zhigang China Railway Northwest Science Research
Institute Co., Ltd., China

ABSTRACT: This article presents the anchoring mechanism of

self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable and the design of

self-locker. This is based on the following consideration:

the current pre-stressed tendon anchor has neglected the
energy

field in free length stratum so as to result in such

defects as too much reaction concentrating in the shallow
stratum, too

much protection works, too long engineering process and

poor economy efficiency in maintenance. The design of
self-locker

structure is ascertained. Through indoor tests, its effect

is checked with numerical test results and the self-locking
capability

of the pre-stressed anchor cable self-locker is achieved.

1 INTRODUCTION

Pre-stressed anchor fixing technology has been developed

in more and more applications and fields progressively and

widely, and the geological conditions of anchoring object

becomes more and more sophisticated and the structures and

types of anchor have improved continuously. Whereas, all

current researches of pre-stressed anchor cable structure in

application are about the stress field distribution of the

fix

ing end of anchor. It has become a problem demanding prompt

solution in engineering walks that how to in sophisticated

stra

tums enhance load of anchor cable, improve anchoring system

stress field distribution, reduce decreasing speed of

anchoring

load, prolong life of anchor and save engineering cost.

Although there are many types of pre-stressed anchor cable

structure and many kinds of anchor fixing end stress field,
the

stress field of their reaction structure are fundamentally

the

same, which impact stress concentration on reaction

structures

in slope and increase protection works. Considering the gen

eral types of pre-stressed anchor cable structure, this

article

presents how to realize pre-stressed anchor cable

self-locking

by adding self-lockers on the free length with the

foundation

of free length stratum energy field.

1.1 Basic theory of self-locker

Set self-lockers, which have locking clips inside, in units

on

the free length crossly. Strands only move in single direc

tion when adding tension, and at the same time the anchor

fixing load of the anchor cable will get balanced with the
pres

sure of the cement column in the steel pipe and the boundary

adhesive force of the steel pipe holes by self-lockers.

Thus,

it was realized that adding tension in steps, locking the

free

length by itself, decreasing the standard of reaction

structure

or aborting reaction structures. Bi-directional anchoring

force

model is fundamentally applied in self-locking pre-stressed

anchor cable structure, which is easy for both producing and

engineering.

1.2 Self-locking theory of pre-stressed anchor cable

Figure 1 introduces the self-locking theory of pre-stressed

anchor cable. Compared with other anchor cable structures,

self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable has improvements in

the reaction structure by adding self-lockers. It takes

full Figure 1. The self-locking theory of pre-stressed
anchor cable. advantage of the solidity of the rock/soil
body of the free length and provide fixing force to the
pre-stressed anchor cable with the rock/soil body around
the length, which improves (of anchoring system) the stress
field distribution, reduce or eliminate fixing force of
reaction structure, and retrench slope reaction structures
whose concentrated force may weaken the fixing rock/soil
position. Therefore, it will decrease difficulties in
engineering, speed engineering process, save cost and be
friendly to environment. 2 DETAIL DESIGN OF SELF-LOCKING
PRESTRESSED ANCHOR CABLE STRUCTURE Self-locking
pre-stressed anchor cable structure includes: self-locker,
fixing end of anchor and reaction structure. This article
mainly describes how to design mechanical selflocker
structure with the consideration of the solidity of
rock/soil body. 2.1 Design of the self-locker structure of
self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable Figure 2 introduces
the mechanical self-locker structure of self-locking
pre-stressed anchor cable. Fixing end and reaction
structure are designed as other prescriptions. 2.2 Indoor
test The first test to ascertain the effect of self-locker:
(1) The diameter of the top taper hole shall be 29 mm, and
the clips of self-locker shall be OVM anchor clips.

Figure 2. Structure of self-locking pre-stressed anchor

cable.

(2) First extended the jack to a certain travel for ease

removal of anchor. Fixed the steel bearing plate, and added
tension with the jack directly. When the clips were just
parallel with steel bearing plates, stopped adding tension
as the reading of pressure gauge was 5 MP. After the
removal of the anchor, installed the steel reaction plate
behind the clips and added load to maximum of 5 MPa, then
the strand moved obviously, the travel of the jack was 102
mm versus the original 84 mm. So the tension of strand
through clips was just 5 MPa surely. Opened the steel
reaction plate, and it was found that strands were
seriously damaged.

(3) The second test at the same position. When the reading
of the pressure gauge was 4.4 MPa and clips began to sink
into holes, stopped adding tension. When adding reverse
tension, the reading of the gauge was wandering around 3
MPa and strands are extending. Opened the steel reaction
plate, and it was found that strand were damaged more
seriously and some steel powder appeared around clips.

(4) The third test. Added load to 5.8 MPa and stopped when
clips sunk 1 mm. Installed steel reaction plate and added
reverse tension to 2.8 MPa. Strands extended more and the
travel of the jack is 103.5 mm versus the original 92 mm.
When adding load to around 2 MPa, stands started sliding.
Opened the steel reaction plate, and it was found that more
steel powder around clips and obvious sliding traces.

Conclusions from tests:

(1) The taper hole of the steel bearing plate shall be

enlarged, and specific size need to be set.

(2) Repeated tension adding provides poor effect and

damages strands seriously, especially when the reaction
load is heavier, strands will be damaged more seriously.
Steel powder around clips will decrease. Therefore, times
of repeated tension adding shall be as less as possible.

(3) During adding tension repeatedly, self-locker works

well.

2.3 Decision of self-locker structure

Solution to improve the test on the foundation of the above

tests and analyses:

With positive tension, the anchor clips can self-lock only

when they contact with strands well, and strands will make
no

or little movement; with reverse tension, clips can contact

with

strands well only when they don’t move with strands. There
fore, to ensure less damage of strands with reverse tension
and

good effect of self-locking, it was decided to change the

end

structure of self-locker to add tension with screw rod

directly

and press clips into the taper hole with steel reaction
plate and

make it contact with strands well to realize self-locking.

Improve size of self-locker: enlarge the end diameter of the

taper hole of steel bearing plate to 30 mm so that the 1 mm

of each clip is exposed. Screw φ 10 mm rod down directly to

add pressure on the steel reaction plate to press clips

into the Figure 3. Self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable.
Figure 4. design of self-locker load testing. taper hole
and ensure that strands contact with clips well. In
positive locking test, strands may have self-lock in
self-locker and make no or little movement. In reverse
tension test, strands can move freely with little damage so
that little pre-stress is lost when tension adding
finished. 2.4 Type of self-locking pre-stressed anchor
cable structure Since concrete column is brittle and has
much different deformation with steel, joints between the
fixing length and the tension length of traditional tension
anchor are easy to crack or even break in complete rock
body, and further more, the concrete column of the fixing
length may be pulled into short sections along strands in
soft rock, kataclasite and earth body. No matter what
condition it is, key parts of anchor cable may be damaged
and out of use. Self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable
structure can overcome the above defects. Fig. 3 shows its
structure design. Self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable
distributes the internal anchor fixing length load onto
self-lockers as pressure of the free length concrete
column, cohesive force of the rock/soil surrounding the
tunnel and press of reaction structure. Since rock/soil
around the free length are pressed in the stress field, it
is good to stabilize the rock/soil body and to reinforce
it. Compared with traditional pre-stressed anchor cable,
selflocking pre-stressed anchor cable transforms the slope
stress concentration into pressure on the shallow stratum
of rock/ soil by self-lockers and take full advantage of
the solidity of slope rock/soil body to reduce or even
eliminate much protection works. 3 CAPABILITY OF
SELF-LOCKER IN SELFLOCKING PRESTRESSED ANCHOR CABLE To
verify the in situ effect of self-locker, set tests as
follows (Fig. 4). 3.1 Load-adding testing For easy
analysis, self-locker units of anchor cable in testing were
numbered from the bottom of the tunnel to the slope as

MS1, MS2 and MS3.To analyze impacts between neighboring

units when adding load, unit MS1 was the first to be added

load, when it was locked then unit MS2 was added load, and

the same to unit MS3 (that is to say, add load from the
bottom

of the tunnel to the slope).

Soil around the opening of the tunnel may sink obviously

under heavy load if the load-bearing ability of the base is

not

good in the testing area. To avoid such conditions, enlarge

the bearing area of the anchor cable pier according to the

anti

pressure strength of base rock/soil body. The testing was

made

on the surface of stone wall, which has good load-bearing

ability. Channel steel pier, with a round steel load-bearing

plate on it, was applied on the surface, which ensured the

tension added on dynamometer was uniform and disturbing

factors were eliminated mostly.

To test self-locking ability of anchor cable and changing of

stress, classify testing loads into grades of 100 KN, 150

KN,

200 KN, 250 KN and 300 KN, and add tension to the three
units of anchor cable (MS1, MS2 and MS3) grade by grade in

circles.

3.2 Testing and analysis of self-locking load of

self-lockers

Considering the friction between anchor cable strands and

the

grout cohesive in tunnel, there is formula related to added

load P u on self-locker, friction P 0 and tension P a of

the jack,

as follows:

3.2.1 Self-locking load and testing of self-locker

Add tension on each unit in situ and observe reading of

dynamometers behind those three self-locking unit with

changing of load on the self-lockers. According to formula

related to dynamometer and jack, the self-locking load P s

of

self-locker and the added load P u on self-locker P u can

be cal

culated. The calculation about the first tension on unit

MS1 is

as follow:

Self-locking load P s of self-locker is

when external load is 100 KN, the reading of jack is

added load on self-locker P u is

Other calculations can be repeated by using the same

formula.

3.2.2 Analysis of self-locking load of self-locker

Add and remove load on units MS1, MS2 and MS3 grade by

grade to get self-locking load on each self-locker and

impact

between those units. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show the results of

analysis.

Figures 5, 6 and 7 present features of self-locking load of

self-lockers of self-locking prestressed anchor cable as

follow:

(1) The maximum external load was 300 kN in the testing.

Considering impact of the friction between the strands
Figure 5. Relationship between added load and self-locking
load on unit MS2. Figure 6. Relationship between added load
and self-locking load on unit MS1. Figure 7. Relationship
between added load and self-locking load on unit MS3. and
the cohesive in the tunnel, each maximum effective load on
units MS1 and MS3 was 220 kN, and that on unit MS2 was 215
kN. (2) Self-locking effect of self-locker: the
self-locking efficiency (P s /P u ) of unit is 71.6% for
MS1, 74.7% for MS2 and 72.5% for MS3, all of which are more
than 70%. Considering impact of factors, such as the
friction between the strands of pre-stressed anchor cable
and the plastic tube and the cohesive between the nude
strands inside the selflockers and the grout, the effective
load on the self-lockers are slightly less, so the real
self-locking efficiency of selflockers is higher and the
self-locking effect is better, which realize the aim of
design. (3) Impact of adding tension grade by grade to
self-locker unit: compared with adding tension grade by
grade, adding all intended tension in one time has better
effect: tension added all in one time on MS1 is 6.5 kN more
that added grade by grade, and in the similar situation the
number is 8.5 kN for MS2 and 8.3 kN for MS3. Further
considering the damage to strands and steel powder around
clips caused by tension adding grade by grade,
all-in-one-time over-tension is strongly recommended in
engineering in situ. During removing load grade by grade,
self-locking load changes a little. When all load are
almost removed, self-locking load increases rapidly and the
maximum selflocking load changes a little. When load is
comparatively light, increased self-locking load of
self-lockers is light for the negative impact of friction
to pre-stress. It is recommended that add tension all in
one time to anchor self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable
quickly to enhance performance of self-lockers.

(4) Impact between load added on self-locking units: in the

testing, the load added on units MS2 and MS3 have little
impact to that on MS1; that on MS3 has little impact to
that on MS2.

4 CONCLUSION

(1) Self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable is designed

mainly

to solve the problem of tension concentration of slope: the

tension of traditional anchor cable concentrates on the reac

tion structure of slope, which increases slop protection

works

and time of engineering. Self-locking pre-stressed anchor

cable contributes tension concentration of anchor cable uni

formly on the shallow stratum of rock/soil body by the

self-locking effect of self-lockers and takes advantage of

solid

ity of rock/soil itself to anchor unstable rock/soil body,

which

reduces or even eliminates reaction structures of slope and

improves engineering efficiency.

(2) The key part of self-locking pre-stressed anchor cable

is

self-locker: self-locker can transform tension

concentration of

the anchorage load into pressure on grout, which is

transmitted

onto rock/soil body finally. For best utility of

self-lockers, self

locker effect testing is designed to ascertain diameter of

taper

hole of bearing plate and reaction load, which shall ensure

that strands contact with clips well and clips don’t move
when
forward fixed, loss of pre-stress is little after tension
adding,

and clips don’t damage strands when opposite tension added

ABSTRACT:Automated rock slope monitoring system has been

established and the characteristics of slope behavior is
analyzed

with consideration of field rock structure by virtue of

borehole information of joint orientations and positions
acquired from

Discontinuity Orientation Measurement (DOM) drilled core

log. Regarding the core axis as a scanline, structural
properties of

rock mass has been assessed. Anticipated failure modes of

rock slope and the regional instability is inspected by
tracking down

the hazardous joint planes the traces of which are

projected on the cut-face. Formation of potential wedge
blocks and their

stability are also analyzed. Cross section has been set to

include DOM borehole and traces of failure-inducing joint
planes.

These information of rock structure and the location of

risky joint planes is used, together with the monitoring
data acquired

from the inclinometer installed inside DOM borehole, to

illustrate the aspect of internal slope behavior and to
delineate the

detailed triggering mechanism of slope movement.

1 INTRODUCTION

Structural characteristics of rock mass for the

construction of

cut-slope has been generally investigated by performing win

dow or scanline survey on the exposed rock mass and/or by

implementing borehole image-taking instruments to acquire

the orientations of discontinuity planes (Haller & Porturas,

1998; William et al., 1997; Hornby et al., 1992). Recently,

Yoon et al.(2003) and Cho et al.(2004) developed DOM (Dis

continuity Orientation Measurement) drilling system which

can determine the relative positions and orientations of dis

continuity planes intersecting the drilled core log.

Combined

information of both orientation and position of each

disconti

nuity constitutes the plane equation in three dimensional

space

and the joint trace map can be constructed by numerically

projecting discontinuity planes on the anticipated cut-face

of

rock slope.

To elucidate the applicability of DOM borehole informa

tion for rock slope monitoring potential modes of failure

and

the anticipated slope behaviour have been investigated.

Joint

planes which may cause plane or toppling failure are

inspected

and their traces on the cut-face are envisioned by manipulat

ing the plane equations of both relevant joints and

cut-face.

Formation of potential blocks on the cut-face is also

analyzed.

Directions of joint intersection lines are calculated and

their

sliding potentiality with respect to the orientation of

cut-face

and the internal friction angle of joint plane is examined.

By tracking down the joint planes which mutually intersect
the block base-forming joint planes on the slope surface,
three dimensional geometry of individual block has been
precisely defined. This process is repeated to detect every
possible potential block and the posture of block
formations inside the slope model is depicted. Inclinometer
has been installed inside DOM drilled borehole and slope
behaviour has been monitored. To illustrate the
significance of internal structure on the behaviour of rock
slope cross section, the direction of which is normal to
the slope face, has been set and the posture of sliding
joints and the extent of tetrahedral blocks on the section
are algebraically calculated. Information of rock structure
has been efficiently used for more realistic interpretation
of monitoring data. 2 ROCK STRUCTURE AND SLOPE STABILITY
Rock mass structure and stability of cut-slope excavated at
the highway construction site in Korea have been analyzed
based on the borehole information of orientations and
positions of discontinuity planes acquired from DOM drilled
core log. Figure 1 illustrates the layout of cut-face and
the location of DOM boreholes. Dip direction and dip of the
cut-face are 172 ◦ and 55 ◦ , respectively. Reddish shale
is the dominant rock type for the entire slope. Dip
direction of bedding plane is very similar to that of
cut-face and the angle of dip is 15 ◦ .

Figure 1. Layout of cut-slope: (a) Prospective joint traces;

(b) Installation of cable anchor.

Systematic cable anchors have been installed on the failure

prone region (Fig. 1b).

Orientation and position of each discontinuity plane are cal

culated by measuring the local coordinates of P DOM , P 1

and

P 2 , as shown in Figure 2. By utilizing the coordinate

transfor

mation tensor (T) the global coordinates of these three

points

are calculated as below. For the trend(α) and plunge(β) of

DOM drilling axis

where,

Using the global coordinates of three index points two direc

tion vectors can be defined on the discontinuity plane and

its

orientation is readily determined by calculating the cross

prod

uct of direction vectors. In this way orientation

coefficients a,

b and c for the constitutive plane equation are determined

and

then, the position constant d has been computed as follows.

Distribution of discontinuity planes along the axis of bore

hole BH-1 is shown in Figure 3. Regarding the core axis as

a scanline RQD of 77.5% and total spacing of 0.47m(±0.37)

have been obtained for the entire boring span. Contour dia

gram of pole distribution is also drawn and formation of

joint

sets and their representative orientations have been

calculated

by employing the clustering algorithm (Mahtab and Yegulalp,

1982). As can be seen in Figure 3 one single joint set has

been delineated by applying the cone angle of 15 ◦ . Repre

sentative joint set orientation is 171/08 with Fisher

constant Figure 2. Schematic diagram of intersected
discontinuity plane in DOM drilled core. Figure 3.
Characterization of rock mass structure in the borehole
BH-1. Figure 4. Stereograph of discontinuity plane. of 48.7
(Fisher, 1953). Similar results of rock mass structure have
been acquired for boreholes BH-2 and BH-3. Discontinuity
planes detected in DOM boreholes BH-1, BH-2 and BH-3 are
algebraically projected on the cut-face (Fig. 1a) and
stereograph of pole distribution with the plane and
toppling failure criteria for the internal friction angle
of 10 ◦ is drawn in Figure 4. Discontinuities which can
induce either plane or toppling failure are judged and
their extent on the slope surface are envisioned by
handling the plane equations of relevant discontinuity
planes (Fig. 5).

Figure 5. Results of slope stability analysis: (a) plane

sliding;

(b) toppling failure; (c) wedge failure.

Formation of tetrahedral blocks which can cause wedge

failure is also investigated by analyzing the directions of

dis

continuity intersection lines and their sliding

potentiality with

respect to the posture of cut-face. By tracking down the

discon

tinuity planes which mutually intersect the block

base-forming

joint planes on the slope surface three dimensional geometry

of individual block has been defined. Blocks, which pos

sess the edge length smaller than 5 m so that actual failure

risk is very high, is identified and the distribution of

these

blocks is depicted in Figure 5. These results of preliminary

analysis for the slope stability dictate that the governing

mech

anism of slope behavior is to be the sliding of bedding

planes,

rather than toppling. This intuition is justified strongly

by the

fact that formation of wedge blocks is closely linked to the

sliding-induced discontinuity planes.

3 SLOPE MONITORING

Automated monitoring system has been established and the

monitored data obtained for the period of first 208 days is

analyzed to figure out the characteristics of slope behavior

and the triggering mechanism. Inclinometer has been

installed

inside DOM borehole BH-3 (see Figure 1a). To verify the

significance of rock structure on the slope movement, cross

section the direction of which is normal to the cut-face has

been set to include borehole BH-3 and the traces of inter

sected tetrahedral wedges and plane sliding discontinuities

together with the installed inclinometer are drawn in

Figure 6.

Traces of two sliding discontinuity planes intersect the

axis

of borehole BH-3 at the depth of 2 m. Six sliding discontinu

ities are distributed in the depth range between 6 m and 8

m,

but two of these planes possessing the relatively higher dip

angles are not daylighted to the cut-face. Most of

tetrahedral Figure 6. Sliding discontinuities and blocks on
the cross section containing inclinometer. Figure 7.
Variation of lateral displacement at borehole BH-3. blocks
are formed in the upper region and structurally undisturbed
zone can be identified at the borehole depth between 4 m
and 6 m. This feature of discontinuity and block
distribution significantly affect the slope behavior in the
earlier time. Lateral displacement of slope measured by the
inclinometer the probes of which are equipped at every 2 m
interval along the borehole axis is drawn in Figure 7. For
the first 66 days lateral displacements at the borehole
depth of 2–4m, 6–8 m and 8–10 m are quite prominent, but
lateral displacement at the depth of 4–6 m is obscured. To
illustrate the significance of rock structure on the slope
behavior cumulative lateral displacement for the monitoring
periods of 186 days and regional RQDs assessed along the
borehole axis with span of approximately 2 m are drawn in
Figure 8. RQD for each depth range varies from 51% to 87%,
but for the depth of 2–4 m RQD is 100%. At this depth
lateral displacement reveals three month of resting stage
after the monitoring date of 125 day. In contrast the
continuous increase of lateral displacements is detected in
the upper and lower regions of monitoring range. Abrupt
lateral displacement at

Figure 8. Regional RQD and the cumulative lateral

displacement

at the monitoring date of 186.

2–4 m depth after the three month-dormant period is thought

to be mainly from the pseudo-stick slip phenomena of two

major sliding planes and this significantly affects the

pattern

of entire slope movement.

4 CONCLUSION

Borehole information of the spatial distribution of discon

tinuity planes obtained from DOM drilled core log has been

successfully applied to the analyses of rock mass structure

and

the stability of rock slope. Projected posture of sliding

planes

ABSTRACT: The paper covers the problems of long-term

stability of slopes of clay (rocks containing clay
interlayers) on the

example of arguments for safe operation of the slope at the

site with responsible structures of Odessa Port Plant.
Characteristics

of present situation, prediction of slope deformation and

recommendations on providing its safe operation were given.

1 INTRODUCTION

This paper considers problems of ensuring long-term

stability

of argillaceous soil slopes (rock slopes containing clay

inter

layers) with rheological properties. This analysis continues

the analysis given in paper [Freiberg, Bellendir, 1999].

Long

term stability of argillaceous soil slopes depends very much

on reliable prediction of expected speed and absolute values

of landslip sliding.

The study of slope long-term stability process is of special

importance at ensuring safety and environmental protection

in

the presence of responsible buildings on landslideable

areas.

As the example we can take examined in this report condi

tions of ensuring slope safe operation at the warehouse area

of Odessa Port Plant (Ukraine) with large-capacity storages

of

liquid ammonia and orthophosphoric acid, loading terminals,

chemical production buildings etc., and adjoining the lower

part of the slope deep-sea terminals.

The paper formulates the main conclusions on the pre

diction of massif deformations and recommendations that

must ensure safe operation of the slope at warehouse zone

of the plant and, in authors’ opinion, that are new look for

improvement of slope functional performance.

2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CREEPING

PART OF THE SLOPE

The analyzed part of the slope is situated on the seaside

of Adzhalykskiy bay of the Black sea close to Odessa city

and consist of heterogeneous, rather strong grounds (Meotian

clays with a touch of sand and limestone stratified by loess

loams of quaternary sediments with a thickness of up to 17 m

and by Pontic limestones with a thickness of up to 7–9),

fig. 1.

Static shearing strength (conditionally-instantaneous) of

Meotian clays which determine the stability of the massif

is tg

ϕ 0.1 = 0.31–0.34 (ϕ= 17 ◦ −19 ◦ ) and c 0.1 = (0.04–0.05)

MPa. Figure 1. Cross-section of the slope at the warehouse
area of OPZ: 1. Clay loam and red clay; 2. Limestone and
shelly ground; 3. Meotian clay; 4. Sand clay with clay and
lam interlayers; 5. Ammonia tanks; 6. SPA tanks; 7. Pile
coast-protection; 8. Terminals. The values of critically
long parameters of shearing strength of these sorts of
soils are determined by the values of tgϕ ∞.1 = 0.18–0.23
(ϕ= 10 ◦ –13 ◦ ) and c ∞.1 = (0.024– 0.030) Mpa. During the
plant construction (about 30 years ago) the slope was
flattened and after man-caused reclamation the slope total
angle was 10 ◦ –11 ◦ . Moreover, during the construction of
deep-sea terminals for large-capacity vessels the dredging
was performed at the bottom of the slope that increased
maximum bay depth from “minus” 2–4 m up to “minus” 14–18 m
(zero point is the water level in the bay). After planning
the lower part of the slope was reinforced with several
rows of 25–27 m reinforced concrete piles (pile section is
0.25 m2). In addition, the underwater part of the slope is
reinforced with large rock blocks to prevent the washing
out. After all works the height of the slope together with
the underwater part became about 50 m with 2 berms on the
level +9.m and +30 ÷ 35 m. According to geophysical
observation that have been carried out since 1981 the part
of the slope with length of ∼1,5 km (the volume of sliding
ground is about 3.5–4.0 mln. m3) slides rather evenly
towards the bay with average annual speed of 3–6 mm that
practically corresponds to established soil creep. In some
periods on some parts the increase of slide speed up to
13–15 mm/year was observed. For the period of 1981–2005
total maximum slides made up 100–130 mm.
It is determined that the main reasons of sliding for the

given part of slope are:

• moving of ground massif towards Adzhalykskiy bay

seashore due to sea erosion;

• the presence of Meotian clay in the base of the slope that

have a tendency to slide especially during watering;

• slope base undercutting/excavation as the result of the

con

struction of deep-water berths and recurrent clearing of the

fairway;

• moving of ground massif in the bottom part of the

slope while planning (removal of ground massif during

flattening);

• the impact of cyclical man-caused loads.

3 IN-SITU OBSERVATION OF LANDSLIP

SLOPE DEFORMATION

For the period of 1995–2005 a big complex of long-term

in-situ observations of soil massif deformations (horizon

tal and vertical) was accomplished, there were carried out

laboratory (express methods of long-term strength and defor

mation tests, soil samples, geomechanical slope modeling)

and calculation-theoretical researches to evaluate present

conditions of landslip massif and prediction slope

stability.

Surface observations of the displacement and settlement

over the slope surface have been carried out since 1981
accord

ing to a rather complicated scheme of landmarks in two

longitudinal that was rather ineffective for evaluation of

slope

deformation and stability.

To have geodetic surface observations of the slope deforma

tions based on more effective scheme observing stability and

the slope surface, 5 profiles were constructed during 1995–

2000 across the slope, dip-oriented (towards the bay) and

in the

cross-section of terminals N 1, 2, 3 and 4 (fig. 2). The

upper

portions of the profiles are lying in stable non-deformable

zones of the plant site. The results of geodetic observa

tions of the slope deformations during 1995–2005 made

by Chernomorniiproect are presented as sliding-deformation

speed diagrams (fig. 3). The deformation values were taken

from upper slope marks for the most characteristic profiles

I

(first terminals cross-section) and III (cross-section of

third

terminals and ammonia and superphosphoric acid tanks).

The diagrams shows that these parts of the slope slide prac

tically correspond to steady deformation speed (creep rate)

of

average annual 5–7 mm.

Figure 2. The plan of geodetic observed profiles and holes

for mea

surement of in-depth deformations of the slope soils:

① – Deep-sea terminals; I-V – Geodetic profiles; 1 –
Observe holes. Since 2000 Vedeneev VNIIG has been carried
out in-depth observations of the slope deformations. The
observations are carried out from four 42–43 m deep holes
drilled from +9.0 m berm located at observation posts I,
III and V (fig. 2). The holes are equipped with
polyethelene pipe casing with outer diameter 160 mm and
with 9 mm thick walls. The in-depth soil deformations were
registered by underground projection meter �M-100 from the
results of profile survey of longitudinal axes of the
observation holes. The measurement data make it possible to
assess the thickness of sliding mass, its shear surface
(zone) and the intensity of deformations along the mass
depth. �M-100 projection meter is a mine-surveying device
(fig. 4) determining horizontal projection of verticality
deviation of the flexible rope fixed between initial and
sought points [Freiberg, Golitsyn 2001; Golitsyn, Freiberg,
2002]. The backbone of projection meter operation at
measurement of curvature or axial pitch of observation well
lies in determination of relative position of two points
lying at well longitudinal axis. One of the points lies on
the axes cross on the surface and the other (sought) is at
the center of centering weight. During measurements (fig.
4) micrometer sensor (vertical sensor) (3) together with
rope is turned. Owing to Figure 3. Diagram of the
deformation in progress. Figure 4. Projection meter scheme:
1. Winch with a cable; 2. Depth sensor; 3. Sensor for the
inclination determination; 4. Tripod; 5. Central weight; 6.
Casing pipe. 7. Revolving devise.

this neither method nor place of fixing vertical sensor on

the

rope influence the measurement accuracy.

The following can be taken as a basis for the measurement

of well axis curvature: well head, which compilation

position

in space is recorded by surveying instruments; or well

bottom

if it lies out of zone impacted by soil mixing processes.

The depth range of the projection meter is from 1 to 100 m.

The measurement error of coordinate increment of planned

drift of �M-100 projection meter is ±0.0001 H (where H is

measurement depth), the limit of admissible error for depth

measurements is ±0.0003 Hmm.

The maximum permissible vertical offset of observation

well bore is 0.5–1.0 degrees (30 ′ –60 ′ ).

The observation wells should have plastic casing pipes in

soft soils, and metal or no casing on rocks. The recommen

ded inner diameter of casing pipes in observation well is

100–200 mm.

The casing pipes hole annuity tamping in observation well

must be done very carefully.

Observations of the depth deformations of the slope cased

with polyethylene pipes carried out through 2000–2003

showed stable massif deformation in wells No 1, 2 and 3 (at

observation posts I and III) in the direction of the bay

(axis X)

and the sea (axisY) up to the depth of 18–22 m. The drift

takes

place at meotic clays with sand or loamy sans bands that is

the

border of shear deformation of the slope with 18–22 v thick

ness. The massif drift speed on these parts is 6–10 mm/year.

Figure 5. Diagram of deforation in hole No. 1 along in the

axes X

and Y. The observation posts IV and V and well No 4 shows

far less values of deformation (2–8 mm/year). The Fig. 5
shows the results of two-years observations of in-depth
slope deformations in the well No 1 (PE casing pipe, well
depth 42 m), axis X and Y. The kink of well longitudinal
axis characterizes the border of in-depth shear
deformations of the slope with sliding triangle thickness
of 20–22 m. 4 DETERMINATION OF CRITICAL CREEP RATE OF SLOPE
SOIL MASS For the assessment of long-term stability of soil
mass in creeping conditions it is very important to
determine critical creeping rates, i.e. such deformation
rate at which deformations can enter the phase of
progressive displacement. Such conditions could be the
buildup of man-caused load on the slope, increase of soil
dampness etc. Knowing critical creep rate value one can
match it with insitu measured deformation rate and evaluate
the possibility of its entering the phase of progressive
creeping. For these tasks we used the results of
geomechanical modeling of slope mass deformation process
and results of the tests Meotic clay samples (that
determine slope stability) taken by authors of this paper
on planar circular cut machine. The modeling was carried
out on the model made of equivalent materials. Basis soil
mass involved in the landslide movements, is in the
equilibrium condition and has neglible deformation rate,
whereas that of the landslide accumulation mass within the
slop is substantially higher. Therefore the main points of
the kinematic analysis for the slope stability prognosis
can be formulated as follows: – determination of the
deformation rate limits according to the geodesic landslide
observations within the bound of the section studied. –
comparison of the deformation rate of the basic soil mass
with that of the landslide accumulation mass in time.
Analysis of the geodesic observation of the landslide
process on the Odessa coast has been taken place since
1933, i.e. for more than 70 years. It showed that vertide
landslide soil mass displacements has changed in a wide
range from 20 to 192 mm per year (Lermontov sanatorium
slope). If slopes have verticle displacements less then
20–30 mm per year, they are practically in stability
conditions. As a whole the verticle displacement rate of
the Odessa slopes change in a wide range: from 5 to 2970 mm
per year. On the whole area initiations of landslides and
their development can be observed. 5 CONCLUSION 1. The
results of long-term surface and in-depth observations
(1981–2005) of the slope massif attest that the slope
practically with steady state creep rate rather gradually
slides (3–6 mm/year) mostly towards the bay. During last
3–5 years at some time periods and in some slope portions
the displacement rate increased to 8–10 mm/year but in
general no markedly increased displacement rate was
observed. 2. Geomechanical tests on the slope model from
equivalent materials and meotic clays tests on circular cut
unit showed that critical creep rate values (preceding the
start of acceleration of slope triangle mass creeping) are
60–90 mm/year (in recalculations for full-size). These
values considerably

exceed actual slope displacement rate and attest slope safe

conditions in view of instability and degradation of the

slope.

3. If the present conditions of slope stability are not

changed

and there is no further man-caused impact on the slope

that negatively affect its stability then the behavior of

slope

deformation and slope displacement will be within the next

few years the same.

4. The analysis of deformed conditions of the slope indicate

that the main hazardous facilities of storage and terminal

part of the plant (ammonia and superphosphoric acid tanks,

berths, etc.) are situated outside the zone of the most

inten

sive relative deformation and safe operation of the slope in

the next 10–15 years is undoubted. For other constructions

situated on deforming parts of the slope the creep rate at

the bottom of the slope is 3–10 mm/year that is also safe.

Some danger can represent accumulation of deformations

with formation of fracturing zone on slope surface if some

construction or part of construction is built on such zone.

5. The main antisliding measure improving the stability of

the

whole slope is stabilization and preservation of underwater

part of the slope by means of its additional reinforcement

(e.g. additional strengthening by large rocks), as well as

ABSTRACT: In this research, bearing capacity of rock

foundations of Roodbar Lorestan dam was investigated using
analytical

and numerical methods. The finite element program “ABAQUS”

was used for numerical analysis. A three dimensional finite

element model was constructed for analysis which includes

rock foundation, dam abutments and dam body. The model was

analyzed for two cases. In the first case, analysis

performed using the geotechnical parameters of rock mass
and with the

assumption of an elastoplastic behavior for the rock mass.

In the second case, two sets of planes of weakness were
modeled

in rock mass foundation and abutments. Analysis performed

using the geotechnical parameters of intact rock. This
analysis

reveals that there is not a great difference among the

results obtained using the two cases. Therefore, stresses
were determined

for the first case and according to that, compression and

tension safety factors and allowable bearing capacity of
the rock mass

foundation and abutments were obtained.

1 INTRODUCTION

Intact rocks are strong in comparison to soils. However,

rock

masses are often defective because of discontinuities and

structural features existing in the masses. Therefore, large

loads such as the load of a concrete dam can impose large

deformations and high stresses approaching to the bearing

capacity of rock masses. For this reason, evaluation of

bearing
capacity of rock foundations is of paramount importance. In

this research, allowable bearing capacity of rock

foundations

and abutments of Roodbar Lorestan dam was investigated

using analytical and numerical methods and finally, the

results

obtained from these methods compared to each other.

2 DETERMINATION OF GEOTECHNICAL

PARAMETERS

Roodbar Lorestan dam will be constructed in Zagros moun

tain chain in the west of Iran. The dam body type is roller

compacted concrete (RCC) and its height is 158 m. Accord

ing to the cores obtained from different boreholes in the

dam

site, the rock mass of the site consists of Dolomite and

Lime

stone. Also major and minor joint sets and bedding planes

exist in the rock mass. These discontinuities were divided

into

two sets according to their dip, dip direction and

infillings as

shown in Table 1.

The rock quality designation (RQD) was determined for

right abutment and foundation equal to 64 and for left

abutment equal to 70.

Geotechnical parameters of intact rock, rock mass and joint

sets are shown in Tables 2, 3 and 4.

3 EVALUATION OF BEARING CAPACITY USING

ANALYTICAL METHODS

On the basis of parameters presented in section 2, and using

different analytical and experimental methods, bearing capac

ity of rock foundation and abutments obtained as shown in

Tables 5 and 6. Table 1. Dip and Dip direction of

discontinuities. Dip Dip direction Joint set degree degree
J 1 80 265 J 2 88 217 Table 2. Geotechnical parameters of
intact rocks. γ σ c E (kg/m 3 ) (MPa) (GPa) ν Right
abutment 2710 60 12 0.24 Left abutment 2710 64 13 0.23
Foundation 2710 55 11 0.25 Table 3. Geotechnical parameters
for rock masses. φ c E m (degree) (MPa) (GPa) Right
abutment 27–31 2.6–3.2 8 Left abutment 25–31 2.5–3.4 9
Foundation 25–31 2.2–2.9 7 Table 4. Geotechnical parameters
for joint sets. φ c (degree) (degree) (MPa) Both abutments
and foundation 32 8 0.23 4 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL FOR DAM AND
ROCK FOUNDATION The finite element program “ABAQUS” was
used for numerical analysis of rock foundation and
abutments of the dam. In this program, joint sets are
modeled as planes of weakness

Table 5. Ultimate bearing capacity obtained by different

methods. Right Left abutment abutment Foundation (MPa)
(MPa) (MPa)

CGS (1985) ∗ 86 92 81

Bowels, J. E. (1996) 73 85 62

Ramamurthy, T. (1995) 101 108 93

Serrano & Olalla (1998) 104 102 88

Yang & Yin (2005) 96 95 82

∗ Canadian Geotechnical Society.

Table 6. Allowable bearing capacity obtained by different

methods. Right Left abutment abutment Foundation (MPa)

(MPa) (MPa)

Rochester, New York 4.8 4.8 4.8

(Wylie, D. C. 1992)

Serrano & Olalla (1996) 3.4 3.4 3.2

Figure 1. Finite element of Roodbar Lorestan dam and rock
mass.

that their spacing is sufficiently close compared to charac

teristic dimensions in the domain of the model such that the

planes can be smeared into a continuum of slip systems. The

3D model contains 73 elements of dam body and 2971 ele

ments of rock mass in which elements are 10-node quadratic

tetrahedron, 15node quadratic triangular prism and 20-node

quadratic brick. The distance of the boundaries from the dam

body is approximately 300 meters in all directions. (Fig. 1)

Initial stresses were applied to the model by considering

gravity loads related to the rock elements. Lateral stresses

were also applied proportional to the poisson ratio.

Water load was applied to the upstream face of dam body.

Also, dam body was analyzed for two different cases. In the

first case, the body was modeled in one step and in the
second

case, for evaluation of the effects of dam construction

steps,

the body was modeled in four steps.

5 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF ROCK FOUNDATION

AND ABUTMENTS

5.1 Effect of dam construction steps

As mentioned, in order to evaluate the effects of dam

construc

tion steps on stresses induced in the rock mass, dam body

was Figure 2. Contours of principal stresses without
modeling joint sets. Figure 3. Contours of principal
stresses with modeling of joint sets. modeled for two
cases. In the first case, the body was analyzed in one step
and in the second case, the body was analyzed in four steps
with heights of 50, 50, 38 and 20 meters respectively.
Regardless of the weight of rock mass, analysis was
performed using Mohr Coulomb failure criterion. Comparison
of the results showed that compressive stresses in the
abutments have reduced significantly for the case of
multisteps construction and most of stresses are applied to
the rock foundation, as is expected in gravity dams. 5.2
Effects of joint sets In order to investigate the effects
of the joint sets on the rock mass behavior, analysis was
performed for two cases. In the first case, without
considering the joint sets, rock mass parameters obtained
using modified Hoek Brown failure criterion (2002) and
analysis was carried out using Mohr Coulomb failure
criterion. In the second case, two joint sets, as mentioned
in section 2, were modeled and the intact rock parameters
were used in the analysis. In both cases, the weight of
rock and the steps of construction of dam body were
considered. In Figures below, compressive stresses have
negative values and tensile stresses have positive values
(in MPa). Comparing Figures 2 and 3 shows that in the
second case tensile stresses in abutments would increase a
little bit. Comparing Figures 4 and 5 shows that in the
second case compressive stresses would increase a little
bit. According to the results obtained, modeling of joint
sets in this investigation does not have significant effect
on stresses. 6 CALCULATION OF SAFETY FACTORS AND ALLOWABLE
BEARING CAPACITY Safety factors are defined for two cases,
compression and tension for rock mass elements. Hoek-Brown
failure criterion

Figure 4. Contours of principal stresses without modeling

joint sets.

Figure 5. Contours of principal stresses with modeling

joint sets.

(2002) was used for determining safety factors. The Hoek

Brown criterion (2002) is expressed as:

The left side of equation 1 is known as destructive term and

the right side is known as resistance term. Safety factor is

calculated:

The procedure for determining safety factors is shown as in

Figure 6.

Compression and tension safety factors were determined in

rock foundation and abutments as shown in Figures 7 and 8.

In these Figures, critical slices which have safety factor

below

one are hatched. Also sections with no values of safety

factor

are safe.

For determining allowable bearing capacity of rock founda

tion and abutments, it is necessary to compute the

compression

safety factor for each them. Consequently, the volumetric

safety factor in each sector was computed using equation 3.

Where F.S C,sector = volumetric compression safety factor

for

each sector; F.S C,e = compression safety factor for each

ele

ment; V e = volume of each element; and �V e = sum of the

element volumes in each sector.

Compression safety factor for each sector is shown in

Figure 9. Figure 6. Procedure for determining safety

factors. 6.5-8.53.2-4.5 0.7-2.2 3.8-5.13-4.3 0.6-2 0.1-2
0.4-1.4 0.3-1.1 0.3-1 2.3-3.22.8-4 2-2.81.4-2.1
2-2.71.4-2.1 1.9-2.51.6-2.2 1.6-2.21.8-2.4 1.4-21.2-2.1
1-1.3 1-1.3 1.5-3.9 2.2-5.9 1.4-2.8 2.6-5.68.7-14.3 3.8-6.9
2.4-5.2 3-5.5 2-3.6 2.2-3.6 2-3.2 8.9-13.8 3.5-5.9 3.6-5.9
2.6-4.4 2.3-3.8 2.3-3.7 2.3-3.6 2-3 2 . 1 3 . 2 1.9-2.8
1.6-2.4 2 . 2 3 . 2 2 . 2 3 . 2 1 . 9 2 . 9 1 . 9 2 . 9 2 .
1 3 . 2 2 . 3 3 . 6 1.8-2.71.9-2.8 2 . 3 3 . 6
2.6-3.92.3-3.5 2.2-3.4 2-3.1 2 3 . 1 1.9-3 1.8-2.7 3 . 3 5
. 7 2 . 4 4 . 2 1 . 9 3 2.1-3.2 Figure 7. Compression
safety factors in different elements. 1.3-3 1.3-3 1.3-3
1-2.3 1.3-3 1.3-3 0.1-0.5 0.2-0.6 0.2-0.8 0.2-0.8 0.5-1.6
Figure 8. Tension safety factors in different elements.
Using the following equation, compression safety factor for
foundation and each of the abutments was determined as in
Table 7. 2 . 6 4 . 3 2 . 4 4 . 4 1 . 6 3 . 6 2 . 7 3 . 6 2
2 . 9 0 . 5 1 . 5 2.9-5 2-3.1 1.9-2.9 2.1-3.2 2-3.1

Figure 9. Compression safety factors in different sectors.

Table 7. Compression safety factor for the rock mass in dam
site. Minimum Maximum Right abutment 2.1 3 Left abutment
2.3 4.1 Foundation 2 3.1

Table 8. Allowable bearing capacity for rock mass obtained

by

numerical method. Allowable σ ′ cm Compression bearing

capacity (MPa) safety factor (MPa)

Right abutment 8.5–11.2 2.1–3 3.7–4

Left abutment 7.9–11.9 2.3–4.1 2.9–3.5

Foundation 6.8–10.2 2–3.1 3.3–3.4

Where F.S C = volumetric compression safety factor for foun

dation and each abutment; V sector = volume of each sector;

and �V sector = sum of sector volumes in foundation or in

each

abutment.

For determining allowable bearing capacity, rock mass

strength was computed using equation 5 [Hoek-Brown

(2002)]. Then, this value was divided by the compression

ABSTRACT: Deformation modulus both in adit and in borehole

is correlated to SR-Value in two dam sites in Hokkaido,
North

Japan. The geology of one is andesite and peperite, and

that of another is slate. MRCI and SR-Value are compared
with rock

class in two dam sites, and rock classes in both sites are
confirmed to be well evaluated by the same boundary
criteria of the

two indices. Deformation modulus in adit obtained by Plate

loading test is correlated to SR-Value obtained by CSR
Hammer.

The correlation equation is D PLT = 31 · R 1.7 CSR and Cc

is 0.73. Deformation modulus in boreholes obtained by
borehole lateral

load test is also correlated to SR-Value obtained by

Borehole Hammer. The correlation equation is D LLT = 0.29 ·
R 3.4 BHH and Cc

is 0.69. By these correlations, deformation modulus both in

borehole and in adit is briefly and systematically
correlated and

evaluated. Finally, we can estimate deformation modulus in

all of basement rock in dam site through comparison with
rock class.

1 INTRODUCTION

Deformation modulus of rock mass is one of the most impor

tant factors for dam design and construction. In Japan,

they are

ordinary determined by result of Plate Loading Test (abbre

viated PLT below) in lateral adits after many geological

examination and evaluation of rock, and are expanded to

whole

basement rock of dam site by correlating with rock classes.

In this procedure, however, many adits must be excavated and

many tests are required to be performed to evaluate deforma

tion modulus, and it costs high. On the other hand, many

data of

deformation modulus obtained by Borehole Lateral Load Test

(abbreviated LLT below) in boreholes are only used for grasp

ing its outline and not effectively used for detailed

design and

construction of dam. Furthermore, result of rock classifica

tion includes ambiguity because it is determined by
subjective

factors such as feeling of hitting repulsion of rock mass

with

geological hammer or observation by geologists who have

different experiences. Consequently, evaluation of deforma

tion modulus in dam sites is performed rather expensively,

inefficiently and includes ambiguity.

The most important factors for rock evaluation are crack

frequency and strength of rock itself. The basic concept of

rock classification by both factors is first presented by

Müller,

1963. Then, many classification methods under the concept

are proposed. They evaluate rock by the combination of crack

frequency and rock strength (For example, Müller & Hof

mann, 1970, Japanese Geotechnical Society, 2004). Ito et al.

(2006) also proposed the new rock classification method

under

the concept. They use Modified Rock Classification Index

(abbreviated to MRCI below) and Shock Response Value

(abbreviated SR-Value below) as an index of crack frequency

and rock strength, respectively. To construct brief,

objective and systematic method to determine deformation
modulus of dam foundation, the usefulness of SR-Value as an
index of deformation modulus is examined in two dam sites
in Hokkaido, North Japan. This paper intends to report the
newly developed method, which can evaluate deformation
modulus both in adit and in borehole briefly, objectively
and systematically. 2 ROCK CLASSIFICATION WITH MRCI AND
SR-VALUE 2.1 Definition of MRCI and SR-Value MRCI is
defined by Ito et al. (2006) as follows. Where S(4) is the
summed length of boring core from the most to 4th longest
in a unit length of boring core (ordinary 100 cm in Japan),
C is the ratio of the portion in which the core keep column
form without broken to pieces nor fragments in the above
unit length. SR-Value is a tone index obtained by hitting
rock surface with an Electromagnetic Hammer. It is shown by
following equation. Where Pmax is maximum acceleration, W
is pulse width and Vo is initial velocity. Site 1 Site 2
North Japan Tokyo Sappor

Figure 1. Study area. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 10 20 30 40 50

60 70 80 An - D An - CL An - CM An - CH PP - D PP - CL PP -
CM PP - CH 7 35 15 20 S-RValue (m/s 2 ) CH Class CL Class
CM Class M R C I ( c m )

Figure 2. Result in adit (Site 1).

2.2 Methods

First, MRCI and SR-Value is measured in adits and in bore

holes of two dam sites. Site 1 is in Shimokawa Town in North

Hokkaido, and Site 2 is in ShintokuTown in Central Hokkaido,

North Japan (Figure 1). Rock class is determined by ordi

nary method in Japan proposed by Kikuchi et al. (1975) and

compared with MRCI and SR-Value.

2.3 Results

2.3.1 Site 1

The geology of site 1 is Neogene andesite and peperite.

Corre

lation between Rock Class, MRCI and SR-Value is reported by

Ito et al. (2006). The result in adits and in boreholes is

shown

in Figures 2 and 3, respectively. The boundary between CH

Class and CM Class is confirmed to be common in borehole

and in adit. When SR-value of rock is more than 35 m/s 2 and

MRCI of that is more than 15 cm, the rock is estimated as CH

Class. When SR-value of rock is less than 20 m/s 2 or MRCI
of

that is less than 7 cm, the rock is estimated as CL Class.

Rock

is estimated as CM Class when SR-value is between 20 and

35 m/s 2 with MRCI is more than 7 cm, or MRCI is between

7 and 15 cm with SR-value is more than 20 m/s 2 .

2.3.2 Site 2

The geology of site 2 is slate in accretionary complex. Rock

Class is compared with MRCI and SR-Value in site 2. Rock

Class is clearly separated each other by the two indices.

The

boundary lines between CH Class and CM Class, CM Class 15

SR-Value (m/s 2 ) CH Class CM Class M R C I ( c m ) 35
Figure 3. Result in borehole (Site 1). 20 35 15 7 CM Class
CH Class CL Class M R C I ( c m ) SR-Value (m/s 2 )
Figure 4. Result in adit (Site 2). 15 7 CH Class CM Class
CL Class M R C I ( c m ) SR-Value(m/s 2 ) 3520 Figure 5.
Result in borehole (Site 2). and CL Class are also
confirmed to be common in borehole and in adit. 2.3.3
Summary MRCI and SR-Value is measured in adits and in
boreholes in two dam sites. Each boundary of rock class in
Site 1 is also the same as that in Site 2. It does not
depend on rock types. The boundary of each rock class is as
follows. (1) CH Class: SR-value is more than 35 m/s 2 and
MRCI is more than 15 cm, Correlation (2) SR-Value by
CSR Hammer SR-Value by Borehole Hammer Deformation
modulus By PLT Deformation modulus By LLT Correlation
(1) Correlation (3) Correlation (4)

Figure 6. Concept of evaluation method of deformation

modulus

both in adits and in boreholes with SR-Value.

(2) CM Class: SR-value is between 20 and 35 m/s 2 with MRCI

is more than 7 cm, or MRCI is between 7 and 15 cm with
SR-value is more than 20 m/s 2 .

(3) CL Class: SR-value is less than 20 m/s 2 or MRCI is

less than 7 cm.
Rock Class is confirmed to be easily and systematically

evaluated by MRCI and SR-Value both in borehole and in adit.

3 EVALUATION OF DEFORMATION MODULUS BY

SR-VALUE

3.1 Concept

The concept of evaluation method of deformation modu

lus both in adit and in borehole with SR-Value is shown in

figure 6. In adit, we can measure deformation modulus by

PLT and SR-Value by Concrete Shock Response Hammer

(abbreviated CSR Hammer below). In borehole, we can mea

sure deformation modulus by LLT and SR-Value by Borehole

Hammer.

There are four correlations among them. As for correlation

(1), SR-Value on adit wall and that in borehole is

correlated

with high accuracy with artificial materials by Ito et al.

(2004)

by the equation below. There, correlation coefficient of the

equation is 0.988.

Where R CSR is SR-Value by CSR Hammer, and R BHH is that

by Borehole Hammer.

If you measure SR-Value in adit by CSR Hammer and cor

relation (2) is constructed, you can easily evaluate

deformation

modulus of each wall or basement in adit. And if you measure

SR-Value in borehole by Borehole Hammer and correlation

(3) is constructed, you can easily evaluate deformation modu

lus in borehole. Deformation modulus in adit and that in

bore

hole is also correlated by equation (1), (2) and (3). Thus,

we

can easily and systematically evaluate deformation modulus

both in adit and in borehole.And finally, we can estimate

all of

basement rock in dam site through comparison with rock

class.

As for correlation (4), there are some studies, and the cor

relation is also important. But, deformation modulus by both

methods is still expensive, and data is restricted to spots.

3.2 Correlation between SR-Value and Deformation modulus in

adit

SR-Value by CSR Hammer on adit base or wall is correlated

with deformation modulus by PLT in Site 1. Result is shown

in figure 7. Here, result obtained by artificial materials

by Figure 7. Correlation result between SR-Value and
deformation modulus in adit. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 1
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 10 D e f o r m a t i o n m o d u l
u s b y L L T ( M N / m 2 ) SR–Value by Borehole Hammer
(m/s 2 ) Data by Ito et al. (2004) This Study (Site1) Data
by Ito (2006) Figure 8. Correlation result between
SR-Value and deformation modulus in borehole. Ito et al.
(2004) and other correlation result by Ito (2006) is added.
The correlation equation with all data is as follows and
the correlation coefficient is 0.73. Where D PLT is
Deformation modulus obtained by PLT, and R CSR is SR-Value
by CSR Hammer. 3.3 Correlation between SR-Value and
Deformation modulus in borehole SR-Value obtained by
Borehole Hammer in borehole is correlated with deformation
modulus by LLT in Site 1. Result is shown in figure 8.
Here, results obtained by artificial materials by Ito et
al. (2004) and other correlation results by Ito (2006) are
added and correlation equation is calculated. The equation
is D LLT = 0.29 · R 3.4 BHH and the correlation coefficient
is 0.69. Finally SR-Value by Borehole Hammer is correlated
with that by CSR Hammer. 3.4 Correlation between
deformation modulus in borehole and that in adit
Deformation modulus obtained by LLT is correlated with that
by PLT in Site 1. As for the correlation, there are fairly
many Deformation modulus by LLT (MN/m 2 ) This study
Existing data D e f o r m a t i o n m o d u l u s b y P L
T ( M N / m 2 )

Figure 9. Correlation between deformation modulus in adit

and that

in borehole.

existing data. So we added our result and correlation

equation

is calculated. The equation is as follows, and the

correlation

coefficient is 0.91.

Where D LLT is Deformation modulus obtained by LLT, and

D PLT hat is deformation modulus by PLT.

3.5 Summary

Deformation modulus in adit and that in borehole is corre

lated by equation (1), (2) and (3). By these equations, we

can

treat deformation modulus or SR-Value in borehole as equal

to

those in adit. We can easily and systematically evaluate

defor

mation modulus both in adit and in borehole. Finally, we can

also estimate deformation modulus in all of basement rock in

dam site through comparison with rock class and utilize them

for dam design and construction.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Obtained result is as follows.

ABSTRACT: In this paper, the challenging problems of
Xiaowan arch dam, such as prevention for dam foundation
sliding,

the dam stability and cracking in upstream dam heel et al.

are presented. Based on the FEM analysis, with large
quantity

number 300 × 10 3 nodes and elements for the one of the

largest arch dam in world under construction„ the
evaluation of dam

stability was obtained. In the meantime, 3D geomechanical

model tests have been conducted and through them
reinforcement

measures were studied. Replacement of faults and altered

rock zones by concrete; reinforcing abutment slopes and dam
toe

by pre-stressed anchorage cables; tensile crack joints in

upstream dam heel; and concrete grouting and water drainage
in rock

abutment are elucidated. By defining arch dam stability as

integrity safety factors, it is clear to obtain the
overload factors

K 1 , K 2 , K 3 . This viewed from both a maximum critical

load and minimum critical strength. Based on numerical
analysis and

geomechanical models for Xiaowan arch dam, the failure

mechanism was investigated. The integrity stability safety
factors

K 1 , K 2 , K 3 obtained from numerical and physical models

are coincided very well.

1 INTRODUCTION

Xiaowan hydropower station under construction in China is

situated on the Meigong River inYunnan province. Its

installed

capacity of water power is designed as 4200 MW. The type of

the dam is concrete double curvature arch dam with maximum

height, 294.5 m, and the length of dam crest, 905 m.

Xiaowan arch dam is located on complex rock foundations.

The canyon is narrow with high steep abutments walls. They

are on granite and dolomite foundations with 28∼35 degree

bedding plans dipping towards the river beds. Several large

faults and geological altered rock zones are found in normal

to the river bed, such as F11, F10, E1, E4, E5, E8, E9 etc.
in

rock abutments. These defects in abutments are designed to

be strengthened by reinforced measures, such as replacement

with concrete plugs, reinforced bolts or cement grouting, as

shown in Fig. 1. Especially, its most troublesome problems

were found in river bed with high geo stresses in relaxed

rocks; see in Fig. 2. Large and deep relaxed zones in dam

Figure 1. The distribution of faults and geological altered

rock

zones.

Figure 2. Released field stress image at dam abutment.

foundations are to be emerged by high geo stresses with
engineering excavation. Important means are needed to
prevent dam foundation sliding. Another important issue for
cracking prevention is to construct virtual joint in
upstream dam heel. The geological defects in rock abutments
showed that the foundation bedrocks are not sound enough to
bear the loading of dam. Facing with these challenging
problems, to find the measure for building dam on such
bedrocks with some positive improvements is necessary. In
this paper, the stability factors of arch dam was analyzed
based on nonlinear FEM, and geomechanical model tests were
carried out to investigate the stability factors of the
Xiaowan arch dam. Up to now, in addition to the above –
mentioned measures no unprecedented means have been
proposed to solve these challenging problems of arch dam.
Thus, it is very significant to propose novel original
means for servicing them. 2 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS The purpose
of 3D F.E nonlinear analysis for the Xiaowan arch dam
listed as follows: (a) Under different load cases, to check
stress and deformation status of the arch dam; (b) to study
the safety of the faults and weak altered rock zones from
their deformations; (c) to evaluate dam stability; (d) to
compare dam safety situations between numerical and
physical tests. 2.1 Numerical model Figure 3. shows the FE
mesh model for Xiaowan arch dam. The numerical mesh has
been established and involved in the whole dam body with
abutments including faults and weak altered rock zones. The
3D mesh included the vast area of abutments and their
vertical heights with scale 1500 × 1200 × 800 m 3 (length ×
width × height). Its total number of meshes reaches 300 ×
103 for sure computation precision in the dam foundation
surface area. These meshes generally have minimum
dimensions 2 × 3 × 5 m 3 , such as in the dam heel and dam
toe zones, and those laid in the high stress zones, have 2
× 5 m 2 minimum mesh dimension, so as to obtain high
calculation precision, see in Fig. 3.

Figure 3. Mesh figure of Xiaowan arch.

Table 1. Material properties of Xiaowan arch dam. Rock

No classification E 0 (GPa) f c(MPa) µ γ(10 4 N/m 3 )

1 concrete 21.0 1.5 5.0 0.167 2.4

2 I 25.0 1.48 2.2 0.22 2.63

3 II 19.0 1.43 1.7 0.26 2.63

4 III a 14.0 1.20 1.3 0.27 2.63

5 altered rock 6.0 1.0 0.6 0.27 2.0

6 IV a 6.0 1.0 0.6 0.28 2.0

7 IV b 3.0 0.9 0.5 0.28 2.0

8 IV c 1.0 0.8 0.3 0.28 2.0

9 F 7 0.03 0.6 0.2 0.35 1.9

10 F 11 0.45 0.9 0.4 0.35 1.9

11 F 5 0.30 0.9 0.35 0.35 1.9

12 F 10 2.6 0.9 0.4 0.35 1.9

13 F 27 1.40 0.9 0.4 0.35 1.9

14 F 19 0.35 0.9 0.4 0.35 1.9

15 F 22 0.70 0.9 0.4 0.35 1.9

16 F 23 0.35 0.9 0.4 0.35 1.9

17 F 20 0.40 0.9 0.4 0.35 1.9

18 E1 0.40 0.9 0.3 0.35 1.9

19 E4 0.32 0.8 0.25 0.35 1.9

20 E5 0.16 0.8 0.25 0.35 1.9

21 E8 0.12 0.45 0.045 0.35 1.9

22 III b 6.0 1.1 0.9 0.27 2.63

23 f 34 1.3 0.9 0.4 0.35 1.9

2.2 Material parameters

Table 1 listed the mechanics parameters of dam and rock

material of both abutments.

2.3 Nonlinear FEM in analysis of dam stability

For those challenging problems, it is vital important to

inves

tigate clearly the stress distributions in dam and

foundation,

especially in tensile zone at dam heel, close to the dam

toe,

and dam – foundation contact surface by nonlinear F.E.M. The

figure 4 shows that the principal stress distribution at up

and

down stream surface under self – weight and water pressure

condition. After reinforcement, the stress distribution is

good

enough for dam operation.

2.4 Nonlinear analysis code

By employing TFINE program, a 3D FE nonlinear analysis

code developed by the research group of Tsinghua University

Figure 4. The principal stress distribution. Figure 5.
Final dam failure image in downstream surface. for
analyzing the stability of the Xiaowan project. The
capacity for calculation of that project is much larger
than that usually for lower dams. The main proposed
characteristics listed in following: (1) Drucker – Prager
model is adopted in FEM; (2) For faults and rocks joints,
joint elements and tetrahedral elements are implemented in
abutments; (3) Elastic – plasticity analysis are used with
damage – fracture models; (4) Rock failure process are
presented with the Damage – Fracture behaviours, such as,
damage – fracture propagation, nucleation of fractures, dam
cracks and final collapse; (5) The limit analysis of dam
stability is acquiring the upper bound, when computation
goes with increasing load. The dam failure pattern under
increasing loading is significant for maximum loading
capacity. 2.5 Overload safety factor Based on overload
analysis, the failure propagation of the dam in limit
status was investigated. In overload process, for each
loading step increment of normal water pressure (Hereafter
P0 means normal water pressure) for computing point safety
factor and yielding elements. Based on numerical analysis,
the over load factors are obtained under different load
steps. When applied loads reach 2P 0 , the crack is
occurring in the dam heel, and dam safety factor, K 1
(Hereafter S.F means dam safety factor) equates 2.0P 0 .
Table 2. The integrity stability safety factors. Numerical
results Physical results Project Height Integrity (arch
dam) (m) P.S.F safety K K 1 K 2 K 3 Longyang Gorge 178 1.5
4 1.2 1.8 3.25 Jinshuitan 102 2.3 10 2.0 3.9 10 Dongfeng
166 1.3 6.5 2.0 3.8 8 Lijiaxia 165 1.2∼1.8 5 1.6 3.0 5.4
Tongtou 75 1.5 4.5 1.5 1.5 4.0 Xiaowan 292 1.5 7.0 1.5∼2
3.0 7.0 Ertan 240 2.0 8∼9 2.0 3.5 8.0 Laxiwa 250 2.0 6∼7
2.0 3.5∼4 7∼8 Xiluodu XLD824) 278 2.0 7∼8 1.8 4.5∼5.0 6.5∼8
Xiluodu (XLD03) 278 2.0 8.0 1.8∼2 4.5 8.5 Dagangshan 210
2.0 7∼8 2.0 4∼5 9∼10 JinPing (JP6) 305 2∼4 7.0 2.5 4∼5 7.5
P.S.F represents Point Safety Factor.

When loading reaches 4P 0 , the dam heel shows nonlinear

behaviours, and dam S.F, K 2 equates 4.0P 0 .

When overloading increases to 8P 0 , the dam reaches limit

capacity, and dam S.F, K 3 equates 8.0P 0 .

3 PHYSICAL GEOMECHANICAL MODELS

Two geomechanical model tests have been conducted namely:

dam without reinforcement, and dam with reinforcement, see

in Fig. 5

3.1 Safety factor identification

Xiaowan arch dam has gained powerful analysis by physical

model test.The experiment gave it a verified study for

stability.

The process may be concluded as follows:

In order to examine safety of dam and foundation in consid

eration of cracking discontinuities, safety factor for

integrity

stability was defined. This was viewed from maximum critical

over load for physical models.

In this paper, a number of large arch dams have been studied

at dam research center of Tsinghua University by the

authors.

In recent 30 years. At the moment, the dams are well

operated.

The results investigated by numerical and physical model

tests

were listed in Table 2. The integrity stability safety

factors K 1 ,

K 2 , K 3 are presentated. The results from numerical

analysis

and from physical model tests are coincided very well.

3.2 Results analysis

Some results from geomechanical tests are given below:

For Xiaowan model without reinforcement in abutment:

K 1 = 1.5∼2P 0 , K 2 = 3.0P 0 , K 3 = 5.0P 0 .

For Xiaowan model after reinforcement in abutment:

K 1 = 2.2P 0 , K 2 = 3.0∼4P0, K 3 = 6∼7P 0 .

For crustal stress relaxed rocks in the foundations after

rein

forcement in abutment: K 1 = 2.2P 0 , K 2 = 4.0P 0 , K 3 =

7∼8P 0 .

All the above mentioned data are well compliant with those

ABSTRACT: The Jietai Temple landslide threatened the safety

of the Jietai Temple, an ancient temple with a history of
more

than 1400 years. In the paper, the landslide is briefly

described and the stress is placed on its control. In order
to prevent the

further development of the landslide, the two phases of

control were performed: emergency control and
temple-protecting

control. In the two phases of control, 35 anti-slide piles

and 35000 m long anchor cables was used. The practice
proved that

pre-stressed anchor anti-slide piles are suitable for

controlling such landslides as the Jietai Temple. Some new
technical means

such as a multi-anchoring point anti-slide pile were

developed and adopted in treating of difficult problems.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Jietai Temple is one of the national key cultural relic

preservation units in china. It is located on the north

slope

of the Ma’anshan Mountain of the Mentouggou District of

Beijing, 35 km away from the city proper. It was constructed

during the Sui Dynasty and has a history of more than 1400

years. Unfortunately, the temple is on a landslide. The land

slide has been named the Jietai Temple landslide. Therefore,

the Jietai Temple has always been faced with its threats. In

the paper, the landslide is briefly described, but the

stress is

placed on the controlling measures that were adopted for it.

2 JIETAI TEMPLE LANDSLIDE

Figure 1 is a sketch section of the Jietai Temple

landslide. The

landslide is about 1200 m long and, from east to west, about

450 m wide.The height difference from the front to the tail

end

is about 230 m and the average thickness is about 47 m, with

the volume being about 9000000 m 3 . The east and west sides

of the landslide are embraced by natural gullies and

hollows.

That is, except for the south side, the landslide has three
air

faces.

The main strata at the Jietai Temple are the Carbonifer

ous system (C), the Permian system (P) and the Quaternary

system (Q). The Jietai Temple landslide is composed of Car

boniferous strata. The upper part of the landslide include

gray

and dark gray fine sandstone, siltstone, shale, and 2 or 3

interbeds of clay and coal.The lower part is gray and white

gray
gravel-bearing coarse quartz sandstone, of which the heavily

weathered is brown-yellow. The slide zone is a layer of

black

clay, which is relatively water-resisting and would become

soft

after water saturation. The overlying is brown-yellow sand

stone, which is hydrous. The underlying is mid-Carboniferous

sandstone, which is dark, compact and hard, containing more

pyrite and quartz.

The Carboniferous and Permian strata dip north and have

dip angles of 30∼45 ◦ , steeper upwards. They constitute the

north limb of the Ma’anshan Mountain anticline. In fact, the

hill ridge which the Jietai Temple landslide is located on

is a

consequent slope. Because of the intersection of 9 east-west

striking faults and 3 north-south striking faults, the hill

ridge

looks much fractured. Figure 1. A sketch section of the

Jietai Temple landslide. Failures of temple buildings
caused by the landslide began in the rainy season of
1994.After then, such failure sometimes occurred and
sometimes stopped. In a heavy rain of July, 1994, a few
caving pits occurred in courtyards and on the road to the
temple. Especially a long ground crack begins from out of
the west wall of the temple, passes through the Dabei
Palace, the Zhenwu Palace, the PeonyYard, the
Thousand-Budda Loft site, the Sakyamuni Palace, the Jialan
Palace, the Drum Tower and the Shanmen Palace to the
parking lot and finally gets into a natural gully east of
temple. It is more than 350 mm wide in some segments and
less than 5 mm in other segments. Moreover, since the early
spring of 2005, deformation in the landslide has become
larger and larger. Several new cracks occurred from south
to north. They made national highway No.108 to be cut off
and subside in a few positions.The biggest dislocation is
up to 70 cm. Even water pipelines in the temple were
frequently pulled down. 3 MONITORING MEASURES In order to
investigate and control such failures, 4 crack expansion
monitoring instruments and 17 simplified surface
displacement monitoring piles have been set in 2005. The
former are automatically recorded; the latter must be
recorded a day. Also, 7 deep monitoring boreholes were
drilled that are periodically recorded.

The monitoring results by the 4 crack expansion monitoring

instruments show that the displacement velocity of a posi

tion within the landslide can be as 4 times as that of

another

position; generally, quicker in the slower but smaller in

the

east, implying that the landslide would be made up of sev

eral blocks. The displacement curves are evidently stepwise,

meaning that the movement of the landslide would be inter

mittent. From March 23 to May 7, it was found that in the

Zhenwu Palace where the displacement was usually quick

est the displacement was accelerating: the average is 2mm/d

and the maximum is 6.5 mm. After May 7, the displacement

rate reduced slowly. This is because that emergent

reinforcing

work was playing some role.

The 17 simplified surface displacement monitoring piles

give similar although they were set at different times.

The 7 deep observation boreholes revealed more deep

details of the landslide. Some boreholes met one slide zone,

and some met two or even three slide zones. Moreover, it was

observed that the displacement, the depth of slide zone and

the slide direction are different from borehole to borehole.

The observed results mentioned above all indicate that the

landslide is a multi-block, multi-level and multi-slide zone

landslide. In fact, it is a landslide group (Figure 1).

4 CONTROL MEASURES

Because of its large scale, the permanent control of the

Jietai

Temple landslide is very expensive, and so a three-step

control

principle has been adopted: protecting the temple buildings,

then making the temple area stable and finally governing the

landslide radically. Therefore, the control project of the

land

slide was divided into three phases. The first phase is to

deal

with the existed dangerous cases, while the second phase is

to province the Jietai Temple from further failures. To

ensure

the safety and opening of the national highway No.108 and

the road to the temple is one of the tasks of the third

phase.

Considering characteristics of the landslide and the

practical

need of the temple, the pre-stressed anchor cable technique

was selected and adopted.

According to experiences to control large-scale landslides,

any single measures are not enough to control the Jietai

Temple landslide. Retaining, anchoring, water-controlling

and

grouting should be adopted at the same time.

4.1 Emergency measures

Early in April of 2005, a spring melting period, the Jietai

Tem

ple landslide shown strong activities,: the displacement

speed

usually is 2 mm/d and even 7 mm/d. Moreover, there was a

accelerating trend. This seriously threatened the security

of

managerial staff, monks, tourists and the temple itself. At

that time, the municipal government of Beijing, together

with

related cultural relics departments, made a prompt decision:

immediately putting into a series of emergency measures.

These measures were to set up pre-stressed anchor cable

beams and anchor cable pier groups at key locations around

the

temple. 109 anchor cables were used. The whole installation

was finished on 8 May, 2005, taking the work time of one

month. Since then, such a dangerous case has not continued

to occur.

4.2 Measures to protect the temple

According to geological investigations, the hill ridge

where the

Jietai Temple is located is relaxed and the stability is

better in ZK2-3 ZK1-1 ZK2-2 crack Big and great palace
Garden in Jietai Temple Electrician house Retaining wall
Anchor rope beam The road to the temple Anchor pier
Parking lo t fault fault Anchor rope in pile Anchor rope
anti-slide pile Figure 2. Section 1-1 showing the
arrangement of control measures. the south and worse in the
north. Therefore, Only in order to protect the temple
itself, a reinforcing zone was arranged out of the north
wall of the temple. The area to the north of the
reinforcing zone was not treated temporarily, so rock and
soil north of the road to the temple and national highway
No.108 could still slide. The arrangement of reinforcing
piles is shown in Figure 2. It should be pointed out that
the resistance force of rock and soil in front of the pile
was not taken into account in calculating the stress of a
pile. The following is main controlling measures adopted:
(1) Piling 35 pre-stressed anchor anti-slide piles were
installed out of the north wall on the south side of the
parking lot. The anti-slide piles used is divided into
three types according to the thrust forces possibly
suffered and the depths of slide surfaces.Type I has a
cross section of 2 m × 3 m, with two rows of pre-stressed
anchor cables to be installed on the pile head. Type II and
Type III have a cross section of 2.4 m × 3.6 m and their
length varies between 55 m and 65 m, with three rows of
pre-stressed anchor cables to be installed on the pile
head. During construction, such a case was found that the
landslide plane is deeper and the strata are more fractured
than expected before. For it, the measure adopted is that
two rows of anchor cables are added in the position where
the anti-slide pile has larger moment, both constituting a
multi-anchoring point anti-slide pile. Also, considering
the existence of multiple slide planes, three to five rows
of anchor cable piers were arranged above the pile head to
prevent the upper layers from displacement and share the
thrust force with the anti-slide pile. The anchor pier has
a section of 1.5 m × 1.5 m and is 0.6 m thick. It is made
of C25 reinforcing steel and filling concrete. The anchor
cable of the anchor pier is made of 8 steel wires of �S15.
The diameter of holes thus formed is 130mm. An anchor cable
pier is to be finished finally by filling a sand grout made
of M30 concrete into the holes. (2) Water control
Considering characteristics of water in the Jietai Temple,
the following three measures were taken: Cutting off and
discharging surface water: Cutoff and discharge ditches
were built out of the east-south wall to prohibit the
freshet from entering the temple.The drainage system in the
temple was repaired and perfected. Pumping and draining
underground water. In the construction of anti-slide piles
4#, 6#, 14# and 25#, storage water pools were prepared
around their bottom and at the same time pumping pipes were
set up to discharge underground water and hence lower the
underground water level. Modifying sewage pipes: While
water-supplying pipes and heating pipes in the temple were
repaired or changed, sewage pipes were placed in such
ditches: their top were cover with reinforced concrete
slabs. Thus, even if the underground sewage pipes broke up,
sewerage can be drained out through the ditch rather than
seeping into the ground.
(3) Grouting into cracks After piling and anchoring, what
was done was grouting for cracks and settlement zones
because these space or weak positions provide the
possibility for further deformation or displacement to
damage buildings. Grouting followed such orders: from north
to north and from east to west. During gouting, the
protection of ancient trees was concerned.

ABSTRACT: Failure is a deformation process, so the

reinforcement design should be deformation dependent. The
rigid limit

equilibrium method is unable to take into account the

deformation mechanism, so its conclusion is limited. The
dam toe zone

is highly stressed and sensitive to the deformation. If the

deformation is ignored, large errors will produce. In this
paper a

deformation reinforcement theory is proposed that can take

into account deformation, stability and reinforcement
force. The

central ingredient of the theory is that the reinforcement

forces required to stabilize a structure under a specific
state is just the

current unbalanced force in elasto-plastic analysis.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the reinforcement analysis of geotechnical engineering,

the rigid limit equilibrium method is usually adopted as a

mature algorithm. However, this method is difficult to take

into

account the deformation mechanism of geotechnical struc

tures. In fact the failure of structure is a progressive

process

and the deformation plays a central role, and the different

deformation state needs the different reinforcement force

to maintain the stability of the structure. Just like NATM

(new Austrian tunneling method), the different deformation

state of tunneling needs the different reinforcement

measure.

Retaining wall pressure also confirms this point. It is well

known that the difference among active earth pressure, pas

sive earth pressure and static earth pressure is quite

large and

that the difference comes from the difference of deforma

tion states. Nowadays, numerical methods are widely used

in geotechnical engineering, especially large-scale

structures,

and can show deformation mechanisms. However, the rein

forcement analysis is still a difficult topic. Numerical

results

usually underestimate the reinforcement effects, especially

the

anchorage effects.

The downstream dam toe of an arch dam is a high stressed

compression-shear zone [1], and it determines the safety of

the

dam, so reinforcing this zone can improve the stability of

the

dam. To put anchorage to the dam toe is an effective method

to improve the dam stability. It can decrease the shear

stress

and improve the physical property of rock at the abutment,

and

hence the whole safety and overloading capacity of the dam.

In

recent years, this method has been used in Inguri dam (shown
in Fig. 1,295 m high), Vajoint dam, and Lijiaxia dam and so

on. Xiaowan dam (290 m high) will also be designed and used

this technology to improve the safety and overloading

capacity

for its high arch dam-foundation system. The dam-toe is a

high-interaction area between the arch dam and the

foundation

controlled by deformation.The rigid limit equilibrium method

is too coarse to give an appropriate design for the dam-toe

anchoring.

In order to overcome the shortage of the rigid limit equilib

rium method, we [2,3,4,5] proposed a new theory: deformation

reinforcement theory. This theory reveals that the residual

unbalance force in elasto-plastic FEM analysis is just the

required reinforcement force. In the paper, this theory is

intro

duced. and then its application in the design of the

dam-toe Dam toe Anchor cable Figure 1. Sketch of abutment
anchorage of Inguri arc dam. f(σ)=0 o σ 0 σ ∆σ e =D:∆ε ∆σ ˆ
σ 1 ∆σ p σ Figure 2. Sketch map of elasto-plastic stress
adjustment. anchorage of Xiluodu arch dam 278 meters high
is analyzed and discussed. 2 DEFORMATION REINFORCEMENT
THEORY The elasto-plastic finite element computation
behaves as a series of iteration process to approximate the
exact solution. For a certain representative iteration step
and a certain gauss point, suppose the initial stress of
this iteration step is σ 0 , then f (σ 0 ) ≤ 0. The current
stress is σ 1 , as shown in Fig. 2.

The stress field, σ 0 and σ 1 , are all satisfied the

equilibrium

condition. In finite element analysis, this is shown as the

following:
where, F is the vector of external load, and e indicates
the sum

of all elements of the structure.

Generally in the iteration process, stresses of part gauss

points will exceed the yield surface and they need to be

adjusted to the yield surface. The adjusted stress field σ

must

be satisfied the yield condition f (σ) ≤ 0. The adjusted

stress

value is the increment of plastic stress �σ p = σ 1 − σ.

For a

certain gauss point, if f (σ 1 ) > 0, then �σ p �= 0; if f

(σ 1 ) ≤ 0,

then �σ p = 0. Substituting σ 1 = σ+�σ p into (1), we

obtain

where

The elasto-plastic computation (iteration) goal is to let

the

unbalance force go to zero, i.e. �Q→ 0. From the above,

we can know that the stress field is satisfied the

equilibrium

and yield condition. If iteration is not convergent, i.e. Q

�= 0,

then it shows that the structure is unstable. Formula (3)

can

be changed into P =F−�Q, which means that the struc

ture is stable if external load −�Q is applied to the

structure.

The additional external load −�Q is reinforcement force. For

mula (3) can also be understood as the relationship among

structure bearing force, reinforcement force and external
load.

For given external load, when the bearing force increases,

the

reinforcement force decreases.

In the structure �σ p is a tensor field and �Q is a vector

field, so they can not be compared with each other. But the

scalar, plastic complementary energy norm can be defined as:

where C is a fourth order flexibility tensor. Since

ε p = C:�σ p , it is easy to deduce an incremental type nor

mality flow rule by minimizing the plastic complementary

energy norm,

As shown in Fig. 3, for a structure, if it is unstable it

must

include two sets: one satisfies the equilibrium condition,

and

the other does the yield condition. In order to maintain

the sta

bility of the structure, we must let the set which does not
satisfy

the yield condition satisfy the yield condition as far as

possi

ble. This process is to find the minimum distance (minimum

complementary energy) between the two sets. Equilibrium

condition set Yield condition ∆E Figure 3. Relationship
between equilibrium and yield condition sets of structures.
Figure 4. Xiluodu arch dam model. Dam toe Dam foundation
River Figure 5. Contour and direction of unbalance force
of typical section of left bank under three times water
loading. 0 1 2 3 4 65 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000
Depth(m) U n b a l a n c e f o r c e ( t o n ) left bank
Right bank Figure 6. Change tendency of unbalance force
under different depth. 3 CASE STUDY As shown in Fig. 4, the
height of Xiluodu arch dam is 278 meters, and the water
load beared by the dam can reach 15

Table 1. Suggested anchorage scheme (unit: ton).

Elevation Fx Fy Fz Resultant force Horizontal angle

Inclination

Left bank

570–520 −713.01 −674.15 −964.52 1375.922 43.39533 −44.5072

440–400 −9351.38 16317.82 −348.73 18810.67 −60.1839 −1.06226

400–360 −3952.73 −627.12 −1286.53 4203.869 9.015117 −17.8204

360–332 −10911.3 1078.13 −10154.9 14944.55 −5.64301 −42.8048

Sum −24928.4 16094.68 −12754.6 32297.75 −32.8478 −23.2602

whole 39335.01

Right bank

570–520 4083.57 −2490.47 −5027.3 6939.145 −31.378 −46.4259

440–400 2028.7 408.35 −2340.97 3124.502 11.38079 −48.5237

400–360 1789.85 −181.54 −2481.37 3064.917 −5.79156 −54.0573

360–332 10528.92 13169.63 −23051.7 28560.08 51.35819

−53.8165

Sum 18431.04 10905.97 −32901.3 39257.38 30.61355 −56.9393

whole 41688.64

million tons. In the design of high arch dam, the

reinforcement

of dam toe is a difficult problem. In this paper, the

deformation

reinforcement theory is adopted to design the reinforcement

of dam toe.

The zone (Fig. 4) besieged by black lines is the range which

should be reinforced. By analyzing the complementary norm,

we obtained the contours and directions of unbalance force
in

a typical section of left bank under three times water

loading,

as shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that the unbalance force

at the

dam toe mainly centralizes in a certain range of the dam

foun

dation and downstream. In order to study the dam toe unbal

ance force, its change tendency at different depths is

consid

ered under three times water loading. It can be seen form

Fig. 6

that the unbalance force changes greatly within 20 m∼40 m,

but when the depth exceeds 50 m, its change becomes uncon

spicuous, so the following conclusion can be gained: the dam

toe unbalance force mainly centralizes within the depth of

50 m, so the suggested reinforcement depth is 50 m.

As listed in Table 1, the whole anchorage force is 81,000

tons and the elevation from 360.0 m to 332.0 m is the key

range to be reinforced. The anchorage force of the left

bank is

44,000 tons, exceeding the half of the whole anchorage

force is

44,000 tons, exceeding the half of the whole anchorage

force.

4 CONCLUSIONS

For the given external load, the working region of the

structure

may be an elastic region, a stable elasto-plastic region or

an
unstable elasto-plastic region. The structure needs
reinforce

ment force to maintain its stability. This means that some

parts

of the structure are in an unstable elasto-plastic region.

The

classical elasto-plastic theory can only be used in the

elastic

region and the stable elasto-plastic region, but the

deformation

reinforcement theory can be effectively used in the unstable

elasto-plastic region.

According to this theory, in case of the given external

load,

ABSTRACT: The evolution, causes, and direct and indirect

effects of the general instability in El Cune site, a 30 m
high and

250 m long road cut located in the Honda-Bogota roadway in

Colombia which caused a 80 m high and 1.5 million m 3 slide
in

mudstones and pyritic shales, are presented. Past studies

are analized and evaluated, as well as the effectiveness of
corrective

measures taken so far to control the instability, as

compared with the failure mechanism proposed by the
Authors. Social and

economical effects are highlighted, due to a mass movement

that has not been possible to be controlled after twelve
(12) years

of activity, which has caused suspension of vehicle traffic

since June 2002 and has demanded costs of US $19 million.

1 INTRODUCTION

El Cune unstable site is located at Km 64 on the

Honda-Bogotá
road (which runs north to south from the Magdalena River

towards the Colombia’s capital city Bogota), at the Villeta

detour on the highlands of this town, near the right bank of

Cune creek, a tributary of Villeta river (Figure 1).

In 1995, shortly after the construction was started, an

insta

bility process was started which, after several years, still

cannot be controlled. To built the road, a large 30 m high

cut

was needed through a highly fractured massif of mudstones

and shales of cretaceous age, covered on top by an instable

clayey colluvium (Figure 2). The geotechnical conditions of

Figure 1. General location of El Cune landslide.

Figure 2. SE-NW aerial view of El Cune site during works in

2001. the site where the cut was made are very similar to
those existent in several roads all along the colombian
Eastern Cordillera, which in most of its extension is made
up by shales and sandstones covered by wet clayey
colluviums. In this paper a brief description of the
instability evolution in this site is made, emphasizing on
issues such as: (1) Those factors of different nature which
have had a negative influence on the solutions implanted to
overcome the difficulties, but had not worked after more
than 12 years and (2) the economic and social costs being
generated by the fruitless handling of this problem. 2 EL
CUNE SITE MAIN FEATURES The rocky hillside where the road
cut was excavated, is made up of mudstones (siltstones and
shales) of the Trincheras Formation (K8), very fractured
and hydrically degraded, in faulted contact with sandstones
of the Utica Formation (K9), both formations belonging to
the Villeta Cretaceous Group. The site is located in the
shouthern tip of a complex faulted and folded zone (Figure
3). The sedimentary sequence presents a regional
orientation N10 ◦ –25 ◦ W, dipping 20 ◦ –40 ◦ SW, towards
the interior of the Figure 3. El Cune regional geology
(INGEOMINAS, 2000).

Figure 4. El Cune geology (post-slide map) (Montero et al,

2004).

hillside and in inverse direction to the slope of the major

cut,

whose bearing is NE-SW. In addition the rocky mass is

affected

by several joint systems, most of which dip towards the SE

and

somehow are controlling the instability. On the hillside

top,

the rock is covered by a clayey colluvium (Qc). From the mor

phological point of view, at the cutting zone, the hillside

forms

a structural block limited by geological faults: one at the

North

side, with high dip; other at the South side,

morphologically

less expressive than the former and a third reverse one at

the

West side, coincident with the regional fault of Figure 3,

which

marks a fault trench near the highest point. On the whole

these

three faults limit the area where instability occurs

(Figure 4).

Near the Northern fault, east of its crossing with

theWestern

regional fault, a small topographic depression can be seen

wherein humidity is concentrated and which can be related to

the geomorphological expressión of the Western Fault trench.

In addition, in some aerial photographs at large scale,

taken

before the detour construction, slopes of ancient landslides

displacing colluvial soil appear above the level where the
road

was built, and in the northeastern side of the slope, an

ancient

landslide can be clearly seen .

Rainy seasons normally occur, as in all the Andean moun

tainous central part of Colombia, between April and May and

from October to November.

Previous to road construction, the unfavorable instability

conditions were foreseen at the large cut site. In the

Villeta’s

detour phase III study made by Estudios y Asesorias (1993),

they stated that: “..there is a very high cut in shale rock

with

risk of instability which can require bolts and

terraces..”, and

it was considered specially critical.

3 INSTABILITY EVOLUTION, STUDIES

AND WORKS

Based on careful analysis and using several study reports

and

documents, complemented with field visits, the sequence of

actions and events described chronologically below has been

reconstructed, highlighting the changes in the terrain condi

tions in place to date, from the start of construction in

1995

(Montero et al, 2004). Due to lack of space only the main

facts

are presented.
On July 5, 1994, INVIAS, the Colombian road author

ity, along with representatives of both the contractor of

the

Bogotá-Honda road and the firm which was performing the

construction supervision, defined the corridor of the

Villeta’s detour to the South of Cune creek, and final
studies were ordered. For the definitive project a 250 m
long (K5+380 to K5+650), 30 m high large cut was envisaged,
crossing very fractured shales covered by colluvium, in a
rocky hillside slanted 10 ◦ –15 ◦ southwards. During
1995–1998 most of the earthmoving work took place at El
Cune cut, and the materials extracted were initially placed
at the lower part of the hillside, near the Cune creek. The
first signs of instability in Cune were presented on March
27, 1995 by INVIAS Geologist Juan Miguel Pinedo: “..the
small terraces built in the cut about 20 days ago, no
longer exist due to few rains that took place..”. In
February 1996, it was decided to stop the disposition at
the lower part of the hillside, and sites of disposition
were authorized in the hill above the cut, some of them at
least within the unstable zone delimited by geological
faults. During the recopilation, no precise information
could be obtained about the exact location of these
disposition sites (QB). In May 1998, a slope displacement
of approximately 30,000 m 3 took place between K5+325 and
K5+410, and during June and July of 1998 a retaining wall
was built at the western side of Villeta’s detour between
K5+325 and K5+395 with a mean height of 6.5 m. In October
1998, after some heavy rains, a new instability occurred:
mud and soil flows surpassed the wall crown, obstructing
the roadway and caused the collapse of 38 m of the northern
end of the wall. At the end 1998, other signs of
instability showed: in the hillside central part (terraces
zone), a lot of fissuring was observed, and at the north
zone, near the fault, the mudflows continued. INVIAS then
requested its concessionaire, COMMSA, to make an analysis
of the case. In March 1999, COMMSA hired a consulting
company which issued a concept (based only on visits to the
field, without any subsoil exploration, tests or analyses
to support it.), which attributed the instability to both
material weakness and the presence of the northern fault,
and that the wall failure was due to accumulation of
displaced material and lack of underdrains. A translational
displacement was diagnosed with a passive wedge generating
the roadway uplift. It was recommended to unload the
hillside top with terraces, to build drains and sub-drains,
to reconstruct the collapsed wall using a new stem and to
build an anchored wall, in order to complement the
retention at the slope foot. Apparently, none of these
measures were adopted at the time, and in October 1999 the
movements increased, forcing to road closure. The slided
material was cleared, and this contributed to increase even
more the instability, including more gradeline lifting. In
December 1999, the consultant updated its study and
proposed to modify the terraces. After this first
stabilization attempt, in the subsequent years many studies
and works were carried out, of which the following are the
main ones: In the first quarter of 2000, the terraces
presented serious displacements, so INVIAS decided to start
the works proposed in 1999 and from March to August, about
170,000 m 3 were removed from both the hillside top and the
material obstructing the traffic, the road was re-leveled
and new walls were built. Three months later, instability
conditions grew and sub-drain ditches, filters, demolition
of the failed old 1998 concrete wall and new re-leveling of
the road grade line were advanced in November and December.
At the end of the year 2000, strong cracking was detected
at the hillside central part where terraces have been
built, serious movements of the hillside were registered.
and new displacements occurred threatening again with road
obstruction. The

road uplifting continued and caused the collapse of the

walls

which had been built earlier in this year. Simultaneously,

at

the end of 2000, consortium DIS-EDL (2000) performed the

first geotechnical survey including borings and

topographical

maps.A rotational mechanism was proposed with a failure sur

face between 7 m and 10 m deeep under the road, attributed

to the material remolding on the lower part of the slope.

They reported a 2 m uplifting of the roadbank along 80 m

between K64+380 and K64+460 “due to the mass imbal

ance and the lack of sub-drainage works”. Terraces, vegetal

coverage, filters, ditches and surface drainage structures

were

recommended.

Between January andApril, 2001, some of the works recom

mended by DIS-EDL were constructed. From March to May,

AQUATERRA firm performs the first relatively complete

geotechnical survey with topgraphy maps, borings, sampling,

lab tests, stability analyses and monitoring (AQUATERRA,

2001). It was concluded that at the Cune site, two different

movements exist: (1) a rotational landslide involving very

frac

tured shale in the central part, attributed to overload on

top and

to rock high degradation; and (2) a soil flow at the

north,near

the fault zone. (this proposal by AQUATERRA is considered

reasonable considering what is found in the field). This

firm

proposed, the construction of 15 terraces, an anchored wall

at the toe with 61, 1.2 m diameter and 15 m long concrete

piles embedded 9 m and spaced 3.5 m, a drainage channel

and a box culvert. Stabilization works started on May 2001

with the construction of the upper terraces 12–15. During

this

period heavy rains fell and a very important increment on

the

displacement rate was registered at the central zone, where

the terrace construction triggered movements of the upper

colluvium masses; In June 2001, at the north zone, new mud

flows are generated and they overflowed the side of the
bridge

hanger, plugged a 36 ′′ culvert. and invaded the right bank

of

the Cune creek. During June and July, they tried several
times

to profile the terrace slopes, but cracking always

reappeared

and the surface drainage system became disarticulated. Crack

ing continued in spite that cracks were sealed with clay and

soil cement. Instability manifestations remained in progress

from June to August 2001, and surface displacements incre

mented from 0.03 cm/day to more than 266 cm/day. During

this period cracking intensification and infiltrations

alternated

with the attempts to reconstruct and maintain the terraces

and

to improve the surface drainage conditions with channels and

cuts. From May to November, 570.000 m 3 of material were

removed.

According to INVIAS Emergency Office, in June 2001

three types of movements were in place: (1) slow landslide

in

the colluviums detached from the high part; (2) Soil flow
near

the north zone geological fault, and (3) slow landslide with

road uplifting between K64+380 and K64+460, provoking

wall breakage.

During August–October 2001, cracking deepens and

extends. At the end of this quarter, the Supervision pro

posed a rethinking about the situation, based on

observation,

during the work performance, of geological conditions differ

ent than those foreseen by AQUATERRA, and on the result

of 11 geoelectrical soundings performed to evaluate under

ground waters. In line with this rethinking, in October 2001

new measures were adopted: (1) material cutting was not

allowed at the lower part of the landslide; (2) terrace con

struction on top was stopped to reduce the upper colluvial

mass displacements and terraces 3–5 were constructed at the

middle-low part of the hillside, near the road, to reduce

the road uplifting, which does not happen; (3) At the north
zone, gabion walls were built along the right bank of the
Cune creek, to prevent the debris flows and mudflows from
invading its riverbed. (4) A drainage gallery 8 to 9 m
underneath the road, which was started in November. The
maximum displacement rate in October was 198 cm/day, 74% of
that registered in August, 2001. Because of the improved
situation, by order of INVIAS the road was cleared in
October 2001, and in NovemberDecember, when excavaton was
being made to place the sub-base at the eastern side of the
road and the construction of the gallery and other works
were in progress, a hard rainy season came, so both the
cracking and movements were resumed and in an internal
report by the INVIAS Emergency Attention Office it was
stated: “..opening of the road caused that after few days
80% of the built terraces were destroyed...”. Turning from
year 2001 to 2002, material of the hillside middle part was
unloaded again to diminish the road lifting, but such an
effect was not achieved. Construction of a channel on the
hillside top was finished and another channel parallel to
the wall on the eastern side of the detour, a filter and
other drainage works were also constructed.The maximum
recorded rate of displacement during such a period was
110.9 cm/day. During February 2002, this rate was reduced
to 25 cm/day and the gallery advanced 115 m, with two
branches. The floor of the eastern side channel which is
parallel to the road, breaked in the zone where the road
presented the maximum uplifting. During February–March
2002, terrace construction on top and joint sealing
continued. The maximum rate of displacement varied from 25
cm/day in February to just 0.7 cm/day in March, with a road
uplifting of 40 cm. The progress of the gallery was 165 m,
and 387 m of penetration drains were installed from the
surface to the gallery seeking to drain water down from the
top. At this time gallery failure in various stretches was
registered. In May, construction of the anchored wall
proposed by AQUATERRA at the slope foot was discarded,
because of the little promising result of the installation
of two 35 m long testing anchorages, which were finally
expelled by the moving mass. Due to the reduced
displacement rates, both the Transportation Minister and
INVIAS Director ordered to reopen the road and the major
movement reactivation since they started took place and the
road was blocked again. Furthermore, the 250 m long gallery
did not worked as expected: during almost all the time of
its construction it remained dry and days after finished,
it just showed a small dripping. Therefore, INVIAS was
forced to keep the road closed and to study a new strategy
to try to give a solution to the serious problem at the
Cune site. In June 2002, Universidad Nacional de
Colombia–Bogotá Campus (without the participation of the
Authors), issued a concept on the strategy to be followed
by INVIAS to get a definitive solution, based on the
analysis of previous studies and a terrain survey
(UN-Bogotá, 2002). This concept proposed measures to be
executed at short term, addressed to resume the traffic; at
middle term, the execution of a complete study to arrive at
a definitive solution; and at long term, a monitoring
program aimed to keep in observation the site behavior and
so to timely perform any additional correction required. As
a basis to apply such measures at short term it is proposed
an instability zoning which considers the soil flow of the
north side, the landslide of the central-south part, two
little zones of colluvium displacement and of block
overturning

Table 1. UN Medellínalternatives and expected effects.

Alternative Expected effect

1. Construction of an Counterweight in the passive

embankment in the inner slope, wedge which in turn serves

western side of the current road as a retention structure

2. Horizontal displacement of the Part of the road will

remain
road centerline towards the west in a stable terrain at the

and construction of smaller eastern side

embankments

3. Construction of a false tunnel The false tunnel

safeguards

with rectangular or oval cross traffic from slided material,

section keeping the original allowing its passing above

horizontal alignment. the structure

and the uplifting of the roadway. As part of the measures

application at short term, it was proposed to clear the road

so as to reopen the vehicle passing which would have reac

tivated the movements as it had happened time after time

in the past.

The road was then kept closed and INVIAS determined

to entrust the study to Universidad Nacional de Colombia–

Medellin Campus. In June–August 2003, the UN-Medellín

(2003) designed a plan of stabilizing measures, based on

exploration, laboratory testing and geotechnical analyses.

In

this study it was considered as technically and economically

feasible the recovering of the road at the Cune site and

three

alternatives were submitted, two of which maintained the

orig

inal horizontal alignment, while the other implied a change

in

horizontal alignment. (Table 1).

Once the proposed alternatives were analyzed, INVIAS

and UN-Medellin, agreed to adopt a solution combining the

counterweight fill and the false tunnel. The budget for this

work was US$2.0 million, with 200,000 m 3 of excavation and

150,000 m 3 of compacted fills over a filter drainage

network.

The works initiated in February 2004 by previously clearing

the unstable material at the road level and this material

was

used to construct 20 m-high embankments.The road clearance

previous to the embankment construction reactivated the land

slide with road lifting in the same way that the previous
ones;

in addition, the embankment behavior was not as expected

and became cracked and displaced. Embankment reinforce

ment was tried with vertical soil nailing, but, although the

movements reduced, the cracking continued and the road was

again invaded. The works were suspended in November 2004,

with and expenditure of US$1.2 million. In February 2005,

UN-Medellín proposed a modified Alternative 2 displacing

the road to the East, but INVIAS decided to study a Villeta

detour alternative away from the Cune site and to compare it

with the Cune pass.

This study was commisioned to APC Ltd, and the main

author was comissioned to evaluate again the Cune slide.

After revising the reports already produced, three alterna

tives were evaluated (APC, 2005): (1) Leave the site as it

is and build the new 3.3 Km detour; (2) Recover the Cune

road pass; (3) Reconform the site (similar to Alternative 2

of

UN-Medellín), including a 25 m high rockfill dyke to avoid

invasión of the Cune creek by mudflows, use the site as a

park

and build the new detour. The study, whose details are not

presented here, included new borings and tests, earthquake

effects, not considered in any other of the previous

studies, an

active-passive wedge planar mechanism, previously

identified Figure 5. Block failure mechanism for El Cune
slide. Table 2. Cune stability analyses results. PR440
PR440 PR540 PR540 Alternative Fs Acr/g Fs Acr/g 1Present
0.942 o 0.985 o 2Cune road recovery 1.288 0.051 1.201 0.059
3North dyke and park 0.987 o 1.517 0.105 Figure 6. Upper
cut for Cune pass road recovery. Table 3. Costs
(US$millions): Cune vs new detour road. Alternative Initial
cost Econ.risk Total cost 1-Present + New road $4.80 $3.02
$7.81 2-Cune Road recovery $4.37 $6.76 $11.13 3-Dyke, Park
+ New road $6.35 $1.46 $7.81 by thesis work at UN-Bogotá
(Montero et al, 2004) (Figure 5), and probabilistic failure
analysis. Results from the study of both types of slides:
block central slide at PR440 and rotational north slide at
PR540 (Figure 3) were: (Table 2): (1) Present situation is
unstable (Fs <≈1.0); (2) Even with fills up to the maximum
height that the topography allows (Figure 5), there is a
slight increase in stability, but the mass remains unstable
(Fs <≈1.0); (3) to recover the road, it is necessary to cut
370,000 m 3 , mainly in the upper part near the western
fault (Figure 6), but even with ties and underdrains, all
of doubtful performance, the maximun acceleration that can
be sustained is only 0.05 g, against a design rock
acceleration of 0.20 g; (4) the north dyke can increase
considerably the stability in this place, even with
earthquake (critical acceleration = 0.105 g). After cost
analyses, including failure costs and economic risk (Table
3), APC recommended: (a) to adopt alternative 3: abandon
the road at El Cune site, build the northern dyke and
reconform the site; (b) to design and construct the new 3.3
km detour along theVilleta River valley.At present (2007),
detailed geotechnical studies are being advanced for both
the northern dyke and the new detour. Table 4. Instability
direct costsup to 2004 (US$million). Studies and consulting
$0.19 Works and stabilization measures $4.55 Works
inspection $0.35 Total direct costs $5.08

Table 5. Instability indirect costsup to 2004 (US$million).

Road profitability loss $1.35

Vehicles operation saving loss $0.43

Total indirect costs $1.74

4 COSTS OF INSTABILITY AT EL CUNE SITE

For the construction of Villeta detour of 3 km, where El

Cune

landslide is located, the initial total budget was of US$9

million. However, due the instability problems since its con

struction, very high direct and indirect economic losses had

been generated at El Cune site, because of the inefficacy of

the control measures and of the unfortunate decisions which

have accelerated the processes more and more, with serious

consequences for the transit, which was frequently

interrupted

between 1998 and 2002 and totally during 2003–2007. In addi

tion, significant environmental damages have been caused,

with land devaluation as well as the indisposition of

Villeta’s

community.

The summary of estimated direct and some indirect costs

up to August 2004 are presented in Tables 4 and 5.

Therefore up to August 2004, US$6.82 millions had been

the estimated costs of instability at the Cune site. If the

cost of
US$1.2 million in the abandoned 2004 works is added, as well

as other 2.5 years of traffic losses (about US$2.0

million), the

cost of additional studies, and the abandonement of almost

the whole Cune detour (US$9 million), total losses amount to

about US$19 millions and the detour reposition with the new

road and other costs (US$6.35 million), make the total cost

about US$25.5 million, the cost of almost 9 kilometers of

new

road, expended due to only 350 m of problems.

5 SOME CONCLUSIONS

(a) Villeta detour did not have detailed geotechnical

studies prior to construction, which perhaps could allow to
prevent the instability problems which were generated
practically since the start of its construction.

(b) An analysis made on the numerous studies performed

during the detour’s operational period and on the decisions
made, leaves an impression of improper management and the
treatment given seems to be indicated more for rutine road
maintainance that for such a big problem.

(c) None of the first studies performed between March 1999,

when the situation was already critical, and the first
months of the year 2001, met the subsoil exploration,
sampling, testing and analyses requirements compatible with
the size of the problem.

INGEOMINAS. 1998. Geology of the Map 208-VilletaColombian

Geoinformation Institute on Mining, Environment and Nuclear

ResearchINGEOMINAS, 1998.

MONTERO, J. GONZALEZ, A.J. CASTRO, C.A. & OSORIO, J.A.

2004. Follow-up of the instability in El Cune SiteX Colom

bian Geotechnical Congress – Vol. 1 – pp.657–667 – Colombian

Geotechnical SocietyPaipa, August 2004.

OSORIO, J.A. 2004. Corrective measures to be implanted at

El Cune

sector (PR 64+000 to Pr 65+850 Honda-Bogotá road). Thesis –

Specialist in Geotechnics with emphasis on Roads – .

Universidad

Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. UN-BOGOTÁ 2002. Diagnostic

study on emergency between PR 64+000 and PR 65+850 “El
Cune” of the Honda-VilletaTobiagrande-Bogotá road, Route
50, Stretch 5008 – Universidad Nacional de Colombia,
Bogotá. UN-MEDELLIN 2003. Diagnostic study on emergency
between PR 64+000 and PR 65+850 “El Cune” of the
Honda-VilletaTobiagrande-Bogotá road, Route 50, Stretch
5008 – Interadministrative Agreement 072 of
2003.-Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Evaluating
the adhesion strength of different sealants on kimberlite
S. Saydam School of Mining Engineering, University of New
South Wales, NSW, Sydney, Australia Y.S. Docrat De Beers,
Group Mining & Exploration, Johannesburg, South Africa

ABSTRACT: Numerous adhesion test methods have been proposed

by researchers to measure the adhesion strength of liners.

Adhesion and tensile strength of a liner are important

physical characteristics controlling its capacity to
adequately support free

rock between rockbolts. Adhesive strength is a significant

property controlling the design and performance of liner
support

systems. The use of sealants as a means to improve tunnel

wall stability is currently being investigated by De Beers.
The main

function of such liners in De Beers would be to seal the

kimberlitic rock to prevent weathering of underground
excavations.

Previous adhesion tests indicated that the measurements are

useful to understand the weathering process of kimberlites.
The
current series of laboratory tests, conducted at De Beers’
Ground Support Laboratory in Johannesburg, provide useful
results

indicating the adhesion strength of different liners on the

kimberlite substrate.

1 INTRODUCTION

The adhesion strength is one of the most important mechan

ical properties of a liner material. In the past, many

adhesion

test procedures have been proposed by researchers to assess

the characteristic adhesion/bond strength of Thin Spray-on

Liner (TSL) agents. A TSL is defined as a thin chemical

based

coating or layer that is applied to mining excavations at a

thick

ness of 3 to 5 mm. Mercer (1992) conducted tests with large

diameter plates (250 mm) to measure adhesion strength on

rough rock surfaces in underground sites and on thick con

crete slabs in a laboratory. Tannant et al. (1999) and

Archibald

(2001) conducted direct pull tests on perforated steel

plates

to measure adhesion between TSLs and various substrate

materials. Tannant et al. (1999) conducted tests with small

diameter plates (59 mm) on rock slabs in a laboratory.

Espley

Boudreau (1999) conducted in-situ and laboratory TSL tests.

Underground adhesion testing of TSLs, similar to laboratory

plate-pull testing, on rock and shotcrete was also performed

with a range of cure times and for various moisture levels

by

Espley et al. (1999). Öztürk & Tannant (2004) recommended

an adhesion test method which was a modification of previ

ous methods and was based on direct pull-off of an elevator

bolt that was attached to a liner with an epoxy with

different

rock types and environmental conditions. An adhesion test

developed for different liners at defined curing times in

labo

ratory and underground conditions during a Safety in Mines

ResearchAdvisory Committee (SIMRAC) project by Kuijpers

et al. (2004).

Two types of bond strength need to be considered: tensile

and shear.Tensile-bond strength is a measure of the ability

of a

liner to remain in contact with the rock when a tensile

stress is

applied normal to the rock-liner interface. Shear-bond

strength

is concerned with the ability to resist stresses that act

parallel

to the rock-liner interface (Kuijpers, et al., 2004). In

practice

however, there is a combination of the stresses acting on

the

interface.

Failure may occur due to low tensile-bond strength between

liner and rock surface. Adhesion strength on different rock

types and the factors influencing the adhesion are
important test considerations (Yilmaz et al., 2003). In
this study, adhesion tests were conducted on kimberlite as
it is the predominant rock type in De Beers. The company
applies the liner to act as a sealant, an impervious
barrier to prevent moisture from decomposing kimberlite.
For kimberlite, adhesion test provides added information on
the degree of weathering caused by a liner on the rock when
measured against a test control. In this study, the test
control substrate used in the laboratory adhesion tests was
concrete. The test method adopted was a direct pull test
with over coring of the test elements. Tests were repeated
underground to measure the in-situ strength of the liner on
the kimberlite. The aim of the adhesion test work was to
evaluate the appropriateness of the test for use as a
Standard by De Beers as well as to specify performance
criteria for liners. 2 TEST PREPARATION AND EXECUTION A
hydraulic adhesion/tensile test apparatus that works on a
distributed force pull off system was used in the tests.
Figure 1 shows the apparatus which includes the main
hydraulic power unit, testing head, steel test dollies,
cutting tool and a heating iron. The apparatus, PAT
GM01Elcometer, can apply a maximum force of 6.3 kN. The
steel test dollies are Figure 1. Elcometer-PAT adhesion
tester system.

28.2 mm (diameter) which is the standard size supplied with

the equipment. For the size of dollies used, the maximum

test

pressure is 0–10 MPa.

The laboratory tests were undertaken at the De Beers

Ground Support Laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The liners for the laboratory tests were manually applied

as opposed to being sprayed on. The liner thickness was

consistent with the supplier’s recommendations. The test

elements were glued to the surface with Araldite epoxy

(HY4076/AV4076). The test area was over-cored using a cor

ing bit, so the pull force would be contained over the area
under

the test element, thereby providing more accurate results.

Figure 2 provides a schematic of the test to illustrate the

manner in which the test element is fixed onto the coating.

Liners were placed on concrete blocks (for control), rough

kimberlite and cut kimberlite. Ten different liners, from

seven

different companies, were each tested these being:

• Liner 1 – A modified styrene synthetic polymer

• Liner 2 – Cementitious Blend

• Liner 3 – Cementitious Blend

• Liner 4 – Epoxide resin

• Liner 5 – Acrylate Cementitious Blend

• Liner 6 – Acrylate Cementitious Blend

• Liner 7 – Cementitious Blend

• Liner 8 – Polymer Latex combined with cement, silica sand,

and inorganic fillers

• Liner 9 – Propylene/Ethylene Copolymer

• Liner 10 – Styrene acrylate copolymer emulsion

Due to confidentiality agreements between De Beers and

the liner companies, product names are not disclosed. Liners

2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9 can be classed as TSLs while the

remainder

of the products can be classified as sealants which are

coatings

applied as a thin film. Liners applied to concrete, rough

and

cut kimberlite were left to cure for seven days before

testing.

2.1 Concrete test as a control

Concrete slabs were used as a test control to measure the
rel

ative performance of a coating on this material compared to

kimberlite. The concrete was less likely to be affected by

the

liner in terms of weathering and would therefore provide a

closer estimate of the adhesion strength of a liner.

Adhesion

on kimberlite was measured against the concrete control to

evaluate relative performance. Figure 3 shows the concrete

test on a number of liner products.

2.2 Kimberlite adhesion tests

Kimberlite tests were performed on cut (Fig. 4a) and rough

(Fig. 4b) TKB kimberlite (Tuffisitic Kimberlite Breccia –

abundant ilmenite, few garnets, abundant altered, pyrox

enes, diagnostic vari-coloured, swelling rock) (Bartlett,

1994)

obtained from Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa. Cut

and rough kimberlites were used to determine the capacity of

the liner coatings to handle varying surface conditions.

2.3 In-situ adhesion tests

Preliminary in-situ adhesion tests were conducted at Finsch

Diamond Mine in SouthAfrica with two liner products (Liners

9 and 10) to measure performance of the liners and of the

test

in an underground environment. Figure 5 shows an in-situ

test

in a tunnel wall. Figure 2. Schematic of a test element

glued onto a substrate. Figure 3. An illustration of the
adhesion test on concrete. Figure 4. (a) Adhesion test on
cut and (b) rough kimberlite. Figure 5. In-situ adhesion
test (a) overcoring, (b) testing of a sealant.

Table 1. Average adhesion strength of liners on concrete.

On rough On cut On concrete kimberlite kimberlite

Liners (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)

Liner 1 2.36 3.24 2.36

Liner 2 0.96 1.58 1.32

Liner 3 1.36 1.41 1.75

Liner 4 6.38 6.77 7.64

Liner 5 3.85 2.92 1.58

Liner 6 6.65 4.89 4.55

Liner 7 1.11 0.04 0.05

Liner 8 1.31 0.96 1.15

Liner 9 2.19 1.42 1.22

Liner 10 3.34 3.27 4.44

3 RESULTS

3.1 Concrete control test results

Tests were initially conducted to establish the bond

strength of

the epoxy as this parameter needed to be high enough if

tests

were to be successful. Too low a strength would result in

fail

ure between the epoxy and the liner or the epoxy and the
steel

dolly and would render a test invalid given that the premise

of the testing was to establish the bond strength of a liner

on a substrate. The average adhesion strength of the epoxy

was 7.83 MPa on concrete. The results indicate that Liner

4 (6.38 MPa) and Liner 6 (6.65 MPa) provided the highest

adhesion strength.

3.2 Rough kimberlite test results

Tests were conducted on rough kimberlite as this is

representa

tive of the kimberlite surface rock conditions (texture)

which

would be encountered underground. Liner 4 (6.77 MPa) and

Liner 6 (4.89 MPa) provided the highest adhesion strength

results, though the results for Liner 6 were not as high as

those measured for concrete (6.65 MPa). The other signif

icant results were from Liner 1 (3.24 MPa) and Liner 10

(3.27 MPa). Particular mention is made of the liner product

Liner 7; its adhesion on concrete was 1.11 MPa which reduced

to practically zero for kimberlite.

3.3 Cut kimberlite test results

Cut kimberlite is used to determine the bond strength on

a smooth surface together with any weathering which may

result. Liner 4 (7.64 MPa) and Liner 6 (4.55 MPa) provided

highest adhesion strength, together with Liner 10.

Table 1 shows the average adhesion results of liners on

concrete blocks and on rough and cut kimberlite samples.

During testing failure did not necessarily occur between

the liner and the host rock (substrate), but also occurred
along
other surfaces. Internal failure of the host rock,
de-bonding

between the liner and the epoxy, internal failure of the

epoxy

or the liner and de-bonding between the steel disc and the

epoxy are the alternative modes of failure. The epoxy and

the

contact between epoxy and liner as well as the contact

between

epoxy and steel disc are not supposed to fail.

It is interesting to note the differences in adhesion

strengths

between rough and smooth (cut) kimberlite. Differences may

arise as a result of the liner products ability to bond to

smooth

surfaces, or alternatively the degree of weathering

provided Table 2. In-situ average adhesion strength of
liners. Liners Adhesion strength (MPa) Epoxy 4.55 Liner 9
1.40 Liner 10 3.49 -100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A d h e s i o n C h a n g e ( % ) [ c o
n c r e t e a s b a s e l i n e ] Rough Kimberlite-Liner
Cut Kimberlite-Liner Figure 6. Performance of products
shown relative to concrete baseline. by the differences in
surface texture. In terms of the absolute differences
between cut and rough kimberlite, Liner 5 results showed
the most variability with an adhesion loss of 1.34 MPa from
rough to smooth kimberlite. Liner 4 also showed a
significant change, however with this product there was an
increase in result from the rough to the smooth kimberlite.
The reason for the increase could possibly be that on
smooth kimberlite the sealant behaves as a continuous unit,
whereas on the rough kimberlite it acts as discrete units
influenced by the surface texture. 3.4 In-situ test results
Liners 9 and 10 were tested following seven days of curing
along tunnel walls. Epoxy adhesion strength was also
measured for control purposes.Table 2 provides the average
results of the testing. 4 ANALYSIS OF TEST RESULTS The
results show that Liner 4 (sealant – epoxide resin) has the
greatest adhesion strength of the products tested on the
kimberlite samples. The idea behind testing this product
was that it could be sprayed on the kimberlite surface, and
shortly thereafter apply shotcrete could be sprayed over
the sealant. In this way the safety risks associated with
an epoxy could be mitigated. Of the sealant type products,
Liner 10 provided favourable results on kimberlite. Of the
cementitious liner products (TSLs) tested, Liner 6 provided
the best overall results. The relative adhesion performance
of the products compared to concrete is shown in Figure 6.
In this figure, adhesion results on concrete are taken as
the baseline (0% y-axis), with each products adhesion on
rough and cut kimberlite measured against this datum and
shown as a percentage difference. According to Figure 6,
Liner 5 showed significant adhesion loss on cut kimberlite.
The tests indicated that with some products there is
penetration into the substrate (few mm) which appears to
improve the adhesion strength. Liner 7 also showed very
considerable adhesion loss on both cut and rough
kimberlite. This product, which has a large proportion of
water in

Figure 7. Kimberlite weathering under Liner 7 product. 1.42

3.27 1.40 3.49 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00
Liner 9 Liner 10 A d h e s i o n S t r e n g t h ( M P a )
Rough Kimberlite-Liner Underground Test

Figure 8. Comparison of rough kimberlite lab and

underground test

results.

Table 3. Comparison of De Beers’ and CSIR-Miningtek adhesion

test results. De Beers adhesion CSIR-Miningtek adhesion

Liner strength (MPa) strength (MPa)

Liner 1 3.24 3.80

Liner 2 1.58 1.50

Liner 5 2.92 2.60

its mix, caused kimberlite weathering. Weathering causes the

kimberlite to disintegrate resulting in the liner bonding

onto

small broken rock fragments; the result is total adhesion

loss

(Fig. 7).
Underground tests on Liners 9 and 10 are compared in

Figure 8 with the results from laboratory tests on the rough

kimberlite. The results for both products are quite close

which

indicates that the adhesion test gives realistic results.

However,

further in-situ testing is required to confirm this

conclusion.

De Beers Mining Research had prior to these tests con

tracted CSIR-Miningtek to conduct adhesion tests on Liners

1, 2 and 5. The results of their tests are compared in

Table 3

to confirm that they are credible. Results are similar for

the liner/sealant products tested using two different

testing

apparatus.

5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In terms of bond strength, Liner 6, as a TSL product, and

ABSTRACT: Big quarries are mined out in the Tournai’s

region (Belgium) for cement or crushed raw materials
production.

The development of this industrial activity is due to

famous outcrops of carboniferous limestone in the region.
The rock masses

in the area are characterised by three sets of

discontinuities among which two have a near vertical
dipping; and these sets are

intersected a time to time by some typical faults. It is

generally recognised that, when subjected to the effect of
percolating

water, the limestone undergoes a weathering leading to very

poor material on the mechanical point of view. Such a
material

cannot be used as crushed rock. When designing the rock

blast, the mining engineer has to plan and drive the
operations in

order to decide about the most suitable destination for the

mined out material, i.e. crusher of waste dump.

A particular method has been developed in this paper to

assess continuously the quality of the rock being drilled
for blast

holes. This uses the drilling logs (i.e. weight on bit,

rate of penetration, and rotation torque) to evaluate the
strength of the rock

mass. A mechanical “energy index” that can be related to

the destruction specific energy is defined. A correlation
is then built

with the GSI (Geological Strength Index) as described by

Hoek and Brown (1997). The working method involves the
definition

of the GSI per zone and a specific treatment to assess the

magnitude of the corresponding energy index. This can be
used to

update the geological map of a quarry based mainly on the

directions of natural fractures.

1 INTRODUCTION

The “Société des Carrières du Tournaisis (SCT)” is mining

the “Carrière du Milieu”, a quarry in Gaurain-Ramecroix, a

village close to the Tournai city, Belgium. This quarry sup

plies two big companies with crushed materials (Holcim) and

cement + crushed materials (Italcimenti) for an overall

planed

production of 11 millions tons per year. While the cement

production relies on the chemical quality of the limestone,

the production of crushed rocks requires good mechanical

properties.

The Tournai’s limestone deposit is intersected by a series a

sub vertical joints that divide the body into different

blocks,

and hence, lead to the typical cave weathering phenomenon.

The mining operations in the quarry show that the extent of

weathering, mainly in the shallow benches, can lead to a

recov

ering of less than 40% of the rocks, the remaining material

is

dumped in the waste backfilling area of the western depleted

part of the quarry. It is therefore of some importance to

develop

a prediction tool that can rapidly allow the production

engineer

to decide about the destination of the removed block.

2 GEOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE

SITE UNDER STUDY

The Tournai’s limestone outcrop belongs to the Carboniferous

formations of the northern border of Namur’s Synclinorium

(Belgium). This is a strip lying from eastern Namur to

western

Lille in France. In the Western part of this synclinorium

the

structure is characterised by the Roubaix’s synclinal

followed

by the Mélantois-tournaisis anticline in which the quarries

of

the tournasian basin have been opened. The outcrop is

characterised by argillaceous limestones which sometimes
contain hard silica nodules. When looking the deposit from
the top to the bottom of limestone materials, the
identified seams are (Hennebert & Doremus 1997): • The
Calonne unit with a thickness of 50 m. The bottom of this
formation is characterised by the so called “Gras Délit”
which is a thin clay layer. • The Vaulx and Chercq unit:
32–35 m. • The Pont-à-Rieu unit: 21–22 m. • The Providence
unit: 35 m. • The Allain unit: 30 m. • The Crampon unit: 12
m. The limestone is generally covered by sandy and clayey
sand formations.The top of the limestone is generally
horizontal but is affected by caves and other cave
phenomenon. The Milieu’s quarry is actually mined in seven
benches of varying heights. On the tectonic point of view,
the Mélantois-tournaisis anticline is crossed by numerous
faults which are parallel to its axis; this is a typical
horst structure named “Tournaisis Horst”. These faults
subdivide the deposit into many compartments oriented
according the East-West or NW – SE directions. 3 ROCK MASS
CHARACTERISATION We performed a systematic analysis on the
three first benches of the quarry in order to quantify the
variation in the mechanical quality of the limestone
(Fautrez et al. 2004). The main job consisted in taking
pictures from positions whose coordinates were defined by a
GPS device, and then identify the joints with respect to
direction, dipping and weathering. The observations in the
quarry allowed a classification of fractures into two main
sub vertical sets S1 and S2, to which

Figure 1. An example of a bench face image processing for

rock

mass characterisation.

Figure 2. Colour profile used to map the GSI (the dashes

represent

the GSI value evaluated per geotechnical zone).

a third set S3 represented by the stratification, can be

added.

The characteristics of identified sets of joints are as

follows:

N30 ◦ E for S1 and N100–110 ◦ E for S2 with a mean dipping

of about 90 ◦ .

For assessing the quality of the rock mass, we used the

Geological Strength Index or GSI defined by Hoek & Brown

(1997). This index can be determined simply by observing on

one hand the size and distribution of the rock blocks, and
on

the other hand the quality of the joints (i.e. rough of

filled with

argillaceous materials).

When surveying the quarry, we first divided the working

area into constant quality zones, or geotechnical zones.

These

zones have been delineated by points named “Limit Points or

PL” that we had to position on a topographical map. We also

used a colour profile to map the GSI value on the topography

of the quarry; Figure 2 illustrates this colour profile in

terms

of levels of greys.

It can be seen that the GSI values are distributed along a

diagonal; this means that extreme conditions such as a very

disintegrated limestone presenting no weathering is seldom

as well as a weathered very blocky. For reason of readabil

ity we mapped only few geotechnical zones with related GSI

assessment on Figure 3.

4 PRODUCTION DRILLING LOGGING

The SCT equipped one of his drilling rig, a T4 Ingersoll

Rand

machine, with a real time drilling parameters monitoring

and Figure 3. Some geotechnical zones identified in term of
GSI identified by different levels of greys. logging
system. The following parameters are registered and
monitored on the display of the machine: • The depth from
the top (measured each centimetre), • The rate of
penetration (Va), • The hydraulic pressure on the bit (Po),
• The rotation torque (Cr). 5 QUALITY OF THE ROCK MASS
USING THE DRILLING LOG 5.1 Some theoretical considerations
As the real time logging is aimed to identify the low
strength zones, it is very difficult to get such
information by looking to the individual curves obtained.
We then had to develop an original method. The rock
destruction by drilling tools can be considered as due to
the combination of two physical mechanisms: • Punching of
the rock by exerting a vertical thrust on the bit also
known as the weight on bit (WOB); • Lateral removal of
debris by exerting a horizontal force that is related to
the torque. An efficient choice of the drilling tools will
influence the punching and lateral pull out mechanisms and,
hence, allow the destruction of the rock in conditions of
minimal energy consumption and tool wear. According to the
used technique, the weight on bit can be imposed statically
(rotary drilling) or dynamically (percussion
drilling).TheT4 machine is equipped with a percussive
drilling system. In such a mechanism the influence of the
torque is low and can be neglected. Among the parameters
used to characterise the drilling performance, the
“specific energy” is the most common. This is the energy
consumed by unit volume of rock destroyed. Since the
definition of this concept by Teale (1965) many researches
demonstrated the linear relationship between the specific
energy and the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of the
rocks. The interest in using this relationship is the
independent laboratory characterisation that can be
performed on these two intrinsic rock parameters. But one
must be aware on the fact that different techniques can be
used to measure the specific energy: cutting or punching
tests for instance. The most suitable technique has to be
related to the drilling mechanism under consideration, for
instance, when dealing with percussion drilling, we
consider that the punching test is preferable to the
cutting one. Using a punching test device developed in our
laboratory we built a relationship between the UCS and the
punching strength as can be seen on Figure 4 (Tshibangu
1999). 0 1000

2000

3000

4000

5000
6000

7000

8000

9000 0,0 50,0 100,0 150,0 200,0 250,0 Rc (MPa)

( M

P a

) 1 Limestones R²=0.7331 2 Schists R²=0.9017 3

sandstones R²= 0.9032 4 Granites R² = 0.8480 5 Gabbro R²
= 0.6620 1 2 3 4 5

Figure 4. The relationship between the punching resistance

Rp and

the uniaxial compressive strength Rc (Tshibangu 1999).

The formula for assessing the specific energy is as follows

(Kennedy 1990):

In which e is the specific energy [J/m 3 ] or [kWh/m 3 ]; E

repre

sents the energy consumed; V is the volume of rock removed;

A is the cross-sectional surface of the hole; P is the

power and

R is the rate of penetration.

In order to assess the specific energy from the logging

data, we focussed on understanding the percussion mecha

nism. Because of the lack of technical details about the

power

distribution between the rotation and percussion mechanisms

on the equipped drilling rig, we neglected the influence of

the
torque as already stated before.

The percussion energy is of kinetic type and is given by

(Hartman 1990):

And one can draw the power as:

Where m is the mass of the piston; v the impact speed; c is

a

constant, W is the weight of the piston; L is the stroke of

the

piston; and B is the percussion frequency.

The Equation 3 shows that the developed power depends

strongly on the percussion frequency. As given by manufac

turers, Figure 5 gives a relationship between the hammer

flow

rate of the power fluid (air or oil) and the pressure. If

such a

diagram is not available, a method can be developed to

assess

a parameter E’ as the image of the specific energy.

The down-the-hole hammer used on the T4 is of type QL6

whose some interesting characteristics are: net weight W:

90 kg; stroke L : 100 mm; and bore : 114 mm.

In Equation 2 we can then replace the frequency by the oil

pressure of the thrust circuit by mean of a multiplying

factor.

If we also consider constant values for the weight W and the

stroke L, we can easily demonstrate that the specific energy

can be expressed as follows: Figure 5. Relationship between

the pressure and the flow rate of the fluid (hydraulic oil
in the case of the T4 Ingersoll rig (from Ingersoll-Rand
catalogue). 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
160 180 200 220 E' P r o f o n d e u r ( m ) Sans Moyenne
Glissante Avec Moyenne Glissante. Figure 6. a logging
signal processing by sliding mean. where the g constant
depends on the hammer (weight and stroke) and the diameter
of the hole. By assuming the g coefficient as constant and
setting its value to 1, we define the E’ coefficient as an
image of the specific energy: 5.2 Data processing and
assessment of the quality of the rock mass The first step
is the application of Equation 5 to the log diagram of a
hole in order to assess the variation of the specific
energy. As the raw signal is affected by a noise (due to
rock strength variation, vibrations, electrical
disturbance, etc.) we performed a sliding mean calculation
(up to 3 iterations) to smoothen the curves. Figure 6 gives
a typical result; and one can see in this case that three
levels of energy or resistance can be clearly identified.

Figure 7. A synthetic sketch describing the quality of the

rock mass

for the blasted area designated 3AB. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

E' 1 2 3 4 5 10 11 12 13 Numér o du t r ou Moyenne de E'

par trou : Est 3 AB ligne 1

Figure 8. A histogram of the mean value of the specific

energy per

hole for the first row of the blast holes.

If a threshold value is defined to identify a weathered mate

rial using the E’parameter (by a correlation with the GSI),

one

can delineate such poor quality zones by linking equal

values

from a hole to another.

In the open pit mining operations the material selectivity

is

to be considered on the overall height of the bench. To

attain

this goal we computed the arithmetic mean of the specific

energy on the hole by hole basis.

Figure 7 is a synthetic sketch describing a blasted area des

ignated “Est 3AB”.As stated earlier the surveyed

geotechnical

zones are delimited par PL marks. The area on Figure 7 can

be

divided into two zones: the first one lies from PL5 to PL6
and

can be considered as composed by poor fractured rocks; while

the second one ranges from PL5 to PL2. This second zone is

globally composed of weathered materials even if some less

extended good quality rocks can be found inside.

The blasting of the zone has been organised into two rows.

We will focus on the first row of blast holes to show the

cor

relation between the visual quality and the mean value of

the

specific energy as represented by the E’ parameter. Figure 8

gives a histogram of the E’ mean value per hole for this

first

ABSTRACT: Hambach opencast mine is located in a densely

populated region in North Rhine-Westphalia (18 million
inhab

itants), one of the 15 most important economic regions in

the world. Hambach mine is one of three opencast mines in
the

region operated by RWE-Power. Lignite is used to produce

more than 50% of the electric energy required by the
industries

and cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. The lignite is of

Tertiary age and was deposited in a basin between the North
Sea and

the Rhenish Slate Mountains. These young deposits have, in

general, not been cemented and are excavated by bucket
wheel

excavators (operating weight: 13000 metric tons; production

in sand: 240000 m 3 /d). In the Miocene clay overburden
however,

post-sedimentary rock concretions “floating” in a stiff

clay matrix occur. The compressive strength of these rocks
is very large,

exceeding the theoretical limit which bucket wheel

excavators can cut. In order to maintain a high excavation
rate in these

layers, either the excavator, the deployment of the

excavators or the formation itself, needs to be adapted.
Therefore many tests

were performed on an in situ and a lab scale. These tests

include overcutting and undercutting tests with the bucket
wheel

excavators, D8-ripping tests, micro wave destruction of the

rocks and digging tests with different hydraulic excavators
etc. The

information gained by these tests, together with the

detailed geological description of the formation, is used
to determine the

optimum mining procedure to be able to maintain high

excavation rates in the formation containing rock
concretions.

1 INTRODUCTION

Hambach opencast mine is one of the largest opencast mines

in the world. The mine follows a long tradition of lignite

min

ing in the Cologne region. In this mining district,

overburden

removal by large bucket wheel excavators (BWE) reached

maturity, and today the largest BWE ever built are used in
great
numbers in this mining region. These machines have been

adapted to handle the uncemented soils found in the basin.

Difficulties arise when hard rock concretions are

encountered.

In the following text the geology of the region and the exca

vators in use are described. Thereafter the challenges

faced,

when excavating hard rock concretions are illustrated. Then

the experience gained, and the solutions found in Hambach

are presented.

2 GEOLOGICAL PICTURE

The mining district is located in between two “branches” of

the Rhenish Slate Mountains. During the Tertiary the Rhenish

Slate Mountains were weathered down. The sediments were

transported and deposited by rivers traversing the plane

area

– which was subjected to tectonic subsidence – towards the

North Sea. Lush vegetation developed in the subtropical cli

mate on this plane and along the coastline. During transand

regressions, processes promoting the development of marshes

(Pohl 1992), the dying organic material turned into peat.

Due

to subsidence of the plane, thick (400 m) peat layers accu

mulated (Walter 1995). This peat was transformed into 100 m

thick lignite deposits. Sand, clay and gravel accumulated

dur

ing the remainder of theTertiary and the following

Quaternary,
resulting in a several hundred meter thick overburden. Loess

was deposited on top of these layers (ENB 2005). In the 18th

century the lignite deposits close to the surface were

mined by

manual labour. At the beginning of the 20th century mechani

sation started. The excavators, developed in close

cooperation with the mining societies in the region, became
more and more sophisticated during the 20th century. In the
1970th the largest BWE ever built were constructed near the
site of the present Hambach opencast mine. Today these
machines are still in operation and will be in action up to
2045 when the last of the lignite will be mined in the
Hambach opencast mine. The machines were developed taking
the mechanical properties of the overburden into account. 3
SITUATION AT PRESENT Since a couple of years cemented
concretions are found in Miocene clays just above the
lignite layers. These concretions (Fig. 1) are
characterised (Table 1) by a very high unconfined
compressive strength (UCS; up to 80 MPa according to DIN
18126 in the lab; classed very to extremely strong
according to ISRM standards in the field). Since BWE are
traditionally designed for mining soft soils, the
excavation of these concretions presents a major challenge.
The dig/rip/blastability of the clay matrix and the rock
concretions is plotted in Fig. 2. The concretions are
called Toneisenstein (clay-ironstones) among the miners.
Traditionally they are know to occur in the hanging wall in
underground hard coal mines and were unknown in the
opencast Rhenish lignite mining district until recently.
Siderite is the dominant mineral in these deposits (>90%).
From a rock mechanical point of view, similar problems
occur in the opencast mines in the Boom clay, in the clay
pits in Flanders. There the clay is excavated by bucket
chain excavators. In Flanders the concretions are called
Septaria. In Hambach opencast mine the concretions occur
within a thick (several tens of meters) stiff,
overconsolidated Miocene clay (properties in Table 1),
called the clay matrix. The size of the concretions varies
from several cm to several meters. The horizontal extent
(up to several m) is larger than the vertical extent
(usually only several dm). The concretions are aligned in

Figure 1. A: An outcrop in the mine showing rock

concretions and

one of the rare examples of a horizontal extensive rock

layer within

the clay matrix. B: Concretion broken by firm hammer blow:

note the

shell shaped edges, characteristic of hard brittle rock. C:

A sample

during a UCS-test in the lab.

Table 1. Properties of the clay matrix and the rock

concretions.

Properties Concretion Clay matrix

UCS [MPa] (Lab: Average: 60 0,8 (Fi’= 11 ◦

DIN 18126) Min: 50 Max: 80 Coh ′ = 0,4 MPa) (Mohr Coulomb)

UCS [MPa] (In 100–200 ∼2

in situ)

PLT [MPa] (ISRM Average: 4

1985) Min: 2 Max: 8

Density (Ton/m 3 ) 3,3 2

Mineralogy Siderite: >90 Clay content ∼95

(Mass %) (XRD), hereof 65 Illite and 35 Kaolinite

Equivalent basal 8,6

spacing (Å)

LL-PL-Wc (% [54-94]-[19-38]

fluid content) [16-37]

UCS: Unconfined compressive strength; PLT: Point load

strength;

LL: Liquid limit; PL: Plastic limit; Wc: fluid content. Coh
′ Effective

cohesion; Fi ′ Effective friction angle.

sub-horizontal “layers”. Up to 5 of these sub-horizontal

“layers” have been identified. The dip of the layers is
steeper

than that of the clay layer itself.

4 MINING OF CONCRETIONS

Since the concretions can not be cut by the BWE there are

possible three different reactions that occur when the

bucket

teeth hit a concretion:

1) When the teeth of the buckets strike a concretion, these

concretions are pulverised. This action is characterised by
the dust shown in figure 3A.

2) When the teeth of the bucket strike a concretion, damage

occurs to the bucket (figure 3B). The replacement of the
bucket teeth results in additional maintenance (duration
and cost) and thereby loss of production.

3) The third possibility is the deviation of the bucket

wheel around a concretion (Fig. 4). This action causes – on
the long term – fatigue of the superstructure of the BWE.
Figure 2. The dig/rip/blastability based on Verhoef (1997)
and Brady & Brown (2004). The clay matrix is characterised
by the large ellipse on the left, the rock concretions by
the thin ellipse on the right. On the basis of this
classification the Miocene clay can be dug or ripped, the
rock concretions cannot be cut but must be blasted and
according to this figure ANFO seems to be a good choice.
Figure 3. A: Excavation of the clay with hard concretions
with a BWE (diameter of the wheel: 20 m). Note the dust
that develops when these concretions are crushed. B: Damage
to the teeth of the bucket (6 m 3 ) caused by the
excavation of hard concretions. Figure 4. The
characteristic sickle-shaped cut trace of the bucket in
clay, is interrupted in presence of rock concretions, by
slight bending of the bucket wheel (-boom). 5 ACTIONS TAKEN
To cope with the hard concretions, action can be taken on
three different levels; the BWE itself, the BWE deployment
or the formation is adapted (the last point is treated as
separate item in the following paragraph). – The adaptation
of the BWE: Regarding the adaptation of the BWE, the focus
lies especially on the reduction of time and cost required
for the inevitable maintenance. In this light, fixed idlers
were replaced with garland idlers and detailed studies were
directed to the wear of wearing plates in action. – The
adaptation of the BWE deployment: Field observations
confirmed that concretions located in the upper part of a

Figure 5. Two different types of low cut, A: the buckets

point

upwards and the BWE digs in while moving forward, B:

reversed ori

entation of the buckets. In both cases the overall

excavation direction

is to the right.

slice (a slice is formed by the BWE excavation during ter

race working) are excavated more easily than concretions

located in the bottom part, caused by the larger mass of the

clay matrix behind the concretion i.e. higher resistance of

the clay matrix. An adaptation of the layout of the benches

to profit from this favourable orientation is thwarted by

the variability of the overall orientation of these concre

tions and the rigid deployment boundaries characteristic of

BWE technology. How can this valuable information then

be used in practice? While performing a low cut (excavat

ing below the level of the crawlers), two different mining

technologies can be applied (Fig. 5):

A) the buckets point upwards and the BWE digs in while

moving forward, followed by a reverse transport and a

renewed

forward moving dig-in.

B) the buckets point downwards (reversed with respect to

standard excavation process, the high cut) and the BWE can
perform the low cut while continuously driving backwards

As field observations showed, situation A was more

unfavourable than situation B because in A at every dig-in,

the most unfavourable orientation of the concretions,

located

in the low part of a slice, was met.

This observation laid basis for the most important measure

in the category: adaptation of the BWE-deployment, today a

low cut is only performed with reversed buckets.This measure

is cost effective (nevertheless: a 2 shift loss of

production to

reverse the buckets has to be accepted) and simple to use.

Its success depends however a detailed knowledge of the

distribution of the concretions.

6 ADAPTATION OF THE FORMATION

The goal of an adaptation of the formation to meet the

require

ments of the BWE is to reduce the rock mass strength to

such a

level that it can be excavated without difficulty by a BWE,

i.e.

the methods aim at decreasing the rock mass class of the for

mation to such a level (reduction by one or two rock

classes),

that subsequent uptake of the loosened formation by the BWE

does not cause any problems. In general the adaptation of

the

formation can envisage to:

A) destroy the concretions within the clay matrix

B) loosen up the clay matrix, leaving the concretions (alas)

intact

A) To be able to destroy the concretion, one must be able

to locate these concretions exactly. The problem is that the

clay matrix shields the concretions from geophysical methods

like e.g. the georadar, because it can not penetrate the

clay

matrix (high relative dielectric constant). Because the con

cretions occur as floating rocks in a clay matrix aligned in

several subhorizontal layers, methods like seismic

refraction

will neither give a sophisticated result (defraction).

Fluids that

could dissolve the concretions will face the difficulty

that the

hydraulic conductivity of the clay is very low. Although

the Figure 6. Ripping test by a D8. In the figure on the
left, A denotes the “virgin” terrain, B shows the loosened
formation. In the figure on the right the circle marks a
dust cloud, formed by the occasional destruction of a rock
concretion by the D8. Figure 7. Digging tests with
hydraulic excavators, involved a CAT 375 (A) and an RH-40
(B). Attention was paid to keep the block size small (C; a
2 m scale) because the BWE will uptake the loosened
material. Tests were performed using different bucket teeth
(D & E). rock concretions can be destroyed by micro wave
energy, it is again the clay matrix that effectively
shields the rocks. The same accounts for blasting: only if
the charge is placed within rock concretions it will be
fractured. If the blast hole passed through the clay
instead of the rock (Murphy’s Law), the rock concretions
will remain intact. B) Loosening up the clay matrix: The
strength of the clay matrix results from the (reversible)
overconsolidation of the clay. The reversibility of the
overconsolidation is visible in the mine by the profound
erosion of the clay in those parts of the mine which are
currently not excavated. A possibility to loosen up the
clay matrix could be achieved by the force of water. Such a
method will turn the clay into a slurry, and excavating
such slurries cause other logistic problems in the mine.
Other methods to loosen the clay up, consists of mechanical
fracturing by ripping, digging or blasting (classification
in figure 2). Experience was gained by testing all three
methods in Hambach. The ripping test were performed using a
D8 (figure 6). Although ripping was successful, the effect
is rather low, because of the limited penetration depth of
the D8, 1,5 m, which is small compared to the size of the
bucket wheel. Digging tests were performed with a
Caterpillar 375 (80 tons) and a O&K RH-40 (105 tons)
(figure 7). If loosening of the clay matrix, prior to
excavation by the BWE, is applied in regular mining
operation, the available time given to the hydraulic
excavators is limited, hence its loosening rate must be
sufficiently high. Therefore literature studies and
performance tests were conducted in the Hambach mine to
evaluate

Figure 8. As was determined empirically, the productivity of

hydraulic excavators in difficult soils (e.g.

overconsolidated Tertiary

clay) is related to the installed power.

Figure 9. Preparation of the test field: Drilling of

boreholes for the

blasting test.

the required size of hydraulic excavator. As is shown in

figure

8, a 1:1 correlation was found between the productivity and

the installed power.

The hydraulic excavators excavated and deposited the mate

rial on site without any aid form other auxiliary equipment,

with at the same time guaranteeing a small lump size of the

excavated clay. These special requirements decreased the the

oretical productivity with a factor 2. The productivity and

digging depth of the RH-40 (5,5 m) are therefore too low

to be used in regular production. The loosing up of the clay

amounted volumetrically to 30% (max.). The BWE did not

experience problems while taking up the loosened material.

Blasting tests were performed using ANFO (∼0,24 kg

ANFO/m 3 Rock), 8m deep boreholes and a 4*4 m grid spacing

(Figure 9).

The loosing up while blasting reached a mere 10%. The

BWE faced problems while taking up the upper part of the

ABSTRACT: The paper describes some experiences during the

construction of the rock mass reinforcement in the
paleogene

flysch deposits for Adriatic motorway near city of Rijeka,

Croatia. During the construction, experiences pointed at
several

important factors with reinforcing of flysch rock mass with

rock bolts. The bond between rock mass and grout mixture
plays

the crucial role in rock mass reinforcement. There is the

need for using grout mixtures with lower deformation
modulus to

achieve gradual load transfer from rock mass to grout

mixture and finally to the rock bolt. The structures, which
are used to

transfer the load to the rock mass, should be much stiffer

from relatively thin supports made of reinforced shotcrete,
which are

commonly used. The support structures should be installed

as soon as excavation is made, to reduce the deformations
until the

activation of the support system and load transfer. Because

of flysch rock mass heterogeneity, the supervisor engineer
should

be competent to determine the rock mass condition in the

field of reinforcement regarding the designed assumptions.
The

designer in active design approach, based on the rock mass

conditions and monitoring results, could intervene with
adequately

changes in support system.

1 INTRODUCTION

During construction of cuts in rock mass, usual method for

sustaining of stability is reinforcement of the rock mass

with

rock bolts (Arbanas 2002, 2003). Flysch rock mass is signif

icantly weaker than other sediment rocks (Hoek et al., 2002)

regarding strength and deformability parameters. Because of

distinct heterogeneity, flysch rock mass is harder to

describe

with usual classification tests (Bieniawski 1989, Hoek et

al.

1998, Marinos & Hoek 2000, Marinos & Hoek 2001, Mari

nos et al. 2005). Result of that is that the reinforcement

of

flysch rock mass with rock bolts is significantly more

compli

cated. Because of relatively low strength parameters of

flysch

rock mass, which are lower then grout mixture strength, and

especially than rock bolts material, loosening mechanism of

the bolts starts by breaking of bonds between the rock mass

and grout mixture. Rock mass deformation modulus is sig

nificantly lower than modulus of used grout mixtures, and

activation of the bolts requires significantly higher

deforma
tion rock mass. As a result of these deformations, comes to
the

breaking of bonds between grout mixture and rock mass at the

beginning of the bolts, because of large difference in defor

mation modulus of grout mixture and rock mass. Because of

this transfer of the load (Windsor 1996, Windsor & Thompson

1996, 1997), this often leads to breaking of supporting

system,

although there is no total failure of the slope.

The paper describes experiences during the construction of

reinforcements in the paleogene flysch deposits during con

struction of Adriatic motorway near city of Rijeka, Croatia.

Flysch deposits in this area mainly consist of siltstones

and

marl, and rarely with layers of sand. Experiences during the

constructions, pointed at several important factors concern

ing reinforcement of flysch rock mass with rock bolts. The

major role in the reinforcement with rock bolts plays the

bond between flysch rock mass and grout mixture. Because of
large difference in strength characteristics and
deformability of flysch rock mass and grout mixture, it is
necessary to use drills with larger diameter and grouting
with higher pressure. There is a need to use grout mixtures
with lower deformability modulus in order to ensure gradual
load transfer from the rock mass to grout mixture and
finally on the rock bolts. Constructions used for outer
load transfer on the rock mass at the cuts’ face, must be
significantly stiffer than usual use of relatively thin
supports of reinforced shotcrete. After making the cut,
supporting constructions must be made as soon as possible,
in order to decrease shifting until complete supporting
system is activated and transfer of load (Arbanas 2004).
Because of flysch rock mass heterogeneity, supervisor
engineer should be competent to determine the rock mass
condition in the field of reinforcement regarding the
project assumptions. During active designing, in this case,
the designer engineer can intervene with appropriate change
of supporting system, taking into consideration findings
about rock mass condition, and measurement results. 2
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF FLYSCH ROCK MASS During period
from 2004 and 2006, segment of Adriatic motorway through
Draga valley near Rijeka was made. This segment of Adriatic
motorway with length of 6.8 km showed to be very demanding
in geotechnical terms, because of significant number of
objects (3 junctions, 2 tunnels and several viaducts) and
therefore expensive. Steep slopes of Draga valley are made
of limestone rock mass. At the bottom of the valley, there
are deposits of paleogene flysch mainly made of siltstones
with rare layers of sand, marl, and breccia. Flysch

rock mass is covered with sloped materials, which tend to

slide

and denude (Arbanas et al. 1994). Usual geotechnical profile

consists of three layers: clay cover made after

disintegration

of flysch rock mass (residual soil) or brought by

gravitation

from hypsometrically higher parts of the slope, layer of

weath

ered flysch deposits with variable weathered

characteristics,

which decrease with depth and fresh flysch zone. Because

of reasons how Draga valley had become, and geomorpho

logic processes which influenced at current relief, changes

in

geotechnical profile are often and sudden.

The rock mass is mainly made of siltstones which exhibit

visual transfer from completely weathered zone with yellow

color through highly weathered, moderately weathered and

slightly weathered deposits all the way to completely fresh

rock mass colored gray and blue. With completely weathered

siltstones, the rock mass is completely disintegrated, but
orig

inal structure of the rock mass stayed intact (ISRM 1978).

The layer of fresh siltstone rock has no visible weathering

marks, except color change on the main discontinuity

surfaces.

During decomposition of singular weathering zones of the fly

sch rock mass, along with visual check of the material from

test drills, significant contribution came from results from

geophysical measurements with surface seismic refraction

methods and down-hole method.

Determination of geotechnical properties of the flysch rock

mass, during geotechnical examination works, was disabled

because of the flysch rock mass behavior. During boring, it

is difficult to get undisturbed samples, because rock mass

damages in high to moderate weathered siltstones and sudden

degradation and disintegration of slightly weathered to

fresh

siltstones after geostatic loads are disturbed and exposure

to

air and water during examination boring. The consequence of

these processes in siltstones is very small number of usable

test results of geotechnical characteristics. The main

number

of tests is made with Point Load Test (PLT) method, where

samples, obtained by boring, can be used without further pro

cessing and almost immediately after sampling (ISRM 1985).

Disadvantage of Point Load Test is surely large dispersion
of

the results, which especially occur with weak rock masses

like

flysch.The results dispersion is surely influenced by rock

mass

layers, layers orientation during sampling, sample size, as

well

as weathering of flysch rock mass. But, regardless of given

dis

advantages, used Point Load Test method is recommended in

case of lack of more reliable testing, lack of appropriate

rep

resentative samples, and with detailed description of tested

samples of flysch rock mass. Test results with Point Load

Test

method on tested samples of fresh siltstones showed that uni

axial strength of these materials is from 10 to 15 MPa, and

in

extreme cases to 20 MPa.

Because there are no more reliable laboratory results of

strength parameters and deformability, for determination of

the behavior the GSI classification of rock mass (Marinos &

Hoek 2000), and findings of flysch mass behavior (Marinos &

Hoek 2001, Marinos et al. 2005) are used. The classification

of fresh siltstone rock mass is placed in group E (Weak silt

stone or clayey shale with sandstone layers) to H

(Tectonically

deformed silty or clayey shale forming a chaotic structure

with
pockets of clays. Thin layers of sandstone are transformed
into

small rock pieces.), with GSI values from 30 to 10 (Marinos

et al. 2005). The significant parameters decrease is found

with

increase of weathering of flysch rock mass. This effect

points

out the need of further elaboration of GSI classification

for

various weathering categories of rock mass. For determina

tion of strength laws the Hoek-Brown failure criterion for

rock mass is used (Hoek et al. 2002) with uniaxial strength
values of siltstone rock mass of σ c = 10 MPa and
disturbance factor D=0.7, which corresponds to machine
excavation. Deformation characteristics of siltstone are
even harder to determine than strength parameters. By using
suggested relations and values (Marinos & Hoek 2000,
Marinos & Hoek 2001, Hoek et al. 2002, Marinos et al.
2005), deformability parameters of flysch rock mass, which
come from back stress-strain analysis of in situ
measurement results show relatively low values of
elasticity modulus, which ranges form E = 80.000 to 200.000
kPa. 3 REINFORCING SYSTEMS APPLIED ON CUTS IN FLYSCH ROCK
MASS During the construction of the motorway, on the major
part of the road, the cutting in flysch rock mass is
designed and executed, and the cut stability is ensured
with rock bolts and appropriate supporting system.
According to executed geotechnical investigation works, use
of rock mass reinforcement system was specified in slightly
weathered to fresh rock mass, while in weaker parts of rock
mass the change of geometry is specified, with cut’s
construction with appropriate stable slopes. Flysch rock
mass reinforcing works showed for the need of additional
analysis of interaction between bolts and flysch rock mass.
To ensure cuts stability in flysch rock mass, primary
reinforcing systems were used selfboring rock bolts and
multilayered reinforced shotcrete as external part of
supporting system. The primary system’s task was to ensure
cuts stability in flysch rock mass during construction
phase. As an important addition to the supporting system
also was a drain system with shallow boring drains with
depth of 6.0 m.The secondary supporting system for
permanent insurance of the stability had specified a stiff
reinforced concrete frame construction supported in knots
with rock bolts from the primary supporting system. The
secondary supporting construction also represents an
element of final esthetic forming of the cut. During
construction, at few locations, there was failure of the
primary supporting systems with different failure
mechanisms. In most cases there was loosening of the
external load transfer element, breaking of multilayered
shotcrete, breakthrough of face plate and bolt head through
multilayered shotcrete, Figure 1, and breaking through rock
mass around Figure 1. Damages of external shotcrete support
system, rockbolts are still in function.

bolts, Figure 2. Mainly there was no overall failure of the

bolts. Only in few cases there was also loosening of the

bolt

and complete pull out of the bolt with supporting system.

The given cases showed for the need of additional analysis,

which would determine reasons for failure of the support

ing systems. Analysis showed that reasons for failures are

as

follows:

– Quality of the flysch rock mass was lower than that spec

ified in the project, and inappropriate supporting system

was used (raster and length of rock bolts);

– Unacceptably long works from excavation to installation of

the supporting system, and;

– Unacceptably low quality of performed works (rockbolt

grouting, quality of the grout mixture, quality of

shotcrete).

4 BEHAVIOR OF ROCK BOLT IN FLYSCH

ROCK MASS

Experiences during execution of the works, pointed out sev

eral important factors during construction of reinforcement

of flysch rock mass with rock bolts. The decisive role in

reinforcement with rock bolts represents the bond between

flysch rock mass and grout mixture. Because of relatively

low

strength parameters of flysch rock mass, lower than strength

of grout mixture, and especially than rock bolts material,

fail

ure mechanism of the bolts begins with breaking of bonds

between rock mass and grout mixture. Deformability modulus

of rock mass are significantly lower than with used grout

mix

tures, and activation of the bolts requires significantly

higher

deformation of the rock mass (Kilic et al. 2002). Because of

these deformations, comes to the breaking of bonds between

grout mixture and rock mass at the beginning of bolts,

because

of large difference in deformability modulus between grout

mixture and rock mass.

Failure of bonds between grout mixture and rock mass of

fully grouted rock bolt in flysch rock mass is analyzed with

GeoSlope Sigma/W software package (Geoslope 1998). The

model consisted of completely grouted rock bolt with 25 mm

diameter in a drill hole with 100 mm diameter with

properties

of cement grouting mass in material with properties of

flysch

rock mass, Figure 3. The axial-symmetrical model of the bolt

is chosen. Tip of the bolt is supported, and load to the
model

Figure 2. Failure of external support system without pull

out of

rockbolts. is spread around bolt’s head, like an element of

external load transfer to rock mass, Figure 4a. By
increasing of the load, comes to the yielding of material
all the way to the final failure. In the moment of
loosening of the bolt, it could be seen the forming of
yielding zone at the contact of grout mixture and flysch
rock mass, and the breaking occurs through the rock mass,
same as in the practice, Figure 4b. The yielding zone
increases in the internal load transfer area near external
support system, which explains failure in the constructed
supporting systems. According to analysis of behavior and
occurrence of breaking in the rock bolts reinforced flysch
rock mass, the additional requirements are noticed during
execution of these works. Because of large difference in
strength and deformability characteristics of flysch rock
mass and grout mixture, a requirement was set for wide hole
diameters and grouting at higher pressure. There was a need
to use grout mixtures with lower deformability modulus in
order to ensure gradual load Rockbolt d = 25 mm Grout mass
E = 10 6 kN/m 2 = 0.30 Rock mass E = 8 ⋅ 10 4 kN/m 2 =
0.35 1.0 m 1.0 m 0.25 m Figure 3. Rockbolt model. (a)
(b) Figure 4. Rockbolt numerical model (a) and yield zone
(b).

transfer from rock mass to grout mixture and finally on

bolts.

Constructions, which are used for external load transfer on

rock mass on the cut’s face, must be significantly stiffer

than

usually used relatively thin supports from reinforced

shotcrete.

The supporting constructions must be made immediately after

excavation, in order to reduce shifting until complete

support

ing system is activated and transferring of the load

(Arbanas

2003, 2004). This requires well-qualified contractor, as

well

as good quality control of the works, according to in situ

rock

mass conditions. Because of flysch rock mass heterogeneity,

the supervisor engineer should be competent to determine the

rock mass condition in the field of reinforcement regarding

the

designed assumptions.The designer in active design approach,

according to the analysis of rock mass conditions and measur

ing results, could intervene with adequate changes in

support

system (raster, bolts length, external support system) in

all

construction phases (Arbanas 2004).

5 CONCLUSIONS

During construction of cuts in rock mass, usual method for

sustaining stability is reinforcement of the rock mass with

rock bolts. Flysch rock mass, regarding strength and deforma

bility parameters is significantly weaker than other

sediment

rocks (Hoek et al. 2002). Flysch rock mass is harder to

describe with usual classification tests because of distinct

heterogeneity. Because of relatively low strength parameters

of flysch rock mass, which are lower then grout mixture

strength, and especially than rock bolts material, loosening

mechanism of the bolts starts by breaking of bonds between

the rock mass and grout mixture. Rock mass deformation

modulus is significantly lower than modulus of used grout

mixtures, and activation of the bolts requires significantly

higher deformation of rock mass.

According to analysis of behavior and occurrence of failure

in the rock bolts reinforced flysch rock mass, the addi

tional requirements are noticed during execution of these

works. Because of large difference in strength and deforma

bility characteristics of flysch rock mass and grout

mixture,

a requirement is set for wide holes and grouting at higher

pressure. There is a need to use grout mixtures with lower

deformability modulus, and constructions, which are used for

external load transfer on rock mass on the cut’s face, must

be

significantly stiffer than usually used relatively thin

reinforced

shotcrete support systems.

The support structures should be installed as soon as exca

vation is made. Because of flysch rock mass heterogeneity,

the supervisor engineer should be competent to determine the

rock mass condition in the field of reinforcement regarding

the

designed assumptions.The designer in active design approach,

according to the analysis of rock mass conditions and measur

ing results, could intervene with adequate changes in

support

system.

Arbanas, Ž., Benac, Cˇ., Andric´, M., Jardas, B. 1994.

Geotechnical
Properties of Flysch on The Adriatic Motorway from
Orehovica to

St. Kuzam. Geotechnical Engineering in Transportation

Projects,

Proc. symp., Novigrad, 5–8 October 1994., 181–190, Zagreb

(in

Croatian). Arbanas, Ž. 2002. The influence of rockbolts on

the rock mass behavior during excavation of deep cuts, MS
Thesis. Zagreb: Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of
Zagreb (in Croatian). Arbanas, Ž. 2003. Construction of
open pit Zagrad in Rijeka, Graðevinar, Vol. 55, No. 10:
591–597 (in Croatian). Arbanas, Ž. 2004. Prediction of
supported rock mass behavior by analyzing results of
monitoring of constructed structures, Ph.D. Thesis. Zagreb:
Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Zagreb (in
Croatian). Bieniawski, Z.T. 1989. Engineering Rock Mass
Classification. New York: John Wiley & Sons. GEO-Slope Int.
Ltd. 1998. User’s Guide Sigma/W for Finite Element/
Deformation Analysis, Version 4. Calgary. Hoek, E.,
Carranza-Torres, C., Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-Brown Failure
Criterion-2002 Edition. Proceedings of 5th North American
Rock Mech. Symp., Toronto, Canada, Dept. Civ. Engineering,
University of Toronto: 267–273. Hoek, E., Marinos, P.,
Benissi, M. 1998.Applicability of the Geological Strength
Index (GSI) Classification forVery Weak and Sheared Rock
Masses. The Case of the Athens Shist Formation. Bull. Eng.
Geol. Env., No. 57: 151–160. ISRM, Commission on
Standardization of Laboratory and Field Test 1978. ISRM
Suggested Methods for the Quantitative Description of
Discontinuities in Rock Masses. Int. Jour. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., Vol. 15, No. 6: 319–368. ISRM,
Commission on Standardization of Laboratory and Field Test
1985. ISRM Suggested Methods for Determining Point Load
Strength. Int. Jour. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech.
Abstr., Vol. 22, No. 2: 51–60. Kilic, A.; Yasar, E.; Celik,
A.G. 2002. Effect of Grout Properties on the Pull-out Load
Capacity of Fully Grouted Rock Bolt.Tunnelling and
Underground Space Technology, No. 17: 355–362. Marinos, P.,
Hoek, E. 2000. GSI-A Geologically Friendly Tool for Rock
Mass Strength Estimation. Proc. GeoEng 2000 Conference,
Melbourne. Marinos, P., Hoek, E. 2001. Estimating the
Geotechnical Properties of Heterogeneous Rock Masses such
as Flysch. Bull. Eng. Geol. Env., 60: 85–92. Marinos, P.,
Marinos, P., Hoek, E. 2005. The Geological Strength Index:
Applications and Limitations. Bull. Eng. Geol. Env., 64:
55–65. Windsor, C.R. 1996. Rock Reinforcement Systems, 1996
Schlumberger Award—Special Lecture. Proceeding of EUROCK
’96, Torino, Italy, http://www.roctec.com.au/papers.html.
Windsor, C.R., Thompson, A.G. 1996. Terminology in Rock
Reinforced Practice. Proc. 2nd North American Rock
Mechanics Conference NARMS’96 — Tools and Techniques,
Montreal,: 225–232. Rotterdam: Balkema. Windsor, C.R.,
Thompson, A.G. 1997. Reinforced Systems Characteristics,
Proceeding of Int. Symp. on Rock Support, Lillehammer,
http://www.roctec.com.au/papers.html. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Experimental study on
overhead transmission line’s foundation in Xinjiang
Tianshan permafrost region Qian Zengzhen School of
Engineering and Technology, China University of
Geosciences, Beijing, China Lu Xianlong & Cheng Yongfeng
Geotechnical Engineering Lab, Electric Power Construction
Research Institute, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Because of the frost heave and thawing

settlement, the permanent and seasonal frozen soil is
undesirable

geological ground in transmission line construction.

However, some transmission lines must pass the permanent
and seasonal

frozen soils in Xinjiang Tianshan permafrost region with

the development of Chinese power grid. In order to satisfy
project

construction requirements, the in-situ tests, including the

shear test, the thawing compression test, static loading
test, have all

been conducted firstly.And then based on the

in-situ-testing results and the project practice
experiences, the pile foundation type

has been chosen for transmission line foundation. According

to the similarity theory, the frozen soil-pile foundation
modeling

tests have been made to investigate the interaction laws,

including the freezing strength, the loading capacity, when
the frozen soil

and pile subject to the up-lift, compression, and toppling

force.All these in-situ and modeling test results will be
conducive to the
construction and optimization of the project, thus to solve
the similar engineering requirements effectively and
economically.

1 INTRODUCTION

The permanent and seasonal frozen soils are an undesirable

geological ground in engineering, which leads to the change

of

the strain and stress of the foundation embedded in it are

much

more complicated than those in other common areas because

of frost heave and thawing settlement. However, with the

west

ern development strategy and the west east electricity trans

mission project established by Chinese government, the

frozen

soil ground will become an unavoidable geological situation

during its construction because the permanent and seasonal

frozen soil widely distribute in these regions. The Huang-ji

220 kV transmission line is one of the projects that are

planned

by Xinjiang municipal government, whose foundations must

pass through the permafrost region in Tianshan.

However, we have no knowledge about the physical char

acteristics, mechanical and thermal properties of frozen

soil

ground there. Furthermore, there are no specified design cal

culation methods for them in the Technical Regulation for

Designing Foundation of Overhead Transmission Line (DL/T

5219-2005). In order to satisfy this project requirements,

the

in-situ test investigations and the frozen soil-pile

foundation

modeling test have been done, which will help us to have a

Table 1. The samples’ characteristics and their testing
results. Sample Layer depth Cohesion Friction Test site No
buried (mm) strength (kPa) angle ( ◦ ) Remarks Mo-Tuo-Guo,
in M1 800 2.69 49.2 thawing Nileke county M2 1250 soil M3
1700 1.83 51.7 M4 2300 M5 2800 7.69 29.8 M6 3300 Ji-Bu-Ke,
in Jinghe J1 1215 17.64 38.7 thawing county J2 1605 soil J3
1825 101.44 51.8 frozen soil J4 2225 better understanding
about the mechanical characteristics of the frozen soil
ground and the interaction law between the pile and frozen
soil foundation. All these testing outcomes will be
conducive to the construction and optimization of the
project. 2 IN-SITU TESTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 2.1 In-situ
soil-shearing test The in-situ soil-shearing test, which is
one of technical methods that are used to determine the
shear strength and other shear index value of the soil
mass, is widely used because of its simple equipments and
operation procedures. In the representative test in-situs
of Mo-Tuo-Guo , in Nileke County and Ji-Bu-Ke , in Jinghe
county, the in-situ soil-shearing tests have been done
against the same soil body on its different level. The
photo1 shows us the in-situ shear test equipment. There are
4 different levels in the test in-situ of Mo-Tuo-Guo and 6
different levels in the test in-situ of Ji-Bu-Ke. The
samples’ characteristics and their testing results are all
shown in following Table 1. The major damage styles after
the shear tests are disintegration, up heard, and collapse.

From Table 1, we can see that the shear strength, cohesion

strength and friction angle have some regularities in

Ji-Bu-Ke

in-situ test site, namely, their index values increase with

the

depth of the frozen soil levels. However, in the Mo-Tuo-Guo

test in-situ, whose topsoil is mainly made up of the

alluvial

deposit, the index value of its shear strength has no

regularity

whatsoever because of the different properties at each

level of

the soils.

2.2 Thawing compression test

The purpose of the thawing compression tests which have been

done on the undisturbed soil is to measure the

thaw-settlement

coefficient, which will provide the basic parameters for the

settlement calculations of the frozen soil ground under

loads.

The depth of the thawing compression tests pit is about 1.8

meters. The heating equipment is a water heater, which is

full

of hot water tank. The thaw-settlement coefficient refers to

the relative subsidence during the thawing of the frozen

soil

ground resulted from the self-weight stress. After the

layout of

the loading equipments and the temperature measuring equip

ments, the frozen soil ground under the load-bearing plate

began to thaw after being heated. When the settlement came

into the situation of stabilization, the detected thawing

depth is

about 300 mm by using the drilling steel.The measured subsid

ing deformation is 1.047 mm. The thaw-settlement coefficient

is determined by the following equation:

where α 0 is the thaw-settlement

coefficient,non-dimensional;

S 0 is the subsiding deformation during the thawing, in mm;

h 0 is the thawing depth, in mm. According to the testing

data and the above equation, the thaw-settlement coeffi

cient is α 0 = 0.35%. Based on the rating method by the

Code for Engineering Geological Investigation of Frozen

Ground (GB50324-2001), the thaw-settlement coefficient of

the frozen soil in this region is very small, and the

thawing

scale is II, which belongs to the weakly thawing subsidence

frozen soil.

Table 2. Basic vertical loading capability. Basic

compression

In-situ Up-lift bearing capability

test site angle ( ◦ ) (kPa)

Ji-Bu-Ke 15.1 280

Mo-Tuo-Guo 27.9 610 T—tangential frost-heave forces N—

normal frost-heave forces H—horizontal frost-heave forces

Figure 1. Frost-heaving forces acting on the foundation.

2.3 Static loading test The compression and up-lift test
under static load around foundation soil is an in site
testing, during which the loads will be applied to it step
by step through the load-bearing plate and the reaction
beam in order to observe the deformation of the foundation
soil and evaluate its bearing capability. According to the
above equipments and testing method, the results of the
tests include the compression and up-pull data have been
shown by the Table 2.The basic vertical bearing capability
of the frozen soil in Ji-Bu-Ke is lower than that in
Mo-Tuo-Guo. According to in-situ test results, the
following factors must be taken into consideration for
foundation design; firstly, the frozen soil grounds vary in
bearing capability in different site and different embedded
depth. As a result, the soil body has little uniformity.
Secondly, the thaw-settlement coefficient of the frozen
soil in this region is small, and the thawing scale is II,
which belongs to the weakly thawing subsidence frozen soil;
Finally, the surface of the frozen soil begin to thaw and
seepage deformation manifests after excavation, which
indicate that the frozen soil grounds have much instability
during the excavation. 3 FOUNDATION TYPE CHOICE In the
engineering design, the frost-heaving forces are divided
into normal frost-heave forces, tangential frost-heave
forces and horizontal frost-heave forces, which are shown
by the Fig. 1. All these frost-heave forces have different
impacts on the transmission line’s foundation. When there
are no special anchoring requirements, the horizontal
frost-heave forces act on the foundation symmetrically. As
a result, its composite force will be equal to zero and
have little effect on the foundation. But the horizontal
frost-heave forces acting on the foundation will increase
the freezing strength of the contact surface between the
foundation and the frozen soil, thus adding the tangential
frost-heaving forces indirectly. In China, the codes
stipulate that the embedded depth of foundation must be
greater than the standard freezing depth, thus to eliminate
the unfavorable effect resulted from the normal frost-heave
forces. How to eliminate the disadvantageous impact
generated by the tangential frost-heave forces is one of
the most important design contents because they have
significant effect on the stability of the transmission
line’s foundation. The project practices in the past have
been shown that pile is a good kind of transmission line
foundation, which lies in frozen soil ground. However, the
interaction laws between the frozen soil and pile must been
fully studied in order to provide the firsthand data for
design. 4 FROZEN SOIL—PILE MODELING TEST 4.1 Modeling test
equipments The modeling equipments are mainly composed of
the reaction force system, the refrigerating system, the
vertical and horizontal loading system, test macro and data
acquisition system. The modeling principal and its loading
system have been shown as Fig. 2. In order to simulate the
in-situ frozen soil ground, a system of refrigeration must
be prepared, mainly divided into two parts: the collecting
and distributing tube, which is shown as in Fig. 3.

4.2 Freezing strength between the frozen soil ground and

pile foundation under vertical loading

When the pile foundations which embedded in frozen soil are

subject to the up-pulling and compression loads, the cohe

sion strength between the lateral contact surfaces of frozen

soil ground and pile foundation will arise, which is called

the freezing strength between the frozen soil ground and

pile
foundation. As it is shown in Fig. 4, the freezing strength
dis

tribution has a second-degree parabola relationship along

the

Figure 2. The collecting and distributing tube of

refrigeration

system.

2 5

7 0 1 1 0 0 4 5 0 5 0 0 3 4 0 7 5 5 5 0 8 7 5 8 7 5 5 5 0 3
0 0 0 7 5

Figure 3. Experimental model and loading system.

Table 3. The strength index of frozen-soil pile foundation

under the compression and up-pulling loads.

Experiment type Compression test Up-pulling test

Strength Freezing Loading Pile end Freezing Loading

index Temperature/ ◦ C strength/kPa capacity/kPa

capacity/kPa Temperature/ ◦ C strength/kPa capacity/kPa
−4.4 ∼−6.8 74.20 3750 534.20 −4.3 ∼−6.8 81.82 3600 −5.3
∼−5.6 54.06 2800 395.43 −5.2 ∼−5.6 63.64 2400 Thawed 9.43
500 85 Thawed 9.10 400 Soil Soil pile body. With the
increase of pile body embedment the freezing strength
decreases. The strength index of the frozen soil ground and
pile foundation under the compression and uppulling loads
with different temperature has been shown as the Table 3.
From the Table 3, we can see that the compression load and
up-pulling load are transferred in different way when they
are applied on the top of pile. The former mainly beard by
the freezing strength between the side contact surface of
pile and soil ground. However, the latter is only beard by
the freezing strength. It also has been shown that the pile
end capacity is about 10∼15 percent of the vertical
compression load. Furthermore, up-pulling capacity is lower
than the compression capacity. 4.3 Frozen soil resisting
force under horizontal loads bending moment distribution of
the pile body. The distribution curve of the bending moment
along the pile body is illustrated in Fig. 5. With the
effects of both vertical (up-pulling, compressing) loads
and horizontal toppling loads, the rigidity of the pile
body is comparatively big in the pilesoil system. But all
the pile bodies bear great bending moment distributing as
“S”. Figure 4. The freezing strength distribution along the
pile body.

Figure 5. The distribution of moment under different load

behaviors.

Figure 6. The frozen soil resisting force along the pile

body.

4.4 Frozen soil resisting force horizontal loads

When the pile is subject to the horizontal force, the pile

will

rotate around the rotating center. The frozen soil resisting

force distributes along the pile body with the regularity of

a second-degree parabola relationship, shown by the Fig. 6,

ABSTRACT: A major factor to select a suitable place as

foundation for high concrete arch dams is the existence of
rock

abutments with high degrees of strength and stiffness.

However, discontinuities are found almost in any rock
masses and

thus dam abutments often consist of joints, bedding planes

and faults. The existence of discontinuities in rock mass
and the

influence of some characteristics associated with the

joints such as aperture, filling, roughness, normal and
shear stiffness, dip

and dip direction, spacing and geometric situation relative

to dam body cause jointed rock mass behaviour to be
complicated.

Furthermore, hydraulic and mechanical interaction causes

more complicated behaviour in rock mass. Accordingly,
disregarding

of joint effects may lead to an unsafe design. Malpaset dam

failure in 1959 demonstrated that hydromechanical effects
in

abutments might lead to instability of abutment and the

arch dam. Today, most of dam designers still use
conventional methods

paying no attention to hydromechanical process. In this

paper, the authors present the response of a typical
concrete arch dam

abutment under hydraulic and mechanical interaction using

UDEC software. In this study, the values of sliding and
opening

and the resulting water flow along discontinuities were

utilized as criterions for estimation of dam abutment
safety. The results

show that these indexes are good stable or unstable

condition indicators. We observe that the mechanical
parameters influence

arch concrete dams abutment hydraulic behaviour such as

maximum flow rate. Moreover, the initial aperture of joints
has the

noticeable effects on abutment response.

1 INTRODUCTION

The joints have an important role in the discontinuum media

response. The safety and failure mechanism are indicated by

separation and sliding values and rotation along joints. The

existence of large joint displacement inside abutments and

foundation and hydromechanical interaction can be the main

reasons of failure in arch dams. Accordingly, disregarding

of joint effects problem with them such as hydromechani

cal interaction may lead to an unsafe design. Malpaset dam

failure in 1959 demonstrated that hydromechanical effects in

abutments may lead to instability of abutment and also the

arch dam. In this paper the stability of a typical concrete

arch dam abutment under hydraulic and mechanical interac

tion was studied using distinct element methods and finally,

three failure indices, sliding, opening and the flow rate

along

discontinuities, used as criterions for the estimation of

dam

abutment safety.

2 DISTINCT ELEMENT METHOD

The essential feature of the distinct element method is its

abil

ity to model the arbitrary motion of each block with respect

to any other. Blocks may be rigid or deformable.

The integration of the motion law provides the new block

position and therefore, the joint displacement increments

(or velocities). Blocks are assumed to interact at discrete

points referred to as “contacts”. A force-displacement rela

tion describing joint behaviour at contacts is then used to

obtain forces that are applied to the blocks at the next

timestep.

The equations of translational motion for rigid block can

expressed as: where ü i ,α, �F i , m and g i are

acceleration of the block centroid, viscous
(mass-proportional) damping constant, sum of the forces
acting on the block (from the block contacts and applied
external forces), Block mass and gravitational acceleration
respectively. Equation (1) is expressed in finite
difference from as: where D 1 = 1 −α �t 2 , D 2 = 1 1 +α �t
2 and �t is time. The equation of motion for rotation is
given by: where ω, M and I are rotational velocity, total
torque, and moment of inertia respectively. The rotation
equation is integrated by finite differences in exactly the
same way as the translation equations. The deformability
and strength properties of joints are represented in the
numerical model by spring-slider elements located at
contact points between a block corner and an adjacent block
edge. A simple force-displacement law relates normal forces
directly to the amount of normal penetration, that is:
where F n , K n and un are normal force at the contact,
normal stiffness at a point, and total normal penetration
respectively. For most analyses, it is assumed that the
tensile strength of joints is zero. Shear forces are
considered to depend on

Table 1. Mechanical parameters of intact rock and joint

sets.

Joint set (45 ◦ ) Joint set (−45 ◦ ) Intact rock

K n = 100 Gpa/m K n = 100 Gpa/m E s = 10 Gpa

K s = 100 Gpa/m K s = 100 Gpa/m υ = 0.3

ϕ= 35 ϕ= 35 γ Rock = 2700 kg/m 3

c = 0.1 Mpa c = 0.1 Mpa

Dilation angle = 5 Dilation angle = 5

Initial aperture = Initial aperture =

0.5 mm 0.5 mm

load path. Incremental shear forces develop in proportion to

change in relative shear displacement, that is:

where �Fs, Ks and �u s are Change in shear force, Shear

stiffness at a point, and Incremental shear displacement

respectively.

3 DAM ABUTMENT MODELLING

The abutment modeled in this study is a hypothetical medium.

Fig. 1 depicts model pattern used. In its pattern, instead

of dam,

we model the forces that imposing to abutment. The Length

of abutment modeled in the reservoir is 30 meters. The

effects

of water are modeled by applying a mechanical pressure and

hydraulic head. for the rock mass, we considered two joint

sets. The first joint set has a strike of 45 degrees in

respect to

the x-axis and the other, has a strike of −45 degrees in

respect

to the x-axis. These joint sets follow the perfect plastic

mohr

colomb behaviour. A linear elastic behavior is considered

for

blocks. The Plan of abutment is shown in Figure 1

separately.

The whole of our analyses were done on separated abutment.

The adopted parameters of intact rock and joint sets are

given

in Table 1.

In this study three series of analysis are performed:

In all series of analyses, we considered three parameters as

failure indices:

Final max opening, final max slipping and Max transmis

sion flow rate.

Seri I. To evaluate the hydromechanical interaction and

fluid flow effects on stability of abutments, two cases are

considered: case 1, a rock mass medium with fluid flow and

case 2, abutment modeling without fluid flow. In these cases

we increase water pressure in the reservoir until the

failure of

abutment occurs.

Seri II. To evaluate the effects of initial aperture of

joints on
abutment behaviour, a parametric study has been conducted.

In these analyses, the water flow through the joints

considered

and water pressure in the reservoir is 2 Mpa and the compres

sive stress applied from dam body is 10 Mpa. Then the amount

of three failure indices are obtained for each initial

aperture.

Seri III. To evaluate the role of mechanical parameters of

joint sets on abutment safety and stability of dam, the

method

of strength reduction factor (SRF) is used. In this method,

the

mechanical parameters such as cohesion, friction angle, nor

mal stiffness and shear stiffness are decreased by SRF

factor

as follows until the failure occurs. 7.07m Water Pressure

Dam Compressive stress F r e e b o u n d a r y 37 5 0 m
3 0 m Figure 1. A limited area of abutment used in the
analyses. 4 RESULTS Seri I Case 1.The analysis results are
shown in Figure 2.The graph of maximum opening versus water
pressure is consisted of three stages.At first, the maximum
opening increases as water pressure increase until failure
occurs in the range of 4.85 Mpa. Then, this failure index
decreases up to water pressure of 5.1 Mpa. However, it
increases again with water pressure increase until abutment
failure in pressure of 5.6 Mpa. The trend of maximum
sliding shown in Figure 2 is similar to maximum opening in
the same Figure. Maximum Flow rate index has the same
behaviour as two pervious indices. Case 2. In these
analyses, we ignored fluid flow through the joints. The
results are shown in Figure 3. Seri II. The results of
these analyses are shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 shows that
the graph of maximum opening versus initial aperture is
consisted of two stages. At first, the opening decreases as
initial aperture increase up to initial aperture of 1
mm.Then, this failure index increases until abutment
failure. The maximum sliding index has the same behaviour,
but the maximum flow rate increases as initial aperture
increase until abutment failure in initial aperture of 1.48
mm. Seri III.These analyses are shown in Figure 5. Figure 5
indicates that the maximum opening is increased with the
increase of strength reduction factor (SRF) until abutment
failure in SRF = 2.6. The maximum sliding index and the
maximum flow rate index have the same behaviour. 5
DISCUSSIONS Seri I Case 1. With respect to the water
pressure that consists of two components: mechanical
(hydrostatic pressure) and hydraulic 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 Water Pressure (Mpa) M a x O p e n i
n g ( m ) Unstable Unstable 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
0.35 0.4 0.45 Water Pressure (Mpa) M a x S l i d i n g ( m
) Unstable Unstable 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 0
Water Pressure (Mpa) M a x F l o w R a t e ( m 3 / s )
Unstable Unstable 7.576.565.554.543.532.521.510.5 0
7.576.565.554.543.532.521.510.5 0
7.576.565.554.543.532.521.510.5

Figure 2. The variation of failure indices versus water

pressure

(fluid flow is considered). 0.0135 0.014 0.0145 0.015

0.0155 0.016 0.0165 Water Pressure (Mpa) M a x O p e n i n
g ( m ) 0.0135 0.014 0.0145 0.015 0.0155 0.016 0.0165 0
Water Pressure (Mpa) M a x S l i d i n g ( m )
13121110987654321 0 13121110987654321

Figure 3. The variation of failure indices versus water

pressure

(fluid flow is not considered). 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

0.3 0 Initial Aperture (mm) M a x F l o w R a t e ( m 3 / s
) unstable 0.068 0.07 0.072 0.074 0.076 0.078 0.08 0.082
0.084 Initial Aperture (mm) M a x O p e n i n g ( m )
unstable 0.068 0.07 0.072 0.074 0.076 0.078 0.08 0.082
0.084 Initial Aperture (mm) M a x S l i d i n g ( m )
unstable 2.72.42.11.81.51.20.90.60.3 0
2.72.42.11.81.51.20.90.60.3 0 2.72.42.11.81.51.20.90.60.3
Figure 4. The variation of failure indices versus initial
aperture. (fluid flow), interaction of these components is
the main reason for this behaviour in Figure 2. In other
word, in water pressure under 4.85 Mpa, hydraulic component
governs abutment response. Naturally, the joints that flow
exclusively occurs through them have a main role in this
case, and opening increase is anticipated. In water
pressure over 4.85 Mpa, mechanical component governs
abutment response. That is why, the mechanical component
result in joint closure. Finally, the index of maximum
opening increases again for water pressure over 5.1 Mpa.
The trend of maximum sliding shown in Figure 1 is similar
to maximum opening. This is because two joints sets are
perpendicular to each other. The maximum opening and
sliding values are occurred in a tensile zone shown in
Figure 6. Furthermore, the blocks in contact with dam
structure slide. Interaction between the mechanical and
hydraulic components is the main reason for this behaviour
that is observable in Figure 2. Flow rate index has the
same behaviour as two pervious indices. The maximum flow
rate values usually occur in upstream and tensile zone. 0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 SRF

a x

p e

n i

n g

( m

) Unstable 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 SRF

a x

l i d

i n

( m

) Unstable 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
0.09 0 SRF

a x

l o
w

a t

( m

3 / s

) Unstable 3.332.72.42.11.81.51.20.90.60.3 0
3.332.72.42.11.81.51.20.90.60.3 0
3.332.72.42.11.81.51.20.90.60.3

Figure 5. The variation of failure indices versus strength

reduction

factor (SRF).

Case 2. The results of these analyses are presented in Fig

ure 3. We observed differences between this case and the

case

in which we consider fluid flow inside joints:

• Failure index behaviour in these cases is different,

therefore

real hydraulic, mechanical behaviour and failure mecha

nism can not be anticipated.

• In this case, the maximum of opening and sliding values is

less than the case in which we consider fluid flow inside

the joints. Therefore, it is possible to estimate an

unstable

abutment, as stable.

Seri II. With respect to sensitivity of the hydromechani

cal interaction to low initial aperture, in the first

stage, the

final opening of joints decreases as initial aperture

increase.

finally the maximum opening decreases up to initial aperture

of 1 mm. considering cubic law, fluid flow through the

joints

increases as initial Aperture increase and led to the

maximum

opening increase until abutment failure in initial aperture

of

1.48 mm.The maximum sliding index has the same behaviour.

The maximum flow rate index increases because of fluid flow

increase through the joints within cubic law until abutment

failure.

Seri III. These results were shown in Figure 5. It is

evident

ABSTRACT: Eccentric loading and the development of tensile

stresses at the base control the stability of overhanging
rock

slopes. Instability arises when a large “tensile crack” is

found at the back of the slope. The mode of deformation
depends upon

the exact location of the vertical tensile crack, and the

geometry of the overhang. In this paper we investigate the
kinematics of

overhanging rock slopes and the structural constrains

associated with this specific slope geometry. First we
discuss a generalized

rigid body analysis, and then a 2-D Discontinuous

Deformation analysis is presented. Based on these analyses
a simple threefold

stability classification is proposed for stable,

conditionally stable and instable classes. Geometrical
guidelines for evaluation

of slope stability and reinforcement are presented. We

conclude with an illustrative case study of a 34m high
overhanging

cliff in a highly discontinuous rock mass, for which rock

bolt reinforcement was dimensioned using the kinematicaly
based

criteria.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rotational instabilities of rock slopes are generally

attributed

to the intersection of steeply inclined and gently dipping

dis

continuities, forming columns of massive rock blocks resting

on a basal detachment surface (Fig. 1). If these columns

lean

against the rock, blocks slumping may occur (Witke, 1965

Kiefer, 1998). If, on the other hand, these columns lean

towards

the excavation space, toppling may occur (Goodman and Bray

1977).

Stability analysis of toppling failures (Goodman and Bray,

1977) assumes that any single slab tends to overhang and

is supported only by the passive resistance of its downslope

neighbors. Instability arises when the over-turning moments,

taken at the toe of a slab, are greater than the resisting

moments. The underlying assumption of this method is that

rock slabs overhang due to their position on an inclined

plane,

the basal plane. This assumption leads to the notion that

there

is a critical inclination angle, beyond which rotational

instabil
ities occur. If the inclination of the basal plane is
smaller than

critical, the slope is considered safe against rotational

fail

ures. This holds true for slabs of rectangular or

parallelogram

geometry, however overlooks a potential source for toppling

instabilities arising from an eccentric loading of

overhanging

rock faces.

If the face of a rock slope overhangs, see Figure 2, the

line

of action of the gravitational resultant is shifted outward

from

the centerline of its base, giving rise to eccentric

loading and

bending moments at the base. In a continuous rock mass such

eccentric loading will induce tensile stresses when the load

resultant lies outside the section’s kernel. In

discontinuous

rock mass, which can not resist tensile stresses, the

eccentric

loading causes opening across the discontinuities.The size

and

location of the section’s kernel is determined by the

geometry

of discontinuities, the height of the slope and the

inclination

of its face (for geometric notation see Fig. 2). A

necessary Figure 1. Slender blocks on an incline – typical
geometry for rotational instabilities. condition for
rotational feasibility is the presence of a persistent
detachment plane at the back of the overhanging slope. Such
a detachment plane may be assumed if the rock mass is
transected by vertical joints, either through the presence
of large tension cracks, or by coalescence of less
pervasive vertical joints and elimination of rock bridges.
In this paper we present an investigation of the kinematics
of overhanging rock slopes and the structural constrains
associated with this specific slope geometry. First we
discuss a generalized rigid body analysis considering
geometrical constrains, and then a 2-D Discontinuous
Deformation Analysis (DDA) is presented, accounting also
for the effects of secondary discontinuities. The findings
of both rigid body and discontinuous analysis are then
demonstrated using an illustrative case study. h B L Rock
bridge X CM α

Figure 2. Typical geometry of an overhanging rock face.

2 KINEMATIC ANALYSIS

Assuming slope height h, base length B, and a face angle α

the centroid of mass X CM is located at:

where XCM is measured horizontally from origin.

If B/2 < XCM < 2B/3 the gravitational resultant acts within

the section’s kernel, and the base is fully in compression.

If

XCM > 2B/3 the resultant is acting beyond the kernel and

bending moments induce partial tension at the base. Tak

ing moments about the toe of the slope shows that as long

as the resultant is acting within the base of the slope,

i.e.

XCM < B, the slope is safe against forward rotation,

although

when approaching B even slight horizontal perturbation may

induce rotational instability. Once the resultant is acting

out

side the base the entire mass is unstable and forward

rotation
is expected.

Fig. 3 is a plot of the relative position of mass centroid

XCM/B as a function of the slope eccentricity ratio B/L

for slope heights of 35 m, 50 m and 70 m and face angle of

α= 85 ◦ , 80 ◦ , 70 ◦ and 65 ◦ . It can be seen that a

power law accu

rately describes the XCM calculations. Based on the power

law

fit critical values of the eccentricity ratio are attained:

Figure 4 is a plot of the critical detachment plane depth

Bcrit, defined at XCM/B ≥ 1, as a function of slope height h

for different values of slope face inclination. It is

clearly seen

that for sub-vertical slopes, i.e. α= 85 ◦ , the critical

detach

ment plane is found near the face of the slope, for example

Bcrit = 4 m for h = 70 m. For smaller face angles the

critical

detachment plane is found deeper within the rock mass, for

example Bcrit = 17 m at h = 70 m and α= 70 ◦ . This obser

vation may suggest a possible explanation for the stability

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 B/L 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 2.25 2.5
X C M \ B (deg) 85 80 70 65 Xc/B = 0.453*(B/L) -0.81 R 2 =
0.994 Toppling Critical zone requires analysis Safe α
Figure 3. Position of the mass centroid (X CM /B) as a
function of eccentricity ratio (B/L). 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
70 h (m) 0 4 8 12 16 20 B c r i t ( m ) 85 o 80 o 75 o αα α
=70 o Figure 4. Critical depth of the detachment plane (B
crit ) as a function of slope height (h) and face
inclination angle (α). of steep and high rock slopes: even
if eccentrically loaded the failure is limited to the
vicinity of the face, thus stable equilibrium is attained
after a considerably limited loss of rock mass. In practice
the detachment depth B is typically unknown, since it is
found at some depth beyond the exposed face of the slope.
The slope height h and face inclination α are however
easily attainable. Thus, given any combination of (h, α)
using Fig. 4 the critical distance to tension crack can be
found. For the range of (h, α) given in Fig. 4 the
following “rule of thumb” is proposed: The critical depth
of the detachment plane is 5% of the slope height for face
inclination of 85 ◦ , rising by 5% for each 5 ◦ decrease of
slope inclination. Knowing the critical depth allows us to
design a support scheme such that the presence of the
detachment plane 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 time step 0 0.4
0.8 1.2 d o f c l i f f t i p ( m ) B/L = 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
0.65

Figure 5. DDA calculated displacement time histories at the

tip of

the rock face (d) as a function of eccentricity ratio (B/L)

for slope

height of 50 m.

becomes kinematicaly insignificant. For example, anchoring

the static end of rock bolts to a depth beyond critical,

thus

“pushing” the line of action of the gravitational resultant

into

the section’s kernel, eliminating rotational instabilities

and

tension along the base.

3 NUMERICAL DISCONTINUOUS DEFORMATION

ANALYSIS (DDA)

Following the kinematic analysis we have performed a numer

ical discontinuous deformation (DDA) analysis in order to

account for the discontinuous nature of a typical rock mass.

The discontinuous analysis was performed using an implicit

discrete element method, the Discontinuous Deformation

Analysis – DDA (Shi, 1993). Three basic geometries were

studied: slope height of 35 m, 50 m, and 75 m; for each of

the specified geometries the eccentricity ratio B/L was var

ied between 0.3 and 0.65. The rock mass was comprised of

a set of horizontal beds and a set of vertical joints, the

inter

section of which created a blocky rock mass, see Fig. 2. The

aspect ratio of the individual blocks comprising the rock

mass

was set to be SJ/SB > 2, where SJ and SB are the average

spacing of joints and beds respectively. It was found that

for

the given slope geometry the rotational mode of failure is

independent of the block aspect ratio as long as SJ/SB ≥ 1.

For smaller aspect ratios it was found that the mode of fail

ure was changed from mostly uniform rotation to fall out of

individual blocks resulting in consecutive face raveling.

The

following rock mass parameters where taken for DDA anal

ysis: dry specific weight of 25 kN/m 3 , elasticity modulus

of

70 GPa. Shear strength of the discontinuities was assumed

purely frictional, with friction angle of 41 ◦ . These

values were

chosen to represent a stiff sedimentary rock mass with clean

planar discontinuities.

Figure 5 is a plot of DDA time histories of the displace

ment at the tip of the cliff as a function of eccentricity

ratio

B/L for slope height of 50 m. For B/L < 0.4 the slope is not
stable as evident from the ongoing deformation, whereas for

B/L > 0.5 the slope attains equilibrium position after some

initial deformation. Similar results were found for slopes

of 35 m and 70 m height. Based on DDA calculations it can
be concluded that the overall stability of an overhanging
rock slope is not changed by the presence of horizontal
beds and vertical joints, given that the shear strength
along the discontinuities is not exceeded during the
rotation of the rock mass. Thus the guidelines presented in
equations (2) and (3) can be assumed valid for
discontinuous rock mass as well. 4 ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDY
4.1 Description of the rock face The studied rock face was
formed due to quarrying activities about 60 years ago along
the steep cliffs of a dry river bed. The cliff strikes SSW
to an azimuth of 185 ◦ , with local variations in strike
which form large extrados. At places past quarrying
activity and natural receding of the cliff ’s base give
rise to large overhangs, which cantilever beyond the base
of the cliff. Field observations indicate that at certain
areas along the cliff deformation is taking place. It seems
that most of the deformation is taking place where the
cliff is overhanging. Geological reconnaissance delimited
the stability analysis to a particular section of the cliff
which is 34 m high and where the upper third of the cliff
is cantilevered, extruding 11 m beyond the toe of the
slope. The rock is comprised of a well bedded dolostone
sequence. The average bed thickness is 0.8 m. The rock mass
is transected by 4 sets of sub-vertical joints. The
attitude of three sets is oblique to the face of the cliff,
whereas the fourth is parallel to the excavation face.
Average joint spacing of the ubiquitous joints ranges from
0.6 m to 0.9 m. The ubiquitous joints are of a limited
extent, vertically and laterally, mostly confined to
mechanical beds. The joints that strike parallel to the
free face however are expected to have the most significant
effect on overall cliff stability. The face parallel system
was detected on both sides of the analyzed segment of the
cliff. The face parallel set is unique in its persistence,
continuity, and relatively open configuration. In places
the joints transect the entire height of the cliff. The
opening reaches several tens of centimeters, this is in
contrast with the characteristics of the other sets of
joints. The ubiquitous joints exhibit fresh, unaltered and
uneven surfaces with a typical JRC value of 13. The joint
wall compressive strength was evaluated at JCS = 40 GPa.The
residual friction of the joints was estimated to be 37 ◦ .
4.2 DDA model of reinforced rock face Since large, face
parallel, vertical tension cracks are found within the rock
mass a large scale forward rotation is anticipated due to
lack of tensile strength capacity across joints and
beddings. Based on the conclusions of the previous sections
it was decided that the overhanging rock face will be
reinforced using rock bolts anchored at a depth such that
the effective eccentricity ratio B/L will exceed 0.4,
assuring that the line of action of the gravitational
resultant will be located within the rock mass. The bolts
are vertically spaced 4m apart, from bottom to top. The
geometry of the rock face and DDA domain with rock bolts
are presented in Figure 6. Three different bolting
simulations were performed for varying bolt diameters: φ= 1
′′ , φ= 2 ′′ and φ= 3 ′′ , and therefore varying bolt
stiffness k = E(πφ) 2 )/4L B , where E isYoung modulus for
steel, φ is bolt diameter and L B is bolt length. Figure 7
shows time histories of the displacement vector 1 9 8 7 6 5
4 3 2

Figure 6. DDA domain boundary with rock bolts. Rock face geo

metry based on geodetic survey, the detachment plane is

assumed

at B = 5 m (B/L = 0.3). 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 time

steps 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 d o f c l i f f t i p ( m ) B/L =
0.3 B/L = 0.7 φ=1" φ=2" φ=3"

Figure 7. DDA time histories of at the tip of the rock face

(d) at

B = 5 m for different rock bolt diameters.

at the tip of the cliff as a function of the modeled bolt

diameter. The upper bound for the displacement is

represented

by the displacements calculated for an unsupported cliff

with

B/L = 0.3; while the lower bound is represented by the dis

placements calculated for unsupported cliff with B/L = 0.7.

Clearly, the slope displacement components are reduced with

increasing bolt diameter (or stiffness). It is found that

complete
slope stabilization is obtained with bolt diameter of φ= 2
′′ and

above. With a bolt diameter of φ= 1 ′′ slope displacements

are

never arrested and the cliff is rendered unsafe.

The bolt axial forces (FB) as computed by DDA are

presented in Fig. 8 where the x–axis represents the ver

tical position of each rock bolt. We find that maximum

axial force changes with diameter and vertical position,

FB (φ= 1 ′′ ) = 147 kN at bolts number 6 and 9; 2) FB

(φ= 2 ′′ ) = 237 kN at bolts number 6 and 9; and 3) FB

(φ= 3 ′′ ) = 309 kN at bolt number 6. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

h (m) 0 100 200 300 400 F B ( k N ) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 φ=2"'
φ=3"' φ=1"' Figure 8. Axial force in rock bolts for
different values of rock bolts diameter. 5 DISCUSSION AND
CONCLUSIONS In this paper we studied the stability of
overhanging rock slopes using kinemtic and numerical
discontinuous deformation analyses. The stability of
overhanging rock slopes is primarily controlled by the
following two factors: a vertical detachment plane found
behind the rock face and the geometry of the rock face.
Face geometry is generally known and can be measured,
whereas the exact location of the detachment plane is in
many cases unknown. It is therefore the location of the
detachment plane that controls the overall stability of
overhanging rock slopes. As such, we consider it to be the
prime factor of concern during stability analysis and
support design. The eccentricity of loading, the location
of the kernel and consequently the rotational instability
is determined by the ratio between the base length B (or
depth from toe to the detachment plane) and the length of
the top surface L. These two quantities are interrelated
trough height h and face inclination α, such that: L = B +
h/ tan α. The eccentricity of loading can be defined by the
ratio between the position of the centroid of mass X CM and
base length B, where X CM /B = 0.5 the section is
centrically loaded; where 0.5 < X CM /B ≤ 0.66 the section
is eccentrically loaded and the line of action of the
gravitational resultant is within the section’s kernel;
where 0.66 < X CM /B < 1 the section is eccentrically
loaded and the line of action is beyond the sections
kernel; finally, when X CM /B ≥ 1 line of action of the
self weight resultant is external to the section. Using the
two ratios defined above the following conclusions can be
drawn: 1. An overhanging rock slope with eccentricity ratio
of B/L > 0.62 is safe against toppling failure. 2. An
overhanging rock slope with eccentricity ratio of 0.4 < B/L
< 0.62 is conditionally stable against toppling failure,
support measures should be considered when approaching
eccentricity ratio of 0.4. 3. An overhanging rock slope
with eccentricity ratio of B/L < 0.4 is unstable against
toppling failure, immediate support should be installed.

4. Support scheme for overhanging rock slopes should be

designed such that eccentricity of loading X CM /B is

lowered to an acceptable minimum.

5. DDA analysis shows that the overall stability of overhang

ing slopes is not compromised by the presence of horizontal

beds and vertical joints.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was partially funded by the Office of Geotech

nical & Foundation Engineering, Administration of Planning

ABSTRACT: The complexity associated to foundations socketed

in soft rocks often leads to over-dimensioned project,

where the mobilized resistance of the rock is considered

inferior to the one available. This work presents the
results of load

tests executed in small scale models of smooth and rough

pile excavated in soft sandstone of the Botucatu Formation,
South

Brazil. The results from the load tests were compared with
the results of the numerical simulations using the program
of finite

elements PLAXIS and the results of 73 in situ load test

collected in the literature.

1 INTRODUCTION
The complexity associated to foundations socketed in weak

rocks often leads to over-dimensioned project, where the

mobilized resistance of the rock is considered inferior to

the

one available. The in situ load test in the pile is the

preferred

alternative to estimate the rock resistance, but it is very

expen

sive and generaly it doesn’t reach the failure. The

laboratory

test in small scale leads to results which are not so

simples

to compare with real scale one. The numerical simulation to

obtain the equivalent results to the in situ load test is a

tech

nique still doubtful and not used widely, since there are
not

many researches in this topic.

This work presents a comparison between results of load

tests in small scale pile models in laboratory and numerical

simulations using the program of finite elements, PLAXIS

and the results of 73 real scale load tests from the

literature

(Nunes & Castilhos, 2002).

2 SMALL SCALE MODELS

The small scale models were prepare with blocks of weak

sandstone from South Brazil (Figure 1). They were cut with

final dimensions of 25 cm of width, 30 cm of height and 25

cm

of length. (Castilhos, 2001; Nunes & Castilhos, 2002; Nunes

et al., 2002).

The pile, with nominal dimension of 64 mm of diameter

and 240 mm of length, was made in a way that only mobilizes

the side resistance, with no contribution of the end

bearing.

Besides the pile with smooth shaft (S), it was created 3 dif

ferent kinds of roughness (R1, R2 and R3) in the central

hole

of the sandstone blocks. In a general way, roughness R1

leads

to very rough shaft while roughness R2 and R3 leads to shaft

little rough in relation to the smooth shaft (S) of the

sandstone

block (Figure 2).

Table 1 presents a summary of the geotechnical character

istics of 3 selected blocks of sandstone, chosen by the

type of

the shaft (smooth, rough and very rough). The geotechnical

parameters were obtain by tests specimens of the sandstone

blocks. Figure 1. Small scale model of weak sandstone

(Nunes & Castilhos, 2002). Figure 2. Types of roughness
pile: very rough (R1) to rough (R2 and R3). The
instrumentation of the pile was carried out by biaxial
rosette of strain gages inside the pile to the
determination of the axial and radial strains in the
interface pile-rock. The strain gages were glued in the
top, middle and base of a metallic plate of 21.0 cm of
length and 2.5 cm of width, inserted in the center of the
pile during the modeling. The metallic plate of small
thickness (3.2 mm) was perforated to allow a better
adhesion with the mortar. Table 1. Geotechnical parameters
of the analyzed small scale models. γ nat Wave Vel. σ t σ c
E r SSM (kN/m 3 ) (m/s) (MPa) (MPa) (GPa) ν r E e /E r
Shaft 5 – S 19.9 2300 1.58 16.54 8.5 0.19 4.7 Smooth 7 – R1
19.9 2423 1.58 15.88 10.7 0.15 3.7 Rough 8 – R2 19.5 1642
0.76 7.72 3.4 0.18 11.8 Rough SSM: Small Scale Model; S:
Smooth; R: Rough; γ nat : Natural specific weight; Wave
Vel.: Longitudinal wave velocity; σ t : Tensile strength; σ
c : Uniaxial compressive strength; E r e ν r : Rock
deformation modulus and Poisson’s ratio; E e : Pile
deformation modulus.

The test was initially carried out by the application of the

lateral confinement of the blocks, to simulate the in-situ

con

ditions. Then the blocks were loaded in the top of the pile

until the block reaches the failure or excessive settlement

of

the pile.

3 VALIDATION OF THE PROGRAM

In order to validate the capacity of simulation and the accu

racy of the program of finite elements PLAXIS, a comparison

between the numerical and laboratory results of the pile in

rock

load tests of the small scale models was made. The results
ana

lyzed were the curves stress in the top of the pile versus
axial

and radial strains along the pile in the load test.

The model adopted in the PLAXIS is axissimetric and had

a triangular mesh with fifteen nodes. The Mohr-Coulomb

behavior was adopted for the rock while the elastic linear

for the steel plate associated with the mortar of the pile.
The

roughnesses were simulated with the same dimensions of the

original small scale model: smooth pile (S), rough (R2) and

very rough (R1) pile.

It was adopted different modulus of elasticity (E) for

the mortar (E = 21.2 GPa), steel plate (E = 207.0 GPa) and

perforated steel plate (E = 68.0 GPa) so that the results of

the numerical simulation could be compared with the ones

of the small scale models. The resistance reduction factor

of the interface, R inter , adopted to simulate the

interface

concrete-rock was of 0.75.

The comparison between the results of the simulation and

of the load test of the small scale model was carried out

through the curves stress versus radial and axial strains.

It was

also compared the deformed meshes with the photographic

registers of the small scale models after the loadings.

Figures 3 and 4 present the curves with the values of axial

and radial strains of the pile, measured during the load

tests in

laboratory and the values of the numerical simulation for

two

of the analyzed small scale models, with smooth and rough

shaft. The values from the test carried out by Castilhos

(2001)

are represented by the curves, while that the results of the

numerical simulations (Costa, 2005) are represented by the

detached points.

The points of stress vs strain of the simulation were prac

tically in the top of the line of the load test, as much to

the
smooth shaft as the rough shaft. In both case, the failure
of

the blocks occurred in the stress around four times the

uniax

ial resistance of the rock, in the load test and the

simulation

(Figures 3 and 4).

Another verification of the program PLAXIS was made

through the comparison between the types of failure of the

numerical simulations (Costa, 2005) and of the small scale

models after the test, presented by photograph by Nunes & 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 -400 Strain (10 -6 ) S t r e s s o n t o p /
R o c k c o m p r e s s i v e s t r e n g t h Radial Top
Numerical Simulation Experimental Test Axial Base Axial
Top Radial Middle 1000800600400200-200 0 Figure 3. Curves
stress vs experimental and numerical strains – SSM5-S
(Costa, 2005). 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 -400 Strain (10 -6 ) S t r
e s s o n t o p / R o c k c o m p r e s s i v e s t r e n g
t h Axial Top Axial Base Radial Top Radial Middle Axial
Meio Numerical Simulation Experimental Test k
10008006004002000-200 Figure 4. Curves stress vs
experimental and numerical strains – SSM 8-R2 (Costa,
2005). Castilhos (2002). Figure 5 shows the regions of
failure obtain through the numerical simulation for the SSM
5-S, while Figure 6 shows the photograph of the small scale
model after the failure in the load test. It can be
observed from Figures 5 and 6 that the failure of small
scale model SSM 5-S was given through the loss of adhesion
in the interface. In Figure 5, referent to the results of
the numerical simulation, the loss of adhesion is indicated
by the detached points that correspond to the failure by
Mohr-Coulomb, exactly in the interface pile-rock. In Figure
6, relative to the small scale model tested, the debonding
of the pile with the block and the absence of significant
fissures show clearly the failure by the loss of adhesion.
For the case of the rough blocks, the failure occurs by
friction and shear of the roughness, followed by great
tensile Steel Plate Rock Block Concrete Pile Tensile
Failure Failure by Mohr-Coulomb

Figure 5. Failure regions obtain trough PLAXIS – SSM5-S

(Costa,
2005).

Figure 6. Small scale model failure – SSM5-S (Nunes &

Castilhos,

2002).

cracks. Figure 7 presents the results obtain with Plaxis

for the

SSM 7-R1, of bigger roughness, where the detached points

represent nodes which suffered failure by traction. The

tensile

cracks along the pile in the small scale model (Figure 8)

prove

the adequacy of the Plaxis program for the simulation of the

load test of piles in soft rock.

4 ESTIMATE OF LATERAL RESISTANCE

From the results of 73 load tests from the literature

(Rosenberg & Journaux, 1976; Horvath et al, 1979; John

ston et al, 1980; Pells et al, 1980; Williams & Pells, 1980;

Williams et al, 1980), a method to estimate the lateral

resis

tance was analyzed. A correlation with the uniaxial

resistance

(σ c ) was created, as presented in Figure 9. The result of

this

study was also included in this chart, which are in

accordance

with the other results. Tensile Failure Steel Plate Rock

Bloc k Concrete Pile ailure Figure 7. Failure regions
obtain trough PLAXIS – SSM7-R1 (Costa, 2005). Figure 8.
Small scale model failure – SSM7-R1 (Nunes & Castilhos,
2002). The filled dots are the ones from this study,
representing the loss of adhesion and the final failure.
Both results are inside are very near to the superior and
inferior limits. The adjustment curve for the load tests
analyzed can be represented by the following equation:
while the superior and inferior limits can be expressed as

Figure 9. Lateral resistance from load test. (Nunes &

Castilhos,

2002).

The adjustment equation is only an average curve for the

points analyzed. The lateral resistances calculated from

this

equation are very similar to results proposed in the

literature.

5 CONCLUSION

By these results, it can be concluded that the program

PLAXIS

was successfully capable of simulating the load test of the

small scale pile socketed in rock.The values of axial and

radial

strains in the numerical simulation were compatible with the

experimental values obtain by the instrumentation of the

small

scale models. In the small scale model, it was evident that

in the

smooth shaft pile, the failure was by lost of the shear

resistance

of the shaft. In the simulation that was also clear,

because the

failure of the nodes was by Mohr-Coulomb, indicating lost

of shear resistance. The rough shaft pile showed in the load

test some tensile cracks along the shaft and the breaks of
the

roughness. In the simulation, tensile failure of the nodes

and
ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on achievements of a large
scale excavation of rock slope at the multi-purpose dam

site. Based on comprehensive geologic investigations,

installation of observation systems was conducted prior to
excava

tions. The excavations started in April 1999, and the

unstable behavior was observed when excavations reached the
height of

70 m in October 1999. Promptly, additional equipments for

observation were installed and behavior mechanisms were
further

examined according to data review and numerical analysis.

Then around 200 sets of pre-stressed anchors were installed
as

permanent countermeasure and excavations of dam abutment

were concurrently taken. Without large scale collapse of
the

slope, the total height of this slope reached 220 m at the

river bed in August 2001. By technical devices, the
obstacles to the

entire schedule of this project were avoided. Through 7

years monitoring until present, the slope is judged in
stable condition.

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the difficulties of dam construction in Japan in engi

neering aspects is that this country is located on the

complex

earth of geology. Furthermore, due to the reasons of

decrease

of efficient dam site in the last decades, the landslide

area is

sometimes selected as the dam site, that is, the complexity

on

geological feature has given much influence to the entire

pro
gram of a dam project. Therefore, implementation of careful

investigation, analysis and monitoring on geological

structure

is stated as the important factor at the standpoint of

efficient

project management as well as engineering approach.

This paper briefly introduces the series of processes on

investigation, analysis, countermeasure implemented and

monitoring at one multi-purpose dam project managed by

Japan Water Agency (hereinafter termed “JWA”). The whole

height of slope from the top to bottom of dam foundation is

around 220 m. This paper focuses on the behavior of a large

scale slope when the stress was released by bedrock excava

tion, in particular, on the upper slope which is higher

elevation

than the dam crest (hereinafter termed “Slope A”) and around

80 m height.

2 PRE-EXAMINATION FOR EXCAVATION

2.1 Geologic structure

The total length of pre-survey of the core boring was around

890 m, and furthermore adit tunnels and field survey etc.

were

conducted. The geologic structure of bedrock at this dam

site

is composed of alternations of Mesozoic of slate, green

rock,

limestone and sandstone in Shimanto Zone. The strikes are

east/northeast – west/northwest and dips north. The whole

slope from the top to dam foundation is distinguished by the

low angle dip fault named FL–0 at the vicinity of dam crest.

Figure 1 shows the cross section of dam axis, and Figure 2

shows the plane figure both of the geologic structure in the

Slope A and the part of the left side of dam foundation. The

entir bedrock was relatively firm, and the shear strength

are as

follows: cohesion is 1.6–2.2 Mpa, internal friction angle

is 38–

45 degrees. On the other hand, the shallow part, i.e.

around Geological boundary F-0 fault Dam crest Landslide
Height of dam:140m Pre-stressed anchors for landslide Slope
A F-16 fault EL.640 EL.600 EL.560 EL.680 1 0.5 1 0.8 Figure
1. Cross section of the slope A cut by Section A. 10–20 m
depth near topsoil was judged loose. Furthermore, the
landslide block was found in the vicinity at the top of
slope. Accordingly, it was apprehensive of danger that
there would be the behavior of Slope A by the release of
stress induced by bedrock excavation and occurrence of land
slide at the upper part of Slope A. 2.2 Initial design of
the slope and observation After the comprehensive
investigation, the preventive measure on Slope A is
designed as follows: – Upper part (from EL. 652 m to EL.
628 m): 1:0.8 of gradient of slope surface to avoid the
massive excavation in the landslide block and installation
of pre-stressed anchors – Middle and lower part (from EL.
628 m to EL. 568 m): 1:0.5 of gradient slope surface –
Besides, the 2 m & 5 m width of steps are set at every 10
meters height. For the purpose of data observation, the
electro-optical distance measurement system was set up to
obtain the data on behavior 4 times per day. In this
regard, 20 targets were installed on whole area of designed
Slope A. This aimed to monitor the semi-real time basis, to
use the data for numerical ls Sl ls Ss Sl Gr Sl F-16 fault
Sl ls FL-0 fault Ls Sl Gr Ss Sl N Section A Dam foundation
Legend Ss: Sand stone Sl: Slate Gr: Green rock Ls:
Limestone Ch: Chart ls: Colluvial soil Geological
boundary Fault Ss Ch Slope A

Figure 2. The plane figure of the geologic structure in the

slope A and the part of the left side of dam foundation.
analysis promptly and to take the necessary actions if any

unstable behavior occurred.

2.3 Behavior and additional observation system

In May 1999, the excavation in line with observation was

launched, and in October 1999 the unstable behavior was

observed when the excavation reached 70 m height, i.e.

till EL.578 m. Besides, the following additional observation

systems were installed immediately:

– 6 sets of rock deformation meters (hereinafter termed

“RDM”)

– 9 sets of borehole tilt meters (hereinafter termed “BTL”)

to

observe at every 0.5 m in the depth from 45 m–110 m

– 14 points of extension meters

– 17 targets of electro-optical distance measurement

– 9 gauges to measure the width of crack in X-Y-Z direction

at each crack.

All of those automatic observation collected data once a day

at least.

Although the unstable behavior was monitored, JWA deter

mined that the variation of behavior was not at critical

level

yet based on examination, and the excavation continued

to complete till EL.568 m in conjunction with careful and

continuous observation. As a result, the excavated place of

Slope A completed in November 1999 and then, the fur

ther excavation below the elevation of dam crest, that is,

the excavation for dam foundation was continued without

suspension.

Nevertheless, the variation of deformation was about

3.0 mm/day in November 1999. In addition, the low angle

shear destruction on the concrete lining wall of the rim

grout

tunnel was found in December 1999. Figure 3 shows the shear

destruction. These were evaluated as the unstable behavior.

Figure 3. The low angle shear destruction on the concrete
lining wall of the rim grout tunnel. 3 ANALYSIS AND
COUNTERMEASURES 3.1 Results of analysis In conjunction with
the field investigation, the data review and the numerical
analysis were implemented. The results of review and
analysis are described below. Figure 4 shows the records of
observed deformation of BTL–1, 4, 2 & 5 at each depth and
predicted slide surface.The area of downward deformation
along the slope and continuous shear destruction were
simulated by FEM and DEM, which is prerequisite of stage
excavations from the top of slope. Results showed the
correspondence with actual behavior areas based on observed
data of BTL. From these, the status was analyzed as
follows; – Toppling behavior: The conspicuous deformation
occurred at places which exist from the vicinity of the
slope surface in the depth of 30–40 m obviously by the
stress release and softening of Slope A, – Early stage of
formation of slide surface: the low angle crack and shear
failure regulated by longitudinal joints of earth occurred.
This was the same phenomenon occurred

Point “T”: Starting depth of toppling behavior

Point “S”: Shear destruction BTL-1 BTL-2 BTL-5 BTL-4 50mm

50mm 5mm Apredicted slide surface Figure 3 50mm BTL data
March 2000 July 2000 “T” “S” “T” “S” RDM X Z

Figure 4. Data of the BTL and the depth of the unstable

behavior

at the slope A.

at the deep part of BTL–2 and at the concrete lining of the

rim grout tunnel, and

– Expansion of the unstable behavior: The unstable behavior

was observed on the entire surface of Slope A.

3.2 Countermeasure

In accordance with spreading unstable behavior, the coun

terweight fill was carried out in March 2000. Then, around

200 sets of pre-stressed anchors, which each was 2.1 N, were

installed as permanent countermeasure from March to August

2000.

As a result, the unstable behavior of Slope A that was

apprehensive of danger from occurrence of the slope collapse

was dramatically stopped, and the excavation to riverbed for

dam abutment was completed in August 2001 and the placing

of dam concrete was over in September 2004. Accordingly,

the critical pass on the schedule of this project was favor

ably completed. In other words, the bad influence by the

unstable behavior was prevented by careful observation, full

examination and prompt actions.

4 LONG TERM MONITORING

4.1 Results of monitoring

For the purpose of monitoring, 5 sets of BTL and 6 sets of

RDM have been used for the monitoring of Slope A since

1999. In this context, the monitoring periods were divided

into 5 periods as below:

– Period 1: February–March 2000: Before countermeasure

– Period 2: March–August 2000: During countermeasure

– Period 3: September 2000–August 2001: Excavation of

foundation for dam abutment after period 2

– Period 4: September 2001–September 2004: Placing dam

concrete

– Period 5: September 2004 – present: After placing dam

concrete

Figure 5 and Figure 6 show the values of deformations

on the depth of every 1.0 m from 18.0–20.0 m, i.e. observed

0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 1 J a n 0 0 1 J a n 0 1 1 J a n 0 2 1 J
a n 0 3 1 J a n 0 4 1 J a n 0 5 1 J a n 0 6 (mm)
Depth:19.0m Depth:18.0m *1*2 *3 *4 *5 *: period number
Depth:20.0m X Figure 5. Values of deformation at the BTL–4.
-2.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 1 J a n 0 0 1 J a n 0 1 1 J a
n 0 2 1 J a n 0 3 1 J a n 0 4 1 J a n 0 5 1 J a n 0 6
Depth:34.0m Depth:33.0m *: period number *1 *2 *3 *4 *5
Depth:33.5m X (mm) Figure 6. Values of deformation at the
BTL–2. -5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 1 J a n 0 0 1 J a n
0 1 1 J a n 0 2 1 J a n 0 3 1 J a n 0 4 1 J a n 0 5 1 J a n
0 6 *: period number *1 *2 *3 *4 *5 10-0m 40-30m (mm)
Figure 7. Values of deformation at the RDM. +: extension
-:compression 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 1 J a n 0 0
1 J a n 0 1 1 J a n 0 2 1 J a n 0 3 1 J a n 0 4 1 J a n 0 5
1 J a n 0 6 Depth:2.0m Depth:1.0m X *1 *2 *3 *4 *5 *:
period number Depth:1.5m (mm) Figure 8. Values of
deformation BTL–2 above F–16 fault. toppling of BTL–4 and
the depth of every 0.5 m from 33.0– 34.0 m, i.e. shear
failure point of BTL–2 respectively. Figure 7 shows the
values of deformations from 10.0–0.0 m area and 40.0–30.0 m
area of RDM. From these, the increase trend of both
toppling and shear after period 3 was restrained. Figure 8
shows values of deformations from 0.5–2.5 m of BTL–2 where
the deformations along F-16 fault were partially

0.0000

0.0300

0.0600

0.0900 Period1 Period2 Period3 Period4 Period5 / 18 19 20

Depth (mm day)

Figure 9. Variations of deformation at the BTL–2.

0.0000

0.0300

0.0600

0.0900

0.1200

0.1500 Period 1 (MM/DAY) 33.0 33.5 34.0 Depth Period 4

Period 5Period 2 Period 3

Figure 10. Variations of deformation at the BTL–4.

observed and the increase trend of deformation was

restrained

in here.

4.2 Discussion on long term monitoring

Based on results of monitoring, it is recognized that the

sta

tus on deformations of the entire Slope A has been

restrained

as mentioned above. Nevertheless, it is recognized that

there

is the discrepancy on variation of deformation regarding top

pling and shear strength. The trend of deformation at

shallow

part is considered toppling behavior based on the data of

18–20 m of BTL-4 and 10–0 m of RDM. While the trend of

deformation at deep part is considered of shear destruction

based on 34.0–33.0 m of BTL–2 and 40–30 m of RDM.

The deep part showed the steep movement in a short

term during the period 1, but it was not conspicuous or

almost nothing after since Period 2. Nevertheless, shallow

part
comparatively continued its increase after the period 3.

Those situations are confirmed by the variation of defor

mation of BTL–4 and 2 in Figures 9 and 10 respectively.

From these, the mechanism on restraint of behaviors is esti

mated as follows: after implementation of countermeasures,

the variation of behavior dramatically restrained at the

slide

surface by shear deformation at first, and as a result, the

sta

bility at the deep part of Slope A was ensured. Then

toppling

behavior was restrained. In other words, the likely converse

phenomenon with the time of unstable behavior occurred, and

therefore the Slope A stabilized.

The current variation at the deep part is 0.0008 mm/day and

the result of calculation of the inclination degree is 1.6

× 10 −6

rad/day at the maximum. This is stated as the rank of

stability,

ABSTRACT: We have investigated the rock slope deformation

stability of Antaibao coal mine during mining by FLAC3D. An

optimal excavated scheme with relatively steep slope angle

47 ◦ instead of 30 ◦ was successfully implemented at the
west wall on

the geological section 73200 of the mine. Mohr-Coulomb

failure criterion was used in all present simulations.
Engineering pro

tection measures and treatments were provided and

sufficiently implemented during mining operation to improve
slope stability

and safety. All of these were based on the numerical

simulation of optimal excavated sequence and in-situ
monitoring data.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the present work, we investigate the stability of rock

slope

for Antaibao open pit coal mine as a typical engineering

example using numerical methods. Attention has particularly

been focused on the three-dimensional effect of the rock

slope

due to excavation processes.

Antaibao open pit coal mine is situated on the 145 kilome

ters southwest of Datong in China. Its total production is

about

15 million tons per year. At the beginning of the last

century

80, the mine was jointly opened up by the People’s Republic

of China (PRC) and Island Creek Coal Company (ICC) of the

United State of America and since then a number of slope

designs have been developed. The optimal designs have not

only led to improvements in slope stability and safety but

also

have given rise to cost savings. The coal mine is located at

an elevation of from 1190 to 1470 meters and has a projected

depth of 300 meters. At present, Antaibao open pit coal mine

is still one of the most advanced coal mines in China.

According to the investigation of in situ stress field and

geological data, the stress field acted on the rock masses

was basically determined by the weight of these rock masses

and was weakly affected by the local tectonics stresses
which

were almost completely released, particularly to the

relatively

shallow mining studied here. physical and mechanical prop

erties of each geological unit must be properly determined.

Generally, intact rock properties which are not considered

the micro-cracks and the micro-defects within the rock are

determined by virtue of laboratory testing. However, there

is a significant difference between rock material and rock

mass characteristics so that it is compulsory in simulations

to determine representative physical and mechanical proper

ties of the rock mass instead of intact rock material

(Yasitli

and Unver, 2005). Data concerning the physical and mechan

ical properties of coal and surrounding rock are presented

in

Table 1 (CUMTB, 2005; CACGE, 1985), which was obtained

by laboratory tests conducted on core samples obtained from

exploration drilling and rock blocks taken directly from the

mine. The Mohr-Coulomb yield law is applied to model the

failures of the rock masses in the present simulations.

2 MODELING OF 3D EXCAVATED SLOPES

2.1 Three-dimensional effect of slope under excavating

One motive for the present study is to demonstrate the feasi

bility of excavation scheme with the increase of the

excavated slope angle from 30 ◦ to 47 ◦ , taken the
geological section 73200 from Antaibao open pit coal mine
as a typical working example, using FLAC3D. Under the
considerations of excavated process step-by-step and steep
slope mining, the model which is divided by 52250 elements
and 57120 nodes consists of 554 meters long (x-direction)
and 500 meters wide (y-direction) and 300 meters deep
(z-direction), shown in figure 1. The engineering rock
masses which were originally in an equilibrium state under
the action of gravity would become an open slope with the
process of mining activity, in which their stress states
would be progressively adjusted. As a matter of fact, as
the axial length of slope increases with excavating, such
three-dimensional constraint effect was correspondingly
weakened so that the three-dimensional model just discussed
can be approximately simplified as a plane problem to be
modeled. Obviously, the critical axial length which can be
referred to as a standard in determination of utilizing two
or three dimensional model for satisfying the requirement
of evaluating the deformation characteristics of the
excavated slope definitely exists. Thus, ten calculation
cases which identify with the properties of material and
the boundary condition but respectively corresponding to
different axial length of excavated slope, i.e., 60, 100,
140, 180, 220, 260, 300, 340, 380, and 420 meters, were
carried out, in which every excavation implemented from top
to bottom by five steps. Both largest displacement and its
horizontal components all increase with the axial length of
excavated slope, shown in figure 2. It is observed from
figure 2 that increasing ratio of horizontal displacement
was of significance before reaching the axial length of
excavated, 160 meters, afterwards, this ratio slowly varied
and approached to be zero. It is interestedly found that
the approximate critical length, i.e., 160 meters, obtained
above, is just consistent with the height of the excavated
slope. Consequently, it can be predicted that three
dimensional effect of slope is of prominence under the
action of evident two-side constraint if axial length of
excavated slope is smaller than its corresponding height,
whereas such effect is barely noticeable. 2.2 Optimization
design of excavated slope As the discussion above, the
traditional limit equilibrium methods which never deal with
the material deformation can only be used to describe the
strength state of slope material. To excavated slope,
nonlinear dynamic process closely relies upon the
deformation response of slope body under excavating. With
the later in mind, we will optimize the excavated Table 1.
Physical and mechanical properties of rock mass. Bulk Shear
Tensile Frictional Rock Density modulus modulus strength
Cohesion angle definition (kg/m 3 ) (Pa) (Pa) (Pa) (Pa)
(degree) Weathering sandstone No. 1 2500 3.0e8 2.0e8 2.0e3
1.0e5 25 Loess 1960 1.5e8 7.8e7 1.0e3 5.0e4 23 Weathering
sandstone No. 2 2380 8.0e8 5.0e8 1.2e5 8.0e5 30 Coal No. 4
1440 5.0e8 3.0e8 7.0e4 3.0e5 26
8.0e8 1.6e5 1.0e6 32 Coal No. 9
3.0e5 27 Shale No. 2 2560 8.0e8
1320 6.0e8 4.0e8 1.2e5 3.0e5 29
2.1e9 1.2e6 3.5e6 39
Shale No. 1 2550 1.3e9
1330 6.0e8 3.5e8 9.0e4
6.0e8 1.4e5 6.0e5 30 Soil
Fine sandstone 2600 2.5e9

Figure 1. Computational mesh of west wall slope at Antaibao

open

pit coal mine and its excavated design schemes with

different slope

angles.

Figure 2. Maximum displacements vs. axial length of slope

exca

vated advance, (a) maximum displacement varies with the

axial

length of slope excavated, and (b) maximum horizontal

displacement

component varies with the axial length of excavated slope

excavated

advance.

design scheme for the geological section 7320 of Antaibao

open pit coal mine by virtue of the nonlinear large deforma

tion mechanics model to guarantee the deformation stability

of excavated slope. It is noted that the key point about an

optimal excavated scheme is how to make the best of the

three-dimensional effect of excavated slope. Keeping the con

stants of top-to-bottom excavated steps and slope angle, the

axial length of excavated slope advance which obviously

influ

ences the deformation stability become a key factor to

control

the three-dimensional effect. Accordingly, simulations for

the
optimal scheme were conducted as follows. In the first case

(case I), the axial length of excavated slope advance is 300

meters with two slope angles, 30 ◦ and 47 ◦ , simulating sep

arately. In the second case (case II), the axial length is

100

meters, the others same as in the first case. In the final

case

(case III), another 100 meters part is again excavated after

backfilling the 100 meters part along with the axial

direction

of slope initially excavated, the others same as in the

first Figure 3. Computation mesh of excavated slope on the
northwestern wall of Antaibao open pit coal mine and its
optimal schemes. The locations of monitoring points were
represented by Arabic number. Figure 4. (a) Maximum
displacements, and (b) their corresponding horizontal
components (x-direct) related with the excavated slope
angles. case as well. Computational mesh and its optimal
construct schemes are given in figure 3. Different maximum
displacements and their corresponding horizontal components
(x-direction) are closely related with the excavated slope
angles, shown in figure 4. Since the backfilling with waste
rock mass and soil in the final case was again acted as the
active constraint on the surface excavated just, the
deformations of the excavated slope with either slope angle
30 ◦ or 47 ◦ were efficiently suppressed, referred their
corresponding results in figures 5, 6 and 7. From the
viewpoint of inelasticity mechanics, the plastic zone in
the final case was also obviously smaller than that of the
other cases and there were few of elements which were in
shear or tensile failure state, illustrated in figure 8-10,
respectively, in which none means elastic state of rock
material at present on that area, shear-n shear failure
state at present, shear-p shear failure

Figure 5. Horizontal component field of displacement

(x-direction)

corresponding to the case I (old excavated design), i.e.

axial length

300 m along with excavating advance and slope angle 30 ◦ ,

without

backfilling.

Figure 6. Horizontal component field of displacement

(x-direction)

corresponding to the case II, i.e. excavated axial length

100 m along

with excavating advance and slope angle 47 ◦ , without

backfilling.

Figure 7. Horizontal component field of displacement

(x-direction)

corresponding to the case III, i.e. after backfilling the

initial exca

vated rock materials again excavated axial length 100 m

along with

excavating advance and slope angle 47 ◦ .

state in the past, and tension-n, tension-p holding the

tensile

failure state at present or in the past.

In order to in detail observe the surface deformation of

the steep edge slope in the final case, the representative

dis

placement curves of ten monitoring points on the slope

surface

(these points also marked in figure 3) are shown in figures

11a

and 11b, which vary with the process of excavating and back

filling during iterating computation. After excavating,

larger

displacements occurred on these points without considering

the creep effect of the rock mass. However, the backfilling

instantaneously compensated the disequilibrium of excavated

Figure 8. Failure field corresponding to the case I (old
excavated slope angle), i.e. axial length 300 m along with
excavating advance and slope and 30 ◦ , without
backfilling. Figure 9. Failure field corresponding to the
case II, i.e. excavated axial length 100 m along with
excavating advance and slope angle 47 ◦ , without
backfilling. Figure 10. Failure field corresponding to the
case III, i.e. after backfilling the initial excavated rock
materials again excavated axial length 100 m along with
excavating advance and slope angle 47 ◦ . body force which
could result in the deformation of the slope, so that after
backfilling on the partial initial excavated surface the
total axial length, 100 meters, of the excavated slope was
decreased and the deformation was also reduced by comparing
with the former two cases. If, admittedly, the
instantaneous backfilling was made until to identify with
the original excavated body, the excavated scheme would be
approximately optimal for it not only made the best of
waste rock masses or soils but also saved a great amount of
money for the investors. On the other hand, as the axial
length of the slope is about equal to its corresponding
height, the three-dimensional effect is of inevitable
prominence, which is necessary here for the final case to
support the choice of steep-slope excavated scheme.

Figure 11a. The horizontal displacements (x-direction) on

the mon

itoring points varied with iterations of excavating and

backfilling, for

the steep excavated slope (case III), (a) Monitoring points

1 to 5.

Figure 11b. The horizontal displacements (x-direction) on

the mon

itoring points varied with iterations of excavating and

backfilling, for

the steep excavated slope (case III), (a) Monitoring points

6 to 10.

3 STABILITY CONTROL STRATEGY ON THE

EXCAVATED SLOPE

The numerical results just discussed have provided some use

ful insights into the deformation mechanisms in the

excavated

rock slope. These also demonstrate that it is necessary to

take

action for ensuring the stability of Antaibao open pit coal

mine under mining operation. Considering possible rainfall

and other unpredictable factors together with the investiga

tions mentioned above, six technological measures as follows

must be sufficiently implemented under mining.

I. Reduce mining length along the direction of the slope

excavated advance for improving the stress state of rock

masses surrounding the excavated surfaces. Excavated

length (north-south direction) along the axial direction of

slope excavated advance is strictly limited to be 100 meters

for sufficiently considering the 3D effect of slope

excavated

process.

II. Control blasting area for minimizing the amount of

damage

inflicted upon the rock slopes left behind. Near coal seam

No. 9 blasting will be prohibited when under mining of

such coal seam.

III. Pre-fracture blastholes have to be performed above the

face

to preserve the integrity of rock mass.

IV. Sixty-meter wide coal rock and its overcast must be

permanently saved to play a burden role in the slope.

V. Fast excavate and instantaneously backfill. In practice,

it is
ensured that excavation and backfilling must be completely

Griffiths, D.V. and Lane, P.A. Slope stability analysis by

finite

elements. Geotechnique 49, 3, 1999, 387–403.

Ping Shuo Project An Tai Bao Mine Geotechnical Investigation

HighwalI Stability. Chen & Associates Consulting

Geotechnical

Engineers (here simplified as CACGE), March 8, 1985.

On slope stability of coal mine at Antaibao, Institute of

Geotech

nical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology

(Beijing) (also simplified as CUMTB), 2005 (in Chinese).

Smith, I.M. and Griffiths, D.V. Programming the finite
element method. Wiley, 2004. Stead, D., Eberhardt, E. and
Coggan, J.S. Developments in the characterization of
complex rock slope deformation and failure using numerical
modeling techniques. Eng. Geol. 83, 2006, 217–235. Yasitli,
N.E. and Unver, B. 3D numerical modeling of longwall mining
with top-coal caving. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 2005;
42: 219–235. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Numerical modeling and shear strength
estimates of bi-planar dip slope failures B.R. Fisher
Geological Engineering/Earth and Oceanic Sciences,
University of British Columbia, Canada Kleinfelder Inc.,
Washington, USA E. Eberhardt Geological Engineering/Earth
and Oceanic Sciences, University of British Columbia,
Canada

ABSTRACT: A dip slope where there is no persistent

discontinuity daylighting and dipping out of the slope face
requires

a complex mode of toe breakout and internal secondary

(inter-slice) shearing for failure to occur. A dip slope in
this sense

is a natural or engineered/cut slope where prominent

discontinuities (e.g. bedding, faults etc.) dip parallel to
the slope face.
Results are presented that focus on distinct-element
modeling of a dip slope in southern California, USA, for
the purpose of

better understanding bi-planar failure modes. These show

that the failure mechanism requires the development of
secondary

shears, through an active-passive wedge, and the

development of a step path along joints and through intact
rock to enable

kinematic release. In these cases, numerical modeling is

required together with relevant limit equilibrium solutions
(e.g. Sarma)

to properly assess the stability state and establish safe

setback distances behind the crest of the slope.

1 INTRODUCTION

A dip slope is a natural or man-made slope that is coinci

dent with a prominent discontinuity. This discontinuity may

be bedding in sedimentary units, foliations in metamorphic

rock, or a fault or shear. The geotechnical literature

describes

three modes of toe break failure where a prominent dis

continuity does not daylight from the slope. These include

buckling, ploughing, and rock mass failure through the toe

(referred to as toe breakout). Buckling and ploughing

failures

are shallow, do not extend behind the slope crest a great

dis

tance, and are generally encountered in thinly bedded rock,

for example as encountered in open pit coal mining (e.g.

Stead & Eberhardt 1997). The third mode of failure is that

of bi-planar sliding. Bi-planar failures involve sliding of

the

upper slope along a slope-parallel prominent discontinuity

(e.g. bedding) and rock mass failure through the slope toe
or

along a step path to accommodate kinematic release. These

failures may impact a significantly larger area behind the

slope crest.

The potential for deep-seated, bi-planar rock slope fail

ure in weak sedimentary rock types has become an issue in

establishing setback distances for land development, given

the impact that a deeper rock mass failure would have rel

ative to a shallower buckling or ploughing mode of failure.

Figure 1 shows a typical bedded slope where the stability

of the slope will dictate the setback distance for

structures

built behind the crest. When establishing safe setbacks, the

practitioner is faced with making simplifying assumptions

regarding the mode of failure and the rock mass strength at

the toe, as there is no clear set of design guidelines,

analyti

cal procedure, or precedents to guide these evaluations.

This

paper begins to address these shortcomings by presenting the

results of a detailed investigation focused on toe breakout

mechanisms in dip slopes where a bi-planar failure mode is

expected. Figure 1. Typical dip slope where structural

setbacks are required. 2 ACTIVE-PASSIVE CONTROLS Kvapil &
Clews (1979) describe planar and bi-planar failures, where
the presence of a Prandtl wedge (or transition zone)
develops between the active and passive zones of the slide
mass (Fig. 2). This transition zone is characterized by
severe fracturing and secondary shearing of the rock mass
as the forces are transmitted from the active to passive
block. The rock mass is literally “squeezed” between the
active and passive sections, with large transverse
displacements and bulging of the rock mass being observed
within the transition zone. In contrast, very little rock
mass deformation occurs in the active zone; the majority of
the deformation is concentrated along the slope-parallel,
persistent plane of weakness that serves as the release
surface in the upper part of the slope. Likewise, there is
minimal disturbance of the rock mass within the passive
zone, although more than in the active zone. Thus, the rock
mass strength within the Prandtl wedge, and at the slope
toe, largely dictates the amount of movement and ultimately
the stability of the rock slope.The strength along the

Figure 2. Active-passive rock slope failure model (after

Kvapil &

Clews 1979).

rupture surface in the upper slope is also important

however,

as it controls the amount of driving force transmitted to

the

Prandtl wedge and passive zone below.

3 TOE BREAK OUT MECHANISMS

3.1 Plasticity theory model

Within dip slopes, there is a fully persistent discontinuity

that is parallel to the slope, which facilitates sliding of

the

active block and stresses the Prandtl wedge/transition zone.

The major principal stress in the upper slope is essentially

parallel to this discontinuity and thus the slope face.

Without a similar persistent cross-cutting discontinuity dip

ping out of the slope face, toe breakout must occur through
rock mass failure, which can be described in part by
plasticity

theory (again, assuming that there is no preferential

failure

path along an adversely oriented discontinuity at the slope

toe). Plasticity theory is useful for describing the

orientation

of failure within a soil or rock mass in relation to the

orien

tation of principal stresses in the slope. While generating

the

Hoek-Brown failure criterion, Hoek & Brown (1980) discuss

the most critical failure surface of intact rock and the

influ

ence of the inclination of a joint during a triaxial test

(Fig. 3).

They state that the angle between the principal stress and
the

failure surface (θ) is equal to:

Therefore, without a clear persistent discontinuity dipping

adversely out of the slope face near the slope toe, failure
would

proceed at the angle described by θ. Because the major prin

cipal stress within dip slopes is parallel to the slope

face, it is

convenient to envision the orientation of θ as being the

angle

between bedding and the orientation of the failure surface

at

the toe. This is shown in Figure 1, where the angle θ also

describes the orientation of an interslice shear that

develops
to accommodate slip along the toe breakout surface.

Hoek & Brown (1980) go on to state that a pre-existing

discontinuity, where θ is greater than 60 ◦ , has no

influence on

the maximum principal stress. It then follows that in the

case

of near orthogonal jointing, the cross-joints should not

play

a significant role in the slope stability estimate, at

least with

respect to toe breakout in the form of slip along a

persistent Figure 3. Relationship of shear failure surface
to principal stresses in triaxial test (after Hoek & Brown
1980). cross-joint. Instead, the shear strength to use for
the toe breakout surface should be that of the equivalent
continuum rock mass shear strength. 3.2 Step-path model A
step-path failure is one where toe break out develops
through the combined sliding along non-persistent joints
and through intact rock bridges. Jennings (1970) presented
a detailed and theoretically correct model for estimating
the stability of a slope where step-path failure may
occur.The model effectively uses a weighted average of the
shear strength of the joints and the shear strength of the
intact rock through which the sliding surface develops.
More recently, the Hoek-Brown failure criterion (Hoek &
Brown 1997) presents a means to weight the combined
influence of intact rock and non-persistent joint strength
as an equivalent continuum rock mass strength. 4 CASE
HISTORY: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, USA During the past five
years, the lead author has been involved with a consulting
project in Southern California where the stability of a dip
slope required detailed evaluation.An account of the
investigation and slope stability analysis can be found in
Fisher & Eberhardt (2006). In summary, a developer proposed
building homes behind the crest of a 60-m high dip slope
composed of interbedded sandstone with minor amounts of
shale and siltstone. The geologic structure of the slope
was extensively mapped, with the distribution of
discontinuity orientations and spacings determined through
outcrops, core logging and downhole imaging (i.e. borehole
televiewing). The strength of the intact rock and
discontinuities were estimated by performing laboratory
testing following ISRM suggested procedures (ISRM 1981).
The rock slope was cut by three primary discontinuity sets,
which interconnected to form orthogonal blocks. Bedding
planes bounded the top and bottom faces of the blocks,
lateral joints bounded the sides, and cross-joints bounded
the front and back of the blocks in the direction of
sliding. The crossjoints truncated at the bedding planes,
whereas the lateral joints were continuous. Bedding was
easily traced between boreholes suggesting a very high
persistence. The geologic characterization completed for
the case history is the basis for the numerical models
presented in the following section.

Figure 4. Distinct element modeling of a massively bedded

dip

slope, where the toe breakout and interslice shear surfaces

that

develop match those described by plasticity theory.

5 NUMERICAL MODELING

Distinct-element modeling was carried out using the com

mercial code UDEC (Itasca 2006) to gain insights into the

failure mechanisms most common to dip slope failures. The

cases considered were: 1) failure of a simple bi-planar

block

where jointing is, primarily, treated implicitly (i.e. in

the

form of an equivalent continuum); and 2) thinly bedded

slopes cut by cross-joints truncated at their intersection

with

the highly persistent bedding planes. The material

properties

used were those based on laboratory testing and rock mass

characterization (Fisher & Eberhardt 2006).

5.1 Numerical modeling – Influence of plasticity

The first phase of numerical modeling examined a simpli

fied bi-planar block geometry, which included only a single

bedding plane and a persistent orthogonal cross joint at the

toe of the slope (Fig. 4a). This configuration differs from

that

observed in the field, where the cross joints were seen to

be

much more limited in persistence, but was one of the

stability

conditions requested by the review board to be analyzed.

Results employing a Mohr-Coulomb elasto-plastic yield

criterion suggest that the toe failure mechanism follows

that

predicted by plasticity theory (Fig. 4b). The plasticity

indica

tors from these models clearly show the localization of

shear

bands that develop within the joint-bounded block. Both toe

breakout and interslice shear surfaces can be seen to

develop at

angles of 25 ◦ , clockwise and counter-clockwise

respectively,

from bedding (Fig. 4b).When combined with the friction angle

used for the intact rock, φ= 40 ◦ , these agree with the

angles

predicted from plasticity theory (see Fig. 1). The angle mea

sured between the two shear surfaces in the model results

(Fig.

4b) is 130 ◦ , which agrees with the 90 +φ angle predicted

from

plasticity theory.

The development of a bi-planar shear surface was also

observed for geometries more closely following that observed

in the field, namely thinly bedded rock with cross-cutting

joints. These results are discussed in the next section.

Figure 5. Distinct element modeling of a thinly bedded dip
slope, dipping at: a) 35 ◦ and b) 45 ◦ . 5.2 Numerical
modeling – Influence of step path To examine the influence
of bedding and cross-jointing on the development of toe
breakout, models were analyzed that more closely
represented the spacings observed in the field. Figure 5b
shows the results for a thinly-bedded slope inclined at 35
◦ , where the angle between bedding and the cross joints
(measured clockwise from bedding) is also 35 ◦ . The
plasticity indicators for this model show that the breakout
shear surface is horizontal and sympathetic to the joint
orientation. Figure 5c shows the results for a slope
dipping at 45 ◦ , with a 45 ◦ angle between bedding and
cross-joints.With the increased dip angle, the toe breakout
shear follows the cross joints initially but then deviates
to an angle of 20 to 25 ◦ from bedding. In both cases, the
interslice shear is sub-vertical (or normal to the cross
joints). Comparing these results, it can be seen that the
cross joints play a more significant role in the
development of the toe breakout, especially for the 35 ◦
slope, as shearing and sliding occurs preferentially along
them. As such, the toe breakout along the cross-joints and
through the intact rock bridges between departs from the 25
◦ angle predicted by plasticity theory. In the case of the
45 ◦ slope, the toe breakout shear more closely develops at
25 ◦ from bedding. Initially, sliding is preferred along
the cross-joints near the slope face where confinement (and
thus the normal stresses) is low. As the confining stresses
increase into the slope, sliding concentrated along the
cross-joints is no longer preferred and shearing develops
along a path that steps up and through cross-joints,
bedding and intact blocks, along the angle predicted by
plasticity theory.

6 DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS

Results are presented that focus on distinct-element

modeling

of a dip slope in southern California, for the purpose of

better

understanding toe breakout and bi-planar failure where a per

sistent discontinuity does not daylight and dip out of the
slope

face. Model results show that a bi-planar failure mode devel

ops through breakout and interslice shears that form through

an active-passive wedge mechanism. In thinly bedded models

with closely spaced cross-joints, the toe breakout shear

devel

ops as a step path along and through cross joints, bedding

and

intact rock.

Plasticity theory was shown to accurately describe the

development of the toe breakout and interslice shear

surfaces

relative to the slope parallel major principal stress. The

com

plex failure mode demonstrated the importance of considering

both the role of discontinuities and rock mass

strength.Thus in

calculating a safety factor to establish safe setback

distances,

a method of slices approach such as Sarma’s (1979) method

that accounts for the strength along inclined interslice

bound

aries is required. Given the complexity involved, the use of

Sarma’s method in tandem with rock mass characterization to

determine the interslice/rock mass shear strength and

distinct

element modeling to investigate the failure mode provides a

ABSTRACT: Current methods for analysis of slope stability

are often unsuitable for design of today’s very deep open
pit mines.
Slope behaviour must be predicted accurately, because a
small change of slope angle can have serious technical and
economical

consequences. In this paper, large scale slope failure

processes in hard rock deposits dominated by large scale
geological

structures are systematically investigated by numerical

stress analysis. The geological structures are explicitly
modelled within

a certain range of parameters commonly reported from large

scale open pit mines.A parametric study is conducted,
concentrating

on critical factors affecting the development of large

scale and deep-seated slope failure mechanisms. Identified
slope failures

are found to be dominated by plane shear failure on

modelled structures and subsequent local rock mass failure,
resulting in a

step-path like failure surface. Particularly for very high

rock slopes, behaviour of deep-seated structures can induce
large scale

instabilities.

1 INTRODUCTION

Very deep open pit mines have become an economically

viable option compared to underground mines. This implies

the design and management of rock slopes of a depth in the

1,000 metre range. However, large scale rock slope failure

mechanisms are not completely understood, and often they

comprise a number of different mechanisms. Geomechanical

pit design parameters are subject to uncertainties, and

experi

ence from large scale pits within a similar geotechnical

setting
is usually rare which makes a reliable prediction of slope

behaviour a complex task. On a large scale, a small change

of slope angle can have significant technical and economical

consequences. Therefore, the development of new systematic

approaches to identify and to investigate large scale rock

slope

failures has been described to be perhaps the most impor

tant geomechanics research need in open pit mining (Brown,

2004).

2 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Major rock discontinuities can extend over several hundreds

of metres, and it is common practice to include them

explicitly

into slope stability analysis. However, discontinuities

that are

more limited in length but exceed “bench scale” size occur

more often. They can initiate failure mechanisms involving

both sliding on rock discontinuities and failure of the rock

mass in between them. The resulting failure surface can be

planar, “step-path” shaped, or of curved shape as

illustrated in

Figure 1.

Step-path failure surfaces can be investigated by performing

a probabilistic analysis (Baczynski, 2000). This tool

provides

a valuable and logical approach, however, it does not

specifi

cally consider the increased importance of the stress field

and

deformation processes in very high rock slopes.

Well constructed numerical stress analysis models can over

come the latter problem, but the explicit representation of

impersistent structure often gets lost in favor of an

advanced

equivalent continuum, considering ubiquitous joint models

Figure 1. Step-path and curved failure surfaces in large
scale rock slopes. or anisotropic rock mass. The latter
approaches can yield conservative and/or misleading
results. This study addresses this concern by investigating
the influence of impersistent, large scale rock
discontinuities on slope behaviour by explicitly
considering them in numerical models. The rock mass between
these major discontinuities is considered be an isotropic
continuum, containing only small scale structures not
specifically contributing to a large scale, structurally
controlled slope failure. It is analysed which slope
conditions initiate the failure mechanisms described above,
and it is aimed to advance the understanding of interaction
between large scale discontinuities and the rock mass
between them. Only models that are able to explicitly
include discontinuities and an elasto-plastic rock mass are
suitable to systematically investigate this problem. For
the purpose of this study, the program UDEC (Universal
Distinct Element Code) was used (Itasca, 2005). 3 MODELLING
METHODOLOGY A UDEC model is divided by contact joints into
deformable blocks which can be discretized into triangular
finite difference elements. This allows the analysis of
discontinuity

Figure 2. Model plot for slope angle of 50 ◦ and structure

dip angle

of 35 ◦ .

slip and separation behaviour as well as block deformation.

Explicit time-marching is used to solve the equations of

motion.

In this study, the Coulomb slip model was used for the dis

continuities, and an elasto-plastic Mohr-Coulomb model was

used for the rock mass in between the discontinuities. A two

dimensional model of 2700 m width and 2000 m height was

built that allowed for excavation in four stages (250 m,

500 m,

750 m and 1000 m). Plane-strain conditions were assumed,

and all simulations were run with a horizontal to vertical

stress

ratio of 1.7. The overall slope angle in this study was

varied

between 40 ◦ and 60 ◦ .

To improve computation speed, discontinuities were only

generated into a large model zone behind the slope surface.

An automated stochastic procedure was used to generate dis

continuities with UDEC joint segment lengths between 100 m

to 200 m, considered to be long enough to cause

instabilities

on an inter-ramp slope scale. The scope of the investigation

was limited to structures with the potential to slide, and

hence

discontinuity dip angles towards the excavation were varied

between 20 and 50 degrees. The simulated discontinuities

were assumed to occur in widely spaced sets, and to contain

an infilling with thicknesses from centimetres to

decimetres.

Main structures at a mine scale were excluded from the

study.

A plot showing the established model zones used for

different

discretization densities and the four excavation levels is

given

in Figure 2 for the case of a slope angle of 50 ◦ , a dip

angle of

35 ◦ and a spacing of 20 m.

Within the performed simulations, discontinuity shear

strength parameters, orientation and spacing were systemati

cally varied between defined limits.A wide range of

“typical”

values for the shear strength of the described structures

can be

found in literature. Mostly, these values are related to

very low

confinement conditions as existing in benches of an open

pit,

and structure cohesion is often neglected when blast related

damage is to be considered. This study particularly concen

trated on deep-seated slope failures and large scale

structures,

and therefore cohesion values between 50 kPa and 200 kPa

were applied to the structures. Friction angles were varied

between 20 ◦ and 30 ◦ .

It can be expected that the majority of large scale open

pits

will be mined in copper porphyry type ore deposits (Hoek

et al., 2000). Therefore, this investigation focused on hard

rock environments. The rock mass (excluding large scale

discontinuities) was assumed to be isotropic, and for
modelling purposes its strength was derived employing the
Geological Strength Index (Hoek et al. 2002). A GSI in the
range of 85 was anticipated to reflect the assumed,
competent rock mass conditions. The intact rock uniaxial
compressive strength was varied between 80 MPa and 120 MPa
(m i = 20, assumed to be constant), and the disturbance
factor was chosen to be D = 0.5 in order to represent
relatively undisturbed conditions of deep-seated rock mass
compared to bench slope analyses. The required MohrCoulomb
parameters for the UDEC block model were derived from these
assumptions. This study is interested in slope
instabilities caused by deep seated failure processes.
During the simulations, the major discontinuities were
therefore prevented from daylighting at the slope surface
which otherwise would cause local failure. In recognition
of blast related damage, a disturbance factor of D = 1 was
considered for rock mass in a layer of 30 m thickness
parallel behind the slope surface. Critical slopes states
can be identified by the formation of a continuous failure
surface throughout the slope, i.e. slip on structures and
failure of the rock mass between them. Other indicators to
assess the state of the UDEC model include gridpoint
velocities, and the ratio of the maximum unbalanced force
to the representative internal force in the model. 4
RESULTS Independent of the parametric configuration used in
this study, the development of a continuous failure surface
that could lead to a large scale slope failure was not
predicted by the simulations for an overall slope angle of
40 ◦ . Block movements stabilized, and only for slopes
deeper than 750 m localized rock mass yielding was observed
at the slope toe. Localized slope failure due to
daylighting structures was not included in this study as
outlined above. Depending on parametric configuration of
the geological structures, critical slope states developed
for slope angles steeper than 50 ◦ . A further increase of
slope angle, while other parameters of relevance remained
unchanged, resulted in both increased rock mass failure and
structure slip. A variation of rock mass parameters within
the range used in this study was not found to be very
sensitive with regard to the development of slope failure.
Rather, and considering the structure size implemented, it
appears that the structure dip angle and shear strength
dominate slope performance under the simulated conditions.
Modelled slopes containing structures that were assigned a
shear strength expressed by both a friction angle of at
least 25 ◦ and cohesion of 150kPa generally remained
stable. Stable slope conditions do not necessarily mean
that the conditions for structure slip would not be
fulfilled. Large zones reaching several hundreds of meters
behind the slope surface were identified where the
structure slip criteria are met. However, due to
insignificant relative displacements and rock mass
deformation no failure occurs. An example is shown in
Figure 3. For slope angles of 50 ◦ or steeper and structure
shear strength defined by both a friction angle of less
than 25 ◦ and a cohesion of less than 150 kPa, the key
driver providing the conditions for initiation of slope
failure was the structure dip angle. Due to the
discontinuity shear strength parameters used in this study,
the failure potential on structures with relatively

Figure 3. Large scale discontinuities at shear limit (φ= 25

◦ ,

c = 150 kPa) for a 1000 m high slope with 50 ◦ slope angle

(structure

dip angle/spacing 35 ◦ /40 m), intact rock UCS = 100 MPa.

Figure 4. Large scale discontinuities at shear limit (φ= 20

◦ ,

c = 100 kPa) for a 1000 m high slope with 50 ◦ slope angle

(structure

dip angle/spacing 20 ◦ /20 m), intact rock UCS = 90 MPa.

shallow dip angles is limited. However, for slopes with a

height

of 500 m or more, the slope stress state causes structure

slip

to occur even if their dip angle is smaller than or equal to

the structure friction angle, which is unexpected if general

assumptions of limit equilibrium approaches are taken into

consideration.

Near surface zones where discontinuity slip can occur are

limited to the slope toe region as shown in Figure 4. Such

zones

can be deep-seated and could potentially combine with

failure

processes in slope regions located higher within the slope.

Although all modelled slopes with a dip angle of 20 ◦

reached

an equilibrium state, other factors as daylighting

structures

could be a trigger for large scale slope failure in slopes

higher

than 500 m.

For structure shear strength parameters and slope angle in

the critical range indicated above, an increased structure

dip

angle results in an increased number of structures that

fulfill

the slip condition. Relative structure displacements

increase

and finally results in breakage of rock (mass) bridges. For

structure dip angles between 30 ◦ and 40 ◦ , a slope

persistent,

combined failure surface forms, where both yielding of struc

tures and of the rock mass between them occurs. The failure

surface has the form of a “step-path”, where mainly tensile

yielding causes the failure of rock bridges. Shear failure

is Figure 5. Current rock mass yielding and structure shear
displacements (φ= 20 ◦ , c = 100 kPa) for a 500 m high
slope with 50 ◦ slope angle (structure dip angle/spacing 35
◦ /40 m), intact rock UCS = 100 MPa. observed at the slope
toe. An example for a 500 m high slope is shown in Figure
5. Referring to Figure 1, all failure surfaces identified
in this study were of planar shape, and failure paths of
dominantly circular shape were not predicted. For
structures with moderately steep dip angles between 30 ◦
and 40 ◦ , deep-seated slope failure mechanisms may develop
that are initiated by slip and deformation of large scale
structures. Slope failure initiation itself is not
essentially related to a certain slope height. All slope
models predicting step-path failure mechanisms for a slope
height of 1000 m also failed at heights of 750 m and 500 m.
Failure mechanisms at increased height, however, are much
further developed and slopes with a height of 1000 m
produced overall slope displacements three times as large
as those that occurred for slopes of half the height. The
structure spacing has a significant influence on failure
initiation. Generally, the closer the spacing, the more
developed is the failure surface. If slope failure occurred
for a simulated structure spacing of 20 m, the majority of
models remained unstable even if the spacing was doubled.
Models containing widely spaced structures (80 m) predicted
no large scale instabilities. Steep dipping structures,
with dip angles steeper than 40 ◦ , cause failure paths
that are located nearer to the slope surface. Failure
usually occurs on a scale that would involve multiple
benches rather than the overall slope. This is caused by
local crushing of near surface rock mass and tensile rock
mass failure between several large scale structures. Also
in this case, the failure surface generally has a planar
shape. The formation of large scale failure surfaces stops
if structure dip angles are subparallel or nearly
subparallel to the overall slope angle. The structure
spacing has a significant effect on slope stability for
steep dip angles. Large scale failures only develop for
relatively close spacings (20 m), while no instabilities
occurred with wider spacings (40 m and 80 m). Selected
models that predicted critical slope states were further
investigated. A persistent set of structures perpendicular
to the direction of the non-persistent structures already
considered was introduced into the models. The properties
assigned to the new discontinuities were similar to those
of the non-persistent set, and spacings between 20 m and 40
m were applied. The high rock strength used in the models
would prevent bending of the columns and thus initiation of
large scale toppling.

Figure 6. Large scale discontinuities at shear limit (φ= 20

◦ ,

c = 100 kPa) for a 500 m high slope with 50 ◦ slope angle

(structure

dip angle/spacing 35 ◦ and 125 ◦ /40 m), intact rock UCS =

100 MPa.

Significant slope failure developed in these models. The

failure mechanism is predominantly driven by planar shear

failure but subvertical, “toppling” structures provide

signifi

cantly more release surfaces and potential for slope deforma

tion. A plot indicating discontinuities at their shear

limit for
the same slope as presented in Figure 5, but now including a

subvertical structure set, is shown in Figure 6.

The failure surface develops from the slope toe after slip

starts on the in-dipping structures. This action causes

several

of the toppling structures to open up but they do not

signifi

cantly contribute to slope displacements in the lower part

of the

slope. Release and deformation in the lower slope causes sig

nificant opening of subvertical structures in the upper

slope,

leading to tensile failure of rock columns and subsequent

downwards movement.

5 CONCLUSIONS

A theoretical parametric study investigating large scale

slope

failure mechanisms using UDEC was performed, concen

trating on hard rock deposits disturbed by large scale non

persistent structures. A variety of critical factors

influencing

slope behaviour were systematically varied throughout the

study. The study is intended to give insights into large

scale slope instabilities that are dominated by large scale

discontinuities.

The study showed that failure mechanisms in such deposits

ABSTRACT: During the last years there has been a noticeable

increase in the use of dynamic rockfall protection systems.
In this
paper we show some different and relevant aspects that can
be helpful for the correct design and location of dynamic
rockfall

protection systems. Aspects related to the variety of

geometries of the ground where these dynamic barriers are
usually placed

and the consideration of them in the system design, are

emphasized.We also discus the important contribution of the
combination

between the dynamic protection and the static systems to

optimize the resources and to reduce the risks derived from
rockfalls.

1 INTRODUCTION

To avoid rockfall problems, suitable protection measures are

required for which a precise study that identifies the

problems

and possible solutions or performances is needed that miti

gate or lessen the risks that these falls could produce. In

some

cases, the study is made by “direct procedures”, studying

the

conditions of stability of the blocks in the slope and

analyz

ing the influence of the leading agents in the generation of

instabilities (water, ice, wind, temperature, etc).

For many cases, the study is approached by means of indi

rect procedures that allow one to establish hypotheses on

the

volume of the blocks susceptible to fall and the possible

trajec

tories. This approach of the study can be associated,

generally,
with the fall slopes under consideration.

The protection measures will be taken after the accomplish

ment of these studies, based on the possibility of falls and

the consequences, as well as on an exhaustive analysis of

all

the existing conditions. Knowledge and characterization of

the

rockfall problems are based on the field studies, that

complete

the phase of initial information collection, and on

analytical

studies. They must determine and quantify the parameters

that

characterize the phenomenon such as: fall frequency, speed,

energy of impact and height.

2 INFORMATION COLLECTION

To establish the unstable zones, it is necessary to

understand

the mechanisms of rupture. These studies allow one to deter

mine possible movements. The interpretation of the data, aid

in determining the unstable masses and in defining the

zones,

which require a detailed study. The previous impacts and

their

consequences, can give information about the trajectories of

the blocks during the fall (Duffy, 1989).

The aim of this field study, allows us to understand the

geologic risks, arriving at the description of unstable

zones,

characterizing their magnitude and possible volumes, as well

as the mechanisms of rupture, analysis of the
discontinuities

and the estimation of the probability of occurrence of the

rockfall. The field recognition can be divided into two

stages: Survey and Geomorphologic Study, with characteri

zation of the zones and the Geologic Study of the slope. 3

BLOCK ENERGY In order to be able to understand the energy
approach, it is necessary to make remarks, to understand
the process of energy balance that takes place at impact.
Independent of the rigidity of the considered element, a
block stops when the condition of equality is reached
between the energy of the rock during the fall and the work
of the resisting forces producing a deformation or
displacement of the protecting structure. where: E: energy,
J W: reaction forces work, J R: reaction forces, N D:
displacement, m The dynamic elements’ deformation,
guarantee small reaction forces and great energy
absorption. The expression shows that for the case of the
rigid protective structure, the displacement is almost
null, and the reaction forces are very high. For flexible
protective elements, the impact force is neutralized in a
more rational way, due to the displacement absorbing the
same energy with smaller reaction forces. This situation is
shown in the following picture (Luis Fonseca, 1995). To
guarantee equal areas under the curves, the maximum
reaction R 2 will have to be greater than R 1 . The
following example, helps us to understand, the used energy
values. The impact of a light vehicle that travels at a
speed of 90 km/h and weighs 1 t, is equivalent to kinetic
energy of 312 kJ. On the other hand, a heavy vehicle, at 60
km/h, but with a weight 40 t, moves with a kinetic energy
of 5.780 kJ. The potential energy case, is even easier to
understand, e.g. in the certification test with 5.000 kJ, a
block of 16 t used and falls from 32 m, which is equivalent
to 5.022 kJ. In Figure 2, a test is made with 10% of his
total energy. A block of 964 kg falls from 32 m in free
fall, representing 301 kJ of energy.

Figure 1. Diagram Force-Deformation.

where:

A i areas under the curves, energies.

R i maximum reaction forces.

D i maximum deformation.

Figure 2. Block impact test.

4 TRAJECTORY ANALYSIS METHODS

The main problem during the design is to determine the tra

jectories of the unstable blocks. The variables, which

mainly

affect the choice and the location of the barriers or

protection

works are: the trajectory length, the height of the

bounces, the

speed, and the energy of the blocks during the fall. In gen

eral, blocks falling from a rock’s face may have four types
of

movement: free falling, bouncing, rolling and sliding.

Mathematical models set up in order to follow the

trajectory,

should be able to describe this behavior of the block. The

problem becomes more complex if it will be necessary to

include within the model, the instantaneous passages from

one movement to another, or the combinations of rolling and

sliding or rolling and bouncing. In the last few years

several

analytical procedures have been developed. The methods are

divided in two main groups: Rigorous methods and lumped

mass methods.

4.1 Rigorous methods

The rigorous methods are based on analytical procedures

using
finite elements, considering the rocky mass like a system
and

solving the dynamic equations of balance of the blocks.

These

methods study the block trajectory, through a 3-D topography

(Descoeudres & Zimmermann, 1987).

In these methods the shape and dimensions of the blocks

are assumed to be known “a priori” and all movements of

the block are considered. The block travels through air

with a

ballistic trajectory. The movements of translation and

rotation

are transferred to the block by the impact against the

slope surface. The impact induces moment changes, depending
on the shape of the corners of the block and the shape of
the surfaces, the angle of the trajectories at the point of
impact, the roughness of the slope surface and the friction
between the block and the slope face. 4.2 Lumped mass
methods In these methods the single block is considered
like a simple point with mass (m) and speed (v). The point
describes a ballistic trajectory while the air resistance
is usually neglected. When the block impacts with the slope
surface, the normal component of the velocity changes in
sign and is reduced by a Kn coefficient (normal coefficient
of restitution) and the tangential component of the speed
may also change signs and is reduced by a Kt coefficient
(tangential coefficient of restitution). The two
coefficients of restitution consider all the
characteristics of the impact, including the deformation,
the sliding and the transfer from rotational to
translational movement and vice versa. Diverse numerical
methods based on these hypotheses, have been developed
(Bozzolo, Pamini & Hutter, 1982). 4.2.1 Block movements
When the rock falls, it hits the slope surface. This
movement is governed by a restitution coefficient,
representing the amount of energy dissipated during the
impact. The dissipated energy depends on the elasto-plastic
behavior of the surface which the block hits, on the
material of the block, and the resistance to rolling and
the sliding. To determine the restitution coefficients,
that include all the phenomena of energy dissipation, tests
in situ and in a laboratory have been made. A large group
of investigators uses a factor K (restitution coefficient)
to predict the behavior of the block. This coefficient
varies between 0 and 1 and can be defined in different
ways. The value of K will be (Spang & Rautenstrauch, 1998):
where: V i , V ′ i represent the velocity before and after
the impact of the particle respectively. In the case of
rock falls, the expression can be simplified to: where: K
is the restitution coefficient V, V ′ are the speeds of the
block before and after the impact. For free fall, the
preceding equation becomes: h, h ′ represents the original
falling height and the rebound height after the impact
respectively. With the aim to reproduce this phenomenon,
mathematical models have been developed, that give a better
definition of the bounce of rocks, establishing a
difference between the normal and tangential components of
the movement: the coefficients Kn and Kt (normal and
tangential restitution coefficients to the slope surface).
These coefficients have been

Figure 3. Change in block shape. The initial block shape

becomes

rounded.

obtained experimentally by several researchers. These coeffi

cients are different, based on the characteristics of the

surface

of the ground, which the rock blocks hit. The field tests
allow

one to include the influence of other factors in the block

jump,

such as: the shape, dimensions and resistance of the block.

4.2.2 Block shape

Different blocks shapes are compared, in some tests. In the

case of soft rocks, it is possible to corroborate that

prismatic

blocks tend to round-off progressively, during the fall.

Experi

ments on a limestone block showed that the shape and the

size
of the face of the block in contact with the slope,
determines

the bounce mode and consequently its subsequent movement

(Giani, 1992).

When the impact occurs on a face of the block, the surface

absorbs a great part of the energy of the impact and

sliding will

be its main subsequent movement. This movement of sliding

prevails until the moment at which, the block stops or hits

some irregularity of the surface, that changes the movement

to rolling and bouncing.

When the impact occurs in a corner of the block, a transfer

of translational movement into rotation and bouncing

prevails

over sliding. Tests with blocks, such as cubes and others

with

parallel faces, on a granite surface, showed that the length

of the trajectory, depends considerably on the block impact

modes. Observations made on blocks of tabular shape, show

that they move on the face where it has the greatest area.
Cubes

slide until some irregularity causes it to turn upside down

and

bounce.

When a flat block has a disc shape, the restitution coeffi

cients are surprisingly high and the friction angle is

small.This

phenomenon causes an unexpected trajectory (big bounce and

high speed) at small inclination slope angles.

4.2.3 Block size

The influence of the block size is tested during the

falling of

different blocks sizes on different sizes of rock surface.

When

the size of the block is less than the mean size of the
blocks

that compose the surface, impacts take place from rock to

rock. The block that falls can be stopped, when the height
is

not sufficient to overcome the local slope roughness.

In other cases, when the size of the block surpasses the

average of rocks of the slope surface, rolling movement

prevails.

4.2.3.1 Procedure of data collection for a computer

simulation

The data consist of: size of the blocks, roughness of the

slope

surface, coefficients that represent the materials of the

slope

and coordinates (x, y), to define the profile of the slope.

The

selection of the input parameters begins with the

identification

of the trajectory of the rockfall, from where they

originated to Figure 4. Slope surface rocks. the area that
needs protection. This profile must be entered as a series
of line segments. This topographic profile, is obtained
from a direct survey of the slope or drawings at scale
1:1.000 or greater. The division of the profile into
sections must be done in situ, where the changes in the
slope and the materials can be observed. The best way to
collect the data, is to directly scale the trajectory of
the fall, whenever this can be done without danger. If the
trajectory is not accessible, then the data will have to be
taken from a distance. The values of roughness of the
surface, coefficients of tangential and normal restitution,
should correspond to the selected section. The size of
rocks involved in the fall depends on the blocks in the
source area and its behavior in the rockfall. It is
possible, that a rock breaks during the fall or several
small rocks can cause a worse condition; the most
unfavorable case is usually when the biggest rock falls.
Rocks found at the base of the trajectory that can be
identified from the source area, are a good alternative for
the determination of the block size. In case that no rocks
are found at the base of the path, the size of the rock
must be determined in the source area. In the collection
process in situ, it is advisable to identify the shape. In
the simulation, one generally uses a spherical block shape
because it increases the inertia. In order to define the
limits of the sections, the profile of the slope is
subdivided into the areas of the same inclination. The
limits will be selected, generally, where slope angle or
the slope material change. The number of sections to use
depends on the length and the complexity of the slope. To
use too few can reduce the precision of the simulation, but
to use too many, makes the investigation unnecessarily
difficult. Experience shows, that it is important to
increase the quantity of points near the collection area.
The speed can be determined, if the source location is
identified perfectly and if the block characteristics are
knows. The range of values commonly used in the scientific
literature, is between 1 to 3 m/s. The roughness of the
surface is an estimation of how much the slope can vary,
within the radius of the block. The vegetation has less of
an influence. The values of the coefficient of tangential
restitution, for slopes with vegetation of more than a few
meters of height are difficult to evaluate, because while
the coefficient for an individual rock can be low, the
first rocks that fall, are clearing the way for following
rocks. The normal restitution coefficient Kn it is
determined by the rigidity of the slope surface. The
rigidity of soft surfaces can be determined by looking at
traces, but this does not work if the ground is frozen
during the winter. 4.2.4 Simulation results Before
designing the protection, based on the results of the
rockfall simulation, one must decide on the accuracy of the

Table 1. Swiss standard parameters, internationally

accepted (Gerber, 2001). Part-test b) (50%) Part-test c)
100%) Length of Mass of Mass of Max. admiss. Min. height
post Energy test body Edge length s Energy test body Edge
length s braking distance b s of net h n
Category (m) (kJ) (kg) (m) (kJ) (kg) (m) (m) (m)

1 1,5 50 160 0,41 100 320 0,52 4,0 0,90

2 2,0 125 400 0,56 250 800 0,70 5,0 1,20

3 3,0 250 800 0,70 500 1,600 0,88 6,0 1,80

4 3,0 375 1,200 0,80 750 2,400 1,01 7,0 1,80

5 4,0 500 1,600 0,88 1,000 3,200 1,11 8,0 2,40

6 4,0 750 2,400 1,01 1,500 4,800 1,27 9,0 2,40

7 5,0 1,000 3,200 1,11 2,000 6,400 1,40 10,0 3,00

8 6,0 1,500 4,800 1,27 3,000 9,600 1,60 12,0 3,60

9 7,0 2,500 8,000 1,51 5,000 16,000 1,90 15,0 4,20

results. The first test is to see if the results seem reason

able based on the experience and one’s judgment. If the

results

do not seem reasonable or they are not in agreement with

observations made in situ, then the input parameters must be

changed to examine the accuracy and the applicability of the

simulation.

If the values seem reasonable, then it will be necessary

to run additional simulations taking in account input values

within a reasonable range. In many cases the results of the

simulation will fall within a small range; if the range is

great,

then the investigator must decide.

The effectiveness of roadside ditches and berms can be

verified by performing the simulation using the appropriate

configuration. The program is used to help locate the

barriers

by identifying the areas where the bounce heights are

minimal.

The interception barriers can be designed using the speed

and total kinetic energy. For proposing the most suitable

pro

tection system, it is necessary to take into consideration

the

important factors relative to the sizing of these protection

systems.

5 CHOICE AND LOCATION OF THE SYSTEMS

For selecting a protection system, including its location,

it is

necessary take in to account:

• Conditions in situ for the installation, mainly the

foundation

and conditions.

• Transportation of materials and machines.

• Safety during the installation.

• Deformation, after the impact. Control the distance

between

posts.

• Guarantee residual height after the impact.

• Operation guarantee in all the sections even on the

boundary

(100% of the service load).

• Effective height in the contiguous sections, after the

impact.

• Design so that the protection system works in the range of

elastic deformation (to decrease maintenance).

• Possibility to sustain multiple impacts

• System properly tested at a 1:1 scale officially

certified,

by means of a vertical test, in free fall (Gerber, Böll &

Ammann, 2001), following standards recognized world

wide, e.g. the Swiss Guideline for Approval of Rockfall

ABSTRACT: A probabilistic rockfall encounter model using a

three-dimensional numerical simulation is presented to
study

the traffic safety for roadways in mountainous terrain. The

model consists of a rockfall simulation and an encounter
analysis.

The three-dimensional rockfall simulation produces all

possible trajectories and end points of potential falling
rocks to delimit

the endangered zone at a given site. The probability of

encounter is dependent on the probability that a vehicle
and a rock will

be in the same spatial section along the road in the zone.

The location of the most endangered section is considered
to be the

location where the number of the calculated trajectories

which intersect a trial-section is the largest zone.
Vehicle presence in

the section is assumed to be based on average vehicle

velocity and average daily traffic volume at the site. To
estimate the

length of the section, we require the average vehicle

velocity.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rockfall is a significant hazard to roadways in mountainous

regions. The protection of human life and traffic lines is a

major task in rock engineering. When assessing rockfall haz

ards, at first, the detection of potential falling rock

blocks on

slope is important, and it is also important to estimate

travel

distance of the rock blocks and their velocities at any

points on

the topographical map (Jaboyedoff et al. 2005). Estimations

of them affect protection measures against rockfall. Often

numerical simulations are conducted with considerations of

uncertainty of input parameters (Dudt & Heidenreich, 2001).

The statistical outputs, such as flight height and kinetic

energy,

can be used for the design of protective measures at a given

site. However, we, engineers, often face with the compari

son of conditions at several rockfall sites to make

decisions

related to the allocations of the protective measures with

lim

ited resources. Some contributions on this issue have

already

reported (e.g. Neil & Steven, 2003).

A probabilistic rockfall encounter model using a three

dimensional numerical simulation is presented to study the

traffic safety for roadways in mountainous terrain. The

model

consists of a rockfall analysis and an encounter analysis.

The

three-dimensional rockfall analysis produces all possible

tra
jectories and end points to delimit the endangered zone on
the

road at a given site. The probability of encounter is

dependent

on the probability that a vehicle and a falling rock will

be in

the same section in the zone.

When destabilizing factors, e.g. piezometric pressure, tem

perature variations and external forces acting to rock block

(e.g. earthquake), exceed the stability of rock block, rock

will

start falling.These factors are not introduced to this

procedure.

It is important to recognize that the probabilistic model

should

be regarded as a tool to provide a comparison of relative

risk

to moving vehicles from rockfall at several sites.

2 A THREE-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATION

The numerical model described here is a fully three

dimensional model for single block dynamics (Nishimura,

et al. 2003). The driving force is gravity. During its

motion, the block makes successive impacts on the ground
surface. These impacts involve frictional contact and
viscous damping response. The solution algorithms are
briefly described in the following sections. 2.1 Block
motion The equation of translational motion for a single
block is expressed as: where x¨ i denotes the acceleration
of the block centroid, f i is the sum of the contact forces
to the ground, m is the block mass and g i is the gravity
acceleration vector. Index i takes the values 1 to 3, and
denotes components of a vector in the global co-ordinates
system. The rotational motion of an undamped rigid body is
described by Euler’s equation, in which the motion is
referred to the principal axes of inertia of the block:
where I ξ , I η and I ζ are the principal moments of
inertia of the block; ω ξ , ω η and ω ζ are the angular
velocities about the principal axes; and M ξ , M η and M ζ
are the components of the applied moment. The
finite-difference procedure is used to integrate the
equation of motion (Cundall, 1971). The following
expressions describe the translational and rotational
velocities at time t: The updated position of the block
centroid is given as follow:

The increments of rotation are given as follows:

where θ 1 , θ 2 and θ 3 express the total rotation in Euler

angles

between the global co-ordinate axes and the principal axes.

The new location of the block vertices are given as follows:

where x v j denotes the coordinates of the block vertices

in the

principal system. [T ij ] is the transformation matrix from

the

principal coordinate system to the global system.

2.2 Contact detection and contact forces

The ground surface is discretized in triangular elements as

shown in Figure 1 in a way which approximates the three

dimensional topographical map as closely as possible. The

triangular meshes are searched for a vertex of the block

that

might lie on the ground surface. Possible contact ground ele

ments are identified by the comparison of the coordinate x

v(t) i

with the corresponding surface point x v(t) i . If the

block is

touching with the ground surface, the gap, dz, is negative:

An interpolation is introduced to get the coordinate of the

surface point:
where X l 3 denotes the coordinate of the nodal points of
the

triangular element which a vertex of the block contacts,

while

S is the projection area of the triangular element to the

hori

zontal plane. S l is the subdivided triangular of the

projected

triangular element. At contact points, the spring-dashpot

sys

tem is assumed to calculate contact forces. The contact

forces

are transformed into the global system and the components in

the global system are appeared in the equation (1).

2.3 Considerations on the values of input variables

The block is assumed to be unbreakable and defined by:

• dimensions

• shape (parallelepiped, hexagonal prism)

• its initial position and angular orientation, initial

velocity

• density

The characteristics related to the ground surface are also

input variables.

Characteristics of the topography:

• the macroscopic geometry of the ground

• local asperities Figure 1. Perspective view of the

discretized topographical map and a falling block.
Characteristics of the ground surface: • the contact
stiffness • the coefficient of normal restitution • the
coefficient of friction Uncertainty of these parameters can
be treated from the two manners (Dudt & Heidenreich, 2001).
In this paper, values of the parameters related to the rock
block and the geometry of the ground are deterministically
assumed. The coefficient of normal restitution is only
treated with the Monte Carlo method, generating values
based on the predefined distribution when the value is
used. 3 ENCOUNTER ANALYSIS The encounter analysis presented
in this paper estimates the probability of an encounter
P(E) between a vehicle and a rockfall, that is the
probability that a vehicle and a rock will be in the same
location at the same time.The event tree on Figure 2
illustrates the overall structure of the analysis. Branch 1
requires the frequency of rockfall. Branch 2 gives the
endangered zone which is determined by the
three-dimensional numerical simulation. Branch 3 requires
the probability of a vehicle presence in the endangered
zone and produces the target probability of encounter.
Branch 4 produces an evaluation of loss (or consequences)
of the encounter, that is given by the probability of
damage of vehicle and persons. When the annual frequency F
of a rockfall of magnitude m is given, the probability of a
rockfall, that is the probability of a rock of magnitude m
in time �T seconds, will be given by: The rockfall
simulation used here produces the distributions of
trajectories and allows determining the possibility that a
boulder crosses a spatial distance on the roadway. We have
defined this spatial distance to be the average travel
distance of moving vehicle in �T . The probability of
crossing, that is

Branch 1 Branch 2 Branch 3 Branch 4 : Continuation of branch

Volume Vi and

Frequancy F i Rock will reach road Not reach (No damage)

Vechicle and rock exist at the same time
Encounter No encounter (No damage) Damage (Level 1)
Damage (Level 2) Damage (Level 3) No damage V V V 1 2 3

Rockfall

occurrences Trajectory Encounter

Consequances

Figure 2. Event tree for assessment of rockfall

consequences.

the probability that blocks cross the distance of length L,

is

given by:
where N c is the number of trajectories which cross the
distance

and N is the whole number of the Monte Carlo simulation.

The most endangered location of the section of length L is

considered to be the position where the number of the calcu

lated rockfall trajectories which intersect a trail-section

is the

largest in the zone.

Vehicle presence at the location was assumed to be repre

sented by average vehicle velocity (V avg ) and average

daily

traffic volume (ADT ) at the given site.

By assuming that rockfall occurrence and vehicle presence

are independent, the probability of encounter is determined

by:

The mean number of encounters per year can be given by

multiplying the annual number of vehicle through the study

area as shown below.

Since the block element used in this analysis is one single

unbreakable, the equation (15) shows the probability of one

encounter in �T in the one section. Therefore, this analysis

can not determine the probability of two or more encounters

that will occur in the case of rockslide and large rockfall.

4 APPLICATION TO A ROCKFALL

The probabilistic model was applied to estimate the probabil

ity of rockfall encounter at two sites. Figure 3 sketches

the
projections of the topographical maps of the two sites. Fig

ure 1 shows the three-dimensional map of the ridge-shaped

slope with input values and the block shapes. No available

data on the frequency-magnitude relation of rockfall event

Figure 3. Projection of calculated trajectories to the
horizontal plane (ridge-shaped slope). for both sites
exist. Therefore, we examined this encounter analysis with
the values of F = 1 (once per year), V = 2.6 m 3 (m = 5.78
Mg) for both shapes and ADT = 200. Initial positions of the
falling block are assumed to be at three points
deterministically as shown in Figure 3. The value of the
restitution constant e is assumed to be uniformly
distributed in the range of 0.1 ± 0.02. The damping
constant is calculated by: where η 0 is the critical
damping. 1000 simulations for one starting point were done
and Figure 3 also shows a projection of possible
trajectories to the horizontal plane. The result shows the
lateral dispersion of the block trajectories. This may mean
that the starting point of rock block and the geometry of
slope are also the important factors to analyze rockfall
trajectories, especially for such a ridge-shaped slope. We
have assumed the average velocity of 50 km/hr at both sites
and the period �T of 1 second, then, this resulted in the
length of L, 14 m. Making the trial section shifted along
the line A–A ′ , the probability of encounter is calculated
by applying the above procedure. The values of the
probability for each starting point are found in Table 1.
At the valley-shaped slope, the number of trajectories
crossing one trial section is larger than that of the
ridge-shaped valley

Figure 4. Projection of calculated trajectories to the

horizontal

plane (valley-shaped slope).

Table 1. Summary of the encounter analysis.

Block P(R) P(V) P(E) E

(a) Ridge-shaped slope

Cubic a 2.73 × 10 −9 0.002 5.46 × 10 −12 3.98 × 10 −7 b

1.59 × 10 −9 0.002 3.18 × 10 −12 2.32 × 10 −7 c 0 0.002 0 0

Hexagonal a 1.12 × 10 −8 0.002 2.24 × 10 −11 1.64 × 10 −6

prism b 5.33 × 10 −9 0.002 1.07 × 10 −11 7.81 × 10 −7 c
1.59 × 10 −10 0.002 3.18 × 10 −13 2.32 × 10 −8

(b) Valley-shaped slope

Cubic a 3.17 × 10 −8 0.002 6.34 × 10 −11 4.63 × 10 −6 b

1.89 × 10 −8 0.002 3.78 × 10 −11 2.76 × 10 −6 c 3.17 × 10
−8 0.002 6.34 × 10 −11 4.63 × 10 −6

Hexagonal a 3.17 × 10 −8 0.002 6.34 × 10 −11 4.63 × 10 −6

prism b 7.64 × 10 −9 0.002 1.53 × 10 −11 1.12 × 10 −6 c

3.17 × 10 −8 0.002 6.34 × 10 −11 4.63 × 10 −6

and this resulted in the difference of the encounter

probability

between the two slopes. This procedure also could display

the

width where the probability of encounter exceeds a certain

value and this would allow one to determine the length and

ABSTRACT: Slope failures in open pit coal mines all over

world often do not yield to analysis by widely accepted
slope

failure theories, such as wedge and blocky failure, or

circular failure, amongst others. This means that slope
designs based on

these approaches may therefore be inappropriate in many

instances, and have led to unexpected failures with all the
attendant

consequences. An open pit coal mine in South Africa

experienced several unexpected slope failures over a number
of years

that defied objective analysis. This led to an in-depth

study of the geotechnical conditions in which these
failures occurred,

and the mechanisms that resulted in the failures. The

purpose of the work was to provide the mine with a
practical analytical

method that could provide an objective assessment of slope

stability, and therefore guidelines for more stable slope
designs.

Although the geotechnical conditions at the mine are

unique, the literature suggests that failures of the type
observed at the

mine are not; hence, the work may be more widely

applicable. This paper presents the Block Thrust Failure
Mechanism, which

has made reasonable account of two failures studied at the

coal mine. It also provides guidelines for slope stability
assessment,

and appears to provide objective slope stability factors in

the practical mining environment. With modifications and
additions,

it could well be applied to a much wider range of

geotechnical environments worldwide, and become an accepted
slope stability

analytical technique.

1 INTRODUCTION

Every rock or soil slope cut in open pit mining is suscep

tible to instability and eventual collapse. Not only is this

dangerous, it forces a mine to perform some out-of-schedule

clearing up, which can in some instances affect production

plans, and therefore revenues, severely.The factors that

reduce

pit slope stability, and therefore increase the probability

of

failure, are mining-induced, geological, and hydrological in

origin. Most pit slopes are inhomogeneous structures com

prising anisotropic layers of soil and rock characterised by

different material properties. In addition to the

variability of
the properties of the natural materials, they are in various

states of decomposition from weathering and groundwater,

and they are discontinuous because of jointing, bedding or

layering, and other large-scale geological structures such

as

igneous intrusions, faults, and folds. These composite struc

tures often present unpredictable behaviour, raising

questions

about internal processes that take place once the slope has

been cut, and their effect on stresses and deformations

within

the slope. Changes in groundwater and weathering processes

initiated by the slope cut can also play important roles in

slope

failure.

Hoek & Bray’s (1973) book on rock slope engineering is

one of the most recognised in the field of rock slope

design,

and was first published 34 years ago.The means for

predicting

the potential and size of structurally controlled failures

in rock

slopes (wedge, plane shear, and step-wedge models) are also

well developed in the CANMET Pit Slope Manual (1997).

Some slope failures observed in South African and Australian

coal fields, involve a layer of weak rock in the slope with

thick

ness approximately ¼ of the slope height (Harries, 2006).

The

weak layer is commonly shale, and is usually exposed at the

P A P A Mine Slope failure Passive block thrust towards
pit Spoil pile failure Joint controlled failure boundary
Active block subsides under its own weight Tension fracture
Figure 1. Slope and spoil failures reported by Boyd (1983).
toe of the slope, and usually dips toward the pit. This
failure mode is characterised by significant downward
movement of the ground surface behind the slope crest,
accompanied by the horizontal thrust of the rock in front
of it out into the pit, see Figure 1. The horizontal thrust
is usually facilitated by the weak layer dipping toward the
pit. This failure mechanism is known as the Block Thrust
Mechanism. Similar slope failures to the block thrust
mechanism have also been reported elsewhere (Sturman, 1984,
Singh & Singh, 1992, Malgot et al., 1986, and Boyd, 1983).
Skempton & Hutchinson (1969) defined three major classes of
slope movement, namely falls, slides, and flows. They have
defined a number of schemes of classification, but none can
include the block thrust mechanism satisfactorily. Stead &
Scoble (1983) analysed 226 slope failures that took place
in British coal mines, where they found that in about 66%
of the P 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Wedge failure Circular failure
4 4 5 6 7 8 21 21 24 ercentage Slope Failures According to
Type Slab failure

Mine workings collapse Rock fall Toppling failure

Multi-planar failure Planar failure Biplanar failure

Figure 2. Typical failure modes, given in percentages,

based on 226

study cases in coal mines in the United Kingdom (after

Stead and

Scoble, 1983).

failures, the sliding occurs along a single-, doubleor multi

planar surface angled toward the pit (see Figure 2). Because

of the chaotic nature of a rock slope failure, it is not

easy to

recognise the mechanism of failure except in the first six

cases

shown in Figure 2, which account for only 34% of the

failures

studied. The remaining 66% could easily have included block

thrust failures of one sort or another.

There are many methods to assess the stability of a rock

slope. All these methods can be classified into two groups

(Anderson & Richards, 1992):

• limit equilibrium methods;

• methods based on the upper and lower bound theorems of

plasticity.

This paper considers only the former, namely limit equi

librium methods, but applies them to non-rigid bodies. The

limit equilibrium methods can be divided on two sub-groups:

linear and non-linear methods, but the procedures are

broadly

similar in concept (Bromhead, 1992). The linear methods of

analysis, which are most amenable to hand calculation, are

the

two-dimensional slope analysis technique adopting undrained

shear strength, the method of slices, and wedge failure.

These

methods are simple to use since there is a linear equation

for

the factor of safety; for this reason they are extremely

useful

in practice. The non-linear limit equilibrium methods apply

effective stress analysis of a slope, where the effective

stress

is to be determined around an assumed failure surface or set

of failure surfaces inside the slope. In practice, this is

also

achievable by dividing the material composing the slope into

a number of imaginary slices.

The block thrust mechanism is also a limit equilibrium

technique, but is more complex than the toppling, sliding,

or collapse mechanisms already mentioned. In this case, a

wedge-like block with the sharp end down forms in the rock

mass behind the highwall, by fracture processes that occur

as a

result of gravity loading and horizontal stresses present

in the

highwall. The wedge, by its formation, forms a second sepa

rate block of rock between the highwall side of the wedge,

and

the highwall face itself. If the wedge then thrusts

downwards

under its own weight, it thrusts the second block outwards

(i.e.

the highwall face) into the pit (see Figure 1). This
mechanism

is only possible if both blocks are deformable.

This paper first reviews two slope failures in a

SouthAfrican

coal mine, and then introduces the Thrust Failure Analysis

Technique as a new approach to slope stability prediction in

mines, and applies it to the two failures reviewed earlier.

2 DESCRIPTION OF SLOPE FAILURES Opencast Colliery “A” strip
mines three coal seams with an average total thickness of
approximately 16 m. In the interests of brevity, the
stratigraphic column is not included in this paper because
the slope profiles (Figures 3 and 4) give an idea of the
geology. There was an operating underground mine in the
area, but none of the coal seams had been previously mined
at either slope collapse site. The two slope failures took
place during different seasons and in different pits, and
in both cases the strata dipped towards the pit. The first
case of slope failure took place in PitA1 on the contact
between shale and the middle coal seam, both of which
dipped at 10 ◦ to 12 ◦ towards the pit. The top coal seam
in the area was very thin (about 1 m thick). The failure
took place in two stages: the initial failure (involving
only the sandy overburden) and the major collapse, which
slipped along the bottom contact of the shale layer above
the middle coal seam. The slope profiles (after Canady,
2006) before and after the initial and major failures
appear in Figure 3. The initial failure was probably
circular because applied limit equilibrium methods for
circular failure yielded a factor of safety of 0.72 for the
slope.The major collapse followed the cleaning operations
after the circular failure, when the slope profile had a
flatter slope angle than it had prior to the circular
failure (see Figure 3). None of the rigid-block limit
equilibrium methods predicted failure in the slope after
the minor circular failure had occurred. The major failure
indicates a multi-planar or blocky type of failure, but an
applied block-specified technique used for the slope factor
of safety calculation was not successful because it was
higher than unity, indicating a stable slope. Figure 3 is a
clear indication that the theoretical blocks labelled A and
P for the active and passive blocks respectively, must have
undergone deformation during failure. There must have been
deformations in the slope before the failure, but these
were not sufficiently noticeable to have warned mine
personnel, because the failure was unexpected. The volume
of rock in the slope bulked from 1702 m 3 per m of slope to
2444 m 3 per m of slope, resulting in a bulking factor of
43.6% during failure. The conjectured boundary between the
active and passive blocks after failure is given by
assuming that both the active and passive blocks would bulk
the same amount during failure, and then finding the
boundary for the equivalent volume in the failed profile.
It was also assumed that there was no mixing of the
material from the two blocks during failure. The outer
tensile boundary of the active block remains more or less
in the same place after failure (shown by dark green dashed
line to the right), if it is assumed that the active block
bulks to the same degree as the passive block. What is
clear from Figure 3 is that the active block has lost
gravitational potential energy, which would have provided
the thrust of the passive block into the pit. The overall
loss of gravitational potential energy for the whole slope
is estimated by noting that the centre of gravity of the
unfailed slope is 33 m above datum (right hand crossed
circle in Figure 3), while the failed slope centre of
gravity lies 24 m above datum (left hand crossed circle).
Using the unfailed slope volume given above and assuming a
unit weight of 25 kN/m 3 , the potential energy change
during failure is estimated at 383 MJ per m of slope. If
the whole slope moved 25 m to the left during failure (this
is a crude estimate, because the centre of gravity of the
failed slope is 25 m to the left, but the width of the
failed material has increased, while its height has
diminished), then energy consumption due to friction loss
using a friction angle of 10 ◦ Repaired slope after
circular failure and before major collapse Slope before
circular failure Overburden involved in circular failure
Prrofile after major collapse Horizontal distance (m) V e r
t i c a l d i s t a n c e ( m ) 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 20
40 60 80 0 0 Shale Bottom Coal Seam Sandy overburden P A S
T S T Inner shear surface Outer shear surface Sliding
surface (shale-middle coal seam contact Conjectured
boundary between blocks after failure Top coal seam
Weathered shale and sandstone Shale Sandstone Middle Coal
Seam

Figure 3. Slope profiles in Pit A1 before and after

circular failure, and after major collapse (after SRK,
1995). ab a' b' 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 20 40 60 80 0 0
Spoil pile (not surveyed) Shale Middle Coal Seam Bottom
Coal Seam Slope profile after collapse P A T S T Sliding
surface (shale-middle coal seam contact) Outer shear
surface FLAC Model Window Sandy overburden Weathered shale
and sandstone Top coal seaml Sandstone V e r t i c a l d i
i s t a n c e ( m ) Horizontal distance (m)

Figure 4. Slope profiles in Pit A-2 before and after major

collapse (after Canady, pers. comm.).

for the shale-middle coal seam contact is about 187 MJ per m

of slope.This leaves nearly 200 MJ per m of slope for

breaking

the rock up and comminuting it. These cal-culations are

rather

crude estimates, but they indicate that a thrust mechanism

is

possible, at least from an energy balance calculation.

The second slope failure took place in Pit A-2 of the same

colliery. Figure 4 presents the slope profile before and

after
the failure. Mine spoils in piles between 20 m and 25 m high

had been dumped at a distance of approximately 20 m behind

the slope crest. Any joints that might have been responsible

for wedge failure were not observed in the area. Without any

visible indications or warnings of impending failure, the

slope

collapsed, and this failure involved the spoils,

overburden, top

coal seam, and the interburden between the top coal seam

and the middle coal seam. This failure also took place above

unmined ground. After the cleaning operations, the failure

surface, again on the contact between the shale and the
middle coal seam, was clearly visible in the pit. At the
site of this failure, the strata dipped at an average angle
of 16 ◦ towards the pit. The estimated factor of safety for
circular failure of this slope varied between 2.4 and 2.6
depending on the method of calculation (Fellenius’ Ordinary
Method, 1936, Bishop’s Modified Method, 1955, Janbu’s
Procedure for Slices, 1957, Morgenstern & Price, 1967, and
Spencer, 1967). Clearly, this failure could not have taken
place by a circular mech-anism. Using the above methods to
analyse a blocky type of failure mechanism gave very low
safety factor values (0.11 to 0.14 for the Morgenstern &
Price 1967 method, and 0.15 for the other methods), which
suggest that the slope would have collapsed immediately,
even while it was being cut. Fellenius’ Ordinary Method
(1936) yielded a factor of safety of 1.2, which could

be considered to be the “best” result, even though it did

not

predict failure.

Assessing this slope using the volume-energy approach

above is not so simple, because there is an approximate

1178 m 3 per m of slope missing, if we assume that the

spoil pile

retains a constant volume during the failure process (it

could

have become compacted during collapse, but this would not

account for the discrepancy). It is not clear from communica

tion with the mine whether any spoil and sandy overburden

had been removed or not before the failed slope profile was

measured, and there is no evidence that the spoil piles

became

compacted during failure (Canady, pers. comm.). The geom

etry of the failed slope strongly suggests a thrust

mechanism,

since points a and b are displaced 22 m into the pit to

positions

a ′ and b ′ (see Figure 4). The failed profile gives 704 m

3 per

m of slope as opposed to 625 m 3 per m of unfailed slope, if

the volume is computed while ignoring the spoil pile and the

sandy overburden behind the constructed active block. This

accounts for a bulking factor of 13%, which is also

credible if

the individual blocks involved in the failure stayed more

or less

intact. Another factor that could account for the

discrepancies

found in the drawing could be the out-of-plane variation of

the

slope profile, and possible out-of-plane material movement.

The spoil piles are generally never surveyed, therefore it

is not

known whether they are accurately represented in the

profile.
The limit equilibrium methods fail because they assume

rigid, homogeneous, and isotropic rock and soil without

inter

nal structure. Other failure mechanisms such as wedge

failure

or toppling failure listed by Stead & Scoble (1983) and

illus

trated in Figure 2, were also not appropriate. Although the

two failures were very different in character, it appears

that

both resulted from the same mechanism, since there were five

features common to both:

• the slope fails by horizontal movement towards the pit by

a

front block (passive block) which can show varying degrees

of disintegration;

• the forward movement of the passive block is driven by the

vertically downward movement of the active block behind,

which ends up with a final elevation significantly lower

than

that of the original slope profile, and this block undergoes

significant disintegration;

• in both cases the slope is situated on strata dipping

towards

the pit;

• in both cases the failure surface is on the contact

between

the shale and the middle coal seam;

• the failure surfaces daylight at the toe of the unfailed

slope
in both cases;

• almost vertical tensile fractures were present on surface

behind the slope crest, usually above the crest of the

undulation in the coal-bearing strata.

The authors conclude that some sort of block thrust

mechanism is responsible for both failures, even though they

originated in two very different slope geometries, and

yielded

very different final results. In order to understand more

clearly

how the failures could have developed, it is necessary to

review

the likely preand post-mining stress states in the mine

slopes.

3 ESTIMATED SLOPE STRESS STATE

van der Merwe (pers. comm.), and van der Merwe (2002)

stated that horizontal stress near the surface in coal

mines is of the order of twice the vertical stress. The
vertical stress in turn, must be equal to the overburden
weight from equilibrium considerations. In the absence of
any other convincing data, the authors assume that the
horizontal stresses in the slope before it was excavated
were of the order of twice the vertical stress for the
following reasons: • van der Merwe (2002); • Hoek & Brown
(1980) indicate that horizontal stresses are between one
and three times larger than vertical stresses at shallow
depth; • the undulations in the coal-bearing strata were
the result of “draping” the strata over a previously uneven
terrain rather than folding due to horizontal compressive
stresses (see Karparov, 2007). From the above, the authors
assumed a vertical stress equivalent to the overburden
weight, and a directionally isotropic horizontal stress
double the vertical stress. In addition to the above, the
authors assumed that the underground coal mine would not
have resulted in significant changes to the original stress
state before mining – this is confirmed by numerical
modelling (Karparov, 2007), but not shown here. Slope
failure took place after the slope was cut; hence it was
necessary to compute the stress state in the slope after it
was cut. This was done using the two-dimensional finite
difference scheme FLAC (Itasca, 1999). The FLAC (Fast
Lagrangian Analysis of Continua) model developed contains
the undulating geological structure described above, and
also takes into account the anisotropic properties of the
shale above the middle coal seam. The other strata in the
model are each assumed to be isotropic, homogeneous, and
intact, even though they do not all have the same
mechanical properties (Karparov, 2007). The slope as a
whole is therefore heterogeneous, because it consists of
several layers, each with its own set of properties. The
mine slope models were developed using the pre-failure
profiles shown in Figures 3 and 4 in order to estimate the
stress in the slopes using FLAC. The stress states
estimated from the model are therefore a result of the
undulating geologic structure, excluding the effect of
discontinuities, tectonic history, and weathering, all of
which cannot be taken into account in the model. The
effects of groundwater are dealt with in the thrust failure
analysis later. The results of the stress state after
mining are not reproduced in this paper. The stress state
calculated by FLAC is that for a continuum and therefore
represents the stress state that would have existed in the
slope before the blocks had formed. The most important
features of the stress distribution are: • the formation of
a tensile horizontal stress near the surface behind the
slope; • the rotation of the principal stress tensor to lie
parallel with the inclined strata; • the discontinuous
change (at this level of approximation) in magnitude of the
minor principal stress – parallel to the strata – between
the shale and the sandstone; • the continuity of the stress
tensor across the shale – coal contact; • the uniformity of
the stress state in each stratum because of the block
deformability. These features are critical to the
development of the failure model for the slope, and they
support our assumption that the stresses on the block
boundaries will be uniform, and independent of each other.

4 BLOCK FORMATION IN SLOPE

Unexpected slope failures occurred in two instances, in both

of which it is probable that active and passive blocks were

first

formed by the growth of failure surfaces within the slope

after
it had been cut. These failure surfaces combined to form
inde

pendent deformable blocks, which were suff-iciently unstable

to result in the collapse of the slope into the mine pit.

4.1 Vertical fracture formation

Vertical tensile fractures commonly develop in the ground

behind a mine slope crest, and the coal mine in question

was no

exception. The stress modelling confirms that tensile cracks

should develop, and that there is a significant increase in

the

tensile stress component together with an increase in depth

of

the tensile zone when a slope has been cut (Karparov, 2007).

The significance of these results is that conditions

conducive

to surface tensile cracking are generated by a combination

of

mining and the subsurface geological structure.

In a series of very detailed model studies on slope

failures,

Barton (1971) found that the tension crack behind the slope

crest was generated by small movements within the rock mass,

and that it appeared after slope excavation. Although these

individual movements were very small, their cumulative

effect

was a significant displacement of the slope surface –

sufficient

to cause separation of material behind the slope crest and

to
form tension cracks. The vertical active block boundaries
are

defined by vertical tensile cracks. We therefore assume the

existence of these fractures before failure, because they

are

favoured in the model, and have been observed in the coal

mine in question, both at the slope failures, and elsewhere.

4.2 Failure along coal-shale contact

Although it is not a central theme to the study, Karparov

(2007)

investigated how a failure surface could develop on the

shale

middle coal seam contact by recourse to the study of thin

sections of the shale under the microscope, fracture

mechanics

theory, and the modelled stress state in the slope after

mining,

and before slope collapse. This work did not produce incon

testable results, but it does point to possible mechanisms

by

which a failure surface could slowly develop along the shale

middle coal seam contact. This surface is clearly central

to the

slope collapse (see Figures 3 and 4), and because the

collaps

ing rockmass slid on it, any features that may have pointed
to

the mechanism of its for-mation have been obliterated. Even

though the mechanism of its formation remains unconfirmed,

this failure surface is accepted as being critical in the

slope
collapses because sliding took place on the shale-middle
coal

seam contact in both cases.

4.3 Block wedge formation

The authors conjecture that sometime after the formation

of the tensile fractures, shear fractures must have started

developing in the slope to define the block wedge. Whether

or

not this took place before or after the formation of the

failure

surface on the shale-middle coal seam contact is debatable,

and should form the subject of further research. Even in

solid

rock material (where jointing and other structures are

insignif

icant), shear failure remains a complex process resulting in

complex fracture structures (Riedel, 1929, Lade et al.,

1984,

Sylvester, 1988, Vermeer & de Borst, 1984, Ortlepp, 1997,

and Gammond, 1983). A synthesised shear fracture contain

ing all the features, and based on the work of Riedel

(1929) 45–φ * /2 45–ψ * /2 R'R σ 1 - from weight of active
block Y f r a c t u r e T P' P 45° S h e a r Z o n e V e r
m e e r ( 1 9 8 4 ) s o u t i o ? M o h r C o u l o m b p r
e d i c t i o n M o h r C o u l o m b P 45° σ 3 - zero or
near zero frm tensile cracks Figure 5. Riedel structures in
brittle material (after Riedel, 1929). Vermeer & de Borst
(1984) and Ortlepp (1997), appears in Figure 5. The purpose
of presenting all this detail is to recognise that the
formation of shear zones in the slope will be complex, just
as they are in any geological material.Although the
structure of a shear fracture zone is complex, its overall
orientation is simple, i.e. it can be assumed to lie
parallel with the direction of the maximum shear stress in
the slope. Shear bands or fractures, however, need not
occur at only one specific angle, but could occur over a
range of angles in relation to the maximum principal stress
direction together with the effects of anisotropy in the
shale (e.g. Jaeger & Cook, 1979). Note that only one
possible Riedel Shear Structure is drawn in Figure 5, in
which the conjectured Vermeer & de Borst (1984) dilation
solution has been applied. The other possible Mohr-Coulomb
alternative is not shown for purposes of keeping the
drawing clear. We conjecture that as the active block
starts becoming separated from the surrounding rockmass in
tension by small movements, the stress tensor in the upper
half of the active block has only a vertical and no
horizontal component. This condition persists to the base
of the tensile zone determined by the FLAC model. The
authors deduce that shear fractures develop downwards from
the bottom of the tensile fractures at 45 ◦ to the
horizontal, since the stress state is more favourable for
shear zone development because the horizontal stresses
there are effectively zero. These fractures probably grow
in Mode II (sliding, Broek, 1987) through the shale to form
the wedge apex on the contact with the middle coal seam
(see Figures 3 and 4). 5 COMPUTING COLLAPSE POTENTIAL Based
on the above conjectures and assumptions, it is possible to
sketch an approximate picture of the block formation and
the subsequent slope failure. When the artificial cut is
made, the vertical tensile fractures develop at ground
surface behind the slope crest, and the possible tensile
fracture at the toe of the slope along the shale-middle
coal seam contact surface forms for a short distance into
the toe. Karparov (2007) presents a criterion for
estimating the depth it penetrates, but further research
will be necessary to confirm this. The shear zones develop
at approximately 45 ◦ to the horizontal

through the unbroken shale between the tensile fractures and

the shale-middle coal seam contact. During the shear

fracture

growth process, small-disp-lacement sliding along the shear

zones will force the rock in the shear zones to dilate.

This will

generate a horizontal force on the passive block, which will

accelerate the development of the purely frictional surface

on

the shale-middle coal seam contact. At some point (probably

before the two shear zones converge) the material between
the

shear zones will begin to crush under the weight of the

overly

ing material comprising the active block. This will

accelerate

horizontal rock dilation, both in the shear zones and in the

crushed rock at the base of the wedge.These dilationary

forces

may be sufficient to thrust the passive block into the pit,

and

as this happens the active block will continue to slump down

wards under its own weight, forcing the passive block

further

out into the pit. The whole process comes to an end when

the active block ceases to slump downwards, thereby dissipat

ing the dilationary forces that are driving the passive

block

into the pit. During this process both blocks become commin

uted, the active block perhaps more so than the passive

block.

Based on this mec-hanism, the constructed blocks appear in

Figures 3 and 4.

Once these fractures have formed, continued slope stabil

ity is seen to be only a consequence of the balance of

forces

existing between the blocks in the profile. It is important

to

recognise that this analysis considers only force

equilibrium
and assumes that all forces pass through the block
centroids.

In other words, moment equilibrium is not considered in this

model because observations of the failures at the mine did

not reveal any significant rotational motion in the

failures.

Karparov (2007) provides a very detailed account of how

all the forces, including those derived from groundwater,

are

computed. The computations are based on Newton’s Laws

of Motion, while the block stability is estimated assuming

deformable active and passive blocks and a factor of safety

approach to the potential of slip failure on the block sides

and on the shale-middle coal seam contact. Since the blocks

are deformable, the authors assume that the stresses along

the

block boundaries are approximately constant, and indepen

dent of each other.This makes it possible to calculate

factors of

safety for each boundary, and then finding a weighted

average

using the lengths of the respective fracture surfaces that

define

the active and passive blocks. The details are too lengthly
to

include here, so only the resultant formulæ necessary for

the

calculations are presented below.

The inner surface factor of safety for failure is given by

(see
Figure 6 for definition of variables):

The outer surface factor of safety is given by:

The safety factor for the basal surface (shale-middle coal

seam

contact) is: a b N P P 90 − β I I c I l I c O l O c B l B
P N P R P T R P N T P AO N P T P AI P P T P P N 0 0 I c I l
I N R P T N P R T N T P P T PP N PP N P P 90 − β I φ av
ϖ P AI AO AI R P AO P P 90 − β I 90 − β I φ av c O l
O c B l B P AI P AO P AI R P PAO P AO P AI β I + β O
−90 β I β O β O β I ϖ 0 0 0 Figure 6. Key to variables
used in factor of safety equations (after Karparov, 2007).
Finally, the factor of safety combined as a weighted
average for the slope is given by: The authors called the
failure mechanism theThrust Failure Mechanism, because
slope collapse occurs when the active block subsides under
its own weight, thrusting the passive block into the pit.
The mechanism is illustrated in Figure 1, while the
contrast between the unfailed slope profile and failed
slope profile shown in Figures 3, and 4 strongly suggest
the mechanism. The failure models which were applied to the
mine collapses appear in Figures 3 and 4.The results from
these computations, together with comparable results from
accepted slope stability analyses appear in Table 1, using
rock parameters contained in Table 2. It is apparent from
the safety factor computations that circular failure is
unlikely in all cases excepting in the case of the initial
failure in the overburden in Pit A1. Observations at the
mine confirm this in both cases. Blocky failure results for
Pit A-2 were essentially meaningless excepting for the
result obtained from the ordinary method, while the initial
circular failure in PitA1 was equally likely to manifest as
blocky failure according to the Bishop (1955), Janbu
(1957), and Ordinary Methods (Fellenius, 1936), while the
Morgenstern & Price (1967) method produced meaningless
results. As far as the

Table 1. Slope collapse safety factors, calculated for the

failures presented in Figures 3 and 4 (after Karparov,
2007). Thrust Morgenstern – Price failure

Analytical technique mechanism Ordinary Bishop Janbu Moment

Force

Pit A1 Initial failure

Circular failure – 0.709 0.729 0.708 0.722 0.716

Blocky failure – 0.738 0.733 0.715 0.103 0.104

Pit A1 Major collapse

Circular failure – 1.506 1.516 1.507 1.513 1.509

Blocky failure – 4.718 4.619 4.329 4.870 4.870

Upper contact 1.224 – – – – –

Bottom Contact 0.908 – – – – –

Pit A2

Circular failure – 2.434 2.649 2.354 2.572 2.569

Blocky failure – 1.198 0.157 0.152 0.113 0.144

Upper contact (spoil) 1.375 – – – – –

Lower contact (spoil) 0.777 – – – – –

Upper con. (no spoil) 1.287 – – – – –

Lower con. (no spoil) 0.794 – – – – –

Table 2. Rock parameters used in the factor of safety

calculations (after Karparov, 2007). Sandy Shale (normal
Shale (parallel

Rock properties overburden Sandstone to bedding) to bedding)

Density, kg/m 3 1900 2600 2700 –

Shear modulus, GPa 1.6 5.2 2.3 –

Bulk modulus, GPa 2.6 5.9 4.5 –

Tensile strength, MPa 1 5.5 3.5 1

Cohesion, kPa 40 700 400 100

Friction angle, degrees 32 22 14 8

Layer thickness, m 20 12 8 –

major collapse was concerned in Pit A1, all accepted methods

indicated that circular failure was unlikely, and that

blocky
failure was extremely unlikely.

The thrust mechanism failure potential was applied to the

two major collapses assuming a slip surface on the upper

shale

contact, and a second failure surface on the lower shale

contact

with the middle coal seam. The purpose of this was to test
the

potential of the mechanism to diff-erentiate between

potential

collapse on one failure surface and another. In both cases,

no failure was predicted for the upper shale contact, while

collapse was predicted for the lower shale contact. This is

in

line with the observations at the mine. Interestingly, the

spoil

pile in Pit A-2 had a slight stabilising effect, although

this was

insufficient to prevent collapse.

The thrust failure mechanism appears to be promising

as a new slope stability analysis technique because it can

pot-entially be applied to a wide variety of geotechnical

con

ditions. It has been tested in two well documented cases,

and

has been shown to be successful, in contrast to the other

inappropriately applied methods. This does not mean that the

method is infallible – proof of success is only acceptable

if

the proposed technique can be shown to work in nearly every

possible case where the block thrust mechanism is suspected,

and where all failures of the method can be shown to be the

result of inappropriate application.

6 CONCLUSIONS

The proposed thrust failure analysis is a versatile method

for

slope stability assessment in complex geotechnical

conditions in cases where the block thrust mechanism is
suspected. The complexity of the analysis should loosely
reflect the complexity of the geotechnical conditions in
which potential failure may take place. It will not be
infallible as an approach because of subjectivity on the
part of the engineer involved. Successful application will
depend on a careful balance between simplicity, in which
the block thrust model is analytically tractable, and
complexity, where the essential features of the
geotechnical conditions that affect failure potential are
included. Typically, mines are situated in more or less
uniform mining environments, which are the result of a
combination of the palæo-geological conditions that existed
at the time of the formation of the orebody, and the
subsequent geological history up to the time of mining.
Within the mining environment there will be one or more
geotechnical areas, for example faulted ground and
unfaulted ground. The block thrust failure mechanism may
then only be possible in faulted ground for example, while
other slope stability problems may be extant in the
unfaulted ground. It will be the duty of the engineer and
geologist to identify these conditions, determine the
potential for slope collapse, and then propose appropriate
precautions where necessary. The following conclusions can
be drawn: • The analysis technique takes into account the
most likely virgin and resultant stress state of the slope
profile, and their effect on slope collapse; • With the aid
of this method a more realistic slope stability safety
factor and appropriate general slope angle design are
possible;

• The methodology includes the effect of pore-water pressure

on collapse potential.

This study is a practical study of evaluating the

possibility
for the block thrust failure mechanism to take place, and
the

safety factors derived for two observed failures in the

field

appear to be reasonably accurate. The authors recommend

that this method should be applied to as many case stud

ies from the worldwide mining industry as possible, where

sufficient detail of each individual failure and the

geological

conditions are available. Secondly, fracture development in

rock will receive a boost from an investigation into

Riedel’s

work, and this should be applied to predicting the growth of

shear fractures, and the resulting potential instability,

in all

geotechnical conditions.

Anderson M.G. & Richards K.S. 1992: Slope stability –

geotechni

cal engineering and geomorphology. Reprinted, New York: John

Wiley & Sons.

Barton N.R. 1971: A Model Study of the Behavior of Excavated

Slopes. Unpubl. Ph.D. Thesis, University of London, Imperial

College of Science and Technology.

Bishop A.W. 1955: The use of the clip circle in the

stability analysis

of earth slopes. Geotechnique, Vol. 5, pp. 7–17.

Boyd G.L. 1983: Geomechanics research applied to open strip

coal

mining in Australia. Second International Surface Mining and

Quarrying Symposium, 4–6 Oct. 1983, Bristol, UK, pp.
193–204.

Bromhead E.N. 1992: The Stability of Slopes. Surrey

University

Press, Chapman and Hall, New York, pp. 109–165.

Broek D. 1987: Elementary Engineering Fracture Mechanics.

Dor

drecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

CANMET 1997: Pit Slope Manual, Mining research Laboratories,

CANMET, Canada.

Fellenius W. 1936: Calculation of the stability of earth

dams. Trans.

2nd Congr. on Large Dams, Washington, Vol. 4, pp. 445–459.

Gammond J.F. 1983: Displacement features associated with

fault

zones: a comparison between observed examples and

experimental

models. Journal of Structural Geology, Vol. 5, pp. 33–45.

Harries N. 2006: Personal communication at the International

Symposium on Slope Stability, Cape Town, 4–7 March 2006.

Hoek E. & Bray J.W. 1981: Rock Slope Engineering. The

Institution

of Mining and Metallurgy, London.

Hoek E., & Brown E.T. 1980: Underground Excavations in Rock.

The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London, p. 100.

Itasca Consulting Group 1999: FLAC2D: Fast Lagrangian

Analysis

of Continua. Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Jaeger J.C. &

Cook N.G.W. 1979: Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics, 3rd Ed.
New York: Chapman and Hall. Janbu N. 1957 Stability
analysis of slopes with dimensionless parameters. Harvard
University Soil Mech. Series, No. 46. Karparov KN 2007:
Slope Stability Analysis in Complex Geotechnical Conditions
– Thrust Failure Mechanism. PhD Thesis, University of
Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, March 2007. Lade P.V.,
Cole D.A., & Cummings, D. 1984: Multiple failure surfaces
over dip-slip faults. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,
Vol. 110, No. 5, May 1984, pp. 616–627. Malgot J., Baliak
F. & Mahr T. 1986: Prediction of the influence of
underground coal mining on slope stability in the Vtacnik
mountains. Bulletin of the International Association of
Engineering Geology, Vol. 33, pp. 57–65. Morgenstern N.R. &
Price V.A. 1967: The analysis of the stability of general
slip surfaces. Geotechnique, Vol. 15, pp. 79–93. Ortlepp
W.D. 1997: Rock Fracture and Rockbursts: an illustrative
study. South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
Johannesburg: Monograph Series M9. Riedel W. 1929: Zur
mechanik geologisher brucherscheinungen. Zentralblatt fur
Mineralogie, Geologie und Paleontologie B, pp. 354–368
(Abhandlung). Singh T.N. & Singh D.P. 1992: Assessing
stability of voids in multi seam opencast mining. Colliery
Guardian, July 1992, pp. 159–164. Skempton A.W. &
Hutchinson J.N. 1969: Stability of natural slopes and
embankment foundations, State-of-the-art report, Proc 7th
Int Conf SMFE, Mexico City, 2, pp. 294–335. Spencer E.E.
1967: A method of the analysis of the stability of
embankments assuming parallel inter-slice forces.
Geotechnique, Vol. 17, pp. 11–26. SRK 1995: Failure
analysis of the North Pit Failure, Colliery Pit A1.
Unpublished internal mine report. Stead D. & Scoble M.J.
1983: Rock slope stability assessment in British surface
coal mines. Second International Surface Mining and
Quarrying Symposium, 4–6 Oct. 1983, Bristol, UK, pp.
205–216. Sturman J.M. 1984: Influence of slope stability on
economics of opencast coal mining in the east and north
midlands of England. Second International Surface Mining
and Quarrying Symposium, 4–6 Oct. 1983, Bristol, UK, pp.
217–224 Sylvester A.G. 1988: Strike-slip faults. Bulletin
of the Geological Society of America, Vol. 100, pp.
1666–1703. van der Merwe, J.N. 2002, “Horizontal stress:
The root of all evil?”, Proc. 19th Conf. on Ground Control
in Mining, Teheran, Iran. Vermeer P.A. & de Borst R. 1984:
Non-associated Plasticity for Soil, Concrete and Rock,
Delft University of Technology: Heron, Vol. 29, No. 3. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Re-evaluation
of an anchored slope using a digital terrain model P. Fritz
ETH Zurich, Switzerland M. Hauser Geotest, AG, Zollikofen,
Switzerland
ABSTRACT: In the eighties the road tunnel Chlus with an
overall length of about 800 m was constructed between
Landquart

and Davos in Switzerland. It consists of two parts

excavated by the traditional mining method and a connection
part of 70 m

length built as a cut-and-cover tunnel. During construction

more than 800 permanent anchors were installed, 86 of which
in

the surrounding slopes in form of prestressed cable anchors.

The aim of the current investigation was twofold: firstly

to apply modern design aids to determine potentially
unstable rock

blocks, and secondly, based on these findings, to

re-evaluate the anchor system for ensuring stability.

Preliminary work included high resolution photogrammetric

recordings which were digitized in the form of a network of

triangles and quadrilaterals, exploration of the various

discontinuity sets, their spacing and continuity, and
laboratory tests to

determine the strength along the discontinuities.

Due to the complex geometry of the slope it was decided to

carry out the numerical investigations with the computer

program AutoBlock, which runs all computations directly on

arbitrarily detailed Digital Terrain Models (DTM). First
the

digitized surface was imported into AutoBlock and

automatically extruded to depict a three-dimensional body,
a so called

Solid Model. This was then intersected by all possible

combinations of the discontinuities encountered, which led
to all the

kinematically admissible potentially unstable blocks. At

this point, based on an engineering validation facilitated
by AutoBlock,
many of these theoretically possible blocks could be
excluded, e.g. rather small blocks were not of interest,
rather large blocks

were highly improbable. For the remaining blocks the factor

of safety (FS) against sliding was automatically
determined. The

results were discussed by considering the value of FS, the

anchors installed during construction, and possibly
additional anchors

required to reach a stable state.These investigations led

to an overview about the safety of the present state and
recommendations

on where additional anchors were necessary.

1 MOTIVATION

For the permanent rock anchors of the slopes near the tunnel

portals the question arose, if, after 20 years of service,

they

needed to be replaced, or, considering the actual

conditions of

the rock and the engineering structure, they were mainly of

use during construction. If a replacement of the 39

prestressed

cable anchors could be avoided, substantial gains would

result.

To answer this question the geologic and rock mechanics con

ditions were re-evaluated, and the project revised by means

of the computer program AutoBlock (Amiguet and Hauser,

2005). The following items were of predominant interest:

• were the rock mechanical characteristics be taken into

account too pessimistic?

• was the natural stability of the rock mass underestimated

and were unvavorable joint patterns overestimated?

why despite the measured reduction of the anchor force of

up to 25%, no collapse or damage occurred?

• is a factor of safety for the cable anchors of 1.5 still

required?

Two factors complicate the analysis of such stability prob

lems in steep and rather inaccessible areas: firstly,

determining

magnitudes of sliding areas of potentially unstable blocks

based on topographic maps involves a considerable effort,

and secondly finding the critical blocks that are formed by

an intersection of various discontinuities (e.g. bedding

planes,

joints, zones of disturbance, tension cracks, etc.) in a

complex

topography is, to say the least, demanding. To overcome

these problems the CAD-based computer program AutoBlock
developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(ETH) was used: it is an add-on to AutoCAD and allows a
unified investigation of stability problems of slopes and
foundations by integrating topographic and geologic data,
rock mechanics, solid modeling, visualization and a
solution procedure tailored to engineers, by allowing them
to narrow down critical areas by filtering results and
putting “what-if” questions. The main advantages of
AutoBlock are twofold: firstly, it runs all investigations
on arbitrarily complex Digital Terrain Models (DTM), which
are digitized beforehand using a topographic map, images or
laser scans, and secondly, for each analysis step it
provides extensive visual aids which enable the engineer to
determine potentially unstable blocks with minimum
expenditure and maximum reliability. 2 PRESENTATION OF
PROJECT 2.1 Topography The project under consideration, the
Chlus Tunnel, is situated in the Eastern Swiss Alps, about
5 km east of the confluence of the rivers Landquart and
Rhine (Fig. 1). It connects the Rhine Valley with the
Prättigau and the tourist resorts Klosters and Davos.
Before, the old road passed through an impressive gorge
with up to 500 m high vertical rock walls (Fig. 2).
Figure 1. Topography of the Chlus tunnel.

Figure 2. Old road passing though the gorge.

This report is limited to the discussion of the anchorage in

the cut-and-cover zone of Fig. 1.

2.2 Lithology

The strongly folded and cleaved rock sequence consists of

decimeter-bedded sandy limestones and arenitic limestones,

separated by thinly-bedded limestone shales. The texture is

equigranular granoplastic with partly intercrystalised

calcite

und quartz crystals. The sheet silicates, mainly clay

minerals,

occur in millimeter-thin layers parallel to the lamination.

The

fillings of the joints consist of idiomorphic to

hypidiomorphic

calcite and inequigranular quartz.

2.3 Discontinuities

The discontinuity pattern is characterized by the following

elements:

• Banking: primary structure typical of sedimentary rocks.

It

is bounded by parallel bedding planes.

• Bedding planes: they separate characteristic zones of the

corresponding sedimentation conditions.

• Schistosity: secondary, parallel structure within the

rock in

the order of millimeters thickness, created by deformation

and mechanical stressing of the rock.

• Cleavage: closed or slightly opened joints and discontinu

ities, that have been created in a secondary stage.

The discontinuity pattern is formed by four nearly vertical

joint sets K1 to K4, and a tectonically formed banking, or

stratification S. The nearly vertical joints give rise to a

more

or less cubic intersection of discontinuities in the rock

mass. Figure 3. Visualization of bedding plane S and joints
K1, K2 and K3 a) Isometric view about normal to the slope
b) from top c) in y-direction (North) d) in negative
x-direction (West). Figure 4. Original cable anchors
discussed in this presentation: Beam A/B/C/D: 1/5/5/6
anchors. The tectonically characterized, subhorizontally
running banking and stratification planes S lead to a
horizontal structuring of the whole rock mass. A simplified
discontinuity model produced by AutoBlock is depicted in
Fig. 3. Joint 4 is missing in this figure and also in the
following discussion due to its limited continuity. 2.4
Original anchorage The Chlus tunnel itself was equipped
with 744 pemanent anchors, and the slopes in the portal and
the cut-and-cover zones with 86 prestressed cable anchors
with a service load of 2,600 kN each. 3 PROGRAM AUTOBLOCK
FOR STABILITY INVESTIGATIONS OF ROCK SLOPES The CAD-based
program AutoBlock (Fritz and Bergamin, 2004) enables
engineers to analyze the stability of discrete blocks in a
Digital Terrain Model (DTM). These so-called potentially
unstable blocks are endangered by sliding along known
discontinuities or by separating from them. The DTM is
created from a digital terrain surface, which may be
obtained from a digitized terrain map, images or laser

Figure 5. Menu structure of AutoBlock.

scans with practically any desired accuracy. This surface is

then extruded into a so-called Solid Model or DTM, a closed

subset of the 3D space, a prerequisite for simulating

intersec

tions with discontinuities. Additionally, foundations or

parts
to be excavated (e.g. a tunnel) may be subtracted from the

DTM.

To determine potentially unstable blocks, the DTM is inter

sected by one or more sets of discontinuities. The geometry

and strength properties of these discontinuities may be

defined

individually for each set. Each block cut-out corresponds

to a potentially unstable block, which, based on kinematic

considerations, may fail.

Additionally its susceptibility to fail depends also on its

strength properties and the loads acting. The latter may

have a

driving effect, usually the self-weight, or may also

stabilize it,

e.g. an anchor.AutoBlock checks each block if it is

susceptible

to sliding, lifting off or if its movement is hindered. In

the case

of sliding, the factor of safety is computed using the limit

equilibrium method.

AutoBlock is an add-on to the popular program “Auto

CAD” and exploits its possibilities and its power (e.g. for

3D-visualizations). A specially implemented user interface

with menus and dialog boxes enables engineers to use Auto

Block even without a detailed knowledge of AutoCAD. It

provides all the tools necessary for representing and visual

izing the results and facilitates a stability analysis with

any
number of potentially unstable blocks.

Thanks to these tools and by exploiting the services of

AutoCAD, AutoBlock enables one to overview and handle

the geometry of the topography and the discontinuities in

the

ground, and to determine potentially unstable blocks.

The sequence of investigation with AutoBlock is reflected

by the arrangement of its main menu items (Fig. 5).

4 ANALYSIS OF UNSTABLE BLOCKS

Fig. 6 shows the complete DTM representing the actual

problem area of the Chlus project. In the lower middle the

cut

and-cover zone of Fig. 4 may be recognized. N.B.: all

figures

of this article have been taken directly from AutoBlock.

This model is intersected by sets of bedding planes S and

joints K1 to K3 as depicted in Fig. 3. Investigations in

both

the field and the laboratory revealed an average spacing of

the

discontinuities of about 10 m, an angle of friction of 25 ◦

and

a cohesion of about 30 kN/m 2 . Figure 6. Digital Terrain

Model of the Chlus area. Before starting a computation it
is a good idea to estimate the importance of the individual
discontinuity sets. From Fig. 3a) it may be expected that
the predominant sliding surface will be S, possibly by
including also wedge type sliding on S and K1. Blocks
formed by S and K3 will usually be hindered by K1. K2 is
overhanging (Fig. 3b) and will act as a tension cut face,
but not as sliding surface. The joint sets K alone may only
lead to failure in an overhanging area, i.e. near the
portal, and may therefore form smaller blocks only. The DTM
may thus be intersected by the four predominant
discontinuity sets, varying each one over the whole DTM.
During this process AutoBlock checks several tens of
thousands of intersections and finds nearly 900
kinematically admissible potentially unstable blocks.
Because the present study aimed to investigate the
stability in the neighborhood of the construction works
only, all blocks in the upper and the left hand part of the
DTM may be excluded, reducing the number of critical blocks
to 140. NB: at this point it may be recognized, that
instead of varying the discontinuity sets over the whole
DTM, which requires many hours of computational time, and
then to exclude remote blocks, it is preferable to vary the
discontinuity sets from the beginning just in the area of
interest, which leads to the same results, but reduces the
computer time to minutes. In a further step all
uninteresting blocks below 1 m 3 may be excluded, and also
the ones above 100 m 3 m, because they have never been
encountered in reality. The present publication limits
itself to the discussion of the area in the vicinity of
anchors A-D of Fig. 4, in which 21 potentially unstable
blocks remain. Individual investigation of each block is
appropriate, however already displaying the blocks in the
DTM may lead to the recognition of endangered zones and to
technical discussions. The last step of the investigation
consists in estimating the safety of the remaining blocks
for various strength and load scenarios, and discussing its
implication for a replacement of the anchors.

0 0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.6 13 3455 9 17 17 19 41 71 71 73 73 76 78 78 91 95 95
Block Volume [m 3 ]

F a

c t
o r

f S

a f

e t

Figure 7. Factor of Safety vs. Block Volume (conservative

sce

nario).

Figure 8. Potentially unstable block in the anchored area.

Firstly, a conservative strength scenario is investigated

with an angle of friction of 25 ◦ and zero cohesion. Taking

self-weight as loading shows that of the 21 blocks under con

sideration more than one half will slide on S and K1

together,

some on S and K3 together, or on S or K1 individually, and

one will lift off from K2. The corresponding safety factors
are

shown in Fig. 7.

Most blocks exhibit a satisfactory factor of safety (FS)

above 1.5. Striking are the two with an FS of only 0.1: the

first is located over the tunnel and does not therefore

present

any immediate danger; the second is restrained by the

current

anchors (which have not been taken into account for above

Figure). From the 4 blocks with an FS of 1 one also lies

above
the tunnel, two in the region of influence of the anchors,
and

only one in a critical position above the portal.

In a second scenario a predicted cohesion of 30 kN/m 2 is

taken into account, but also a water pressure of 25 kN/m 2

(0.25

at) uniformly acting in all discontinuities.A reduction of

safety

in most blocks occurs. Representative for the others the

block

of Fig. 8 is discussed here. It has a volume of 17 m 3 ,

and its FS

ABSTRACT: This paper analyses experiments of

not-constrained granular flows to identify parameters
influencing rock

avalanches deposit characteristics. Factors varied are

material, drop height, volume, number of releases, slope
inclination

and friction coefficient. Fringes projection method is

applied to evaluate deposit morphology. Experiments have
shown that

morphology is dependent on the type of material used: sand

or gravel. Aquarium gravel deposit seems closer to real
cases. An

increase of the mass released induces a homogeneous

increase of all the deposit characteristics maintaining the
same morphology.

If a certain mass is released in several times, final

deposit characteristics depend on the individual smaller
volumes. Low base

friction coefficient and steeper slope lead to different

morphologies, higher runout values but no remarkable
influences on

width, which turns out to be dependent mainly on volume and

height. However, using the ANOVA method it has been found
out that friction and inclination play a role among the
significant parameters influencing width if their
interactions with the

releasing height are taken into consideration.

1 INTRODUCTION

Large rock avalanches (sturzstorms) are gravity-induced phe

nomena that consist in a rock mass movement of more than

one million cubic metres, involving a great amount of energy

and travelling farther than expected if one considers a

normal

sliding friction law. For these reasons the most effective

way to

prevent them to cause damages and victims would be to be

able

to forecast their runout and consequently to define areas

that

could be affected by their occurrence. Now, at the present

state

of the art in this field, there is still a large range of

unknown

factors as well as various and contradictory hypotheses

about

the cause of their abnormal runout.

In this framework the EPFL rock mechanics laboratory

(LMR) is carrying out an experimental research by means

of a small-scale physical model to study the main parameters

influencing runout and final deposit characteristics (such

as

length, width and morphology). In this paper a classical sys

tematic analysis is first considered to evaluate the

qualitative
influences between each parameter and each characteristics

then preliminary quantitative results are shown.

Even if the quantitative interpretation of the results is

not

straightforward, owing to the difficulty in matching the

scal

ing laws, laboratory experiments are very helpful for the

phenomenology study and the assessment of relevant phys

ical parameters to improve runout prediction as well as for

numerical models validation.

2 DEVICES AND TESTS DESCRIPTION

2.1 Testing device

The experimental set-up (see Figure 1) mainly consists of

two

rectangular boards (3 m × 4 m) placed one after the other

and

joined by a hinge. The first panel is fixed horizontally on

the soil and the second one can be positioned at different

angles. Tests mainly consist in simulating a rock avalanche

creating a not constrained granular flow. Different amounts

of material are laid out in a wood parallelepiped container
measuring 20 cm height * 40 cm width * 65 cm length and
placed on the tilting panel. The box is opened in an almost
instantaneous way and the material is released. Each test
is filmed by a digital high speed camera placed at a height
of about 5 m from the horizontal panel. The parameters
varied during the examined experimental campaign are: –
material volume (10, 20, 30, 40 litres); – releasing height
(1, 1.5, 2 m); – slope angle (30 ◦ , 37.5 ◦ , 45 ◦ ); –
nature of released material: Aquarium gravel and Hostun
sand; – the number of releases (40 litres in one or in two
consecutive releases of 20 litres); – base friction
coefficient (high roughness using wood and low roughness
using forex, a light PVC sheet, to cover the model boards).
Due to limits in space and time these factors have limited
ranges of variation. 2.2 Measuring devices Runout, length
and width of the final deposit are manually measured after
each test. These measurements are done taking into account
only the main part of the deposit, neglecting the band
around it formed by a layer of one grain height and where
the particles become less and less concentrated. As shown
in Figure 1 runout is considered as the distance travelled
by the mass front on the horizontal panel.This choice has
been made to have homogeneous results, which depend only on
one parameter at a time, even if this definition of runout
is not the one commonly used in literature. The
displacement and the velocity of the mass front on the
horizontal panel during the sliding are evaluated from the
high speed camera films using the software WINanalyze.

Figure 1. Experimental set-up and measurements.

Volume and deposit morphology are evaluated by means

of the fringes projection method. According to the thesis of

Desmangles (2003), this method can be divided in three main

steps:

– creation of fringes and their projection on the object

surface

– registration of the object optical print (phase map)

– retrieval of the height information from the phase map

The necessary instruments are a projector (normally LCD

beamers of structured light or lasers are used), a digital

camera (with high quality resolution) and a computer. The

beamer projects the fringes on the object and the camera

takes

the pictures that are successively used to retrieve the

height

information with the computer.

The precision that has been obtained with the tools

available
at the laboratory is in average of 4 mm, which is adequate
for

the tests considered since it is in the order of the maximum

grain diameter of the material used.

3 RESULTS QUALITATIVE INTERPRETATION

In this Chapter the influence of each parameter studied is

evaluated.

3.1 Granular materials

The granular materials used for the tests are:

– Hs : Hostun sand;

– Gr2 : Aquarium gravel.

The experiments have emphasised a clear dependency

of deposit morphology on the use of sand or gravel (see

Figure 2). The shape of the sand deposit, regular and

compact,

agrees with many experiments described in the literature

(e.g.

Hutter et al 1988 and 1991; Bagnold, 1954) while the

aquarium

gravel deposit has well marked angular discontinuities (cen

tral zone with a small slope, but front, rear and sides
strongly Table 1. Material properties. Friction angles
Grains Unit size weight Internal On wood On forex Material
[mm] [kN/m 3 ] [ ◦ ] [ ◦ ] [ ◦ ] Gr2 0.5–3 14.9 ∼34 ∼32 ∼27
Hs 0.32–0.8 12.6 ∼34 34–40 – Figure 2. Influence of
materials used on deposit morphology: comparison between
Hostun sand and aquarium gravel; 1 release, 30l, 1 m drop
height, 45 ◦ . Figure 3. Similar morphology of the deposit
for 20 l (on the left) and 40 l (on the right hand-side);
Gr2, 1 release, 2 m drop height, wood, 45 ◦ . inclined). A
similar morphology has been noticed in situ at the Six des
Eaux Froides (Valais, Switzerland). Among all the tests
reviewed in the literature, it has been noticed that gravel
is seldom used and that most of the tests are performed
with different kinds of sands or beads. (Manzella &
Labiouse, 2007). Nonetheless, the tests at LMR show that
the deposit morphology of gravel materials is closer to
that observed in real cases. The observed difference in
test deposits morphology is probably caused by the shape
and angularity of the grains rather than by the grain size
distribution. This point remains nevertheless to be
clarified in the future. 3.2 Volume and height As it can be
supposed an increasing of the volume leads to an increasing
of all the deposit characteristics. On the other hand the
deposit morphology doesn’t suffer any significant change:
the deposit is bigger but has mainly the same shape. This
is valid for all the studied parameters combination (see
Figure 3). Nonetheless deposit morphology depends on the
releasing height. When dropped from a higher point, the
mass tends to flatten out. This is probably due mainly to
the more significant mass potential energy. When released
from 1 m the mass appears to follow a triangular
propagation with an angle of about 15 ◦ , on the other
hand, when released from a higher point, the mechanism is
composed of two parts, one at the beginning that follows a
triangular shape with the same opening angle (about 15 ◦ ),
and

Figure 4. Different propagation mechanisms for two different

releasing heights; Gr2, 1 release, 20 l, wood, 45 ◦ .

Figure 5. Morphology comparison for different base material

and

inclination: (a) base material wood, 45 ◦ slope

inclination; (b) base

material forex, 45 ◦ slope inclination; (c) base material

forex, 37.5 ◦

slope inclination; Gr2, 1 release, 20 l, 1.5 m drop height.

a second one which continues almost straight along the deep

est slope after the mass front has reached a certain width
(see

Figure 4).

3.3 Different roughness and different inclination

The deposit morphology is found to be dependent on the

friction coefficient on the base material: in the case of
high

roughness (wood panel), when the mass starts reaching the

horizontal panel, it comes rapidly to rest. This first

deposit

acts as a barrier for the material still sliding, that is

obliged to

move on the sides forming a kind of lateral wings. In the

case

of low friction coefficient (forex panel), the rear and the

mass

front come to rest at about the same time avoiding the above

mentioned “dam effect” (see Figure 5a and 5b).

However, in some experiments with a lower inclination of

the tilting panel (37.5 ◦ instead of 45 ◦ ), one observes

the same

effect as with a high roughness. In fact, both factors

induce

a similar decrease of the active sliding forces, the first

one

by a higher friction coefficient and the second one by a

lower

slope inclination. So, when the inclination becomes smaller,

the deposit morphology changes going from a homogeneous

semielliptical shape to the formation of a mass with lateral

wings (see Figure 5b and 5c).

Logically, it comes out that an increase in the active

forces,

either by increasing the slope inclination or decreasing the

base friction coefficient, leads to higher front mass

velocities
and longer runout. On the other hand the width doesn’t
change

significantly.

As shown in Figure 6, the front velocity remains rather sim

ilar for different slope inclinations until the mass is

nearly at

rest. It only differentiates in the last part of the

run-out where,

for the experiments with 45 ◦ inclination, the rear part of

the

mass seems to push or to run over the distal part of the

deposit

almost at rest.

3.4 Number of releases

The same total volume of 40 litres has been released:

– At once (40 litres) or

– At two different times (20 over 20 litres). 0.0 0.3 0.6

0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.4 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 runout [m] f r
o n t v e l o c i t y [ m / s ] 37.5˚ 45˚ Figure 6. Front
horizontal speed comparison between different slope angle;
Gr2, 1 release, 20 l, forex, 1.5 m drop height. The results
obtained in the testing campaign presented in this paper
confirm previous results stated in Manzella & Labiouse
(2007): by increasing the number of times by which the
release of a certain volume is divided, height increases
significantly and run-out decreases. As a matter of fact,
it is the first release which determines how far the entire
volume will travel. The following release is hindered by
the deposit that has already taken shape at the base and it
contributes mainly to building up the height of the
deposit. In addition, the deposit morphology proved to be
very dependent on the number of consecutive releases. When
the mass is released at several times, a relatively conical
deposit can be observed. This kind of shape is very similar
to the conical pile built up by sand particles flowing in a
hourglass and is in agreement with in situ observations,
like the rather conical and narrow deposit of the Randa
event in the Matter Valley (1991, Swiss Alps) which
occurred over several hours. Even if the total volume of
the failed mass was of 20 million m 3 , the run-out
distance is significantly shorter than the one observed for
other large rockslides of comparable volume. 4 PRELIMINARY
QUANTITATIVE INTERPRETATION The purpose of the quantitative
interpretation is to obtain mathematical relationships,
between the varied parameters and the deposit
characteristics. This work is still in progress but first
results are hereafter presented. 4.1 ANOVA The method used
to obtain these relationships is the ANOVA, analysis of
variance method. See the E-Handbook of Statistical Methods
(NIST/SEMATECH, 2006) for further information. The
following tests conditions have been considered: – Material
Gr2 – Slope angle (a) 37.5 ◦ –45 ◦ – Volume (v) 20l–40 l –
Drop height (h) 1 m–1.5 m – Friction (f ) 27 ◦ –32 ◦
Studying statistically the changes induced by each
parameter and by their interactions, this method can
establish which are the significant parameters influencing
each considered characteristic.

Table 2. ANOVA analysis. Parameters Interactions

Factor a h v f a&h h&v a&v a&f h&f f&v

Runout ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗

Length ∗ ∗

Width ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗

∗ highlight the parameters that have a strong influence on

the

considered deposit characteristic.

As already mentioned due to limits in space and time

these factors have limited ranges of variation, which will

be

extended in further campaign.

The results shown in Table 2 confirm the qualitative consid

erations made in the previous chapter and give some

additional

information.

All the parameters studied have a strong influence on runout

while length is dependent mainly on volume and friction.

Width is actually dependent mainly on volume and height.

Nonetheless it is possible to see that friction and slope

angle

are also important since their interactions with the

releasing

height have a strong influence on width and they have to be

taken into consideration for an analytical study.

Interactions are not significant in the other cases.

These first considerations will be useful to write the

analyt

ical relationships, a work still in progress and which

requires

deeper investigations.

5 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The parameters varied during the examined experimental

campaign are:

– material volume;

– releasing height;

– slope angle;

– nature of released material;

– consecutive releases;

– base friction coefficient.

The experiments have shown that deposit morphology is

dependent on the type of material used: sand or gravel. The

sand deposit shape, regular and compact, agrees well with

many experiments described in the literature, while the

aquar

ium gravel deposit, which is quite irregular (a central

zone with

a small slope, but front, rear and sides strongly

inclined), is in

accordance with deposit characteristics of some real events.

There is also a considerable difference in deposit morphol

ogy and dimensions when the event is the consequence of one

ABSTRACT: A site investigation is needed prior to any civil

engineering construction. The results of this site
investigation

must lead to recognition of problems related to geology. If

the problems related to the geology-structure interaction
cannot be

handled economically, the structure has to be relocated

into more suitable terrains. In some cases, as for line
infrastructures

(e.g. highways, railroads etc.) this relocation is not

always possible. In these cases the problems related to the
implementation

of the structure into the geology have to be overcome. In

this light, karstified areas belong to the most difficult
engineering

terrains. Although the presence of karst in a certain

region can be identified during a site investigation, the
exact location of

karst voids cannot be predicted with a precision accurate

enough for construction. In this contribution, an inventory
is made

of the possible presence of karst in Belgium. Then 2 case

studies are presented in which the particularities of karst
of different

age (Palaeokarst, Mesozoic karst and Caenozoic karst) are

presented.

1 WHERE CAN WE FIND KARST IN BELGIUM

One method to analyse the extent of karst in a region
consists

in mapping outcrops of the lithologies prone to

dissolution. In

Belgium the areas that could be affected by karst are

restricted

predominantly to Wallonia. In Wallonia the karst is

restricted

predominantly to Palaeozoic rocks 1 . In these Palaeozoic

rocks

the karst is restricted to those that consist of limestone

and

dolomite, most karst can be found in the limestone (Ek

1996).

The occurrence of the outcrops 2 of these formations is

shown in figure 1.

Our contribution will, on the basis of the karst features in

Belgium, discuss only the carbonate karst.

Brussels the largest city in Belgium, Antwerp the largest

city in Flanders and Liège the largest city in Wallonia: in

fact

94% of the population of Belgium is fenced in by the karst

belt, shown in figure 2, which starts in the west near

Tournai

and continues via Mons and Charleroi to the German border,

then it turns north between Liège and the Netherlands border

but here in the subsurface. If one wants to connect Belgian

1 Karst features outside Wallonia can be found in the

Cretaceous

rocks NW of Liège.
2 The occurrence of these Palaeozoic rocks should be
considered in

subcrop maps up to 50 m depth from the surface. These

subcrop maps

are at present not available. It should therefore be

acknowledged that

the actual extent of the karst belt is even larger. An

example is given

by Calembert & Monjoie (1970) discussing the problems

related to

the construction of the highway Liège to the Netherlands

related to

karst in Palaeozoic rocks north of Liège. Figure 1.

Palaeozoic limestone, which outcrops in Wallonia, contains
most karst in Belgium (Schmitz and Schroeder 2003). cities
to Germany or France one has unavoidably to pass this
Belgian karst belt. 2 KARST FORMED DURING THREE DIFFERENT
GEOLOGICAL ERAS Karst encountered in Belgium was formed
either during the Palaeozoic (Visean), Mesozoic (Lias) or
during the Caenozoic.

Figure 2. The Belgian karst belt.

Why should we care about these facts? Karst formed during

the Palaeozoic can, due to various mountain forming

processes

which occurred since then, be found at virtually any depth

in the subsurface, at any inclination and orientation (due

to

folding and faulting accompanying mountain forming pro

cesses). Mesozoic karst can extend hundreds of meters below

the present hydraulic base level and Caenozoic karst can be

found in a zone +/− tens of meters below and above the

present drainage system given by the large rivers. This

shows
that information about the age when the karst was formed can

be used to estimate the location and extent of karst.

Although

karst formation continues even today, it is too slow to

develop

during construction. The sudden appearance of voids during

construction are related to changes in the local hydrogeolog

ical system which affects the consistency of karst void

plugs

and karst infill but not dissolution of carbonate rocks on a

scale relevant to engineering. To sum up:

Palaeokarst

As we have seen karst in Belgium is dominantly related to

the

karst of Palaeozoic limestone.

The Palaeozoic limestone is of Carboniferous age, in

Wallonia represented by e.g. the Visean, Namurian and West

phalian 3 . The contact between the Visean and the Namurian,

stratigraphically a normal contact (Bouhenni 2003), corre

sponds on the regional scale to an old erosional surface

with important karstification of the limestone of the Visean

(Couchard et al. 1994), the karst is filled in by Namurian

sed

iments (Bouhenni 2003). The geotechnical properties of the

infill material of the Palaeozoic karst on the contact

Visean –

Namurian is very heterogeneous: silt, sand, weathered shale,

clays, breccias etc. (Calembert 1975). After karstification

the

Westphalian, Namurian and Visean were extensively folded

and faulted during theVariscan/Hercynian orogeny (Bouhenni

2003). Palaeokarst can therefore be found at any depth where

the Visean meets the Namurian. This Palaeokarst was encoun

tered during the construction of the Soumagne tunnel (case

study I) discussed below.

3 Note that it was this Westphalian coal that outcrops in

the town

centre of Liège and the proximity to the Ardennes that

delivered the

ore, that the independency of the principality of Liège was

founded

in the middle ages and maintained during 800 years. Coal

seams in

the Namurian have never been mined because of they are too
thin. Mesozoic karst Mesozoic karst can be found in the
Palaeozoic carbonates in the southwestern part of Belgium.
These carbonates are like the carbonates described above,
of Carboniferous age but a little older and were deposited
during the Tournaissian. Tournaissian limestones were
highly karstified during the Lias and are filled by
Tertiary sediments (Schmitz 2004). This Mesozoic karst was
encountered during the construction of the Arbre railroad
viaduct (case study II), as will be highlighted later in
this contribution. Recent karst: Caenozoic The Ardennes
massif is currently uplifting. This means that rivers are
incising into their beds. Thereby steep valleys are formed
and the regional groundwater level decreases. Karst
proceeds downwards too, leaving caves higher up into the
terrain dry. In general karst can be found to a depth of 60
m below the actual riverbeds (Fetter 1994). This Caenozoic
karst was encountered during the construction of the
Remouchamp highway viaduct (literature overview by Schmitz
and Schroeder 2003). 3 CASE I: TUNNEL DE SOUMAGNE
Introduction A major achievement of the Belgian railway was
the recent construction of a high-speed railroad from
Brussels via Liège and Aachen to Cologne. The track
Brussels – Liège has been inaugurated 2003. Thereafter
construction focused on the section Liège – Aachen. To be
able to maintain a high travel velocity the path of the
former, rather curved railroad, was not be followed.
Unavoidably a tunnel needed to be constructed to pass
through some hills on the way from Liège to the plateau de
Herve. This tunnel is the Soumagne tunnel (the breakthrough
occurred in October 2004). Karst near Soumagne The karst
that is encountered near Soumagne is Palaeokarst. Well
known and feared (Couchard et al. 1994) is the contact
between the Namurian (Carboniferous; coal and shales) and
the Visean (Carboniferous; limestone). This contact is
infamous because it contains a Palaeokarst on the top of
theVisean (figure 3). In the Soumagne tunnel this contact
was crossed (figure 5). Due to the local tectonic setting
the tunnel remains close to the former (a large part of the
Namurain has been weathered away) Visean – Namurian
interface. This is explained in a highly simplified way in
figure 4 (a detailed geological description can be found in
Monjoie et al. 1994 or Couchard et al. 1994). Predominantly
limestone was deposited during the Visean. During the
Namurian the environment changed and the deposition of
limestone was followed by a series of shales with coal
layers. During this time the limestone was highly
karstified. During the Westphalian following the Namurian,
again coal, shale and sandstone were deposited but this
time the coal seams were thicker and therefore exploited
from the Middle Ages up to the late 20th century. During
the Hercynian/Variscan orogenesis and later during the
extension of the Rhine graben (Bouhenni 2003) the
formations were folded and faulted.

Figure 3. Palaeokarst in an outcrop in Visé, type-location

of the

Visean (extract from Schmitz et al. 2005). Very strong good

(RMR

class I) limestone changes abruptly into a unconsolidated

soil. These

abrupt changes cause major problems in tunnelling and

foundation

engineering.

Figure 4. A simplified geological draft of the geology of

the Sou

magne tunnel. Due to tectonic disturbance the tunnel

remains close
to the Visean-Namurian interface thus within the paeokarst.
Not indi

cated in this section is the faulting and folding of the

coal and schist

layers of the Westphalian (from: Schmitz and Schroeder

2003).

One of the reasons that the tunnel remains within the

Palaeokarst (figure 5) is its proximity to the Magnée fault

an overthrust, which pushed the Visean over the Westphalian.

In the footwall the first tens of meters shale and

sandstone are

deconsolidated in the hanging wall the limestone is

karstified

with partial clayey infill (Couchard et al. 1994). Figure

5. Tunnel front during the construction of the Soumagne
tunnel (radius 5.5 m) showing the Palaeokarst on the
Namurian-Visean interface (Photo: Courtesy of S.M. Soumagne
Tunnel; Schmitz et al. 2005). Site investigation The site
investigation consisted of: – 105 boreholes (length 8 km)
geophysical, geotechnical and geohydrological measurements
– a pilot gallery Microgravimetry was used (Monjoie et al.
1994) to determine the location of karst voids. Especially
in the proximity of the future shaft a large anomaly
indicated that karst could occur. It was verified during
the tunnelling in 2002, that this anomaly was indeed
related to Palaeokarst on the Visean – Namurian contact and
in the Visean self. Tunnelling through karst The
difficulties of karst phenomena in tunnelling are: –
complexity of the geometrical form of the cavity created by
Karst and its orientation with respect to the tunnel axis
(Pöttler 2003) – the heterogeneity of the infill of the
cavity (Pöttler 2003) – changing interactions between the
karstified rock mass and the tunnel structure. The
relationship between karst and overbreak was discussed by
Viroux (2003) and Viroux (et al. 2005). Karst affects
surface and subsurface structures in the same way: loss of
foundation (even in tunnels). In subsurface construction
however the karst can endanger the workforce not only
because the lack of foundation but as well by cave-ins.
Methods to deal with karst Support measures to deal with
open karst cavities and karst holes with boulders in soft
rock: – are spiles ahead of excavation – is the sealing off
cavities 4 – is the backfilling of cavities above support
in roof with sand These measures have to be planned
schematically and have to be adapted to the dimensions of
the karst structures on site. 4 For more information on
injection of karst cavities: Kutzner (1991).

Figure 6. The installation of the micropiles.

Figure 7. Detailed radar tomography revealed the presence

of low

velocity zones. With the knowledge of the geological

history of the

region these zones were interpreted correctly as karstified

zones.

An essential requirement for an effective excavation

procedure

is the availability of all necessary tunnelling equipment

both

for excavation by drilling and blasting and for excavation

of

soft rocks on site (John and Strappler 2003).

In Soumagne this flexible approach was followed. Differ

ent support methods (steel arches, swellex, shotcrete) were

applied depending on the geomechanical requirements. Dif

ficult stretches were mastered using support in advance of

the tunnel front like forepoling or spiling, a method com

monly used in Europe to pass difficult zones like karst,

e.g.the

Irlahüll tunnel in Germany.

Tunnel through karst: the groundwater

In the case of the tunnel of Soumagne the major advantage is

that the water table is located below the invert of the

tunnel
throughout the Visean: near the Magnée fault at 25 m below

the invert (Couchard et al. 1994) and near to the shaft

foot at

about the level of the invert. Therefore a large inflow of

karst

water had not to be feared at the Namurian-Visean contact

(Couchard et al. 1994).

4 CASE II: TGV CONNECTION BRUSSELS TO PARIS

Introduction

The TGV link between Brussels and Paris was the first TGV

link to be developed in Belgium. The high speed railroad

link crosses the karst belt near Arbre, where a viaduct was

constructed. Figure 8. The operational Arbre viaduct. Karst

near Arbre Arbre is located on the Palaeozoic rocks of the
karst belt. The Palaeozoic rocks were deposited during the
Tournaissian. Quaternary deposits cover the Palaeozoic
rocks (Couchard & Detandt 1999). The bedrock itself is
affected by Mesozoic – Caenozoic karst. The karst is filled
with Tertiary sediments. Site investigation It is known
that the depth of the karst phenomena, even if they are not
of Palaeozoic age, is independent of the current regional
base level in the region, which is often linked to a large
river system. Cave systems can be formed above, at, or
below the water table but the depth of major solution
openings below base level is probably less than 60 m
(Fetter 1994), but can attain 100 m in the Palaeozoic
limestone and dolomite rocks of the Belgian karst belt
(Calembert & Monjoie 1973). Cavernous zones found at these
depths are well below the present water table. Warned by
this, an extensive site investigation was performed,
relying on e.g. radar tomography, figure 7, (Couchard &
Detandt 1999) and it was shown that the depth of the karst
extended to a remarkable 80 m below the surface. This
needed to be taken into account during the planning of the
viaduct. Construction Such deep karst voids cannot be
filled economically. Normal piles cannot be used in these
terrains. Because compressive and tension forces
(deceleration of trains on the viaduct) needed to be
transmitted to the subsurface choice was made to stabilise
the karstified bedrock with micropiles, regularly used as
means of foundation of line infrastructure in karst. In
Arbre, 88 micropiles were installed per footing in the
worst ground conditions.The micropiles (figure 6) were
constructed to a depth of 30 m (Couchard & Detandt 1999).
With this method the bedrock was stabilised and the viaduct
could be constructed (figure 8). 5 CONCLUSION Karst in
Belgium affects predominantly Palaeozoic carbonate rocks.
The rock masses showing karst near the surface or at least
in the upper region where civil engineering construction
takes place can be found as a half circle fencing 94% of
the population in Belgium from France and Germany. Thus at
any instant when line infrastructure was constructed or is

being constructed to France or Germany, karst will be encoun

tered. The karst encountered is either: Palaeokarst,

Mesozoic

or Caenozoic karst.This Palaeokarst can be found at any

depth

where theVisean meets the Namurian; this contact is infamous

among rock and soil mechanic engineers. Mesozoic karst is

found e.g. in Tournaissian, were the karst holes are filled

by

Tertiary sediments up to 100 m deep. Caenozoic karst affects

nearly all carbonate formations. It was developed during the

ongoing uplift of the Ardennes. As a consequence the rivers

started to erode into their riverbeds, lowering the regional

water table, thereby the karst formation continued at a

lower

level: “dry” caves can be found above the present river lev

els. Nice examples are the touristic well-known

Han-sur-Lesse

and Remouchamp show caves.

Two cases of line infrastructure through karst were dis

cussed. Both passed the karst belt and encountered problems

related to karst. These difficulties were solved
differently:

Arbre: The site investigation revealed the presence of karst

in the bedrock. The karstified rock mass was stabilised

using

a large number of micropiles.

Soumagne: The intensive geophysical prospection led in an

early stage to the acknowledgment that a flexible

construction

method was needed throughout construction. The karstified

zone was successfully mastered by pre-support in front of

the

excavation.

With a mix of geophysical methods, analysis of geological

maps, information provided by locals and speleologists, anal

ysis of aerial photographs etc. it is possible to indicate

possible

presence of karst but neither its size, geometry, depth or

extent

can be determined with an accuracy that is precise enough to

satisfy engineering design. But it is important that this

investi

gation is done as early as possible during the project.

Then the

construction firm knows that not a 100% detailed planning is

required but flexibility.

If a bridge has to be constructed in a karstified area the

position of piers might have to shift, this needs to be

consid
ered in the initial design. The permission of the
controlling

authority must be obtained for several ranges of pier

position.

If the statistical prove and permission for an adapted

variant

have to be obtained at a later stage e.g. during

construction

then valuable time is lost to get through the red tape.

When tunnelling through karst be prepared and make sure

that the equipment to deal with hard rock and soft soil is

on site. Select a site manager who knows that geology dic

tates more than in other circumstances the rate of advance.

Before construction starts prepare a catalogue in which the

support measures dealing with many possible karst encoun

ters are described. Obtain the permission of the controlling

officials for all these variants before the construction

begins.

In all these cases there is a double task for the

responsible

rock or soil mechanical engineer very early, less detailed,

to

change the psychology of the construction approach and then

later on during construction on a day to day basis directly

at the

front or on the construction site. It was shown that when

line

infrastructure crosses the Belgian karst belt, that this

approach,

where applied, was successful to deal with the

unpredictability
of karst.

Bouhenni, S (2003) Géologie du site du tunnel du Soumagne.

Pre

sentation ISRM IAEG – Belgium visit to the tunnel Soumagne

April 8th 2003. Calembert, L (1975) Problems de Géologie de

l’ingénieur en regions karstiques. Bulletin of the
international associationof engineering geology. N ◦ 12.
pp. 93–132. Calembert, L, Monjoie, A (1970) Phénomènes
géologiques et géologie de l’ingénieur dans la région de
Visé (Belgique). First IAEG Conference. Paris. Calembert,
L, Monjoie, A (1973) Géologie de l’ingénieur en relation
avec les roches solubles en Belgique. Proceedings Symposium
Sinkholes and subsidence. Hannover 1972. Publisher:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erdund Grundbau. Couchard, I,
Detandt, H (1999) Le Viaduc d’Arbre. Rail International –
Schienen der Welt. Edition Française. Vol 12. Couchard, I,
Dethy, B, van Cotthem, A, Wauters, J P, Cocinas, I,
Compere, J M, Halleux, L, Monjoie, A (1994) Tunnel TGV de
Soumagne – Reconnaissance Géologiques et Géotechniques.
Colloque National – Nationaal Colloquium Belgisch Comite
voor Ingenieursgeologie Comite Belge de Géologie de
L’ingénieur. Louvain-la-Neuve. Ek, C (1996) Les Calcaires
de Wallonie. In : Atlas du Karst Wallon, Province de Liège.
Tome 1. C. de Broyer, G. Thys, J. Fairon, G. Michel, M.
Vrolix (eds). Commission Wallon d’étude et de protection
des sites souterrains. Fetter, C W (1994) Applied
hydrogeology. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall. Höwing, K D, Eder, S,
Plank, M (2003) Baugrunderkundung für Verkehrswege in
Karstgebieten. Felsbau, Fachzeitschrift für
Ingenieurgeologie, Geomechanik und Tunnelbau.
Österreichische Gesellschaft für Geomechanik. Vol. 21. N ◦
1. pp 5–21. John, M, Strappler, G (2003) Maßnahmen für den
Tunnelvortrieb im verkarsteten Gebirge der NBS
Nürnberg-Ingolstadt. Felsbau, Fachzeitschrift für
Ingenieurgeologie, Geomechanik und Tunnelbau.
Österreichische Gesellschaft für Geomechanik. Vol. 21. N ◦
1. pp 22–27. Kutzner, Ch (1991) Injektionen im Baugrund.
Enke Verlag. Monjoie, A, Schroeder, Ch, Read, D, Couchard,
I, Dethy, B, Wauters, J P (1994) Prospection Gravimetrique
pour le tunnel de Soumagne. Colloque National – Nationaal
Colloquium Belgisch Comite voor Ingenieursgeologie Comité
Belge de Géologie de L’ingénieur. Louvain-la-Neuve.
Pöttler, R. (2003) Zum Geleit. Felsbau. Fachzeitschrift für
Ingenieurgeologie, Geomechanik und
Tunnelbau.Österreichische Gesellschaft für Geomechanik.
Vol. 21. N ◦ 1. pp 8–12. Prinz, H. (1997) Abriss der
Ingenieurgeologie. Ferdinand Enke Verlag. Stuttgart.
Richter, D. (1989) Ingenieurund Hydrogeologie. De Gruyter.
Schmitz, R M (2004) Nano-engineering geology of
clay-leachate interaction. Dr.Sc.Ap. thesis. Université de
Liège. Schmitz, RM, Schroeder, C (2003) Line infrastructure
and the role of engineering geology in the Belgian karst
belt. Ingeokring Newsletter, published by the Dutch
association of engineering geology.Vol. 10, N ◦ 2, 2003,
pp. 10–19. Schmitz, RM, Polo-Chiapolini, C, Schroeder, C
(2005) Famous rock outcrops in the Dutch (Limburg)-Belgian
(Liège) frontier region. Submitted to Ingeokring
Newsletter, published by the Dutch association of
engineering geology. Vol. 12, N ◦ 1, pp.18–29. Schultz, J
R, Cleaves, A B (1955) Geology in Engineering. Chapman &
Hall London. Viroux, S (2003) Caractérisation géotechnique
de l’apparition de hors profils lors du creusement d’un
tunnel. MSc-Eng thesis. Department: GéomaC. Université de
Liège. Viroux, S, Schmitz, RM, Charlier, R (2004)
Caractérisation géotechnique de l’apparition de hors
profils lors du creusement d’un tunnel: application au
tunnel de Soumagne. Tunnels et Ouvrages Souterrains, N ◦
181, Janvier/Février 2004, pp. 47–48. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Rock slope stabilization and
numerical modelling with pretensioned metallic meshes
J.E.T. Quintanilha de Menezes Faculty of Engineering,
Porto, Portugal A.I. Soares Cardoso EP, Coimbra, Portugal

ABSTRACT: State of the art design of rock slope

stabilization solutions using nailed liners is based mostly
on mechanical

factors that involve geometric parameters of applied nails.

Hence, the contribution of liners to rock structure
stabilization being

quantitatively ignored, as a rule, the present study aims

at quantifying liner contribution to the increase of
stability in rock

slopes. The capability of mechanical modeling of a metallic

mesh was achieved with regard to a number of laboratory
results

found in the literature. Simple three-dimensional rock

structures have been considered and the respective safety
factors were

determined, both analytically and numerically, for three

different stages: without support, nailed and with nailed
liner. Next,

results of numerical calculation, respectively with and

without the steel wire mesh, were compared against each
other in order

to determine the mesh contribution to the rock structure

stability.

1 INTRODUCTION

High-tensile steel wire meshes and cable nets are stabiliza

tion solutions known as nailed linings. A nailed lining is a

membrane structure applied over the slope face combined

with unidimensional resistant elements (nails or rockbolts)

introduced in the rock formation.

According to draft European Standard Soil Nailing (CEN,

2000) slope linings applied with nailed elements are defined

as a cover of the rock formation exposed face with stabiliza

tion functions between nailed elements and/or as protection

means against erosion considering also esthetic and scenery

concerns. In the same document there is a distinction

between

several types of linings: rigid, flexible and soft,

according to

the deformation level admissible by the structure. Figure 1

shows an example of flexible facing that was used in

presented

subsequent numerical analysis.

Metallic meshes are examples of flexible linings. They

receive and apply forces to the terrain in a continuous

form.
They have a stabilization function, supporting any materials

that detach between nails or rockbolts. Its behavior depends

on spacing between nails, as there is an interaction between

these elements. They are light and flexible support

structures,

Figure 1. Example of flexible facing (CEN/TC 288, 2000).

adapting to irregular surfaces, confining and avoiding
progressive erosion on the terrain surface. There are
several sorts of metallic meshes on the market.
Conventional meshes of hexagonal type with double or triple
torsion are made with steel wire having a tensile strength
between 400 and 700 N/mm 2 . There are also metallic meshes
with even higher tensile strength (over 1200 N/mm 2 )
which, by having more support capacity, allow combinations
with active nails or rockbolts. Steel wire meshes are
flexible membranes used in the last 10 to 12 years as
surface support for slope stabilization. Initially combined
with passive nails its application was extended by using
active nails or rockbolts (Torres Vila, 2002). 2 MECHANICAL
CHARACTERIZATION OF STEEL WIRE MESH The wire mesh in study
is made of steel wire with 3 mm of diameter. After simple
torsion wire is arranged in rhomboidal shape with 143 and
83 mm diagonals and an internal diameter of 65 mm (TECCO ®
mesh G-65, Fatzer AG, Geobrugg Protection Systems,
Switzerland; Ruegger, Flum & Haller, 2000). A steel wire
mesh is an orthotropic material with elastic linear
behavior. Orthotropy is due to mesh geometry with main
directions defined by rhombus diagonals and normal
direction to the mesh plane. Higher rigidity direction is
the roll direction and is layered along the vertical slope
direction. So, lower rigidity direction is coincident with
the horizontal slope direction. Fresno & Munoz (2001) and
Torres Vila (2002) carried out several laboratory tests to
determine mechanical parameters of the wire mesh (Figure
2): a) Longitudinal tensile strength tests with deformation
over the larger diagonal direction (y-direction) and
restricted displacements in the x-direction; b) Transversal
tensile strength tests with deformation over the smaller
diagonal direction (x-direction) and restricted
displacements in the y-direction; y y x x x

151.46 kN/m 68.86 kN/m 67.00 kN

Figure 2. Loading and supporting conditions presented on

labora
tory tests and numerical analysis: a) larger diagonal
tensile strength

test (y); b) smaller diagonal tensile strength test (x); c)

puncture test.

Table 1. Laboratory tests results with 3.0 mm wire diameter

com

pared with numerical analysis on FLAC 3D (Cardoso &

Quintanilha,

2004).

Loading Parameter Tests FLAC 3D

Larger diagonal (y) Breaking load (kN/m) 151.46 151.50

tensile strength test Elongation (mm/m) 83.80 84.28

Smaller diagonal (x) Breaking load (kN/m) 68.86 69.00

tensile strength test Elongation (mm/m) 340.73 342.90

Puncture Breaking load (kN/m) 67.34 67.00

test Elongation (mm/m) 202.48 202.40

c) Puncture tests with sample mesh displacements restricted

along its perimeter and a single load applied in the

center.

The stiffness matrix was obtained with the laboratory test

results assuming the validity of generalized Hooke’s law.

In order to simplify Hooke’s law some hypothesis were

considered:

i) An equivalent material thickness;

ii) Steel mesh as a thin membrane, with zero normal

stresses on mesh plane and zero distortions in planes xz
and yz, which allows a bi-dimensional analysis as this is a
stress plane state case.

The values of the stiffness matrix coefficients were after

wards confirmed using program FLAC 3D (Itasca, 2002) with

numerical simulations of boundary conditions and laboratory

tests loading, assuming large displacements and

deformations.

Table 1 shows numerical displacement values quite similar

to those obtained in laboratory.

This way was obtained the constitutive law of an orthotropic

material with linear elastic behavior (1). This stiffness

matrix,

with units in kPa, was used in numerical models to simulate

flexible lining behavior when applied in slopes

stabilization.

G xy value had to be estimated in order to have a maximal

displacement in numerical model similar to that obtained in

puncture tests.

3 DETERMINATION OF SAFETY FACTOR IN

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

The factor of safety (FS) is an intrinsic concept and is

very

common in slope stability analysis. FS is defined as the

ratio between real material shear strength and required
shear strength to reach a failure state (2) (Dawson, Roth,
& Drescher, 1999). Numerically, a way of computing FS is to
reduce the material shear strength parameters until
collapse occurs. Bracket and bisection method was used to
determine FS (Dawson, Roth, & Drescher, 1999). Simulations
were performed, for a series of factors of safety,
adjusting strength parameters in interfaces according to
equation (2). Founding FS value in a numerical calculation
depends on the results interpretation to identify the
beginning of system instability.There are several
indicators that can be used to draw some conclusions about
the system equilibrium in a general way (Itasca, 2002): 1.
Numerical calculation convergence – when there is a failure
state within the model, force equilibrium is not reached,
that is, there are unbalanced forces; 2. Velocity history
convergence (units of displacement divided by number of
steps) – the field of velocity vectors must not show a
pattern and have a low amplitude to denote an equilibrium
state; 3. Plastic indicators – a failure mechanism will
correspond to band zones where velocity pattern and
magnitude indicate occurring displacement increase. 4
APPLICATION OF A NAILED MESH TO BASIC ROCK STRUCTURES Three
slopes with different three-dimensional rock structures are
analyzed: A. Wedge structure where one single tetrahedral
block slides over two intersecting planes; B. Wedge
structure where one single tetrahedral block slides over a
single steep plane; C. Steep layers forming a blocky
structure with toppling slope failure. Figures 3 and 4
shows models geometry. The numerical calculation for each
model was performed in three steps (using FLAC 3D ) with
differences in application and capacity of support
elements: • Rock mass without support; • Rock mass with
pretensioned nails or rockbolts; • Rock mass with steel
mesh system (characterized in point 2 and the same linear
pre-tensioned elements used in phase 2. FS values were
obtained as described in point 3, using program FLAC3D, for
each model and for each numerical calculation phase.
Additionally, FS analytical values were also obtained with
the limit equilibrium method for the same geometric and
geotechnical conditions of numerical models. Comparing
stabilizing with unstabilizing forces, which induce sliding
of each block in sliding failures, or comparing stabilizing
with unstabilizing moment, in case of failure by toppling,
values for FS where calculated for each phase 1 and 2 in
models A, B and C (Hoek & Bray, 1999). Table 2 shows both
numerical and analytical results that show a good
similarity. The exception goes to model C with

Figure 3. Rock slope models A and B.

Figure 4. Rock slope model C: FLAC 3D mesh and geometry.

Table 2. Safety factors obtained in analytical and numerical

calculations for models A, B and C. Without With

pre-tensioned support nails With mesh and Analyt. Numer.
Analyt. Numer. tensioned nails

A 1.26 1.31 1.50 1.67 1.75

B 0.89 0.84 1.50 1.38 2.15

C 0.66 0.67 1.50 0.72 2.31

nails where difference in results is probably due to the
fact of

analytical FS being a global FS while numerical FS refers to

the block with higher aptitude for unstabilization. The

signi

ficative increase in safety with the flexible lining

introduction

is notorious (Figure 10).

Some graphics are presented with displacements variation

in particular points monitorized during numerical

calculations -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
3.0 Factor of safety D i s p l a c e m e n t ( m m )
without support with nails nailed wire mesh without support
with nails nailed wire mesh H o r i z o n t a l d i s p . V
e r t i c a l d i s p . Figure 5. Horizontal and vertical
displacement variations for model A. 10 15 20 25 1.0 1.5
2.0 2.5 3.0 Factor of safety M a x i m u m t r a c t i o n
f o r c e i n n a i l s ( k N ) with nails nailed wire mesh
Figure 6. Maximum traction force variations for model A.
-0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 Factor
of safety D i s p l a c e m e n t ( m m ) without support
with nails nailed wire mesh without support with nails
nailed wire mesh H o r i z o n t a l d i s p . V e r t i c
a l d i s p . Figure 7. Horizontal and vertical
displacement variations for model B. 36 37 38 39 0.5 1.0
1.5 2.0 2.5 Factor of safety M a x i m u m t r a c t i o n
f o r c e i n n a i l s ( k N ) with nails nailed wire mesh
Figure 8. Maximum traction force variations for model B.

-10.0

-8.0

-6.0

-4.0

-2.0

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 Factor of safety

D
i s

p l

a c

e m

e n

t ( m

m ) without support with nails nailed wire mesh without

support with nails nailed wire mesh H o r i z o n t a l d i
s p . V e r t i c a l d i s p .

Figure 9. Horizontal and vertical displacement variations

for

model C.

37

38

39

40

41

42

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.5 3.0 Factor of safety

a x

i m

u m

t r

a c

t i o

n
f o

r c

i n

a i

l s

( k N

) nails nailed wire mesh 2.0

Figure 10. Maximum traction force variations for model C.

(lower vertex in wedges A and B; top vertex in model C) and

maximum traction force in nails or rockbolts, for different

FS

values obtained numerically.

In interpreting these graphs it must be noted that, under

the FS concept described in point 2, an increase of FS value

means that strength parameters in discontinuities decrease

thus reflecting an incoming failure slope state.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The three models considered in this study draw some expected

conclusions (Cardoso. 2005):

• For safety factors increasingly higher, that is, for shear

strength parameters (c and φ) increasingly lower, displace

ments values increase in slope formation;

• Rockbolts use as structural support elements do have a

beneficial contribution reflected in blocks displacements

reductions;

• When compared with displacement curves from previous

calculation steps, one can identify the capacity of a

support

system composed of steel mesh and nails or rockbolts for

ABSTRACT: The complexity of some slopes formed of

heterogeneous materials with a geometry that is complicated
to model

makes it very difficult to estimate a reliable safety

factor. Moreover, if the materials are governed by
non-linear strength laws

with peak and residual values depending on their

deformability, it seems that in these materials the usual
stability analyses

using limit equilibrium methods or the study of wedges in

rocks are difficult to carry out reliably in the majority
of cases. Many

slopes from different geological formations, such as flysch

or in volcanic areas, present these problems and can be
studied using

the method proposed. This paper studies the stability of

slopes formed of heterogeneous materials by dividing whole
slopes into

several blocks or “macroelements” whose behaviour model is

defined as a combination of the behaviour of simpler
elements

(“microelements”). The complexity of the behaviour of these

macroelements means that different calculation scenarios
need

to be analysed. The study gives some solved examples and

compares their results to those obtained from a homogeneous
slope

with the same mean strength.

1 INTRODUCTION
Limit equilibrium methods assume the existence of a sur

face separating the potentially unstable mass and along

which

failure can occur. A safety factor (F) is determined for

each

potential failure surface in such a way that if F > 1, the

mass

is stable.

Implicit in this safety factor definition is the assumption

that the material involved is ductile. If the material is

fragile,

the safety factor depends on the level of deformation

since, as a

function of this, some part of the slope may enter into

residual

strength when other has still not reached peak strength.

This

gives rise to the phenomenon of progressive failure at the

end

of which only residual strength remains.

The analysis of the stability of slopes containing materials

subject to fragile strength laws is a complicated process

if the

following circumstances arise:

1. the slope consists of heterogeneous materials;

2. the different materials are so intermingled that it

is extremely difficult to model their geometrical

arrangement;

3. the peak and residual strength criteria for the

materials are
not linear;

4. non-associated plasticity is considered in the materials.

All these complications concur in different formations such

as the so-called flysches or slopes in volcanic formations.

2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD

This approach to stability analysis in slopes involving

hetero

geneous formations entails the following basic ideas:

• the formation is only composed of two materials;

• the two materials are present in a constant proportion

(the

constancy of this proportion extends to a failure surface

zone) in any differential element. A slope formed of

heterogeneous materials is replaced by one with homogeneous
zones (corresponding to zones with a constant proportion of
materials). The now homogeneous slope is composed of
macroelements showing highly complex stress-strain
behaviour, obtained from the simpler behaviour of the
materials making up the macroelement. The complexity of the
macroelement behaviour leads to the need to study the
stability for different calculation scenarios. The aim of
this work is to reduce each of these individual scenarios
to the classic stability analyses already available for
homogeneous materials. 3 GEOLOGICAL AND GEOTECHNICAL
CONDITIONS 3.1 Geological structure The paradigm for the
geological structure to which this method of analysis can
be applied is a slope like the one illustrated in Figure 1,
composed of alternating hard layers (B i ) and softer
layers (A i ). This could be the case, for example, of a
volcanic slope or a flysch slope, as indicated above. The
proportion in A 5 A 4 A 3 A 2 A 1 B 5 B 4 B 3 B 2 B 1 A =
ΣAi y B = ΣBi n A � n B � 1 n A = A+B B A+B A n B =
Figure 1. Geological structure with alternating hard (B i )
and soft (A i ) layers. ε k σ k E k G k τ pk γ pk τ rk τ k
γ k τ κ =γ⋅G k σ κ =ε E k σ, τ k : normal and shear
stress, respectively ε,γ : normal and shear strain,
respectively E k , G k : deformation and shear moduli,
respectively
Figure 2. Stress-strain laws of k material.

which these materials are present can be determined by

visual

observation or by surveying, as shown in Figure 1.

3.2 Deformability conditions

Prior to failure, each k material (k = 1, 2) is assumed to

behave

in a linear manner, as shown in Figure 2.

During failure, a dilatancy (ψ) is assumed to occur, such

that sin ψ k = v ∗ k /γ ∗ k is verified for each material,

where v ∗ k is

the change in volumetric strain of k material and γ ∗ k is

its

change in distortion.

3.3 Strength conditions

A Mohr strength is assumed to be present, given by a Hoek

Brown non linear law (1980), defined by the Serrano & Olalla

parameters (1994) and a Coulomb strength law on the failure

planes, as indicated in Serrano et al (2007).

The material is deemed to be fragile, that is to say a sud

den drop in strength is assumed to occur at failure.

Different

laws exist for peak and residual strengths, for each

material.

Assuming a Hoek-Brown failure criterion, the strength laws

are defined, for each k material, by the following

parameters: β pk , ζ pk , ψ pk : in peak strength β rk , ζ
rk , ψ rk = 0: in residual strength.

The distortion γ pk , for which peak strength (τ Rp ) is pro

duced, is γ pk = τ, Rpk /G k since the behaviour is linear
until

the peak is reached.

Taking these ideas into account, the strength laws for each

k material are defined by the following expressions:

• Peak strength:

• Residual strength:

4 STABILITY ASSESSMENT

4.1 Macroelement definition

The slope is assumed to be composed of differential macroele

ments that the failure surface has to cross, as illustrated

in

Figure 3.

• The macroelements are formed of microelements 1 and 2

corresponding to materials 1 and 2. 2 1 n 1 n 2 1 1 1 2 σ 1

σ σ 2 τ 1 τ 2 τ Failure surface Figure 3. Macroelement
composed of microelements 1 and 2. Acting stresses. • The
lengths crossed by the failure surface in each microelement
are proportional to proportions n 1 and n 2 in which they
appear in the geological structure. • Normal stresses σ 1
and σ 2 act in microelements 1 and 2 and tangential
stresses τ 1 and τ 2 act on the failure surface,
respectively. • Normal stress σ and tangential stress τ act
in the macroelement on the failure surface crossing it. 4.2
Basic assumptions 4.2.1 Strain-related assumptions The
macroelement undergoes ε and γ strains whereas the k
microelements undergo ε k and γ k strains. Taking the
continuity into account, it is admitted that ε= ε k a nd γ
= γ k . 4.2.2 Stress-related assumptions Stressesσ and τ
act on the macroelement andσ k and τ k stresses act on the
microelements. Based on force equilibrium in the
macroelement, the following expressions can be written:
Taking into account the stress-related assumption gives:
where E = n k E k ≡ n 1 E 1 + n 2 E 2 is the modulus of
deformability of the macroelement. Similarly, it can be
verified that: where G = n k G k ≡ n 1 G 1 + n 2 G 2 is the
modulus of transverse rigidity of the macroelement. Bearing
in mind the strain-related assumptions, it can be verified
that (t i2)r i 2 i1 ? j=3 j=2 j=1 2 ? γ τk (τ i1 )p γ i2 τ
γ 1 (τ i1 )r (τ i2 )p (τ i1 )p (τ i2 )p (τ i2 )r γ i1 γ i2
γ i1

Figure 4. Fragile behaviour of macroelements.

4.3 Stress-strain laws

The microelements have the fragile behaviour represented

in Figure 2. Combining the behaviour laws governing the

microelements, and according to the assumptions made above,

the stress-strain law for the macroelement that is

represented

in Figure 4 is reached.

The following facts should be highlighted in relation to the

stress-strain law governing the macroelement.

1. The macroelement’s stress-strain law has two peak

strengths and one final residual strength. These three

strengths define three relevant states of stress which are:

1) first peak; 2) second peak and 3) residual strength.

2. For each normal stress, the combination of strength param

eters and deformability parameters determines in which

microelement the peak strain will first occur. Two possibil

ities exist: the first peak is produced in microelement k =

1

or in microelement k = 2.

3. Each k microelement collaborates in the strength of

the macroelement with a strength, τ ijk . The final result

obtained is:

where τ ij is the macroelement’s strength.

4.4 Strength criteria for the microelements

These are the criteria for peak and residual strength given

above, in Equations (1) and (2).

4.5 Problem data

Along with a slope diagram, Table 1 compiles the problem

data, grouped under three headings of geometrical,

geological

and geomechanical data.

The following values must be calculated in order to deter

mine the subindices: The c a /c b ratio is calculated. If c

a /c b > 1, then material a is considered to be
microelement 1. If c a /c b < 1, then material b is
microelement 1. 4.6 Calculation parameters Once determined
which material constitutes each individual microelement,
the next step is to calculate the parameters given in Table
2. 4.7 Critical stress The critical stress is defined as
the normal stress for which the peak strains of the
microelements are equalled: 4.8 Total case identification
code Table 3 can be deduced as a result of all the
theoretical study carried out. Its end column, headed 1st
Peak, indicates the material in which the first peak
strength is produced (i 1 ). The cases where more than one
number appears in this cell are complex cases in which
there are zones throughout the failure surface where the
first peak is produced in one or the other material,
indicated in the cell by its number. For example, when the
numbers 1 and 2 appear in the same cell it means that in
one part of the failure surface the first peak is produced
in material 1 whereas in another part of the failure
surface the first peak is produced in material 2. Of the 11
cases possible and shown in the table, the seven with a
single number in the end column (i.e., those in which the
first peak is produced in the same material throughout the
failure surface) can be treated as a homogeneous slope in
whose failure surface the same peaks will be produced. In
these cases the safety factor can be estimated as if the
slope was homogeneous formed by a material with the
strength of one or other of the microelement materials, as
indicated in the following section. 5 SAFETY FACTORS IN THE
DIFFERENT SLOPE SCENARIOS THAT CAN BE ASSIMILATED TO
HOMOGENEOUS SLOPES Table 4 gives the safety factors
obtained for each case (1st and 2nd strength peaks and both
materials in residual strength). where: n i1 and n i2 : the
proportions of materials 1 and 2 in the slope, as
previously defined F ∗ kp : slope safety factor, calculated
as if it were homogeneous, taking for the macroelement’s
strength that of the k element, with β kp = (E/E i1 )β kp ,
ζ kp and ψ kp peak parameters F ∗ kr : idem, with, β kr =
(E/E i1 )β kr , ζ kr and ψ kr = 0 residual parameters. It
is not easy to know whether the slope contains materials in
peak or residual conditions, in other words, which of the
three

Table 1. Problem Data. Geomechanical

Geometrical Geological Microelements Macroelement Peak

strength Residual strength E = n 1 E 1 + n 2 E 2

H: slope height n 1 , n 2 : proportions in which β 1p , β

2p β 1r , β 2r

δ : slope gradient materials 1 and 2 appear in ξ 1p , ξ 2p

ξ 1r , ξ 2r the slope. The equation ψ 1p , ψ 2p ψ 1r , ψ 2r
n 1 + n 2 = 1 must be verified. Deformability Elastic
moduli: E 1 , E 2 Shear moduli: G 1 , G 2 G = n 1 G 1 + n 2
G 2 Poisson’s coefficient: ν 1 , ν 2 = E 2(1 + v)

Table 2. Calculation Parameters.

Primary Secondary Tertiary

a k = G 2 k E k β kp cos 2 ψ kp [a1] = a 1 – a 2 �= [b1] 2

+ 2 [a1] [c1] [b1] = b 1 – b 2

b k = G k E k 1 − sin ψ kp cos 2 ψ kp [c1] = c 1 –c 2 B =

[a1] [ca] – [b1] [ab] [ab] = a 1 b 2 –a 2 b 1

c k = β kp ζ kp E k [bc] = b 1 c 2 –b 2 c 1 C = [ca] 2 + 2
[ab] [bc] [ca] = c 1 a 2 –c 2 a 1

Table 3. Identification codes for the different cases.

Parameters 1st Peak i 1 �< 0 2

> 0 [a1] > 0 σ criI < 0 1 σ criI > 0 2 21 [a1] < 0 [b1] < 0
2 [a1] < 0 C > 0, B < 0 2 [b1] > 0 C < 0 1 12 C > 0, B > 0
2 21 212

safety factors to estimate. If the slope has not undergone

move

ment, it is likely that the most suitable factor will be

the one
corresponding to the first peak, whereas if the zone
involved

has clearly undergone movement, the residual conditions in

both materials could be considered.

This is obviously a simplification of the reality, as always

occurs when it is modelled, meaning that certain parameters

need to be estimated. Even so, it can serve as a guideline

to the Table 4. Safety factors in each scenario. First Peak
( j = 1) Second Peak ( j = 2) Residual Strength ( j = 3) F
i 1 j = λ i 1 · F ∗ i 1 p F ji = n i 1 E i 1 E F ∗ i 1 r +
F ji = n i 1 E i 1 E F ∗ i 1 r + + n i 2 E i 2 E F ∗ i 2 p
+ n i 2 E i 2 E F ∗ i 2 r Table 5. Material parameters used
in calculations. β kp =β kr ψ kp Material (kN/m 2 ) ζ kp =
ζ kr (ψ kr = 0) ν k E k Soft (a) 1700 0,001 4 0,3 Variable
Stiff (b) 82000 0,074 12 0,2 Variable level of safety
present in the slope. Logically, this method must be
applied with caution as the slope can fail as a result of
preexisting fractures or zones with poor strength
characteristics, which need to be the subject of prior
analysis. 6 CASES STUDIED 6.1 Description of cases About
100 cases were analysed using the theory developed in this
paper. The cases studied are the result of combining the
different following parameters: • Heigth of slope: 25, 50
and 100 m • Gradient of slope: 45 and 60 ◦ • The slope is
formed by two materials, whose strength parameters are
collected in Table 5 • In calculations, the deformability
of materials changed in the different cases analysed. The
values of material deformability used in calculations are
collected in Table 6.

Table 6. Values of deformability used in calculations.

Material E (kPa)

Soft (a) 3*10 4 3*10 4 3*10 5 3*10 5

Stiff (b) 3*10 6 3*10 7 3*10 6 3*10 7

Table 7. Proportions of materials used in calculations.

Material n a and n b

Soft (a) 12,5% 25% 50% 62,5% 75% 87,5%

Stiff (b) 87,5% 75% 50% 37,5% 25% 12,5%

Figure 5. Safety factors for a 100 m high slope whose

gradient

is 60 ◦ .

• The proportions, in which the two materials appear in the

slope, in the different cases, are collected in Table 7.

In all the cases analysed, the safety factor, correspond

ing to first peak scenario, was calculated according to the

method developed. Furthermore, those safety factors were

compared with the ones corresponding to a homogeneous

slope formed of only one material. The strength parame

ters of this material were determined calculating the mean

of the parameters as a function of the proportions in which

the

materials appear in the slope:

To calculate all these safety factors for homogeneous slopes

the abacuses referred to in Melentijevic et al (2005) and in

Serrano et al (2002) may be used.

6.2 Results obtained

The results corresponding to the safety factors of the first

peak are given in Figures 5 to 8 as a function of the ratio

of

deformation moduli and of the proportion of the materials.

Figure 9 shows, as a function of the ratio of the deforma

bility rates and of the proportion of the materials, the

regions

in which the calculation for the slope taken as homogeneous

with a strength proportional to that of the materials would
be

on the side of safety and on the side of non-safety.

It is important to remark that the line discriminating the

two

zones coincides for the four different geometrical slopes

anal

ysed in this work, although it can change for other

parameter

materials. Figure 6. Safety factors for a 50 m high slope

whose gradient is 60 ◦ . Figure 7. Safety factors for a 25
m high slope whose gradient is 60 ◦ . Figure 8. Safety
factors for a 50 m high slope whose gradient is 45 ◦ . 7
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS • The study involved a method of
calculating the safety factor for heterogeneous slopes
formed of layers of two materials, taking into account the
deformability of the materials and their peak and residual
strengths. • The method proposed was applied to calculate
the safety factor of almost 100 different cases composed of
a combination of two materials in different proportions and
with different deformabilities. The results were compared
to the ones obtained when the calculations assumed that a
homogeneous material is involved with a mean strength value
between that of the materials denominated a and b, 0 10 20
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 Ea /
Eb n a ( % ) Calculation of the slope as homogeneous in
the side of safety Calculation of the slope as homogeneous
in the side of non-safety

Figure 9. Safety of the calculation for a slope taken as

homogeneous

as a function of the ratio of deformation moduli.

depending on the proportion of each material in the slope

(β= n ∗ a β a + n ∗ b β b ; ζ = n ∗ a ζ a + n ∗ b ζ b ; ψ =
n ∗ a ψ a + n ∗ b ψ b ). • The safety factor increases for
lower E a /E b ratios and

logically drops with a smaller proportion of the hard

material.

• The results indicate that the differences are really

substan

tial in all the cases studied and that the calculation

carried

out taking the slope to be homogeneous can lead to a very

ABSTRACT: Deformation features of the Yinshuigou deposit at

Xiaowan Hydropower station were presented in this paper.

Based on the factors of excavation, rainfall, drainage and

reinforcement treatment, quite a lot of monitoring
information

is analyzed, the deformation mechanism of the slope is

verified, and synchronized reinforcement effect is also
evaluated.

It provides much scientific reference for many aspects such

as making hazard elimination plans, adjusting reinforcement

parameters, optimizing construction organization and

speeding the job schedule. It is also a typical case in the
successful

warning making and highly effective treatment of slope’s

large deformation which may provide reference for similar
projects.

1 INTRODUCTION

Xiaowan hydropower station is located in the midstream of

Lancang Rive of Yunnan province in China. The 292m high

Xiaowan arch dam that is the highest concrete arch dam under

construction in the world. Yinshuigou deposit is located in

front of the dam on the left bank between EL.1130m and

EL.1590m, with a wide top, slender bottom and a total vol

ume of about 4 million m 3 . The deposit rock’s structure is

compact and is mainly composed of rock blocks and boulders,

debris-contained sand loam and debris. At the bottom where

the deposit rock and the bedrock contact, there is usually a

layer of slope wash, with the thickness between 0.15m and

2.45m; and in local areas, there are layers of diluvial

deposit.

When the slope was excavated from the top to EL.1276m,

obvious deformation was detected by monitoring since

Figure 1. Distribution of deformation of the deposit rock

and layout of main monitoring points. Dec. 4, 2003. After
the rainfall on Jan. 9, the deformation increased and on
Jan. 29, the rate of deformation increased and the slope
between EL.1245m and EL.1480m became deformation body with
a clear boundary. On Jan. 29, 2004, the abnormalcy of the
slope’s stability raised the alarm again which drew great
attention from all parties. 2 LAYOUT OF INSTRUMENTATION AND
TECHNICAL PLAN Fifty two surface survey points, 14 GPS
measurement points, 20 inclinometer holes, 34 anchorage
load cells, 12 sets of multi-point extensometers and 7
underground water level holes were arranged on the deposit.
The layout of the primary measurement points is shown in
Fig. 1.

One high-precision TCA2003 monitoring robot is used for

surveying. According to the actual conditions at the site

and

the requirements for precision, the measurement distance is

kept within 100–700 m and the horizongtal and vertical

errors

are within ±3.5 mm.

The internal deformation was observed by deforma

tion monitoring instruments provided by Sinco, Geokon,

RocTest, etc.

The most advanced GPS position monitoring system was

installed By adopting multi-antenna technique, data were

transmitted by GPRS and solved by GPS Single Epoch Algo

rithm. The observing-time period of each solution is 1–2 h

and the precision is 1.0–3.5 mm and the whole-day unattended

monitoring was realized.

3 DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIMARY

ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES

On Jan. 9, there was continuous light rain and it drizzled

on

Feb. 7, 2004. The precipitation in April totaled 145.1 mm

(the precipitation from 19:00 April 13 to April 18 was

119.9 mm);The amounts of precipitation from May to Septem

ber were 199.4 mm, 161.5 mm, 117.5 mm, 166.5 mm and

227.3 mm, respectively.

The primary measures include placing anti-sliding piles and

backfilling at EL.1245m, EL.1310m and EL.1520m, reinforc

ing with 1338 pre-stressed cables, 9 underground drainage

tunnels and surface drainage facilities.

4 DEFORMATION FEATURES OF THE SLOPE

4.1 Macro-deformation of the slope

Up to Jan. 29, the deposit between EL.1245m and EL.1600m

had evolved into a deformation body with certain deformation

and clear boundaries.

Upstream boundary: crack aperture, 10 mm–30 mm; strike,

EW; extending upward about 1600 m and about EL.1300m

downward along the central line of Yinshuigou. Cracks above

EL.1460m form a right arrayed belt of cracks. An obvious

sliding plane could be found at the upstream side, beyond

the open crack at EL.1480m, with aperture and misplacement

both being 50 mm. The cracks below EL.1380m had obvious

misplacement of 200 mm.

Downstream boundary: between EL.1250m and EL.1500m,

the contact plane between deposit rock and bedrock was

totally

connected. And a series of discontinuously distributed slant

transtension joints grew between EL.1500m and EL.1580m.

Between EL.1290m and EL.1310m, obvious dislocation was

detected in local regions of the steep excavated slope. At

the

downstream side of EL.1274m, two small landslides, with sev

eral hundred cubic meters’ volume, occurred at Jan. 21st and

24th 2004 respectively.

Trailing edge: cracks had developed to EL.1600m, and they

were transverse gapping fissures growing along the outside

of

the berm; Local landside of about 400m3 happened between

EL.1565m and EL.1588m in the morning of May 19th. Cracks

between EL.1500m and EL.1540m were mainly discontinu

ously distributed slant gapping fissures along the slope

(strike,

N20 ◦ –30 ◦ E), with aperture 3 mm–10 mm. Cracks between

EL.1540m and EL.1620m were mainly transverse fine cracks

which discontinuously distributed along the outside of the
berm and those vertical fine cracks which, with aperture
being several millimeters, distributed on the slope. 4.2
Deformation of the slope surface In Fig. 2, it can be seen
from the deformation-time curve that, the slope began to
deform on Nov. 26th 2003, and after the rainfall on Jan.
9th 2004, the deformation increased. Till Jan. 29th, the
rate of deformation had been accelerating. The average
deformation rate of the slope surface above EL.1380m is
1.47 mm/d; in which, at the upstream side at EL.1420m, the
measurement point 1$$-TP-35 observed max rate of 3.0 mm/d.
During the acceleration period between Jan.13th and 29th,
the acceleration of the displacement was 0.16 mm/d 2 .
During Feb. 1st and Feb. 10th, the average deformation rate
of the slope below EL.1380m is 2.56 mm/d. Figure 2. surface
deformation – time curve of typical measurement points.
Figure 3. Curve of inclinometer’s depth VS displacement.

4.3 Internal deformation of the slope

From the depth-displacement curve of the inclinometer

hole 1$$-IN-13 in Fig. 3, it can be found that there is a

discontinuous displacement belt between 33.5m and 36.5m

of the hole’s depth on Jan. 17, with average deformation

rate being 1.26 mm/d and maximum deformation rate being

2.4 mm/d. The inclinometer hole 2IIN-07 at EL.1256m had

a discontinuous deformation belt at 10 m–12.5 m of the

hole’s

depth. The deformation belt had average deformation rate of

1.04mm/d and maximum deformation rate of 4.35 mm/d in

January, with direction of 250 ◦ .The inclinometer hole 1$$

IN-06 at EL.1560m had deformation belt at 32.5 m–34.5 m

of the hole’s depth; the multi-point extensometer 2I-M-14 at

EL.1388m had discontinuous displacement belt at 56 m–75 m

of the hole’s depth.

5 CAUSAL ANALYSIS OF THE SLOPE

DEFORMATION

(1) It can be seen from the curve in Fig. 4 that, during

the slope excavation of the between EL.1240m and EL.1276m,
the deformation is small and the deposit is stable. Once
the slope wasexcavated to EL.1276m, measurement
points1$$-TP-28 and 1$$-TP-36 begunto deform at the
beginning of Dec. 2003. After the rainfall at Jan. 9th
2004, the deformation was accelerated.

(2) The deformation rate at the upper and lower parts of

the slope is 1.47 mm/d and 2.56 mm/d respectively, and the
deformation rate of the lower part is higher than the lower
part.

Figure 4. Curve of surface displacement and excavation VS

time.

ABSTRACT: Miduk open pit copper mine is located in the

Kerman province of Iran. Miduk mine was analyzed to assess
the

potential slope instability problems. A detailed

geotechnical program was undertaken to gather the
geological and geotechnical

information required for the mining area. A comprehensive

discontinuity survey of the existing pit was carried out by
the mine

personnel and the compressive strength properties were

obtained for any part of the pit. Mine area divided into
the blocks with

similar properties, resulted in dividing the pit into

separate geotechnical zones for which unique slope
management programs

were initiated. An equivalent continuum is used to model

the discontinuum of the rock mass for any zone in the mine.
The

safety factor of the designed pit slope in the final Miduk

pit was determined in 2D sections per zone. Slope stability
analysis

indicated that the designed pit slope would have an overall

safety factor above 1.0; and the pit slope is stable.

1 INTRODUCTION

Miduk open pit is located in the north-east of Shahrebabak,

Kerman province, in south-east Iran. It is one of the

largest
copper mines in Iran. Miduk open pit was commissioned in

1992, and since then, a number of slope designs have been

developed. The current open pit is roughly circular in shape

with diameter of 1100 m and 100 m in depth in some areas.

The open pit is located at an average elevation of 2500 m

and

has a projected depth of 400 m. At present, the production

level is almost at 2615 m. Mine life is predicted 30 years

with

excavation of 5 million ton ores and waste rocks per year.

The

designed pit is shown in Figure 1. Rock types of the Miduk

mine are Miduk Porphyry,Andesite and fine grained Porphyry

with Potassic, Phyllic, Argillic and Propilitic alterations.

In the past, geotechnical work undertaken at Miduk open

pit was limited and unknown, so pit slope designing have

been done based on the Sarcheshmeh open pit copper mine

which is located at approximately 130 km south-east of the

Miduk mine. Both of mines are geologically similar.A

detailed

geotechnical program was implemented at Miduk open pit to

increase and improve the geotechnical data. The project was

focused on practical use of geotechnical information to

assess

the pit slope stability. In these studies, field and

laboratory

measurements of rock mass strength, are incorporated into

the numerical analysis in order to assess the pit

stability. At
last, the potential instability of the pit in 2D sections
is ana

lyzed. This paper examines the eastern side slopes that are
the

highest slopes in the pit.

2 DISCONTINUITIES

Discontinuities play a major role in the design and mainte

nance of open pit mines. As the presence and character of

discontinuities have an important influence upon the

stability

of rock slopes, their assessment forms a critical part of

any stability assessment. Also, their presence affects the
mechanical and hydrogeological properties of the rock
masses. A comprehensive discontinuity survey of the
existing pit was carried out by the mine personnel and the
data were later clustered by the author. The DIPS software
program was used to generate the stereonets from the
collected scanline survey data. For each scanline survey a
contoured pole data stereonet with joint set windows was
constructed. The stereonets then were analyzed in order to
assess potential modes of failure, thereby allowing
potential failure zones to be identified (Hoek and Bray,
2004). From a slope design perspective four major joint
sets can be seen continuously throughout the eastern side
of the Miduk pit (Table 1, Fig. 2) that were studied in
detail to assess potential failure mechanisms. Rock slopes
generally fail along existing geological defects, notably
discontinuities. It is only in very high slopes or weak
rocks that failure through intact material becomes
significant. Most rock slope problems therefore require
consideration of the geometrical relationships between
discontinuities, the Figure 1. Mine geometry of the final
Miduk Pit with drillhole locations and the cross-sections
of the slope.

slope and force vectors involved. In order to assess the

stabil

ity of individual benches, so as to aid stack and overall

slope

design, detailed kinematic failure analyses were undertaken.

Using the structural data presented in Figure 2, a kinematic

failure analysis was used to define the dominant modes of

failure for the various zones of the pit (Hoek and Bray,

2004). The pit analyzed for planar, wedge, toppling and cir

cular failure. The dominant modes will vary according to the

intersection of the pit slope orientation and dominant joint

orientation. Figure 3 shows 2 major join sets of the north

east highwall. Kinematic analysis define that the dominate

Table 1. Averaged joint sets data from Miduk open pit. Dip
Dip Joint ( ◦ ) direction ( ◦ ) Filling spacing (m)

North-east JS1 82 277 Iron oxide 1.45

side JS2 83 204 Iron oxide 4

South-east JS3 88 185 Iron oxide 1.1

side JS4 82 285 Iron oxide 3.15

Figure 2. Stereonet showing the families of joint sets at

north-east

Miduk.

Figure 3. Stereonet of join sets data at north-east Miduk

open pit,

which indicates no potential failure. modes of failure are

not satisfy by 2 major joint sets. More investigations
defined that the south-east highwall was also stable from
the major joint sets in this part. Field investigation
showed that no failure occurred in the 100 m excavation in
the eastern highwall of the pit. 3 ROCK MASS STRENGTH
Definition of the rock strength properties is necessary for
identification of the rock mass strength properties. Using
core logs is best choice to define rock mass strength
properties of a mine. Sixty core logs (see Fig. 1 for
locations of drillholes) were available to the investigator
in the eastern side of the mine. The logs provided detailed
descriptions regarding lithology, types of discontinuities,
filling, core recovery, and RQD that were recorded in the
detailed exploration programs. Rock strength properties
obtained by using of point load test. Point load Index of
the rock types was determined in any parts of the pit. A
Schmidt hammer, also used in the field to obtain a rough
estimate of the intact rock strength for all rock types
within the pit. Uniaxial compressive strength estimated
from correlation between point load Index of core logs with
50 mm diameter (I S(50) ) and uniaxial compressive strength
(Co) (Bieniawski, 1974): And, ISRM (1985) status that “I
S(50) is approximately 0.8 times the uniaxial tensile
strength (To)”: Average strength of rock types with various
alterations in the Miduk mine were shown in Table 2, which
based on the laboratory tests. An equivalent continuum is
used to model the discontinuum of the rock mass for any
zone in the mine, because the joint sets would not cause
any failure to the pit wall base on the kinematic analysis.
Rock mass strength parameters estimated based on the
following main equations: The generalized Hoek-Brown
failure criterion is expressed as: And the equivalent
Mohr-coulomb criterion can be written in the following
form: Table 2. Average strength of rock types with various
alterations in the Miduk mine. Rock type Alteration type I
S(50) (MPa) Andesite Argillic <0.5 Miduk porphyry Phyllic
0.5–1 Argillic <0.5

Intact uniaxial compressive strength (σ ci ), GSI, rock type

(m i ), disturbance factor (D) and unit weight (γ) are

necessary

data to calculate the rock mass strength parameters at

differ

ent depth of the pit. Therefore, rock mass properties of the

mine determined by gathered discontinuities and core loges

information.

In this paper, 2D numerical software (FLAC) used to slope

stability analysis. In order to analyze pit slope

stability, it is

necessary to select some vertical sections from the mine and

then pit slope should be analyzed for each section,

separately.

Identification of the geotechnical zones could help to

select

the best sections for 2D analyses. Therefore, geotechnical

conditions were investigated in the Miduk open pit.

Mine area is divided into the blocks with 100 m in dimen

sion, so as the drillholes intervals were 100 m. Schematic

view

of the block model is shown in Figure 4. The model included

455 blocks in the eastern side of the pit (13, 7 and 5

blocks in

x, y and z directions, respectively). Geotechnical

information

such as discontinuities and rock mass properties data, were

gathered from scanline survey and core loges, recorded for

each block of the block model. Table 3 shows the characteris

tics of the block FF2, at 2500 m elevation. Block model was

investigated in order to find blocks with similar properties

resulted in dividing the pit into separate geotechnical

zones

that the quality of the rock masses at the mine varied from

very poor to good.

4 STABILITY ANALYSIS

The safety factors of the eastern side of pit slopes were

determined using the limit equilibrium method and the finite

difference method.The designed pit highwall and bench slopes

were analyzed to slope stability. Three slope cross-sections

were studied in detail to assess the variations of rock mass

quality in the eastern side of the mine area on the overall

pit
wall and bench stability. The paper presents the results of
the

eastern side slopes analysis in the Miduk pit. As shown in

Figure 5, the slope on the eastern side of the pit has an

over

all angle of 39 ◦ measured from toe to crest of the slope.

The

bench angle is about 64 ◦ in every bench of the

cross-section.

FLAC, finite difference program, was used to model the pit

slopes. The FLAC modeling of the pit slopes was undertaken

Figure 4. Schematic view of the block model in the eastern

side of

the mine.

Table 3. Characteristics of the block FF2. Rock mass Elastic

Rock Alteration Joint I S(50) (intact Friction Cohesion

modulus

type type frequency Filling RQD (%) rock) (MPa) angle ( ◦ )

(MPa) (GPa)

Miduk Phyllic moderate Quartz, Pyrite 75 0.62 25 0.95 1.8

porphyry based on the data derived from the geotechnical

program. The cohesion (c) and friction angle (�) of each
zone with different rock mass quality were calculated for
equivalent continuum. In this study, the rock masses below
the groundwater table were considered saturated. As a
criterion, the strength/stress ratio is used to evaluate
stability of each slope element. FLAC calculated the
strength/stress ratio based on the relationship between the
state of stress and mechanical strength. Also, FLAC
calculated the overall safety factor of a slope. As shown
in Figure 6, the slope elements near bench faces are
stable, having a strength/strain ratio above 1.0 for poor
rock mass quality. The obtained safety factor of the slope
is 1.29.The same slope under high water table condition was
analyzed to assess the stability of the slope (Fig. 7). The
slope has a safety factor about 1.06. The highwall failure
was probable, so that the groundwater should be low under
the poor-case scenario. Slope stability was also analyzed
with limit equilibrium method. When compared with the
finite difference method and the limit equilibrium method,
the results were similar. The safety factor of the slopes
with good rock mass quality increases to above 2.0.
However, the eastern side slopes of the Miduk pit under
most conditions would have an overall safety factor above
1.0 and the pit slope is stable. Figure 5. Cross-section of
the eastern side of the Miduk pit slope. Figure 6. The
strength/stress ratio for poor rock mass quality under low
water table condition.

Figure 7. The strength/stress ratio for poor rock mass

quality under

high water table condition.

5 CONCLUSIONS

This project investigated pit slope stability for the

eastern

side of the Miduk mine. From a slope design perspective,

four major joint sets can be seen continuously throughout

the

Miduk pit. Rock strength properties obtained by using of

point

load test. Uniaxial compressive strength estimated from cor

relation between point load Index and uniaxial compressive

strength. Average point load index of rock types was 0.5 MPa

in the eastern side. Mine area was divided into the blocks

with geotechnical condition that resulted, division of the

pit

into separate geotechnical zones based on the geotechnical

investigation.

The joint sets would not cause any failure to the pit wall
base

on the kinematic analysis and in order to model the pit

slopes,

the discontinuum equalized with a continuum per zone. FLAC

was used to model the pit slopes. The strength/stress ratio

was

ABSTRACT: The national road EN-379-1, between Outão and

Portinho is the main access to several beaches of beautiful

landscape and great tourist value, which are located at the

foot of the southern slope of the Arrábida Mountain. In
this coastal

stretch, the road runs along the base of a line of

abandoned sea cliffs, which cut the core and the inverted
limb of an overturned

anticline, where the Miocene sandstones are overlaid by a

thick mass of Jurassic limestone. Due to this previous
intense tectonic

deformation and recent undercutting by wave action, these

steep rock slopes are prone to frequent rock falls of
different sizes

putting at risk the circulation in the road. During the

summer the traffic intensity and the quantity of parked
cars increase

strongly, increasing also the risk of accidents. In August

of 2004, the ESTRADAS DE PORTUGAL, EPE (Portuguese Road

Authority) decided to close the road to the traffic of

vehicles and people and awarded to COBA, SA a basic design
for the

integral stabilization of the slopes in order to reduce the

inherent risks to acceptable limits. This paper is about
the studies

carried out and the proposed solutions developed to reach

that objective. Most of the available technical resources
were used:

reinforced mesh, rock anchoring, dynamic and rigid

barriers, concrete rock-shed structures, retaining walls,
always privileging

the minimization of the environmental impact of the

solutions.

1 INTRODUCTION

The national road EN 379-1 between Outão and Portinho, is

the main access to several beaches of beautiful landscape

and

great tourist value. All this coastal stretch of the road

run

ning along the foot of the Formosinho, the highest peak of

the Arrábida mountain range (501 m), is dominated by high

steep rock scarps prone to frequent rockfalls of different

sizes,

putting at risk the circulation of vehicles and

pedestrians. The

situation deteriorated with the occurrence of fires that dec

imated the vegetal cover, thus reducing the stability of the

hillsides. In August 2004, Estradas de Portugal, EPE (the

Por

tuguese RoadAuthority) decided to close the road and awarded

to COBA SA a Basic Design for the integral stabilization of

the slopes in order to reduce the inherent risks to an

acceptable

level.

The Basic Design was carried out in a short period of four

moths due to the urgent need of promoting the works and

Figure 1. Location of Arrabida mountain. opening the road

to people and vehicles in the shortest term possible. It
was delivered in March of 2005. In September of 2005, the
works, including the detail design, were awarded to
Teixeira Duarte, SA, and the inspection was contracted to
Brisa EG. The works were inaugurated on the 1st of August
of 2006. 2 TOPOGRAPHIC BASE Due to the rough morphology,
with almost vertical scarps reaching more than 90 m, it was
necessary to resort to laser scanning of an area of 241 ha,
with a flight altitude of 60 to 70 metres above the ground.
Concerning the horizontal geodesia, data processing was
undertaken at Datum 73, using the Hayford ellipsoid. Data
processing enabled the production of topography and
ortho-rectified images, as well as the production of
transversal detailed topographic profiles of the slopes
along the EN 379-1. 3 GEOLOGY 3.1 Structural geology The
Arrabida mountain range is mainly calcareous, consisting of
an anticlinal mount with a roughly ENE-WSW axis. Its
formation began in the transition from the Middle to the
Upper Jurassic with the emergence of the first anticlinal
structure. A new important folding period late in the
Miocene was particularly marked in the eastern zone, where
the anticline is asymmetric, overturned to the south and
present faulted laminated southern limbs. This overturned
anticline caused a tectonic inversion where thick rocks
mass of Jurassic limestone overlay the Miocene sandstones.
The EN 379-1 runs along the foot of the steep marine cliffs
that cut the southern

flank and the core of the overturned anticline. For this rea

son, rocks are strongly folded and fractured, and due to the

predominant calcareous nature of the rocks, exhumed karstic

voids and cavities are also present, contributing to the

fuzzy

structure of this complex rock mass. Besides the effects of

intense tectonic deformations, the steep rock slopes formed

at

the coast are still complicated by a number of geomorphic

fea

tures due to erosion during the Quaternary: exfoliation

joints

caused by unloading and stress release, abandoned scarps,

terraces and hanging valleys, as well as notches formed by

undermining by wave action and corrosion.

3.2 Lithostratigraphy

Road slopes and scarps cut the following lithostratigraphic

units:

Recent: Scree and talus materials made of reddish silty

deposits, including gravel, rock fragments and blocks of all

sizes. These deposits are often hard and well consolidated

by

calcium carbonate cement.

Miocene: “Areias daTorre”, consisting of coarse sandstones

with conglomeratic seams, presenting cross-bedding, dipping

north about 25 ◦ . This unit is overthrusted by Lower

Jurassic

limestone, outcropping by this reason in the lower part of

the

marine cliffs.

Lower Jurassic: “Calcários de Pedreiras”, consisting of

micritic limestone and dolomite, often densely karsified.

These limestone and dolomite may be classified as high

strength rock (unconfined compressive strength ∼ 60 to

150 MPa).

4 ROCKFALL DATA ACQUISITION

The history of past rock fall occurrences along the EN 379-1

was a fundamental element of the hazard and risk assessment

concerning this type of instability.

Search and gathering the historical and recorded data con

cerning past instability events was carried out with the aid

of the following entities: EP – Estradas de Portugal; ICN –

Instituto de Conservação da Natureza (Nature Conservation

Institute – Arrábida Mountain Range Natural Park), Câmara

Municipal de Setúbal – Serviço Municipal de Protecção Civil

(Setúbal City Hall – Civil Protection Services); Newspaper

“O Setubalense”, as well as through enquiries to residents.

This research enabled to assemble the most important occur

rences in the last decades, as far as the size of the

rockfalls,

their frequency, location and time of year is concerned.

4.1 Classification of rock fall

The size of fallen material in numerous occurrences through

out the road is very variable, ranging from stones with a

size of

approximately 1 dm 3 to blocks larger than 4 m 3 , to which

cor

respond, in terms of weight, values between 2,6 kg and more

than 10 tons.

Five classes of occurrences, depending on the volume of

the fallen material, were considered:

• Small stones and debris (v ≤ 1 dm 3 ; m ≤ 2,6 kg)

• Big stones (1 dm 3 ≤ v < 10 dm 3 ; 2,6 kg ≤ m < 26 kg)

• Small block (10 dm 3 ≤ v < 100 dm 3 ; 26 kg ≤ m < 260 kg)

• Block (100 dm 3 ≤ v < 1 m 3 ; 260 kg ≤ m < 2600 kg)

• Large block (v ≥ 1 m 3 ; m ≥ 2,6 t) Figure 2. A 10 t.

block fallen in 2002 in the Outão area, similar to the one
fallen in 1996 in the same area. 4.2 Frequency of rockfall
As it was to be expected, the larger the volume of the
falls the less frequent they are. In spite of the scarcity
of available data, the assessment of the gathered data
concerning the volume of rockfall elements and their
distribution in time enabled to assume the following
conclusions with some degree of probability: • The fall of
“small stones and debris” is common every year and
frequently more than once a year, indistinctly along
several long sections of the EN 379-1. • The fall of “big
stones” is very frequent and occurs almost every year,
namely in the following sections: – Between the PK 1+200 to
PK 1+580; – Throughout the kilometres that follows the
“Figueirinha” beach. • The fall of “small blocks” is
frequent and occurs several times a decade in localized
areas, namely: – The zone immediately before the curve at
PK 1+580; – At the zone close to the eastern entrance of
the Figueirinha Tunnel (PK 2+200); – In the approximately
100 m section that precedes the deviation to the Outão
Hospital (PK 3+840); • The fall of “blocks” and “large
blocks” is less frequent and more localized, having
occurred twice in ten years, namely in the section close to
the Outão Hospital (PK 3+840). 4.3 Time of the year when
occurrences are registered Available data indicate that
rockfalls occur between November and March, during or just
after more intense and prolonged rainfall. 4.4 Type and
mechanisms of failure Rockfall sources are generally
located in very high limestone and dolomite scarps (up to
approximately 100 metres above the road level) throughout
EN 379-1) being thus characterized by very high potential
energy. Exception made to a few zones subject to direct
free fall upon the road, rockfall generally occurs by
rolling and rebounding, its kinetic energy being dissipated
according to slope declivity, presence of colluvial
deposits, type and density of vegetation, and eventual
obstacles encountered during the path of the fall.

Figure 3. Arrabida mountain view after the 2004 forest fire.

Block detachment may be due to several mechanisms,

namely tensile fracture of blocks in hanging beds, plane and

wedge sliding, toppling and buckling failure.

4.5 Influencing Factors

Besides the rain, runoff and internal percolation of rock

masses, the action of the wind and temperature variations,

which in a long term reduce the conditions of stability,

there are

other factors which are to be taken into account as direct

and
indirect causes of instability, namely the occurrence of
fires,

vibrations including earthquakes, and man-made topographic

changes.

5 ROCKFALL HAZARD ZONING

In this study, the following concepts of “hazard” or “risk”

were

adopted:

• The hazard is the probability of occurrence, in a given

time

period, of a phenomenon that exceeds a certain intensity.

In the present case, the phenomenon refers to rockfall, the

intensity is the volume of the fallen materials (>>1 dm 3 )

and the time period of interest is that of the road’s

service

life.

• The risk is related to the consequences, i.e. the amount

of

damage provoked upon what is exposed to hazard, may it

be patrimonial values or human lives.

The zoning undertaken was fundamentally based on the

analysis of the following elements:

• The history of past occurrences;

• Observation of the slopes throughout EN 379-1;

• Systematic analysis of rock fall in slope profiles

throughout

EN 379-1, taking into account the topography as well as

the physical and mechanical characteristics of the materials

forming the slopes, resorting to the computer programme

ROCFALL 4.02.

On the other hand, observation of the slopes enabled to

identify zones of the scarps susceptible to be sources of

rock

fall and allowed a subjective evaluation of the probability

of

occurrence, taking into account the topographic features and

the detection of factors that might indicate a significant

to

high hazard potential.

Based on the evaluation of this data, three zones were

defined:

• Zone A – High Hazard (49 % of total extent)

• Zone B – Medium to Low Hazard (18 % of total extent)

• Zone C – Low to Null Hazard (33 % of total extent)

Besides the zoning in terms of hazard, special reference was

made to two “very high hazard” zones which correspond also

to high risk zones – “zones with a high rockfall
probability that may have severe consequences” in terms of
casualties and damages. It is the case of the initial
section of EN 379-1, in front of the Outão Hospital and
parking lot and the section of the road along the
Figueirinha beach. 6 GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATION In order to
identify the foundation conditions of the main structures
along the EN 379-1, a ground investigation program was
carried out, composed of nine boreholes with SPT tests.
This program was adjusted to several predictable
difficulties such as the heterogeneous nature of the
terrains of the road embankment (composed of earthfill
materials, including limestone and sandstone blocks) and to
the existing underground services (water pipes and
communication wires), that lead to a slow careful execution
and casing of the boreholes with the consequent delay in
obtaining the required information. The boreholes were made
along the site of the five main structures, such as
porticos and concrete retaining walls, reaching between 10
and 17 m in depth. 7 MEASURES OF STABILIZATION/PROTECTION
The stabilisation and protection measures adopted followed
a specific methodology adapted to the local conditions
(national park of natural protected landscape and
patrimony), which concerned primarily the several features
of the cliffs and scarps, allowing the definition of zones
with similar characteristics and for which the type of
solution may also be adjustable. The all area of the cliff
adjacent to the EN 379-1 road study section was thoroughly
analysed viewing the main topographic features, the type
and status of the vegetation, the geological (lithology and
hydrogeology) and structural features of the bedrock and
outcrops, the typical and most unfavourable cross-sections
in terms of slope inclination and blocks paths, the history
of past rockfall events, accidents and incidents, the marks
of recent rockfall events as well as the identification of
potential rockfall situations, and the existing retaining
and protection structures. The interaction with the local
Environmental Authorities also permitted to survey special
flora/fauna sites, as hawk’s nests, to be accounted in the
interventions. Each of these factors were carefully
characterised using several computing approaches and
methods, which permitted to proceed to the evaluation of
their level of hazard and risk according to the above
classification from low to very high hazard or risk. This
methodology followed essentially three main steps: risk
perception, risk assessment and risk management. Table 1
presents the synthesis of the referred features to each one
of the 15 zones considered, their levels of hazard or risk
and the corresponding adopted solutions that significantly
increased the safety in the area of the road, also
representing a sustained agreement between the local
environmental and road authorities. 8 RETAINING STRUCTURES
The retaining structures were contemplated in this project
when the need arose to create a barrier between the slope
and the EN 379-1, or whenever it was not possible to carry
out a T a b l e 1 . F e a t u r e s o f t h e z o n i n g c
o n s i d e r e d , l e v e l o f h a z a r d a n d a d o p
t e d s o l u t i o n s . T y p e o f S i t e / S e c t i o
n Z o n e o f t h e r o a d T o p o g r a p h i c f e a t u
r e s A c c i d e n t s / I n c i d e n t s O b s e r v e d
H a z a r d / r i s k l e v e l A d o p t e d S o l u t i o
n s Z o n e 1 B e g i n n i n g s e c t i o n o f 8 7 5 m .
C l i f f m a x i m u m h e i g h t 8 0 – 8 5 m . S l i g h
t r o c k f a l l , r e c e n t , d o n ’ t a f f e c t i n
g L o w t o n u l l l e v e l . N o i n t e r v e n t i o n
o n t h e c l i f f . t h e r o a d . Z o n e 2 S e c t i o
n o f 2 5 0 m , f r o m k m C l i f f m a x . h e i g h t 9
0 m . T w o l e v e l s S l i g h t r o c k f a l l , r e c
e n t , d o n ’ t R a n d o m r o l l i n g b l o c k s m a
y r e a c h R o a d p r o t e c t i o n w i t h a 0 + 8 7 5
t o 1 + 1 2 5 . o f s c a r p a b o v e e l e v a t i o n 7
0 . a f f e c t i n g t h e r o a d . r o a d . M e d i u m
t o l o w l e v e l , t o l o c a l d y n a m i c b a r r i
e r . h i g h . Z o n e 3 K m 1 + 1 2 5 t o 1 + 2 0 0 , k m
C l i f f m a x . h e i g h t 8 0 – 1 0 0 m . T w o L o c a
l r o c k f a l l , w e d g e s h a p e , o n t h e R a n d
o m b l o c k s a n d w e a t h e r e d r o c k L o w e r s
c r a p c o v e r a g e w i t h 2 + 0 8 0 t o 2 + 1 2 0 a n
d l e v e l s o f s c a r p w i t h g r e a t s l o p e . l
o w e r s c a r p . m a s s e s m a y s p l i t u p a n d r
e a c h t h e p r o t e c t i o n n a i l e d s t e e l n e
t a n d k m 2 + 8 2 5 t o 2 + 8 6 0 . r o a d . H i g h l e
v e l o f h a z a r d o u s n e s s . d y n a m i c b a r r
i e r b e t w e e n s c a r p s . Z o n e 4 S e c t i o n o
f 4 0 0 m , f r o m C l i f f m a x . h e i g h t 9 5 m . T
w o R e c e n t r o c k f a l l o n t h e l o w e r E a s y
r o c k f a l l e v e n t s m a y a f f e c t t h e S t e e
l c a b l e r e i n f o r c e d m e s h k m 1 + 2 0 0 t o 1
+ 6 0 0 . l e v e l s o f s c a r p : l o w e r ( e l e v a
t i o n s c a r p , a f f e c t i n g t h e r o a d . R o c
k s l i d e r o a d . H i g h l e v e l o f h a z a r d o u
s n e s s . w i t h n a i l s i n t h e l o w e r s c a r p
; 7 5 – 9 5 ) a n d u p p e r ( a d j a c e n t w e d g e s
h a p e a n d t o p p l i n g i n t h e r i g i d b a r r i
e r o v e r t h e e x i s t i n g t o t h e r o a d , e l e
v a t i o n 1 1 – 3 0 ) . u p p e r s c a r p . m a s o n r
y w a l l a t t h e t o e o f t h e s c a r p . 2 l e v e l
s o f d y n a m i c b a r r i e r s . Z o n e 5 S e c t i o
n : k m 1 + 6 0 0 t o C l i f f m a x . h e i g h t 8 5 m .
L e v e l o f W e d g e s h a p e r o c k s l i d e a n d t
o p p l i n g R o c k f a l l m a y o c c u r f r o m s c a
r p R i g i d b a r r i e r o v e r t h e e x i s t i n g 1
+ 7 0 0 . s c a r p a b o v e e l e v a t i o n 5 0 w i t h
i n t h e u p p e r s c a r p . w i t h e n o u g h k i n e
t i c e n e r g y t o m a s o n r y w a l l . 2 l e v e l s
o f 2 s u c c e s s i v e l e v e l s o f r e a c h r o a d
, a s w e l l a s f r o m t h e d y n a m i c b a r r i e r
s . 1 5 – 2 0 m e a c h . r o a d n e a r b y c l i f f . Z
o n e 6 S e c t i o n s : k m 1 + 7 0 0 t o A r o u n d k m
1 + 9 1 0 t h e c l i f f h a s R e c e n t r o c k f a l l
i n d e b r i s s o i l H i g h r i s k o f l o c a l r o c
k f a l l , b l o c k R o c k s h e d s t r u c t u r e o v
e r 1 + 7 7 0 a n d k m 1 + 8 5 0 t o m a x . h e i g h t 6
0 m , w i t h a s i n g l e s l o p e , l e a d i n g t o p
a r t i a l r u i n s p l i t o n i m p a c t a t b a s e o
f c l i f f , t h e r o a d . 1 + 9 8 0 . s c a r p o f v e
r y h i g h s l o p e . o f e x i s t i n g m a s o n r y w
a l l . l e a d i n g t o p r o j e c t i o n o f s m a l l
b l o c k s t o t h e r o a d . Z o n e 7 k m 1 + 9 8 0 t o
2 + 0 8 0 , C l i f f m a x . h e i g h t 9 0 m , w i t h a
N o r e c e n t r o c k f a l l s i g n s , b u t t h e r e
H i g h r i s k o f r o c k f a l l f r o m t h e u p p e r
D y n a m i c b a r r i e r u n d e r l y i n g k m 2 + 1 2
0 t o 2 + 1 7 0 , s c a r p o f v e r y h i g h s l o p e a
n d a r e n a s t y z o n e s t h a t m a y l e a d t o s c
a r p t o s p l i t o n i m p a c t , r o l l o v e r t h e
s c a r p a n d c o n c r e t e w a l l k m 2 + 2 0 0 t o 2
+ 3 0 0 a n d a b o u t 4 0 m h e i g h t f a c e . r o c k
f a l l . L o w e r s c a r p s w i t h a n d r e a c h t h
e r o a d . H i g h t o b o u n d i n g t h e r o a d w i t
h o u t k m 2 + 7 2 5 t o 2 + 8 2 5 . b l o c k s d i s p e
r s e d . m e d i u m l e v e l o f h a z a r d o u s n e s
s . e x i s t i n g w a l l . R i g i d b a r r i e r o v e
r t h e e x i s t i n g w a l l . Z o n e 8 S e c t i o n o
f t h e a n c i e n t V e r y v i g o r o u s r e l i e f ,
w i t h O v e r t h e t u n n e l t h e r e i s a H i g h r
i s k l e v e l . E x t e n s i o n o f t h e e x i s t i n
g F i g u e i r i n h a t u n n e l , p r o f i l e o f 1 0
– 1 5 m c o v e r o v e r f a u l t g a u g e z o n e w i t
h s i g n s F i g u e i r i n h a t u n n e l i n t h e k m
2 + 1 9 0 . t h e t u n n e l . o f d i f f e r e n t i a l
e r o s i o n . o p e n , m a k i n g v i s i b l e a f a u
l t s t u d y a r e a ( e n v i r o n m e n t a l i n t e r
e s t ) . Z o n e 9 S e c t i o n : k m 2 + 3 0 0 t o W e l
l d e f i n e d e r o s i o n r e l i e f p r o f i l e D u
e t o t h e e x i s t i n g p r o t e c t i o n H i g h r i
s k l e v e l d u e t o t h e C o n c r e t e w a l l b y t
h e r o a d , 2 + 6 2 5 . b y t h e t o e o f t h e c l i f
f , m a x . h e i g h t n e t , t h e r e w e r e n o r o c
k f a l l p r o x i m i t y o f a n a r e a o f h i g h m a
k i n g a n a r t i f i c i a l d i t c h 3 5 – 5 0 m b y t
h e r o a d ( s i n g l e s c a r p ) . e v e n t s i n t h
e l a s t d e c a d e . c o n c e n t r a t i o n o f p u b
l i c a n d b e h i n d t h e w a l l t o r e t a i n b l o
c k s v e h i c l e s . a n d r o c k m a s s e s . Z o n e
1 0 S e c t i o n s : k m 2 + 6 2 5 t o C l i f f m a x . h
e i g h t 8 0 m , w i t h 1 W e d g e s h a p e r o c k s l
i d e a n d H i g h t o m e d i u m r i s k l e v e l . C o
n c r e t e w a l l a t t o e o f c l i f f , t o 2 + 7 2 5
a n d k m 2 + 8 6 0 t o s c a r p a b o v e e l e v a t i o
n 4 0 a n d t o p p l i n g i n t h e l o w e r s c a r p .
e x t e n t t h e n e w w a l l c o n s t r u c t e d 2 + 8
2 5 . a b a c k w a r d l e v e l a t e l e v a t i o n 1 1
0 . i n t h e F i g u e r i n h a b e a c h a r e a . 2 l e
v e l s o f d y n a m i c b a r r i e r s . Z o n e 1 1 S e
c t i o n : k m 3 + 0 0 0 t o C l i f f m a x . h e i g h t
8 0 m b y t h e r o a d . R e c e n t r o c k f a l l s i g
n s o f s m a l l H i g h r o c k f a l l r i s k o f r e a
c h i n g R o c k s h e d s t r u c t u r e o v e r t h e 3
+ 0 9 0 . r o a d . m a s s e s a n d b l o c k s i n s c a
r p . H i g h t o m e d i u m h a z a r d . r o a d . Z o n
e 1 2 S e c t i o n : k m 3 + 0 9 0 t o 1 5 – 2 0 m h e i g
h t s c a r p w i t h m o d e s t S i g n s o f r o c k f a
l l o f m a s s e s M e d i u m t o n u l l r i s k l e v e
l . S t e e l m e s h i n s c a r p a n d 3 + 2 6 0 . i n c
l i n a t i o n . a n d b l o c k s i n t h e s c a r p . c
o n c r e t e w a l l s t o p r e v e n t c u t s l o p e e
r o s i o n . Z o n e 1 3 S e c t i o n : k m 3 + 3 6 0 t o
C l i f f 2 0 – 2 5 ◦ i n c l i n a t i o n , v e r t i c a
l S i g n s o f r e c e n t r o c k f a l l i n M e d i u m
r i s k l e v e l . N a i l e d s t e e l m e s h i n c u t
s l o p e s ; 3 + 6 7 5 . 1 0 m h e i g h t r o a d c u t s
l o p e s . r o a d c u t s l o p e , w e d g e s h a p e d
. c o n c r e t e w a l l b y t h e t o e o f t h e s o u t
h s l o p e . Z o n e 1 4 S e c t i o n : k m 3 + 6 7 5 t o
C l i f f m a x . h e i g h t 7 0 m R e l a t i v e l y r e
c e n t T r a n s i t i o n l o w t o h i g h S t e e l m e
s h i n s c a r p s a n d d y n a m i c 3 + 7 8 0 , o v e r
l y i n g t h e b y t h e r o a d . r o c k f a l l o f b l
o c k s o f r i s k z o n e , d u e t o t h e b a r r i e r
s i n t h e u n d e r l y i n g s l o p e . O u t ã o H o s
p i t a l . s i g n i f i c a n t l y s i z e . p r o x i m
i t y o f t h e r o a d a n d t o R i g i d b a r r i e r o
v e r t h e e x i s t i n g t h e l o c a l i n s t a b i l
i t y h i s t o r y . m a s o n r y w a l l . Z o n e 1 5 S
e c t i o n : k m 3 + 7 8 0 t o C l i f f m a x . h e i g h
t 7 0 m R e l a t i v e l y r e c e n t r o c k f a l l H i
g h h a z a r d o u s n e s s N a i l e d s t e e l m e s h
o n u p p e r s c a r p , 3 + 9 0 0 , o v e r l y i n g t h
e b y t h e r o a d . o f b l o c k s o f s i g n i f i c a
n t l y a n d h i g h r i s k l e v e l d y n a m i c b a r
r i e r u n d e r l y i n g t h e O u t ã o H o s p i t a l
. s i z e , a r o u n d 1 0 – 1 2 t o n s . z o n e , d u e
t o i n s t a b i l i t y s c a r p , r i g i d b a r r i e
r o v e r t h e h i s t o r y , p r o x i m i t y o f e x i
s t i n g m a s o n r y w a l l . t h e r o a d a n d o f a
h o s p i t a l .

Figure 4. A 5 m height retaining wall in the Figueirinha

beach

section.

smooth transition with current earthworks between these two

platforms.

Three types of solutions were resorted to: steel reinforced

concrete walls (L cross section), cyclopean concrete walls,

and nailed reinforced concrete wall (shot concrete).

Reinforced concrete walls were built to guarantee the sta

bility of the talus debris and define waiting yards for

eventual

rock fall in high hazard zones, such as zone 9 (Figueirinha

Beach). An attempt was made to recover parking spaces and

bus stops, adapted to the alignment of these walls when

ever possible. These walls present variable sections, with

a maximum height between 2,25 and 5,0 m and maximum

longitudinal extension of 300 m. For landscaping purposes,

the visible faces of the walls were finished with limestone

covering small slabs.

Besides their retaining function, cyclopean concrete walls

arose in order to give continuity to the existing masonry

walls

with filled joints or to interventions implemented within

the

scope of the project. The maximum height of these walls

is approximately 2,5 m. These walls were also finished with

limestone covering small slabs.

The nailed wall was the ideal solution for a zone with high

spatial constraints and need to minimize reshaping of the

soils

affected.The latest was particularly important in order to

avoid

the execution of large cuttings in talus debris. The nailing

was 6,0 m long, with 25 mm Ø steel rod, placed in a 50 mm

diameter hole previously carried out and sealed with cement

grout in its entire extension. The nailing mesh had 2,0 ×

2,0 m

spacing, and the nails were executed orthogonally against

the

wall. Due to the definitive character of the nails and to

the

marine environment, the steel rods were subject to a

previous

treatment against corrosion.

As far as drainage is concerned, several devices were placed

in these structures, namely cross drains covered in

geotextile,

Ø 300 mm half section gutter and draining geotextile.

With regard to the design of the steel reinforced concrete

and

gravel concrete, the loads considered were static and

seismic,

following the Portuguese regulation.

In the design of nails it was considered that merely ten

sile strength shall be mobilized, since the shear strength

and

bending moments shall be difficult to mobilize, given the

type of nail adopted, as well as the high magnitude of the

displacements required for that mobilization.

Safety verification was undertaken taking into account the

following limit states: Figure 5. Road view before

construction of rock-shed. Figure 6. Rock-shed structure
over the NR 379-1. • Tearing strength of the reinforcement,
calculated in order that the service strength does not
exceed 75% of the steel yield point. • Resistance to
sliding during the contact sealing / massif, which is
guaranteed by the mobilization of surface friction in that
contact. 9 ROCK-SHED STRUCTURES The structure proposed for
the zones 6 and 11 was a steel reinforced concrete
rock-shed, whose upper slab covers the existing road in
order to protect it from rock fall. Three rockshed
structures with a total lenght of about 270 m, have been,
were designed and constructed. The transversal profile
adopted is likewise perfectly adapted to the
characteristics of the existing one and includes: •
“New-Jersey” side safety rails, 0,30 m wide; • Two 0,25 m
shoulders; and • Bi-directional roadway 6,0 m wide. Since
the main objective of the structure was to protect the road
from rockfall, this was the fundamental constraint aspect
for the design of the upper slab. It was also constructed
an extent to the eastern side of the existing Figueirinha
Tunnel, of about 12 m in length and with the same arch type
structure, in order to prevent the rockfall

Figure 7. Arch rock-shed at the Figueirinha beach section.

to the road platform from the eastern portal and to

preserve a

case study geological monument over this portal.

It was assumed a maximum block size, detaching from the

scarps around the tunnel, corresponding to a block of about

500 kg in weight falling off a 100 m slope height.

The dissipation of the energy of blocks hitting on the top

of

the shed is done by a sand cushion 1,0 m thick, covering the

upper slab.

The structural solution was also limited by the need to

guarantee adequate landscape integration in the surround

ing environment, since it will be installed in an area of

great

visibility and landscape value.

In this sense, the structure was covered with a suitable

vegetation cover deemed to harmonize with the surrounding

landscape. The solution was also designed aiming at minimiz

ing the visual obstruction to the observer travelling in

the EN

379-1, adopting strait 9,0 m spaced piles to the sea view.

From the sea side point of view, the covering slab was also

provided with a variable geometry verge in order to assume a

smooth continuous longitudinal arch section.

The pedestrian passages through the rock-sheds were

designed as an individual wooden structure attached to the

seaside exterior of the shed structure. The objective was to

provide safe conditions for pedestrians promoting at the

same

time a tourist and sportive continuous environment along the

seaside.

10 PROTECTION BARRIERS

10.1 Rigid barriers

The objective of rigid barriers is to create an obstacle to

the

displacement of small blocks and rock debris, between the

foot

of slopes and the road. It’s a barrier made of a rigid

steel mesh

and by steel and wood poles installed either over the

existing

masonry walls or new concrete walls.

10.2 Dynamic Barriers

The dynamic barriers were foreseen for situations in which

the slopes and cliffs are located further away from the
road,

with a good visibility of the blocks and where the landscape

constraints assume greater importance.

These dynamic structures were placed underlying scarps

zones, in order to prevent and avoid the blocks from rolling

on or rebounding to the road. Figure 8. Block trajectory

calculation for dynamic barriers. These structures were
built with high resistance steel reinforced mesh, about 5 m
high, supported by steel poles fixed transversally to the
slope by anchored cables articulated at the base and
founded on the ground by a concrete mass and rock bolts. In
order to ensure the passage of the fauna, open intervals
with regular spacing and adequate overlapping were
maintained. The ideal location of the slope barriers was
approached by analysis of blocks trajectories, resorting to
numerical models, allowing the calculation of the blocks
trajectories in a probabilistic manner and the development
of the related kinetic energy, allowing the verification
and assessment of the required energy absorption capacity
of the barriers. Throughout the cliffs, the need to
consider medium or high energy dynamic barriers, was
verified, being the first able to resist to a 1500 kJ
energy impact and the second a 3000 kJ energy impact. The
features of the typical displaced block were analysed in a
conservative manner, considering an average typical block
of 1 ton. (about 0,5 m 3 ) for the entire cliff extent,
exception made to zones Z14 and Z15 (Outão zone), where at
least two falls of 10 ton-blocks were recorded in the last
twenty years. 11 STEEL MESHES Steel meshes were applied in
cases where the collapse of rock blocks was recorded or
deemed possible close or directly on the road.These slopes
were treated with steel cables reinforced mesh, nailed in
the cases where the need to preserve the structure of the
rock mass had been identified, or simple protection mesh in
the cases where the rock mass structure was stable but the
possibility of scattered rock fall still existed. In slope
sections where potentially unstable blocks were observed
and measured based on the conjugation of existing
discontinuities, the chosen solution was the application of
an active support based on systematic nailing, linked by a
network of steel cables and a double or triple torsion wire
mesh, in order to avoid the fall of small blocks.
Figure 9. Draping and fixation of the steel meshs.

Figure 10. Grouting procedures for rock-bolt installation.

In the cases of isolated blocks in a situation of eminent

rupture or sliding, the chosen solution was the application

of

isolated or systematic nailing.

In some cases, it was decided to remove unstable blocks

and limited rocks masses, taking into consideration that the

scaling and trimming operations should be undertaken with

the utmost care to avoid increasing the instability

situation of

the remaining rock slope namely by undermining the upper

slope.

The definition of the design’s geotechnical parameters, rep

resentative of the rock mass, was made using the following

methods:

• Classification of the rock mass using the GSI system

(“Geological Strength Index”);

• Back-analysis method.

The mechanical parameters of the rock mass were adjusted

through limit equilibrium criteria by back-analysis, in

order

to achieve a limit stability situation on the most

unfavourable

sliding surface: F.S ≈ 1,0. In this way and taking into

consider

ation all the data, the design geotechnical parameters

indicated
ABSTRACT: The importance of considering step-paths and
intact fracture within rock bridges in rock slope stability
has been

recognized for a considerable time. Recent years have seen

the development of both sophisticated finite-discrete
element codes

with fracture capability and true three-dimensional remote

sensing data collection techniques. This paper presents
methods

of characterizing step-paths in rock slopes using combined

field surveys, terrestrial LiDAR and digital
photogrammetry.

Observation of discontinuity networks and step-path

geometry are constrained by twoand threedimensional
discrete/distinct

element codes (ELFEN/3DEC). The importance of step-path

geometries in three-dimensional space is illustrated using
point

cloud data from selected rock slopes. The development of

three-dimensional step-path failure surfaces is
demonstrated using

firstly a non-fracture code (3DEC) followed by a

preliminary two-dimensional analysis using a fracture
propagation code

(ELFEN). The results of this research have important

consequences when considering the kinematics of block
movements

along persistent discontinuities. It is shown, both through

field observations and numerical simulation, that
consideration of

both block rotation and translation is essential in

stability assessment and that routine application of
daylighting concepts in

three dimensions must not ignore such failure mechanisms.

1 INTRODUCTION

Step-path failure surfaces and intact rock bridges have been

recognized as an important component of rock slope failure

since Jennings (1970) first introduced the concept of two

dimensional and three-dimensional step-path geometries. A

wide variety of analytical techniques have been used to

analyze

the stability of rock slopes with step-path fractures includ

ing deterministic limit equilibrium methods (Jennings,

1970),

probabilistic Monte-Carlo simulation (Baczynski, 2000) and

finite element/boundary element codes. This paper presents

a recently developed integrated digital imaging-numerical

modeling approach to characterize step-path discontinuity

geometries and intact rock bridges in the field, and to

analyze

their influence on rock slope stability.

A methodology for characterizing step-paths in rock slopes

using combined field survey, terrestrial LiDAR and digital

photogrammetry has been developed. Step-path geometries

in three-dimensional space are characterized using point

cloud LiDAR and photogrammetric data, and constrained

using field surveys. The formation of three-dimensional step

path failure surfaces in rock slopes is demonstrated using

firstly a non-fracture distinct element code (3DEC) followed

by a preliminary two-dimensional analysis using a fracture

propagation code (ELFEN), based on the input of observed

discontinuity networks and step-path geometry.

The results of this research show, both through field obser

vation and numerical simulation, that consideration of both

block rotation and translation is essential in stability

assess

ment and that routine application of daylighting kinematic

analysis concepts in three-dimension must not ignore such

failure mechanisms.

2 STEP-PATH DISCONTINUITIES AND ROCK

SLOPE FAILURE

Step-path fractures and failure surfaces are prevalent in

numerous rock slopes. ‘Steps’ at varying scales can be

Figure 1. Three-dimensional step-path discontinuities
observed at Kananaskis, Alberta. observed in large natural
slopes in both the dip and strike directions, Figure 1.
Step-paths may also be important at the scale of road cuts.
Figure 2 shows a major road cut slope near Porteau Cove,
B.C, where step-paths were involved in translational
failure modes. Step-path geometry is again evident along
both dip and strike. This slope provides evidence that the
kinematics of section and plane block rotation may be as
important as simple block translation. 3 IDENTIFICATION OF
STEP-PATH GEOMETRY BY DIGITAL-IMAGING TECHNIQUES
Traditional field survey techniques, i.e. scanline mapping
and cell mapping provide important information on
discontinuity networks for use in stability analyses.
Recent work has involved far more emphasis on the
importance of adequate characterization of discrete
fracture networks. Block size, persistence and spacing are
all inherently associated with the definition of intact
rock bridges and step-path geometries. To date
predominantly two-dimensional techniques have been used in
step-path research and it is emphasized that true step-path
failure mechanisms must be studied in

Figure 2. Porteau Cove rock slope showing step-path

discontinu

ities along strike and dip.

a three-dimensional block network with the recognition of

three-dimensional “rock bridges”. As a preliminary stage in

this research the authors are adapting digital-imaging tech

niques including digital photography/photogrammetry and

three-dimensional laser scanning in an attempt to develop

more comprehensive, safer and three-dimensionally efficient

step-path mapping methodologies.

Digital photogrammetry may be used to remotely measure

x-y-z coordinate points on a rock slope allowing the produc

tion of a digital terrain model (DTM). This process can be

performed semi-automatically using the Sirovision software,

which also allows the extraction of discontinuity data. Fig

ures 3a and 3b show a DTM of the Porteau Cove rock cut

with (a) 5m contours superimposed and (b) grayscale coding

showing lateral, rear and failure surfaces.

Ground based LiDAR is the principal technique used in this

paper. Laser scanning point clouds were obtained using an

Optech ILRIS-3D laser scanner. Figure 4 shows a laser scan

ning point cloud (x, y and z coordinates). Each point has an

associated intensity level which in the grey scale image

clearly

shows step-path joint characteristics in addition to

vegetation

etc. Using the Split-FX code (Split Engineering, 2006) a tri

angulated mesh is produced from the point cloud allowing the

determination of joint orientation data.

3.1 LiDAR survey and block rotation

The following sections, describe a 20 meter high slope,

Figure 5, near Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, which was

selected as a case study to characterize the step-path

discon

tinuities using LiDAR.

Following rock slope characterization a three-dimensional

numerical modeling study to illustrate the importance of

block

rotation was based on this site. More than three sets of

fractures

were identified from Figure 5. The bedding planes are very

persistent; whereas, in contrast, the persistence of the

other

joint sets is more limited. The movement of blocks formed by

the joint sets is through a combination of rotation and

transla

tion.A three-dimensional laser scanning point cloud model

for

the area shown in Figure 5 is presented in Figure 6a.The

orien

tation of discontinuities represented in the point cloud

model

can be calculated automatically using Split-FX, Figure 6b

and

Table 1. A conventional joint survey was conducted on the

lower portion of the slope surface and the results are

shown in

Figure 6c and Table 1. The stereonet plot from the joint

survey (a) (b) Figure 3. (a) DTM of Porteau Cove rock
cut with 5 m contours derived from photogrammetry images
using a Canon30D camera. (b) Grayscale coded image showing
lateral, rear and failure surface joints and step-path
geometry. Figure 4. Three-dimensional laser scan point
cloud of Porteau Cover rock cut and structural data derived
using the Split-FX code. Figure 5. Step-path
discontinuities and rotational block movements, near Lake
Louise, Alberta. (a) (b) (c)

Figure 6. (a) 3-D point cloud model and (b) stereonet plot
gener

ated by combined digital-imaging techniques and traditional

field

survey (c) stereonet plot generated from conventional field

survey. Table 1. Orientation of joint sets conducted from
point cloud data and conventional joint survey. Joint sets
Joint survey Point cloud data Bedding-J1 225 ◦ /60 ◦ 209 ◦
/57 ◦ Lateral-J2 125 ◦ /85 ◦ 120 ◦ /60 ◦ Rear-J3 015 ◦ /65
◦ 10 ◦ /50 ◦ Rear-J4 355 ◦ /35 ◦ 325 ◦ /23 ◦

in Figure 6c closely agrees with the laser scanning derived

joint sets in Figure 6b. However, they appears to be a 3 ◦ ∼

30 ◦ difference in dip directions and a 3 ◦ ∼ 25 ◦

difference in

dip angles. This error is slightly larger than reported by

Monte

(2004). Possible reasons are that the scanning area includes

the whole slope whereas the field data is derived from the

slope toe. The bedding planes are also folded in a plunging

synform which would lead to spatial variation in collected

joint data in both the dip and dip directions. Several forms

of bias are inherent in laser scanning including both

azimuth

and elevation angle orientation bias (laser line of sight)

and

censoring.

4 SIMULATION OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL

STEP-PATH FAILURE USING 3DEC

Block rotation and translation involving three-dimensional

step-path discontinuities, Figure 5, can be simulated using

the distinct element code 3DEC and the hybrid

discrete/finite

element code ELFEN. 3DEC is used in this study to simu

late block movement and the formation of a step-path

failure Table 2. Slope properties used in 3DEC modeling.
Slope height (m) 20 Orientation of joint sets J1 220 ◦ /60
◦ J2 125 ◦ /75 ◦ J3 15 ◦ /60 ◦ Spacing of joint sets (m) J1
0.4∼0.8 J2 1.0∼2.0 J3 1.2∼2.4 Friction angle of joint sets
J1 25 ◦ J2 35 ◦ J3 15 ◦ Figure 7. 3DEC model geometry.
surface with persistent discontinuities. Three joint sets
(J1, J2 and J3) are selected based on the LiDAR and
conventional joint survey data. The orientation of the
joint sets is listed in Table 2. Joint spacing is measured
from the point cloud directly (Table 2). The
three-dimensional model geometry is shown in Figure 7. The
basal blocks in the model were removed to simulate the road
cut. Selected three-dimensional model results are shown in
Figures 8a and b to illustrate the influence of joint
spacing on the final block failure modes. The spacing of J1
is unchanged in both Figures 8a and b. The spacing ratio of
J2 to J3 is varied from 5:3 to 5:12. The block movements at
the slope toe in Figures 8a and b demonstrate block
rotation involved in the rock slope failure in addition to
block translation. Figure 8b, however, shows a difference
in block movement modes to Figure 8a at the slope toe. The
block failure modes also appear to vary from the slope
crest to the slope toe, Figure 8a. 5 SIMULATION OF
STEP-PATH FRACTURE USING A HYBRID FINITE/DISTINCT ELEMENT
CODE A two-dimensional hybrid finite/discrete element code
(ELFEN) can be used to simulate the fracture propagation
within intact rock bridges and final step-path failure in
rock slopes with different failure modes (Figure 9). These
simple examples illustrate the importance of considering
intact rock fracture in large open pit slopes. Research
shows that fracture through intact rock bridges is a
function of persistence, joint spacing, dip, shear strength
and rock mass tensile strength. Current research is aimed
at examining the role of fracture in three-dimensional
step-path failure. (a) (b)

Figure 8. Selected 3DEC modeling results showing step-path

fail

ure surface generation, block rotation and translation,

assuming three
joint sets with spacing of (a) 0.4 m, 2 m and 1.2 m and (b)
0.4 m, 1 m

and 2.4 m.

Figure 9. Variable failure modes involving failure through

intact

ABSTRACT: The testing of shear strength and deformability

characteristics of the contact between the limestone and
concrete

was carried out for the purpose of foundation of the high

arch dam, using the test of constant normal load. Nine
blocks with

contact surface of 707 × 707 mm were tested in the

underground testing adits. The results of the peak and
residual strength of the

contact are presented through the Mohr-Coulomb linear and

nonlinear strength criteria. It is shown that at the
determination of

residual strength, the application of normal stress

reducing procedure is more adequate than normal stress
increasing procedure.

The deformability of the contact zone is described by the

shear stiffness and dilation angle. The analysis of
shearing results

shows that the concrete to limestone contact behaves in

accordance with the constant peak displacement model.

1 INTRODUCTION

The contact between concrete structures and the rock mass

(concrete-to-rock contact) represents a discontinuity

between

two distinct media, and can therefore be regarded as a

specific

case of the rock mass discontinuity.

The strength and deformability of the concrete-to-rock con

tact is a significant element in every study of interaction

between the concrete structure and the rock mass (piles,

dams,

retaining walls, tunnels). This contact is modelled in the

way

that is similar to the modelling of discontinuities in the

rock

mass. A great attention is paid to the behaviour of

discontinu

ities since the times the discontinuities were first

recognized as

a factor of dominant significance for the strength and

deforma

bility of the rock mass.Test methods and empirical

procedures

developed for testing discontinuities in the rock mass can

also

be applied to the contact (discontinuity) between concrete

and

rock. Two procedures, the use of which depends on the way in

which normal stress is applied, are used in the laboratory

and

field testing of shearing behaviour of discontinuities. In

case

of structures where the displacement perpendicular to discon

tinuity is not limited (dams, slopes), the decision is

normally

made to use the test procedure in which the normal stress

is not changed during the testing (CNL – constant normal

load). If normal displacements are limited (piles, tunnels),

the testing is conducted at constant normal stiffness (CNS).

The CNL method is applied for the testing presented in this

paper.

The behaviour of discontinuities in the rock mass, and hence

the behaviour at the concrete to rock contact, is normally

defined based on laboratory testing which is for economic

rea

sons usually conducted on small samples. The tests normally

conducted in laboratory are the direct or triaxial shear

tests,

and the samples are either natural or artificially created

dis

continuities.Artificial materials (such as mortar, gypsum,

etc.)

are often used instead of the rock. Big sample testing is

rarely conducted in laboratory, and this practice is even
more rare in field conditions. In fact, big samples for
laboratory testing are difficult to extract, transport,
protect against change in humidity, etc. The field testing
of such samples is extremely costly as the tests are
usually conducted in underground galleries of appropriate
dimensions. Although numerous tests (Krsmanovic´ 1967,
Ladany & Archambault 1970, Barton 1976) have shown that the
discontinuity strength criterion is highly nonlinear, the
discontinuity strength is still – in many cases quite
unjustly – approximated using the Mohr-Coulomb linear
strength criterion. It is specified in national regulations
relating to the design of concrete dams that the dam
stability should be checked according to limit equilibrium
methods using the Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion, as
defined by the cohesion and angle of friction (Ruggeri
2004). The only difference between individual regulations
lies in the fact that some explicitly allow the use of peak
strength parameters, while others permit the use of
residual parameters, which is dependent on the expected
shear displacement in the contact zone. In this paper, the
strength of contact after the attainment of peak strength
is marked as residual strength. This term is also used in
the ISRM Recommended Methods (1974). It should be noted
that this strength is reached after a relatively small
displacement, and that it should be differentiated from the
strength that would be attained following a displacement of
several meters. In addition to contact strength, the
deformational properties are also significant in the
numerical analysis of interaction between the concrete and
the rock mass. The deformability at the contact zone is
described by the stiffness and dilation angle. The shear
stiffness is highly significant as the deformation at
contact is much greater at the shear plane when compared to
deformability in the line perpendicular to the contact. The
level of shear-generated displacement at the contact zone
is highly significant for its behaviour.

Figure 1. Location of testing.

The aim of research conducted in this paper is to determine

the shear strength (peak and residual) and deformability

(shear

stiffness and dilation angle) of the concrete to rock

contact.

A great quantity of tests conducted so far has enabled a

critical

evaluation of various methods that are currently used for

the

residual strength testing.

2 MATERIAL AND METHODS

The testing was conducted in underground galleries that were

excavated in order to perform geotechnical and geophysical

testing and engineering-geological mapping at the site of a

large arch dam. The dam mostly rests on high-strength com

pact limestone formations (σ u > 150 MPa).The shear strength

at the contact between the concrete and the compact

limestone

formations was tested at two positions (9 blocks). The test

locations corresponded to the contact between dam founda

tions and the rock mass as specified in the design. The

testing
was conducted in accordance with recommendations formu

lated by the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM,

1974). After removal of the rock mass damaged during blast

ing, the limestone surface was flattened as much as

possible by

hand tools (chisel and hammer). The shear plane was bounded

by a channel 2 cm in depth, which was filled with water

during

the testing.

The normal force was generated with two and shear force

with three hydraulic jacks 1000 kN in capacity. Vertical dis

placements of concrete blocks were measured with 4 dial

gauges accurate to 0.01 mm, while horizontal displacements

were measured with 4 dial gauges (two in the direction of

the

shear and two at block sides).The reduction of the contact

area

during the shear was taken into account in the calculation

of

shear and normal stresses.

The testing was conducted at normal stresses ofσ = p = 0.5,

1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 MPa. Once the residual contact
strength

was attained during the initial normal stress, the following

normal stresses were either reduced or increased so as to

obtain more values of residual strength. After the peak and

first residual strength was obtained, the residual strength

was 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 0 5 10 15 20 25 Shear
displacement (mm) S h e a r s t r e s s ( M P a ) p = 0.52
MPa p = 1.04 MPa p = 1.55 MPa p = 2.06 MPa p = 2.59 MPa
Figure 2. Shear stress vs shear displacement at the first
applied normal stress. σ 1 = 2.06 MPa, σ 2 = 1.53 MPa σ 3
= 1.01 MPa, σ 4 = 0.51 MPa 0,0 0 20 40 8060 1,0 2,0 3,0
4,0 Shear displacement (mm) S h e a r s t r e s s ( M P a )
0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 N o r m a l d i s p l . ( m m ) Shear
stress Normal displacement Figure 3. Shear stress vs shear
displacement for test with reduction of normal stresses
after the attainment of peak shear strength. determined for
another three normal stress values. Thus one pair of peak
stresses, and 4 pairs of residual shear and normal
stresses, were determined at each block for the strength
criteria definition purposes. 3 TEST RESULTS A clear
differentiation between peak and residual strengths was
obtained on all blocks (Fig. 2). The results for the
testing in which normal stress values were reduced or
increased to obtain additional residual strength values,
are presented in Figures 3 and 4. As could have been
expected, the dilatancy continuously increased when normal
stresses were reduced (Fig. 3), while it decreased with an
increase in normal stresses (Fig. 4). The peak strength
occurred at shear displacement in the order of 0.1% of the
contact length, followed by a sharp softening and a
dilatancy increase. A clear residual condition was observed
at a relative displacement of 1%. The observed sharp peak
conditions were due to an effective locking of the rock to
concrete. The peak and residual strength criteria for the
concrete to compact-limestone contacts are presented in
Figure 5. All data were used in the definition of residual
strength criterion, and this regardless of whether they
were obtained immediately after the peak strength was
attained, or after reduction or increase of normal stress
values. A considerable number of tests conducted on compact
limestone (the total of 9 blocks were tested at 34 normal
stress values) made it possible to analyze in which way the
increase σ 1 = 0.52 MPa, σ 2 = 1.05 MPa σ 3 = 1.53 MPa,
σ 4 = 2.04 MPa 0,0 0 80604020 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 Shear
displacement (mm) S h e a r s t r e s s ( M P a ) 0,0 0,5
1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 N o r m a l d i s p l . ( m m ) Shear
stress Normal displacement

Figure 4. Shear stress vs shear displacement for test with

increase

of normal stresses after the attainment of peak shear

strength. 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0
Normal stress (MPa) S h e a r s t r e s s ( M P a ) Peak
Resid. Linear (Peak) Linear (Resid.) Power (Resid.) τ =
σtan 44˚ + 0.218 (MPa) residual criteria τ = σtan 54˚ +
0.713 (MPa) peak criteria
Figure 5. Peak and residual strength criteria. 0,0 1,0 2,0
3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 Normal
stress (MPa) S h e a r s t r e s s ( M P a ) Normal stress
reduction Normal stress increase After peak Linear (Normal
stress reduction) Linear (Normal stress increase) Linear
(After peak)

Figure 6. Residual strength criterion depending on test

method.

or reduction in normal stress values influences the residual

strength criterion in the contact zone. If we take as

relevant

criterion the residual strength obtained at the first normal

stress (after the peak value is attained), it can be

observed

that it is similar to the criterion obtained by reducing nor

mal stresses during one block testing (angle of friction =

48 ◦ ;

cohesion = 0.13 MPa). The normal stress increase following

attainment of the peak strength provides a smaller residual

angle of friction (41 ◦ ) and a greater cohesion (0.24 MPa)

(Fig. 6).

Shear displacements and normal displacements of concrete

blocks, as measured during the testing, enabled definition

of

contact zone deformation parameters, shear stiffness, and

dila

tion angle. The shear displacement δ (peak) needed to

obtain the -0,1 0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,0 0,5 1,0
1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 Shear displ. δ (mm) N o r m a l d i s p l
. δ n ( m m ) p = 0.52 MPa p = 1.04 MPa p = 1.55 MPa p
= 2.06 MPa p = 2.59 MPa d1 δ n d2 0 δ Figure 7. Normal
vs shear displacement (dilation/dilation angle). Pointed
displacements correspond to peak shear strength. 0 5 10 15
20 25 30 35 40 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 Normal stress
(MPa) D i l a t i o n a n g l e d 1 , d 2 ( ˚ ) Only
displ.>0; d2 All displ.; d1 Linear (Only displ.>0; d2)
Linear (All displ.; d1) Figure 8. Initial dilation angle vs
normal stress. peak shear strength defines the contact
stiffness during shearing. This is an input information of
highest significance in analytical modelling, as the
rock-concrete contact is in fact the most deformable in the
direction of shearing. The peak shear stiffness (K s ) is
obtained by dividing the peak shear strength (τ peak ) by
the shear displacement at which the peak shear strength (δ
peak ) was obtained. Small shear displacements at which the
peak shear strength was obtained provide high shear
stiffness values for the contact zone. In addition to shear
stiffness, the contact deformability is also expressed by
means of the dilation angle. Negative normal displacements
at the start of the shearing process were measured at all
blocks in the manner similar to the procedure used when
rock mass discontinuities are tested. The method used for
calculating the initial dilation angles is shown in Figure
7. Two values of the initial dilation angle, one including
(d1) and the other not including (d2) the negative vertical
displacements at the start of the shearing process, are
presented in Figure 8. Goodman (1974) differentiates two
models that determine the shear behaviour of joints, i.e.
the constant stiffness model and the constant peak
displacement model. The analysis of shearing results shows
that the concrete-limestone contact behaves in accordance
with the constant peak displacement model, because the peak
strength was obtained, for 8 out of 9 tested blocks, at
very small shear displacements ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 mm
in size. Figure 9 shows achieved peak shear stiffness as
peak shear strength values divided by corresponding shear
displacements at different normal stresses. 0 1000 2000
3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 Normal stress
(MPa) K s ( M P a / m )

Figure 9. Peak shear stiffness vs normal stress.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The results achieved for the compact limestone are as

follows:

peak angle of friction is 54 ◦ (residual amounts to 44 ◦ )

and

cohesion is 0.71 MPa (residual amounts to 0.22 MPa). It was

established that the application of procedure of normal

stress
reduction at the determination of residual strength is more

adequate than application of the procedure which increases

the normal stress.

As in-situ tests are very demanding (both in terms of cost

and time), it is sometimes acceptable to perform the testing

using one block only. In such cases, the residual strength

is

determined with several points, and the peak strength crite

rion is parallel to the residual one, and traverses the

single

measured peak strength point (peak residual angles of fric

tion are the same, only the cohesions are different). As in

our case several blocks were tested at different normal

stress

ABSTRACT:This paper reports on some experience of rock

stress measurements gained by the authors in a marble basin
in the

Apuane Alps with reference to three different quarry sites.

The experience refers to two open pit quarries where the
Hydraulic

Fracturing (HF) was applied: the first one is located in

the lower part of a valley at the base of a high rock face
while the

other one is located at the base of a rock spur which is

left over from past exploitations in two neighbouring
quarries. Another

example refers to an underground exploitation room where

both the (HF) and the Stress Relief (SR) techniques were
applied.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock stress measurements play a basic role in the stability

estimation of large excavations resulting from open pit
and/or

underground quarry activities. Huge modifications of the

mountain morphology due to quarry exploitations, like those

of the examples reported here concerning a white Carrara

marble basin, lead to important alterations of the

pre-existing

equilibrium condition induced by the stress distribution pro

cess around excavated, permanent rock structures. Although

the specific type of application (activity to be monitored,

depth, rock mass condition) could suggest one method that

is particularly suitable for stress measurements, when possi

ble, it is useful to apply different methods, to obtain a

separate

check of the measurement consistency. Among the different

stress measurement procedures (Amadei & Stephansson, 1997

list six groups of methods), the Hydraulic Fracturing (HF)

and the Stress Relief (SR) methods are those that are most

frequently applied for borehole stress measurement in civil

and mining applications (e.g.: Franklin & Hungr, 1978, Kim

et al., 1986, Enever 1993, Matsui et al., 1997, Myrvang,

2006).

Accordingly HF (and in one case HF and SR) was used in the

stress measurements in the quarries mentioned in the paper.

A small portable HF equipment (46 mm diameter), developed

at CNR-IGAG, was used for the measurements in the three

quarry sites, all located in the Apuane Alps mountain range,

and the stress evaluation was made according to the
classical

HF technique (Haimson, 1993), while the CSIR doorstopper

cell (Leeman, 1964) was used for the borehole bottom stress

measurements.

2 THE QUARRY SITES AND THE RESULTS

2.1 The Canalgrande quarry

The Canalgrande quarry site is located in the lower part of

a valley on the West side of the “Campanili” mountain. Past

quarry exploitation, prevailingly open pit and near surface

excavations to a lesser extent, led to the creation of a

150 m

high rock face on a steep rock slope impending onto the

quarry

yard (Figure 1).

The rock mass is intersected by subvertical or steeply

dipping joints grouped into five sets (Table 1). The HF

measurements were performed at different depths in three

boreholes (HF01 vertical, HF02 and HF03 horizontal) located

Figure 1. Plan of the Canalgrande quarry showing the high
rock slope, the quarry yards and the HF borehole locations.
Table 1. Mean orientation and spacing of the joints sets.
Sets Dip ( ◦ ) Dip Dir. ( ◦ ) Spacing (m) K1 80 134 0.2–0.6
K2.1–K2.2 80–80 99–297 0.2–0.6 K3 66 230 0.6–2 K4 83 34
0.6–2 K5 42 306 >2 at the lower level of the quarry, below
the high rock face (figure 1). A tensile strength, σ tHF ,
of 22.5 ± 5.1 MPa was obtained by fifteen HF tests on
isolated rock blocks and this was used for data analysis.
The induced HF fracture direction was identified using both
an impression packer and a borehole TV camera inspection
system. Table 2 reports a synthesis of the results, while
Figure 2 shows the stereographic projections of the HF
fracture poles and planes, respectively, for the vertical
and horizontal boreholes. The results appear acceptably
consistent above all for the deeper tests where, according
to the HF planes, the orientation of the maximum principal
stresses prevailingly lie sub-parallel to the high rock
face, that is the HF planes tend to follow the K2 or K1
joint set directions in the vertical borehole and the K4,
K5 or K2 directions in the horizontal boreholes. In
general,

Table 2. Synthesis of the HF results: borehole label; d =

depth;

σ 3 , σ 1 = mean and std. dev. of minimum and maximum

stresses.

Borehole label Tests d (m) σ 3 (MPa) σ 1 (MPa)

HF_01 (V.) 5 4.0–34.8 1.9 ± 0.3 3.6 ± 1.4

HF_02 (H.) 9 2.5–24.7 2.0 ± 1.4 11.2 ± 4.1

HF_03 (H.) 7 2.7–16.9 2.6 ± 1.0 12.7 ± 3.0

Figure 2. Stereographic projections of the HF pole

intensity and

planes: a) vertical hole HF_01; b) horizontal holes HF_02

and HF_03

(the light dashed line represents the vertical plane

parallel to the

borehole axes).

the stress evaluation suggests that the rock mass is

moderately

stressed in comparison to the mean compressive strength of

the rock material (80 ÷ 100 MPa).The orientation of the

stress

components appears compatible with the geo-morphological

and geo-structural settings of the site.

2.2 The Gioia quarry site

The exploitation activity in the basin is developed both as

open

pit exploitation and by underground excavations, and these

activities give rise to unusual geometries such as the high

residual rock spur. The whole site is subjected to a

regional

fault (80 ◦ /120 ◦ ) that crosses the different

exploitation yards in

correspondence to the crest of the rock spur (Figure 3).

Apart

from the fault, five principal joint sets were defined in

the

marble basin (Table 3). The aim of the stress measurements

was to define the intensity and, in particular, the

orientation

of the horizontal stresses acting on the two opposite sides

of

the fault plane. Stress measurements were performed at dif

ferent depths in vertical boreholes located on both sides

of the

fault, along two different alignments, as shown in Figure 3.

Four of these (HF_01 ÷ HF_04) were drilled in the eastern

side of the basin starting from 580 m a.s.l. while two

(HF_05,

HF_06) were drilled in the western side, starting from an

underground floor located at 600 m a.s.l.. A tensile

strength,

σ tHF , of 20.8 ± 2.5 MPa, was evaluated from ten tests per

formed in situ inside isolated marble blocks. Figure 4 shows

a stereographic projection of the HF pole intensity and mean

plane while Table 4 reports a synthesis of the main

results. The

analysis of the stress measurements shows that the horizon

tal maximum principal stress σ 1 acts with a mean direction

which is almost parallel to the trend of the fault, and

only a

few determinations (HF_03_03, HF_04_02) show very low

stress levels.

The measurements made in the western part of the basin

(HF_05, HF_06) show slightly higher stress values, as the

measurements were made in the surveyed rock portion near the

underground excavation. However, it is important to

underline

that, in general, σ 2 directed orthogonally to the fault

assumes

very low values compared to σ 1 , which is directed along

the

fault. This kind of evidence show an alignment between the

Figure 3. Plan of the Gioia quarries showing the large
fault (dashed blue line) and the alignments of HF boreholes
(dashed red lines). Table 3. Orientation and spacing of the
principal joints sets. Sets Dip ( ◦ ) Dip Dir. ( ◦ )
Spacing (m) K1.1–K1.2 75–67 243–69 0.6–2 K2.1–K2.2 71–76
116–288 0.6–2 K3 52 201 0.6–2 K4 48 258 0.6–2 K5.1–K5.2
71–64 331–161 0.6–2 Figure 4. Stereographic projection of
the HF pole intensity and mean plane. stress and rock mass
structure (Sugawara & Obara, 1993) and suggests that the
regional fault is prevailingly trusted in the strike
direction. 2.3 The Piastriccioni B quarry site This quarry
exploits the SE side of the “Zucco dell’Urlo” partly open
mountain pit and underground rooms with a maximum rock
overburden of about 110 m. The morphology of the mountain
side above the quarry yard, undergoes to a

Table 4. Synthesis of the HF results: borehole label; d =

depth;

σ 3, σ 1 = mean and std. dev. of the minimum and maximum

stresses.

Borehole label Tests d (m) σ 3 (MPa) σ 1 (MPa)

HF_01 (V-E) 3 5.7–17.8 2.6 ± 1.4 9.1 ± 3.9

HF_02 (V-E) 3 5.2–15.3 1.9 ± 1.2 11.8 ± 5.7

HF_03 (V-E) 5 7.0–26.0 2.2 ± 1.2 4.6 ± 2.4

HF_04 (V-E) 4 7.2–28.2 2.4 ± 1.3 6.1 ± 3.8

HF_05 (V-W) 4 7.5–26.5 3.2 ± 0.5 10.6 ± 4.3

HF_06 (V-W) 4 6.7–24.5 2.7 ± 1.1 11.6 ± 5.8

Table 5. Mean orientation and spacing of the joint sets.

Sets Dip ( ◦ ) Dip Dir. ( ◦ ) Spacing (m)

Ks 47 225 >3

K1 72 73 2

K2 79 186 5

K3 78 147 5

K4 82 33 10

K5 85 109 10

K6 71 217 6

Figure 5. Map of the underground exploitation room at 789 m

a.s.l.

level with the location of the (F1 ÷ F3) boreholes for the
SR tests

and of the (HF S1 ÷ HF S5) boreholes for the HF tests.

sharp change in slope which represents the outcropping of

the

geological contact between the marble and the “selciferous

limestone” overburden.

The marble ore body shows evident veins along the schis

tosity (K s ) and allows the six joint sets in Table 5 to be

recognised.
An in situ stress measurement program was carried out to

experimentally check the underground stress condition at the

Piastriccioni B quarry site, using both the Stress Relief SR

(doorstopper strain cell) and HF methods (Figure 5). The

lines

marked F1÷F3 represent the almost horizontal boreholes and

Table 6. Mean and st.dev. of the mechanical marble
parameters: E t ,E s = tangent, secant Young’s modulus; ν t
, ν s = tangent, secant Poisson’s ratio; σ tHF = HF tensile
strength. E t (GPa) Es (GPa) ν t (-) ν s (-) σ tHF (MPa)
75.7 ± 4.7 78.6 ± 11.6 0.25 ± 0.06 0.29 ± 0.13 17.7 ± 1.6
Figure 6. Graphical representations: a) of the principal
stress components evaluated at each doorstopper location in
the F1, F2 and F3 boreholes. σ 1 = dashed line; σ 2 =
continuous line; b) the 3D stress state; c) HF poles and
mean plane (_S1, _S5). show the strain cells (C1÷C12)
located between 5 and 20 m in depth.The lines and locations
marked HFS1÷ HFS5 represent the boreholes (three
horizontal, two vertical) used for the HF tests, and show
the depth of the testing intervals. The mechanical
characteristics of the marble cores used for the SR and HF
stress estimations are shown in Table 6. The recovered
cores were in general more than 50 cm long, and allowed 70%
of successful SR tests. The resulting set of principal
plane stresses and directions is reported in Figure 6. The
biaxial principal stress components are essentially
compressive with σ 1 directed against the marble
schistosity and mean values of 6.2 MPa and 2.7 MPa,
respectively, but are characterized by rather high
variability. The procedure suggested by Martinetti &
Ribacchi (1970) based on the biaxial stress data, allowed a
trial evaluation to be made of the 3D stress state (σ 1
10.2 MPa, σ 2 8.5 MPa, σ 3 4.5 MPa) which is reported in
figure 6d, where the computed stress directions appear in
acceptable agreement with the rock mass structure. Stress
of tectonic origin (Otria et al., 2004) and stress induced
by the exploitation could be the reason for the difference
between the observed stress intensity and a purely
gravitational overburden stress of ∼3.0 MPa. The results of
the HF tests are summarized in Table 7. HF_S1 shows
slightly higher principal stress values than those in
HF_S5. The mean stress orientation is instead practically
the same, as shown by the vertically induced HF planes
which are in the same direction as the K3 joint and are
released by the minimum principal stress. The HF tests made
in the HF_S3 horizontal borehole gave HF planes that were
aligned with the borehole axis and striking according to
the K4, K6 joint sets and the Ks schistosity.

Table 7. Synthesis of the HF results: borehole label; d =

depth;

σ 3 , σ 1 = mean and std. dev. of minimum and maximum

stresses.

Borehole label Tests d (m) σ 3 (MPa) σ 1 (MPa)

HF_S1 (V) 3 7.8–20.6 2.6 ± 0.4 15.1 ± 2.0

HF_S2 (H N32) 8 * 5.1–27.1 1.5 ± 0.5 10.1

HF_S3 (H N298) 3 6.1–23.7 1.8 ± 0.4 9.8 ± 4.3

HF_S4 (H N204) 3 * 17.7–42.1 0.9 ± 0.5 –

HF_S5 (V) 3 11.1–32.4 1.8 ± 0.4 9.5 ± 1.7

* The HF planes tends to follow the schistosity, which is

inclined to

the borehole axis.

3 CONCLUSIONS

The Hydraulic fracturing (HF) measurement method has been

applied at three marble quarry sites (Canalgrande, Gioia and

Piastriccioni B), located in the Carrara marble basin, while

the stress relief (SR, doorstopper) method was applied at

the

Piastriccioni B site. The essential information that

resulted

from this investigation can be summarized as follows:

– The HF results obtained at the Canalgrande quarry site

appear acceptably consistent above all for the deeper tests,

where the prevailing trend of the HF planes tends to follow

the K2 or K1 joint set directions, which are sub-parallel to

the high rock face. The evaluation suggests that the rock

mass is moderately stressed in comparison to the mean

compressive strength of the rock material. The orientation

of the stress components appears compatible with the geo

morphological and geo-structural settings of the site.

– The HF measurements carried out at the Gioia quarry

site show that the horizontal maximum principal stress

acts with a mean direction which is almost parallel to the

trend of the regional fault that traverses the rock spur.

Fur

thermore, a high ratio (2 to 6) is estimated between the

maximum and the minimum stress components.

– HF and SR tests were made in an underground room at

the Piastriccioni B quarry site. The estimated stress inten

sities, obtained using the two methods, suggest a mean

maximum stress ∼10 MPa and a mean minimum stress

of about ∼2 MPa. These values cannot be explained with

only reference to the overburden morphology and the exca

vation process (maximum stress ∼3 MPa). A significant

proportion of stress should be considered of tectonic ori

gin. The maximum stress obtained from the SR appears

ABSTRACT: It has been well known that the stability of

“permanent” slopes in the open pit coal mines in Indonesia
does not

remain constant over long periods of time. This has been

mainly attributed to the weathering process that
intensively occurs in
the tropical regions.

It is therefore appropriate to carry out an investigation

of shear strength characteristics on rock samples of the
predominant

coal bearing strata such as claystone and mudstone which

are obtained from a number of open pit coal mines in
Indonesia. The

investigation includes the behaviour of long term strength.

The research reveals that the long term strength of those

two kinds of rock is significantly lower than their peak
strengths. It

is also found that the Burger reology model does fit to the
rehology of these rock samples.

1 INTRODUCTION

A series of studies on time dependent shear strength

behaviour

at the Department of Mining Engineering (DME) Institute

Technology Bandung (ITB) Indonesia was initiated by the

occurrences of considerable slope failures at MuaraTiga

Besar

open pit coal mine ofTanjung Enim PT. BukitAsam (PTBA) in

South Sumatra and at Melawan west open pit coal mine of PT.

Kaltim Prima Coal (PT. KPC) in Sangatta, East Kalimantan.

The interesting part of the former one was that despite the

bedding planes were obviously oriented against the slope

face

direction, significant failure of slopes still occurred.The

cause

of the failure was much involved with intact material charac

teristics of claystone rather than developing along a plane

of
weakness, and this type of failure being common in highly

weathered geo-materials. It was recorded that the failure

area

was poured with heavy rains for a period of about a week

prior

to the slope failures. In addition, subsequent to heavy

rain for

more than 4 consecutive days a huge low wall slope failure

took place at night shift at the Melawan pit. The failed

mate

rials were mudstone sitting on top of a coal seam. The

failure

was previously believed attributed to geological structure.

On

the contrary, a thorough research carried out not long

after the

failure indicated that this slope failure was convinced

primarly

due to a deterioration process of the geomaterials

constituting

the slope and geometry rather than that of weak geological

structure. Laboratroy test confirmed that the rock materials

in this particular area was classified as weak materials

(UCS

less than 7.5 MPa).

It is not unusual phenomenon in many Indonesian open

pit mines that slope monitoring did not make much available

of slope movement indications preceding to the slope fail

ures including in the Muara Tiga Besar and the Melawan pits.

Having learned to a number of slope failures and considering

the weathering process, particularly, in open pit coal
mines in

Indonesia, it can therefore be said that these failures may

have

been owing to slope geometry, heavy rainfall, weathering,

and

cohesion reduction. In essence, the last one could

observably

be estimated through time dependent behaviour study. Thus,

it is worth thinking about whether the slopes of active and
non active benches remain stable over its prescribed
functional operation. Accordingly, long-term strength of
geomaterial structures becomes one of the critical issues
to be taken into account in the success of the
implementation of a long-term open pit mine plan. Hence,
this paper describes the parameters controlling the
stability of open pit mines. These can be elaborated as
follows; the overall geology of Indonesia, tropical weather
and long term behaviour of coal bearing strata and
determination long term shear strength of intact rock. 2
THE UNIQUENESS OF GENERAL GEOLOGY AND CLIMATE OF INDONESIA
In general, there are three interesting geology phenomena
of Indonesia as indicated by the fact that about 80–90% of
Indonesian land is covered by quarter sediment resulted
from volcanic activities, as well as trass alluvial, and
soils resulted from rock weathering. Second, the rock
formation in Indonesia is very young, and third there are
many tectonic activities occurring in Indonesia. These
types of geo-materials do not seem quite dense and
consequently the porosity is relatively high. It is
believed by many that about 13%–17% of the active volcanoes
in the world are located in the Indonesian archipelago and
there are 3 volcano magmatic belts, stretching from Sumatra
toWest Papua. In fact, sedimentary rock and rock formation
formed from volcanic activities are dominant in Indonesia.
In addition, mineral belts also relatively occupying the
same magmatic belts, even larger in Indonesia. Regarding
the tectonic activities, it should be borne in mind that
there are three tectonic plates i.e., Eurasia – Australia –
Indian Pacific Ocean, intersect each other in Indonesia.
Thus, it is not unusual if strong and many tectonic
activities take place in Indonesia. Due to the proximity of
the Indonesian archipelago to the Equator and continents of
Asia and Australia and being surrounded by Pacific and
Indian oceans, it is not uncommon
for Indonesia to experience a very high average rainfall
rate

annually being 3000–4000 mm. This turns out mostly in the

areas of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java.A combination of high

rainfall, high ambient temperature and intensity of ultravio

let rays over a year period causes chemical weathering

taking

place frequently. Thus, the weathering process turns hard

rock

formation into so-called soft rock that is sometimes

difficult

to handle. Consequently, regardless the mining method, the

rapid mining development coupled with soft rock behaviour,

problems related to the geomechanical or rock engineering

have been obvious.

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Failure criteria

Determination of Safety Factor (SF) for slope stability

analy

sis by using limit equilibrium method is based upon the

ratio

of resistance force against moving force at a failure plane.

Thus, failure criteria which include shear strength is the

most

appropriate method to be used for slope stability analysis

and

Mohr-Coulomb criteria is the most well accepted. Despite of

criticism on the accurracy of this criteria in predicting

rock

strength, the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion has been widely

used both for soil and rock stability analysis (Schofield,
1998;

Swan & Seo, 1999). The Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria sug

gests that shear strength (τ) is a function of cohesion (C),

normal stress (σ n ), and internal friction angle (φ), and

can be

written as follows:

This criteria can be used to predict whether the applied

stresses on a plane are strong enough to overcome the shear

stress so that displacement along the plane occurs. Consider

ing its wide application, many have put forward methods to

determine c and φ of other failure criterion such as failure

criteria of Drucker-Prager (Chen & Saleeb, 1982) and failure

criteria of Hoek-Brown (Hoek & Brown, 1997).

It is important to note that that the Mohr-Coulomb failure

criteria is associated with a contact problem, meaning that

in order two surface planes move across each other under

frictional circumstance those two planes must be intact.

This

condition will only prevail if the normal stress being

compres

sion, and when the normal stress is tension, the failure

criteria

will no longer valid (Brace et al., 1966; Jaeger & Cook,

1979;

Price & Cosgrove, 1990; Brady & Brown, 1993).

3.2 Time dependent behaviour

From time dependent strength can be defined as the maxi

mum stress sustained by geo-materials at which failure just

not occur or just occur, no matter how long the force has
been

applied. The strength has been described by various terms

namely fundamental strength, true strength, time safe

stress,

and long term strength.

Regarding the time dependent behaviour of geo-materials

this may be approached by a combination of two fundamen

tal rheological models, namely Hooke and Newton. In view

of the basic equations of the time dependent behaviour, it

appears that no general equation exists to adequately define

the rheological properties of geo-materials.

So far, uniaxial compressive creep testing at laboratory

scale has been the most suitable method to derive the appro

priate time dependent behaviour equation and description of

I II III S t r a i n ( ∈ ) ε 0 P Q R V U T Failure Time (t)
Figure 1. Creep curve of uniaxial compression (Goodman,
1989). this is available elsewhere including Lama &
Vutukuri (1978). Goodman (1989) classifies uniaxial
compression creep into four stages; instantenous elastic
strain (ε 0 ), primary creep (I), secondary creep (II), and
tertiary creep (III) as depicted in Figure 1. The
instantenous elastic strain occurs as soon as load is
applied onto a specimen and followed by primary creep. At
this stage the specimen will recover to the intial state
when load is taken off (OQR). Secondary creep is indicated
by constant strain rate, and when the load is taken off,
the specimen will undergo permanent strain (TUV). At the
tertiary creep, elastic strain rate will increase until the
specimen fails. 3.3 Rheology model Rheology is branch of
science which is related to a study on phenomena of flow or
displacement of a substance. There are several models in
the rheology that can be used to describe mechanical
behaviour of a material, encompasing from simple to complex
models. Table 1 shows a number of rheology models with
their symbols which are generally used for mechanical
analysis and assumed applicable for shear strength
determination. 3.4 Long-term strength Stress level applied
on a specimen in a creep test is usually lower than that of
applied in standard tests such uniaxial compression,
uniaxial tension and shear tests. By plotting the stress
level against failure time that is obtained from creep
test, the long-term strength of the rock specimen can be
predicted as shown in Figure 2. It is known that the creep
test can be carried out based on continuous constant and
multistage loads. The continuous constant load test needs a
lot of samples whereas the multistage load test only
requires few samples, although the constant load to be
applied are influenced by the previous load. 4 SHEAR CREEP
BEHAVIOUR OF COAL BEARING STRATA OF OPEN PIT COAL MINES 4.1
Tanjung Enim open pit coal mine – PT. Bukit Asam An
interesting planar failure was encountered at an area of
southern part of the North Muara Tiga Besar open pit mine.
The failure occurred within the sandstone interburden B–C
coal seams, that contained thin layer of claystone of the
monmorilonite clay minerals. Failure direction was
apparently in the same with that of bedding. The area
accounted for this failure was of 500 m long (along the
strike) and 100 m wide (down Table 1. Rheology models.
Model Symbol Rheology equation Newton Maxwell Kelvin
Generalized Kelvin Burger S t r e s s L e v e l ( % )
Failure Time Long-term Strength

Figure 2. Determination of long-term strength.

dip), broken into blocks with size of about 2 × 3 × 5 m 3 ,

and

displaced down at average of 15 m down dip (Figure 3a).

It is worth mentioning that heavy rains for a period of

about

a week happened prior to the failures. About 200 away from

the slope failure, along the strike, there were surface

sticks

to monitor the anticipated slope area. Surprisingly, failure

at this anticipated area did not even occur until a consider

able period of time. The surface sticks were connected with

a small diameter of wire rope, and at another end of which a

steel weigh was suspended and attached to a slide ruler.
Slope

movement was recorded every day by taking a reading on the

ruler. Unpredictably, there were no significant indications

of

slope movement.

At the northern part from the location of the planar failure

mentioned above, a number of single slope circular failures

had happened. This type of failure develops independent of

geological structural features as can be seen that the

bedding

planes are obviously oriented against the slope face

direction

and this is illustrated in Figure 3b. The phenomenon behind

this may be self explained that as the materials

constituting the

slope was categorized being soft materials and led to shear

strength reduction. It can then be said that this should had

been attributed to the fact that pressure induced might have

exceeded the inherent strength of the material and these

types

of failure are common in highly weathered or soft rocks.

Laminated claystone 40 m Before failure After failure
24 o 15 m After failure 30 m Before failure 10 m A2
A1 18 o Circular failure a b Figure 3. Cross-section of
the planar and circular slope failures at North Muara Tiga
Besar open pit mine. A research on time dependent behaviour
on slope stability was afterwards carried out using samples
obtained from the northern part of the Muara Tiga Besar
which circular failure happened. Taking account the fact
that the overburden in north MuaraTiga Besar is dominated
by claystone, the average annual rainfall is of 3000 mm,
and the overall height of slopes is up to 80 m, the average
overall slope of 20o would therefore be deemed optimum. The
individual slope would remain stable at maximum height of
40 m and 35o. These essentially attribute to the designed
Safety Factors of overall and individual slopes that vary
from 1.35 to 3.6, depending on the material types making up
the slope and the geological complexity. Nevertheless,
having remained standing for periods of about 18 months,
failure took place at some of the slopes. In order to
further find out the cause of this particular plane
failure, shear creep tests on claystone samples obtained
from

Figure 4. Shear creep test frame. y = 139,42x-0,23 R2 =

0,67 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 200 400 600 Time (days) S h e
a r s t r e s s l e v e l s ( % )

Figure 5. Long-term shear strength of a claystone specimen.

the failure area were carried out at the Laboratory of Geome

chanics DME ITB.The shear creep tests were performed using

a modified shear creep test frame that previously employed

for uniaxial creep test (see Figure 4) at the Laboratory of

Geomechanics DME ITB (Kramadibrata & Kushardanto,

2002).

Prior to the creep tests a series of “standard” direct

shear test

to determine the shear strength of the claystone was

conducted.

The same normal stresses (σ n ) used in the “standard”

direct

test were applied constantly to the specimens, but the

applied

constant shear stresses (τ nt ) were varied depending on

the cor

responded normal stresses in the “standard” direct shear

test.

The shear displacements were recorded and plotted against

time. The long-term shear strength was then determined using

the method proposed by Lama and Vutukuri (1978). The tests

and its analysis revealed the following (see Figure 5);

• Claystone time dependent behavior follows the Burger

rheology model and the long-term shear strength of clay

stone levels off at about 40% of its peak strength after

about

240 days (8 months).

• The slope stability study found out that the Safety

Factor of

the slope decreases from 3.6 to 1.4, meaning that the slope

could still be assuredly stable.

• Cohesion (C) and internal friction angle (φ) decrease

with time and they can be estimated using the equations

of: C = 513.8 t −0.24 ; φ= 73 t −0.20 respectively, where t

is

the day.

4.2 Melawan West pit coal mine, PT. Kaltim Prima Coal

Even though slope stability analysis based on limit

equilibrium

suggesting that slopes would be stable and yet slope failure

still happened. It could therefore be said that this method

of analysis could not apparently take account the long-term

behaviour of the geo-materials which governs the long-term

shear strength characteristics of the in situ materials.

Table 2. Shear strength parameters of Melawan mudstone
(Wattimena et al., 2006). Shear strength parameter Peak
Residual Long-term Cohesion (kPa) 275 0 156 Angle of int.
friction ( 0 ) 58 39 43 Subsequently, a research was
conducted and the results show that the failure was
obviously brought about by low shear strength of the
mudstone material and the geometry of the slope. A follow
up shear creep tests was then carried out at the Laboratory
of Geomechanics DME ITB to observe the creep
characteristics as well as the long-term shear strength of
the mudstone material. Similarly to the previous case of
the shear tests on claystone samples of Muara Tiga Besar,
“standard” direct shear tests were also conducted to
determine the shear strength of the mudstone samples of the
Melawan West. Shear creep tests were then performed using
five mudstone specimens. The same normal stresses (σ n )
used in the “standard” direct test were applied constantly
to the specimens, but the applied constant shear stresses
(τ nt ) were varied in the range of 46%–71% of those used
for corresponded normal stresses in the “standard” direct
shear test. Using the same principle as mentioned in Point
4.1 (Lama andVutukuri, 1978), the test results revealed
that creep characteristics of the mudstone obeyed the
Burger Rheology model. Furthermore, long-term cohesion and
tangent of long-term angle of internal friction of the
mudstone was 57% of the peak values obtained in the
“standard” direct shear test (see Table 2). Consequently,
any slope stability analysis performed for the mudstone
should use the reduction factor of 57% for the cohesion and
70% for the angle of internal friction (equivalent to the
57% reduction for the tangent of angle of internal
friction). 5 CLOSING REMARKS Having gone through the
foregoing analysis the following points may be worth
suggested; 1. Prior to the design of working bench, it is
important to conduct detailed site investigations and this
should be directed to determine possible potential failure.
Moreover, time dependent analysis may be included in order
to provide an indication on how durable the slopes against
weathering phenomenon such as heavy rainfall. 2. The time
dependent behaviour of rock slope can be obtained by
performing laboratory test of shear creep and the creep
test frame designed and manufactured in-house – which is
the first time in Indonesia – is apparently proven to
repeatedly used for other creep tests. 3. Shear strength
time dependent behaviour of coal bearing measures,
especially claystone and mudstone samples had been
obviously fitted to the Burger rheology model. 4. For long
term slope design pruposes it is important to take account
the long term factor meaning the cohesion and internal
friction angle should be reduced down between 40 to 50%
from the their peak values. 5. A major deficiency of
laboratory testing of rock specimens is that the specimens
are limited in size and therefore represent a very small
sample of the rock mass from which they

were removed.Thus, in order to gain a better understanding

of long term shear strength of rock mass, scale effect study

of shear creep testing may be worth carried out.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to extend their gratitude to all the final

year students who participated in conducting the shear creep

studies of the mentioned coal bearing strata, and Labora

tory technicians, Mr. Sudibyo and Mr. Iwan, without whom

the research work would have not possibly been well per

formed. Our sincere thanks are also due to the Management

of PT. Bukit Asam and PT. KPC who have provided invaluable

support to these studies.

Brace W.F., Paulding B., and Scholz C. 1996. Dilatancy in

the

fracture of crystalline rocks. Journal Geophysical

Research, 71,

3939–3953.

Brady B.H.G. and Brown E.T. 1993. Rock Mechanics for Under

ground Mining. 2nd edition. Chapman and Hall, London.

Chen W.F. and Saleeb A.F. 1982. Constitutive Equations for

Engineering Materials, Vol. 1. Elasticity and Modelling.

Wiley,

New York.

Girsang A.H. 2004. Analysis of slope failure at east slope

open pit

of Melawan west coal mine, PT Kaltim Prima Coal. Final year

student project report, Department of Mining Engineering
Institut Teknologi Bandung. Goodman R.E. 1989. Introduction
to Rock Mechanics. 2nd edition. Wiley, New York. Hoek E.
and Brown E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock mass
strength. International Journal Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences, 34(8), 1165–1186. Jaeger J.C. and Cook N.G.W.
1979. Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics. 3rd Edition. Chapman
and Hall, New York. Kramadibrata S. and Kushardanto H.
2002. The role of time dependent analysis to improve
environmental management system in mine closure plan in
open pit mine. International Workshop of Life Cycle
Assessment and Metals. Montreal. Lama R.D. and Vutukuri
V.S. 1978. Handbook on Mechanical Properties of Rock. Vol.
3. Division of Applied Geomechanics, CSIRO. Price N.J and
Cosgrove J.W. 1990.Analysis of Geological Structures.
Cambridge University Press. Schofield A.N. 1998. The
“Mohr-Coulomb” Error. Technical Report No. 305, Cambridge
University Engineering Department, Division D Soil
Mechanics Group. Swan C.C. and Seo Y.K. 1999. Limit state
analysis of earthen slopes using dual continuum/FEM
approaches. International Journal Numerical and Analytical
Methods in Geomechanics, 23, 1359–1371. Wattimena R.K.
Suseno Kramadibrata and Boydo Damanik,. 2006. Study on
shear creep behaviour and long-term shear strength at
laboratory. Internal Report of the Department of Mining
Engineering Institute Technology of Bandung. Vutukuri V.S.
and K. Katsuyama K., 1994. Introduction to Rock Mechanics,
Editor: Industrial Publishing & Consulting, Inc., Tokyo.
11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
The shear strength of joints in existing dam foundations G.
Ballivy, C. Gravel, T. El Malki & P. Rivard Rock Mechanics
and Engineering Geology Laboratory, Civil Engineering
Dept., Université de Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada B. Rousseau
Centre de Développement des Géosciences Appliqués,
Université de Bordeaux I, France J. Gagnon Barrages et
Ouvrages Civil, Hydro-Québec, Québec, Canada

ABSTRACT: The shear strength mobilized at the joint of a

concrete dam over its rock foundation is the main element

governing its stability. Realistic values of this strength

are determined from laboratory direct shear tests of
concrete-rock joint

specimens obtained from core drilling investigations at dam

sites using triple tube coring system to recover core
specimens of

150 mm. A special direct shear apparatus has been built to

conduct shear tests under the actual effective stresses.
Experimental
work is presented to evaluate the joint shear parameters of
a core rock section by casting concrete on it. To this end,
granite

bricks were used as preliminary studies. The residual

friction angles obtained from two dam foundations, a gneiss
and a shaly

limestone, are given and are much higher than the

conventional values applied in stability studies. Surface
measurements using

3D laser profilometry were made on rock samples from the

dams. This technique will be evaluated as future
development in

our research.

1 INTRODUCTION

The safe management of concrete dams requires a precise eval

uation of the shear strength of concrete-rock contacts,

concrete

lift joints or discontinuities in the rock mass. Several

factors

govern the shearing strength of a rock or concrete joint

such as:

in situ characteristics (block size, rock bridges, wall

strength),

fracture and void geometry (Gentier et al. 2000, Marache et

al.

2003), roughness (Belem et al. 2000, Lanaro et al. 1999),

direction of shearing and flow (Koyama et al. 2006) and

level

of applied normal stresses (Kulatilake et al. 1999).

Laboratory shear testing consists of holding a jointed sam

ple under a normal stress (vertical axis) and applying a

force

to shear the sample (horizontal axis). The peak and residual

shearing strength are obtained from this test, as well as
the

two displacements: horizontal (shear displacement) and ver

tical (normal displacement called dilatance). Analysis of

the

results is made using a Mohr-Coulomb stress diagram.

2 EXPERIMENT

The experiment described in this paper is made of two parts.

The first one consists of optimizing the use of core

drilling

samples from a concrete dam. This experimental protocol

proposes to carry out many shear tests on rock-concrete spec

imens by using the rock section of the drill core to prepare

rock-concrete samples. To develop this protocol, a homoge

neous granite was used as a rock substrate onto which mortar

was cast (El Malki, 2006). The second part of this paper

describes parts of the laboratory shear testing program

carried

out on core samples from the concrete and rock sections of

two

concrete dams. The rock foundation for one dam is a gneiss

and the other rock foundation is a shaly karstic limestone.

In Figure 1. Direct shear apparatus. both cases the core
diameters (concrete and rock) are 150 mm. A large direct
shear apparatus, built at the Civil Engineering Department
of the University of Sherbrooke, Québec, was used for the
tests. It can accommodate samples up to 200 mm in diameter.
Figure 1 shows the shear apparatus assembled inside a 3500
kN press. 3 SHEAR TESTS ON COMPOSITE ROCK/CAST MORTAR This
study (El Malki, 2006) was conducted with five manufactured
Barre granite bricks. These bricks were used to prepare

ten half specimens – two replicas for each original

specimen –

by breaking them mechanically and casting mortar onto them.

Shear took place along the longer side of the sample. After

rupturing the brick, the surface of the two joint walls are
not

exactly perpendicular to the sides of the block. The

obtained

slope was 0 to 5 ◦ . Choosing a shearing direction amounts

to

defining uphill or downhill shearing – the first factor to

eval

uate. The two matching samples can also be tested in the

same

or opposite directions of roughness – the second factor to

be

evaluated.

The choice of the shearing direction is made on one replica.

By keeping the same shearing direction on the second

replica,

the slope effect will be evaluated. On the other hand, by

using

the opposite shearing direction, the roughness effect will

be

evaluated.

Figure 2 shows the two half specimens used as a substrate

for the composite sample (right). Figure 3 shows two typical

shear planes: almost horizontal and an uphill slope of 5 ◦

. The

shearing direction was from left to right. The moving half

of

the specimen was always the mortar side, while the granite
was kept stationary.

The shear tests were carried out under a constant 0.5 MPa

normal stress which is about the stress of a 20 m high con

crete dam. The displacement rate was 0.12 mm/min. The tests

were stopped when the shearing displacements reached 4 mm

(although a 10–15 mm of displacement could have been more

appropriate). Residual shear strength was evaluated when the

shear strength was found to be constant.

After analysis of these results, it became clear that the

num

ber of samples was too low to obtain reliable mean values

for

the different effects, due to high variability in results.

The

residual friction angle φ r varied from 41 to 54 ◦ (standard

deviation of 3.5 ◦ ). A dilation angle i was calculated by

using

the inverse tangent of the normal displacement slope over

the

Figure 2. Granite specimens: two halves after rupture

(left); rock

mortar after casting (right).

Figure 3. Samples after shear test: horizontal shear plane

(top),

uphill (5 ◦ ) shear plane (bottom). shear displacement when

the shear strength remained constant (at about 3 mm). The
values are from 7 to 23 ◦ (standard deviation of 6 ◦ ). One
objective of the study was to define a relationship between
φ r and i with the effects of roughness and slope. To this
end, a corrected friction angle φ corr was calculated by
subtracting the slope, when uphill shearing (or adding it
when downhill shearing), and the dilation angle toφ r .
Unfortunately, due to the low number of samples and the
high variability of the results, no valid relationship was
found. It is planned to continue the research on this
subject. 4 SHEAR TESTING OF CONCRETE DAMS The first
investigated dam is a 10 m high concrete gravity dam lying
over a gneissic rock foundation. Two core drilling
investigations were performed on the dam: the results of
the first one are presented. The drilling program was
intended to recover core samples from a horizontal fissure
visible on the downstream face of the dam, to evaluate its
shear strength parameters, and to investigate the shear
parameters at the rockconcrete contact. During the first
phase of the drilling program, two vertical 150 mm diameter
cores drilled from the crest did not recover intact samples
from the fissure and no shear testing could be done. The
second drilling phase is planned to recover more contacts.
However seven samples of concrete discontinuities from
other locations within the dam were taken and shear tested.
The average residual friction angle obtained for these
samples was 61 ◦ . Vertical core samples were taken near
the bottom of the downstream face of the dam to investigate
the concrete-rock contact and the rock foundation. Figure 4
shows unbonded and bonded contacts. The average shear
residual friction angle obtained for the contacts was 57 ◦
. Following the second phase, the number of bonded contacts
versus unbonded contacts will permit attribution of a value
of cohesion to the dam foundation. The second dam
investigated is also a small concrete gravity dam. It is
founded on a karstic grey limestone with small layers of
black shale. It must be recognized beforehand that for this
particular type of karstic foundation, there are two
different and separate problems. The first problem is
related to the evaluation of the size of the cavities, the
mineralogy of the rock, its stability related to further
erosion/dissolution and whether remediation measures, such
as injection, should be taken. The core drilling program
could answer some of these questions, if enough borings are
made. More practically, the extent and size of the cavities
should be investigated with surface or borehole geophysics
in preliminary works to help locate probable voids. The
second problem is to find the values of shear parameters to
attribute to the rock foundation. Figure 4. Unbonded (left)
and bonded (right) rock-concrete contact at Dam 1.

For this dam, the drilling was performed with a special

triple

tube coring system to recover intact large samples of 150 mm

diameter. Two vertical core drillings from the crest were

made

to sample a 10 m section of concrete and 15 m of rock. Over

these lengths of drill core in the rock, relatively few

cavities

were encountered. The rock section is composed of different

units. The critical unit, whose shear strength is

questioned, is

the limestone with small millimetre thick beds of black

shale

located a few meters below the rock-concrete contact.

Figure 5

shows a plan view of the surface roughness of the wall joint

of one shear specimen and Figure 6 shows the side view for

the two wall joints of the same specimen.

Shear testing was performed on the shale beds on nine spec

imens. It was decided to test most of the shale samples in

a dry condition because of the deterioration of shale when

immersed in water. The residual friction angle, using a 15

mm

shear displacement, on six dry samples, was 48 ◦ . A second

set of tests were carried out on samples for which the

surfaces

were wetted just before the shear testing. Three specimens

were tested this way and the residual friction angle

obtained

was 41 ◦ . There is then a difference of seven degrees

between

dry and wet surfaces. This observation reinforces the fact

that

careful specimen preparation is an important step in shear

test

ing. The value of 41 ◦ for the residual friction angle was

not

corrected for the dilation. A dilation angle of about 5 ◦

was

obtained for all specimens. When subtracting this angle from

the friction angle, a basal friction angle of 36 ◦ is

obtained.This

value is higher than what is usually assigned to basal

friction

angles for shale, namely between 20 and 30 ◦ , measured on

saw cut surfaces. This points out that performing shear test

ing on rough surfaces, instead of saw cut polished surfaces,

is more realistic and can give strength values higher than

the

conventional ones applied in stability studies by dam safety

guidelines. We should acknowledge that this residual

friction

angle is quite different from the basal angle measured on

saw

cut surfaces. It seems more realistic at this point to use

the

residual friction angle, with a roughness angle included in

it,

than the basal friction angle, which is believed to have too

much scatter (Nicholson, 1994).

Figure 5. View of shale bed roughness surface at Dam 2.

Figure 6. Panoramic view of the shear joint at Dam 2. 5

LASER SURFACE ROUGHNESS MEASUREMENTS The surface roughness
of the Dam 2 samples were scanned using a 3D laser
profilometer (Kréon Zephyr KZ25). Figure 7 shows the
profilometer scanning a sample. The scanned surface is
shown in a 3D view on Figure 8. Figure 9 shows that several
roughness profiles can be obtained from the scan. Different
techniques, 2D or 3D, for surface analysis are available.
Broadly speaking, there are three classes of techniques:
fractals, geostatistics and amplitude/texture analysis.
Fractals could be scale invariant (Castelli et al. 2001),
geostatistics has a solid mathematical foundation and the
recent set of 14 parameters (amplitude, texture and
functional) developed by Stout et al. (1993) are promising.
Future work is planned to evaluate the best surface
analysis techniques for surface roughness measurements of
the Dam 2 samples. It is intended to extract parameters to
define an equivalent roughness angle i that can be used in
the Mohr-Coulomb shear strength criterion. The extracted
parameters could then be used to evaluate damage that
occurs during shearing. 6 CONCLUSION This article presents
different testing cases and the inherent difficulties in
conducting shear testing, which is quite complex and where
many factors must be taken into account. Large diameter
core recovery using a triple tube system improves the
reliability of shear testing results, together with the use
of Figure 7. Dam 2 sample scanned by 3D laser profilometer.
Figure 8. 3D view of a Dam 2 scanned sample surface.

Figure 9. Roughness profiles from Dam 2 scanned sample.

a large frame shear apparatus. Laser profilometry appears to

be much valuable in future work to decide in which direction

the samples should be sheared. It is also anticipated that a

value for the roughness angle i could be obtained from 3D

ABSTRACT: The highest apartment building in Spain, a 132.70

m high tower (Fig. 1) has been successfully completed at

Tenerife Island. The foundation of the tower is supported

by jointed, vesicular and weathered basalt, and scoria. A
three

dimensional, elastic, finite element calculation, carried

out with Plaxis 3D Foundations program, has permitted to
calculate the

displacements of the tower and the stresses in the slab.

The installation of rod extensometers at different depths
below the slab

has provided a comparison between measured and calculated

settlements, and the estimation of in-situ deformation
moduli. The

moduli deduced from the simple empirical equation proposed

by Hoek et al. (2002) and Gokceoglu et al. (2003) as a
function

of GSI, and Verman et al. (1997) that incorporates the

influence of the confining stress in the deformation
modulus, provide a

good fit with the measured settlements in this type of rock.

1 INTRODUCTION

Twin towers are integrated in a privileged expansion zone of

Santa Cruz (Tenerife Island), near outstanding structures

such

as the Auditorium and the Congress Palace both designed

by the well-known Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava. The

first tower, with a height of 132.7 m (above foundation) has

been recently completed (Fig. 1).

The building, with 35 storeys above ground level and 5 base

ments, is the highest apartment building in Spain. It was

decided to found the tower on a 2 m thick concrete slab.

This

paper deals with the foundation of this tower.

Figure 1. Section of tower and attached building. 2 GENERAL

GEOLOGY Santa Cruz is located in the NE of the island of
Tenerife. Quaternary lava flows, alternating with levels of
scoria, are the main constituents of the substrate of this
town. They are interbedded with thin red volcanic tuff and
whitish pumice layers that had been carried to the site by
westerly winds (Fig. 2). Lava flows are typical fresh
alkaline basalts with olivine included in a fine-grained
plagioclase and pyroxene matrix. The stratification is
sub-horizontal. Both the basalt and the levels of scoria
present cavities of variable size. The sea level and tides
control the water level. The volcanic material constitutes
a very pervious mass, which cannot take any pressure during
Lugeon tests. 3 STRATIGRAPHY Figure 2 shows the excavation
front, 17.5 m deep. The following layers appear from top to
bottom in the geological with respect to the sea level: a)
Fill and volcanic tuff from 16.3 to 18.1 m. b) Jointed,
blue, upper basalt from + 6.9 to + 16.3 m. c) Red volcanic
tuff and whitish pumice from + 0.6 to + 6.9 m. Figure 2.
Excavation front showing the jointed basalt (dark).

d) Jointed lower basalt below level +0.6 m, with small

cavities. Within this stratum, the one situated below the
foundation of the tower, there are scoriaceous, vesicular
and massive levels. This layer was divided into three
subtypes: d1 (vesicular and massive basalt), d2 (weathered)
and d3 (scoria).

4 STUDY SITE

Ten boreholes were drilled up to a depth of 30 m below the

bottom of the excavation. Unconfined compression tests were

performed on the samples. In some tests carried out in

basalt,

the vertical and horizontal strains were measured with

strain

gauges (Fig. 3), allowing to find the deformation modulus

and

Poisson’s ratio.

The average uniaxial compressive strength was 83 Mpa in

the upper basalt (type b in section 3), 69 MPa in the lower

vesicular and massive basalt, 24 Mpa in the lower weathered

basalt, 3.3 MPa in the red volcanic and tuff 0.8 Mpa in the

whitish pumice.

The behaviour of the samples under stress was almost elastic

for vertical stresses up to 52.5 MPa, with small plastic

strains.

The modulus is little dependent upon basalt type or stress

level.
Average moduli of 61 GPa for loading and 71 GPa for reload

ing were obtained. The corresponding Poisson’s ratio values

were 0.34 and 0.37 respectively. As it will be expounded

later,

in this case there is reloading up to the end of

construction.

The ratio E r /σ ci have an average value of 1023. 0 2 4 6

8 10 12 14 16 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
400 STRAIN (10 -6 ) S T R E S S E S ( M p a ) 1st cycle 2nd
cycle horizontal vertical

Figure 3. Stress-strain graphs obtained from the uniaxial

loading

performed on massive basalt. LAYER 4 -5.0 -5.4 +0.6 -29.4

-11.65 LOWER BASALT (d) LOWER BASALT (d) LOWER BASALT (d) D
E P T H ( m ) b e l o w s l a b b o t t o m +2.60 +7 +16
+18 END OF DISCRETIZATION EV4 EV3 EV6 EV5 EV2 EV1 50. 6 30
12.25 6 0 SLAB SLAB LOWER BASALT (d) LAYER 1 LAYER 3 LAYER
2 VOLCANIC TUFF (c) UPPER BASALT (b) FILL (a) TOWER
ATTACHED BUILDING

Figure 6. Section of tower and attached building, showing

the geological profile, vertical position of the
extensometers and layers for FE

calculations. Six pressuremeter tests were carried out in

the boreholes. In basalt the pressuremeter moduli ranged
from 0.8 to 2.6 GPa, with an average value of 1.7 GPa. In
the pyroclastic breccia a modulus of 0.4 GPa was found. The
pressuremeter modulus is around forty times lower than the
uniaxial compression one. 5 ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATIONS Justo
et al. (2006) carefully applied Bieniawski’s (1979) RMR to
the strata of the site. Hoek (1994) and Hoek et al. (1995)
proposed the geological strength index (GSI) based upon
visual impression on the rock mass structure. This index
has been modified by Sonmez and Ulusay (1999). Figure 4.
Location and depth (m) of boreholes and rod extensometers.
-0,50 0,00 0,50 1,00 1,50 2,00 2,50 3,00 3,50 4,00
15/12/2001 25/03/2002 03/07/2002 11/10/2002 19/01/2003
29/04/2003 07/08/2003 15/11/2003 Dates S e t t l e m e n t
s ( m m ) -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 S t o r e y s EV-1 EV-2
EV-3 EV-4 EV-5 EV-6 Work advance (storeys) Figure 5.
Settlements at rod extensometers (Figure 4 shows the
position and depth of the extensometers).
Figure 6 shows the rock layers considered in the FE calcu

lations. The foundation rocks of the tower have been divided

into depth increments corresponding to the positions of the

extensometers and the end of discretization (layers 1–4).

Research was undertaken to find the moduli, obtained from

correlations with rock indices that best fit the measured

set

tlements. The corresponding moduli have been calculated as

the weighted harmonic mean with respect to the thicknesses

of each ground type (d1 to d3). The moduli obtained for

layers

b, 1, 2 and 3 are collected in Table 1. The moduli of layer

4,

not explored because the boreholes did not go so deep, have

been estimated.

Table 1. Rock mass deformation moduli (in GPa) for the

foundation basaltic layers according to different authors.
Hoek Palmström Gokceaglu et al. (2003) et al. and Sing Boyd
Verman et al. Depth (2202) (2002) (1993) (1997)

Layer under E m = 0.15 e 0.065GSI E m = 0.074 e 0.076RMR E

m = 0.2 σ ci E m = 0.4 H α 10 (RMR−20)/38

(Fig. 6) slab (m) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

b 2.75 4.68 4.4 16.5 13.5 5.3

1 0–6 2.08 1.44 2.79 6.2 4.05 1.72

2 6–12.25 2.35 1.73 3.28 7.0 5.13 2.46

3 12.25–30 2.38 1.78 3.38 7.1 5.91 2.91

4 30–50.6 2.8* 4.7* 4.4* 17* 13.5* 5.3*

(3) E m = (1-D/2) (σ ci /100) 1/2 × 10 (GSI−10)/40 for σ ci

< 100 MPa * estimared value.
(5) E m = RMR 4 /10 6 for p = 10 kPa E m = RMR 3 /10 4 for
p = 1 MPa.

Table 2. Comparison between the settlements measured at the

end of construction and those calculated using Plaxis 3-D
Foundation program

and an elastic material model. Moduli obtained from Eq. (3)

in Table 1. Calculated Settlement (mm) Deformation
settlement Depths of modulus at slab

Extensometer Depth (m) Measured Calculated layers (m) (GPa)

bottom (mm)

1 0–12,25 1.95 0.62 0–6.00 2.79 1.59

2 0–31.20 2.13 1.24 6.00–12.25 3.28 1.61

3 0–12.2 0.68 0.70 12.25–30.0 3.38 1.58

4 0–12.7 0.49 0.63 30.00–50.6 4.4* 1.50

5 0–6.00 1.97 1.18 3.99

6 0–29.2 3.32 3.29 3.87

∗ Sum of squares of the errors = 3.21 mm 2 .

Table 3. Comparison between the settlements measured at the

end of construction and those calculated using Plaxis 3-D
Foundation program

and an elastic material model. Moduli obtained from Eq. (6)

in Table 1. Calculated Settlement (mm) Deformation
settlement Depths of modulus at slab

Extensometer Depth (m) Measured Calculated layers (m) (GPa)

bottom (mm)

1 0–12,25 1.95 0,83 0–6.00 1.72 1.83

2 0–31.20 2.13 1.55 6.00–12.25 2.46 1.87

3 0–12.2 0.68 0.92 12.25–30.0 2.91 1.83

4 0–12.7 0.49 0.83 30.00–50.6 5.3* 1.73

5 0–6.00 1.97 1.88 5.16

6 0–29.2 3.32 4.58 5.09

∗ Sum of squares of the errors = 3.37 mm 2 . 6 FINITE
ELEMENT CALCULATIONS Finite element calculations have been
carried out using the Plaxis (2005) 3-D Foundation program.
It operates with 15-node wedge elements. Tables 2 and 3
compare the results obtained with the moduli of equations
(1), (3) and (6) of Table 1 and the measured results. The
best agreement with the settlements measured at
extensometers, given by the sum of squares of the errors,
corresponds to Eq. (3) (Hoek et al., 2002), but Eq. (6) and
(1) give also acceptable results.

7 CONCLUSIONS

1. The construction of the tower on fractured and weathered

vesicular basalt and scoria has been successfully completed

with negligible settlements and rotations.

2. Correlations with different geomechanical indices may

give an acceptable fit between measured and calculated

settlements (Tables 2 to 3). A similar fit is reached with

the simple statistical relationships given by Hoek et al.

(2002) and Gokceoglu et al. (2003) that relate the modulus

with GSI:

A good correlation is obtained also with the empirical equa

tion given by Verman et al. (1997) that takes into account

the

influence of depth:

where H is the height of the overburden in m

α= 0.042 + 0.00378 RMR

Bieniawski, Z.T. 1979.The geomechanics classification in

rock engi

neering applications. Proceedings of the Fourth Cong. ISRM:

2,

41–48. Montreux. Boyd, R.D. 1993. Elastic properties of

jointed rock masses with regard to their rock mass rating
value. In The Engineering Geology of Weak Rock, Eds. Cripps
et al., Rotterdam: Balkema, pp. 329–336. Gokceoglu, C.,
Sonmez, H. and Kayabasi, A. 2003. Predicting the
deformation moduli of rock masses. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. , 40, 701–710. Hoek, E. 1994. Strength of rock and
rock masses. ISRM New Journal, 2, 2, 4–16. Hoek, E.,
Kaiser, P.K. and Bawden, W.F. 1995. Support of Underground
Excavations in Hard Rock. Rotterdam: Balkema,. Hoek, E.,
Carranza-Torres, C. and Corkum, B. Hoek-Brown failure
criterion-2002 edition. 5th North American Rock Mechanics
Symposium and Tunneling Association of Canada Conference:
NARMS-TAC, 2002, 267–271. Justo, J.L., Justo, E., Durand,
P. and Azañón, J.M. 2001. The foundation of a 40-storey
tower in jointed basalt. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 43,
257–281. Palmström, A. and Singh R. 2001. The deformation
modulus of rock masses-comparisons between in situ tests
and indirect estimates. Tunnelling and Underground space
Technology, 16, 115–131. Plaxis 2005. 3-D Foundation.
Version 1.5 manual. Eds. R.B.J. Brinkgreve and W. Broere.
Delft Univ. and Plaxis BV, the Netherlands. Sonmez, H. and
Ulusay, R. 1999 Modifications to the geological strength
index (GSI) and their applicability to stability of slopes.
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. , 36, 743–760. Verman, M.,
Singh B., Viladkar M.N. and Jethwa, J.L. 1997. Effect of
tunnel depth on modulus of deformation of rock mass. Rock
Mech. Rock Eng., 30, 3, 121–127. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 The use of rock mass
characterization in the development of founding criteria
for dams G.N. Davis Engineering Geosciences Unit, Council
for Geoscience, Pretoria, South Africa

ABSTRACT: Recent years have seen a move away from the

simplistic, experience-based approach for determination of

excavation depths for the larger dams in South Africa,

towards the more numerically-based, systematic definition
of founding

criteria. Amongst the key design requirements for various

dam types is that of foundation deformability. Minimum
Deformation

Moduli values for the founding rock mass, for the various
dam types, are defined by dam designers. Actual measurement
of

strength and deformation properties is, however, associated

with well-known problems of scale and representivity, as
well as cost.

For this reason there is some reliance on empirical

approaches, with strength and deformation properties of the
founding rock

masses being determined in accordance with standard rock

mass characterization principles. As a check, the paper
compares

actual excavation depths with depths predicted using

defined founding criteria.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the past, assessment of expected excavation depths for

dams in SouthAfrica largely followed a simplistic,

experience

based approach. Reliance was placed on the geo-practitioner

having sufficient experience not only in terms of geological

aspects, but also in terms of knowing what would con

stitute acceptable founding conditions for respective dam

types. A ‘methodology’ such as this is, however, fraught

with obvious problems and there was a clear need for a

more objective, numerically-based assessment of excavation

depths.

To this end, the concept of defined ‘founding criteria’ was

developed, with the aim of compiling a numerically-based

system which could accommodate geological input, as well

as engineering requirements, and in this way move away from

the more subjective experience-based approaches.

2 DEFORMATION MODULUS AS FOUNDING

CRITERIA
Each dam type has a requirement of certain minimum quality

in respect of the founding conditions. This may be expressed

in terms of the deformation modulus for the founding rock

mass, although other parameters could also be used. Typi

cal minimum deformation moduli for respective dam types,

as required of the foundation by the dam designer, are

summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Typical minimum foundation deformation moduli.

Minimum foundation

Dam types deformation moduli (GPa)

Concrete arch 30

Concrete gravity 10

CFRD plinth 8–10

Earth-/rockfill core 1,8–2

Rockfill shoulders 0,5–1 2.1 Assessing rock mass properties

In an effort to assess realistic rock mass strength and
deformation properties, and at the same time overcoming the
constraints of actual testing, several workers have looked
to rock mass classification systems to provide geological
input in the determination of rock mass parameters. The RMR
rock mass classification of Bieniawski (1976), for example,
was used by Bieniwaski and Orr (1976) as the basis for
allocation of rock mass strength parameters (c, φ). The
modulus of deformation (E m ) for the rock mass was
estimated from the relationship between the
laboratorydetermined modulus and the in situ modulus, and
the RMR value. In 1980, Hoek and Brown developed their
original failure criterion for rock masses. Further
developments and refinements followed over the years,
including the introduction of the Geological Strength Index
(GSI) to overcome deficiencies in Bieniawski’s RMR for very
poor quality rock masses. In 1997, Hoek and Brown presented
a summary of the interpretation of the Hoek-Brown failure
criterion, including calculation of equivalent Mohr-Coulomb
parameters. It is not the intention of this paper to
present a detailed explanation of the development of the
Hoek-Brown failure criterion, and a thorough review of the
development is presented in Hoek and Brown (1997). A brief
outline of the input and output parameters is, however,
warranted. In short, Hoek and Brown have, since 1980,
developed a method for estimating the strength and
deformation characteristics of isotropic rock masses. Only
three input parameters are required, namely; • The uniaxial
compressive strength σ ci of the intact rock material, •
The Hoek-Brown constant m i for the rock material, and •
The Geological Strength Index (GSI) which considers the
structure of the rock mass as well as the condition of the
discontinuities. Ideally, values for the uniaxial
compressive strength σ ci and the constant m i should be
determined from triaxial testing. Tables provided by Hoek
and Brown present an alternative to actual triaxial
testing. The Geological Strength Index (GSI)

may be obtained by visual assessment of the rock mass, where

the structure is described in terms of the degree of block

iness and the condition of the discontinuities is appraised

in

terms of surface roughness and alteration, or presence of

infill

material. Hoek & Brown (1997) provided a table to facili

tate estimation of the appropriate numerical GSI values,

with

subsequent further extensions to the GSI system being pro

posed to cater for very weak and sheared rock masses (Hoek

et al, 1998).

From the above input parameters, the methodology

described by Hoek and Brown may be used to determine

strength and deformation parameters for the rock mass,

including friction angle φ, cohesion c, uniaxaial compres

sive strength of the rock mass σ cm , as well as the

defomation

modulus of the rock mass E mod .

2.2 Importance of rock mass characterization

Although the estimation of strength and deformation proper

ties for the rock mass therefore requires three input param

eters, in the case of better rock masses (σ ci > 100 MPa)

the

deformation modulus is solely related to the RMR (or GSI)

value, as per Equation 1 after Serafim & Pereira (1983). For

poorer quality rock masses (σ ci < 100 MPa), on the other

hand,

the uniaxial compressive strength σ ci is also brought into

con

sideration (Equation 2). The selection of representative GSI

values therefore assumes great importance.

According to Hoek and Brown, the value of the GSI may,

for the better quality rock masses (GSI > 25), be estimated

directly from Bieniawski’s (1976) Rock Mass Rating.As men

tioned, the GSI value may also be assessed directly from

tables

provided by Hoek and Brown, and based on visual appraisal

of the rock mass structure and the surface condition of the

discontinuities.

A previous comparative assessment of these two approaches

in determining the GSI value, using data from the proposed

De Hoop dam site, and the discrepancies in the resulting

defor

mation modulus values, highlighted difficulties in assigning

truly representative GSI values (Davis, 2002).

Comparison between the Deformation Modulus E mod esti

mated using GSI values obtained by visual assessment of

the rock mass, and that obtained using GSI values deter

mined from Bieniawski’s Rock Mass Rating system reveal

consistent underestimation, with regression analysis

yielding

a coefficient of determination in the order of 60%.

Others have also recognized difficulties with the rough esti

mates of GSI values. In order to provide a more quantitative

basis for estimating GSI values, Sonmez & Ulusay (1999)

proposed a modification which introduced a rating system for

the rock mass structure and joint surface condition.

Briefly,

the surface condition rating SCR is estimated from the input

parameters of roughness, weathering and infilling, with rat

ings after Bieniawski, while the structure rating SR is

based

on the volumetric joint count J v .

Limited comparison using data from the proposed De Hoop

dam site suggests incorporation of this rating system intro

duces greater reproducibility. This is illustrated in

Figure 2 in Figure 1. Comparison between deformation moduli
determined from empirical GSI tables, and that calculated
from the Rock Mass Rating value. Figure 2. Comparative plot
of GSI values, illustrating effect of using rating system
of Sonmez & Ulusay (1999), rather than reliance on
empirical determination. which GSI values estimated from
the Hoek and Brown chart are plotted against values
determined in accordance with the rating system of Sonmez &
Ulusay (1999). The regression analysis for this yields a
correlation coefficient of 69%. 3 FOUNDING CRITERIA As
mentioned above, in the SouthAfrican context past practice
regarding dam site assessment and determination of
excavation depths has largely been a relatively simplistic,
experiencebased approach. As a rule, characterization of
the founding conditions followed an exploratory core
drilling programme, with additional inputs from rock
mechanics tests, primarily rock material strengths either
from uniaxial compressive strength testing or point load
strength testing. Excavation depths were then assessed
based to a large extent on interpretation of the geological
profile and experience relating to the foundation
requirements. The move, within South Africa, towards a more
numerically-based, systematic approach to determine
founding

levels for dams followed international trends. Evolution of

these methodologies was initiated in the midto late 1990’s

for a number of very large dams in southern Africa

(Meintjies,

et al, 1997; Thukela Basin Consultants, 1998). More recently

the approach has been refined for the 70 m high, concrete

faced rockfill, Berg River Dam currently nearing completion

in the Cape Winelands, and the design of the soon-to-be

constructed 80 m high, mass concrete, De Hoop Dam.

3.1 Development of criteria

As stated above, each dam type has a specific minimum foun

dation requirement which can be expressed in the form of the

Modulus of Deformation.

Accepting that there is a relationship between rock mass

characterization and rock mass properties, including the

defor

mation modulus, it becomes possible, via a process of back

analysis, to define appropriate minimum Rock Mass Rating

(RMR) values which will, in turn, imply certain

corresponding
minimum founding rock mass deformation parameters.

The process can be further extended to the definition of

various minimum input parameters for the RMR classification

system, including degree of weathering, joint spacing as

well

as joint condition.

Other rock mass classification systems than Bieniawski’s

RMR system have been used by others (Rama Sarma & Sarsby,

2005), but the RMR system appears to have gained the widest

acceptance perhaps because of ease of use.

It might be noted that there are later versions of Bieni

awski’s RMR system than the early 1976 version. There have

been some adjustments to the rating values for the various

parameters in later versions, but application of either ver

sion is acceptable. Because of the differences in certain

rating

values Hoek and Brown have specified that for the GSI to

be estimated directly from the 1976 version of the RMR,

the Groundwater rating should be set to 10 (dry) while the

Adjustment for Joint Orientation should be set to zero (very

favourable).

The argument for selecting a ‘dry’ Groundwater Rating is

debatable. It may be argued that, in the case of a dam foun

dation, a more realistic approach would be to assume the

condition of ‘severe water problems’, implying a rating

value

of zero should be assigned – rather than the rating of 10

for

‘completely dry’ conditions.

The defining of founding criteria described above is per

haps best illustrated by means of an example. Consider the

case of a mass concrete, gravity dam. From a design point

of view, a foundation for such a dam would require a mini

mum deformation modulus in the order of 10 GPa, as reflected

in Table 1. From back analysis using Equations 1 & 2, it

may be deduced that a RMR of 50 is required. With this

knowledge it is possible to link input values to the various

RMR classification parameters. This example is illustrated

in

Table 2.

Note that the above summation (to produce the total RMR

value of at least 50) depends on strict application

according

Hoek & Brown where a rating value of zero is included for

‘completely dry’groundwater conditions. As stated above, the

case could be argued for inclusion of a more realistic

rating of

zero for ‘wet’ groundwater conditions. This would, however,

have the result of lowering the overall Rock Mass Rating –

in borderline cases to the level where the RMR value of 40

is

obtained, which would then fail to meet the required minimum

deformation modulus of 10 GPa. Table 2. Example of minimum

founding criteria (for mass concrete gravity dam), for
minimum deformation modulus of 10 GPa. Parameter
Description Weathering Moderately to slightly weathered
(non-friable) Rock material strength (MPa) UCS 100–200 Rock
Quality Designation (RQD) 40% Joint spacing Closely spaced
(<50 mm) Joint condition Slightly rough surfaces, joint
separation<1 mm, hard joint wall rock Rock mass rating Fair
rock (RMR > 50) 3.2 Application of criteria There would be
a temptation, with the development of such a
numerically-based approach, to overly rely on these
numerical inputs, at the exclusion of the engineering
geological inputs. It is emphasized here that these
engineering geological inputs are essential and cannot be
ignored. Application of this approach of defining founding
criteria should not be seen as a replacement for geological
characterization; but rather emphasizes the importance of
accurate, representative foundation characterization.
Moreover, there can be no universally-defined founding
criterion, applicable to all situations. While the basic
concept of each dam type requiring certain minimum
foundation properties certainly holds true, each foundation
should be assessed on its own merits. It is therefore
natural that the accepted approach of characterizing the
dam founding conditions is still a key step in the process
of defining and applying founding criteria. Furthermore,
rather than blindly applying these criteria to the drilling
results it is recommended that the foundations be
characterized in the accepted manner, namely defining zones
of similar conditions. Each defined zone would then be
characterized further, in terms of the standard rock mass
parameters with added input from rock material properties.
This step in rock mass characterization of the respective,
defined zones would lead to ascribing of rock mass
parameters for these zones, and the founding criteria would
then be applied to these geologically-defined zones. The
culmination of this process would be the assessment of
foundation suitability and appraisal of founding depths for
the applicable structure. It should be clear that to skip
the step whereby the foundation zoning is done, and to
apply founding criteria directly to, say, the point
information comprising exploratory boreholes would be to
ignore valuable engineering geological inputs regarding
characterization of the founding rock mass. 4 EXAMPLES OF
CRITERIA APPLICATION Neither of the two examples quoted
followed the discussed approach of defining
numerically-based founding criteria, although the broad
concept of what constitutes acceptable founding conditions
did form the basis of the predicted excavation depths. Both
dams were investigated before the principle of defined
founding criteria had been developed, and provide
opportunity for back analysis where empirically-determined
founding levels may be compared to depths which could have
been determined from numerically-based founding criteria.
Table 3. Theoretical founding criteria – concrete section,

Qedusizi Dam. Assigned

Parameter Measure rating

Weathering grade Slightly

Uniaxial 250–300 MPa 15

compressive

Strength RQD 65–85% 15

Joint spacing Close to medium 15

Joint condition Slightly rough, occasionally 5 smooth. Hard

to soft joint wall rock. Staining to thin clay

4.1 Qedusizi Dam

Qedusizi Dam is located almost 200 km inland of Durban, near

the town of Ladysmith. The dam was constructed for flood

management purposes and was completed in 1998. The 32 m

high composite dam comprises a central concrete spillway

section and earthfill embankment flanks.

Foundation geology comprises dolerite which has intruded

siltstones of the Karoo Supergroup.

Design-level engineering geological investigations did

attempt to define founding criteria, based on results of the

exploratory drilling programme. A deformation modulus of

16 GPa was estimated for the dolerite but it is uncertain

how

this value was determined.

Founding criteria defined at the time of the investigation

(George, Orr & Associates, 1990) described the dolerite at

the

recommended founding level as generally slightly weathered,

with close to medium joint spacing and clay infill less than

2 mm wide.

Should these criteria for the central, concrete section have

been assigned numerical values they might have been as

follows (Table 3);

By ascribing a value of 10 for ‘dry’groundwater conditions

would imply a RMR rating value of 70, i.e. Very Good Rock.

In the case of the concrete section of Qedusizi Dam the

founding conditions were very good and the recommended

founding horizon was generally self-evident. In such cases,

application of numerically-based founding criteria might not

obviously aid in determining excavation depths, but neverthe

less does provide numerical support in the decision-making

process.

4.2 Nandoni Dam

Nandoni Dam is a composite structure with a central con

crete spillway section and earthfill embankment flanks. The

dam is 47 m high and was constructed between 1998 and

2005. The dam is located approximately 500 km north of

Johannesburg.

The site geology comprises gneisses which have been

intruded by numerous diabase dykes.

While design-level engineering geological investigations

did not define numerically-based founding criteria, broad

foundation objectives were nevertheless defined (Schall,

1998).

Unweathered or slightly weathered rock was considered

suitable for founding of the concrete structure, while moder

ately weathered rock was considered to be marginal. Founding

would, however, be considered acceptable if this moderately

Table 4. Minimum founding criteria – concrete section,
Nandoni Dam. Rating which would Parameter Measure have been
assigned Weathering grade Moderately UCS 30–100 MPa 7 RQD
50–75% 13 Joint spacing Closely spaced 10 (50–300 mm) Joint
condition Slightly rough, soft 12 joint wall rock weathered
material comprised hard rock (estimated UCS values 25–70
MPa), and clay-filled joints were not present. Actual
excavations revealed highly variable conditions (Schall,
2003). Looking at positions of individual boreholes, actual
founding depths in places were shallower than predicted,
but in other areas were substantially deeper. A major
reason for this discrepancy was the presence of an
undetected fault/shear zone which was associated with
intense fracturing and deep weathering. Localized poor rock
conditions were also reason for these discrepancies. It
might be noted that prior definition of founding criteria
in such instances would not necessarily aid in more
accurate prediction of excavation depths, but would rather
substantiate later decisions. Based on the descriptive
foundation objectives, a numerically-based system of
founding criteria such as illustrated in Table 4 might have
been defined, however. As before, a value of 10 for ‘dry’
groundwater conditions would be incorporated, as prescribed
by Hoek & Brown (1997). Together with the assumed ‘dry’
groundwater condition, these minimum criteria yield a RMR
value of 52, implying a rock mass deformation modulus
greater than the required 10 GPa for a mass concrete
structure. Comparison of the geological conditions at the
actual founding depths for the concrete structure lends
support to those instances where these founding levels were
at variance with those predicted. The decision to found at
shallower depths could invariably be justified when the
numericallybased founding criteria were applied, and herein
lies one of the greater benefits of such an approach. 5
CONCLUSIONS There is a move away from empirical,
experience-based determination of excavation depths for
dams in southern Africa, towards more numerically-based
founding criteria. Each dam type has certain minimum
foundation requirements which may be expressed, for
example, in terms of the deformation modulus of the
founding rock mass. Actual measurement of in situ rock mass
strength and deformation properties is known to be
problematic and great reliance is placed on rock mass
characterization to provide empirical strength and
deformation parameters. Knowing the minimum required
deformation modulus, for example, allows a process of back
analysis whereby input parameters for a specific quality
rock mass may be defined. Such a systematic approach allows
numerical justification to underpin the determination of
excavation depths.

Preliminary comparison between actual excavation depths

for recently-constructed dams in South Africa and depths

predicted using numerically-based founding criteria provides

objective justification for determination of these depths.

The definition of founding criteria should not, however, be

seen as a simple panacea, to be blindly followed.

Engineering

geological input cannot be ignored and judicious application

of such criteria is important. Some flexibility is

required, and

there should be some allowance for revision of the criteria

after

actual founding conditions are exposed during construction.

Bieniawski, Z.T. 1976. Rock mass classification systems in

rock

engineering. Proc. Symp. Exploration for Rock Engineering.

Johannesburg.

Bieniawski, Z.T. & Orr, C.M. 1976. Rapid site appraisal for
dam

foundations by the Geomechanics Classification. Proc. ICOLD.

Mexico.
Davis, G.N. 2002. Application of the Hoek-Brown failure
criterion

in the assessment of rock mass parameters for dam founda

tions. International Association for Engineering Geology and

the Environment (IAEG). 9th Congress ‘Engineering Geology

for

Developing Countries’. Durban.

George, Orr & Associates. 1990. Ladysmith Flood Attenuation

Scheme. Report on engineering geological dam investigations.

Unpublished report, No 1990–010. Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T.

1980. Underground excavations in rock. Inst. Min. Metall.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol 34, No 8,
pp 1165–1186. Hoek, E., Marinos, P. & Benissi, M.
1998.Applicability of the geological strength index (GSI)
classification for very weak and sheared rock masses. The
case of the Athens Schist Formation. Bull. Eng. Geol. Env.
57: 151–160. Meintjes, H.A.C., de Graaf, P.J.H. & van der
Vlugt, R. 1997. Assessment of in situ modulus of
deformation for dam foundations using rock mass rating.
Proc. Conf. ‘Geology for Engineering, Urban Planning and
the Environment’. SAIEG. Midrand. Rama Sarma, K. & Sarsby,
R.W. 2005. Empirical relationship between Rock Structure
Rating and modulus of deformation. J. Geotech. Geoenvir.
Engng. Vol 131, Issue 3, pp 390–397. Schall, A. 1998.
Luvuvhu River Development: Mutiti Dam. First engineering
geological report for design. Unpublished Council for
Geoscience report, No 1990–0007. Schall, A. 2003. Luvuvhu
River GWS: Nandoni Dam. Engineering geological construction
completion report. Unpublished Council for Geoscience
report, No 2003–0243. Serafim, J.L. & Pereira, J.P. 1983.
Consideration of the geomechanical classification of
Bieniawski. Proc. Int. Symp. On Engineering Geology and
Underground Construction. Lisbon. Sonmez, H. & Ulusay, R.
1999. Modifications to the geological strength index (GSI)
and their applicability to stability of slopes. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 36, pp 743–760. Thukela Basin
Consultants. 1998. Thukela Water Project (TWP) feasibility
study. Dam design criteria. Unpublished report. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Toppling
mechanism: Resolving the question of alignment of slope and
discontinuities P.M. Maurenbrecher University of
Technology, Delft, The Netherlands H.R.G.K. Hack ITC
International Institute for Geo-Information Science and
Earth Observation, Enschede, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT: The kinematic test for toppling developed by

Goodman and Bray (1976) was based on a two dimensional

relationship (90 ◦ -δ) +φ j <α (where δ= dip of

discontinuity, φ j, = friction angle of the discontinuity
and, α= slope angle). The

steeply dipping discontinuities into a slope, which the

relationship describes, must have a strike nearly parallel
to the strike of

the slope. ‘Nearly’ is defined as up to 30 ◦ out of

alignment though in the original paper by Goodman and Bray
the strike had

to be within 10 ◦ . By using the expressions for toppling

failure and substituting instead for δ the apparent dip δ a
(Hack, 1998,

Hack et al., 2003) it is shown that the zone for toppling

can be much larger than the 30 ◦ as stated by Goodman
(1989). The

relationship is derived in terms of principal stresses and

apparent dip. The equation is more akin to a phenomena
describing

limited flexural slip at the surface of the slope resulting

in ‘spalling’ of rock fragments from the slope surface. By
making a

distinction between toppling resulting from

‘over-turning’and toppling by ‘spalling’ results in the
much more limited instability

zone on stereographic projections as described by Goodman

1989. It is the spalling that would eventually undermine
the layering

to form ‘leaning columns’ which can topple by

‘over-turning’ as the term ‘topple’ suggests. The
slenderness of the columns

and the dip of the layering (‘lean of the columns’) would

indicate the likelihood of over-turning.

1 INTRODUCTION

Toppling failure mechanism in rock slopes (and also observed

in stiff clay slopes) is less obvious than sliding failures

such as

planar or wedges. The model used by the original paper on

this

subject from Goodman and Bray (1967) shows a discontinuity

dipping downwards into a slope, which kinematically allows

for no movement (Fig. 1). Yet slopes observed in the field

with this configuration show distress, usually in the form

of

flaking/spalling at the surface resulting in gradual

deteriora

tion of the slope to a less steep angle and development of

scree

deposits at its base. Sufficient undermining of the layers

could

result in rock blocks ‘toppling’ from the rock face. The

equa

tion (90 ◦ -δ) +φ j <α is the condition for flexural

interlayer-slip

which precedes toppling by ‘over-turning’.

The condition has been plotted on a stereographic projec

tion to show which poles of δ plot within an envelope for

toppling. The envelope shows that for discontinuities having

apparent dips δ a steeper than (90 ◦ -α) +φ j (re-writing

the top

pling equation) toppling can occur as long as the true dip

direction does not exceed a direction than 10 ◦ the opposite

direction of the slope angle. In Goodman 1988 this has been
90σ 1 δ α δ

Figure 1. Model for toppling failure (Goodman and Bray

1977). increased to 30 ◦ , stating that 15 ◦ (!) has been
found too small. The 30 ◦ limit probably defines the
condition for full toppling by overturning from the initial
spalling mechanism. For poles of discontinuities exceeding
this value full toppling is less likely to develop so that
the only instability remains degradation of the slope
through a process of spalling only. Figure 2 shows the
kinematic condition as a stereographic projection. The
model persists and was introduced for the first time into
‘Rock Slope Engineering’ 4th Edition by Wyllie and Mah
(2004) from Hoek and Bray (1981) 3rd edition using a
direction up to 10 ◦ out of alignment between the true dip
of the Figure 2. Toppling envelope (ω= 10 ◦ Goodman and
Bray 1977, ω= 30 ◦ Goodman 1989) together with sliding
envelope (Markland 1973). The construction of the envelopes
is shown in Richards et al. 1978 and Richards and Atherton
1987.

discontinuity and opposite direction of the slope angle

direc

tion. Hence, the need after thirty years to resolve the

question

for the toppling mechanism and the alignment condition of

the discontinuity dip directions with respect to the slope

angle

direction.

2 FORMULATION TOPPLING RELATIONSHIP IN 3-D

To resolve the question of strike alignment of the

discontinuity

and that of slope one could instead examine the slope steep

ness in the opposite direction of the discontinuity dip. In

the

extreme case if the discontinuity dip direction is the same

as

the strike of the slope, the slope steepness is zero. A

slope hav

ing a fall line steepness of 70 ◦ has a steepness varying

from

70 ◦ at the fall line direction and 0 ◦ at the strike

direction. A

discontinuity of dip 80 ◦ can induce toppling failure for a

slope

of minimum steepness of α= 10 ◦ +φ. With a value of φ as

low as 22 ◦ , for example shear surfaces in faulted

peridotites

in Oman (Maurenbrecher et al. 1990) a slope of steepness 32

◦

will be at limiting equilibrium. For a 70 ◦ slope the 32 ◦

steep

ness occurs at ±75 ◦ from the direction of 70 ◦ slope fall

line.

Even a φ of 55 ◦ would be at limiting equilibrium for a

slope

steepness of 65 ◦ which for a 70 ◦ slope occurs at ±38 ◦

from

the fall line. This exceeds the ±30 ◦ limit recommended by

Goodman (1989).

Hack (1998, Hack et al., 2003) recommends calculating

the apparent dip of the discontinuity in the direction of

the

slope fall line. Either way the same result is produced

using

the apparent slope steepness or apparent discontinuity dip

resulting in the following relationship:

Toppling if

(Apparent dip, Hack loc cit., is negative for a direction

oppositre to that of the slope fall line).

If this criteria is satisfied then the discontinuity

properties

have to be examined, essentially roughness, waviness,

aperture

and infill. These values are weighted from which a more

likely

friction value of the discontinuity is obtained.

3 MOHR-COULOMB RELATIONSHIP

GOODMAN-BRAY CRITERION

Goodman and Bray (1977) criterion can be derived using the

Mohr-Coulomb analysis with the principal stress σ 1 parallel

to the slope. The other principal stresses σ 2 is zero

(strictly

atmospheric pressure acting on the slope surface) and σ 3

acts

in a direction of the strike line of the slope and is

neglected.

The analysis only applies to the discontinuity at the slope

face and hence does not apply to conditions within the rock

mass where the stress conditions change so that not only σ 2

increases in value but that σ 1 and σ 2 rotate. As stated

in the

introduction the kinematics of the Goodman-Bray criterion do

not allow for any movement. One may have to assume that at

macroscopic level differential flexural slip occurs due to

shear

and that this sets a train of events in motion causing

gradual
weakening and removal of rock fragments to such an extent

that part of the layer blocks are undermined causing them to

‘topple’ from the rock face by over-turning.

The Mohr-Coulomb solution is presented in would be as

follows (based on the model in Figure 1.):

Stress component initiating slip: σ 1 ·sin (α-(90 ◦ -δ))

Stress component resisting slip: σ 1 ·cos (α-(90 ◦ -δ))·tan
φ Slip occurs if σ 1 ·sin (α-(90 ◦ -δ))> σ 1 ·cos (α-(90 ◦
-δ))·tan φ sin (α-(90 ◦ -δ))/.cos (α-(90 ◦ -δ)) > tan φ tan
(α-(90 ◦ -δ)) > tan φ, α-(90 ◦ -δ) >φ, or α> (90 ◦ -δ) +φ
In the stereographic projection α-φ> (90 ◦ -δ) is used
which states if the angle of the slope less the friction
angle is greater than the dip of the pole of the
discontinuity (flexural) slip will occur. The Mohr-Coulomb
form of the Goodman-Bray criterion also allows for
determination of a factor of safety: This equation allows
examination of the influence of vertical discontinuities
and steeply dipping discontinuities in the direction of the
slope. Not surprisingly, the factor of safety reduces
further to zero to the point where the discontinuities are
parallel to the slope.The Mohr-Coulomb model shows that the
principal stress σ 1 component initiating slip far exceeds
the normal component mobilizing shear resistance. Further
rotation of the discontinuities would result in a sliding
mode with a flexural-buckling mode in between. 4
STEREOGRAPHIC TOPPLING ENVELOPE 4.1 Flexural slip (spalling
phenomena) Figure 2 shows the a ‘lower hemisphere’
stereographic projection with both a toppling failure
envelope as published by Goodman and Bray (1977) and
Goodman (1989) and the planar sliding envelope originally
developed by Markham (1973). The method of a step-by-step
construction is given by Richards et al. (1978) and again
in Richards and Atherton, 1987.A much-extended
‘toppling’envelope would be required to allow for the
Mohr-Coulomb model, both for apparent dips (or slopes) and
discontinuities dipping more steeply than the fall line of
the slope but in the general direction of the fall line.
The original ‘Goodman-Bray’ criterion states The
stereographic envelope states, besides the above, for the
discontinuity strike coinciding with that of the slope (for
illustrative purposes the strikes are considered NorthSouth
and slope facing west, bearing 270 ◦ ). Figure 3 shows the
models used for analyzing the failure mode both for δ E and
δ W . The second limit for friction would be Goodman (1989)
also sets the strike alignment, denoted as ω, of the
discontinuity to that of the slope at a maximum of 30 ◦ .
(Note: Though insignificant, all publications show an
incorrect plot for values of ω for either 10 ◦ in Goodman
and Bray (1977), Richards et al. (1978, 1987) and Wyllie
(2004) and 30 ◦ in Goodman (1989). The method of plotting
is given in Richards et al. (1979, 1987)).

Figure 3. Model as in figure 1 extended to cover both east

and west

dipping discontinuities.

The Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion allows flexural slip to

occur up to values of ω up to 90 ◦ by substituting the appar

ent slope angle or the apparent dip of the discontinuity.

The

resultant envelope presented for two values of φ is given in

Figure 4.

4.2 Overturning condition

Hack (loc cit) recommends that the envelope be restricted

to δ E < 85 ◦ . Owing to constant spalling of the rock

eventu

ally the slope steepens resulting in overhanging columns

that

can overturn. Considering a column (Figure 5) resulting from

inter-layering of length l and breadth b (corresponding to

layer

spacing) then the ratio can be expressed as tan β= b/l.

When β< 90-δ E (by taking moments about the overturning

point of the column block, see Figure 5) the column will

over

turn. Hence, the overturning condition can be added to the

toppling stability envelope. For example when δ E approaches

85 ◦ dip tan β= tan 5 ◦ ≈ 0.1. Hence a spacing of b = 0.5 m

would require intact columns of l = 5 m. As β is reduced to
2 ◦

the columns would require a height of 14 m (equivalent to a

4-story building). Such situations are seldom observed in

slopes with the possible exception of special columnar

basalts.

The other restriction for toppling failure is the alignment

of

the strike of the slope and that of the discontinuity. When

the

alignment angle value increases so would the value b

increase

making over-turning toppling less likely unless a tertiary

joint

system (in addition to the ‘tension’joint developing at the

base Figure 4. Toppling envelopes for flexural-slip to
cover apparent dips, for discontinuities dipping in any
direction for a west-facing slope. Figure 5. Over-turning
model used to determine relationship between slenderness ß
and δ E for a west facing slope. of the column) exists to
allow dislodgement before the ratio b/l is too large to
satisfy the overturning condition. In Figure 6
stereographic envelopes are presented showing the influence
of over-turning based on the slenderness values ofβ and on
the discussion with regard to alignment of the strike of
the slope with that of the discontinuities superimposed on
the envelopes for flexural-slip toppling.

Figure 6. Toppling envelope adjusted from Figure 4 with the

con

dition for overturning where β is the slenderness angle of

a rock

column.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The term ‘toppling’ for describing the condition for

disconti
nuities dipping into the rock mass should be qualified as
the

model used to produce this type of instability would be

better

described as ‘flexural interlayer slip’ restricted to the

discon

tinuities daylighting at and near to the surface of the

slope.

This form of instability occurs within a much larger

envelope

than that shown in existing publications and would result in

spalling of rock fragments from the surface of the rock

slope.

The spalling of the rock can be described as surface degra

dation due to overstressing in shear. The degradation of the

slope eventually, with time, results in selective

undermining of

ABSTRACT: Slope Mass Rating is a worldwide used rock mass

classification intended to characterize and classify rocky

slopes. It uses basic RMR Bieniwaski’s classification and

is obtained by subtracting a factorial correction factor
depending

on the discontinuity and the slope face geometrical

relationship (F 1 × F 2 × F 3 ) and adding a correction
factor depending on

the excavation method (F 4 ). Although these rock mass

classifications were initially applied on the basis of
discrete-defined

parameters, several continuous functions have recently been

proposed to compute parameters governing them. In this
paper,

an analysis of continuous SMR geometrical parameters (F 1 ,

F 2 and F 3 ) is performed in order to identify main
controlling
parameters in this geomechanical classification.

1 INTRODUCTION

Slope Mass Rating (SMR; Romana 1985) is a worldwide used

rock mass classification intended to characterize and

classify

rocky slopes. It uses basic RMR Bieniwaski’s classification

(1989) and is obtained correcting it by means of four parame

ters depending on discontinuity and the slope face

geometrical

relationship and the employed excavation method.

It is obtained using the following expression:

where: RMR b is the RMR index resulting from Bieniawski’s

Rock Mass Classification without subtracting any correc

tion factor by joint orientation effect; F 1 depends on the

parallelism between discontinuity,. α j and slope, α s dip

direc

tion; F 2 depends on the discontinuity dip (β j ) in the

case

of planar failure. As regards toppling failure, this param

eter takes the value 1.0. This parameter is related to the

probability of discontinuity shear strength (Romana 1993);

F 3 depends on the relationship between slope (β s ) and dis

continuity (β j ) dips. This parameter retains the

Bieniawski

adjustment factors that vary from 0 to −60 points and

express the probability of discontinuity outcropping on the

slope face (Romana 1993) for planar and wedge failure;

and F 4 is a correction factor that depends on the

excavation

method used.

SMR index has been adapted to wedge failure (Anbalagan

et al. 1992) and modified by means of continuous functions

(Tomás et al. 2004, 2006, 2007) to avoid subjective interpre

tations by means of assigning a unique SMR value for every

slope and discriminating among slopes that have the same

discrete SMR index.

The aim of this work is to perform a visual analysis of

SMR geometrical parameters (F 1 , F 2 and F 3 ) using a n

vision graphical representation method called “worlds within

worlds” (Feiner & Beshers 1990) of the continuous functions

proposed by Tomás et al. (2007) in order to identify the

main

controlling parameters of the continuous classification. 2

CONTINUOUS SMR Tomás et al. (2007) proposed a function for
the computation of F 1 parameter: where A is the
parallelism between discontinuities and slope dip direction
for planar and toppling failures (α j −α s ). For wedge
failure it is referred to the angle formed between the
plunge direction of the intersection line of the
discontinuities (α i ) and the dip direction of the slope,
α s (Sing & Göel 1999). This function is valid for all
possible values of A. The same authors established the
following continuous function for F 2 computation: where B
corresponds to the discontinuity dip (β j ) in degrees, for
planar failure and toppling and to the plunge (β i ) of the
intersection line for wedge failure (Sing & Göel 1999).
Tomás et al. (2007) also stated continuous functions for F
3 parameter computation: Function eq(4)is used for slopes
with planar or wedge failure and expression eq(5) is used
for toppling failure cases. C variable express dips
relationship and is equivalent to β j −β s for planar
failure, β i −β s for wedge failure and β j +β s for
toppling failure. Note that the usage of arctangent
functions has the advantage of being asymptotical to the
extreme score values and as a consequence for values higher
than that corresponding to the

Figure 1. Four dimensional visualization of the SMR

classification system for planar and wedge failure.

properties near the extreme borders they not cause important

deviations from the discrete values.

These functions show maximum absolute and average dif

ferences with Romana’s original discrete functions lower

than

7 and 0 points respectively (Tomás et al. 2007). Only the F

4

parameter preserves its subjective and descriptive

character.

3 VISUAL SENSIBILITY ANALYSES OF

CONTINUOUS SMR

The sense of sight constitutes about 70% of objects

perception.

As a consequence this sense can be exploited in order to

better

understand the main parameters controlling rock mass classi

fications. Cai & Kaiser (2006) took multidimensional spaces

visualization of several rock mass classifications (RMR, Q,

RMi and GSI) in order to assist engineers in identifying

their

more important controlling parameters. For four dimensional

visualization of Q’ system they used a n-vision graphical
representation method called “worlds within worlds” (Feiner
& Beshers 1990). We have done a four-dimensional
visualization of the SMR geomechanical classification for
planar and wedge failure (Fig. 1) and toppling failure
(Fig. 2) using the above mentioned method and considering
that the four variables are the parallelism between the
slope and the discontinuity strikes (A), the discontinuity
dip (β j ), the slope face dip (β s ) and the basic RMR
(RMR b ). Considering the above mentioned variables, the
SMR function can be expressed mathematically as: that can
be rewritten as:

Figure 2. Four dimensional visualization of the SMR

classification system for toppling failure.

where A and β j are considered as constant values and

renamed

as k 3 and k 4 . This new function can be easily plotted as

a sur

face plot. As a consequence, k 3 and k 4 determine the

position

of the small graphic (inner world) into the large graphic

(outer

world) and the values used to plot the small graphic. There

fore, in the outer world of these graphics

slope-discontinuity

strike parallelism (A) and discontinuity dip (β j ) are

designed

as the variables, meanwhile in the inner world the basic RMR

(RMR b ) and the slope dip (β s ) are assigned as the

variables.

Note that F 4 parameter has not been included in the four

dimensional visual analyses.Thus, the computed SMR for Fig

ures 1 and 2 corresponds to a blasting or mechanical

excavated

slope (F 4 = 0).

The analyses of the outer world of the Figures 1 and 2

shows that SMR and RMR relationship is always linear (it

is a consequence of the SMR definition, notice Equation 1).

Furthermore, “A” area corresponds to these cases where SMR

can be computed correcting basic RMR only by the excavation

method, F 4 (SMR ≈ RMR b + F 4 ). “B” area delimits the
cases where generally SMR has to be computed by means of
Equation 1 calculating all the correcting factors (F 1 , F
2 , F 3 and F 4 ). Figure 1 shows planar and wedge failure
cases. Analyzing the outer world, it can be noticed that
generally SMR decreases inversely proportional to β j and
directly proportional to A. In the inner world it can be
noticed that the lower values of SMR correspond to slopes
with β s higher or equal than β j . As a consequence, we
can asses that for all rocky slopes with β s lower than β j
SMR can be calculating only correcting basic RMR by the
excavation method, F 4 (SMR ≈ RMR b + F 4 ) with low error.
For β j values higher than β s it would be necessary to
compute the four correcting parameters of the SMR
classifications to calculate SMR by means of Equation 1.
Figure 2 shows toppling failure cases. In the outer world
note that SMR decrease again inversely proportional to β j
and directly proportional to A. It can be assessed too that
when

discontinuity and slope strike parallelism (A) is higher

than

45 ◦ , SMR is equal to basic RMR only corrected by the

excava

tion method, F 4 (SMR ≈ RMR b + F 4 ). The same fact occurs

for discontinuity dips lower than 30 ◦ . Analyzing the inner

world of Figure 2 it can be noticed that when discontinuity

and

slope strike parallelism (A) is lower than 45 ◦ for rocky

slopes

affected by discontinuities where β j +β s relationship is

lower

than 120 ◦ , SMR can be computed too correcting basic RMR

only by the excavation method, F 4 (SMR ≈ RMR b + F 4 ). For

A values lower than 45 ◦ and β j +β s relationship higher

than

120 ◦ , SMR has to be calculated computing all the

correcting

factors (F 1 , F 2 , F 3 and F 4 ) and substituting them on

Equation 1.
4 CONCLUSIONS

A four dimensional graphical visualization of continuous

Slope Mass Rating (SMR) system using the “worlds within

worlds” method has been presented in order to visualize the

influence of the main parameters controlling SMR (i.e. RMR

b ,

A, β j and β s ).

This visualization has helped us to better understand this

rock mass classification and to establish several important

conclusions. These are:

For slopes affected by planar or wedge failures withβ s

lower

than β j SMR can be calculating only correcting basic RMR

by the excavation method, F 4 (SMR ≈ RMR b + F 4 ).

For slopes affected by toppling failures with a

discontinuity

and slope strike parallelism (A) higher than 45 ◦ , dips

lower

than 30 ◦ SMR or discontinuity and slope strike parallelism

(A)

lower than 45 ◦ and β j +β s relationship lower than 120 ◦

SMR

can be computed only correcting basic RMR by the excavation

method, F 4 (SMR ≈ RMR b + F 4 ).

These affirmations can be very useful for field engineers

and geologists because they allow reducing notably the data

acquisition and the posteriori calculus when one of the

above
mentioned facts are identified in the studied slope.

The elaborated graphics and conclusions can be useful too

during rocky slope designing phases because we can cal

Author index

Abu Bakar, M.Z. 155

Agui, K. 563

Ahmadi, M. 951

Akai, T. 1225

Akutagawa, S. 987

Al-Ajmi, A.M. 475

Albrecht, J. 1159

Alejano, L.R. 905

Allodi, A. 1281

Almeida, P.G. 311

Alonso, E.E. 775

Anagnostou, G. 829, 963,

975, 983

Andrade Pais, L. 207

Angerer, H. 1305

Antão, A.M. 513

Antikainen, J. 335

Aoki, K. 273, 925, 1273

Aoki, T. 761

Arabzadeh, M.H. 1075

Arai, T. 277
Arai, Y. 277

Arbanas, Ž. 597

Armand, G. 33

Arshadnejad, S. 845

Arunakumari, G. 243

Asakura, K. 83

Asakura, T. 819, 897, 921, 943

Ashjari, R. 951

Assis, A.P. 787

Aydan, Ö. 1095

Ballivy, G. 711

Bao, H.R. 435

Bao T. 285

Barbero, M. 377

Barla, G. 415, 971, 1173

Barla, M. 415

Barroso, E.V. 1269

Barton, N. 109

Basson, F. 1159

Bastos, M. de P. 315

Basu, A. 385

Beer, G. 751, 769

Bellendir, E. 555

Berdugo, I.R. 775

Bestyn´nski, Z. 913
Bich, G. 555

Bigarré, P. 69, 1147

Bilgin, A. 1095

Blümel, M. 455

Bogner, B. 1071

Bonini, M. 377

Booysen, H. 1003

Bornert, M. 59

Borri-Brunetto, M. 377

Bortolucci, A.A. 385

Boualleg, R. 1221 Boulon, M. 327 Boult, P.J. 1217 Brandl,

J. 891 Brem, G. 1209 Bronshteyn, V.I. 1015 Bruel, D. 343
Cˇadež, J. 741 Cai M. 281 Cai, M. 381 Cai, Y. 633, 765
Campos, E. 1269 Camusso, M. 415 Cantieni, L. 829, 975, 983
Carter, T.G. 161 Carvalho, J.L. 161 Castelli, M. 1281
Castro, J.T. 1269 Cavaleiro, V.M. 311 Celestino, T.B. 385
Chalhoub, M. 251 Chaminé, H.I. 307 Chang, C.S. 273, 925,
1273 Chang, S.-H. 799 Chang, Y. 791 Charlety, J. 343 Chen
B. 281 Chen, C.-H. 857 Chen F. 1139, 1241 Chen, Q. 23 Chen
X. 133, 169 Chen Y. 131 Chen Y.R. 575 Cheng Q. 1321 Cheng
Y. 601 Cheon, D.S. 331 Cherkez, E. 555 Chino, K. 897 Cho,
T.F. 551 Choi, J.W. 551 Choi, J.-Y. 1285 Choi, S.K. 123
Choi, S.O. 319, 865 Choudhari, J. 815 Christiansson, R. 55,
935 Chuang, Y.C. 959 Chun, D.S. 11 Chung, S.-K. 499, 1245
Chung, S.K. 833 Chunlin Li, C. 1041 Cleave, R. 1233
Clément, C. 69 Coelho, A.G. 685 Coelho, S. 187 Coggan, J.S.
201 Contrucci, I. 1147 Córdoba, D. 905 Corigliano, M. 1173
Correia, A.G. 909 Costa, C.A. 615 Cravero, M. 701
Cruchaudet, M. 33 Cuadros, J. 905 Cui X. 1143 Cuisiat, F.
1233 Culshaw, M.G. 41 Curran, J.H. 1317 Dai H. 1113 Daido,
M. 1095 Davis, G.N. 719 Deb, D. 1047 Debecker, B. 269
Deisman, N. 485 Delgado, J. 729 Derek Martin, C. 935
Dervaricˇ, E. 741 Deschamps, B. 589 Dethy, B. 661
Diederichs, M.S. 161 Ding, Y.-C. 1057 Dinis-da-Gama, C. 347
Docrat, Y.S. 585 Dong Z. 677 Doostmohammadi, R. 443
Douglas, K.J. 481 Driad-Lebeau, L. 1147 Duarte, I.M.R. 451
Dünner, C. 69 Dünser, Ch. 769 Durand, P. 715 Duray, S. 589
Dyadkov, P.G. 1155 Eberhardt, E. 629 Eguchi, T. 619
Einstein, H.H. 1301 El Malki, T. 711 Elkin, A. 555 Emami
Tabrizi, M. 365 Erguler, Z.A. 265 Erichsen, C. 27 Erichsen,
L. 1025 Erlikhman, S.A. 1009 Esaki, T. 373, 765 Estaire, J.
289, 671 Esteves, C. 991 Eytard, J.C. 59, 365 Fahimifar, A.
559 Fairhurst, C. 485 Fang Q. 1289 Fardin, N. 461 Fedchun,
A. 555 Fedotova, Yu. 1151 Feng J. 623 Feng Q. 299

Feng, X.T. 931

Ferreira Gomes, L.M. 207

Ferreira, P. 967

Ferrero, A.M. 543

Fink, A.K. 1009

Fisher, B.R. 629

Flansbjer, M. 55

Flynn, Z.N. 201, 231, 293

Foged, N. 967, 1025

Fontoura, S.A.B. da 1261

Ford, N.T. 231

Forlani, G. 543

Fourie, P. 1003

Fowell, R.J. 63, 155

Franz, J. 633

Frayssines, M. 1281

Freiberg, E. 555

Freitas, R. 685

Fritz, P. 653

Fu, B.-J. 849

Fu J. 1143

Fujieda, M. 563

Funatsu, T. 439
Gagnon, J. 711

Gaich, A. 533, 1019

Galler, R. 891

García-Wolfrum, S. 339

Garzonio, C.A. 117

Gattermann, J. 1209

Gaziev, E.G. 517

Ge, X. 403, 1035

Geilikman, M.B. 1255

Gekeler, A. 27

Gens, A. 775

Gharbi, H. 59

Ghazvinian, A. 247

Ghomghaleh, A. 1075

Ghorbani, M. 947

Giot, R. 323

Giraud, A. 73, 323

Golshani, A. 509

Gonçalves, C. 1269

González de Vallejo, L.I. 147

González Gallego, J. 637

Gonzalez-Garcia, A.J. 579

Goshtasbi, K. 951

Grasso, P. 543, 979

Gravel, C. 711
Grgic, D. 73

Grošic´„ M. 597

Gu, J. 435

Guan, Z. 825

Gunzburger, Y. 69

Guo, Q.L. 37

Gwynn, X.P. 201

Ha, T. 369

Hack, H.R.G.K. 299, 725

Hack, R. 105, 1203

Hagedorn, H. 917

Haimson, B. 1249

Hakala, M. 91

Hakami, H. 399

Halphen, B. 365 Hammah, R.E. 1317 Han, K.C. 11 Han, W.F. 37

Handley, M.F. 645 Hansen, T.F. 1065 Harrison, J.P. 469
Hashemi, M. 747 Hassani, F.P. 175 Hassani, H. 845 Hatzor,
Y.H. 609 Hauck, C.-D. 27 Hauser, M. 653 Havaj, J. 1189 He,
M. 169, 623 Hebblewhite, B. 633 Heinemann, U. 77 Hencher,
S. 223 Hijazo, T. 147 Hirata, A. 1199 Holecko, J. 1177
Homand, F. 73, 323 Horikawa, S. 1109 Horyl, P. 1189 Hou, Y.
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Igarashi, T. 83 Iida, H. 987 Ikemi, H. 373, 765 Ilyin, M.M.
1009 Imagawa, H. 83 Imaizumi, A. 1083 Imani, M. 559
Inokuchi, T. 1199 Ishida, T. 1225 Ishikawa, M. 439 Ito, H.
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L. 55 Jafari, A. 939 Jakobsen, L. 1025 Jamali, M. 681 Jang,
M.-H. 369 Jansson, T. 55 Jasinge, D. 123 Jefferson, I.F. 41
Jeng, F.-S. 127, 491 Jeon, S. 331, 1163 Jeong, J.-H. 369
Jiang, Q. 931 Jiang, Y. 677 Jiang, Y. 825 Jiang, Y.J. 765,
1131 Jimenez-Rodriguez, R. 407 Jing, L. 47 Johansson, E. 91
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597 Justo, E. 715 Justo, J.L. 715 Kadlec, Z. 1167 Kaiser,
P.K. 381, 971 Kalcher, T. 1305 Kaneko, K. 83, 101 Kang H.
303 Karparov, K.N. 645 Karpinskaya, A.G. 1009 Kato, M. 351
Kavur, B. 967 Kawamoto, T. 1095 Khoshrou, S.H. 681 Kido, K.
619 Kihm, J.H. 97 Kikuchi, K. 563 Kikuyama, S. 1101 Kim,
D.H. 319 Kim, D.Y. 355 Kim, H.-Y. 499, 1245 Kim, J. 319,
419 Kim, J.D. 865 Kim, J.G. 151 Kim, J.M. 97 Kim, K.S. 865
Kim, S. 151, 419 Kim, W.-B. 369 Kim, Y. 419 Kim, Y.J. 551
Kittl, H. 1305 Kiyama, H. 641 Klein, E. 1147 Klose, C.D.
407 Kneib, G. 1117 Knipe, R. 223 Kobayashi, T. 563
Kodikara, J. 123 Koga, T. 23 Kojima, Y. 819, 921, 943
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T. 47 Kozlov, O.V. 1009 Kozyrev, A.A. 1151 Kramadibrata, S.
705 Krenn, F. 891 Kuchta, M. 837 Kulatilake, P.H.S.W. 255
Kumar, Rakesh 427 Kurzweil, H.-Ch. 891 Kusumi, H. 525, 861
Kwas´niewski, M. 237, 351, 1105 Labiouse, V. 657, 999 Lai,
C.G. 1173 Lai, Z.H.F. 481 Laigle, F. 995 Lamos, A.W. 795
Lamos, R.A. 795 Latilla, J.W. 1003

Laughton, C. 837

Leal-Gomes, M.J.A. 347

Lee, C.-I. 1163, 1285

Lee, D.-H. 499, 1245

Lee, G.H. 551

Lee, H.-S. 1245

Lee, J.H. 987

Lee, J.S. 151

Lee, Y.-K. 799

Lee, Y.N. 355

Lehtonen, A. 335

Li, D. 1321

Li, H.-H. 491

Li J. 1193

Li L. 19

Li, Q. 439

Li, S. 677, 1091

Li, X. 1139

Li, X. 351, 1127

Li, Y. 1241

Li, Z. 849, 1229

Li, Z.X. 37

Liang, G.P. 169

Liang, N.H. 285

Liao, Y. 1229

Likar, J. 741

Lim, S. 1135

Lima, C. 991

Lin J. 303

Lin, M.-L. 127

Lin, P. 567

Lin, W. 1105

Lira, W.W.M. 1265

Liu, C. 131

Liu H. 1229

Liu, Q. 547

Liu, S.-T. 1057

Liu, X.R. 285

Liu, Y. 575

Lizzadro, L. 539

Lo, W. 1057

Lomba, R.F.T. 1261

Lorenzo Martín, F. 869

Lu, M. 19

Lu, X. 601

Lu, Z. 677

Luis Fonseca, R.J. 637

Luo, X. 1035

Luo, Y. 1143

Luong, M.P. 365

Ma, C. 1139

Ma, G. 1127, 1135, 1193

Ma, Q. 281

Machijima, Y. 1101

Mackay, F.E.E. 787

Madhavi Latha, G. 243

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Majdi, A. 1075

Maji, V.B. 1185

Malan, D.F. 1311

Manzella, I. 657

Marques, E.G. 315

Marsella, M. 539 Martha, L.F. 1265 Martinotti, M.E. 415 Mas

Ivars, D. 485 Masoudi, R. 947 Mathier, J.-F. 999 Matsui, H.
273 Matsuki, K. 277 Matsunaga, T. 819, 943 Matsuoka, T. 525
Maurenbrecher, P.M. 725 Medved, M. 741 Melnikov, N.N. 1151
Menand, S. 1221 Mendes, E. 207 Merrien-Soukatchoff, V. 69
Migliazza, M. 543 Minami, M. 273 Miranda, T. 909 Mitani, Y.
373, 765 Mitarashi, Y. 761 Mito, Y. 273, 925, 1273 Mizuta,
Y. 23 Mörén, L. 87 Moffitt, K.M. 391 Mollaee, M. 939
Mononen, S. 335 Montero-Olarte, J. 579 Moosavi, M. 443,
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E.C. 1061 Mostyn, G. 481 Muniz, E.S. 1261 Muralha, J. 431
Murata, S. 1225 Mutschler, Th. 443 Nakajima, M. 1101
Nakamura, M. 861 Nakatani, K. 277 Namin, F. S. 901 Nara, Y.
101 Nateghi, R. 947 Nazarov, L.A. 1155 Nazarova, L.A. 1155
Nguyen Minh, D. 59 Nikudel, M.R. 247 Nishimura, T. 641
Niunoya, S. 273 Nordlund, E. 883 Nunes, A.L.L.S. 615 Obara,
Y. 51 Oda, M. 509 Ogawa, K. 211 Ohmura, K. 277 Ohtsuki, S.
525 Okano, N. 897 Okui, Y. 509 Olalla, C. 289, 339, 529
Olofsson, O. 955 Ooyabu, K. 619 Ormaetxea, V. 3 Osan, C.
443 Ouellet, J. 175 Pan, Y. 447 Pápay, Z. 465 Park, C. 179,
331, 499, 499 Park, E.-S. 499, 1245 Park, J. 255 Park,
J.-W. 1053 Park, S.U. 97 Pellet, F.L. 1079 Pereira, A.M.B.
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e Sousa, L. 909, 967 Ricca, A. 539 Richards, L. 359
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Rosengren, L. 955

Röshoff, K. 299

Roth, A. 1061

Rotonda, T. 539

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Rousseau, B. 711

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Ryu, D.W. 7, 11

Sagong, M. 151
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Saiedtarrah, B. 747

Saito, T. 563, 1225

Sakurai, S. 1083

Samadhiya, N.K. 815

Sancer, J. 1167

Sandoval, G. 853

Sandrone, F. 999

Sandy, M. 1159

Santos, J. 685

Santos, J.B. 1269

Sarfarazi, V. 247

Saroglou, H. 191

Sasaki, K. 51, 1109

Sasaki, T. 1109

Sato, A. 15

Savich, A.I. 517

Sawada, A. 15

Saydam, S. 585

Scavia, C. 1281

Schieg, T. 455

Schmitt, D. 803

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Schroeder, C. 661

Schubert, W. 533, 1019

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Serón, J.B. 729

Serrano, A. 289, 339, 529,

671, 853

Seto, M. 439

Seywald, C. 455

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Shamsi, H. 939

Shang, Y. 227

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Sharma, K.G. 427

Sharrock, G.B. 1159

Shi, Y. 227

Shigeta, Y. 819, 921

Shim, H.-J. 1053

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Shimizu, M. 897

Shimizu, N. 439, 1083

Shin, K. 211

Shou, K.J. 959

Sigarán-Loría, C. 1203

Silva, P. 967

Silver, C. 1003

Simangunsong, G.M. 705

Simon, C. 1221

Singh, B. 815

Singh, M. 815 Sitharam, T.G. 1185 Sjöberg, J. 87, 91, 955

Skurtveit, E. 1233 Slob, S. 299 Šnupárek, R. 1189 Soares
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Yazdani, S. 605

Yeh, E.-C. 1105

Yi, N.P. 395

Yin, X. 1241

Yokota, Y. 987

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Yoshikawa, K. 921

Yoshinaga, Y. 51

Yoshinaka, R. 1109

You, K.-H. 151

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Yu, G. 447

Yu, M.H. 41

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Yufin, S.A. 1015 Zamakhaev, A.M. 1009 Zamani, H. 1123 Zeng,
L. 1229 Zertsalov, M.G. 1015 Zhang, D. 1289 Zhang J.-J. 849
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395 Zhang, Z. 1035 Zhao H. 37, 677 Zhao, Z.Y. 435 Zheng J.
19 Zhou, W. 567 Zhou, Y.F. 169 Zhou, Z. 1127 Zhu, B. 547
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4 4. Tunnels, caverns and underground
mining

ABSTRACT: The twin tunnels for Isfahan subway are being

excavated in both soil (alluvial deposits) and rock mass
(shale,

slate and sandstone). Due to time different between the

excavations of the tunnels, it was necessary to simulate
how the effect of

time and distance lag in excavation of tunnels may affect

the surrounding environment in the shape of the ground
settlements.

An instrumentation monitoring program is also being

implemented in the site. The current research work
discusses how the

results of numerical simulation could show the effect of

the distance between the tunnels, and the delay in
excavation of tunnels

as compared to instrumentation results. Also the area

around the tunnels affected by the tunnel face is
investigated.

1 INTRODUCTION

To resolve the traffic jams, the underground train (subway)

is the first solution. Among the various methods for the con

struction of the subway tunnels, the New Austrian Tunneling

Method (NATM) is the most favorite option for the rock mass.

The following are also the most important points for

successful

design & construction of the tunnels using the method:

• Proper analysis of the tunnel stability under the tempo

rary condition for the ground layers properties nearby the

tunnels.

• The proper estimation of the loading and design of tem

porary support and its proper installation (Mair & Taylor

1996).

• The ground settlements due to the tunnel excavation and

its

effect on surrounding buildings.

• The latter point (settlement) is the most important

factor in

success of the tunneling in metropolitan areas which should

always be monitored and kept under control (Atkinson

1977).

2 THE ISFAHAN TWIN-TUNNEL SUBWAY PROJECT

The 1st phase of the project extends from Kaveh Ave. to

Sofeh

Bus Terminal with the length of 12 Km. A TBM is being used

to excavate the alluvial part starting from KavehAve. to

Zayan

derud riverbed. The southern part mostly consisting of rock

mass is being excavated by road header including the 1st seg

ment from Azadi square to Koleini Ave. crossing. In this seg

ment, out of 7 m diameter, the 5.1 m height is being

excavated

as heading and the left 1.9 m as benching with a time lag.

The

current research work discusses the effect of excavation

faces’

distance on the ground surface settlement. The rock mass

includes various types of lithologies but mostly consists of

sequence of shales and sandstones.To facilitate the

calculation
and modeling process, an equivalent rock mass called as Jssh

has been used. The strength properties of theAlluvial and

rock

mass layers are presented in Table 1 (Zaminfanavaran 2004).

The rock mass properties are derived by Geological

Strength Index (GSI) method proposed by Hoek et al. (2002)

(Sazbonpajoh 2004). The current research work is intended

to investigate the effect of the excavation of twin tunnels
with time difference on the surrounding environment using
the ground surface settlement as a control parameter. 3
MODELING PROCESS & INPUT DATA The subway twin tunnels are
being excavated with time difference. So 3D-modeling method
is adopted using a numerical (finite element)
PLAXIS-3D-TUNNEL code to simulate the details of the
excavation process & support installation done by the
project contractor as per the site time schedule and the
NATM. To predict the surface settlement in surrounding
areas, the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion is used for rock
mass and soil materials. Also the (77 m × 30 m = 7D × 4.3D)
domain is discretized into 15-node isoparametric wedge
elements (Fig. 1). The length of the model is taken
variable depending on the each analysis. Table 1. Strength
properties of the underground layers for AzadiKoleini
segment. Material γ dry γ wet E c type (KN/m 3 ) (KN/m 3 )
(KPa) υ ϕ ◦ (KPa) Alluvial 17 18 5E+5 0.4 25 60 Jssh 26 27
2.7E+6 0.32 41 177 Figure 1. Discretized domain.

The 3-arch tunnel has 7 m diameter in the middle of its sec

tion.The groundwater level is set to depth of 3 m below

ground

surface. The loading mostly consists of body forces and

traffic

loads (20 KPa equal to 60-cm soil cover).The center to cen

ter distance of the tunnels is 14 m (2D) (Fig. 2)

(Sazbonpajoh

2004).

The support includes the 4 parts as (1) shotcrete and welded

wire mesh (2) lattice girder (3) rib frame which are used
individually or together depending on the ground conditions

(Sazbonpajoh 2004). The area of steel materials is trans

formed into concrete to get a unique flexural and axial

stiffness

along the segment. The shotcrete strength is time-dependent

classifying the shotcrete support into 3 main time-dependent

strength categories depending on the percentage of gained

Figure 2. Tunnels section.

Figure 3. Cross sectional ground surface settlement at

various longitudinal distances Y for L T = 3.5D. strength
by shotcrete as the excavation process advances to the full
strength after 28 days of curing (Table 2). 4 THE ANALYSES
The numerical analyses are conducted in the following
categories: • The effect of excavating the lower part of
section (benching) on the surface settlements. • the extent
of surroundings affected by tunnel excavation face (ahead
and back of the face) for single tunnel. • The effect of
longitudinal distance between the tunnels’ faces (L T ),
for 0, 0.9D, 1.4D, 2D, 3.5D. 5 THE MODELING RESULTS AND
DISCUSSIONS The effect of longitudinal distance between the
tunnels’ faces (L T ) is not investigated here, but as an
assumption, the L T is set to 3.5D to get the plain strain
conditions. The length of model was also set to Z = 5D + L
T + 2D = 7D + L T . The following results are obtained: •
The effect of benching on the surface settlement is
negligible due to low dimension of benching (1.9 m) as
compared to tunnel diameter (7 m).Therefore, the benching
is dropped Table 2. Input parameters for support system.
Support Strength W EI EA type ratio ∗ υ (KN/mm) (KNm 2 /m)
(KN/m) N.1 30 0.1 4.45 14808 2.3E+6 N.2 50 0.15 4.45
18954.3 2.92E+6 N.3 80 0.25 4.45 23828.71 3.66E+6 ∗ Ratio
of assumed shotcrete strength to strength of 28-day cured
samples.

in the further simulation of excavation in both the tunnels

to reduce the calculation volume.

• The surrounding area up to 2D longitudinal distance in

front of the preceding tunnel excavation face (ET) and

3.5D behind of the following tunnel excavation face (WT)

are affected by the excavation process. Therefore, the

out-of-the-extent areas follow the plain strain condition

(Figs 3 & 4).

• In the direction perpendicular to tunnels’ axis (width of

the model), it was found that the settlement curves in

almost all the curves (along the tunnels) have approached

an asymptotic value of 0.21 mm (0.003%D) in the distance

of y = 4.8D from the centerline of the tunnels (Fig. 3).

Figure 4. Normalized settlement of ground surface above the

reference points (A, B, C) at different longitudinal
sections for L T = 3.5D.

Figure 5. Observed and predicted ground surface settlements

at station SM-W3. Therefore the surrounding areas far than
the 4.8D may remain. • The maximum plain strain settlement
along the centerline of the tunnels is equal to 0.073%D
regardless of the L T values. In all the L T values, the
ground surface settlement above the B settlement exceeds
the settlement above A in distance of L T behind the
preceding tunnel. Also the ground surface above A becomes
equal to the settlement above C at the distance of 3.5D
behind the following tunnel face showing the plain strain
condition (Fig. 3). It is also observed that the effect of
the tunnel face vanished within the 2D distance from the
preceding tunnel face for all the L T values.

6 MONITORING PROGRAM AND ITS COMPARISON

WITH CALCULATED VALUES

The monitoring program included the installation of 3-point

mechanical extensometer, 5-point convergence meter, and

ground surface settlement measurements. To compare the

results of predicted and observed settlement, the (SM-W3)

station (station 9 + 455) in which the settlement was

measured
has been selected. Firstly, the measured settlements are
plotted

versus time as observed settlements. Therefore, the

predicted

ground surface settlements should also be expressed in terms

of time. Since the time table of the exact position for exca

vation face of the tunnels and therefore the distance from

the

face to the (SM-W3) station were available, it was possible

to make a time correlation between the face distance to the

station and observed values. To get the predicted values, a

new model was constructed. After analysis, the settlements

in the station position were determined for the various dis

tances between the station and the face (as were given in

the observed curve for the concerned time). These values

were plotted as the predicted settlements curve. The result

ing observed and predicted ground settlements in the station

are shown in Figure 5. The observed and predicted values

have

reasonably good agreement.

7 CONCLUSIONS

The plain strain state happens in distances more than 3.5D

behind the following tunnel and 2D ahead of preceding tunnel

irrespective of L T values.

The maximum (plain strain) ground settlements along the

centerline of the tunnels is equal to 0.073%D irrespective

of
ABSTRACT: In rock mechanics engineering, wave propagation
problems and the correct representation of infinite or semi

infinite domains are of great importance when dealing with

underground structures. The Boundary Element Method (BEM)

is well-suited for this task since it implicitly fulfils

the radiation condition. Moreover, viscoelastic and
poroelastic constitutive

equations should be used for a better description of the

rock properties. However, to model these capabilities there
are only

fundamental solutions available in Laplace domain BEM, and

no one in time domain. In addition, the interaction between

multiple rock mass regions must not be neglected. Based on

the Duhamel integral equation idea and approximating the

convolution integrals by means of the Convolution

Quadrature Method, a BEM formulation for multi-region
problems in time

domain using all the advantages of the Laplace domain

formulation is achieved. Allowing, therefore, the modeling
of elastic,

viscoelastic and poroelastic rock media. Numerical

simulations are included to assert the accuracy and to
demonstrate the

applicability of the proposed technique as a predictive

method during excavation process.

1 INTRODUCTION

Over the last decades, the volume of constructions and

design

of structures on and in rock masses have increased signifi

cantly, even with respect to the complexity level. This fact

has become a big challenge to the rock mechanic engineers,

due to the requirement of more realistic and accurate tools

to

simulate these structures.

Special attention is given to the underground structures in

rock, because underground facilities have important roles to

the modern society and may be used for a wide range of appli

cations, including subways and railways, highways, material

storage, water transport, etc (Hashasha et al. 2001).

Therefore,

underground structures built in areas subject to earthquake

activity or subject to suddenly explosions must withstand

both

seismic and static loading (Fig. 1), i.e. it is essential

to take

into account the dynamic analysis of such structures.

There are many cases where seismic effects should be

considered in underground structures, such as referred by

Hakala et al. (1984): effects of rock mass deformation on

tunnel performance in seismic regions; detecting geological

conditions via the reflection of seismic waves; blast

effects

Figure 1. Underground excavation subjected to dynamic

loads. on underground facilities; seismic design
considerations for underground structures and estimating
earthquake damage. In order to consider dynamic effects and
to study the fundamental processes occurring in rock,
suitable numerical models are essential for assessing the
anticipated and actual performance of structures built on
and in rock masses, and hence for supporting rock
engineering design (Jing & Hudson 2002). Nowadays, there is
a wide range of modelling approaches for rock mechanics
problems, and the most commonly applied numerical methods
are: the Finite Difference Method (FDM), the Finite Element
Method (FEM), the Boundary Element Method (BEM), and the
Discrete Element Method (DEM). The choice of the methods to
be used depends on many variables and, as mentioned by Jing
& Hudson (2002), there are no absolute advantages of one
method over another. In most of the cases when dealing with
seismic design loads, the interaction between the
underground structures with the surrounding ground is
neglected by the analysts. This important aspect can be
considered by means of a reliable, accurate and efficient
multi-region technique. Therefore, the purpose of this
paper is to presents a multiregion approach that allows to
perform seismic analysis and design for underground
structures. The proposed approach is based on a successful
BEM formulation applied to static modelling of rock media
(Beer 1993). The main advantage of the BEM over the other
methods is the reduction of the model dimension by one,
with much simpler mesh generation. In addition, the
solutions inside the domain are continuous; in contrast to
the point-wise discontinuous solutions obtained using the
FEM and FDM. The BEM implicitly fulfils the radiation
condition whereas the other methods need artificial
conditions to avoid spurious wave reflections. One of the
greatest disadvantages is that the BEM is not as efficient
as the FEM in dealing with material heterogeneities,
because no domain elements are used such as in the FEM.
However, this drawback can be also overcome by means of the
multi-region approach. The homogeneous media between the
rock fracture zones can be modelled as regions, whose
boundary is described by the elements on the fracture zones
or faults. The presence of different material properties
and extensive fractured media

makes it necessary to have an efficient tool to generate

many

regions in a single BEM model (regions are sub-domains of

the

model with different material properties). Moreover, a more

realistic description of the rock masses requires the usage

of

more sophisticated materials, such as viscoelastic

materials.

With viscoelasticity capabilities several materials can be

described well. However for a wide range of fluid

infiltrated

materials, such as water saturated rocks or oil impregnated

rocks, the elastic theory and also a viscoelastic

description of
the material behaviour is a crude approximation for investi

gating wave propagation in such media. Due to their

porosity,

a different theory is necessary (e.g. Biot’s theory of poro

elasticity), since the presence of a freely moving fluid in

such

materials modifies their mechanical response (Schanz 2001).

Hence, not only the faults close to the excavations need to

be included in the design of tunnels, but also the modelling

of different materials, as illustrated in Figure 1, and even

considering sophisticated constitutive equations for a

better

representation of the rock properties.

Considering these aspects in the problem formulation, and

in order to satisfy the equilibrium and compatibility at the

interface of the regions, the time-dependent interface

forces

due to each region contribution are derived from the Duhamel

integral equation idea. This equation is based on the

convolu

tion integral of any form of dynamic loading with respect to

the unit-impulse response matrix due to a unit pure impulse

of this loading (Clough & Penzien 1993).

These Duhamel integrals are approximated by means of

the Convolution Quadrature Method (Lubich 1988), that is

a quadrature rule, whose weights can be determined by the

Laplace transformed function. In the case of the current

integrals, the convolution weights are calculated from the
unit

impulse response matrices, obtained using the Laplace domain

BEM, applying unit impulses on the boundary and evaluating

their responses at the interfaces. In this way, a boundary

ele

ment formulation for multi-region problems in time domain

using all the advantages of the Laplace domain formulation

is

finally achieved, allowing the modeling of elastic,

viscoelastic

and poroelastic rock media.

In order to validate the proposed technique, evaluating its

accuracy and stability, some problems are analyzed and the

results are compared to the ones from the literature.

2 FORMULATION OF MULTI-REGION PROBLEMS

Consider a linear isotropic body represented by a domain

consisting of R homogeneous regions (sub-domains), such as

in the particular case of Figure 2 (two coupled regions),

where

there are two sub-domains 1 and 2 .

Figure 2. Surface discretizations in a multi-region

problem. For notation purposes, superscript r (r = 1,2,…,R)
denotes the region to which a quantity is associated and
overbars denote prescribed quantities. The first of two
subscripts denotes the location of a quantity, whereas the
second one denotes its degree of freedom i = 1,…,N DoF
(e.g., in the case of elasticity, N DoF = 2 in 2D and N DoF
= 3 in 3D). The regions are connected along a coupled
interface C , with N C nodes. Assuming linear behaviour
and, thus, validity of superposition of effects, the ith
traction component at interface node Q k (k = 1,2,…,N C )
of the region r can be split up into three parts, i.e.,
where p r C,i (Q k ,t) is the ith traction component at
interface node Q k caused by time-dependent interface
displacements u r C (t) on C ; p r P,i (Q k ,t) is the ith
traction component at interface node Q k due to transient
tractions p r P (t) on P ; and p r U ,i (Q k ,t) is the ith
traction component at interface node Q k caused by
time-dependent displacements u r U (t) on U . Each traction
term introduced in Equation 1 may be represented by a
summation of convolution integrals based on the
generalization of the Duhamel integral equation idea
(Clough & Penzien, 1993). Therefore, applying Equation 1
for all interface nodes, and writing in matrix form, yields
where p r (t) is a vector of size (N C N DoF ); K r C (t;
τ) is a (N C N DoF × N C N DoF )-matrix, called unit
displacement impulse response matrix, with the physical
meaning illustrated in Figure 3; K r P (t; τ) and K r U (t;
τ) are unit traction and unit displacement impulse response
matrix, respectively. The approach used here is described
in details in Moser (2005) and Pereira et al. (2006). There
is no closed form solution for K r C (t; τ), K r P (t; τ)
and K r U (t; τ) available in the time domain. However,
they can be numerically computed in the Laplace domain
without any numerical difficulties. In order to evaluate
the convolution integrals presented in Equation 2, the
Convolution Quadrature Method (CQM), developed by Lubich
(1988), is adopted. The CQM allows an approximation of
convolution integrals as a weighted sum, similar to
ordinary Gauss quadrature. The key feature of the CQM,
however, is that the convolution weights can be determined,
even though one of the functions being convoluted is Figure
3. Application of unit impulse at the coupled interface.

known only in the Laplace domain instead of the time domain

(Lubich 1988).

The proposed formulation is method independent (e.g,

BEM, FEM, FDM or DEM); however, the discretization only

of the region surfaces is sufficient to derive the governing

equations for the coupled problems.

3 SOPHISTICATED MATERIAL MODELING WITH

THE BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD

In order to solve the multi-region problems by means of the

proposed formulation, the dynamic stiffness matrix (i.e.,

the

unit displacement impulse response matrix presented in Equa

tion 2) needs to be calculated. To evaluate these matrices,

the choice of the most suitable numerical tool is required.

Although the proposed formulation is numerical method inde

pendent, it is very favourable and convenient to use the

BEM,

since the proposed approach requires only the discretization

of the model surfaces. The BEM presents innumerable advan

tages, such as high accuracy, superior analysis of unbounded

problems, reduction of problem dimension by one, filtering

of unwanted information and focusing on parts of the domain

one is interested in, among many others (Beer 2001, Jing &

Hudson 2002).

The matrices required to solve the problems can be obtained

using the Laplace domain BEM for wave propagation in

elastic, viscoelastic or poroelastic continua, by means of

the

calculation of the unit impulse response matrices, i.e., by

applying unit impulses on the boundary and evaluating their

responses at the interface. This procedure and the Laplace

domain boundary element formulations to model sophisti

cated material capabilities are presented in the sequence.

It

is very important to mention that there are no fundamental

solutions available in time domain to model viscoelastic or

poroelastic capabilities; however, they are available in

Laplace

domain (Shanz 2001).

3.1 Elastodynamics

The elastodynamic fundamental equations, i.e., equilibrium,

the constitutive law, and kinematics, can be combined to

give the well-known Navier–Cauchy equations in Cartesian

coordinates (Achenbach 1973)

where u i (x,t) are the components of the displacement

vector

at x and time t, and b j is the body force per unit mass. c

p and

c s are the propagation velocities of the pressure and the

shear

waves, respectively. Commas and dots denote space and time

derivatives, respectively. Summation over repeated

subscripts

is implied. Equation 3 must be accompanied by appropriate

boundary and initial conditions.

The time-dependent differential Equation 3 can be trans

formed to a time-independent one by applying the Laplace

transform. Application of the Laplace transform to Equa

tion 3 under the assumption of zero initial conditions,

i.e.,

u i (x,t = 0) = 0 and u˙ i (x,t = 0) = 0, and vanishing

body forces,

yields

where s is the Laplace parameter. Applying the Betti’s

reciprocal theorem to the governing equations of
elastodynamics, the Somigliana’s identity for a boundary
element region in Laplace domain is where pˆ(x,s) and
uˆ(x,s) are vectors containing the values of tractions and
displacement at boundary point x, and Pˆ (ξ, x, s) and
Uˆ(ξ, x, s) are the fundamental solutions for the traction
and displacement at point x due to a orthogonal unit
impulse at ξ in the coordinate directions. Introducing
isoparametric boundary elements in Equation 5, and by
collocating it at each boundary node, a system of equation
is obtained. Hˆ and Gˆ are the coefficient matrices
assembled from the element contributions, as explained in
detail, e.g., in Dominguez (1993), and uˆ and pˆ are the
displacements and tractions at all nodes in Laplace domain.
For a well posed problem, there are as many known boundary
values as unknowns. Rearranging the Equation 6, shifting
the unknown boundary quantities to the left-hand side and
the prescribed boundary displacements and tractions to the
righthand, together with their corresponding columns of Hˆ
and Gˆ, it results in where the subscripts P, U and C
denote the quantities at the traction, displacement and
coupled boundary, respectively. Hence, the dynamic
stiffness matrices can be calculated by means of the
Equation 7, storing the results for pˆ C in each column of
theses matrices due to its respective unit impulses
(applied at the whole boundary, varying the right-hand side
putting one at its correspondent degree of freedom and zero
at the other elements of the vector). 3.2
Viscoelastodynamics The simulation of wave propagation
problem in viscoelastic rock media is accomplished with the
elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle (Christensen
1971). Modeling the rock media viscoelasticaly results in a
more stiff behaviour of the media compared to an elastic
modeling. This is due to the damping effects incorporated
by the viscoelastodynamic model. The constitutive relation
of a linear isothermal viscoelastic material can be written
by uncoupling the deviatoric and the hydrostatic parts,
respectively, where the symbol ∗ represents convolution
integrals; and G 1 and G 2 are independent relaxation
function, with

Figure 4. One-dimensional rheological three-parameter model.

where s ij and e ij are the deviatoric components of both

the

stress and the strain tensor.

An alternative formulation for the integral viscoelastic

stress-strain relation is the differential operator form of

Equa
tion 8, with fractional derivatives. For more details, the
reader

should refer to Schanz (2001).

Due to the independence of the deviatoric and hydrostatic

part of the 3D constitutive equations, 1D viscoelastic model

can be used in each of these parts.The simplest model

ensuring

casual behaviour is the three-parameter model (Fig. 4).

Hence,

the appropriate constitutive relation of this model and its

cor

respondent Laplace transformed with fractional derivatives

are given, respectively, by

with the transformed depending on five parameters.

Applying this 1D model to three dimensions, the constitu

tive equations in Laplace domain are

where p D and q D are the deviatoric and p H and q H are the

hydrostatic parameter of the viscoelastic model; and with

the

elastic compression modulus K and shear modulus G.

Comparing the viscoelastic constitutive relations (Eq. 11)

with Hook’s law, the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence

prin

ciple is obtained

This means, every elastodynamics solution of a distinct prob

lem can be converted to the solution of the related

viscoelastic

problem by inserting the correspondence shown in Equation

12 (Schanz 2001).
3.3 Poroelastodynamics

The presence of a freely moving fluid in a porous rock modi

fies its mechanical response (Detournay & Cheng 1993). This

means that either the elastic or the viscoelastic theory is

a

coarse approximation. Therefore, a theory of porous mate

rials, such as the Biot theory of poroelasticity, needs to

be

considered.

The governing differential equations for coupled poroe

lasticity, including the deformation-diffusion process, can

be

expressed in Laplace domain in terms of the displacement uˆ

i

and the pore pressure pˆ as where K and G are the

compression and shear modulus; α is the Biot’s effective
stress coefficient; β is a constant dependent on fluid and
solid parameters; ρ and ρ f are the bulk and fluid density;
φ is the porosity; Fˆ i and aˆ are the body force and the
source term; and R is a parameter which characterizes the
coupling between the solid and the fluid. This set of
equation describes the behavior of a poroelastic continuum
completely (Schanz 2001). Applying either the weighted
residual formulation or the corresponding reciprocal work
theorem to the governing equations of the
poroelastodynamics, the boundary integral equation in
Laplace domain, written in indicial notation, is given by
which is very similar to the boundary integral equation of
elastodynamics, however the coupled deformation-diffusion
process is present. Due to reasons of simplicity, in
Equation 14, the boundary tractions are now represented by
t and the capital letters represent the fundamental
solutions of poroelastodynamics. For more details, the
reader may refer to Schanz (2001). Following the same ideas
presented in Section 3.1, i.e. the collocation of Equation
14 at each boundary node and the assembly of the system
matrices, the convolution weight matrices can also be
computed, thus solving dynamic multiregion problems. 4
NUMERICAL EXAMPLES In order to validate and demonstrate the
accuracy and the applicability of the proposed methodology,
some numerical results on wave propagation in rock media
are presented. 4.1 Validation test A standard benchmark
example frequently used to validate time domain
elastodynamic formulations is the wave propagation in a
rod, as shown in Figure 5. The material elastic properties
of the strip are E = 2.11 · 10 11 N/m 2 , ν= 0.0 and ρ=
7850 kg/m 3 . The rod is divided into two regions. A
Heaviside compression load of magnitude 1 kN/m 2 is applied
on the free end of the rod. Both an elastodynamic as a
viscoelastodynamic tests were carried out for the same
geometry description. In the case of viscoelastodynamics,
the following viscoleastic parameters p D = p H = 0.0023 s
−1 and q D = q H = 0.002 s −1 were used. The displacements
at points A and B (midpoint of the free end and coupled
interface) in longitudinal direction are plotted versus
time in Figure 5, for both cases. These results are
obtained for the time step size �t = 2.0 · 10 −5 s, and
they are normalized by their corresponding static values,
i.e., by u static = 1.4218 · 10 −11 m. It can be observed,
that the results are in good agreement with the analytic
solution and with the numerical results for single region
problem found in Schanz (2001). 4.2 Seismic simulation in a
underground excavation In order to demonstrate the high
relevance and applicability of the proposed formulation to
realistic problems, a seismic

Figure 5. Step function excitation of a two regions

free-fixed rod.

Figure 6. Longitudinal view of a tunnel approaching a fault

zone.

Figure 7. Boundary element meshes for the tunnel and fault.

simulation is carried out in an underground excavation

(e.g. a

tunnel) in rock media when it is approaching a zone fault.

The dimensions of the tunnel, the distance to the fault and

the fault depth angle are presented in Figure 6.The rock

mass is

initially modeled with the same material properties, i.e.,

with

E 1 = E 2 = 2.0 · 10 10 kN/m 2 , ν 1 = ν 2 = 0.15 andρ 1 =

2.6 t/m 3 .
The discretization of the problem into boundary element can

be visualized in Figure 7. Figure 8. Displacement wave

propagation in longitudinal view.

Figure 8. (Continued)

The source is located at the top of the excavation head,

as illustrated in Figure 6, and it is loaded with a

constant dis

tributed load p(t) applied as an impulse of permanent

duration.

The load amplitude F is taken to be 100.0 kN/m 2 .

Finally, the regions divided by the fault are modeled with

different material properties. The region where the tunnel

is

excavated is modeled with the same properties as the

previous

model, however the second one is modeled as a stiffer rock,

i.e., with E 2 = 8.0 · 10 10 kN/m 2 , ν 2 = 0.30 and ρ 1 =

2.6 t/m 3 .

The results for the wave propagation are presented in Fig

ure 8, for t = 0.05s, 0.10s, 0.15s and 0.20s, respectively,

for

both modeling cases (same materials and different

materials).

It should be observed that when modeling the regions with

the

same material the behavior is as a homogeneous media. For

the case with different materials it is clearly visible

that the

waves reflect back from the discontinuity and the difficulty

that the incident waves have to cross the stiffer region.

Therefore, the method has been shown to work reliably and

very well even for problems involving rock masses with very

different stiffness. Due to these reasons the proposed tech

nique, which was named Duhamel-BEM, is very well-suited

for seismic analysis of underground construction in hard

rock

environment, and may be used as a powerful predictive method

during excavation process.

5 CONCLUSIONS

A novel technique for the analysis of dynamic multi-region

problems with boundary elements in time domain has been

presented in this work. It is based on simple engineering

con

cepts, i.e., the concept of stiffness matrix that is widely

used

in structural engineering and the idea of Duhamel

integrals. In

ABSTRACT: Estimation of stand-up time soon after excavation

in underground is necessary to gain time to clean up the

debris and to erect at least a temporary support. The

stand-up time is a function not only of rock mass
parameters but also of

the geo-environment and excavation technique. Over the

years charts have been evolved between rock mass
classifications,

width of unsupported excavation and stand-up time by

Lauffer, Bieniawski and Barton et al. An expression is now
proposed

to estimate directly the stand-up time taking care of, most

of the factors affecting it and it has been verified with
the existing
data to justify its adoption in practice.

1 INTRODUCTION

The concept of stand-up time as the bridging action period

in underground excavation was first introduced by Lauffer

(1958). It is the time taken by the rock mass above the

crown

to transmit the overburden pressure to the side walls

without

undergoing excessive noticeable deformation or collapse in

the absence of any temporary support. The standup time for

maximum un-supported span was suggested for seven levels

of descriptive rock mass classification varying from

category

A to category G. Class-A is a very good intact rock similar

to

the first category proposed by Terzaghi (1946) and Class-G

is

a very poor rock corresponding to Terzaghi’s squeezing rock.

This concept was perused further, modified and linked to

rock

mass classifications like Q-System by Barton et al (1975)

and

to RMR by Bieniawski (1976).An updated version of the chart

linking stand-up time, un-supported excavation and RMR was

proposed by Bieniawski (1993). The limiting boundaries of

total collapse and no-support requirements have been some

what enlarged.

Initially Barton et al. (1974) related the maximum unsup

ported span (S u ) to the excavation support ratio (ESR) and

rock mass quality, Q-value as

Later on Barton et al. (1975) suggested the limits of un

supported span of tunnel and stand-up time by linking Q

values in a chart form as indicated in Fig. 1. The limits as

suggested by Lauffer (1958) are also incorporated in this

fig

ure, (Biemiawski 1984). From this figure it is observed

that the

ratio of the maximum to the minimum un-supported spans is

about 6 for the same class of rock mass when the ratio of
maxi

mum to minimum stand-up times for the corresponding spans

and rock mass is about 5. Bieniawski (1993) presented the

updated version of 1976 chart as indicated in Fig. 2. Recent

information from Lauffer (1988) has also been included by

Bieniawski (1993) and shown to full within the modified lim

its suggested by him. This chart suggests that the ratio of

the

maximum to the minimum un-supported spans is about 6 and

the corresponding ratio of stand-up times is about 12 for

the

same class of rock. In these figures , along with RMR and

Q values, corresponding values of joint factor, J f , are

also Figure 1. Stand-up time and classification of rock
mass with unsupported span. Figure 2. Stand-up time and
classification of rock mass with unsupported span.

indicated to assess the maximum un-supported span length

of tunnel for the desired Stand-up time. The joint factor

was
linked to RMR and also to Q-values as follows (Ramamurthy

2004)

2 FACTORS EFFECTING STAND-UP TIME

The un-supported span, also called the effective span, is

the

span between the advancing face and the nearest support pro

vided or the width of the excavation between the side walls,

which ever is larger. When the crown stress is higher than

the side pressures, tensile stress is likely to develop in

the

zone above the crown resulting progressive fracturing, loos

ening and collapse, if left unsupported. Often near wedge or

parabolic loosened mass collapses leaving cavity in the

crown.

The rate of this loosening and the time taken to collapse

will

depends on the rock mass parameters, geo-environmental fac

tors and excavation techniques adopted. That is, the

stand-up

time is influenced by the effective span, compressive

strength

and modulus of rock mass in the immediate vicinity of the

excavation, in situ stress state, water/seepage pressure

extent

of loosening of rock mass by blasting/mechanical excavation,

joint orientation with respect to the direction of

excavation,

shape of excavated face/space and provision of immediate

temporary support. The modulus of rock mass controls the

deformation of the loosened mass to collapse. The effect

of joint system including the joint material is considered

in

assessing the compressive strength and modulus of rock mass.

Further more,

1. if the joints are perpendicular to the direction of

excavation, higher stand-up time results compared to joints
being parallel,

2. higher joint frequency will result less stand-up time,

3. circular shape will result higher stand-up time,

4. mechanical excavation with TBM and road header will

result high stand-up time than with drilling and blasting
excavation,

5. high power factor adopted in drilling and blasting

operations will result less stand-up time,

6. provision of shot Crete with rock bolts will result

higher sand-up time compared to simply supporting with shot
Crete or steel ribs.

By considering the major factors which are easily assessable

and responsible to control the stand-up time, the following

expression is proposed

where

M rj = Modulus ratio of rock mass reflecting combined

influence of compressive strength (σ cj ) and tangent
modulus (E tj ) i.e. E tj /σ cj

S u = Effective span in meters

p o = In situ stress in t/m 2

u = Seepage pressure in t/m 2

k s = Constant linked to M rj as per Table 1

t f = Stand-up time in years. Table 1. Suggested values of

constant, k s . M rj 500 200 100 50 k s 100 5 1/5 1/100
Figure 3. Compressive strength of jointed rock with joint
factor. Figure 4. Modulus of jointed rock with joint
factor. The M rj values of rock mass are linked to that of
intact rock through joint factor, J f , as follows
(Ramamurthy, 1993, 2001, 2004), where J n = joint frequency
per meter depth of rock mass n = joint inclination
parameter as per Table 2 for U-shaped and shoulder shaped
anisotropies in weakly bedded and strongly bedded rocks
respectively, Table 2. Values of n for different joint
inclinations, β. Values of n β, degrees U-shaped Shoulder
shaped 0 0.82 0.85 10 0.46 0.60 20 0.11 0.20 30 0.05 0.06
40 0.09 0.12 50 0.30 0.45 60 0.46 0.80 70 0.64 0.90 80 0.82
0.95

r = joint strength parameter = tan φ j ; if cohesion or

cementation exists along the critical joint, its effect is
converted to equivalent friction,

i, j = subscripts represent intact and jointed rocks,

respectively.

The value of k s and reflects the combined influence of

blast

ing, shape of tunnel face, its orientation with respect to

the

joint system and also for converting t f , the stand-up

time, in

to years.

3 EVIDENCE

A number of cases have been examined for different diame

ters of tunnel, in situ stress, seepage pressure in very

strong to

very weak rock masses. The results are meaningful, compara

ble and acceptable and cover the range of values given under

the limiting boundaries indicated by Bieniawski (1993). To

obtain safe working values one may apply a factor of safety

of

2 or 3 either to the unsupported span or to the sand-up

time,
depending upon the openness of the joints, existence of
joints

parallel to the direction of excavation and the extent of

loos

ening of immediate rock mass due to blasting operation. For

values of t f estimated from Eq. 4 less than an hour

immediate

collapse of rock mass from the crown may be expected. A few

example are presented to show the effectiveness of Eq. 4 in

the following.

Example

1.With out seepage pressure (u = 0); overburden, h = 100 m

Overburden, h = 300 m; p o = 750 t/m 2 II. With seepage
pressure, u = 50% of overburden, Overburden, Overburden, 4
CONCLUSIONS Estimation of stand-up time in the underground
excavation is to enable removal of the executed rock mass
and conveniently erect at least a temporary support.To
account for all the factors influencing the stand-up time
is not achievable yet, but most prominent factors
controlling the stand-up time are considered and an
expression is proposed. It has been verified to estimate
reliably the stand-up time in underground works in weak and
strong rock masses.

Barton, N. Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1974. Engineering

classification

of rock masses for design of tunnels support, Rock

Mechanics,

6:4:183–236.

Barton, N. Lien, R. & Lunde, J. 1975. Estimation of support

require

ments for underground excavation. Proc 16th Symp. Design

Methods in Rock Mechanics. Minn. Publ. ASCE, New York,

163–177 and Discussion at 234–241.

Bieniaswski, Z.T. 1984. Rock Mechanics Design in Mining and

Tunelling, AA Balkema, Rotherdam.

Bieniaswski, Z.T. 1976. Rock mass classification in rock

engineer

ing. Proc. Symp. Expl. Rock Engg. Johannesburg, A.A.

Balkema,

Captown, 1:97–106.

Bieniaswski, Z.T. 1993. Classification of rock masses for

engineer

ing: The RMR system and future trends. Comprehensive Rock

Engg., 3:553–573, Ed. JA Hudson, Pergamon Press, U.K.

Lauffer, H. 1958. Gebirgsklassifizierung fur den
stollenbau. Geologic and Bauwesan, 24: 1:46–51. Lauffer, H.
1988. Zur Gebirgsklassifizierung bei frasvortieben.
Felsbau, 6: 137–149. Ramamurthy,T. 1993. Strength and
modulus responses of anisotropic rocks. Chapt.13,
Comprehensive Rock Engg., 1:313–329, Ed. JA Hudson,
Pergamon Press U.K. Ramamurthy, T. 2001. Shear strength
response of some geological materials in triaxial
compression. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci., 38:683–697.
Ramamurthy, T. 2004. A Geo-engineering classification for
rocks and rock masses. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci.,
41:89–101. Terzaghi, K. 1946. Rock defects and load on
tunnel support, rock tunneling with steel supports, eds. RV
Proctor and T White, Commercial Shearing Co. Youngstown,
Ohio, pp.15–99. 11th Congress of the International Society
for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann
(eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 A study on development of loosening zone
and allowable limit of deformation in tunnelling K. Tsusaka
& C. Tanimoto Department of Global Architecture, Osaka
University, Osaka, Japan Y. Mitarashi Kumagai Gumi Co.,
Ltd., Tokyo, Japan T. Aoki Taisei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT: When tunnel is excavated in rock, rock around an

opening trends to loosen. The rock behavior reaches to full

stability by controlling a loosening zone and mobilizing

ground arch effect. It is defined with the extent of
inelastic zone(s)

which consists of strain-softening and plastic flow. As the

practical guide in tunneling, it is necessary to estimate
the extent of

inelastic zone(s) and determine the allowable limit of

convergence to control occurrence of plastic flow through
convergence

measurement. The authors analyzed in detail approximately

500 convergence curves observed in six motorway tunnel
projects,

which were driven through shale and sandstone layers,

granitic rock and slate. As a result, the extent of
loosening zone and

allowable limit of deformation in 11 m diameter tunnels

were estimated with relation to the five categories in
Tanimoto’s rock

classification, which indicated relationships among support

load, initial deformation rate and final deformation.

1 INTRODUCTION

When steel supports were installed as the main support mem

ber in tunnelling, loosening of rock caused by excavation

had been observed quite carefully. Terzaghi (1946) proposed

the relationship between rock load and supports in tunnel

ing. Also, Ikeda et al. (1974) had investigated the

relationship

between the extent of loosening zone and rock condition by

means of elastic wave exploration.

Since the late 1960s, shotcrete and rockbolts have been

installed as the most convenient support elements to control

loosening of rock and mobilize ground arch effect appropri

ately in tunnelling. Based on convergence measurement, site

engineers have appraised a magnitude of inner pressure pro

vided by the artificial support members. This is based on

concepts that the change of stress distribution in the
radial

direction around tunnel wall corresponds to the displacement

of the wall and the convergence of displacement means to

mobilize ground arch in the surrounding rock. Consequently,

it is necessary to estimate the extent of loosening zone and

determine through convergence measurements.

About 30 years have passed since the concept (or method)

of tunneling with shotcrete, rockbolts and daily convergence

measurement was proposed. It has been a well-known key

knowledge in tunneling to minimize loosening of rock around

an opening for better stabilization of tunnel. However, from

the viewpoint on the appropriate mobilization of the ground

arch effect, practical guide for controlling tunnel

deformation

have not been given yet. In addition, since Terzaghi’s pro

posal (1946), no common definition of “loosening of rock”

has been available yet.

The ground arch effect could be obtained by controlling

a loosening zone and it could be defined with the extent

of inelastic zone(s) such as strain-softening and plastic

flow. And, in case that flow zone develops around tunnel
wall, the surrounding rock behaves quite differently with
such a small change of inner pressure as 0.1 MPa.
Therefore, only strainsoftening zone should be allowed to
develop in tunneling. In this paper, the author represented
the relationship between development of loosening zone and
stabilization of tunnel with a theoretical model. Based on
the results, they analyzed approximately 500 convergence
curves observed in six motorway tunnel projects, which were
driven through shale and sandstone layers, granitic rock
and slate. As a result, the width of loosening zone and the
allowable limit of deformation for controlling the
appearance of plastic flow were estimated in tunnelling
with 10∼11 m excavated diameter. 2 LOOSENING ZONE AND
GROUND ARCH The development of inelastic zone(s) in the
case that an opening with radius a is excavated through
rock in hydrostatic stress field is illustrated in Figure
1(a), where rock is assumed homogeneous, isotropic, and
continuous material and considered to be subject to
strain-softening behavior. Widths of strain-softening and
plastic flow zones depend on magnitude of inner pressure
which is given by supporting elements as resultant forces.
State of stresses on the sides AB, BC, CD, and AD is
illustrated in Figure 1(b). The pressure on tunnel wall CD
is provided by support elements. Radial stress on the
elastic and inelastic boundaries AB is uniquely determined
by external rock load. Not the radial stress on side AB but
the width of inelastic zone changes in correspondence with
magnitude of inner pressure on tunnel wall. Tangential
stresses on the sidesAD and BC are considered as “arch
stress” which forms ring effect against surrounding rock
pressure.The higher inner pressure is provided, the stiffer
ring is mobilized.

Figure 1. Meaning of loosening zone around an opening.

Consequently, a tunnel is supported by both artificial

support

and rock arch. In case of a tunnel through jointed rock, the

mechanical behavior is subject to shearing deformation and

dilatancy on joints. The important role of support elements

is to mobilize arch stress as much as possible by

controlling

dilatancy on joints.

Stress distributions in the cases that the magnitude of

inner

pressures are 0.3, 0.4, 0.6, 0.7 and 1.5 MPa are shown in
Fig

ure 1(c). They are calculated by means of the

strain-softening

model proposed by Tanimoto & Hata (1980). The funda

mental equations governing the strain-softening behavior is

derived from the stain-energy theorem and it applies a

linear

Mohr-Coulomb’s criteria at peak and residual strengths. It

is

also based upon the assumption that rock keeps in constant

volume. The conditions and parameters are the following:

Hydrostatic initial stress p 0 = 3.0 MPa, radius of an open

ing a = 5 m, deformation modulus E = 300 MPa, Poisson’s

ratio ν= 0.3, unconfined compressive strength q u = 1.5 MPa,

internal friction angle at peak strength φ= 20 ◦ , residual

strength q ′ u = 0.3 MPa, internal friction angle at

residual

strength φ ′ = 10 ◦ , and strain softening coefficient ω=

0.2E.

In the figure, thick and thin lines are tangential and

radial

stresses, respectively. Also, black and white points

represent

boundaries between elastic and inelastic zones and between

strain-softening and plastic flow zones, respectively.

Radial

stresses from tunnel wall to a boundary between elastic and

inelastic zones are the arch stress illustrated in Figure

1(b).

In Figure 1(c), focused on a relationship between the mag

nitude of inner pressure and the development of loosening

zone, it is shown that both strain-softening and plastic

flow

zones develop in the cases of pi = 0.3 and 0.4 MPa, only

strain

softening zone develops in the cases of pi = 0.6 and 0.7 MPa

and no loosening zone develops in the case of pi = 1.5 MPa.

And in the case that the magnitude of inner pressure changes

from 0.4 MPa to 0.3 MPa, the width of inelastic zone devel

ops from 6.8 m to 9.7 m. Namely, 2.9 m extent of the support

ring substitutes for 0.1 MPa reduction of inner pressure for

stabilizing a tunnel. Similarly, in the case that the

magnitude

of inner pressure changes from 0.7 MPa to 0.6 MPa, the width

of inelastic zone develops from 2.2 m to 2.9 m. Namely, 0.7

m

extent of the support ring substitutes for 0.1 MPa

reduction of

inner pressure.

Consequently, even a small change of inner pressure such

as 0.1 MPa has a large influence on surrounding rock

behavior

such as the remarkable development of inelastic zone when

Table 1. Rock classification in tunnelling proposed by
Tanimoto & Yoshioka (1992). Initial deformation Observed
Support Competence rate deformation Class load factor
(mm/m) (%) I Slight over 1.5 less than 0.1 less than 0.07
II Medium 1.0–1.5 0.1–1 0.07–0.3 III Heavy 0.75–1.0 1–5
0.3–0.8 IV Very 0.5–0.75 5–12 0.8–1.5 Heavy V Extremely
less than 0.5 over 12 over 1.5 Heavy plastic flow zone
appears. Therefore, the allowable range of loosening should
be limited to strain-softening zone. 3 DEVELOPMENT OF
LOOSENING ZONE IN TUNNELLING Tanimoto & Yoshioka (1992)
proposed a rock classification (hereafter, it is described
as Tanimoto’s classification) shown in Table 1, which
indicated the relationships among support load, initial
deformation rate and final deformation. It was based on
more than 200 convergence curves observed in approximately
60 tunnel projects in Japan and USA. The authors clarify
relationship between the extent of loosening zone and the
five categories from I to V in the classification by means
of analyzing approximately 500 convergence curves observed
in six motorway tunnel projects, which were driven through
shale and sandstone layers, granitic rock and slate. Figure
2 indicates the relationships between the initial
deformation rate and the observed deformation and between
the observed deformation and the relative distance from the
observed section to face at the time when convergence curve
reaches its final value. The analyzed curves are the
measured results whose initial observation started within 3
m face advancing from the observed section. In addition,
the overburden is more than 1.5D (D = 10∼11 m).The initial
deformation rate dU /dL is defined as the ratio of
horizontal displacement observed at 3∼4 m relative distance
from the observed section to face to the distance in
consideration to a face advance rate

Figure 2. Relationships among initial deformation rate,

observed deformation and the relative distance from the
face at convergence of

deformation.

per day. The five categories from I to V in Tanimoto’s

classi

fication are illustrated with thick lines in the figure and

the

results are good agreement on it.

Tanimoto et al. (1987) proposed the following concept about

relationship between mechanical behavior of rock and con

vergence curves. In the case that rock behavior caused by

excavation is subject to elastic behavior under rock

condition

without time-dependency in tunneling, the radial displace

ment reaches its final value within the double tunnel

diameter

2D. In addition, in the case that loosening zone develops

around tunnel wall in tunnelling, the radial displacement

con
verged to its final value when the face reached the double

diameters of inelastic zone developed around tunnel

wall.This

concept was expressed by the following equation.

where W p is the extent of loosening zone, D ′ is the

diameter

of inelastic zone developed around tunnel wall and D is

tunnel

diameter.

By applying the concept to the results in Figure 2, it is

con

cluded that when the initial deformation rate beyond 1 mm/m

and the observed deformation beyond 0.25∼0.30% in tunnel

diameter, rock behavior in the sections reaches full

stability by

means of developing the loosening zone around tunnel wall.

Namely, when convergence beyond 6 mm is observed after

the face advances to 3∼4 m from the observed section, it is

necessary to develop the support ring formed by loosening

Figure 3. Convergence curve at Section-A. zone around
tunnel wall. In addition, the observed results categorized
in Class III, IV and V in Tanimoto’s classification could
be subject to inelastic behavior of rock.The convergence
reaches its final value in the observed sections
categorized in Class I & II, III, IV and V when the face
advances to 2D, 2.5∼3.0D, 3.5∼5.0D and over 5.0D,
respectively. According to Equation 1, the extent of
loosening zone is estimated to be less than 1.0 m in Class
I & II in consideration of damage of blasting, 1.0∼3.0 m in
Class III, 3.0∼6.0 m in Class IV and more than 6.0 m in
Class V, respectively. 4 ALLOWABLE LIMIT OF DEFORMATION In
order to investigate the occurrence of plastic flow zone in
Section-A in Figure 2., the support-and-ground interaction

Figure 4. Support-and-ground interaction curve of Section-A.

Figure 5. Relationships between support intensity Is and

compe

tence factor C f .

curve is analyzed.The convergence curve observed in Section

A is shown in Figure 3. Based on it is found that when face

reached 4.0D∼5.0D (D = 11 m) from the Section-A, the dis

placement converged within 196 mm. According to Equation

1, the inelastic zone is calculated as 5.5∼6.8 m. And, the

support-and-ground interaction curve is illustrated in

Figure 4.

The rock mass properties are estimated by means of para

metric study based on the displacement on tunnel wall and

the extent of loosening zone when the convergence reaches

its final value. It is assumed that the 40∼50% of the total

displacement occurs when the face reaches the observed sec

tion in order to compare the analyzed value with the

observed

result. A theoretical model is used, which were proposed by

Tanimoto & Hata (1980). Support is modeled as an equivalent

inner pressure by means of the equations published by Hoek &

Brown (1980) and Tanimoto’s proposal (1987) and the mag

nitude was estimated in the range of from 0.25 to 0.30 MPa.

According to the results from Figure 4, when the

displacement

reached its final value, a inelastic zone of 5.5 m wide

devel

oped, which consisted of 3.0 m wide strain-softening and

2.7 m

wide plastic flow zones.

The occurrence of plastic flow zone in the other 45 sections

plotted in Class III, IV and V in Figure 2 is analyzed in

the

same manner. The results are shown in Fig. 5. Support inten

sity is defined as the ratio of the magnitude of inner

pressure

to the initial stress. In the case of Section-A, the value

is cal

ABSTRACT: A quantitative evaluation method of rock bolting

effect is proposed in order to achieve an optimal
supporting

design. Based on an interaction model describing the

displacement consistent of reinforcement and rock mass, the
mechanical

behavior of reinforced rock mass is analyzed according to

an elasto-plastic model. The coupling and decoupling
behavior

between the rock bolt and rock mass, which influence the
evaluation of reinforcing effect significantly, has been
taken into

account. As an example, the rock bolting effect of standard

tunnel support patterns of Japan Highway Public Corporation
in

various ground conditions are analyzed further. Present

study confirmed that the shotcrete plays an important
effect in the

reinforcing system and it works together with rock bolt. An

optimal rock bolt density exists in a certain ground
condition.

The quantitative analysis of the support performances of

the standard support patterns shows an agreement with the
design

recommendation.

1 INTRODUCTION
Rock bolt is widely used in tunneling and underground

construction works. The reinforcement effect is a result of

complex interaction between the supporting members and the

surrounding ground. The supporting design of rock bolt is

still empirical or semi-empirical because the conditions of

rock mass in-situ are very complicated, and there is few

ways

to evaluate the performance of the rock bolt quantitatively

at

present.

During a tunneling construction, the wall convergence

is a readily recordable indicator of overall response of the

ground, and the so-called convergence-confinement approach

has been widely accepted in tunneling (Carranza-Torres &

Fairhurst, 2000; Oreste & Peila, 1996). The grouted rock

bolt

becomes an integral part of the ground/rock mass, thereby

restricting its deformability by internal strengthening. The

description of interaction behavior between the rock bolt

and

ground is very critical to the evaluation of the reinforcing

effect. There are few models that evaluate the rock bolting

effect considering the coupling behavior of reinforcement

and

ground.

In Japan, ground is classified based on appropriate geolog

ical indices and the corresponding support patterns

consisting
of the combination of rock bolt, shotcrete and steel ribs
sup

port are recommended generally. Governmental agencies and

several public corporations in Japan hold their own rock

mass classification measures and corresponding standard sup

port designs in order to meet their objectives and purposes.

The standard tunnel support designs are still largely relies

on the empirical or the semi-empirical design method. In

some design guidelines (e.g., Koyama et al., 1997), the con

cept of design modification (reduction/addition of support)

is introduced. However, it is difficult to rationally assess

the supporting effect of the support members for further

adjustments. This paper attempts to quantitatively verify

the rock bolting effect of the standard patterns proposed
by Japan Highway Public Corporation (JH) based on a newly
developed analytical method (Koyama et al., 1997). The
influence of the coupling and decoupling behavior between
the reinforcement and surrounding rock mass has been taken
into account. Verifying the rock bolting effect in
combination with shotcrete, a rational approach of the
optimum support design for NATM tunneling is discussed. 2
MECHANICAL MODEL OF ROCK BOLT SYSTEM Several analytical
models of rock bolting design for tunneling have been
proposed. However, an interaction mechanism of the rock
bolt and the rock mass is not clearly understood. Recently,
a new method based on the interaction mechanism between
rock bolt and rock mass to assess the rock bolting effect
quantitatively has been proposed by authors (Cai et al.,
2004). Interaction mechanism of the rock bolt and the rock
mass is described according to their consistent
displacement and the model is applied to predict the
distribution of axial force along a rock bolt considering a
position of neutral point. Coupling and decoupling
behaviors of the rock bolt around a circular tunnel have
been considered in the quantitative evaluation of the rock
bolting effect. According to the analysis, the initiated
force of the rock bolt is related to the displacement of
surrounding rock mass. At the coupling stage, reinforcement
and the rock mass behave consistently and the displacement
of the rock mass is the same as that of the rock bolt at
their interface. Hence, the coupling equation for the rock
bolted rock mass can be written as where r i is the
potential decoupling radius around the rock bolt, τ i is
the shear stress at the position of radius r i . R e r a f
R O o symmetric P o L z L T LT L1 r Plastic flow zone
Soften zone Elastic zone (a) bolt arrangement Maximum
axial force tunnel opening ground Anchor part Shear s t
res Pick up part Trace of neutral point rock bolt
Distribution of axial force (b) stress distribution on
bolt ω

Figure 1. Arrangement of rock bolting system and stress

distribu

tion on rock bolt interface.

Constitutive equation of rock bolting section is given by

Eqs. (2).

where β is the rock bolt density parameter, λ is the

friction

coefficient between rock bolt and rock mass, r a is the

radius

of tunnel, L z and L t are the peripheral and longitudinal

dis

tances between the rock bolts, ρ is the neutral point

position

of rock bolt, as shown in Fig. 1. The analysis details of

the

axial force distribution of rock bolt and the neutral point

has

been discussed in the other paper (Cai et al., 2004).

If the interface and bounding material ruptured, slippage

may take place, which is termed the decoupling behav

ior. Shear strength in the case of decoupling failure can

be described by Mohr-Coulomb’s law. Internal supporting

pressure P i , supplied by the shotcrete is given by,

where, u a is the displacement of tunnel wall; E c , µ c ,
and t ′ c are

the elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio and equivalent

thickness

of the shotcrete, respectively. The equivalent thickness of

the

shotcrete is expressed as Eq.(4), considering the combined

effect of the steel ribs. 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
0.07 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Density of rock bolt β U r a / r a
Srp = 1.2 Srp = 0.4 Srp = 0.3 Srp = 0.5 Srp = 0.6 Pattern
CI, β = 0.128 Srp = 0.8 Pattern CII-a, β = 0.16 Srp = 0.2
Figure 2. Influence of rock bolt density and the tunnel
wall strain (t c = 0.1 m, S rp = 0.2∼1.2, L = 3.0 m). where
t c is thickness of the shotcrete; E s , A s and B are the
elastic modulus, cross-sectional area and the spacing
between steel sets, respectively. 3 A VERIFICATION OF
STANDARD SUPPORTING PATTERN (JH) 3.1 Case arrangement and
study parameters Japan Highway Public Corporation (JH)
classified the rock mass on the basis of seismic wave
velocity, rock type, boring data, competence factor and so
on at the stage of probing ahead, which is verified by
observation of the working face and the measurement during
construction stage (Kitano et al., 1992). Among the basic
mechanical properties of rock masses, deformation modulus,
uniaxial compressive strength and internal friction angle
are needed for the analytical study. In order to determine
the geomechanical input parameters, the empirical
approaches and seismic velocity data are used. The
deformation modulus is determined by the correlation of
elastic wave velocity referring relationship given by
Yoshinaka et al. (1988). Uniaxial strength and the internal
friction angle of the rock mass are derived from empirical
relationships (Takayama et al., 1983). Fig. 2 shows the
possible ranges of deformation modulus according to the
different ground classes. Competency factor denoted by S rp
, can be defined as the ratio of the uniaxial compressive
strength to the initial ground pressure. where, σ c and P o
are the uniaxial strength of rock mass and the hydrostatic
pressure in-situ, respectively. Some unique cases have been
arranged in order to verify the rock bolting effect in
combination with shotcrete in various rock mass conditions.
In this study, analysis is carried out for the range of S
rp value 0.1 to 2.0, while the value of β ranges from 0 to
1.0. The rock bolt installation time is taken as the 30% of
the tunnel relaxation. According to the experiences of NATM
tunneling in Japan, the uniaxial strength of the soft rock
is often below 10 MPa and its deformation modulus ranges
from 100∼200 times of its strength (Takayama et al., 1983).
Therefore a linear relationship between the uniaxial
strength and the deformation modulus of rock masses is
assumed as Eq. (6).

Table 1. Parameters of the standard support patterns. Rock

bolt Rock bolt spacing (m)*

Ground Support length L t c ∗

class patterns (m) L t L z β* (m)

B B 3 1.5 2.0 0.094 0.05

C I C I 3 1.5 1.5 0.128 0.10

C II C II−a 3 1.5 1.2 0.16 0.10 C II−b 3 1.2 1.2 0.20 0.15

D I D I−a 3 1.2 1.0 0.24 0.21 D I−b 4 1.2 1.0 0.24 0.21

D II D II 4 1.2 <1.0 >0.24 >0.28

* L t and L z are peripheral and longitudinal spacing

between the rock

bolts, t c is equivalent thickness of shotcrete and β is

rock bolt density

parameter.

From the above equations, the uniaxial strength of rock mass

can be calculated from the S rp and in-situ stress.

Therefore,

the program gives a series of results for wide ranges of the

ground strength. This enables to evaluate the performance of

the standard support pattern in various ground conditions.

A circular tunnel with a radius of 5.1 m is assumed for

the analytical study. The rock bolt of 25 mm diameter and

210 GPa of Young’s modulus are taken into account. The rock

bolting density parameter β and the equivalent thickness of

the shotcrete are calculated using Eq. (2) and (7) respec

tively. Study parameters of the standard support patterns of

JH (Koyama et al., 1997) and the calculated values of rock

bolt density parameter and equivalent thickness of shotcrete

are given inTable 1. Elastic modulus of steel sets and

shotcrete

are taken as 200 GPa and 10 GPa, respectively. The lengths

of

rock bolts are 3.0 m and 4.0 m with combination of various

thicknesses of shotcrete and steel set when applicable.

Several standard patterns consisting of rock bolt, shotcrete

and/or steel ribs are recommended for the corresponding

ground classes in the standard support designs.Therefore,

sup

porting effects of the each standard tunnel support pattern

are

analyzed in terms of tunnel wall strain and displacement of

the tunnel wall in various ground conditions.

3.2 Analysis results

In the case of support pattern B, where the equivalent

thickness

of the shotcrete is 0.05 m, the rock bolting effect improves

slightly even though rock bolt density β is increased.

Support

patterns C I and C II−a are the same except the difference

in

longitudinal spacing of rock bolt. Therefore, the

interaction

characteristics of the two patterns are similar. Increasing

the

shotcrete thickness (0.1 m) in pattern C I and C II−a

results in

the improvement of the rock bolt performance in a poor

ground

condition as compared to the support pattern B, as shown in

Figs. 2–3. The rock bolting effects of the two patterns are

not significant when the S rp value is greater than 0.9. The

support pattern D I−a is similar to C II−b except the

difference

in shotcrete thickness.The rock bolting effect in a poor

ground

condition is dramatically improved in case of this

supporting

pattern. With the increase in shotcrete thickness as

compared

to the preceding one, significant control in tunnel wall

strain

is observed, which is attributed to the combined use of

thicker

shotcrete.

Support patterns D I−a and D I−b are also similar to each

other, except the difference in the length of rock bolt.

Support 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.05 0.06 0.07 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Density of rock bolt β U r a / r a Srp = 0.1 Sr p=1.2 Srp
= 0.3 Srp = 0.4 Srp = 0.6 Pattern DI-a & DI-b, β = 0.24 Srp
= 0.8 Srp = 0.2 Figure 3. Influence of rock bolt density
and the tunnel wall strain (t c = 0.21 m, S rp = 0.2∼1.2, L
= 3.0 m). L / r a R o c k b o l t d e n s i t y Covered
zone of stand support pattern(JH), B-D β Figure 4.
Restrained displacement of tunnel wall in different
conditions (t c = 0.1 m, S rp = 0.4). R o c k b o l t d e n
s i t y L / r a Covered zone of stand support pattern(JH),
B-D β Figure 5. Restrained displacement of tunnel wall in
different conditions (t c = 0.21 m, S rp = 0.4). pattern D
I−b has 1.0 m longer rock bolt than the pattern D I−a .
Comparison of support characteristics of these two patterns
show that the rock bolting effect is not influenced by the
increased length of rock bolt in this study. Therefore,
increasing in rock bolt length is not justifiable in this
case. Figure 3 shows the influence of rock bolt density and
the tunnel wall strain of the patterns D I−a and D I−b .
The rock bolting effect of different length and installing
density is shown in Figure 4–5. The proposed installing
length and rock bolting density of the standard support
pattern of JH is indicated with a quadrilateral covered
zone. In most of the study case, it seems that the rock
bolting density is a more significant parameter compared to
the rock bolt length. It seems that the performance of the
standard support patterns is compatible with the changing
ground conditions.

The above analysis confirms that the strain at tunnel wall

is

influenced by the parameters of the rock bolt density, the

thick

ness of the applied shotcrete and the ground competency

factor

(S rp ). Generally, the rock bolting effect increases with

the

thickness of the shotcrete applied especially in a poor

ground

conditions (S rp < 0.4), and the reinforcing effect becomes

less

significant towards a good ground condition. Rock bolting

design of all the standard support patterns of Japan Highway

fundamentally appropriate and work effectively even if in

the

poor ground conditions. This is possibly due to the

significant

safety margin might included in the standard support

patterns.

The quantitative analysis of the support performances of

the standard support patterns shows an agreement with the

design recommendation in the indexed conditions. However,

the rock bolting design can be optimized in a specific in

situ condition, analyzing the interaction curves for the

design

of optimum support system. It is found that an optimal rock

bolt density exists in a certain ground condition. Below the

optimal rock bolt density, the reinforcing effect of the

rock bolt

increases if more rock bolts are installed. However, when

the

rock bolt density exceeds the optimal density, the

reinforcing

effect would not be improved even though more rock bolt is

installed. Of course, more verification in-situ is

necessary for

the practice of the proposed method, it gives a way to

evaluate

the reinforcing effect of rock bolt quantitatively.

4 CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

Comparison of the rock bolting effect of the standard sup

port patterns confirms that the shotcrete play an important

role in the reinforcing system. Rock bolt works together

with

shotcrete and improves rock bolting effect significantly in

the poor ground conditions. It is due to the shotcrete

reduces

potential high deformation in poor ground condition,

allowing

the rock bolt to work consistently with the surrounding rock

mass. Otherwise, debonding failure may take place at the
inter

face between the rock mass and the rock bolt which
drastically

reduces the rock bolting effect. On the other hand, rock

bolt

ing effect can not be improved significantly only increasing

its density parameter in all cases when the S rp value is

greater

than 0.9.

Rock bolting effect of the standard support patterns of

Japan

ABSTRACT:An innovative approach to the modeling of the

tunnel excavation/construction process is presented. The
develop

ment forms part of the integrated research project

TUNCONSTRUCT (Technology Innovation in Underground
Construction)

of the European Union. The developed software is based on

the Boundary Element Method (BEM) but this can be combined

with the Finite Element Method (FEM) as required. The

application of the simulation model is mainly for
conventional tunnel

excavation in rock.

1 INTRODUCTION

Numerical simulation plays an important role in the design

of tunnels. Simulations are usually routinely done during

the

design and construction phase. Because of constraints in

time

and available resources the majority of the analyses are how

ever plane strain approximations of the real 3-D tunneling

process. This involves simplified assumptions for example to

include 3-D effects at the tunnel face and restrictions with

respect to the virgin stress field and geological features

which

have to be aligned to the plane under consideration in this

case.

Three-dimensional analyses are rarely carried out and then

only by specialists consultants. However for the numerical

simulation of NATM tunnel construction it is very important

to model the sequential construction process. Tunneling in

weak ground and near surface for example often requires a

complicated sequence involving temporary support and this

is definitely a 3-D process. A plane approximation of this

construction sequence is not very meaningful.

The aim of the work reported here, which forms part of the

integrated projectTUNCONSTRUCT, is to make 3-D analysis

capabilities for design and during the construction

accessible

to non-specialists tunnel engineers.This is done to assist

in the

often difficult decisions with respect to changing the

designed

procedures in response to actual ground behavior.

A significant improvement in user friendliness and effi

ciency is achieved by moving away from domain based

methods currently in use, such as the Finite Element or

Finite

Difference Methods and turning to a boundary based method.

However the method is currently in a state of development

that makes it unsuitable for tunneling. In the following we

will shortly introduce the Boundary Element Method and

the modifications that are necessary in order to adapt it to

tunneling.

2 THE BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD

The boundary element method (BEM) is very rarely used for

tunneling. In fact a 3-D BEM program that includes all the

essential features for tunneling does not exist at the

moment

and this is the aim of our development. There is

insufficient

space here to show details of the method and the reader is

referred to (Beer, 2006) for a description. The difference

in Figure 1. Volume and surface based models for a tunnel.
the discretisation effort between domain and boundary base
method is shown in Figure 1. It can be seen that for the
BEM the mesh generation is much easier than for volume
based method because only the surface of the excavated
tunnel has to be discretised. Indeed, since no elements
exist in the rock mass result planes are required to
display the stresses in Figure 1. These results are
computed using fundamental

Figure 2. Simulation of the sequential excavation process.

solutions of the governing differential equation and are

there

fore much more accurate than the corresponding FEM results.

As a consequence, there is no need for the truncation of the

boundary element mesh as the far field conditions for

infinite

and semi-infinite domains are satisfied implicitly.

However, with the mesh as shown in Fig. 1 (bottom) one

is only able to simulate a tunnel excavated in one stage in

an elastic homogenous ground (which can be isotropic or

anisotropic), a completely unrealistic simulation for

tunneling.

Therefore the capabilities of the method have to be

extended.

3 NEW DEVELOPMENTS OF THE BEM

Here we discuss the capabilities which have to be added to

the BEM so that it can be applied to tunneling. These new

capabilities refer to the modeling of

• sequential excavation/construction

• heterogeneous ground conditions

• visco-plastic material behavior

• ground support.

3.1 Sequential construction

The method for simulating sequential construction is via the

the multi-region BEM where the final excavated tunnel is

defined by an infinite region and the parts to be removed at

each stage by a number of finite regions (see Figure 2). In

the

implementation, the concept is to calculate a stiffness

matrix

for the regions and to assemble them in the same way as it

is

done in finite elements. The excavation process is described

by removing regions in a similar way as it is currently done

in FEM programs. Further details are available in (Dünser,

2002).

3.2 Heterogeneous ground conditions

The classical BEM can only deal with homogeneous ground

conditions. Currently an extension of the method using mul

tiple regions (as explained above) makes it possible to

model

piecewise heterogeneous ground conditions but this is quite

cumbersome and not very user friendly. Also this method does

not work for general heterogeneity.The main problem with the

BEM (and also its major advantage) is that no elements exist

in the rock mass and therefore the simulation of volumetric

effects requires special attention.

The approach taken here is to use a mesh of internal cells

(Figure 3). These cells actually look like finite elements

but are very different because they do not introduce any

Figure 3. Cell mesh for modeling heterogeneous ground.
additional degrees of freedom. Each cell node can now be
assigned different material properties according to
geological conditions. In the proposed approach first an
analysis is carried out assuming homogenous ground
conditions. Then the strain tensor (ε) is computed at each
cell node using fundamental solution for the displacements.
If the node has been assigned material properties that are
different to the ones used for the homogeneous analysis
then an excess stress is computed at the node by: where D
is the matrix of elastic material properties assumed for
the homogenous analysis and matrix D n contains the
material properties assigned to the cell point n. This
stress is then taken as an initial stress (also termed body
force in BEM terminology). After the “body forces” have
been calculated for all cell nodes they are considered as
loading. For this the stresses have to be integrated over
each cell. The integration is carried out in each cell
separately and the contributions are added. For this
purpose a local coordinate system and a linear variation of
the stress over the cell is assumed. After the integration
a right hand side of the system of equations is obtained in
a similar way as for the FEM. The solution then proceeds in
iterations, i.e the change in strain is computed at the
cell node due to the change in the right hand side of the
systems of equations. New increments of �σ n are computed
and applied to the system. The iteration is stopped when
the change is strain is below a specified threshold. The
proposed approach was inspired by the concepts of
visco-elasticity, where the modulus of elasticity changes
with time.

Figure 4. Example of a visco-plastic analysis: Rounded notch

specimen subjected to vertical loading. Von Mises yield

condition.

3.3 Visco-plastic material behavior

The treatment of visco-plastic material behavior is similar

to the treatment of heterogeneous ground conditions. Inter

nal cells for the computation of internal results and “body

forces” are either provided by the pre-processor or automati

cally generated where needed by the program. After an

elastic

analysis the stresses are computed at cell points. Based on

these stresses, a visco-plastic strain rate is computed for

a

given time increment �t by

where η is the viscosity parameter, F the yield function, Q

the

flow function and

This means that if the yield function is smaller than 0 no

visco-plastic strains are generated. The plastic strain

rates are

converted into stresses by

and integrated over cells as explained in the previous sec

tion. The analysis proceeds in time steps until either

stationary

conditions have been achieved or a new construction stage is

applied. More details are available in (Ribeiro et al,

2006).

Figure 4 shows an example of an analysis where cells have

been generated automatically by the program. Shown in the

Figure are the generated cells and the boundary between the

elastic and plastic zone.

3.4 Ground support

In tunneling basically 3 types of ground support are used:

• Rock bolts, cable dowels, pre-stressed anchors

• Shotcrete

• Forepoling, pipe-roofing. Figure 5. Treatment of rock

bolts in a Boundary element analysis, example of linear
cells. The modeling of rock bolts depends on whether they
are fully grouted or not grouted. In the case of fully
grouted rock bolts, cells are introduced as shown in Figure
5. First an analysis is carried out without rock bolts and
the displacement at the location of the cell nodes are
obtained using the fundamental solutions. In the simplest
case a linear variation of displacements is assumed within
a cell. This means that the strain in the cell is constant
and can be computed from the nodal displacements in the
(local) x-direction as: Since the rock bolt (represented by
the cell) has a different modulus than the surrounding rock
mass the stresses due to a given longitudinal strain will
be different in the bolt (computed by the cell end
displacements) and in the rock mass (computed using
internal result computation and the fundamental solutions).
This stress difference has not been accounted for, in the
first analysis. Therefore a correction of the amount (where
E Bolt is the modulus of elasticity of the rock bolt and E
rock the one for the rock mass) has to be applied. This is
treated as a body force in a similar way as explained
previously. The problem is again solved with an iterative
procedure which is thought to have converged when the
stress correction is below a specified threshold.To improve
the accuracy, one may either use a greater number of cells
or increase
Figure 6. Modeling of fore poling with parabolic beam
elements.

the order of the interpolation function to quadratic (which

would mean a linear variation of the strains in the cell.

In the

case of partially or not grouted bolts slip is allowed

between the

bolt and the rock mass by the introduction of springs

between

the bolt element and the rock mass.

For the modeling of shotcrete, shell finite elements with 3

displacement and 2 rotational degrees of freedom are used.

First the rotational degrees of freedom are condensed out

and

then the displacement degrees of freedom coupled to the

nodes

of the BE mesh. Due to the fact that the development of the

BEM software works on the principle of stiffness matrices

the coupling to finite elements is easy as finite elements

are

treated in the same way as BE regions.

Fore-poling and pipe-roofing are support measures taken

in the case of bad ground conditions: Holes are drilled

ahead

of the tunnel face to form an umbrella under which

excavation

can proceed. In these holes pipes are placed that can be

filled

with grout. The modeling of this type of support is similar

to
the one used for the rock bolts except that in this case
beam

elements with a bending stiffness are used (Figure 6). From

the displacements at the nodes associated nodal point forces

are computed via the stiffness matrix of the element. Using

the principle of virtual work as explained in (Beer, 2001)

the

nodal point forces can be converted into tractions acting

along

the cell. Again, if the modulus of the beam cell is

different to

the one assumed for the ground, the pressures for the cell
will

be different to the one computed as internal results by the

BEM program. This difference in the pressure is then

applied Figure 7. Pre-processor: Specification of the
excavation geometry. as a residual stress the same way as
for the bolt element. From then on the iterative procedure
is identical. 4 USER FRIENDLY PRE-PROCESSOR As the reader
can see there is already a significant gain in user
friendliness of the BEM as compared with the FEM. However,
the specification of a boundary element mesh and the
excavation sequence as well as the description of the
geological conditions may still be too cumbersome for
everyday use by practical engineers. Therefore a graphical
pre-processor was developed that allows the user to specify
a design with a minimum of effort. The first step in the
pre-processor is to define the crosssection of the tunnel,
including interfaces between two excavation sections. The
program then automatically generates the BE mesh for one
slice of the tunnel. In the example shown in Figure 7, it
is intended to excavate the top heading first and then the
invert (providing ground support at each stage). The BE
mesh for the slice therefore consists of two BE regions.
The next step is then to copy the slices n times (where n
is the total number of excavation stages) in order to
arrive at the total mesh for the tunnel. In a second stage
the user specifies the excavation/ construction sequence
using a specially developed tool. In this tool the user may
at each step excavate a region or/and specify ground
support. Figure 8 shows an example on how the construction
stages can be displayed using a slider (bottom left
annotated “Timestep”). As the user moves the slider the
excavation stages are displayed in real time. The intention
is that the geological features are automatically read in
form a data base and the internal cell mesh generated
unbeknown to the user. Ground support is specified also in
a user friendly way: The application (and if necessary
removal) of shotcrete is specified when the excavation
sequence is specified. The rock bolts are specified as
bolts per m 2 and the fore poling by its extent, angle and
diameter of the pipes. 5 EXAMPLE OF APPLICATION One example
of application of a 2-D analysis is given here. It relates
to the sequential excavation of a cavern for an underground
water power station.

Figure 8. Pre-processor: Display of excavation stages,

defined (red

areas denote shotcrete).

Figure 9. Geometry of the cavern and discretisation into

boundary

element regions.

The geometry of the cavern and the excavation sequence is

shown in Figure 9. For the analysis 1 infinite region and 12

finite regions were defined. The analysis process started

with

applying the pre-excavation stress field. The excavation con

struction sequence was then simulated by removing regions

and adding rock bolt and shotcrete elements.

Figure 10 shows one result of the analysis namely the zones

in the rock mass that are predicted to undergo visco-plastic

straining at excavation stage 5. The visco-plastic points

are Figure 10. Results for excavation stage 5: Extent of
visco-plastic zone (stationary conditions). Figure 11.
Distribution of plastic strain in cells. Figure 12. Forces
in the rock bolts. marked with crosses inside the
(automatically generated) cells. The amount of plastic
straining is shown in Figure 11 and the forces in the rock
bolts in Figure 12. 6 CONCLUSIONS A major development is
underway within the integrated European project
TUNCONSTRUCT, whose main aim is to make 3-D numerical
simulation a routine tool for the tunneling engineer. This
is achieved by using a boundary based rather than a volume
based method. However, the Boundary Element Method requires
significant further development before it can be applied to
tunneling problems. In this paper it is shown how all the
features that are required for the application of the
method to tunneling can be implemented. A user friendly
interface was also developed that allows users to specify a
particular excavation design intuitively without ever
worrying about mesh generation.

It is envisaged that all data related to the rock mass are

read

in automatically form a data base. For this an underground

construction information system (UCIS) will be established

in the project. The geological data of a project will be

stored

there and using geostatistical and upscaling methods as for

example shown by (Beer and Exadaktylos, 2007) the material

properties defined. A hierarchical material model has been

proposed where the model sophistication is adapted to the

available parameters.

The important feature of the development is that geological

information is automatically converted to numerical informa

tion for the numerical model. However, it is envisaged that

the user can interfere and change the automatically

generated

values at any stage.

Those interested in the development of the model can con

sult the TUNCONSTRUCT webpage www.tunconstruct.org

where news of the development will be disseminated.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Euro

pean Union under contract IP011817-2 as well as the Aus

trian science fund (Project No. P15523-N07). Thanks are

also due to Tatiana Ribeiro, who was responsible for the

ABSTRACT: The paper presents the case of a railway tunnel

excavated through Tertiary gypsiferous-anhydritic
claystones

from the Lower Ebro Basin (Northern Spain) in which large

expansive phenomena were observed during construction. Five
test

sections with resisting and yielding supports were

constructed and exposed to the action of environmental
conditions imposed

by natural ventilation into the tunnel. In addition, three

of those sections were subjected to flooding using water
from the rock

massif. The performance of these tests sections is

summarized and some explanations for the observed behaviour
are proposed.

1 INTRODUCTION

Damage and failure of tunnels excavated through Triassic

rocks from both the Middle Keuper (Gipskeuper) and the

Muschelkalk (Anhydritgruppe) in Baden-Württemberg (Ger

many) and Jura Mountains (Switzerland) have been analyzed

by many authors during decades. Recent key contributions to

the study of swelling in hard gypsiferous-anhydritic clayey

and marly rocks have been made by Kovári & Descoeudres

(2001), Amstad & Kovári (2001) and Wittke (2006).

Generally the magnitude of expansive phenomena observed

in gypsiferous-anhydritic claystones far exceeds the expan

sivity threshold of most hard soils and soft rocks, which

are

well-known because of their high expansive potential.

Recently, the authors were involved in the analysis of

swelling phenomena which affected three tunnels of the

new high speed railway Madrid-Zaragoza-Barcelona during

construction. These tunnels were excavated through Tertiary

moderately soft gypsiferous-anhydritic claystones from the

Lower Ebro Basin (Northern Spain). The case of Lilla tunnel,

the longest of those tunnels is presented in this paper.

2 GENERAL FEATURES OF LILLA TUNNEL

2.1 Geology

Lilla tunnel crosses a relief composed by hills and valleys

on the left bank of the Francolí river -near Montblanc (NE

Spain)-, following a N-S route with a maximum gradient of

2.5%. The tunnel runs through Early Eocenic argillaceous

rocks containing anhydrite and a complex system of cross

shaped moderately dipping fibrous gypsum veins. The exca

vated material consists basically of a horizontally-oriented

monotonic series of gypsum-bearing brown argillaceous rocks

(Fig. 1). Gypsum is mainly present as millimetric and cen

timetric fibrous veins, as well as small nodules and flakes.

Locally, grey alabastrine gypsum occurs in subhorizontal

strips in the host rock. The host argillaceous matrix is

consti
tuted by phyllosilicates (illite and paligorskite), by
minerals

rich in magnesium and calcium (dolomite) and, to a lesser

extent, by quartz. Expansive clays were only detected in iso

lated points of the matrix. An important aspect is the

existence

of a persistent system of open low friction-angle

slickensided

surfaces. It is related to strong kneeling folds produced

by the

high curvature radius of the regional tectonic. Figure 1.

Geological longitudinal section of Lilla tunnel. Ground
water in the tunnel is highly mineralized, with important
contents of both sulphates (1783 mg/l) and calcium (500
mg/l). Laboratory measurements indicated that this water
imposes a relative humidity between 91% at 5 ◦ C and 93% at
30 ◦ C. These values of temperature correspond to extremes
measured in the tunnel during one year of monitoring. On
other hand, thermodynamical analyses of the saturation
index for gypsum of the groundwater indicated that for the
environmental conditions imposed by the natural tunnel
ventilation gypsum could to precipitate only at a
temperature below 10 ◦ C. However, the temperature in the
tunnel is often somewhat above 10 ◦ C. 2.2 Technical
features of design and tunneling The tunnel has a length of
2 km and it was originally excavated whit a horseshoe
cross-section of 117.3 m 2 (radius of the vault: 6.76 m).
Overburden varies between 10 m and 110 m. Support design
was carried out in accordance with the
ConvergenceConfinement Method and excavation was created by
drill and blast from the two portals, dividing the section
into head and bench. Temporal supports consisted in sprayed
concrete and rock bolts; steel arch ribs (HEB 160) were
only installed in zones of low quality rock. Lining
consisted in 300 mm thick mass concrete (25 MPa). A 300 mm
thick flat-slab constructed in mass concrete (20 MPa) was
placed on the tunnel floor, but it was only concreted after
the total excavation of the bench. Therefore, the floor of
the tunnel was exposed to the action of environmental
agents during the construction period. Due to the low
permeability of the massif, waterproofing of the excavated
section was restricted to portals using a geotextile of 500
g/m 2 placed over a 1.5 mm thick PVC sheet located between
the support and the lining. The longitudinal 0 100 200 300
400 500 Time (days) 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 F l a
t s l a b h e a v e ( m m ) 411+380 411+420 411+540 Slab
axis reference at 9/20/02 411+880 411+900 411+920 O c t 0 2
N o v D e c J a n 0 3 F e b M a r A p r M a y J u n J u l A
u g S e p O c t N o v D e c J a n 0 4 6 . 4 6 m

Figure 2. Heave evolution in some sections with flat-slab.

drainage system was composed of a 500 mm dia. PVC col

lector, located 1.4 m below the floor. Underneath, a 200 mm

gravel filter layer was constructed. Water from the vault

was

collected in box-type manifolds, uniformly distributed along

the tunnel floor.

2.3 Expansive phenomena during construction

First expansions were detected in the flat-slab in

September/

October 2002, just after it was built. Large expansive phe

nomena occurred in a generalized way at floor level, but

movements were only slight in the unlined vault. The heave

was followed by damage to the longitudinal drainage system

and, finally, by local failures of flat-slabs.

Figure 2 illustrate the evolution of heave in critical

stations

with flat-slab, which were monitoring as a part of the

study of

the case.

3 ALTERNATIVE SUPPORT DESIGNS

Once the first expansions were detected, a study was under

taken to clarify the following aspects: (i) the stability

con

ditions in the tunnel at the beginning of the expansive

phenomena, (ii) the most probable cause of the expansions,

(iii) the foreseeable evolution of the swelling, and (iv)

the tech

nical alternatives to reinforce the tunnel cross-section.

This

paper summarizes the results of the last of those items.

Two zones were selected to carry out full scale swelling

tests using sections with both resisting and yielding

supports

and select the alternative support design most convenient

for

the tunnel. In the first zone two stretches with invert-arch

were built: (i) invert-arch of 400 mm (184 meters in length)

and (ii) invert-arch of 600 mm (110 meters in length).

Inverts

were designed adopting a total radial pressure of 0.5 MPa,

the

maximum swelling pressure obtained in laboratory tests on

undisturbed samples. In the second zone three stretches

with circular sections were built. The first stretch (20 m
long) was designed according to the principle of resisting
support; whereas the other two (both 10 m long) were
designed according to the principle of yielding support,
one included slots in the contact between the vault and the
invert and in the other, a polyurethane foam (150 mm
approximately) was placed in the interface rock-invert.
These circular sections were designed adopting a total
radial pressure of 3.0 MPa, in accordance with the maximum
values measured near abutments of invert-arches after 4
months of monitoring. Tests sections were exposed to the
action of environmental conditions imposed by the natural
ventilation into the tunnel. However, circular sections
were initially flooded under controlled conditions using
water from the rock massif. The direct access of water from
the tunnel floor to the rock was possible due to a series
of boreholes drilled after building the circular sections.
The flooding period was of 30 days. Displacements of the
ground were measured using sliding micrometers and floor
heave was monitoring by means topographic methods. Total
radial pressures at the interface rock-lining were obtained
by means of pressure cells installed at invert and roof
levels. Finally, pore water pressure in the foundation
material was monitoring using vibrating wire piezometers.
In addition to the building of test sections, boreholes
using the dry drilling-double casing technique with
continuous sampling of high diameter core specimens were
executed before starting the in situ tests in order to
evaluate the composition and geotechnical properties of the
foundation material. Laboratory studies were undertaken to
gain knowledge on the mechanisms of swelling and to develop
suitable constitutive and large scale models of the
expansive phenomena. 4 PERFORMANCE OF TEST SECTIONS All
test sections were affected by large expansive phenomena
occurring in a generalized way in the foundation material,
but movements were only slight in the vault. Expansive
phenomena evolved systematically without a clear limit for
both heave and pressures in some cases. 4.1 Test sections
with invert-arch Figure 3 indicates that in the critical
station with invert-arch (411 + 663) a maximum heave of 27
mm was measured 10 months after its construction. In
general, invert-arches were relatively effective reducing
vertical displacements at floor level regarding to the
performance of the flat-slab. Nevertheless, once inverts
were constructed high total radial pressures were measured
at the rock-concrete contact. Figure 4 indicates that with
independence on the invert thickness, in some cases a sort
of reactivation of pressures was the characteristic
behaviour (stations 411 + 609 and 411 + 849), whereas in
other cases pressures evolved systematically without an
asymptotic tendency (stations 411 + 669 and 411 + 769). In
spite of relatively high values of vertical displacements
measured in inverts total radial pressures up to 4 and 5
MPa were measured in some stations. Hence, this support
alternative implies the coexistence of both relatively high
displacements and very high radial pressures without the
guarantee of a long-term acceptable performance of the
tunnel. 0 100 200 300 400 Time (days) 0 10 20 30 I n v e r
t a r c h h e a v e ( m m ) 411+638 411+663 411+688 411+713
411+832 F e b 0 3 M a r A p r M a y J u n J u l A u g S e p
O c t N o v D e c J a n 0 4 6 . 4 6 m Slab axis reference
at 9/20/02

Figure 3. Evolution of heave in critical sections with

invert-arch. 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Time (days) 0 1 2 3
4 5 6

T o
t a

l r

a d

i a

l p

r e

s s

u r

( M

P a

) D e c 0 2 J a n 0 3 F e b M a r A p r M a y J u n J u l A
u g S e p O c t N o v D e c J a n 0 4 F e b M a r A p r M a
y J u n J u l C o n c r e t i n g t h e i n v e r t s 13 2
Invert: 400 mm Invert: 600 mm 411+589 (3) 411+829 (3)
411+609 (1) 411+669 (1) 411+749 (3) 411+769 (1) 411+629 (1)

Figure 4. Evolution of total radial pressure in critical

sections with

invert-arch.

Continuous profiles of vertical displacements below invert

arches obtained by means of sliding micrometers indicated

that expansions were concentrated within a zone 4.0 to 5.5 m

in depth, which remained basically invariable during the mon

itoring program (10 months). In the studied rock profiles

the

active zone was characterized by occurrence of neo-formation

gypsum needles on relic slickenside surfaces opened by the

excavation. Another outstanding aspect was the existence of

neo-formation gypsum aggregations in relatively confined

discontinuities of samples recovered below the active zone,

which could be related with a sort of “wedge effect” capable

of moving parts of the rock mass as a rigid body in

addition to

the expansive mechanisms occurring in the active zone. These

details are illustrated in Figure 5.

After demolition of test sections signs of transformation of

anhydrite into gypsum were not observed; on the contrary,

it was apparent in several cases that anhydrite nodules were

covered either partially or totally by neo-formation gypsum

needles configuring a surface able to isolate -and

eventually

protect-, the material from continuous dissolution. Figure

5. Occurrence of neo-formation gypsum crystals below the
invert-arch in station 411 + 600. 4.2 Circular test
sections The selection of circular section was based on the
criterion that with a circular geometry it could be
possible to remove an important component of the active
zone, principally in the axis of the cross-section (4 m in
the case of the flat-slab and 2.2 m approximately in the
case of the invert-arch of 600 mm). In these conditions the
eventual development of a new active zone below the new
circular section would be the key factor controlling the
behaviour of the ground and the parameters for the
definitive reinforcement of the tunnel. The dependence of
swelling pressure on rigidity of the support was clearly
apparent in the circular tests sections, as illustrated in
Figure 6. In this case expansions began before the
artificial flooding possibly due to groundwater flow
induced by the tunnel excavation before the building of
circular tests sections. At first sight, the benefits of
using a yielding support as an alternative to reducing
swelling pressures is indisputable, in spite of the linear
increase of pressure detected in some cells installed in
the sections with slots. Figure 7 shows that the low
relative magnitude of swelling pressure in yielding support
systems is related to the increase in extent of the active
zone with regard to the case of a resisting support. The
consequence of facilitating the occurrence of displacements
in order to minimize the swelling pressure is the exposure
of the foundation material to the continuous degradation
associated with swelling, just as was observed in test
sections with flat-slab. 5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The
expansion is mainly caused by the presence of water, which
drains naturally and concentrates, due to gravity, in the
lower part of the tunnel. In the presence of some water,
the expansion mechanisms will be triggered. The crown and
abutments do not show swelling as there is no water
available. Water from different sources concentrates in the
lower part of the tunnel (natural leaking, flow from
portals through the drainage, water injected during
excavation works and after boring and, eventually, water
coming from circulating trains during the exploitation of
the tunnel). On the other hand, null damage to the rock
cannot be guaranteed because the excavation implies, at
least, a significant change in the stress state 0 100 200
300 400 Time (days) 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1 3 4 5
Yielding support - Foam 412+590 C o n c r e t i n g F l o
o d i n g 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16

T o

t a

l r

a d

i a

l p

r e

s s

u r

( M

P a

) 1 2 4 5 Yielding support - Slots 412+574 C o n c r e t i

n g F l o o d i n g 0.40 0.80 1.20 1.60 2.00 1 2 3 4 5
Resisting support 412+552 C o n c r e t i n g F l o o d i
n g J u n J u l A u g S e p O c t N o v D e c J a n 0 4 F e
b M a r A p r M a y J u n J u l 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 SLOTS
1 2 3 4 5 FOAM 6 . 0 m 6 . 0 m 6 . 0 m M a y 0 3

Figure 6. Evolution of total radial pressure in the invert

of circular

test section subjected to flooding. -4 -2 0

Relative displacement (mm/m)

Resisting support: 412 + 552 (a) -4 -2 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 S

e p 2 0 0 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 S e p 2 0 0 3 EIC2 EIC1 J a n
2 0 0 4 J a n 2 0 0 4 Depth (m) Depth (m) -4 -2 0 Relative
displacement (mm/m) Yielding support-slots: 412 + 574 (b) 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 S e p 2 0 0 3 -4 -2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 S e
p 2 0 0 3 EIC2 EIC1 O c t 2 0 0 3 D e c 2 0 0 3 Depth (m)
Depth (m)

Figure 7. Relative displacements profiles in circular tests

sections

with resisting support and yielding support (slots).

surrounding the excavation. Even if average stresses were

maintained, deviator stresses would significantly

increase.The

probable anisotropic initial stress states in the rock with

Ko > 1

ABSTRACT: The configurations associated with longwall and

scattered mining methods adopted in South African gold

mines lends itself to the formation of leads and lags

between panels. Widespread opinion exists amongst South
African rock

engineering practitioners that there is a relationship

between rockfall (aseismic) and rockburst (seismic) risk
and the distance

between leading or lagging panels. Stress fracture mapping

was conducted in the face and gully areas of selected
panels in a

wide range of gold mines in the Witwatersrand Basin, South

Africa as part of a Safety in Mines Research Advisory
Committee
(SIMRAC) funded project to test the hypothesis that:
Interpanel lead/lag distances have an influence on the
spatial distribution,

frequency and orientation of fractures and hence potential

undesirable fracture imprints can be used to allow for
appropriate

selection of interpanel leads and lags’. A four-pronged

approach was adopted to optimise the selection of lead/lag
lengths for

quasi-static conditions. The choice of different methods

was selected to test and ratify the validity of the final
outcome i.e.

quantifiable lead/lag lengths. Guidelines have been

formulated to assist rock-engineering practitioners to
optimize the selection

of interpanel leads and lags for the different reef types

in the South African gold mining industry.

1 INTRODUCTION

The mining methods adopted in intermediate to deep tabular

gold mines in South Africa lends itself to the formation of

interpanel leads and lags. Fracture mapping was conducted in

the face and gully areas of selected panels in a wide range

of

gold mines in the Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa. The

intention of the fracture mapping exercise was to test the

hypothesis that:

‘Lead/lag distances have an influence on the spatial dis

tribution, frequency and orientation of fractures and hence

potential undesirable fracture imprints can be used to allow

for appropriate selection of interpanel leads and lags’.

A work programme was planned, scheduled and vetted by

the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),

Natural Resource and the Environment (NRE) under the aus

pice of the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee

(SIMRAC). This work programme entailed:

• The mapping of fractures at fourteen (14) sites yielding

26

scanlines

• The calculation of rock mass ratings for the sites and

relating

these ratings to interpanel leads/lags

• An assessment of the kinematic likelihood of rock/wedge/

keyblock unravelling and relating these to interpanel

lead/lag distances (not addressed in this paper)

• An attempt to conduct borehole camera surveys ahead of

the lagging face using face perpendicular and face parallel

diamond drilled holes

• A Code of Practice review of the status quo regarding

interpanel lead/lag distances

Additionally, the data from the catalogue was used to aug

ment previous work done of fractures related to variations

in

lead/lag distances for different reef types.

The fracture mapping study relates only to quasi-static

conditions and any potentially damaging seismic events will

impose further restrictions and requirements for selecting

optimum lead/lags. A four-pronged approach was adopted

to optimize the selection of lead/lag lengths for
quasi-static conditions. The choice of different methods
was selected to test and ratify the validity of the final
outcomes (quantifiable lead/lag lengths). The approaches
adopted were geared towards: • Establishing the
relationship between rock mass ratings and lead/lag lengths
• Establishing the relationship between fracture frequency
and lead/lag lengths • Establishing the relationship
between the potential for wedge/block/keyblock unravelling
and lead/lag lengths • Supplementing work done previously
by Turner (1989) on siding parallel fracture extents. 2
FRACTURE CATALOGUES 2.1 Site selection Sites for fracture
mapping were selected on the basis of mining methods
employed, variations in lead/lags and type of reef being
exploited. Basic descriptions of the sites and typical
panel configurations are shown in Table 1 and Figure 1,
respectively. All sites were within intermediate (1000–2250
m below surface) to deep mining environments (>2250 m below
surface). Of the 14 sites, five were mining the Ventersdorp
Contact Reef (VCR), three the Basal Reef, one the Carbon
Leader Reef (CLR), two the Vaal Reef (VR), two the Main
Reef and one the B Reef. Regional mining configurations
(Figure 1) are variations of panels within extended dip or
strike spans mining into extensive unmined ground or panels
approaching extensive mined out abutments. The frequency
distribution (Figure 2) of scanline data sets shows, as
expected, a skew towards samples in the 0 m to 20 m lead
length range. Further work should focus on creating a
fracture data set that is within the 40 m to 100 m range.
Data within the said range would improve the resolution of
results presented in this section.

Table 1. Basic site descriptions.

Mine / Reef Mining Interpanel Depth

Shaft mined method lead (m) (m)

Kloof 1 VCR* Sequential grid 7.6 2950

Bambanani 4 BR* Longwall 7.6 3172

Kloof 3 VCR Sequential grid 7.9 2352

Kloof 7 VCR Sequential grid 8.2 2848

Kloof 1 VCR Longwall 8.4 2573

Driefontein CLR* Longwall, 10.0 3200

5E Sequential grid

Kloof 1 MR* Sequential grid 10.2 2035

Bambanani 4 BR Longwall 11.7 3161

Masimong 5 BR Scattered 18.2 1940

Masimong 5 B Reef Scattered 19.8 1810

Great Noligwa VR* Scattered 20.0 2274

Great Noligwa VR Scattered 24.0 2287

South Deep VCR Longwall 34.2 2424

Kloof 1 MR Sequential grid 55.0 2453

* VCR =Ventersdorp Contact Reef, BR = Basal Reef, CLR = Car

bon Leader Reef, MR = Main Reef, VR =Vaal Reef.

Figure 1. Ascending order of lead distances at fracture

mapping

sites.

2.2 Scanline mapping method

A template for the scanlines was designed based on adapta

tions of work done by Watson (2005) for the South African

platinum mining industry. Information contained in the tem

plate and retrieved during the scanline mapping included

typical input data for rock mass classification schemes

such as:

• The type of fracture ( joint, stress, bedding, flow

structure,

fault, dyke) intersected by the scanline

• The orientation (dip angle and dip direction) of the

fracture

• The visible length of the fracture

• Aperture and roughness

• Infilling y= -3.1214Ln(x) + 5.6587 R 2 = 0.8885 0 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 0-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 Lead
length (m) N u m b e r o f s a m p l e s Figure 2.
Distribution of sample sites within ranges of lead
distances. Figure 3. Scanline layout adopted. • Rock type •
Water infiltration • Rock Quality Designation (RQD)
Fractures were mapped onto a scanline (Figure 3) that was
placed on the hangingwall of the face area at approximately
3 m back from the face and along the updip side of the
gully. Although every effort was made to map at least
two-thirds of the face scanline and the complete gully
scanline, ambient environmental and safety related issues
prevented this from being achieved in all scanlines. 3
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ROCK MASS RATINGS AND PANEL LEADS
Bieniawski’s (1989) rock mass classification (RMR),
Laubscher & Taylor’s (1976) modified rock mass rating
classification (MRMR) and the Norwegian Geotechnical
Institutes; Q-system were applied to the fracture
catalogues and compared to lead/lag distances. The
descriptions of the derivation and applications of these
systems are contained in numerous geotechnical and rock
engineering literature and are thus not repeated. y=
-0.2338x +49.174 R2 = 0.1413 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Interpanel lead (m)

R
M

R Average MRMR for all sites = 45 equating to a lead = 17m

Figure 4. RMR related to interpanel lead distances.

3.1 Rock mass rating (RMR)

The Rock Mass Rating (RMR) was developed by Bieniawski

(1976) and subsequently further adapted by Bieniawski

(1989). The rock mass is classified using the following

parameters:

• Strength of the intact rock

• The Rock Quality Designation (RQD)

• Spacing of discontinuities

• Condition of discontinuities

• Groundwater conditions

• Adjustments for orientation of discontinuities

The rock mass rating was originally developed for applica

tion to logged core. For this study, the rock exposed

adjacent

to a scanline (tape measure) stretched along the stope hang

ingwall was viewed as synonymys to drill core. For each

parameter, the numeric value was selected based on obser

vations made at the fracture mapping sites. The strength of

the rock was estimated from rock strength databases and list

ings in the mine’s Code of Practice. For this project, it

was

assumed that the ‘hard lava’ hangingwall of the VCR has an

unconfined strength of 300 MPa, the quartzites of theVaal

reef
and Carbon Leader reef are about 200 MPa, the quartzites of

the Basal and B-reef are about 180 MPa, and the ‘soft lava’

hangingwall of the VCR has a strength of about 70 MPa.

The results of the RMR classification are plotted against

lead distance in Figure 4. A best-fit linear extrapolation

indi

cates that the rock mass rating degrades with increasing

lead

distance. The data for leads greater than 25 m is sparse

which,

suggests caution in using these graphs. Nevertheless, the

spread of data between lead distances of 5 m and 25 m

suggests

that a weak relationship exists between RMR and interpanel

lead distance.

The sparse dataset analysed shows that for an average

RMR value of 68 (average of 26 scanlines), a linear best-fit

projection suggests an interpanel lead distance of 15 m.

3.2 Mining rock mass rating (MRMR)

Laubscher & Taylor (1976) suggested modifications to the

RMR system devised by Bieniawski (1989). These MRMR

modifications were intended to cater for the differences in

support requirements between the original civil environment

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
90 100 Interpanel lead (m) R M R Average RMR for all sites
= 68 equating to a lead = 15m Figure 5. MRMR related to
interpanel lead distances. 0.010 0.100 1.000 10.000 0 10 20
30 40 50 60 Lead (m) Q Figure 6. Q values related to
interpanel lead distances. and the mining environment. The
modifications represent an alteration of the individual
ratings within the RMR as a function of weathering, stress
environment, excavation orientation relative to the rock
mass structure, and the excavation method. The MRMR was
performed on the same data set used for the RMR, the
results of which are shown in Figure 5. The following
conclusions can be drawn from the MRMR analyses: • The MRMR
classification downgrades the RMR values between interpanel
lead distances of 5 m and 25 m by 30% • The slope of the
best-fit linear projection is flatter when compared to the
RMR, which implies that the degradation of MRMR with
increasing lead is not as severe when compared to the RMR •
For an average MRMR of 45 (average of 26 scanlines),
corresponding lead distances should be kept to below 17 m
3.3 Norwegian Geotechnical Institute – Q rating Although
the Q rating system is ideally suited for tunnels in low
stress environments, the rating was nonetheless applied to
the data sets for completeness in reporting. Trends between
Q values and interpanel lead distances are not discernable.
The plot of Q rating against lead length (Figure 6) shows
little correlation or trends, though the longest lags have
the lowest rating. If a logarithmic curve is fitted to the
outliers, the Q values tend to drop markedly at an
interpanel lead distance of 32 m. It is iterated that the
sparse data for high lead distances makes the locating of
trends and interpretation difficult. Additionally, the Q
rating system has limitations when applied to an
underground mining environment. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
1.6 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 lead (m)

f r a

c t

u r

s p

a c

i n

( m

Figure 7. Fracture spacing related to panel leads for all

scanlines. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 0 10 20 30 0 50
60 lead (m)

f r a

c t

u r

s p

a c

i n

( m

Figure 8. Fracture spacing related to panel leads for face

scanlines. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
lead (m)

f r a

c t

u r

s p

a c

i n

( m

Figure 9. Fracture spacing related to panel leads for gully

scanlines.

4 FRACTURE FREQUENCY ANALYSIS

The possibility of a relationship existing between lead
length

and fracture spacing was examined using Figure 7 for all

scan

lines, Figure 8 for the face scan lines and Figure 9 for
the gully

scan lines. It can be argued that a first pass appraisal of

the

combined face and gully data (Figure 7) shows no meaningful

trends since close to 70% of the data set is clustered

between

lead distance ranges of 5–20 m. On inspection of the

individual

data sets for the face (Figure 8) and gully (Figure 9)

scanlines,

the data is distributed equally on either side of a lead

distance

of 20 m. The resolution of the data and the conclusions

drawn

could be improved with increased data points greater than a

lead distance of 20 m but nonetheless, on the strength of
the current data, the following conclusions are provided: •
Exponential decay functions provide the best fit for all
data sets • A rapid decrease in the spacing of fractures
occurs between lead distances of 8 m and 17 m thereafter
fracture spacings asymptote to 0.3 m • The inflection point
of the curve representing the upper bound values projected
onto the lead distance axis, demarcates the lead distance
where a transition of fracture spacing occurs i.e. from
rapid decrease to asymptote • The curve representing the
upper bound values suggests, at its inflection point, that
a lead distance of about 17 m is synonymous with a
significant change in gradient of fracture spacing •
Dictated by the same logic applied to the upper bound
values, the best fit line for the combined face and gully
scanline data suggests a lead distance of 10 m at which
point a significant change in gradient of fracture spacing
occurs • The results indicate that optimum lead distances,
irrespective of reef type mined and mining method adopted
could possibly lie between 10 m and 17 m • A rapid drop in
RMR below 80 occurs at lead distances greater than 28 m. 5
SIDING PARALLEL FRACTURE EXTENTS Turner (1989) conducted a
superficial observation study on the influence of lead
length on the fractures associated with leading corners and
sidings. The data retrieved in this project was fully
incorporated into the work on the relationships between
siding parallel fractures and interpanel leads conducted by
Turner (1989). Turner’s (1989) analysis showed that beyond
a specific interpanel lead distance, depending on reef
type, the extent of high frequency siding parallel
fractures asymptotes (reaches a steady near constant value)
to a particular distance into the face of the lagging
panel. Roberts et al (2002) concluded from their
observations at the 94 E2 panel face and travelling way at
the edge of the Tau Tona mine Carbon Leader shaft pillar
that: ‘Mining-induced fracturing extended some 20 m
down-dip from the old edge of the shaft pillar, as observed
in the access dip travelling way and down the 94 E2 face.
The strike orientation of these stress-induced fractures
was parallel to the strike of the reef and therefore
parallel to the pillar edge.’ This observation made by
Roberts et al (2002) aided in selecting the appropriate
best-fit curves for the data and provided evidence that
siding parallel fractures tend to not increase beyond a
specific limit beyond a particular interpanel lead
distance. The logic related to and method adopted to
evaluate the use of siding parallel fracture extents to
optimise the choice of reef specific interpanel leads is as
follows: • Siding or gully parallel fractures together with
face parallel fractures forms a complex network of
cross-fracturing that is initiated at the confluence of the
toe of the panel and gully and progresses into the face
area of the panel • The cross-fractured zone is often the
likely site for rockfall and rockburst incidences due to
the friable, broken nature of the rock mass • If this zone
of highly fractured rock mass is kept to an absolute
minimum then it follows that the extent of the

Figure 10. Siding parallel fracture extents as a function

of lead for

the VCR.

Figure 11. Siding parallel fracture extents as a function

of lead for

the Carbon Leader Reef.

hangingwall subject to rockfalls and rockbursts will be

potentially limited

• Turner (1989) showed that the spatial extent of this zone

is directly related to the interpanel lead i.e. the greater

the

interpanel lead, the greater the extent of the zone until a

limiting lead is reached when the siding parallel fractures

cease to propagate

A reasonable area to limit the extent of siding parallel

frac

tures into the face would be 12 m 2 to 20 m 2 , which for a

face

to last line of support distance of 4 m equates to 3–5 m mea

sured from the intersection of the face and gully. Figure

10–13

bases the choice of optimum interpanel lead on the extent of

siding parallel fractures for a limiting distance of 3 to 5

m into

the face.

Plotting the ratio between siding parallel fracture extents

and interpanel leads and relating this ratio to the

interpanel

lead (Figure 14) provides an indication of the maximum (or

worst possible) high frequency fracture extent at a specific

interpanel lead distance. The results of these analyses

incor

porate all reef data and can thus be used universally as a

first

pass conservative approach to optimise interpanel leads but

the user must additionally account for:

• Demand and supply capacity of support systems at the

lagging face Figure 12. Siding parallel fracture extents as

a function of lead for the Vaal Reef. Figure 13. Siding
parallel fracture extents as a function of lead for the
Basal Reef. 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60
1.80 2.00 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Interpanel lead
(m) S i d i n g p a r a l l e l f r a c t u r e e x t e n t
: l e a d r a t i o VCR Carbon Leader Basal Reef Maximum
Fracture extent siding parallel = Lead interpanel x
Ratio Vaal Reef Ratio of siding parallel fracture extent to
lead distance Figure 14. Siding parallel fracture extent to
interpanel lead ratio. • Dynamic influence • Mining cycles
• Mining logistics 6 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF METHODS USED A
summary of the optimum lead distances between panels in
longwall and scattered mines based on the various Table 2.
Comparative suggested interpanel lead distances. Suggested
interpanel lead/lag distances for method of analysis
Fracture Siding parallel Wedge Current Reef type RMR MRMR Q
Rating spacing fractures analysis practice L a c k o f s u
f f i c i e n t d a t a L a c k o f s u f f i c i e n t d a
t a I n c o n c l u s i v e L a c k o f s u f f i c i e n t
d a t a I n c o n c l u s i v e Ventersdorp 7.0–13.0 5–10
Contact Reef Carbon Leader Reef 9.5–10.5 10–15 Vaal Reef
4.0–9.0 5–10 Basal Reef 6.0–11.0 5–10 Combined reefs 15 17
10–16.5 6.5–11 5–15

methods used is summarized in Table 2. The methods used,

irrespective of reef type, have all indicated that

interpanel

lead/lag distances should be less than 20 m and greater

than 4 m.

The results of the RMR, MRMR and fracture spacing

analyses validates the results obtained using the relation

ship between siding parallel fracture extents and interpanel

lead/lags. It is suggested that the lead/lag distance ranges

(minimum – maximum) listed in Table 2 for the siding par

allel fracture analysis be adopted in the South African gold

mining industry. For reef types not addressed in this analy

sis, a match for similarities in geotechnical settings
should be

checked against the four reef types analysed and the appro

priate range chosen. If no match is established, the ranges

suggested for the combined reef should be used.

The following conditions apply and must be evaluated prior

to using the lead/lag distance ranges:

• The analysis is based solely on the physical presence of

stress fractures and does not account for the influence of

seismicity on rock mass stability. For seismically active

mines, the appropriate analysis must be done to ascertain

the

rockburst risks associated with the selected lead/lag range

• The analysis is based on a tolerable siding parallel

fracture

extent (or cross fractured ground) of 3–5 m. The require

ments on a particular mine may be more stringent. The

design charts should be consulted to establish the appropri

ate lead/lag distances if the criteria for selecting

lead/lags

is different from those proposed in this paper

• The suggested lead/lag ranges can only be implemented

once the support capacity required to maintain stability has

been designed using appropriate methods

• The augmenting of the datasets used in this analysis with

new fracture information could lead to changes in interpre

tation of the results. The user of these graphs is

encouraged

to collect fracture data from his/her mine to augment and

improve the design charts provided

• Any sound scientific motivation for adopting a lead/lag

dis

tance other than that suggested in this report can supersede

the suggestions of this paper

• Certain geotechnical environments may not be suited to the

distances suggested in this paper. If this is the case, the

user

can follow the same methodology adopted in this paper and

derive his/her own range of lead/lag distances • If the

application of the lead/lag ranges suggested in this
document results in the relaxing of currently adopted
lead/lags, then an issue-based an continuous risk
assessment must be conducted to ensure that the ‘relaxed
distances’ does not cause a deterioration in ground
conditions. If conditions deteriorate, the original
distances should be reverted to. 7 CONCLUSIONS Although the
sample population was small (26 scanlines), relationships
were established between interpanel lead distances and RMR,
fracture spacing and siding parallel fracture extents. The
augmenting of theTurner (1989) data with the project data
provided a combined dataset slightly in excess of 80 sites.
The strongest evidence of a relationship existing between
interpanel lead distances and fractures is provided in the
siding parallel fracture analysis. The results of this work
are recommended as a guide for the South African gold
mining industry. Although the data for the rock mass rating
and fracture spacing analysis was sparse, the magnitude of
the lead/lag values suggested by the analysis is in general
agreement with that obtained from the siding parallel
fracture analysis. The following further work is
recommended: • Rock mass ratings have merit for application
in the South African gold mining industry but needs to be
revised to account for rock subject to high stresses. • A
database of 26 scanlines is too little to allow adequate
analysis and meaningful conclusions to be drawn for the
four major gold mining reef types. At least 20 sites per
reef type is required that covers a wide spread of lead/lag
distances. An extension to the fracture mapping exercise
would be prudent. • The focus of the project was largely on
fracture spacings with a small amount of time dedicated to
assessing the performance of support. The evaluation and
understanding of the performance of support in relation to
changing lead/lags is a standalone topic and is suggested
for inclusion in future research. • Consideration should be
given to commencing similar studies in the South African
platinum industry.

Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. (1974) Engineering

classification of

rock masses for the design of tunnel support, Rock Mech.,

Vol. 6,

No. 4, pp 189–236.

Bieniawski, Z.T. (1989). Engineering Rock Mass

Classification,

John Wiley and Sons, New York.

Brady, B.H.G. & Brown E.T. 1993. Rock Mechanics for

underground

mining. Chapman and Hall, London.

Hoek, E. 2000. Practical rock mechanics. Chapter 3. www.

rocscience.com.

Jager, A. J. & Ryder, J. A. (1999). A Handbook on Rock

Engineer

ing Practice for Tabular Hard Rock Mines, The Safety in

Mines

Research Advisory Committee (SIMRAC). Laubscher, D.H. &

Taylor, H.W. (1976) The importance of geomechanics
classification of jointed rock masses in mining operations,
Proc. Symp. Exploration for Rock Engineering, Johannesburg,
Vol. 1, A.A. Balkema, pp 119–128. Turner, P.A. 1989. The
influence of lead length on the fractures associated with
leading corners and sidings. Technical note No. 5/89.
Chamber of Mines Research Organisation. Watson, B. 2005.
Personal communication regarding the content of a
geotechnical classification sheet. CSIR, Natural Resource
and the Environment. 11th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Analysis of the behavior of circular
openings in rock mass using different support systems
F.E.E. Mackay Group of Technology and Petroleum
Engineering, PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A.P. Assis
Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil

ABSTRACT: There has been an increase in the use of

underground space, especially in underground rapid transit
systems,

hydroelectric systems, caverns, and storage structures,

mostly occurring in rock mass. In the past, rock falls were
the main

reason for accidents in underground tunneling. However,

when jet grouting and rockbolts appeared replacing fragile
wood

support structures, the frequency of these accidents

decreased notoriously, even though, considering new
difficulties imposed

by larger sections and more complicated geological

conditions nowadays. Both components allow an almost
immediate support

system, providing a fast stabilization of the rock mass

itself. Literally millions of rockbolts are installed
around the world each

year, and therefore appears the necessity to study these

support elements carefully. Consequently, external and
internal active

supports were analyzed, in other words the combined use of

rockbolts and shotcrete. Five real cases of civil
engineering works

in rock mass in different locations around the world were

studied in order to get real rock mass parameters and to
simulate a

construction of a 5 m diameter tunnel in those cases. The

five study cases were: Mina El Teniente in Chile, Rio
Grande pumped

storage project in Argentina, Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric

project in Himachel Pradesh, India, Athens Metro in Greece
and The
Yacambú Quibor tunnel in Venezuela. The analysis of the
support system was dictated by four geomechanical
classifications

(RSR, RMR, Q and RMi) with their respective proposed

support systems. The simulation process was done through
numeric

simulation by finite elements in three dimensions in the

program Plaxis 3D Tunnel. The process of calculating the
final safety

factor (SF) for the five study cases was made by the phi-c
reduction method in Plaxis 3D Tunnel. The analyses also
contemplated

displacements for tunnels without support and for those

with support systems.

1 INTRODUCTION

The main purpose of this work is to evaluate the behavior of

different support systems projects for different types of

rock

masses, found in five different civil engineering works that

vary from very good to poor rock mass quality.This

evaluation

is made through numeric simulation by finite elements in

three

dimensions in the software Plaxis 3D Tunnel.

1.1 Support elements

Shotcrete or jet grouting, is defined as an external active

sup

port system that controls the instability of the rock mass

in the

surface of the excavation. This support acts against the

insta

bility of the rock mass, in other words, generating

equilibrium
stresses to the displacements of the rock mass, contributing

with an increment in the confinement stress (�σ 3 ) of the

sur

rounding, changing in this way, the stress path and the

stress

levels. This support can be represented by a distributed

force

placed along the surface of the excavation of the rock mass.

Rockbolt is defined as an internal active support system

that

controls the instability of the excavation inside the rock

mass.

It is an internal linear support attached to the interior

of the

rock mass, anchored into two fixed ends, offering a compres

sive tension to the rock mass among the two anchored points.

This compressive stress is larger than the equilibrium

state of

stress. The aim is to improve the quality of the compressive

zone, also offering confinement to the rock mass. 1.2 Cases

of study Five real cases of civil engineering works in rock
mass in different locations around the world were studied.
The main idea of these study cases is to offer five
different rock mass qualities that vary from very good to
poor rock mass quality. The five cases of study from very
good to poor rock mass quality are: El Teniente mine in
Chile, Rio Grande pumped storage project in Argentina,
Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric project in Himachel Pradesh,
India, Athens Metro in Greece and The Yacambú Quibor tunnel
in Venezuela. These examples were used to compare different
geomechanical classifications systems: Rock Structure
Rating RSR of Wickham et al. (1972), Rock Mass Rating RMR
from Bieniawski (1989), Rock Tunnelling Quality Index Q of
Barton et al. (1974) and Palmstrom’s (1996) Rock Mass
Index, and their respective proposed support systems. Each
case acquired a code name, relative to the civil
engineering work analyzed: El Teniente, Rio Grande,
Himachel, Athens and Yacambú. The parameters of these
engineering works were taken to simulate an hypothetical
construction of a 5 m diameter tunnel, in each of these
locations.Then using numerical simulation for the
excavation, the jet grouting and rockbolting process; the
calculation of the factor of safety (SF), failure and
displacements of the hypothetical tunnel was achieved. The
objective for each case of study, was to identify the main
characteristics of the rock mass, such as rock type and
quality, presenting geomechanical parameters and analyzing
the Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown failure criteria of each
one. The calculation

process was done through numeric simulation by finite ele

ments in three dimensions in the program Plaxis 3D Tunnel.

Cohesion, friction angle and oedometer modulus were used

as input parameters in order to simulate the rock mass. With

eters of depth, unit weight and rock type were deduced and

other times idealized, always being careful in respecting

the

main characteristics of each study case. The principal param

eter in these deductions was the geological strength index

of the rock mass (GSI). The GSI parameter was presented

by Hoek (1998) for the five cases of study, and it served

as a base for retro calculating the geomechanical classifica

tions of Wickham et al.-RSR (1972), Barton et al.-Q (1974),

Bieniawski-RMR (1989) and Palmstrom-RMi (1996).

2 GENERAL PROCEDURE OF THE NUMERIC

SIMULATION

2.1 Input parameters

The calculation process begins at the first phase of a civil

engineering underground standard project. This phase con

templates the knowledge of the local geology and of the

existing geological investigations; which was done using bib

liography (Hoek 1998). With the available information of the

cases of study and valid deductions it was possible to deter

mine the rock mass and the depth of the underground work in

matter. Assuming that laboratory and field tests were made,

and through geomechanical classifications, the properties

and

parameters of the rock mass were obtained: module of elas

ticity (E ref ), friction angle (φ) and cohesion (C ref ).

In the

numerical modeling of the rock mass, according to each rock

mass, the Poisson’s ratio (ν) and the specific natural

weight (γ)

was adopted. The constitutive model used for the rock mass

analysis was the Mohr-Coulomb none porous model (merely

for the purpose of not dealing with specific saturated

weight,

since it was assumed that the rock mass wasn’t in contact

with water). With that information, Plaxis 3D Tunnel calcu

lates automatically the rigidity parameters, which can also

be introduced in an optional mode. These rigidity parameters

are: the shear modulus (G ref ) and oedometric modulus (E

oed ).

Following Equations 1 and Equation 2:

A rigid interface was adopted for the reason that allows

a more realistic interaction modeling among rockbolts and

shotcrete with the rock mass, confirming that this contact

is
rough and not slippery. After evaluating the basic rock mass

properties of each case of study, the rock mass

classification

was achieved using RSR, RMR, Q and RMi classification

systems. For the RSR classification of Wickham et al. 1972,

some attributes were idealize; always respecting the main

char

acteristics of the rock mass in each case of study. In the

lack

of having detailed information of the rock mass the criteria

of the General Strength Index (GSI) equivalence (Hoek 1995)

was chosen for determining the RMR index and the Q index.

Following the formulations used: Table 1. Principal rock

mass properties. Case of study GSI Rock type σ ∗ ci El
Teniente 75 Braden breccia 51 MPa Rio Grande 75 Massive
gneiss 110 MPa Himachel 65 Jointed quartz mica schist 30
MPa Athens 20 Athenian schist 7 MPa Yacambú 24 Sandstones
and phyllites 15 MPa ∗ Intact rock strength. Table 2.
Rockbolt properties. Property Magnitude Units Abbreviation
Diameter 20 mm D Area 3.14 cm 2 A Module of Elasticity 42
GPa E Normal Rigidity 13 MN kn = (E)(A) Load capacity 121
kN F max Where GSI: general strength index; RMR: rock mass
rating Bieniawski (1989) without the presence of water; Q’:
quality index of Barton et al. 1974; RQD: rock quality
designation by Deere 1963; Jn: is the joint set number; Jr:
is the joint roughness number and Ja: is the joint
alteration number. Following in Table 1 the principal rock
mass properties of each case of study. Also idealizing some
attributes, but always respecting the main characteristics
of the rock mass of each case of study, the rock mass
classification of Palmstrom’s (1996) was accomplished.
After classifying the rock mass according to each method,
the procedure continues with the selection of the rock
support of each method. This selection is based on the
direct relationship between the classification system and
the rock support project solution of each rock mass
classification. Once known the requirements of shotcrete
and rockbolts for each support project type, the
calculation of the parameters to be inserted in the program
Plaxis 3D Tunnel was made. In order to model the rockbolts,
the parameters were acquired from tests accomplished by
Stjern (1995). For a correct simulation in Plaxis 3D Tunnel
the element type “fixed end anchor” was used. This element
reproduces the characteristics of the rockbolt
appropriately. The characteristics of this rockbolt is
presented in Table 2. For the shotcrete; the element
“plate” of Plaxis 3D Tunnel was chosen. The parameters are
shown in Table 3. Once all the material parameters have
been settled, the construction of the 2D geometry in Plaxis
3D Tunnel was made, the diameter of the tunnel was 5 m. For
the design of the geometry it should be taken into account
the definition of the domain, the boundary conditions and
the materials to be used for each simulation. Then
automatically Plaxis 3D Tunnel turns this 2D Mesh in a 3D
Mesh according to how many 2D planes and thickness of the
3D mesh is needed. In all of the simulations the size of
the 3D mesh was 15 m before the excavation face and 35 m
after the excavation face, totalizing

Table 3. Shotcrete properties.

Property Magnitude Units Abbreviation

Shotcrete thickness e m e

Material section length 1 m b

Area A m 2 A = (e)(b)

Module of elasticity 25 GPa E

Normal rigidity k n kN k n = EA

Moment of inertia I m 4 I = ((b)(e 3 ))/12

Flexional rigidity k f kN m 2 k f = EI

Specific weight ∗ γ 21,7 kN/m 3

Poisson’s ratio ν 0,15 –

∗ Standard shotcrete specific weight from Hoek et al.

(1995).

Figure 1. 2D finite element mesh for the Athens metro study

case.

Support according to Grimstad & Barton 1993. Notice the

rockbolts
and shotcrete.

Figure 2. 3D Finite Element Mesh for the Athens metro study

case.

Support according to Grimstad & Barton 1993. Note that it’s

not

possible to see all the rockbolts clearly; this is an image

problem of

Plaxis 3D Tunnel.

50 meters of longitudinal length. Examples of a 2D and a 3D

mesh are presented respectively in Figure 1 and Figure 2.

For each case of study the excavation was simulated without

support, firstly, representing the natural behavior of the

tun

nel.Then, the other four cases of support systems (RSR, RMR,

Q and RMi) were simulated with shotcrete and rockbolts, in

agreement with the different geomechanical classifications.

In situations where no support was necessary, the simulation

was adopted as a natural behavior of the rock mass. The

longi

tudinal distance assumed between each plane was about 2.5 m

starting from the excavation face. The steps of assembly of

the

matrix, vectors, calculation of the equations and the

factor of

safety were realized by the program. As for the output data,

the secondary variables (deformations, displacements and ten

sions) could be presented in a wide variety of graphics.

But in

this article the factor of safety will be analyzed only.

Table 4. Factor of Safety for the different cases of study.
El Rio Solution Teniente Grande Himachel Athens Yacambu
Without 4.55 8.45 2.58 1.35 1.20 support Wickham 4.55 ∗
8.45 ∗ 4.08 2.37 1.42 et al. (1972) Bieniawski 7.07 9.36
4.57 1.62 1.22 (1989) Grimstad & Barton (1993) 4.55 ∗ 8.45
∗ 2.58 ∗ 2.37 1.17 Palmstrom 4.55 ∗ 8.45 ∗ 4.37 3.80 1.22
(1996) ∗ According to the geomechanical classification,
there was no need for support system. 3 RESULTS In order to
calculate the factor of safety (SF) for the five study
cases, the phi-c reduction method in Plaxis 3D Tunnel was
employed. Following the equation of the SF used by the
program: where τ: is the shear strength. Table 4 presents
the results of the factor of safety calculated by Plaxis 3D
Tunnel. A SF value lower than 1 denotes rupture, for
temporary loading the SF must be more than 1.3 and for
permanent loading the SF should be from 1.5 to 2.0. It is
important to notice in Table 4, that some values of SF of
the support solutions are the same as those without
support; this is due to the fact that in some geomechanical
classifications there was no need for a support system. All
of the required support systems showed diversity in the
application of shotcrete thickness and number and spacing
of rockbolts. For the ElTeniente case it was needed only a
support system for the geomechanical classification of
Bieniawski (1989). Also in Rio Grande, Bieniawski (1989)
demanded the use of a support system; in this case the
largest values of SF were obtained in relation to the other
cases. This is due to the good quality of the rock mass. In
Yacambú it was impossible to obtain a support system whose
SF was more than 1.5. The largest SF obtained in this case
was by Wickham et al. (1972), with a SF of 1.42, but
strangely this same case registered the largest
displacements. However, it is desirable to project a
support system that assists this type of rock mass, maybe
it is necessary to reduce the longitudinal spacings among
the lines of rockbolts, or to approximate the first line of
rockbolts to the face of excavation face. 4 CONCLUSIONS The
analysis of the support system was dictated by four
geomechanical classifications with their respective project
solutions. Five cases of study were analyzed, each one of
them with different parameters of rock mass. In general it
can be said that the analysis covered from a very good
quality to a poor quality type of rock mass. The use of the
SF according to the method

of the phi-c reduction of the shear strength is a useful

alter

native calculation. This criteria is valid not only in

Plaxis 3D
Tunnel, but also in programs like FLAC, Version 4.0 (Itasca

Consulting Group 2002). The analysis in 3D showed that the

displacements in the z axis (Uz) are not significant, but it

is important to consider that they exist. Such it is the

Case

Yacambú where these were significant. Analyzing the behav

ior of the project solutions for all of the cases of study,

just for

the SF, the solutions by Wickham et al. (1972) presented, on

average, the largest values of SF and the one’s of Grimstad

and

Barton (1993) the smallest. Also just analyzing the amount

of

support material needed for each case, the solutions by Grim

stad and Barton (1993) supplies the lowest volume of

shotcrete

by longitudinal meter of tunnel and the solution by Wickham

et al. (1972) the smallest length of rockbolts per meter of

tunnel. In general for all of the cases, the highest values

of

displacements happened in the walls of the tunnels, due to

the

coefficient of passive earth pressure (Ko = 1.5) adopted for

all of the cases.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to express their gratitude to CNPq

(National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Develop

ment of Brazil) and the University of Brasilia (UnB), for

the
scholarship granted to Mr. Mackay during the course of this

work.

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Túneis e Obras

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Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis
Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Analytical solution
of displacement for circular tunnel using strain strength
criterion Yanting Chang WSP Civils, Stockholm, Sweden

ABSTRACT: This paper presents an analytical closed-form

elasto-plastic solution for displacement around a circular
tunnel.

The solution is based on strain-related parameters such as

initial strain, strain boundary conditions and a strength
criterion in

term as strains. Engineering approaches based on such

strain-related solutions are advantageous for applications
in the so called

observational method. This paper will demonstrate that the

size of the eventual plastic zone and the strain-related
parameters

can be estimated directly by evaluations of measured

displacements. These parameters are important to evaluate
the observed

tunnel behaviors compared with the expected behaviors.

1 INTRODUCTION

Displacements are often monitored during rock excavations,

not only for monitoring the stability, but also for

re-evaluating

the design. For instance, displacement monitoring is an

essen

tial part of the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM).

A design approach known as “the observational method”,

in which the design is reviewed by measurements during

construction, has been adopted in the Eurocodes. When

using the observational method, the response time of the

instrumentations and the procedures for analysing the

results

shall be sufficiently rapid in relation to the possible

evolu
tion of the construction work. At present, back-calculations

based on stress analysis are often performed. But this is a

time-consuming procedure.

Sakurai (1981) developed a strain evaluation method to

determine the strain distribution in an underground opening

directly from the measured displacement. However the method

has not been widely used in rock engineering, partially

because

of lack of a general strength criterion expressed in

strains.

In order to utilise the approaches of strain analyses in

rock

engineering, a general and simple criterion for rock

strength

in term of strains has been proposed by Chang (2006), based

on the compilation of test data from the literature. The

strain

strength criterion is expressed in term of a linear

correlation

between the major principal strain and volumetric strain as

written as follows:

where ε v is the total volumetric strain; ε 1 is the total

major

principal strain; κ and ε c are material constants. Under

plane

strain condition, the strain strength criterion can be

translated

to the traditional Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion. For engi

neering purposes, an approach called “strain path analysis”

is introduced (Chang, 2006), so that the results of displace

ment measurements can be easily interpreted and the observed

tunnel behaviours can be evaluated.

This paper presents a analytical closed-form solution of tun

nel deformation for a circular tunnel subjected to an

isotropic

initial loading condition. The solution is based on strain

related parameters, such as initial strain, strain strength

and

strain boundary condition. The work presented in this paper

is

a part of an attempt to establish a new engineering

approach to be used in the observational method for fast
and reliable interpretations of field measurements. 2
STRAINS ASSOCIATED WITH TUNNELLING Before a tunnel
excavation, the rock is considered as being constrained by
initial strains, denoted by {ε o }. During the course of
tunnelling, the strains will be changed from the initial
state {ε o } to a new state {ε} in the strain space. The
strain increment due to the tunnel excavation, denoted by
{�ε}, can thus be written as For the case to be studied in
this paper, it is assumed that at the initial state ε t = ε
r = ε z = ε o ; where ε o is the initial strain; ε t , ε r
and ε z is the tangential, radial and longitudinal total
strain respectively. It is also assumed that �ε z = 0
during tunnel excavation. Equation 2 can thus be explicitly
written as follows for an axi-symmetrical problem: where �ε
t , �ε r is the tangential respective radial incremental
strain due to the tunnel excavation. The relationship
between the incremental strains and displacement is
expressed by the following compatibility equations: where u
is the radial displacement caused merely by tunnel
excavation; and r is the radial coordinate measured from
the tunnel centre. The corresponding incremental volumetric
strain is expressed as It is well known that rock starts to
deform already in front of the tunnel face, as illustrated
in Figure 1.At the face, the tunnel has reached about 30%
of its final deformation. The tunnel x ∆ε f ∆ε m ∆ε ε ε ε o
ε o – initial strain ∆ε f – tunnel induced incremental
strain at tunnel face ∆ε – tunnel induced total incremental
strain ε – total strain ∆ε m – measurable tunnel induced
incremental strain Keys:
Figure 1. Strains associated with tunnel excavation. p i σ
o σ o σ o σ o ε o ε o ε o ε o u i b) displacement boundary
value problem a) stress boundary value problem

Figure 2. Illustration of stress and displacement boundary

value

problems for isotropic loading condition.

reaches its final deformation within a distance of about 2–5

tunnel radius, depending upon whether the rock is in

yielding

condition or not. It is obvious that it is not practical to

measure

the total strain increment �ε caused by tunnel excavations.

Only the strains behind the tunnel face, denoted by �ε m in

Figure 1, are normally measured in engineering practice.

Based on analyses of test data Chang (2006) has pointed

out that under triaxial loading the rock exhibits volumetric

contraction i.e dε v /dε 1 > 0 under elastic condition;

whereas

rock exhibits plastic behaviour with volumetric expansion

i.e.

dε v /dε 1 < 0 when the strains reach the strain yielding

sur

face defined by equation 1. This is an important statement,

by which the extents of yielding zone around a tunnel can be

detected by measuring the changes of the strains. Since

strains

have the differential relations with displacements as shown

in

equations 4 and 5, the strain changes can be estimated from

the measured displacements.

3 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Generally speaking, a boundary value problem can be divided

into “stress boundary value problem” or “displacement bound

ary value problem”, as illustrated in Figure 2. When

stresses

on all boundaries are specified, the problem is classified

as

a “stress boundary value problem”; whereas if the displace

ments or strains on all boundaries are specified, the

problem

is classified as a “displacement boundary value problem”.

For instance, a fictitious pressure p i is introduced to

account

the supporting effects of the tunnel face in the

traditional “Ground-Reaction-Curve” approach. In this case
the initial stress σ o and the internal pressure p i on the
tunnel wall are specified. Therefore it is a “stress
boundary value problem”. For the cases where the
displacement at tunnel wall is known by measurements, the
problem can be treated as a “displacement boundary value
problem”. To obtain solutions for such displacement
boundary problems, strain-related parameters are preferred.
For a circular tunnel of radius a under isotropic loading,
these two types of boundary value problems can be expressed
as follows: • Stress boundary conditions • Displacement
boundary conditions where r is the radial coordinate; σ r
is the radial stress; u is displacement caused by tunnel
excavations; and u i is the displacement at tunnel wall.The
inwards displacement is defined as positive. Generally
speaking, models with stress boundary conditions are
suitable for prediction of tunnel behaviours, whereas it is
much more advantageous, as it will be shown in this paper,
to use such strain-based solutions for analysing observed
tunnel behaviours. The following sections present an
analytical elasto-plastic solution for the displacement
boundary condition as specified in equation 8 for a
circular tunnel subjected to an isotropic loading. The
plane strain condition is assumed and the strain strength
criterion expressed in equation 1 is used. 4 SOLUTION FOR
ELASTIC CONDITION The solution of the elastic displacement
of a circular tunnel caused by tunnel excavations is often
expressed as: where E is elastic modulus; andµ is Poisson’s
ratio. For the displacement boundary condition expressed in
equation 8, where u i is known, the strain distributions
are derived as follows. From equation 9 the displacement at
tunnel wall u i can be obtained as Eliminating (σ o − p i )
from equations 9 and 10 will lead to which will give the
following distributions of the incremental strains by using
the compatibility equations 4 and 5:

The total strains are thus expressed as follows.

It is interesting to note that equations 12 to 15 lead to

where ε v is the total volumetric strain during tunnel

excava

tion. Equation 16 and 17 show that under elastic condition,

tunnel excavations will not affect the volumetric strain,

i.e.

the volumetric strain remains constant for a circular tunnel

subjected to an isotropic loading.

Under plane strain condition, the initial strain is related

to

the initial stress by the following relation

By using this relation and letting p i = 0 in equation 10,

the

following equation will be derived:

which shows that the final tunnel displacement for an unsup

ported tunnel can be obtained directly from the initial

strain,

without knowing the E-modulus.

5 SOLUTION FOR ELASTO-PLASTIC CONDITION

When the total volumetric strain ε v and the major principal

strain ε t satisfy the strain strength criterion as

expressed by

equation 1, the rock will undergo plastic deformations.

Denot

ing �ε c t as the critical strain at which the plastic

strain will

take place, equation 1 together with equations 3 and 17 will

lead to

Please note that the definition of �ε c t accounts only for

the

strains caused by tunnel excavation. In other words, if the

excavation induced deformation �ε t = u i /a is larger than

�ε c t ,

a region with plastic deformation will exist.

Within the plastic region, the strain increments caused by

tunnel excavation will consist of elastic and plastic com

ponents. The compatibility condition will consequently be

written as where �ε e t and �ε p t are the tangential

elastic respective plastic incremental strain; �ε e r and
ε p r are the radial incremental strains. It is well
acknowledged that the relationship between the plastic
strains can be expressed by �ε p r =−f ·�ε p t considering
the dilatancy of the rock described by the dilatancy factor
f . By using this relationship, the plastic strains can be
eliminated from equation 21 and 22, which will lead to:
Assuming the elastic strains are constant in the plastic
region and have the same value at the boundary between the
elastic and plastic region, i.e. the following solution to
equation 23 will be derived by using the displacement
boundary condition expressed in equation 8: As it is
mentioned that tunnelling is a successive process, it is
more advantageous to use formulations for incremental
displacement. Denoting du i and du as the displacement
increments due to one excavation step, the following
relation between du i and du is derived from equation 25:
By using the compatibility condition as expressed in
equations 4 and 5, the corresponding strain increments
caused by this excavation step will obtained as To
determine the radius of the plastic region r p , the
boundary condition and equation 25 will give the following
expression of r p : u r r p du dr p du – increment of u due
to latest excavation d r p - increment of r p due to
latest excavation

Figure 3. Displacement measurement using extensometer.

The incremental relations between r p and u i will thus be:

The above analytical elasto-plastic solution for the axi

symmetric problem is summarized as follows:

• Under elastic condition, the distribution of the tunnel

dis

placement with r is determined by equation 11, when the

displacement at tunnel surface u i is known;

• The volumetric strain under elastic condition remains

constant during tunnel excavations;

• When the initial strain ε o as well as the strain strength

parameter κ and ε c are known, �ε c t expressed in equation

20 is the critical tangential strain. If the tunnel

deformation

expressed by u i /a is larger than the value of �ε c t , a

plastic

zone will occur around the tunnel;

• The radius of the plastic zone can be determined by

equation

29 when u i /r i and �ε c t are known;

In tunnelling practice, however, it is not practical to mea

sure the total deformation. It is more advantageous to use

the

incremental relations such as equations 26–28 and equation

30. The following section will give a short description for

practical applications of the above solution.

6 APPROACH FOR APPLICATIONS

Propose that displacement measurement by extensometer

arranged as shown in Figure 3 has been performed and the

displacement increment du caused by the latest excavation

has been registered. By curve fitting of the measured dis

placement, the distribution of du with r, denoted as δ(r),

can be defined. The corresponding strain increments for this

ABSTRACT:A mathematical tool for optimizing intermediate to

deep mining stope support in static (non-rockburst)
conditions

is proposed. The hypothesis is that a volume of unstable

hangingwall rock in an intermediate to deep rectangular
panel with

pillars or abutments can be represented by a series of

adjacent parabolic slices perpendicular to the long axis of
the excavated

stope. The volume of unstable rock can be represented by a

definite integral and can be estimated numerically using
Simpson’s

parabolic estimates. In practice, the rock engineer

measures the fallout geometry using the parabolic estimates
only if they fit

the fallout shapes. The slice and partition segment

geometry are selected according to (centered) support
element spacing. The

deadweight demand on each support element can then be

estimated. The calculated safety factor is compared to the
design

safety factor and the support criteria are adjusted

accordingly. Computer spreadsheets can be utilized for the
calculations.

1 INTRODUCTION

Underground support elements, as well as stope faces and

abutments, can exert a zone of compressive stress into the

stope hangingwall. A practical example of this is shown in

Figure 1, where this zone of influence above an elongate tim

ber support element is shown. The picture was taken after a

rockburst in a deep level SouthAfrican gold mine. Fallouts

are

generally outside these zones of influence and reach

thickness

maxima between support elements.

This was studied in the SIMRAC GAP 627 project by

Daehnke (1999) and he has in addition shown that a compres

sive stress zone of influence at face areas in intermediate

and

deep level mines exists.The relatively high compressive

stress

fields in intermediate depth platinum mines (500 m–1000 m)

is well known and shown in Figure 2.

Figure 3 shows a underground example of an analogous

area of influence at a strike pillar abutment in a South

African

Figure 1. Example of zone of influence of elongate support.

Figure 2. Ratio K 1 of major horizontal in situ stress to
vertical stress (after Stacey 2001). Figure 3. Fallout
shape at pillar (abutment) edge.

Figure 4. Parabola defining the unstable rock zone.

platinum mine. The fall of ground reaches a maximum thick

ness of 4 m in the centre of the panel and the fallout

geometry

can be approximated by a parabolic curve with endpoints at

the abutments. Such failures can be shear failures at abut

ments. In other cases the fall of ground only approximates a

parabola in a stepped fashion (see Figure 6). A possible

mech

anism for such a fall is keyblock failure in a voussoir,

followed

by collapse of this layer (except at the abutments) and

further

collapse upwards in the next layers, resulting in a stepped

fall

out profile that can be approximated by a parabola (see also

Figure 6).

2 PARABOLIC CURVES DESCRIBE FALLOUT

LIMITS

Irrespective of the stope hangingwall failure mechanism,

falls

of ground with fallout profiles that approximate parabolic

sec

tions are not uncommon. Figure 4 shows a two dimensional

sketch of how a parabolic curve can be used to approximate

the fallout area between 2 abutments.

Figure 4 is drawn as a cross-section between x and y in

Figure 5, which shows a typical plan view of a portion of a

tabular stope support layout of a single panel with its

pillars.

The hypothesis presented in this paper is that the volume of

unstable rock in an intermediate to deep rectangular panel

can

be represented by a series of adjacent non-overlapping

parallel

parabolic slices perpendicular to the long axis of the

excavated

stope. Each parabolic slice area is partitioned into

segments

and the segment area estimated by numerical methods. The

volume is obtained by multiplying this segment area by the

slice spacing. The slice width can be set to the strike

spacing

of support units. Likewise the partition segment width is

taken

as the dip support spacing. The support elements are placed

in the centre of their respective segments.

This methodology is particularly useful for stopes in the

Bushveld complex where stoping with regular arrays of

pillars

between panels is commonly done at intermediate depth with

elongate and pack support units spaced on regular arrays on

strike and dip. Figure 5 shows a generalized example of such

a layout utilizing elongate support units.

Figure 6 shows a cross-section from x to y on Figure 5

and shows the area of unstable rockmass approximated by

a parabolic slice where a blocky discontinuous rockmass

without abutment shear is encountered. The area of the com

pressive stress zone of influence above the pillar abutment

is

also shown.

Where strong hangingwall-parallel discontinuities or lay

ering is encountered in the rockmass and mining spans are

relatively large (e.g. 30 m on dip) the fallout zone can

often be

approximated by two truncated parabolic sections joined by a

straight line as shown in Figure 7. Figure 5. Typical

breast mining stoping panel layout. Figure 6. Parabolic
estimate of stepped fallout area. Figure 7. Truncated
parabolic fallout in blocky rockmass with strong
hangingwall parallel layering. 3 DESCRIPTION OF DEFINITE
INTEGRAL METHOD TO ESTIMATE UNSTABLE ROCKMASS VOLUMES The
area of a slice through the rockfall can be represented by
a definite integral of the form:

Figure 8. Segment (subinterval) of parabolic slice.

To evaluate this definite integral we must be able to find

an antiderivative F and evaluate it at both points a and b.

This method fails for many simple integrals, as there are

often no elementary functions for the indicated derivatives.

However, there are numerical methods for estimating definite

integrals. Suppose that f is continuous on [a,b] and is

positive.

Area [a,b] can be divided into n non-overlapping

subintervals

each of length (b − a)/ n with �x i = (b − a)/ n. The

region i

between x i -1 and x i (see Figure 8) can be approximated

by the

following methods: the left endpoint rectangle, the right

end

point rectangle, the midpoint rectangle, by a trapezoid and

by a

parabolic region. The first three estimates are Riemann

sums.

The last two, although not, can be written in such a

format.The

parabolic estimates (Simpson’s rule) are very good approxi

mations of the area under the curve, provided n is chosen
large

enough for each segment (say n = 5).

By a parabolic region take the parabola y = Ax 2 + Bx + C

which passes through the three points indicated in Figure 8.

This estimate of i is given as:

The distance between the parallel 2-dimensional slices can

be

set to the strike or dip spacings of support units.

Likewise,

the partitions inside each parabolic section can be taken

as the

support spacing in the other dimension. By multiplying the

area in the slice section by the slice to slice spacing, a

volume

of potentially unstable rockmass is obtained. The tributary

area concept is used to assign the static load of this

volume of

rock to be carried by a chosen underground support element

(e.g.: elongates, packs). Thus, the gravitational load on

each

support element can be estimated by multiplying the volume

by the rock, its density, and the actual safety factors

calculated.

This calculated safety factor is then compared to the

required

design safety factor (to be chosen by the responsible

engineer)

and the spacings or support element strengths are adjusted

accordingly.
Figure 9 shows an empirically derived parabola matching

ABSTRACT:A very simple numerical method for calculating the

distribution of stress and radial displacement around a
circular

tunnel excavated in strain-softening Mohr-Coulomb rock

masses is introduced. By assuming the initial stress is
isotropic in

the plane normal to the tunnel axis, the formulation is

given on the plane strain condition. The finite difference
approximation

was carried out to obtain the stress condition satisfying

both equilibrium and yield conditions and to get the strain
increment

obeying the plastic flow rule. For the strain-softening

behavior, the strength parameters are assumed to be the
linear functions

of total circumferential plastic strain. Several

illustrative examples of analysis for elastic-perfectly
plastic, elastic-brittle plastic

and elastic-softening plastic rock mass are presented to

show the performance of the method.

1 INTRODUCTION

Calculating the stresses and displacements around a circular

tunnel excavated in isotropic rock mass subjected to hydro

static stress condition has been considered as one of the

fundamental problems in rock engineering. Although several

closed-form solutions for the distributions of stress and

dis

placement have been proposed for elastic, perfectly plastic,

and elastic-brittle plastic rock masses (Brady & Brown 1985,

Brown et al. 1983, Carranza-Torres 2004, Park & Kim 2006,

Sharan 2003), the solutions for strain-softening rock mass

are

not available as far as authors know. At present,

therefore, the

numerical approach seems to be the practical means to obtain

the response of the strain-softening rock mass. Alonso et

al.

(2003), Guan et al. (2006), and Varas et al. (2005) can be

good

examples of the numerical approach for this purpose although

their methods look somewhat complicated.

In this paper, a very simple numerical method is

briefly introduced, which is originally developed by Lee &

Pietruszczak (2006) for the approximation of the

distribution

of stress and radial displacement around a circular tunnel

exca

vated in strain-softening Hoek-Brown rock mass. In addition

some examples of its application to Mohr-Coulomb rock mass

are given to demonstrate its potential value to practical

use.

2 ASSUMPTIONS FOR THE NUMERICAL METHOD

If a circular tunnel is created in a rock mass, annulus of

plas

tic zone may be formed as shown in Figure 1. The extent of

the zone, of cause, depends on the dimension of tunnel, the

stress condition, and the strength of rock mass.

Furthermore,

the plastic zone may be divided into the strain-softening

and

residual plastic zones if the strain-softening behavior is

con

sidered. Linear elastic behavior is assumed for the pre-peak

stress state. After yielding, it is postulated that the

strength

parameters in the softening zone can be described by linear

Figure 1. Plastic zone formed around circular tunnel. a =
the radius of tunnel. R p = the radius of elastic-plastic
interface. R s = the radius of softening-residual
interface. p i = the support pressure. σ 0 = the initial
stress. functions of total circumferential plastic strain
(ε p θ ). Then, as shown in Figure 2, the strength
parameter (κ ′ ) may be given by, where ε p θ is the
critical circumferential plastic strain from which the
residual behavior starts. κ represents cohesion (c) or
internal friction angle (φ). In Equation 1, the subscripts
r, p stand for the peak and residual values, respectively.
It should be noted that Equation 1 is the generic
expression for elastic-perfectly plastic, elastic-brittle
plastic, and elasticsoftening plastic behavior. For
example, if ε p θ = 0 and κ p = κ r ,

Figure 2. Strain-softening model for Mohr-Coulomb medium.

Equation 1 becomes the softening rule for elastic-perfectly

plastic behavior.

Different flow rules are applied to the softening and

residual

states (Fig. 2). For softening case, the relation between

the

radial and circumferential plastic strain increments is

and for residual case,

With the assumption that the plastic potential has the same

shape as the yield function, η and ξ in Equations 2–3 can be

expressed as

where ϕ is called as the dilation angle. If ϕ=φ ′ in soften

ing state and ϕ=φ r in residual state, the flow rule becomes
associated. Moreover, the condition, η= ξ = 1.0, gives the

non-dilation plastic behavior.

3 FINITE DIFFERENCE APPROXIMATION

3.1 Calculation of stress

If the extent of the plastic zone is normalized by the

plastic

radius R p like in Figure 3, equilibrium equation can be

written

as

where ρ= r/R p . Stress components in the strain-softening

zone should satisfy not only the equilibrium Equation 5, but

also the yield criterion, Figure 3. Normalized plastic zone

with finite number of annuli. where N = (1 + sin φ ′ )/(1 −
sin φ ′ ) and Y = 2c ′ cosφ ′ /(1 − sin φ ′ ). If we assume
that the plastic zone is consists of n number of thin
concentric annuli as in Figure 3, the radial stress
increment in i th annulus can be approximated as since σ r
is monotonically decreasing from the elastic-plastic
interface (ρ 0 = r/R p = 1) where the value of σ r = σ R
can be calculated analytically and p i is given as a
boundary condition. The more accurate result may be
expected by use of larger n. The corresponding �σ θ(i) can
be easily determined from Equation 6. Invoking the finite
difference approximation of Equation 5 to the i th annulus
gives the expression for ρ (i) . 3.2 Calculation of strain
and displacement According to the conventional plastic
theory, the strain increment, {�ε}, can be decomposed into
elastic and plastic contributions as And compatibility
requirement for the deformation can be stated as Elastic
strain increment, {�ε e }, can be calculated by applying
Hooke’s law to the stress increment obtained in Section
3.1. Then the expression for plastic strain increment, {�ε
p }, at ρ (i) can be derived by use of finite difference
approximation of Equation 9 and by taking Equations 2–3, 6,
8 into consideration. Since σ r(n) = p i in the n th
annulus, which is the innermost annulus, the plastic radius
(R p ) can be given as Finally, recalling that the relation
ε θ = u/r, where u is the radial displacement, u (i) at the
i th radius can be obtained as Table 1. Input data for
perfect plastic and brittleplastic analysis. Parameter
Value Radius of tunnel, a (m) 5.0 Initial stress, σ 0 (MPa)
3.0 Support pressure, p i 0.0 Young’s modulus, E (MPa)
10,000.0 Poisson’s ratio, ν 0.2 Internal friction angle, φ
p , φ r ( ◦ ) 30.0, 26.0 Cohesion, c p , c r (MPa) 0.5, 0.2

Figure 4. Comparison of calculated results with exact

solutions. (a)

Stress distributions. (b) Displacement distributions.

4 ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES OF ANALYSIS

4.1 Perfect plastic and brittle plastic analysis

For elastic-perfectly and elastic-brittle plastic behaviors,

closed-form solutions are available (Park & Kim, 2006), so

that the numerical results were compared with the exact solu

tions in order to demonstrate the accuracy of the method

introduced. Input data used for this verification are

listed in

Table 1.While the friction angle and cohesion remain peak

val

ues after yielding for elastic-perfectly plastic case,

these values

drop abruptly to the residual values in case of

elastic-brittle

plastic behavior.

Figure 4 shows the numerical results for the distribution of

stress and displacement along with the closed-form

solutions.

The number of annulus in plastic zone considered in this

anal

ysis is 500 (n = 500). The plastic flow rule was assumed to

be

associated, which means ξ = 3.0.

Figure 4 justifies clearly the accuracy of the method

explained. The numerical results are so close to the exact
ones Figure 5. Stress distributions for strain-soften
behavior. that it is hard to see the difference between
two. This figure also can be a good example indicating that
the stress and displacement distributions in both types of
material behavior differ significantly. The plastic radius,
R p , is 7.47 m for elastic-perfectly plastic model and
11.36 m for elastic-brittle plastic model. The magnitude of
σ θ on the excavation surface is much larger when
elastic-perfectly plasticity is considered although it is
same at elastic-plastic boundary for both models. The
radial stresses are zero at r/a = 1 since there is no
support pressure (p i = 0). The difference of radial
displacement between two models is more drastic as can be
seen in Figure 4(b). The displacement value on the tunnel
surface obtained from the elastic-brittle plastic model is
about 38 mm which is nearly seven times of the value from
elastic-perfectly plastic model. Hence the result strongly
suggests that extreme caution should be exercised in
selecting material model in elasto-plastic analysis for the
estimation of the depth of plastic zone, the stress
concentration around opening, and the amount of
convergence. 4.2 Strain-softening analysis For the
strain-softening analysis, three cases (0.0, 0.348e−3, and
0.580e−3) of ε p θ , which determines the start of residual
behavior, were considered. The dilation parameters for
softening and residual state were assumed as η= 3.0 and ξ =
2.0, respectively. The remaining input data were taken from
Table 1. The distribution of σ θ and σ r around opening is
given in Figure 5. The curves of σ θ show that the plastic
zone is divided into softening and residual zones by taking
the strain-softening into account. While σ θ at the elastic
plastic interface remains constant value of 4.93 MPa, σ r
at the interface is revealing the tendency of slight
increase with ε p θ . In addition, it is apparent that R p
and R s become smaller when larger value of ε p θ is
assumed. In the figure, R p /a = 2.273, 2.174, 2.05 and R s
/a = 1.922, 1.659. Ground reaction curves (GRC) is a useful
tool to understand the interaction between support and rock
mass, so that the construction of a series of GRC was
carried out to provide another example of application of
the strain-softening model. Three cases of ξ = 1.0, 2.0,
3.0 were considered with the assumption that ε p θ =
0.580e−3 and η= 1.5ξ. Other necessary input values were
chosen from Table 1. The calculated curves are depicted in
Figure 6. The curve for elastic-brittle plastic case is
also included for the purpose

Figure 6. Ground reaction curves of strain-softening rock

masses.
of comparison. The radial displacement is normalized by

a(σ 0 − p ic )/(2G), where G is the shear modulus and p ic

is

the critical support pressure for which R p = a.

In this analysis, p ic is calculated as 1.067 MPa. The

support

pressure is also normalized by (σ 0 − p ic ). The result

indicates

that the magnitude of radial displacements is greatly

affected

by the dilation characteristics of rock mass. This becomes

more obvious if the support pressure is low. When p i =

0.0, for

example, u = 39.425 mm for ξ = 3.0, which is about 5 times

of

the value of u = 8.194 mm for ξ = 1.0. This example stresses

that precise evaluation of dilation characteristics of rock

mass

is very important in designing the support.

5 CONCLUSION

A simple numerical method was introduced for calculating

the stress and displacement around a circular tunnel exca

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Der Kallidromo Tunnel ist Teil der

geplanten Hochgeschwindigkeitsstrecke vonAthen nach Thessa

loniki der Griechischen Eisenbahn. Er umfaßt zwei ca. 9 km

lange eingleisige Röhren. Nachdem von beiden Portalen aus
jeweils

ca. 1,5 km lange Abschnitte nach der Spritzbetonbauweise

aufgefahren worden waren, führten stark druckhafte
Gebirgsverhält

nisse wiederholt zu einem Versagen der Sicherungsmittel.

Der Vortrieb mußte daraufhin unterbrochen werden. Die
Planung

für die noch aufzufahrenden Tunnelabschnitte wurde neu

durchgeführt. Für die Abschnitte des Tunnels, die in
druckhaften

Gebirgsverhältnissen zu liegen kommen, ist ein nachgiebiger

Ausbau mit einer geschlitzten Spritzbetonschale und
speziellen

Gleitankern vorgesehen.

ABSTRACT: In course of the new highspeed railway line from

Athens to Thessaloniki, the approx. 9 km long Kallidromo

tunnel is to be constructed with two single track tubes.

After completion of approx. 2 × 1.5 km on either side, the
works had to

be interrupted in 2002. Difficult heading and failures of

the support had to be dealt with in squeezing ground.
Design for the

remaining tunnel sections was re-done. For the tunnel

sections in squeezing ground, a yielding support with a
slotted shotcrete

membrane and a special type of yielding anchors is planned

in the new design.

1 PROJEKT UND GEOLOGIE

Der Kallidromo Tunnel ist Teil der geplanten Hochgesch

windigkeitsstrecke vonAthen nachThessaloniki der Griechis

chen Eisenbahn. Er umfaßt zwei ca. 9 km lange Röhren

(Bild 1). Diese weisen einen gegenseitigen Achsabstand von

30 bis 65 m auf. In einem gegenseitigen Abstand von jeweils

500 m sind Querschläge vorgesehen.

DerTunnel durchfährt zum einenTone bzw. schluffigeTone

mit Überdeckungen bis 220 m (Bild 2). Anschließend ver

läuft er bei Überdeckungen bis 365 m in Kalksteinen. Im

mittleren Abschnitt ist Serpentinit zu durchfahren, der teil

weise geschiefert und gestört ist. Hier weist der Tunnel die

maximale Überdeckung von ca. 530 m auf (Bild 2).

Der Vortrieb erfolgte von beiden Portalen aus und wurde in

der Spritzbetonbauweise ausgeführt. Die bisher aufgefahre

nen und fertiggestellten Abschnitte sind in Bild 2 “in rot”

gekennzeichnet. Sie sind jeweils ca. 1,5 km lang und kommen

bereichsweise in den tonigen Schichten zu liegen.

Beim Vortrieb des Tunnels im Ton kam es wiederholt zu

einem Versagen der Spritzbetonschale. Hierauf wird unten

noch eingegangen. Da die geschätzten Baukosten zu diesem

Bild 1. Lageplan. Zeitpunkt um mehr als 50% überschritten

waren, mußte der Bau unterbrochen werden. Der Entwurf des
Tunnels wurde daraufhin vom Bauherrn neu ausgeschrieben.
Die Planungen wurden vom Büro WBI in Aachen in
Arbeitsgemeinschaft mit einem griechischen Partner
durchgeführt. In naher Zukunft soll der Bau des Tunnels auf
dieser Grundlage fortgesetzt werden. 2 QUERSCHNITTE Im
Entwurf des Tunnels sind 2 Regelquerschnitte vorgesehen
(Bilder 3 und 4). Beide weisen eine lichte Breite von ca.
8,9 m auf. Der in Bild 3 dargestellte Querschnitt hat ein
geschlossenes Sohlgewölbe. Er soll in den Abschnitten im
Ton sowie im Serpentinit ausgeführt werden. Die Dicke der
Innenschale variiert zwischen 40 und 70 cm. Der Querschnitt
in Bild 4 besitzt eine offene Sohle und soll im Kalkstein
Anwendung finden. Hier ist eine 40 cm dicke Innenschale
vorgesehen. Bild 2. Längsschnitt.

Bild 3. Regelquerschnitt, geschlossene Sohle.

Bild 4. Regelquerschnitt, offene Sohle.

In Anlehnung an den ursprünglichen Entwurf soll der

Tunnel dräniert ausgeführt werden. Dazu sind zwischen der

Spritzbetonschale und der Innenschale ein Schutzvlies und

eine Abdichtungsfolie angeordnet. Sickerwässer werden ent

lang der Abdichtungsfolie in 2 Dränagen geleitet.

Im folgenden wird näher über die Planungen der Tunnelab

schnitte im Ton berichtet.

3 TUNNELABSCHNITTE IM TON

3.1 Bisher aufgefahrene Tunnelabschnitte

Der bisher im Ton aufgefahrene und fertiggestellte südliche

Tunnelabschnitt weist eine Überdeckung der Tunnelfirste von

ca. 150 m auf (Bild 2). Ausgeführt wurde ein vorauseilender

Kalottenvortrieb mit geschlossenem temporären Sohlgewölbe

und 35 cm dicker Spritzbetonschale (Bild 5). Die Syste

mankerung umfaßt 24 jeweils 12 m lange Anker, die jeden

Abschlag eingebaut wurden. Die Ortsbrust wurde mit 35

Glasfaser-Ankern sowie einem Stützkern gesichert.

Beide Tunnelröhren wurden gleichzeitig aufgefahren. Die

Oströhre wies jedoch immer einen gewissen Vorlauf auf. Die

geringe Festigkeit der tonigen Schichten führte in

Verbindung

mit der vergleichsweise großen Überdeckung der Tunnelfirste

zu druckhaften Gebirgsverhältnissen. Diese konnten mit dem

geplanten Ausbau nicht mehr beherrscht werden. Bild 5.

Sicherung und Untergrundverhältnisse im schluffigen Ton.
Bild 6. Oströhre, Meßquerschnitt SSD 101. In Bild 6 sind
die in der Oströhre gemessenen vertikalen Verschiebungen
der Tunnelfirste für den ausgewählten Meßquerschnitt SSD
101 (vgl. Bild 1) in rot über die Zeit dargestellt.
Zusätzlich ist als blaue Kurve der Abstand zwischen dem
Meßquerschnitt und der temporären Ortsbrust eingetragen.
Dieser stellt ein Maß für das Fortschreiten des Vortriebs
dar. Es ist zu erkennen, daß innerhalb eines Zeitraums von
1 Monat nach Einrichtung des Meßquerschnitts Firstsenkungen
von etwa 25 cm eingetreten waren. In der Folge kam es zu
Schäden an der Spritzbetonsicherung und das Sohlgewölbe
mußte saniert werden. Wie aus der roten Kurve ersichtlich,
führte diese Maßnahme im Januar 2002 zu einer Konvergenz
der Verschiebungen. Mit dem Ausbruch der nacheilenden
westlichen Tunnelröhre gegen Ende Januar 2002 wurden in der
Oströhre jedoch weitere Zunahmen der Verschiebungen
gemessen. Die Kalottensohle der Oströhre mußte daraufhin
ein zweites Mal saniert werden. Wiederum konnte der Tunnel
dadurch zunächst stabilisiert werden (Bild 6). Nach einer
weiteren Standzeit von ca. 1 Monat traten jedoch
zusätzliche Verschiebungen an der Spitzbetonschale auf.
Diese waren durch zunehmende Raten gekennzeichnet (Bild 6)
und führten schließlich zum Versagen der Spritzbetonschale.
Über eine Länge von ca. 70 m stürzte eine der beiden
Tunnelröhren ein (Bild 7). In den südlich anschließenden
Abschnitten im Ton wurden ebenfalls Zunahmen der
Verschiebungen gemessen. Da es hier jedoch noch nicht zu
einem vollständigen Versagen der Spritzbetonschale gekommen
war, wurden diese Bereiche auf einer Länge von ca. 120 m
mit Flußkies verfüllt und dadurch stabilisiert.

Bild 7. Versagen der Spritzbetonsicherung.

3.2 “Backanalyses”

Im Rahmen zweidimensionaler FE-Berechnungen wurden

die gemessenen Verschiebungen der Spritzbetonschale inter

pretiert. Auf dieser Grundlage wurden ein Gefügemodell und

ein mechanisches Modell für die im Bereich des Südvortriebs

anstehenden Tone entwickelt. Angenommen wurde homo

genes und isotropes Spannungs-Dehnungsverhalten. Die im

Zuge der Kalibrierung des Modells ermittelten Kennwerte

sind im rechten Teil des Bildes 5 zusammengestellt. Danach

weist der Untergrund mit einem EModul von 60 MN/m 2

eine vergleichsweise große Verformbarkeit auf. Die einax

iale Druckfestigkeit des Tons wurde mit einem Wert von

0,12 MN/m 2 bestimmt. Dies ist im Vergleich zu der aus

dem Gewicht der Überlagerung resultierenden vertikalen

Spannung ein sehr geringer Wert.

Nach der Prognose zur Geologie ist damit zu rechnen, daß

die Überdeckung der Firste beim weiteren Vortrieb im Ton

auf einen maximalen Wert von ca. 220 m anwachsen wird

(Bild 2). Unter Berücksichtigung einer Wichte des Gebirges

von 22 kN/m 3 sind daher Überlagerungsdrücke von etwa

4,8 MN/m 2 zu erwarten. Dies bedeutet, daß vor dem Hin

tergrund der ermittelten Festigkeit des Tons auch im Zuge

des weiteren Vortriebs mit stark druckhaften Verhältnissen

zu

rechnen ist.

3.3 Entwurf eines nachgiebigen Ausbaus

Um den zu erwartenden Verhältnissen gerecht zu werden,

wurde ein Vortrieb mit nachgiebiger Sicherung konzipiert.

Diese besteht aus einer Spritzbetonschale mit Schlitzen, die

in Längsrichtung des Tunnels verlaufen und in regelmäßi

gen Abständen über den Umfang angeordnet sind (Bild 8).

Der Ausbau wird ergänzt durch sogenannte “Gleitanker”. Die

gewählte Sicherung erlaubt vergleichsweise große radialeVer

schiebungen. Nach dem Eintreten von radialen Verschiebun

gen in der Größenordnung von mehreren Dezimetern sollen

die Schlitze in der Spritzbetonschale geschlossen und die

Ankerköpfe festgelegt werden (Bild 8). Der damit entstehende

Tragring kann die auftretende Belastung aufnehmen, ohne daß

es zu einem Versagen der Sicherungsmittel kommt.

Eine solche Sicherung wurde beispielsweise in der

Schachtanlage Konrad in 1000 m Tiefe erfolgreich ausgeführt

(Bild 9).

Als Grundlage für den Entwurf des nachgiebigen Aus

baus wurden räumliche und pseudo-räumliche Berechnungen

nach der FE-Methode durchgeführt. Die verwendeten Ken

nwerte für den Untergrund resultieren aus der Rückrechnung

Bild 8. Nachgiebiger Ausbau, Prinzip. Bild 9. Schachtanlage
Konrad, nachgiebiger Ausbau in 1000 m Tiefe. Bild 10.
Berechnungsausschnitt und FE-Netz. der in den bereits
aufgefahrenen Abschnitten gemessenen Verschiebungen (Bild
10). Das FE-Netz ist im Bereich des Tunnels fein
diskretisiert. Nachgebildet wurden die Segmente aus
Spritzbeton sowie die in der Spritzbetonschale geplanten
Längsschlitze. Zur Berücksichtigung der radialen
Verschiebungen wurde ein um 80 cm auf 6,25 m vergrößerter
Radius des auszubrechenden Querschnitts gewählt (Bild 11).
Die Berechnungen zum Nachweis der Spritzbetonschale wurden
in insgesamt 5 Rechenschritten durchgeführt (Bild 12). Nach
der Berechnung des Primärzustandes wurde eine
Vorentspannung im Bereich des auszubrechenden Querschnitts
simuliert. Der Faktor der Vorentspannung wurde im Zuge
räumlicher Berechnungen bei der Interpretation

Bild 11. FE-Netz, Detail.

Bild 12. Rechenschritte 1 bis 5.

der gemessenen Verschiebungen ermittelt. Im 3. Rechen

schritt erfolgten der Ausbruch des Tunnels und der Einbau

der nachgiebigen Sicherung. Die Wirkung der Gleitanker

wurde durch den Ansatz von Einzelkräften berücksichtigt.

Im Rahmen einer visko-plastischen Iterationsrechnung wur

den anschließend die im Gebirge auftretendenVerschiebungen

ermittelt. Nach dem Schließen der Schlitze in der Spritzbe

tonschale im 4. Rechenschritt wurde im 5. Rechenschritt das

Festlegen der Ankerköpfe simuliert und damit der Sicherung

die volle Tragfähigkeit zugewiesen (Bild 12).

Mit dem beschriebenen Ablauf der Berechnungen konnte

der Bauablauf ausreichend realitätsnah nachgebildet werden.

Auf die Rechenergebnisse kann hier im einzelnen nicht einge

gangen werden. Exemplarisch wird jedoch für einen Berech

nungsfall die errechnete Spannungsverteilung im Untergrund

und in der Spritzbetonschale verdeutlicht (Bild 13).

Die “elastische Lösung” zu Beginn des 3. Rechenschrittes

weist für den Untergrund am Hohlraumrand vertikale Span

nungen von 13,7 MN/m 2 aus. Diese können vom Ton nicht

abgetragen werden.

Im Zuge der anschließenden visko-plastischen Itera

tionsrechnung werden die Spannungen in vom Tunnel weiter

entfernt liegende Bereiche des Baugrundes umgelagert. Es

entsteht so im Baugrund gleichsam ein Gewölbe mit einer

Stützweite, die deutlich größer ist, als der Durchmesser des

Tunnels (Bild 13).

Wenn ein ausreichendes Maß an radialen Verschiebungen

zugelassen wird, können die Schlitze in der

Spritzbetonschale

geschlossen werden, ohne daß die Festigkeit des Spritzbetons

überschritten wird. Bild 13. Ausbildung eines Gewölbes.

Bild 14. Geschlitzte Spritzbetonschale, Detail. Infolge der
geringen Festigkeit des Tons in Verbindung mit der
vergleichsweise großen Überdeckung des Tunnels in diesem
Bereich müssen nach den Berechnungsergebnissen radiale
Verschiebungen von 80 bis 100 cm zugelassen werden. Um
Verschiebungen in einer solchen Größenordnung zu
ermöglichen sind eine vergleichsweise große Zahl von
offenen Längsschlitzen in der Spritzbetonschale
erforderlich (Bild 14). Andere konstruktive Lösungen wie z.
B. ineinander gleitende Stahlbögen sind bei den hier zu
erwartenden Verschiebungen und der damit notwendigen
deutlich breiteren Ausbildung der Schlitze im vorliegenden
Fall ungeeignet. Die Berechnungen führten außerdem zu dem
Ergebnis, daß auch in größeremAbstand von
derAusbruchlaibung nochVerschiebungen auftreten. Die
errechneten Dehnungen entlang der Anker weisen für den
hohlraumnahen Bereich Beträge auf, die die Dehnungen des
Ankerstahls an der Streckgrenze deutlich überschreiten.
Daher wurden Gleitanker entwickelt, die neben
Verschiebungen des Ankerkopfes zusätzlich Verschiebungen
entlang des Ankerstahls ermöglichen. Der in Bild 15 oben
dargestellte Anker Typ A stellt dies durch die Anordnung
eines aufgeschrumpften Schlauches sicher. Bei günstigeren
Untergrundverhältnissen bzw. geringeren Verschiebungen kann
ggf. auf den vollvermörtelten Anker Typ B zurückgegriffen
werden. Beide Ankertypen sind 12 m lang. Das in den
Hohlraum überstehende Stahlzugglied dient als “Gleitweg”.
Die Länge kann in Abhängigkeit von der Größe der
erforderlichen radialen Verschiebung gewählt werden. Die
vorgestellte Lösung weist eine große Anpassungsfähigkeit
auf. Es ist möglich, sich kurzfristig an wechselnde
Untergrundverhältnisse und Überlagerungshöhen

Bild 15. Gleitanker.

anzupassen. Außerdem können unerwartete Untergrundver

hältnisse beherrscht werden. Daher wurde eine vergleich

sweise große Anzahl von Vortriebsklassen definiert. Diese

unterscheiden sich jeweils hinsichtlich der Dicke der

Spritzbe

tonschale, der Breite der Längsschlitze sowie der Länge der

Gleitwege der Anker. Die Auswahl der Vortriebsklasse soll

auf der Grundlage der angetroffenen Untergrundverhältnisse

und der Ergebnisse der geotechnischen Messungen erfolgen.

Diese umfassen nebenVerschiebungsmessungen u. a. auch die

Messung der Spannungen im Spritzbeton und derAnkerkräfte.

4 TUNNELABSCHNITTE IM SERPENTINIT

Im mittleren Abschnitt des Tunnels ist der Serpentinit bei

Überdeckungen der Firste bis 530 m zu durchfahren (Bild 2).

Bild 16. Nachgiebiger Ausbau im Serpentinit, Detail. Er ist
teilweise geschiefert und weist Störungszonen auf. Auf der
Grundlage der Ergebnisse der Erkundungen ist hier
abschnittsweise ebenfalls mit druckhaften Verhältnissen zu
rechnen. Die erforderlichen radialen Verschiebungen wurden
mit Werten bis 60 cm ermittelt. Sie sind damit kleiner als
die beim Auffahren des Tons zu erwartenden Werte. Im
Entwurf ist daher für dieseAbschnitte prinzipiell der
gleiche nachgiebige Ausbau wie im Ton vorgesehen. Ergänzend
wurde eine modifizierte Lösung mit Hilfe verschieblicher
Stahlbögen geplant (Bild 16). 5 TUNNELABSCHNITTE IM
KALKSTEIN Für die Tunnelabschnitte, die bei vergleichsweise
günstigen Untergrundverhältnissen wie z. B. im Kalkstein
aufzufahren sind, wurde eine konventionelle Sicherung mit
Spritzbeton entworfen. 11th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Behavior category and design loads for
conventionally excavated tunnels Gianfranco Perri Tunnel’s
Design Professor of Central University of Venezuela

ABSTRACT: The geostatic behavior of tunnel sections may be

significantly different even when the sections are
excavated

in a medium characterized by identical geotechnical

properties. In fact, several other factors have an
important impact in the

response: sometimes, the in-situ natural stresses of the

medium in which the excavation is performed and some other
times,

the geometric and topographic characteristics of the

surface. For intermediate tunnel depths, the geo-mechanic
behavior of the

tunnel, and as a consequence, the loads imposed on the

support and the necessary support can be considered
dependent of,

mainly, the geo-mechanic characteristics of the excavated

medium. Only outside the range of intermediate tunnel
depths is that
other factors significantly impact the geo-mechanic
behavior of the excavation: for deep excavations, the
in-situ natural stresses

of the medium in which the excavation is performed, and for

shallow excavations, the cinematic-rigid equilibrium caused
by

the section’s proximity to the external topographic surface.

1 INTRODUCION

As it is widely known, there exist numerous and complex fac

tors which for a specific tunnel section interact to

determine

its overall geostatic behavior. One of these factors is the

in-situ

stresses prior to excavation which, as a first

approximation,

can be related to the section’s cover depth. Nevertheless,

for

a given tunnel it is possible to define a range of cover

depths

for which this factor’s influence is irrelevant and

therefore

negligible for practical purposes.

This does not represent a new idea. In fact, several method

ologies, traditional and more modern ones, are based on the

acceptance of this concept. Some times to determine the

loads acting on the tunnel support, and in other instances

to define the support to be selected: Bierbaumer (1913),

Terzaghi (1946), Protodyakonov (1960), Wickham (1972)

and Bieniawsky (1973), are some of the most significant

examples on the application of the theory and practice in

tunneling.

Although following different procedures and criteria, all

these methods estimate the tunnel loads and support type

based on the geomechanic characteristics of the ground in

which the excavation is taking place, and on the dimensions

of the tunnel section.

In spite of their ease of use and therefore, the profound

dif

fusion in practice, these methodologies have often revealed

evident and irrefutable limitations. These limitations put

in

evidence the fact that, although the geomechanic characteris

tics of the ground are of paramount importance in the tunnel

design, they alone are not able to capture all the necessary

parameters to satisfactorily define the geostatic tunnel

design.

In other words, there often exist circumstances in which,

although the geotechnical characteristic of the excavated

material are essentially the same, the geostatic tunnel con

ditions are effectively and significantly different. This

fact

demonstrates the existence of other factors of influence.

Among these factors, there certainly exist some important

ones: in some cases, the pre-existing tensorial natural

condi

tions of the ground to be excavated, or, in other cases,

the near

by surface boundary conditions (geometric-topographic).

As a result, every tunnel should be identified based on two

limiting cover depths: a lower and an upper bound. These

boundaries can be significantly apart, which often implies
that most sections of the tunnel fall inside the middle
range. For this middle range, it is possible to assume that
the geomechanic behavior of the section, the section loads
and as a consequence the required support, can be designed
based only on the geotechnical characteristics of the
excavated material. As a consequence, the selection and
definition of particular conditions becomes simpler, and so
does the support design for each specific section, which
can be easily selected and characterized. On the other
hand, outside of these limiting cover depths, that is,
outside the intermediate sections, other aspects can
significantly influence the geomechanic behavior of the
excavation: for sections with large cover depth (deep
sections), the deformations and stresses related to the
pre-existing tensorial natural conditions of the ground to
be excavated, and for sections with low cover depth
(shallow sections), the rigidkinematics equilibrium related
to the proximity of the section to the surface. Finally, it
is important to anticipate that it is not possible to
determine absolute values, which can be generally and
universally selected for the two limiting depths. In fact,
these values may differ from tunnel to tunnel, because they
are a function of the shape and dimensions of the
excavation, as well as, the geotechnical characteristics of
the material to be excavated: the better the geomechanical
characteristics of the medium, then the larger the upper
limiting cover depth may become. That is, the more
competent the geomaterials are, the larger the range of
intermediate depths in which the support design is
essentially controlled by, or dominated by, the
geotechnical characteristic of the material alone. 2
BEHAVIOR CATEGORY The geostatic behavior of an underground
excavation, or more schematically, the type of behavior of
the excavation, depends on a number of factors. On an
extreme simplification, these factors can be identified as
the in-situ natural conditions of the medium prior to the
excavation, as well as its geomechanic resistance. Table 1.
Behavior category and pre-selected support type. Cover
depth High Low Preselected support type Category Behavior
IC GSI (Approx tunnel diameter of 10 m) A Front Stability
>0.45 >60 Shortcrete (5–10 cm) + Cavity Stability Bolts L =
4 m Isolated Instabilities (if necessary) (block
kinematics) FS f > 2.5 FSc > 2.5 ε< 1% εo << 0.5% (Rp/Ro =
1) B Front Stability 0.3–0.45 40–60 Shortcrete (10–15 cm) +
Cavity Slightly Instable Bolts (L = 4–6 m) FS f ≈ 2 FSc ≈ 1
(density 0.25/m 2 ) 1% <ε<2.5% εo <= 0.5% or, Light Ribs @
1.5 m (1 < Rp/Ro < 2) C Front Close to 0.2–0.3 30–50
Shortcrete (15–20 cm) + Equilibrium Bolts (L = 6 m) Cavity
Instability (density 0.5/m 2 ) FS f ≈ 1 FSc < 1 or, Medium
Ribs @ 1 m + 2.5%<ε<5% Front Reinforcement 0.5%<ε o< 1% (if
necessary) (2 < Rp/Ro < 4) D Front Instability 0.15–0.2
20–40 Shortcrete (20–25 cm) + Cavity Instability Heavy Ribs
@ 1m (large deformations) or, Bolts (L = 6–9 m) FS f <1 FSc
1 (density 1/m 2 ) + 5% <ε< 10% εo > 1% Face Reinforcement
+ (Rp/Ro > 4) Additional Bolts (if necessary) E General
Instability <0.15 <20 Shortcrete (20–30 cm) + (very weak
rock mass Very Heavy Ribs @ 1 m + and/or fault zones) Face
Reinforcement + FS f 1 FSc 1 Additional Bolts + ε> 10% εo
�1% Pre-support (if necessary) (Rp/Ro 4)

The natural in-situ stress state, as a first approximation,

and when additional measurements are not available, can be

related to the excavation depth or cover (H). The

geomechanic

characteristics of the medium can also, in an approximate

manner, be related to the resistance of the dominant mate

rials in the ground, as well as to the geomechanical macro

structure or the rock mass (fractures, weathering,

anisotropy

and discontinuities morphology, among others).

To identify and define such geomechanic characteristics

of the medium several geomechanical quality indexes can be

initially used. These include the RMR (Bieniawsky, 1973),

the Q value (Barton, 1974), the RSR (Wikham, 1972), etc., or

the more recent GSI [Geological Strength Index](Hoek, 1994)

and RMi (Palmstrom, 1995).

In a simplified approach, for those situations in which the

in-situ conditions result in considerably high stresses with

respect to the natural rock mass resistance, it is possible

to refer directly to the unconfined compressive strength of

the rock mass (σcm) and compare it to the natural in-situ

stress (γH), where (γ) is the rock mass density. These two

quantities are related by an important parameter: the com

petence index of the excavation (IC = σcm/γH). This index

can become very helpful in defining the excavation behavior

under the previously described conditions. On the other
hand, in those situations in which the competence index
(IC) is high, which is usually the case under moderate
cover depths where the in-situ stresses are generally low,
the quality of the rock mass (e.g. GSI) alone can become
the discriminatory parameter to determine the type of
behavior for the excavation. Following this framework, and
for practical purposes, the type of possible excavation
behavior can, in principle, be separated into at least five
categories. They can be identified, for example, by the
uppercase letters A to E. These categories define a
specific excavation behavior, which are ranked based on
increasing quality characteristics. The quality
characteristic can be selected as a function of a group of
several parameters which can be either estimated and
observed, or even measured: factors of safety of the
excavation front and cavity (FSf − FSc), the front and
cavity convergence (εo − ε), the plastic radius (Rp), the
GSI and the IC, among others (G. Russo et al., 1998). The
table 1 summarizes the most important characteristics,
peculiarities and properties of each one of these five
excavation behavior classes. It also includes a
pre-selection of the support type associated to each
category.

3 DESIGN LOADS

The qualitative pre-selection of the necessary support to

war

ranty the required stability of the tunnel are based on the

previously described excavation behavior categories. Follow

ing this pre-selection, it is necessary to proceed with the

detailed analysis and structural design. This step is based

on
the estimation of the design loads acting on the support
struc

ture, as well as the calibration of the stiffness of the

rock mass

in which the structure will be placed.

As previously described and emphasized, to determine the

loads acting on the support of a particular tunnel section

it is convenient and necessary to group the tunnel sections

into categories according to the cover depth range (H): low

–

intermediate – high.

The previously identified lower limit of the cover section

(Hi) represents that value of the cover depth which delimits

the shallow sections from the intermediate-depth sections.

For

the same tunnel, the previously identified upper limit of

the

cover section (Hs) represents that value of the cover depth

which delimits the deep sections from the intermediate-depth

sections.

Extensive experience has been gained in the design and

construction of many kilometers of conventionally excavated

tunnels. The geologic environment in which these tunnels

have been constructed vary from those characterized by foli

ated metamorphic rock masses with significant heterogeneous

physical conditions (from fresh to decomposed) to those

masses of large rock blocks with equally variably physical

con
ditions, and passing through residual and sedimentary rocks.

This extensive experience has allowed the identification of

the

limiting cover depths in the range of 75 to 150 m for Hs,

and

between 10 and 25m for Hi.

For each particular case, the specific value of the limit

ing depths depends on the section dimensions (e.g. width or

equivalent diameter “b”) and the geomechanic characteristics

of the soil mass (e.g. geomechanic group “GGi”, where “i” is

the group from 1 to 5, which selection can be initially

based

on the Hoek geomechanic quality index “GSI”), (Table 1).

As a first approximation, it is possible to estimate, with

reasonable accuracy, the values of the two limiting depths

according to the following expressions:

It can be noticed that, as previously explained, as the

geomechanic quality of the rock mass increases, so does the

range of intermediate cover depths (Hi decreases, while Hs

increases). For these intermediate depths, the section’s

geome

chanic behavior, the behavior category for the excavation,

and

finally, the support to be implemented, can be associated,

for

a given dimension of the section, to the geomechanic charac

teristics of the rock mass: the GGi, or as a first

approximation,
the GSI directly.

In practice, according to the cover depth of a given tunnel

section, the loads acting on the support can be generally

esti

mated following one of two different methodologies: “ground

arch loads” method for cover depths shallower than Hs, and

“characteristics lines” method in the deeper cases in which

the

cover depth is greater than Hs.

Furthermore, a different load distribution scheme is

applied: for shallow sections, the final support sustains

the

vertical gravity loads on the crown, and horizontal loads in

the walls; for deeper sections, the loads act in the radial
direc

tion only on the crown. For the primary support, the

applied load is generally modeled by the simplified radial
loads on the crown and walls. – For those sections of low
cover depth, classified as “shallow sections” (H ≤ Hi), the
equilibrium load acting on the primary support, and the
vertical loads acting on the final support are the same,
and will be equal to the gravity forces ( γ H),
corresponding to a solid which height is equal to the
specific cover depth. The design horizontal load on the
final support of these sections will be equal to those
forces resulting from the classical theory of soil loading
on retaining structures. Seismic loads will also be
included. – For those sections of moderate cover depth, and
classified as “intermediate sections” (Hi <H ≤ Hs), the
equilibrium load acting on the primary support will be
equal to the gravity forces of a solid which height is
equal to: Hp =α(b + h), where “α” is a proportionality
coefficient (Terzaghi), which is a function of the
geomechanic characteristics of the ground, ‘b’ is the
section width and ‘h’ the section height. The coefficient
(α) is a function of the “GSI” and “mi” (the mechanical
index for the intact rock defined in the Hoek & Brown
failure criterion). Its value can be approximately
estimated by (Perri, 2002): In order to estimate the
vertical loads acting on the final support of those
sections classified as “intermediate,” it is possible to
eventually reduce the value of the ‘α’ coefficient by about
25% (and maximum 50%) of the value estimated from the above
expression. The reduction magnitude depends on the
geomechanic conditions of the excavation and the expected
time length before the placement of the final support. In
fact, the magnitude of the reduction coefficient will be
larger if it is possible to assume, with a certain degree
of confidence, that the primary support is in fact loaded
by the ground arch loads before the final support
construction. In this case, the final support will only be
loaded by that portion of the load that is not being
resisted by the primary support. Depending on the selected
model for the analysis, the horizontal load acting on the
final support of these intermediate sections will be equal
to those forces resulting from the classical theory of soil
loading on retaining structures or those derived from the
elastic confining resistance of the ground acting on the
deformable support. Seismic loading will be applied in
those circumstances in which the geologic and geotechnical
studies explicitly recommend them. – For those sections
that can be classified as “deep sections” (H > Hs), the
equilibrium loads acting on the primary support are
obtained from the characteristic lines interaction
analysis. The design loads on the final support will be
applied in the radial direction, only in the crown, and
their magnitude will be proportional to the plastic radius
extension, as calculated in the equilibrium analysis, or
the radius extension that is expected before the primary
support effectively starts to work. The horizontal loads
will be those derived from the elastic confining resistance
of the ground acting on the deformable support. Seismic
loading will be applied in those circumstances in which the
geologic and geotechnical studies explicitly recommend
them. FACTOR DE CARGAS ¨ α¨ DE TERZAGHI (Perri, 2002) 0,0
0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2,0 2,2 2,4 2,6 2,8 3,0
3,2 3,4 3,6 3,8 4,0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 5 GSI
mi=10 mi=13 mi=16 mi=20 mi=30 mi=25 mi=35 mi=5 mi=7 α =
1244m i -1,433 GSI (mi 0,0004mi-0,0046mi-1,2344)

Figure 1. Different types of supports.

For the calculation of the loads acting on the structural

sup

port, all the previously described steps must also be

considered

in the final structural design. This final structural

design must

be based on the specific capacities of the available

supports

for each project.

4 PRIMARY SUPPORT

Modern tunnel technology has evolved towards a system of

elements that comprise the excavation support. The main

element is the fiber-reinforced shotcrete, complemented if

necessary, by metallic ribs and bolts. The metallic ribs and

bolts may be placed, depending on the situation, in

different

combinations (Fig. 1).

An example combination is shown at the end of this paper,

in which five typical primary supports are described (SP-A;

SP-B; SP-C; SP-D; SP-E) for an approximately 10 meter wide
tunnel. From the table it can be noticed that, with the
exception of the two extreme situations (one in which,
because of the geomechanic conditions it is not necessary
to include metallic ribs in the support, and the other in
which, on the other extreme, it is practically impossible
to avoid their use), in all other intermediate situations,
which comprise the most recurrent situations in tunneling
practice, it is always possible to choose among two
alternative support technologies: the first one, based on
the use of metallic ribs to integrate the shotcrete and the
second one, based on the systematic and extensive use of
metallic bolts also used to integrate the shotcrete. In
fact, structurally speaking, it is possible to achieve the
same structural or contrast support capacity using either
one Table 2. Examples of primary support for 10 m wide
tunnels. Cover depth ≤ Hi Hi < Cover depth ≤ Hs Cover depth
> Hs GSI <= 20 SP-D GSI <= 20 SP-E IC <= 0.15 SP-E 20 < GSI
<= 40 SP-C 20< GSI <= 40 SP-D 0.15< IC <= 0.20 SP-D 30 <
GSI <= 50 SP-C 30< GSI <= 50 SP-C 0.20< IC <= 0.30 SP-C 40
< GSI <= 60 SP-C 40< GSI <= 60 SP-B 0.30< IC <= 0.45 SP-B
GSI > 50 SP-B GSI > 50 SP-A IC > 0.45 SP-A H <= Hi H > Hs
Diámetro túnel Hi < H <= Hs b = 10 m H <= 10 10–20 20–30
30–40 40–60 60–80 80–100 H > 100 GSI = 20 SP-E SP-E SP-E
SP-E 20 < GSI = 30 SP-E SP-E SP-D SP-D SP-D IC 30 < GSI =
50 SP-D SP-D SP-C SP-C SP-C SP-C 50 < GSI = 60 SP-C SP-B
SP-B SP-B SP-B SP-B SP-B GSI > 60 SP-C SP-A SP-A SP-A SP-A
SP-A SP-A Support Capacity type Shotcrete Metallic ribs
Metallic bolts 20 tons (MPa) SP-A 10 cm – – 0.15 SP-B 14 cm
2 IPN140 @ 150 cm 2 × 4 m @ ribs pair 0.25 o, alternatively
7 bolts × 4 m @ 150 cm (without ribs) SP-C 16 cm 2 IPN160 @
125 cm 4 × 6 m @ ribs pair 0.35 o, alternatively 11 bolts ×
6 m @ 125 cm (without ribs) SP-D 20 cm 2 IPN200 @ 100 cm 6
× 6 m @ ribs pair 0.45 o, alternatively 15 bolts × 6 m @
100 cm (without ribs) SP-E 20 cm 2 IPN200 @ 075 cm 11 × 6 m
@ ribs pair 0.55

of the alternatives. As a consequence, the practical

selection

of either alternative will depend on factors such as: site

avail

ability of the different support elements, site

availability of

the required installation equipment, cost of each

alternative,

contractual conditions, productivity and contractor

experience

among other.

It is possible to elaborate a list of technical advantages

and disadvantages of either alternative, but this could

easily

become a strongly subjective discussion.

Finally, based on the alternative support considered or

avail

able for each project, the support to be used must be

selected

for each design section. In this manner it is now possible

to

compare the expected loads (demand), according to the cover

depth and possible geomechanical conditions of the rock mass

to be encountered, with the capacities of the available

support

alternatives.

Applying the previously described procedure, the follow

ing table 2 summarizes two results for an approximately 10

meter wide (or equivalent diameter) tunnel. Table 2 shows

the support selection as a function of the excavation behav

ior, which is related to the GSI for shallow cover depths

(H ≤ Hs), and to the Competence Index (IC) for deeper

Sociedad Venezolana de Geotecnia, N. 74, Junio 1998, Caracas

Venezuela.

G. PERRI A. “Undergropund works and tunneling”. XI Congreso

Panamericano de Mecánica de Suelos e Ingeniería de

Fundaciones,

Agosto 1999, Iguazú – Brazil.

G. PERRI A. “Proyecto de túneles: Criterios de diseño”.

Boletín de

la Sociedad Venezolana de Geotecnia, N. 81, Enero 2002,

Caracas

– Venezuela.

G. PERRI A. “Tunnelling in Venezuela. Pasado Presente y

Futuro”.

Seminario Inernacional “South American Tunnelling”, Febrero

Marzo 2004, Sao Paulo – Brasil.

G. PERRI A. & G. PLIZZARI; R. PERRI; L. COMINOLI “Reves

timiento de Túneles en Concreto Reforzado con Fibras

Metálicas:

Principios – Experiencias – Perspectivas”. XVIII Seminario

Venezolano de Geotecnia, 9–11 Noviembre 2004, Caracas –

Venezuela. G. PERRIA. & R. PERRI Diseño del Soporte
deTúneles en Concreto Proyectado Reforzado con Fibras
Metálicas”. XVIII Seminario Venezolano de Geotecnia, 9–11
Noviembre 2004, Caracas – Venezuela. M. PROTODYAKONOF
“Klassifikacija Gorotworu” Moscú, 1960. In French T. at
O.S. Paris, 1974. G. RUSSO & G.S. KALAMARAS; P. GRASSO “A
Discusión on the Cocepts of: Geomechanical Classes,
Behavior Categories and Technical Classes for an
Underground Project”. Gallerie e Grandi Opere Sotterranee,
N˚ 54, Marzo 1998, Italia. K. TERZAGHI “Rock defects and
loads on tunnel supports” In rock tunneling with steel
support by Proctor and Withe. Ohio, 1946. G. WICKHAM at A.
“Support Determination Based on Geologic Predictions” Proc.
Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conference AIME New York,
1972. 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock
Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) ©
2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Critical strain: A measure of squeezing problems in tunnels
Mahendra Singh, Bhawani Singh, N.K. Samadhiya & Jaysing
Choudhari Civil Engineering Department, IIT Roorkee,
Roorkee, India

ABSTRACT: Prediction of squeezing potential is one of the

major problems while tunnelling through weak rock mass
under

high overburden. The present methods in vogue generally

compare the rock mass strength with the in-situ stress to
resolve

this problem. It is suggested in this paper that comparison

of strains may be a better approach as the deformations are
easily

measurable. Critical strain is defined as that strain level

beyond which the squeezing problems will be likely to
occur. It is

shown that the critical strain depends on properties of

rock material, configuration of joints and anisotropic
nature of the rock

mass. Expressions are suggested to assess the squeezing

potential through a weakness coefficient called Joint
Factor. Critical

strain is also correlated with rock mass quality index Q. A

classification is suggested to quantify the squeezing
potential based
on ratio of expected strain and critical strain for the
tunnel section.

1 INTRODUCTION

Assessment of squeezing is an important problem while exca

vating tunnels through poor quality rock masses under high

rock cover. Due to excavation, redistribution of stresses

around

the tunnel takes place. If the tangential stress at the

periph

ery exceeds the rock mass strength, the mass fails and the

broken zone progresses in radial direction resulting in

devel

opment of squeezing ground conditions. It is suggested in

this paper that strain may be a better indicator of

squeezing

potential. If the tangential strain exceeds certain limit,

the tun

nel will develop squeezing conditions. This limiting strain

is

termed as critical strain. Methods are suggested in this

paper

to assess the critical strain. The expected strain likely

to occur

will depend on rock mass properties and in-situ stress condi

tions. It may be obtained numerically or through analysis of

monitored deformations. The ratio of expected strain and the

critical strain is used to define the squeezing potential

of the

tunnel.

2 CRITCAL STRAIN
Aydan et al. (1993) used analogy between the stress-strain

response of rock in laboratory and tangential stress-strain

around tunnels to define strain levels above which squeez

ing may occur. Various degrees of the squeezing were defined

by Aydan et al. (1993). Hoek (2001) also used strain to

define squeezing potential. He has taken critical strain as

1% irrespective of rock mass properties. Present work sug

gests that the critical strain will depend on the properties

of the intact rock material and joints in the rock mass.

The work is based on an experimental study performed by

Singh (1997) on specimens of a jointed rock mass under

uniaxial loading conditions. The study simulated strength

and deformation behaviour of jointed rock mass with vary

ing joint configurations. The details of the study may be

obtained from elsewhere (Singh et al., 2002; Singh and Rao,

2005; Singh et al. 2007). A typical stress-strain curve for

the

jointed mass is shown in Fig. 1. Various strain levels used

by Ayden et al. (1993) are explained in this figure. Singh

(1997) obtained an expression for the peak failure strain,

ε p 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 Axial strain, % A x i
a l s t r e s s , M P a ε e ε p Initia seating Figure 1.
Typical stress-strain curve and strain levels. for the
jointed rock mass under uniaxial loading condition (Fig. 2)
as: where, M rj = modulus ratio for rock mass = E tj /σ cj
(Ramamurthy, 2004), E tj = tangent modulus at stress level
equal to 50% of σ cj , and σ cj = Uniaxial compressive
strength (UCS) of the mass. The critical strain (Sakurai,
1997) represents the elastic strain, and, is defined as: If
the rock mass properties E tj and σ cj are known, Eq. (2)
may be used to predict the critical strain. The expected
strain at the tunnel periphery may
numerical modelling or analysis of
The squeezing index SI may then be
-1.0385 R 2 = 0.9747 2 4 6 8 0 200
k s t r a i n , % 0 10
be obtained from
monitored deformations.
obtained as: y = 154.77x
400 600 800 M rj P e a

Figure 2. Correlation of peak strain with modulus ratio.

Table 1. Proposed classification for squeezing potential in

tunnels.

Class No. Squeezing Level SI

1 No squeezing (NS) SI < 1.0

2 Light squeezing (LS) 1.0 < SI ≤ 2.0

3 Fair squeezing (FS) 2.0 < SI ≤ 3.0

4 Heavy squeezing (HS) 3.0 < SI ≤ 5.0

5 Very heavy squeezing (VHS) 5.0 < SI

where,

u a = radial closure, and,

a = radius of the tunnel.

A classification similar to Aydan et al. (1993) is proposed

and is presented in Table 1.

3 DETERMINATION OF CRITICAL STRAIN

Rock mass strength σ cj , and tangent modulus E tj are

generally

anisotropic in nature. The following approaches may be used

to get these properties and hence the critical strain

3.1 Joint Factor

Ramamurthy (1993), Ramamurthy and Arora (1994) and

Singh et al. (2002) advocated the use of a weakness coef

ficient called Joint Factor. The concept has been developed

based on extensive experimental investigations on natural
and

artificial jointed rocks (Yaji, 1984; Arora, 1997; Roy,

1993;

Singh, 1997). The Joint Factor is defined as :

where,

J f = Joint Factor for the critical joint set,

J n = number of joints per metre depth in loading direction,

n = joint inclination parameter (Table 2),

r = joint strength parameter = tan φj,

φ j = friction angle along the joints at very low normal

stress level.

The Joint Factor forms the basis for a rational classifica

tion for jointed rock masses (Ramamurthy, 2004). It links

the

anisotropic values of σ cj and E tj with respective intact

rock

properties σ ci and E ti respectively as: Table 2. Joint

inclination parameter, n (Ramamurthy, 1993). β ◦ n β ◦ n 0
0.810 50 0.306 10 0.460 60 0.465 20 0.105 70 0.634 30 0.046
80 0.814 40 0.071 90 1.00 *β=Angle of joint plane with
direction of loading where a and b are experimentally
obtained empirical coefficients and depend on the expected
failure mode of the mass(Singh et al, 2002). From Eqs. (2),
(5) and (6) the following expressions may be obtained for
the critical strain: For splitting and shearing failure
modes: For sliding and rotation mode of failure: If no
information is available on failure mode the following
expression may be used in general: where, σ ci = UCS of
intact rock, E ti = tangent modulus of the intact rock, M
ri = Modulus ratio of intact rock. The rock mass in the
filed may be classified by using Joint factor concept
(Ramamurthy, 2004).The level of critical strain may be
assessed from Fig. 3, which presents the variation of
critical strain with Joint Factor from Eq. (10) for various
values of the modulus ratio of intact rocks. 3.1.1 Example
Let there be a tunnel excavated through a rock mass that
has two joint sets striking parallel to the tunnel axis.
The joint sets dip at 30 ◦ and 45 ◦ respectively, in
directions opposite to each other.The joints are continuous
and spacing between the joints is 40 cm for both the sets.
Following properties are available from laboratory tests:
Tangent Modulus E i = 10,000 MPa; σ ci = 100 MPa; Friction
angle of joints under low normal stress φ j = 37 ◦ . The
joint factor is computed at the periphery of the tunnel at
15 ◦ interval and the critical strain is computed for these
points. The computations are presented in Table 3. It may
be seen that the critical strain is different for different
points along the periphery due to anisotropic nature of the
jointed mass. The expected strain along the periphery may
now be 0 1 10 100 0 5 100 150 200 J f C r i t i c a l s t r
a i n , % Mri=100 Mri=50 Mri=200 Mri=500

Figure 3. Variation of critical strain with Joint Factor.

Table 3. Computation of critical strain through Joint

Factor. J n Joint Per Critical ε cr ,

θ ◦ set β ◦ m n J f J f %

0 I 45 1.77 0.188 12.5 36.1 1.54 II 30 1.25 0.046 36.1

15 I 30 1.25 0.046 36.1 36.1 1.54 II 45 1.77 0.188 12.5

30 I 15 0.65 0.283 3.1 6.28 1.08 II 60 2.165 0.465 6.2

45 I 0 1 0.810 1.6 4.4 1.05 II 75 2.415 0.724 4.4

60 I 15 0.65 0.283 3.1 3.3 1.04 II 90 2.5 1.00 3.3

75 I 30 1.25 0.046 36.0 36.0 1.54 II 75 2.415 0.724 4.4

90 I 45 1.77 0.188 12.5 12.5 1.16 II 60 2.165 0.465 6.1

compared with the critical strain and squeezing potential

may

be assessed.

3.2 Field Tests

Uniaxial jacking tests are routinely performed at project

sites.

The elastic modulus E tj , of the rock mass may be obtained

from these tests. The rock mass strength σ cj , may be

correlated
with rock mass modulus E tj , intact rock modulus E ti and
intact

rock strength σ ci (Ramamurthy, 2004; Singh and Rao, 2005)

as given below:

The critical strain may now be obtained as

3.3 Q system

For many projects sufficient data required for the above men

tioned approach is seldom available. Barton’s Q index is

generally available for tunnels. An approximate value of

crit

ical strain may be obtained by estimating rock mass strength

from Q as given below. 3.3.1 Using Singh et al. (1997)

Singh et al. (1997), based on the back analysis of several
tunnels, have suggested the following relation for rock
mass strength σcj (For Q < 10, Jw = 1.0, σci < 100 MPa).
where, γ = density of rock mass in gm/cc, σ cj , σ ci = UCS
or rock mass and intact rock respectively in MPa. Q =
actual (post-construction) rock mass quality. The critical
strain may therefore be obtained from intact rock
properties and Q value as, 3.3.2 Using Barton (2002) Barton
(2002) has suggested the following correlation for field
modulus of deformation: Using the above expression the
critical strain may be obtained as, 3.3.3 Example Citation:
Jethwa et al. (1982); Project site: Chhibro-Khodri tunnel,
India; Rock type: Crushed red shales; Average Q = 0.08;
Unit weight = 2.73 g/cc; Observed closure = 6%; σ ci = 26.9
MPa; Ei = 10.80 GPa; Using Singh et al. (1997) (Eq. (14))
Squeezing index = 6.00/0.51 = 11.76 ⇒ very high squeezing
(Table 1) Using Barton (2002) (Eq. (16)) Squeezing index =
6.00/0.41 = 14.63 ⇒ very high squeezing (Table 1) 4
CONCLUDING REMARKS Critical strain is defined as the
tangential strain level at a point on the opening periphery
beyond which, the squeezing problems may be encountered
during construction. It is suggested

in this paper that the critical strain is an anisotropic

property

and depends on the properties of the intact rock and the dis
continuities present in the mass. Joint factor concept may
be

used to assess the anisotropic values of the critical

strain at

the tunnel periphery. Expressions are also suggested for com

puting critical strain if field modulus or Barton’s Q is

known.

The ratio of expected strain and critical strain may be

used to

define the squeezing potential as suggested in the paper.

Arora, V.K., (1987). Strength and deformational behaviour

of jointed

rocks. Ph.D. Thesis, IIT Delhi, India.

Aydan Ö., Akagi T., Kawamoto T., (1993). The squeezing

potential

of rock around tunnels: Theory and prediction. Rock

Mechanics

and Rock Engineering, Vol. 2, pp. l37–163.

Hoek, E., (2001). Big tunnels in bad rock. ASCE Journal of

Geotech

nical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 127, No. 9, pp.

726–740.

Jethwa, J.L., Dube,A.K., Singh, B., Singh, Bhawani. and

Mithal, R.S.,

(1982). Evaluation of methods for tunnel support design in

squeez

ing rock conditions. Proceedings, 4th International

Congress –

InternationalAssociation of Engineering Geology.A.A.

Balkema,

Neth. Distributed in USA, Rotterdam, New Delhi, India, pp.

121–134.

Ramamurthy, T. (2004). A geo-engineering classification for

rocks

and rock masses, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol. 41 pp.
89–101. Ramamurthy, T. and Arora, V.K. (1994). Strength
predictions for jointed rocks in confined and unconfined
states. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.
9–22. Ramamurthy, T., (1993). Strength and modulus
responses of anisotropic rocks. In: Hudson JA, editor.
Comprehensive Rock Engineering. Vol. 1. UK: Pergamon Press;
pp. 313–29. Roy, N., (1993). Engineering behaviour of rock
masses through study of jointed models., Ph.D. Thesis, IIT
Delhi, India. Sakurai, S. (1997). Lessons learned from
field measurements in tunnelling. Tunnelling and
Underground Space Technology, Vol.12, No.4, pp. 453–460.
Singh, B., Viladkar, M.N., Samadhiya, N.K., Mehrotra, V.K.
(1997). Rock mass strength parameters mobilised in tunnels.
Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, Vol.12, No.1,
pp. 47–54. Singh, M., (1997). Engineering behaviour of
jointed model materials. Ph.D. Thesis, IIT, New Delhi,
India. Singh M., Singh B. and Choudhari J. (2007) Critical
Strain and Squeezing of Rock Mass in Tunnels, Tunnelling
and Underground Space Technology, 22, 343–350. Singh, M.
and Rao, K.S., (2005). Empirical methods to estimate the
strength of jointed rock masses. Engineering Geology, Vol.
77, pp. 127–137. Singh, M., Rao, K.S., Ramamurthy, T.,
(2002). Strength and deformational behaviour of a jointed
rock mass. Rock Mech. Rock Eng. Vol.35, pp. 45–64. Yaji,
R.K., (1984). Shear strength and deformation response of
jointed rocks. Ph.D. Thesis IIT Delhi, India. 11th Congress
of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e
Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis
Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Damage to mountain
tunnels by earthquake and deformation mechanism Toshihiro
Asakura Kyoto University, Japan Yoshiyuki Kojima DIA
Consultants Co. Ltd., Japan Takeshi Matsunaga Kyoto
University, Japan Yoshiyuki Shigeta Railway Technical
Research Institute, Japan Kazuhiko Tsukada Kyoto
University, Japan

ABSTRACT: Generally the mountain tunnels are little damaged

by earthquake. However, recent case studies of the damage
of

mountain tunnels caused by earthquakes also show that they

are likely to be damaged when 1) the energy scale of
earthquake is
large, 2) the tunnel is near the earthquake faults and 3)
the tunnel has special conditions, such as bad geological
condition and

structural deficiency of tunnel. We collected information

on the tunnels which suffered damage from earthquakes, and
surveys

of the tunnels damaged by the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu

Earthquake to study the damage mechanism of mountain
tunnels.

And we mainly focused on grasped the deformation mechanism

of the lining qualitatively and simplified the modes of
shear

deformation of the ground during an earthquake into the

following two cases; a) when the angle of incidence of
shear wave is

vertical, and b) when the angle of incidence of shear wave

is 45 ◦ against the vertical line. This paper presents a
summary of

these results obtained from the case studies and the

simulation analyses.

1 INTRODUCTION

As tunnels are surrounded by the ground, they have good

earthquake-resistance if the ground is stable during an

earth

quake. Therefore, it is generally said that the earthquake

resistance is not necessarily required for tunnels in the

stable

ground. In the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake, however,

10 tunnels among at least one hundred mountain tunnels in

service in and around the disaster area had serious damage

to need repair and reinforcement. We reconfirmed that if an

earthquake was larger, even mountain tunnels would have

been damaged. Damage survey of the regions affected by the

2004 Niigataken-Chuetsu Earthquake is still underway, but

so far it has been revealed that among over 100 mountain

tunnels, approximately 50 were damaged, including 25 or so

that required repair and reinforcement, as well as those

that

sustained minor impacts.

There are few studies on the earthquake damage mecha

nism of mountain tunnels. On the other hand, more and more

tunnels have been constructed recently in the ground of low

strength and low earth covering, to require the

establishment

of a method to design mountain tunnels in consideration of

the effect of earthquake. We performed this study to acquire

the basic knowledge of the earthquake damage mechanism of

mountain tunnels. 2 DAMAGE TO MOUNTAIN TUNNELS BY

EARTHQUAKE 2.1 Tunnels surveyed A survey was conducted on
the tunnels used for highways, railways and aqueducts for
power plants situated within regions affected by the 2004
Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake (hereinafter, the “Chuetsu
Earthquake”) in order to determine the level of damages.
Table 1 show the basic data on the tunnels surveyed and
outline of their damages. The total number of the tunnels
surveyed was 138 (total length: 264 km) (Fig. 1). In terms
of the tunneling method, the most common type was those
using Conventional Method, which accounted for 104,
followed by the New Australian Tunneling Method (NATM),
which was used for 33 tunnels. 2.2 Outline of earthquake
damage to the tunnels Fig. 2 shows the level of damage in
percentages. The damages were categorized into 4 levels,
from “Tunnels requiring major repair/reinforcement (A1
Tunnels)” to “Undamaged tunnels”. The damaged tunnels (A1,
A2 and B Tunnels) accounted for 35%, of which the tunnels
requiring major repair/reinforcement (A1) accounted for 8%.
T a b l e 1 . L i s t o f t h e t u n n e l s s u r v e y e
d ( E x t r a c t D a t a ) . S e c o n d a r y O v e r b u
r d e n l i n i n g C o n s t r u c t i o n D a m a g e c o
m p l e t e d E x t e n s i o n ( t h i c k n e s s : w i d
t h h e i g h t N o . m e t h o d l e v e l T u n n e l E x
t r e p r e n e u r T y p e R o u t e y e a r ( m ) M A X .
M I N . c m ) ( m ) ( m ) 1 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 2 O j
i y a d a i n i M L I T R o a d R 1 7 1 9 8 3 1 0 8 8 6 2 C
( 6 0 ) 9 . 5 4 . 8 M e t h o d 2 C o n v e n t i o n a l A
2 T a k a z a w a N i i g a t a R o a d R 2 9 1 1 9 6 5 1 8
. 2 C 6 . 0 0 4 . 5 0 M e t h o d p r e f . 3 C o n v e n t
i o n a l A 1 H a g u r o N i i g a t a R o a d P r i n c i
p a l l o c a l w a y 1 9 6 7 5 0 6 . 0 C ( 5 0 ) 5 . 6 0 5
. 2 0 M e t h o d ( r o a d w a y ) p r e f . K a s h i w a
z a k i – t a k a h a m a – h o r i n o u c h i l i n e 4 N
A T M A 2 H a g u r o N i i g a t a R o a d P r i n c i p a
l l o c a l w a y 1 9 9 4 5 5 0 . 0 C ( 3 0 ) 2 . 2 0 2 . 8
5 ( s i d e w a y ) p r e f . K a s h i w a z a k i – t a k
a h a m a – h o r i n o u c h i l i n e 5 C o n v e n t i o
n a l A 1 J y u n i t a i r a N i i g a t a R o a d P r i n
c i p a l l o c a l w a y 1 9 8 6 2 1 0 . 0 C ( 5 0 ∼ 8 0 )
8 . 5 0 4 . 7 0 M e t h o d p r e f . K a s h i w a z a k i
– t a k a h a m a – h o r i n o u c h i l i n e 6 C o n v e
n t i o n a l A 2 U t o g i N i i g a t a R o a d P r i n c
i p a l l o c a l w a y 1 9 8 9 5 9 0 . 0 C ( 6 0 ) 6 . 0 0
4 . 7 0 M e t h o d p r e f . O j i y a – k a w a g u c h i
y a m a t o l i n e 7 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 2 S h i o t
a n i N i i g a t a R o a d P r i n c i p a l l o c a l w a
y 1 9 8 3 5 1 2 . 5 C ( 5 0 ∼ 6 0 ) 7 . 5 0 5 . 8 5 M e t h
o d p r e f . O j i y a – k a w a g u c h i y a m a t o l i
n e 8 N A T M A 1 K i z a w a N i i g a t a R o a d P r i n
c i p a l l o c a l w a y 1 9 9 1 3 0 5 . 0 C ( 3 0 ∼ 7 0 )
6 . 0 0 4 . 7 0 p r e f . O j i y a – k a w a g u c h i y a
m a t o l i n e 9 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 1 A r a y a N i
i g a t a R o a d P r e f e c t u r a l R o a d 1 9 7 7 2 9
2 . 0 C ( 6 0 ) 7 . 5 0 5 . 6 4 M e t h o d p r e f . O g u
r i y a m a – k a w a g u c h i l i n e 1 0 C o n v e n t i
o n a l A 2 H o r i n o u c h i E a s t j a p a n r a i l w
a y c o . l t d . S u p e r e x p r e s s J o u e t s u s u
p e r e x p r e s s 1 9 7 8 3 , 3 0 0 1 0 0 C ( 7 0 ∼ 9 0 )
9 . 6 8 . 3 M e t h o d 1 1 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 1 U o
n u m a E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t d . S u p
e r e x p r e s s J o u e t s u s u p e r e x p r e s s 1 9
7 7 8 , 6 2 4 7 0 C ( 5 0 ∼ 9 0 ) 9 . 6 8 . 3 M e t h o d 1
2 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 1 M y o u k e n E a s t j a p a
n r a i l w a y c o . l t d . S u p e r e x p r e s s J o u
e t s u s u p e r e x p r e s s 1 9 7 6 1 , 4 5 9 6 5 C ( 7
0 ∼ 9 0 ) 9 . 6 8 . 3 M e t h o d 1 3 C o n v e n t i o n a
l A 2 T a k i y a E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t
d . S u p e r e x p r e s s J o u e t s u s u p e r e x p r
e s s 1 9 7 7 2 , 6 7 3 5 5 C ( 7 0 ∼ 9 0 ) 9 . 6 8 . 3 M e
t h o d 1 4 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 2 S h i n f u k u y a
m a E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t d . R a i l r
o a d J o e t s u l i n e 1 9 6 3 1 , 4 6 3 7 . 5 C ( 4 5 )
4 . 8 5 M e t h o d 1 5 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 1 W a n a
z u E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t d . R a i l r
o a d J o e t s u l i n e 1 9 6 6 7 2 5 4 1 3 0 C ( 5 0 ) 8
. 5 7 . 5 M e t h o d 1 6 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 2 U s h
i g a s h i m a E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t d
. R a i l r o a d J o e t s u l i n e 1 9 6 6 4 3 2 1 4 C (
5 0 ) 8 . 5 7 . 5 M e t h o d 1 7 C o n v e n t i o n a l A
1 T e n n o u E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t d .
R a i l r o a d J o e t s u l i n e 1 9 6 5 2 8 5 1 1 4 C (
4 5 ∼ 6 0 ) 4 . 7 5 . 1 M e t h o d 1 8 C o n v e n t i o n
a l A 1 S h i n e n o k i t o u g e E a s t j a p a n r a i
l w a y c o . l t d . R a i l r o a d J o e t s u l i n e 1
9 6 7 1 , 3 7 2 7 5 C ( 3 0 ∼ 5 0 ) 4 . 7 5 . 1 M e t h o d
1 9 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 2 E n o k i t o u g e E a s t
j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t d . R a i l r o a d J o e
t s u l i n e 1 9 2 1 6 4 1 7 0 C B ( 2 3 ∼ 5 6 ) 4 . 8 5 .
4 M e t h o d 2 0 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 2 T s u k a y a
m a E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t d . R a i l r
o a d S h i n e t s u l i n e 1 9 6 6 1 , 7 6 6 1 5 0 C ( 5
0 , 6 0 ) 8 . 7 6 . 3 M e t h o d 2 1 C o n v e n t i o n a
l A 2 M y o u k o u s a n E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c
o . l t d . R a i l r o a d I i y a m a l i n e 1 9 2 7 1 ,
4 6 5 1 5 1 C B ( 2 3 ∼ 9 1 ) 4 . 6 5 . 2 M e t h o d 2 2 C
o n v e n t i o n a l A 2 K o u y o u s a n E a s t j a p a
n r a i l w a y c o . l t d . R a i l r o a d I i y a m a l
i n e 1 9 7 0 5 0 0 6 7 3 6 C ( 4 5 ∼ 6 0 ) 4 . 8 5 . 1 M e
t h o d 2 3 C o n v e n t i o n a l A 2 U c h i g a m a k i
E a s t j a p a n r a i l w a y c o . l t d . R a i l r o a
d I i y a m a l i n e 1 9 2 7 4 2 5 3 0 1 8 C B ( 4 7 ∼ 8 7
) 4 . 6 5 . 2 M e t h o d • D a m a g e l e v e l s • L i n
i n g A 1 : D a m a g e r e q u i r i n g m a j o r r e p a
i r / r e i n f o r c e m e n t C : C o n c r e t e A 2 : D
a m a g e r e q u i r i n g s o m e r e p a i r / r e i n f
o r c e m e n t , o t h e r t h a n A 1 C B : C o n c r e t
e b l o c k s R C : R e i n f o r c e d c o n c r e t e B R
: B r i c k s S T : S t o n e s ( M a s o n r y )

Figure 1. Number of the tunnels surveyed (by use purpose).

Figure 2. Damage levels in percentages.

Fig. 3 shows the damage level in percentages, categorized

by the construction method.The percentage of those with Con

ventional Method that suffered damage was 39%. However,

that of the NATM tunnels was 23%, showing they were less

damaged than those with Conventional Method.

The tunnels requiring repair/reinforcement were mainly

suffered from lining concrete failure, such as falling or

flaking,

opening of placing joints, compressive failure, shear crack

ing, tensile cracking and invert uplifting, and other

damages

caused by the collapse of entrance slope. The mechanisms

of these damages are currently under investigation by rel

evant organizations, but the distance from the hypo central

plane, topographical/geological factors such as poor or land

slide prone ground, and structural factors such as voids at

lining back and cold joints.

2.3 Relative positions of tunnels and hypocenter

Fig. 4 shows the enlarged detail of the hypocenter region

of the

main shock (M6.8, at 17:56 on Oct 23).The surface

earthquake Figure 3. Damage level in percentages,
categorized by the construction method. faults have not
clearly been identified for the Chuetsu Earthquake;
however, the earthquake faults assumed here were those
running more or less in the north-south direction, as shown
in the explanatory diagram attached to Fig. 5. In modeling
the assumed earthquake faults, the earthquake faults of the
main shock are represented by the red mesh area (N35 ◦ E)
in the figure (a), which is assumed to be a fault plane
inclined to the west by approximately 50 ◦ . Figure (b)
shows the slip length represented by contour lines, which
were obtained by projecting the fault planes on to a plane
surface. On every fault plane assumed, the slip length is
found to be 2 m maximum. The relationship between the
locations of assumed earthquake faults of the main shock
and the tunnel damages is summarized as follows. (i) The
characteristic feature of the relationship between the
tunnel damage level and earthquake faults is that not all
the tunnels on the faults were damaged, and that many A1
tunnels were found near the ground surface within a region
on the faults that was assumed to have had a long slip
length. (ii) ManyA1 andA2 Tunnels were found on the hanging
wall side of an earthquake fault. (iii) A2 and B Tunnels
were found in places other than the vicinities of
earthquake faults described above. 3 DAMAGE MECHANISM OF
TUNNELS AT A FRACTURED ZONE We performed numerical analyses
to reproduce damage patterns of tunnels at a fractured zone
at an earthquake. 3.1 The analysis model Fig. 5 shows the
analysis model. Table 2 shows analysis conditions. We
mainly focused on grasping the crack mechanism of the
lining qualitatively and simplified modes of shear
deformation of the ground during an earthquake into the
following two cases; a) when the angle of incidence of
shear wave is vertical, and b) when the angle of incidence
of shear wave is 45 ◦ against the vertical line. 3.2 Effect
of shear wave Fig. 6 shows the distribution of crack width
when the average shear strain of the ground caused by shear
wave is 1.8*10 −3 .

Figure 4. Location of tunnels in the affected region. d d S

train :γ ave= δ/ d S train :γ ave= δ v/d=δ h/d δ δ δ v δ h
δ h δ v

a) When an angle of incidence of shear wave is vertical

b) When an angle of incidence of shear wave is 45 ◦ against

the vertical line.

Figure 5. Analysis models.

Table 2. Analysis conditions.

Young’s modulus of ground 500 N/mm 2

Poisson’s ratio of ground ν= 0.3

Young’s modulus of concrete E c = 26 kN/mm 2

Compressive strength of concrete f ′ ck = 18 N/mm 2

Tensile strength of concrete f td = 1.9 N/mm 2

Poisson’s ratio of concrete ν= 0.167 The crack width is

calculated by the following equation on the assumption that
one crack occurs on one element. Width of crack = Plastic
strain of the element × equivalent length of the element a)
When the angle of incidence of shear wave is vertical. As
the shear strain of the ground reached 6.3*10 −4 , cracks
occurred at the joint between the invert and side wall and
at the shoulder of the arch at the same time. As the shear
strain became large, the width of crack became wider the
crack penetrated the lining when the shear strain reached
1.8*10 −3 . b) When the angle of incidence of shear wave is
45 ◦ against the vertical line. Cracks occurred at the arch
crown and the center of the invert when the ground is
vertically compressed. On the other hand, cracks occurred
at the spring line of both sides when the ground is
horizontally compressed.We performed parameter studies by
changing intensity of shear deformation, we found that the
intensity affected only the width and depth of cracks but
did not the location of cracks. From these results, we
found that tunnels tend to have cracks and compressive
failures at the crown of the arch and the spring line at a
fractured zone by a large bending moment caused by
earthquake. However, the direction of crack was only
vertical to the lining and we were not able to reproduce
cracks slanted Enforced displacement Cracks occured Width
of crack ( mm ) 0.028 Large Small Average shear
strain=1800µ (a) When the angle of incidence of shear wave
is vertical Enforced displacement Width of crack ( mm )
0.028 Large Small Cracks occured Enforced displacement
Width of crack ( mm ) 0.028 Large Small Cracks occured
Average shear strain =1800µ Average shear strain =1800µ (b)
When the angle of incidence of shear wave is 45° against
the vertical line.

Figure 6. Distribution of width of crack.

to the lining like those observed at the Rokko and Myoken

Tunnel.

3.3 Effect of initial load acting on the lining

If the strength of the ground around the tunnel is low as

in a

fractured zone, an initial load like the squeezing earth

pressure

may sometimes act on the lining. We analyzed other cases

with

ABSTRACT: The time-dependent features of soft rock, named

rheology generally, should be taken into account in the
long

term design and maintenance of mountain tunnels. Based on

the classic Burger-MC rheological model, a
Burger-Deterioration
rheological model is proposed in this paper and is
implemented in the numerical codes FLAC 3D . A
deterioration threshold and

two deterioration ratios are introduced in this model to

consider the time-dependent strength deterioration aspect
of the rock

mass. The proposed model is applied to an engineering

instance (Ureshino Tunnel Line I, Nagasaki, Japan) to
account for the

delayed deformations that occurred after its completion.

The delayed crown settlement and invert upheaval computed
from

simulations are featured by an exponential characteristic

and a stair-typed characteristic, respectively, which agree
well with

the in-site monitoring data.

1 INTRODUCTION

The New Austrian Tunneling Method has innovated the con

cept of conventional tunnelling from resisting the passive

earth

pressure to helping the ground support itself, and has been

widely used in mountain tunnelling (Carranzas & Fairhurst

1999, Oreste 2003, Guan et al. 2006). When applying this

method in soft rock mass, which exhibits strain softening

behaviors and time-dependent features apparently, the

tunnels

would experience a large delayed deformation that might lead

to a delayed failure of structure.Therefore, the

time-dependent

features of soft rock, named rheology generally, should be

taken into account in the long-term design and maintenance

of mountain tunnels.

According to the results from laboratory (or in-site) tests

and the experience from engineering practice, many rhe

ological models have been proposed to account for the

time-dependent features of rock mass from manifolds. These

models can be generally divided into two categories: the

clas

sic viscoplastic models and the viscoplastic-damaged models.

The former ones try to relate the current strain rate to

the cur

rent stress directly. Particularly, the relationship

between the

deviatoric strain rate and the deviatoric stress can be

schemat

ically represented by a series of spring, dashpot and

plastic

slider that connected in parallel and/or in series (Hudson &

Harrison 1997, Itasca Consulting Group 1997).

The viscoplastic-damaged models are based on the prin

ciple of strain and energy equivalence and are derived from

a standard thermodynamic dissipation potential (Pellet et

al.

2005, Shao et al. 2006). Generally, the dissipation

potential

consists of two independent potentials, which correspond to

the strain softening process and the damaging process,

respec

tively. When these two potentials are well defined, by

applying

the normality rule, the plastic strain rate can be

formulated as

the potential’s first-order difference with respect to the

cur

rent stress, and the damage evolution rate can be formulated

as the potential’s first-order difference with respect to

the

thermodynamic force.

The viscoplastic-damaged models can account for the ter

tiary creep phase phenomena that occur in some creep tests,

where the classic viscoplastic models fail to do. However,

the

viscoplastic-damaged models are generally too complicated

to be applied in engineering practice. Based on the classic

Burger-MC model, a Burger-Deterioration model is proposed
in this paper. Instead of the complicated damage mechanics,
a deterioration threshold and two deterioration ratios are
introduced in this model to consider the time-dependent
strength deterioration aspect of rock mass. The proposed
model is implemented in the numerical codes FLAC 3D , and
is applied to an engineering instance to account for the
delayed deformations that occurred after its completion. 2
THE BURGER-DETERIORATION MODEL 2.1 The classic Burger-MC
model The constitutive laws of the classic Burger-MC model
are characterized by an elastoplastic volumetric behavior
and a viscoplastic deviatoric behavior. The deviatoric
behavior can be schematically illustrated in Fig. 1, where
a Kelvin section characterized by its shear modulus G K and
viscosity η K , a Maxwell section characterized by its
shear modulus G M and viscosity η M and a Mohr-Coulomb
plastic section characterized by its cohesion c, friction
angle φ and dilation angle ψ are connected in series and
subjected to a certain deviatoric loading jointly.
Consequently, the deviatoric strain rate partitioning is
formulated as Eq. (1). And the constitutive laws of the
deviatoric behavior for these three sections are formulated
as Eqs. (2)–(4), respectively, while the constitutive laws
of the volumetric behavior are formulated as Eq. (5). c, φ,
ψ M G M K G K ij P ij e M ij e K ij e MC section Maxwell
sectionKelvin section η · · · σ η Figure 1. Schematical
representation of the deviatoric behavior of Burger-MC
rheological model.
where e ij and s ij are the deviatoric components derived
from

the strain tensor and the stress tensor, respectively; ε kk

and σ kk

are the volumetric components of the strain and stress

tensors.

The superscripts K , M and P denote the Kelvin, Maxwell and

MC plastic components of the corresponding variables. g is

the plastic potential for MC section, and λ is a multiplier

that

can be eliminated in the calculation afterwards. K is the

bulk

modulus of the rock mass.

On the other hand, the stress state should be enveloped by

a failure criterion. For MC section, the failure criterion

f and

the plastic potential g generally can be expressed as

where σ 1 and σ 3 are the major and the minor principal

stresses;

c, φ and ψ are the cohesion, the friction angle and the

dilation

angle of MC section, respectively.

2.2 The Burger-Deterioration model

Some types of rock specimens would experience three differ

ent phases in creep tests, when the constant stress applied

on the specimens is larger than a threshold (the so-called

long-term strength). The strain rate will attenuate in the

primary phase, stabilize in the secondary phase and accel

erate in the tertiary phase, which lead to a delayed failure

finally. The viscoplastic-damaged models incorporate the

damage mechanics with the viscoplastic mechanics to account

for the tertiary creep phase phenomenon. However, there

is not a well-recognized one among the researchers, since

the damage mechanics would differ from each other due to

different types of rock masses. Meanwhile, the complexity

of viscoplastic-damaged models limits their applications in

engineering practice. Instead of introducing the complicated

damage mechanics, a Burger-Deterioration rheological model

is proposed in this paper. Its framework is the same with

the Burger-MC model and it just simply assumes that the

cohesion c and the friction angle φ will decrease with time,

regardless of whether the loss of strength is caused by

cycle

loading fatigue, by clay mineral hydration or by some other

reasons (Nakagawa et al. 2004). Furthermore, it is assumed

that the loss of strength is controlled by its current

stress state,

and there exists a threshold to initiate this kind of

strength

deterioration. The parameter R is named as stress

coefficient in this paper, which indicates the “distance”
from the current stress state to the MC failure envelope.
When the stress coefficient is greater than a certain
threshold R thr , the rock strength initiates to
deteriorate. The multipliers ω c and ω φ are deterioration
ratios that scale the increments of c and φ by some certain
proportions. The Eqs (8) that describe the constitutive
laws of the BurgerDeterioration model can be implemented in
the numerical codes FLAC 3D . Although the proposed model
is not included directly in the codes’ constitutive laws
library, fortunately, the programmable language FISH can
help to implement it indirectly under the framework of the
classic Burger-MC model in such a way: reevaluating the new
cohesion and friction angle for each element according to
its current stress at the beginning of each calculating
cycle. 3 DELAYED DEFORMATION ANALYSES 3.1 The outline of
the Ureshino Tunnel The proposed Burger-Deterioration model
is applied to an engineering instance (Ureshino Tunnel Line
I in Nagasaki Expressway) to account for the delayed
deformations that occurred after its completion since Nov.
1992. The construction began from May 1990 and finished in
Nov. 1992. The typical geometrical dimension of cross
section is schematically illustrated in Fig. 2. The tunnel
convergence monitoring positions, mainly including the
convergence at the crown (u c ), the springline (u s ) and
the invert (u i ), are also denoted by the triangles in
this figure. In the longitudinal direction, the span of
each excavation cycle was 1.0 m. The shotcrete lining and
the rock bolt were installed immediately after each
excavation cycle, and the second lining was cast in place
after 25 excavation cycles completed. In this paper, a
total of 30 excavation cycles (from SAT 170+00.0 to SAT
200+00.0) are simulated step by step in FLAC 3D . The
properties of the rock mass, as listed in Table 1, are
referenced to the construction and the monitoring reports
on Ureshino Tunnel (Japan Highway Society, 2000). Notice
that at the excavation stage, the rheological calculation
switch is set off, since the elastoplasticity is the
overwhelming mechanics rather than the rheology. Thus, the
six rheological parameters are unnecessary at this stage. u
i u s u c 5.3m rock mass rock bolt 1 . 5 m 1 . 5 m 5 . 3 m
shotcrete second lining Figure 2. The cross-section
dimensions and the convergence monitoring positions.

3.2 Delayed deformation characteristics

The monitoring on the tunnel convergence began from 1990

when Line I commenced working, and lasted out until 2000

when the construction of Ureshino Tunnel Line II was com

pleted. It was found that Ureshino Tunnel Line I experienced

a continuous converging even after it was put into use,

which

was close related to the rheological features of rock mass.

Setting the rheological calculation switch on and using the

proposed rheological model, the numerical simulations afore

mentioned proceed to rheological analyses focusing on the

period from Nov. 1992 to Nov. 1997.

Firstly, the deformation characteristics of each section

should be discussed respectively. By setting the related rhe

ological parameters to some extreme values (i.e. infinite or

zero), the proposed model can be simplified into Kelvin

MC model, Maxwell-MC model and deteriorated MC model

respectively. The deformations calculated by these three mod

els, as schematically illustrated in Figure 3, are featured

by

exponential, linearly and unstably increases in both u c and

u i , respectively. In fact, the deformation

characteristics of

the Kelvin section, the Maxwell section and the deteriorated

MC section correspond to the first, the second and the third

phases in some rock specimens creep tests, where the strain

rate attenuates, stabilizes and accelerates respectively.

Meanwhile, the deformation characteristics of the Burger

Deterioration model, which combines these three sections

jointly, are illustrated in Figure 4. The crown settlement

Table 1. The properties of the rock mass employed in

numerical

simulations.

Properties Value Properties Value

ρ (kg/m 3 ) 2300 c (MPa) 0.577

K (MPa) 833 φ ( ◦ ) 30.0

G K (MPa) N/A ψ ( ◦ ) 5.1

η K (Pa · s) N/A ω c (MPa/y) N/A

G M (MPa) 385 ω φ ( ◦ /y) N/A

η M (Pa · s) N/A R thr N/A

In-situ σ zz (MPa) 8.0 In-situ σ xx (MPa) 8.0 10 20 30 40

40 30 20 10 0 12 24 36 48 60 Inf. Inf. Inf. 0.05 0.1
0.60 Maxwell-MC Kelcin-MC MC-Deterioration u c Inf. Inf.
5.0e17 0 0 0 6.0 2.5e16 Inf. 0 0 0 c ω R thr
(MPa/y) ( o /y) G K K η M (MPa) (Pa.s) (Pa.s) D e l a y
e d C o n v e r g e n c e ( m m ) month Kelvin-MC
Maxwell-MC Deteriorated MC u i η φ ω

Figure 3. The deformation characteristics of the Kelvin-MC,

Maxwell-MC and Deteriorated-MC sections. increases

exponential, which indicates that it is dominated by the
viscoplastic mechanics. On the other hand, two
comparatively mechanics, the viscoplasticity and the
strength deterioration, influence the invert upheaval
jointly, which leads to a stair-typed deformation
characteristic. It is the stair-typed deformation
characteristic that agrees with the monitoring data (the
dotted-line in Fig. 5) qualitatively, which implies the
suitability of the proposed model to account for the
delayed deformation occurred in Ureshino Tunnel Line I
after its completion. 3.3 Parameter identification Although
the proposed model is able to account the delayed
deformation mechanics in Ureshino Tunnel Line I
qualitatively, another problem arises that how to evaluate
the corresponding parameters involved in this model more
realistic, since these rheological parameters usually are
not ready for a certain engineering instance. It is
suggested that they should be back-analyzed from the
in-site monitoring data, if these data are available.
Generally, the optimal method using 12 24 36 48 60 0 20 40
60 60 40 20 case 03 case 02 case 01 ω c ω R thr (MPa/y)
G K η K η M (MPa) (Pa.s) u c D e l a y e d C o n v e r g
e n c e ( m m ) month case 01 case 02 case 03 u i φ
(Pa.s) ( o /y) 600 4.0e16 6.0e17 0.05 0.10 0.75 1000 6.0e16
8.0e17 0.10 0.15 0.60 400 3.0e16 4.0e17 0.05 0.10 0.75
Figure 4. The deformation characteristics of the proposed
(Burger-Deterioration) model. 12 24 36 48 60 0 10 20 30 40
40 30 20 10 e uc 0 = 0.5% u c D e l a y e d C o n v e r g
e n c e ( m m ) month e uc 0 = 3.2% monitoring data
weighted average case a0 u i Figure 5. Comparison of
monitoring data and the simulation results (weighted
averaged case a0).

the artificial network is a powerful means for parameter

identi

fication; however, this issue is a problem far beyond the

scope

of this paper. Instead, a simple means of weighted average

is

employed to evaluate the “realistic” parameters for the

Burger

Deterioration model, according to the in-site monitoring

data.

A total of 40 cases with different rheological properties

are

studied by the same numerical simulations. The properties

are

taken in such a random way that they are normally

distributed

with the expected value and deviation referenced to the rock

specimens’ lab tests (Japan Highway Society, 2000).

Comparing the simulation results with the in-site monitor

ing data, the errors for the crown settlement and the invert

upheaval in each case are defined as:

where u j c (u j i ) and u mo c (u mo i ) are 60 × 1

vectors recording the

crown settlements (the invert upheavals) computed from jth

case and the monitoring data during sixty months from Nov.

1992. ‖ ‖ is the denotation of norm calculation for vectors.

Consequently, the weight for each case, w j , can be calcu

lated via Eq. (10), and the weighted average of the

rheological
properties can be obtained via Eq. (11).

In the above equation, a j and a 0 are 6 × 1 vectors

recording

the rheological parameters for the jth case and the weighted

average parameters after back-analyses. Employing the “real

istic” properties a 0 again into the same simulations, the

simulation results together with the monitoring data, are

delineated in Fig. 5. The simulation results agree with the

monitoring data well and the errors of u c and u i fall

below an

acceptable range.

The proposed Burger-Deterioration model, as well as its

corresponding parameters is proven to be able to account for

the delayed deformation mechanics in Ureshino Tunnel Line

I after its completion, and can be used to predict the

further

deformation of rock mass and help the maintenance of tunnel

ABSTRACT: The only feasible method for dealing with

extremely squeezing ground is providing sufficient space
for acco

modating rock deformations and installing a so-called

yielding support, i.e. a support which can deform
considerably without

damage. This paper provides a critical overview of the

flexible support systems proposed and applied in the past,
and presents

design nomograms for estimating the amount of convergence

required in order to reduce rock load to a technically
manageable

level.
1 INTRODUCTION

The term “squeezing” refers to the phenomenon of large

long-term rock deformations triggered by tunnel excavation.

Squeezing may lead to the destruction of a temporary lin

ing or even to a complete closure of the tunnel cross

section.

Two basic concepts exist for dealing with squeezing condi

tions (Kovári 1998). According to the so-called “resistance

principle”, a practically rigid lining is adopted, which is

dimen

sioned for the expected rock pressure. In the case of high

rock

pressures this solution is not feasible. The so-called

“yielding

principle” is based upon the observation that rock pressure

decreases with increasing deformation. By installing a

flexible

lining, rock pressure is reduced to a value that is

structurally

manageable. An adequate overprofile and suitable detailing

of the temporary lining will permit the non-damaging occur

rence of rock deformations, thereby maintaining the desired

clearance from the minimum line of excavation. The rock load

reducing effect of flexible supports, as well as various

techni

cal solutions, have been known – at least in principle –

since

the first decades of the 20th century (Fig. 1). Major

progress

was made in 1932 with the introduction of sliding

connections

by Toussaint-Heintzmann.

Typical design issues concern the feasibility of a rigid

support in a given geotechnical situation (rock strength and

deformability, depth of cover and magnitude of pore pres

sure), the amount of deformation required in order to reduce

rock load to a technically manageable level and the

structural

detailing of a flexible support. The present paper addresses

these questions by outlining and discussing the yielding sup

port systems proposed and applied in the past (Section 2),

and

Figure 1. (a) Layer of wood between rock and U section

steel sets;

(b) Concrete with wood interlayers (from Heise & Herbst

1913). by presenting design nomograms for estimating the
amount of deformation required to reduce loading (Section
3). 2 TYPOLOGY OF FLEXIBLE TUNNEL SUPPORTS There are
basically two technical options for accommodating
deformation without damage to the lining (Fig. 2): (a)
Arranging a compressible layer between the extrados of a
stiff lining and the excavation boundary; (b) Installation
of a yielding lining in contact with the rock face. In the
first case, the rock may experience considerable
convergence, while the clearance profile remains
practically constant as the lining’s stiffness limits
deformations. Such a solution is therefore advantageous
particularly in cases with slow and prolonged deformations
during the service period of a tunnel. It is a standard
solution for the final support of tunnels crossing highly
swelling rock (Kovári et al 1988). In the second solution,
the lining deforms with the rock and, consequently, its
circumference shortens. This is possible by an appropriate
structural detailing involving either steel sets with
sliding connections (Fig. 2-b1) or deformable elements
inserted into slots left between stiff lining segments
(Fig. 2b2). Thrust transfer occurs via friction in the
first case and via compression in the second. The axial
force in the lining is controlled by the frictional
resistance of the connectors or by the yielding stress of
the deformable elements, respectively. The basic design
parameters of a yielding support are the deformability �s
(= s-s’in Fig. 2), the number n and the yielding load N of
the flexible joints. The first two parameters are selected
on the basis of the radial convergence u that must Figure
2. Basic types of flexible support.

Figure 3. Sliding connections of (a) top hat section steel

sets and

(b) H section steel sets (from Fröhlich 1948); (c) lattice

girders.

occur in order to reduce loading (for a circular tunnel

cross

section, n.�s=2πu).

Depending on the strength and the structure of the rock

mass, block detachment or loosening of an extended zone

above the crown may occur – particularly when considering

the

larger deformations taking place with a yielding support.

The

yield load N of the joints must, therefore, fulfil two

criteria: it

must be, (i), lower than the design load of the lining
segments

or of the steel ribs but, (ii), higher than the resistance

needed

for safety against loosening. If the resistance of the

flexible

joints is not high enough, the support starts to yield

under the

weight of the rock. A low yield load (e.g., 50 kPa as

indicated

by Hoek et al. 2006) does not ensure safety against

loosening,
while solutions leaving the tunnel completely unsupported
for

a period of time (as proposed by Kolymbas 2003) should be

obviously avoided.

Steel sets applied in squeezing ground have usually a

top hat cross section and are connected by friction loops

(Fig. 3a) offering a sliding resistance of up to 600 kN/set

(4

loops × 150 kN) utilizing thus the high bearing capacity of

TH-ribs (for a recent successful application of TH-ribs in a

large cross section railway tunnel with up to 10% conver

gence see Kovári et al. 2006). Occasionally, H cross section

ribs (Fig. 3b) are also used (cf. Sánchez Fernández et al.

1994, Wittke et al. 2005). Lattice girders with sliding over

lapping bars (Fig. 3c) have even been proposed (Hindley et

al.

2004) although their contribution to the support resistance

is

negligible (very low buckling load of the bars).

Various support layouts in past underground mining works

incorporated wood extensively as a compressible element.

Lenk (1931) reported about early applications in connec

tion with prefabricated concrete elements. Recent, mainly

experimental, attempts to increase the flexibility of

precast

segmental linings utilize neoprene elements (Croci 1986)

or hydraulic devices (Tusch & Thompson 1996) which are

arranged in the longitudinal joints. Particularly

interesting

from a mechanics point of view is the system described by

Baumann & Zischinski (1994) as it can accommodate axial

deformations of up to 30 cm under a very high yielding load

of

3 MN – this nevertheless at a prohibitively high cost (expen

sive deformable jacks, time-consuming installation of the

segments, heavy reinforcement due to shear forces).

A shell made of shotcrete can, due to the brittleness of

the material, accommodate only small deformations without

damage (maximum 1–2% convergence). Leaving longitudi

nal slots open in a shotcrete shell (Fig. 4a) was a method

used

for dealing with high rock pressures in conventionally

driven

alpine tunnels in the 1970s (see, e.g., Pöchhacker 1975). In

this case, the high compressive strength of the shotcrete

is not

utilized, and its statical function degenerates to that of

large

anchor plates (Schubert 1996). Safety relies then solely

upon

bolting. A large quantity of long bolts may be needed in

order

to control rock deformation and for safety against

loosening.

Deformable rock bolts with an extremely low yielding load

Figure 4. Shotcrete shell with (a) open slots, (b) steel
cylinders (Schubert 1996), (c) ductile concrete elements
(Thut et al. 2006). Figure 5. Load-deformation behaviour of
compressible elements. Curves A and B: steel cylinders (4
elements per linear meter) after Schubert et al. (1996,
1999), respectively. Curves C and D: ductile concrete
elements after Thut et al. (2006). (70 kN, Wittke et al.
2005) are in this respect unsuitable as they do not offer
sufficient safety against loosening. Compressible elements
incorporated into the slots of the shell increase safety by
utilizing the shotcrete during the deformation stage. For
this purpose, so-called “lining stress controllers” have
been developed, and were applied first in the Galgenberg
Tunnel (Schubert 1996). They consist of steel cylinders
which are loaded in the axial direction (Fig. 4b), and
which buckle in stages and shorten up to 200 mm at a load
of 150–250 kN, thereby limiting the stress in the shotcrete
shell (curve A in Fig. 5 refers to 4 elements/lm). An
improved element with three co-axial cylinders (Schubert et
al. 1999), similar to another device developed in the same
period for yieldable anchors (de Souza 1998), reduced the
force oscillations caused by uncontrollable and asymmetric
buckling (Fig. 5, curve B).The cylindrical elements exert a
concentrated pressure to the lining segments (Budil et al.
2004). Overstressing of the shotcrete can be avoided by
appropriate, but costly and demanding, structural
detailing. Further progress in this field has been made
recently with the introduction of compressible elements
composed by a mixture of cement, steel fibres and hollow
glass particles (Kovári 2005). The glass particles, which
increase the void-fraction of the mixture, collapse at a
pre-determined compressive stress, thereby providing the
desired deformability. The elements yield up to 50% in a
ductile manner, while the yield strength depends on the
composition of the mixture and can be adapted to specific
project conditions (Fig. 5, curves C and D). These elements
have recently been applied in the Lötschberg Basetunnel and
in the St. Martin la Porte site access tunnel of the Lyon
Turin Ferroviaire (Thut et al. 2006). Easy handling and
installation, complete incorporation into the shotcrete
shell,

Figure 6. Bearing capacity of yielding support (solid

lines) and

height of loosening zone (dashed lines) as a function of

tunnel

diameter b.

uniform load transfer to the shotcrete segments and almost

perfectly-plastic behaviour at high compressive stress are

their
advantages.

Figure 6 shows the bearing capacity of yielding supports

(expressed by the rock column height h) as a function of the

tunnel diameter b (h = 2N/bγ , where N denotes the yielding

load of the deformable elements and γ = 25 kN/m 3 is the

unit

weight of rock). With increasing tunnel diameter, the

yielding

support resistance decreases while the probable size of the

loosening zone increases. High strength yieldable elements

offer considerable safety-gains, particularly for large

tunnel

cross sections.

3 DESIGN NOMOGRAMS

The design of yielding support is based upon estimates of

the amount of deformation needed in order to reduce rock

load. The respective calculations usually assume plane

strain

conditions. The latter underestimate deformations as they

do not consider correctly the stress-path dependence of the

mechanical behaviour of the ground (Cantieni & Anagnostou

2007). Furthermore, plane strain analyses necessitate addi

tional assumptions concerning the deformations of the ground

ahead of the tunnel face. Three-dimensional simulations do

not have these disadvantages as they take into account the

spatial stress re-distribution around the tunnel face.

Step-by

step numerical modeling of tunnel excavation is very costly,

however, and is carried out only for specific projects.

Using a numerically efficient technique which solves the

advancing head problem in just one computational step,

thereby making comprehensive parametric studies possible

(Anagnostou 2007), design nomograms for yielding sup

port have been derived. The calculations have been carried

out assuming axisymmetric conditions (Fig. 7b, cylindrical

tunnel, uniform and hydrostatic initial stress field) and a

homogeneous ground with isotropic, linearly-elastic and non

associated perfectly-plastic behaviour obeying Coulomb’s

yield criterion.

Both stiff and yielding supports have been considered. In

the first case (resistance principle, Fig. 7a, line 1) the

lining

deforms more or less in relation to stiffness k (k = E L

d/a 2 ,

where E L and d denote theYoung’s modulus and the thickness

of the lining, respectively, and a is the tunnel radius).

In the sec

ond case (yielding principle, Fig. 7a, line 2) the lining

deforms

under stress-free conditions up to a radial convergence u y

and Figure 7. (a) Characteristic lines of support; (b)
Problem layout. Figure 8. Pressure p (normalized by the
intial stress p o ) acting upon a stiff support as a
function of the stiffness ratio E R a/E L d, where E R and
E L denote the Young’s modulus of the rock mass and of the
lining, respectively, a is the tunnel radius and d the
lining thickness. The symbols φ and f c denote the friction
angle and the uniaxial compressive strength of the rock
mass. The Poisson’s number ν and the angle of plastic
dilatancy ψ were taken equal to ν= 0.30 and ψ =φ – 20 ◦ (or
0 for φ< 20 ◦ ). Figure 9. Pressure p (normalized by the
intial stress p o ) acting upon a rigid support as a
function of the normalized convergence u y occurred during
the preceding deformation stage (see Fig. 8 for the other
parameters and notation). is rigid afterwards (for
simplicity, the yield load of the compressible elements or
sliding connections was neglected in the rock-support
interaction). Lining stiffness k (the resistance principle)
or deformation u y (the yielding principle), respectively,
govern the rock pressure p. Figs. 8 and 9 show the
numerical results in dimensionless form (cf. Anagnostou &
Kovári 1993).

Fig. 8 can be used in order to assess the feasibility of a

lining

according to the resistance principle as it shows the load p

(normalized by the initial stress p o ) developing on a

stiff (but

not rigid) support without yielding or sliding elements.

Fig. 9

serves for the estimation of the convergence u y that must

occur

during the deformation stage of a yielding support in order

that

the rock pressure decreases to a pre-determined, technically

manageable load value p.

The nomograms are useful for making quick assessments

of the conditions prevailing in a specific project, thereby

assisting the Engineer in the decision-making process.

Anagnostou, G. & K. Kovári 1993. Significant parameters in

elasto

plastic analysis of underground openings. ASCE, Journal of

Geotechnical Engineering, 119 (3), 401–419.

Anagnostou, G. 2007 (in press). Continuous tunnel

excavation in a
poro-elastoplastic medium. In Pande & Pietruszczak (eds.),
Tenth

Int. Symp. on Numerical Models in Geomechanics (NUMOG X),

April 25–27, 2007, Rhodes, Greece.

Baumann, L. & U. Zischinski 1994. Neue Löseund Ausbautech

niken zur maschinellen “Fertigung” von Tunneln in

druckhaftem

Fels. Felsbau, 12 (Nr. 1), 25–29.

Budil, A., Höllrigl, M. & K. Brötz 2004. Strenger Tunnel –

Gebirgs

druck und Ausbau. Felsbau, 22 (Nr. 1), 39–43.

Cantieni, L. & G. Anagnostou 2007. On the adequateness of

the

plane strain assumption in tunneling analyses. 11th Congr.

of the

Int. Soc. for Rock Mech., Lisbon, Portugal.

Croci, G. 1986. Progettazione, Costruzione e

Sperimentazione del

Rivestimento Prefabbricato della galleria Santomarco, nella

zona

interessata da terreni estremamente spingenti con

ricoprimento di

circa 1000 metri. Int. Congr. On Large Underground Openings,

Firenze, vol. 1, pp. 137–146.

De Souza, E., Mottahed, P. & M. Molavi 1998. Field Testing

of a

Yielding Support System. Int. J. of Rock Mech. & Min. Sci.,

Vol.

35, 4–5, Paper No. 087.

Fröhlich, K. 1948. Die Verbindung stählerner Streckenbögen,

Gluck
auf, pp. 543–555.

Heise, F. & F. Herbst 1913. Lehrbuch der Bergbaukunde.

Berlin:Verl.

V. J. Springer.

Hindley, G., Gibbons, P., Agius, M., Carr, B., Game, R. &
K. Kashani

2004. Linking Past and Future. Civil Engineering Magazine,

ASCE, May 2004. Hoek, E., Marinos, P., Kazilis, N.,

Angistalis, G., Rahaniotis, N. & V. Marinos 2006. Greece’s
Egnatia Haighway Tunnels. Tunnels and Tunnelling Int.,
Sept. 2006, 32–35. Kolymbas, D. 2003. The role of time in
NATM. In Natau, Fecker & Pimentel (eds), Geotechnical
Measurements and Modelling, pp. 73–78, Swets & Zeitlinger,
Liss. Kovári, K., Amstad, Ch. & G. Anagnostou 1988. Design
/ Construction methods – Tunnelling in swelling rocks. In
Cundall et al. (eds), Proc. of the 29th U.S. Symp. “Key
Questions in Rock Mechanics”, Minnesota, 17–32. Kovári, K.
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Druckhafte Strecken im TZM Nord: Projekt und bisherige
Erfahrungen. In Löw (ed), Geologie und Geotechnik der
Basistunnels, pp. 239–252, Zürich: Vdf Hochschulverlag.
Lenk, K. 1931. Der Ausgleich des Gebirgsdruckes in grossen
Teufe beim Bergund Tunnelbau. Berlin: Julius Springer.
Pöchhacker, H. 1975. Gebirgsklassifikation bei
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PORR-Nachrichten, Nr. 63. Sánchez Fernández, J. L. & C. E.
Terán Benítez 1994. Túnel de Trasvase Yacambú – Quibor.
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Utilización de Soportes Flexibles Aplicados a Rocas con
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Integral Approach to Applied Rock Mechanics, pp. 489–497,
Santiago: Editec. Schubert, W, Moritz, B., Sellner, P. & M.
Blümel 1999. Tunnelling in Squeezing Ground – Recent
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1996. Dealing with Squeezing Conditions in Alpine Tunnels.
Rock Mech. Rock Engng. 29 (3), 145–153. Thut, A., Nateropp,
D., Steiner, P. & M. Stolz 2006a. Tunnelling in Squeezing
Rock –Yielding Elements and Face Control. In: 8th Int.
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London: Taylor & Francis Group. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Design and reliability
analysis of pillar performance for underground limestone
mine in Korea Y.B. Jung, C. Sunwoo & S.K. Chung Korea
Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources, Daejeon, Korea

ABSTRACT: Reliability analysis deals with the relation

between the loads a system must carry and its ability to
carry those

loads. Both the loads and the resistance may be uncertain,

especially in geotechnical problems, so the result of their
interaction

is also uncertain. Nowadays, it is common to express

reliability in the form of a reliability index, which can
be related to a

probability of failure. This concept is applied to design a

stable and economical limestone pillar, since the strength
of the pillar

and applied load have some degree of uncertainty by nature.

It was found that uncertainty regarding the pillar
performance can

be managed quantitatively by using the reliability index

with factor of safety or margin of safety.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Ssangyong Hajang limestone mine is located in Sam

cheok, Gangwon, Korea and its annual production reaches

about 100,000 tons from open pit mining. Currently, a bench

cut method is applied from 890 ML to 930 ML and bench

height is about 10 m. The current investigation is carried

out to determine a suitable underground mining method and

the dimension of excavations that would guarantee economic

efficiency, as well as stability of the underground

workings.

Because of environmental problems and public resentment,

the owner has to change the mining method from open pit

to underground. This paper presents details of the investi

gation and the methodology adopted to arrive at a suitable

mining method. Specially, the design and analysis of pillar

performance based on reliability theory is highlighted.

2 RELIABILITY THEORY

Reliability analysis deals with the relation between the

loads

a system must carry and its ability to carry those loads.

Both

the loads and the resistance may be uncertain, especially in

geotechnical problems, so the result of their interaction

is also

uncertain. Nowadays, it is common to express reliability in

the

form of a reliability index, which can be related to a

probability

of failure (Baecher & Christian 2003).

2.1 Basic theory

The margin of safety, M , is the difference between the

resistance (R) and the load (Q):

Regardless of probability distribution of R and Q, the mean

and variance of M are

whereµ= mean,σ = standard deviation andρ RQ = correlation

coefficient between R and Q. R P r o b a b i l i t y d e n

s i t y f u n c t i o n ( p d f ) Values of R or Q Q Figure
1. Probability densities for typical resistance and load. A
reliability index, is defined as which express the distance
of the mean margin of safety form its critical value (M =
0) in units of standard deviation. If the load and
resistance are uncorrelated, the correlation coefficient is
zero, and reliability index is simply defined as Figure 1
and 2 show plots of typical probability distribution of R,
Q and M . The probability of failure must be the
probability that M is less than zero, which is the shaded
area in the Figure 2. Geotechnical engineers are more
accustomed to working with the factor of safety, F ,
defined by Failure occurs when F = 1, and a reliability
index is defined by Table 1 based on Corps of Engineers
(1997), provides values of the probability of
unsatisfactory performance, p f for example values of the
reliability index along with a subjective description of
the level of risk. p f p d f pdf 0 E[M] Values of M βσ M

Figure 2. Probability density for margin of safety.

Table 1. Example values for reliability index & probability

of

failure (Corps of Engineers 1997).

Performance level Reliability index Probability of failure

High 5.0 2.871e-7

Good 4.0 3.169e-5

Above average 3.0 0.00135

Below average 2.5 0.00621

Poor 2.0 0.02275

Unsatisfactory 1.5 0.06681

Hazardous 1.0 0.15866

2.2 Probabilistic analysis of performance function

As a direct integration of the adopted performance function

for the F is not feasible, the expected value, E[F], and the

variance,VAR[F] of the F my be estimated by using (1)Taylor

series method, or (2) Rosenblueth’s point estimate method,

(3)

Monte Carlo simulation. Monte Carlo simulation method is

applied for the calculation of reliability index and

probability

of failure in this study due to its ability to provide an

estimate

of the pdf of the safety factor.

3 GEOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF ORE DEPOSITS

The circumference surrounding the Ssangyong Hajang

limestone mine is composed of Precambrian Taebaeksan

formation, Moybong slate of the Joseon super-group,

Poongchon limestone, Hwajeol formation, Dongjeom

quartzite, Dumudong formation and Makgol formation. The

target formation is the upper Poongchon formation (ep in

Fig. 3) located under the Hwajeol formation (ew in Fig.

3).The

black rectangular box in Figure 3 represents the

investigation

area in this study.

Currently, 30∼40 m thick veined ore (high grade

Poongchon limestone) is cropped out at 925 m ∼ 975 m above

sea level. The origin of the deposit is identical to

Poongchon

formation but there is a small difference in origin

formation

because of horizontal movement due to faults. The ore’s

strike

and dip are 10∼15 ◦ NW and 15∼17 ◦ NW, respectively. But the

deep ore’s dip is 35∼60 ◦ . We supposed that this phenomenon

is attributed to fault activities.

A plan showing the limestone deposits in the Hajang mine

is given in Figure 4 (KORES 2002). The total geological ore

reserve is estimated at 10,826,000 tons, considering an

average

specific gravity of 2.7 and a dilution ratio of 30%. Figure

3. Geological map around the Hajang limestone mine. Figure
4. Distribution of limestone ore at Hajang limestone mine.
4 RESULTS OF FIELD INVESTIGATION AND TESTS 4.1
Discontinuities The discontinuities around the Hajang mine
are composed of three main sets and sporadic
discontinuities. The orientation and spacing of the three
main sets are 085/78, 18.6 cm; 288/24, 17.0 cm; and 017/89,
18.3 cm, respectively, and are shown in Figure 5. The
discontinuities are closely spaced and show high
persistency. The converted strength from the Schmidt hammer
values of each bench ranges from 70∼100 MPa (medium
strength) and is lower than the strength obtained from
laboratory tests. The RQD of the rock mass obtained from
borehole cores range from 78 to 87, with an average value
of 80. The rock mass quality may be considered “good” based
on this RQD value.

Figure 5. Distribution of discontinuities and a view of

field

investigation at bench.

Table 2. Distribution of RMR, Q and GSI.

Investigation site RMR Q GSI GSI average

900R 59 3.3 45–67 56

900L 75 5.0 40–65 53

910R 55 4.4 42–57 50

910L 68 5.3 55–67 61

920R 66 8.3 58–77 68

920L 64 10.0 55–70 63

930 50 0.5 37–55 46

4.2 Rock mass classification and laboratory tests

Rock mass classification was performed on existing mine

benches using RMR (Bieniawski 1989), Q-System (Barton

et al. 1974) and GSI (Hoek & Brown 1977). The RMR values

range form 50 to 75 and correspond to “fair” and “good” rock

mass conditions (Table 2). Q values are between 3.3 and 10.0

(“fair” rock mass condition), except for 0.5 at the

moderately

weathered 930L site. The bench sites’ GSI values range from

50 to 75, but that of 930L is lower than average because of

the local weathering process. The laboratory tests include

uni

axial, triaxial and direct shear tests. The uniaxial

compressive

strength of intact rock ranges from 80 MPa to 130 MPa,

except

that of 920L. All the values obtained from the field survey
and

laboratory tests constitute a basis for subsequent mine

design

and numerical stability analysis.

5 DESIGN OF UNDERGROUND MINE

Based on the acquired information through field survey

and tests as well as empirical data obtained from previous

Figure 6. Sectional (A-A ′ ) and 3 dimensional views of the
proposed Hajang underground mine. Table 3. Input variables
and their statistics. Variables Mean SD Distribution type
Density (kg/m 3 ) 2731.0 53.7 Normal GSI 60 6 Normal UCS
(MPa) 118.2 13.0 Normal research on underground limestone
mines (Sunwoo et al. 2005), important design parameters
were determined: (1) stope : 12 m × 16 m (2 benches) (2)
main haulage : 7 m × 7 m (3) pillar : 10 m × 16 m. The
sectional and 3 dimensional views of the proposed
underground mine is shown in Figure 6. 6 ASSESSMENT OF THE
PILLAR PERFORMANCE 6.1 Preparation of input data and
performance model The load on the pillar was estimated
using tributary area concept and the resistance (strength)
of pillar is determined by using 3 different models
(Obert-Duvall, Bieniawski, Holland) for comparison. The
strength of in-situ rock mass was estimated using GSI
classification (Hoek 2002). Based on the Melchers(1987)
approach, the minimum number of trials in Monte Carlo
simulation needed to generate consistent reliable results
was determined as 1,152 and actually 2,000 trials were
carried out for margin of safety calculation. The normal
distribution of input parameters was assumed and mean and
variance of input parameters were determined from the
investigation results. Table 3 shows three main uncertain
input variables and their statistics. Distribution for
Overt-Duvall / Margin of Safety/E14

0.000

0.020

0.040

0.060

0.080

0.100

0.120 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 2.28% 97.68% .04% 0 30

Mean=6.669338 Distribution for Bieniawsk's formula /
Margin of Safety/E15

0.000

0.020

0.040

0.060

0.080
0.100

0.120 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 3.63% 96.37% 0% 0

35 Mean=5.970789 Distribution for Holland (1973) / Margin
of Safety/E16

0.000

0.020

0.040

0.060

0.080

0.100

0.120 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 6.51% 93.49% 0% 0 35

Mean=4.966086

Figure 7. Distribution of margin of safety using different

perfor

mance model (Overt-Duvall, Bieniawski and Holland).

6.2 Results and discussion

The distributions of margin of safety are shown in Figure 7

for each performance function and reliability index

calculated

from the simulation results are shown in Table 4.

According to the table 1, the stability of pillar is consid

ered “unsatisfactory” level. However, these results were

based

on limited information. Direction of future plan for

detailed

investigation and design can be established based on these

results.

Through the simulation using decreased gallery width,

increased margin of safety and reliability index were

obtained

ABSTRACT: Construction of a Deep Underground Science and

Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) has been proposed under

the auspices of the US National Science Foundation.The

DUSEL facility will provide a diverse group of scientists
and engineers

with a dedicated underground facility capable of supporting

a broad spectrum of fundamental and applied research at
depth

in the Earth’s crust. In 2005, NSF selected two sites for

funded conceptual study. The two sites are at the Henderson
Mine in

Colorado and the Homestake Mine in South Dakota. Both sites

take advantage of existing mined facilities to provide
access

and infrastructure support to the DUSEL. This paper

discusses key aspects of an integrated design and research
program being

developed to support the construction of a large-deep

cavern to house a new generation of physics detector. The
detector

proposals are being developed to pursue research into the

properties and behaviors of fundamental particles, the
neutrino and

the proton. As currently scoped, these proposals call for

the excavation of large-span caverns, over 50 m wide, mined
at depths

in excess of a kilometer. The paper discusses the main

engineering features of the project and emphasizes the need
to select the

most appropriate state-of-the-art technologies in site

investigation, excavation, ground treatment and
reinforcement in order to

deliver a safe, cost-effective, and fit-for-purpose opening.

The DUSEL will also include opportunities for earth

scientists and engineers to study key aspects of rock mass
behavior at
depth, notably under conditions of high stress, a key
challenge faced by today’s underground engineering
community. The paper

proposes that adroit coordination between earth scientists

and the engineers responsible for cavern design and
construction

can be mutually beneficial. In particular, an integrated

planning effort that allows the cavern engineers to
incorporate discrete

research tasks aimed at improving cavern design and

construction technologies, within the scope of the DUSEL
experimental

umbrella, may significantly enhance the viability of

cavern-based physics experiment, such as the Long Baseline,
and advance

the state-of-the-art in cavern engineering.

1 INTRODUCTION

For over half a century the particle physics community has

used underground space to house major experiments. These

underground experiments have allowed the physicists to probe

into the fundamental nature of matter.To support this

research,

tunnels up to 27 km long have been bored and caverns up to

40 m in span excavated. The overburden not only provides

shielding to protect the surface environment from the

radiation

emitted by the research equipment, but also serves to

range-out

the cosmic particles that inhibit the ability of detection

systems

to uniquely identify the most delicate particle signatures.

A new generation of underground physics experiments is

now being planned to study some of the most compelling

contemporary scientific questions relating to the nature and

behaviours of neutrino and proton particles. To perform

these

new studies research resources are being focused on the

devel

opment of a Long Baseline experiment. Proposals to perform

this research call for the construction of a very

large-span,

deep permanent cavern. In the US, such a cavern would be

constructed at the US Deep Underground Science and Engi

neering Laboratory (DUSEL). Pre-project planning for the

construction of such an experiment is being led by a

working group of physicists and engineers, based at the US
Department of Energy’s Brookhaven and Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratories. 2 KEY CAVERN DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
Although most design criteria for physics caverns are
somewhat comparable to those of other underground
facilities built to fulfill more conventional functions
associated with civil or mining applications, the size and
depth of the Long Baseline cavern will present engineers
with some unusual, if not unique, design challenges. In
particular, as currently scoped, these caverns are, without
exception, very large. A cavern to accommodate a large
water tank (Water Cherenkov detector technology), requires
a span in excess of 50 m, mined at depths of up to 1500 m.
Figure 1 summarizes the dimensional criteria for a cavern,
proposed by the UNO Experimental Collaboration (Jung,
1999). A second Water Cherenkov-based proposal calls for
the mining of a suite of ten dome-shaped 50 m-span caverns
at a similar depth. An alternate design concept, based on
the use of liquid argon particle detection technology, is
also being ~1.2 to 1.5 km 60 m 180 m 60 m

Figure 1. Excavation Dimensions of the UNO Detector.

developed (Fleming 2006). Using this technology, the detec

tor may function effectively with less overburden. However,

it
requires the safe management of large volumes of cryogenic

fluid, including provisions for either the fail-safe

containment

or exhausting of cryogenic gases in the event of a leak or

catastrophic release and, most critically, the safe

evacuation

of personnel.

Other design criteria associated with the construction and

operation of Long Baseline experimental options include the

installation of impermeable membranes to keep water in and

radon out. Additionally, for the liquid Argon detector

option,

where the storage of cryogenic fluids is required, thermal

protection of the rock mass may be needed. Insulation bar

riers would likely be required to limit thermal contraction

and expansion of the rock mass during cool-down and warm

up (filling-emptying) of the cry-vessel or during leak

events.

Freeze-thaw action could compromise the long-term stability

of the excavation.

Key design issues related to the storage of cold fluids

under

ground are discussed relative to the storage of compressed

liquid natural gas in a lined rock cavern by Glamheden and

Curtis (2006). As the designs of alternate experimental tech

nologies are developed, further reference to relevant

industrial

experiences and on-going research will be initiated to

support

the development of cost-effective solutions to these unique

combinations of design criteria.

The long-term science opportunities opened-up by the Long

Baseline experiment are extremely exciting to the physics

community. However, irrespective of the detector technology

selected, the construction of the caverns and detectors will

represent a major investment of scientific research

resources

and the decision to conduct the experiment will, to no small

extent, be driven by construction cost and risk. To enhance

the viability of this flagship experiment, a strong onus

will be

placed on the rock engineers to develop demonstrably cost

effective, low-risk solutions. Funding review committees

will

need this information in order to objectively balance the

con

struction and operational risks against the scientific

rewards

that such an experiment can yield.

It is proposed here that an early emphasis on design opti

mization, through the selection of best practices and the

incorporation of research specifically targeted at reducing

risk and cost associated with cavern construction, may sig

nificantly enhance the viability of the overall experiment

in

the eyes of peers and funding agencies (Laughton 2006).

Precedent In Cavern Construction for Physics Detectors.

Over the past twenty-five years, the physics community

has gained a significant amount of experience in the con

struction and operation of large cavern facilities.

Worldwide,

over a dozen caverns with spans of 20 m or greater have

been 0 20 40 60 1 2 3 LEP LHC Gjovik Kamland Super-K SNO
Western Deep Gran Sasso Long Baseline Span:Depth “Target
Domain” Depth, approx. km Span, approx. m Figure 2. Scatter
Plot of Permanent Cavern Span versus Depth. constructed to
house physics detectors. Some larger, purposebuilt physics
detector caverns are: • six 21 m span caverns constructed
for the Super Positron Super Synchrotron and the Large
Electron Positron, LEP„ European Particle Physics
Laboratory (CERN), FranceSwitzerland (Laughton, 1990), •
two 35 m span caverns constructed for the Large Hadron
Collider, LHC, France-Switzerland ( Wallis, 2001), • three
20 m span caverns constructed at Gran Sasso Laboratory,
Italy (Ianni, 2005), • one 20 m span cavern and one 40 m
span cavern constructed at the Kamioka Mine (Yamatomi et
al., 1995), and • one 20 m span cavern constructed at the
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, Creighton Mine, Canada (Zsaki
& Curran, 2002). Of this set of purpose-built physics
caverns, the most experience has been accumulated at the
European Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN) in support of
accelerator-based physics experiments. Here a total of
eight large-span caverns have been constructed in a weak
interbedded series of sandstones, siltstones and marls. The
deeper hard rock sites are at Gran Sasso, and the Kamioka
and Creighton mines. These laboratories were constructed to
house detectors that study some of the more elusive
naturally occurring particles and phenomena, which are only
possible to observe reliably at depth under the shielding
of the earth’s crust. At Gran Sasso, three 20 m span
caverns were mined at a depth of some 1.5 km in a dolomitic
rock mass adjacent to a road tunnel within the Italian
Appenine mountain range. At the Creighton Mine a 20 m domed
cavern was mined at a depth of nearly two kilometres in
Norite. At the Kamioka mine two generations of domed
cavern, 20 m and 40 m in span, have been excavated at a
depth of approximately one kilometre in hard metamorphic
rock units. To place these physics caverns in a broader
perspective, “reference caverns” (dark squares) have been
added to the 0 Kamland Super-K Hyper-K 20 40 m

Figure 3. Three Generations of Physics Cavern at Kamioka

Mine.

plot to indicate an approximate envelope for the

state-of-the

industry in wide and deep large permanent cavern construc

tion. The widest span excavation in the figure is the 60

m-span

Gjovik Hall, Norway. This cavern was mined at relatively

shallow depth (25–50 m), in hard metamorphic rock, under

favorable stress-field conditions (Meland & Broch, 1994).

The deepest excavation plotted has a span of roughly 17 m.

It houses a hoist system at a depth approaching three kilo

metres in the Western Deep Mine of South Africa (Hoek &

Brown, 1980).

The scatter plot indicates that the dimensional requirements

of a cavern for a detector such as UNO reside outside of

the span-depth envelope of precedent for physics caverns.

Indeed, this combination of span and depth is without prece

dent in wider underground engineering practice too. However,

although there are no direct precedents for the

construction of

such a cavern for physics, further review of the span:depth

scatter plot shows that there is some relevant experience

that

will be of value to the cavern design team. The Kamioka cav

erns share many of the design criteria that would be

associated

with an UNO-type detector. Designers may be able to draw

upon Kamioka in the development of their design criteria for

UNO and other proposals.

At the Kamioka Mine site, 20 and 40 m span domed-caverns

were excavated in the late 80’s and early 90’s to house the

Kamland and SuperKamiokande (“Super-K”) detector exper

iments respectively. The construction of 50 m span cavern is

now being developed to house a detector referred to as

“Hyper

Kamiokande” or Hyper-K. Figure 3 shows the relative scale

of the Kamland (20 m span), Superkamioka (40 m span) and

the originally proposed Hyper-K (50 m span) caverns.

The field experience gained during the excavation of a 40 m

domed excavation, assumed to be that of the Super-K experi

ment (congruent dimensions), is described by Utagawa et al.

(1997). The paper highlights the signs of rock mass distress

that occurred during the excavation phase of construction by

reference to acoustic emissions measurements. These mea

surements were closely correlated to individual excavation

blasts.

Since the original development of the Hyper-K design con

cept, significant changes to the design have been made. The

design team has relocated the proposed Hyper-K experiment

to another mine and modified key depth and shape parame

ters. Adjustment of these key design parameters was made to

optimize the stability of the excavation. Adoption of a new,

shallower site in a different rock unit and the increased

use
of curved sidewalls are all likely to favor improved
stability

under conditions of high stress.

The Japanese experience in excavating the Super-K cav

ern and its application in the development of the Hyper-K

design, textits the influence that stress may have on the

sta

bility of DUSEL excavations at depth. It will be important

Homestake Mine Henderson Mine Figure 4. Approximate
Locations of Proposed Site. that designers do not focus
uniquely on the performance of stability analyses and use
of classifications that focus on mitigation against block
and wedge fall-out driven by gravity. Stress may play an
important if not dominant role in determining the stability
of some deeper excavations even in an hard rock setting. 3
THE PROPOSED DUSEL SITES In February 2005, the United
States National Science Foundation (NSF) received eight
site proposals to house a DUSEL in North America. After the
completion of a peer review, NSF short-listed two of the
eight proposed sites for funded study; they are the
Henderson Mine, Empire, Colorado and the Homestake Mine,
Lead, South Dakota. Final selection of the preferred site
is slated for mid-2007. The Henderson site would be located
adjacent to an operating mine in the front range of the
Rocky Mountains some 80 kmWest of Denver in Colorado.This
site would be accessed and serviced through a combination
of existing and purposemined shaft and decline tunnel
excavations. The Henderson DUSEL would be sited in
granites. The Homestake site would be located within the
boundaries of the closed Homestake gold mine located on the
eastern flank of the Black Hills, some 60 kilometers to the
northwest of Rapid City in South Dakota. This site would be
largely accessed and serviced through existing excavations.
The Homestake DUSEL would be sited in meta-sedimentary and
meta-volcanic rock units. The approximate locations of the
two proposed DUSEL sites in the USA are shown in Figure 4.
4 ANTICIPATED SITE CONDITIONS AT THE DUSEL Based on the
descriptions of the sites presented by the site teams
(Kuchta & Golden, 2005 and Roggenthen, 2005), it appears
that both host rock masses can be characterized to first
order as “hard and blocky.” At depth, at either of these
sites, such conditions should be favorable to the
construction and operation of permanent laboratory
facilities and to the study of a range of important basic
research topics in the geosciences and engineering notably
relating to the comportment of rock under stress and water
flow in fractured aquifers. In situ stress levels at both
proposed DUSEL sites should allow for a wide range of
stress-induced behaviors to be studied in detail under
experimenter-controlled conditions. In particular, deeper
locations should permit the long-term study of rock mass
behaviour under post-peak conditions of “burst” and/or
“squeeze”. At the Homestake Mine, Tesarik et al. (2002)
predict overstress conditions at the perimeter of
excavations mined at DUSEL depths. At the Henderson Mine,
Geo-Structure WaterStress Structure Stress Water + +

Figure 5. Schematic of DUSEL Rock Mass Conditions.

Callahan et al. (2000) observed stress-induced behaviours

at DUSEL depths during excavation of the Henderson 2000

Project.

Total water inflow rates at the two mines are moderate.

Homestake reports an inflow rate of some 2700 l/min (Lesko,

2005).The UNO Collaboration (2003) reports that the Hender

son mine pumps approximately 3700 l/min of water. Although

the total flow rates are moderate, neither mine should be

con

sidered “dry”. It is anticipated that rock mass volumes can

be

found at both proposed sites within which fracture-based

flow

experiments can be performed over a range of physical

scales.

In summary, either of these two sites will provide a strong

platform from which to launch a wide range of compelling

research in the geo-scientific and geo-engineering fields.

In

addition, based on the preliminary site investigation work

performed to date, it appears that suitable host sites for
the

construction of large excavations can be found at depth at

either of the two proposed sites.

5 KEY FACTORS IN DUSEL OPENING DESIGNS

As previously noted, at depth, in a DUSEL hard rock setting,

it is anticipated that mass conditions of primary

importance to

cavern stability will be related to the in situ stresses,

rock mass

structure, and potentially water conditions, as shown

schemat

ically in Figure 5. Site investigation and characterization

work

undertaken at DUSEL will need to provide the requisite input

to the design analysis and modeling of these key rock mass

conditions in order to satisfy siting criteria and develop

opti

mized design measures. Although, with drainage, the impacts

of steady-state water inflow levels on long-term stability

may

be marginal, the impacts of transient water inflows and pres

sure on stability and constructability during excavation

will

warrant particular attention when mining below the water

table, particularly if traversing local fractured or

altered zones.

The design processes for large-deep caverns at a hard rock

DUSEL will take into account both scale independent (stress)

and scale-dependent (structure) failure mechanisms. Scale

independent design optimization will take into account the

shape of the cavern and its orientation within the in situ

stress regime. Scale dependent optimization will focus on

evaluating the size and orientation of the cavern relative

to

dominant planes of weakness. Reinforcement and lining ele

ments should be sized and installation timed to ensure an

optimal excavation process.

In addition to incorporating design elements that will

ensure

the long-term stability and serviceability of the opening,

the engineers responsible for the design will also need to
pay attention to issues of constructability. Particular
emphasis should be placed on ensuring that the design is
compatible with cost-effective and industry-standard
methods and means. The adoption of familiar methods and
means will allow for more reliability in performance
forecasting and maximize the probability of maintaining a
competitive bidding environment. Constructability criteria
are not always given due consideration within the context
of an underground design, as noted by Brannsfors and Nord
(1979). Relative to the design of underground structures,
“the design of a structure is not always made with due
respect to modern construction methods.” 6 LARGE-DEEP
CAVERN ENGINEERING Although the proposed DUSEL sites are
likely to contain rock masses suitable for siting
large-deep caverns the size, depth and permanency of the
Long Baseline cavern are outside engineering precedent, and
as demonstrated by the evolution of the Hyper K design,
rock engineers cannot simply scale-up existing designs,
without a reconsideration of at least the scaledependent
aspects of the cavern design. Indeed, the authors believe
that detailed reconsideration of all the design elements
will be merited to support the construction of such
challenging structures. This is not to say that the
feasibility of such structures is in doubt. Large
unsupported rock arches are formed by mining operations and
found in natural cave networks. The spans of these stopes
and caves often surpass the targeted spans required for the
Long Baseline Experiment. From a rock engineering
perspective, there is no intrinsic reason why large-span,
deep permanent caverns cannot be constructed. Under the
right site conditions, and using appropriate excavation and
support techniques, a cavern could be constructed to
satisfy the needs of the physics end-user. “Best sites”
likely to be present and identifiable within the boundaries
of either of the two known hard rock DUSEL sites should be
able to host such a cavern. However, feasibility is not the
only criterion that is likely to determine whether designs
are completed and a cavern ultimately built. As previously
noted, the scope of the proposed facilities is large, with
excavated volumes for single or multiple caverns well in
excess of half a million cubic meters. The duration, cost
and risk of cavern construction may have a profound impact
on the overall viability of the experiment. The resources
required to execute the work will consume a major portion
of the project budget. Cavern construction will undoubtedly
be a multi-year undertaking and the cost may be well in
excess of a hundred million dollars. An order of magnitude
estimate for UNO, based on an extrapolation of the Super-K
facility budget, indicates that the cost for the UNO cavern
excavation and support work alone would represent
approximately one third of a half billion dollar project
budget (Jung, 1999). The order of magnitude estimate
associated with the cost of cavern construction assumed an
average rock mass Q-value of 100 – rock conditions that
might be difficult to find or create within the confines of
DUSEL or many hard rock sites. In the eyes of managers,
sponsors and peers, the cost-effective design and
construction of the cavern may be a prerequisite to the
success of the Experiment itself. To this end it will be
appropriate for the Project to evaluate issues of cost and
risk within a comprehensive Value Engineering (VE)
framework.This framework should not only

include the consideration of the full range of available

state

of-the-industry techniques and reference innovation in other

industries, but also encompass consideration of research

prod

ucts emanating industry, academia and other underground

research laboratories, worldwide. Added risks associated

with

undertaking research in parallel with contracted work should

be identified early and mitigated before the contract work

packages are finalized. Opportunities for innovation that
could

enhance the viability of Large-Deep excavations are seen in

three main areas:

• Site Investigation and Characterization

• Rock and Support Modelling

• Construction Methods, Means and Monitoring

Advances in the state of practice in any one of these areas

could find immediate application at the DUSEL, and notably

in the case of the Large-Deep excavations where significant

reductions in design and construction durations, costs and

associated risks. Such advances can make a significant

contri

bution to the overall viability of cavern-based physics

research

and potentially lead to more general improvements in cavern

engineering practices.

7 RESEARCH IN SITE INVESTIGATION

Developing a site investigation campaign that can support a

safe and cost-effective design and construction process is a

key prerequisite for a large cavern. A phased approach to

site

investigation is anticipated that allows for adequate field

data

to be collected and interpreted before sites are selected

and

detailed designs begun in earnest.

The DUSEL site will have a large footprint, and within these
boundaries there is likely to be significant variation in
rock

mass quality, in situ stress regimes and hydrologic

conditions.

An initial round of site investigation will be needed to

identify

the best potential sites for further studies. Such an

initial phase

will lead to the delineation of best sites and stay-away

zones,

a critical first step towards an optimized design and

construc

tion process for both the Large-Deep cavern and other major

DUSEL facilities. Follow-on investigation can focus on the

site-specific investigation of the identified best sites

and any

poor quality rock volumes (shear zones, contacts, faulting

etc.)

that cannot be avoided or could prove a target of

opportunity

for further geo-scientific exploration.

Research can readily be incorporated into both the site

wide and site-specific steps of the site investigation.

Ideally,

such investigative work would be scoped and scheduled to

be decoupled from the critical path of any facility design

or

construction activities.

Areas that can support a better engineering process include

research tasks aimed at improving the definition of the

following:

• Rock mass structure

• In situ stress regime

• Mechanical properties of the intact rock

• Hydrologic properties of the rock mass

Distinct research opportunities exist for the characteriza

tion of rock mass heterogeneity over a wide range of scales,

from millimetres to kilometers. There should be a number of

opportunities to investigate the virgin rock mass

conditions,

study the results of excavation and validate the

investigative

geo-models based on remote sensing and borehole sampling

and testing. Such studies should offer new opportunities to
improve investigative and geologic modeling procedures and
develop expert systems that can better serve the engineer’s
needs in site selection and geotechnical characterization.
Such advances have long been desired by the engineering
profession. However, as noted by Glaser and Laughton (2004)
this research list has remained essentially the same for
the past 30 years, a comment corroborated by reference to
Brown’s research list for Large Cavern R&D generated in the
late 70’s. This is not to say that progress has not been
made in these areas in the last three decades. Indeed, much
progress in hard rock site characterizations has been
achieved, notably at a number of underground laboratories
worldwide, such as Aspo, Pinawa andYucca Mountain. However,
further progress is still needed to support a yet more
reliable rock mass characterization process for engineering
purposes. The goals of a transparent or glass earth are, as
yet, far from realized. As facility dedicated to research,
DUSEL will allow the scope and duration of studies to be
largely unfettered by the economic constraints of time and
money that often severely hamper the performance of
research within the scope of a tunneling or mining project.
Opportunities for comprehensive site investigation and
characterization studies will exist at DUSEL that could
never be accommodated within the scope of a for profit
operation. DUSEL research during the investigative phases
of DUSEL could have a major beneficial impact on the design
of the excavations, in general and the Large-Deep cavern,
in particular. 8 RESEARCH IN DESIGN Design methodologies
are needed that reconcile, fullyintegrate and reliably
transform the diverse site investigation data sets and
characterization studies into a reliable 3-D model of the
rock mass discontinuum. Analyses and models adopted in the
design of the Large-Deep excavation(s) will need to assess
the impacts of both stress and structure on the overall
stability of the excavation. Ideally, design models will
also need to provide easily interpreted outputs (3-D
graphics) that allow for the identification of the types
and locations of potential stability problems. Given the
required longevity of the structure (>20 years), issues of
long-term stability will need to be specifically addressed,
even in such hard blocky materials. The onset of even minor
amounts of instability occurring after beneficial occupancy
could have major consequences for the experimental program.
The design process should result in the adoption of
practical engineering solutions, notably relative to the
selection of methods and means and selection of compatible
excavation phasing, reinforcement and linings to result in
a low-risk, cost-effective solution. With specific regard
to risk, it will be important for cavern designers to
explicitly acknowledge the predictive accuracy or
limitations of the design work they perform. Models must
not only reasonably represent the reality of the
construction situation, but must also provide management
with a defensible logic that can associate specific
construction risks to quantified values of severity and
probability of occurrence. Improvements in the engineer’s
ability to model the comportment of the excavated rock mass
structure and the modification of its behaviour that can be
achieved through the use of alternate engineering measures
will provide valuable input

in to the design of future hard rock excavations at DUSEL

and

elsewhere.

9 RESEARCH IN CAVERN CONSTRUCTION

Given the span, depth and permanency requirements of the

Long Baseline cavern, it is likely that a substantial

engineer

ing effort will be required to secure the excavation against

shortand long-term instability. Although a site has not

yet been selected and hence site-specific rock mass con

ditions remain to be evaluated and modeled, several areas

of research appear worthy of early consideration. As previ

ously noted, successful engineering innovation in these

areas

could potentially improve the viability of the Long Baseline

Experiment:

• De-stressing

• Pre-Excavation Reinforcement

• Syn-Excavation Monitoring and Model Feedback

• Post-Excavation Reinforcement and Treatments

• Permanent Liners – Burst Protection or Waterproofing

• Long-Term Monitoring, Maintenance and Repair

De-stressing through the use of explosives is incorporated

in mining operations as a method for reducing the potential

of rock burst behaviour. It is used in more brittle, massive

rocks, subject to high stress, where rock burst behaviour

can be

induced during the excavation of tunnels and stopes (Rourke

&

Brummer, 1990). In this practice, explosives are used to cre

ate new fractures in the rock mass. The damage induced by

the explosives effectively reduces the strength and

stiffness

of the blasted volume. This practice modifies the response

of the rock mass to stress changes during mining and has

proven effective at rock burst mitigation, providing for

safer

short-term access required for stoping. Reductions in stiff

ness resulting from blasting may translate to lower

near-field

stress levels around the openings, but they may also result
in

the treated rock mass being subject to larger displacements

and potentially being more prone to blocky fall-out over

time.

Though effective for reducing rock burst potential for short

term access, other techniques may warrant investigation for

use adjacent to a permanent cavern.

Alternate destress systems have been proposed and used in

the excavation of permanent excavations subject to high in

situ

stress. These systems, based on the use of discrete cut,

drilled

or blasted slots allow stress to be relieved through their

closure,

without significantly impacting the overall competence of

the

rock mass bordering the excavation. Duffaut (2005) describes

a number of strategies that can be used ahead of the main

excavation work to improve stress field conditions for

cavern

construction. These strategies involve the pre-mining of

slots

or tunnels around the major opening, in order to reduce the

high stress concentrations and maintain rock integrity at

the
cavern perimeter.

Pre-Excavation Reinforcement: State-of-the industry appli

cations of pre-excavation reinforcement typically employ

steel

members installed in the rock mass prior to excavation. Such

reinforcement can be installed sub-radially or

sub-tangentially

to the excavation perimeter. Hoek (2001) describes the use

of

tensioned cables to pre-reinforce the crown of a large power

house excavation in weak rock. Windsor et al. (1984)

describe

rock pre-reinforcement of a stope hanging wall using steel

dowels. The latter reinforcement scheme successfully limited

ore dilution. It is similar in certain key respects to the

“Rib-in

Roc” concept first promulgated by Stillborg and Stephansson

Exploration Galleries Pre-Reinforcement Sub-perpendicular
Pre-Reinformcent Sub-Parallel Figure 6. Pre-Excavation
Cavern Support Concepts. (1979) in as much as the
reinforcement elements are aligned with the excavation
perimeter, concept more consistent with the classic
principles of structural reinforcement. The two concepts of
pre-reinforcement are shown schematically in Figure 6.
Construction Monitoring: Realistically, even the most
consistent application of best practices in site
investigation, will not provide for a perfect
characterization of the site. At some point the designer
may be obliged to use her or his best judgment to fill-in
the data gaps left between the investigation,
characterization, and analytical/modeling phases of the
design process. Shortcomings in the data collection,
characterization and modeling processes result in
uncertainties in the prediction of rock mass behaviour
during construction. There will be an imperative to monitor
the construction process to ensure that the structure
remains within the “thresholds” of expected behavior.
Contingency plans also need to be in-place to ensure a
ready-response in the event that untoward ground responses
are observed locally or more generally around the
excavation. The construction uncertainties that remain
after the baseline design is complete may be expected to
result in an increase in the conservatism of the designed
systematically-installed support systems. Given these
remaining geo-uncertainties provision within the scope of
the contract for additional construction methods and means
to be applied on an as-needed basis to enable an adjustment
of the system in a cost-effective “design as you go” basis,
as shown schematically in Figure 7. Wherever possible the
type of contractually adjustable methods and means should
be consistent with established industry practices to ensure
that the amount of adjustment is consistent with designer
expectations. Unit pricing, durations, and quantities
written-in to the contract for the performance of the
“contingency work” should be consistent with industry
standards of cost and efficiency and the amount of rock
mass variation anticipated within the mined volume. In this
regard it should be borne in mind that the larger the rock
mass volume, the more likely it is that a wider range of
rock mass conditions will be encountered, including some
more extreme conditions. Evaluate Rock Mass at Heading &
Update Drill & Blast Plan and Support Design Drill Charge
Blast Vent Muck Support

Figure 7. Real Time Design Updating during the Mining Cycle.

Permanent Liners: Permanent liners may be sprayed directly

on or pinned onto the rock surface.They can serve a number

of

key roles for the physics experiments. They can hold in

place

rock mass materials that may detach, notably under the

action

of rock stress or gravity. Such liners may need to be

flexible

enough to withstand significant long-term displacements of

the rock mass.

Ideally pre-excavation measures would ensure that high

stress concentrations at brittle rock boundaries are

mitigated
by the adoption of appropriate pre-excavation measures. How

ever, if rock burst conditions are anticipated, Thin

Spray-on

Liners (TSLs) could provide a higher degree of personnel

protection in the containment of burst events. Even minor

burst conditions could prove extremely hazardous to

personnel

given the height of the cavern and the occupancy level.

In the event that a Water Cherenkov detector were chosen,

designs would likely call for the installation of a compos

ite drainage and waterproofing membrane that can be quality

assured for water tightness, is readily repairable if

damaged

by rock failure or construction equipment, and adequately

provides for low maintenance over the life of the Project.

In the event that a Liquid Argon detector were chosen,

designs would likely call for the use of a multi-skin

contain

ment vessel, which could be either free standing or embedded

into the rock cavern walls. The former scenario would allow

all-round access and leak management to take place in a

manner similar to that employed at many LNG terminals,

thus limiting any concerns relative to the thermal response

of the rock mass surrounding response to cold temperature.

The latter scenario would involve a more complex interaction

between the rock mass and containment vessel, notably under

a varying temperature regime.

Long-Term Monitoring: Specific attention to the stability of

the rock adjacent to the caverns, as well as other critical

infras

tructure such as intersections and larger drifts, will be

required

throughout the life of the project. Studies of rock

displacement

and seismic attributes of the rock will be worthy subjects

for

long-term monitoring, particularly at locations where perime

ter stress concentrations may approach the strength of the

material and creep or burst behaviors are anticipated.

Innova

tive systems to monitor displacements, such as those

reporting

real-time extensometer data, will provide important informa

tion regarding the mechanical stability of the facility.

Seismic

systems can monitor acoustic emissions associated with rock

failure (e.g. Gale et al., 2001), and seismic studies can

also

be used to characterize the state of stress in the rock in

criti

cal areas (Friedel et al., 1996; Scott et al., 2004).

Cooperation

between the physics experiments and the monitoring programs

will be critical to ensure that sufficient monitoring

informa

tion can be gathered without interfering with the necessary

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ABSTRACT:The Siah Bishe pumped storage project is now under
construction. The investigation results, the stability
analysis

and the support concept for the displacement chamber are

discussed in this paper. The displacement chamber is
arranged in

sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Triasic and Jurasic ages.

The length of the chamber is 150 m and the height is 10 m
with

relatively north-south trend. The results of

geo-engineering surveys and statistical joint-graphics of
stereograms reveal at least

three discontinuity systems in the rock mass. Several

transversal sections along the chamber were studied in
order to analyze

the stability of rock wedges inside the chamber. The

frequency and width of bedding parallel shear zones
determined the final

support concept. The results of stability analyses show

distinctly asymmetrical overstressed zones.

1 INTRODUCTION

Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company was

entrusted 1983 with the design of Siah Bisheh pumped storage

scheme. The waterways of the plant are now under construc

tion. It is located in the northern part of the Alborz

Mountain,

at a distance of 80 km from the Caspian Sea (Moshanir

Consultant Engineer, 2002).

The pumped storage plant is situated in layers of the

Jurassic Shemshak, Triassic Elika and in the strata of

Permian age called Dorud, Ruteh and Nessen formation. The

Garmrudbar thrust fault separates the Jurassic Formation

from

the Triassic one.

The displacement chamber with the approximately dimen

sions of L: 50 m, W: 7 m, H: 10 m lies in the Shemshak and

Elika Formation. These formations consist of shaly, slightly

sandy siltstone, sandstone and thin layered limestone and

intrusions of igneous rock such as spilitic basalt partially

bedding parallel orientated.

The whole formation is folded and forms the southern flank

of an anticline. The folding process caused a shearing of

incompetent layers such as thin layers of beds but also

between

siltstones with different content of fines like clay or

fine sand.

2 INVESTIGATIONS

The area of the underground displacement chamber was inves

tigated by the excavation of two test adits in total 320

meters

long, by underground drilling of 100 m. The inclination of

borehole is 45 degree with south direction, nearly perpendic

ular to the shear zone plane (Farab and Tablieh Geotechnical

Company, 2003).

The displacement chamber with a length of about 80 m runs

nearly normal to the strike of the layers of Shemshak and

Elika formations (Fig. 1), mainly in thin and medium

siltstone,

sandstone and shaly layers of Shemshak over the first 50 m,

after that follow limestone of Elika formation at the end of

displacement chamber. This exposed rock sequence has been

Figure 1. Geological cross section along displacement
chamber and Headrace Tunnel. Figure 2. Geology of
displacement chamber area. geologically mapped (Fig. 2),
the discontinuities as joints and bedding planes have been
evaluated and according to these results a portal was fixed
for a roof chamber considering all other aspects such as
length of displacement chamber and overburden above cavern
roof. 3 GEOLOGY OF THE DISPLACEMENT CHAMBER 3.1 Bedding The
roof of displacement chamber exposed a rock sequence with a
mean dip and dip direction of bedding planes of N015/50 up
to station 50 m where a main thrust fault crossed
displacement chamber. The rock sequence over the first 20 m

Figure 3. Thickness of bedding around displacement chamber.

Figure 4. Thickness of shear zones.

consists of 33.5% of sandstone, 23% of siltstones with a

vary

ing content of fine sand, 22.4% of irregularly intercalated

shale

and 34.6 % thin and medium limestone.

The sedimentary rocks are well stratified having an average

thickness of 22 cm (Fig. 3). Their properties are as

follows:

Degree of separation: 100% related to the width of the

structure.

Waviness: undulating to slightly irregular wavy.

Roughness: Rough, slightly smooth in shaly parts only, no

weathering or alteration on bedding planes was observed.

3.2 Shear planes

Bedding parallel shearing of strata is a common phenomenon

over the whole sedimentary rock sequence (Hoek & Evert,

1999). The alternating beds of different rock mechanical

properties led to shearing e.g. thin layers of shale between

sandstones. Sheared layers of less than 1 cm thickness

contain

often soft, slightly plastic silty clay. The layers with a

thick

ness of more than 1 cm contain soft material in the area of

the

shear planes but sheared rock fragments up to gravel size in

the central part of the shear zone.

The spacing and thickness of the individual zones were mea

sured in detail and evaluated for determination of initial

and

permanent support measure. The average thickness revealed

is T = 1.8 ± 1.1 cm (Fig. 4).

The extension of these zones is unknown and may dif

fer strongly. A conservative assumption is that the

extension

should not be taken less than 35% of the displacement

chamber

width.

3.3 Joint pattern

The exposed strata along displacement chamber walls and roof

are moderately jointed, i.e. a spacing of 0.3 to 1.0 m

according

to the classification Deere (1989). According to the stereo

graphic projection of measured joints two major joint sets

could be established: Longitudinal joints running parallel

to

the strike of the beds and transversal joints. Figure 5.

Joint representations around displacement chamber. Table 1.
Test results (Mpa). UCS TS Ed Red shale 50 7.5 7.5 Sandy
siltstone 60 7.5 8.0 Quartzite & sandstone 100 15 15.0
Igneous rocks 100 15 15.0 Table 2. Discontinuity shear
strength parameters. Friction cohesion (Mpa) Siltstone All
other rock types Bedding planes & a) 25 0 a) 25 0 shear
planes b) 20 0.05 b) 20 0.05 Longit. Joints 27.5 0.05 30
0.10 Transv. Joints 27.5 0.05 30 0.10 a) Thickness > 1 cm;
b) Thickness < 1 cm. The longitudinal joints have a mean
orientation of N 98E/ 58E. This joint set shows however a
wide range of scatter of ±40 in regards to the strike. The
joint sets J2 should be considered as diagonally orientated
joints to the longitudinal joint set J1. The transversal
joints are less distinctly developed in comparison to the
longitudinal joints. Their mean orientation is N 172E/90.
The spatial distribution is from 10 to 26 m 2.1 m, from 26
to 50 m, 12 m. According to the exposure of all
discontinuities of the rock mass, their spatial
distribution, their degree of separation and their rock
mechanical properties, a direction of the chamber axis of N
357 was determined which is most suitable regarding the
major in-situ stress direction and the direction of the
general slope (Fig. 5). 4 ROCK MECHNICAL PARAMETERS 4.1
Rock Strength and Deformability The different rock types to
be expected during excavation of the chamber have been
tested in laboratory using NX-size cores from the various
drillings and also in-situ by performance of dilatometer
tests and large flat jack tests.The average results are
listed in Table 1. The shear parameters for the
discontinuities were established as given in Table 2. The
existence of shear planes of considerable extent strongly
influences the anisotropy of the rock mass deformability
characteristics (Goodman & Richard 1989), (Goodman &
Richard 1976). Assuming an

Table 3. Geomechanical properties of rock mass.

Parameters E r E m G r G m K n K s S C φ

Shear zone 2300 269.48 920 108 122.36 48.95 2.5 0.016 16.17
◦

Shemshak 8000 3121.7 3330 1300 1112.9 463.59 4.6 0.402

48.94 ◦

formation

average width of 2 to 0.5 cm and an average spacing of 0.40

to
0.50 m the contribution to the rock mass volume is 4 to 5
per

cent. Consequently, the deformation modulus perpendicular

to bedding is roughly 50% of the value parallel to bedding.

The lateral load factor without consideration of tectonic

stresses will be at least 100% higher perpendicular to

bedding

than parallel to bedding.

5 DISPLACEMENT CHAMBER STABILITY ANALYSIS

To investigate the sensitivity of displacement chamber

stabil

ity and support to the scatter of geotechnical conditions

the

following variations were made in Finite Element Analyses:

– Lateral stress factor in between 0.67 and 1.33, most

probable is a factor of 1.0.

– Different bedding parallel shear plane strength according

to the thickness smaller or larger than 1 cm.

The displacement chamber is located on a shear zone. Upper

layer of the shear zone is Elika formation and lower layer

is Shemshak formation. Critical section of the displacement

chamber occurs when all of overburden is located on shear

zone.Therefore this section has simulated by well known

finite

element software that its name is phase 2 . Over burden

height

in the section is 82 meters. There are three joints and one

fault,

in this section.
Dip and dip direction of the fault, joints, bedding and

displacement chamber are as follow:

1. Fault: N110/55NE

2. Joints: J 1 = N98E/58E, J 2 = N172E/90

3. Bedding: N015/50

4. Displacement chamber: N357/0

Appearance dip in the section plane is calculated as follow:

Where v ′ is appearance dip, γ is horizontal angle between

actual plane -a plane that is normal to strike of the

layerand

section plane and v is actual dip.

Therefore, appearance dip and dip direction are as follow:

1. Fault: γ = 113 ◦ , ν= 55 ◦ , ν ′ =−29.16 ◦

2. Joints: J 1 = γ = 101 ◦ , ν= 58 ◦ , ν ′ =−16.98 ◦

3. Bedding: γ = 18 ◦ , ν= 50 ◦ , ν ′ = 48.58 ◦

GSI (Geological Strength Index) in shear zone and

Shemshak formation is 15 , 38 respectively. Shear modulus

and normal and shear stiffness are as follow (Goodman &

Richard, 1976): Figure 6. Amount of displacement around

chamber in static condition. Where: K N , K S are normal
and shear stiffness in MPa/m. E m , G m are Young modulus
and shear modulus in rock mass in MPa. E r , G r are Young
modulus and shear modulus of intact rock in MPa, S is joint
spacing in m and υ is Poisson’s ratio. C is cohesion in
Mpa, φ is internal friction angle. Table 3 summarizes the
results of in situ stress measurements at shear zone and
shemshak formation. Dilation angle for rock mass is
calculated by Arshadnejad formula (Arshadnejad, Poshtvan &
Parsaee 2006): Where GSI is Geological strength index and φ
is internal friction angle in rock mass and δ is dilation
angle of rock mass. Then δ for shear zone is 0 ◦ and for
Shemshak formation is 2.57 ◦ . Using finite element method
(phase 2 ), the stability of chamber was investigated. The
results (Fig. 6), (Fig. 7) show that chamber is stable in
static condition. Table 4 shows support system including
shotcrete thickness, rock bolt dimensions and steel frame.
Maximum support pressure (bearing capacity) for the steel
fram determined by Hoek formula (Hoek & Evert, 1999):

Figure 7. Safety factor around of chamber in static

condition.

Table 4. Support system of the chamber in static condition.

Shotcrete thickness Rock bolt (fully bonded) Steel frame

Roof and walls: Spacing:1 × 1(m) Profile:

15 (cm) Length: 2.5 (m) 82 (kg/m)

Floor: 10 (cm) diameter: 25 (mm) I section

Table 5. Support pressure in static condition.

P imax (MPa) Roof and Floor Walls S (m) 1.43 1.573 1

Table 6. Support pressure in dynamic condition.

P imax (MPa) Roof and Floor Walls S (m) A 1.682 1.851 0.85
0.35 g

Figure 8. Amount of displacement around chamber in dynamic

condition.

where P imax is maximum support pressure in Mpa, D is exca

vation diameter in m and S is frame spacing in m. Table 5

shows the values of support pressure in static condition.

In dynamic condition related acceleration is 0.35 g. There

fore suitable condition must be decrease the steel frame

spacing, from one meter to 0.85 meter. Table 6 shows the

P imax in dynamic condition.

Figure 8 and Figure 9 show that the chamber is stable

in dynamic condition. Because there is no any element in

ABSTRACT: The West Line of the mega South to North Water
Diversion project, attracting world attention, will
transfer water

from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to the Yellow

River in Qinghai plateau. It is planned to be constructed
by 3 stages,

costing about 500 billion RMB for transferring 17 billion m

3 of water per year. Of which, the 1st stage will deliver 4
billion m 3

of water. For the water supply, in the first stage of the

project, 4 large dams, 7 tunnels and 2 weirs will be
constructed. In

this paper, based on the analysis of local natural

environment, geological condition and related circumstances
in the 1st stage

construction of the West Line of the mega South to North

Water Diversion Project, double shield TBMs are recommended
to

be used for rapid excavation of the long, deep tunnels. In

addition, several key problems concerning ventilation, high
geostress,

rock burst, high pressure water inflow etc. are discussed.

Finally, some comments and suggestions regarding the
construction

of the West Line of the mega South to North Diversion

Project in China are put forward.

1 LAYOUT OF THE WEST LINE PROJECT

1.1 The main features of water resources in China

• China has water shortages

• China has poor distribution of water resources

• China has to transfer water from the south to the north

1.2 General layout of South to North Water Transfer

The whole project consists of three main parts:

1. Western Line Project, 2. Middle Line Project, 3. Eastern

Line Project.

These projects will divert water from the upper, middle

and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (Changjiang) to

northwestern and northern China respectively.

Currently, the Eastern Line and Middle Line are under

construction, while the Western Line is under design.

2 LAYOUT OF THE WEST LINE PROJECT

The Project will transfer water from the upper reach of the

Yangtze River to the Yellow River in Qinghai Plateau-the

source region of the two rivers mentioned above. Bayanhar

Mountain is the watershed between the Yangtze River and the

Yellow River. The bed elevation of the Yellow River is

higher

than the Yangtze by 80–150 m. It is planned to be

constructed

by 3 stages, costing about 500 billion RMB for transferring

17 billion m 3 of water per year. Of which, the 1st stage

will

deliver 4 billion m 3 of water.

For the water supply, in the first stage of the project, 4

large

dams, 7 tunnels and 2 weirs will be constructed.

The total length of the diversion line is 255.9 km, while

the

cumulative length of long and deep tunnels with maximum

excavated diameter of 10.88 m is 252.7 km. Among them, the
longest one is 73 km. The maximum depth of the tunnels is
1150 m. The surrounding rock masses of the tunnels are
consisted of slightly metamorphosed sand stone and slate. 3
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND OTHER
SITUATION FOR THE FIRST SATGE PROJECT 3.1 Natural
environment • The elevation along the West Line is ranging
from 3400 to 4800 m A. S. L. with relative height
difference of more than 1000 m. • The atmospheric pressure
along the diversion area is only 60–70% of that on the sea
level. • The oxygen content along the diversion area is
60–70% of that on the sea level. • The minimum temperature
is −30 ◦ ∼−40 ◦ C. • For most part of the diversion area,
the mean daily air temperature is less than 0 ◦ lasting for
5–8 months per year. As mentioned above, high elevation,
cold weather, low air pressure and oxygen deficit feature
this area. Obviously, the natural environment is very
harsh. 3.2 Geological conditions • The rock formations
along the diversion line are consisted of slightly
metamorphosed sandstone with compressive strength of 41–128
Mpa and slate with compressive strength of 21–95 Mpa. •
Among them, surrounding rock masses of class II and III
along the diversion line account for 90% of the total
length, while class IV −9.3% and class VI −0.7%.

• Generally speaking, the project area is situated at a

relatively

stable district (so called “safe island”), as noted by

regional

geological structure analysis.

• The earthquake intensity for the most part of the area is

of

VII degree.

• The buried depth of the tunnels is generally ranging from

300–900 m. The maximum depth is 1100 m.

• Nearby some part of the fracture belts, there are

geostress

concentration zones.

• Some part of the tunnels will pass through high level

geostress zones.

• The fractures in sandstone are well developed, where

the outflow of water in single well is mostly more than

100 m 3 /d. The fractures in slate are badly developed. So,

the slate can be considered as impermeable layer.

• According to the evaluation from the related data, the

ground temperature in the tunnels will reach probably to

25 ◦ C. The temperature of the surrounding rocks in local

abnormal zones will reach to 68 ◦ C.

• As indicated above, the main problems of the diversion

area

are as follows:

– High level geostresses and rock bursts; groundwater or

high pressure water flow; high ground temperature.

– Generally speaking, these problems could be solved by

means of effective measures. At present, the project
proposal, compiled mainly by the Yellow River Engineering
Consulting Co., is in well progress.

3.3 Other situation

The diversion area has a very sparse population. There are

only 2–3 residents distributed per 1 km 2 area. Most of them

are Zang nationality. In addition, the communication and

transportation are very inconvenient in that area.

4 TBM TECHNOLOGIES ARE RECOMMENDED FOR

THE CONSTRUCTION

As mentioned above, the main problems during the con

struction of the 1st stage project are: high elevation,

harsh

weather, low air pressure, oxygen shortage etc. which will

badly interfere with our work.

Under these circumstances, it is recommended to use full

face double shield TBMs driven by electric power for most

part of the tunnels.

The main reasons are as follows:

(1) high speed will be expected;

(2) low quantity of constructors is needed;

(3) sandstone and slate with compressive strengths varying

from 21–128 Mpa are suitable for using TBM technology.

(4) Additionally, we have got a series of experiences and

lessons during the TBM excavation of Yindaruqin Water
Diversion Project in Gansu Province and Yinhuangrujin Water
Diversion Project in Shanxi Province.

5 DISCUSSION ON SOME PROBLEMS RELATING

TBM METHOD USED FOR THE 1ST STAGE

PROJECT

5.1 Ventilation and oxygen deficit

Engineering practice showed that the ventilation in long

tunnel

with a length of 15–20 km could be solved by using series

connection axial flow ventilators. For example, on the job

site of Lesotho Highlands Water Project in South Africa,
two ventilators (�= 1200 mm, 110 kw) made in Germany were
used successfully. And also, on the job site of Line No.1
Qinling Railway Tunnel in China with a total length of 18.6
km, excavated by 2 sets of TBM (�= 8.8 m), 3 ventilators
with each power efficiency of 250 kw by series connections
were adopted for solving the ventilation problems in the
cul-de-sac long tunnel. Another example, on the job site of
No. 36A Yindaruqin Water Diversin Tunnel also in China with
a total length of 11.65 km excavated by TBM (�= 5.5 m), 4
axial flow ventilators (4 × 35 kw) with series connection
were adopted for the cul-de-sac long tunnel to meet the
requirement of ventilation. As usual, ventilation shafts
should be excavated for the tunnels with lengths of more
than 15–20 km. As mentioned above, the oxygen content in
this region is only 60–70% of that on the sea level.
Therefore, it is necessary to install oxygen enriched air
blast devices. 5.2 High geostress The elongation along the
direction of tunnel diameter of the fringing cutters of the
TBM’s cutter head should be increased. Consequently, the
shrinkage of the tunnel diameter due to the deformation of
surrounding rock messes from high geostresses might be
avoided and the segments could be installed smoothly. In
addition, during the design of the segments, the influence
of the geostress must be considered. In case of squeezing
rocks, it is suggested to use walking blade shield TBM. 5.3
Rock burst High horizontal geostress with a magnitude of
about 50 Mpa and strong rock burst could be expected during
excavation. Under these circumstances, it is recommended to
spray the surface of the surrounding rock masses with water
or drill advance boreholes filled with water for releasing
the geostress. In the meantime, heavy segment support could
be used. 5.4 High ground temperature In order to drop the
high ground temperature at some tunnel section, besides
enhancing the ventilation, the refrigeration devices should
be used according to the data of ground temperature. A case
history of a French tunnel with a total length of 18.3 km,
maximum buried depth of 2000 m and temperature inside of 35
◦ C proved that normal ventilation and additional
refrigeration could solve this problem smoothly. 5.5
Groundwater or high pressure water flow Regarding the
groundwater or high pressure water flow, it is very
important to carry out geological advanced prediction
before the heading. Additionally, suitable grouting or/and
drainage system is recommended as effective measure for
this matter. 6 SUGGESTIONS (1) The annual total volume of
water transferred fromYangtze River to Yellow River in the
1st stage of the project will be 40 × 10 8 m 3 , accounting
only about 40% of the total quantity of water shortage.
Consequently, it is suggested to shift the construction of
the 2nd stage project to an earlier date.

(2) It is suggested to make the diversion line of the 2nd

stage of the project as closer as possible to that of 1st
stage.

(3) Considering that the total length of west line

diversion project will be several hundred kilometers, it is
necessary to establish and strengthen remote automatic
monitoring and management system.

(4) On account of that all the tunnels in this project are

to be long, deep tunnels, it is strongly recommended to
excavate relevant regulating and repairing adit, fitted
with suitable vehicles for transporting related personals,
equipments, construction materials etc. Service gates
should also be installed.
(5) In the 1st stage of the West Line of South to North
Water Diversion Project, about 10 TBMs are needed for
tunnel excavation. In the 2nd and 3rd stages of the
project, we need more TBMs. In China, we have to build up
our own TBM industry system as soon as possible.

(6) In view of present situation, to ensure safety and

reliability for rapid excavation of the tunnels, risk
analysis is strongly recommended to carry out.

ABSTRACT: This paper reports on an original method for

calculating the time-dependent evolution of displacements

around a tunnel in axial symmetric stress and plane strain

conditions. For each time interval, the total displacement
is the

result of the action of the movement of the

viscoelastoplastic interface on the movement taking place
inside the plastic zone.

The viscoelastic properties of the isotropic media are

represented here by the expressions φ 0 (t) and φ u (t).
These are obtained

from mechanical formulations of the models using

viscoelastic isotropic strain and angular distortion. The
differential equation

employed to find the displacement around the tunnel takes

into account the yield criterion along with the flow rule.
Both are

assumed to be independent of the time-dependent strain

evolution. The solution of this differential equation
allows a distinction

to be made between the viscoelastic and plastic

displacements around the tunnel.

1 INTRODUCTION

Numerous authors have dealt with the problem of the stresses

and strains around tunnels in a perfect elastoplastic

isotropic

medium in axial symmetric stress and plane strain

conditions.
A consensus nevertheless exists to the effect that strains
in

these conditions are not achronistic. Bearing in mind this

observation, this article presents the calculations for

conver

gence in a perfect viscoelastoplastic medium both in

distortion

and volumetric change.

The approach to the system of equations used to solve the

problem in this medium was based on Serrano’s elastoplas

tic solution (1997). It applied the correspondence principle

expounded by Fung (1965).

According to Goodman (1989) and in general, the assump

tion made in studying the evolution of time-dependent con

vergence in tunnels was that, although the distortion

involved

is viscoelastic, the volumetric change is purely elastic.

This

applied even though a viscous variation in volume was

acknowledged.

The purpose of this consideration was to simplify calcu

lations for the analytical solution. However, the results of

flow tests show that in many cases the change in volume also

depends on the time involved and to a significant extent. By

measuring the circumferential strain in addition to the

axial

strain during laboratory flow tests, the volumetric change

can be separated from the angular distortion thereby using

experimental means to obtain the rheological constants of

the medium undergoing viscoelastic volumetric change and

angular distortion.

Using the methodology expounded, there is no need to con

sider that the volumetric change is elastic in these cases

in

order to simplify the solution as this procedure means it

is possible to implement and solve media undergoing
viscoelastic volumetric change. 2 CONVERGENCE STUDY IN
VISCOELASTOPLASTIC MEDIA 2.1 Basic theory The convergence
study reported in this article was carried out on the basis
of the following assumptions: 1. Prior to tunnel opening,
the medium was in a state of isotropic stress (K 0 = 1). 2.
The tunnel has a circular section. 3. The support pressure
is constant over time. 4. Plane strain analysis was carried
out with stress and strain axial symmetry. 5. The material
involved has a constant failure criterion not dependent on
the time-related evolution of strains and deformations. 6.
The strains in the rock mass zone where stresses have not
reached a state of failure are viscoelastic, their
constituent relations being rheological in both angular
distortion and volumetric change. 7. The strains in the
rock mass zone where the stresses verify failure conditions
are the sum of two components: a. The first component is
viscoelastic in both angular distortion and volumetric
change and its stress – strain relations may or may not be
equal to those in the area where the failure criterion has
not been reached. b. The second component is purely plastic
and is governed by the law of material flow, which is not
time-dependent (achronistic).

2.2 Path of the stresses and strains in the medium

Using the above assumptions, the deviator stresses appearing

as a result of the tunnel opening give rise, as is well

known, to

two stress-subjected zones. One takes the form of a circular

crown next to the tunnel contour, where the stress

conditions

verify the failure criterion and which we shall call the

plas

tic zone or failure zone, and another zone farther away and

extending to infinity which we shall call the elastic zone

or

non-failure zone separated by an interface. This condition

is

illustrated in figure 1. The interface shown marks the

bounds

of the zone subjected to the state of failure expressed in

this

article as q = q(p). Outside this area, the deviator stress

q tends

towards zero in the direction of the zone farthest from the

tun

nel where the effect of its opening does not alter the
medium’s

initial equilibrium. Consequently, the convergence in the

tun

nel contour is the result of the plastic and viscoelastic

strains

occurring owing to the change in volume and the angular dis

tortion of the failure zone, which is subjected in the

interface

to contour conditions that evolve over time as a function of

the rheology of the elastic zone.

The viscoelastic strains in a viscoelastoplastic medium

evolve in a time-dependent manner whereas the plastic

strains

are achronistic.The latter are only time-dependent through

the

state of compatibility and the contour conditions. In this

arti
cle the study of the time-dependent evolution of convergence

starts from the analytical solution which, in the

elastoplastic

case, was obtained by Serrano (1997), Reig (2004).

The achronistic differential system proposed by these

authors will now be generalised for a rheological medium

by introducing a virtual transverse stiffness modulus that

is

a function of time, G r (t), and of a virtual Poisson ratio,

also time-dependent, v r (t), through the constituent

rheological

relations of the failed medium (Eqs. (1) and (2)).

where:

σ 1 and σ 3 are the principal stresses. The system of Equa

tions (1) and (2) has been termed resolvent and its solution

is the convergence at “t” moment of time.

In these equations ψ is the dilatancy angle, γ the angular

distortion and B(q) a function dependent on the medium’s

failure criterion, flow law and Poisson’s ratio. This

equation

system is valid for any failure criterion that can be

expressed

in the form q = q(p) and any flow law given as a function

of q.

In Equation (1), the viscoelastic properties of the medium

appear in the term E(q)/G r (t). The method of processing

this

is shown in the following subsection.

The convergence equation ε θ (t) was solved by previously

substituting the γ(t) solution. This latter equation

contains the

interface contour condition γ R (t) that depends on the G s

(t) of A B q q a p 0 p a p r=infinity r=R q(p) q R A B r =
R r = a R Elastic zone Interface Plastic zone Stresses in
the region inside of the interface Stresses in the region
outside of the interface σ σ R σ a Figure 1. Stress path
around the tunnel. the elastic zone. In the latter
equation, ε a θ (t) = u r (t)/a is the circumferential
convergence of the wall tunnel that is a function of the
radial earthflow u r (t) and of the tunnel radius, a. 2.3
Implementing the viscoelastic behaviour of the medium Using
the differential approach of the linear and isotropic
viscoelastic medium represented by mechanistic models, the
constituent relations are polynomials of the time
differential operator ∂/∂t according to Fung (1965). For
the angular distortion, e ′ ij , and for the volumetric
change, e kk , as a function of the stress deviator tensor,
σ ′ ij , and the prime invariant of the stress tensor, σ kk
the following holds: as relations in which a k , b k , c k
and d k are coefficients of the polynomials whose values
depend on the mechanical parameters of the viscoelastic
model used. In short notation these polynomials are
represented by: P 1 (D)σ ′ ij = Q 1 (D)e ′ ij , and P 2
(D)σ kk = Q 2 (D)e kk respectively. According to Hildebrand
(1976), in quasi static situations the above expressions
can be written as: with the result that the above
constituent relations cease to be differential equations in
the time domain and become algebraic equations of the “s”
variable in the Laplace transform. Bearing in mind the
foregoing and the principle of correspondence between
linear elasticity and viscoelasticity, the polynomial
expressions for the medium’s viscoelastic parameters in the
Laplace transform domain are:

The coefficients and degrees of the polynomials P 1 , Q 1 P

2

and Q 2 depend on the rheological model.

The terms in Equation (1) and in the solution to Equation

(2),

which depend on the viscoelastic properties of the medium,

have been called temporal functions. Represented by φ 0 (t)

and
φ u (t), these functions expound the following:

In this article, these functions appear as φ r 0 (t) and φ

r u (t) when

they correspond to the plastic zone, and as φ s 0 (t) and φ

s u (t)

when they correspond to the elastic zone. Their Laplace

trans

forms, taking into account the time constancy of the support

pressure, are:

3 APPLICATION TO A PARTICULAR

VISCOELASTO-PLASTIC MEDIUM

To illustrate the procedure expounded, the use of tempo

ral functions is shown for calculating convergence in a

non-supported tunnel open in a perfect viscoelastoplastic

medium.

3.1 Initial data

Table 1. Tunnel geometry and location.

Datum Value Unit

Tunnel diameter 9.00 m

Depth 150 m

Specific gravity 22.25 kN/m 3

3.2 Viscoelastic properties of the medium

The model proposed has the Burger’s body strain evolution

in angular distortion and in volumetric change it has the

generalized Kelvin’s body strain evolution. The mechanistic

configuration of the medium is shown in Figure 2. Its “s”

polynomials are:

The rheological constants were obtained from data pub

lished in the book by Goodman (1989) for salt rock. For our

example, the elastic volumetric modulus K of the model used

in that publication was split into a K 2 elastic component

and

another viscoelastic component, K 1 , as the volumetric

change 1 σ ε εγ σ η η 2 η Figure 2. Mechanistic
configuration of the rheological model: a) in angular
distortion, b) in volumetric change. Table 2. Viscoelastic
constants of the medium. Constants Value Units G 1 2050 MPa
G 2 6850 MPa η 1 4800E3 MPa/min η 2 568.50E6 MPa/min K 1
15210 MPa K 2 8560 MPa η v 3500E3 MPa/min 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 x10
4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 x 10 -4 Time (min) Φ 0 (t) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
x10 4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 x 10 -4 Time (min) Φ u (t) Figure
3. Evolution of the temporal functions of the model with
Burger-type viscoelastic angular distortion and with
generalized Kelvin type viscoelastic volumetric change. in
the model used in this article is elastic plus
viscoelastic. The η v viscous constant in volumetric change
used here is in the same order of magnitude as that used in
angular distortion in the cited publication. Figure 3 shows
the evolution in the temporal functions in the time domain
corresponding to the particular medium used here. In this
case, φ s (t) =φ r (t) owing to the fact that the same
viscoelastic behaviour was considered in both zones of the
medium. 3.3 Failure criterion and flow law of the medium
The failure criterion used in this example is the
generalised Hoek-Brown failure criterion (1997), applied to
a poor quality

Table 3. Failure criterion properties.

Property Value Unit

σ ci 20 MPa

m i 8

GSI 30

σ cm 1.7 MPa

σ tm −0.01 MPa
Dilatancy ψ Zero 0 2 4 6 8 10 x 10 4 3 4 5 6 7 8 x 10 -3
Time (min) ε θ ( t ) = u r ( t ) / a t u n n e l a ε θ (t)
θ ε a (t) p

Figure 4. Evolution of the convergence: ε a θ (t): total,

and ε a p θ (t):

taking into account only the plastic strains inside the

plastic zone

and the evolution of the viscoelastic strains in the

interface.

rock mass as corresponding to a salt rock. For this rock

these

authors state that the post failure characteristics are

adequately

represented by a perfect plastic medium with the following

typical properties as shown in table 3.

3.4 Viscoelastoplastic response of the medium

As explained above, the solution to the system of

differential

equations (1) and (2) is the convergence of the medium. For

this particular case, the following generic expression

applies:

This is the expression giving the time convergence “t” of

the non – supported tunnel where: φ s 0 (t) and φ r u (t)

are the

previously mentioned temporal functions of the zone in an

elastic state and plastic state respectively; q R and q a

the Lambe

variables adimensionalized following the Serrano technique

(1997) in the interface and tunnel contour respectively

(Fig. 1);

k = (1 − a)/a where a, in this context, is one of the

parameters
of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion (1997).

By substituting the values for the temporal expressions and

the failure criterion parameters of the medium in the ε a θ

(t)

expression for this particular case, the evolution of the

con

vergence in the tunnel contour was obtained. This is shown

in

ABSTRACT: The strength and deformability anisotropy of rock

masses caused by discontinuities is of difficulty in
analysis

and design of rock engineering. This study uses a numerical

model that considers both elasto-plastic behavior and time

dependent deformation of rock masses to investigate the

squeezing phenomenon in the New Guanyin Tunnel, Taiwan. The

influence of discontinuities on tunneling and the

mobilization of squeezing phenomenon are discussed in
detail.

1 INTRODUCTION

Deformations of rocks surrounding the New Guanyin Tunnel

exhibited asymmetric characteristics due to the influence of

discontinuities. In several sections, tunneling was hindered

by the need to construct reinforcements that support

potential

failure areas. Finally, a cave-in was induced by this asym

metrical dime-dependent deformation. This study utilizes a

numerical model taken account of both elasto-plastic

behavior

and time-dependent deformation of rock masses to investigate

the squeezing phenomenon. The effects of discontinuities on

tunneling through surrounding rock and the mobilization of

squeezing phenomenon are discussed in detail.

2 SQUEEZING PHENOMENON

The New Guanyin Tunnel, located in eastern Taiwan, is

10,307 m long. The tunnel is a typical double-lane railway

tunnel 9.1 m wide and 7.3 m high. To shortening construction

time, both portals and two adits, i.e., the south and north
adits,

were arranged for tunnel excavation. The north adit and

later

the north working face of main tunnel ran into squeezing

rock,

resulting in significant tunnel deformation and support

failure

(Wang et al., 2002). The squeezing phenomenon in the section

from Sta. 28k+285 to 28k+220 is discussed as follows.

2.1 Engineering geology

The New Guanyin Tunnel, which is located in the eastern

foothill of the Central Mountain Range, goes through the

mountain at roughly 1,300 m in height and is aligned paral

lel to the coastline bordering the Pacific Ocean. The

Tananao

Formation in this area is mainly composed of mica schist

inter

calated with chlorite schist, calcite schist and limestone.

Rock

strength ranges from weak to medium. However, the well

developed schistosity and joints and the high ground water

level lead to difficulty during tunneling.

United Geotech, Inc., (2001) reported that the swelling

potential of surrounding rock in this area was very low,

classi

fying the rock mass into types IV andV according to rock

mass

classification method. Based on the Geological Strength

Index

(GSI) proposed by Hoek and Brown (1997), the structure of

rock mass can be classified as “block/disturbed”, and the
surface condition is from “fair smooth” to “very poor.” The
GSI is 10–45. 2.2 Tunnel construction and squeezing
phenomenon The top heading method was applied in this
section by machinery excavation. Drilling and blasting was
also carried out occasionally to remove hard rock. The
support system comprised H-125-H-200 sectional steel ribs,
0.15–0.20 m thick shotcrete with steel mesh and 4–9 m long
rockbolts. Deformation of rock surrounding the tunnel was
significant following crown excavation, but did not have a
tendency for convergence. Once the bench was excavated, the
deformation prolonged several months. In many sections, the
convergence, neglecting the deformation happened before the
installation of monitoring instrumentation, reached
approximately 2.0% compared with the tunnel diameter. The
tunnel experienced the squeezing phenomenon in evidence.
Reinforcements were carried out before long to suppress the
deformation of surrounding rock. Cement grouting, secondary
shotcrete, long rockbolts, U-type sectional steel ribs and
footing concrete were used. The deformation was eventually
controlled. However, shotcrete cracking and punching
failure at the bearing plate of rockbolts, broken rockbolts
and buckled steel ribs were common in this tunnel section
(Fig. 1). 3 MATHEMATICAL AND NUMERICAL MODELS Based on the
concept of equivalent continuum, a threedimensional,
nonlinear constitutive law, which integrates the mechanical
behavior of intact rock and the discontinuities into a rock
mass, has been introduced through a representative volume
element. The strain-softening characteristic of intact rock
is considered. Additionally, the sheared deformationrelated
properties of joints, such as the shear strength and shear
stiffness, were taken into account. The constitutive model
is capable of modeling the complete stress-strain curves of
rock masses composed of various intact rock properties and
any number of joint sets with arbitrary orientations,
spacing and mechanical behaviors (Wang and Huang, 2006). A
two-dimensional numerical model for tunnel squeezing
analysis is established according to the constitutive
model.

Figure 1. Squeezing phenomenon happened in New Guanyin

Tunnel.

Figure 2. Procedure of numerical simulation on squeezing

section.

Two procedures, i.e., the elastic-plastic deformation

analysis

and the time-dependent deformation simulation, are applied

successively to analyze the squeezing deformation in a plane

strain condition. The proposed squeezing numerical model

simulates the anisotropic elasto-plastic behaviors of rock

sur

rounding a tunnel and time-dependent deformation (Wang,

2003).

4 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

Numerical analysis is used to simulate tunnel excavation and

support. The tunneling sequences during top heading, instal

lation of steel ribs, shotcrete and then rockbolts are

simulated

in a step-by-step manner. Long bench excavation matches the

situation at the site. Beam and cable elements are used to

simu

late the support effects of shotcrete and rockbolts,

respectively.

Figure 2 presents the simulation procedure for numerical

analysis. Furthermore, the pre-deformation occurred prior to

support installation is also considered in the analysis.

Based

on the closure formula developed by Sulem et al. (1987), the

ratio of pre-deformation to total deformation is 18.4–33.3%

from data regression.

According to the geological survey of the working face,

one set of schistosity and three sets of joint present in

this section. Table 1 presents the attitudes, persistency
and spacing of these discontinuities. At each set of
discontinuities have small discrepancies, average values
are used for simplicity sake. A stereographic projection is
used to identify the representative apparent dips for
two-dimensional analysis. Joint set C is ignored in the
analysis as it is only exposed at limited few sites.
Persistency of the other discontinuities is assumed such
that the joint sliding would not be affected. Table 2 lists
the parameters of intact rock and discontinuities used in
analysis. We assume that the vertical stress component is
equal to the overburden stress and the lateral earth
pressure coefficient is 1.0. Vertical and horizontal
stresses are −5.98 MPa in this analysis. 5 RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION In the early stages of tunneling, i.e., the
working face advanced away from the monitoring station a
distance roughly two to three times of tunnel diameter,
Figure 3 presents the deformation vector of surrounding
rock. Figure 4 presents the failure zone, characterized by
intact rock failure and joint sliding. Due to the presence
of schistosity and joints, the deformation vectors in the
sea-side (right side in Fig. 3) wall and in the connection
area of the temporarily invert and hill-side wall are

Table 1. Attitudes, persistency and spacing of

discontinuities.

Item Schistosity Joint A Joint B Joint C

strike ( ◦ ) N50∼55W N0∼40W N50∼80W N0∼40W

dip ( ◦ ) 40∼50N 60∼80WS 40∼80WS 60∼80EN

spacing (m) – 0.1∼1.5 0.2∼0.5 0.2∼0.5

description intercalated with quartz opening width less

than opening width ranges exposed range less than and gouge
occasionally, 3 mm, uneven, persistency between 3–10 mm,
uneven, 4 m, opening width less truncated by joint, ranges
between 0.2–4.0 m persistency ranges 1.0–4.0 m than 3 mm,
uneven poor persistency
Table 2. Parameters used for intact rock and
discontinuities.

Intact rock Discontinuities Schistosity Joint A Joint B

peak cohesion (MPa) 12.2 apparent dip ( ◦ ) 36 −69 −45

peak friction angle ( ◦ ) 38.0 spacing (m) 0.1 0.8 0.35

bulk modulus (MPa) 8333 JRC 20 12 8

Passion’s ratio 0.2 JCS (MPa) 31.0 31.0 31.0 basic friction
angle ( ◦ ) 37.0 35.0 33.0

uniaxial compressive strength (MPa) 31.0 initial normal

stiffness (GPa/m) 50.0 20.0 10.0 maximum closure (m) 1.0E−4
1.0E−3 2.0E−3

Remark: ultimate uniaxial compressive strength is assumed

to be 60% of its short term strength, retardation failure
time is assumed to be

150 days.

Figure 3. Deformation vector at early stage of tunneling.

significantly greater than those at other locations. The

failure

zone is roughly 1–3 m thick at the crown, and is 3–5 m

thick at

the bench area due to decreased support stiffness and low

sup

port strength. The marked displacement of surrounding rock

and stress concentration effect bring about that the

shotcretes

in the sea-side wall and both footing areas reached plastic

moment. The rockbolts in the vault also fail locally because

of insufficient bonding strength.

The parameters listed in Table 2 are adopted to simulate the

time-dependent deformation of rock surrounding the tunnel.

Figures 5 and 6 present the deformation vector and failure

zone 60 days after tunneling. Compared with Figs. 3 and 4,

deformations increased on sea-side wall up to 0.2 m, and

were

unapparent at the crown and on the hill-side wall. The fail

ure zone extended to 4–5 m and resulted in support failure

in Figure 4. Failure zone at early stage of tunneling. the
sea-side wall and crown. Figure 1 presents the calculated
results coinciding with site condition. Simulation results
are compared with measurement results (Fig. 7). Both the
raw data and the pre-deformation modified historical
convergence curve are plotted. The difference between
measured and calculated data is far less than the
modification amount for pre-deformation. Additionally, the
asymmetrical deformation caused by the presence of
discontinuities is reflected in D1 and D2 convergence
curves. 6 CONCLUDING REMARKS Application of the proposed
numerical model to the New Guanyin Tunnel indicates that
discontinuities comprise an

Figure 5. Deformation vector 60 days after tunneling.

Figure 6. Failure zone 60 days after tunneling.

important factor affecting the tunneling behavior. The well

known stresses varying around a tunnel, i.e., unloading in a

radial direction and loading in a tangential direction, may

cause shear failure or tensile failure of intact rock. In

the

meantime, this stresses varying also decreases the normal

force and increases the shear force on some discontinuities

with normal vectors parallel and sub-parallel to the radial

direction of the tunnel. Shear strength of these

discontinuities

decreased accordingly, and may result in failure, i.e.,

joint

sliding, prior to discontinuities with other directions. In

many

sets of joints presence, the failure zone will be

superposed one

another and significantly increase tunnel convergence.

Intact

rock and joints typically exhibit strain-softening post-peak

behavior, and their mechanical properties are time-dependent

with low creep threshold.As the excavation sequence and sup

port systems during tunneling cannot control deformation of

ABSTRACT: Geophysical exploration for such as tunnel

construction is usually used on seismic method and electric
method.

However, seismic velocity and electric resistivity directly

are not connected with a design for tunnel construction.
Grasping the

nature of rock masses, for example effective porosity and

saturation, is very important for the design of tunnel. In
this paper,

new estimation method of tunnel construction by joint

inversion using seismic velocity and electric resistivity
are proposed. As

the result, it is recognized that the distributions of

porosity and saturation of rock mass around tunnel by this
inversion system

correspond with that of the real rock mass conditions.

1 INTRODUCTION

In case of the construction of underground cavern and

tunnel,

the many parts of these structures consist of rock masses,

and

the rational and efficient construction of rock masses can

be

required. Therefore, it is important to estimate the

engineer

ing characteristics of the rock mass around tunneling before

construction.

The geophysical exploration for such as tunnel construction

is usually used on seismic method and electric method. How

ever, seismic velocity and electric resistivity directly

can be not

connected with the design for tunnel construction. When the

engineering characterization of rock masses can be

estimated,

the physical indexes (for example, effective porosity and

sat

uration etc.) are very important quantities for the design

of

tunnel. In this paper, new estimation method of tunnel con

struction by conversion analysis system using seismic

velocity

and electric resistivity are proposed.

In this method, the evaluation of the seismic velocity

adopts the Wyllie’s equation, and the evaluation of the

electric

resistivity adopts the Archie’s equation. Though the seismic

velocity and electric resistivity are different physical

quantity,

these physical quantities can be related with the porosity

and

the saturation of rock masses as a parameter. These formulas

which are making from saturation and porosity for the param

eter consist on the each cell which divided the ground into
the
small sized elements. Therefore, if the resistivity and
seismic

velocity of the ground are already known, the unknown poros

ity and saturation can be obtained from this proposed method

using conversion analysis (optimization technique).

It is tried to estimate the rock masses in one tunnel con

struction site using our suggested method. In this site, the

measurements of P-wave velocity and resistivity can be done,

and the water contents and porosity of the rock mass in this

site can be getting by this conversion analysis system. In

case

of the comparison geological cross section of this site with

the distribution of water contents of this rock mass, it is

rec

ognized the points of high water contents correspond with

the

points of water. Besides, the relationship between the

distribu

tion of porosity in rock mass and the support pattern of

tunnel construction are also carried out. As the result, it
is recognized that the distribution of porosity and
saturation of rock mass around tunnel by this conversion
system correspond with that of the real rock mass
conditions. 2 THE OUTLINE OF CONVERSION ANALYSIS Seismic
velocity and resistivity are treated as different physical
quantities in evaluating the ground. But because these two
physical quantities have relations of saturation and
effective porosity, respectively, the saturation can be
connected to the effective porosity as parameters. For this
reason, joint inversion (hereinafter called conversion
analysis) which converts into effective porosity and
saturation, has been conducted using the in-situ
measurement results of seismic velocity and resistivity.
Seismic velocity was calculated using the next formula
proposed by Wyllie (1956) as a relational expression used
in the conversion analysis. where V p = seismic velocity of
rock masses; V m = seismic velocity of the test piece; V f
= seismic velocity of the pore water; V a = seismic
velocity of the pore air; φ= porosity; Sr : saturation. And
resistivity was calculated using the empirical formula
obtained in this research (Kusumi et al. 2000). where ρ=
resistivity; m, n, B = coefficient occurred by the
difference of the ground. Formula (1) and (2) are shown
respectively as the following uniting equation about one
which converts porosity f and saturation Sr, and shows in
Figure 1 ground element (cell which divides into a small
section) V 11 =f( φ11 ,Sr 11 ) ρ 11 =g( φ11 ,Sr 11 ) V ij
=f( φij ,Sr ij ) ρ ij =g( φij ,Sr ij ) Ground shape

Figure 1. Image of conversion. Distribution of

resistavirity value Distribution of wave velocity Joint
inversion Set up parameter of joint inversion Distribution
of

effective porosity Distribution of saturation Distribution

of volumetric water content Information of under
construction and design

Figure 2. The flow of the conversion.

Therefore, if the resistivity and seismic velocity of the

ground

are already known, an unknown porosity and saturation can

be obtained from the formula (3) and (4) by the

back-analysis

(optimization technique).

Figure 2 shows the flow of the conversion analysis. As an

input value used for the conversion analysis in this

research is

the value from the resistivity distributions calculated by

EM

explorations or high density electric explorations, and

from the

seismic velocity distribution calculated by high density

seis

mic explorations. A pair of a resistivity and a seismic

velocity
is obtained for each element of the rock masses from the
results

of these explorations. Before conducting the conversion anal

ysis using the figures of the resistivity and the seismic

velocity,

it is required that the seismic velocity of the test pieces

(V m ),

the seismic velocity of the pore water (V f ), the seismic

velocity

of the pore air (V a ) in the formula(1), and coefficient

occurred

by the difference of the ground quality in the formula (2),

be

set as conversion parameters. It is possible to calculate

the

distribution of porosity, saturation and volume percentage

of

moisture content of the ground by conducting the conversion

analysis after setting the conversion parameters. By

implementing the conversion of rock quality distribution
from the porosity in the known position with the boring etc
into the rock classification etc, using the distribution of
porosity calculated as above, volume percentage of moisture
content is calculated from rock mass classification of the
boring point, and a product of porosity and saturation, and
a spring is estimated from the rapidly changing points of
the volume percentage of moisture content (Nakamura et al.
2006). Through the conversion analysis following this flow,
it is possible to evaluate the results of seismic
exploration and resistivity exploration which used to be
evaluated individually more quantitatively. 3 THE METHOD OF
SETTING THE CONVERSION PARAMETERS Conversion parameters are
set by measuring resistivity and elastic wave in an indoor
experiment, using a boring core test piece in a considering
point. In this research, an indoor experiment was run using
simultaneous measuring instrument for resistivity and
elastic wave, which we developed (Kusumi et al. 2001). The
relational expressions of resistivity used for the
conversion analysis is a formula created when calculating
the relations of resistivity and saturation, and that of
resistivity and effective porosity from the measuring
results of the indoor experiment. The resistivity increases
exponentially as the saturation decreases, the relational
expression of the two is shown as follows. whereρ=
resistivity of the rock; Sr : saturation;A = resistivity in
the state of saturation; B = exponent. And from the
relation between the resistivity and the effective porosity
in the state of saturation, we obtained the relational
expression as follows. where, m = coefficient; n = exponent
Therefore, it is possible to set B, m, n, which are
conversion parameters by calculating these relations. The
fact that there is a good relation between the points that
are made by plotting the figures of the seismic velocity
obtained in the indoor experiment and a theoretical curve
made by Wyllie’s formula makes it possible to set the
conversion parameters on the seismic velocity. 4 THE
COMPARISON WITH THE CONSTRUCTION RECORD ON A CONSTRUCTING
TUNNEL 4.1 The outline of constructing tunnels The tunnel
that was researched on was a construction tunnel where
expanded TBM pilot tunnel excavation method is being
adopted. The point that was covered in this research is
about 200 m from the west pit where a preliminary study was
conducted to select route, using a resistivity exploration.
In the point, the designed pattern and the implemented
pattern from the investigation result are not consistent,
and on the contrary, they were reversed. Therefore,
high-density seismic exploration and EM 0 1000 2000 3000
4000 5000 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Effective porosity
(%) R e s i s t i v i t y v a l u e ( Ω m ) Existing date
Borehole core

Figure 3. Relationship between resistivity and effective

porosity.

exploration from lateral wall of TBM tunnel that was a point

of tunnel construction were conducted through the zone of

200 m to consider the gap stated as above. In this

research, the

adaptability of this system to the support and design was

con

sidered by conducting the conversion analysis using the

result

of multiple explorations and by comparing the construction

record.

4.2 The setting of the conversion parameters

Since there were only a small number of boring cores in the

position that was researched on this time, a database

developed

in this research was used to determine the parameters.

Figure 3

shows the measuring result, from the database, of the boring

core in the relation between resistivity and porosity in

the time

of saturation of granite.

From the chart, a measuring result of the boring core an

approximated curve obtained from the database are almost

the same although the collection points are different.

Figure 4

shows the relation of the seismic velocity and the

saturation.

The chart shows the measuring result of the boring core and

a theoretical curve obtained from the Wyllie’s formula. It

is

found that these measuring results and the theoretical curve

have good relations. Therefore, conversion parameters obtain

above are used in this research. Table 1 shows the

conversion

parameters used for the conversion analysis.

4.3 The comparison of the conversion result and geological

cross-section of tunnel lateral wall

Figure 5 shows the comparison of the distribution of volume

percentage of moisture content and geological cross-section

of tunnel lateral wall. Considering geological cross-section

of tunnel lateral wall, there are a lot of springs in the

point

where the distribution of volume percentage of moisture con

tent obtained from the conversion result is high. However,

the

volume percentage of moisture content is low on the whole in

the points covered in this research, and rapidly changing

point

on the volume percentage of moisture content was not found.

Therefore, there is no border between a permeable layer and

an

aquifuge and it is estimated that there is no spring. As

for the

spring evaluation of tunnel construction in this zone,

there are

only a few springs that ooze water, according to the geologi

cal cross-section of tunnel lateral wall and a spring

producing

water of a few litters per minute, which can be problematic

in the tunnel construction was not found. Although, in the

future, it is required to conduct and where there is a

spring, this 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 0 0.2 0.4
0.6 0.8 1 Suturation W a v e v e l o c i t y ( k m / s )
Borehole core date Equetion of Wyllie Figure 4.
Relationship between p-wave velocity and effective
porosity. Table 1. Joint inversion parameters. Joint
inversion coefficient m 4.23 n 1.3 B 2.63 wave velocity of
rock mass V m 5500 m/sec velocity of water V f 1500 m/sec
velocity of air V a 330 m/sec Figure 5. Comparing water
point with volumetric distribution of water content. result
indicates the possibility consider the evaluation using a
conversion result obtained that the distribution of volume
percentage of moisture content which is a conversion result
is effective in speculating the positions of springs. 4.4
The comparison of a conversion result and TBM constructed
support pattern Figure 6 shows a comparison of constructed
support pattern. On the construction record and a
distribution of porosity obtained from the comparison
result. support pattern is 243+00 243+50 244+00
244+50245+00

-3m

-6m

0m 1280 4 (%) CIICIICICIICICIICIDI CI

Figure 6. Comparing support of tunnel construction with

distribu

tion of porosity.

stronger in the order of C I, C II, D I. Since constructed

sup

port pattern is determined by a comprehensive judgment of

TBM machine data and a real situation of the rock, the more

unstable the situation of the rock is, the stronger the

support

pattern used becomes. Comparing the constructed support pat

tern and a porosity distribution obtained from the

conversion

result, the zone of D I pattern has a bigger figure of

porosity on

the whole than other zones, which can be said to be in a

good

accordance. Furthermore, the same situation was confirmed

in the patterns of C I, and C II.

5 CONCLUSIONS

In this research, new estimation method of tunnel

construction

by joint inversion using seismic velocity and electric

resistivity
are proposed. And then, it is tried to estimate the rock
masses

ABSTRACT: A subway tunnel is being constructed underneath

the Han River in Korea, to group better the northern and

southern part of Seoul metropolitan city. Designing this

subway tunnel, it has been suggested that the in-situ
stress regime in

rock mass should be measured to increase the precision of

tunnel construction. For this purpose, in-situ stress
measurement

by the hydraulic fracturing test was performed in a

sub-horizontal borehole. It was excavated with a very low
angle from the

southern part of the riverbank to the heart of the river.

Another hydrofracturing tests were performed in a vertical
borehole as

well as an inclined borehole. The vertical borehole was

excavated at the middle of the river with a help of a
temporary barge,

and the inclined borehole was excavated at the riverbank.

Through these measurements, in-situ stress regime was
identified

for several points. However the overall in-situ stress

regime through the whole tunnel route was needed for the
precise design.

The 3-D numerical analysis by 3DEC was applied to obtain

this goal. Consequently the total regime of in-situ stress
was given

by the enlarged interpretation of the hydrofracturing

stress measurement with the numerical analysis. This result
will be very

helpful to obtain the information about the in-situ stress

regime around a long-length tunnel.

1 INTRODUCTION

Since the hydrofracturing in-situ stress measurement in the

field has been introduced to Korea in the early 1990s, a

remarkable progress has been made in the analysis method

as well as in the measuring device with a lot of field

experi

ences. After first results of the stress measurements in the

field have been reported in the KIGAM’s bulletin (1992),

the numerous research papers on the hydraulic fracturing

test

have been introduced in Korea. Choi (1997) reported first

the

regional in-situ stress regime on the Korean peninsula with

the

accumulated field results. Choi et. al (1999) reported their

experience which has been obtained from the 350m depth

inclined borehole.

In spite of their efforts, several objections have been

arisen

in the determination of the K-value for tunnel design

because

the in-situ stress has been measured occasionally without a

deep consideration on the characteristics of the underground

structure as well as the rock mass geology. When a

relatively

short and shallow tunnel is proposed in a simple geological

condition, hydrofracturing tests in two or more boreholes

are

enough for determining the in-situ stress regime around the

tunnel route. Considering the long and deep tunnel in

complex

geological condition, however, it will not be easy to

acquire
the sufficient information.

Consequently a new approaching method for determining

the in-situ stress regime around the whole tunnel route is

introduced in this paper.

2 THEORY OF HYDROFRACTURING

2.1 In-situ stress measurements in vertical boreholes

Three kinds of analysis method for a vertical borehole are

general in hydrofracturing stress determination. The

elastic model analysis method assumes that rock is a
linear, elastic, and isotropic impermeable mass. The
poroelastic model analysis method allows the infiltration
of fluid into the rock mass. The fracture mechanics model
analysis method assumes the rock mass to be discontinuous
rather than continuous. In these three methods, the common
assumptions are that the borehole should be parallel to the
vertical principal stress, the rock mass is linear and
elastic, and the plane strain condition should be preserved
in the test interval. Among the several common assumptions,
the horizontal principal stress determination in the plane
strain condition is known to be a major weakness, even
though the hydrofracturing method is most popular in
in-situ stress measurement. Using the above assumptions,
the principal stresses can be given by the following
equations. where P c = breakdown pressure; S h , S H =
minimum and maximum horizontal principal stresses; P s =
shut-in pressure; P o = formation pore fluid pressure; T =
tensile strength of rock. 2.2 In-situ stress measurements
in inclined boreholes When none of three principal in-situ
stresses are parallel to the direction of borehole and the
borehole direction is not vertical, Ljunggren and Nordlund
(1990) have proposed the new analysis method. σ 1 , σ 2 and
σ 3 are three principal in-situ stresses oriented in the
vertical and horizontal planes as shown in Figure 1.The
rock is assumed to be linearly elastic, isotropic and
homogeneous. Consider an (S 1 , S 2 , S 3 ) coordinate
system where S 1 , S 2 and S 3 are parallel to the
directions of σ 1 , σ 2 and σ 3 (S H , S h and S V ),
respectively. The borehole orientation is defined by the
unit vector b as shown in Figure 1. The unit

Figure 1. Problem geometry and coordinate systems to

calculate the
stress distribution around an inclined borehole. (a)
In-situ stresses,

(b) definition of angles (After Ljunggren and Nordlund,

1990).

vector b is parallel to the borehole axis, and γ is the

vertical

angle between vector b and the vertical axis S 3 , and φ is

the

horizontal angle between S 1 and the projection of vector b

onto

the S 1 , S 2 plane. Using cylindrical polar coordinates

(r, θ, z )

where z is directed along the borehole axis, and a plane

strain

formulation, the total stress state at the borehole wall

can be

described as follows (Jaeger & Cook, 1976):

3 TEST RESULTS

3.1 Hydrofracturing in vertical borehole

The hydrofracturing in-situ stress measurement has been per

formed in the vertical borehole, which was excavated at the

middle of the Han River. In spite of a great wave in the

river,

the steel barge was helpful to stable the hardware systems.

The

5 points was chosen for testing interval. Figure 2 shows one

example of testing result. It shows the pressure-time curves

and the packer pressure with the flowrate into the interval
zone. Figure 2. An example of pressure-time history curve
obtained from hydrofracturing field test. Figure 3. A
photograph taken from the hydrofracturing test performed at
the middle of the Han River. Table 1. Summary of results
from the vertical borehole. Depth Dir. from P c σ h σ H of
S.L.(m) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) K h K H K H −13.7 6.17 1.10 1.31
4.78 5.69 −19.5 4.79 1.24 1.63 3.17 4.17 −24.5 6.13 0.86
0.97 1.62 1.83 N10 ◦ E ± 10 ◦ −28.7 6.57 0.94 1.07 1.46
1.67 −41.5 6.03 1.27 1.38 1.29 1.41 K h = σ h /σ V , K H =
σ H /σ V , Dir. of K H was obtained from the statistical
analysis on each hydrofractures. Figure 3 shows the
snapshot of the hydrofracturing test on the barge and Table
1 summarizes the results of in-situ stress distribution in
that borehole. 3.2 Hydrofracturing in inclined borehole
In-situ stress measurement by the hydraulic fracturing test
was performed in a sub-horizontal borehole. It was
excavated with a very low angle from the southern part of
the riverbank to the heart of the river (Figure 4). The 7
testing points were chosen, and the 3-dimensional stress
regime was identified from these tests.

Figure 4. A photograph taken from the hydrofracturing test

for

inclined borehole, performed at the riverbank.

Table 2. Summary of results from the inclined borehole.

Inclined Vertical P s Frac. Frac.

depth depth Dip, Dip-dir,

(m) (m) (MPa) α( ◦ ) β( ◦ )

160 27.8 2.78 70 10

173 30.0 3.02 73 12

179 31.1 2.55 84 15

183 31.8 1.97 75 11

188 32.6 2.03 72 9

194 33.7 2.54 79 13

S 1 (MPa) 1.50 l =−0.87, m = 0.24, n = 0.43

S 2 (MPa) 1.22 l = 0.38, m =−0.22, n = 0.89

S 3 (MPa) 0.87 l =−0.30, m =−0.91, n =−0.10

Results from the hydrofracturing tests on the inclined bore

hole are summarized in Table 2. In Table 2, the P s means
the

stress perpendicular to the fracture plane, not the minimum

horizontal principal stress just like in the vertical

borehole

analysis method. Equation (3) can be used for calculation

of the magnitude and direction of the 3-dimensional in-situ

stresses.

where the subscript imeans the i-th testing interval, x, y,

z

means the Cartesian coordinate system, S jk ( j, k = x, y,

z)

denotes the 6 unknown stresses, and l i , m i , n i is the

directional

cosine of S ni to x, y, z, respectively.

4 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS FOR ENLARGEMENT OF

HYDROFRACTURING TEST RESULTS

The 3-dimensional numerical analysis has been performed by

using the 3DEC program.The purpose of this numerical analy

sis was for enlarging the interpretation of in-situ stress

regime

on the whole tunnel route from the hydrofracturing field

tests

in several locations.

For this purpose, the rock mass around the proposed tunnel

has been modeled in 3DEC. Figure 5 shows the 3-D mesh for

our target area. It shows the bottom of the Han River. And

Figure 6 shows the joint sets used in our numerical

analysis Figure 5. 3-dimensional mesh for the 3DEC
numerical anlysis. Figure 6. Joint sets used for generating
the 3-dimensional discrete block models. Figure 7.
Stabilized 3-dimensional blocks after numerical
calculation. Figure 8. In-situ principal stress
distribution through the proposed tunnel. to generate the
3-dimensional discrete blocks. Figure 7 shows the block
patterns after stabilization, as being exposed by the
gravitational load. The pattern of principal stresses
distribution through the proposed tunnel can be drawn as
shown in Figure 8. In this figure, the top graph shows the
topography and tunnel route

Figure 9. K-value distribution through the whole tunnel

route,

obtained from using the field results and the numerical

results.

with the location of hydrofracturing test boreholes, and the

bottom graph shows the maximum, minimum, and intermedi

ate principal stresses distribution from the 3DEC results.

From the field test results, it was examined that the max

imum principal stresses were 1.38MPa at the T-11 borehole

location and 1.65MPa at the T-21 borehole location when it

is concerned at the proposed tunnel depth. From the numeri

cal analysis as shown in Figure 8, the principal stresses

were

1.22 MPa and 1.80 MPa at T-11 and T-21 borehole, respec

tively. These results show a good agreement. Therefore the

K-value, which is the ratio of the maximum horizontal princi

pal stress to the vertical stress, and is identical for the

tunnel

design, can be interpreted through the whole tunnel route

(Figure 9).

5 CONCLUSIONS

The combined analysis on the in-situ stress measurement has

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Im Auftrag der italienischen Eisenbahnen,
vertreten durch Italferr, plant die spanische Bau

firma Ferrovial-Agroman den zwischen Andora und S. Lorenzo

al Mare gelegenen Abschnitt der NBS Genua-Ventimiglia.

Der vorliegende Beitrag berichtet über die

Ausführungsplanung für die Tübbingauskleidung von 5
insgesamt 12 km lan

gen maschinell aufzufahrenden Tunnels, die WBI im Auftrag

von Ferrovial erstellt hat. Eine Besonderheit hierbei war
die

Vorgabe, die Dicke der Tübbingauskleidung auf 40 cm zu

beschränken, um die Nutzung einer vorhandenen Second-Hand

Maschine zu ermöglichen. Üblicherweise werden die

statischen Nachweise für Tübbingauskleidungen vereinfacht
mit Hilfe

des Bettungsmodulverfahrens geführt. Dabei wird der

Wechselwirkung zwischen Baugrund und Bauwerk nicht immer im
aus

reichenden Maße Rechnung getragen.Auch die

Spannungsverläufe und dieVerschiebungen im Bereich der
Fugen werden meist

nur durch stark vereinfachende Ansätze erfaßt. Im

vorliegenden Fall wurden die statischen Nachweise mit
pseudoräumlichen

und räumlichen FE-Berechnungen durchgeführt. Hierbei wurden

sowohl der Untergrund als auch die Tübbingauskleidung

mit hohem Detaillierungsgrad nachgebildet, und die

Belastung der Tübbingauskleidung konnte sowohl im Bereich
der

einzelnen Tübbinge als auch im Bereich der Fugen

wirklichkeitsnah erfaßt werden. Ergänzende Berechnungen zu
einem

teilweise gebetteten Tübbingring unter Eigengewicht

unterstreichen die Bedeutung einer vollständigen
Ringspaltverpressung

im Schildschwanzbereich.
ABSTRACT: On behalf of the Italian Railways, represented by
Italferr, the Spanish contractor Ferrovial-Agroman is con

structing the section between Andora and S. Lorenzo al Mare

of the New Railway Line from Genua to Ventimiglia. The
given

article gives an overview on the design for execution of

the segmental lining of 5 machine driven tunnels with a
total length of

12 km. The design was elaborated by WBI on behalf of

Ferrovial. For the design, it was requested to restrict the
thickness of

the segmental lining to 40 cm in order to enable the use of

a Second-Hand-TBM. It is common to carry out simplified
statical

analyses with the modulus of subgrade reaction for

segmental lining design. In doing so, the interaction
between ground and

structure is not sufficiently taken into account in many

cases. Also the stresses and strains in the area of the
constructive joints

are normally evaluated on the grounds of too simplified

assumptions. In the given case, the statical analyses were
carried out

with the aid of pseudo-3Dand 3D-FE-analyses. In these

analyses, the rock mass as well as the segmental lining
were simulated

in great detail. This way, a realistic analysis of the

stresses and strains in the segments themselves as well as
in the area of the

joints was possible. Supplementary FE-analyses, considering

a partially bedded segmental lining under self-weight,
underline

the importance of a complete annular gap grouting directly

at the shield tail.

1 PROJEKT

Italferr, eine Firma der Gruppe der Italienischen Eisenbah

nen, plant eine Eisenbahn-Neubaustrecke zwischen Genua

und Ventimiglia an der Grenze zu Frankreich. Der Auftrag

für den Abschnitt zwischen den Orten Andora und S. Lorenzo

al Mare wurde an die spanische Baufirma Ferrovial Agroman

erteilt (Bild 1). Es sind in diesem Streckenabschnitt

insgesamt

9 zweigleisige Tunnel geplant. Die Ausschreibung von Ital

ferr sah einen konventionellen Vortrieb vor. Die ausführende

Firma Ferrovial Agroman hat für 5 der 9 geplanten Tunnel

den Sondervorschlag eines maschinellen Vortriebs eingere

icht. Die 5 Tunnel sind in Bild 1 in rot hervorgehoben. Sie

sind zwischen 2,6 und 3,4 km lang. Die Ausführungsplanung

für die Tübbingauskleidung dieser 5 Tunnel wurde von WBI

im Auftrag von Ferrovial erstellt. Bild 1. Lageplan

Abschnitt Andora – S. Lorenzo al Mare der NBS Genua –
Ventimiglia.

Bild 2. Tunnel Collecervo-S. Simone, Längsschnitt.

Bild 3. Tunnel Bardellini, Längsschnitt.

2 UNTERGRUNDVERHÄLTNISSE

Bild 2 zeigt den geotechnischen Längsschnitt der Tun

nel Collecervo-S. Simone. Sie kommen im Flysch H1 mit

Überlagerungen bis etwa 345 m zu liegen. Der Flysch H1

besteht aus einer Wechsellagerung von Sandund Mergel

steinen, in die untergeordnet Tonsteine eingelagert sind.

Er ist

etwa horizontal geschichtet und vertikal geklüftet und neigt

zu Verwitterung an der Geländeoberfläche. In Abhängigkeit

von der Lage im Bereich von Falten, zwischen Störungszonen

oder in völlig ungestörten Bereichen, werden vom Gutachter

Spannweiten für die Kennwerte angegeben (Bild 2).

In regelmäßigen Abständen ist mit Störungszonen zu

rechnen, die überwiegend unter spitzem Winkel zum Tun

nel streichen. Gemäß den Erkundungen stellen sich die

Störungszonen als eine Wechsellagerung aus steifen Tonen,

einem rezementierten Material und intaktem Fels dar.

Als Bemessungswasserdruck ist ein Wert von 6 bar

vorgegeben.

Die Tunnel Caighei und Gorleri kommen in ähnlichen

Untergrundverhältnissen mit geringeren Überlagerungen zu

liegen.

Der Tunnel Bardellini durchörtert auf etwa 60% seiner

Länge ebenfalls den Flysch H1 (Bild 3). Die übrigen

Abschnitte kommen im Flysch H2 sowie in der sogenannten

Pog-Zone zu liegen. Im Flysch H2 dominieren im Gegensatz

zum Flysch H1 die Schichten der Tonund Schluffsteine, so

daß die angegebenen Kennwerte insgesamt schlechter sind

(vgl. Bilder 2 und 3). Bild 4. Tübbingringe, Abwicklung.

Die Pog-Zone besteht aus einem stark verdichteten
tonigschluffigen Sand mit Kieseln und z.T. größeren
Felsstücken, die fest in die Matrix eingebunden sind. Die
vom Gutachter angegebenen Kennwerte sind entsprechend
gering im Vergleich zum Flysch (Bild 3). Die Überlagerung
in der Pog-Zone beträgt bis etwa 100 m, der Wasserspiegel
steht etwa 30 m oberhalb der Firste an. 3 VORTRIEBSMASCHINE
Für den Tunnelvortrieb wird eine Second-Hand-Maschine der
Firma Herrenknecht eingesetzt, mit der vorher der Dublin
Port Tunnel aufgefahren wurde. Es handelt sich um eine
geschildete Hartgesteinsmaschine. Der Bohrdurchmesser
beträgt 11,8 m, der Innendurchmesser im Bereich des
Schildschwanzes beträgt 11,6 m. Der lichte Durchmesser der
zweigleisigen Eisenbahnstrecke beträgt 10,8 m. Hieraus
ergibt sich eine maximal mögliche Dicke der
Tübbingauskleidung von 40 cm. Dies war eine wesentliche
Voraussetzung für die Planung. Darüber hinaus waren die
Randbedingungen für die Ringspaltverpressung vorgegeben: im
Schild selber sind zwei Öffnungen im Sohlbereich
vorgesehen. Der Ulmenund Firstbereich des Ringspalts kann
nur über Injektionsöffnungen in den Tübbingen selber
verpreßt werden. Hier ist sowohl die Injektion von
Zementmörtel als auch das Einblasen von Perlkies möglich. 4
KONSTRUKTION DER TÜBBINGE Die Konstruktion der Tübbinge
wurde von den in Abschnitt 3 genannten maschinentechnischen
Vorgaben beeinflußt. Darüber hinaus sollte die bestehende
Lage und Einteilung der Pressen beibehalten werden. Damit
mußten zunächst die für den Dublin Port Tunnel geplante
Ringeinteilung und – positionen übernommen werden. Dort
waren 6 Segmente und 1 Schlußstein sowie zwei
Ringpositionen mit Lage des Schlußsteins rechts und links
von der Firste vorgesehen (Bilder 4, 5). Werden nur diese
beiden Positionen verwendet, so kommt es zu durchgehenden
Längsfugen im Ulmenund Sohlenbereich. Um dies zu vermeiden,
wurde im Zuge der Planung für die vorliegenden 5 Tunnel die
Ringposition 3 eingeführt, bei der der Schlußstein im
rechten oberen Ulmenbereich zu liegen kommt. Sie muß in
jedem 2. Ring vorgesehen werden, um durchgehende Längsfugen
zu vermeiden (Bilder 4, 5). Die Tübbingringe wurden als
Rechtsund Linksringe mit einer mittleren Breite von 1,7 m
und einer Konizität von 30 mm geplant. Je Rechtsbzw.
Linksring sind 3

Bild 5. Ringpositionen.

Bild 6. Abwicklung Tübbinge S2 – S5.

Bild 7. Detail Längsfuge Tübbinge S1 – S6.

verschiedene Segment-Typen vorgesehen: der Schlußstein,

die Nachbarsteine S1 und S6 sowie die etwa 5,3 m langen

Normalsteine S2 bis S5 (Bild 4).

In den Normalsteinen sowie auch in den Nachbarsteinen

des Schlußsteins sind je drei Schrauben in den Ringfugen und

zwei Schrauben in den Längsfugen vorgesehen. In jedem Stein

sind darüber hinaus zwei Zentrierkonen vorgesehen, die zusät

zlich alsVorbohrungen für die Ringspaltverpressung durch die

Tübbinge dienen (Bild 6).

Bild 7 zeigt einen Schnitt durch die Verschraubung in der

Längsfuge zwischen Tübbingen S1 bis S6. Es ist eine flache

Fugenausbildung mit außen liegender Dichtung vorgesehen.

Die Kraftübertragungsfläche hat eine Höhe von 17 cm.

Die Fugen in der Ringfuge sind in gleicher Weise und damit

ebenfalls flach ausgebildet. Eine Kopplung der Ringe, wie

sie durch Topf-Nockeoder Nut-Feder-Systeme erzielt wird,

spielt erfahrungsgemäß im Gebirge mit E-Moduli größer etwa

500 MN/m 2 keine Rolle. Bild 8. Detail Längsfuge Tübbinge

S6 – K und K – S1. Bild 9. FE-Netz für pseudoräumliche
FE-Standsicherheitsberechnungen. Die Längsfugen zwischen
dem Schlußstein und den Nachbarsteinen S1 und S6 sind mit
Nut und Feder ausgebildet, um den lagegenauen Einbau des
Schlußsteins durch eine entsprechende Führung zu
erleichtern (Bild 8). 5 STATISCHE NACHWEISE Für die
Bemessung der Tübbingauskleidung wurden Berechnungen nach
der Methode der finiten Elemente mit den WBI-eigenen
FE-Programmen durchgeführt [1]. Zunächst wurden
pseudo-räumliche Berechnungen mit dem in Bild 9
dargestellten FE-Netz durchgeführt. Nachgebildet wird der
Untergrund mit Wichte, elastischen Kennwerten sowie
Reibungswinkel und Kohäsion, die je nach betrachtetem
Berechnungsquerschnitt gewählt werden (Bild 9). Die über
den oberen Netzrand hinaus gehende Überlagerung wird mit
Hilfe einer Auflast nachgebildet. Der Grundwasserspiegel
wird je nach Lage des Berechnungsquerschnitts an der
Geländeoberfläche bzw. 60 m oberhalb der Firste des Tunnels
angenommen. Im Bereich des Tunnels ist die 40 cm dicke
Tübbingauskleidung mit der Segmenteinteilung gemäß
Ringposition 1 nachgebildet (Bild 10). Der Tübbingbeton
sowie auch der getrennt nachgebildete Ringspaltmörtel
werden mit elastischem Materialverhalten simuliert (Bild
11). In der Fuge zwischen Beton und Mörtel wird ein
reduzierter Schubverbund angenommen. Im Bereich der
Längsfugen ist die Kontaktfläche maßgetreu abgebildet. Hier
wird eine Zugfestigkeit von 0 und ebenfalls ein
verminderter Schubverbund mit 45 ◦ Reibungswinkel und
Kohäsion Null angenommen. Darüber hinaus werden die
Schrauben

Bild 10. FE-Netz, Detail Tunnel.

Bild 11. FE-Netz, Detail Fuge.

Bild 12. Simulation der Vorspannung von Dichtungsprofil und

Schrauben.

als Stabelemente mit einer Steifigkeit entsprechend den tat

sächlichen Verhältnissen nachgebildet. Das Dichtungsprofil

ist mit einer vereinfachten, rechteckigen Geometrie nachge

bildet. Die angenommenen Abmessungen entsprechen denen

des komprimierten Profils zu Beginn des Einbaus.

Zur wirklichkeitsnahen Simulation der Vorspannung der

Schrauben und Dichtungsprofile wird folgendes Vorgehen

gewählt (Bild 12): in einem ersten Schritt wird im Bere

ich der Tübbinge Luft angenommen. Die Stabelemente

zur Nachbildung der Schrauben werden mit der planmäßi

gen Vorspannkraft belastet. Die Dichtungsprofile werden in

Ringrichtung mit einer Spannung belastet, die sich aus der

Bild 13. Bewehrungstypen. Kraft, die für eine
100%-igeVorspannung erforderlich ist, und der Fläche des
Profils ergibt. In der Querrichtung des Dichtungsprofils
wird behinderte Seitendehnung angenommen. In einem zweiten
Schritt wird der spannungslose Einbau des Betons um das
verformte Dichtungsprofil und die verformten Schrauben
simuliert. Gleichzeitig werden die Vorspannkräfte
weggenommen. Hierdurch kommt es zu einer Belastung des
Betons durch die Rückstellkräfte. (Bild 12) Auf diese Weise
ist eine wirklichkeitsnahe Nachbildung der Beanspruchung
der Tübbinge möglich. 6 BEWEHRUNG Die 40 cm dicken Tübbinge
wurden mit einem Beton C45/55 und einem Stahl FeB44K, der
eine etwas geringere Streckgrenze als der BSt 500 hat,
bemessen. Den sehr unterschiedlichen
Untergrundverhältnissen wurde durch vier verschiedene Typen
hinsichtlich der Bewehrung Rechnung getragen (Bild 13). Für
Typ I ist die Mindestbewehrung in Ringrichtung von 6 cm 2
/m vorgesehen. Es ergibt sich ein Bewehrungsgehalt von etwa
130 kg/m 3 Beton. Dieser Bewehrungstyp wird auf 84% der
Länge der Tunnel eingebaut. Für höhere Überlagerungen
und/oder schlechtere Untergrund-verhältnisse, die auf etwa
16% der Gesamtlänge und damit auf etwa 2 km zu erwarten
sind, müssen die stärker bewehrten Segment-Typen II, III
und IV eingesetzt werden. Insbesondere die beiden Typen III
und IV sind mit Bewehrungsgehalten von 350 und 360 kg/m 3
Beton sehr stark bewehrt (Bild 13). Nur so war es möglich,
eine 40 cm dickeTübbingauskleidung nachzuweisen und damit
einen durchgehenden maschinellen Vortrieb zu ermöglichen.
Für die zugehörigen Nachweise waren z.T. aufwendige
drei-dimensionale Berechnungen erforderlich (s. Abschnitt
8). Die detaillierte Nachbildung der einzelnen Tübbingringe
und der Tübbinge im Fugenbereich in dem FE-Netz ermöglicht
die Berechnung kontinuierlicher Spannungsund
Schnittgrößenverläufe in der gesamten Tübbingauskleidung.
Beispielhaft zeigt Bild 14 die Hauptnormalspannungen im
Bereich der Längsfuge für einen Fall. Es sind sehr schön
die großen Druckspannungen im Bereich der Kontaktfläche und
die sich hieraus ergebenden Querzugspannungen zu erkennen.
Noch deutlicher wird dies in Bild 15, in dem die Spannungen
in radialer Richtung in Schnitten dargestellt sind. Zur
Ermittlung der Spaltzugkräfte infolge der Pressenkräfte im
Bereich der Ringfugen wurden gesonderte dreidimensionale
Berechnungen an einem Segment durchgeführt (Bild 16). Das
Segment wurde mit seinen realen Abmessungen nachgebildet.
An der Vorderseite wurde die Belastung durch die

Bild 14. Spaltzug im Bereich der Längsfuge, Hauptnormalspan

nungen.

Bild 15. Spaltzug im Bereich der Längsfuge, Spannungen in

Schnitten.

Bild 16. FE-Netz für den Nachweis des Spaltzugs in der

Ringfuge.

Vortriebspressen aufgebracht, an der Rückseite wurden die

Hartfaserplatten zur Kraftübertragung auf den benachbarten

Ring als Auflager simuliert (Bild 17). Die errechneten Haupt

normalspannungen in der Belastungsebene des Tübbings

sind für einen Beispielfall in Bild 18 dargestellt. Auch

hier sind sehr schön die Druckspannungen unterhalb der

Pressenschuhe zu erkennen. In dem Bereich zwischen den

Pressenschuhen ergibt sich Zug infolge der punktuellen Belas

tung durch die Pressen und der linienförmigen Auflagerung

Bild 17. Nachweis Spaltzug Ringfuge, Lasten Tübbing S3.
Bild 18. Nachweis Spaltzug Ringfuge, Hauptnormalspannungen.
Bild 19. Nachweis Spaltzug Ringfuge, Spannungen in
Schnitten. an der Rückseite (Bild 19). Hierfür ist eine
entsprechende Bewehrung vorzusehen. 7 BETTUNG Aufgrund von
Überlegungen der Baufirma, die Ringspaltverpressung nur im
Sohlbereich direkt am Schildschwanz durchzuführen und im
Bereich der Ulmen und Firste erst in einem größeren Abstand
vom Schildschwanz, wurden zusätzliche FE-Berechnungen mit
reduzierter Bettung der Tübbingringe erforderlich. Dabei
wurden verschiedene Erstreckungen des verpreßten Ringspalts
angenommen. Die Bilder 20 bis 22 zeigen den Fall mit der
geringsten angenommenen Bettung nur im Bereich des
Sohltübbings. Betrachtet wurde die Belastung eines derart
gebetteten Rings unter Eigengewicht. Für diesen Lastfall
ergeben sich große

Bild 20. Nur im Sohlbereich gebetteter Tübbingring, FE-Netz.

Bild 21. Verformung des teilweise gebetteten Tübbingrings

unter

Eigengewicht, Problem bei der Montage.

Bild 22. Teilweise gebetteter Ring unter Eigengewicht,

Bemessung

für volle Sicherheit.

Verschiebungen von ∼20 cm in der Firste und ∼16 cm in der

Ulme (Bild 21).

Infolgedessen öffnen sich die Fugen an der Außenseite

der Ulmen, so daß die Gefahr von Undichtigkeiten besteht.

Darüber hinaus kommt es zu deutlichen Überbeanspruchun

gen der Tübbinge. In Bild 22 sind in roter Farbe die

erforderlichen Bewehrungsgehalte für reguläre Sicherheiten

dargestellt. In blauer Farbe ist die vorgesehene Bewehrung

für den Typ I dargestellt. Es zeigt sich, daß diese nicht

aus

reicht. Dies gilt auch, wenn die Sicherheit auf 1,0

reduziert

wird. Qualitativ ähnliche Ergebnisse ergeben sich auch bei

größeren verpreßten Bereichen des Ringspalts. Wie bereits

Bild 23. Störungszone bei hoher Überlagerung, 3D-FE-Netz.
Bild 24. Einheitliche Normung in Europa, Beispiele. erwähnt
wurde bei den Berechnungen lediglich die Belastung durch
das Eigengewicht des Tübbingrings betrachtet. Die
Ergebnisse machen sehr deutlich, wie wichtig eine
vollständige Verpressung des Ringspalts direkt am
Schildschwanz ist. 8 SONDERFRAGEN Wie bereits erwähnt,
waren für einige Tunnelabschnitte aufwendige Betrachtungen
erforderlich, um die Bemessung der 40 cm Tübbinge für die
vorliegenden Untergrundverhältnisse und 6 bar Wasserdruck
zu ermöglichen. Beispielhaft sei an dieser Stelle eines der
verwendeten räumliche FE-Netze gezeigt. Das in Bild 23
dargestellte FE-Netz wurde für Standsicherheitsberechnungen
im Bereich der Störungszonen bei hoher Überlagerung in
denTunneln Collecervo und Bardellini verwendet. Die
Abmessungen, die Lage und die Orientierung sowie die
Charakteristika der Störungszone wurden wirklichkeitsnah
nachgebildet. 9 ANMERKUNGEN ZUR EINHEITLICHKEIT DER NORMUNG
IN EUROPA Sowohl in Deutschland als auch in Italien und
Spanien wurde der EC2 eingeführt, allerdings mit nationalen
Zusatzregeln, die durchaus unterschiedlich sind [2, 3].
Beispielsweise beträgt der bei der Bemessung zu
berücksichtigende E-Modul des Betons C45/55 in Spanien
32.000 MPa, in Deutschland 36.000 MPa und Italien 42.000
MPa. Weitere ausgewählte Beispiele für solche Abweichungen
sind in Bild 24 zusammengestellt. Sie machen deutlich, daß
man sich auch

innerhalb Europas mit der jeweiligen nationalen Normung

auseinandersetzen muß. Von einheitlicher Normung kann

nur eingeschränkt die Rede sein. In jedem Fall führt die

Bemessung eines Tunnels in Italien bei gleichen Untergrund

verhältnissen, Schalendicken und Betonwie Stahlgüten, zu

höheren Bewehrungsgraden als in Deutschland, wohingegen

man in Spanien den gleichen Tunnel mit weniger Bewehrung

bauen kann.

QUELLENVERZEICHNIS

[1] Wittke, W. (1999): Tunnelstatik – Grundlagen.

WBIVeröffentlichungen Geotechnik in Forschung und Praxis,
WBIPrint 4. Essen: Verlag Glückauf GmbH. [2] DIN (1992):
DIN V ENV 1992 Teil 1-1, Eurocode 2: Planung von
Stahlbetonund Spannbetontragwerken; Teil 1 Grundlagen und
Anwendungsregeln für den Hochbau. Deutsche Fassung ENV
1992-1-1: 1991. Berlin: Beuth Verlag GmbH. [3] D.M.
9.1.1996: Norme tecniche per il calcolo, l’esecuzione ed il
collaudo delle strutture in cemento armato, normale e
precompresso e per le strutture metalliche. Sezione III:
Eurocodice 2 – UNI ENV 1992-1-1: criteri e prescrizioni.
Pubblicato sul Supll. Ord. G.U. n. 29 del 5/2/96, Serie
generale. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Experimental assessment of rock mass
behaviour in surrounding of utility tunnels J.Trcˇková
Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Academy of
Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

ABSTRACT: Underground utility tunnels and other

technological and specific tunnels and foundations of the
ground

structures can interact mutually and influence their

stability and cause adverse reaction. This study deals with
experimen

tal modelling of this problem on physical scale models,

i.e. models from physically equivalent materials. The
analysis was

focused on determining stress distributions due to

construction of strip footing above existing lined tunnel
stiffened by an

equivalent of the real lining with various strengths.

Monitoring of the stress changes around the tunnel was
carried out by
semiconductor transducers. The transducers were situated in
a way enables to register stress state changes both in
vertical and

horizontal directions. The loading of the model was applied

in width equality to diameter of the tunnel and realized by
succes

sively increasing external loading on the model surface.

The presence of the tunnel caused stress redistribution in
dependence

of stiffness of the tunnel lining, depth of the tunnel

under surface and location of the strip foundation to the
longitudinal axis

of the tunnel.

1 INTRODUCTION

Underground utility tunnels and other technological and spe

cific tunnels constructed in small depths under the surface

occur often under building foundations, especially in an

urban

area. These tunnels and foundations of the ground structures

can interact mutually and influence their stability and

cause

adverse reaction. Redistribution of the stress around the

tunnel

depends not only on properties of environmental soils,

tunnel

size and location, but also on tunnel lining stiffness (Jao

&

Wang 2000). The analysis was focused on determining stress

distributions due to construction of strip footing above

exist

ing lined tunnel. Distribution of the stress around

horizontally

located circular tunnel with diameter about 1.6 m under the

strip footings in dependence on the lining stiffness, depth
of

the tunnel under the surface and location of the strip

footing

with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tunnel was

carried

out on physical scale models.

Physical modelling is one of the most important methods for

study of effects taking place in rock mass in connection

with

construction of underground structures. The modelling allows

us to investigate mechanisms of geotechnical phenomena,

predict stress changes and their demonstration during vari

ous progresses of underground construction and also during

simulation of operating conditions.

Basic rules of the experimental scale modelling and for

mulation of the boundary conditions for modelling comes

out from the principles of geometrical and physical

similarity

which is inferred from a consideration of dimensional

analysis

(Kožešník 1983). Disadvantage of the experimental modelling

is restricted by results, which are valid only in the frame

of

tested conditions and it is impossible to generalize them.

2 EXPERIMENTAL MODEL TESTS

Series of the physical models were constructed on

a scale of 1 : 20 in modelling stand with dimensions

500 × 500 × 570 mm (Figure 1). Modelled tunnel of cylin

drical shape with equivalent to tunnel concrete lining had

inner diameter 80 mm. The longitudinal axis of the tunnel

Figure 1. View of a face of the stand. was put 200
respectively 300 mm under the model surface symmetrically
with respect to the sidewalls of the stand. In used scale,
modelled tunnel represented utility tunnel with diameter of
1.6 m in the depths of 4 m (respectively 6 m) under the
surface (Trcˇková 2005). The modelled tunnels were
stiffened by an equivalent of a real lining with different
strength. The linings were prepared from hardened paper
with the thickness of 0.2, 1.6, and 3.4 mm. The deformation
characteristics of the equivalents of the linings are
depicted in Figure 2. An equivalent material used for
constructing models, was created by compound of siliceous
sand, bentonite and fat and its properties were determined
by standard tests (Head 1992): Volume mass ρ 1.45 g/cm 3
Compressive strength σ t 0.027 MPa Strength in simple
tension σ c 0.006 MPa Cohesion c p 0.014 MPa Angle of
internal friction φ p 34 ◦ 50 ′ Young’s modulus E def 0.12
MPa Poisson’s coefficient ν 0.28 The applied equivalent
material is very plastic with a high rate of permanent
deformation and on the model scale produced consolidated
soils of the mudstone type. Monitoring of the stress
changes around the tunnel was carried out by semiconductor
transducers of type TM 440/2

Figure 2. Deformation curves of equivalent of the tunnel

lining for

various thicknesses.

which measure the stress applied perpendicular on their

bearing surface. During the model construction, the transduc

ers were placed in the model material in two vertical planes

passing through the centre of the model stand perpendicular

to

the tunnel longitudinal axis. The transducers were situated

in

a way enables to register stress state changes both in

vertical

and horizontal directions. The automatic measuring system

UNILOG 2500 was used for the data registration.

The loading of the model was realized as by weight

of the overburden equivalent material as by incrementally

increasing external loading. The external loading repre

senting strip footing was applied on the model surface in

width equality to diameter of the tunnel parallel, respec

tively perpendicular with longitudinal axes of the tunnel

and

in all length, respectively width, of the model stand. The

external loading successively reached of 7, 13.5, 19.5 and

25.5 kN/cm 2 .

3 RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS

3.1 Stress distribution in dependence on increasing

external loading of the tunnel

One model of the tunnel lined by lining of 1.6 mm thickness

was constructed and the redistribution of horizontal and

verti

cal stresses in the neighbourhood of the tunnel due to

external

loading representing strip footing constructed above a tun

nel was studied. The external loading by metal weights was

applied in this case parallel with longitudinal axes of the

tunnel

and successively increased to 7.0, 13.5, 19.5 and 25.5

kN/cm 2 .

The results of this experiment demonstrate expansion of

domains affected by equivalent of the strip footing of

various
weights (Figure 3). Figure 3. Stress distribution (in kPa)
due to successively increasing external loading; (a)
vertical stress, (b) horizontal stress. Tunnel lining
thickness of 1.6 mm. 3.2 Stress distribution in dependence
on a stiffness of the tunnel lining Four models, were
constructed, one without the tunnel and three with tunnel
lined by lining of various thicknesses (0.2 mm, 1.6 mm and
3.4 mm) with longitudinal axes of the tunnel positioned 200
mm under model surface. Vertical and horizontal stresses in
the neighbourhood of the tunnel were measured during
successively loading model surface above tunnel by the
metal weights. The loading representing strip footing was
applied once again in direction parallel with longitudinal
axis of the tunnel. The presence of the tunnel caused
stress redistribution in dependence on stiffness of the
tunnel lining. In the Figure 4, vertical and horizontal
stresses distribution under external loading of 25.5 kN/cm
2 is demonstrated. It is evident that in spite of the same
external loading of the model caused different stress
redistribution around the tunnel. Strength of the tunnel
lining has a significant influence to deformational process
in the neighbourhood of the tunnel. 3.3 Stress distribution
in dependence on the tunnel depth under the surface To find
stress redistribution in the neighbourhood of the tunnel
due to various tunnel depths under the surface, further
models were constructed. The models about 100 mm higher,
one

Figure 4. Stress distribution (in kPa) due to various

thicknesses of

the tunnel lining; (a) vertical stress, (b) horizontal

stress.

without a tunnel and second with the tunnel with

longitudinal

axis of 300 mm under the model surface were prepared. The

semiconductor transducers stayed on the same place as in the

previous models, i.e. in the same places with respect to

tunnel

position.

The tunnel lining was prepared from hardened paper with

thickness of 1.6 mm. In this case, models were loaded once

again parallel with longitudinal axis of the tunnel and
loading

successively increased up to 25.5 kN/cm 2 . In comparison

with

results obtained in the previous model, it proved to be

equiva

lent material of overburden absorbed part of the stress

caused

by strip footing loading. In the Figure 5, demonstration of

one

state of the model test is given. The same state of the

model

test but with equivalent of the strip footing perpendicular

with

longitudinal axis of the tunnel is shown in Figure 6.

3.4 Stress distribution in dependence of strip footing

location with respect to the longitudinal axis of the
tunnel

Series of similar scale models were prepared to assess an

influence of strip footing location with respect to the

tunnel

longitudinal axis to redistribution stresses around the

tunnel.

The increasing external loading of the models, representing

strip footing, was realized perpendicular with longitudinal

axis of the tunnel.

The models were constructed like with tunnel axis placed

200 mm as 300 mm under the model surface.Tunnel lining was

chosen equal of 1.6 mm thickness for these models. Also two

Figure 5. Vertical components of the stress redistribution
(in kPa) in dependence on two tunnel depths under surface.
Strip footing parallel to the longitudinal axes of the
tunnel. Tunnel lining thickness was of 1.6 mm. Figure 6.
Vertical components of the stress redistribution (in kPa)
in dependence on two tunnel depths under surface. Strip
footing perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the
tunnel. Tunnel lining thickness was of 1.6 mm. models
without tunnel were prepared, first one lower and second
one about 100 mm higher. In comparison with the Figure 5
and 6 it is possible to see changes between stress
distributions in dependence on the strip footing location
with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tunnel. 4
CONCLUSION It has been shown that the strength of the
equivalent of the concrete lining, depth of the tunnel
under surface and location of the strip footing principally
influence distribution of the stress. Some range of
relative stiffness was considered in our study for a
typical location of small tunnels.

The reason, wherefore first of all described scale physi

cal models were carried out, was to use results from

physical

scale models in numerical modeling. Coupled modeling of

behaviour of structures (mutual comparison of experimen

tal and numerical models) becomes very powerful tool for

assessment and design (Procházka et al. 2006).

The results of the experimental model tests, discussed in

this paper, served to find constitutive laws for numerical

mod

elling. On the basis of experiment results, internal

parameters

for numerical models were determined.The numerical solving

starts with results of physical scale models, while

numerical

methods involves the finite element method with constitutive

law by Desai’s Distinct State Concept (Desai 1994,Trcˇková,

&

Procházka 2006) combined with Transformation Field Anal

ysis (Dvorak 1992, Dvorak & Procházka 1996) serve a tool

for improvement of numerical model, which should be very

close to reality. The procedure may be considered as a

special

case of inverse analysis. An experimental modeling is lim

ited by the fact that the results are valid only in the
frame of

conditions characterizing experiment. Therefore it is

advanta

geous to combine the experimental modeling with numerical

methods and utilize of their positive features, the

flexibility

and high performance of numerical solutions where the input

parameters can be change very fast.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research was supported by Grant Agency of the

ABSTRACT: In the paper the external collapse angle is

introduced. It is the angle between the breaking plane and
the vertical

plane of the roof. To use this angle can calculate the roof
apparent pressure and the roof equilibrium condition. This
will much

simplify the design of roof support without routine tests

in the laboratory. The mining practice in undersea mining
roadway

No. H2101, Shandong Province proved its usefulness.

1 INTRODUCTION

The conception of the external collapse angle is proposed in

the mining practice of the first under-sea coal mine in

China.

It is a useful means to calculate and predict the roof

pressure
and equilibrium condition in mining roadways. In the paper,

we defined the external collapse angle and then using it,

cal

culated the roof pressure and the roof equilibrium condition

of undersea mining roadway No. H2101, Shandong Province.

2 EXTERNAL COLLAPSE ANGLE

When under-sea coal mining comes to a certain extent, the

rock mass above the gob area tends to swell, subsidence and

fracturing. The angle between the breaking plane OB and the

horizontal plane is the collapse angle of the rock mass, β

and

the angle between the breaking plane and the vertical plane
is

the external collapse angle α (Fig. 1). In other words, the

com

plementary angle of the collapse angle is the external

collapse

angle of the rock mass.When using a large-scale-collapse min

ing method, the rock mass above the gob area will generally

break up and subside, having α= 90 ◦ −β. But when using a

small-scale-collapse mining method, the rock mass will not

break or subside, having α< 90 ◦ −β. Since the break and

subsidence of the rock mass above the gob area occur usually

later than moving of surrounding strata, the self-weight of

the

overlying rock mass, σ 1 (primitive stress), will not act

on the

underground space, but in the form of the normal stress σ on

the breaking plane OB will be transferred to the underground

space.

Thus we have the following basic mechanical formulas:

where β – the collapse angle of underground rock mass, α

– the external collapse angle of underground rock mass, σ 1

– the self-weight of underground rock mass, H – the rela

tive depth of underground space, γ – the specific weight of

underground rock mass, σ – the normal stress on the break

ing subsidence plane OB, and τ – the shear strength on the

breaking subsidence plane OB. B O underground mining space

β σ 3 σ 1 σ Figure 1. External collapse angle. 3 CAKULATION
OF ROOF PRESSURE AND EQUILIBRIUN CONDITION 3.1 Undersea
mining roadway No. H2101, Shandong Province The mining
surface is 147 m long; the strike length is 149 m. The
thickness of coal seam No. 2 is 4 m, with the dip angle in
a range of 3 ◦ ∼8 ◦ . The mining thickness is 2.7 m and the
mining depth varies from −355 to −371 m. The depth of sea
water is 8 m and the specific weight of the rock mass is
22.05 kN/m 3 . According to historical observation data,
the average collapse angle β of the rock mass above gob
area is 60 ◦ . The roof was supported by the ET-3800/16/27
type support frame, with a supporting strength of 0.61 MPa.
The mining began in June, 2005 and completed in August,
2005. 3.2 Calculation of σ Since the sea water is 8m deep,
we has And since the average depth from the seabed to the
mining surface is 355 m, we has R n 172 191 217 1000 2000
3000 10000 cm 24.72 σ =15.82 σ max 40 σ c 24.72 O R c
cross section of the mining surface

Figure 2. Pressure distribution in the surrounding strata.

Thus, the primitive stress is

Since the initial mobilized pressure equals to the cohesion

of rock mass and the angle of the initial mobilized

pressure is

18 ◦ , we has the initial mobilized pressure

and the peak pressure

For the undersea mining roadway No. H2101, we has the

roof apparent pressure

In fact, the pressure is the normal stress on the breaking

subsidence plane of the roof.

3.3 Calculation of the equilibrium condition

According to s c σ c = s max σ max , we has the location of

the peak

roof pressure

R max = 37 cm It means that the peak pressure is located at

37 cm above the support frame (Fig. 2). The equilibrium
condition of the roof pressure is calculated by using the
following formula: Considering the mobilized pressure in
the surrounding strata can only transfer towards the center
of the roadway in the form of unloading, we take R max − R
c as the length of the stressed plane before unloading.
Thus, we has where σ p – the average value of the peak
pressure – the initial mobilized pressure, σ Z – the
supporting force of the support frame, 6.2 kg,R c – the
initial radius of the mining space, 135 cm, R b – radius of
the mining space after the roof subsidence, i.e. 33 × (217
− 135) = 31.1 × (217 − R b ). Substituting the known data
of the studied roof, we has Finally, we has For undersea
mining roadway No. H2101, therefore, the pressure
equilibrium of the roof can be achieved when the roof
subsidence comes to 5 cm. 4 CONCLUSIONS The calculating
results mentioned above have been confirmed in the mining
practice of undersea mining surface No. H2101, Shandong
Province. It can be seen that the external collapse angle
is the base of all of calculations. Introduction of this
angle will much simplify the design of roof support without
a lot of routine tests in the laboratory. 11th Congress of
the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e
Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis
Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Failure mechanisms
around shallow tunnels in brittle rock D. Saiang & E.
Nordlund Division of Mining and Geotechnical Engineering,
Luleå University of Technology, Sweden

ABSTRACT: As part of an ongoing study on the mechanical

characteristics of the damaged rock zone (DRZ) around a
tunnel
boundary and its influence on the overall behaviour of the
near-field host rock, a numerical study was conducted to
investigate

the dominant rock mass failure mechanisms around shallow

tunnels located in a body of brittle rock mass. Preliminary
studies

have clearly indicated that, the rock mass behaviour was

largely dictated by the different yield mechanisms
involved. These

mechanisms appear to be multifarious due to the complex

state of the induced stresses around the tunnel boundary at
shallow

depth. Some of these yield mechanisms are often difficult

to capture using the traditional yield criterion such as
the Mohr

Coulomb. In the study reported in this paper a series of

computer simulations were performed using typical in-situ
stresses and

rock mass conditions generally encountered in shallow

tunnelling projects in Sweden. The presence of a
disturbed/damaged

rock zone with finite thickness was also added into the
models. Due to the nature of the simulations the FLAC2D
code was

selected and used. The values for the input parameters were
estimated using a systematic procedure. To prevent
premature

tensile yielding due to transient loading traction was

applied during tunnel excavation. The results show that,
the dominant

yield mechanism occurring around the shallow tunnel in

brittle rock is the one of tensile nature. Compressive
mechanisms do

occur but seems to be less critical to overall performance

of the tunnel. However, they do influence the overall
behaviour of the

rock mass response. The results further indicated that, the

‘true’ locality of instability could be predicted from
elastic analyses,

by observing if all the major principle stresses are in

tension in that locality. The shear strain increment plots
of the model in

plastic mode further supported this observation.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock mass failure can occur either as gravity driven

fallouts

or stress driven failures. The former is usually associated

with

shallow and surface excavations, while the latter with deep

excavations. However, experience has shown that both can

occur irrespective of depth, dependent on the state of

stress

and rock mass characteristics (Diederichs, 1999). With the

Swedish rock mass conditions and the state of stresses both

of these failure types are evident even at very shallow

depths

(0–20 m).

In this paper, as part of an ongoing study on the mechani

cal characteristics of the damaged rock zone (DRZ) around a

tunnel boundary and its influence on the overall behaviour

of

the near-field host rock, the stress driven failures are

inves

tigated for shallow depth excavations. Typical in-situ

stresses

and rock mass conditions generally encountered in shallow

tunnelling projects in Sweden are used. The rock mass is gen

erally of good quality with brittle rock resemblance.

Earlier

studies of the same scenario by Saiang & Nordlund (2006)

and Töyrä (2006) have clearly indicated that, the rock mass

behaviour was largely dictated by the different yield mecha

nisms involved. These mechanisms appear to be multifarious

due to the complex state of the induced stresses around the

tunnel boundary. Some of these yield mechanisms are often

difficult to capture using the traditional yield criterion

such as

the Mohr-Coulomb.

The results show that, the dominant yield mechanism occur

ring around the shallow tunnel in brittle rock is the one of

tensile nature. Compressive mechanisms do occur but seem

to be less critical to the overall performance of the

tunnel.

However, they do influence the overall behaviour of the rock

mass response. The results further indicated that, the

locality

of instability could be predicted from simple elastic

analysis.

In particular by observing if all the major principle

stresses are in tension in that locality. This observation
was further supported by the shear or volumetric strain
evaluations in the plastic analysis. 2 BACKGROUND The
mechanics of brittle failure near tunnel boundaries have
been described in many rock mechanics texts (e.g. Hoek &
Brown, 1980; Brady & Brown, 1985; Hoek et al, 1995) and
articles (e.g. Stacey, 1981; Pelli et al, 1991; Martin et
al, 1997; Read et al, 1998; Diederichs, 2003;
Hajiabdolmajid et al, 2003). The various failure types and
the mechanisms involved have also been described (e.g.
Martin, 1997; Hajiabdolmajid et al, 2003; Diederichs,
2003). The widely used yield criteria for rock mechanics
analysis have been the Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) and Hoek-Brown
(H-B). The normal assumption is that both criteria can
simulate brittle and plastic behaviours. According to these
yield criteria the assumptions for compressive and tensile
failures can be summarized as follows: For tensile failure
to occur For compressive failure to occur σ 1s is the peak
strength of the rock mass along the failure curve at
various stress states. The above assumptions are
illustrated graphically in Figure 1 below in terms of the
principle stresses: Although the tensile strength of the
rock mass is accounted for in the two criteria the primary
assumption however is that, failure is primarily due to
compressive mechanisms, hence the σ 1 σ t σ 3 Tensile
failure Compressive failure

Figure 1. Failure assumptions according to H-B and M-C in

terms

of the principle stresses.

Figure 2. A large single-track railway tunnel geometry used

in this

study.

compressive strength is important. The compressive strength

according to the two criteria is provided by simultaneous

mobi

lization of cohesion (c) and friction (φ). However, it has

been

shown that under low confining stress conditions the yield

process is governed by cohesion weakening and cohesion

weakening – friction mobilisation phenomenon (e.g. Martin

et al, 1997; Diederichs & Kaiser, 1999; Hajiabdolmajid et

al,

2003). Under such circumstances the cohesion and tensile

strength are considered important.

3 MODEL SETUP

3.1 Model geometry

The model was based on one of the Swedish railroad admin

istration’s tunnel geometries. In this case a large
single-track

tunnel geometry was selected (see Figure 2). For the sake of

numerical modelling the geometry has been slightly modified.

Figure 3 shows the model geometry in a FLAC2D model.

A zone of finer grids is used near the excavation boundary

while the outer zone comprises coarser grids. The sizes of

the

zones near the tunnel boundary are as small as 5 cm × 5 cm.

The width and height of the model are large enough to

account

for large disturbances usually observed around near surface

excavations.

3.2 Primary input parameters

In this study we assume a rock mass that resembles the

Swedish rock mass conditions. The Swedish rock mass is of

an above average or good quality type, with brittle rock

char

acteristics. The rock mass parameters are shown in Table 1.

Using these parameters the elastic and plastic parameters of

the rock mass were estimated. Damaged rock zone Fine grids
Coarse grids Figure 3. An 80 × 80 m symmetric model used in
the numerical study. Finer grids are used near the tunnel
boundary while coarser grids are used away from the tunnel
boundary. Table 1. Rock parameters used in deriving the
rock mass strength parameters. Parameter Value Intact rock
compressive strength, σ ci 250 MPa Geological strength
index, GSI 60 Hoek-Brown rock constant, m i 33 The in-situ
stresses used in models are those reported by Stephansson
(1993), which are based on hydraulic fracturing
measurements. These are: 3.3 Input parameters for the
damaged rock The elastic parameters required are E d
(Young’s modulus for damaged rock) and v d (Poissons ratio
for damaged rock). The Poissons ratio is assumed equal to a
constant value of 0.25. Our assumption of theYoung’s
Modulus for the damaged rock with respect to the undamaged
rock is illustrated in Figure 4. For the damaged rock the
magnitude of the Young’s modulus is less than that of the
undamaged rock. Because the depth of the damaged rock is
small (<0.3 m) we assumed that any variation in the value
of E d would be very small and therefore negligible. For
most drill and blast excavations the average modulus of the
damaged rock around the tunnel boundary is about 70% of
that of the undamaged rock (e.g. Priest, 2005). On this
basis the base case E d is estimated. 3.4 Strength
parameters for the damaged rock By using the notion of
disturbance factors, D, (Hoek et al, 2002) we estimated the
strength parameters, c and φ, for the damaged rock mass
using RocLab (Rocscience, 2005). We simply modified the
value of D until the desired value of E d is achieved then
we determine the values for c and φ at Excavation Damaged
rock Undisturbed rock E d Deformation Modulus E m Distance
from tunnel boundary

Figure 4. Assumption used for theYoung’s modulus (E) around

the

tunnel boundary. E m and E d are the Young’s modulus for

undamaged

and damaged rock mass respectively.

Table 2. Input parameters for the standard model.

Parameter Value

For undamaged rock mass

Young’s Modulus, E 17.8 GPa

Poisson’s ratio, v 0.25

Cohesive strength, c 2.6 MPa

Friction angle, φ 67.8 o

Tensile strength, σ t 0.4 MPa

For damaged rock mass

Young’s Modulus, E d 12.5 GPa

Poisson’s ratio, v d 0.25

Cohesive strength, c d 1.4 MPa

Friction angle, φ d 64.3 o

Tensile strength, σ td 0.2 MPa

that point. Note that, in our models we assume that the dis

turbance is in the form of damaged rock around the tunnel

boundary.

A summary of the input parameters for the standard model

is shown in Table 2. The input values were estimated using

the 2002 version of the Hoek-Brown criterion (Hoek et al,

2002) and the systematic procedure described in Saiang and

Nordlund (2007).

3.5 Model scenarios

Several scenarios (see Table 3) were simulated in order to

study the response of the surrounding rock mass when various

parameters are varied. Variations in the rock mass

mechanical

properties were only applied to the DRZ, while for the undam

aged rock they remain unchanged at Case 0 values. Only one

parameter was varied at a time while others were kept con

stant. Table 4 shows the variable parameter data set for the

scenarios in Table 3. For case 7 the in-situ stresses were

varied

according to: Table 3. Model scenarios. Scenario

Description Case 0 Standard model Case 1 No damage zone
Case 2 Varying Young’s modulus of the DRZ Case 3 Varying
compressive strength of the DRZ Case 4 Varying Tensile
Strength of DRZ Case 5 Varying thickness of the DRZ Case 6
Varying overburden thickness Case 7 Varying in-situ
stresses Table 4. Variable parameter data set. Scenario Low
Standard High Case 0 – – – Case 1 – – – Case 2 8.5 GPa 11.8
GPa 17.8 GPa Case 3 8.8 MPa 12.7 MPa 26.8 MPa Case 4 0 MPa
0.2 MPa 1.2 MPa Case 5 0.1 m 0.3 m 1.0 m Case 6 2.0 m 10.0
m 20.0 m A B Figure 5. Regions of potential failures
identified from elastic model. Region A is under biaxial
extension (σ 3 <σ t and σ 1 < 0), while region B is tensile
failure under compressive mode (σ 3 <σ t and σ 1 > 0). The
standard model has a damaged rock zone, with a thickness of
0.3 m, around the tunnel boundary. The thickness conforms
to the Swedish Railroad Administration criteria for tunnel
damage control during excavation. 4 RESULTS 4.1 Failure
modes and mechanisms 4.1.1 Elastic analysis An elastic
analysis of the stresses around tunnel boundary revealed
two types of failure modes and their potential localities.
These are shown in Figure 5, which is based on the standard
model. The damaged zone boundary has been omitted for the
sake of clarity. Region A is where tensile failure

Figure 6. Plastic yielding resulting from input values for

the

strength parameters obtained by using the Hoek-Brown-GSI

system.

These values are shown in Table 2.

Figure 7. Shear/volumetric strains resulting from input

values for

the strength parameters shown in Table 2.

will occur under ‘biaxial extension’ (i.e. σ 3 <σ t and σ 1

< 0),

while Region B is where tensile failure will occur from a

com

pressive origin (i.e. σ 3 <σ t and σ 1 > 0). Both failure

types are

of tensile nature but the mechanisms driving them are differ

ent. This will be further discussed in Section 5.

Compressive

failure (σ 3 > 0 and σ 1 >σ 1s ) is likely to occur in the

roof and

the toe of the tunnel.

Calculation of the strength factors are found to be less
than

1.0 within regions A and B, but greater than 1.0 elsewhere.

4.1.2 Plastic analysis

In the plastic analyses only a plasticity plot is required

to reveal

the presence of failed zones. Figure 6 shows the plasticity

plot for the standard model. Yielding covers a larger area

than

expected, which does not conform to the elastic observations

shown in Figure 5. Furthermore, it is not consistent

withprac

tical observations.A plot of the volumetric strain is then

made,

which is shown in Figure 7. Interestingly, the region in

which

volumetric strain (or dilation) occurred matched the region

where failure through biaxial extension (i.e. Region B) was

predicted. The depth of this dilated zone is about 0.20 m.

This

observation seems more realistic in practice as well. 0,0%

10,0% 20,0% 30,0% 40,0% 50,0% 60,0% 70,0% 80,0% V a r y i n
g s t i f f n e s s V a r y i n g s t r e n g t h V a r y i
n g o v e r b u r d e n V a r y i n g D R Z t h i c k n e s
s V a r y i n g i n s i t u s t r e s s % v a r i a t i o n
i n t a n g e n t i a l s t r e s s Variation at the tunnel
boundary – Point A Variation at the damaged rock zone
boundary – Point B Ground surface B A Figure 8. Percentage
variation in the tangential stresses at two points (A and
B) in the tunnel roof for the scenarios simulated. 4.2
Parameter analysis Parameter analyses were conducted in
line with the overall objective of the ongoing study on the
mechanical behaviour of the damaged rock around a tunnel
boundary. By varying the mechanical properties of the
damaged rock mass and other parameters (see Tables 3) we
investigated their effects in terms of variations in the
magnitudes of the induced stress and displacement vectors.
4.2.1 Effects on tangential stresses Figure 8 shows the
effects on the tangential stresses for the various
scenarios simulated. The percentage variations are
calculated as maximum variations from the standard case
scenario or Case 0. Observations were made at two locations
around the tunnel boundary denoted A and B (see Figure 8).
Point A is located on the tunnel boundary while Point B is
located on the boundary between the damaged and undamaged
rock. Observations at these two points were necessary in
order to analyse the effect of the damaged rock with
variations in its mechanical properties. The tangential
stresses are affected most by variations in the in-situ
stresses compared to the other parameters tested. In terms
of the inherent mechanical properties of the rock mass, the
Young’s modulus when varied has notable effect on the
tangential stresses. The thickness of the DRZ is
significant in pushing high tangential stresses away from
the tunnel boundary. The stress analyses also revealed a
phenomenon that was dependent on the overburden. This is
shown in Figure 9. The overburden was increased up to 500 m
in order get a clear picture of this phenomenon. At depths
less than 10 m the stresses are quite high since the body
of rock above the tunnel behaves like a ‘cantilever
beam’.At depths greater than 10 m, it behaves like a normal
rock mass. Coincidently, the 10 m overburden in the
standard model appears to be the transition point. 0 100
200 300 400 500 Overburden (m) 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0
11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0 15.0 16.0 T a n g e n t i a l s t r e s
s , σ θ ( M P a )

Figure 9. Effect of varying overburden on the tangential

stress in

the tunnel roof.

Figure 10. Ground deformation pattern observed. The walls

con

verge and the roof diverges. At the surface the ground

heaves directly

above the tunnel and subsides approximately 15 m from the

tunnel

mid-centre.

4.2.2 Effects on ground deformation

The ground deformation pattern observed is shown in Fig

ure 10. Large deformations occur in the tunnel wall in the

form of room closure, while roof diverges by smaller mag

nitudes. At the surface the ground heaves directly above the

tunnel but subsides some distance away from the tunnel roof.

Figure 11 shows the maximum percentage variations in the

wall deformation calculated against the base case deforma

tions. The magnitude of the deformation is in the order of

millimetres, with the highest value being 14 mm when the

in-situ stresses were the maximum.

5 DISCUSSIONS

5.1 Failure mechanisms

Two important failure mechanisms have been identified for

the

shallow tunnels investigated, codenamed Mode (I) and Mode

(II). A third mechanism, codenamed Mode (III), is a minor

0,0% 10,0% 20,0% 30,0% 40,0% 50,0% 60,0% 70,0% 80,0% V a r
y i n g s t i f f n e s s V a r y i n g s t r e n g t h V a
r y i n g o v e r b u r d e n V a r y i n g D R Z t h i c k
n e s s V a r y i n g i n s i t u s t r e s s % v a r i a t
i o n i n t u n n e l w a l l d e f o r m a t i o n Figure
11. Percentage variation in the tunnel wall deformation for
the different scenarios simulated. (I) Tensile failure
through biaxial extension. Dilation or volumteric
straining occurs σ 3 σ 1 σ 1 σ 1 σ t σ 3 σ 3 (II) Tensile
failure from compressive mechanism - axial splitting and
spalling σ 3 σ 1 (III) Shear failure from compressive
mechanism σ 3 σ 1 (I) (II) (σ1−σ2)/2 (III) F a i l u r e e
n v e l o p e σ 3 σ 1 Figure 12. Potential failure types
identified for the shallow excavations. Their conditions of
occurrence are shown on the Mohr-Coulomb envelope. Modes
(I) and (II) are the common failure modes observed, of
which Mode (I) is the most critical. Mode (I) is
mathematically identified as σ 3 <σ t and σ 1 < 0, while
Mode (II) is identified as σ 3 <σ t and σ 1 > 0, and Mode
(III) is identified as σ 3 > 0 and σ 1 >σ 1s . one. The
mechanisms are illustrated in Figure 12. Modes (I) and (II)
affect the walls and the abutments, while Mode (III)
affects the toe. The roof is affected by a combination of
Modes (II) and (III). Of the three, Mode (I) is the most
critical as the results have shown. If failure occurs
through biaxial extension (Mode (I)), the rock will deform
elastically until it fails in a brittle manner. Plastic
deformation will not occur. Under this scenario, an elastic
analysis is sufficient for evaluating this kind of failure.

Table 5. New input parameters for the standard model.

Parameter Value

For undamaged rock mass:

Young’s Modulus, E 17.8 GPa

Poisson’s ratio, v 0.25

Cohesive strength, c 4.4 MPa

Friction angle, φ 51.3 o

Tensile strength, σ t 2.2 MPa

For damaged rock mass:

Young’s Modulus, E d 12.5 GPa

Poisson’s ratio, v d 0.25

Cohesive strength, c d 2.4 MPa

Friction angle, φ d 47.2 o

Tensile strength, σ td 1.22 MPa

However, for precise evaluations a strain-dependent yield

cri

terion such as the ones presented by Stacey (1981) or Chang

(2006) are desirable, or further still by the

strain-softening

method described by Hajiabdolmajid et al (2002).

One may insist on pursing plastic analyses using stress

dependent yield criterion such as M-C or H-B. In that case

the shear or volumetric strains appear to be the most
reliable

indicators of realistic failures. Although plastic models

are

generally thought of not being capable of capturing failures

resulting from mechanisms such as biaxial extension (lead

ing to tensile failure) it has, however, been demonstrated

here

that it can be identified through plastic strain

assessments.

One reason perhaps is that, since many FEM and FDM codes

(including FLAC) are incapable of simulating material fail

ure and fallout, the failed materials simply sit and expand
in

volume (i.e. dilation). By assessing the volumetric or shear

strains, the failed regions can be identified.

5.2 Significance of tensile strength

It is now clear that the tensile strength of rock mass is

the most

critical parameter for the scenario simulated. Many authors

(e.g. Diederichs, 2003; Martin et al, 1999; Peli et al,

1991)

have shown that the tensile strength can be overly underes

timated by the Hoek-Brown criterion for a brittle rock mass

under low confinement conditions. These same authors also

showed that, in order to obtain strength parameter values

that

match field observations the value m in the Hoek-Brown cri

terion must be adjusted – often to unconventionally low

values
(Diederichs, 2003). Following this argument the value m i in

Table 2 was adjusted, in order to obtain input values that

result

in observations that match those in the elastic model. With

the help of RocLab (Rocscience, 2005) the value of m i was

adjusted until a desired a tensile strength is attained

then the

corresponding values for c and φ were determined. The

tensile

strength values tested ranged between 0.4 MPa (which is the

σ t in Table 2) and 2.6 MPa (which is the c in Table 2).

After

random simulations the input values that resulted in observa

tions that matched those in the elastic model were obtained.

These are given in Table 5.

Figure 13 shows the plasticity plot resulting from the new

input values. It conforms to the observations in Figure 5.

Fur

thermore, the plastic zone has significantly reduced, to

roughly

coincide with the region of volumetric straining. Figure 12

shows the shear strain plot resulting from the new input val

ues.The dilated zone has increased but appears to be

restricted

within the DRZ. Figure 13. Plastic yielding resulting from

the new input values shown in Table 5. Figure 14. Shear or
volumetric strains resulting from new input values shown in
Table 5. 5.3 Effect of damaged rock zone on failure
mechanism Apparently the models seem to show that the
damaged rock zone had no effect on the failure mode. This
was evident from the fact that, both of the models, with
and without the damaged rock zone, yielded the same
results. One reason could be that the main failure mode is
purely of extensional type (Mode (I)), which is dependent
entirely on the tensile strength of rock mass. Compressive
strengths for both rock zones were much higher than the
maximum principle stress. On the other hand, the presence
of the damaged rock zone seems to restrict the expansion of
the dilated zone. As seen in Figure 14 it is more or less
confined within the DRZ. In the base case the depth of the
dilated zone was 0.2 m, which is 0.1 m less than the
thickness of the damaged rock zone (see Figure 7). 5.4
Parameter analysis Of the parameters tested the variation
in the in-situ stresses affected both the tangential
stresses and displacement vectors the most (see Figure 8
and 11). The Young’s modulus, as an inherent mechanical
property of the rock mass, also affected the tangential
stresses and displacement vectors quite significantly when
varied. Our classification of the sensitivity of the
parameters tested is shown in Table 6. There is no specific
criterion for this classification. It is purely based on
how much the magnitudes

Table 6. Classification of parameter sensitivity.

Sensitivity Parameter Tangential stress Displacement

Young’s Modulus High 3 High Compressive Strength Low 1 Low

Tensile Strength Low Low

Thickness of DRZ Moderate 2 Low Overburden thickness High

Moderate In-situ stresses High High 1 <20% variation 2
10–20% variation 3 >10% variation

Figure 15. Designed and final geometries of cross-sections,

39/289,

39/317 and 39/324 of the Arlanda Shuttle Station (Töyrä,

2006).

of tangential stresses and displacement vectors vary from

the

base case observations. The magnitudes of the variation are

important in this case. For example, the magnitude of the

displacement vectors is in the order of millimeters, which

in

practical cases will most likely be considered negligible.

5.5 Consistency of the observation to practical observations

Töyrä (2006) modelled three cross-sections of the Arlanda

railway (double-track) shuttle station near the city of

Stock

holm using similar in-situ parameters used in this

paper.These

cross-sections are shown in Figure 15 with both the designed

and final geometries outlined.Töyrä observed that tensile

fail

ures were largely occurring in the walls and abutments. The

final geometries of cross-sections in Figure 15 also

confirmed

his observations.

The results from our models appear also to be consistent

with the above observations; in particular the volumetric

strain

plots. The plasticity indicators in Figures 13 and 14, which

resulted from the input values in Table 5 appear to conform

well to the observations in Figure 15, although in our

models

we used a single-track tunnel geometry.

6 CONCLUSION

• Three principle failure mechanisms have been identified:

(i) tensile failure due to biaxial extension, (ii) tensile

fail

ure from a compressive origin or often referred to as axial

Priest, S.D. 2005. Determination of Shear Strength and Three

dimensional Yield Strength for the Hoek-Brown Criterion.

Rock
Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 38(4): 299–327.

Read, R.S., Chandler, N.A. & Dzik, E.J. 1998. In-situ

strength cri

teria for tunnel design in highly stressed rock mass.

International

Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 35(3):

261–278.

Rocscience. 2005. RocLab Version 1.0. Available from:

http://www.

rocscience.com

Saiang, D., & Nordlund, E. 2007. Continuum Analysis of Shal

low Tunnels in Brittle Rock with Damaged Rock Zone Around

Their Boundaries. Submitted to: Rock Mechanics and Rock

Engineering.

Saiang, D., & Nordlund, E. 2006. A parameter study of the

damaged

rock zone around shallow tunnels in brittle rock. In C.F.

Leung & Y.X. Zhou (eds), Rock Mechanics in Underground
Construction, Proceedings of the 5th Asian Rock Mechanics
Symposium, Singapore, 8–11 Nov. 2006, p.140, World
Scientific Publishing. Stephansson, O. 1993. Rock stress in
the Fennoscandian shield. In: J.A. Hudson (Editor),
Comprehensive Rock Engineering. Pergamon Press, pp.
445–459. Stacey, T.R. 1981. A simple extension strain
criterion for fracture of brittle rock. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science & Geomechanics
Abstracts, 18(6): 469–474. Töyrä, J. 2006. Behaviour and
stability of shallow underground constructions, Licentiate
Thesis, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 First
approaches to an adaptable geomechanical design using
databases F. Krenn, J. Brandl & H.-Ch. Kurzweil GEOCONSULT
ZT GmbH, Salzburg, Austria R. Galler Chair of Subsurface
Engineering, Department Mineral Resources and Petroleum
Engineering, University of Leoben, Austria

ABSTRACT: The Brenner Base tunnel with its approximately 55

km length is a highly complex and ambitious project. The

geomechanical design of such a tunnel system demands

flexible tools to be able to cope with adoptions and
modifications. The

following paper describes the preprocessing of the given

data, the setup of the database and the structure of the
information

processing. The different data are processed in order to

get the full information for the tunnel system for each
meter. This

extensive information is used by the cost estimators. Then

the data are condensed to have the information in the
structure

needed for the geomechanical design reports.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Brenner base tunnel with its approximately 55 km length

is the main building of the railway corridor between Munich

and Verona. The current phase of the project covers the

design

stage to obtain the approval notifications in Italy and

Austria

for the construction.

The Brenner base tunnel is a twin tube system consisting

of two single track tunnels with an axis distance of 70

meters

which are connected every 333 m via cross passages. Inside

the main tunnels the drainage adit is situated approximately

10 m deeper (distance top of rail main tunnel and top of

track

drainage adit). Three multifunctional stations are provided

at

about 20 km distance in each case, namely Innsbruck,

Steinach

and Wiesen/Prati. These multifunctional stations include

cross-over systems to change the track (i.e. the tunnel

tube).

In the area of the multifunctional station Innsbruck there

are the junctions for the interconnection tunnels to the

already

operating bypass tunnel Innsbruck.

The multifunctional stations contain emergency stops for

the escape of passengers of damaged trains as well as facil

ities for the operation and the maintenance. They can be

accessed independently from the main tunnel via drivable

access tunnels.

The joint-venture PGBB (Planungsgemeinschaft

BRENNER BASISTUNNEL / Progettazione GALLERIA di

BASE del BRENNERO) was awarded the main contract for

the design in decembre 2004 and works since on this demand

ing project. The civil works part of the contract comprises

the

design of all in all about 185 km of subsurface structures –

tunnels and caverns with railway tracks, drivable tunnels

and

cross passages.

2 TASK AND CHOSEN APPROACH

During the preliminary design, which is the basis for the

approval documents, the client requested a geomechanical

design according to theAustrian guideline (ÖGG 2001). Since

the available geotechnical and geological data are under con

stant refinement by another contractor, and the excavation

method, alignment and the projected construction logistics
are subjected to adaptions in the ongoing design process,
the geomechanical design has to be worked out parallel to
the available input data. The geomechanical design results
serve then as the data basis for the cost estimate of the
tunnel construction and the associated structural works.
2.1 Task The given task comprises the following main items:
• Primary support design for the subsurface buildings •
Support classification • Preliminary design of the inner
linings, especially regarding the reinforcement
requirements • Distribution of the support classes along
the different alignments of the tunnel system according to
the geotechnical homogeneous zones and the fault zones •
Summary of the support distribution The results are then
condesed into the respective reports. As mentioned before,
these main tasks have to be performed with a changing data
basis; that means that the constant updating of the data
basis and the results have to be kept in mind when choosing
an appropriate approach. 2.2 Chosen approach Usually the
geomechanical design at that design stage is done rather
rough – some “representative” cross sections are taken as
the basis for the support classification and the support
distribution. The “representative” cross sections are
analysed by analytical and numerical methods, the results
are then extrapolated along the geotechnical units and the
support distribution is estimated this way. This requires a
lot of experience and is sometimes irreproducible,
especially if there are changes in the excavation methods
or the alignment. Furtheron the amount of data should be
low for this rather unstructured approach. Due to the fact
that the geotechnical homogeneous zones as well as the
alignments and construction methods are subject to constant
change and modification, the decision to structure

Figure 1. Chosen approach – flowchart.

the information in a database for the support distribution

and

the summarisation of the different support class

requirements

is taken. This decision also takes into consideration that

on

the one hand one has to get the most information out of the
available data and that on the other hand only the
purposeful

combination of data leads to information.

This approach brings about the need for criteria which gov

ern the choice of the support class. These criteria have to

be

implemented into the database structure and into the

database

queries. The available data which are used as distribution

criteria are:

• Rock mass type

• Primary stresses, i.e. overburden

• Excavated cross section

• Excavation method (TBM or Drill & Blast)

• Fault zone relevance and extension

These criteria are collected in different tables in order

not

to mix different data.

The pivotal trait of the chosen approach is the combina

tion of different data to expand the information; the

expanded

information (i.e. support classes, cost centre etc. each

meter)

is then grouped and condensed for further use.

The realisation of the chosen approach is done using the

database application MS Access™. The main reasons for the

choice of this software are:

• Availability – as part of a common office software suite

• Usability – fast setup of the tables and queries of the

database with the standard graphical interface

• Data interchange – possibility to read and write Excel

spreadsheets

The requirement of a rather quick implementation and

quick results without further custom software are met with

MS Access™. Since database applications need a lot of com

puting power, the performance issue will have to be reviewed

in a next development stage.This is also true for a

user-friendly graphical interface for the data input and
output; at the moment the implementation is “raw”. 3 DATA
BASIS The data basis is delivered by another contractor and
contains the geotechnical description of the different rock
mass types, which are found in the geotechnical homogeneous
zones. The homogeneous zones are also defined by this
contractor. The data basis can be split into three main
data sets: • Homogeneous zones • Fault zones • Rock mass
types 3.1 Homogeneous zones The homogeneous zones are
defined by their rock mass types (usually one prevailing
rock mass type and some secondary rock mass types) and
their extent along the alignment (starting and ending
chainage). The primary stress field is also given for the
homogeneous zones as a range of primary stress values and K
0 values; in the preliminary design, a value of K 0 = 1.0
is assumed. 3.2 Fault zones Fault zones are defined by the
beginning and end of their occurrence along the alignment
and the anticipated number of occurrences, the extent
(length) in the tunnel, the geotechnical relevance, the
strength and deformation parameters and the behaviour type.
3.3 Rock mass types Rock mass types are defined by the
lithology, the strength and deformation parameters and the
behaviour type. For all all analyses the “recommended”
values are used. 3.4 Overburden The information on the
overburden is twofold – for the main tunnel alignment, a
so-called “stress-effective” elevation (which differs from
the ground level elevation) is given in the geotechnical
section drawings; for the other alignments, the ground
level elevation from the alignment section drawings is
taken into consideration. The difference between ground
level elevation and vertical alignment elevation is the
overburden. The overburden is calculated every meter of the
alignment, so the resolution for the information can be 1.0
m, tops. The information chainage – overburden is the
backbone of the whole information processing. 3.5 Used
cross section The information which cross section is used
at a certain chainage and for a certain “tunnel tube” has
to be given in order to define the group of support classes
to be used and to describe the structure in an unambiguous
way. This is necessary because during the design process
options with different excavation methods for the western
and the eastern tube have been taken into consideration and
because of the fact that there are different cross sections
for the three types of cross passages.

4 SUPPORT CLASSIFICATION

The support classes for the running tunnel and the drainage

adit are designed to cover a large range of rock mass types;

the rating of the support classes in accordance to the

Austrian

codes ÖNORM B 2203-1 and ÖNORM B 2203-2 also covers

all the probable cases (this is of interest later on as far

as

contractual aspects are concerned). For the large cross

section

only one support class is applied; the design of this

support

class is done by numerical methods.

The support classification is based on following input:

• Rock mass properties

• Overburden

• Support pressure of the support class

The support classification is done mainly by convergence

confinement analyses. In order to get an overall impres

sion, the convergence-confinement method is applied to all

geotechnical homogeneous zones. The overburden is varied

within the given range and the most suitable support class
for

the rock mass type is then chosen using the difference

between

plastic radius and the rock bolt length as the main

criterion.

The difference shall not be smaller than 1.0 meters to

ensure

that the rockbolt is interconnected with the intact rock

mass.

The fault zones and discontinuities are given with their

geotechnical relevance; highly relevant zones bring about

high

loading on the support. Keeping this in mind the support

choice for one rock mass type has to cover homogeneous

rock mass, minor relevant zones, medium and highly rele

vant zones. The support choice for the medium and highly

relevant fault zones is made by stepping up one class; the

minor relevant fault zones usually have the same support as

the homogeneous rock mass.

As a result of the support classification, for each rock

mass

type an overburden range and the “tunnel tube” (tunnel east,

tunnel west, by-pass) with the cross section is given with

the

corresponding support classes for homogeneous rock mass to

highly relevant fault zones; an example can be seen in

Figure 2.

5 IMPLEMENTATION

The implementation into the database should “marry” the

following pieces of information:

1. overburden versus chainage (each meter)

2. geotechnical homogeneous zone, defined by starting and

ending chainage

3. fault zones, defined by starting and ending chainage,

length

in tunnel and frequency

4. used cross section and excavation method, defined by the

“tunnel tube” and starting and ending chainage

5. “cost center” information, defined by starting and ending

chainage

6. support class, according to rock mass type, cross

section,

“tunnel tube” and overburden

5.1 Overburden versus chainage

This is the starting point upon which the data collection is

built.The table contains the chainage depending on the

chosen

alignment, the vertical alignment elevation, the ground

level

elevation – “stress effective” or natural – and the

elevation dif

ference – the calculated overburden. The information is more

or less that of a written longitudinal section (see Figure

3). Figure 2. Support classification table (example).
Figure 3. Overburden information along chainage. Figure 4.
Cross section information table. Figure 5a. Table with
information about homogeneous zones. Figure 5b. Cost center
information table. 5.2 Homogeneous zones, cross sections
and “cost centers” The information on the cost centers,
cross sections and on the geotechnical sections is not
given for each meter; it is given as an stretch along the
alignment with a starting chainage and ending chainage (see
Figure 4 to Figure 5).

Figure 6. Table with information on fault zone systems.

In Figure 4 also a “length” is defined. The purpose of

this definition is to be able to grasp the cross passages –

the database queries are stepping along the alignment with

a resolution of one meter. That means that each section

along

the alignment has the length of one meter (if the resolution

were 5 meters, the length would be accordingly 5 meters).

The cross passages have a position on the alignment, but the

length cannot be deduced from the alignment; it has to be

given seperately.

What is not shown in Figure 4 is the reinforcement infor

mation; thus it is possible to assign a reinforced inner

lining

to a cross section regardless of the geotechnical

conditions (if

there are structural requirements for the reinforcement,

e.g. at

intersections).

The assignment of the homogeneous zones, the cross sec

tions and the cost centers is done by checking for each

meter

what geotechnical homogeneous zone it is located in, what

cross section is applied and what “cost center” it is lying

in.

The result of this data processing is a collection of all

tunnel tubes along the alignment with chainage, overburden,

geotechnical homogeneous zone, “cost center” and used cross

section. To establish this data collection manually would

give

lots of opportunities for errors, and further adaptions are

time

consuming and difficult.

5.3 Fault zones

The information on fault zones is very similar to that on

homo

geneous zones, with one great difference. Since the

relevance

of a fault zone is determinant for the support selection

(see

Figure 2) and the reinforcement choice, it has to be

considered

in the resulting data collection. The second important fact

is

that the fault zones are not treated as discrete units;

they are

treated as percentages of the 1 meter long section which is

the

smallest resolution of the alignment.And the third point is

that

in one geotechnical section, more than one fault zone can be

found. Usually, highly relevant fault zones can be

localized at

a very early stage of the geological investigations; but

also the

“not-so-important” fault zones have an impact on the support

choice and have to be considered.

The information on fault zones is processed the

following way:

where l occ is the length along the alignment where fault

zones

are occurring, resulting from the start and end chainage.

where l fault,tunnel is the length of one fault in the

tunnel and

num fault is the number of faults which occur along l occ .

For each meter of the tunnel in the stretch of influence of
the fault zone system this means that where QF is the
“quota of faults” for one meter of tunnel. Since we have
more than one fault/discontinuity system and also a
distinct relevance for each system, we get for n fault
systems n values QF i which have to be summed up according
to their relevance: where QF 1 is the quota of minor
relevant fault zones and QF 3 is the quota of highly
relevant fault zones. The remaining homogeneous rock mass
quota QH is An example shows the approach for the treatment
of the fault zones in the resulting data: • Fault system 1,
medium relevant, occurring from km 12 + 000 to km 15 + 000;
10 faults are predicted along the tunnel axis, each about
30 m long. • This means that on a stretch of 3000 meters,
300 meters belong to fault system 1; that is about ten
percent. These 10% have relevance “medium”. • Fault zone 2,
minor relevant, occurring from km 8 + 000 to km 18 + 000;
20 faults are predicted along the tunnel axis, each about
10 m long. • This means that on a stretch of 10000 meters,
200 meters belong to fault system 2; that is about two
percent. These 2% have relevance “minor”. • At chainage km
14 + 365, we have 10% medium and 2% minor relevant fault
length. The remaining 88% are treated as homogeneous rock
mass. This treatment of the fault zones has one main
advantage – the system of data input allows to adapt the
precision with the progress of the geological and
geotechnical prognosis. It has to be considered that the
impact of a fault zone – the length of tunnel with
increased support requirements – will be the same for both
the definitions. • fault zone, highly relevant, 50 m along
tunnel axis, occurring from km 12 + 000 to km 13 + 500 •
fault zone, highly relevant, 50 m along tunnel axis,
occurring from km 12 + 900 to km 13 + 000 When summing up
the length of the fault zones along the stretch of
influence, both definitions lead to 50 meters; the
difference is the quota of faults and the homogeneous rock
mass quota for each meter. 5.4 Support classification The
support classification can be compared to a mapping
procedure. Since there is a unique definition for the
support classes to be used in terms of rock mass type,
overburden, tunnel tube, cross section, excavation method
and fault zone relevance (see Figure 2), for each data set
consisting of the information combined out of the chainage,
overburden, rock

mass type, cost center, fault zone and homogeneous rock mass

quota the according support classes are assigned.

The immediate result of such an allocation is a table with

the following unambiguous information for each one meter

long section along the alignment:

• Chainage

• Cost center (number, german and italian description)

• Homogeneous zone (shortcut)

• Dominating rock mass type (shortcut)

• Tunnel tube (german and italian description)

• Excavation method (german and italian description)

• Cross section (shortcut, german and italian description)

• Length of homogeneous part, minor, medium and highly

relevant fault zone parts

• Support classes for homogeneous part, minor, medium and

highly relevant fault zone parts

• Reinforcement requirements for homogeneous part, minor,

medium and highly relevant fault zone parts

6 INTERMEDIATE RESULTS

The described support classification is done for the whole

alignment with the resolution of one meter as well as for

each
homogeneous zone, producing the overall usage of different

support classes in one geotechnical section. This

information

is exported into spreadsheet files and processed there for

the

use in reports or further calculations like cost estimates.

At the moment, not the whole system of the Brenner base

tunnel is included in one single database; also the drainage

adit, the access tunnels as well as the interconnection

tunnels

are kept in separate databases since the quick approach did

not account for different alignments in one database. The

cal

culation time for an approximately 18 km long section of the

main tunnel system is about 10 minutes when using a corpo

rate network and a rather fast personal computer (Pentium®

4, 2.8 GHz); this shows there are rather high performance

requirements on the hardware.

The direct link between construction cost and construction

time estimate, which is possible in principle, has not been

realised in the present design stage, but remains an

interesting

aspect which will be pursued further.

It has to be mentioned here that during the current design

phase there was a substantial change in the excavation

method

of about 8 km alignment from TBM to Drill & Blast regarding

both main tunnel tubes; due to the use of the database, the
effort

to change the geomechanical design and the cost estimate –

ABSTRACT: This paper addresses the Yanba Tunnel

construction by full-face and open-type TBM method. A
full-face open

type TBM was adapted for the railway mountain tunnel for
first time in Japan. We performed high-speed excavation at
average

progress of about 300 m per month at TBM excavation section

(4,130 m). On the other hand, high excavation accuracy was

obtained; the maximum vertical deviation was 20 mm, and the

maximum horizontal deviation was 31 mm, both of which

satisfied the tolerance of 50 mm.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Yanba Tunnel is a single-track railway tunnel of 4,582 m

length, which is one of the three tunnels constructed

accompa

nied with the realignment of the JR Agatsuma Line (Figure 1)

of East Japan Railway Company; portion of which is expected

to sink by construction of the Yanba Dam.

In Japanese railway mountain tunnel construction, although

TBM method was applied to pilot tunnels in the ’60–’70s, by

those TBM high speed excavation could not be performed,

because Japanese geology is very complex and has many

faults or fracture zone. In the construction of

theYanbaTunnel,

however, we challenged to carry out excavation by full-face

open-type TBM method for the first time for railway tunnel

in Japan. The initial part of approximately 300 m length of

the
TBM excavation section was set as a test section to conduct

various tests for evaluating reconnaissance methods, setting

the execution control criteria for rock support, and so

forth. Tokyo Metropolis Guuma Pref. Location of this
project I w a s i m a S t a t i o n B e g i n o f r e p l
a c e m e n t N e w s t a t i o n T h e Y a m b a T u n n e
l L = 4 , 5 8 2 m S u b m e r g e d A r e a K a w a r a y u
o n s e n S t a t i o n N a g a n o w a r a k u s a t s u g
u c h i S t a t i o n E n d o f r e p l a c e m e n t T h e
r e a l i g n e d J R A g a t s u m a L i n e T h e p r e s
e n t J R A g a t s u m a L i n e Y a m b a D a m 3 1 k 4 0
9 m 3 0 3 6 k 9 7 6 m 0 0 4 2 k 2 7 6 m 0 0 4 1 k 7 9 6 m 6
4 3 0 k 4 9 0 m 0 0 3 1 k 3 2 k 3 3 k 3 4 k 3 5 k 3 6 k 3 7
k 3 9 k 3 8 k 4 0 k 4 1 k

Figure 1. Project outline of the replacement of the JR

Agatsuma Line and the Yamba Tunnel. We had excavated TBM
section for 15 months achieving high-speed and highly
accurate excavation. 2 OUTLINE OF THE YANBA TUNNEL 2.1
Outline of the project The Yanba Tunnel is a single-track
railway tunnel of 4,582 m length located near the starting
point of the realignment route section for the Agatsuma
Line. The length of TBM excavation is 4,130 m and the other
part is excavated using NATM (233 m) and cut and cover
method. The excavated section area is 36.5 m 2 (TBM) and
51.4 m 2 (NATM). The tunnel ascends from the starting point
to the end at grade of 24∼25‰, and the minimum radius of
curve is 1200 m. 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 H e i g h
t ( A b o v e s e a l e v e l ) Low velocity zone Low
velocity zone Low velocity zone Low velocity zone Low
velocity zone Yamba andesitics rocks Kawarabata Formation
Legend Yvbl Lapilli tuff, Andesite lava Ytf Tuff, Andesite
lava Po Porphyrite Ylt Tuff breccia~Volcanic breccia KHwt
Tuff breccia Kpo Plagiophyre tl Talus Oosawa Yvbl Yvbl KHwt
Kpo tl Ytf Ytf Po Yamba Tunnel Ylt Ylt

Figure 2. Geological profile of the Yamba Tunnel.

2.2 Geology

Figure 2 shows the geology of theYanbaTunnel.The maximum

depth of overburden is about 350 m (under Mt.Ashikurayama)

and the minimum is about 6 m (under the Osawa River).Yanba

andesite tuff and tuff breccia cover the most part of the
tunnel

route and intrusive rock types are found partially.

Through seismic sounding surveys, 5 low velocity zones

were found, but the most part of the tunnel route consists
of

hard or semi-hard rock which has unconfined compressive

strength of 40–120 N/mm 2 .

3 TBM SPECIFICATION FOR THE YANBA TUNNEL

3.1 TBM

We have adopted open-type TBM with the roof, side and bot

tom supports for the Yanba Tunnel, since open-type TBM is

economical, besides having less risk of mechanical troubles.

The improvements we have made on the TBM for the Yanba

Tunnel are as follows.

• To make the direction control easily, movable

side-supports

with movable range of ±80 mm are installed.

• To prevent the nose of TBM body from sinking, the bottom

support jacks with movable range of 60 mm are installed in

the bottom support.

• To fabricate steel arched support in the roof of TBM, the

ring type fabrication units are installed.

Table 1 shows the specifications for the TBM of the Yanba

Tunnel. Figure 3 shows a drawing for the TBM.

3.2 Tunnel Work Station (TWS) for the support work

For the efficiency and safety of the supporting work, 6

mechanical units for the supporting work were installed on

the TBM main beam. These units can move on the rails and

work as a TWS for the supporting work as shown in Figure 4.

The functions of the units are as follows.

1) Two rock drill units

Two rock drill units are installed to drill rock for rock
bolts

and fore-poling. They can also be used for exploration drill

for the purpose of assessing ground conditions in advance.

2) Two man-cage units

Man cage units are installed as the stages for setting

rock bolts and shotcreting work. They are also used for

transportation and fabrication of steel arched supports.

3) A crane unit

This crane unit is installed to lift steel arched supports,

rock

bolts and other materials and machines from the rail level

to the TWS deck. Table 1. Major specification of TBM. Type

Open type Excavation diameter ϕ6.82 m Length of machine
App. 17.8 m Weight App. 5,500 kN Total equipped power App.
2,300 kW Roller cutter Size 17 ′′ Q’ty 48 Cutter head drive
unit Power 315 kW × 6S Torque 3,071/6,142 kN · m Revolution
0 ∼ 6 rpm Thrust advancing unit Force 12,142 kN Stroke
1,800 mm Speed Max 100 mm/min Main gripper Force 35,280 lN
Stroke 250 mm Gripper force 3.46 MPa per unit area Figure
3. Drawing for TBM. Figure 4. TWS for supporting works. 4)
A shotcrete unit To repair shotcrete surface damaged by
main grippers of TBM, shotcrete unit is installed, which
can place shotcrete in a ring shape. 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
140 I L I N II N III N IV N E x c a v a t i o n e n e
r g y ( N / m m 2 ) 187.4 33.8 3.0 Adopted support pattern
for Japanese railway tunnels Et=(F×1,000+2π×
(N×T×1,000×1,000)/ (V×0.1)) / A where, Et:
excavation energy(N/mm 2 ) F: thrust force (kN) N: cutter
revolution (rpm) T: cutter torque (kNm) V: excavation speed
(mm/min) A: excavation area (cm 2 ) 9.0 15.0 12.8 25.1 13.4
44.1 52.0 23.9 57.7 72.6 128.3 111.0 Notes Range of data
Average

Figure 5. Correlation between excavation energy.

4 TBM EXCAVATION

4.1 Progress of TBM excavation

We started TBM excavation in October 2003, and completed

it in December 2004. We achieved the average progress rate

of 285 m/month in the TBM excavation section, the maximum

progress rate of 424 m/month and 47 m/day.After finishing

the

300 m long test excavation, we recorded the average progress

rate of 314 m/month.

4.2 Methodology for determining support patterns and

validity of support

In TBM excavation, we determined the grade of support pat

terns through observation of rock mass having appeared just

behind the roof supports. We also investigated the

correlation

between the TBM mechanical data and the adopted support

patterns. We prepared a box bar chart which shows the

correla

tion between the TBM excavation energy and adopted support

patterns as shown in Figure 5. We could find the good

correla

tion between these two indexes. However, the observation of

the ground condition was the main factor for determination

of

support patterns, and the TBM excavation energy relationship

to support pattern was supplementary factor.

However, the excavation energy of 10 N/mm 2 could be an

indicator for the determination of weak rock, since the

cutting

face and excavated circumference became subject to collapse,

in case the TBM excavation energy was less than 10 N/mm 2 .

4.3 Auxiliary work to excavate the Uchikoshizawa Fracture

zone

Through the geological survey, a small fault (the

Uchikoshizawa

Fracture) was found near the point of about 3,670 m from the

starting point of TBM. Three dimensional HSP test was per

formed for the section of 100 m length in front of the

fault, but

the extreme change of the ground condition was not observed.

We, therefore, continued the excavation while observing the

ground condition carefully. Since the ground became easy to

collapse around the point of 3,600 m, we performed injection

type fore-poling to reinforce the self-supporting capacity

of

the tunnel crown. At the point of 3,630 m, cutting face col

lapsed and it leaded to creating a cave in front of the TBM

cuter face.

To continue excavation safely, we performed the following

auxiliary works (Figure 6). Injection type long steel

fore-piling (@1.2m L=12.640m×5 p 101.6mm) Injection type
fore-piling (@1.2m L=1.5m×9) 3 6 k 1 4 6 m 8 0 about 15m
The Uchikosizawa fracture zone A A First collapse Second
collapse Third collapse TBM Collapse area Figure 6.
Auxiliary work to excavate the Uchikosizawa Fracture Zone.
-50 -30 -10 10 30 50 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 30 mm -31 mm
30 mm H o r i z o n t a l d e v i a t i o n ( m m ) Tunnel
depth (m) C r i t e r i a f o r T B M d e v i a t i o n c o
n t r o l : 0 ± 3 5 m m Figure 7. Horizontal deviation from
the planned center line of TBM. • We filled the cave with
foamed styrene and foamed urethane to guarantee the
stability of rock around cutting face. • To guarantee the
self-supporting capacity of the tunnel crown, we performed
injection type long steel fore-pilings and injection type
fore-poling. With these works, we managed to excavate the
Uchikoshizawa Fracture: it took us 26 days to excavate this
15 m long fault zone. 4.4 Direction control system for TBM
excavation To perform the accurate excavation, we adopted
the direction control system supported by the automatic
surveying system. Figure 7 shows the deviation from the
planned center line of the TBM through the excavation work.
The deviations were −31 mm∼+30 mm in horizontal direction
and −20∼+18 mm in vertical direction, which satisfied the
criteria of ±35 mm calculated based on the deviation
allowance. The side supports and the bottom support jacks
worked effectively to control the TBM direction. 5
CONCLUSION In the Yanba Tunnel, full-face open-type TBM
method was adopted for the first time for railway mountain
tunnel in Japan.We executed the excavation of 4,130 m
length achieving high-speed and highly accurate excavation.
The experiences obtained through the excavation of the
Yanba Tunnel are as follows. • We performed high-speed TBM
excavation at average progress rate of about 300 m per
month, which satisfied the planned progress.

• As for excavation accuracy, the maximum vertical deviation

was 20 mm, and the maximum horizontal deviation was

31 mm, both of which satisfied the tolerance of 50 mm.

• It was verified that thin support system adopted for the

Yanba Tunnel, which consisted of fiber mortar shotcrete,

rock bolts and steel arched supports, worked effectively for

large size TBM of 7 m in diameter.

• In fracture zones, we managed to continue excavation by

using several auxiliary works suitable for ground conditions

effectively.

Takamura, S., Sato, K., Tsukada, M. & Kokubo, H. 1999. Plan

of

full face TBM method for the first time railway tunnels in
Japan:

World Tunnel Congress Okano, N., Watabe,Y., Kokubo, H. &

Takagi, K. 2000. Railway Tunnels Excavated by TBM and Deep
Bore Blasting Method in Japan: 16th congress of IABSE,
Lucerne, pp. 208–209. Takagi, K., Tsukada, M. & Watabe, Y.
2001. Construction Work of Yanba Tunnel TBM Test Section:
Proceedings of the International Symposium on Modern
Tunneling Science and Technology (IS-KYOTO), Kyoto, pp.
545–549. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Geomechanical characteristics study of
deposit in underground mining method selection process K.
Shahriar, V. Shariati, & F. Samimi Namin Department of
Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineering, Amirkabir
University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: Selecting a suitable mining method is one of the

most important phases in mining process. Owing to the

considerable impact on the required mining investing time

and making profit, the method should have the most
compatibility

with geomechanical and geometric characteristics of

deposit. Several methods have been developed recently to
evaluate suitable

mining methods based on geometric parameters and

geomechanical properties of ore body and the walls. The
Nicholas and

UBC algorithms are based upon numerical ranking.The

numerical ranking systems utilized the geomechanical input
parameters

such as Rock Mass Rating (RMR), Rock Substance Strength

(RSS), RQD, joint spacing, joint condition, shearing
strength of

joint and etc. In the study, geomechanical characteristics

of different mining methods were assessed and with regard
to these

characters the numerical rankings were analyzed. For

decision making process, the data of Emarat lead-zinc
deposit that located

about 25 km south-west of Arak city in Markazi province of

Iran was used. According to the results of the ranking and
decision

making model, cut and fill stoping had been selected as the
most suitable method.

1 INTRODUCTION

Choice a proper underground mining procedure hinges mainly

on (Hartman & Mutanasky, 2002):

• Determining the appropriate form of ground control, if

necessary.

• Designing the openings and their sequence of excavation to

conform to the spatial characteristics of the mineral

deposit.

Selection an underground mining method is often closely

to geology of the deposit and the degree of ground control

necessary to make the methods productive and safe. Ground

support in turn establishes the appropriateness of the three

class stoping methods namely (Brady & Brown, 1993):

• naturally underground mining methods

• artificially underground mining methods

• Caving underground mining methods

Naturally class methods consist of the methods in which

the rock is self-supporting and for which require no major

artificial support to carry the load of overlying beds. In

these,

geomechanic properties of the rock are ability to sustain

stable
the stopes without any supporting. This class includes room
&

pillar, stope & pillar, shrinkage stoping and sublevel

stoping.

Artificially methods are those that some type of structural

support or backfill is used to provide substantial

artificial

support to maintain stability in opening. These methods are

utilized when the opening stand up time is not enough during

mine stope operation life. In other words, these class

methods

employed when other two classes are not applicable. Local

support for the back of a stope, for example, can be accom

plished with rock bolts or timber stulls. General support

for

walls of the stope is provided by backfill. Local support

pro

vides a safe working place for the stope personals. General

support, provided by backfill, preserves the access way to

the stope and prevents large scale dilution of ore. This

class

consists of cut and fill stoping, stull stoping and square

set.

Caving methods that are based on a planned caving of rock

above and/or at times surrounding the material being mined

Table 1. Geomechanical conditions favorable to naturally
supported methods. Room and Stope and Factor pillar pillar
Shrinkage Sublevel Ore strength Weak/mod Mod/strong Strong
Mod/strong Rock strength Mod/strong Mod/strong Strong
Fairly strong Mod = moderate. can be classified in three
broad categories: longwall mining, sublevel caving, and
block caving. Each of the three methods involves a distinct
technology as well as art of operation. Each requires a
relatively large, regular, and predictable ore body. As a
rule, the effect of mining results in some form of impact
or change on the surface (Brady & Brown, 1993). 2
GEOMECHANICAL CONDITION AFFECTING UNDERGROUND MINING
METHODS 2.1 Naturally supported methods Theoretically
naturally supporting method can be used in any type of ore
body by varying the ratio of span of opening to width of
pillar. However, on a practical basis, such practice would
ordinarily reach its limit on an economic basis quickly.
These methods are used in moderate to strong rocks. Fair
hanging wall and foot wall support the opening and stopes
are most important component in this class. Naturally
supported method requirements have been shown in table 1.
2.2 Artificially supported methods Table 2 shows properties
where artificially supported methods can be used. The
geomechanical environment suitable for implementation of
these methods consists mainly weak to moderate rocks.

2.3 Caving methods

The caving methods geomechanical condition is different in

this class’s methods. The geomechanical characteristics are

presented in table 3. geomechanical principles must ensure

the cavability of ore and in some cases in rocks.

However cavability of ore is not confined to caving meth

ods. The need to cave the roof successfully determines the

width of a room and pillar panel, as it does the width of a

longwall face (Hartman, 1993).

RMR and RSS can be utilized to evaluate the geomechanic

characteristics and underground mining methods (Hartman,

1993. Milne, Hadjigeorgiou & Pakalnis, 1998).

These parameters used in other numerical mining methods

selection such as Nicholas and UBC methods (Miller, Pakalnis

& Poulin, 1995). Proper quantitative values of RMR and RSS

according to underground mining geomechanical condition

have been shown in table 4.

In addition, cavability can used to assess stability of

opening and stopes in underground mining methods (fig

ure 1). Nicholas and UBC methods give primary evaluation

of geomechanic conditions in an ore body.

3 UNDERGROUND MINING METHOD SELECTION

PROCESS

Utilizing underground mining methods require ground con

trol in extracted space (Hartman & Mutanasky, 2002). Hence,

geomechanical characteristics such RMR and RSS must be

considered at first step of mining methods selection process

to estimate the stability. Selecting a mining methods base

on

ground control and eliminate other unsuitable methods at

first

Table 2. Geomechanical conditions favorable to artificially

sup

ported methods.

Factor Cut and fill Stull Square set

Ore strength Mod/strong Strong Weak

Rock strength Weak Mod Weak

Table 3. Geomechanical conditions favorable to caving

methods.

Factor Longwall Sublevel caving Block caving

Ore strength Any Mod/strong Weak/mod

Rock strength Weak/mod Weak Weak/mod

Table 4. Estimated RMR & RSS to evaluate mining method

(Hartman, 1993), Miller, Pakalnis & Poulin, 1995. RMR RSS
Footwall Hangingwall Ore Footwall Hangingwall Ore Mining
method

40–100 40–100 60–100 <5 <10 <5 Sublevel stoping Naturally

– 40–100 60–100 – <10 <10 Room & pillar

0–40 20–60 60–100 <5 5–10 <10 Cut & fill Artificially

0–20 0–60 0–40 >10 >10 >10 Square-set stoping

– 0–60 0–60 – >10 >10 Longwall Caving

40–100 – 0–60 <5 >10 5–15 Sublevel caving

– – 0–60 >10 >15 >10 Block caving phases of decision making

is geomechanical considerations object. For example, using
naturally supported methods in weak ore is obviously not
reasonable. If the suitable form of ground control
determined, geometric properties give particular mining
method.As a example, if an ore is steep and massive where
assessing supporting method the stopes results a caving
method, conducts to select block caving method. Therefore,
decision making model for underground mining method
selection is the on basis of of geomechanical property
considerations preference. This model has been presented in
figure 3. Figure 1. Classification for cavability
evaluation (Laubscher, 1981). Geomechanical characteristics
of ore body Foot wall Selecting mining class according to
ground control needs Natural CavingArtificial Geometric
consideration of ore The most Appropriate mining method Ore
Hanging wall Figure 2. Decision making model of underground
mining methods selection.

Figure 3. General location of Emarat deposit.

Table 5. Geomechanic properties of rock mass in Emarat

deposit

(Shariati, 2007).

Properties Footwall Hangingwall Ore

UCS(Mpa) 29.6 92.6 154

RQD 84 65 65

RSS 1.9 6 10

RMR 50 63 65
Joint strength Moderate High High

4 CASE STUDY

Emarat lead-zinc deposit is located in 25 kilometers at

south

west of central city of Markazi province of Iran between 33

◦

49 ′ , 33 ◦ 52 ′ latitude and between 49 ◦ 35 ′ , 49 ◦ 42 ′

Longitu

dinal. The orebody is in a synclinal with a average

thickness

of ore is 6.5 m and dip of 67 ◦ . Emarat deposit is a layer

type

deposit and the total calculated ore reserve is 11.5

million tons

whit combined average grade 12.5 of lead and zinc (Shariati,

2007).

Hangingwall and footwall of ore are lime stone and shale,

respectively. Geomechanical characteristics of Emarat ore

body are summarized in table 5.

Fair quality of Geomechanic properties of Emarat deposit

demonstrates applicability of artificially supported methods

in Emarat mine. Utilizing the Nicholas and UBC geome

chanic ranking results are given in table 6. Whereas UBC and

Nicholas methods results show artificially supported method

such as cut and fill stoping. Using new decision making

model

presented in fig 2 gives some results following:

• Based on rock mass classification, ore and hangingwall

ABSTRACT: The Iscaycruz mining area is located in the
western range of the Andes in Peru. Within an area of 50
square km,

four zinc economic deposits have been identified and are

being mined. The deposits are sub-vertical seams of
poly-metallic

ores presenting grades up to 14% zinc. The geomechanical

country rock conditions vary from bad to good quality
country

rocks. In this context, the developed geomechanical program

has shown to be a basic tool to design, plan and operate
the mines.

As a result a wide variety of mining methods are performed

in the different deposits, including underground techniques
such

as cut-and-fill, open stoping with fill and sublevel

caving; and open pit mining for the exploitation of the
upper parts of two

orebodies. In this paper we present a summary of the rock

mass conditions encountered and the different mining
methods

selected and put into practice for the different orebodies

mined at Iscaycruz.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Iscaycruz mining area is located in the western range

of the Andes, 320 km NNE Lima, in Peru. The owner is

the mining company Los Quenuales S.A., belonging to the

Glencore Group. The deposits are sub-vertical seams of poly

metallic ores with grades up to 14% zinc. These seams are

located in sedimentary rock formations, formed by pelitic

Jurassic sediments followed by Cretaceous sediments, being

more clastic on the wall and limier at the top. The

intrusion of
igneous rocks in these formations originated metallic
deposits

in metasomatic and skarn areas.

The company started with the mining of the Limpe Cen

tro orebody by means of underhand cut-and-fill method from

sublevels with long-holes and back-filling the stopes with

cemented aggregate fill, achieving a production of 1,000

tons

per day. Presently, three new orebodies are under exploita

tion: Chupa,Tinyag & Rosita, consisting of sub-vertical

seams

ranging from 8 to 35 m thick. In this way, a production of

3,700

tons per day has been recently reached. The Chupa orebody

is mined with sublevel open stoping with cemented aggregate

fill. The upper parts of the Tinyag and Rosita orebodies

have

been open pit mined. The lower part of Tinyag has just
started

by sublevel caving. In Limpe Centro, the mining strategy has

changed to overhand cut-and-fill with cemented aggregate and

also paste fill.

In the following a general view of Iscaycruz is presented,

highlighting the rock mechanics topics on the production and

the different mining methods applied to each deposit.

2 REGIONAL GEOLOGICAL SETTING

The Iscaycruz area is found in a sedimentary environment,

belonging to the Andean cretaceous basin. This basin is

structurally characterized by a series of folds and thrusts

very representative of western range of the Peruvian Andes.

The Cretaceous rock series are composed in their lower
parts by clastic rocks including sandstone, siliceous
sandstone and limestone, belonging to the formations Oyón,
Chimú, Carhuáz and Farrat. The upper part consists of a
sequence of limy rocks together with some bituminous shale
corresponding to the formations Pariahuanca, Chulec,
Pariatambo y Jumasha. Igneous rocks, including tonalite,
dacite and granite porphyry, have intruded these
sedimentary rocks formations. Finally, tertiary age
volcanic rocks, corresponding to the Calipuy formation,
have discordantly covered the sedimentary formations.
During the Andean orogeny, the sedimentary sequence was
intensely folded, mainly in the direction N-20 ◦ -W. In the
Iscaycruz area the dip of bedding is 75 to 80 ◦ NE.The
anticlines and synclines extend for various tens of miles,
intertwined with thrust areas parallel to the principal
strain axis. Various sets of faults – in directions
parallel and normal to the orebodiescomplete this complex
geological picture of the mine area. 3 INITIAL DEVELOPMENTS
AT LIMPE CENTRO MINE Limpe Centro mine started operating in
1996. This deposit comprehends two poly-metallic massive
sulphide orebodies, ‘Estela’ and ‘Olga’. The initial output
was 1,000 tons per day, coming from the underground mining
of both bodies and from the open pit mine of the upper part
of ‘Olga’. These bodies formed due to metasomatic
replacement of two limestone beds, separated 20 to 30 m and
located within a large massive pyrite mass. The orebodies
are tabular and parallel, being ‘Estela’ the most important
one. This body is parallel to bedding (N-20 ◦ -W & 80–85 ◦
NE), it is 5 to 35 m thick, it is 250 long m and it was
studied up to 630 m deep. The drift and fill method was
selected and pre-designed for ‘Estela’ in investigation
stages and due to the bad rock mass conditions. Before the
operation started, a painstaking rock mechanics program was
implemented and performed in

order to re-asses and optimise the mining method selection

efficiently. As a result it was decided to implement the

mining

method ‘sublevel retreat under consolidated fill mining’.

This

method has improved recovery, productivity, safety standards

and the stability of excavations.

The implemented rock mechanics program comprehended

the following activities:

1) The basic geomechanic information was gathered by means

of geotechnical zoning to characterize the rock masses

affected by mining and mapping of the rock masses.

2) Different tools including analytical and numerical tech

niques were used to model the mining method to assess

various mining strategies, arrangements and sequences.

3) The operational response of the rock mass to the min

ing activities was featured by means of displacement

monitoring and other measurements and observations.

4) In-place information regarding the behaviour of the rock

masses and their response modes to the main structure

excavation was recovered to fine-tune the mining method.

5) Standards related to geomechanical parameters estimate

and quality control procedures were stated.

6) An education program for mine staff was implemented.

This program has been continuously maintained as a part of

the mining process. As a result of the preliminary

application

of the rock mechanics program a new mining method was

tailored for the mining of ‘Estela’, whose main features are

summarized as follows and which offers the view of the mine

presented in Figure 1.

The main access is a ramp excavated in the hanging wall, for

it is in this part where the rock masses present the best
geome

chanical quality. From the ramp, the ore body is entered by

means of a main level drift; from which a direction access

and

haulage drift parallel to the ore body is excavated. From

this

direction drift 3.5 m × 3.5 m section crosscuts are

excavated

entering and crossing the orebody up to the footwall. One

sub

level including a main direction drift and crosscuts are

exca

vated every 12 m. The stopes were 3.5 to 4 m wide. Once the

crosscuts in two consecutive sub-levels were built, a slot

raise

is open, the intermediate ore is blasted by means of

long-holes

and the mineral is recovered by LHDs. The stopes are back

filled from the upper crosscut. Mining proceeded

horizontally

up to the completion of the sub-level, acting the back-fill

as a

freestanding vertical wall. Mining continued in the lower

level

so back-fill acted as the crown of the lower stopes.

Cemented aggregate back-fill was used to fill the stopes.

This is a fill with graded aggregates obtained by simple

clas

sification of mountain talus slope quarried close to Limpe

Figure 1. General structure of Limpe Centro mine. Centro

mine. The thicker materials (smaller than 5 cm and larger
than 1 cm) constitute 50% of the stone material, whereas
the rest was smaller than 1 cm.The binding agent was
standard Portland cement in a proportion of 5% with a
water/cement ratio around 1:1. The measured unconfined
strength reached 2 and 6 MPa after curing times of 4 and 28
days. With these strength levels, adequately stable and
safe walls and crowns were achieved. 4 UPDATING OF LIMPE
CENTRO MINING METHOD With the information gathered by means
of the rock mechanics program, it has been possible to
improve the mining method in various ways. This updating
has cut the mining costs, keeping the stability of the
excavations and safety standards in the operation.
Presently the direction haulage drift is no longer
excavated in the hanging wall, but in the inside of the
orebody, where from, crosscut are made to both ends of the
seam (Figure 2). The height between sublevels has been
increased up to 17 m and now the stopes are 4 to 5 m wide.
A topic to be remarked is that, even if the rock mass
quality is low, mining is no longer going down-dip, but it
is going up-dip as shown in Figure 3. All in all, an
important change in the geometry and sequence of mining has
been performed, resulting in a method specially tailored
for Limpe Centro and unique in South America. From a mine
planning scope, mine blocks are defined containing 5
sublevels each of them. The mining of the block starts in
the lower sublevel and moves upward in the shape of a
column up to reach the fifth level. Then, the adjacent
panel is mined in the same way, and the mining proceeds in
this way up to the completion of the block. The mining of
the block finishes when all the panels are extracted.
According to this Figure 2. Transversal view of access to
the stopes in Limpe Centro mine. Figure 3. Different
activities in the stopes to perform the sublevel cut and
fill mining method at Limpe Centro mine.

mining sequence, the cemented backfill only acts as the

crown

in the upper sublevel of the lower block when mining below,

in

all the rest of cases it only works as a free standing

vertical wall.

In what the aggregate cemented fill concerns, there have

also been significant improvements, thanks to the research

performed in the concrete and fill laboratory of the

Iscaycruz
mine. It has been possible to reduce the cement consumption

significantly, and at the same time the back-fill strength

has

been kept to reasonable values. Presently, with 3.5% cement,

back-fill strengths of 4 MPa are achieved after 28 days of

cur

ing times and for 2.5% 3 MPa are measured for the same time.

This has been possible by improving the gradation of aggre

gates and reducing the water content in the mixture up to

water

cement ratio of 0.75. Presently, the thicker materials

consti

tute the 62% of the stone material, whereas 38% were smaller

than 1 cm. Moreover, as the mountain talus slope quarries

are

getting closer to its depletion, the owner has built a

paste-fill

plant to use concentrator tailings from the plant. In order

to

study paste-fill behaviour, some tests have already been per

formed, including the backfilling of some stopes with paste

fill and the construction of freestanding walls. So far 0.6

MPa

with 6% cement have been achieved in 28 days. A research

program is being carried out, in order to optimise strength

keeping the cement consumption at a discrete level.

Reinforcement and support are also important issues in

excavation development at Limpe Centro, since bad quality

rock masses are found in the mine, except in the hanging

wall.

In all the rest of excavations, stopes included, a

combination

of rockbolts (split-sets and corrugated bars), mesh and

(plain

or reinforced) shotcrete is used. In the footwall, where bad

quality rock masses are found, light steel arches are

needed.

In standard stopes a 2 ′′ shotcrete layer is usually

enough. Rein

forcement and support are part of the daily work of the rock

mechanics staff, which is responsible for controlling the

qual

ity of the support and reinforcement and for their

installation

and performance.

Since the operation set up, the larger part of production

has

come from Limpe Centro mine. Presently 3,700 tons of ore

per day are entering the plant with a 14% Zinc grade. 55% of

this mineral still comes from this mine. Due to the high
grade

of this deposit, reserves should be carefully treated, in

order

to complete the production from less rich mines in terms of

mineral quality.

5 CHUPA MINE

Chupa mine is located in the south zone of Iscaycruz

premises.

The mineral occurs in the intersection of two faults and it

is a
sub-tabular body 10 to 30 m thick, with direction N-32-W and

dipping 70 ◦ NE. The hanging-wall consists of sandstones and

the footwall is formed by limestones (Figure 4). The span of

the body varies form 100 to 150 m and the investigated depth

is 500 m so far.The average grade of zinc is 10.5%, with

minor

lead, copper and silver contents.

In the investigation stage by means of exploration drifts

and core drilling, the basic geomechanical information was

gathered and the conditions of the different rock masses

were

assessed. The 3D geomechanical zonation carried out with

the help of code Datamine (MICL, 1999) indicates average

to good rock mass qualities. According to these qualities it

was possible to propose sublevel open stoping as the more

economic mining method for this deposit. In this case, open

stoping requires the use of long parallel blast-holes and

cemented rock-fill, in order to permit the recovery of the
adjacent mineral. In open stoping, the dimensioning of
stopes is a key issue. A multi-approach method was applied,
including empirical and numerical methods, together with
mining experience and some full-scale testing. The
stability graph method (Hoek et al., 1995) was particularly
of great help. Finally, the height between sublevels was
set to 33 m and the width of stopes to 8 m. Once excavated
the upper and lower rooms, the intermediate bridge of rock
is drilled and blasted with parallel blast holes.
Initially, the mining sequence was horizontal, that is, it
must be first completed the mining of a sublevel before
starting the mining of the upper one. In these conditions,
in the mining advance, to recover the ore adjacent to a
stope the cemented rock fill should behave as a
self-standing wall. This mining sequence needed to let open
the crown rooms in order to continue with mining enlarging
progressively the unsupported roofs, which need, to be
reinforced with cable-bolts. As mining advanced and
experience was gained, the rock mechanics program focused
on optimising the method. The orebody was divided into
three horizontal 5 sublevel blocks separated by sill
pillars 12 to 15 m wide, which will be recovered later.
Mining advanced in vertical direction in every block,
sparing the use of cable bolting. Stopes were enlarged to
16 m wide whereas in the fault influence areas to 10 m
wide. A mine section is shown in Figure 5. The cemented
rock-fill was rejected due to the low strengths obtained
and its high cost. This fill was replaced by cemented
Figure 4. Geological section of Chupa mine. Figure 5.
Longitudinal view of the upper part of Chupa mine. Some
blocks are mined and back-filled, others only mined and
some are not yet mined.

Figure 6. Longitudinal section of Tinyag and Rosita open

pits and

future underground development and picture of the Tinyag

pit.

aggregate fill, coming from the same plant as Limpe Centro.

With this new fill 30 m high self-standing walls were

achieved

with 3.5% cement. The cement content was raised up to 5%

in the base of the mining block to be able to withstand sta

ble roofs up to 10 m long when mining below. To estimate the

back-fill strength requirements, different approaches are

com

bined including those by Stacey & Page (1986), Cai (1983),

Mitchell & Roettger (1981) and the gained experience. With

the new method, Chupa mine contributes with 20% of the

output of the mine.

6 TINYAG & ROSITA MINES

Tinyag and Rosita orebodies represent the continuation

towards south of the Limpe Centro deposit. Rosita is the

south
ernmost area of the reserves identified. Both bodies are
around

200 m long. Tinyag is 15 to 25 m thick. Rosita shows two par

allel bodies, the eastern one is 7 to 12 m thick and the

western

one 2 to 5 m thick. The ore is disseminated in a skarn and

it

forms massive sulphide bodies. The grades are 7.7% zinc for

Tinyag and 9.5% zinc for Rosita.

In what concerns the country rocks: pyrite, oxides and

silica

horizons with quartzite and marl appear sequentially in the

hanging-wall. Beds of pyrite, shale, altered shale,

dolomitic

shale with sandstone and shaly sandstone appear sequentially

in the footwall.The geomechanical quality of the ore is

average

to bad, and that of the hanging wall is very bad. The

footwall

presents average rock mass quality.

Since these bodies were almost outcropping, its mining has

been performed by means of open pit mining, representing

together 25% of the ore entering the plant.The rock

mechanics

program focused on the design and on the control of open pit

slopes. Final general slopes varied between 42 to 49 ◦ dip,

with 6 m high benches inclined between 55 and 60 ◦ . In the

western walls of those pits, it has been necessary to use

cable
bolts in order to reinforce the stratified rock dipping
toward

ABSTRACT: In geotechnical engineering, and in the

particular case of underground works, a great number of
uncertainties

arise due to the lack of knowledge of the involved

formations and their variability. Geomechanical parameters
are one of the

main issues in underground works design. In the initial

stages, the available information about the rock masses
characteristics is

scarce. As the project advances to other stages more and

more information from different sources becomes available
and can be

used for updating the geomechanical model. Bayesian

methodologies use probability as the main tool to deal with
uncertainty

and manage to reduce it using new data via the Bayes

theorem. In this work, a part of a developed Bayesian
framework for

updating the deformability modulus (E) in an underground

structure is presented. Assuming E as a random variable,
data from

LFJ tests is used to obtain a posterior and less uncertain

distribution of E. This approach led to good results and
considerable

uncertainty reduction and increased reliability. The

developed Bayesian framework constitutes a rational and
structured way of

dealing with data with different sources and uncertainty

levels.

1 INTRODUCTION

Determination of geomechanical parameters is an exercise of

subjective nature. The inherent uncertainty about their real

value hinders the establishment of a deterministic set of

values
for the parameters. In practice, for each geotechnical
zone, a

range of values is assigned to the parameters based on the

geotechnical survey and, in the case of rock masses, often

by

application of the empirical classification systems.

In the initial stages, the available information about the

rock

masses is limited. However, the construction of geotechnical

models is a dynamic process and, as the project advances, it

can be updated as new data are gathered.

Data can have different sources each with its own precision

and accuracy. Data uncertainty involves an objective

(frequen

tist) and subjective component: the latter is usually

dependent

on the geotechnical engineer’s experience. A methodology

to consistently treat the problem of geomechanical model

updating is needed in order to reduce the uncertainty.

The characteristics of the Bayesian methods of data anal

ysis make them well suited for geotechnical purposes where

uncertainty is present at several levels and data is

compiled in

different stages and with different properties.

In Fig. 1 a general scheme for the deformability modulus (E)

calculation and updating during preliminary and construction

stages is presented. It consists of a Bayesian framework

where
E is considered a random variable with a given distribution

function. Uncertainty about the parameter is represented by

its standard deviation which can be reduced as more data are

obtained through in situ tests, mapping of the tunnel face

and

backanalysis.

In this work, the general Bayesian framework for the

geotechnical model updating is presented. It is shown how

data from a preliminary geotechnical survey can be updated

using in situ tests. More specifically information about E

is

available by application of the empirical systems and then

updated using the results of LFJ tests. Real data from the
Preliminary research E1 LFJ, SFJ tests Update Eactual
stage Preliminary Stage 2D and 3D Numerical models Mapping
of the tunnel face: RMR and Q Stress and displacements
measurements E 2 E 3 Stress and displacements prediction
Backanalysis E actual stage Update Update E Construction
Stage LFJ - Large Flat Jacks SFJ - Small Flat Jacks Figure
1. Scheme of the updating process. Venda Nova II powerhouse
complex was used for the updating process (LNEC, 1983).
This geomechanical parameter was considered a random
variable with a normal distribution. This consideration,
even though having some drawbacks like the possibility of
negative values, as the advantage of computational
convenience and, normally, good results can be obtained.
Calculations were performed considering mean and variance
as random variables. The parameters of their prior
distributions were calculated using information from the
empirical systems application and analytical solutions. 2
BAYESIAN METHODS 2.1 Bayesian data analysis and uncertainty
Uncertainties can be represented based on theory (Ditlevsen
and Madsen, 1996; Einstein, 2006). In many cases it is
enough

to model the uncertain quantities using random variables

with

given distribution functions and parameters estimated on the

basis of statistical and/or subjective information (Faber,
2005).

The principles and methodologies for data analysis that

derive

from the subjective point of view are often referred to as

Bayesian statistics. Its central principle is the explicit

char

acterization of all forms of uncertainty in a data analysis

problem.

Bayesian techniques allow one to update random variables

when new data are available using a mathematical process in

order to reduce uncertainties. This process can be divided

into

the three following steps (Ditlevsen and Madsen, 1996):

1 Set up a joint probability distribution for all variables

consistent with knowledge about the underlying problem.

2 Calculate the conditional posterior distribution of the

variables of interest given new observed data.

3 Evaluate the fit of the model to the data analysing if the

conclusions are reasonable and how sensitive, the results

are to the modelling assumptions in step 1.

The posterior distribution is sort of a compromise with

reduced uncertainty between the prior information and the

one contained in the new data. This compromise is increas

ingly controlled by the data as the sample size increases in

what is sometimes referred to as asymptotic theory (Gelman

et al., 2004).
Bayesian methods provide tools to incorporate data and

external information into the data analysis process. In a

Bayesian approach, the data analysis process starts with a

given probability distribution. Its parameters may be

chosen or

estimated based on previous experimental results, experience

and professional judgement. This distribution is called

prior

distribution and represents the uncertainty about the

parameter

states. When additional data become available, this is used

to

update this prior distribution into a posterior

distribution using

the Bayes theorem. Fig. 2 summarizes this overall process.

If the prior distribution of a parameter θ, with n possible

outcomes (θ 1 , … θ k ), is continuous and the new

information

x is available, then the Bayes theorem is given by:

where, p(θ) is the prior distribution of the possible θ

values

which summarizes the prior beliefs about the possible values

of the parameter, p(x|θ) is the conditional probability (or

likeli

hood) of the data given θ and p(θ|x) is the posterior

distribution

of θ given the observed data x.

The prior and posterior distributions of θ can be

represented

by density functions. The joint probability distribution of

the Theory Judgment Empirical knowledge Previous results
Prior New data Updating Posterior

Figure 2. Scheme of the updating process (adapted from

Faber,

2005). data and the parameter is given by p(x|θ) which is

called the likelihood and is defined by: Bayes theorem
consists of multiplying the prior with the likelihood
function and then normalizing (term in nominator), to get
the posterior probability distribution, which is the
conditional distribution of the uncertain quantity given
the data. The posterior density summarizes the total
information, after considering the new data, and provides a
basis for posterior inference regarding θ. 2.2 Bayesian
inference The process of Bayesian inference involves
passing from a prior distribution p(θ) to a posterior
distribution p(θ|x) using the likelihood function of the
data. The consideration of normal likelihood, i.e. that
data follow a normal distribution, has the computational
advantage of allowing the use of conjugate priors (the
posterior distribution follows the same parametric form as
the prior). This type of prior distributions has the
practical advantage of computational convenience. The
obtained results are normally easy to understand and can
often be put in analytical form. If information is
available that contradicts the conjugate parametric family,
it may be necessary to use a more realistic prior
distribution. The central limit theorem helps to justify
the use of the normal distribution and the results are
often acceptable (Dietlevsen & Madsen, 1996). In the
Bayesian approach the parameters of interest are assumed to
follow certain probability distributions with one or more
unknown distribution parameters. These parameters are also
considered to have given distributions with known prior
hyperparameters. The hyperparameters are then updated given
the data and will be used to infer to the parameter
distribution. The consideration of variable moments rather
than fixed ones intends to incorporate several levels of
uncertainty in the model. In this work a multiparameter
model that involves the consideration of both mean and
variance as unknowns was used. In the developed Bayesian
framework it was considered that both mean (µ) and variance
(σ 2 ) of E were random variables. A normal likelihood was
considered together with the conjugate prior. The natural
conjugate prior has the following form: where n 0 – initial
number of E values taken from the analytical solutions; S 0
– initial sum of squared differences between the values and
their mean; µ 0 and σ 0 – initial mean and standard
deviation. This means that the prior is the product of the
density of an inverted Gamma distribution with argument σ 2
and ν 0 degrees of freedom and the density of a normal
distribution with argument µ, where the variance is
proportional to σ 2 . It is the density of the so-called
normal-gamma distribution. Therefore, the prior for µ
conditional on σ 2 is a normal with mean µ 0 and variance σ
2 /n 0 :

The prior for the precision (1/σ 2 ) is a gamma distribution

with hyperparameters ν 0 /2 and S 0 /2:

The appearance of σ 2 in the conditional distribution of

µ|σ 2

means that µ and σ 2 are interdependent. The conditional pos

terior density of µ, given σ 2 , is proportional to p(µ,σ)

with

σ 2 held constant. It can be shown that:

where

where µ 1 – posterior mean; n – number of test results;

xmean

of the test results. The parameters of the posterior

distribution

combine the prior information and the information contained

in the data. For example, µ 1 is a weighted average of the

prior and of the sample mean, with weights determined by

the relative precision of the two pieces of information. The

marginal posterior density of 1/σ 2 is gamma:

where

The posterior sum of squares, S 1 , combines the prior and

the

sample sum of squares, and the additional uncertainty given

by the difference between the sample and the prior mean.

2.3 Posterior simulation

Obtaining the posterior distribution is the fundamental
objec

tive of Bayesian analysis. To obtain the complete posterior

distributions of the parameters it is normally necessary to

use

simulation methods.

There are several different algorithms to simulate the pos

terior distributions. One of the most popular is the Markov

Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). Markov chain simulation is a

general method based on a sequential draw of sample values

with the distribution of the sampled draws depending only on

the last value (Brooks, 1998). In probability theory, a

Markov

chain is a sequence of random variables θ 1 , θ 2 . . . θ n

for which,

for any time t, the distribution of θ t depends only on the

most

recent value, θ t−1 .

The Metropolis and the Gibbs sampler are particular

Markov chain algorithms. The Gibbs sampler is the most pop

ular one and is normally chosen for simulation in

conditionally

conjugate models, where it is possible to directly sample

from

each conditional posterior distribution. For parameters

whose

conditional posterior distribution has standard forms it is

bet

ter to use the Gibbs sampler otherwise the Metropolis should

be used. In this work, the Gibbs sampler was implemented in

order to simulate the posterior distributions. 3
APPLICATION OF THE BAYESIAN FRAMEWORK TO UPDATE THE
DEFORMABILITY MODULUS OF THE ROCK MASS In this work the
general Bayesian framework for updating E was applied in an
underground structure. The data were collected in the Venda
Nova II project and consisted of 40 LFJ tests performed in
a gallery. In each test 4 cycles were conducted resulting
in a total of 160 values of E. The mean and standard
deviation of the tests were 36.9 GPa and 6.1 GPa,
respectively. The mean and variance of E were considered to
be unknown variables. The prior was developed considering
the information of 76 values of E with mean value of 38.5
GPa, calculated using analytical expressions found in
literature based on the empirical classification systems.
The parameters of the gamma distribution were computed
using this information and the abovementioned formulae. The
prior distributions take the following form: Applying Bayes
theorem and using the above-mentioned data from the LFJ
tests, the conditional posterior distribution for the mean
and the marginal posterior for the variance are the
following: As the mean is conditional on the variance,
prior and posterior estimates for the mean value and
standard deviation were obtained by simulation using the
Gibbs sampler with 10000 iterations. Using this methodology
the parameters for the mean and standard deviation were
calculated and are presented in Table 1 as well as the 95%
confidence interval for the mean. The updated mean value of
the mean (µ) is only about 3% lower than the initial
guess.This means that the analytical solutions provided a
very good estimate of E. The most important aspect is the
substantial uncertainty reduction at all levels. The
standard deviation of the mean (σ(µ)) was reduced from 2.02
GPa to 1.15 GPa, i.e. only 57% of the initial value. The
mean of the standard deviation (σ) underwent a 37% decrease
Table 1. Prior and posterior estimates of the mean value of
E. Prior values Posterior values Parameter (GPa) (GPa) µ
38.5 37.4 σ(µ) 2.02 1.15 σ 17.5 11.1 σ(σ) 1.45 0.51 95% CI
for the mean 35.2–41.8 35.5–39.3 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
0.3 0.35 0.4 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 Mean value of
deformability modulus P r o b a b i l i t y d e n s i t y
Prior Posterior

Figure 3. Prior and posterior probability density functions

for the

mean value of E. 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035

0.04 0 20 40 60 80 100 Deformability modulus P r o b a b i
l i t y d e n s i t y Prior Posterior
Figure 4. Prior and posterior probability density functions
for E

(inferred values for the population).

from 17.5 GPa to 11.1 GPa. Finally, the standard deviation

of

the standard deviation (σ(σ)) was also significantly

decreased

from 1.45 GPa to 0.51 GPa. To illustrate this fact, Fig. 3

shows

the prior and posterior probability density functions of the

mean value of E considering the mean value of its standard

deviation. The uncertainty reduction from the prior to the

posterior can be clearly observed.

Using simulation it was possible to infer mean and char

acteristic values for the population. The mean value and

the standard deviation passed from prior values of 38.4 GPa

and 19.6 GPa to posterior values of 37.4 GPa and 12.4 GPa,

respectively. The 37% decrease on the standard deviation

had considerable influence on the 95% confidence intervals.

The prior interval ranged from 6.1 GPa to 70.7 GPa and the

posterior from 17.1 GPa to 57.7 GPa.

In Fig. 4 the prior and posterior probability distributions

of

E considering the mean values of the mean and standard devi

ation is presented. Even though the mean value is

practically

unchanged, the uncertainty about the parameter was clearly

reduced using the Bayesian methodology.

From an engineering point of view, the posterior results and

inferences can be considered consistent and validate the

prior

ABSTRACT: The road tunnel, which will connect

Gdynia-Sopot-Gdan´sk agglomeration to its ring road, will
run through

moraine heights composed of glacial deposits. Because of

the need to protect landscape, the tunnel, running at a
quite shallow

depth, has to be constructed using mining methods. A

detailed technology of mining works might be determined on
the base of

geotechnical recognition of the area of the planned

investment. Because of expected complex geotechnical
conditions along the

tunnel route, traditional geological and geotechnical

investigations are supplemented with geophysical
investigations performed

with use of seismic and geoelectric methods. The

geophysical investigations will make it possible (basing on
differentiation

of physical parameters of subsurface medium), delineating

of geological structures in subsurface and interpolate
reliably point

information gathered in wells along the whole route of

planned tunnel. In the paper an example of results of
geophysical

investigations and geotechnical cross-section elaborated on

the base of geophysical, geological and geotechnical data
along a

selected section of the planned tunnel are presented. The

results of conducted works have shown the geophysical
investigations

are very useful in recognition of geological structures

tested and distribution of geotechnical parameters within
them.

1 INTRODUCTION
The road tunnel planned in Sopot will connect the metropoli

tan area Gdan´sk-Gdynia-Sopot to the ring-road located

around

the whole agglomeration. The main goal of investment is to

decrease traffic in centre of the agglomeration. The tunnel

of

length 1350 m and diameter 6 m will intersect, at depth up

to 46 m, a streak of moraine heights located within the

Three

Cities Landscape Park. Because this is a protected area,

where

the tunnel is planned, no destructive works (on the surface)

are allowed there. So, the tunnel has to be constructed

using

mining methods. Technology of mining works will depend

on geotechnical conditions detected along the tunnel route.

Along the route, presented in Fig. 1, difficult and variable

geotechnical conditions are expected. So, it is proposed to

sup

plement traditional geological and geotechnical

investigations

with geophysical surveys in order to continuously delineate

geological structures in subsurface and interpolate reliably

point information gathered in wells along the whole route of

the planned tunnel.

2 CHARACTERISATION OF THE SITE AND ITS

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE

The tunnel will be located at border area of Gdan´sk

Wejherowo Height which origin refers to accumulation and

erosion activities of Baltic glaciations. Up to depth 30–60

m,

ground consists of glacial-tectonic disturbed Pleistocene

fluvial-glacial sands and boulder clays. Pleistocene fine

and

medium sands change in eastern part into unsorted material

and gravels with boulders. Sand layers are separated by a

boul

der clay horizon which consists of clayey sands and sandy

clays and glacial lake sediments consisted of silty clays,

silts and mud. Pleistocene sediments cover Tertiary
sediments represented by Miocene mud of brown coal facies.
The main aquifer is lower sandy series, covered by boulder
clay horizon, and sands of fossil erosion-accumulation
valleys. The water-bearing horizon is sealed by the
impermeable boulder clay horizon. Also sandy interbeds
within impermeable sediments are saturated. Within upper
series of fluvial-glacial sands only their bottom parts are
saturated, where synclinal depressions of top of the
boulder clay horizon appear. 3 GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Diverse sediments where the tunnel is to be driven are
characterized by variable permeability, mechanical
properties and also physical parameters, which are measured
as a result of geophysical surveys. Impermeable sediments
(clayey silt) are characterized by low values of electric
resistivity and permeable sandy-gravel sediments by high
ones. Mechanical properties of the subsurface sediments are
strictly related to velocity of seismic waves propagating
within them. So, in geophysical investigations, methods
based on measurements of electric resistivity “ρ” and
seismic wave velocities “Vp” have been applied in order to
delineate distribution of these parameters in the studied
subsurface sediments. Resistivity measurements were carried
out using VES method (Vertical Electroresistivity
Sounding), and seismic measurements used refraction and
reflection profiling. VES measurements were carried out
along the tunnel route, at each 25 m point, using
Schlumberger’s scheme. Maximum spread length of current
electrode line AB = 600 m ensured penetration depth up to
about 100 m. Measurement results were elaborated with the
use of numerical modeling, using professional computer
software. Geoelectric investigations
Figure 1. Map of the area and route of the tunnel.

resulted in delineation of the subsurface sediments into

physical layers of various electric resistivity values. On

the

considered area (glacial tectonics origin), electric

resistivity

tomography might have provided more accurate results but

terrain conditions (barriers) made it impossible to apply

the

method.

Seismic measurements were carried out along the tunnel

route using refraction and reflection profiling. A

48-channel

acquisition system and the geophones spread length of 96 m,

were applied. As a source of longitudinal seismic waves “P”

hammer impacts were used. Refraction waves were induced

in 5 points for every spread, and results were elaborated

using

Generalized Reciprocal Method (GRM) in order to determine

refraction boundaries and seismic wave velocities within the

outlined physical layers. Depth range of the measurements

was

up to 30 m. Refraction horizons indicate physical boundaries

where seismic wave velocities increase abruptly. This corre

lates with increased values of the subsurface strata

mechanical

parameters. A prerequisite for arising of the refraction

wave

on the boundary is an increase of velocity values within

succeeding layers in depth domain.

Reflection measurements were carried out using CDP

(Common Depth Point) and multiple coverage methods. For

field records, standard processing procedures of seismic

data

were applied in order to determine boundaries reflecting

seismic waves.

Boundaries located up to depth of 80 m were recorded.

Reflection of seismic waves occurs at boundaries where acous

tic impedance (defined as a product of seismic wave velocity

and formation density Vp ∗ d) changes. This condition is nec

essary to create the seismic reflection phenomena on

physical

boundaries within geological medium.

4 DISCUSSION OF THE SURVEY RESULTS

Results of geophysical surveys are presented in Figures 2

and

3, and the final geotechnical cross-section elaborated on

the

base of results of all methods (geophysical and

geotechnical), in Figure 4. The example covers section from
300 to 700 meter of the planned tunnel route. In Figure 2,
presenting results of resistivity survey, physical layers
characterized by various electric resistivity values are
outlined, on the base of “ρ” values determined at VES
stations (sounding locations). To the outlined layers
lithology was attributed, basing on geological information
from wells located next to VES stations. As a result,
permeable and impermeable layers were mapped along the
tunnel route. Over Tertiary basement, represented by
Miocene loam characterized by values of electric
resistivity in range ρ= 40–70 m and depth 40–80 m, a layer
of unsorted sands of thickness 20– 40 m and resistivity
range ρ= 100–240 �-m appears. Over the sands a layer of
impermeable clayey-silt deposits of thickness range 5–12 m
and resistivities in range ρ= 50–120 m appears. In the
overburden of those sediments a set of layers of variable
lithology and highly variable electric resistivity is
located. The layers set thickness ranges from 4 to 30 m,
and resistivity values range is ρ= 200–1400 �-m. So, on the
presented section the tunnel route runs through a saturated
sandy layer and then through impermeable clayey-silt layer.
In Figure 3, results of seismic investigations with the use
of refraction and reflection method are presented. In
subsurface deposits refraction boundaries were delineated
and seismic velocities “Vp” determined for the outlined
physical layers. At top part of subsurface two refraction
boundaries were delineated. The first one is at depth 2–5 m
(b.t.s.) and separates a layer of seismic velocities Vp =
200–300 m/s from layer of seismic velocities Vp = 450–700
m/s and thickness 4–15 m. The second recorded seismic
boundary is at depth range 9–19 m (b.t.s.) and sets up the
top of third layer, characterized by velocity values in
range Vp = 900–1800 m/s. Refraction boundaries refer (as
mentioned above) to geological interfaces where values of
mechanical parameters of soils increase abruptly. A good
correlation of the recorded seismic boundaries and results
of geotechnical soundings with SC probe (presented on Fig.
3) was affirmed. In deeper part of the section two physical
boundaries were recorded by reflection survey. The deeper
is at the depth of

Figure 2. Electric resistivity cross-section along the

tunnel route (example section 300–700 m).

Figure 3. Seismic cross-section along the tunnel route

(example section 300–700 m).

about 40–80 m (b.t.s.) and matches the top of Tertiary sedi

ments. The shallower one is at the depth of 20–60 m (b.t.s.)

within the thick complex of varied size grained sands

deposits

and cannot be correlated with any litostratigraphic boundary

determined in boreholes.

In Figure 4 a geotechnical section, elaborated on the base

of described geophysical data, geological boreholes of depth

up to 45–80 m, geotechnical investigations which embraced

soundings using heavy probe S.C. type “Boros” up to depth

of 11–22 m and static soundings using penetration probe

CPTU up to depth of 5.5–10.5 m, and laboratory analyzes is

presented.

Appearing along the tunnel route sandy-gravel and clayey

silt soils were divided into geotechnical layers I, II,

IIIa, IIIb,

IV, V and VI, basing on average values of so called

principal

parameters. For loose soils such parameter is the

coefficient

of consolidation I D , and for cohesive soils it is the

plasticity

index I L . Parameters ρ and Vp, determined from

geophysical survey correlate well with those parameters.The
coefficient of consolidation is relevant to seismic
velocity and the plasticity index – to electric
resistivity. So, it was possible to attribute geotechnical
layers to outlined geophysical layers. The juxtaposition of
outlined within the subsurface geotechnical layers together
with attributed to them values of geotechnical and
geophysical parameters is presented in Table 1. Presented
results confirm usefulness of geophysical investigations to
geotechnical studies, especially in areas of complex
geological structure, where detailed recognition with the
use of traditional techniques would be very difficult. 5
CONCLUSIONS Presented example confirms the need to
supplement traditional geotechnical investigations with
geophysical surveys

Figure 4. Geotechnical cross-section along the tunnel route

(example section 300–700 m).

Table 1. Comparison of geotechnical and geophysical

properties of soils within studied area.

No. Geotechnical layer Lithology I D I L ρ [�m] Vp [m/s]

1 I Fine sands with humus, 0.38 – very variable 200–300

slighty wet (Q)
2 II Fine sands and silty sands, 0.54 – very variable
450–700 slightly wet (Q)

3 IIIa Fine sands and silty sands, 0.81 – 100–240 900–1800

slighty wet and saturated (Q)

4 IIIb Varied size grained sands, 0.84 – 100–240 900–1800

saturated (Q)

5 IV Clayey sands and sandy clays, – 0.4 50–70 600–700

plastic (Q)

6 V Clayey sands and sandy clays, – 0.2 50–120 900–1800

hard-plastic (Q)

7 VI Silts, sandy silts, hard-plastic – 0.0 40–70 900–1800

and semi-stiff loam (Tr)

in order to improve the characterization of geological struc

ture. Such recognition is especially important in case of so

complex construction works as tunnels.

Bestyn´ski, Z. & Jagodzin´ski, A. 2005. Dokumentacja badan´

geofizy

cznych na trasie projektowanego tunelu “Nowa Spacerowa” w

Gdan´sku-Sopocie. SEGI–AT Ltd., Warszawa. Mojski, J. 1979.

Szczegółowa mapa geologiczna Polski w skali 1:50000, ark.
nr 27 “Gdan´sk”. Wydawnictwo. PIG, Warszawa. Tarnowski, M.
2005. Dokumentacja geologiczno-inz˙ynierska pod/loz˙a trasy
projektowanego tunelu “Nowa Spacerowa” w Gdan´sku–Sopocie.
Geoprojekt-Szczecin Ltd., Szczecin. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Gotthard Base tunnel: Rock
burst phenomenon during construction of a multifunctional
section in a fault zone area H. Hagedorn, M. Rehbock-Sander
& R. Stadelmann Amberg Engineering AG, Switzerland (Amberg
Engineering AG is member of the Engineering JV consisting
of: PÖYRY, Lombardi AG and Amberg Engineering AG)

ABSTRACT: The Gotthard Base Tunnel, a 57 km long twin tube

single track railway tunnel is currently under
construction.

The aim of the tunnel is to connect the high speed railway

systems of Germany and Italy. During the construction (D&B)
of one

of the three intermediate points of attack a big unknown

fault was encountered. A comprehensive drilling campaign
revealed

a faults kernel consisting of intensively jointed gneiss

and kakirites sub vertically dipping over the tunnels and
striking at

approximately 10 ◦ to the tunnel system’s axis. In addition

to large deformations rock bursts have been occurring
mostly at the

face after blasting. Other bursts with damaging effect on

the support have been experienced at greater distance to
the face. By

means of a seismic measuring program the hypocenters of the

seismic events could be localized. Computational
simulations

have been carried out in order to recognize the likely

failure mechanisms responsible for the bursts causing
damages.

1 RAILWAY AXIS THROUGH THE ALPS

The longest tunnel of the NEAT (New Alpine Transverse)

through the Swiss Alps is the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT)

with a length of 57 km. The tunnel consists of two parallel

single track tubes each with a diameter of 9.2 m. The tubes

are connected by cross galleries every 310 to 325 meters

(see Figure 1). The maximum overburden is 2350 meters.

Three intermediate points of attack divide the tunnel into

five sections of approximately equal length. These

additional

attacks are necessary to attain a reasonable construction

time

of approximately ten years and for ventilation purposes.

The intermediate points of attack at Sedrun and Faido shall

serve as Multi Functional Sections (MFS) during operation of

the tunnel. These MFS enables the trains to change the

tunnel

tube in case of maintenance works and the specially

ventilated

emergency sections serve the rescuing of people in emergency

cases (see Figure 1). The MFS Faido had to be accessed by a

2.7 km long gallery declining at 12.7% from the portal. The

overburden in the MFS Faido is approximately 1500 meters.

2 GEOLOGICAL PREDICTION FOR THE

MFS FAIDO

The outcrops from quarries in the area of the MFS Faido,

the experiences made during construction of the

investigation

system for the Triassic Piora basin as well as various

vertical

exploration drillings confirmed a favorable geological

section

for the designed location the MFS consisting of Leventina

Gneisses with very good quality.

3 GEOLOGY ENCOUNTERED

During April 2002 a completely unexpected break down of

fine grained quartz occurred in the roof of the top heading

approximately at half of the length of the cross cavern

forming

a cavity of 8 meters in height (see Figure 1). The results

of an Figure 1. Schematic original layout of the MFS Faido
location of the measuring section in the tube EWN.
extensive drill holes campaign together with seismic
reflection measurements effectuated during construction
showed a huge fault system in the area of the MFS Faido.
The main kernel of this fault strikes at an angle of
approximately 10 ◦ to the tunnel axis and dips at
approximately 80 ◦ to the West (see Figures 2 and 3). The
joint system encountered during the construction is shown
in Figure 3. Between these joints the rock is partially
completely decomposed into kakitrite. 4 DIFFICULTIES DURING
CONSTRUCTION During excavation of the West tube to the
north a support consisting of steel arches HEM 200
backfilled with 40 cm concrete was installed immediately
after each excavation step of 1 m. This rigid support was
required due to the heavy pressure from loosening in the
roof and to protect workforce and equipment. The results of
deformation and strain measurements confirmed that the
concrete lining lost its original bearing capacity within 5
days after casting. During May 2004 the excavation was
stopped in the West tube to the north since the deformation
reached values of magnitude up to 1 m and the safety for
the workforce could not be guaranteed any longer. The
damaged section had to be rebuilt (Hagedorn, 2005).

Figure 2. Actual geology recognized by January 2003.

Fault’s kernel with intensively jointed rock on both sides
of the kernel. As a

consequence the crossover has been shifted to the south

(compare with Figure 1).

Figure 3. Joint system in the kernel area of the fault.

5 NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS, STATIC CASE

In order to understand the failure mechanisms the area

around

the tunnels of the MFS was investigated by means of numer

ical modeling. The model section is indicated in Figure 2. A

parametric study with the variation of the rock and joint

prop

erties was carried out. From the known geology it was

obvious

that a discontinuum model with deformable blocks had to be

used in order to recognize the influence of the

discontinuities

and the kakirite zones on the stability of the tunnel

section.

For this purpose the program UDEC (ITASCA) was used. The

model in the area of the tunnel is shown in Figure 4.The

differ

ent fault regions (see Figure 4) have been selected

according

to Figures 2 and 3.

The computational results in Figure 4 show the concentra

tion of the vertical stresses σyy rising to 60 to 80 MPa in

the

Leventina Gneiss with better strength properties on the east

side of the three tunnels. Within the area of the tunnels,

both

σ yy and σ xx drop down to less than 10 MPa. This

distressing

within the area of the three tunnels theoretically

resembles the

effect of an ‘excavation’ around the whole tunnel system as

indicated by the dotted line in Figure 4.

6 ROCK BURSTS

6.1 Occurrencies of rock bursts

Rock bursts primarily occurred at the face after blasting.

The

time between blasting and rock bursts is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 4. Distribution of the vertical stresses σ yy for
the static load case. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
2 0 4 0 6 0 8 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 4 0 1 6 0 1 8 0 2 0 0 2 2 0 2
4 0 2 6 0 2 8 0 3 0 0 3 2 0 3 4 0 3 6 0 3 8 0 4 0 0 4 2 0 4
4 0 4 6 0 4 8 0 Time (min) between excavation and rock
burst at the face N u m b e r o f r o c k b u r s t s
during bench excavation 75% of the rock bursts at the face
occurred within 3 hours after blasting. Figure 5.
Frequency of rock bursts at the face during Summer 2004.
Number of bursts as a function of time after blasting.
Total more than 95% of the rock bursts occurred at the
tunnel face and have been given rise by stress
concentrations in the face area. Another type of rock
bursts partly causing damage of the support occurred in the
area indicated in Figure 2 mainly in the East tube and
during excavation of the West tube. The face of the East
tube was approximately 300 meters ahead of theWest tube’s
excavation.The burst’s locations in the East tube at a
greater distance to the face indicate an influence of the
West tube’s excavation and a time dependent distribution of
the stress changes due to excavation. Some of these bursts

Figure 6. Damage of the support’s shotcrete due to a rock

burst with

forming of cracks and ejection of shotcrete plates.

have been registered by stations of the seismic network oper

ated by the Swiss Seismological Service, SED of the Swiss

Federal Institute of Technology, ETH.

6.2 Locations of the sources

In order to determine as accurate as possible the rock

burst’s

hypocenters it was decided to having installed 6 additional

seismometers at the surface and one in the tunnel by the SED

(see Figure 2). In addition the wave velocity in the rock

was

determined from two calibration blastings. The

interpretation

of the seismic measurements revealed the positions of the

burst’s sources to be located close to the tunnels of the

MFS.

6.3 Damages during construction

The types of damage due the rock bursts experienced during

construction have been: Forming of cracks in the support’s

shotcrete, detaching and ejection of plates of the support’s

shotcrete and heave of the invert. In order to avoid a risk

for

the workforce the East tube to the north was temporarily

closed

during excavation works in the West tube. No accidents have

occurred due to rock bursts. An example for the damage of

the shotcrete lining due to a rock burst is shown in Figure

6.

7 NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF ROCK BURSTS

7.1 Aim of the numerical simulations

The aim of the numerical simulations is to assess the

influence

of a tremor on the tunnels during utilization. According to

the Swiss Norms such an investigation is required for

tunnels

located in fault zone areas.

7.2 Model

For the numerical modeling the same model was used as for

the static investigation. In order to focus in a first step

on the

fault’s influence on the tunnel stability only one tunnel

is con

sidered.A 3D model is currently developed for a more

realistic

representation of the geotechnical situation.The dynamic

load

case is superimposed to the static one. All model boundaries

are viscous in order to avoid wave reflections.

7.3 Simulation with the measured wave in the tunnel

For the first numerical simulation a plain strain model with

side lengths of 200 m and concrete lining of 40 cm thick

ness was used. The dynamic load corresponds to a measured

Figure 7. Horizontal particle velocity Vx with time
recorded in the tunnel for the tremor on 25.03.2006. Figure
8. UDEC model of the fault’s kernel area with one tunnel.
Distribution of Vx showing the deviation along the kakirite
zone. particle velocity Vx (see Figure 7) with maximum
amplitude of 0.0013 m/sec and filtered to max. 50 Hz. This
wave was applied on the right side vertical model boundary
(see Figure 8). By capturing pictures of the velocity
distribution in the model during computation (see Figure 8)
the wave propagation could be visualized. The main aspects
of this computation are that according to the Vx –
distribution in Figure 9 the wave is deviated upward along
the kakirite zone and that the applied load corresponding
to the measured Vx has a neglecting influence on the
linings’s normal force and bending moments compared with
the values from the static load case. 7.4 Simulation of
stress drops From the previous results was obvious that the
experienced damage-extent from a rock bursts did not
coincide with the corresponding measured ave in the tunnel.
It was therefore supposed that the support’s damages have
been resulting from stress drop on joints in the vicinity
of the tunnels. Such stress drops have been simulated by
means of the computational model as shown in Figure 9. For
the static case a high shear resistance was specified
enabling shear stresses to build up (see Figure 9). The
maximum shear stress after excavation reached to 13 MPa. On
the indicated joint in Figure 9 the shear resistance was
suddenly released causing the dynamic load on the system.
Since UDEC is based on a dynamic approach the a sudden
stress druop induces a dynamic system response. The joint
length with released shear resistance is approximately 20 m
long with its startpoint 5 meters and its endpoint 25 m
below the tunnel’s invert. In Figure 10 the displacements
develop between the joint with the stress drop and the weak
zone. The maximum displacement reaches 0.13 m after 0.05
sec.The

Figure 9. Shear stress distribution in joints around the

tunnel for

the static load case. Joints with high shear resistance.

Figure 10. Displacement vectors (max.: 13 cm), renges of
vertical

displacement components (grey shaded) dur to the stress

drop.

presence of weak fault zone in the vicinity of a stress drop

deviates in the presented example the wave’s propagation in

direction to the tunnel. Measured stress drops with

magnitudes

in the range of 10 MPa are reoported. (Konietzky, 1990,

1992).

The distribution of the vertical displacement component is

in

ABSTRACT: Recently, a number of construction projects

including a large-scale embankment and surface excavation
have

been planned and executed at locations adjacent to existing

tunnels. In these cases, it is essential to estimate
adverse effects due

to the neighboring construction works on the tunnels. At

first, we carried out case studies of embankment and ground
surface

excavation above railway mountain tunnels. We therefore

carried out FEM simulation analyses for such cases to
clarify tunnel

deformation behaviors due to embankment and ground surface

excavation above the tunnel. This paper presents a summary
of

these results obtained from the case studies and the

simulation analyses, and proposes a guideline for criteria
to judge proximity

levels to embankment or excavation above existing mountain

railway tunnel.

1 INTRODUCTION

Recently, in Japan, a number of construction projects includ

ing a large-scale embankment and surface excavation have

been planned and executed at locations adjacent to existing

tunnels. In these cases, it is essential to estimate

adverse effects

due to the neighboring construction works on the tunnels.

Therefore, Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI)

presented a draft of “Manual for Precautionary Measures in

Construction Adjacent to an Existing Tunnel” in 1995, for

maintenance of railway tunnels. The manual frequently has

been applicable to predict adverse effects of the adjacent

con

struction work to existing railway mountain tunnels. In this

manual, however, there is no provision of methods of numer

ical analysis to estimate adequately the tunnel deformation

behavior.

In view of such a situation, the authors initially carried

out

case studies using eighteen cases of embankment and thirty

one cases of ground surface excavation above railway moun

tain tunnels. We also carried out FEM simulation analyses

for

such cases to clarify the tunnel deformation behaviors due

to

embankment and ground surface excavation above the tunnels.

This paper presents a summary of these results obtained from

the case studies and the simulation analyses, and proposes a

guideline for criteria to judge proximity levels to

embankment
or excavation above existing mountain railway tunnels.

2 DEFORMATION BEHAVIOR OF TUNNEL DUE TO

SURFACE EXCAVATION

Prior to proceeding to the subject, the authors briefly

describe

on a typical case of deformation behavior of an existing

railway Photograph 1. View of surface excavation above the
railway tunnel (after excavation work). tunnel due to
surface excavation.The tunnel is a railway tunnel with
cast-in-place concrete lining constructed on a doubletrack
in 1929 by a conventional mountain tunneling method,
approximately 200-m in length and 40-m maximum overburden.
The surrounding medium of the tunnel is of Tertiary soft
mud rock of unconfined compressive strength q u = 5-MPa and
deformation modulus in unloading D = 1,000-MPa. Photograph
1 shows a view of the surface excavation above the tunnel.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal cross section of the surface
excavation. As shown in Fig. 1, the original maximum
overburden of the tunnel H is 40-m and residual overburden
h is 10-m, then the height of excavation �H is 30-m. Figure
2 shows raise and convergence progress of the tunnel during
excavation. As shown in the figure, the tunnel is (δ v =
25mm) and deformed with horizontal reduction (u h =−3-mm)
and vertical expansion (u v =+5-mm). As a result, slight
longitudinal tensile cracking and water leakage occurred on
the sidewall.

Figure 1. Longitudinal cross section of the railway tunnel.

Figure 2. Deformation behaviors of the existing tunnel

during

excavation.

From this case, it is apparent that a tunnel likely affected

adversely by adjacent constructions where the tunnel con

structed within a relative soft ground and the construction

is of a large scale and/or the tunnel already deformed.

3 CASE STUDIES OF BANKING OR GROUND

SURFACE EXCAVATION
We carried out case studies of embankment or ground surface

excavation above railway mountain tunnels, in order to

clarify

influence degrees of hardness of the ground and geometrical

shapes and scales of the embankment or the surface excava

tion. Finally, collected cases are 18 cases of banks and 31

cases

of ground surface excavations.

At first, we classified these data to tree countermeasure

ranks (Rank No. 0, 1, and 2) using scales of the countermea

sures. Rank-0 is a case of no countermeasure required.

Rank-1

is a case requiring minor countermeasures including plastic

nets, fiber reinforced plastic etc. or backfill grouting.

Rank 2

is a case requires major countermeasures including reinforce

ment of tunnel structure using inner lining, invert, etc.

Figure 3 shows relations between B/H (ratio of bank width

B to original overburden H ) and �H/D (ratio of bank height

H to ground deformation modulus D) plotted respective

countermeasures classified as (Rank 0, 1 and 2) on the

cases of embankment. Rank-0 is plotted as “©”, Rank-1

is plotted as “�” Rank-2 is plotted as “�”. From Fig. 3,

although the spread of some data is observable, it is

roughly Figure 3. Relations between B/H and �H/D by every
countermeasure ranks (Banking). Figure 4. Relations between
D and h/H by every countermeasure ranks (Excavation).
understandable that where the�H/D is larger, the major
countermeasure is required. In addition, the influence of
B/H was unrecognizable. Figure 4 shows relations between
ground deformation modulus D and residual overburden ratio
h/H (ratio of residual overburden h to original overburden
H ) plotted every countermeasure ranks (Rank 0, 1 and 2) on
cases of excavation. From Fig. 4, it is apparent that major
countermeasures are required at areas where h/H and/or D is
smaller. In addition, several tunnels at the area are
likely adversely affected including cracking and other
heavy damages (see “+” in Fig. 3). As mentioned above in
the case study, although less adverse effect due to the
shapes of embankment or excavation, ground deformation
modulus D,and volume of embankment (such as �H/D) and
excavation (such as h/H ) are remarkably corresponding with
countermeasure ranks, proximity levels to the tunnel.Then,
in the next step, numerical analyses will be made to
clarify quantitative relations between ground deformation
modulus D, shape and size of embankment (such as B/H,�H )
or excavation (such as B/h, h/H ), and adjacent degrees.

Figure 5. Analytical model for banking.

Figure 6. Analytical model for excavation.

4 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

4.1 Summary of analysis

To simulate the deformation behavior of existing tunnels due

to embankment or excavation immediately above the tunnels

we carried out two-dimensional FEM analysis. Figure 5 and

6 show the analytical models for embankment and excava

tion respectively. In these models, embankment or excavation

width B = 10–80-m and original overburden H = 5–30-m can

be selected. The Shinkansen tunnel model is used. Tunnel

lining and invert are made by plain concrete (t = 700 mm,

σ c = 18 MPa, σ t = 2 MPa) without reinforcement and mod

eled with beam element.

For the embankment analyses, adding solid elements on

the ground surface above the tunnel makes embankment pro

cedures. For the excavating analyses, cutting ground surface

solid element above the tunnel makes excavating procedures.

Ground deformation modulus D is modeled by linier elastic

D = 5–3000-MPa.

4.2 Analytical results

(1) Embankment

Figure 7 shows relations between B/H and allowable embank

ment height �Ha which is defined when lining tensile stress

σ t is equal to 1-MPa or 2-MPa (2-MPa� tensile strength of

standard lining concrete). As shown in this figure, in the

case

of B/H >2, �Ha/D is at almost constant value 0.02.

Figure 7 also illustrates the results from the above

mentioned case study (see Fig. 3). From this figure, the

analytical result in �Ha at σ t = 1 MPa is approximately

situated in the boundary between Rank-0 and Rank-1, and

the result in �Ha at σ t = 2-MPa is approximately situated

in

the boundary between Rank-1 and Rank-2.

(2) Excavation

Figure 8 shows relations between ground deformation modu

lus D and allowable residual overburden ratio �h/H , which

is defined when lining tensile stress σ t is equal to 1-MPa

or

2-MPa. In addition, Fig. 8 also illustrates results from

the 0 2 4 6 8 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 B/H ∆ H a / D ( m / M P a )
Figure 7. Analysis Results on banking (Relations between
B/H and allowable banking height �Ha). Figure 8. Analytical
Results on Excavation(Relations between D and allowable
residual overburden ratio �h/H ). Figure 9. Guideline
criteria to judge the levels of proximity to embankment.
above-mentioned case study (see Fig. 4). From this figure,
cases required Rank-2 occurred cracking are almost plotted
in the region σ t 2 MPa. From the analytical results of (1)
and (2), we find that these results can suitably simulate
the actual deformation behaviors of tunnel linings due to
embankment and excavation.

Table 1. Guideline for criteria to judge the levels of

proximity to

embankment or excavation.

(a) Embankment Embankment height �H (m)

Proximity level ∗ B/H 1 B/H < 1

Level III D/25 D/(25(B/H ))

Level II D/50 D/(50(B/H ))

Level I D/50 D/(50(B/H ))

(b) Excavation Residual overburden ratio h/H

Proximity level ∗ B/H 1 B/h < 1

Level III 1/(1 + 0.003D) (B/h)/(1 + 0.003D)

Level II 1/(1 + 0.001D) (B/h)/(1 + 0.001D)

Level I

D: Deformation modulus of surrounding ground (MPa)

B, H , �H and h (m) are defined as follows;

∗ Level-III:Countermeasures and monitoring required

Level-II:Monitoring required

Level-I :No measure required.

5 PROPOSAL OF A GUIDLINE FOR JUDGEMENT OF

PROXIMITY LEVEL

Based on the above-mentioned studies, we prepared a guide

line for criteria to judge the levels of proximity to

embankment

or excavation above the existing mountain railway tunnels.

Table 1 shows the foregoing guideline that considered defor

mation modulus of ground D and geometrical shape of the

adjacent constructions B/H, �H, B/h and h/H . In this Table,

proximity levels are classified to Level-III

(countermeasures

and monitoring required), Level-II (monitoring required) and

Level-I (no measure required). Figure 9 illustrates the

results

ABSTRACT: The underground LPG storage plant is one of the

new style energy storage facilities, which have large rock

caverns with high internal gas pressure. The gas storage

design basically relies on the water pressure in the
surrounding rock

being more than the ‘escape’ pressure of the stored gas.

Therefore, it is important to prevent gas leakage through
the conductive

fracture networks formed by fracture initiation,

propagation and coalescing phenomenon due to the fluid
pressure. Distinct

Element Method (DEM) using Bonded Particle Model (BPM) is

convenient to simulate such process of fracturing as the

progressive breaking of discrete bonds. Potyondy & Cundall

(1999) suggested the hydro-mechanical coupled formulation
that

utilizes DEM and channel and domain network concept.

However, this formulation has never been extended to the
three

dimensional rock deformation and fracturing issue caused by

the interaction of gas and liquid. Thus, in this study, the
authors

develop the three-dimensional hydro-mechanical coupled

analysis that can express rock deformation and fracturing
coupled

with fluid flow of gas and liquid. The applicability of

this method is examined through the case study of the
actual air cushion

surge chamber (ACSC), which has experienced not only the

leakage of high pressured air from the rock cavern but also

the air leakage-control with water curtain. The proposed

method shows high performance to evaluate the air leakage
and air

tightness.

1 INTRODUCTION

The underground LPG storage plant and CAES (Compressed

Air Energy Storage) plant are new style energy storage facil

ities, which have large rock caverns with high internal gas

pressure. The gas storage design basically relies on the

princi

ple of water pres-sure in surrounding rock being more than

the

‘escape’ pressure of the stored gas. However, the

surrounding

fracture network effects air tightness performance of

storage

cavern, the leakage mechanism is governed by fracture initi

ation, propagation and coalescing phenomenon resulted from

the variation of fluid pressure. Therefore, for the

planning and

designing of gas storage caverns with high internal

pressure, it

is required to predict the generation of fracture network

due to

internal gas pressure and evaluate the amount of gas leakage

through the fracture network with taking the effect of
ground

water flow that governs the gas penetration to rock mass

into

account.

Particle flow code (PFC) described by Cundall & Strack

(1979) is convenient to treat such process of fracturing as

the

progressive breaking of discrete bonds. Potyondy & Cundall

(1999) suggested the hydro-mechanical coupled formulation

that utilizes DEM and channel-domain network concept. How

ever, this formulation has never been extended to the three

dimensional rock deformation and fracturing issue caused by

the interaction of gas and liquid.

Thus, in this study, the authors develop the hydro

mechanical coupled analysis based on three-dimensional DEM

model that explicitly simulate inter-particle mechanics in
order to perform a realistic simulation that can express
rock deformation and fracturing coupled with fluid flow of
gas and liquid. The appropriateness of this numerical
method is verified through the case study of the actual
ACSC (Air Cushion Surge Chamber), which has experienced not
only the leakage of high pressured air from the rock cavern
but also the air leakagecontrol with water curtain. 2
FORMULATION 2.1 Basic concept The concept of the
hydro-mechanical coupled model formulated by Potyondy &
Cundall (1999) is shown as in Figure 1. Rock mass is
represented by the bonded particle assemble. A closed loop
surrounded by the bonded particles, is called a ‘domain’
that acts as a notational void in rock mass. A segment that
links two neighboring domains is called a ‘channel’ that
acts as a notational crack with a specific aperture. The
geometry of domain and channel are changed according to the
relative displacement of the corresponded bonded particles.
It is assumed that this causes the following coupled
phenomena in rock mass. • The relative displacement of the
bonded particles or contact force causes the change in the
geometry of the adjacent
Figure 1. The concept of the hydro-mechanical coupled model

formulated by Potyondy & Cundall (1999).

channel and then the hydraulic properties of the channel

are changed.

• Mechanical changes in domain volumes due to fluid flow

through the adjacent channel cause changes in domain

pressure.

• Pressure changes at the domains cause displacements of the

bonded particles around the domains, or destruct the bond

of the particles and then create a newer channel-domain

structure.

2.2 Flow and pressure formulation for two-phase flow

The imaginary channel that connects domains in bonded par

ticles is assumed as the crack with specific aperture, which

is hydraulically equivalent to the discontinuities in rock

mass.

Simplify by assuming the parallel plate model, the flow rate

through the crack is given by

where g = gravity; ν= kinematic viscosity of fluid; a =

aperture; (h 2 − h 1 ) = head difference between the two

adja

cent domains (The sign convention is such that a positive

pressure difference produces a positive flow from domain 2

to domain 1.); and l = channel length which is taken to be

the

sum of the radii of the particles adjacent to the contact.

It is
assumed that the flow rates of gas and liquid, q G and q L
, in

equation (1) can be obtained from the following equations,

respectively.

where V G , V L and V = gas volume, liquid volume and domain

volume; ν G and ν L = gas viscosity and liquid viscosity;

g = gravity vector; and n C = the unit nor-mal vector of the

channel. | source denotes the domain on the inlet side.

Each domain receives flows from the surrounding pipes,

q. In one time step, �t, the increase in fluid volume is

given

by the following equation, assuming that inflow is taken as

positive. where �V d is increase in the apparent volume of

the domain. The different equation must be required to
calculate the pressure change for 2 different fluid phases.
For gas phase, assuming isothermal change, we can obtain
where P i = fluid pressure at time step, i; and V Gi = gas
volume at time step, i. For liquid phase, using fluid bulk
modulus, k f , 3 VERIFICATION OF THE PROPOSED METHOD 3.1
Outline of verification A case study on the actual
hydromechanical phenomena around the rock cavern with high
internal gas pressure is presented in this section to
verify the practicality of the proposed hydro-mechanical
coupled formulation. The case discussed in this study
concerns the air-cushion surge chamber (ACSC) in Kvilldal
power plant, the largest Norwegian hydro-pumped power
plant. ACSC is an economical and operational measure for
replacing the conventional surge shaft. Because of this
replacement, the position of the powerhouse can be chosen
with greater freedom, and waterway tunnels, especially the
expensive ones such as steel-lined valley crossings can be
replaced by generally much less costly and shorter
deep-seated headrace/pressure tunnels. Similarly to the
underground gas storage cavern, the air storage design of
the unlined ACSC relies on the principle of water pressure
in surrounding rock being more than the ‘escape’ pressure
of the stored air, and if the sufficient water pressure
cannot be secured, a series of overhead water curtain
gallery is excavated in order to maintain air storage
pressure. The ACSC in Kvilldal is experienced in the air
leakage and the countermeasure by the appropriate water
curtain facility. Therefore, it is convenient to verify the
performance of the proposed method. The both the air
leakage and the air sealing by water curtain are simulated
using the proposed method, and the simulation results are
compared with the actual field data. 3.2 The Kvilldal ACSC
investigation data The host rock of the Kvilldal ACSC is
gray to dark gray, hard amphibolitic gneiss of Precambrian
age with pockets of quartz and feldspar (mimetic gneiss).
Testing of cylindrical specimens of the cores showed
(Kjorholt et al. 1989) 160 MPa for uniaxial compressive
strength; 15 MPa for tensile strength; 35 GPa for Young’s
modulus and 0.11 for Poisson’s ratio. The volumetric joint
count ( joints/m 3 ) was described by Broch et al. (1987)
as ‘low to moderate’ for Kvilldal. A total of up to 4 joint
sets were registered when mapping the ACSC walls and arch,
but the jointing was spars. Rock mass permeability
measurements were carried out using exploratory boreholes
in cavern vicinity, and showed 2 × 10 −16 m 2 for the
average permeability.

Figure 2. Dimension of the Kvilldal ACSC. Barton et al.

(1987).

Hydraulic fracturing stress measurements were also carried

out (HFRAC performed by NGI), and showed 5.2 MPa for

horizontal stress.

The Kvilldal ACSC as shown in Figure 2, measures 16 m

for span, 17–24 m for height, 386 m for length, 260–370 m 2

for vertical sectional area, 5200m 2 for water surface area,

110,000 m 3 for cavern volume, and 70–80,000 m 3 for air

volume.

No reinforcement or grouting was performed in this excel

lent quality, low permeability rock, although grouting was

suggested prior to operations.

3.3 Air losses at the Kvilldal ACSC

At design stage of the Kvilldal ACSC, favorable high water

pressure had been expected to prevent the gas leakage since
the

rocks around the ACSC are extremely good and low perme

able. However, when the high-pressure air compression was

carried out in September 1982, the impermissible air losses

from the ACSC were observed, and then the compressors

were stopped. The air loss rate calculated to be 250 Nm 3

/hr.

The air leakage rate into the surrounding rocks is estimated

240 Nm 3 /hr.

The temporal variation of PV product of the Kvilldal ACSC

is reported by Pleym & Stokkebo (1985). The steady decline

in the PV product was recorded for a 25-day period in late

September through to mid October 1982. Also, the stationary

state of the PV product was recorded for a 25-day period in

November through to December 1983, when the water curtain

that was established as a countermeasures for the air

losses,

was fully worked. The air loss rate was totaling 10 Nm 3

/hr,

an amount equivalent only to air absorption, dissolution, or

diffusion into the waterbed.

At a later data, piezometers placed within theACSC to try to

understand the leakage problem registered only 1.5–1.7 MPa

water pressure. The Bjorndal fracture zone, which dips at

about 45 degree above the ACSC and intersects the water

tunnel of the plant, was suspected to have caused the local

drainage and the drawdown of the water table.

3.4 DEM modeling

As shown in Figure 2, the Kvilldal ACSC has the form of a

rectangular loop. The cavern with a span of 16 m and height

Figure 3. The bonded particles model and the boundary
condition for the simulation of the Kvilldal ACSC. of 24 m,
which has a water-bed with a depth of 10 m, is established
in a 120 m × 120 m × 150 m volume as shown in Figure 3. As
the mechanical boundary condition, the measured horizontal
stress of 5.2 MPa and the calculated vertical stress of
13.7 MPa from the overburden of 522 m and the density of
2630 kg/m 3 are applied to the bonded particle models, and
the particles within the region of the tunnel are removed
for forming the ACSC cavern. Then the model was taken into
energy equilibrium to prevent drastic change in domain
geometry inducing unstable solution while calculating. The
no-flow boundaries and the specified pressure boundaries
are defined as shown in Figure 3, assuming the axisymmetric
flow. The both the portion of the air in the cavern and the
waterbed are the domains with the specified initial
pressure. The verification must be required to use relevant
input microproperties, which is set to reproduce the
relevant behaviors of the rocks. The appropriate
microproperties are determined by a calibration process, in
which the response of the synthetic material is compared
directly with the measured response of the rocks. A series
of biaxial tests using the 5 contact-bonded particle models
(particle radius = 0.6–1.0 m: uniform distribution; density
= 2630 kg/m 3 ) with a height of 100 m and width of 50 m,
each of which has the same microproperties and the
different layout of particles generated by different random
number sequence, are carried out as the calibration for the
determination of the mechanical microproperties. In order
to determine the contact-bond strength, each of the 4
different confining pressures (0 MPa, 5 MPa, 10 MPa, and 15
MPa) is applied to the bonded particles, and the strength
values are compared with the Mohr-Coulomb envelope plotted
based on the uniaxial compressive strength value and
tensile strength value. Also the hydraulic macro response
values, which are required with the channel-domain network
analysis model, are determined through the calibration
process by referring the literature as well as the
mechanical properties.

Figure 4. The computed pore pressure distribution (left)

and air
saturation distribution (right) in the air leakage case
(without the

water curtain). measured computed Sep.1 Oct.1 Nov.1 3.0E+11

2.5E+11 2.0E+11 1.5E+11 P V ( P a m 3 ) Time (date)1982

Figure 5. Comparison between the computed PV and the

measured

PV in the air leakage case (without water curtain).

3.5 Simulation results on the case without water curtain

Figures 4 shows a series of the simulation results on the

case

without water curtain, which the apparent air leakage into

the Figure 6. The computed pore pressure distribution and
air saturation distribution in the case that the water
curtain is established. Nov.1 1983 Dec.1 Time (date)
Jan.1 1984 3.0E+11 2.5E+11 2.0E+11 1.5E+11 P V ( P a m 3 )
measured computed Figure 7. Comparison between the computed
PV and the measured PV in the countermeasure case (with
water curtain). surrounding rock mass was observed in 1982.
Figures 4(a), (b), (c) and (d) show the computed pore
pressure distributions of fluid on September 1, 1982
(initial state), 22 days, 66 days, and 110 days after,
respectively. The internal pressure of the cavern is
transmitted to the surrounding rock mass, and then the air
is penetrated sequentially as time elapsed. Figure 5 shows
the comparison between the computed and the measured PV
product as time elapsed. Significantly, the computed PV
result approximates the measured ones. The average of the
computed air leakage rate into the surrounding rock mass in
simulated period is 245 Nm 3 /hr, very close to the
measured value of 240 Nm 3 /hr in reality. 3.6 Simulation
results on the case with water curtain Figure 6 shows the
computed pore pressure distributions at January 1, 1984,
when the water curtain was fully worked and the water
pressure is transmitted to the underneath. Figure 7
illustrates the comparison between the computed and the
measured PV product. Significantly, the computed PV also
approximates the measured ones as in case that without
water curtain. The average of the computed air leakage rate
is 3.2 Nm 3 /hr, a sufficient small value as well as the
measured one.

4 CONCLUSION
In this study, the proposed hydro-mechanical coupled anal

ysis method achieves to simulate the rock deformation and

fracturing mechanism by inter-particle mechanics explicitly.

Additionally, the gas-liquid two phase flow is also

simulated by

channel-domain network in this model.The hydro-mechanical

coupled analysis method is verified by the actual case

ofACSC

(Air Cushion Surge Chamber) site. Air leakage amount in

cases with and without water curtain are simulated for

assess

ing the performance. By comparison on the measured and

the computed results, both the two cases show high perfor

mance in realistic simulation. As the result, it is

verified that

the proposed simulation method is effective to evaluate the

air

leakage and air tightness.

Barton, N. et al. 1987. Rock mechanics investigations for

unlined

pressure tunnels and air cushion surge chambers. Proc. Int.

Conf.

On hydro power in Oslo, pp.641–656. Cundall, P. A. &

Strack, O. D. L. 1979. A Discrete Numerical Model for
Granular Assemblies, Géotechnique, 29: 47–65 Kjorholt, H.
et al. 1989. Water curtain performance at the Kvilldal air
cushion. Proc. Int. Conf. On storage of gases in rock
caverns, pp.26–28. Pleym, A.S. & Stokkebo, O. 1985.
Operational experience with the air cushion surge chamber
at Kvilldal power station. Norwegian hydropower tunneling.
Norwegian Soil and Rock Engineering Association, No.3.
Potyondy, D.O. & Cundall, P.A. 1999. Modeling of Notch
Formation in the URL Mine-By Tunnel: Phase IV Enhancements
to the PFC Model of Rock, Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.,
Report to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Ontario Hydro
Nuclear Waste Management Division Re-port No.
06819-REP-01200-10002-R00. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Intelligent stability analysis and design optimum of a

large hydraulic cavern group under high geo-stress
condition Feng Xia-Ting, Su Guoshao & Jiang Quan Institute
of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Wuhan, P.R. China

ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on some key problems for the

stability analysis of larger cavern group under high geo

stress conditions. A new index of rock-burst risk

assessment, Local Energy Release Rate (LERR), is proposed
and integrated

with plastic failed volume, displacement of various key

points at cavern and support cost index to perform a
comprehensive

evaluation of stability of larger cavern group under high

geo-stress conditions. An intelligent recognition algorithm
based on

Particle Swarm Optimization is suggested to recognize

parameters of hard rockmass constitute model. An
intelligent optimal

algorithm integrated with Particle Swarm Optimization

(PSO), numerical calculation Support Vector Machine (SVM),
the

suggested new comprehensive index, and recognized model

parameters is also proposed to obtain global optimal
solution for

excavation procedure and support scheme. The proposed new

algorithms have been used to recognize model and parameters

of surrounding rockmass and to perform stability analysis

and excavation procedure optimum for large caverns of
Laxiwa

Hydropower Station located on Yellow River in China. The

results can give a guide to the project design.

1 INTRODUCTION
There are a lot of large carven group and underground exca

vations which are or will be excavated under high geostress

condition. Even though a lot of studies have been conducted

on

stability analysis of large carven group and underground

exca

vations under high geostress condition (Zhu & Wang, 1992;

Feng et al., 1997; Feng & Wang, 2000; Gao & Zheng, 2002;

An & Feng, 2003a,b; Jiang & Feng, 2003; Feng & An, 2004;

Feng & Hudson, 2004), there are some key problems still

not to be solved well. For example, how to reasonably assess

rockburst risk during excavation? How to evaluate compre

hensively applicability of an excavation procedure and

support

scheme for a large carven group under high geo-stress condi

tion? How to obtain an applicable constitute and its

parameters

for hard and brittle rock masses? How to obtain a global

opti

mal solution for excavation procedure and support scheme a

large carven group under high geo-stress condition? Focus

ing on these key topics, several new algorithms have been

proposed in this paper and verified by application to Laxiwa

hydropower cavern group.

2 A NEW ROCKBURST INDEX-LOCAL ENERGY

RELEASE RATE

Considering the limitation of conventional index for

stability
analysis and optimal design of underground rockmass engi

neering under high geostress condition and the drawbacks of

conventional ERR rockburst index which based on linear elas

tic theory without brittle failure phenomenon, a new

rockburst

index, Local Energy Release Rate (LERR), is proposed in this

paper. LERR is obtained through tracing the variety of elas

tic energy density of each element and record the maximal

fluctuation when brittle failure occurrence during numerical

calculation.The calculation formula for Local Energy Release

Rate is as where LERR i is local energy release ratio of

the ith element. U i max is peak point of elastic strain
energy at the ith element before it occurs brittle failure.
U i min is the least point of elastic strain energy at the
ith element before it occurs brittle failure. where σ 1 , σ
2 , σ 3 are principal stresses corresponding to peak points
of elastic strain energy at elements.σ ′ 1 , σ ′ 2 , σ ′ 3
are principal stresses corresponding to least points of
elastic strain energy at elements. ν is possion’s ratio,
and E is Young modulus. Accordingly, elastic energy release
rate can be calculated as where V i is volume of the ith
element. Using the new index, the intension of rockburst,
the position and extent of failure zone during rockmass
excavation under high geostress condition can be predicted
quantitatively. Furthermore, total energy release of
surrounding rockmass obtained by LERR can be used as
optimal index for excavation schemes optimal design. The
results of example analysis to Taipingyi hydropower
diversion tunnel show that LERR is scientific and rational
(see Fig. 1). 3 INTELLIGENT RECOGNITION OF ROCKMASS
CONSTITUTE MODEL BASED ON PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION In
light of the fact that it is hard to determine parameters
of a constitutive model-cohesion weakening and frictional
strengthening (CWFS) model (Kennedy & Eberhart, 1995),
which performs excellently in modeling the extent and depth

Figure 1. K2 + 330 ∼ K2 + 412 tunnel section: (a)Actual

rockburst

section and (b) Simulation results using this proposed

method.

of brittle failure zone for hard rock under high situ stress

condition, a new method is proposed to identify parameters

of CWFS model using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)

(Vapnik & Vapnik, 1995; Su & Feng, 2005). The algorithm

is described as follows: Firstly, stochastic values of

parame

ters are initialized and the difference in failure zone

between

the value computed and the datum measured is regarded as

fitness value to evaluate quality of the parameters. Then

the

parameters are updated continually using by PSO until the

optimal parameters are found. Thus parameters are identified

adaptively during computation. The results of applications

to

two real tunnels show that this method is feasible and

efficient

for identifying constitutive parameters and realizing

precision

prediction of the extent and depth of brittle failure of

hard rock

under high situ stress condition.

4 INTELLIGENT OPTIMAL ALGORITHM FOR

EXCAVATION PROCEDURE AND SUPPORT

SCHEME

Aiming at distinctness of deformation and failure of

rockmass

under high geostress and optimization of excavation schemes

and support schemes for large caverns is a complicated prob

lem having a large search space and large scale of numerical

calculation, a new intelligent optimization integrated

method

is proposed for optimization of excavation sequence and sup

port parameters for large underground caverns under high

geostress condition. The method, which takes the integrated

optimization indexes including elastic release energy,

plastic failed volume, displacement of various key points
at cavern and support cost index as fitness, integrates the
3D numerical method based on a new constitutive model which
performs excellently under high geostress condition, and
the intelligent technique including Particle Swarm
Optimization (PSO) and SupportVector Machine (SVM). It is
different from traditional indexes used for optimal design
of large underground cavern group that it needs not only to
satisfy the requirement of having the least deformation and
damage zone but also to have least energy release rate to
reasonable damage degree of surrounding rock. Also, it aims
at having reasonable stability and finances. The objective
function for this optimal problem is set up as min f (x).
The constraint conditions are possibility of arrangement of
carven, excavation step-by step, height of excavation step,
rockburst or other failure risk, excavation procedure and
support parameters and satisfaction of mechanical
principles, etc. In detail, learning samples are
established by numerical analysis for some typical
construction schemes firstly. Then, using SVM trained by
learning samples, the nonlinear mapped relationship of
excavation sequence and support parameters with integrated
optimization indexes are established. Finally, the globa
optimum excavation sequence and support parameters are
achieved by PSO search technique. 5 INTELLIGENT STABILITY
ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OPTIMUM OF LAXIWA HYDRAULIC CAVERN
GROUP The proposed new algorithms have been used to
recognize model and parameters of surrounding rockmass and
to perform stability analysis and excavation procedure
optimum for large caverns of Laxiwa underground powerhouse
located on Yellow River, China. The size of main powerhouse
is 312 m × 30 m × 74 m. The geostress at powerhouse region
is σ 1 = 22 ∼ 29 MPa dipping to river valley with dip angle
of about 10 ◦ , σ 2 = 15 MPa dipping to mountain of NEE∼SEE
with dip angle of about 20 ◦ , σ 3 = 10 MPa almost
vertically. The region is mainly hard compact granite with
uniaxial tensile strength of 1.5 MPa and Young modulus of
25 GPa. There are un-developed joints. The recognized
results for parameters of CWFS model based on the proposed
algorithm for this regional rockmass are C max = 12 MPa, ε
p c = 0.2%, ε p f = 0.5%. Figure 2 shows applicability of
the recognized CWFS model parameters. The total 30 training
samples are built using numerical calculation (meshes shown
in Fig. 3) with input of the recognized CWFS model
parameters to train SVMs and six testing samples are use to
test the SVM models. The obtained SVMs are used to
recognize the optimal excavation procedures for these
caverns. The results are as C1B1J1T1 → C2B2J2T2 → C3B3J3T3
→ C4B4J4T4M → C5B5J5T5 → C6B6J6T6 → C7J7T7 → C8J8T8G1 →
C9J9 G2 (excavation step marks are shown in Fig. 4). The
three potential support schemes are compared and final the
scheme 1 is recommended for this optimal excavation
procedure. The results give guidance to the project design
and construction.

Figure 2. Comparison of excavated disturbed zone (a) in

situ mea

sured and (b) calculated using the recognized model and

parameters.

6 CONCLUSIONS

With research above and applications in Laxiwa hydropower

cavern group, China, the following conclusions can be

drawn up:

1. Local Energy Release Rate, as a new index, can be

used to evaluate risk degree and occurrence region of

rockburst. Furthermore, a compressive index with integra

tion of energy release rate, plastic failed volume, displace

ment of various key points at cavern and support cost index

is good at evaluating an excavation procedure and sup

port scheme for a large carven group under high geo-stress

condition.

2. The proposed intelligent recognition algorithm based on

Particle Swarm Optimization can be used to obtain an

applicable constitute model and its parameters for hard and

brittle rock masses.

3. The proposed intelligent optimal algorithm integrated

with

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), numerical calculation

and Support Vector Machine (SVM) can be used well to

obtain a global optimal solution of excavation procedure

and support scheme for a large carven group under high

of large cavern group—Part I: theory model. Chinese Journal

of

Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 2003, 22(5): 706–710.

An Honggang, Feng Xiating. Study on parallel evolutionary

neu

ral network fem on stability and optimization for large

cavern

group–Part II: case study. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics

and Engineering, 2003, 22(10): 1640–1645.

Feng Xia-Ting and Honggang An. Hybrid intelligent methods

opti

mization of soft rock replacement scheme for large cavern

exca

vated in strata alternated with soft and hard rocks. Int J

Rock Mech.

Min Sci. 2004. 41(4): 655–667.

Feng Xia-Ting, J A Hudson. The ways ahead for rock

engineering

design methodologies. International Journal of Rock

Mechanics
and Mining Sciences. 2004. 41(2): 255–273

Feng Xia-Ting, Yongjia Wang. Some Thoughts Concerning the

Development of Intelligent Rock Mechanics, ISRM News

Journal,

Oct. 2000. 6(2): 14–17.

Feng Xia-Ting, Katsuyama, Wang Yongjia, Lin Yunmei, A new

direction Intelligent Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering,

International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences,

1997, 34 (1): 135–141.

Gao Wei, Zheng Yingren. Ant colony algorithm and its

application

into optimization of construction order for underground

house groups. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering, 2002, 21(4): 471–474. Hajiabdolmajid, V. and
P.K. Kaiser. Brittleness of rock and stability assessment
in hard rock tunneling. Tunnelling and Underground Space
Technology, 2003, 18: 35–48 Jiang Annan, Feng Xiating, Liu
Jian, Liu Hongliang. Intelligent optimization of anchoring
parameters for large underground houses based on three
dimensional numerical simulation. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, 2003, 23(10): 1700–1705 Kennedy
J, Eberhart R C. Particle swarm optimization.In: Proc. IEEE
Int Conf on Neural Networks [C]. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE
Press, 1995: 1942–1948. Su Guoshao, Feng Xiating. Parameter
identification of constitutive model for hard rock under
high situ stress condition using particle swarm
optimization algorithm. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering, 2005.24(17): 3029–3034 Vapnik N. Vapnik.
The Nature of Statistical Learning Theory. Springer-Verlag,
New York. 1995. Zhu Weishen, Wang Ping. Application of
dynamic programming in construction mechanics of cavern
groups. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering,
1992, 11(4): 323–331. 11th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Interpreting in-situ stress measurements
using geological models, Sweden C. Derek Martin Dept. Civil
& Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Canada Rolf Christiansson Swedish Nuclear Fuel
and Waste Management Company (SKB), Stockholm, Sweden
ABSTRACT: Siting of an underground nuclear waste repository
requires measurement of the in-situ stress state. Two
sites,

Forsmark and Laxemar, are currently being investigated in

Sweden to depths >1000 m. At both sites there is existing
stress data

in the region which is being used to help with the

interpretation of stress measurements obtained from the
site investigation

program. The geological environments appear quite different

between the sites; one being a thrust-fault (Forsmark) and
the

other being a strike-slip fault (Laxemar). Stress

measurement programs have been carried out at both sites to
determine the

stress gradients with depth. The stress measurements also

support the two different geological environments.

1 INTRODUCTION

The siting of a nuclear waste repository must consider many

technical factors. In situ stress is one factor that

impacts on

the optimum depth and layout of the repository. At great

depth

the stress magnitudes will be large and stability of the

under

ground openings may be compromised. At shallow depths

the stress magnitudes will be small and hence the hydraulic

conductivity of the fractures will be at a maximum, possi

bly compromising the geosphere as an effective barrier. Thus

in order to choose an optimum depth, the stress magnitudes

and orientations versus depth must be known with reasonable

accuracy.
Stephansson et al. (1991) presented results from the

Fennoscandia Rock Stress Data Base containing about 500

entries from more than 100 sites in Finland, Norway and

Sweden by 1987. They concluded from this stress database

that in the Fennoscandia shield: (1) there is a large

horizontal

stress component in the uppermost 1000 m of bedrock, and

(2) the maximum and minimum horizontal stresses exceed

the vertical stress assuming the vertical stress is

estimated

from the weight of the overburden. These findings are sim

ilar to the data reported by Herget & Arjang (1990) for the

Canadian Precambrian shield conditions with relatively flat

topography.

Two potential repository sites, Forsmark and Laxemar, are

currently being investigated in Sweden to depths of 1000 m

by

the Swedish Nuclear Waste Management Co (SKB). (for site

location see Figure 2). Based on the data from Stephansson

et al (1991) both sites should experience a gradual increase

in stress magnitude with depth with the maximum and inter

mediate stress in the horizontal plane and with the vertical

stress the minimum stress.To confirm the understanding of

the

stress conditions at both sites an extensive stress

measurement

program was undertaken using the Borre Probe, a tool that

utilizes the triaxial strain cell overcoring technique

traditional

hydraulic fracturing and the HPTF method (Haimson & Cor

net, 2003). In this paper we report on the preliminary

findings

from stress measurements down to depths of approximately

1000 m. 2 FAULTS, SEISMICITY AND STRESS Anderson (1951)

proposed a fault classification for thrust faults,
strike-slip faults and normal faults, based on observations
in areas of low topographic relief that related the
horizontal stress magnitudes to the vertical stress
magnitude (Figure 1). Sibson (1974) estimated the magnitude
of the stress change required to initiate these three types
of faults. Sibson, assuming a coefficient of friction of
0.75, concluded that the ratios of the magnitudes of the
differential stresses necessary for sliding on the three
types of faults are 4:1.6:1. Sibson also showed that the
distortional elastic strain energy corresponding to those
stress ratios for the energy required for sliding on the
three faults was 16:2.56:1. From these analyses Sibson
noted that these stress and strain ratios were in general
agreement inferred from seismic analysis, i.e., seismic
events associated with thrust and strike-slip faults
release more energy than normal faults. Slunga (1991)
analysed approximately 200 seismic events collected from
the Swedish Seismic Network. All the seismometers were
placed on Precambrian bedrock and the seismic events had
moment magnitudes between 0.6 to 4.5. The majority of the
events were located between 0 and 18 km depth and the
location of the earthquake epicenters are shown in Figure
2. Figure 2 clearly shows a clustering of events in
Southwestern Sweden to the west of the Protogine zone.
Slunga (1991) noted that regardless of the location of the
event there was a consistent horizontal direction for
energy release Figure 1. Anderson’s fault classification
and the associated stresses.

Figure 2. Location of seismic events in southern Sweden and

crustal

thickness. The dashed line, referred to as the Protogine

zone, seismic

data from Slunga (1991) and crustal thickness contours (in

km) from

Kinck (1993).
and concluded that the regional direction of maximum hor

izontal compression was N60 ◦ W. Slunga (1991) concluded

that the uniformity of the compression orientation in both

southern and northern Sweden implied that the seismic fault

movements were caused by the same systematic horizontal

deformation of the crust and hence likely caused by plate

tec

tonic processes rather than uplift processes. This notion is

supported by the consistent orientation of horizontal

stresses

in the Fenno-Scandinavian Shield published by the World

Stress Map project (Figure 3).

Slunga (1991) concluded that the dominant type of faulting

associated with the seismic events in Southwestern Sweden

was strike-slip, while the seismic events in northern Swe

den indicated a thrust fault environment. This change Slunga

attributed to the Protogine zone which separated the younger

rocks in the southwest from the old Precambrian rocks to the

East and North. Kinck et al. (1991), using seismic

profiling,

found that the thinnest crust (approximately 20 km) was

found

to West of Protogine zone and while East-central Sweden had

a very thick crust (approximately 50 km). They suggested

that

this differential thickness in the crust may be related to

the

different seismic signatures obtained by Slunga and that the

seismic events concentrate where the change in thickness is

greatest.

In summary, the seismic record for Sweden shows that

the regional horizontal stress is oriented N60 ◦ W and that

this orientation is consistent throughout Sweden. Despite

this consistency in orientation the source of the seismic

events in Sothern Sweden are associated with strike-slip

faults

while in Northern Sweden the seismic events are dominated

by a thrust fault. This implies, using the Anderson fault

classification that the orientation of the principal

stresses

could be different in Southern Sweden compared to Northern

Sweden. Figure 3. Stress directions in the vicinity of the

Forsmark and Laxemar sites, data from the World Stress Map
www.world-stress-map.org. Figure 4. The deformation zones
in the Laxemar area tend to align NS and EW, while NE
trending shear structures has a significant influence to
the east, and just south of the Äspö HRL. (SKB 2006a). 3
STRESS MEASUREMENT PROGRAM 3.1 Laxemar Site The Laxemar
site is located in the municipality of Oskarshamn, about
300 km south of Stockholm. The majority of the rocks that
outcrop in southeastern Sweden were formed during a period
of intense igneous activity approximately 1810– 1760 Ma ago
during the latter stages of the Svecokarelian orogeny. The
dominant rocks comprise granites, syenitoids, dioritoids
and gabbroids, as well as volcanic rocks. This generation
of igneous rocks belongs to the so-called Transscandinavian
Igneous Belt (TIB). After the formation of the TIB rocks,
the next rock forming period in south-eastern Sweden,
including the Oskarshamn region, did not take place until
approximately 1450 Ma ago. It was characterised by the
local emplacement of granitic magmas in a cratonized crust.
The major deformation zones in the Laxemar investigation
area tend to be aligned East-West and North South (Figure
4). The East West zones are distinct features often
containing a
Figure 5. Minimum horizontal stress versus depth in the
Äspo and

Laxemar area, from hydraulic fracturing tests.

fault zone with an increase in fracture frequency and a clay

gouge core, while the North-South zones are less pronounced

and usually lack the clay gouge core.The dip of these

deforma

tion zones are typical vertical to subvertical, although

one of

the major East-West deformations zones dips approximately

45 degrees towards the North. Most of these deformation

zones are interpreted to have formed in a strike-slip fault

environment between 1 and 1.5 billion years ago.

At the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL), which is adja

cent to the Laxemar site, rock stress measurements have been

conducted since the late 1980s. In total, about 100

hydraulic

fracturing and 140 overcoring stress measurements have been

carried out. Some of the measurements were carried out from

surface boreholes using hydraulic fracturing, while most of

the overcore data was obtained from the underground exca

vations. At the Äspö HRL between a depth of approximately

200 m and 450 m, the minimum principal stress is the min

imum horizontal stress (see KAS02 in Figure 5). This stress

state was also confirmed by Christiansson and Jansson (2003)

who compared the results from three different stress measure

ment methods in two orthogonal boreholes at 450 m depth at

Äspö HRL.

This stress profile in Figure 5 show the minimum horizontal

stress measured with hydraulic fracturing methods at the

Äspö

HRL and in the Laxemar area down to a depth of 1337 m. In

those boreholes the depth at which the minimum horizontal

stress becomes greater than the vertical stress varies

between

500 and 1300 m. The maximum horizontal stress at these sites

tends to be significantly greater than the vertical stress,

e.g.,

at Aspo at 450 m depth is approximately 3 times the vertical

stress. The stress state where the minimum horizontal stress

is less than the vertical stress is indicative of a

strike-slip fault

environment (See Figure 1) which is also in keeping with the

seismic evidence given by Slunga (1991) for the area to the

west of the Laxemar site and the Protogine zone.

3.2 Forsmark Site

In the regional context, the investigations at the Forsmark

Site

are located within a tectonic lens that developed more than

1850 million years ago. The bedrock inside the lens is rel

atively homogeneous whereas the lithology is more variable

Figure 6. Three dimensional model of the Forsmark Site
showing the major lithology units and the major deformation
zones (DZ) (SKB 2006b). outside the lens.A simplified
geology block model of the Forsmark site is given in Figure
6. The major granite is located in the hinge of a fold and
bounded on the north and south by major subvertical
deformation zones. At the site two major fracture domains
have been identified. Fracture domain FFM02 can be classed
as a blocky rock that extends to a depth of approximately
300 m. Below this depth in fracture domain FFMO1, the open
fracture frequency decreases and rock mass quality
improves. During the construction of the nuclear power
plant in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, exposure of the
bedrock revealed extensive horizontal and sub-horizontal
fractures. Many of these near surface fractures were open
to approximately >0.3 m and infilled with glacially derived
sediments, suggesting high horizontal stresses. Stress
measurements carried out using overcoring of triaxial
strain cells, for the power plant construction, revealed
both horizontal stresses to be greater than the vertical
stress (Carlsson and Christiansson 1986). The stress
magnitudes at the Forsmark site have been measured in
76-mm-diameter boreholes drilled from the ground surface
using hydraulic fracturing and overcore methods. The
overcore method was successful in fracture domain FFM02,
but below a depth of approximately 300 m, ring-disking of
the overcore cylinder was commonly observed and hydraulic
fracturing only provided the weight of the overburden. In
Fracture Domain FFM02, both the horizontal stresses were
significantly greater than the vertical stress (Figure 7).
Below Fracture Domain FFM02, there is uncertainty in the
stress magnitudes but all indications suggest that both
horizontal stresses are greater than the vertical stress.
Doe et al (2006) noted that in such stress conditions,
hydraulic fracturing provides only the vertical stress
component, which is also supported by the Forsmark
measurements (see Figure 7). 4 SUMMARY The stress
measurement program at Forsmark and Laxemar sites revealed
in-situ stresses that appear compatible with thrust and
strike-slip fault environment, respectively. Only the
stress data from the Forsmark site shows both horizontal
stresses greater than the vertical stress. Analysis of the
structural geology and seismic events for the sites also
supports this notion. A possible explanation for the
different geological environments may be related to the
difference in crust thickness. The crust is approximately
50% thinner in the southern

Figure 7. Summary of the stress magnitudes measured at the

Forsmark Site. The horizontal lines represent error bars.

part of Sweden. The strike-slip environment found at the Lax

emar site may reflect the influence of the sharp transition

from

the 50 km thick crust in the north to the shallower crust

in the

south. This notion is the subject of ongoing

investigations, as

local geology may also influence stress measurements (Ask

2006).

Anderson, E. M., 1951. The dynamics of faulting. Oliver &

Boyd,

Edinburgh. Ask, D. 2006. New developments in the Integrated

Stress Determination Method and their application to rock
stress data at the Äspö HRL, Sweden. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci., 43107–126. Carlsson, A. and Christiansson„ R.
1986. Rock stress and geological structures in the Forsmark
area. In Proc. Int. Symp. on Rock Stress and Rock Stress
Measurements. Christiansson R. and Jansson T. 2003. A test
with different stress measurement methods in two orthogonal
boreholesin Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden. Int. J of
Rock Mech and Mining Sci.. 40:1161–1172. Doe,T.W., M.
Zieger, C. Enachescu and J. Bohner, 2006. In-situ stress
measurements in exploratory boreholes. Felsbau,
24(4):39–47. Haimson B.C. and Cornet F.H. 2003. 2003. ISRM
suggested method for stress estimation – Part 3: hydraulic
fracturing (HF) and/or hydraulic testing of pre-existing
fractures (HTPF). Int. J of Rock Mech and Mining Sci..
40:1011–1020. Herget, G. and Arjang, B. 1990. Update on
ground stresses in the Canadian Shield. Proc.Stresses in
Underground Structures, Ottawa, pp. 33–47 Kinck, J. J., E.
S. Husebye and F. R. Larsson, 1993. The Moho depth
distribution in Fennoscandia and the regional tectonic
evolution fromArchean to Permian times. Precambrian
Research, 64:23–51. Sibson, R. H., 1974. Frictional
constraints on thrust, wrench and normal faults. Nature,
249:542–544. Sjöberg, J. & Klassen, H. 2003. Stress
determinations using the Borre (SSPB) probe. Int. J. Rock
Mech. Min. Sci. 40:1205–1224 SKB, 2006a. Preliminary site
description, Laxemar subarea version 1.2. SKB Report
R-06-10, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. SKB,
2006b. Site descriptive modelling Forsmark stage 2.1. SKB
Report R-06-38, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management
Co., Stockholm. Slunga, R. 1991.The Baltic Shield
earthquakes,Tectonophysics, 189, 323–331. Stephansson, O.
Ljunggren, C. & Jing, L. 1991. Stress measurements and
tectonic implications for Fennoscandia. Tectonophysics,
189, 317–322. 11th Congress of the International Society
for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann
(eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3

Investigation into ground convergence effect on TBM

performance in squeezing ground A. Jafari Department of
Mining Engineering, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran M.
Mollaee & H. Shamsi Imen Sazan Consultant Engineers,
Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT: Nosoud water tunnel is located in north of Iran,

to be driven by double shield TBM machine. Driving TBM

through the week zones is an important challenge ahead, in

this 48 km tunnel. Existence of shale and marl rocks with
low RMR

value and overburden of more than 995 m necessitates the

study of squeezing likelihood in this tunnel. The study was
conducted

using semi analytical methods which revealed existence of

some critical sections. Load on the shield was calculated
by means

of LDP and GRC curves for critical sections. It was

concluded that TBM may be jammed in those sections;
suggestions were

made to improve the circumstances.

1 INTRODUCTION

Nosoud water tunnel is located in west of Iran, North West

of Kermanshah province. It is 48 kilometer long that extends

from Sirvan River to Ezgeleh field. Second part of the

tunnel

(about 25 km long), which is the focus of this study, mainly

consists of shale and marl type of rock. It also encounters

some

geological structures such as faults and folds; and the

overbur

den is as high as 995 m in some area. Figure 1 shows

geological

longitudinal section of second part of the tunnel.This

situation

necessitates study of rock squeezing potential. Since the

tunnel

is going to be excavated by mechanized method, using a

double

shield TBM, importance of the study increases. Unpredictable

ground convergence may lead toTBM jamming, however, pre

cautions such as over cutting, lubricating of external body

of

the shield, etc, can be taken to prevent jamming in light

of ade

quate knowledge of ground condition and squeezing risk. This

study aims to perform squeezing analysis towards predicting

TBM jamming likelihood.

2 ESTIMATION OF DISPLACEMENT, LDP AND GRC

ALONG THE TUNNEL

Six different rock formation and 11 geological sections can

be distinguished along the tunnel. Radius tunnel

displacement,

Longitudinal Deformation Profile (LDP) and Ground Reac

tion Curve (GRC) were calculated in all sections of the

tunnel

Figure 1. Geological longitude section for second part

(Lar, 1993). for further squeezing study. Analytical
solution proposed by Carranza-Torres and Fairhurst (2000)
was used for this calculation. Required input parameters
are shown inTable 1.Table 2 shows the maximum wall
displacement and depth of plastic zone for each section. 3
SQUEEZING INVESTIGATION FOR DIFFERENT SECTIONS To evaluate
squeezing condition in different formations, two semi
analytical procedures i.e. Hoek-Marinos (2000) method
andAydan et al. (1993) method were implemented. Both
methods are developed based on strain in tunnel walls.
Strain was calculated using maximum wall displacement,
obtained from Carranza-Torres and Fairhurst solution. 3.1
Aydan et al. method According to Aydan et al. (1993)
squeezing in rock can happen, when the induced shear stress
exceed the allowable shear strength of rock. Squeezing
process does not involve chemical reactions and the
resultant convergence is not associated with any noticeable
increase in volume. If the tangential strain, which is
defined by ε a θ = u/r (u is the maximum wall displacement
and r is tunnel radius) is greater than 1%, rock may
undergo squeezing condition. Barla (2002) used this method
and proposed the squeezing classification of shown in Table
3.

Table 1. Input parameters for Carranza-Torres and Fairhurst

method for Nosoud water tunnel (Lar, 1993).

Geological section (symbol) Kga J J k k Kga Ki Kg Ki Kg Ki

Kg Ep

Section number 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa) 50 10 75 63 30 34 32 41

35 45 36

Geological strength index (GSI) 31 21 44 50 26 31 26 56 35

56 33

Rock mass density (Kg/m 3 ) 2400 2400 2600 2560 2560 2840
2560 2840 2560 2840 2500

Poisson ratio 0.25 0.35 0.25 0.35 0.25 0.25 0.35 0.35 0.25
0.25 0.25

Youngs modulus (GPa) 6 1 6 8 1.5 2 1.5 8.5 2.5 5 2

M i (proposed by Hoek and Brown) 7 5 12 10 6 7.5 6 6 6 6 6

Dilation angle ( ◦ ) 3 0 4.5 4.81 0 3.375 3 4 0 0 0

Table 2. Maximum wall displacement and plastic zone depth.

Section number 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Radius plastic zone ratio to 3.33 5.51 1.49 1.35 1.93 2.36
3.28 1.35 1.5 1.18 1.25

tunnel radius (Rp l /R)

Maximum displacement (mm) 111.33 280.63 25.5 11.15 35.44 48

199.72 5.1 11.44 2.6 5.34
Table 3. Squeezing behavior classification by Barla (2002).

Class number Squeezing level Tunnel strain (%)

1 No squeezing ε a θ ≤ 1

2 Light squeezing 1 ≤ ε a θ ≤ 2

3 Fair squeezing 2 ≤ ε a θ ≤ 3

4 Heavy squeezing 3 ≤ ε a θ ≤ 5

5 Very heavy squeezing 5 ≤ ε a θ

Figure 2. Squeezing classification (Hoek and Marinos, 2000).

Table 4. Squeezing level proposed by Hoek & Marinos (2000).

Class number squeezing level Tunnel strain (%)

1 Few support problems ε t ≤ 1

2 Minor squeezing 1 ≤ ε t ≤ 2.5

3 Severe squeezing 2.5 ≤ ε t ≤ 5

4 very severe squeezing 5 ≤ ε t ≤ 10

5 Extreme squeezing 10 ≤ ε t

3.2 Hoek – Marinos method

Hoek and Marinos (2000) also used tangential strain ε t , as

a criterion for prediction of squeezing condition. They

classi

fied the squeezing intensity based on the previous

experiences

in Taiwan, India and Venezuela, as shown in Figure 2. The

classification is also quantified in Table 4. Table 5.

Squeezing level in different sections of Nosoud tunnel
based on both methods. Section Tunnel (Hoek – Marinos
(Aydan et al. number strain (%) method) method) 9 3.3 Very
severe Heavy 10 8.34 Extreme Very heavy 11 0.757 No No 12
0.33 No No 13 1.05 Minor Light 14 1.42 Minor Light 15 5.93
Extreme Very heavy 16 0.15 No No 17 0.34 No No 18 0.077 No
No 19 0.159 No No 3.3 Squeezing condition in Nosoud tunnel
Table 5 indicates wall strain and squeezing condition in
different sections of the tunnel, based on both methods. It
can be seen that heavy to extreme squeezing may be
experienced in sections 9, 10 and 15, which were considered
as critical sections. Some other parts may also undergo
minor squeezing condition. 4 REQUIRED THRUST FORCE FOR TBM
The ground convergence may induce some load on TBM shield,
which depends on the exiting gap between shield and tunnel
wall. If the gap is closed before final convergence
happens, a confinement pressure develops on the shield. It
is necessary to evaluate this force and resultant
frictional force in order to check if it exceeds available
TBM thrust. 4.1 Calculation of the required thrust Required
thrust force for push cylinders is obtained as follows
(Maidal, et al, 1996 and Marennyi, 1993):

Table 6. Peak resistance, with regard to the ground type

(Maidal,

et al, 1996).

Ground type Peak resistance (KN/m 2 )

Rock – type ground 12000

Gravel 7000

Sand, dense 6000

Sand, semi dense 4000

Sand, loose 2000

Marl 3000

Tertiary clay 1000

Silt, quaternary clay 400

Where P V = required thrust force for push cylinders;

W sk = frictional force on the shield skin (KN); and W sh =

resistance of the cutting edge (KN).

Factor of safety represents an empirical value and accounts

for the forces, which cannot be exactly calculated such as:

traction force trailer, friction force between tail skin
seal

and tunnel lining, increased cutting edges resistance when

encountering obstacles, increased shield skin friction force

and increased cutting edge resistance in intentioned areas,

increased shield skin friction force due to ground squeezing

and swelling pressure; and due to the driving of curves and

steering. To cover all above mentioned resisting forces, fac

tor of safety should be 2 (Maidal, et al, 1996 and Marennyi,

1993).

4.2 Frictional force on the shield skin

The radial loads induced by overburden, building and traffic

on the surface as well as the weight of the shield itself

create

frictional force around the shield skin. These need to be

over

come by machine thrust. Coefficient of friction between rock

and shield, in Nosoud tunnel is reported to be 0.4 (Imen

Sazan,

2003). Frictional force on the shield skin may be obtained

as

follow (Maidal, et al, 1996 and Marennyi, 1993):

Where µ= coefficient of friction; L = length of the shield

skin (m); P V = ground load (KN); P vtotal = vertical load

(KN);

P h : = horizontal load (KN); W s = weight of shield (KN)

and

K 0 = Ratio of horizontal stresses to vertical stresses.

4.3 Resistance force at the cutting edge

The shield is advanced through the ground by a cutting edge.

Peak resistance (P sh ) against the cutting edge with

regard to

type of the ground is given in Table 6 (Maidal, et al,

1996).

Cutting edge force can be calculated as follow:

Where w sh = resistance of the cutting edge; P sh = peak

resis

tant with regard to the ground type (KN); n = number of disc

and t = thickness of the cutting edge (m). 0 10 20 30 40 50

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Distance from the tunnel face (m) R a d i a
l d i s p l a c m e n t ( m m ) Figure 3. Longitudinal
deformation profile in section 10. Figure 4. Schematic of
internal pressure, imposed to tunnel perimeter (Pan, W.T,
1991). Figure 5. Trend optioned pressure acting on shield
in it length in section 10. 5 CALCULATION OF REQUIRED TBM
THRUST IN CRITICAL SECTIONS As mentioned before, sections
9, 10 and 15 have most potential for squeezing. It is
therefore necessary to calculate required driven force of
TBM in these sections and compare it to available thrust.
As can see in Figure 3 (for section 10) the wall freely
converges until the total radial displacement is 50 mm.
Since the clearance between shield and tunnel wall is also
50 mm, no more converge can happen and after this point
load on the shield is developed. It should be noticed that
developed load on the shield is lower near the force due to
natural support pressure (NSP) available at face vicinity.
Figure 4 shows this pressure, which poses its highest value
just next to face and it decreases as distance from the
force is increased. Thus the pressure on the shield is
increased as the distance from the face increases.
Calculation of total load on the shield requires knowledge
of this pressure at each section and integration of all
pressures. Calculation of pressure is done using LDP and
GRC curves as shown in Figure 5 for section 10. To
calculate the pressure at any desired distance from the
face a horizontal line should be drawn from right vertical
axis

Figure 6. Pressure profile along the shield in section 10.

Table 7. Frictional force, acting on shield and required

thrust
force. Frictional Resistance

Section force on at cutting Required thrust Safety

number shield (ton) edge (ton) force (ton) factor

9 1441.6 424.5 1866.1 1.55

10 1581 424.5 2005.5 1.45

15 1515.5 424.5 1940 1.49

Table 8. Frictional force and required thrust for modified

over

cutting.

Section number 9 10 15

Over cutting (mm) 75 100 75 100 75 100

Frictional force (ton) 1175 987 1458 1117 1397 1078

Required thrust (ton) 1599 1411 1883 1524 1821 1502

Safety factor 1.81 2.05 1.54 1.91 1.59 1.93

until it crosses LDP curve.Then a vertical line should be

drawn

from the cross point until it meets GRC curve. NSP in that

point is then obtained from left vertical axis by drawing

the

third line, horizontal, toward this axis. By subtracting

this pres

sure from natural support pressure at face (zero distance)

the

induced pressure on the shield can be found. For example NSP

at 2.5 m from the face is read, from Figure 5, as 15.2

ton/m 2 .

This value for face position is 33 ton/m 2 . Developed

pressure
on the shield, at this point is equal to the difference of
this two

values, i.e. 17.8 ton/m 2 .

By similar calculation pressure on the shield can be

obtained

along its total length (Fig. 6).

Total load on the shield is then calculated by integrating

on

this curve. Frictional force on the shield is computed using

this load and equation 3. Resistance force to cutting edge

is

computed using equation 6, considering the thickness (t) is

ABSTRACT: Recent maintenance technology of Japanese railway

tunnels is written in this paper. In the first place,
inspection

of tunnel lining is divided into primary inspection and

secondary inspection and shown in this paper. New
technology of

non-destructive inspection which is in the process of

practicable inspection to make this automatic is
introduced. 1) Inspection

techniques of lining surface deformation based on the

analysis of images obtained by laser beams, line-sensor
cameras, CCD

cameras, etc. 2) Inspection techniques of lining internal

deficiency by non-destructive tests using infrared rays,
hammer testing

using an acoustic analysis of the strike sounds, and ground

radar. 3) An observation system to measure the progress of
the

deformation using optical fiber. 4) An expert system of

tunnel diagnosis.

1 INTRODUCTION

Since seventy percent of the land in Japan exhibits mountain

ous topography, tunnels have been built from place to place

in order to secure traffic paths for railways and roadways.

In

urban areas, in addition to subways, tunnels for lifelines

such

as sewerage, waterworks, etc. have been built in many areas.

Table 1 and Figure 1 show Length of tunnels in Japan.

Tunnels do not deteriorate easily; they generally have a

very

long service life compared with on-ground structures, since

they are constructed in the ground and experience little

envi

ronmental change. For instance, about one third of all

railway

tunnels in Japan were built before the Second World War,

but most of them still serve under proper maintenance today.

When internal factors resulting from the lining material and

the execution works are influential, deformation due to mate

rial deterioration becomes noticeable with time because of

water leakage (acid water and the cycle of drying and wet

ting), environmental factors such as frost damage, and so

on.

The progress of the deterioration causes the spalling of the

lining and leads to a decrease in the structural strength

of the

lining. Even when the deterioration factor is less

noticeable,

if cracks and poor quality materials at the construction

stage
were obvious, the deterioration may progress with time and

lead to the spalling of the lining.

In Japan, the spalling incidents of concrete linings

occurred

in railway tunnels as shown in Figure 2 (1990) 1) , the

Table 1. Lengths of tunnels in Japan. Application Summary
length Railway tunnels 2,200 km Roadway tunnels 2,900 km
Water power tunnels 4,700 km Sewerage tunnels (pipes)
360,000 km Utility tunnels (telephone) 600 km 0 500 1,000
1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 1874 -1884
1883 1893 1894 1903 1904 1913 1914 1923 1924 1933 1934 1943
1944 1953 1954 1963 1964 1973 1974 1983 1984 1993 19942002
Constructed age(year) T o t a l L e n g t h ( k m ) Railway
Tunnel Road Tunnel Water Power ilway Tunnel ad Tun el
Highway road Tunnel ater Power Tunnel Figure 1. Lengths of
tunnels by constructed age. Figure 2. Case of the spalling
incidents in railway tunnels (1999) 1) ). Primary
inspection Diagnosis (Evaluation) Secondary inspectionary
Repair works Effective Yes No Repair necessary Repair
unnecessary Good Not good Urgent repair necessary Diagnosis
(Evaluation)

Figure 3. Flow chart of tunnel maintenance.

importance of the maintenance was realized again. It is

indis

pensable to appropriately carry out the maintenance in order

to use the structures safely. However, in present state,

the inter

est to the maintenance heightens recently, and the standard

of

the maintenance 2),3) is finally improved.

In this paper, present state of the maintenance technology

in Japan is described mainly on the railway tunnel which

has been examined the problem of the maintenance since

early time.

2 PRESENT INSPECTION SYSTEM AND

TECHNIQUE

The inspection of tunnels are conducted in order to grasp

whether or not deformation has an influence on structural

safety and durability, and then to take proper

countermeasures

to secure the functions of the tunnels based on the

evaluation

results. Thus, the inspection of a tunnel and the resultant

diag

nosis are the most basic parts of the maintenance and the

management of a tunnel.

Figure 3 shows a general flow chart of tunnel mainte

nance. Inspections are divided into two groups, the primary

inspection and secondary inspection.

2.1 Primary inspection

The primary inspection is done to discover whether or not

deformation exists, and to judge, if deformation is

detected,

whether or not a secondary inspection and/or temporary coun

termeasures or actions are necessary by making an estimate

of the magnitude of the deformation.

The frequency and the items used for the primary inspec

tion vary depending on the purpose of the tunnel, e.g.,

railway,

roadway, waterway, etc. In the case of railway tunnels, peri

odic inspections are conducted as general inspections at an

interval of not more than once every two years, and detailed

inspections are conducted every ten or twenty years depend

Photograph 3. Crack measurements in tunnel lining using
laser

beams 4) .

Figure 4. Tunnel lining inspection system 4) .

Countermeasures against Deformed Tunnels” was written in

which design methods for conducting reinforcement works on

deformed tunnels was concretely described. In addition, the

“Manual of Countermeasures for Construction near Existing

Tunnels” was published for construction works being con

ducted near existing tunnels. Such a manual was necessary

due

to the increased popularity of developing residential land

near

existing tunnels which accompanied the advance in urbaniza

tion and the increase in cases where tunnels were

intercrossed

or put side by side in a limited underground space.

The spalling of concrete linings in tunnels occurred time

after time in 1999; and thus, the “Manual of Countermeasures

for Construction near Existing Tunnels” was reviewed and

revised in 2000, particularly as concerned judgment methods

and countermeasure works.

At present, “Maintenance Standards and Commentary for

Railway Structures” 3) is established by Ministry of Land,

Infrastructure and Transport in 2007, and the maintenance of

the railway tunnels is carried out by this standard. Figure

5. Investigation of the surface of the tunnel lining using
an infrared camera and CCD cameras 4) . Figure 6. Case of
the observation system using optical fiber 3) . 3 NEW
TECHNOLOGY OF THE INSPECTION Inspection works are mainly
done by observing the lining surface with the eyes and by
knocking on unusual locations with a hammer. However, it is
very difficult that the inspection by the walking, using
the flashlight is carried out in the tunnel, because it is
dark, narrow, long and monotonous. In addition, the
engineer who was familiar with the inspection is decreasing
it year by year. Then, it has aimed at the automation of
the inspection. Especially, the experience in the spalling
incidents in railway tunnels is utilized, objectification
and automation and systematization are rapidly advancing.
3.1 New technology which replaces visual inspection
Recently, inspections have come into general use which is
based on the analysis of images obtained by laser beams,
slit cameras, line-sensor cameras, CCD cameras, etc. The
examples of the automatic photographic system are shown in
photograph 3, figure 4 and figure 5. And, in these systems,
it is to give to the photographing data image processing,
and the inspection result has been stored into database. At
present, it aims at the improvement in measuring speed and
transformational frequency of deformation for further
Device Measurement box Electric Conductible Paint Circuit

Figure 7. Case of the observation system using electric

conductible

paint 3) .

upgrading. And, the development of the method for extract

ing the progress of the deformation state is advanced by

superimposing the image.

3.2 New technology which replaces hammer testing

As the technology which replaces the hammer testing, the

tech

nique which automatically extracts the deformation state of

the lining inside has also been used practically. An

inspection

technique has been introduced by which surface separation is

detected by non-destructive tests using infrared rays. And,

for
the investigation of the thickness of the lining and the
openings

behind the lining, the ground radar is used.

3.3 New technology of observation system

The following have been applied in the observation of the

tun

nel deformation: crack measurement, strain measurement and

measurement of inner space displacement. Though it is possi

ble that these measurement methods measure the progress in

the specific point, it is not suitable in continuous

observation

in the long interval.

And, the observation system to measure the progress of the

deformation, using optical fiber as shown in Figure 6, is

under

research.And, the technology which detects the cracking

using

the more economical conductive material as shown in Figure 7

is also developed.

3.4 Systematization of diagnosis and maintenance

Judgments regarding the soundness of tunnels are generally

performed by skilled engineers with much knowledge and

experience. Since the number of tunnels has been increasing

more and more, an expert system of tunnel diagnosis, using

technologies of artificial intelligence and database, has

been

established for inspections and the diagnosis of tunnels,

for

railway and waterway tunnels for the purposes of, (1) the
ratio

nalization of diagnosis methods, (2) objective judgments,

and

(3) the inheritance of diagnosis technologies. The examples

of the expert system for railway tunnel diagnosis are shown

in

ABSTRACT: Siah Bisheh pumped storage powerhouse cavern with

complex geometry, changeable geological formations and

diverse geotechnical properties of rocks, is under

construction on the Chalus River at the north of Iran.
Powerhouse cavern

is located near the lower dam reservoir and its crown is

more than 30 meters lower than downstream dam maximum lake

level. After impounding of lower dam, powerhouse region

will be located under saturated condition. Water has
remarkable

influences on the cavern confining rocks especially shale

and quartzitic sandstone. Therefore long term stability
assessment of

the powerhouse cavern under saturated condition is

unavoidable. In this research, by field measurements, in
situ and laboratory

tests, water influences on the rock were investigated and

by use of a Discrete Element Method, powerhouse cavern
stability

under natural and saturated condition was analyzed. Results

show that powerhouse cavern is stable under natural and
saturated

condition and existing support system shows suitable

efficiency. Appropriate drainage system could effectively
guarantee the

long term stability of powerhouse cavern.

1 INTRODUCTION

Long term stability assessment of the underground openings

is important not only for the maintenance of existing
tunnels,

underground power stations etc. and also for the appropriate

design of underground structures. In order to evaluate long

term stability rationally, it is necessary to consider the

rock

mass mechanical parameters and their changes affected by

saturation, time, etc.

The Siah Bisheh pumped storage project is located at the

north of Iran. The upper and lower concrete faced rock fill

dams (CFRD) are under construction by an 85 m and 104 m

high respectively on the Chalus River. A pair of headrace

tun

nels with 2000 m length and 5.7 m diameters brings the water

from the upper reservoir to the inclined shafts with 65

degree

inclination, approximately 500 m length and 5 m diame

ter. From there penstocks convey the water to four

reversible

pumpturbines. The Siah Bisheh powerhouse cavern with 132

m length, 25 m width and 46.5 m height and transformer

cavern with 161 m length, 16 m width and 28 m height, are

main and biggest underground structures in this project. The

powerhouse and transformer complex is under construction

at a depth of approximately 250 m below surface. The total

generating capacity of the scheme will be 1000 MW (Fig. 1).

Powerhouse region mainly formed from quartzitic sand

stone, red shale, igneous rocks and many shear zones which
consist of mylonite and are parallel to bedding exist in
power

house cavern. The failure of rock mass in powerhouse area is

mainly controlled by the discontinuity distribution and

exist

ing shear zones, so the discontinuous numerical simulation

method by aids of Discrete Element Method software 3DEC

was adopted.

The influence of water on the strength of rocks may be

considerable. Moisture may reduce the strength of rocks dras

tically. Colback and Wiid (1965) mention a decrease from

dry to saturate in the order of 50% for quartzitic

sandstone. Figure 1. A 3-D model of Siah Bisheh underground
openings. Sharifzadeh et al (2006) were made a
classification system for evaluation of water effect on
mechanical behavior of intact and jointed rocks. Due to
saturation of rocks after lower dam impounding, it is
necessary to have a long term stability analysis of
powerhouse cavern. In this research the geotechnical
parameters were validated using comparison between
numerical modeling results at present condition of project
with measured data. Then stability analyses were performed
in natural moisture condition. To evaluate long term
stability, saturated condition were considered and
geotechnical parameters weakened due to water effect and
numerical analysis were repeated for saturated condition. 2
GEOLOGY AND GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATION 2.1 Geology and
engineering geology The Siah Bisheh pumped storage project
is located at the Alborz Mountains, mainly folded and
formed during the

Table 1. Discontinuity Orientations at powerhouse cavern,

from

Central Crown Adit.

Discontinuity Dip direction [ ◦ ] Dip [ ◦ ]

Bedding 195 55
Joint J1 030 56

Joint J1-1 018 81

Joint J1-2 009 66

Joint J1-3 305 80

Joint J2 078 82

Alpine orogenic phase, with a NW-SE trend at the western

parts and NE-SW at the eastern parts. Geomorpholigically,

Alborz is a young Mountain with deep and narrow valleys and

active tectonics. The most important tectonic phenomenon of

Siah Bisheh area is the fault called as the Main Thrust

Fault

(MTF), with a dip/dip direction of 78/028 and an almost E

W trend. The MTF has reverse mechanism. Meanwhile, the

reverse fault of Chalus, which is parallel to the Chalus

River in

Siah Bisheh area, is another noteworthy fault, which must be

taking into consideration in terms of seismicity. Powerhouse

and transformer caverns are generally under construction at

the Permian Formation. In this area, Permian formation

mainly

consist of quartzitic sandstone, siltstone and shaly

siltstone

(mostly dark colored), dark and red shales and igneous

rocks.

Thickness of these layers varies from some centimeters to

3.5

meters.

The attitude of the bedding planes has no considerable

changes in dip and dip direction. There are uniform bedding

throughout the powerhouse area with deep and dip direction

of 55/195. It is noteworthy that during excavation of the

pow

erhouse pilot at chainages 40, 81 and 89 of the right wall,

three crushed zones (Cohesion force 9 KPa and friction angle

33 degree), with an almost 40–50 centimeter thickness were

encountered. All of these features are parallel to the

bedding

planes. The azimuth of powerhouse cavern is N152 ◦ E and

none of the existing faults in the powerhouse area don’t

cross

it and have an appropriate distance from it.

Rock mass consist of Bedding planes and 5 main joint

sets in powerhouse area that are illustrated in Table 1.

Based

on surveying along the pilot, joints have different lengths

of

almost 3 to 10 meters and their spacing is between 200 to

600

millimeters.

2.2 Geotechnical investigation

Several exploratory boreholes (up to 30 boreholes with total

length of approximately 1300 m) were drilled and various

field and laboratory tests were performed to characterize

rock

material and rock mass properties.

The Physical characteristics and mechanical properties

of the main intact rocks in the site (obtained from labo

ratory tests) are illustrated in Tables 2 and 3
respectively.

The mechanical properties of discontinuities and rock mass

shear parameters according to Hoek and Brown 2002, in the

construction site are shown in Tables 4 and 5.

The average Slake Durability (I d )was 98.6%. This high

slake durability is in line with experience as given in the

ISRM suggested methods than the slake durability generally

increases with the age of the mudstone. Groundwater dis

charge in investigation tunnels, including the main tunnels

and boreholes, has been reported as 2.5 lit/sec. Table 2.

Physical characteristics of intact rocks. Rock type
Quartzitic sandstone Red shale Density (gr/cm 3 ) Nat. 2.67
2.69 Sat. 2.69 2.70 Dry 2.65 2.68 Water content (%) 0.6 0.4
Porosity (%) 3.6 1.5 Water absorption (%) 1.36 0.56 Table
3. Mechanical properties of intact rocks. Quartzitic Red
Igneous Rock type sandstone shale rock compressive strength
Dry 85 50 60 (MPa) Sat 58 37 52 Tensile Strength (MPa) 6 3
6 E (GPa) 15 7.5 15 Poisson’s ratio 0.25 0.3 0.25 Cohesion
Force (MPa) 18 12 18 Friction Angle (deg.) 50 40 50 m i 20
9 20 Table 4. Mechanical properties of rock joints. Item
Unit Value Normal stiffness MPa/m 20000 Shear stiffness
MPa/m 7690 Cohesion force MPa 0.05 Friction angle deg. 30
Tensile strength MPa 0 Table 5. Mechanical properties of
rock mass (according to Hoek and Brown 2002). Value
Quartzitic Red Item Unit sandstone shale Modulus of
elasticity GPa 7.1 4.1 Poisson’s ratio – 0.2 0.25 Cohesion
force MPa 1.1 0.66 Friction angle deg. 46 32 Rock mass
compressive strength MPa 14 4.7 Tensile strength MPa 0 0
Disturbance factor (D) – 0.7 0.7 GSI – 53 48 3 EXCAVATION,
MONITORING AND SUPPORT SYSTEM OF POWERHOUSE CAVERN For
excavation of powerhouse cavern, at first a pilot were
drilled at the center of crown and then slashing the crown
were carried out. After that, benching was performed with 3
meters depth per stages until powerhouse floor. Six
instrumentation arrays were set up along the axis of the
powerhouse cavern at chainages of 26, 49, 67, 87, 105 and
121. These consisted of grouted rod extensometer in the
roof and
Figure 2. Typical instrumentation array installed in the
powerhouse

cavern (chainage 67).

Figure 3. Typical support system installed in the

powerhouse cavern

and excavation stages with drainage holes at roof and

sidewalls.

sidewalls, convergencey points, piezometer as well as cable

anchor load cells on selected cables. Location of

instruments

in chainage 67 of powerhouse cavern is shown in figure 2.

Due

to delay in installation of extensometers, some displacement

data was lost.A typical instrumentation section of power

house

cavern is illustrated in Figure 2.

The support system in powerhouse cavern consists of

shotcrete with wire mesh (20 cm in side walls and 25 cm

in roof), 3, 5 and 8 m grouted rock bolts (temporary support

system) and 15, 20 and 22 m double protected tendons (per

manent support system, pretensioned up to 850 KN). After

each cycle of blasting, the exposed roof and walls was
immediately shotcreted. Bolt installation had sometimes
delayed.At present, many drainage holes with 4 m lengths
and a 4×4 m pattern have performed at roof and side walls
of powerhouse cavern (Fig. 3). 4 WATER EFFECT ON MECHANICAL
BEHAVIOR OF INTACT AND JOINTED ROCKS Water can remarkably
influence mechanical behavior of rock. Fahimifar and
Sharifzaedh (2006), classified rocks in to four groups and
effect of moisture and water on each group are as follows:
1) In hard and competent rocks, chemical effect of water is
negligible. Only pore pressure or uplift pressure could be
considered in rock behavior. 2) In medium and structurally
weak rocks, even in low percentage, moisture content
decreases the strength of the rock due to reduction of
cohesion and friction of intact and jointed rocks. 3) In
sensitive rocks, moisture has physicochemical effects on
rocks and behavior of these rocks could be stated by
physicochemical equations (such as free energy approach).
4) In evaporate rocks, water affect on chemical bonds of
rocks. Creep phenomena occur in low percentage of moisture
and expressed by time dependent equations. Siah Bisheh
underground openings are under construction in rocks which
formed mainly from quartzite sandstone, red shale and
igneous rocks (classified in hard a competent rocks group).
Water effect on these rocks is only mechanical and the
chemical effect is negligible. Therefore water absorption
doesn’t change the strength parameters (cohesion force and
friction angle). Probable reduction in intact rocks
strength is proportional to the saturation level, which is
applied as pore pressure in the rock mass structure. For
these types of rocks, in all rock strength criteria, total
stress should be replaced by effective stress and in rock
joints, uplift pressure (u) is exerted to the joint
surfaces, and uplift pressure subtracted from total stress.
Constant stiffness model is suggested as the joint
deformability model. 5 NUMERICAL MODELING Numerical
analyses are divided in to 2-D and 3-D analysis. 2-D
analyses are used when two-dimensional assumption is
acceptable. In complex geometries and geology,
twodimensional (e.g. plain strain) method is inadequate. In
these situations 3-D numerical analysis is necessary. In
this research, for stability analysis of underground
caverns under natural and saturated condition, 3DEC code,
developed by ITASCA consulting group, has been used. 3-D
model have been prepared, as shown in Figure 4. The model
dimension is 180 × 50 × 220 m, which is containing of array
3 of instrumentation. This section is very important in
long term stability because there are many shearing zones
in this part. Instrumentation shows large displacement and
increase in load of load cells in this array. Bedding
consists of succession of quartzitic sandstone and red
shale (in this section, powerhouse mainly formed from these
types of rocks) and joint sets J1 and J2 which are very
critical to form unstable blocks, were used for 3DEC
analyses. 5.1 Result of analysis under natural condition In
order to compare the results of analysis, deformations are
utilized in several locations of the powerhouse cavern
which

Figure 4. The 3DEC model of the underground openings.

Table 6. Measured and computed deformations of powerhouse

cavern (mm) at chainage 67.1. Analyzed value Measured value

Nat. Sat.
Roof U/S 4.13 33.38 46.7 D/S 10.27 28.56 38.1 Center 16.23
33.51 51.2

Upstream wall Vault Adit 12.72 18.7 42.3 El. 1858 41.00
23.5 54.2 El. 1847 7.36 12.7 34.6

Downstream wall El. 1866.30 10.61 21.7 22.1 El. 1858 47.68
48.3 52.8 El. 1847 14.45 16.6 33.4

are in adjacent of extensometers locations in roof, upstream

and downstream walls.

Table 6 presents the computed deformations from numerical

modeling and measured deformations at one instrumentation

array (chainage 67 m). As mentioned above because of delay

in the installation of extensometers and existence of delay

in

reading of data, some of the most important deformations are

lost; therefore measured data shows lover value in

comparison

with analyzed results. Generally numerical modeling shows

better results and its results are close to reality.

Relatively

great displacement at downstream wall (chainage 1858) is due

to existence a shear zone here.

5.2 Result of analysis under saturated condition

After lower dam impounding, groundwater level will ascend

up to 30 meters upper than powerhouse cavern crown, there

fore it is necessary to analyze its stability under

saturated

condition. For this reason stability analysis of powerhouse

cavern under saturated condition were done and some slight

fallings were happened at upstream and downstream walls but

ABSTRACT: Constructions of underground excavations are of

great interests to mining engineers. Geological features,

geomechanical parameters of rock mass and stress

conditions, have essential role in underground openings.
Analysis of

stresses and deformations due to construction of openings,

are important in stability considerations. In this
research, 2D

and 3D continuum analyses of the underground openings

excavated in extension phase of Masjed-E-Soleiman
hydroelectric

project, Khuzestan province, Iran, are compared. 2D and 3D

models have been developed with assuming that the rock mass

obeys Mohr-Coulomb criterion. The study revealed that for

inhomogeneous rock mass with weak zones, 3-D elasto-plastic

analysis exhibits more agreement with the field

observations, however 2-D elasto-plastic analysis yields
conservative results.

1 INTRODUCTION

The use of underground excavations varies from straight-line

tunnels to complex excavations in hydroelectric projects.

For

considering the stability of excavations, analysis of

stresses

and deformations is necessary. Construction of underground

excavations in the rock mass causes a new distribution of

stress

(induced stress).

For analysis of stresses and deformations, Numerical mod

eling is one of the useful methods. Numerical analyses are

divided into 2-D and 3-D analyses.

For straight-line excavations 2-D analyses are used, with

assumption of plain strain conditions. However, according to

discontinuous nature of rock mass and presence of joints,

bed

dings, faults and induced stresses, it seems that this

assumption

is not valid. On the other hand due to cyclic excavation and

support installation, at least in the near of working face,

this

assumption is not valid. In complex geometries and geolo

gies, two-dimensional (e.g. plain strain) method is

inadequate.

In these situations 3-D numerical analysis is necessary. 3-D

numerical analyses are extremely difficult, time consum

ing and expensive, however, they will present better results

(Vermeer et al. 2003).

Duddeck (1991) noted that if the engineering design

requires knowledge of the induced stresses and deformations

of the tunnel structure, the geometrical changes at the work

ing face and the sequences of excavation and support must be

considered. Studies of Pan and Hudson (1988) and Kielbassa

and Duddeck (1991) have shown that two-dimensional plane

strain models, in comparison to three-dimensional equiva

lent of same models, are inadequate when stresses and tunnel

convergence near the tunnel face are modeled.

Dahawan et al. (2002) investigated 2-D and 3-D elasto

plastic analyses for a set of four underground openings.

This
study revealed that for weak and inhomogeneous rock mass,

deformations obtained with 3-D elasto-plastic analysis are

more as compared to 2-D analysis.

Ahmadi et al (2006) considered 2-D and Quasi-3-D for

underground openings. Their study demonstrated that for

inhomogeneous rock mass, deformations in the weak rocks,

determined from 3-D analysis are more in comparison to

Quasi-3-D analysis. Whereas, for strong rock mass deforma

tions are lesser for 3-D analysis as compared to Quasi-3-D

analysis that is in agreement with results of Dahawan’s

studies. Figure 1. Details of the openings at
Masjed-E-Soleiman hydroelectric project. 2
MASJED-E-SOLEIMAN HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT The
Masjed-E-Soleiman dam and hydroelectric power plant are
constructed in the Karun River, close to the GodarLandar
village in the Kuzestan province in Iran. Hydroelectric
power plant constructed in two phases, with 2000 MW
capacity (100 MW in phase I and 1000 MW in extension
phase). In extension phase, there are two main underground
excavations as shown in Figure 1; (a) the powerhouse cavern
(30 m × 50 m × 112 m) and (b) the transformer cavern (13.6
m × 21 m × 110 m). This phase consists of D/S and U/S
manifolds, busduct tunnels, XLP400 tunnel and access
tunnels for caverns. These openings are located in the
Aghajari and Bakhtiari formations. In this area, Bakhtiari
formation has been divided into more than ten units. The
powerhouse cavern is located in units IV and V. These units
consist of Siltstone, Claystone, Sandstone and
Conglomerate. The average overburden thickness is about 320
m.According to flat jack and overcoring tests it is
detected that vertical stress is equal to overburden weight
and in situ stress ratio (k) is 0.5 (Iran Water & Power
Dev. Co., 1994).The geomechanical parameters used in the
present analyses are presented in Table 1. The support
system in caverns was determined by RMR and Q systems. The
support system consists of 15–20 mm shotcrete, wire mesh, 6
m and 10 m long wedge anchored bolts, 3 m to 10 m grouted
rock bolts, and 15 m to 25 m double protected tendons.
After each cycle of blasting, the exposed roof was
immediately shotcreted.
Table 1. Properties of surrounding rock mass in the
powerhouse

cavern (Stabel and Bauckhage, 2001).

Rock group σ t (MPa) ψ (o) C (MPa) φ (o) ν E m (GPa)

Conglomerate 2 20 2.87 43 0.2 15

Sandstone 2 17 1.67 38 0.2 7

Siltstone of roof 1 13 0.73 25 0.25 6

Siltstone of wall 1 13 0.73 30 0.25 6

Claystone 1.5 10 0.5 24 0.25 6

Figure 2. Excavation steps for the powerhouse and

transformer

caverns.

The monitoring system installed in caverns, consist of 71

extensometers and 168 load cells. These instruments have

installed in 8 sections in powerhouse and 6 sections in

transformer cavern. Multipoint extensometers were used for

measuring deformations at caverns. It should be noted that

extensometers were installed with delay, at least 3 months.

Therefore, important information was lost from displace

ments. Therefore comparison between results of numerical

modeling and extensometers results will not be suitable.

3 DETAILS OF THE NUMERICAL ANALYSES

In this research, for 2-D and 3-D analyses of underground

openings, FLAC-2D and 3DEC codes, developed by Itasca

consulting group, have been used. In the modeling, it was

assumed that the rock mass obeys Mohr-Columb yield cri

terion. For simulating of excavation sequences, deleting of

elements in the models was considered at different steps, as

shown in Figure 2. 2-D model excavated in 11 steps, but 3-D

model excavated in 5 steps. For reduction in computation

time

of model, 3-D model has been excavated by 11 m advance

ments. There were 2 working faces in transformer cavern and

1 working face in the powerhouse cavern. Excavation of trans

former cavern has been started from middle of cavern and

extended on both sides. In total, 3-D model has been

excavated

by 44 advancements.

4 RESULTS OF ANALYSES

4.1 Results of 2-D model

In Figures 3 and 4, vertical and horizontal displacements

contours are presented respectively. The maximum vertical

displacement is 40.9 mm that take placed in the roof of the

powerhouse cavern. For the U/S and D/S walls of powerhouse

Figure 3. Vertical displacements contours in 2-D model.
Figure 4. Horizontal displacements contours in 2-D model.
cavern, the maximum horizontal displacements are 62.3 mm
and 62.6 mm respectively. Figure 5a shows the distribution
of minimum principal stresses in the end of excavation
process. The magnitudes of these stresses vary between 0
and 1 MPa, which it is reduced in comparison to far-field
stresses. According to the figure, it is obvious that
stresses become tensile in some parts of the model. It is
highlighted in Figure 5b. 4.2 Results of 3-D model The
maximum vertical displacements in roof and floor of
powerhouse cavern are 25.5 and 41.5 mm respectively (Fig.
6).The maximum horizontal displacements of U/S and D/S
walls of powerhouse cavern are 51.3 and 43.3 mm
respectively (Fig. 7). Contours of minimum principal
stresses presented in Figure 8. Some regions are
de-stressed and the magnitudes of these stresses vary
between 0 and 2 MPa (regions A). According to the figure,
it is clear that stresses become tensile in some parts of
the model (regions T). 5 COMPARISON BETWEEN RESULTS OF 2-D
AND 3-D ANALYSES According to Figures 5 and 8, it is
revealed that de-stressing regions and tensile areas are
the same in both analyses, but 3-D analyses can present
additional information for other sections of model. In
Table 2, deformations in some location of powerhouse cavern
are compared for 2-D and 3-D models. Results of

Figure 5. a) Distribution of minimum principal stresses and

b)

extension of tensile stresses in 2-D model.

Figure 6. Vertical displacements contours in 3-D model.

field data are presented also. Due to delay in the

installation

of extensometers and existence of delay in reading of data,

comparison between computed deformations and monitored

deformations will not be suitable. For overcome to this prob

lem, the lost parts of deformations are computed with use of

regression analysis.

According to Table 2, in the roof of powerhouse cavern,

with move from D/S to U/S deformations are reduced, because

of existence of siltstone in D/S and conglomerate in U/S.

Comparison of results reveals that 2-D model presents big

ger deformations. This difference is more for weak rocks and

decreases by increasing the strength of rock mass. In eleva

tion 207 m in U/S wall, deformation in 2-D model is less

than

that in 3-D model which it is result of difference in

excavation

steps in models (Fig. 2). The results of elevation 217 m of

U/S Figure 7. Horizontal displacements contours in 3-D
model. Figure 8. Distribution of minimum principal stresses
in 3-D model. Table 2. Computed and monitored deformations
of powerhouse cavern (mm). Roof U/S wall D/S wall El. El.
El. El. El. El. U/S Center D/S 207 217 225 207 217 225
Monitored 15.3 19.5 28.8 15.8 19.9 25 29.1 16.6 19.8
FLAC-2D 23.8 30.6 41.4 40.4 31.7 62.7 62.4 35.3 32.1 3DEC
19.4 23.2 25 43.8 30.5 43.5 51.2 28.4 25.4 wall are
affected by this dissimilarity. Apart from elevation 207 m,
results of 3-D model are more realistic. 6 CONCLUSION In
the base of modeling conclusions are as follow: 1. 3-D
numerical analyses are tremendously complicated, time
consuming and expensive, however, these analyses are more
completed and include the results of 2-D models. 2. For
inhomogeneous rock mass with weak zones, 3-D elasto-plastic
analysis exhibits more agreement with the field
observations, however 2-D elasto-plastic analysis yields
conservative results.

3. Study revealed that deformations in the roof of

powerhouse

cavern are reduced from D/S to U/S side, due to existence

of stronger rock masses in U/S part.

Ahmadi, M. & Goshtasbi K. & Ashjari, R. 2006. 3-D and

Quasi-3-D

analyses of underground excavations. 4th Asian Rock

Mechanics

Symposium, Singapore.

Dahawan, K.R. & Singh, D.N. & Gupta, I.D. 2002. 2D and 3D
finite

element analysis of underground openings in an inhomogeneous

rock mass. International J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. Volume

39,

217–227.

Duddeck, H. 1991. Application of numerical analysis for

tunneling.

Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech. Volume 15, 223–39.

Duddeck H. & Kielbassa, S. 1991. Stress-strain fields at

tunnel

ing face-three-dimensional analysis for two-dimensional

technical

approach. Rock Mech. And Rock Eng. Volume 24, 115–132.

Eberhardt E. 2001. Numerical modeling of three-dimension

stress

rotation ahead of an advancing tunnel face. International

J. Rock

Mech. & Min. Sci. Volume 38, 499–518. Pan, XD. & Hudson,
JA. 1988. Plane strain analysis in modeling
three-dimensional tunnel excavations. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. Volume 25, 331–37. Hoek, E. &
Brown, E.T. 1982. Underground Excavation in Rock.
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London. Iran Water &
Power Dev. Co. 1994. Geology & Site Investigation Report,
Godar-E-Landar H.E.P.P. Iran Water & Power Resource Dev.
Co. 1998. Underground Works, Construction Report,
Engineering Geology. Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., 3DEC,
3-Dimensional Distinct Element Code, Version 2.00, User’s
Manual. Itasca consulting Group, Inc., FLAC, Fast
Lagrangian Analysis of Continua, version 4.00, User’s
Manual. Stabel, B. & Bauckhage, B. 2000. Masjid-E-Soleiman
H.E.P.P, Powerhouse Cavern, Back Analysis Report. Vermeer,
P.A. & Möller, S.C. & Ruse, N. 2003. On the application of
numerical analysis in tunneling. Post proceeding 12th Asian
regional conference on soil mechanics and geotechnical
engineering(12ARC), Singapore. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Numerical analyses of
shotcrete reinforcement F. Perman & J. Sjöberg Vattenfall
Power Consultant AB, Luleå, Sweden O. Olofsson Banverket,
Borlänge, Sweden L. Rosengren Rosengren Bergkonsult AB,
Falun, Sweden

ABSTRACT: The work presented in this paper was aimed at

increasing the understanding of how to model and evaluate

the behavior of shotcrete in numerical models. A parametric

study was conducted using twoand three-dimensional
continuum

models. When simulating the shotcrete in a

three-dimensional model, tensile stresses oriented parallel
to the tunnel axis
developed in the shotcrete, which may cause local cracking.
This phenomenon is mostly pronounced when shotcrete is
applied

close to the tunnel face, and for thin shotcrete layers. A

three-dimensional model is required to fully assess the
effects of the

advancing tunnel face. However, the consequences of

exceeding the tensile strength locally may not be critical.
The extent of

acceptable local overstressing must be judged based on

geology, uncertainties, assumptions and simplifications,
and previous

experiences. It may also be more cost-efficient to remedy

local problems as they occur (e.g., by post-sealing) than
to change

the entire reinforcement design.

1 INTRODUCTION

Presently, massive investments in infrastructure (railroad

and

road) rock tunnels are planned in Sweden. For railroads,

new underground infrastructures (tunnels and stations) in

the

amount of approximately 4 billion euro are planned under

the direction of Banverket, (the Swedish National Railroad

Administration) for the next decade. Many of these tunnels

will be constructed in urban environments and will be of

relatively high complexity, which will necessitate

stringent,

robust, and reliable design procedures.

The design of the load-bearing structure of rock tunnels

is associated with uncertainties, which must be handled in

the design process. The national standard for railroad
tunnels,

BV Tunnel, published by Banverket (2005), prescribes that

the design of the load-bearing structure should be verified,

first through calculations, and later through observations

and

monitoring during the construction stage.

Verification of the design of shotcrete rock reinforcement

for rock tunnels can be conducted using numerical analysis.

Recent design work conducted for a tunneling project in Swe

den revealed large differences in the calculated loads of

the

shotcrete between twoand three-dimensional numerical mod

els. The results indicated that high tensile stresses

developed

in the shotcrete when simulated in a three-dimensional model

(Sjöberg et al. 2006). This behavior warranted further inves

tigation to better understand the function of shotcrete rock

reinforcement function in numerical models.

The objective of this work was to increase the understand

ing of shotcrete behavior in numerical models. An additional

objective was to propose guidelines for realistic simulation

of shotcrete, as well as for evaluation of shotcrete

reinforce

ment function with respect to both load-carrying capacity

and

durability of a rock tunnel. 2 APPROACH This study

comprised two(2D) and three-dimensional (3D) continuum
numerical analysis, using the finite difference programs
FLAC (Itasca 2001) and FLAC 3D (Itasca 2004). The analyses
were conducted as a parametric study. The impacts of
different factors were analyzed using a Base Case and then
by varying different parameters.The parameters that were
varied were: (i) distance between installed shotcrete and
tunnel face; (ii) thickness of the shotcrete; (iii)
stiffness and strength growth due to curing of the
shotcrete; (iv) orientation of the maximum horizontal
virgin stress; (v) strength and deformation properties of
the rock mass; and (vi) constitutive model for the
shotcrete. 3 MODEL DESCRIPTION 3.1 Model setup A typical
tunnel geometry for a railroad tunnel in Sweden was chosen
for the analysis (Banverket 2005), see Figure 1. In this
study the rock cover was set to 5 m. The model size, for
the 3D-model, was chosen to be (200 × 60 × 40) m (length ×
width × height), see Figure 2. The zone size near the
tunnel was 0.5 m and a zone size of 1 m was used far away
from the tunnel. At both ends of the central portion of the
tunnel a section of 50 meters (with maximum zone sizes of 2
m) were added to minimize the boundary effects. The
2D-model was constructed for a vertical crosssection
through the center of the tunnel. To increase precision, a
radial mesh was used in the 2D-model. For both the 2Dand
the 3D-models, half-symmetric models (symmetry plane along
the tunnel axis) were used.

Figure 1. Tunnel geometry.

Figure 2. Geometry of the 3D-model, showing excavation of

half

the tunnel length with reinforcement installed.

Roller boundary conditions were used on the vertical and

bottom boundary of the models, whereas the top boundary

(rock surface) was simulated as a free surface. Similar to

earlier work (Sjöberg et al. 2006), a virgin rock stress

state

according to Equations 1 through 3 was used. This is based

on

overcoring stress measurements in the Stockholm City area.

In these Equations, σ H and σ h are the maximum and mini

mum horizontal stress, respectively, σ v is the vertical

stress
(all in MPa), and z is the depth below the ground surface
(m).

Compressive stresses are here defined as negative. For the

Base Case the trend of the maximum horizontal stress was

oriented perpendicular to the tunnel axis.

When running the 3D-model, the model was first brought to

equilibrium (with stresses and boundary conditions applied).

Then, the first 50 m of the tunnel was excavated with no

reinforcement installed. The tunnel was then excavated and

reinforced in increments of 5 m (corresponding to one blast

round), see Figure 2. Finally, the remaining 50 m of the tun

nel was excavated with no reinforcement installed. In the

2D-model, the reinforcement was installed after a prescribed

amount of deformation in the model, thus simulating the

advancing tunnel face.

3.2 Rock mass properties

The analysis was conducted using a linear-elastic perfectly

plastic constitutive model with a linear Mohr-Coulomb yield

criterion. The rock mass properties were chosen to represent

a typical crystalline rock in Scandinavia of fair quality.

The

resulting values are shown in Table 1.

Each excavation stage was performed in two steps. Exca

vation was first conducted using high rock mass strength

values (to inhibit any yielding). The material strength was

then reduced to their correct values and the model allowed

to

come to a final equilibrium state. Table 1. Rock properties

for the Base case. Parameter Value Young’s modulus (E m )
15.2 GPa Poisson’s ratio (ν m ) 0.25 Bulk modulus (K m )
10.1 GPa* Shear modulus (G m ) 6.1 GPa* Density (ρ m ) 2800
kg/m 3 Cohesion (c m ) 2.16 MPa Friction angle (inner) (φ m
) 61.9 ◦ Tensile strength (σ tm ) 0.26 MPa Dilation angle
(ψ m ) 0 ◦ * calculated from ν m and E m . Table 2. Rock
bolt parameters for the Base case. Parameter Value Bolt
length (l) 4.0 m Bolt distance (c/c) 2 m Diameter (D) 0.025
m Young’s modulus (E b ) 200 GPa Poisson’s ratio (ν b )
0.25 Density (ρ b ) 7800 kg/m 3 Tensile strength (F yk )
246 kN Tensile failure strain (ε g ) 5% Shear coupling
spring stiffness (K s ) 9.62 GN/m/m Normal coupling spring
stiffness (K n ) 9.62 GN/m/m Shear coupling spring cohesion
(S s ) 707 kN/m Normal coupling spring cohesion (S n ) 707
kN/m Table 3. Shotcrete parameters for the Base case.
Parameter Value Young’s modulus (E s ) 16 GPa Poisson’s
ratio (ν s ) 0.25 Density (ρ s ) 2300 kg/m 3 Compressive
strength (f cck ) 30.5 MPa Tensile bending strength (f
flcrk ) 4 MPa Thickness (t s ) 0.05 m This procedure was
employed to minimize inertial effects, due to sudden
excavation of rock, which can lead to unrealistically large
yielding in the models. 3.3 Reinforcement properties A
typical reinforcement with systematic rock bolting and
fiber-reinforced shotcrete was used. The properties for the
reinforcement are shown in Table 2 and Table 3. In the
3Dmodels, the shotcrete was simulated as a linear-elastic
shell element since no plastic material model is available
for this type of structural element in FLAC 3D . In the
2D-analysis using FLAC, both a linear-elastic, and an
elasto-plastic beam element was used. The reinforcement was
installed in the roof and walls down to the tunnel floor.
3.4 Parametric study The parameters that were varied are
presented in Table 4 and in more detail below. In Case 3
the shotcrete curing process was simulated by stiffness and
strength growth with time, as shown in Figure 3. This
process was simulated by changing

Table 4. Parameters that were varied compared to the Base

case.

Case Changed parameters (Base case value in parentheses)

1a Distance between shotcrete and tunnel face is 5 m (0 m).

1b Distance between shotcrete and tunnel face is 10 m (0 m).

2 Thickness of the shotcrete is 0.15 m (0.05 m).

3 Stiffness and strength growth due to curing of the
shotcrete.

4 Orientation of the maximum horizontal virgin stress is

along the tunnel axis (perpendicular).

5 Strength and deformation properties of the rock mass is

set to lower values.

6a Material model for the shotcrete is plastic.

6b Material model for the shotcrete is plastic, and

shotcrete curing is simulated.

Figure 3. The growth in stiffness (E c ), compressive

strength (f cck ),

and tensile bending strength (f flcrk ) for shotcrete

during curing.

theYoung’s modulus for the shotcrete in each section to

values

of 1, 11, 14, and 16 GPa, corresponding to a distance from

the

tunnel face of 0, 5, 10, and 70 m, respectively (assuming

one

blast round every second day).

In Case 5 the strength and deformation properties of the

rock

mass was set to lower values: E m = 12.6 GPa, c m = 1.46

MPa,

φ m = 57.5 ◦ , and σ tm = 0.14 MPa. For Case 6 only a 2D

analysis was conducted with a plastic constitutive model for

the shotcrete. Two different cases where tested, with elasto

plastic material model and also with curing of the

shotcrete.

The curing of the shotcrete was simulated as in Case 3, but

also with change in compressive strength (f cck = 0.3, 16.3,

24.4, 30.5 MPa) and tensile bending strength (f flcrk =
0.2, 2.6,

3.5, 4 MPa), see Figure 3.

The growth in stiffness (E c ), compressive strength (f cck

),

and tensile bending strength (f flcrk ) for shotcrete

during curing.

4 RESULTS

4.1 Evaluation methodology

The results from the parametric study were evaluated espe

cially with respect to induced outer-fiber stress in the

shotcrete, which was compared with the shotcrete strength

for compression and tension. The outer-fiber stresses in the

shotcrete for the 3D-models were extracted directly from

FLAC 3D . The outer-fiber stress for the 2D-models in FLAC

cannot be extracted directly from the code; rather, they

have

to be calculated using Navier’s formula. Figure 4.

Calculated major and minor principal stress in the
outer-fiber of the shotcrete along the tunnel for the Base
case. In the lower figure lines with 4 MPa tensile stress
is marked in white. The outer-fiber stress calculated in
the 3D-models was presented as contours on the tunnel
surface (i.e. for the shotcrete elements). These plots were
“unfolded” to show the entire tunnel section, from roof
through spring line and floor. Furthermore, histograms
showing the distribution of calculated minimum stress in
the shotcrete were presented. All models reached
equilibrium and are showing stable condition. This means
that the large-scale stability is satisfactory for all
cases. 4.2 Base case Calculated major and minor principal
stress in the outer-fiber of the shotcrete along the tunnel
are shown in Figure 4.A large area around the spring line
is exceeding the tensile strength (4 MPa) for the
shotcrete. The tensile stress is marked in the figure as
white lines. The stress in the shotcrete in one section (of
5 m) is dependent on the distance to the face on
installation. This is shown in the figure as a pattern with
darker/lighter colors that is repeating itself with an
interval of 5 m. 4.3 Parametric study The induced
outer-fiber stress did not exceed the compressive strength
for any case. However, the results indicated that local
overstressing in tension could occur to various extents in
the 3D-models. The direction of the maximum tensile stress
is generally oriented parallel to the tunnel axis, thus
making this a 3D-effect that cannot be simulated using
2D-models. The calculated minor principal stress in the
outer-fiber of the shotcrete along the tunnel for the best
and worst cases in the 3D-models, Case 1b and Case 5, are
shown in Figure 5. A histogram showing the distribution of
calculated minor principal stress in the shotcrete is shown
in Figure 6 for the 3D-models: Base Case, Case 1a, and 1b.
The percentage of shotcrete elements for which the tensile
strength was exceeded for each case is shown in Table 5.
For Case 6, in which an elastoplastic material model was
used, the numbers in Table 5 refer to actual tensile
failure in the shotcrete. The results further showed that
the distance between installed shotcrete and the tunnel
face was the most significant parameter leading to this
behavior. This effect of high

Figure 5. Calculated minor principal stress in the

outer-fiber of the

shotcrete along the tunnel for the best case, Case 1b

(upper) and worst

case, Case 5 (lower).

Figure 6. Histogram showing the distribution of calculated

mini

mum stress in the shotcrete for the Base Case, Case 1a, and
1b in the

3D-models.

Table 5. Results showing to what extent the tensile

strength is

exceeded in the shotcrete. For Case 6 the extent of tensile

failure is

shown.

Case Short description 3D-model 2D-model

Base 34% 19%

1a 5 m distance to face 10% 0%

1b 10 m distance to face 0% 0%

2 0.15 m shotcrete 21% 10%

3 Shotcrete curing 19% 0%

4 Orientation of σ H parallel to 14% 0% tunnel

5 Low strength on rock 46% 26% properties

6a Plastic shotcrete N/A 13%

6b Plastic shotcrete with curing N/A 39%

tensile stresses in the axial direction is judged to be

real,

although there are no known observations from civil construc

tions since the shotcrete (traditionally) often is

installed far

ABSTRACT: The formations in western foothill of Taiwan

Island are mainly young sedimentary rocks. As those
formations

are poorly cemented, low weathering resistant, and with

very low strength, they are generally categorized to “weak
rock”. Based

on previous studies on mechanical behavior of those soft

rocks, a transitional yielding model was adopted as the
constitutive

law, and was implemented in the numerical simulation. The

three-dimensional finite element software ABAQUS was
applied

to simulate laboratory testing as well as a real tunneling

case. The comparisons show that the transitional yielding
model fairly

depicts the mechanical behavior of the soft rocks. And this

model could provide an alternative to more accurately
analyze
engineering problems in those soft rocks.

1 INTRODUCTION

The western foothill of Taiwan is mainly covered by young

sedimentary rock formations, such as the Pliocene Cholan

formation, Kueichulin formation, and the Plio-Pleistocene

Toukoshan formation Hsiangshan facies (Ho, 1987). Those

formations are categorized to weak rock due to their low

strength. Besides, they are generally poorly cemented, with

high porosity and low weathering resistance. Due to the

rapid

development, in recent years, there are more and more tunnel

constructions in this western Taiwan area. There are various

difficulties during constructions, however, due to the

insuffi

ciency of theoretical study, most of the countermeasures are

still on the empirical side.

This study first investigates the behavior of the soft rock

by tri-axial compression test. Together with previous

studies,

a transitional yielding model was adopted as the constitu

tive law, and was implemented in the numerical simulation.

The finite element software ABAQUS (Hibbitt, Karlsson &

Sorensen, 1998) was applied to numerically simulate the uni

axial and tri-axial compression tests and a real soft rock

tunneling case.

As the influence of tunneling to adjacent rock mass is

three-dimensional, the three-dimensional finite element soft

ware ABAQUS was applied to simulate the laboratory tests

as well as a real tunneling case. The comparisons show that

the transitional yielding model fairly depicts the

mechanical

behavior of the sample tested and the rock mass influ

enced by tunneling. And the model could be more accurate

in studying the mechanical behavior of soft rock tunnel

ing, including face stability, failure mechanism, plastic

zone

development, etc.

2 TRANSITIONAL YIELDING MODEL

2.1 Transitional yielding model

In this study, a transitional yielding model is adopted for

the

soft rocks. This model is modified from models presented by

Wang(2001) , Pan(1991), Pan & Banerjee(1987), and Banerjee

& Pan(1986). It is originally used for soil and granular

mate

rial, and now applied to the soil like soft rocks.The

transitional

yielding model is used to simulate the yielding bahavior

due to stress release and weathering, which is important
for the soft rocks. Considering a material under yielding
condition, this model defines a state function by stress
state and size of yielding surface. If the material
experienced a stress inverse (unloading), then the material
will memorize the stress state right before the inverse. In
order to consider the memory of stress state, a limit
surface is added between the load surface (i.e., current
surface) and bounding surface. Yielding ratio is defined to
describe the relations between those three surfaces where a
c , a 1 and a are the size of bounding surface, limit
surface, and load surface. And those three surfaces can be
defined as functions their stress state and size. The
bounding surface is expressed as in which σ is the current
stress. Similarly, load surface can be expressed as in
which σ ∗ is the transformed stress. And the transformed
stress σ ∗ is defined as function of current stress state
and the stress state of last inversion. where σ 1 = (1 − s
1 )σ R 1 , σ R 2 is the stress state of last inversion, σ R
1 is the instantaneous stress state at stress inverse. As
the limit surface is the memory of stress inverse, a stress
inverse must occur if there is a limit surface. And it must
satisfy the condition f (σ ∗ +�, a) < 0 of stress inverse.
Whenever the stress state moving inside of the original
stress state, the stress inverse happens and the material
will memorize the stress state right before the inverse.
Besides, the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion is adopted in
this study.

2.2 Stress-strain relation

Consider a material experienced strain increment dε and rele

vant stress increment dσ . And the strain increment

comprises

elastic strain increment dε e and plastic strain increment

dε p .

The elastic strain increment can be defined by elastic

stiffness

matrix D e , and the plastic strain increment can be

defined by

the plastic flow rule. In this study, associated flow rule

was

adopted. The yield function and plastic potential function

are

identical and can be expressed as

and

in which H is hardening modulus, n is the unit normal

of yielding surface. Then, the stress strain relation can be

derived as

2.3 Hardening modulus

In order to describe the hardening state during the
transitional

yielding, the hardening modulus H is considered as function

of yielding ratio s and the hardening modulus at the

original

loading surface H cd . For the initial loading state (s 2 =

1.0), H

can be expressed as

However, for the stress inverse condition (s 2 < 1.0), H

can be

expressed as

Considering consistency condition and plastic flow rule, and

assuming c and φ are functions of plastic strain as φ= g 1

(ε p )

and c = g 2 (ε p ). Then the hardening modulus at the

loading

surface can be expressed as

2.4 Yielding iteration

To apply the transitional yielding model, the locations of

the

bounding surface a c , load surface a and limit surface a 1

must be given. The boundary surface can be determined by

Mohr Coulomb criterion. But the other two surfaces must be

determined by a yielding iteration process. The

calculations Figure 1. Flow chart of the transitional
yielding iteration. n n+1 trial f n+1 = 0 σ n+1 σ n+1 σ n
Figure 2. The closest point projection method (modified
from Belytschko, T., W.K. Liu, and B. Moran, 2000). can be
different for the case with or without a limit surface
(Fig. 1). According to the transitional yielding
constitutive model, a program is written and used as UMAT
module for the ABAQUS analysis. The purpose of the UMAT
module is to define the material properties of the finite
elements used in ABAQUS simulations. In order to update the
stress state for each numerical step, the fully implicit
backward Euler scheme was applied. The scheme first takes a
trial of elastic predictor, which will overestimate the
stress state. Then, according to hardening rule, a plastic
corrector will be taken to adjust the stress back to a
yielding surface. The stress state is updated at the end of
the two-step procedure (Fig. 2) A flow chart of the program
is illustrated in Figure 3 (Chuang, 2005).

Figure 3. Flow chart of the UMAT program.

Table 1. The major parameters for the soft rocks.

Ea Eb c p c

(Mpa) (Mpa) ν (Mpa) ϕ ◦ β γ γ 3 ϕ c (pa)

4.E+1 3.E+3 0.3 0.3 21.4 15.4 0.1 0.4 10 5.E+4

3 NUMERICAL MODELING

3.1 Modeling assumptions

Based on the testing results of the remolded soft rock sam

pled from Hsinchu County, the transitional yielding model is

adopted as the constitutive law.The failure criterion is

deduced

by in situ tri-axial testing results, the Young’s modulus

is con

sidered increasing with depth. The major parameters applied

in the simulations are listed in Table 1 (Chuang, 2005).

The boundary conditions and element type are considered

are as below:

(1) For both the compression test simulation and the real
case

simulation, the bottom face is confined by hinges and the

surrounding vertical faces are framed by rollers.

(2) Three-dimensional solid elements (C3D8R) are used in the

simulations.

For the compression test, we numerically simulate the load

ing process of testing. For the real tunnel case, we

simulate

the mining processes of open type tunneling by changing the

supporting pressure and removing the elements. Figure 4.

Comparisons of numerical analysis and laboratory testing.
3.2 Modeling results In order to calibrate the constitutive
model, an uni-axial compression test and a tri-axial
compression test are simulated and compared with the data
obtained from laboratory testing. Cylindrical samples of 5
cm in diameter and 15 cm in length were applied, and the
testing was undertaken by a stain control process, where
the strain rate set to 0.1 mm/min. The testing was
simulated by 60 elements, and the results in Figure 4 show
the transitional yielding model reasonably describes the
stress strain relation. The soft rock tunneling case
adopted for analysis is a NATM tunnel in Pao-Shan area of
Hsin-Chu County. It was excavated in two steps with short
bench.The overburden is about 25 ∼ 50 meters. The tunneling
process is simulated by repeating three steps: remove the
rock element to be excavated, equilibrate the domain to
obtain and accumulate the influences, and place the support
element. The numerical analysis results are compared with
those from monitoring for surface subsidence (Fig. 5) and
-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 distance to face (m) -60
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 A+0 A+5 Simu

s e

t t l

e m

e n

t (

m m

Figure 5. The longitudinal surface subsidence after the

mining face
passed. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 da y -70 -60 -50 -40
-30 -20 -10 0 10 N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 Simu N1 Simu N2 v

e r

t i c

a l

i s p

l a

c e

e n

t s

( m

m )

Figure 6. The convergence history inside the tunnel after

excavation.

convergence inside the tunnel (Fig. 6). It shows the

numerical

model can provide reasonable results for the case studied.

4 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

Through the comparison between the numerical modeling and

laboratory testing, it shows the transitional yielding model

ABSTRACT: Shield jamming is one of the potential problems

for mechanized tunnelling through squeezing ground. The

risk of jamming depends essentially on the rapidness of

rock deformation and thus on the creep and consolidation
rate of the

ground. For given geotechnical conditions, the load exerted

by the ground upon a shield during continuous excavation
depends

on the TBM advance rate, on the shield length, on the

amount of overboring and on the coefficient of friction
between the

steel and the rock. During a break in operations, the

ground pressure increases with time, thereby necessitating
a higher thrust

in order to overcome skin friction and to restart TBM. The

critical duration of a standstill depends on all of the
parameters

mentioned above and, of course, on the available thrust. An

interesting result is that a high advance rate not only
reduces the

risk of a shield jamming during continuous excavation, but

also increases the critical duration of a subsequent
standstill.

1 INTRODUCTION

Squeezing ground may slow down or even obstruct TBM

advance and, if occurring over frequent tunnel intervals or

persisting over longer portions of a tunnel, may be decisive

for the economic viability and the feasibility of a TBM

drive

(Lombardi & Panciera 1997). Squeezing conditions are mostly

encountered in highly deformable, weak rocks, often in com

bination with a high depth of cover and pore water pressure

(Kovári 1998).

As tunnel alignments cannot always avoid difficult geolog

ical zones with sufficient reliability, planning a TBM drive

in potentially squeezing ground involves the assessment of

a series of hazards concerning the machine (sticking of the

cutter head, jamming of the shield) or in the back-up area

(inadmissible convergences of the bored profile, damage to

the support). This analysis had to take into consideration

the

characteristics of the different TBM types (thrusting

system,

type of support, length of shield etc.) as TBM performance

is

the result of a complex interaction between machine, tunnel

support and ground.

Ramoni & Anagnostou (2006, 2007) have produced an

overview of the specific problems of TBM tunnelling in

squeezing ground and have discussed the effect of advance

rate

on shield loading during continuous excavation. The present

paper deals with the time-dependent development of ground

deformations, with particular emphasis being placed on the

increase of rock pressure during a TBM standstill.

2 TIME-DEPENDENCY OF DEFORMATIONS

The gradual increase of ground deformation or pressure

during

tunnel excavation is associated with spatial stress

redistribu

tion taking place in the vicinity of the advancing face and,

particularly for long-term behaviour, with the consolidation

and creeping processes in the ground surrounding the tunnel.

Creeping is an important component of squeezing

behaviour as it is particularly pronounced for overstressed

ground. Subsequently, attention will be paid to the first
mech

anism of time-dependency, i.e. to the consolidation

processes

around the advancing face. Consolidation is relevant for

tunnelling through water-bearing, low-permeability ground.

The squeezing of saturated ground leads in general to a
rise in water content (“plastic dilatancy”). This occurs
more or less rapidly depending on the permeability of the
ground. In a low-permeability ground, the water content
cannot change immediately after excavation. Instead,
negative excess pore pressures develop, which dissipate
over the course of time. Tunnel excavation in a saturated,
squeezing ground triggers thus a transient seepage flow
process. The pore water pressures and the effective
stresses change with time, the latter leading to additional
deformations or, in the presence of a lining or shield, to
increased loading (Anagnostou & Kovári 2005). The
short-term behavior is characterized by a constant water
content (“undrained conditions”), while the long-term
behavior is governed by the steady-state pore pressure
field (“drained conditions”). The undrained conditions are
more favourable because short-term suctions strengthen the
ground (Vogelhuber et al. 2004). During tunnel excavation
(Section 3), consolidation takes place in general
simultaneously with the stress redistribution caused by the
advancing tunnel heading. The ratio of advance rate v to
ground permeability k is decisive for the deformations
close to the tunnel face (Anagnostou 2007). In the case of
rapid excavation through a very low permeability ground,
the favourable undrained conditions prevail in the machine
area. If the excavation proceeds slowly or the ground
permeability is high, the conditions are drained
practically right from the start. The same mechanisms
govern the ground behaviour in the course of an excavation
standstill (Section 4). If the drained conditions have not
been reached already during the preceding continuous
excavation (i.e. if the advance rate was high enough or the
ground permeability low), consolidation will continue
during the standstill period until reaching the steady
state pore pressure distribution. Due to the change of the
effective stresses, the ground will deform and the rock
pressure will increase over time. The higher the advance
rate during the preceding excavation, the more the
conditions prevailing at the begin of standstill will
deviate from the drained conditions and, consequently, the
more time must elapse until reaching a steady state. So,
rapid excavation is advantageous also with respect to a
subsequent standstill, whether intended or not.

Figure 1. Required total thrust force F tot as a function

of the

advance rate v (ground permeability k = 10 −9 m/s, gap

between

shield and ground �R = 5 or 15 cm, shield length L = 10 m,

skin

friction coefficient µ= 0.25; for other parameters: see

Table 1).

3 THRUST REQUIRED DURING EXCAVATION

When tunnelling with a shielded TBM, some limited conver

gence can occur, due to the gap between the shield and the

surrounding ground. If the convergences develop fast enough,

the ground closes the gap near to the tunnel face, thereby
start

ing to develop pressure upon the shield. If the

permeability is

low and the advance rate high, the gap remains open for a

longer period and, consequently, the pressure acting upon

the

shield is lower or even zero.

The thrust force required to overcome shield friction during

continuous excavation in given ground conditions depends on

the length of the shield L, on the amount of overboring �R,

on the skin friction coefficient µ and on the advance rate

v. A

reduction in the advance rate leads as a rule to an

increase in

the ground pressure, and thus to further deceleration or

even
standstill of the machine. The available thrust force
depends

on the installed thrust and on the capacity of the thrusting

system.

Subsequently, the role of pore water pressure dissipation

will be illustrated by means of a numerical example concern

ing a 500 m deep, Ø 10 m tunnel which crosses weak ground

at a depth of 100 m beneath the water table. Information on

the modelling assumptions and numerical procedures can be

found in the Appendix.

Figure 1 shows the thrust force F tot required to overcome

the

friction of a 10 m long shield as a function of the advance

rate

v in a low-permeability ground (k = 10 −9 m/s). The curves

have been calculated by integrating the ground pressure p

over the shield length L and taking into account

additionally

the thrust needed for the boring process (15 MN). The skin

friction coefficient µ was taken equal to 0.25. In the case

of

a normal overboring (�R = 5 cm, upper curve), a continuous

excavation rate of v = 10 m/cd in combination with a consid

erable thrust of about 90 MN would be necessary to overcome

squeezing. The lower curve applies to a gap of �R = 15 cm.

Accordingly, the thrust requirements can be reduced consid

erably by a major overboring – this comes, however, at the

cost of possible steering difficulties and reduced
production

rates. Figure 2. Radial pressure p acting upon the shield

or lining at different times t during standstill (advance
rate before standstill v = 10 m/cd, ground permeability k =
10 −9 m/s, gap between shield and ground �R = 5 or 15 cm;
for other parameters: see Table 1). 4 THRUST NEEDED FOR
RESTARTING OPERATION Generally, it is not possible to
completely avoid standstills of a TBM drive. Besides the
unpredictable stops due to technical problems, it has first
of all to be considered that a certain time is needed for
support installation (“real” continuous excavation is only
possible with double shielded TBMs advancing in “gripper
mode”). An important factor is also the need to carry out
regular maintenance work. This causes halts in excavation
but is at the same time important for reducing the risk of
mechanical breakdown. In difficult ground conditions, it is
important to keep standstills as short as possible. If an
identified critical zone has to be crossed, exhaustive
maintenance work should be accomplished in advance and the
necessary logistical precautions taken to allow for
continuous operation in the critical zone. Figure 2 shows,
for the example discussed before, the ground pressure p
acting upon the shield and lining at different times t
(elapsed since the standstill began) assuming that the
preceding excavation advanced by v = 10 m/cd. In this
numerical example, the face was considered as being
unsupported. The core yields and extrudes freely, the
radial stress ahead of the face decreases, additional load
is transferred to the shield via arching in the
longitudinal direction and, therefore, a pressure peak
occurs close to the face (Fig. 2). The behaviour of the
face in squeezing ground is the subject of current
research.

Figure 3. Required total thrust force F tot as a function

of the stand

still length t (advance rate before standstill v = 10 m/cd,

ground

permeability k = 10 −9 m/s, gap between shield and ground

�R = 5

or 15 cm, shield length L = 10 m, skin friction coefficient

µ= 0.25

or 0.40 for continuous excavation or standstill,

respectively; for other
parameters: see Table 1).

Figure 4. Critical standstill duration t crit as a function

of ground

permeability k (available thrust force F tot = 150 MN,

advance rate

before standstill v = 10 m/cd, gap between shield and

ground �R = 5

or 15 cm, shield length L = 10 m, skin friction coefficient

µ= 0.40;

for other parameters: see Table 1).

Figure 3 shows the time-development of the respective

total thrust force F tot required in order to restart excava

tion for a 10 m long shield. During continuous excavation

the

machine has to overcome sliding friction, while directly

after

the TBM-stop (t = 0) static friction becomes relevant. There

fore, a higher skin-friction coefficient µ was considered

(0.40

instead of 0.25, Gehring 1996). In the case of a major

overbor

ing (�R = 15 cm), the gap between shield and ground remains

open for a certain period. The ground starts to exert a

pressure

upon the shield only after 5 days, while reaching steady

state

conditions takes about 50 days.

The required thrust force may increase to the level of the

available thrust force after a certain period of time.

Figure 4
shows the influence of ground permeability k on the critical

standstill duration t crit under the assumptions that the

advance

rate was v = 10 m/cd before the standstill and that the

available

thrust force amounts to 150 MN – a high, but still feasible

value

(Grandori 2006, Stahn & Grimm 2006).The higher the perme

ability of the ground, the shorter the critical standstill

duration

will be. For permeabilities higher than about k = 10 −9 m/s

and Figure 5. Critical standstill duration t crit as a
function of the advance rate v before standstill (available
thrust force F tot = 150 MN, ground permeability k = 10 −9
m/s, gap between shield and ground �R = 5 or 15 cm, shield
length L = 10 m, skin friction coefficient µ= 0.40; for
other parameters: see Table 1). a normal overboring of �R =
5 cm, the critical standstill duration t crit decreases
rapidly to zero: at this permeability range, the required
thrust force was close to the available one already during
the previous continuous excavation that proceeded with v =
10 m/cd. However, as mentioned in Section 2, the conditions
prevailing at the beginning of a standstill will depend on
the advance rate during the previous TBM operation: for a
given ground permeability k , the higher the advance rate
v, the lower the total required thrust force F tot will be
during excavation (Fig. 1) and, therefore, the more time
must elapse during a standstill in order that the required
thrust reaches the available one (Fig. 5). 5 CONCLUSION
During continuous tunnel excavation, drained conditions
prevail near to the face if the ratio of advance rate v to
ground permeability k is low enough (i.e. if the advance
rate is low or the ground permeability high). Otherwise,
consolidation takes place simultaneously with tunnel
excavation and reaches a steady state only in the back-up
area. If the excavation is stopped, the excess pore
pressures continue to dissipate, the zone with relevant
consolidation deformations comes progressively closer to
the face (i.e. in the TBM area) with the consequence that
the ground exerts an increasing pressure upon the shield.
If the standstill was caused by an excessive ground
pressure acting upon the shield during excavation, the
restart of the TBM will be even more difficult. The skin
friction will be higher due to the higher static friction
coefficient and due to the further ground pressure increase
during the standstill period. If the standstill was caused
by another problem (for example, a mechanical one) the
machine will be able to resume the excavation without
problems only if the available thrust force is higher then
the required one. This depends on the duration of the
standstill. The critical standstill length depends on
several factors. Of central importance is the ground
permeability. A lowpermeability ground needs more time to
reach a steady state. The advance rate of the preceding
excavation is also important since it governs the
distribution of pore water pressures at the beginning of
the standstill. Table 1. Parameter values. Tunnel radius R
5 m Radial gap size �R 5 or 15 cm Advance rate v variable
Initial stress σ 0 12.5 MPa Initial hydraulic head 0 100 m
Young’s Modulus E 1000 MPa Poisson’s ratio ν 0.25 Angle of
internal friction ϕ 25 ◦ Cohesion c 500 kPa Dilatancy angle
ψ 5 ◦ Permeability coefficient k variable

APPENDIX: COMPUTATIONAL MODEL

The numerical investigations are based on an axial symmet

ric model. The ground is modelled as a saturated porous

medium according to the principle of effective stresses.

Seepage flow is taken into account using Darcy’s law. The

mechanical behaviour is modelled as an isotropic, linear

elas

tic, perfectly plastic material obeying the Mohr-Coulomb

yield criterion and a non-associated flow rule. The material

constants (Table 1) are typical for kakiritic rocks from the

Gotthard Base Tunnel (Vogelhuber et al. 2004). For

simplicity,

both the lining and the shield are assumed to be rigid and
only

the simplified case of a constant gap size �R is considered.

At the far-field boundary parallel to the tunnel axis the

radial

stress is kept constant to its initial value σ 0 . The

respective

hydraulic potential is fixed to 78 m. This value is slightly

lower than the initial value of� o = 100 m. It takes into

account

the deviation from axial symmetry and it was estimated on

the

basis of a preliminary two-dimensional seepage flow

analysis.

At the excavation boundary the initial stress is reduced to

zero.

In order to avoid water inflow from the excavation boundary,

a mixed seepage flow boundary condition is prescribed (no

flow condition in the case of negative pore water pressures,

atmospheric boundary pressure in the case of positive pore

water pressures).

The numerical solution was accomplished with the finite

element program HYDMEC (Anagnostou 1992) utilising a

new numerical solution method, which solves the advanc

ing tunnel heading problem in just one computational step

ABSTRACT: Metro do Porto is a major light rail

infrastructure built in the city of Porto and surrounding
municipalities. In

Porto’s downtown, classified by UNESCO as World Heritage,

the metro was built underground. From a technical point of

view, one of the most challenging underground metro

stations due to the geomechanical unique heterogeneous
characteristics

of the granite rock mass is the Heroísmo station. This

station was the first to be built. To better understand the
behaviour

and interaction of the structures with the surrounding rock

masses numerical models were carried out. The geomechani

cal properties of the granite formations were given by the

designer and also obtained through the software GEOPAT. The

models’ outputs were compared with the monitored results in

order to validate the structural behaviour of the
underground

station.

1 PORTO METRO UNDERGROUND WORKS

Metro do Porto is one of the largest metro network built at

once

in Europe.As the historic centre of Porto is classified as

World

Heritage by UNESCO, the metro lines in that zone were con

structed underground. The Heroísmo station is located there,

between the Campanhã and the Campo 24 de Agosto sta

tions, which are inserted in the C line of Metro do Porto.

The

Heroísmo station may be considered one of the most important

stations in the network (Babendererde et al., 2006; Cardoso

et al, 2006), (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Metro do Porto network. 2 HEROÍSMO STATION The

station, being one of the most complex of the Porto Metro
system, is composed by four tunnels, two main ones and the
other two for ventilation purposes, and a shaft that
provides accesses from the surface to the boarding area
(Figs. 2 and 3). The station’s structure is of the mixed
type, with a body that was excavated on open-sky, which
constitutes the attack shaft and where the accesses and the
station’s technical facilities were installed. The geometry
of the shaft is practically rectangular, with about 52 m
long and a width varying between 16 and 25 m, occupying a
total area of 1035 m 2 , with a maximum excavation depth of
29 m. Due to the several surrounding constraints, mainly
those of geotechnical nature, two complementing solutions
were Figure 2. Heroísmo station perspective.
Figure 3. Heroísmo station plan.

Figure 4. Cross section of the shaft (Cardoso et al.,

2006). tunnel 1 TBM tunnel Campanhã tunnel 4 shaft tunnel 3
tunnel 2 A A’

Figure 5. Layout of the underground works.

established for the shaft’s retaining structure. The top

part

of the retaining structure, where the terrain consists

mainly

of moderately weathered granite (W 3 ), consisted in

applying

bolts followed by shotcrete, while the excavation was being

performed from top to bottom (Fig. 4).

The lower part of the retaining structure consists in a

curtain

of reinforced concrete piles, with a 0.80 m diameter and

with

1.20 m spacing between axes. Jet-grouting columns with a

diameter of 0.80 m were executed in a second phase in

between

the piles’ gaps, offset 0.20 m to the exterior.

The several tunnels (1 to 4) excavated as well as the TBM

tunnel done previously by a Herrenknecht boring machine

(Babendererde et al., 2006) are presented in the Fig. 5.

Figure 6. Predicted geology for the Heroísmo station
(Babendererde et al., 2006). Tunnel 1 is situated in the
South extension of the shaft and integrates the accesses to
the station’s South boarding platforms. The respective
excavation cross section has about 232 m 2 of area, being
the tunnel 30 m long with an overburden of only 11 m.
Attached reinforced jet-grouting columns with 0.5 m of
diameter were constructed as pre-support (Cardoso et al,
2006). The excavation was conducted in three levels,
totalling eight executing phases, with a 1.0 m advance each
and installation of the primary lining, composed by trusses
of steel cranks associated with 0.40 m of shotcrete. The
secondary lining is composed by a 0.45 m layer of
reinforced concrete. Tunnels 2 and 3 have a 24 m 2 cross
section area. Tunnel 2 is situated on the East side and is
58 m long while tunnel 3, located on the West side, has a
length of 47 m. Both tunnels were executed with an
overburden of 19 m approximately. The excavation was
executed by stretches 1.2 m long, divided in two steps,
followed by the assembly of the trusses composed by steel
cranks associated with 0.20 m of shotcrete. The secondary
lining was executed in reinforced concrete, 0.30 m thick.
Tunnels 4 were built by enlarging theTBM tunnel and
incorporate the boarding platforms of the station. These
tunnels have a cross section area of approximately 180 m 2
, having been opened with about 15.5 m of overburden. The
tunnels were dug in two fronts from the shaft, both from
the East and Wide side, each being about 30 m long. Along
its whole length it was installed a pre-support constituted
by attached reinforced jet-grouting columns 0.5 m wide. In
the excavation fronts some injected fibre glass stitches
were placed. Both reinforcing solutions were applied in 12
m long lines with a 2 m overlapping. 3 GEOTECHNICAL
CONSTRAINTS The station was excavated in heterogeneous
granite formations (Babendererde et al., 2006; Sousa et
al., 2006a). The weathering grades that can be found range
from fresh granite, W1 to a residual soil, W6. This rock
and soil mass was typified by several geomechanical groups.
G1, G2, G3, G4 and G5 were considered for the rock masses
and G6 for residual soils, while G7 was considered for
sediments at surface level. Fig. 6 shows the predicted
geology for the Heroísmo Station. The rock mass was modeled
using Hoek-Brown criterion and by Mohr-Coulomb equivalent
formulation. The parameters used were the same considered
in the design phase (Cardoso et al., 2006) and also using a
KBS system named

Table 1. Geomechanical parameters adopted in design and

using

GEOPAT. E (GPa) c’ (kPa) φ ′ ( ◦ )

Group Design Geopat Design Geopat Design Geopat

G7 0.02 – 0 – 30 –

G5 0.15 0.84 50 24 36 28

G4 0.5 1.6 100 66 40 44

G3 1.5 3.4 150 126 45 54

G2 13 7.0 400 390 50 63

GEOPAT (GEOmechanical PArameters for Tunneling) devel

oped in order to obtain the main geomechanical parameters in

both rock and soil masses and also heterogeneous formations

(Miranda et al., 2005).Table 1 presents the deformability

mod

uli, cohesion and friction angle considered in design

vis-à-vis

the ones computed through GEOPAT, for the geomechanical

groups present in the station area.

Comparing the two sets of parameters the differences

mostly in the deformability moduli arise, being that the

design

values are considerably lower than the ones obtained by

GEOPAT with exception of G2.

4 NUMERICAL MODELING

4.1 General

Numerical models using commercial softwares (Plaxis™ and

FLAC3D™) were and still are being developed considering

the geomechanical parameters presented on Table 1. Apart

from these parameters the specific dead weight (kN/m 3 )

values adopted for each group were: γ G7 = 18, γ G5 = 20,

γ G4 = 22, γ G3 = 25 and γ G2 = 26. The relationship between

in-situ horizontal and vertical stresses adopted were:

k 0,G7 = 0.5, k 0,G5 = 0.45, k 0,G4 = 0.6, k 0,G3 = 0.8, k

0,G2 = 0.8.

The Poisson ratio was considered equal to 0.3 in all the

groups.

For the shotcrete an elastic behaviour was assumed, con

sidering an elastic modulus of 15 GPa and a Poisson ratio

of 0.25.

For the critical cross section A-A’ of the tunnel 4 (Fig.

5) a

complex sequential 2D model considering all the excavation

steps was created while as an holistic analysis a 3D

simplified

model is currently being built.

4.2 Modeling

In the 2D model developed with Plaxis™ the lateral bound

aries were established at 40 m from the tunnel’s center

being

that the interface with the bedrock was assumed to be the

bottom boundary. The created mesh is composed by 15 node

triangular elements as shown in Fig. 7 and was further

refined

around the tunnel’s structure.

To simulate the building loads a 30 kN/m load was intro

duced at the surface.

The excavation steps comprised the TBM boring and the

immediate application of the tunnel supports with a 2% vol

umetric contraction (Sousa et al., 2006b) followed by the

enlargement of the top part of this bore in order to apply

the tunnel’s crown lining. Afterwards the materials filling

the

lower part of the tunnel’s cross section were removed to

close

the tunnel lining with the invert. Figure 7. 2D model mesh

for the initial conditions. Figure 8. Deformations observed
after all the excavation steps. Figure 9. Vertical
displacements due to tunnel construction. Fig. 8 shows the
deformations observed after the total excavation. The
maximum vertical settlement at the surface is about 32 mm
(Fig. 9), which corresponded to a 39 mm displacement near
the tunnel’s crown lining. The maximum horizontal
displacement was observed next to the top of the tunnel’s
lining being equal to 14 mm. Fig. 10 presents the major
principal effective stresses. In the top rock layer G3
compressive effective stresses developed reached a maximum
value of 648 kN/m2. Right below in the lower strength
region G5 very low tensile effective stresses appear. 3D
models using the software FLAC3D™ are under development.

Figure 10. Major principal effective stresses after the

tunnel

excavation.

5 MONITORING

Due to the relevant structural and geotechnical constraints,

mainly the heterogeneity of the granite formations and the

location of the station in a densely occupied urban envi

ronment, it was essential to monitor the behaviour of the

excavations performed and the ancient buildings existing at

the surface (Cardoso et al., 2006; Sousa et al., 2006b).

Among the different monitoring results, a special note

regarding the maximum convergences obtained at tunnel 1 of

37 mm while the alarm value was 24 mm, which caused maxi

mum settlements at surface from 25 to 31 mm. The maximum

settlements occurred along cross section A-A’ over the

tunnel

4 of 37 mm. However the alarm value had been established as

46 mm in the design phase.

Apart from some of the alarm values being overreached, no

relevant damages were observed in the surrounding buildings.

6 FINAL REMARKS

The Heroísmo station was a very complex underground struc

ture involving heterogeneous granite formations of unpre

dictable characteristics. The construction works included a

deep large shaft and the opening of four tunnels below the

ABSTRACT: The understanding of the patterns,

characteristics, and genesis of fractures in a rock mass is
essential in

coping with the solution of a number of problems in rock

mechanics and rock engineering. This paper demonstrates
that

in multilayered systems, the development of fractures and

their spacing vary according to the extension strain
localization. The

extension strain criterion of Stacey (1981) is indirectly

validated and the concept of “strain-driven” fractures is
introduced.

FEM/DEM modeling has been used as available with the ELFEN

code, which allows the transition of a rock mass from con

tinuum to discontinuum to be simulated effectively assuming

that, if the fracture criterion within the intact rock
(represented

by FEM) is met, a crack (represented by DEM) is initiated.

Re-meshing allows the fracture process through the FEM mesh
to

be tracked and visualized, thus contact properties can be

assigned to pre-existing fractures and newly generated
fractures.

1 INTRODUCTION

In layered rock masses, such as in certain sedimentary

rocks,

fractures may develop preferentially within, and be

relatively

confined to, the less ductile layer. Gross (1993) defines a

lithology-controlled mechanical layer as “a unit of rock

that

behaves homogeneously in response to an applied stress and

whose boundaries are located where changes in lithology mark

contrasts in mechanical properties”.

Field observations of layered rocks show that opening-mode

fractures often are confined by layer boundaries (Fig. 1).

This remarkable behavior can influence the mode of fail

ure and instability around underground excavations in

layered

rock masses, which is related to the magnitude of the in

situ

stress relative to the rock mass strength and to rock mass

quality, a parameter which depends strongly on the degree

of jointing and persistence. In layered rock masses

fractures

may be strain driven.

The spacing of opening-mode fractures in layered media

is shown to be proportional to the thickness of the frac

tured layer and is controlled by the geometry of the problem

Figure 1. Example of opening-mode fractures in the layers

of the

Flysh Formation in Algeria (photo courtesy of Geodata,

Torino). being considered. Experimental studies of this
phenomenon (Garrett&Bailey, 1977; Narr&Suppe, 1991; Gross,
1993; Wu&Pollard, 1995) show that the spacing initially
decreases as extension strain increases in the direction
perpendicular to the fractures. At a certain ratio of
spacing to layer thickness, no new fractures form and the
additional strain is accommodated by further opening of the
existing fractures. The spacing then simply scales with
layer thickness, a phenomenon which is called “fracture
saturation” (Wu&Pollard, 1995; Avenston et al. 1971). This
is in marked contrast with existing theories of fracture,
such as the stress-transfer theory (Cox, 1952; Hobbs,
1967), which predict that spacing should decrease with
increasing strain at infinitum. According with Bai &
Pollard (2000) it is possible to say that with increasing
applied stress, the normal stress acting between such
fractures undergoes a transition from tensile to
compressive, suggesting a cause for fracture saturation. In
addition, the extension strain profile cannot reach in the
space between two existing fractures the critical value
over which a fracture opens, so no new fractures can
generate. The development of fractures and their spacing
varies according to extension strain localization. 2
FRACTURE DEVELOPMENT IN LAYERED MEDIA 2.1 Simulation model
To investigate the fracture development in layered media, a
three-layer numerical model has been constructed, using the
finite/discrete element code ELFEN (Rockfield Software,
2006). ELFEN provides a unique ability to model fracture
initiation and growth, as it simulates the transition of a
rock mass from continuum to discontinuum. If the fracture
criterion within the intact rock (represented by FEM) is
met then a crack (represented by DEM) is initiated.
Re-meshing allows the fracture process through the FEM mesh
to be tracked and visualized; thus contact properties

Figure 2. Mesh and geometry of the three-layer numerical

model.

Table 1. Material properties. E ∗ v ∗ σ ∗ t G ∗ f [GPa] [–]

[MPa] [N/mm]

Central layer 50 0.25 3 0.01

Neighboring layers 25 0.25 5 0.05

∗ E =Young’s modulus, v = Poisson’s ratio, σ t = tensile

strength,

G f = fracture energy.

can be assigned to pre-existing cracks and newly generated

fractures.
Geometry and mesh of the numerical model are indicated

in Figure 2. The central layer has a thickness of 20 cm. The

width of the entire model is 2 m. No constraint conditions

are applied at the sides. A constant vertical velocity that

acts

to the upper and lower boundary of the model is applied to

simulate loading. A plane strain condition for the entire

model

is postulated. The Rankine rotating fracture model, which

has

two distinct material parameters, tensile strength and

fracture

energy, is used in the simulation. The initial failure

surface is

defined by a tension failure surface.

Post initial yield, the rotating crack formulation

represents

the anisotropic damage evolution by degrading the elas

tic modulus in the direction of the major principal stress.

The damage parameter is dependent on the fracture energy.

Stresses are computed in the FEM elements and checked

against the fracture criterion in each loading step. This

explicit

dynamic finite/discrete element tool enables the user to

track

the fracturing process in a unique fashion.

Material properties of the three layers are listed in Table

1.

The central layer has aYoung’s modulus greater than that of

the
neighboring layers, so that the central layer is the less
ductile

layer in which fractures are expected to occur.

2.2 Results

The results in terms of fracture pattern are shown in

Figure 3

at different time steps. It is noted that with the load

increase,

a tensile stress acts in the middle of the central layer

and a

tensile fracture opens exactly in the middle of the model.

At different time steps, new fractures are generated and are

always confined to the less ductile layer. At time step

0.25 s

the new fracture that appears propagates in the space

between

two existing fractures. The process continues to reach a

final

configuration in which the final spacing between fractures

is

proportional to the thickness of the central layer.

The crack propagation process can be tracked in detail by

the numerical tool, showing that in layered materials

fractures

may develop preferentially within, and be relatively

confined Time step 0.17s Time step 0.19s Time step 0.20s
Time step 0.25s Time step 0.26s Time step 0.27s Time step
0.37s Time step 0.43s Figure 3. Fracture patterns at
different time steps. Figure 4. Line along which maximum
principal stress and extension strain are computed. to, the
less ductile layer. The fracture pattern is related to the
geometry of the problem and to the relative stiffness of
different layers. It is shown that changes in lithology
that mark contrasts in mechanical properties, in terms of
stiffness, can drive the process. In the last step the
process is stable and this confirms the “fracture
saturation” theory as explained by Bai&Pollard (2000). In
the space between two existing fractures a stress
transition from tension to compression takes place, so that
no new tensile fractures can generate. A strain-driven
behaviour can be recognized in the fracture patterns
development, so fracture initiation, propagation and then
saturation are driven by extension strain localization. To
demonstrate this, the extension strain distribution along a
horizontal line (AA) located in the middle of the central
layer (Fig. 4) at different time steps is computed. The
maximum principal stress is also computed along the same
line, to compare stress and strain distributions. As shown
in Figure 5, the maximum principal stress distribution is
uniform. Also, it is noted that every time a fracture opens
a local increase in the maximum principal stress occurs due
to stress concentration in a point corresponding to
fracture localization. It is observed that based on the
maximum principal stress distribution it is not possible to
localize where a tensile fracture will open. The extension
strain distribution (Fig. 6, 7, and 8) is not uniform as
the maximum principal stress distribution. It is observed
that fracture initiation starts when the extension strain,
that is generated, overpasses a limit value that for the
particular model is equal to 150 µε. Also, at a point where
the

-30

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300
1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 Distance [mm]

a x

i m

u m
P

r i n

c i

p a

l S

t r e

s s

[ M

P a

] t 0.174 t 0.178 t 0.191 t 0.195 t 0.200 t 0.204 t 0.247 t

0.251 t 0.260 t 0.264

Figure 5. Maximum principal stress distribution along line

AA. Time interval 0.174s-0.178s

-50

50

100

150

200

250

300 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
distance [mm]

[ 1
0 ^

6 ] t = 0.178s t = 0.174s

Figure 6. Extension strain along line AA in the time

interval

0.174 s–0.178 s. Time interval 0.247s-0.251s

-100

-50

50

100

150

200

250

300 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
distance [mm]

e x

[ 1 0

^ 6

] t = 0.251s t = 0.247s

Figure 7. Extension strain along line AA in the time

interval

0.191 s–0.195 s.

fracture opens, the value of the extension strain drops

down,

to increase in the surrounding area, giving the opportunity

to

a new fracture to start.

The extension strain distribution between two existing frac

tures has a parabolic shape. If the extension strain

between two

fractures reaches the limit value of 150 µε, then a new

fracture

will open. With the applied stress increasing, a reduction

of

fracture spacing takes place and fracture saturation

occurs, as

the spacing between existing fractures is not such as to

allow

the extension strain to grow until the limit value. Time

interval 0.191s-0.195s -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 200
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 distance [mm] e x
x [ 1 0 ^ 6 ] t = 0.195s t = 0.191s Figure 8. Extension
strain along line AA in the time interval 0.247 s–0.251 s.
It is clear that fracture initiation cannot be predicted on
the basis of the principal stress, due its uniform
distribution. Therefore, the extension strain distribution
appears to be a more reliable tool to predict when and
where a fracture can generate. Stacey’s empirical strain
criterion (1981) states that “fracture of the rock will
initiate when the total extension strain in the rock
exceeds a critical value which is characteristic of that
rock type”. The numerical model and the analysis in terms
of extension strain as described above is an indirect
validation of this criterion. 3 UNDERGROUND EXCAVATION IN A
LAYERED ROCK MASS It is inferred that the phenomena
described above can influence the mode of failure and
instability around underground excavations in layered rock
masses. Therefore, in order to understand in which way the
presence of bedding planes and discontinuities in a rock
mass can influence the Excavation Disturbed Zone (EDZ)
around a tunnel, some preliminary models have been run by
the ELFEN code as discussed in the following. The
excavation of a circular tunnel in: – a continuum rock mass
(model A) – a homogeneous rock mass containing two
pre-existing parallel discontinuities (model B) – a
multi-layer rock mass, with different material properties
(model C) has been considered. The results are interpreted
in terms of fracture pattern. A modified Mohr-Coulomb
material model with strain softening and discrete
fracturing is employed. The relevant material properties
are listed in Table 2. A 90 m × 90 m plane strain model has
been constructed for all analyses.The excavation (a
circular tunnel with 3.6 m diameter) is placed in the
centre of the model. The initial stress field is obtained
by appropriate loading on the boundaries of the model. The
vertical stress is 6.5 MPa and the horizontal stress 4 MPa,
with a stress ratio of 0.62. The analysis is conducted in
two stages. In the first stage a uniform stress field is
obtained with the elements representing the tunnel active.
In the second stage the tunnel is excavated. This is
achieved by recording the internal loads on the excavation
boundary at the time of excavation and ramping these

Table 2. Material properties. E ∗ ν ∗ σ ∗ t G ∗ f c ∗ φ ∗

[GPa] [–] [MPa] [N/mm] [MPa] [ ◦ ]

Material 1 2.7 0.3 5 0.01 2.6 25

Material 2 3.7 0.3 5 0.01 2.6 25

∗ E =Young’s modulus, v = Poisson’s ratio, σ t = tensile

strength,

G f = fracture energy, c = cohesion, φ= friction angle.

Figure 9. Fracture distribution around tunnel for model

(a), model

(b), model (c).

loads down to zero over a user-specified time period or num

ber of steps. The resultant fracture distributions are

presented

in Figure 9 for the three models A, B, and C.

It is shown that the presence of discontinuities or the

change

in lithology influence the mechanism of failure around the

tunnel. In the continuum rock mass (model A) a spalling pro

cess takes place at the tunnel wall, which is governed by

the

strength of the rock mass: the process can be interpreted as

stress-driven.
Due to the presence of discrete fractures (model B) the

EDZ localizes in it: fracture initiation and propagation

can be

interpreted as a strain-driven process. This type of

behaviour

takes place also with no changes in stiffness: the

strain-driven

behaviour in this case is related to the shear at the

interfaces.

In model C the presence of different materials with

different

stiffness properties localizes the fracture in the less

ductile

layer.

The simple models considered demonstrate that in lay

ered materials, such as sedimentary rocks, a strain-driven

behaviour can be recognized: this behaviour can be due

to a change in mechanical properties of different layers or

to the sliding at the interfaces of existing

discontinuities.

ABSTRACT: Stress analyses that take into account the

spatial effects in the vicinity of the tunnel face produce
under certain

conditions results for ground pressure and deformation that

are considerably higher than the ones that are produced
when

we assume plane strain conditions. The differences are due

to path dependency in the mechanical behaviour of the
ground

and to the inability of the plane strain model to map

radial stress history, which involves a complete unloading
(and, later, a
re-loading) of the tunnel boundary over the unsupported
span. This inherent weakness of any plane strain analysis
is relevant

from the design standpoint particularly for heavily

squeezing conditions that require a yielding support. For
the majority of

tunneling conditions and methods, however, involving as

they do support completion within a few meters of the face,
the errors

introduced by the plane strain assumption are not important

from a practical point of view.

1 INTRODUCTION

In addition to unstable rock blocks (“loosening”) or

long-term

processes such as creep, consolidation or swelling, the

spatial

redistribution of stress in the ground around the working

face

also leads to the development of a pressure upon the

lining, as

the latter partially hinders the convergence of the tunnel

walls.

The interaction between the ground and the tunnel lining is

well understood in principle today (cf. Lombardi 1971). The

magnitude of the loading depends on the magnitude of the

deformations constrained by the lining (i.e. on magnitude of

the deformations that would occur in the absence of a

lining)

and thus on the distance between the working face and the

location of the lining installation (e in Fig. 1a). The

smaller

this distance, the higher will be the load that develops

due to
the continuing excavation. Furthermore, as in any statically

undetermined system, the magnitude of the ground pressure

depends on the load-deformation characteristics both of the

lining and of the ground.

The ground-lining interaction can be studied through three

dimensional numerical models that take into account the

sequence of lining installation and excavation work. For

prac

tical reasons, however, tunnel design calculations are based

in most cases upon plane strain models that consider only a

lining cross section and the surrounding ground. The princi

ple of such calculations can be illustrated best by

considering

the axisymmetric case of a deep cylindrical tunnel. Fig. 1b

shows the characteristic lines of the ground and of the lin

ing. The intersection point of the two lines (the “ground

response point”) fulfils the conditions of equilibrium and

com

patibility, and shows the radial pressure p ∞ acting upon

the

lining far behind the face and the respective convergence

u ∞ of the ground. For the determination of the intersec

tion point, an a priori assumption must be made concerning

the ground displacement u 0 that occurs before the lining is

installed (“pre-deformation”). Note that small variations

in the

assumed pre-deformation u 0 lead to large variations in rock

pressure, particularly in the case of a highly non-linear
ground

response. On account of this sensitivity a lot of research

has

been undertaken over recent decades to find methods for esti

mating pre-deformation without needing to carry out spatial

numerical analyses (cf. Panet 2001). Figure 1. (a) Radial

displacement of the tunnel wall. (b) Characteristic lines
and interaction of ground and lining. It seems, however,
that the problem is more fundamental than estimating a
pre-deformation value. For geomaterials with path-dependent
mechanical behaviour, the existence of a single “ground
response curve” is in itself questionable, as the response
of the ground depends on its stress and deformation
history. In fact, some authors (e.g., Amberg 1999) have
remarked (on the basis of the results of design
calculations for specific projects) that three-dimensional
simulations of tunnel excavation may lead to both higher
ground pressures and higher deformations than those
predicted by plane strain calculations (i.e. to ground
response points which are located above the ground response
curve, e.g. point “3D” in Fig. 1b). Within the framework of
an ongoing research program into tunneling through
squeezing rock, the effects of path dependency on ground
response were investigated systematically. It is the
purpose of this paper to show by comparative computations
how greatly the ground response calculated with a more
realistic spatial model may deviate from the response
predicted through plane strain analyses (Section 2), to
show the limitations and the nature of the simplifications
involved in even the most sophisticated methods of
pre-deformation estimation (Section 2) and to improve our
understanding of the reasons for these deviations (Section
3). 2 DEVIATION FROM THE PLANE STRAIN RESPONSE For the sake
of simplicity and without loss of generality, the
comparative analysis in this paper refers to the
axisymmetric

Figure 2. (a) Lining installed at distance e from the face.

(b) Yielding support allowing a free convergence of u y

(the ground

starts to exert a pressure at distance l = e behind the

tunnel face).
problem of a deep, cylindrical and uniformly supported
tunnel

that crosses a homogeneous and isotropic ground with a uni

form and hydrostatic initial stress field (inset of Fig.

3). The

initial stress σ 0 is taken to be 12.5 MPa (i.e. an

overburden

of 500 m) and the tunnel radius a to be 4 m. The mechani

cal behavior of the ground is modeled as isotropic, linearly

elastic and perfectly plastic according to the Mohr-Coulomb

yield criterion. The material constants (Young’s Modulus

E = 1000 MPa, Poisson’s ratio ν= 0.3, angle of internal fric

tion ϕ= 25 ◦ , cohesion c = 500 kPa, dilatancy angle ψ = 5

◦ )

are typical for the weak kakiritic rocks from the Gotthard
Base

Tunnel (Vogelhuber et al., 2004). The lining is modeled as

an

elastic radial support with stiffness dp/du=k. The

calculations

have been carried out for different values of the lining

stiff

ness k and of the unsupported span e. Unsupported spans e

of up to 16 m long have been considered in order to take

into

account the case of a yielding support that deforms at a low

pressure (zero in the simplified numerical model) and allows

a free radial convergence u y (Fig. 2). The advancing tunnel

heading problem was solved numerically by the single-step

method (Corbetta 1990, Anagnostou 2007).

Figure 3 shows the ground response curve (GRC) obtained

by the closed-form, plane strain solution, as well as the

results

of the numerical calculations (point A 1 , for example, is

the

ground response point for a lining stiffness k = 0.1 GPa/m

and

an unsupported span of e = 2 m). The common range of lining

stiffnesses is 0.1–1 GPa/m.The numerical results show that

the

ground response (given by the marked points, e.g. A 1 , A 2

, A 3 )

deviates considerably from the plane strain curve (GRC). The

stiffer is the lining and the longer the unsupported span e

(or, equivalently, the larger is the free deformation u y

), the

more pronounced will be the difference. Plane strain

analysis

systematically underestimates ground pressures and defor

mations. These results are typical for elasto-plastic ground

behaviour.

A plane strain analysis is adequate under the following con

ditions: (i) It must lead to ground response points (p ∞ ,

u ∞ )

that are close to the ones obtained when taking into account

the evolution of stress and deformation in the vicinity of

the

working face; (ii) A practicable way exists to estimate the

pre-deformations.
As can be seen from Figure 3, the first condition is
fulfilled

in the case of relatively soft linings (small k-values) or

of lining

installation close to the face (small e-values). With

respect to

the second condition, the ground pressures obtained by the

convergence – confinement method will be examined next.

Figure 3 includes the characteristic lines for three lin

ings with different stiffnesses k and unsupported spans e

(lines cc1, cc2 and cc3). The respective pre-deformations

have been derived by the so-called “implicit method”, which

applies a homothetic transformation to the elastic conver

gences of an unsupported tunnel and takes into account the

Figure 3. Ground response curve (GRC) and ground response
points (e.g. points A 1,2,3 ) far behind the tunnel face
(at y/a = 75). elastoplastic behaviour and the lining
stiffness through an appropriate similitude factor and an
iterative correction of the pre-deformation, respectively
(Nguyen-Minh & Guo 1996, Panet 2001). Line cc1 applies to a
very soft lining (k = 0.1 GPa/m, i.e. a 15 cm thick ring
with a Young’s modulus of only 10 GPa) installed at e = 2 m
behind the face. The intersection point of the line cc1
with the ground response curve is located below the
respective ground response point A 1 , i.e. it shows a
practically equal ground pressure but underestimates the
radial displacement. At a higher lining stiffness (line cc2
applies to k = 1 GPa/m, i.e. a 50 cm thick ring with a
Young’s modulus of 30 GPa), both the ground pressure and
the pre-deformation are underestimated considerably (by 1
MPa and 10 cm, respectively, see point A 2 ) in spite of
the relatively short unsupported span of e = 2 m. In order
to achieve a better agreement with the numerically obtained
ground pressure, an even smaller and unrealistic
pre-deformation must be assumed. Note that, due to the
large dp/du – gradient of the plane strain ground response
curve in the relevant pressure range, very small variations
in the assumed pre-deformation lead to significant
variations in the ground pressure. As mentioned before,
particularly large errors will result of course in the case
of long unsupported spans (see line cc3 and point A 3 ). 3
STRESS AND DEFORMATION HISTORY 3.1 Stresses Figure 5 shows
the detailed numerical results for two cases: an
unsupported tunnel (left hand side) and a tunnel with stiff
support (k = 1 GPa/m) installed at e = a/4, i.e. 1 m behind
the face (right hand side). Far ahead of the tunnel face
the ground is still under the initial stress σ 0 (Fig. 4a).
With the approaching excavation (Fig. 4b), the axial stress
σ yy decreases from its initial value σ 0

Figure 4. (a) Co-ordinate system and stress state far ahead

of the

face. (b) Qualitative representation of the stress changes

caused by

the approaching excavation in a cross-section ahead of the

face and

location of the points A to F referred by Figure 5a and 5b.

to zero (at the face). Due to the low axial stress, the
core cannot

sustain the radial pressure exerted by the surrounding

ground:

the core yields and, consequently, larger radial

deformations

u develop ahead of the face, while the radial and tangential

stresses (σ rr ,σ tt ) decrease (Fig. 4). According to the

numerical

results of Figures 5c and 5d, the decrease in the radial and

tangential stresses (σ rr ,σ tt ) occurs at a distance of

up to one –

two radiuses ahead of the face.

At the face the radial stress becomes equal to zero, while

both the tangential and axial stresses (σ yy ) decrease –

accord

ing to the assumed yield condition – to the uniaxial com

pressive strength f c . The continuation of the excavation

does

not alter the stresses at the wall of an unsupported tunnel

(r = a). In a supported tunnel, however, the radial stress

at

the tunnel wall becomes equal to zero over the unsupported

span 0 < y < e but afterwards increases as the lining

offers a

resistance to the deformations of the ground caused by the

subsequent excavation.

Figure 5a shows the path followed by the principal stresses

(σ 3 , σ 1 ) at the wall of an unsupported tunnel. The

points A to

F in the diagram refer to the location of the advancing face

(see Figure 4b). The stress state reaches the yield

condition at

Point B ahead of the face, follows the yield condition down

to

point D (which is located at the tunnel face) and afterwards

remains constant. In the plastic zone developing around the

opening (Fig. 5e), the deformations are partially

irreversible

and the stress fields fulfils the yield condition.

In the presence of a lining, the stress state reaches a

yield

condition slightly closer to the face (between points B and

C, see Fig. 4 & 5b), becomes bi-axial at point D (tunnel

face) and, with the development of a radial support pressure

from the lining, turns back in the elastic domain (“elastic

re
compression”, cf. Gärber, 2003).A so-called “past-yield
zone”

develops around the tunnel (Fig. 5f), which is characterized

by partially irreversible deformations and a stress state

that

lies within the elastic domain. Figure 5. Stress and strain

history for an unsupported tunnel (left hand side) and for
a tunnel supported by a lining with k = 1 GPa/m (right hand
side): (a, b) Principal stress paths along the tunnel
boundary (line yc = yield condition, line ps = elastic part
of the plane strain stress path); (c, d) History of the
radial (σ rr ), tangential (σ tt ), axial (σ yy ) and shear
stress (σ ry ) along the tunnel boundary; (e, f) Plastic
zone; (g, h) Radial displacement along the tunnel boundary;
(i, j) Elastic (ε ry,el ) and plastic (ε ry,pl ) component
of the shear strain at r/a = 1.2; (k, l) Radial
distribution of the shear strain ε ry far behind the face
(at y/a = 75).

3.2 Deformations

In the vicinity of the face, the longitudinal gradient of

the

radial displacement is large, as the core partially hinders

the

deformations (Fig. 5g & 5h). Consequently, the ground is sub

jected to shearing and the temporary rotation of the

principal

stress axes in the r-y plane. Figures 5c and 5d show the

devel

opment of shear stress σ ry . Far ahead and behind the face

the

principal stresses are oriented in the radial, tangential

and axial

directions.

Note that the major part of the shear strains ε ry is irre

versible (Fig. 5i) and, consequently, the ground remains in

a
intensively sheared state (in the r-y-plane) far behind the
face

where the shear stresses disappear (Figure 5k shows the

distri

bution of the shear strain ε ry in the radial direction at

a section

far behind the face). In the presence of a lining, the shear

strains and the radius of the zone affected by them are

smaller

(but still considerable) because the lining reduces

differential

convergences in the longitudinal direction (Fig. 5j & 5l).

3.3 The reasons for deviations in ground response

The model behaviour described above has two particularly

conspicuous features that cannot be reproduced by a plane

strain analysis and might, therefore, explain the ground

response deviations discussed in Section 3: (i) the develop

ment of irreversible shear strains associated with the

rotation

of the principal axes in the vicinity of the face; (ii) the

com

plete unloading in a radial direction over the unsupported

span

and the radial stress increase after the installation of

the lining.

In a plane strain analysis, the out-of-plane shear strains

are by

definition zero and the radial stress decreases

monotonously.

The results obtained for the case of an unsupported tun

nel show, however, that the first point is not relevant: the

axisymmetric analysis leads, in spite of the large shear

strains

(Fig. 5i), to a final convergence, which is practically

equal

to the one obtained by the closed-form, plane-strain

solution.

Note also that according to Figure 3 the deviation decreases

systematically with decreasing lining stiffness– although

the

longitudinal convergence gradients and, consequently, the

shear strains will increase.

The deviation is due to the inability of the plane strain

model

to map the radial stress reversal that follows the

installation of

the lining (above-mentioned point ii).An axisymmetric model

that takes into account the sequence of excavation and lin

ing installation will always lead to ground response points

above the plane strain ground response, i.e. the convergence

corresponding to a certain ground pressure p ∞ will always

be larger than the one obtained by a plane strain analysis.

ABSTRACT: This paper deals with the forecasting of

excavation behaviour in tunneling and presents a new scheme
for a

rational classification. In particular, a scheme is

proposed essentially based on the combination of two
classification systems:

the first is basically centred on the results of stress

analysis, while the second, which is made up of the RMR
system, is
specifically directed towards the representation of the
geostructural characteristics of the rock mass and to the
relative self

supporting capacity. The matrix that results from this

double-classification approach allows for first an optimal
focalisation

of the design problem and then a rational choice of the

stabilisation measures in function of the most probable
potential

deformation phenomenon. A practical application is

presented with probabilistic implementation of the method.

1 INTRODUCION

Almost ten years have passed since a joint initiative of the

main Italian associations working in the sector of

tunneling,

developed the “Guidelines for the Design,Tendering and Con

struction of Underground Works” (“LGP”, NPSUW,1997).

As can be deduced from the title itself, this document did

not intend to be a design manual, but rather a recommended

procedure for the organic and complete development of a

project. Although this methodological approach is relatively

limited at a national level, the Italian LGP has surely

spurred

analogous reflections in other countries and one of the ITA

Working Groups is specifically dedicated to the setting up

of

an international reference for tunnel design.

As remarked in the LGP, as well as in a previous paper

(Russo et al., 1998), one of the elements of greatest impor

tance in design development is a clear distinction between

the concepts of geomechanical classes (or groups), behaviour

categories and technical classes of excavation.

In the following, some new considerations on the general

classification of the excavation behaviour are presented.

2 GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE EXCAVATION

BEHAVIOUR

According to LGP, for the correct typological choice and

dimensioning of stabilisation measures, it is first of all

impor

tant to analyse the excavation behaviour of rock masses,

classified in homogeneous geomechanical groups, under the

existing stress conditions at tunnel level, in the

theoretical

hypotheses of absence of any design interventions.

Moreover, in general terms, a sufficiently complete clas

sification of the response of excavation requires the joint

development of stress and geostructural analyses.

In practice, it is generally useful to make use of a rea

sonably simplified approach which can offer a first general

picture of the expected behaviour, after which it is

necessary

to carry out detailed verifications with more rigorous and

pre

cise methods. From this point of view, stress analyses are

often

performed to quantify some classification indexes that are

able

to express the potential intensity of the expected

deformation
phenomena. Reference to an “equivalent-continuous”
geotechnical model is in such case generally implicit,
whether making use of empirical or more analytical methods.
In the former case, a typical example is that of the
“Competence Indexes”, which express the relationship
between a representative term of the stress conditions at
tunnel level (stresses at the excavation boundary or the
lithostatic pressure itself), and a term relative to the
strength (of the rock matrix or of the rock mass) that can
be mobilised. Such an approach is commonly used for the
prevision of both “squeezing” behaviour (see for example,
as reported also by Barla, 1998, the “Competence Indexes”
proposed by Jethwa et al., 1984;Aydan et al., 1991; Singh
et al., 1992; Hoek and Marinos, 2000) and of rockburst
phenomena (“Damage Indexes”: Russenes, 1974; Hoek and
Brown, 1980; Grimstad and Barton, 1993; etc.). A design
alternative, which is relatively more accurate than the
index method, uses an analytical approach, for example the
"convergence-confinement" method, to directly quantify the
response of the excavation in deformational terms. For
example, in the previously mentioned article by the
authors, a classification of the behaviour was presented in
which 6 categories (a → f) were identified in function of
both the radial deformations at the excavation face and the
development of the plastic zone around the cavity (for
relative details, see the left part of Fig. 3). In
addition, by means of geostructural type analysis, it is
possible to focus better on the gravitational instabilities
connected to the real discontinuous character of the rock
masses. On the other hand, the stress analyses on their own
cannot supply univocal indications of the expected
deformation phenomenon: for example, it is quite intuitive
that a high stress to strength ratio can differently
determine “squeezing” behaviour or “rockburst” according to
real geostructural conditions (Fig. 1). For these reasons,
as previously mentioned, similar indexes (either of
competence or damage) are used for the empirical
forecasting of both phenomena. Consequently, as a first
classification, it is useful to refer jointly to adequate
geostructural indexes, especially when they can be related
to the consequent self-supporting capacity of the rock
masses (for example, the well-known systems RMR of
Bieniawski and the Q of Barton).

Figure 1. Example of rockburst (left: Loetschberg Tunnel,

Diederichs, 2005) and squeezing behaviour (right:

deformation in
the pilot tunnel of the Fleres railway tunnel excavated by
TBM.

Figure 2. Conceptual scheme for a general setting of the

ground

behaviour upon excavation. The numbers in the box refer to

the

attempt of association of stabilisation measures later

described in

section 2.2. (..),/=eventual, alternative measure.

Accordingly, Fig. 2 shows the basic scheme for a general

picture of the possible behaviour during excavation in terms

of typical deformation phenomenon.

2.1 Proposed classification system

Following the conceptual scheme of Fig. 2, the

classification

system currently adopted by the authors combines the above

mentioned behaviour categories with the Bieniawski RMR

classes (Fig. 3, Russo et Grasso, 2006). As can be seen, the

matrix that results from such a double classification

approach

allows an optimal focalisation of the specific design prob

lem. Furthermore, a rational choice of the type of

stabilisation

measures may be derived as a function of the most probable

potential deformation phenomenon that is associated to the

different stress and geostructural combination.

It is, however, necessary to add that the proposed

classifica

tion matrix is not able, as it is logical, to cover all the

possible
design criticalities and some particular geological
conditions

have to be analysed separately (for example, the presence of

swelling material, complex geostructural situations, etc.).

It is important to note that the proposed scheme may supply

also a further indication of the most suitable design analy

sis, with assimilation either to a continuous or

discontinuous Figure 3. General classification scheme of
the excavation behaviour. Notes: δo = radial deform. at the
face; Rp/Ro = plastic radius/radius of cavity; σθ = max
tang. stress; σcm = rock mass strength. (i) The limits of
shadow zones are just indicative; (ii) in the brittle
failure domain (→rockburst) the deformation index of the
stress analysis can be intended just as indicators of the
increasing potentiality of the deformational phenomenon;
(iii) according to Diederichs (2005) the potentiality of
the rockburst becomes relevant for rock masses with Brittle
Index IF = (σc/σt) > 8 e σc > 80 MPa. In other cases, the
shear failure appears to be more probable and squeezing is
still the most typical deformation phenomenon. Table 1.
Main input parameters and output of the probabilistic
analysis of the excavation behaviour. Input Distribution
min max GSI LGN(50,7) 35 67 σ c (MPa) TRG(30,50,70) 30 70 m
i UNF(8,12) 8 12 RMR BETA(12,12,84) 22 65 Output RMR→ II
III IV CC↓ c 0.8% 58% 40% d 0.4% 0.8% Notes: LGN =
lognormal; TRG = triangular; UNF = uniform; σc = uniaxial
compression strength of the intact rock; m i = HoekBrown
constant of the intact rock (1980); CC = behavioural
category (stress analysis). model as a function of the
geostructural characteristics of the rock masses. The
analysis for the forecasting of the excavation behaviour
may be developed in probabilistic terms, incorporating the
variability and uncertainty of the geomechanical and
boundary conditions. A practical example is presented
below. The case refers to a stretch of a circular tunnel
with a 5 m radius and 300 m of overburden, realised in
calcareousdolomitic formations. The input geomechanical
data, mainly based on the results of some boreholes, are
summarised in Table 2.1.The probabilistic distribution of
the GSI (Geological Strength Index, Hoek et al., 1995)
represents the best-fitting of the results of MonteCarlo
simulation graphically reported in Fig. 4. In particular,
the "quantitative" approach proposed by Cai et al. (2004),
based on the estimation of the block volume (Vb) and the
Joint Condition Factor (Jc) has been in this case applied.
It should be noted that these last input parameters have
been measured and statistically treated excluding fault
zones, in order to represent the "ordinary" rock mass
condition. The behavioural analyses were performed with the
“Convergence-Confinement” method (Carranza T. solutions,
2004). The GSI is used to derive the rock mass parameters

Figure 4. Example of probabilistic estimate (n.500 simu

lations) of the GSI derived from the quantitative approach

proposed by Cai et al. (2004). Notes: M = Massive; (V)B =

(Very)

Blocky; D = Disturbed; DS = Disintegrated; F/L/S = Foliated/

Laminated/Sheared. (V)G = (Very)Good; F = Fair; (V)P =

(Very)

Poor.

Figure 5. Example of behaviour classification obtained

through

probabilistic analysis.

from those of the intact rock by using for shear strength

and

deformability, respectively the Hoek et al. (2002) and the

Hoek

and Diederichs (2006) equations. From the results of the

prob

abilistic analysis, reported in Fig. 5 and Table 1, the

following

comments may be added:

• according to the stress analysis, the response to the exca

vation is always elasto-plastic and in 99% of the cases

the intensity of the deformation phenomena is relatively

contained (“c” behaviour category); the excavation face is

consequently stable and the total radial displacements, in

the absence of stabilisation measures, are limited to few

centimetres;

• in almost all cases, the RMR class falls between the III

(58%) and the IV (41%): the geomechanical quality of the

rock mass is consequently fair to poor; taking into account

Table 2. Main design actions in underground excavation and
examples of the typical associated stabilisation measures.
# Design action ∗ Stabilization measure (example) 1 In
advancement to the excavation 1.1 Pre-confinament of
Forepoling instable wedges 1.2 Pre-reinforcement
Pre-riqualification of rock mass of rock mass contour by
fully connected elements 1.3 Pre-confinement of
Sub-horizontal jet-grouting the excavation contour canopy
1.4 Tunnel face preInjected fiber-glass elements,
reinforcement jet-grouting, etc. 1.5 Pre-reinforcement
Umbrella arch of excavation contour .. .. .. 2 During
excavation 2.1 Over-excavation to allow convergences 2.2
Radial confinement Bolting (instable wedges confinement);
shotcrete (fiberreinforced or with wire mesh) steel ribs;
etc. 2.3 Rock mass Riqualification by means of
reinforcement fully connected elements 2.4 De-confinement
(to Sliding steel-ribs; joints and/or allow convergence for
deformable elements in the stress unloading) shotcrete 2.5
Protection Anchored double-torsion steel mesh Notes: ∗ The
drainage of water in advancement should be generally added
when necessary. the diameter of the excavation, the
relative selfsupporting rock mass properties are such as to
require increasingly more important measure of confinement
and/or reinforcement; • the most important deformation
phenomenon for dimensioning the stabilisation measures is
therefore that of a gravitational type, passing from the
potential detachment of rock wedges to purely caving
behaviour in the most unfavourable contexts. It is
important to note that, in function of the orientation of
the discontinuities, the gravitational collapses could also
involve the excavation face. The detailed design, as a
result, should include the use of the most suitable methods
for the analyses of a discontinuous medium, applying, for
example, solutions based on the limit equilibrium theory
and/or, preferably numerical methods like distinct element
(D.E.M.). 2.2 Definition of the types of stabilisation
measures The design choice of the stabilisation measures
(confinement, reinforcement, etc.) and therefore the
composition of the Section Type is a consequence of the
behavioural classification. An example, in this sense,
basically connected to excavation by traditional
techniques, is presented below. In Table 2, the main design
actions that can be applied in the underground excavation
have been schematically summarised with some examples of
the consequent stabilisation measures. Furthermore, as
above anticipated, an attempt of association of these main
design actions to the different deformation phenomena is
schematised in Fig. 2.

Table 3. Practical example of the typological choice of the

stabilisation measures with reference to the case presented

inTable 1.

Classification→ c/III (≈ 60%) c/IV(≈40%)

Section type C1 C2

Stabilization –Eventual ∗ bolting –Eventual ∗∗ pre

measures in of tunnel face reinforcement of

advancement tunnel face and crown

Radial stabilisation –Sistematic bolting; –Steel ribs;

measures –Shotcrete (fbr) –Shotcrete (fbr)

Notes: fbr = fiber-reinforced; ∗ in function of the

possible kinematic

instability of rock wedges; ∗∗ in function of the possible

kinematic

instability and/or when the intervention allows an

optimisation of

the construction times and costs.

As can be seen in Fig. 2, the design solutions are not

always

univocal and different stabilisation measures can

theoretically

be applied, measures whose application possibilities should

be opportunely verified with design calculations and then

compared in terms of construction time and costs.

A typical example concerns the stabilisation measures that

can be chosen in the case of “squeezing” behaviour, where

may be necessary to evaluate (and compare) contrasting

procedures:

(i) to allow a certain decompression of the rock mass;

(ii) on the contrary, to prevent it with pre-reinforcement

for increasing the geomechanical properties of the rock
mass at the excavation face and/or at the boundary, or

(iii) to apply some “hybrid”stabilisation solutions.

The design calculations will allow to differentiate the

inten

sity of the interventions, as a function of the detailed

analysis

relative to the different geomechanical conditions

classified

in Fig. 3.

As an example, the results of the probabilistic analysis pre

sented in Table 1 would lead to the typological indications

shown in Table 3.

3 CONCLUSION

A framework for comprehending the expected excavation

behaviour is proposed, based on the combination of two

classi

fication systems, in order to take into account both the

results

of stress analysis, as well as the geostructural

characteristics of

the rock mass and then its self-supporting capacity.The

matrix
that results from the double classification approach allows
for

ABSTRACT: The intensity of rock deformations and rock

pressures in a tunnel section where there are squeezing
conditions

may vary over short distances. The variability of squeezing

can be traced back to heterogeneities of the ground at
different scales

and with respect both to its mechanical and to its

hydraulic characteristics. Often the cause of this
phenomenon is an advance

through a sequence of rock zones with different degrees of

crushing or shearing. The results of numerical calculations
indicate

that even relatively thin competent rock interlayers may

have a pronounced stabilizing effect. However, even in a
macroscopically

homogeneous rock mass, a large variation of deformations

may be observed. This can be explained theoretically by the
fact

that the results of ground response analyses are highly

sensitive to minor changes in rock properties.

1 INTRODUCTION

Tunnel excavation in weak rocks may trigger large time

dependent deformations. Often the intensity of squeezing

varies over short distances for one and the same excava

tion method, temporary support, depth of cover and lithology

(Kovári 1998). The variability of squeezing makes tunnel con

struction very demanding as it decreases the predictability

of the conditions ahead of the tunnel face even after experi

ence has been built up with a specific geological formation

during excavation. The present paper aims at a better under

standing of the observed variability, which can be traced
back

basically to two different causes. On the one hand,

relatively

small fluctuations in the mechanical and hydraulic proper

ties of a macroscopically homogeneous rock mass may have

a major effect on the developing deformations and pressures.

On the other hand, rock structure heterogeneity (even on the

scale of few meters) may lead to significant variations in

the

ground response. Section 2 discusses the sensitivity of

ground

response to small variations in rock mass properties by

means

of computational results and with reference to tunneling

expe

rience, while Section 3 deals with the case of a

heterogeneous

rock mass consisting of alternating weak and hard rock

zones.

2 THE SENSITIVITY OF GROUND RESPONSE

2.1 Tunneling experience – Case 1

As an example of squeezing variability, the northern

Tavetsch

massif crossed by the new Gotthard Basetunnel at a depth of

800 m is worthy of mention. During mountain formation this

zone was subjected to intensive tectonic action, resulting

in

alternating layers of thickness in the range of decimetres

to

decametres, which consist of intact to more or less strongly

kakiritic gneisses, slates, and phyllites (the term
“kakirite”

denotes a broken or intensively sheared rock, which has lost

a large part of its original strength, cf. Schneider 1997).

Excavation through the critical zone, which is about 1150 m

long, is still ongoing. Squeezing is tackled through a yield

ing support system (Kovári et al. 2006). In the first half

of

this zone, excavation proceeded through alternating layers

of

more or less kakiritized rock. The layers are oriented

perpen

dicularly to the tunnel axis. Figure 1 shows the horizontal

Figure 1. Gotthard Basetunnel, northern Tavetsch massif:
Horizontal displacements of the tunnel walls occurring in
the part of the tunnel between 5 and 30 m behind the face
(by choosing an advance-dependent illustration the
influence of standstills and different advance rates can be
reduced as the deformations are, in the present case,
mainly due to the stress re-distribution associated with
the advance of the face). displacements of the walls of the
two tubes as well as the degree of rock kakiritization. The
latter was determined based upon a project-specific
classification scheme and according to inspections of the
exposed rock. According to Figure 1, the convergences
observed within apparently homogeneous zones vary
considerably (see, e.g., western tube, ch. 1240 to 1300).
On the other hand, a rough correlation exists between the
degree of kakiritization, the thickness of the weak zones
and the observed displacements. It is, for example,
remarkable that in a short zone with extreme kakiritization
smaller convergences occurred than in a similar longer zone
(eastern tube ch. 1183 to 1190 and 1255 to 1285).
Furthermore, the

Figure 2. (a) Distribution of friction angle (data from

Vogelhuber

2007). (b) Convergence u/a as a function of the overburden

(material
constants: Young’s modulus E = 2000 MPa, Poisson’s ratio ν=
0.30,

friction angle φ=26.7 ◦ ± 15%, cohesion c = 0.6 MPa,

dilatancy

angle ψ = 5 ◦ ).

deformations occurring in the weakest zones seem to depend

also on the quality of the adjacent, more competent rock.

So, heterogeneities at different scales are responsible for

the

observed variability.

The variability of the squeezing can be explained quantita

tively by means of computational results obtained on the

basis

of a simple rotational symmetric model of a circular

opening.

The mechanical characteristics of the kakiritic rocks have

been

established by means of a comprehensive laboratory testing

program that was carried out in the design stage of the

Gotthard

Basetunnel. Particular attention was paid to the control of

pore

water pressure during testing. Both consolidated drained and

consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests have been

carried out. Despite the complex and changeable structure

of kakiritic rocks, the test results have been remarkably

uni

form and can be approximated satisfactorily by an elastic,

perfectly plastic constitutive model using the MohrCoulomb

yield criterion (Vogelhuber 2007). From the evaluation of

63 tests, it was possible to derive average strength
constants

of c = 0.6 MPa and φ= 26.7 ◦ . The variation of the friction

angle was particularly large (Fig. 2a). Figure 2b

illustrates

how sensitively the model behaviour depends on this param

eter. The solid lines apply to the average friction angle

and

show the convergence as a function of the overburden for an

unsupported tunnel (p = 0) as well as for a high support

resis

tance (p = 2 MPa), while the hatched area shows the effect

of a

variation of the friction angle by ±15% (see Fig. 2a).

Accord

ingly, the variation in the friction angle can have a far

greater

effect on the intensity of squeezing than the depth of

cover.The

sensitivity of the results with respect to the friction

angle is par

ticularly noticeable at low support resistances and high

depths

of cover. The next example shows, however, that an extreme

squeezing variability is in no way limited to deep tunnels.

2.2 Tunneling experience – Case 2

Case 2 refers to a shallow tunnel constructed in the 1990s

in South America. This tunnel had a horseshoe cross-section

(Fig. 3b) and was excavated full face. In spite of the small

overburden (50 m), convergences of up to 1 m occurred in

a 200 m long critical zone consisting of intensively sheared

graphitic phyllites. (Fig. 3a).

The very low resistance of the support (open shell with

out an invert lining, Fig. 3b) applied in combination with

the sensitivity of ground behaviour to small variations in

the friction angle (which is large at low support pressures,

Fig. 3c) provides an explanation for the observed large

variability of squeezing (0–10% convergence in a macroscop

ically homogeneous rock mass). Figure 3. Tunnel crossing

graphitic phyllites: (a) Horizontal convergence �X in the
critical zone; (b)Tunnel cross section; (c) Sensitivity of
the ground response to a variation of the friction angle by
15%. Figure 4. Convergence along a tunnel with yielding
support (250 kPa pressure) during continuous excavation
(advance rate v = 2 m/d, permeability k = 10 −10 – 10 −8
m/s, Young’s modulus E = 1 GPa, Poisson’s number ν= 0.30,
UCS = 0.75 MPa, friction angle φ= 25 ◦ , dilatancy angle ψ
= 5 ◦ , initial stress σ 0 = 7.5 MPa, initial pore pressure
p 0 = 1 MPa; computational model after Anagnostou 2007).
2.3 The effects of hydraulic properties Laboratory tests,
field observations and theoretical considerations show that
consolidation processes are, in addition to creep, highly
important for the time-dependency of squeezing (Vogelhuber
et al. 2004). The permeability of the ground governs the
rate of the deformations associated with the dissipation of
excess pore pressures. Squeezing rocks, such as shales,
mudstones or altered metamorphic rocks, exhibit very low
permeabilities. Thin permeable interlayers may cause,
however, a substantial acceleration of the deformations as
they lead to a shortening of the drainage paths. The same
applies to the case of alternating layers of weak and hard
rock, as the latter are often fractured and therefore
increase the overall permeability. Consequently,
permeability variations occurring within a macroscopicaly
homogeneous rock mass may also lead to significantly
different squeezing intensities. In the numerical example
of Figure 4, the convergence occurring at a distance of two
diameters behind the tunnel face varies between 1% and 5%,
depending on the overall permeability. 3 HETEROGENEOUS ROCK
STRUCTURES As mentioned in Section 2.1, the rock structure
that was encountered during excavation of the Gotthard
Basetunnel in

Figure 5. Convergence u, plastic zone (hatched area), shear

stress τ ry along the interface of the two zones (y = 0)
and principal stress orien

tation for (a) w/h = 1, w/a = 0.5; (b) w/h = 0.25, w/a =
0.5; and (c) w/h = 1, w/a = 2 (material constants:Young’s
Modulus E hard = 10 GPa,

E weak = 1 GPa, Poisson’s ratio ν= 0.3, friction angle ϕ=

25 ◦ , cohesion c hard = 5 MPa, c weak = 0.5 MPa, dilatancy
angle ψ = 5 ◦ ).

about the first half of the northern Tavetsch massif was

char

acterized by a sequence of weak and competent rock zones

striking perpendicularly to the tunnel axis. When crossing

alternating weak and hard rock zones, shear stresses are

mobi

lized at their interfaces because the competent rock zones

deform less than the weak zones. This so-called

“wall-effect”

was analyzed by Kovári & Anagnostou (1995) for the border

line case of rigid competent rock. The interface shear

stresses

reduce the deformations of a weak zone considerably but,

on the other hand, the weak ground imposes, via the shear

stresses, an additional load on the competent rock. This may

lead to overstressing of the competent rock and thus reduce

or eliminate its stabilizing effect. It is obvious, that

the thin

ner the competent rock interlayers, the less they will

stabilize

the weak zones; and, visa versa, the thinner the weak zones
are, the less will be the loading imposed by them on the com

petent rock. So, the wall-effect depends, in general, on the

thicknesses of the alternating layers as well as on the

strength

and deformability both of the hard and the weak zones.

These interactions have been studied through axisymmet

ric numerical analyses looking at an unsupported cylindrical

tunnel of radius a = 4 m that crosses alternating hard and

weak layers of thickness h and w, respectively (Figure 5).

The numerical model is delimited by the tunnel boundary

(at r = a), the symmetry planes of two adjacent layers (at

y = h/2 and −w/2, respectively) and the far field bound

ary (at r = 25 a). The hydrostatic and uniform initial

stress

σ 0 was taken to be equal to 10 MPa. The excavation was

simulated thought a stepwise reduction of the tunnel bound

ary tractions from σ 0 to zero. The ground was modelled as

an isotropic, linearly elastic, perfectly plastic material

obey

ing the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion. The material constants

(see caption for Figure 5) have been chosen on the basis of

the

results of the investigation programme for the Tavetsch

massif

(Vogelhuber 2000).

According to Figure 5b, the interface shear stress τ ry

increases from zero (at the free excavation boundary) to its

maximum value at the boundary of the plastic zone of the

weak layer.The orientation of the principal stresses of the
weak Figure 6. Maximum convergence u max normalized by the
plane strain convergences u w,2D developing in a long weak
zone (u w,2D = 447 mm) for different layer thicknesses.
zone indicates an arching effect in the longitudinal
direction, which is favourable for the weak layer but leads
to the abovementioned additional loading of the hard rock
layer. This can been seen also by comparing the extend of
the plastic zone developing in the present case (up to r =
1.35 a) with the plastic zones developing in a homogeneous
ground (for w/a and h/a →∞, the plastic zone would reach up
to r = 3.38 a and r = 1.08 a in the weak rock and in the
hard rock, respectively). A continuous reduction of the
hard rock interlayer thickness from case (b) to case (a)
has the consequence that the hard rock is getting more and
more loaded (larger plastic zone and deformations). The
interface shear stresses, the convergences, the stresses
and the radius of the plastic zone in the weak layer do not
change significantly. On the other hand, an increase of the
weak zone thickness from case (b) to case (c) leads to
considerably larger plastification and convergences of the
weak rock.The interface shear stresses are also mobilized
over a larger area and as a consequence the hard rock zone
becomes more stressed. It is noticeable that the maximum
convergences (at the symmetry plane of the weak zone)
depend mainly on the weak zone length. Figure 6 shows the
results of a parametric study concerning the effects of the
layer thicknesses w and h. The diagram shows the maximum
convergence u max (normalized by the

Figure 7. Degree of convergence uniformity for h/w = 1.

convergence u w,2D that would develop in a very long weak

zone) as a function of the thickness of the weak zone w/a.

The values on the ordinate axis can be seen as a conver

gence reduction factor associated with the wall-effect. The

latter is considerable for weak zones even as thick as about

four diameters (w/a < 8 or w = 40 m for a normal traffic

tunnel cross-section). With decreasing thickness of the hard

zones, the wall-effect becomes less pronounced but it is

still
considerable at h/w = 1/16.

We examined, furthermore, how thin the alternating hard

and weak zones must be in order that the convergence along

the tunnel becomes approximately uniform. Figure 7 applies

to alternating layers of equal thickness (h = w) and shows

the

ratio of minimum to maximum convergence (a measure for

the convergence uniformity) as a function of the normalized

layer thickness. At w/a = h/a = 1/2 (point A) the variation

in

convergence is still considerable (u min /u max ≈ 1/3): In

a tunnel

with a diameter of 10 m, the convergences would vary by a

factor of three within 2 to 3 m (an interesting result

particularly

when taking into account the fact that monitoring stations

are

usually 5–10 m apart).

It should be noted that the computational model assumes

perfectly plastic behaviour for competent rock as well.

Brittle

failure and strength loss of the competent rock due to over

stressing (Fig. 5) would reduce the wall-effect, thereby

leading

to more uniform and also larger convergences. The presence

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the parameter identification

and subsidence prediction by Artificial Neural Network and

FEM database for design and construction of NATM. This

paper describes two ANN models. The first is an optimal ANN

model for parameter identification and the second is for

subsidence prediction. FE simulation used a strain
softening model

considering deformation characteristic of shallow NATM

tunneling. A case study is presented to verify the
application to

the actual NATM tunnel in parameter identification and

prediction problem. This method has advantages over other
more

conventional methods in that it provides results more

quickly, and can be readily improved as additional data
from FEM studied

and actual field records are acquired. In addition, the

proposed method offers a practical way for predicting final
displacement

of shallow NATM tunnel at earlier stages of construction,

enabling rational safety management scheme to be employed.

1 INTRODUCTION

In urban area, constructions of soft ground tunnels are usu

ally important in terms of prediction and control of ground

displacement around tunnel. In tunnel design, deforma

tion behavior of ground is evaluated by numerical analysis.

Although numerical modeling skills have developed, it is

still

difficult under the present state of the art to

deterministically

predict the behavior of the ground and tunnel system in the

planning and design stages, thereby resulting in an

extensive

difference between the predicted value and the actual ones

after excavation. This paper discusses the parameter

identifi

cation and subsidence prediction by Artificial Neural

network
and FEM database for design and construction of NATM. FE

simulation uses a strain softening model considering deforma

tion characteristic of shallow NATM tunneling. Figure 1

shows

the application process of parameter identifications and sub

sidence prediction by ANN and FEM database for design and

construction of NATM tunnel. A case study is presented to

verify the applicability to the actual NATM tunnel in param

eter identification and prediction problem. This method has

advantages over other more conventional methods in that it

provides results more quickly, and can be readily improved

as

additional data from FEM studied and actual field records

are

acquired. In addition, the proposed method offers a

practical

way for predicting final displacements of shallow NATM tun

nel at earlier stages of construction, enabling rational

safety

management scheme to be employed.

2 STRAIN SOFTENING MODEL

Deformation characteristic around shallow NATM tunnel is

often characterized by formation of shear bands develop

ing from tunnel shoulder reaching, sometimes, to the ground

surface, as Figure 2 (Hansmire and Cording, 1985). Survey

of site characteristics FEM database Top heading arrive Top
heading completion Subsidence prediction at final stage D
e s i g n C o n s t r u c t i o n ANN model for Softening
parameter Identification ANN model for subsidence
prediction Figure 1. ANN approach for design and
construction of NATM tunnels. Recently, a new finite
element analysis procedure, strain softening model, was
proposed for simulation of deformation behavior around a
shallow tunnel (Akutagawa et al. 2006). A strain softening
model considers reduction of shear stiffness and strength
parameters after yielding, thereby treating the ground as a
strain softening material. Following is a brief summary of
the procedure employed in this work (Matsumoto, 2000). A
fundamental constitutive relation between stress σ and
strain ε is defined by an elasticity matrix D

Figure 2. Strain distribution around a subway tunnel.

where σ =Dε holds. E and ν stands for Young’s modulus and

Poisson’s ratio, respectively. The anisotropy parameter m is

defined as

where m e is the initial value of m, m r is the residual

value, α is

a constant, γ is shear strain, γ c is the shear strain at

the onset of

yielding.The constitutive relationship is defined for

conjugate

slip plane direction (45 ◦ ±φ/2) and transformed back to the

global coordinate system. Strength parameters, cohesion c

and

friction angle φ are reduced from the moment of initiation

of

yielding to residual values, as indicated in Figure 3.

3 ANN OUTLINE AND DEVELOPMENT

3.1 Outline of ANN

ANN is a form of artificial intelligence that attempts to

mimic

the behavior of the human brain and nervous system. Many

authors have described the structure and operation of ANN

(Hecht-Nielsen, 1990) and its application in civil engineer

ing (Flood and Kartam, 1994). The ANN learning is used by

back-propagation, so called back-propagation neural network

(BPNN, Rumelhart and McClelland, 1986) that performs gra

dient descent analysis on this error surface by modifying

each

weight factor and bias in proportion to the gradient of the

surface at its location. BPNN has been applied to the prob

lem of classification, prediction, adaptation control,

system

identification, and so on. During training of the network,

data

is processed through the input layer to hidden layer, until

it

reaches the output layer. In this layer, the output is

compared

to the measured values.

The difference or error between both is processed back

through the network updating the individual weights of the

connections and the biases of the individual neurons.The

input

and output data are mostly represented as vectors called

train

ing pairs. The process as mentioned above is repeated for

all

the training pairs in the dataset, until the network error

con

verges to a threshold minimum defined by a corresponding

cost function; usually the root mean squared error (RMSE).

This process is called “learning” or “training” in Figure 4

(a).
Once the training process of the model has been successfully

accomplished, the performance of the trained model has to

be validated using an independent testing set, as indicated

in Figure 4 (b). As described above, ANN learns from data

examples presented to them and uses these data to adjust

their

weights in an attempt to capture the relationship between

the

model input variables and the corresponding outputs.

Residual value, C r , φ r Maximum Shear strain, γ
Initial value, C i , φ i C, φ ∆γ Figure 3. Reduction of
strength parameters in softening modeling. Initial weight
and bias setting Calculation Calculation Error Calculation
Change of initial weight and bias T a r g e t d a t a I n p
u t d a t a 1 I n p u t d a t a n O u t p u t d a t a (a)
Learning phase Adjust weight and bias Calculation I n p u
t d a t a 1 I n p u t d a t a n O u t p u t d a t a Adjust
node of hidden layers (b) Testing phase Figure 4. Learning
and testing process. 3.2 BPNN development for application
of case study A case study performed the construction of
Rokunohe tunnel of Tohuku Shinkansen project in Japan. The
geological condition and the measurement point of the
tunnel are illustrated in Figure 5 (a). Finite element
meshes are shown in Figure 5 (b). Simulation has been
performed in several computational steps for excavation of
the tunnel top heading. FEM output selected by filed
measurement point. FEM analyses to create ANN database were
performed using property values given in Table 1. The
database is divided into two sets, namely, the learning set
and testing set. Model input/output is arranged by FEM
database. After input/output data division, it is important
to pre-process the data to a suitable form before they are
applied to the ANN. Pre-processing the data, such as
scaling, is important to ensure that all variables receive
equal attention during training. Figure 6 illustrates the
ANN structure for design parameter identification, Noheji
sandy layer 3 Noheji sandy layer 4 Volcanic ash layer1
Volcanic ash layer2 13m Subsidence Extensometer
Inclinometer

(a) Tunnel geometrical dimension with measure plan. Layer

1 Layer 2 Layer 3 Layer 4 A
(b) FEM mesh

Figure 5. Studied tunnel and FEM mesh.

Table 1. Used material properties for FEM database based on

the

Noheji sandy layer 3.

Selected

parameter E(Mpa) K 0 �γ β

Properties 80 0.4,0.5 0.01 80%

range 160 0.6,0.7 0.02 60% 240 0.8,0.9,1 0.04 40%

(a), the ANN structure for subsidence prediction, (b). The

sig

moid function is preferred as the transfer function in this

study.

The validation of a trained ANN model is based upon one or

more error indices. In this paper, training parameter is

used

as a tolerance to indicate end of training which was defined

when the number of training (Epoch) goes over 400000 or the

error of the network (SSE) becomes below 0.0001.

3.3 Result of BPNN analysis

In order to obtain good performance of the ANN, the ANN

architecture was tested with various number of node per

hidden layer, various learning rates and momentum rates.

Therefore, following the trial-error method, it is attempted

to choose an optimal architecture of ANN, as well as adapted

learning parameters, for a given learning pattern. After

many

trials, an improved training and testing results are

obtained

and they are illustrated in Table 2 with applied ANN system.

In Table 2, obtaining ANN model for parameter

identification Input Output Design parameter(E, K0, ∆r, β)
(a) ANN structure for design parameter identification Input
Design parameter(E, K0, ∆r, β) Output Surface settlement
Measured data(settlement) (b) ANN structure for surface
prediction Figure 6. Scheme of ANN modeling and
structure. Table 2. Learning and testing result. E K0 b �γ
Surface Le.data/Te.data 189/28 189/28 189/28 189/28 708/507
BPNN structure 32-32-1 33-73-1 34-90-1 35-59-1 32-52-7
Learning rate 0.3 0.01 0.01 0.1 0.2 Momentum rate 0.9 0.9
0.1 0.9 0.7 Final sys. error 0.019 0.019 0.494 0.019 0.506
Learning RMSE 4.761 0.018 0.066 0.001 3.551 Testing RMSE
5.271 0.012 0.054 0.003 4.937 Learning R 2 0.997 0.996
0.913 0.998 0.966 Testing R 2 0.996 0.997 0.931 0.973 0.948
and subsidence prediction show the good result as RMSE were
5.271, 0.012, 0.054, 0.003 and 3.551 in testing result,
respectively. And, R 2 is over 0.948 in all case. The
results indicate that the model is able to capture the
relationship between the inputs (measurement data) and
outputs (material properties) because learning and testing
show a good result. 4 CASE STUDY Based on these
measurements, values of unknown model parameters determined
with the trained adjust ANN model. The neurons in the
output layer produce the estimated design parameter.
Measurement data to the upper face arrival can be used for
parameter identification of E and K 0 . Strain softening
parameter, β and �γ are determined from measured

Table 3. Calculated parameter value.

Selected

parameter E(Mpa) K 0 �γ β

Properties 170 1 0.01 43.3

range 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Distance from tunnel

center(m) S u b s i d e n c e ( m m ) Field measured data
FEM analysis ANN analysis

Figure 7. Comparison of FEM and predicted ones by ANN.

displacements at the completion of the upper half of tunnel.

Table 3 shows calculated parameter value from above process.

Figure 7 shows plots of the finite element method (FEM)

subsidence values versus the values predicted by the neural

network (NN), with field data. In Figure 7, this shows

little

difference between FEM, ANN result and field measurement.

From its result, the neural network model analyses agree

with FEM result and measured data. That is, ANN analysis

can provide prediction value of subsidence behavior during

tunneling. However, if we make sure of adequate

stress-strain

ABSTRACT: Picote’s re-powering scheme main elements are the

hydraulic circuit (headrace gallery with 300 m length and

a tailrace tunnel with 150 m of extension), an underground

powerhouse cavern with 150 m overburden and several access

galleries. The new powerhouse will be built only 80 m away

from the existing one, which is considered one of the
greatest

challenges in the project, since rock excavation will be

done by blasting. In order to obtain the rock mass
characterization,

several works were made such boreholes, permeability tests,

stress tensor tube tests, borehole dilatometric tests,
laboratory

tests and blast vibration tests. In the detailed study,

several numerical analysis were made in order to estimate
the displacements

and the stresses both in the rock mass surrounding the

underground main excavations and in the cast in place
concrete arch of

the powerhouse cavern.

1 INTRODUCTION

The exploitation of hydroelectric potentialities of the

interna
tional Douro river’s Portuguese stretch is made by three
power

plants in cascade (Miranda, Picote and Bemposta), built in

the

50 and 60 decades of the past century. This stream of Douro

valley is considerably narrow and deep, so, the reservoirs

have

small capacities (6 millions of cubic metres in Miranda,

13,3

in Picote and 21 in Bemposta), unable to regulate the

incoming

flows.

These run-of-river hydropower plants were originally

designed for levels of turbining flows that nowadays are con

sidered low. In the case of Picote, the total discharge in

the

three units installed is only 1,5 times higher than the

average

flow of the river, which originates important spillages in

the

wet periods, whenever the turbining capacity is exceeded by

the affluences. This situation became more evident after

1995,

with the conclusion of Miranda’s re-powering project.

Both pointed reasons, and also due to the two upstream

power plants – Castro and Miranda – are now equipped

with rated flows 1,8 and 2,2 higher than Picote, justify the

interest in re-powering it, in order to achieve a better

utiliza

tion of the available water resources by avoiding important

spillages which began to occur also during peak hours, when

concentrated high flows were used.

2 RE-POWERING SCHEME

The actual scheme consists mainly of a concrete arch dam and

an underground powerhouse with a hydraulic circuit (headrace

and tailrace tunnels) located on the river’s right bank.

Picote’s re-powering scheme will be developed in the

right bank of Douro river, next and surrounding the exist

ing hydropower plant. Main elements are the hydraulic

circuit Figure 1. Plan showing the layouts of existing
scheme (in blue) and re-powering scheme (in red). (headrace
gallery with 300 m length and a tailrace tunnel with 150 m
of extension), an underground powerhouse cavern and several
access galleries. Access and attack tunnels, connections
and ventilations, make a total of 1700 m linear excavations
and it will be also necessary to build a 180 m high cables
and ventilation shaft (Figure 1). The total volume of
excavations will be 450000 m 3 . The new powerhouse will be
installed in a 68 × 23 m and 58 m high cavern with 150 m
overburden and will be built only 80 m away from the
existing one. That proximity is considered one of the
greatest challenges in the project, since rock excavation
will be done by blasting. The transformer will be installed
next to the powerhouse in a 14,8 × 13 m and 13,5 m high
cavern.

Table 1. Joint sets characteristics.

Set F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

direction N78 ◦ W N24 ◦ W N32 ◦ W N14 ◦ E N16 ◦ W

dip 88 ◦ NE 78 ◦ NE 12 ◦ SW 89 ◦ SE 71 ◦ SW

persistence 3–10 m >10 m 3–10 m 3–10 m 3–10 m

weathering W2 W2 W3–W4 W2 W2

aperture closed closed closed to closed closed >10 mm

infilling non non non non non

JRC 11 11 11–14 3–7 3–7

JCS (MPa) 38 37 18 46 31

seepage dry to dry to dry dry dry humidity humidity

Even though the geotechnical conditions require no cast in

place concrete arch, such structure was adopted because this

powerhouse will require cranes of 600 ton of capacity to

move

the heavy generator machine.

3 GEOLOGY AND GEOTECHNICS

The studies developed to this project include the analysis

of geological and geotechnical information related with the

design and construction of the existing Picote hydropower

plant and also with the studies of several hypothetical re

powering schemes for the site.

Specifically for the actual re-powering scheme, mainly to

study rock mass cavern location, several boreholes were made

and an investigation programme of “in situ” and laboratory

tests was taken by Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil

(LNEC).

3.1 Local geology

Picote hydropower plant is located in a granitic region of

the

Miranda plateau. In the hydropower place the Douro river

flows in a valley with a canyon configuration with almost

vertical banks. The river is aligned with a WNW-ESSE fault.

Porphyritic granite is the principal local litology.The

princi

pal joint sets are: a) N70 ◦ –90 ◦ W, 80 ◦ –90 ◦ NNE, b) N5

◦ –30 ◦ W,

70 ◦ ENE-90 ◦ –70 ◦ WSW; c) and subhorizontal. In The main

characteristics of joint sets are represented in Table 1 and

Figure 2.

3.2 Rock mass characterization

Most of the existing power plant excavations were carried

out

in geological-geotechnical zones with good parameters deter

mined by mechanical tests of the granitic mass and

geological

survey.

Aerial photography was analysed in order to better under

stand geological structures. Geological survey was

difficulted

by pre-existing construction and deposits mask but also by

water reservoir. The observation of existing unlined

galleries

was very useful.

In order to obtain the main cavern rock mass characteriza

tion, boreholes with permeability tests and blast vibration

tests

were made. Boring of new boreholes specifically for the cav

ern design of new Picote hydro-electric powerhouse permitted

the “in situ” testing program.The “in situ” geomechanical

tests

were stress tensor tube tests and dilatometric tests, but

labo
ratory tests such as UCS, “ultra-sounds”, brazilian,
triaxial

and shear tests were also made. The results correspondent

to Figure 2. Isodensity diagram. Red line represents the
cavern axis. Table 2. Most relevant results of
investigation program. Ultra sound Alteration/ E r E d σ r
V l V t Fracturation (GPa) (GPa) (MPa) (m/s) (m/s) W1
(W2)/F1-2 37 10 77 4500 2600 E r – deformation modulus of
intact rock; E d – dilatometric modulus; σ r – uniaxial
compressive strength; V l – longitudinal wave velocity; V t
– transversal wave velocity. cavern rock mass are
summarised in Table 2. The permeability tests showed an
impervious rock mass. The results obtained with these
studies were analysed with the pre-existing information
obtained from old designs. The interpretation of STT test
was made by LNEC considering an isotropic and homogeneous
numerical model with an elastic linear behaviour. The
results are indicative of a natural state of stress with
horizontal stresses 1,75 times the gravitational ones
previous of the erosion and river insertion in Miranda
plateau. The velocities obtained from the blast vibration
tests are lower than those evaluated by Medvedev formula,
so LNEC suggested, for safety reasons, the use of that
expression to design blasting. 4 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS The
study of the powerhouse has been divided into different
stages: the first stage included empirical methods, the
second stage consisted of simplified stability analyses;
and the third stage comprised more detailed analyses, which
incorporated the geotechnical data obtained. Overall and
local stability analyses were performed using different
types of software (UNWEDGE, PHASES 2 and FLAC 3D ). To
study the powerhouse, a three-dimensional numerical model
was developed. The numerical model was based in the finite
difference method and was used to simulate the excavation
sequence and evaluate the displacements and the stresses in
the rock mass and in the support system. The model was also
useful to study the behaviour of the concrete arch
structure

Figure 3. Numerical model. Powerhouse perspective.

Figure 4. Powerhouse monitoring sections.

covering the cavern roof. Figure 3 shows a perspective of

the

interior of the cavern.

Local stability of underground excavations was also ana

lyzed. The proximity between the orientations of the joint

set F2 and powerhouse main walls was discussed but layout

reasons were considered more relevant. So it was adopted a

suitable systematic bolting of the in cavern walls.

4.1 Monitoring plan

A monitoring plan was established to measure the displace

ments in the rock mass and the stresses in the concrete arch

structure during and after the construction sequence. For

the

displacements measuring, 12 rod-extensometers, located in

two cross sections of the cavern (Figure 4) were planned.

Structural behaviour of the concrete arch ceiling will be

controlled with 28 embedded Carlson extensometers and 10

pressure cells located in critical points.

Observation of the underground works allows provid

ing safety control, acquisition of phenomena knowledge,

to improve construction sequence and also to calibrate the

numerical model. With the monitoring programme planned, a

crucial amount of data is expected to provide an adequate

char

acterization of rock mass and structural responses that

depend

on the construction sequence adopted and on the mechanical

properties of the materials (rock and concrete).

Prediction of displacements was used to establish the

monitoring plan (Figure 5).

4.2 Excavation sequence

In the numerical simulations the rock mass was considered

with elasto-plastic behaviour based on the Mohr-Coulomb

Figure 5. Displacement contours in cross section. Table 3.
Elastic and strength parameters adopted to simulate the
rock mass. Elastic parameters Strength parameters E c σ t
(GPa) ν φ (MPa) (kPa) Powerhouse 20.0 0.2 60 ◦ 1.7 200 zone
Damage 2.5 0.2 50 ◦ 0.75 10 contour due to blasting Table
4. Parameters adopted for elements simulating the cavern
support system. Rockbolts Steel bar Cement grout E (GPa)
φ(mm) R t (kN) c g (kPa) K g (N/m/m) 200 25 213 200 17 × 10
9 Shotcrete E (GPa) ν Thickness (cm) γ(kN/m 3 ) 15 0.2 10
criterion. Benching of cavern will be done by blasting,
therefore, in the vicinity of the excavated contours a
thickness of 3 m of rock with lower values of deformability
and strength was represented, to simulate this effect.
Table 3 summarizes the values adopted for the
characteristic parameters of rock mass. The support system,
composed by fiber-shotcrete lining and cement grouted
rockbolts was also simulated in the model. Rockbolts were
simulated through cable elements with two nodes each. These
elements are not supposed to support bending moments;
however, they allow simulating the interaction between the
cable and the rock mass, considering the grout properties.
The sprayed fiber-shotcrete was simulated by shell elements
with linear elastic and isotropic behaviour. The values
adopted to simulate those elements are presented in Table
4.

Table 5. Excavation sequence simulated.

Model excavation Description

Stage 1 –Excavation of two side drifts at the arch level of

the powerhouse extending through all the cavern length and
three transversal connections between them; –Installation
of six triple rod-extensometers in the vault, in two
transversal sections, to measure rock mass displacements.

Stage 2 –Finishing of arch excavation; –Installation of the

primary support in the roof – 10 cm thick fiber shotcrete
lining) and a 2 × 1 m grid of cement grouted rockbolts (6 m
length and 25 mm diameter).

Stage 3 –Benching of the powerhouse upper part;

–Installation of support in the excavated surfaces – 10 cm
thick fiber shotcrete lining and a 2 × 1 m grid of cement
grouted rockbolts (9 m length and 25 mm diameter).
Stage 4 –Benching of the powerhouse main access tunnel.

Stage 5 –Powerhouse concrete arch structure constructed by

cast-in-place; –Benching of the lower part of the cavern;
–Installation of support in the cavern walls – 10 cm thick
fiber shotcrete lining and a 2 × 1 m grid of cement grouted
rockbolts (6 or 9 m length and 25 mm diameter);
–Installation of horizontal triple rod-extensometers in
both instrumented sections of the cavern.

RÉSUMÉ: Que ce soit à un stade d’études préliminaires, en

phase de conception, ou lors de la réalisation d’un ouvrage

souterrain, les ingénieurs ont besoin d’indicateurs de

références pour conforter et quantifier leur perception des
risques et du

comportement des ouvrages à construire. Dans le domaine de

la mécanique des roches appliquée en particulier aux
travaux

souterrains, le jugement de l’ingénieur s’appuie souvent

sur des indicateurs caractérisant et quantifiant le massif
rocheux et

le comportement des futurs ouvrages. Une démarche d’analyse

basée sur l’estimation du nombre de stabilité, défini comme

le rapport entre la contrainte orthoradiale en paroi et la

résistance en compression simple de la masse rocheuse, est
présentée.

Elle permet d’estimer l’amplitude probable des convergences

du tunnel. De cette valeur, il est possible de définir un
coefficient

de sécurité, ainsi que le type de soutènement à mettre en

œuvre pour garantir ce niveau de sécurité. Cette approche
simplifiée

s’appuie sur la réalisation d’un grand nombre de

modélisations numériques utilisant un modèle rhéologique
élastoplastique

adapté à la simulation des roches dans le domaine de

comportement post-rupture.

ABSTRACT: In the preliminary stages of the study, during

the design process, or at the time of the construction
project,

engineers need some useful and simple approaches allowing

to justify and confirm their perception of the ground
behavior

around the tunnel. In this aim, a new pre-dimensionning

approach is suggested in this paper. It is assumed that the
ground

behavior is characterized by an indicator which is the

ratio between the maximal orthoradial compressive stress
and the

unconfined compressive strength of the rock mass. Depending

on the value of this ratio called “Stability Number”, it is
possible

to estimate the wall displacement corresponding to a

critical threshold for the tunnel stability. From the
knowledge of this

critical value of the wall displacement, a safety factor

could be estimated as well as the probable support loading
applied by the

ground against the support system. This simplified approach

has been established from several numerical simulations
using an

elastoplastic constitutive model allowing to simulate the

rock behavior in the post-failure domain.

1 INTRODUCTION

Pour les ouvrages souterrains creusés à de relativement

grandes profondeurs, que ce soit à un stade d’études prélimi

naires, en phase de conception, ou lors de la réalisation,

la pré

diction et la compréhension du comportement mécanique du

massif est fondamentale. Cette connaissance permet de

limiter

les risques technologiques et surtout les risques

financiers.
Une analyse générale des comportements des tunnels pro

fonds excavés dans des massifs assimilés à des milieux

continus permet d’identifier 2 mécanismes de ruine :

• Un mode de rupture par «écaillage», associé à la formation

d’écailles en parois des d’ouvrages.

• Un mode de rupture par «cisaillement», se traduisant

par l’apparition de déplacements parfois importants, et

défini sous la terminologie de «roches poussantes» ou

«squeezing».

Les risques induits par le développement de ces différents

mécanismes de ruine ne sont pas les mêmes. Afin d’établir

une conception pertinente des ouvrages, d’adapter les tech

nologies de réalisation, et donc de réduire les

incertitudes sur

l’investissement, il est important que les ingénieurs

puissent

identifier à un stade préliminaire le risque d’apparition

et la

nature des pathologies potentielles.

Une nouvelle démarche d’analyse est proposée qui se base

sur l’utilisation d’un modèle de comportement permettant en

particulier l’identification des mécanismes potentiels
d’effondrement d’un ouvrage. 2 MECANISMES DE RUINE DES
TUNNELS PROFONDS 2.1 Le phénomène d’écaillage Dans les
roches très résistantes, initialement peu fissurées,
soumises à des niveaux de contrainte relativement élevés,
un développement excessif et incontrôlé de la fissuration
peut conduire à une libération brutale d’énergie. Ce
phénomène peut se traduire par le décollement et
l’éclatement de plaques en paroi. Ce type de pathologie a
été observé lors du creusement du tunnel sous le Mont-Blanc
(Panet 1969), de manière plus limitée lors du creusement du
tunnel du Lötschberg, ou de façon anticipée lors de
l’expérimentation «mine-by-test» réalisée dans le
laboratoire souterrain canadien pour l’étude du stockage
des déchets radioactifs (Read 2004). 2.2 Le phénomène de
«squeezing» Ce mécanisme est associé à l’apparition de
mouvements importants des parois du tunnel, générant
éventuellement dans les revêtements des pressions élevées.
Contrairement au phénomène d’écaillage qui est associé à
une notion d’instabilité de forme et de libération brutale
d’énergie, le

mécanisme de «squeezing» est induit par le développement

progressif d’une dégradation mécanique du massif rocheux.

Les déplacements observables résultent de déformations de

cisaillement mobilisant un volume important du massif, ce

qui justifie les grandes difficultés rencontrées pour

stabiliser

et arrêter ces convergences.

Historiquement, ce type de pathologie est connu depuis

longtemps et fait l’objet de descriptions précises depuis la

construction des premiers grands tunnels ferroviaires alpins

percés à la fin du XIXeme siècle et au début du XXeme siècle

(Gotthard, Simplon, Cristina…).

3 HYPOTHESES DE BASE POUR UN MODELE

RHEOLOGIQUE ADAPTE

Ces deux mécanismes fondamentaux de comportement d’un

ouvrage souterrain profond sont associés au développement de

«structures» induites. Ceci sous-entend que le comportement

de l’ouvrage, à partir du moment ou un de ces mécanismes

s’est enclenché, ne relève plus de la mécanique des milieux

continus, mais est régi par un mode de bifurcation. Deux

modes peuvent être identifiés :

• Un mode de bifurcation diffuse.

• Un mode de bifurcation «localisée».

Sur des échantillons de laboratoire, le premier mode cor

respond au développement d’une fissuration orientée selon la

contrainte principale majeure débouchant sur un éclatement

brutal de la matrice rocheuse.

Le deuxième mode correspond au développement de ban

des d’épaisseurs limitées, au sein desquelles se concentrent

les déformations de cisaillement.

Ces modes de bifurcation régissent le comportement post

rupture de la roche sous une sollicitation de compression

excessive, que ce soit durant un essai de laboratoire ou

lors du

creusement d’un ouvrage souterrain. L’assimilation peut

ainsi

être faite entre la bifurcation «diffuse» et le mécanisme de

ruine par «écaillage», ainsi qu’entre la bifurcation

«localisée»

et le phénomènes de «squeezing».

L’enclenchement d’un mode de bifurcation par rapport à

l’autre dépend de nombreux facteurs (contraintes, conditions

aux limites, la géométrie, la vitesse de sollicitation, la

tempéra

ture,…). Dans le cas présent, seul l’effet de l’état de

contrainte

est explicitement pris en considération.

Le modèle de comportement développé, intégrant les

notions décrites précédemment, est un modèle élastoplastique

(Laigle 2004). Sa spécificité est de chercher à reproduire

le

comportement post-rupture d’un volume élémentaire de roche

et son évolution depuis un mode de bifurcation «diffuse»

vers

un mode de bifurcation «localisée». Il faut noter que la

volonté

de décrire le comportement post-pic par un modèle élastoplas

tique est confrontée sur le plan théorique à la définition

même

de la notion de bifurcation régissant ce comportement post

rupture. Dans la version initiale, les principales

hypothèses

sont les suivantes :

• Comportement élastique.

• Critère de résistance de pic décrit par un critère de

Hoek & Brown généralisé (Hoek et al 1995).

• Le comportement post-rupture est radoucissant, et est

composé de 2 domaines. On distingue :

– Un domaine dit de «clivage», au sein duquel la cinétique

de radouc issement est rapide. La perte de résistance est
liée à une diminution progressive de la cohésion 0 200 400
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 0 50 100 150 200 250
300 Contrainte mineure (MPa) C o n t r a i n t e m a j e u
r e ( M P a ) A B C O A B C O 0-A-B-C Chemin triaxial
Critère de résistance de pic Limite de clivage Critère de
résistance résiduelle Domaine de «cisaillement» Domaine de
«clivage» Figure 1. Visualisation des critères dans le plan
des contraintes principales majeures et mineures de
compression. sous l’effet du développement diffus de la
fissuration. Cette phase permettra de décrire le phénomène
de rupture brutale qu’est «l’écaillage». – Un domaine dit
de «cisaillement», au sein duquel la cinétique de
radoucissement est plus progressive. La perte de résistance
est associée à un mécanisme de glissement le long d’une
fracture induite, inclinée par rapport à la contrainte
principale majeure de compression. Cette phase de
radoucissement permettra de décrire le phénomène de
«squeezing». • La limite entre ces deux domaines de
radoucissement est définie par une surface spécifique,
appelée «limite de clivage». Physiquement, cette limite
correspond à la perte totale de cohésion à l’échelle
macroscopique du volume élémentaire. Une justification
détaillée de cette surface est fournie par Laigle (Laigle
2004). • Le comportement ultime aux grandes déformations
est purement frottant. • L’ensemble de la phase de
comportement post-rupture est associé à des déformations
volumiques de dilatance. 4 MODELISATION DES MODES DE RUINE
En fonction des caractéristiques mécaniques retenues pour
le massif et de l’amplitude des contraintes initiales, le
modèle de comportement est capable d’identifier le mode de
ruine susceptible de se développer. La figure 2 illustre le
développement d’un mécanisme de «squeezing» autour d’une
cavité, associé à la propagation dans le massif de bandes
de cisaillement. Dans le cas d’une roche plus résistante,
susceptible de se dégrader selon un mécanisme d’écaillage,
les isovaleurs de déformations de cisaillement,
d’amplitudes plus faibles, restent localisées à proximité
de la paroi de l’ouvrage. 5 APPROCHE SIMPLIFIEE 5.1
Définition d’un «coefficient de sécurité» Evaluer les
conditions de stabilité d’un ouvrage nécessite de se
référer à un état limite, représentatif d’une instabilité
potentielle. L’écart par rapport à ce critère est alors
quantifié par un coefficient de sécurité. En fonction de
l’amplitude de ce coefficient, l’ouvrage pourra être
considéré comme répondant ou non à la fonction demandée. Le
critère retenu correspond à une valeur jugée critique de la
convergence de l’ouvrage, notée ε ultime . Cette valeur
limite n’est pas a priori déterminée

Figure 2. Modélisation d’un mécanisme de «squeezing» autour

d’un tunnel.

et dépend du mode de comportement du massif, identifié par

le

modèle de calcul. Cette valeur limite est calculée en

interpré

tant l’ensemble de la courbe «Confinement-Convergence», en

l’absence de tout soutènement ou revêtement. (Laigle 2004).

Suite à la réalisation de nombreuses modélisations, pour

différentes natures de roches et pour différents états de

con

traintes, sur une géométrie similaire à celle de la figure

2, la

relation (1) est proposée. σ 0 est la contrainte moyenne

initiale

dans le massif, et σ c−m , la résistance en compression

simple

du massif.

N est le nombre appelé «Nombre de stabilité» :

Connaissant ce seuil de référence, la marge de sécurité d’un

ouvrage non-revêtu à partir du rapport suivant:

Ce coefficient de sécurité quantifie la capacité du massif

à assurer la stabilité de l’ouvrage sans structure de

soutène

ment. Si le tunnel est soutenu, une valeur F = 1 ne

signifie pas

que l’ouvrage va s’effondrer, mais que sa stabilité

d’ensemble

repose totalement sur la structure de soutènement.

5.2 Prédiction du mode de ruine

La figure 3 donne la convergence en fonction du nombre

de stabilité N, pour le coefficient de sécurité recherché.

Elle montre que pour des nombres de stabilité relativement

forts, la diminution du coefficient de sécurité s’accompagne

de convergences élevées. Ceci est caractéristique d’un com

portement global de l’ouvrage régit par un mécanisme de

cisaillement, de type «squeezing».

A contrario, pour des nombres de stabilité faibles, mais

supérieurs à 1, la chute du coefficient de sécurité n’est

pas

associée à une évolution significative des convergences de

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 3,0 N
2σ 0 C o n v e r g e n c e ( % ) FS=1.0 FS=2.0 FS=3.0
FS=4.0 FS=5.0 1.0 2.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 Mode de
rupture fragile (Ecaillage) Mode de rupture par
cisaillement (Roches poussantes) σ cm S t a b l e E L U n
o n a t t e i n t Figure 3. Estimation de la convergence en
fonction du nombre de stabilité, pour un coefficient de
sécurité donné. l’ouvrage. On est alors dans une
configuration de rupture par «écaillage». 5.3 Estimation de
la marge de sécurité Ces résultats peuvent permettrent
d’interpréter les mesures de convergence effectuées en
cours de chantier. A titre de justification, cette approche
a été appliquée sur le cas du tunnel de Tartaiguille
(Charmetton 2001). Dans certains faciès marneux, les
convergences mesurées lors du creusement ont nécessité
l’adaptation du soutènement. La figure 4 montre les courbes
de convergence mesurées sur 2 sections, avant et après
confortement, ainsi que les évolutions estimées du
coefficient de sécurité. 5.4 Estimation de la pression de
confinement De l’exploitation de l’ensemble des
modélisations réalisées, il est possible d’établir des
corrélations permettant d’estimer la pression de
confinement «conf», définie comme un pourcentage de l’état
de contrainte initiale σ 0 , qui doit être appliquée par le
soutènement pour garantir le coefficient de sécurité
recherché : 5.5 Exemple d’application Considérons le cas
d’un tunnel traversant successivement un massif granitique
et un massif de roche sédimentaire. La figure 5 montre
l’évolution de N le long du linéaire. Deux zones sont
identifiées comme sensibles, vis à vis du risque
d’écaillage ou de «squeezing». La figure 6 fournit une
estimation de la convergence limite du massif. La figure 7

0 0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1
1,2 0 50 100 150 200 250 Temps (jours)

C o

n v

e r

g e

n c

d e

l a

o r

d e

( %

) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 50 100 150 200 250 Temps (jours)

C o

e f

f i c

i e

n t

s é

c u
r i t

S F Section non-renforcée r Section renforcée Section

non-renforcée Section renforcée

Figure 4. Evolution du coefficient de sécurité en 2

sections du

tunnel de Tartaiguille. 0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5
3 Couverture au-dessus du tunnel (m) N

C o

u v

e r

t u

r e

d e

s s

u s

d
u

t u

n n

e l

( m

) Sédimentaire (σ c-m =10 MPa) Distance (m) N= 2.σ 0 Risque

d’Ecaillage Risque de «Squeezing» Granite (σ c-m =40 MPa)
σ c-m

Figure 5. Evolution du nombre de stabilité le long du

linéaire du

tunnel.

permet d’estimer la pression de confinement, et donc le type

de soutènement à mettre en œuvre, pour assurer un

coefficient

de sécurité de 2. Par exemple :

• Soutènement 1 : Boulons à ancrage ponctuel.

• Soutènement 2 : Cintres lourds.

6 CONCLUSIONS ET PERSPECTIVES

L’approche proposée fournit une estimation des convergences

ABSTRACT: Compared to other structures, the distinctive

feature of a tunnel is the direct interaction with the rock
mass, which

may induce delayed convergences, increase in pressure

and/or reduction in strength with time.As Swiss National
Roads began to

develop in the 1960s, today, a significant number of

tunnels has already more than 40 years of operation and
needs maintenance

to assure everyday safety and serviceability. The Rock

Mechanics Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology
in Lausanne has created a specific data base for Swiss road
tunnels with information about their construction,
environment

and operation, and maintenance. The information is moreover

linked to a Geographical Information System (G.I.S.). After

presentation of the tunnel pathologies, the paper focuses

on analyses performed for identifying tunnels potential
pathologies

from geotechnical G.I.S. data. The results of this

preliminary detection are found in rather good agreement
with the disorders

collected in the Tunnel Data Base from the principal

inspections.

1 INTRODUCTION: TUNNEL DETERIORATION

Compared to other structures, the distinctive feature of a

tun

nel is the direct interaction with the rock mass. The

analysis

of time-related changes in both the rock mass and the lining

characteristics is thus an important issue to assess the

delayed

convergences, the increase in pressure and/or the reduction

in

strength observed in tunnelling structures. Disorders

appear in

the excavation contour with sometimes consequences in terms

of safety, serviceability and stability conditions.

By definition, deterioration is a performance decrease.

According to AFTES (1981), ageing, weathering and struc

tural damages due to external and internal causes may affect

the tunnel performance on the long term. Three different

types/levels of problems are generally distinguished:

• Lining deterioration (visible surface level),

• Rock mass degradation (surrounding structure level),

• General structural instability (global behaviour).

Lining disorders, identified during tunnel inspections, can

be a consequence of environmental factors (e.g. moisture,

tem

perature) and operation conditions (e.g. traffic, de-icing

salts),

as well as a symptom of rock mass degradation.

Rock mass delayed behaviour and degradation is influenced

by physical-mechanical action of loads, unstable substances

and chemical influences. The degradation phenomena of the

ground surrounding tunnels depend both on internal proper

ties of the rock mass (e.g. porosity, lithology,

fissuration/crack

pattern) and on external actions (e.g. groundwater action,

envi

ronmental and operation conditions). In some cases, in the

long term, tunnel stability conditions can reduce up to

lining

failure and tunnel collapse.

Tunnel deterioration depends on several factors: geologi

cal and hydrogeological conditions, construction method and

quality of building materials, operation and maintenance con

ditions. Moreover, deterioration rate depends not only on

“active causes” but also on which part of the tunnel is

affected
and on building material characteristics. For example, when

there’s no waterproofing system, the interface between

lining and rock mass results more exposed to the
groundwater action, while the tunnel lining intrados is
more affected by internal humidity and operational
conditions. In order to optimise maintenance activities, it
is necessary to improve tunnel condition evaluation during
operation. Now, as only the intrados of the lining is
directly accessible by means of ordinary inspections, it is
quite difficult to investigate the deterioration effects at
the interface between the lining and the rock mass.
Evaluate tunnels actual conditions and predict their long
term behaviour is one of the most difficult tasks for
tunnel owners and/or inspectors. In order to cope with this
task, several authors (CETu 1998, 2004, LaMonica, 2001,
Federal Highway Administration USA, 2003a, b, Highways
Agency UK, 2003, Richards, 1998) recommend collecting all
information about the tunnel, starting from its
construction and during operation, by means of a specific
data base. Collected data, then, can be analysed (e.g. by
means of statistical and G.I.S. tools) in order to find
relationships between factors and identify causes that
contribute to tunnel deterioration. 2 SWISS ROAD TUNNELS
DATA BASE The Swiss National Roads network began to develop
in the sixties. Due to the Swiss mountainous topography, it
counts a fairly large number of tunnels (i.e. 213) with a
tunnel incidence on the total length of the network of
about 9.4%. Today, after more than 40 years of operation,
some tunnels begin to show ageing and weathering symptoms
and need maintenance to assure everyday safety and
serviceability. In the framework of a PhD thesis, financed
by the Swiss Federal RoadsAuthority (OFROU), the Rock
Mechanics Laboratory (LMR) of the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) has created a specific
data base for Swiss road tunnels. The main objectives are:
• Identify long term pathologies typical of road tunnels, •
Point out which factors are involved in tunnel degradation,

Table 1. Swiss tunnel data base structure (Sandrone et al.,

2007).

Section Data

General Tunnel name

Information Town, Canton Road Local Operator Commissioning

(operation) year Coordinates X,Y (centre point) Lane Nr.

Construction Construction Year

Information Geometrical Data (depth, length,section size,
interaxis) Excavation method First support (type, length
along the tunnel) Definitive lining (type, thickness and
length) Waterproofing and drainage Accidents during
construction Geological profile and description Geological
difficulties during excavation

Environment Accidents during operation

and Operation Traffic

Information Temperature Humidity Chemical composition of

tunnel atmosphere Chemical composition of groundwater
Groundwater level and circulation type Technical equipment
(ventilation)

Maintenance Inspection (date and frequency)

Information Monitoring Routine maintenance Pathologies

(date of observation, possible cause, area and eventual
repair) Renewal /Refurbishment (intervention date and type,
area, cause)

• Create a useful management tool by means of which, with

regular updates, it is possible to evaluate the actual con

ditions of each tunnel and decide about maintenance and

rehabilitation interventions.

In order to fill the data base a technical sheet has been

sent to

each cantonal operator responsible for the National Roads

tun

nels management. However, the majority of information has

been collected directly by LMR people. At present, the Swiss

Tunnel Data Base stores detailed information about more than

150 tunnels.

2.1 Structure of the Swiss tunnel data base

Table 1 summarises the structure of the Swiss Tunnel Data

Base (Sandrone et al., 2007). Apart from general data, it

stores three different information categories (i.e.

construction,

environment and operation, maintenance) and both qualitative

and quantitative data. Thus, in order to analyse the

collected

information, it has been necessary to maximise data compati

bility by choosing modalities for qualitative information.

This

operation has been done based on a detailed bibliographical

research and improved by inspector’s advices (i.e. people

from

CETu, France and Bureau Perss, Switzerland).

2.2 G.I.S. tools

By means of an appropriate software (i.e. Manifold Sys

tem 6.50 by Manifold Net LTD), using the coordinates X,

Table 2. Disorders identified in Swiss Road Tunnels during
principal inspections. Type Disorder 1 Water leakage 2
Efflorescence 3 Weathered surfaces, staining, scaling 4
Concrete spalling, delaminated concrete 5 Rock
pocket/Honeycomb 6 Corrosion of steel bars (reinforced
concrete) 7 Cracks 8 Local deformation (crown, walls) 9
Calcareous concretion 10 Frost damages/Ice formation 11
Concrete lining crumbling, blocks fall 12 Track scaling 13
Invert heave up 14 Impact damages 15 Obstruction of the
drainage system by sand, clay infiltration or calcareous
concretion Y of the centre point of each tunnel (or one of
the tunnel portals), the information collected in the Swiss
Tunnel Data Base is associated with a spatial definition
and represented on a geographic model (e.g. a map).
Information can, for instance, be superposed to G.I.S. data
such as digital elevation model (DTM), geotechnical and
hydrogeological maps, to make some general statements about
pathologies development and identify typical pathology
scenarios. Anyway, it is important to point out that the
reliability of this method, which represents shallow
information, is mainly based on the fact that the majority
of Swiss National Roads Tunnels is less than 80–100 m
depth. 3 IDENTIFIED TUNNELS PATHOLOGIES The data collection
and, in particular, the information about disorders
identified during tunnel inspections, allow making a
general description of Swiss road tunnels conditions. As
the National Roads network developed a lot during and after
the 1960s, all tunnels are characterised by a concrete or,
in some cases, a reinforced concrete lining. Consequently,
among the identified disorders types (Tab. 2) many are
typical of concrete structures. Figure 1 is drawn from data
collected during the last principal inspection (once every
five years) of 152 tunnels of the network. It represents,
for each disorder type, detailed in Table 2, the percentage
of affected tunnels. From Figure 1, it comes out that the
most common type of disorder in tunnels are cracks. As a
matter of fact, several causes can contribute to tunnel
lining fissuration. Thus, for describing cracks and
fissures it is important to take into consideration also
where they appear and if they are wet or dry. Another
important problem seems to be corrosion of reinforced
concrete. This kind of pathology affects mainly tunnel
portals, gutter and, sometimes, walls (only up to 1.5 m
height) and it is due to humidity combined with the use of
de-icing salts in winter time. Furthermore, as it happens
in other countries (CETu 1998, 2004, Richards, 1998), water
leakage and other disorders caused by hydrogeological
conditions (i.e. water circulation and groundwater
mineralogical composition) are quite common in Swiss
tunnels, too. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 0 5 10 15
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Disorder type

f a

f f e

c t

e d

t u

n n

e l

Figure 1. Percentage of tunnels affected by each disorder

type as

identified during their last principal inspection.

Disorders description

is detailed in Table 2.

4 GEOTECHNICAL CONDITIONS INFLUENCE

As previously-explained, tunnel deterioration depends, among

others, on geological and hydrogeological conditions.

Starting

from the Swiss 1:200’000 geotechnical vector map, analyses

were performed to get a first rough identification of tun

nels that could develop typical pathologies related to some

ground conditions. For this purpose, the geotechnical

classes

of the vector map (source: Carte géotechnique simplifiée de

la

Suisse – OFEG) were merged in four principal classes, apart

from the quaternary deposits:

• Marl and clayey media,

• Schists and phyllites,

• Carbonate rocks and evaporites,

• Crystalline silicate rock masses.

Among the disorders identified during tunnel principal

inspections (Fig. 1), fissures and invert heave up, for

example,

can be caused by excessive displacements due to the delayed

behaviour (e.g. swelling behaviour, creep) of the

surrounding

rock mass. Figure 2 delineates the two geotechnical classes

where the delayed behaviour can be a source of problems for

tunnels on the long term.

Efflorescence, calcareous concretions and drainage sys

tem obstructions depend on groundwater conditions and are

directly connected with rock masses weathering potential.

Compared to other geological formations, sedimentary rocks

are particularly sensible to water action (both physical and

chemical actions), oxidation and weathering. Figure 3 shows

zones where tunnels may be affected by disorders due to a

high

weathering potential of calcareous formations and

evaporites.

Analyses such as above-presented ones allow a preliminary

identification of tunnels that could develop some

pathologies.

In Figure 2, there are 38 tunnels (i.e. 25% of all the

tunnels

in the data base) that may show in the long term disorders

due to a delayed behaviour (consolidation, creep, swelling)

of

the rock mass. While, in Figure 3, 42 tunnels (i.e. about

28%

of the population) are crossing zones with a high weathering

potential.

Among the disorders collected in the data base, some

(e.g. invert heave, deformations, cracks, efflorescence and

Figure 2. National Roads tunnels (i.e. black points)
potentially affected by disorders related to the delayed
behaviour of the rock mass. The formations are taken from
the Swiss 1:200’000 geotechnical map. Figure 3. National
Roads tunnels (i.e. black points) that could be affected by
disorders due to the rock mass weathering potential. The
formations are taken from the Swiss 1:200’000 geotechnical
map. calcareous concretions) can be considered as typical
symptoms of rock mass long term pathologies. Thus,
collected data have been analysed in order to check whether
the potential pathologies identified by means of the G.I.S.
tool are in accordance with observed disorders, and to
clarify if and how rock mass geotechnical characteristics
contribute to tunnel pathologies development. It comes out
from the principal inspections records that about 30% of
the tunnels identified by means of the G.I.S. analyses, do
indeed show symptoms related to rock mass deterioration.
For another 40%, the disorders could be related to rock
mass deterioration but should need further investigation,
while for the last 30% of tunnels the information got from
the last principal inspection is too general to make any
kind of particular statement.

Further improvements by using the hydrogeological layer

(source: Esquisse hydrogéologique de la Suisse – OFEV) are

in progress. By knowing the mineralogical composition and

the position of aquifers, it is expected to identify

tunnels poten

tially affected by disorders caused by aggressive

groundwater

as, for example, corrosion by sulphates, efflorescence and

calcium leaching.

5 CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

As all other structures, tunnels are affected by

deterioration.

The disorder typology is influenced by tunnel age, construc

tion method, quality of building materials, geological and

hydrogeological features, operation and maintenance condi

tions. Thus, tunnel deterioration is due to a combination of

several factors that is possible to analyse by means of a

well
structured and updated data collection.

The Swiss RoadTunnel Data Base developed at LMR-EPFL

aims at term to become a management tool. It collects infor

mation related to the whole tunnel life. Moreover, by means

of

G.I.S. tools, the data can be represented on a geographic

model

(e.g. a map). Another advantage of using G.I.S. tools, under

some conditions and when there’s lack of data, is the

possibility

to supply information by superposition of appropriate layers

(e.g. digital terrain model, geotechnical and

hydrogeological

maps).

Tunnel global conditions evaluation in terms of safety, ser

viceability and durability, requires a detailed analysis of

both

the lining structure and the surrounding rock mass.As a

matter

of fact, the ground is part of the whole structure and

interacts

with the lining starting from construction and during oper

ation. Thus, tunnel pathologies observed during inspections

can be the direct consequence of rock mass behaviour.

Starting from the Swiss 1:200’000 geotechnical vector map,

analyses were performed to get a first rough identification

of

tunnels that could develop typical pathologies related to

some

ground conditions. They allow, for instance, to point out

tun

nels that may show in the long term disorders due to a

delayed

behaviour (consolidation, creep, swelling) or a weathering

potential (chemical action) of the rock mass. These tunnels

identified by means of the G.I.S. tool were checked against

the disorders collected in theTunnel Data Base from the

princi

pal inspections. The agreement is found promising and allows

considering G.I.S. as a tool for a preliminary detection of

ABSTRACT: Exxaro Resources Limited’s Matla Colliery

situated in Mpumalanga, South Africa operates two shortwall
faces

on the N ◦ 4 and N ◦ 2 Seams. In the past, severe strata

loading events have lead to serious facebreaks resulting in
safety threats

as well as considerable production losses. In 2002 the N ◦

4 Seam shortwall suffered a facebreak restricted mainly to
the tailgate

side of the mining panel due to a thick, near surface

dolerite sill not breaking properly. The resultant
overloading led to severe

pillar damage and subsequent bord collapse. Surface

pre-split blasting was successfully used to relieve the
stress as well as to

pre-condition the dolerite above the following two panels.

The shortwall on the N ◦ 2 Seam has experienced mid-face
loading

due to N ◦ 4 Seam chain pillars lying over this area and

creating a secondary cantilever effect. Pre-split blasting
of the solid

rock above the N ◦ 4 Seam pillars has resulted in a

significant reduction in the number of facebreaks. During
first goaf events
on both seams, air blasts as well as rapid face convergence
have been experienced when the goaf hangs up in a two stage
first

goaf. The last 3 panels on N ◦ 4 Seam have had pre-split

blast carried out in the first goaf area. While the
distance to first goaf

has remained roughly the same, the goaf behaviour has been
modified in that it is much less violent and venting of air
through

the pre-split holes is thought to greatly reduce the air

blast effect. The first goaf area of the current N ◦ 2 Seam
panel has been

pre-split and mined while the following panel has also been
pre-split.

1 INTRODUCTION

Matla Coal (Matla) currently mines the N ◦ 4 and N ◦ 2 Seam

by shortwall methods and in the past the N ◦ 5 Seam was also

mined by longwall. The average mined thickness and depth of

the three economically viable seams in the shortwall blocks

at

Matla is as follows: N ◦ 5 seams N ◦ 4 seam N ◦ 2 seam

Cover depth (m) 70 95 110

Seam thickness (m) 1.7 4.0 5.0

The mine supplies coal to the adjacent Matla Power Station,

operated by the electricity utility Eskom. Of the three

shafts

currently in production, one (N ◦ 1 Mine) has three bord and

pillar sections on the N ◦ 4 seam, the second (N ◦ 2 Mine)

has

a shortwall and 2 gateroad developments on the N ◦ 2 Seam

while the third (N ◦ 3 Mine) produces coal from a shortwall,

two gateroad developments and a bord and pillar section on

the N ◦ 4 seam. Operations on the N o. 5 Seam were suspended

in 1998.

In 2002 the N ◦ 4 Seam shortwall suffered a facebreak

restricted mainly to the tailgate side of the mining panel

due

to a thick, near surface dolerite sill not breaking

properly.

The resultant overloading led to severe pillar damage and

sub

sequent bord collapse. The shortwall on the N ◦ 2 Seam has

experienced mid-face loading due to the N ◦ 4 Seam chain pil

lars lying over this area and creating a secondary

cantilever

effect. During first goaf events on both seams, air blasts

as

well as rapid face convergence have been experienced when

the goaf hangs up in a two stage first goaf.

Pre-split blasting as practiced on South African opencast

coal mines was considered to be a viable option to modify

the

behaviour of the overlying strata. While the technique

should probably better be referred to in this case as
pre-condition blasting, the term pre-splitting has gained
wide acceptance on the mine and thus will also be used
here. 2 N ◦ 3 MINE SHORTWALL Early in the morning of
Saturday 13th April 2002, the roof collapsed to a height of
about 2 m ahead of the face in the tailgate of shortwall
panel 8 (Latilla et al., 2005). The collapse at that stage
consisted entirely of the low quality upper portion of the
N ◦ 4 Seam which is 1.5 to 2 m of thickly interlaminated
dull coal and shale. While it was initially thought that
the fall extended about 10 m ahead of the shields in the
tailgate side this was subsequently found to be out by one
split. This meant that the first roof collapse actually
extended for ± 45 m. The situation was worsened by a
problem with the overland conveyor; this resulted in the
face standing for 15hrs on the Saturday. The extreme
difficulty experienced in obtaining roof support units from
suppliers during the weekend made it impossible to
adequately and timeously support the tailgate ahead of the
face-break. These two problems resulted in what may have
only been a relatively minor roof fall in tailgate becoming
a full blown face-break which took seven weeks to mine
through. Figure 1 shows the lithology of the borehole
closest to the facebreak area. The three most significant
units in the overlying strata are as follows: • The
dolerite sill close to surface which has been seen to break
in large blocks within the N ◦ 5 Seam goaf. In places the
sill has been observed to overhang by as much as 40 m
measured from the goaf edge underground or about 15 m more
than would be expected if the dolerite was absent (15 ◦
goaf angle assumed). Another effect of the dolerite is that
3. 23 60 20 L 8m Soil – not cored .4m Dolerite 4.6m
Laminated, coarse grained sandstone 7m Interlaminated
sandstone and shale 1.8m Coal, 5 Seam 4.5m Interlaminated
sandstone and shale 4.7m Coarse grained shaly sandstone
2.7m Dull coal and shale, thickly laminated 11.4m Laminated
sandy shale and shaly sandstone 4 m Coal, 4 Seam Mineable
horizon 0.8m Shaly sandstone 45.1m Interlaminated sandstone
and shale 80 100 40

Depth (m) ithology

Figure 1. Lithology of face break area.

the surface subsidence trough is often flattened, making it

difficult to identify the goaf edge in the field.

• The N ◦ 5 Seam – which was longwalled to the west of the

N ◦

4 Seam panel number 8. This longwalling broke the dolerite

sill in the past. N ◦ 4 Seam panel 8 was the first to

shortwall

under un-mined N ◦ 5 Seam and an intact sill.

• Coarse grained shaly sandstone about 4.7 m thick which

lies

about 14 m into the roof of the N ◦ 4 seam.This represents

the
first substantial strong beam in the roof and was probably

the vertical limit of the facebreak broken roof zone.

The presence of a dolerite sill on surface was the main

cause

of the face break problem (Lear and Schumann, 1989). This

particular mining block at Matla was initially planned such

that the number N ◦ 5 Seam longwall would be wide enough

to break the sill, thereby leaving only the inter-seam

parting

to be broken by the N ◦ 4 Seam shortwall. Stopping of the N

◦

5 Seam longwall resulted in the N ◦ 4 Seam shortwall having

to mine under the intact dolerite sill.

Problems with higher than usual pillar stress were encoun

tered when tailgate 8 was the maingate for the previous

panel

(panel 7). Due to these problems, it was decided to ensure,

as far as practical, that the shortwall would cut

continuously

once under the dolerite. In addition, a study was started to

determine the optimum pillar side support for the following

maingate as this would need to serve as maingate for panels

9

and 10. Field observations soon after the facebreak revealed

that the dolerite was breaking ±40 m in from the maingate

pillar edges but that there was no sign of it breaking

along the

tailgate side.
The extreme loading on the tailgate pillars indicated that
the

sill, having detached itself on the maingate side, was

overload

ing the tailgate pillars. It appeared that the sill was

hanging up

for up to 300 m behind the face on the tailgate side. Under

ground on the tailgate side it appeared that the goaf of

panel

8 was trying to join up with that of panel 7 across the two

tailgate chain pillars.

Two different formulae were used to analyse the critical

panel span required to break the dolerite sill (Galvin, as

quoted

in Lear & Schumann, 1989, and van der Merwe & Madden,

2002). As N ◦ 5 Seam longwall panels were generally 145

Figure 2. Face break area showing boreholes and adjacent
panels. to 150 m wide it was found that at goaf angles of
25 ◦ they would have generally exceeded the critical span.
About 240 m north of the face break position, the dolerite
sill was broken on both the main and tailgate sides, this
position is very close to borehole B. Panel 8 on the N ◦ 4
Seam is 125 m wide and if this width is substituted in the
two formulae the resultant goaf angles are 14.6 ◦ and 18.5
◦ for Galvin’s and van der Merwe’s formulae respectively.
As Galvin’s formula appeared to be the most conservative
(wider critical spans) it was decided to use it to
determine critical panel widths for the remaining dolerite
affected panels. The panels concerned were numbers 9 and
10. The critical panel widths to break the dolerite as
determined using Galvin’s formula with a goaf angle of 14.6
◦ were found to be between 117 and 129 m. The following two
panels (9 and 10), were found to be sub-critical, and were
expected to experience high loading: possibly as serious as
that experienced during the face break. This indicated that
additional steps would have to be taken when mining beneath
the sill in both these panels. Cracks on surface indicated
that the dolerite was trying to break though to the panel 7
goaf, thereby overloading the tailgate chain pillars. As a
result it was decided to assist this tendency by drilling
and blasting a pre-split in the dolerite on surface.
Initially two lines of blast holes were envisaged, the
first diagonal to the face to assist the dolerite to break
off along the crack on surface (item N in Figure 3) and the
other parallel to the tailgate to reduce future dolerite
loading on the tailgate chain pillars (item G in Figure 3).
The decision to pre-split the dolerite was taken
approximately a week after the face break occurred (21st
April) and was an attempt to treat the cause of the problem
and not just the symptoms. Physical analysis, field
inspections and three dimensional numeric modelling were
used to assist in analysing the likely effect and optimal
position of presplitting. The cracks on surface were
surveyed and plotted on Sunday 21st April and subsequent
inspection showed that the dolerite was cracking further,
with a resultant compressive

hump forming (W in Figure 3). At that stage it was decided

that there would be no need to drill the first of the

planned

pre-split lines (line A).

Line 1 (item G in Figure 3) was drilled ±40 m from the tail

gate pillar edges at a spacing of 2.5 m with 127 mm diameter

holes. Trouble was experienced with the drill string becom

ing trapped towards the base of the sill as well as loss of

compressed air whenever the drill broke through to the void

beneath the sill. This was overcome by instructing the

drilling

contractor to drill to a depth of no more than 25 m even

though

the base of the sill was at about 30 m. It was suspected

that the

drill entrapment was due to a zone of high compressive

stress

at the base of the sill due to it bending towards the panel

7

goaf edge.
Line 1 was eventually blasted on the afternoon of 8th May

and there was a noticeable reduction in load both in the

tailgate

of the face and on the tailgate pillars. This reduction in

load

was mostly manifested by the virtual absence of noise from

the pillars and roof whereas prior to the blast there was
almost

constant noise and pillar spalling.Average shield leg

pressures

for the tailgate side (shields 45 to 69) showed an increase

after

the pre-split from 195bar to 266bar. This appeared contradic

tory and a close inspection of pressure readings revealed

that

the pressures were more uniform after the blast. The maxi

mum and minimum pressures before the blast (7th May) were

348 and 81bar while for 8th May they were 383 and 149bar

respectively.

Within half an hour of the blast, signs of movement were

observed on surface with appreciable steps (5 to 10 cm

high),

forming along some of the cracks between pre-split line A

and

the panel 7 goaf edge. The soil heave as a result of

blasting

along the pre-split line for this blast was minimal at about

0.3 m high and no more than 2 m wide.

No damage due to the blast was observed along the short

wall face while in the tailgate one roof fall occurred which

knocked out about half of a large 4 × 4 m skeleton pack. An

area with cracked roof ahead of this fall remained unchanged

by the blast.

To reduce blast vibrations underground to less than

65 mm/sec the blasting contractor was instructed to limit

the

number of holes per delay to 17, the final number of holes

per

delay was actually reduced further by the contractor to 8.

Sev

enteen millisecond delays were used between batches of

holes.

Pre-split lines 2 and 3 (items F and X in Figure 3) were

proposed to reduce the load on the maingate chain pillars

due

to pre-split 1 creating a cantilever beam in the sill.

Drilling of

the blast holes on surface was commenced but blasting was

delayed until conditions improved in the tailgate face break

area. About twelve days before it was decided to blast (16th

May), one shield had been sacrificed and the resulting

increase

in face advance meant that there was only about 15 m of roof

fall (±1.5 to 2 m high) ahead of the face in the tailgate by

28th May.

Lines 2 and 3 were blasted on the afternoon of 28th May and

were totally different in appearance to that of line 1.

Surface
damage was so severe that it was impossible to see if any

movement had occurred due to the blast. Large fly rocks were

observed and the ground heave along the pre-split lines was

estimated as 2.5 m high and at least 10 m wide. It was

revealed

that the powder factor had been increased from 3 to 4 and

that

boosters had been placed at the top and bottom of the

charges.

The holes had also been drilled larger at 165 mm.

This pre-split nevertheless was successful with the sound

of goafing reported from behind the face within half an

hour Figure 3. Face positions, extent of falls and
pre-split line positions. Key for Figure 3. A Start of
facebreak 13/4/2002 B Face position 25/4/2002 C Face
position 28/5/2002 D End of face break 31/05/2002 E Face
position 12/6/2002 F Pre-split line 2 G Pre-split line 1
HApproximate mid-face break positions I Borehole D J
Stepped crack on surface K Other cracks on surface L
Initial roof fall in tailgate M 5 Seam goaf step N
Pre-split lineA O Extent of roof collapse 15/4/2002 P
Extent of roof collapse 30/4/2002 Q Maingate travelling
road R Tailgate road 2 S Split numbers T Pillar condition
ratings U 5 Seam abutment zone edges V Extent of roof
collapse 12/6/2002 W Compressive hump on surface X
Pre-split line 3. of the blast. No roof damage was noticed
in either the tailgate or along the face. As for the first
blast, 8 holes were also fired per delay. Average shield
leg pressures on the maingate side (shields 1 to 21)
dropped from 321bar to 289bar after the blast. All holes
were drilled vertically due to operational constraints
while it would have been better to drill the holes slightly
off vertical (by 5 ◦ max.) to reduce the chances of block
wedging. As far as is known this is the first time this
approach has been tried in South Africa and the results
indicated that it could be successfully utilized to reduce
the loading of the dolerite sill in future panels. Table 1
summarises the blasting parameters used for the dolerite
pre-split. 3 N ◦ 2 MINE SHORTWALL The current shortwall
block at Matla N ◦ 2 Mine has had extensive high extraction
carried out within it. In the late eighties / early
nineties the top seam (N ◦ 5 seam) was mined by longwall
using crush pillars.Very little surface damage was
experienced as the seam height was only 1.6 to 2 m. This
was followed by shortwalling on the (middle) 4 m high N ◦ 4
seam. This was also planned to be with crush pillars but
operational problems led to the crush pillars being
discontinued and for much of the area solid N ◦ 4 Seam
chain pillars were left. The (lower) N ◦ 2

Table 1. Pre-split blasting parameters.

Parameter Blast 1 Blast 2

Hole depth (m) 26 20

Hole spacing (m) 2.5 2.5

Hole diameter (mm) 127 165

Powder factor 3 4

Holes per delay 8 8

Booster Single Double

Effectiveness Successful Successful Minimal damage Severe

surface on surface damage

Figure 4. Plan view of non-superimposed N ◦ 4 and N ◦ 2

Seam chain

pillars.

Seam was thus the third seam to be mined by high extraction

methods in this area.

The shortwall panels on the N ◦ 2 Seam were originally laid

out such that the chain pillars of the overlying N ◦ 4 Seam

shortwall panels would lie roughly within the central third

of

the N ◦ 2 Seam face. Numerical modelling indicated that

stress

under the footprint of the N ◦ 4 Seam pillar would be about

2 MPa higher than they would be under N ◦ 4 Seam goaf, this

was not seen as a problem at the time and it was expected
that

this additional stress would make cutting of the coal

easier in

the centre of the face.

Another major consideration was that by not superimpos

ing the chain pillars the surface subsidence profile on

surface

would be flattened out to a large extent. This would be

because

the ridges on surface above the chain pillars would be

offset

and thus less damaging.

Figure 4 shows a plan view of the generalized layout illus

trating the chain pillars on the overlying N ◦ 4 Seam lying

approximately over the central portion of the underlying N

◦ 2

Seam shortwall face.The portion of the plan where the two

dif

ferent hatching patterns are superimposed indicates that

both

the N ◦ 4 and N ◦ 2 Seam have been extracted in those areas

(cross hatching). N o. 4 Seam chain pillarillar face N o.

2 Seam chain pillars N o. 5 Seam goaf No.4 Seam goaf Solid
wedge N o. 2 Seamface Figure 5. Section view across
non-superimposed shortwall faces. Figure 5 gives a section
view of the same layout and shows the position of the N ◦ 4
Seam chain pillar and the solid wedge above them which
extends up to the N ◦ 5 Seam goaf. From the outset the N ◦
2 Seam shortwall was plagued by frequent face breaks which
mostly tended to occur beneath the N ◦ 4 Seam chain pillar.
These face breaks varied from slabbing of 0.5 to 1 m high
in the immediate roof between the tips of the shields and
the face up to very large falls extending 10 m or more up
into the roof. These severe face breaks required that the
broken rock be blasted to reduce them to a size capable of
being handled by the AFC and belt. Such face breaks could
result in production stopping for anything from a week to
three months. Drilling and charging up in this area is
problematic and necessitated an in-depth look into the
design of the N ◦ 2 Seam shortwall. Some of the items
investigated were as follows: • 2 and 3 dimensional
elastic, numerical modelling to reexamine the option of
superimposing the chain pillars of the N ◦ 4 and N ◦ 2
seam. • 2 dimensional inelastic modelling of the roof
support for the superimposed case. • Literature surveys and
questions to local and overseas experts. • Operational
improvements. In the meantime it was realized that changing
to a superimposed layout would not happen quickly as the
following panel had already been developed. A shorter term
solution to the roof control problems was urgently
required. Survey measurements on surface indicated that
above the solid wedge the goaf tended to hang up for
roughly 40 m behind the face position, while beneath the N
◦ 4 Seam goaf this distance was halved. As blasting from
surface had been successfully used to negotiate the
dolerite sill at N ◦ 3 mine, it was decided to experiment
with a similar approach to the problem of the solid wedge N
N o. 4 S e am go af N o. 4 se a m go af

N o. 5 S e am

go af o. 4 Seam pillar Blast hole o. 4 Seam af o. 4 seam

af o. 5 Seam af

Figure 6. Position of blast holes for pre-split of solid

wedge.

above the N ◦ 4 seam chain pillars.The first question was

which

of the two approaches would be best, namely:

• Drill holes along the entire length of the chain pillars

charge

them heavily and completely destroy the pillars.

• Drill pre-split lines to break the solid wedge up into

smaller

(35 m long) blocks.

The latter option was chosen for two reasons:

• Fewer holes would have to be drilled.

• Far lighter charges would be required and as a result peak

particle velocities (PPVs) would be lower the roof of the N

◦

2 Seam gateroads would be less likely to be damaged.

The assistance of a blasting engineer (Dube, 2005) was

sought and he was given the brief to design the pre-split

to keep

PPVs below 50 mm/sec, and to aim for 25 mm/sec. Figure 6

shows the drill hole design for the pre-split blasts. One
other

challenge was that the charges had to be placed in the solid

wedge beneath the N ◦ 5 Seam goaf. To ensure that the explo

sives were placed in the desired position and did not run
out

into the goaf it was necessary to case all the blast holes
through

the N ◦ 5 Seam goaf horizon.

The pre-split lines were originally laid out with seven

holes

but this was soon changed to five as the two outer holes
tended

to hole into the goaf. Two spacings were tried between rows

of holes and this was based on the pillar centre distance

which

was 70 m. The best results were when lines of holes were

drilled and blasted above the splits (cross cuts) and again
half

way along the pillars. In the areas where pre-split blasting

was carried out the frequency of face breaks was dramati

cally reduced to less than half the number experienced where

the pillar was not pre-split. Table 2 summarises the

blasting

parameters for the solid wedge pre-split. Table 2. Blasting

parameters for solid wedge pre-split. Parameter Pillar
pre-split Spacing between holes (m) 3 Charge mass (kg) 80
(superboost up to 100) Charge position – depth 60 to 65 and
84 to 88 below surface (m) Number of holes per delay
simultaneous 4 FIRST GOAF PRE-CONDITIONING Occasionally
problems have been experienced during the first goaf
situation where the goaf hangs up and then fails violently
causing air blast damage. A violent two-stage goaf on the N
◦ 2 Seam resulted in extremely rapid support closure which
trapped the shearer and resulted in a long and costly face
break. This was also caused by a strong unit further up in
the succession spanning over a great distance and
transferring load ahead of the face. The face stopped to
enable ventilation to be restored after the first goaf, but
when it started cutting, the second event occurred in what
was most likely the highly stressed area in front of the
face. The sudden movement mentioned before took place as
this stressed and fractured zone was mined into. Pre-split
blasting to pre-condition the first goaf area was
considered to be an option worth exploring and as a result
a N ◦ 4 Seam shortwall panel was identified to pilot this
concept. A row of holes was drilled to about 4 m above the
seam roof and about 4 m ahead of the equipping road. The
strongest beam in the overlying strata was identified and
the charge was placed in this area which was about 30 m
above the seam roof. Once the shortwall started cutting the
first goaf occurred at roughly the same distance as
previously but it was far less violent. The pre-split holes
reportedly vented at the time of the first goaf thus
allowing a significant amount of air to be harmlessly
released. The second pre-split line was modified to
incorporate a short “T” section in the middle of the
pre-split line orientated in the direction of retreat as
this had been found to be an effective blast pattern at the
nearby Goedehoop Colliery where pre-split blasting had been
used to pre-condition the goaf in a stooping section
(Minney, pers. comm. 2005). From observations in local
opencast mines, it appears that pre-split cracks do not
extend below the end of the hole irrespective of where the
charge is placed. Due to access difficulties on surface it
has been necessary to drill and blast the pre-splits some
time before the face starts cutting. One concern is that
the face would then cut into an open crack extending below
the pre-split line. Borescope observations before and after
a pre-split blast revealed that very little change was
visible after the blast and certainly no open crack was
induced below the blast holes. As it was necessary to keep
PPVs below 50 mm/sec (target 25 mm/sec) having the charges
high up in the roof assisted with this. Actual PPVs
measured on the face at the time of the blast were 40
mm/sec and only very slight skin damage was observed on
both roof and pillar sides. This damage consisted of small
flakes (< 30 mm diameter and < 5 mm deep) being dislodged
from roof and pillars sides. On the one face blasted to
date on the N ◦ 2 Seam it was not possible to drill through
the N ◦ 4 Seam bord and pillar workings. As a result the
pre-split holes were stopped above the N ◦ 4 seam.
Extensometer measurements indicate that the

Table 3. Blasting parameters for the N ◦ 4 Seam solid wedge

pre

split.

Parameter First goaf pre-split

Spacing between holes (m) 3

Charge mass (kg) 80

Charge position – depth 45 to 50 and 82 to 86

below surface (m)

Number of holes per delay simultaneous

strongest unit between the N ◦ 2 and N ◦ 4 Seam did hang up

before breaking but that the strong units further up (those

which had been pre-conditioned) failed rapidly. See Table 3

for blast parameters.

5 CONCLUSIONS

On the N ◦ 4 Seam shortwall, surface pre-split blasting was

suc

cessfully used to relieve the stress as well as to

pre-condition

the dolerite above the following two panels. In the case of

the
N ◦ 2 Seam shortwall, pre-split blasting of the solid rock
above

the N ◦ 4 Seam pillars resulted in a significant reduction

in the

ABSTRACT: The article deals with the results of

comprehensive (instrumental and visual) monitoring for the
behaviour of

large underground excavations of the Tehri HPP in India

during construction. The Tehri HPP is located on the
Bhagirathi river

(tributary of the Ganga river) in Lower Himalayas. The

underground structures of the project are set at the depths
of 200–350 m

in a rock massif composed of interbedded phyllites

varieties. Underground excavation activities have started
in 1996 and were

completed during 2001–2003. Regular monitoring for the

condition of the underground excavations and the
surrounding rock

carried out for 5 years included instrumental observations

for the rock displacements, seismic and ultrasonic
investigations as

well as visual observations for the state of excavations

and their support elements. The results of monitoring
allowed timely

measures to be taken for upgrading reliability of the

excavations.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Tehri HPP (India) is located on the Bhagirathi river in

Lower Himalayas at a elevation of ∼800 m a.s.l. in the area

of high seismicity. It is one of the largest hydro power

devel

opments in the world – the height of the rock fill dam makes

up 260 m. The developed underground complex of structures

includes (Figure 1): the largest excavations are the machine

and the transformer halls located at a depth of 300–350 m

and the penstock assembly chamber (PAC) and the butterfly

valve chamber (BVC). The location depth of these cham

bers is 200–230 m from the surface. The underground works

are surrounded by phyllites and their quartzitic and clayey

varieties.

Figure 1. Layout of underground excavation of Tehri HPP.

Underground excavation activities have been started since
1996 by the local civil contractor. Construction of caverns
and the nearest approach adits to them was completed mainly
in 2002. The transformer and the machine halls were
completed in the first turn correspondingly in the end of
1999–2000. Excavation of PAC and BVC was completed in May
2001. Excavation for the penstocks was completed later – in
2003. The supervision for the construction of underground
works was carried out by specialists of the Hydroproject
Institute (HPI) and Geodynamic Research Center since the
end of 1997, after conclusion of the contract with the
Client–Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd. (India). 2
CONDITIONS OF CONSTRUCTION AND MONITORING ARRANGEMENT The
engineering – geological conditions of the area of the
machine and transformer halls (MH and TH) may be considered
as favourable enough: these excavations are located across
the strike of the main joints systems and large
dislocations and the enclosing rocks are hard and medium
hard rock mainly quartzitic phyllites and phyllites. Within
the limits of the MH 6 large tectonic dislocations are
encountered with the fault zones of 1–3 m thickness. All
these faults are oriented sub-orthogonally to longitudinal
axes of excavations and dipping at an angle of 45 ◦ –65 ◦
.The width of the rock pillar between MH and TH makes up 42
m. The studies conducted in a scope of site investigations
showed that compression strength of phyllites R c = 60–80
MPa on the average and the modulus of deformation of the
rock mass varies in a range from 2–3 to 7–10 GPa depending
on lithological composition of rock and the extent of rock
mass fracturing. Much more complicated were the conditions
for construction of the upper chambers – butterfly valve
chamber (BVC) and penstock assembly chamber (PAC). This is
connected to orientation of longitudinal axes of both
chambers
Table 1. The dimensions of main underground excavations.

Excavation MH TH BVC PAC

Width 22 m 18.5 m 10 m 13.3 m

Height 47(62) m 34.5 m 23.8 m 19.3 m

Length 197 m 161 m 121 m 117 m

sub-parallel to the strike of the existing joints sets, more

difficult engineering-geological conditions and small width

(18.5 m) of the rock pillar between BVC and PAC who lost its

strength additionally due to excavations made for the

turbine

penstocks.

The design dimensions of main underground excavations of

the Tehri HPP are presented in Table 1 below. In the table

the

height of the machine hall is shown in brackets with regard

to

the foundation pits for the draft tube elbows of the units.

Supporting crowns and walls of the machine and trans

former halls was provided mainly by means of rock bolts, 25

and 32 mm in dia. and shotcrete. The length of rock bolts in

crowns varied from 6 to 10 m, in walls – from 6 to 15 m,

spac

ing interval −2.0 × 2.0 m in crowns and 1.5 × 2.0 m in

walls.

Pretensioning the rock bolts made up 9–12 t. By the authors

it

was proposed to install additionally prestressed cable

anchors
in the upstream wall of the MH, on the side of busducts and

penstocks galleries. The prestressed cable anchors consisted

of 7 steel tendons, 15.2 mm in dia. Design tension force

made

up 80 t, length −18 m. All prestressed anchors (totally

number

−62) were blind.

In the crowns of the upper chambers – PAC and BVC

there were provided shotcreted steel arches spaced at 0.7 m

intervals between the arches. Initially in accordance with

the

Client’s design the chambers walls were supposed to be sup

ported only with shotcrete and rock bolts, 25 mm in dia., 5

m

long installed by mesh 2.0 × 2.0 m and preliminary tension

ing 9 t. However, engineering-geological, geophysical

studies

and computations performed by the Russian experts showed

that such support system could not be considered safe and

their reinforcing was required. It was recommended to

install

through presressed cable anchors in the pillar between the

chambers and blind prestressed cable anchors in the upstream

wall of BVC. Design of these anchors was similar to those

recommended for the machine hall.

Monitoring for the condition of the rock enclosing the above

excavations was started by the Russian experts late in 1997

–

the beginning of 1998. By that time the chambers were

already

partially excavated including the overt portion of all

chambers.

Therefore complete volume of observation data for the rock

mass behaviour from the start of their excavation could not

be

obtained.

Rock mass monitoring included the following observations

and studies:

• Instrumental observations for rock mass displacements

with the help of multi-point borehole extensometers and

high precision measuring tape;

• Seismic sounding of the rock pillars between chambers,

seismic profiling and ultrasonic logging of boreholes and

cores;

• Visual observations for the state of underground excava

tions and parts of their support system.

The main method of instrumental monitoring for the con

dition of the rock enclosing the MH and TH excavations

Figure 2. Arrangement of measuring sections for rock mass
displacements monitoring at the area of MH and TH.
consisted in observations with the help of 5-point borehole
extensometers of up to 0.1 mm accuracy. For the period from
December 1997 through March 1998 three measuring sections
were arranged at the stretch of the MH andTH chambers.Their
location in plan is shown in Figure 2. The extensometers 33
in number were installed in horizontal and descending
boreholes drilled from the drainage galleries and oriented
to the MH and TH. Under the pressing recommendation of the
authors the observations were arranged for the convergence
of the BVC and PAC walls. The records were taken with the
use of tape extensometer with accuracy 0.5–1.0 mm. Six
measuring sections, 3 in each chamber were selected for the
observations. Instrumental observations at all chambers
were carried out regularly on the average 1–2 times per
month. Geophysical monitoring for the behaviour of the
Tehri HPP chambers during their construction was carried
out at regular intervals at the most critical areas. Visual
observations for the state of the chambers were carried out
at regular intervals (at least 3–4 times per month and more
often if required) by the efforts of the Site Supervision
Group of HPI at site. These consisted in careful
examination of the excavation area, including the condition
of unsupported rock sections and the support, records of
arch support deformation, checking cracks formation in the
concrete lining etc. 3 MAIN RESULTS OF OBSERVATIONS 3.1
Area of machine and transformer halls Regular instrumental
observations for the rock mass displacements in the area of
the machine and transformer halls were carried out from
March 1998 through May 2003. Totally 86 cycles of
observations with the use of multi-point borehole
extensometers were conducted. The largest movements of the
rock mass from the beginning of observations were recorded
at the following places: in the machine hall – near the
downstream wall at the area of the 3-rd measuring section
(33.2 mm), in the transformer hall – near the downstream
wall at the area of the 2-nd measuring section (34.0 mm).
So in spite of different size of the chambers the rock mass
movements turned out to be practically equal. It may be
explained by weakening of the rock mass of the downstream
wall of the TH caused by excavation of busduct gallery and
existence of large geological fault N o 40 here. The

Figure 3. Results of displacements monitoring near TH walls

at

measuring section 2(a) and periods of chambers excavations

(b).

mentioned excavations were brought out the upstream wall

of the MH also but that wall was supported by prestressed

anchors. Evidently the latters had led to a reduction of the

rock mass movements.

For the period of observations the maximum convergence of

the walls had come to 46–52 mm. These values were obtained

at the 2-nd measuring section in the MH and the TH chambers

and at the stretch of the 3-rd section in the MH. The

maximum

rates of the rock mass movements came to 2–3 mm/month and

were recorded in September-November 1999 in the rock pillar

between the chambers.

The main movements of the rock mass (80–95%) were

recorded till the end of 2000 when underground excavation

activities were completed as well as excavation of 4 busduct

galleries connecting the machine and transformer halls. By

the beginning of 2003 deformation of the rock mass enclos

ing the MH and the TH were within the limits of accuracy of

extensometers measurements.

Results of observations Close relationship between the

observation data and excavation works is seen in Figure 3

where time-related movements of the TH walls for the 2-nd

measuring section are shown and therein at the bottom the

periods of excavation of the chambers and busduct galleries

are shown. One more factor having a noticeable effect on the

pattern and movement of the rock mass was the occurrence

of weak zones of clayey phyllites or large fractures

affected

zones at the measuring sections areas. At these areas the

rock

mass movements did not stop after completion of construction

activities similar to other areas and continued for a

sufficiently

long period of time that may be explained by tendency of

weak
rock to creeping.

It should be noted that as a result of the numerical anal

ysis of stress-strain state of the rock near the MH and the

TH performed in 1990–1992 the maximum displacement of the

chambers wall was predicted to be equal to 30–70 mm
depending on the terms of the task (Zalezhnev et al 1994).
Taking into account that the site observations were started
with a certain delay it may be considered that a prediction
of possible movements of the rock mass turned out to be
sufficiently precise. This is also an evidence of
reliability of the input data on the rock mass obtained
results of observations and computations the recommended in
paper (VSN 1989) empirical formula for approximate
assessment of maximum displacement of the chamber walls
during construction got the additional recognition: U =
4.5H 1.5 f −2 m , where U – maximum displacements of the
chamber walls, mm; H – height of excavation, m; f m –
coefficient of hardness of rock mass by Protodiakonov (for
the rock mass under consideration f m = 5.0–6.0). Apart
from instrumental observations regular visual examinations
were very important for monitoring the stability of the MH
and the TH chambers. Basing on the results of these
observations the decisions were taken many times to prevent
from the development of the processes which can have a
negative effect on local stability of excavations.
Installation of 6 pre-stressed anchors (in addition to the
installed rock bolts) in the northern end wall of the
machine hall on the compressor plant side may serve as an
example. When examining this area in November 1999 fresh
cracks with opening 1–20 mm were discovered in concrete
lining near the foot of excavation close to the butt end
wall of the MH. The latters could appear only as a result
of movements of below located rock massif along cleavage
cracks crossing it and whose stability had to be improved
(that has been done). By the results of visual observations
3 through pre-stressed cable anchors were also installed
between penstocks No No 1 and 2 and other measures for
local strengthening of underground excavations were
undertaken. 3.2 Area of upper underground excavations
Instrumental observations for the displacement of the BVC
and PAC chambers started with great delay (in March of
2000) therefore for a long time geophysical monitoring and
visual examinations of the area were the main types of
observations. The first measurements of the elastic waves
velocities were performed during investigations of 1989. By
the results of seismic sounding between headrace tunnels
HRT-1 and HRT-2 at the stretch of a future rock pillar
between BVC and PAC the elastic waves velocity came to 5000
m/s on the average. This value was considered as initial
relative to which the degree of considered rock destressing
was assessed in the BVC and PAC designs. During 1998–2002
seven cycles of geophysical measurements were taken in the
area of the rock pillar between BVC and PAC limited on both
sides by headrace tunnels HRT-1 and HRT-2. According to the
first cycle of measurements (June 1998) the elastic waves
velocities as compared to the initial (zero) cycle of 1989
have become much lower. And the rock pillar was
characterized by an extremely non-uniform velocities from
1500 to 4500 m/s. By August 2000 the rock massif destressed
actually and a tendency to velocities equalizing was
recorded. Practically everywhere the rock pillar had a
velocity 2000–2500 m/s that corresponded to the modulus of
deformation = 1500–2000 MPa. By October 2002 the

rock pillar was in a destressed condition and was charac

terized by average velocity of longitudinal waves 2800 m/s

and the modulus of deformation equaling approximately to

2500 MPa (some increase of velocities as compared to the

year of 2000 may be explained by putting into operation of

prestressed anchors installed in the rock pillar and the

effect

of vertical lithostatic stresses). As compared to the

intact rock

massif of 1989 the elastic properties of the considered rock

pillar became less by more than 40% and the modulus of

deformation – approximately 3–4 times less by the end of

2002.

Visual observations were very important from the viewpoint

of safe excavation execution in the area of upper cham

bers. Such signs as appearance and development of cracks

in shotcrete, its exfoliation, ribs deformation, formation

of
potentially unstable rock blocks enabled one to follow up

the situation and give the required recommendations. Besides

the examination of 1998 showed that the zone of BVC and

PAC effect within which the enclosing mass is considered

as destressed, is very large and spread by 10–15 m deep into

the rock massif. Within that zone a considerate bending of

steel arches (to 30–40 cm) was recorded as well as numer

ous cracks in the crowns and walls of approach excavations.

Together with geophysical measurements visual observations

proved the existence of large destressed rock pillar between

the chambers. Very clearly it was seen on the side of HRT-2

in walls and crown of which a great number cracks, 1–2 mm

to 10 mm wide was found in shotcrete.

Basing on the first results of geophysical studies, visual

observations and numerical analyses HPI proposed in 1998

to install through prestressed cable anchors in the rock

pillar

between BVC and PAC. Besides it was recommended to pro

tect by blind cable anchors the upstream wall of higher BVC

in whose direction the cleavage fractures were dipping.

These

recommendations were accepted by the Client but their imple

mentation was delayed. Installation of the anchors was

carried

out from the end of 1999 to the middle of 2001.Total number

of installed prestressed cable anchors in the rock pillar

was 82
and 93 blind anchors (2 rows) of the average length of 14
min

the BVC upstream wall. Preliminary tensioning was 60–75 t.

Seven prestressed anchors in the rock pillar and four pre

stressed anchors in the BVC upstream wall were equipped with

dynamometers for supervision of the forces in the anchors.

As was noted above monitoring for the convergence of BVC

and PAC walls was organized since March 2000. By that time

the chambers were excavated to elevations 710.5–715.0 m at

the design elevation of their foot 705.8 m. Three measuring

sections were set in each chamber. Afterwards a position of

some of the sections was changed. In PAC the most represen

tative was the measuring section located in the central

part of

the chamber at el.712.5 m. By the results of measurements at

this measuring section it was clear that the work for

deepening

the chamber carried out in June-October 2000 had an effect

on

the value of its walls convergence. Large deformations of

the

chambers walls occurred already after completion of excava

tion in PAC and continued for a long time was also of great

concern. At this section only after 8 months after

completion

of excavation work in the chamber – in June 2001 a tendency

for decrease of the convergence rate was marked. For three

years of observations at this measuring section the walls

con
vergence rate made up 85 mm. The maximum rate of the walls

convergence was recorded at this section during the chamber

excavation and made up more than 7 mm/month. In the BVC

the central measuring section was in service till November

Figure 4. Arrangement r.c. buttresses (shaded) in BVC &
PAC. 2001.For the time of observations at this section the
convergence value was very big – 130 mm. The maximum rates
of the BVC walls convergence recorded at this section were
the highest and made up 24 mm/month. They were recorded
during chamber deepening to the design elevation (to a
depth of 5.2 m) during the second half of November 2000 to
March 2001. Measurements at other sections in both chambers
also showed large displacements of the rock mass in
2000–2001. Thus the results of measurements of the walls
convergence confirmed convincingly the data of geophysical
and visual observations on unsatisfactory condition of the
enclosing rock mass which is very responsive to carrying
out excavation work in the chambers and in the nearest
proximity to them. It became evident that the planned in
2002 additional excavation in the given rock mass (rock
pillar is inclusive) of 4 workings for the penstocks by
size 8.5 × 7.6 m and also excavation of two bifurcation
chambers in proximity to BVC would inevitably cause
additional progressively developing deformation of the rock
mass that most probably would affect bearing capacity of
the installed prestressed cable anchors and bad
consequences were hardly predictable. Therefore before any
excavation activities it is necessary to stabilize
considerably the rock mass taking into account its
destressed condition. In 2000 taking into account all these
circumstances the Russian experts recommended to install in
both chambers 8 reinforced concrete buttresses (4 in each
chamber), height 7.5–10.7 m functioning as struts.
Arrangement of buttresses in the chambers is shown in
Figure 4. Besides it was recommended to follow strictly the
sequence of excavation work for the penstock at the stretch
between bifurcation chambers and BVC and also in the rock
pillar between BVC and PAC. The activities for the
buttresses construction in underground excavations started
in February 2001. By the end of 2001 construction of
buttresses No No 1,3 and 4 was practically completed in BVC
and buttress No 5 – in PAC. The rest buttresses were
installed in 2002–2003. At the beginning of 2004 all 4
penstocks were driven at the stretch of BVC and PAC.
Convergence observations conducted at that time if showed
additional movement of the rock mass but of much lesser
value than in 2000–2001. By the end of 2003 the rock
displacement at the area of the upper chambers practically
stopped. For the period from November 2003 to June 2004 the
chamber walls

convergence did not exceed 0.5 mm testifying that the rock

mass condition was stable.

Completion of the construction of the underground struc

tures was without any serious complications. In October 2005

the reservoir impoundment was started and at the second half

of 2006 the first two units were put into operation.

4 MAIN CONCLUSIONS

1. Indispensable condition of ensuring safety of large under

ground chambers as the main structures of hydro power

developments is organization of comprehensive monitor

ing (visual and instrumental) for the condition of the

enclosing rock mass in the course of underground con

struction. It is convincingly confirmed if to consider as

an example the underground chambers for the Tehri HPP

structures when the results of the conducted observations

influenced the adoption of the design solutions in good time

for the purpose of upgrading reliability of the chambers

under construction.

2. Very effective methods of monitoring for the behaviour

of the rock mass enclosing the underground excavations

were the instrumental observations for the rock mass dis

placements with the help of multi-point extensometers

Rock mass behavior during a period of interrupted

excavation and completion of caverns V.I. Bronshteyn Centre
of Geodynamic Research Service, JSC “Centre of Engineering
UESR”, Moscow, Russian Federation V.N. Zhukov
Rus-Engineering (Russian Aluminum), Moscow, Russian
Federation S.A. Yufin, M.G. Zertsalov & D.V. Ustinov Moscow
State University of Civil Engineering, Moscow, Russian
Federation

ABSTRACT: The construction of the underground Rogun

hydropower station in Tajikistan was interrupted due to the
termi

nation of central financing with the disintegration of the

USSR in the beginning of the 1990s. Recent plans to update
and

complete the project require careful evaluation of the

trends in rock mass behavior in the vicinity of the large
caverns that make

up the machine and transformer halls and the gate chamber,

which is undercut by numerous penstocks, draft tubes,
drainage

galleries and bus ducts. The most challenging task is to

account for the rock mass/cavern behavior and interaction
during the

almost 15 years of stalled excavation activity and to

formulate prognoses for the period during which the
construction will be

completed. This evaluation is being carried out numerically

and backed up with sporadic in situ measurement data.

“If you can measure what you are speaking about and

express it in numbers, you know something about it.” Lord

Kelvin

1 INTRODUCTION

The Rogun hydropower station was designed as the next

development stage of the River Vakhsh in Tajikistan to be

con

structed after completion of the 2700 MW Nurek project with

the highest (300 m) rockfill dam in the world. The project

called for six generating units of 3600 MW total installed

capacity in a fully underground outfit with a dam of 335 m,

even higher than the Nurek dam (Yufin et al., 1999). This
was

to have been the largest underground hydropower station in

the former USSR, sixth, if completed recently, hydropower

station on the River Vakhsh.

The complex of underground structures at the Rogun site,

with a total length of some 40 km and excavation volume

of 3 × 10 6 m 3 , is located in rock mass consisting of sand

stones and aleurolites. Two major caverns for the machine

hall (MH) and the transformer hall (TH) are situated at

a depth of 350–400 m from the ground surface and are

21 × 70 × 220 m 3 (MH) and 19 × 37 × 182 m 3 (TH) in size.

The distance between the axes of these caverns is 63 m and

the

pillar contains drainage galleries and bus ducts. At an

angle

to these two caverns there is a shorter penstock

assembly/gate

chamber (AC) with a span of 12 m, height 37 m and length

50 m. All three caverns are situated in a single tectonic

block

and separated by active faults from the surrounding rock

mass.

Sandstones and aleurolites in this region are rather strong

rocks with uniaxial compressive strength of 100–120 MPa and

60–80 MPa respectively. The rock mass is characterized by

a high natural stress of tectonic origin; measurements at
the

location of the caverns showed vertical and horizontal

stress to be equal to or more than σ v =−14 MPa and σ h
=−18 MPa respectively (v = vertical and h = horizontal
components). 2 PROJECT HISTORY The excavation of the
machine hall started in September 1986 and was carried out
in benches 6–11 m high along the total width of the cavern.
By the beginning of 1990, the MH cavern had been excavated
to a depth of 36 m and the TH cavern to a depth of 16 m. At
that time large and what were considered dangerous
displacements were discovered in the upper part of the MH
cavern, mostly on the side of the pillar between MH and TH.
In May 1990, this finally forced a halt to all excavation
work, and wall reinforcement was prioritized until further
technical decisions could be made. Numerical analyses were
performed in 1992 (Yufin et al., 1993) to evaluate possible
scenarios of the rock mass behavior. Sadly, the collapse of
the USSR and termination of central financing made the
interruption of the construction work on the site
permanent. The spring flood of 1993 drowned most of the
existing underground structures; in the MH cavern the water
reached the crane beam level. In 2005, the Russian Aluminum
Company RUSAL showed interest in this unfinished project
and the water was pumped out. 3 RECENT NUMERICAL ANALYSES
To evaluate the feasibility of completing cavern
construction, a series of numerical analyses were performed
in 2005–2006 under contract to the RUSAL Company. The
finite element numerical analyses of cavern/rock mass
behavior and interaction was performed using an
elasticplastic approach with representation of the in-situ
stress state of the rock mass, unloaded zones around the
caverns, the actual sequence and parameters of excavation
as well as the

reinforcement of the caverns. Calibration of numerical mod

els was based on a comparison of calculation results with

the data from in-situ measurements of cavern wall conver

gence. Furthermore, prognoses were made for the completion

of excavation and reinforcement of the caverns.

Several series of analyses have been elaborated on using the

Phase 2 (Rocscience, 2007) and the Z_SOIL PC ® (Z_SOIL

2006) codes. The sequence of events preceding this research

made necessary a retrospective analysis of the geotechnical

situation in the rock mass. Evaluation of constitutive

models

for different rocks (in our case sandstones and

aleurolites) sub

jected to long-term unloading at high levels of initial

stress,

flooding and weathering is an extremely complicated prob

lem. In these conditions, in the opinion of authors, the

only

possible approach is to represent the rock mass as an

elastic

plastic medium with integral constitutive parameters using

the Mohr-Coulomb criterion of plasticity. The more promis

ing approaches (Yufin et al., 2007) have been avoided for

the

sake of consistency in all the modeling series and because

necessary data was lacking.

The properties of the rock mass in natural conditions have

been taken from the in-situ and laboratory data and further

processed. They are presented in Table 1.

Unloaded zones around the caverns have been taken into

account. The width of the unloaded zone around the MH cav

ern increases from 3 m after the excavation of the 1st bench

to 12 m after the excavation of the 4th bench. Further on

the

width remains on the same level, though the length of the

zone
increases. Around the TH cavern the unloaded zone develops

from 3 m after excavation of the first bench to 6 m after

exca

vation of the 2nd and following benches. The dimensions of

the unloaded zones were adopted, based on the results of geo

physical measurements made at the time of the excavation and

in 2006 prior to numerical modeling. The rock properties of

the unloaded zones are shown in Table 2.

Convergence of the MH cavern walls in aleurolites by the

year 2006 exceeded 500 mm according to the results of mea

surements and recent 2D numerical modeling. This closely

follows the prognoses made in 1992. The 2D analyses showed

that there are high risks associated with providing

stability to

the MH cavern portion situated in aleurolites when its

height

reaches the designed value. This led to the decision to

change

the MH layout, i.e. to move the assembly bay from a

sandstones

to an aleurolites zone, thus eliminating the need to further

deepen this end of the cavern. After this change only a very

small portion of the deepest zone of the cavern containing

the

generating units will be situated in aleurolites.

Based on the Phase 2 modeling, anchoring parameters were

established for the caverns. Due to the fact that no more

than
20–30% of the designed quantity of pre-stressed anchors was

installed in the caverns during the excavation period, and

that

the anchors installed were not protected against corrosion,

a

decision was made to fully renew cavern anchoring.

4 3D MODEL AND ITS CALIBRATION

The three dimensional FEM model was developed based on

the authors’ experience of 3D modeling in general (Yufin &

Postolskaya, 2000) and Z_SOIL PC ® code (Z_SOIL, 2006)

capabilities. All caverns and nearby adits are situated in a

domain of approximately 340 m long, 290 m wide and 240 m

high. The geological structure of the site and rock prop

erties are distributed in this domain using the “data super

Table 1. Initial strength and deformation parameters of the
rock mass (MPa where applicable). Uniaxial Shear sample
strength Moduli strength parameters of the rock Poisson’s
Rock type R c R t φ ◦ C mass ratio Sandstones 100 10 50 3.0
9000 0.22 Aleurolites 70 7 45 2.0 5500 0.30 Table 2. Rock
parameters in the unloaded zones (MPa where applicable).
Deformation Shear strength parameters parameters Poission’s
Cohesion Rock type Modulus Ratio φ ◦ C Sandstones 6000 0.30
45 2.0 Aleurolites 4000 0.33 40 1.5 Figure 1. Set of
underground openings for the 3D analyses – upstream and
downstream views. elements” feature of the Z_SOIL PC ®
code. The real excavation/reinforcement sequence for the
previous construction period and the planned operation
sequence, including anchoring, for the possible future
completion period have been introduced in the model. The
overlaid meshes approach used to create the FEM mesh
allowed a reduction in the number of elements of this
geometrically complex problem that resulted in slightly
less than 105000 unknowns in the analyses. The analyzed set
of underground openings with the surrounding rock mass
removed is represented in Figure 1. The first series of
numerical analyses considered the stress state and
stability of the rock mass during sequential excavation of
the caverns including the 4th bench in the MH cavern, i.e.
up to the interruption to construction. The input
Table 3. Strength and deformation parameters of the rock
mass

(Second series of analyses, MPa where applicable). Uniaxial

Shear Strength strength Rock mass Poisson’s

Rock type R c R t ϕ ◦ C moduli ratio

Sandstones 100 10 42 1.8 7000 0.22

Aleurolites 70 7 36 1.0 2500 0.30

Table 4. Rock parameters in the unloaded zones (Second

series of

analyses, MPa where applicable). Deformation Shear strength

parameters parameters Poission’s Cohesion

Rock type Modulus Ratio φ ◦ C

Sandstones 4670 0.30 38 1.2

Aleurolites 1670 0.33 32.5 0.66

Table 5. Strength and deformation parameters of the rock

mass

(Third series of analyses, MPa where applicable). Uniaxial

Shear Strength strength Rock mass Poisson’s

Rock type R c R t ϕ ◦ C moduli ratio

Sandstones 100 10 42 1.64 7500 0.22

Aleurolites 70 7 36 0.75 4000 0.30

strength and deformation parameters of the rock corresponded

to Tables 1 & 2. The concrete vaults in the caverns were

also

taken into account.

The resulting displacements were notably different from

those measured in-situ on the level of the crane beam – on

average along the MH cavern they were two times smaller

than measured.With this in mind, calibration calculations
were

performed with the aim of selecting parameters for the aleu

rolites and sandstones in the intact and unloaded zones that

would provide numerical modeling results that corresponded

reasonably well to those from the in-situ measurements. Thus

the values of the respective parameters in the second

series of

analyses were decreased (Tables 3 & 4).

The results of the second analyses series showed that to

achieve an acceptable correspondence of measured and calcu

lated values one needs unrealistically low deformation

moduli.

These will provide the needed match of calculated and mea

sured values, but the modeling results cannot be considered

satisfactory because of the substantial dissimilarity

between

real rock properties and those used in the numerical

endeavors.

The same was shown in 1992.

To make the analyses more realistic, in the third series the

averaged deformation moduli of intact and unloaded zones of

the rock mass were again increased while cohesion for both

sandstones and aleurolites was decreased (Tables 5 & 6).

This

seems logical because displacements in the rock mass are gov

erned not only by deformation parameters but also by

inherent

movements along existing joints when local shear strength is

exceeded. Table 6. Rock parameters in the unloaded zones
(Third series of analyses, MPa where applicable).
Deformation Shear strength parameters parameters Poission’s
Cohesion Rock type Modulus Ratio φ ◦ C Sandstones 5000 0.30
38 1.1 Aleurolites 2670 0.33 32.5 0.5 Table 7. Calculated
values of horizontal displacements in the MH cavern walls
after excavation of the 4th bench, mm. Cavern Sandstones
midsection Aleurolites Upstream wall 25.8–29.7 54 71.9
Downstream wall 18–20.5 37 58.3 Total convergence 43.8–50.2
91 130.2 Figure 2. Horizontal displacements after MH 4th
bench excavation. An acceptable correlation of the
displacement values measured in-situ and calculated in the
third series of calibration calculations allowed for the
use of selected deformation and Mohr-Coulomb parameters for
modeling rock mass behavior during the possible period of
completion of construction of the Rogun underground
structures. 5 RESULTS OF THE 3D MODELING As a result of the
3D modeling, the necessary information about displacements
and stresses as well as the dimensions of plastic zones has
been evaluated. At the moment excavation of the MH cavern
in the aleurolites zone is completed, maximum displacement
will reach 397 mm and 390 mm at the downstream and upstream
walls, respectively. In the sandstones zone the
displacements will be 290 mm and 232 mm, respectively. In
theTH cavern horizontal wall displacements are expected to
be 210–287 mm in aleurolites and 105–170 mm in sandstones.
It is worth noting that the nearby fault leads to an

Figure 3. Horizontal displacements at completion of

excavation

(1st & 5th generating units cross-sections).

Figure 4. Plastic zones around caverns at completion stage.

increase in the downstream wall displacement to 192 mm close

to the end of the cavern in the sandstone zone.

High tensile and compression stresses are registered in the

reinforced concrete vaults of the caverns. Thus maximal com

pressive stresses in the vicinity of the vault axes reach

49 MPa

ABSTRACT: An important contribution to rock mass

characterisation is related to the mapping of the
discontinuity network
and its interference with the free surface. Contact free
measuring principles such as photogrammetry or laser
scanning supported

and improved tremendously conventional geological mapping

due to the ability of taking measurements without access
and

time restrictions as well as providing objective records of

the rock mass. Within this contribution an improved
photogrammetric

approach is presented having several impacts to practical

applications, such as using off-the-shelf cameras, taking
photos

freehand, or allowing to capture geometric rock mass

information within a minute. The described system has been
used widely

such as in conventional tunnelling for face mapping, in

mining and geotechnical engineering for stability
assessments (slopes),

for providing input at rock fall simulations, for bench

face surveying and geometric blast planning, as well as for
determining

the excavated volume and the documentation of various

constructions.

1 INTRODUCTION

The acquisition and evaluation of geotechnical data are inte

gral parts during the investigation and design stage of con

struction works in rock masses. Geotechnical data serve as

input for decision making processes during different phases

of projects, ranging from feasibility studies to

construction

and maintenance.

For example, in conventional tunnelling continuous adapta

tion of the excavation and support method to the actual

ground

conditions is required in order to obtain an economical and

safe construction (Schubert et al. 2003). This observational

approach needs, among others, the continuous collection of

information on rock mass type, structure, and quality, as

well

as the system behaviour.

Also in surface applications, such as stability analyses of

slopes, open pit mining, or quarry management, geometric

properties of the rock mass and the discontinuity network

are

important data when a consistent rock mass model shall be

established.

Relevant parameters particularly important for rock mass

modelling are related to discontinuities, such as

orientation,

spacing, frequency, size, aperture, filling width,

termination

index, or the geo-referenced position, as well as the rock

surface geometry. These data are completed by information

concerning distribution of rock types, weathering, and spe

cific local phenomena like karst.All these data can be

acquired

by visual methods when measuring, positions, distances, and

orientations within a known 3D co-ordinate system (Fasching

2001).

In order to overcome existing drawbacks of conventional

mapping, systems were developed that capture the actual con

ditions, providing the visual and geometric information for

the assessment of the rock mass including measurement pos

sibilities. This entails that a major part of the mapping

process

is transferred to the computer. The basis for mapping on the

computer is a realistic representation of the rock face as

it

is which led to the use of two-dimensional images and more

recently, three-dimensional (3D) images. Due to its nature,

3D images capture the visible rock mass structures
comprehensively allowing also measuring geometric features
both on the rock surface and the discontinuity network
without physical contact and at an arbitrary number. Thus,
access and time restrictions from conventional field work
are overcome and results are instantly available for
further processing. The 3D image is an objective, permanent
documentation of the rock surface making analyses possible
even if a specific rock face no longer exists. In the
following a 3D image generation and assessment system as
well as its application are addressed. 2 BASICS OF 3D
IMAGING 2.1 Photogrammetry Photogrammetry is the art and
science to measure from images and dates back to the
beginning of photography (Slama 1980, Wolf & Dewitt 2000).
Stereoscopic photogrammetry deals with the measurement of
three-dimensional (spatial) information starting from two
images taken from different angles but showing the same
object or surface. This principle is also referred to as
Shape from Stereo. Prerequisites to Shape from Stereo are
the knowledge of the following: • Precise information on
the image formation process of the camera (interior camera
orientation). The interior camera orientation is usually
described by several parameters such as the focal length,
the image centre (intersection of the optical axis with the
image plane), and the lens distortion. • Precise
information on the camera position and viewing direction
when taking the pictures (exterior camera orientation). The
exterior camera orientation is provided by six parameters
three giving the location and three the viewing direction
of the camera within the object co-ordinate system. The
first issue led to purpose built cameras (metric cameras)
relying on a mechanically accurate (and known) imaging

process, thus being expensive and potentially less flexible.

The second one has been realised either by observation of

control points, i.e. points with known co-ordinates, or by

determining the exterior orientation using additional exter

nal measurements which is cumbersome for certain field

applications.

2.2 Computer vision

More recent approaches to the same topic are related with

the

term computer vision where among others the calibration of

off-the-shelf cameras was addressed (Faugeras 1993). Other

improvements within computer vision led to the possibility

of fully automatically determining the relative orientation

of

the two images to each other without any control points.

Therefore, an entity called 3D image can be generated fully

automatically based only on the visual information of the

stereoscopic images. A 3D image can be seen as the combi

nation of a real (digital) photo with spatial information

on the

object/surface it shows. Consequences of the new algorithms

introduced by computer vision are:

• Taking the pictures is alleviated (freehand) since measure

ments are possible without any surveying of the exterior

camera orientations.

• 3D images can be generated also from uncalibrated cam

eras. The results are qualitatively correct 3D images

(generic 3D image). However, if accurate geometric mea

surements are required the used camera(s) have to be

calibrated.

• Generic 3D images can be updated to metric (scaled) 3D

images just by observing a single object with known geom

etry or as within classical photogrammetry by surveyed

control points.

2.3 Generation of a metric 3D image

A metric 3D image refers to a geometrically correct

re-construction of imaged object(s) within the Euclidean

space. Metric in this context does not necessarily stick to

the

metric system but rather means that measurements at correct

scale and orientation can be taken.

The basic steps to reach a metric 3D image (within the

modern photogrammetry plus computer vision approach) are

(see also Figure 1):

1. Automatic identification of corresponding points: the

goal

is to get a dense, evenly distributed set of point correspon

dences (image matching).

2. Automatic computation of the relative camera orientation

(position and viewing direction of one imaging standpoint

related to the other): this can be done based on the set of

corresponding points from step 1.

3. Automatic computation of 3D points based on results from

steps 1 and 2 using spatial intersection: each corresponding

pair of points leads to one surface measurement.

4. Automatic inter-connection of reconstructed 3D points

from step 3: this forms a so-called surface mesh.

5. Automatic alignment of photograph(s) and surface mesh:

trivial task since the surface mesh was directly computed

from the photographs.

Although generic 3D images refer to 3D images without

scale or reference they show a qualitatively correct rock

sur

face in 3D.Therefore, relative analyses, e.g. relative

dipping of

discontinuities towards the rock face, determination of

relative Figure 1. Stereoscopic image pair leading to a 3D
image. Each pair of corresponding image points P(u,v) leads
to one three-dimensional object point P(X,Y,Z). Note that
modern algorithms do not require the baseline to be known
in advance. spacing, or an inspection of surface roughness
anisotropy can be performed. 2.4 From a generic to a metric
3D image The upgrade from a generic to a metric 3D image
can be done by different referencing methods: • A fully
geo-referenced model is achieved using three or more
surveyed control points. Total station measurements or
accurate GPS are commonly used. • A 3D image in local
co-ordinates results from the use of scale bars located
somewhere in the imaged area. Introducing additionally one
or more conventional compass readings the reference to
north is obtained (at less effort in the field). 3
ASSESSMENT OF 3D IMAGES Once a 3D image is generated the
actual condition of the rock surface is preserved only
limited by the used amount of image information (image
resolution). Since geological assessment requires a visual
interpretation of visible rock structures the use of 3D
images for such assessments is straightforward. For
assessment purposes the 3D image can be rotated, zoomed,
and panned on a computer. Structural features can be
investigated and marked by annotating the appropriate
locations on the 3D image. Measurements on the structures
are instantly available. In the following several
parameters directly obtainable from 3D image measurements
are listed. 3.1 Co-ordinates and distances Basic magnitudes
are related to surface point measurements (x,y,z
coordinates) and the determination of the Euclidean
distance between arbitrary surface points which correlates
to a virtual tape measure. By clicking on any location of
the 3D image, the assessment software instantly provides
the co-ordinate information. 3.2 Individual orientations
Any location on the 3D image can be touched with a special
kind of cursor. It follows the actual 3D shape of the
reconstructed surface and changes its pointing direction
according to the actual orientation of the surface (see
Figure 2).

Figure 2. Orientations can be measured at arbitrary

locations on the

3D image. Dip angle and dip direction are provided

instantly.

Figure 3. A 3D line marks a discontinuity trace. A plane is

fitted to

the poly-line. Its orientation corresponds with the

orientation of the

discontinuity.

Orientation measurements taken this way correspond to the

application of a compass-clinometer device.

3.3 Linear features

The measurement of linear rock mass features such as joints,

lithological borders, or strata is performed by a pointwise

marking of their joint traces on the 3D image. The

connection

of the marked points leads to a three-dimensional line con

sisting of surface point measurements. Provided the 3D line

shows a significant change in depth a unique best fitting

plane

can be found automatically.The orientation of the fitting

plane
corresponds to the spatial orientation of the discontinuity
that

was marked (see Figure 3).

3.4 Areas

Regions of similar geological attributes (e.g. lithology or

same

degree of fracturing) or joint surfaces are marked with

areas.

An area is also defined by marking surface points but con

necting them to a closed 3D line. From the marked part of

the underlying 3D surface the mean normal vector orienta

tion is computed and instantly provided as dip angle and dip

direction. Figure 4 depicts an example of a marked area and

Figure 4. Measurement of orientations at a discontinuity
surface. By marking points on the 3D surface and
calculating the mean orientation of the surface normal the
orientation vector is determined. the resulting mean
surface normal that indicates the spatial orientation. 3.5
Structure sets and maps Basic features, such as joints,
areas, orientations, as well as co-ordinates, or distances
are combined to structure maps composed of several
structure sets and singular measurements. Each structure
set and statistics on its spatial distribution can be
visualised instantly within hemispherical plots
(stereonets; see Figure 7). The stereonets deliver also
some statistical parameters, such as the spherical
aperture, Fisher constant or the cone of confidence for
each set. 3.6 Spacing As orientation measurements are
assigned to rock structures it becomes possible to
determine the true spacing of a structure set. Spacing in
this context is referred to as normal spacing, according to
definitions given by Priest (1993). True spacing is
understood here as determining the real spatial distance
between adjacent discontinuities of a set in contrast to
the apparent spacing that also depends on the viewpoint
from which a discontinuity/rock surface intersection is
observed. Figure 6 shows an example of the resulting map
used for the spacing calculation. 4 CASE STUDIES In the
following some selected applications of the described
technology are given. The selection is intended as an
overview without being exhaustive. 4.1 Rock mass
characterisation 4.1.1 Rock slope The stability of a rock
slope with a height of about 150 m was assessed. Several
parts were inaccessible, so contact-free measurements
showed to be a proper way for gathering reasonable
quantitative geometric information on the discontinuity
network and the free surface. A highly detailed 3D image
(70 Megapixel) was generated in order to allow a geological
assessment also of smaller structures. Figure 5, Figure 6,
and Figure 7 respectively show exemplarily the achieved
results of the 3D imaging and assessment activities.

Figure 5. Application of 3D imaging technology for analysis

of a

150 m rock slope.

Figure 6. Spacing and frequency calculation for one of the

discon

tinuity trace sets marked in figure 5.

Figure 7. Lower hemisphere equal angle plot of identified

discon

tinuity sets shown in figure 5.

4.1.2 Tunnel face mapping

In conventional tunnelling (civil), face mapping has to be

per

formed quickly. With the possibility of taking quickly two

photos of the tunnel face on site (e.g. within a minute) the

geometry can be acquired ready for assessment without large

Figure 8. 3D image of a tunnel face and brief geological
mapping. Figure 9. 3D image of a quarry acquired from about
700 m distance. The marked area shows an unstable block
whose kinematical properties such as movability, failure
mode, or volume were analysed based on the 3D image
measurements. interference of excavation works (cf. Gaich
et al. 2004, Gaich et al. 2006). Assessments are performed
on the computer without further time and access
restrictions. This provides the geologists with even more
time on site for the analysis of other than geometric rock
mass parameters such as filling, interlocking, or water
phenomena. Subsequent 3D images of tunnel faces represent
an objective, reproducible record of the rock mass
conditions encountered during excavation delivering a good
data basis for any later review of a project. 4.1.3 Block
stability The mentioned system can be used for the
identification of kinematically free blocks. From one or
more 3D image(s) of a rock surface the position and
orientation of discontinuities is measured (see Figure 9).
The resulting set of measurements is fed into algorithms
that allow several analyses including the determination of
unstable blocks, their failure modes, or in general
stability assessments (Pötsch et al. 2006). The
establishment of a discontinuity model also allows the
prediction of unstable blocks ahead of an underground
excavation (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Identified blocks with kinematical freedom in a

drift

excavation derived from a discontinuity model based on

sequential

face imaging.

Figure 11. 3D image of a bench face in a quarry and planned

bore

hole positions. The system provides the blaster with the

required

geometric information on the rock wall, as well as the

distance

between boreholes and surface (burden).

4.2 Blast engineering

4.2.1 Bench face surveying and planning of blasts

Another application deals with the determination of the geom

etry of bench faces and the planning of the blast layout in

surface mining and quarrying.

Taking two photos of a bench face after setting up some

marking elements the basic geometric information on the

bench face (height, inclination) is determined. Based on the

3D image the geometric layout of blasts is planned including

the possibility of taking account geometric irregularities
of

the bench face. This way optimum borehole positions and/or

optimum loading conditions can be found leading to reduced

excavation costs, reduced danger for rock fly, and reduced

blasting vibrations (Moser et al. 2006, Moser et al. 2007).

4.2.2 Underground blasting

In an underground mine the blasting layout was to be opti

mised. By a regular application of the mentioned technology,

3D images of subsequent excavation rounds were acquired.

From each 3D image the actual borehole positions of the

drill pattern were measured (in x,y,z). Additionally, a

quality

measure describing the smoothness and evenness of the tunnel

face was defined and determined based on the topography of

the 3D image. Figure 12. Geometric information on the

boreholes is used for documenting and optimising bench face
blasts. Figure 13. Subsequent geo-referenced 3D images of
tunnel faces in an underground mine. The marked points
represent the borehole positions that were measured
together with the geometry of the tunnel face and the
geological conditions. By combining the measurements of
subsequent tunnel faces together with the determined face
quality, the actual blasting results were recorded,
analysed, and improved on a step-bystep basis (Wimmer
2006). Another analysis performed within the study based on
the same data, included so-called critical burden tests.
The investigated rock volume was acquired by a 3D image
before and after the blast. The geometric difference
between the two 3D images, .i.e. the excavated volume was
used as measure to quantify the effectiveness of different
borehole-explosive systems. 5 FINAL REMARKS Photogrammetry
is a rather old approach for taking contactfree
measurements dating back before 1850. Improvements to
classical photogrammetry in the 1990’s led to new,
simplified field work and a new fields of application. 3D
images represent a powerful tool when given to engineers
and reasonably used. Blind trust on it is not appropriate.
Therefore, 3D images and their geotechnical assessment
shall not be a substitute to conventional field work but
rather a very useful supplement.

However, the interaction with 3D images alleviates the rock

mass assessment since the rock surface and its structures

can

be inspected from different angles and at different zoom

levels

allowing quick changes. Other advantages of the technology

are seen as:

• Increase of safety and reduction of acquisition time due

to

the contact free measurement principle.

• Permanent record (documentation) from the 3D image

enabling also later assessments or a time decoupling from

data acquisition and analysis.

• Minimal impact of construction activities.

• Considerable cost advantage against other contact free

measuring principles.

Some applications were addressed so far ranging from

geological/geotechnical engineering over surveying to blast

engineering. Increasing computer power and digital camera

improvements together with decreasing hardware costs might

strengthen the use of the 3D imaging and assessment technol

ogy in characterising and documenting rock mass even more

in the future.

Fasching,A. 2001. Improvement ofAcquisition Methods for

Geotech
nical Data. PhD thesis. In Riedmüller, G., Schubert, W.,
Semprich,

S. (eds.) Schriftenreihe Gruppe Geotechnik Graz Heft 12b,

Graz

University of Technology.

Faugeras, O. 1993. Three-Dimensional Computer Vision. MIT

Press,

Boston, MA. Gaich, A., Schubert, W., Pötsch, M. 2004.

Reproducible rock mass description in 3D using the
JointMetriX3D system, Proc. of the ISRM Regional Symposium
Eurock 2004 & 53rd Geomechanics Colloquy, Salzburg,
Austria, pp. 61–64. Gaich, A., Pötsch, M. & Schubert, W.
2006. Acquisition and assessment of geometric rock mass
features by true 3D images. In ARMA Golden Rocks 2006–50
Years of Rock Mechanics, Golden, Colorado, 17-21 June 2006,
Paper 06–1051. Pötsch, M. Schubert, W. & Gaich, A. 2006.
Kinematical analyses of rock blocks supported by 3D
imaging. In ARMA Golden Rocks 2006–50Years of Rock
Mechanics, Golden, Colorado, 17–21 June 2006, Paper
06-1079. Priest, S.D. 1993. Discontinuity Analysis for Rock
Engineering. Chapman and Hall, London. Moser, P., Gaich,
A., Zechmann, E. & Grasedieck, A. 2006. BlastMetriX3D – A
new tool to determine the geometrical parameters of a blast
based on 3D imaging,. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual
Conference on Explosives & BlastingTechnique 2006,Texas,
USA. Moser, P. Ganster, M. & Gaich,A. 2007. Experience with
and benefits from the use of 3D Stereophotogrammetry for
blast design and control. Proceedings of the 33rdAnnual
Conference on Explosives & Blasting Technique 2007,
Nashville, USA. Schubert, W., Goricki, A. & Riedmueller, G.
2003. The Guideline for the Geomechanical Design of
Underground Structures with Conventional Excavation.
Felsbau-Rock and Soil Engineering 21, Nr. 4, Glueckauf
Press, Essen. Slama, Ch. C. (ed.) 1980. Manual of
Photogrammetry. 4th edition. American Society of
Photogrammetry, Falls Church, VA. Wolf, P. R. & Dewitt, B.
A. 2000. Elements of Photo-grammetry. Third Edition.
McGraw-Hill, Boston. Wimmer, M. 2006. Optimisation of the
Drill and Blast Work in the Underground Marble Mine
Sterzing of Omya S.p.A. Diploma Thesis, Department of
Mineral Resources and Petroleum Engineering, Montanistic
University of Leoben, Austria. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Rock mass characterization
for tunnels in the Copenhagen limestone Niels Foged Danish
Technical University, Department of Civil Engineering, BYG
• DTU Lisa Jakobsen, Peter Jackson & Lars Erichsen COWI
A/S, Denmark

ABSTRACT:Tunnels in Copenhagen are drilled through highly

anisotropic limestone comprising alternating strongly
lithified

and less lithified parts.The mass quality of the limestone

is usually defined from fracture spacing registered in core
samples.The

deposit is, however, affected destructively by drilling

activity yielding a low Rock Quality Designation RQD.
In-situ observations

of the limestone in excavations or televiewer logs reveal

only few natural discontinuities compared to core logging,
indicating

a very good suitability for tunneling.

1 INTRODUCTION

Copenhagen has a limited tradition in tunneling, with only

few significant deep tunnels having been constructed. It

has relatively favorable geological conditions for tunnels

with stiff glacial tills overlying Danian Limestone. It is

however, a sensitive environment for tunneling as the city

contains many historic buildings which are sensitive to set

tlement and ground water lowering, constructing tunnels

beneath the city must therefore be carried out with great

caution. The existing tunnels have been constructed within

the Danian Limestone which whilst a favorable medium for

tunneling has proved to be problematic to characterize and

determine relevant mass properties for tunneling. This has

resulted in very cautious mass properties being applied. It

is

believed based on experience from the Copenhagen Metro

that was constructed from 1997 to 2001to be significantly

improved. Several tunnels are planned in Copenhagen and if

the mass properties of the limestone can be better

understood,

improvements and efficiencies in tunnel support systems can

be made.

The primary investigation tool for the limestone has

been cored borings these have been supplemented in recent

projects by geophysical techniques. These investigations

have

provided an overall stratigraphical framework for the lime

stone, dividing it into Upper, Middle and Lower Copen

hagen Limestone underlain by a transition unit and the

Bryozoan Limestone. Various engineering geological infor

mation have been gathered from the logging program. These

investigations however, have not allowed the mass proper

ties of the limestone to be characterized. For instance the

normal methods of rock characterization such as the Rock

Quality Designation index (RQD) yields very low values,

which are inconsistent with the observed behavior of the

rock mass.

This paper describes the work undertaken to compare rock

mass properties derived from cored boreholes, geophysical

loggings and those derived from face mapping of the tunnel

excavations. This work indicates that the mass properties
are

significantly better than would be expected and an approach

is put forward for deriving realistic rock mass properties

for

the Danian Limestone. 2 GEOLOGY IN THE COPENHAGEN AREA 2.1

Geological setting Copenhagen is situated in the eastern
most part of the DanishNorwegian Basin. The basin is
WNW-ESE trending and constricted by the 20–50 km wide
Sorgenfrei-Tornquist fault zone to the north and by
relatively high-lying basement blocks to the south. The
fault zone spreads from the North Sea in a NWSE direction
towards the Black Sea. It separates crystalline basement
rocks in the Scandinavian Shield to the NE from an about 10
km thick sedimentary succession deposited during the
Mesozoic. The fault was active during the late Cretaceous
to early Paleogene, which caused periods of subsidence
altering with uplift in the Norwegian-Danish Basin. These
resulted in a number of sea level fluctuations, which gave
rise to periods with high sedimentation rate altering with
slow sedimentation rate or erosion. Some 40 km west of the
Sorgenfrei-Tornquist zone is the NW-SE trending Carlsberg
fault.This fault has raised the limestone on the western
side with up to 90 m. The structural style in the limestone
east of the fault is dominated by gentle folding along WNW
to NW trending axis. Several glaciers reached the area from
N, NE and SE during the Weichselian, these eroded into the
surface of the limestone and caused folding of subjacent
glacial deposits. 2.2 General lithostratigraphy &
diagenesis The bedrock in the Copenhagen area consists of
Danian Limestone. The limestone is overlain by Quaternary
deposits of glacial tills and intervening melt water
deposits. Recent deposits of postglacial organic deposits
and urban fill superposes the glacial deposits. The Danian
Limestone is divided into two sequences: Bryozoanand
Copenhagen Limestone. The Copenhagen Limestone forms a
40–50 m thick unit resting on top of about 50 m Bryozoan
Limestone. Copenhagen Limestone was deposited in a shallow
marine environment. The sediment consisted of a mixture of
skeletal remains of planktonic organisms in a matrix of
diagenetic precipitated calcite crystals. Up to 30% of the
sediment consisted of biogenic silica derived from
silicious sponges and planktonic

organisms (Knudsen et al. 1995). The diagenesis of the lime

stone varies from unlithified to very strongly lithified,

due to

varying degrees of cementation and silicification. Periods

of

slow activity caused by shallowing of water depth promoted

early sedimentation rate, high degrees of bioturbation and

cur

rent lithification whereas rapid sedimentation gave rise to

less

lithified sediments. Variation in lithification is

described as

induration grade (Table 1). H1 limestone is often associated

with the degree of induration according to Danish standard

(Larsen et al. 1995) which is correlatable to ISRM rock

intense

fracturing and occurs in the upper parts of the limestone

which

has been subjected to glacial processes or adjacent to

flint.

Flint consists mainly of diagenetic precipitated quartz

(SiO 2 )

and occurs as silicified limestone with induration degree

H5.

The average density of limestone is 2.66 g/cm 3 ranging from

2.50 to 2.80 g/cm 3 . The density of pure calcite (CaCO 3 )

is

2.71 g/cm 3 . The range in density is caused by contents of

quartz, pyrite (FeS 2 ) and clay minerals and generally

increases

with increasing degree of induration. The bulk rock density

ranges from 1.85 to 2.65 g/cm 3 and reflects porosity and

grain
density. There is a relationship between the uniaxial
compres

sive strength (UCS) and bulk density; the strength increases

with increasing degree of induration and density. Pure

flint has

a bulk density of 2.56 g/cm 3 but has a much higher strength

for corresponding bulk density.

2.3 Stratigraphy of the Copenhagen Limestone

The Copenhagen Limestone is divided into a Lower, Mid

dle and Upper Unit, based on lithology and logstratigraphy,

Stenestad (1976). The Upper Unit is about 15 m thick and

Table 1. Induration and strength-/deformation properties

for Copenhagen Limestone (Kryger-Hansen & Foged 2002).

Degree of ISRM rock Unconfined compressive Modulus of

elasticity Tensile strength

induration Description grade strength σ c [MPa] E t (50)

[MPa] [MPa]

H1 Unindurated R0 0,25–1 (130) (∼0)

H2 Sligthly indurated R1 1–5 1000–5000 0,2–0,8

H3 Indurated R2 5–25 5000–20000 1–4

H4 Strongly indurated R3/R4 25–100 20000–60000 4–10

H5 Very strongly indurated R5/R6 100–500 – –

Figure 1. Face log conducted in the Metro cross-over

cavern. consists of horizontally bedded limestone of
different induration. The Middle Unit is about 20 m thick
and distinctively bioturbated, with burrows occurring as
irregular flint nodules. The lower subunit is 4–6 m thick
and horizontally bedded. The most common occurrence of
flint in the Upper and Lower Units are in the form of layer
parallel bands. 2.4 Fracturing, folds and faults Several
fracture systems are identified in the limestone, including
brecciation in the upper part and layer-parallel to steeply
dipping fractures. Layer-parallel fracturing occurs usually
along the surfaces of strongly indurated beds in weakly
indurated limestone or internally within beds. Such
fractures were probably formed by loading/unloading during
and after the ice-age.The intensity of layer-parallel
fracturing decreases with depth. Horizontal fractures are
usually narrow with apertures of 0–2 mm. Vertical fractures
are common in the more indurated beds and normally have
apertures of 0–2 mm. Such fractures are up to 1 m long and
normally confined within a single or two beds. Vertical
fractures are caused by stress related to the
Sorgenfrei-Tornquist zone. 3 ASSESMENT OF ROCK MASS QUALITY
3.1 Theoretical considerations Rock mass properties depend
on the density, nature and extent of fractures, strength,
degree of weathering, water content etc. Characterization
of rock mass properties is therefore an

accumulation of weighted values given to selected

parameters.

The quality of Danian Limestone has been characterized using

classification systems such as the Q-index (Barton et al.

1974)

and the RMR (Bieniawski 1974). The Q-index is calculated

by multiplying parameters like RQD, joint set number, water

inflow from joints etc. Assessment of rock mass properties

on the basis of RMR (Rock Mass Rating) utilizes the UCS

of intact rock samples, mean fracture spacing and

orientation

etc. besides RQD. Estimations of rock quality on the basis

of Q-index and RMR classify the Copenhagen Limestone as

of very poor quality (Kryger-Hansen & Foged 2002). Being

included in both methods, RQD is a key parameter in deter

mining rock mass properties. RQD was originally developed

to use on core samples of crystalline rocks. However, lime

stone is much weaker and more ductile than crystalline

rocks,
Table 2. Degree of fracturing according to Danish standard

(Larsen et al. 1995).

Symbol Term Observation

S1 Unfractured No fractures observed

S2 Slightly fractured Fracture distance is greater than 10

cm. No vertical fractures

S3 Fractured Fracture distance between 6 and 10 cm

S4 Very fractured Fracture distance between 2 and 6 cm

S5 Crushed, blocky Fracture distance less than 2 cm

Figure 2. Degree of induration in the boreholes C5076, GT07

and

GB02 and in hatched facelogs at indicated cross sections.

Table 3. Values of RQD at the same limestone interval in

core samples, televiewer logs and face logs.

Location Heat transmission tunnel Cross-over cavern Tele

viewer Core

Type Core samples log samples Face log

Id GB02 GT07 GB02 C5076 CROSS_85 CROSS_70 CROSS_59 CROSS_50

CROSS_40 CROSS_32

RQD 28 21 – 20 – – – – – –

J v – – – – 1.62 1,54 1,68 2,63 6,48 3,39

RQD (calc) – – – – 110 110 109 106 94 104

Core loss (%) 7 28 25 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
and is affected significantly by the drilling process.The
values of RQD calculated from core samples are therefore
misleading. However, a method has been developed to
determine the quality of rock from exposed surfaces. The
method utilizes knowledge of the number of joints
intersecting a volume of rock mass, defined as joint per m
3 i.e. the volumetric joint count, J v (Palmström 2001). J
v is calculated based on joint set spacing S 1 , S 2 , S 3
and the number of random joints Nr as: If any random joints
occur on the rock face, these can be included by assuming a
random spacing (S v ) for each of these. Experience from
other investigations indicates that this spacing can be set
to S v = 5 m. The rock quality is determined by Palmström
as: The most optimal way to determine the occurrence of
fractures is through face logging. Another way to determine
RQD is from televiewer loggings, where fracture distances
and fracture set may be evaluated from acoustic and optical
logs (Rider 2000). 3.2 Field and laboratory work When
constructing the Metro in Copenhagen an 85 m long and 12 m
broad cross-over cavern was excavated using a shotcrete
support method. Detailed inspections, “face logs”, Figure
3. Degree of fracturing in the same boreholes and facelogs.

Figure 4a. Acoustic and optical image log of Upper

Copenhagen Limestone with adjoined core photo.

were carried out during excavation (Figure 1).The

descriptions

included drawing a geological profile, vertical measurement

of induration at selected places, number and type of

fractures,

water inflow etc. Investigations for a new heat transmission

tunnel have implemented televiewer logs. One of the logged

borings is situated within 200 m from the cross-over cavern.

The acoustic log produces a high-resolution digital image of

the borehole wall from ultrasound signals. Good signal comes

from a smooth surface while a rough surface causes scatter

ing. The colour scale describes the surface from soft to

hard.

Yellow areas are hard while bluish indicates soft or

fractured

areas. Mottled yellow and purple indicate variable hardness,

see Figure 4. Investigations for both tunnels included

borings

near the alignments. Core samples were described with

respect
to degree of induration and fracturing. The degree of
fractur

ing was recorded on a scale of S1 to S5 on the basis of

spacing

between the fractures observed (Table 2). Laboratory works

included assessment of RQD, which is the ratio between total

length of core pieces with length more than 10 cm and the

core run. Conventional geophysical logs display several cor

related markers indicating a similar lithology within the

area

of the cross-over cavern. The televiewer images can

therefore readily be compared to recordings in core samples
and face logging conducted in the cross-over cavern. 3.3
Results of investigations Figure 2 shows variations in
degree of induration recorded along a 5 m interval of the
limestone in core samples and face logs from cross-over
cavern. The upper 3–5 m represents Upper Copenhagen
Limestone and comprises horizontally layered limestone,
with beds of between 0.1 to 0.3 m and induration degrees
generally between 2 to 4. Distinct bioturbation is
introduced from approximately −20.5 m, which marks the
lithological transition to Middle Copenhagen Limestone. A
0.6 to 0.8 m thick interval of H4 to H5 limestone is found
in levels from about −19.8 to −20.5 m. This bed represents
a hardground,located at the interface between Upper and
Middle Copenhagen Limestone. Below the hardground is an
approx. 0.8 m thick interval of slightly indurated
limestone. From conventional geophysical loggings, these
intervals are characterized by relatively low porosity,
high density and resistivity while less indurated intervals
show high porosity and low density and resistivity.

Figure 4b. Acoustic and optical image log of Upper

Copenhagen Limestone with adjoined core photo.

The degree of fracturing in core samples is usually between

3–4, indicating fractured to very fractured material. In

face

logs, however, comparable few fractures have been observed.

Table 3 shows the average values of RQD recorded in nearby

borings from the same level and RQD’s calculated from J v

determined in face logs.

Core samples from two borings at Adelgade have shown

high degrees of fracturing and RQD’s between 0 and 63,

indicating a poor to very poor rock quality. No fractures

are observed on the image logs in boring GB02. The lowest

value of RQD is recorded in boring C5076 near the cross

over cavern. The face log CROSS_59 is situated within 6 m

from C5076. While RQD values from 0 to 35 have been

recorded in C5076, only few horizontal fractures are

observed

in the face log, yielding an RQD of 109. The nearby face

logs have calculated RQD’s of 94–110 indicating a very good

quality of the limestone. Recent investigations have imple

mented assessment of RQD on the basis of J v determined in

face logs conducted at several other locations along the

Metro alignment (Stabell 2004). All of the calculations
have shown RQD’s >75 %, indicating a good to very good
quality of the rock.Figure 4 shows acoustic and optical
image recordings of the Copenhagen Limestone compared to
photographs of cores. Figure 4a shows a 1m interval of the
Upper Copenhagen Limestone, and 4b similarly a 1m interval
of Middle Copenhagen Limestone. The interval comprising the
Upper Limestone appears dominantly yellow, slightly purple
dotted on the acoustic image. The optic image appears
uniformly grey with few layer-parallel fissures. The degree
of fracturing in core samples, however, spans from S2 to
S5. The Middle Unit is strongly bioturbated with nodules of
strongly indurated limestone in a matrix of less indurated
limestone and with a few layer-parallel fissures in
contrast to the cores showing S2 to S5. Burrows are visible
on the optic log, while the acoustic log appears distinctly
mottled purple and yellow. Consequently, core samples are
seen to be significantly affected by the drilling process.
4 CONCLUSIONS

Comparison of core samples, televiewer and face logs from

the

same interval of the Copenhagen Limestone shows a signifi

cant difference in the degree of fracturing, and thus the

rock

mass properties obtained from traditional classification

meth

ods. Classification on the basis of in-situ observations

yields

RQD values approximately 3 to 5 times larger than obtained

through core logging. Drilling through variable indurated

limestone results in a significant core loss, often as high

as 30–

50% in percent of total length of cored interval.

Bioturbated

limestone is usually destroyed significantly by the drilling

process. The nodules of strongly indurated limestone acts as

abrasives in less indurated limestone, such material appear

strongly fractured in core samples. In-situ observations of

the

limestone from televiewer or face logs displays the

limestone

much less fractured, and give a more reliable impression of

the quality of the Copenhagen Limestone, which has proven

to be highly suited for tunnelling works.

Barton, N.R., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. (1974): Engineering

classification

of rock massses for the design of tunnel support. Rock

Mech., 6,
p.189–239. Bieniawski, Z.T. (1974): Geomechanic
classification of rock masses and its application in
tunnelling. Proceedings of the international Conference on
Rock Joints, Loen, 4–6 June, p.603–610. Knudsen, C.,
Andersen, C., Foged, N., Jakobsen, P.R., Larsen, B. (1995):
Stratigraphy and engineering geology of København
Limestone. dgf-Bulletin 11, vol. 5, p.117–126. Kryger
Hansen, H & Foged, N. (2002): Kalkens bjergmekaniske
egenskaber, dgf-Bulletin 19, Danish Geotechnical Society,
p. 31–34. Larsen, G., Frederiksen, J.,Villumsen,A.,
Fredericia, J., Gravesen, P., Foged, N., Baumann, J.
(1995): A guide to engineering geological soil description,
dgf-Bulletin 1. Palmström, A.(2001): Measurement and
characterization of rock mass jointing, Sharma, V.M.,
Saxena, K.R. eds., A.A. Balkema Publisher. Rider, M.
(2000): The Geological Interpretation of Well Logs, 2 ed.,
Whittles Publishing, 280 pp. Stabell, S.R. (2004): Rock
mass classification for construction in the Øresunds
region, unpublished Masters Thesis, BYG•DTU, 74 pp.
Stenestad, E. (1976): Geology of the Copenhagen area
predominantly based on investigations for an urban
underground railway. Geological Survey of Denmark. III.
Series. No. 45. København. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3

Spatio-temporal evolution of the Excavation Damaged Zones

(EDZ): Lessons learned from the French Tournemire site in
indurate clay A. Rejeb Institute of Radioprotection and
Nuclear safety (IRSN), Fontenay-aux-Roses, France J.
Rutqvist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), One
cyclotron road, Berkeley, California, USA

ABSTRACT: The Tournemire experimental site enables the

assessment of the EDZ (Excavation Damaged Zone) around a

century old tunnel, an eleven year-old gallery and a four

year-old gallery. The three openings have an EDZ of the
same extent,

i.e approximately 20% of the mean radius of the excavation.

However, the typology of the EDZ fracturing seems to be
affected

by the age of the opening. The EDZ fracturing around the

old tunnel resembles onion skins whereas the new galleries
have an

EDZ fracturing parallel to the bedding planes. An EDZ

explanation has been derived by considering a
time-dependent failure

mechanism governed by a desaturation/resaturation

processes.At first, these processes induced probably a
tensile failure around

the new galleries. Later, these processes cause a gradual

weakening of the rock which can result in a compressive
failure around

the old tunnel. The time-dependent failure mechanism is

partly confirmed by hydromechanical simulations carried out
under

unsaturated conditions.

1 INTRODUCTION

Deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste

poses

to earth science experts the specific problem of how to man

age the very long radionuclide containment period. Burying

this waste represents a large-scale, protracted activity.

The

timescales considered are of the order of magnitude of

million

years, which considerably exceeds the lifetime of the earli

est existing underground openings. There are several ways

of partly overcoming the difficulty of extrapolating to

large

timescales, such as studying observable phenomena in the

laboratory at moderate or even low rates, studying natural

equivalents, and studying very old early openings such as

the

Tournemire tunnel, which was excavated one century ago.

For repository safety assessment purposes, the analysis of

the openings concerns specifically the possible creation of
an

Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ). A complete control of the

evolution of this EDZ over space and time is an essential

factor

for long-term repository safety.

The existence of this old tunnel as well as two additional

more recent galleries in the Tournemire experimental site

makes possible an evaluation of the EDZ in the argillaceous

Toarcian formation over the time. First, the excavated

gallery

in 2003, allowed the evaluation of the hydro-mechanical

response of the argillite rock mass to excavation (Rejeb,

2005).

Second, the studies conducted in this site concern the

charac

terisation of the damaged zones around the three openings

and the subsequent identification of the phenomena associ

ated with their creation and evolution over time (Rejeb &

Cabrera, 2006). Third, a considerable amount of modelling

work was carried out but none of the predictions provides

the

experimental EDZs (Rejeb et al., 2006).

This paper first presents a compilation of the whole exper

imental results, emphasizing on the characterization of the

EDZ in space and time. A new modelling of the EDZ around

the old tunnel and the new gallery is also described. Here,
the term EDZ (Excavation Damaged Zone) refers to the zone
where fractures develop due to failure of the rock mass. 2
TOURNEMIRE SITE The Tournemire site is located in a
Mesozoic marine basin at the southern limit of the French
Massif Central. The sedimentary formations are
characterised by three main Jurassic layers. The
argillaceous medium of the Tournemire region consists of a
sub horizontal layer 250-m thick located between two layers
of limestone and dolomite which constitute two aquifer
layers. This argillaceous medium consists of argillites and
marls in the form of thin interstratified layers of
argillaceous minerals giving the rock mass a naturally
anisotropic texture. These argillites have very low water
content (1 to 5%), a porosity between 6 and 9%. The
uniaxial compressive strength ranges from 13 to 32 MPa,
depending on the orientation of the samples. The tensile
strength in the direction parallel to the stratification is
around 3.6 MPa. Water permeability is very low and it is
estimated in site at 10 −13 m/s. The Tournemire argillite
contains 40% argillaceous minerals resulting in swelling
and shrinkage with respect to desaturation and resaturation
processes. The mechanical properties are very sensitive to
the rock saturation condition (Vales et al., 2004). At the
site scale, these phenomena produce capillary pressures of
up to 50 MPa, leading to flaking and fissuring of gallery
walls and working faces after excavation. The
infrastructure of the Tournemire site is shown in figure 1.
The oldest component is a 2 km tunnel giving direct access
to the Toarcian argillite formation of interest. It was
excavated manually in 1881 and is lined with limestone
masonry. In 1996, two 30 m long galleries (‘east’ and
‘west’ galleries) perpendicular to the tunnel were
excavated using a road header machine. These two galleries
are devoted to the study of argillite fracturing,
desaturation and resaturation

Figure 1. Site infrastructure and EDZ along the old tunnel.

phenomena. In 2003, a new gallery (‘main’gallery) 40 m long

was excavated to conduct a ‘mine-by-test’ experiment and to

study the hydromechanical response of argillites to excava

tion. This gallery was excavated using a road header machine

with a dust removal system. The galleries excavated in 1996

and 2003 are mechanically stable.

3 EDZ CHARACTERISATION IN SPACE

In Tournemire site, the EDZ characterisation in space was

firstly conducted by analysing the fractures observed at the

intersection between the old tunnel and the new galleries

(figure 1).The same subvertical fractures, parallel to the

tunnel

axis, were observed along the tunnel, from boreholes, as

indi

cated by the dark areas in figure 1. These observations have

made it possible to delimit the contour of the EDZ

throughout

the tunnel by extrapolating the observed fracturing. It

must be

noted here that the existence of an EDZ around the openings

in the Tournemire site is theoretically not to be expected,

since

the excavation-induced stresses are less than the strength

of

the material.

In order to correctly investigate the spatial distribution

of

the EDZ, eight radial boreholes 6 to 15-m deep were drilled

in each vertical section of the three openings. These bore

holes were drilled dry and systematically core sampled. The

observations of the orientation and density of the

excavation

induced fractures make it possible to determine the mapping

of the EDZ and thereby obtain an estimate of the extent of

the

failure zones around the openings. An example of these geo

logical investigations is summed up in figure 2

corresponding
to the east gallery excavated in 1996.

The EDZ fracturing around the galleries excavated in 1996

and 2003 is the same. Unsaturated micro-cracks, mainly par

allel to the bedding planes are observed on the non-lined

walls

of each gallery (figure 2 and 3a). These micro-cracks can be

delimited by an envelope approximately 40 cm thick. The tun

nel has an EDZ with dense fracturing clearly parallel to the

wall; resembling onion skins (figure 3b). These fractures

are

open and partly filled by gypsum. This EDZ has a homoge

neous extent with an average thickness of 70 cm around the

tunnel.

4 EDZ EVOLUTION IN TIME

In order to analyse the time effect on the development of

the

EDZ, table 1 summarizes the main results concerning the

three Figure 2. EDZ (from core observation) around the
gallery excavated in 1996. Figure 3. Time-dependent failure
around (a) 2003 gallery and (b) old tunnel. Table 1. Extent
of damaged and desaturated zones normalised by excavation
radius R. Opening 1881 Tunnel 1996 Gallery 2003 Gallery EDZ
0.22 R 0.20 R 0.16 R Z desaturated 0.3–0.6 R 0.2–0.4 R
0.2–0.4 R openings. Taking into account the error
associated with determining the extent of the EDZ through
direct observation of fractures, it can be concluded that
the three openings have an EDZ of the same extent, i.e.,
approximately 20% of the mean radius. However, the typology
of the EDZ fracturing seems to be affected by the age of
the openings. The extent of the desaturated zone (Z
desaturated ) has been estimated based on the gas
permeability and saturation profiles. Contrary to what was
expected, the extent of the desaturated zone is of the same
order of magnitude for the openings. The desaturation
process seems to be developed quickly in the openings
submitted to the natural ventilation with a variation of
the relative humidity between 40 and 100% depending on the
season. The extent of the desaturated zones slightly
exceeds that of the fractured zones in the rock mass
surrounding the three openings. The development of these
desaturated and damaged zones is obviously much linked.

The EDZ in theTournemire site was created in time. Indeed,

during the excavation of the new galleries, none instanta

neous failure, induced by the deconfinement of the rock

mass, was observed. During the first years after excavation,

the desaturation/resaturation phenomena induced probably a

tensile failure around the new galleries (figure 3a). Many

years later, these desaturation/resaturation phenomena

(hydric

cycles) may cause a gradual weakening of the rock.A progres

sive degradation of the rock strength can happen and induce

a

compressive failure generating the fracturing observed

around

the old tunnel (figure 3b). Specific laboratory tests using

sam

ples submitted to hydric cycles are undergoing to

investigate

the possible weakening and the fatigue of the argillite

material.

5 EDZ MODELLING

This section presents hydromechanical modelling aiming

at studying the stress evolution induced by desatura

tion/resaturation processes. This modelling is also devoted

to

confirm the potential failure mechanisms of the EDZs, pre

sented in figure 3. This analysis builds on the previous and

ongoing work in the framework of the international DECO

VALEX project presented in Maßmann et al. (2006), Rejeb

et al. (2006) and Uehara et al. (2006). However, currently,

none of these previous models have been able to correctly

predict the shape or extent of the EDZ as observed around

the

openings at the Tournemire site. Specifically, very low rock

strength has to be assumed and the predicted failure zone

is not

similar to the observed uniform EDZ around the old tunnel.

5.1 Model Setup

Two finite element models were constructed: one for the old

tunnel, and one for the 2003 gallery. Both openings were mod

eled in two-dimensional vertical sections extending 50 m in

each direction from the tunnel or gallery centers. The

simula

tions were conducted using the finite element code ROCMAS,

which is based on Biot’s theory (Rutqvist et al., 2001). The

basic material properties used for the simulation of both

the

old tunnel and the 2003 gallery have been estimated from

field or laboratory measurements related to the Tournemire

site. They are given in Rejeb et al. (2006).

One of the most important aspects of this study is to cor

rectly predict the stress evolution and distribution around

the

openings during desaturation of the rock. In general, there

are at least two approaches for modelling hydromechani

cal response in unsaturated geological media. One common

approach is to introduce a swelling or shrinkage strain,

which

is a function of saturation. A second approach, used

herein, is

to model hydromechanical deformations using effective stress

approach extended to the negative pore pressure regime. An

effective stress approach might be appropriate in this case

dealing with hard rock, and at a relatively high degree of

satu

ration (the measured degree of saturation in the field is

rarely

less than 0.8).

Using the effective stress approach, we simulated the exca

vation and subsequent drying around the 2003 gallery, and

found a reasonable good agreement with measured hydrome

chanical responses (mine-by-test experiment). Specifically,

we found a good agreement to measured rock deformation,

including a rapid deformation response due to the excava

tion process, and then a delayed deformation attribute to

drying around the gallery. Also, we obtained a reasonable

good agreement with the general degree of drying around the

20. 15. 10. 5. 0. 0. -10. -20. -30. -40. 15. 10. 5. 0.
(c)(b)(a) Figure 4. Stress contours for a desaturated zone
extending about 0.5 m from the tunnel wall. (a) Total mean
stress, (b) effective mean stress, and (c) maximum shear
stress. The contour levels are in MPa and negative values
indicate compressive stress. openings. Globally, we
consider that the calibration of the model is satisfactory
and it is enough accurate for the analysis of general
stress evolution around the tunnel caused by
desaturation/resaturation processes. 5.2 Results of stress
evolution around old tunnel The stress evolution around the
old tunnel was simulated during a period up to 100 years.
The simulation was conducted at an average yearly relative
humidity in the tunnel of 70%, which corresponds to a
capillary suction of 46 MPa applied at the tunnel wall.
Using the applied capillary suction, and the adopted
retention curve, the initially saturated rock is quickly
desaturated adjacent to the drift wall to about 82%. Figure
4 presents contour plots of total and effective mean
stresses as well as maximum shear stress for a situation
when the rock has been desaturated to a distance of about
0.5 m from the tunnel wall. The outer boundary of the
contours showing strong stress changes is about 0.5 m from
the tunnel wall, which is approximately 0.2 R. There is a
clear similarity between the stress contour pattern in
figure 4 and the EDZ distribution observed around the old
tunnel (figure 3b). This indicates that onion skins
fracturing at the old tunnel are indeed caused by the
desaturation of the rock. The localized stresses around the
tunnel wall are caused by strong suction shrinkage. Total
stresses in the tangential and axial direction are strongly
tensile, whereas total stress in the radial direction
(normal to the tunnel wall) is close to zero. However, when
considering effective stresses, the analysis indicates
increased compressive stresses during the drying. In fact
drying gives rise to high compressive stress in all three
directions, but especially in the radial direction (normal
to the tunnel wall). The creation of tensile fractures
along bedding planes at the 1996 gallery and 2003 gallery
can be explained by the presence of tensile stresses near
the excavation wall, in combination with a loss of
capillary suction in fractures as they become open. On the
other hand, the development of onion skin fractures in the
old tunnel cannot be well explained from the calculated
stress changes. Generally, onion skin fractures could be a
result of so-called spalling phenomena, induced by high
compressive tangential stresses (Martin, 2005). In this
case the tangential stresses are compressive considering
effective stresses. However, the effective compressive
stresses are actually maximal in the direction normal to
the drift wall, Time(Years) S T R E S S ( P a ) 0 -6E+07
-4E+07 -2E+07 0 2E+07 4E+07 6E+07
Monitoringpointlocated10cmintorock SolidLines=TotalStress
DashedLines=EffectiveStress TangentialandAxial Radial
(normal to wall) 1 2 3 4 5

Figure 5. Oscillatory stress evolution for a point located

in the rock
at 10 cm from the tunnel wall.

indicating that the rock would be compacted in the direction

normal to the tunnel wall.

We also simulated yearly cycles of desaturation/resaturation

during summer and winter periods. The model indicates that

the saturation at the tunnel wall oscillates between about

40% and 100% depending on the season. This causes oscil

latory stress changes, especially very close to the tunnel

wall

(figure 5). Such oscillations in the stress field might

contribute

to the static fatigue and development of damage around the

old tunnel.

6 CONCLUSIONS

For the experimental investigations, various methods have

been used to characterise the damaged zones at theTournemire

site. These methods have given consistent and complementary

results. The direct observation of the fracturing by means

of

radial boreholes, presented in this paper, is the most

relevant

method to characterise the EDZ. Indirect measurements such

as velocity and permeability measurements in boreholes and

saturation measurements on samples are required to assess

damaged and desaturated zones. In addition, these methods

produce data that can confirm the characterisation of the

EDZ

using core observation. At least three radial boreholes are

required (parallel, perpendicular and oriented 45 ◦ with
respect

to the bedding planes) for these indirect measurements and

thereby to estimate the extent of the damaged and

desaturated

zones around the openings. It is recommended to perform a

maximum number of measurements in the first two meters

from the wall where a significant modification of the mate

rial properties is expected. Investigations via radial

boreholes

have the advantage of making possible endoscopic or ultra

sonic velocity measurements at different dates so as to

detect

a possible evolution of damage over time and over the

relative

humidity in the galleries.

In order to understand the main mechanisms governing the

ABSTRACT: The Shuibuya underground powerhouse lies in the

environment where the upper rock mass is hard and the lower

rock mass is soft, and the wall rock around the underground
powerhouse is soft-hard alternating.The
elastic-plastic-brittle theory

is taken to use for analyzing the stability of the

powerhouse caverns in the light of the different mechanical
characters between

the soft rock mass and hard rock mass. The improved PCCG
solver is adopted to solve the problems on the
ill-conditioned

equation, computation speed and precision due to different

mechanical characters between the soft rock mass and hard
rock

mass.The large area including the underground powerhouse is

adopted to simulate the initial geo-stress field in order
to simulate

better that the three dimension feature of the terrain and

physiognomy and complicated geological structure influence
on the

distribution of the initial geo-stress. The small area

including the underground powerhouse is taken to simulate
the excavating

process of the caverns and analyze the wall rock stability

of the powerhouse. The method to interpolate with numerical
inverse

isoparametric mapping is adopted to establish the

connection between the super large-scale finite element
model and the part

small finite element model of the powerhouse with refining

the mesh for the second time. The different schemes of the
layout

of the Shuibuya underground powerhouse and different

replacement schemes of the P 3 1q soft rock mass are put
forward, and the

computations and analysis of the powerhouse stability are

executed according to the different layout and replacement
schemes,

afterwards, the suggestions to decide the layout of the

Shuibuya Underground Powerhouse and the scheme of the
replacement

of soft rock mass P 3 1q are put forward.

1 FOREWORD

The Shuibuya Multi-purpose Project lies in the middle reache

of the Qingjiang River in Badong county, Hubei province. The

Project is composed of a concrete face rockfill dam (CFRD),

an underground powerhouse, a spillway, releasing tunnels.

The layout of the Shuibuya multi-purpose project is shown as

figure 1. The underground powerhouse is composed of a main

powerhouse, powerhouse intake tunnels, generatrix tunnels

and tailwater tunnels.

The underground powerhouse is in the terrane where the

upper rock mass is hard and the lower one is soft, so the
geo

logical condition is very special and complicated in this

area,

which takes passive impacts on the stability of the under

ground powerhouse. To meet the demand of design and

construction security of the underground powerhouse, the

Figure 1. Location of the computation model in the whole

multi-purpose project. research on the stability of the

underground powerhouse is very valuable in engineering and
application. Because the Shuibuya underground powerhouse is
in the surroundings with special geology, terrain and
physiognomy, there are some problems involving in the
following five aspects which have something to do with the
stability analysis of the Shuibuya underground powerhouse.
Firstly, the principal problem is how to set up the
computation model of soft-hard interval rock mass. Maan
coal stratum (P 1ma ) and Huanglong shear zone goes through
the draft tubes of the underground powerhouse. The whole
underground powerhouse lays in the rock surroundings where
the upper rock mass is hard and the lower rock mass is
soft. The wall rock around the underground powerhouse is
soft-hard interval. The values of elastic modulus and
intensity of Soft rock mass are low, but the values of hard
rock mass are high. The deformation of soft rock mass is
very different from that of hard rock mass, which show that
the soft rock mass behaves elastic-plastic characteristic,
and the hard rock mass behaves brittle-plastic
characteristic. It is the principal problem how to consider
not only the soft property of soft rock mass but also the
brittle property of the rock mass. According to the past
researches, brittle-plastic is replaced with softened
model, which leans to danger [4,5] in application. The rock
constitutive model adopted in the numerical analysis in
this paper is nonlinear-brittle-plastic. Secondly, it is
about 3D problem. Usually, the computation of cavern groups
can be done by 2D analysis. But the terrane around the
Shuibuya Underground Powerhouse are gradient, the elevation
of soft rock existing around the underground powerhouse
changes along the axes of the caverns, and terrain

and physiognomy show obviously 3D feature. So, 3D analysis

of the Shuibuya Underground Powerhouse is necessary.

Thirdly, it is problem about the simulation of the original

stress field. The first step of mechanical analysis of the

under

ground caverns is to ascertain original stress. The original

stress is closely related to the rock tectonics such as

terrain,

physiognomy, joints and faults. Considering the macro influ

ence of the rock tectonics such as terrain, physiognomy,

joints

and faults, it is necessary to take large area to

reasonably com

pute the original gravity stress. But in order to simulate

that

the process of excavation of cavern effects on the wall rock

stability of caverns, it is necessary to refine the mesh of

the

caverns, which will make the computation scale too large.

This paper puts forward the method to refine the mesh for
the

second time based on displacement-coupled principle, which

integrates coarse mesh with fine mesh, and a set of

algorithms

and formulas.

The gravity stress field is considered as the only factors

which influence the distribution of original stress field

around
the Shuibuya Underground Powerhouse because there are

some features in this area:

1. The actual stratum in the area is almost horizontal;

2. Wall rock of the caverns is relatively cracked, the rock

mass

on the earth’s surface seriously has weathered, and most of

the tectonic stress is released.

Fourthly, it is the problem about how to solve the

large-scale

equations. Even if the method to refine the mesh for the

second

time is adopted, the scale of the computation is still very

large,

that is to say, computer numerical simulation of the

excavation

of large-scale and large cross-section caverns is still a

prob

lem. After dispersing the engineering model, the number of

element is approximately 30 thousand, so the velocity and

pre

cision of the computation is very important. Improved PCCG

solver, namely, improved conjugate gradient method[1, 6] is

adopted to solve the problems on the ill-conditioned

equation,

the velocity and precision of computation, which due to the

existence of soft-hard interval rock mass.

Fifthly, it is the problem about how to deal with soft rock

mass. The Shuibuya Underground Powerhouse lays in the

environment where the upper rock mass is hard and the lower
rock mass is soft. The wall rock mass around the underground

powerhouse is soft-hard interval rock mass. Maan coal stra

tum and Huanglong shear zone go through the draft tubes of

the underground powerhouse. The large scale of the under

ground powerhouse is large, the interveining caverns and the

large deformation and low intensity of P 3 1q locating near

the

skewback during the course of excavation will probably lead

to instability of the caverns. Suggests are given that the

origi

nal design scheme of the replacement of the soft rock mass

is

replaced with alveolar wall scheme.

2 BASIC PRINCIPLES AND METHODS ON STABILITY

ANALYSIS OF SUPER LARGE-SCALE CAVERN

2.1 The method to refine the mesh for the second time

In theory, the larger of the computation area by finite

element

method (FEM), the better of computing result. In

geotechnical

engineering, on the one hand, considering the influence of

rock

tectonics such as terrain, physiognomy, joints and faults on

the result of computation, the computation area is often

large.

Because of the restriction of the computation scale, the

mesh

for finite element is coarse. On the other hand, because

the dimensions of the building structure (such as opencast
working, shoring structure of a rock mass and underground
caverns) concerned in the aspect of computation is small,
so the mesh for finite element method is fine. It is
impossible to consider the upper two hands. This paper puts
forward the method to refine the mesh for the second time
to solve the problem. The basic thought of the method to
refine the mesh for the second time is that, to consider
the influence of rock tectonics such as terrain,
physiognomy, joints and faults on the result of
computation, larger computation area will be taken, and the
mesh of finite element method is relatively coarse, but as
to terrain, physiognomy, joints and faults, this mesh can
meet the demands, which is called the first mesh. Original
stress field and displacement field can be computed
according to this mesh. Then, take out part of computation
area near the structure, refine the mesh for the second
time, and attach importance to the research on mechanics
response caused by excavation. The boundary condition of
the model to refine the mesh for the second time is the
displacement boundary when the original stress value of the
model to be refined the mesh for the second time is
calculated. The value of boundary of the model to refine
the mesh for the second displacement is the computation
result of the model to be meshed for the first time. The
boundary condition of the model during the process of the
first excavation and the following excavations are fixed
constrains. The value of displacement boundary of the model
to be refined the mesh for the second time is the
computation result of that of the model to be meshed for
the first time. But the nodes and the elements of the model
to be refined the mesh for the second time is different
from those of the model to be meshed for the first time.
There are many interpolation methods to transform the
computation result of displacement boundary of the model to
be divided the mesh for the first time into the value of
displacement boundary of the model to be refined the mesh
for the second time. A algorithm adopted in this paper can
make the iterative format concise and that the values of
physical quantities high precision, and the algorithm is
interpolating with numerical inverse isoparametric mapping
[2] . 2.2 Method to interpolate with numerical inverse
isoparametric mapping The kernel of the isoparametric
element is coordinate transformation, that is to say, the
irregular element in the x-y-z coordinate is expressed with
the regular element by the local coordinate ξ-η-ζ, which
makes the description of the element tending to uniform
format. The geometry and mechanics analysis of the element
are done in the ξ-η-ζ space, which makes the analysis
greatly concise. Inverse transform means the coordinate
transform from the local coordinate in ξ-η-ζ space to the
global coordinate in x-y-z space, namely, M : L → G, when ∼
x ∈ G, then ∼ ξ = M −1 ( ∼ x ) ∈ L. In the analysis by 3D
isoparametric finite element method, there are coordinate
transformation:

where N i is shape function, x i , y i , z i are some

node’s coordi

nates of an element. Namely,

Expand the formula (6) at some point (ξ 0 , η 0 , ζ 0 ),

reserve

the linear terms, and write them in tensor form, then lead
to:

Where J is Jacobi determinant, and it can also be written

as:

According, to formula (3), then

where J −1 is Jacobi inverse matrix. By formula (5), the

local

coordinate iterative formula of arbitrary ∼ x p in a

element is

where ∼ ξ k is the k times approximation of ∼ ξ p . By

repeating

iteration, when ‖ ∼ x p − ∼ x k ‖≤ ε or ‖ ∼ ξ p − ∼ ξ k ‖≤
ε(ε is a very

small number to control error), the local coordinate is

solved

approximately, namely:

After ∼ x p of the arbitrary point in an element is solved,

the

value of physical quantities can be expressed by the

following

formula. Supposing the value of physical parameters at any

one node of an element is φ i , then

where N i is shape function, n is number of the node, φ p

is the
value of physical quantities of the ∼ x p point.

2.3 Rock brittle-plastic constitutive model

For brittle-plastic rock mass, suppose F(σ) = 0 and f (σ) =

0

respectively as peak strength surface and residual strength

sur

face, and suppose the stress point from a initial elastic

state

to some point A on the surface F(σ) = 0 by loading. When the

following formula (9) exists, the catastrophe of stress

value will take place and the stress point will drop to
some point B on the surface f (σ) = 0 [3,4] The method
based on the plastic potential theory to ascertain the
point B is described as followings. Due to the brittle
property of material, the yield surface shows
non-continuous feature in the stress space, and so plastic
strain increment �ε p ij will appear and it is a
non-differential quantity. What’s more, because
brittle-plastic material is still il�xin material, so the
direction of plastic strain meets the plastic potential
theory when the stress point drops. where �λ is plastic
flow factor. Due to where �ε ij = 0 during the course of
dropping of the stress point, then According to the stress
increment of the dropping course of the stress point can be
expressed as: then, it leads to where As for �λ, its value
can be got according to the following formula: When the
yield surface equation is given, the plastic flow factor
(�λ) of brittle-plastic rock mass can be solved by formula
(17).

Figure 2. The graph of the whole computation mesh model

(axono

metric drawing).

3 THE COMPUTATION OF THE SHUIBUYA

UNDERGROUND POWERHOUSE BY FEM

The computation of the Shuibuya Underground Powerhouse

by FEM is divided into two steps. The first step is taking

large
area to simulate the original stress of the Shuibuya Under

ground Powerhouse in order to consider the influence of the

rock mass tectonics such as terrain, physiognomy, joint and

fault on original stress.

The computation area of the original gravity stress field of

the Shuibuya Underground Powerhouse is shown as figure2.

The upstream boundary is parallel to and near the dam axis.

The right boundary (lean to the mountain) is vertical to

the dam

axis away from the river bank more than 800 meters long. The

principle of choosing the computation area is that the

distance

between right boundary and the end of the powerhouse is 3

to 5 times larger than the length of the powerhouse axis and

the computation model includes Fault 2 and Fault 3. The

other

two boundaries of the computation area are designated as

free

surface of the river bank, thereinto, the downstream

boundary

is the Maya High Steep Slope. Figure 2 is the computation

mesh graph of the whole model. The element number of the

whole model is 7566 and the node number of the whole model

is 8780.

The second step is that taking small area out of the model

to refine the mesh for the second time in order to precisely

stimulate the dynamic excavation process step by step.The

dis
placement boundary value of the model to refine the mesh for

the second time is got by the computation result of the

model

to be meshed for the fist time with numerical inverse

isopara

metric mapping. Elastic-plastic-brittle theory is adopted to

analyze the stability of the underground powerhouse located

in the terrane with soft-hard interval rock mass. Figure3 is

the graph of 3D computation mesh model of the underground

powerhouse. The total number of the elements of the model is

16416, the total number of the nodes is 18088, and the total

number of materials is 23. Boundary condition of each bound

ary surface of the computation model is normal direction

restriction except the top surface.

According to the engineering geology information and the

result of the physical and mechanics experiments of the rock

mass, the computation parameters of the wall rock are shown

as the Table 1.

According to the selected scheme of the layout of the

underground powerhouse, the simulation analysis is done, the

analysis include the replacement of the wall soft rock mass

Figure 3. The graph of 3D computation mesh model of the
underground powerhouse. Table 1. The physics and mechanics
computation parameters of the wall rock mass. E (MPa) µ C 0
/ σ b0 / γ No. Lithology Ks/MPa Kn/MPa MPa φ 0 / ◦ MPa KN/m
3 1 P 13 1q 8000 0.28 1.00 45 0.8 26 2 P 12−4 1q 20000 0.25
2.00 52 1.50 26 3 P 12−3 1q 8000 0.28 1.00 45 0.8 26 4 P
12−2 1q 20000 0.25 2.00 52 1.50 26 5 P 12−1 1q 8000 0.28
1.00 45 0.8 26 6 P 11 1q 20000 0.25 2.00 52 1.50 26 7 P 10
1q 8000 0.28 1.00 45 0.8 26 8 P 9 1q 20000 0.25 2.00 52
1.50 26 9 P 8 1q 8000 0.28 1.00 45 0.8 26 10 P 7 1q 20000
0.25 2.00 52 1.50 26 11 P 6 1q 8000 0.28 1.00 45 0.8 26 12
P 5 1q 20000 0.25 2.00 52 1.50 26 13 P 4 1q 20000 0.25 1.20
52 1.50 26 14 P 3ÉÏ 1q 8000 0.28 1.00 45 0.8 26 15 P 3ÏÂ 1q
8000 0.28 1.00 45 0.8 26 16 P 2 1q 20000 0.25 1.20 52 1.50
26 17 P 1 1q 8000 0.28 1.00 45 0.8 26 18 P 1ma 800 0.35
0.50 30 0.50 20 19 C 2h 20000 0.25 1.20 52 1.50 26 20 D 3X
4000 0.30 0.40 45 0.50 25 21 joint(P 4 1q − P 5 1q ) 4000
20000 0.40 45 0.50 0.0 22 D 3h 20000 0.25 2.00 52 1.50 26
23 concrete(200 # ) 20000 0.167 3.50 48 3.00 24 24 F 2
40000 0.30 0.40 40 0.5 25.0 25 F 3 40000 0.30 0.40 40 0.5
25.0 of the caverns in the powerhouse and the excavation
process of the powerhouse intake tunnels, main powerhouse,
generatrix tunnel and tailwater tunnels. In addition, the
computation simulation of the full-section excavation whose
bottom elevation is promoted from 162.8 m to 179 m of the
main caverns optimized design is done. The computation
scheme is shown as Table 2. The simulation computation is
divided into 7 steps, thereinto, the first step is the
computation of the original stress and the other six steps
are the excavation of the caverns of the main powerhouse,
including intake tunnels, tailwater tunnels and generatrix
tunnels. The sketch map of the cavern excavation is shown
as Figure 4.

Table 2. The simplified table of the computation schemes.

Sequence The description of

number Scheme the excavation schemes

1 Gross cavern(the Step1; Step2; Step3,4,5,6: the

excavation from excavation of the main powerhouse, the
bottom to the thereinto, the excavation elevation 162.8 m
elevation) in step5 reaching 179 m, the full section
excavation in step6 reaching the elevation 162.8 m.

2 Gross cavern Step1; Step2; Step3,4,5,6: the (the

excavation excavation of the main powerhouse, elevation
from thereinto, the excavation elevation the bottom to the
in step5 reaching 179 m, the 179 m elevation) grooving
excavation in step6 reaching the elevation 162.8 m.

3 The strip wall The replacement width of soft replacement

of the rock mass in the P 3 1q abutment soft rock mass wall
is 8 m (the excavation elevation from the bottom elevation
to the elevation 179 m)

4 The alveolar wall The width of soft rock mass replacement

of the replaced in the P 3 1q abutment wall soft rock mass
is 4 m, the width of the alveolar (the excavation wall is 4
m, the depth of the elevation from the alveolar wall is 12
m, and the bottom to the distance between two alveolar
elevation 179 m) is 8 m

Note: step1: the excavation of the vault; step2: the

excavation of the

draft tubes, powerhouse intake tunnels and generatrix

tunnel.

Figure 4. The sketch map of the replacement and excavation

of the

underground powerhouse.

The computation results of displacement and stress of the

wall rock mass of the caverns in different schemes are shown

as Table 3 and Table 4.

4 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

(1) Under the circumstance of the gross cavern without

support, it can effectively reduce the horizontal
displacement of upstream and downstream side walls of the
main caverns by reserving rock benches among draft tubes of
the generating sets and enhancing the full-section
excavation elevation from 162.8 m to 179 m. The horizontal
maximum displacement values of upstream and downstream side
walls of the main caverns are respectively reduced from
10.8 mm and −12.4 mm to 9.4 mm and −10.0 mm.

(2) Under the condition of reserving rock benches among

draft tubes of the generating sets, it may reduce the
horizontal deformation of upstream and downstream side
walls by replacing the P 3 1q soft rock mass with concrete
Table 3. Displacement value of wall rock mass in key parts
with different schemes after the caverns are formed (units:
cm). Scheme Scheme Scheme Scheme Parts (1 # generating set)
1 2 3 4 vault(⊥ direction) −2.12 −1.82 −1.74 −1.78
soleplate(⊥ direction) 2.00 rock bench(⊥ direction) 2.82
2.68 2.68 The upper part of the 1.08 0.94 0.70 0.74
upstream wall(— direction) (in P 3 1q terrane) The upper
part of the −1.24 −1.00 −0.68 −0.72 downstream wall(—
direction) (in P 3 1q terrane) The lower part of the −0.38
−0.16 −0.20 −0.20 upstream wall(— direction) The lower part
of the −0.12 −0.30 −0.26 −0.26 downstream wall(— direction)
Note: “—” represents horizontal displacement; “⊥”
represents vertical displacement. Table 4. Stress value of
wall rock mass in key parts with different schemes after
the caverns are formed (units: MPa). The parts with maximum
value Scheme Scheme Scheme Scheme (1 # generating set) 1 2
3 4 Vault σ 1 +1.0 +1.0 +1.0 +1.1 Vault σ 3 −2.0 −1.5 −1.5
−1.4 Soleplate σ 1 +0.5 Soleplate σ 3 −6.5 Rock bench +1.9
+1.8 +1.8 (1 # –2 # set)σ 1 Rock bench +0.5 +0.5 +0.5 (1 #
–2 # set) σ 3 Upstream side +0.0 −4.0∼+0.5 −4.0∼+0.5
−4.0∼+0.5 wall σ 1 Upstream side −14.5 −14.0 −15.0 −15.0
wall σ 3 Downstream +0.5 +0.5 −4.5∼+0.5 −4.5∼+0.5 side wall
σ 1 Downstream −6.0 −8.5 −9.0 −9.0 side wall σ 3 Dowerhouse
left-9.5 left-9.0 left-10.0 left-10.0 skewback σ 3
right-6.0 right-6.5 right-7.0 right-7.0 Note: “–”represents
pressure. trips. The horizontal maximum displacement value
of these parts are respectively reduced from 9.4 mm and
−10.0 mm to 7.0 mm and−6.8 mm, but this measure has a
little contribution to the displacement change of the lower
parts of the side walls. (3) As for the replacement of P 3
1q rock mass, the computation results of the two design
schemes about the replacements with concrete strips and
alveolar walls show that the stress field, displacement
field and damaged zone are a bit difference between these
two schemes, which indicates that the scheme about the
replacement of P 3 1q soft rock mass with alveolar walls
shows the same effect as the scheme about the replacement
of P 3 1q soft rock mass with concrete strips.

(4) The analysis of the damaged zone of wall rock mass

shows that the damaged zone of the vault is relatively
small and the stability of the vault is better, that the
damaged zone of the side walls of the caverns is larger,
especially at the intersections among side walls of the
caverns, the rock mass between two caverns, powerhouse
intake tunnels, generatrix tunnels and tailwater tunnels,
that the damaged zone of wall rock mass is larger and the
stress concentration is obvious in the intersections. So it
is necessary for guarantee the stability of the wall rock
mass during the course of construction to excavate small
dimension caverns and protect with lining the rock mass of
those parts in advance, to take the measure to support the
wall rock mass in advance with systemic rockbolts and to
dispose prestressed anchorage cables in the stress
concentrate parts.

(5) During the course of the excavation of the caverns, the

wall rock mass of the lower part of the side wall deforms
towards free faces, especially the downstream side walls
that may slide along the terrane P 1ma , which will bring
great extrusion force to the reserve rock benches. So it is
necessary to attach importance to the measures taken to
protect and reinforce these rock benches.
ABSTRACT: In underground excavation, the size of the
failure zone in rock is dependent on the strength of the
rock and

the magnitude of the in-situ stress. A natural pressure

arch would be developed in the country rock as long as an
opening is

excavated. In the case of a limited extension of rock

failure, rock bolts should be anchored into the pressure
arch to prevent the

failed rock from disintegration. In the case of an

extensive failure zone, an artificial pressure arch needs
to be established in the

near field of the opening, which could be done through

systematic bolting. The philosophy of the artificial
pressure arch was

practiced in reinforcing a mine stope. In this paper, field

observations of rock failure are presented first, including
a case of

core logging to localise the position of a naturally-formed

pressure arch. Two philosophies for rock bolting are then
introduced.

Finally, two case studies are presented to demonstrate the

practice of the supporting philosophies.

1 INTRODUCTION

In underground excavation, weak and soft rocks usually sub

ject to large deformation because of extensive rock failure

in

the case of high in-situ stresses in the rock mass. A good

phi

losophy is required for rock support design to counteract

the

problem of instability in this type of rock. It is a well

known

knowledge that a basic principle for rock support is to help

the rock to support itself, that is, to utilize the

self-support

capacity of the rock. In the practice of rock excavation,

one

has been aware of the phenomenon that an arched portion of

rock becomes more stressed in the near field of the under

ground opening than other portions of the rock. This is the

so-called pressure arch. The pressure arch can bear a con

siderable ground pressure and works actually as a protection

shield over the opening. In case of a little rock failure

in the

country rock, a naturally formed pressure arch is located

in the

near field of the opening and it is competent enough to

bear the

ground pressure without need of support measures. However

in case of an extensive rock failure, the natural pressure

arch

may be located far from the roof/wall surfaces of the open

ing so that an artificial pressure arch needs to be

established

to carry the pressure coming from the failed rock. Such a

pressure arch can be established by rock bolting (Lang,

1961;

Krauland, 1983). Roko and Daemen (1983) experimentally

demonstrated that the load-bearing capacity of a laminated

stratum was significantly enhanced through arching by bolts.

This paper focuses on issues related to stabilization of

weak

and soft rock under high in-situ stresses. First presented

are
field observations on the failure of rock and the reaction
of

bolts as well as a case of core logging to localise the

position

of the natural pressure arch. Philosophies for rock support

are then introduced. Finally, two case studies of rock

support

are presented to demonstrate the effect of the

bolt-established

pressure arch in stabilizing unstable strata.

“Stope” and “drift” are two mining-related terminologies,

which will be used in this paper. Stope refers to the part

of an

ore body from which ore is being mined. The size of a stope

depends on the mining method, but it is usually a very large

opening compared to other underground infrastructures.

Drift is a horizontal opening, or called mine tunnel, in or
near an ore body. 2 FIELD OBSERVATION OF ROCK FAILURE Weak
and soft rock is characterised by its relatively low
strength and low deformation modulus. Rocks containing soft
minerals, such as mudstone, chloritic and talc-containing
rocks, belong to this category of rock. Weak and soft rocks
react to high stresses in the form of large deformation.
The failure mode in weak rock is typically in shear, which
can be reasonably described by the Mohr-Coulomb failure
criterion or by the Hoek-Brown criterion. Figure 1 shows
the pattern of fractures exposed on the excavation face of
a mine stope in a weak chloritic quartzite. Two sets of
conjugated fractures are formed in the rock under the high
in-situ rock stresses. The failure mode is obviously in
shear in this case. Shear failure could occur also in the
roof and walls. Figure 2 shows a shear failure in the wall
of a deeplylocated opening. Shear failure in weak rock more
than often leads to large rock deformations in the near
field of the opening, Figure 3. It is not unusual that the
convergence of a 6m wide tunnel reaches 0.1–0.3 m. For the
case shown in Figure 3 the convergence was about 0.5 m when
the picture was taken. In extreme cases, the rock
deformation could close the opening, but in most cases
large rock deformations would lead to rock collapses.
Figure 4 shows a case of roof collapse owing to excess
deformation in the rock. The fallen portion was up to 3 m
deep in the roof, overriding the bolt length of 2.7 m.
Rebar bolts are the most commonly used devices for rock
reinforcement today. A fully-grouted rebar is too stiff to
accommodate large deformations in weak rock. It is more
than often seen that rebar bolts are overloaded locally and
even break after a small amount of elongation. Figure 5
shows how a rebar bolt reacted to the large deformation in
a weak rock mass. The bolt was first locally loaded at the
thread, making the face plate heavily deformed. To the end,
it broke at the thread and lost its retaining function at
the wall surface.

Figure 1. Shear failure of chloritic quartzite exposed on

the mining

face in a deep metal mine.The mean value of the uniaxial

compressive

strength of the rock is about 60 MPa.

Figure 2. Shear fracture in the foot wall of a mine stope.

The rock

is chlorite-rich and weak. The sketch to the right

illustrates the mode

of failure in the foot wall.

Figure 3. A transport drift in a Canadian mine, located at

a depth

of about 900 m under the ground surface.

To counteract the problem of large rock deformation, bolts

have to be able to elongate to a good extent in order to

accommodate the rock deformation.A field test (Li and Mark

lund, 2005) has shown that yielding bolts work much better

than fully-grouted rebar bolts in largely deformed rocks,

see Figure 4. Roof collapse in a mine stope at a depth of
1000 m under the surface, (a) before the collapse, (b)
after the collapse. A portion of roof rock up to 3 m thick
fell down. Figure 5. Fully-grouted rebar bolts installed in
an overstressed weak rock. (Li, 2007). Figure 6. As seen in
the figure, the face plate of the rebar was sinking into
the rock, while the plates of the two yielding bolts were
moving together with the wall. It can imagine that the
rebar would fail soon at the position of the thread, while
the yielding bolts would continue to move with a further
increase in the rock deformation. 3 FAILURE ZONE AROUND AN
UNDERGROUND OPENING In the situation of high in-situ
stresses, a failure zone is formed in the vicinity of an
underground opening. The extent of the failure zone ranges
from centimetres to meters, depending on the strength of
the rock, the magnitude of the in-situ stresses and the
size of the opening in question. Logging of the cores
drilled in a mine drift (tunnel) at a depth of 1000 m under
the

Figure 6. A rebar and two yielding bolts installed in a

largely-deformed rock.

ground surface showed that the cores were fractured in dif

ferent degrees at different depths (Li, 2006a). Figure 7

shows

the fracture patterns along the cores taken from one of the

holes drilled in the drift. The country rock is divided to

three

zones in accordance to the fracturing patterns of the cores.

Zone I is from the wall surface to a depth of 2.1 m, in

which

the cores are composed of small pieces with a low value of

RQD (Rock Quality Designation). As seen in Figure 7 the

surface of the fractures in this zone is coated by a

weathered

colour, indicating that they had been there for a quite long

time when being drilled. The fractures in this zone might be

created immediately after excavation. Zone II is from 2.1 m

to

8.5 m in which core discing occurs. The fractures were

fresh in
this zone. Thus, it can be said with confidence that they
were

created during core drilling. Zone II can be divided to two

sub-zones. In sub-zone IIa core discing is so severe that

the

RQD value is equal to zero. In sub-zone IIb less core

discing

occurs with a low value of RQD. Zone III starts at the

depth of

8.5 m and extends outwards. The discontinuities in this zone

are mainly geological structures.The RQD value in this zone

is

quite high, representing the original quality of the rock

mass.

It can be concluded that zone I is partially de-stressed

because

of the rock failure after excavation. Zone II is highly

stressed

but the rock is not failed. The ground pressure is actually

born

by a pressure arch/ring formed in this zone. In zone III the

disturbance due to excavation is negligible.

A mine stope is usually much larger than a tunnel so that

the

failure zone around a mine stope can be significantly large.

Extensometer measurements carried out in the wall of a mine

stope in a Boliden’s mine showed that rock failed at a depth

of up to 20 m back of the wall surface. The failure zone

could

even extend to a distance of 100 m in the case of a mine

stope
with a height of about 100 m (Li, 2006b). The experience in
a

Swedish metal mine, Kristineberg, says that the extension of

the failure zone in the wall is approximately equal to the

height

of the opening at a depth of about 1000 m under the ground

surface. This is valid for both drifts (tunnels) and stopes

in the

mine.

4 PRINCIPLES FOR ROCK SUPPORT

As mentioned above, pressure arches are formed in the

country

rock of an underground opening. The rock within the

pressure arches is intact so that it can carry a
considerable ground pressure. The pressure arches form a
shield over the opening. The arches may be located closely
to the boundary of the opening or deeply in the rock,
depending on how extensively the rock fails in the rock. In
the case of surface-nearby located pressure arches, the
de-stressed failure zone should be prevented from
disintegration. The failed rock has a low load-bearing
capacity, but it provides a certain confinement to the
pressure arches. Disintegration of the failed rock would
result in spreading of the failure zone into the pressure
arches. The philosophy for rock support in this case is to
retain the failed rock in place with bolts, shotcrete/mesh
or a combination of them. The bolts should be anchored into
the pressure arches, Figure 8a. Sporadic or widely-spaced
bolting may be enough for this purpose. In the case of
far-located pressure arches, the rock failure is so
extensive in the country rock that it is not practical to
anchor rock bolts into the pressure arches. In this case,
one can consider to establish an artificial load-bearing
arch in the country rock through rock bolting, Figure 8b.
Tightly-spaced systematic bolting is required for this
purpose. The artificial arch bears the weight of the failed
rock as well as a small portion of the ground pressure.The
rest of the ground pressure is still born by the
far-located pressure arches. In reality, the extensive rock
failure may be only limited to some areas with high stress
concentration in the country rock, for instance in the
roof. In this case, it is only in this area where an
artificial load-bearing arch needs to be established. The
rock support design introduced in case 2 in section 5 is
such an example. The effective thickness of the artificial
pressure arch is assumed equal to the difference of the
bolt length and the bolt spacing (Li, 2006c), i.e. t = L –
s, where L is the bolt length and s is the bolt spacing,
Figure 9. The load-bearing capacity is proportional to the
square of the effective thickness of the arch, that is, q ∝
(L – s) 2 . Assuming that the bolt length is 3 m, for
example, a decrease in the bolt spacing from 1.5 m to 1 m
would increase the load-bearing capacity of the bolted rock
up to 75%. 5 ROCK SUPPORT PRACTICE 5.1 Case 1: Stope V1404
Stope V1404 was located at a depth of about 1000 m under
the ground surface in a metal mine. The in-situ rock
stresses were high with horizontal stresses being larger
than the vertical one. The rock was very poor because of
the abundant chlorite and talc contained in the rock.
Chlorite and talc were rich in particular at the contact
zones between the ore and the country rock. The rock at the
contacts was simply crushed and fell down when the stope
was excavated, resulting in triangleshaped roof-wall
corners at the contacts, see Figure 4a and Figure 10. The
displacement of the stope roof was monitored through
precision levelling measurements. It was observed in a
period that the roof started to quickly move down at points
P15 and P17, Figure 11. The velocity of the displacement
reached about 3 and 8 mm/day at the two measurement points
one day. In accordance to the experience in the mine, a
velocity of 2 mm/day was a warning signal for roof
collapse. Therefore the stope was closed from mining
operations. Four days later the roof fell down. The routine
support for the roof was bolting with 2.7 m long
fully-grouted rebars with a bolt spacing of about 1 m as
well as steel-fibre reinforced shotcrete. The bolting
pattern in 0 2.1 5.2 8.5 m IIIIIa IIb I B-drift (6 × 6
m) Zone I: Fractured cores Zone IIa: Core discing
Zone IIb: Core discing Zone III: Normal cores Borehole

Figure 7. Cores drilled in the wall of a mine drift.

Figure 8. Conception models for illustrating the

philosophies of rock reinforcement in different conditions
of rock failure. t s L Bolting-interaction zone q

Figure 9. The interaction zone of bolting.

the collapsed area is illustrated in Figure 11. The bolts

could
not form a “closed” load-bearing arch because of the wedge

shaped roof at the hanging wall contact. The support to the

bolt-arch was missed so that the roof fell down to the end.

This is an example demonstrating the consequence of a

bolting

practice incompatible to the situation.

5.2 Case 2: Stope K2

The rock support to counteract the problem of instability in

stope K2 is presented in detail in a publication by the

author Figure 10. The cross section of the collapsed area
in stope V1404. (Li, 2006c). A brief review of the case
will be given in this paper. K2 was another stope in the
mine which was also located at a depth of about 1000 m,
Figure 12. The stope experienced drastic changes in rock
failure and deformation in the section from P5 to P8 within
a short period of time at the end of 2003. Days -10 -8 -6
-4 -2 0 50403020100 V e l o c i t y o f r o o f d i s p l .
( m m / d a y ) Critical level for possible roof fall P3
P17 P15 Roof collapse P5

Figure 11. Velocity of the roof displacement in stope

V1404. Roof

collapse occurred at P15 and P17. The lines P3 and P5

represent the

creeping velocity in the stable sections of the stope. 20 m

Unstable section P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 Bolt-shotcrete

Figure 12. Plan view of stope K2. P1 …P8 mark the positions
where

roof displacement was measured. -40 -30 -20 -10 0 17.11.03

17.12.03 16.01.04 Date (dd.mm.yy)

o o

f d

i s p
l a

c e

e n

t ( m

m ) P7 P6 P5 P8 Period for constructing the bolt-shotcrete

ribs P3 P4

Figure 13. Roof displacement at the measurement points in

stope

K2 before and after the reinforcement operation by

bolt-shotcrete

ribs. The solid lines stand for the displacements before

the reinforce

ment, while the dashed lines are for the displacements

after. Negative

sign means downward displacement.

Precision levelling showed that the roof moved down rapidly

in the section, see the solid lines for P5–P8 in Figure 13.
The

velocity of the roof displacement at positions P5–P8 was

about

2 mm/day which had reached the critical level for possible

roof

fall in the mine. The creeping displacement was only about

0.2 mm/day in the stope, as shown at points P3 and P4. The

stope was closed down from the safety point of view. Rock

support measures would be carried out in order that the

mining

operation would resume soon in the stope.

Figure 14 shows a picture of the unstable section in the

stope. The roof of the unstable section looked quite well
with

out visible damage on the shotcrete surface even though the

levelling did show a large roof displacement. The hanging

wall, however, was visibly fractured with sub-vertical and

open

fractures appearing on the wall surface. The foot wall

surface

looked undamaged except at the upper corner where intact

rock was crushed and fell down. The rock in the hanging wall

of stope K2 was chlorite-rich and relatively weak. With

regard Intact rock was crushed at the abutment of the foot
wall An open fracture extended up into the hanging wall
Figure 14. A picture of the unstable section. Figure 15.
Layout of the rock support design. to the experience from
other stopes, it was assessed that the fractures exposed on
the hanging wall were created due to shear failure. The
roof of K2 looked undamaged, but it was quite possible that
the roof was fractured with surface-parallel fractures. The
crushing of intact rock at the upper corner of the foot
wall in K2 implied a stress concentration there. The
occurrence of the stress concentration indicated that the
foot wall was competent to provide a good support to the
roof. Hence, it was finally concluded that the fracture
zone overrode an area from the hanging wall to the roof.
The hanging wall and the roof should be considered as one
unit in rock support design. The concept for rock support
in this case was to establish a pressure arch in the
hanging wall and the roof. Figure 15 shows the layout of
the proposed rock support for this purpose.A row of rebar
bolts in length of 2.7 m was installed in the hanging wall
and in the roof with a bolt spacing of 0.5 m. A
steel-fibrereinforced shotcrete rib was created by spraying
shotcrete over the 0.5 m spaced bolt row in a width of 1 m.
The thickness of the rib was 10–20 cm. The shotcrete rib
was anchored to the rock by the face plate of bolt. Three
long bolts (4.5 m) were installed in the upper part of the
hanging wall. Such a boltshotcrete rib was established
every 5–7 m in the stope and totally 6 such ribs were
established in the concerned section, Figure 12. The roof
displacement slowed down immediately after installation of
the bolt-shotcrete ribs, see the dashed lines for P5–P8 in
Figure 13. Taking monitoring point P7 as an example, the
velocity of the roof displacement at P7 dropped from 1.6
mm/day to 0.25 mm/day after the bolt-shotcrete
reinforcement. The measurements at all the monitoring
points lasted 5 months after the extra reinforcement and
the velocity of the roof displacement had remained at the
creeping level, i.e. about 0.2 mm/day, during the whole
period. That meant that

the bolt-shotcrete ribs worked well in reinforcing the

fractured

rock in the unstable section of stope K2.

6 CONCLUSION

In weak and soft rocks, rock usually fails in shear. The

size of

the failure zone around an underground opening is dependent

on the strength of the rock and the magnitude of the

in-situ rock

stresses. In the case of a limited rock failure in the near

field

of an opening, the philosophy for rock support is to retain

the

failed rock in place with bolts, shotcrete/mesh or a combina

tion of them.The bolts should be anchored into the undamaged

rock behind the failure zone where naturally-formed pressure

arches are located.

In the case of a large failure zone, the natural pressure

arches

are located far from the roof/wall surfaces. The philosophy

in

this case is to establish an artificial pressure arch

through sys

tematic bolting in the near field of the opening to bear the

pressure coming from the failed rock. The bolts should be

tightly spaced in order to form an interaction zone. A pres

sure arch would be developed within the bolt-interaction

zone

when it is subjected to a certain amount of rock

deformation.

A rock support design based on this philosophy successfully

ABSTRACT: For the last twenty five years, in India, several

longwall panels were collapsed causing partial or complete

withdrawal of the panels.The major causes of failure were:

(i) inadequate selection of powered support (ii) lack of
understanding

of geomining conditions (iii) unavailability of spare parts

and (iv) lack of longwall operational knowledge. In order
to address

the first and second causes of longwall failures, 324

finite element models were developed considering different
geomining

conditions of Indian coal measure strata and types of

powered support installed at various panels. The major idea
was to analyze

the responses of 4-legged chock-shield support, the popular

powered support in India with surrounding rock and coal
strata.

Based on the results obtained from the elastic-plastic

finite element analyses, statistical regression and feed
forward neural

network (NN) models were developed to establish the

relationship between input parameters and front leg
pressure. Validation

of model was carried out with the field monitored data and
found that the combination of finite element analysis
results and

neural regression models can be used to forecast face

stability conditions at a longwall face.

1 INTRODUCTION
In India, mechanized longwall panel was first commissioned

in 1978 at Moonidih colliery. After about 25 years, the

overall

performance of longwall panels has fallen short of expecta

tions despite having experiences in deploying 33 mechanized

powered support packages. Mostly, 4 legged chock shield type

powered supports were/are installed with a capacity ranging

from 240 t to 800 t. Most of the longwall failures in India

are

contributed to inadequate powered support selection and lack

of understanding of geomining conditions (Deb and Verma,

2004). For identifying the parameters that have caused such

failures and for providing guideline of powered support

capac

ity, an actual size chock-shield support is incorporated

into the

finite element models having canopy, base, lemniscates

links,

pins and caving shield along with coal seam, main roof(s),

floor, overburden strata and gob. The mechanical properties

of rock and coal are obtained from the Indian coal measures

strata. Based on the observations of 324 finite element

models

having different geomining conditions and powered support

types, it is now possible to estimate the required capacity

of

powered support of chock-shield for a given longwall panel.

Here, the term ‘geomining condition’is defined by depth of

the
mine, thickness, elastic modulus, cohesion and friction
angle

of main roof, and coal type (soft or hard). The leg pressure

of chock-shield support is evaluated from all finite element

models. These results are analyzed using neural network and

multivariate statistical regression method considering input

variables as depth, main roof parameters (thickness, mod

ulus and friction angle), coal type and support capacity of

chock-shield support.

This paper mainly deals with the statistical and neural net

work analysis part of front leg pressure (FLP) obtained from

the finite element models. Results show that the prediction

of FLP with neural network technique is more accurate than

that of statistical regression approach. However,

multivariate statistical regression models provide the
scaled effects (significance) of various input parameters.
Thus, application of statistical as well as artificial
neural network is a better option for the prediction as
well to understand the relationship between input and
output variables. 2 LONGWALL MINING Longwall mining is one
of two basic methods of underground coal mining, the other
being (bord) room-and-pillar mining. The basic principle of
longwall mining involves a coal bed being selected and
blocked out into a panel (Figure 1) averaging nearly
100∼350 m in width, 1∼4 km in length, and about 2∼3 m in
height, by excavating passageways around its perimeter. In
the extraction process, barrier or numerous pillars of coal
are left untouched in certain parts of the mine in order to
support the overlying strata. The mined-out area is allowed
to collapse behind the working face, generally causing some
surface subsidence. Extraction by longwall mining is an
almost continuous operation involving the use of
self-advancing hydraulic roof supports, a sophisticated
coal-shearing machine, and an armored conveyor paralleling
the coal face (Deb, 2006). Working under the movable roof
supports, the shearing machine rides on the conveyor as it
cuts and spills coal onto the conveyor for transport out of
the mine. 3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF LONGWALL PANELS
Finite element models are developed based on different
geomining conditions considering all possible interactions
[depth (3) × modulus of main roof to coal seam (3) ×
thickness of Diagram not to scale Retreating panel layout
Bleeder roadways Gate roadways Trunk roadways Extracted
pan Longwallface Shield Shearer Goaf Goaf

Figure 1. A longwall mine panel layout (after Deb, 2006).

Table 1. Various parameters used for finite element

modeling.

Parameters

Mining depth, D , m 100 250 400

Main roof/coal elastic modulus ratio, E m /E c 1 5 10

Main roof/coal seam thickness ratio, T m /T c 2 5 8

Powered support (PS) capacity, t 550 800 1000

Friction angle of main roof, (ϕ) , deg. 20 35

Coal type (C) Soft Hard

main roof to coal seam (3) × powered support (3) × friction

angle of main roof (2) × coal type (2)] of these parameters

as shown in Table 1. (Verma, 2007). Altogether, 324 finite

element models are developed. However, in India, there is

no longwall panel located at a depth of 400 m or any chock

shield support having capacity of 1000 t.These extreme

values

are incorporated into the study keeping in view of the

future

prospects of longwall mining in deeper seams. The above

parameters are estimated based on the detailed borehole data

obtained from various coalfields across India as well as

from
the various published literatures based on Indian longwall
coal

measures.

All finite element models are analyzed with non-linear

material behavior using Drucker-Prager yield criterion. Rock

layers, coal seam and powered support structure except

hydraulic legs and lamniscate links are modeled with 6-noded

quadratic triangular elements byANSYS software. Two noded

bar elements are used for hydraulic legs and lamniscate

links.

The finite element model of longwall panel represents the

ver

tical cross-section along the middle of the longwall panel

as

shown in Figure 2, and hence plane strain constitutive

material

behavior is assumed. Fig. 2a, shows the domain and dimen

sion of finite element model. Figure 2b, shows the close

view

at longwall face to show the finite element model of chock

shield and enclosing coal measures. Two vertical sides and

the bottom boundary of the models are roller-constrained. To

simulate 250 m and 400 m of overburden additional loads are

applied uniformly on top of the model as an external load.

The

height of extraction of coal is kept 2.4 m for all models.

Hydraulic legs are assumed to behave as elastic-perfectly

plastic material based on their load-deformation character

istics as shown in figure 3. In case of yielding, total

strain

increment of hydraulic leg is divided into elastic and plas

tic strain. The elastic strain increment contributes to

stress

(or load) increment of the leg. The plastic strain increment

changes the shape and size of the yield surface. Hence, in

finite Figure 2. (a). Finite element model of longwall
panel along central axis. (b). Close view of finite element
model of longwall face. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0.000
0.018 0.038 0.500 Convergence of the leg, m L o a d , M N o
a b c Yield load Projected load in case of yielding 1000 t
800 t 550 t Figure 3. Load convergence characteristics of
hydraulic leg. element analysis, the load on the hydraulic
leg does not exceed the yield load. However, the total
strain of yielded leg varies with the capacity of powered
supports and other geomining conditions. As a result, for
statistical and neural network analysis, it is necessary to
incorporate the total load based on the total strain of the
hydraulic leg assuming its behavior as a linear spring with
unlimited capacity (dotted line in figure 3). Figure 3
shows three different phases of loading (oa, ab, and bc) on
the shield leg for different capacity of chock-shield
supports. In the initial phase (oa), the shield does not
respond to the roof convergence because the deflection of
the roof, is caused during the advancement and prior to
setting up with the roof. In this case, an average 18 mm of
initial convergence is taken based on the field
observations at various longwall faces. In the second phase
(ab), operating phase, an equivalent elastic modulus of
shield leg is applied to simulate roof loading and finally
last phase (bc) simulate the yielding of chock-shield
support. 4 REGRESSION ANALYSIS In this study, multivariate
regression analysis is performed with five main effects (D,
PS, C, MI = (Tm/Tc)/(Em/Ec)

Table 2. Range of input & output parameters in statistical

analysis. Range Min. Max

Input Parameters

D, m 100 400

PS, t 550 1,000

φ, deg 20 35
C 1 2

MI 0.2 8

D × PS (10 6 ) 0.055 0.400

D × MI 20 3,200

D ×φ (10 3 ) 2 14

C × MI 0.2 16

D × C 100 800

PS × MI 110 8,000

Output Parameters

FLP, MPa 7.536 116.506

and φ) and their interactions as input parameters.A term

called

Main Roof Index (MI) is coined which points towards the

behaviour of main roof in terms of powered support load

ing. For example load on the powered support increases with

the thickness of the main roof but decreases with its modu

lus. Hence the powered support load also increases with MI.

Since the understanding of the physical interaction of more

than two geological or structural parameters is very

difficult

to comprehend, only single interaction effects is considered

significant for this study. Hence more than 2 factors

interac

tion is omitted in this study (Verma, 2006 & Verma, 2007).

The input and output parameters ( y Old ) are standardized

in the

scale of 1–10 by using Equation 1.

where, y max = Maximum value of the input parameter,

y min = Minimum value of the input parameter, the value of

y max and y min for each parameter is given in Table 2. The

stan

dardized data are analyzed with stepwise regression method

using SPSS software. This method ensures that the model

ends up with the smallest possible set of predictor

variables.

This method starts with all the input terms in the model

and removes step-by-step the least significant terms until

the remaining terms are statistically significant with 95%

confidence interval.

The statistical model for FLP is given in Equation 2. From

Equation 2, the main effects (D, PS, φ and/or C) have direct

correlation with FLP. The figure 4 shows the trend line

having

R 2 of 0.97 provides a reasonable estimate of FLP based on

statistical relation.

Figure 5 shows the scaled effects of the significant terms.

The positive scaled effect means that the studied factor is

directly proportional to FLP. Oppositely, the negative

scaled

effect means that the studied variable has opposite effect.

Among all main effect, depth is the most significant factor

in

estimating FLP. The interaction effects of depth and

capacity

Figure 6. Architecture of Neural network for estimation of

front leg
pressure. Hidden layer with minimum MSE 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
0.25 0.3 0 5 10 15 20 25 Number of hidden layers M e a n s
q u a r e e r r o r ( M S E )

Figure 7. Estimation of hidden nodes based on mean square

error.

roof to coal seam (E m /E c ), ratio of thickness of main

roof to

coal seam (T m /T c ), and friction angle of main roof (φ)

are used

as inputs, and front leg pressure as output. Figure 6

presents

the network architecture used for this study.

The network consists of an input layer containing six input

neurons, out of which three are main roof parameters, a sin

gle neuron as FLP in the output layer. The hidden layer with

20 neurons has produced the best result for the data set.
It can

be noted that while the number of input and output nodes for

a given problem are fixed, the user has flexibility to

change

the number of hidden nodes according to NN performance.

After a trial and error method, 20 hidden nodes were chosen

which resulted in the minimum mean square error as shown

in figure 7.

The network was trained using the training data set consist

ing of 324 data sets. Training was stopped when the network

reached the error of 0.002 after 146 iterations. It was

noted

that when the network was trained beyond this point, the
train
ing errors decreased but the testing errors increased
gradually.

This is due to overfitting of the model. When the training

was

complete, network performance was evaluated on the testing

data set consisting of 2 data from field measurements. The

figure 4 shows the trend line having R 2 of 0.98 provides a

reasonable estimate of FLP based on neural network analysis.

6 COMPARISON OF RESULTS FROM NN AND

REGRESSION ANALYSIS

The validity of the NN model was established through a

comparative evaluation between NN and regression analy

sis. The R 2 (co-efficient of determination), mean squared

error, root mean square error, as well as mean absolute

error

values indicate that the NN model provides superior perfor

mance in comparison with the regression analysis as shown in

table 3. Figure 8 shows the estimated results from

statistical

and artificial neural network with the R 2 value of 0.9697.

Figure 8. Comparison of estimation from Statistical and
artificial neural network (ANN). Table 3. Comparison of
estimated results from statistical and neural network
analysis. Statistical Neural Network R 2 0.9689 0.9839 Mean
square error 37.329 11.128 Root mean square error 6.1098
3.3358 Mean absolute error 4.2156 2.1589 Table 4.
Comparison of Front leg pressure with predicted and field
monitored values. Monitored value Statistical Neural
Network (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) Panel A 28 27.32 28.05 Panel B 29
28.68 28.85 In two longwall panels, shield pressure
monitoring was carried out for 45 days. These panels are
located in the same area at a depth of 288 and 275 m. In
both the panels, 4-legged 800 t chock-shield powered
supports were installed. The monitored value in table 4
shows the average front leg pressure for over 45 days. It
may be noted that standard deviation of monitored pressure
data for Panel A and B are 3.27 and 1.70 MPa respectively.
Table 4 shows the field monitored data from two longwall
panels and their resemblance with the predicted values from
statistical and neural network analysis. It is found that
the prediction from the neural network is much closer as
compared to the statistical prediction. 7 CONCLUSIONS
Multivariate regression analysis suggests that depth, main
roof parameters and combined effect of depth and main roof
parameters and depth and powered support are statistically
significant for the determination of FLP. For any longwall
panel, these input parameters can be known before hand.
Hence, based on the capacity of the chock shield, load on
the shield or shield utility factor (developed
load/capacity) can be estimated. This is an important
parameter for the determination of the yielding ability of
the shield support. Depending on this parameter, required
capacity of chock shield support can be evaluated. Results
of neural network analysis produce more accurate
forecasting of FLP as compared to statistical regression
method giving a R 2 of 0.98 and mean square error of
11.128.

In this study, all 324 data are used for training just to
com

pare results from statistical approach. Both results

corroborate

with the average field monitored data although variance of

monitored pressure data can be as high as 10.69 (MPa).

ANSYS, Ver 6.1., 2002.

Chatterjee, S. Bhattacherjee, A. Samanta, B. & Pal S.K.

2006.

Ore grade estimation of a limestone deposit in India using

an

Artificial Neural Network. Applied GIS2(1). P 2.1–2.20. D0I:

10.2104/ag060003.

Deb, D. Kumar, A. & Rosha, R.P.S. 2006. Forecasting shield

pressure

at a longwall face using artificial neural network.

Geotechnical

and Geological Engineering. 24: 1021–1037. Deb, D. & Verma,

A.K. 2004. Ground Control Problems in Indian Longwall mines
– a Perspective and Future Research Outlook. Journal of
Mines, Metals & Fuels. 52 (Sep–Oct). 178–185. Hagan, M.T.
Demuth, H.B. & Beale, M. 1995. Neural network design.
Boston: PWS Publishing Company. Haykins, S. 1999. Neural
networks: A comprehensive foundation. 2nd edn. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall. SPSS. 1993. Statistical package for social
sciences inc. Chicago, Illinois, USA. Verma,A.K. & Deb, D.
2006. Effect of lithological variations of mine roof on
chock shield support using numerical modeling technique.
Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 65 (9):
702–712. Verma, A.K. 2007. Evaluation of longwall face
stability using finite element analysis and statistical
models. Doctoral thesis: IIT Kharagpur, India. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Statistical
joint modeling and stability analysis of rock blocks around
a tunnel Jung-Wook Park & Jae-Joon Song School of Civil,
Urban & Geosystem Engineering, Seoul National University,
Seoul, Korea Hyun-Jin Shim Seoyeong Engineering Co.,Ltd.,
Seoul, Korea

ABSTRACT: An improved and extended technique has been

suggested for the estimation of the diameter distribution
of a

joint set using the trace length distributions within a

sampling window. Compared with the technique of Song
(2006), which

only uses a contained trace length distribution, this

technique considers all kinds of the trace length
distributions; contained

dissecting and transecting trace lengths. Joint were

statistically modeled based on field-surveyed data and the
stability of rock

blocks were analyzed around a tunnel in Korea using the

BLOCSTAB program developed by Song et al. (2001). The rock
blocks

generated from the joints and tunnel were analyzed for the
volume, height, perimeter, and positional probability of
occurrence.
1 INTRODUCTION

One of the most disastrous problems associated with tunnel

excavation is the accidental falling of rock blocks formed

on

the tunnel surface by discontinuities in the rock mass. To

pre

vent and predict such occurrences, an analysis on

removability

of rock blocks should be evaluated based on a precise charac

terization of the discontinuities in the rock masses around

the

tunnel.

A representative method for the analysis of the removability

of rock blocks is the block theory suggested by Goodman and

Shi (1985). This method uses only the orientation and

friction

angle of each joint set as the input parameters; therefore,

it is a

relatively simple and fast method. However, it cannot

consider

the effects of discontinuity size or the dispersion of

joint set

orientations, as discontinuities are assumed to extend

entirely

through the volume of interest, with a mean orientation only

taken as the representative of the joint set. The main

objective

of the block theory is to find and describe the most

critical rock

blocks likely to occur, and then determine an optimum tunnel

or slope direction to minimize the threat by block movement.

Adopting a geometrical point of view, one of the least

reliable aspects in 3-D joint modeling is the estimation of

the diameter distribution. Song and Lee (2001) suggested a

technique to estimate the contained trace length

distribution

within an infinite window, and also estimated the diameter

distribution from the trace length distribution by

numerically

converting the integration function of the diameter and the

cumulative trace length distribution suggested by Warburton

(1981). Song (2006) recently suggested a technique to

directly

estimate the diameter distribution of a joint set from a con

tained trace length distribution by the least square method.

This gave an accurate estimation of the diameter, similar to

that obtained previously by the method of Song & Lee (2001),

but better results for small-size joints.

In this study, the estimation technique developed by Song

has been extended (2006). Compared with the earlier tech

nique that used only a contained trace length distribution

within an infinite window, this improved technique

considered

all the trace length distributions within a finite window;

con

tained, dissecting and transecting traces (Priest, 1993).

With

our technique, 3D statistical joint modeling was performed

with both field-surveyed and estimated information. The
stability of rock blocks around a tunnel was then analyzed.
The rock blocks generated from the joints and tunnel were
analyzed for their volume, height, perimeter and positional
probability of occurrence (Hoerger, 1988). All of these
processes were performed using the BLOCSTAB program
developed by Song et al. (2001). 2 ESTIMATION OF THE
DIAMETER DISTRIBUTION Some improvements were made to Song’s
estimation technique (2006), which was derived by
minimizing the sum of the squared errors between the
sampled number and theoretically estimated number of
contained trace lengths. While the earlier technique uses
only a contained trace length distribution within a
relatively large window to estimate the diameter
distribution of a joint, the improved method considers the
squared errors of the dissecting and transecting trace
lengths as well as the contained trace length. The basic
assumption and definition of the terms of the improved
technique were the same as those for Song’s technique
(2006): Joints were assumed to be circular discs, with
center points randomly distributed in a 3D rock mass, i.e.
the Poisson disc model (Baecher et al., 1977). All of the
joints belonging to a set are parallel to each other;
therefore, their traces will also parallel. Each set was
analyzed and its own joint diameter distribution was
estimated. In work of Song, the theoretical number of
traces of lengths l, was written in a discrete function
form as follows: where N c i is the number of contained
traces with lengths between (i − 1)dl ∼ idl, and c j is a
PDF of the diameter distribution when the diameter is
between (j − 1)dl ∼ jdl. In Eq. (1) n is the number of
divisions of c(s), A c i is the area in which the center
points of contained joint traces can exist, φ an acute
angle between the normal vector of the joint and the
sampling window, and λ v the volumetric frequency of the
joint diameter distribution.

N c i in Eq. (1) can simply be expressed using the term a

ij :

where

The sum of the squared error for each frequency was defined

by song (2006) as follows:

where N ′c i is the number of field-surveyed contained

traces

corresponding to the ith length division.

We added the number of dissecting and transecting traces to

Eq. (4) to overcome the limitation within the previous work:

This requires a relatively large sampling window. If the com

plete length of dissecting or transecting traces is l and

its partial

length within the window is l ′ , and assuming that l ′ ,

and s

belong to the ith partial trace length division and jth

diameter

division, respectively, then N d i and N t i represent the

theoretical

numbers of the dissecting and transecting traces,

respectively.

where n is the number of divisions of c(s), A d i is the

area where

the center points of dissecting joint trace lengths can

exist, θ

the acute angle between joint traces and the boundary line

of the sampling, φ an acute angle between the normal vector

of the joint and the sampling window, and λ v the volumetric

frequency of the joint diameter distribution.

Eq. (5) and Eq. (6) can simply be rewritten as Eq. (7) and

Eq. (9) using the term a ikj , as follows:

where

where Now, we can put the terms corresponding to the

dissecting and transecting joint traces into Eq. (4) and
obtain the sum of the extended squared error of each
frequency as follows: where N ′d i and N ′t i are the
numbers of field-surveyed dissecting and transecting traces
corresponding to ith length division. The minimum squared
error satisfies the following condition: From this, the
following equation is obtained. where w c i , w d i and w t
i are weighting factors whose values are 0 or 1,
corresponding to contained, dissecting and transecting
joint traces, respectively. Eq. (13) can be rewritten in a
matrix form, as follows: where If the diameter distribution
consists of K bars, i.e. K length divisions, c j can be
obtained by solving a K × K matrix using a with a matrix
solver such as successive over relaxation (SOR). Although
the volumetric frequency appears in the above expression it
is unknown; therefore, an arbitrary constant, except zero,
can initially be assigned, which does not affect the
diameter distribution. This is because the diameter
distribution will be normalized into a probability density
function having a unit area in the final calculation stage.
If λ v is initially set to 1, the area of the diameter
distribution obtained by Eq. (14) is equal to the value of
the volumetric frequency. Consequently, the volumetric
frequency can be obtained in the process of estimating the
diameter distribution using Eq. (14).

3 STABILITY ANALYSIS OF ROCK BLOCKS AROUND

A TUNNEL

The stability of rock blocks around a tunnel was analyzed.

The

study area was Nam-Hoo tunnel in An-dong (Korea), where

1 m-width-fault zone crossed the tunnel section.

3.1 Window sampling and identification of joint sets

To obtain the orientation and trace length of joints in the

study

area, a window sampling was carried out on the rock slope

near the southern port of the tunnel. A total of 130 joints

were sampled within a 6 m × 3 m sampling window whose

dip direction and dip were 120 ◦ /65 ◦ . Commercial

software,

DIPS, was employed to identify the joint sets and plot the
data

in Figure 1. Four joint sets were obtained, and labeled

accord

ing to the number of measured number of joints belonging to

each set.

3.2 Estimation of the diameter distribution and volumetric

frequency of joints using an improved technique

The diameter distribution of each joint set in the study

area

was estimated from the histogram of all trace lengths.

Figure 2

represents the field-surveyed joint trace length histogram

for

Set 1 and the estimated diameter trace length distribution

from

the data.

3.3 Generation of joint disks

Using the BLOCKSTAB program developed by Song et al.

(2001), the rock blocks formed by the joints and the tunnel

were analyzed for their number, volume, height, perimeter,

and positional probability of occurrence. Joint disks were

gen

erated in a 20 × 18 × 30 m 3 box-shaped region enclosing the

tunnel, based on the surveyed and estimated information on

the joints. From additional borehole investigation, it was

found

that three joint sets among all sets obtained from the
window

Figure 1. Identification of joint sets.

Table 1. Input parameters applied to the joint modeling.

Dip direction Dip Fisher’s Mean Volumetric Friction angle
Cohesion

Joint set ( ◦ ) ( ◦ ) constant K diameter (m) freq. (m −3 )

( ◦ ) (tonf/m 2 )

1 337 72 52.060 2.40 0.1864 30 4

2 062 72 59.776 0.38 2.1052 30 4

3 174 65 23.190 0.77 1.2276 30 4 survey were distributed in

the site where the fault zone crossed the tunnel. The input
parameters applied to the joint modeling are given in Table
1. The simulated joint disks intersecting with the tunnel
wall are shown in Figure 3. 3.4 Results and discussion
Table 2 contains the mean values of the number, volume,
height and parametric length of removable blocks within a
20 m-long section following 150 simulation tests. Figure 4
shows the positional probabilities of removable blocks
around the tunnel. Potential key blocks occurred most
frequently among the removable blocks. Small blocks were
found to be very widely and evenly distributed, and the
maximum positional probability was less than 0.00081 at the
top of the tunnel. The value indicates that the probability
of the occurrence of the removable blocks was less than 0.8
mm/1 m in the axial direction of the tunnel. All block
types, including infinite blocks, were spread over the
right-upper wall, as Figure 2. The measured joint trace
length histogram obtained from the sampling window and the
estimated diameter distribution of Set 1. Figure 3.
Simulated joint disks intersecting with the wall of tunnel.

Table 2. The positional probabilities of removable blocks.

Mean values of block dimensions

Removable Volume/ Height Perimeter

block type Number block (m 3 ) (m) (m)

Key 0.1834 0.0001 0.0169 0.0987

Potential 0.4673 0.0017 0.0812 0.3752

Stable 0.1947 0.0001 0.0177 0.0702

Average 0.8454 0.0019 0.1158 0.5441

Figure 4. The positional probabilities of removable blocks.

the tunnel intersected with steep dip joint sets and

crossed the

fault at the right-upper corner. However, there was no

region

of high block instability. Considering all of the above

results,
It was concluded that small blocks were likely to frequently

appear on the walls of this tunnel; Therefore, shotcrete

would

be more effective than rock bolts for reinforcement of this

site.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Using our improved technique for the estimation of a joint

diameter, as well as the BLOCSTAB program, the stability of

a tunnel intersecting fault zone was analyzed.

• Some improvements were made to the technique suggested

by Song (2006) for the estimation of a diameter

distribution.

Compared to the earlier technique using only a contained

trace length, the improved technique considered all joint

trace lengths within sampling widows. Our technique has

the ability to be more reliable and applicable in practice

Study on tunnel excavation disturbed zone in weak rock with

time-dependent behavior Tai-Tien Wang, Wei Lo & Yung-Chin
Ding Department of Materials and Mineral Resources
Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology,
Taipei, Taiwan Shyh-Toung Liu Fourth District Maintenance
Construction Office, Directorate General of Highways, Ilan,
Taiwan

ABSTRACT: Based upon the results of successive measurement

on rock deformation and tunnel convergence, this study

utilizes numerical simulation to investigate the effect of

time-dependent behavior of surrounding rock on the
excavation

disturbed zone (EDZ) of a tunnel. The simulated results

indicate that the time-dependent behavior of rock
surrounding the

tunnel may magnify the EDZ. It is also found that the

variation of EDZ and the tunnel convergence are not
linearly dependent.

1 INTRODUCTION

The engineering properties of rocks surrounding a construct

ing tunnel might be notably changed, e.g. the material

within

the Excavation Disturbed Zone (EDZ) sometimes deteriorates

more than what has been expected during the design phase.

The case under studied in the present work is a double-lanes

highway tunnel located in eastern Taiwan. Based on rock mass

rating (RMR) measurement, the rocks exposed in working face

had been rated as fair, and thus, only light supporting

elements

was adopted at the beginning of excavation. As expected, the

deformations of rock surrounding the tunnel were limited in

a few centimeters in first two months after top heading exca

vation. However, these rock deformations were increased up

to 1.95 m in portal tunnel section and 0.45 m in mined

tunnel

section, respectively. It was then observed that the scope

of

tunnel EDZ increased with time noticeably.

According to the successive measured results from rock

deformation and tunnel convergence, the present work inves

tigates the effect of time-dependent behavior of surrounding

rock on the tunnel EDZ. Back analysis is utilized to

estimate

the representative mechanical properties of the rock

surround
ing the tunnel. The time-dependent deformation is brought

into numerical simulation by reduction of engineering param

eters. During the back analyses, the corresponding

parameters

are modified and finally determined by trial simulations and

by comparing to the actual measured convergence. Finally,

the

characteristics of EDZ and its variation with time are

discussed

herein.

2 ENGINEERING GEOLOGICAL CONDITION

The tunnel studied, southern one of the 3 tunnels involved

in a highway improvement project, undergoes through the

Coastal Range located in easternTaiwan.The strata nearby the

project area include the Pliocene Fanshuliao Formation, the

Pliocene to Pleistocene Paliwan Formation, and the present

Alluvium. The Fanshuliao Formation, composed with mud

stone and alternations of sandstone and shale, are

distributed

over the west of this case area. The Paliwan Formation,

mainly

composed of gray alterations of sandstone and shale, con

glomerate, and mudstone, are distributed between two creeks

Figure 1. Engineering geological condition of study area.
in north side of No. 1 Tunnel south side of No. 2 Tunnel.
The alluvium is distributed over the coastal plain and the
debouchure, which is composed of the Holocene sediment,
including unconsolidated gravel, sand and mud (Fig. 1). The
bedding attitude nearby is N80 ◦ W/35∼45 ◦ N, and the two
sets of weak plain are N40 ◦ E/55 ◦ S and N80 ◦ W/60 ◦ S.
The geological structure includes the Fanshuliaokeng fault
and the
Figure 2. Estimated geological profiles, actual condition
and location of support failure.

Yenliao syncline. The Fanshuliaokeng fault is located in the

contacting zone between the Fanshuliao and the Paliwan For

mation. In the vicinity of these tunnels, the strike of the

fault

strike is N10 ◦ E roughly, and the fault plain is

approximately

vertical. The Yenliao Syncline, located in the west of the

tun

nel, is parallel to the tunnel route and present as an

asymmetry

syncline. The west limb of the syncline has a dip angle

greater

50 ◦ , which is steeper than the east limb dipping 30 ◦ to

the

west in average.

The sedimentary rocks in coastal range are poor cemented,

friable, loose, mud rich and soft. These constitutional

charac

ters derive from the successive deep sea slumping and

sliding

during the process of lithification in sedimentary

environment.

The ductile deformation structures such as dialation, boudin

and tight fold can easily be found in the field. Due to the
active

arc-continent collision in Taiwan, these ductile structures

also

come with the brittle structures such as the secondary

faults,
joints and sheared fracture planes (Teng et al., 2002). Con

sequently, the surface runoff would easily flow into the

rocks

through the joints or the other paths, and then to

disintegrate

the mud cement and to reduce the rock strength. These

effects

make the construction unstable both in portal slopes and

inside

the tunnels (Chen, 2007).

3 BRIEFING ON TUNNELING

Six working faces were arranged in the project to shorten

the

construction period. Among which the construction from the

southern portal of No. 3Tunnel, Sta. 21k + 717, is

discussed in

the present work.The tunnelling tasks started with top

heading

excavation in November 2002.The slope instability induced by

tunnelling was reported after 13 m of excavation. Reinforce

ments by mortar on slope were then applied, and forepoling

was used in the following tunnel excavation. The advancing

distance for each round was limited to within 0.75 m, and

sup

ports were also reinforced by H-200 sectional steel rib

along

with 0.2 m thick shotcrete with mesh and 4 m long rockbolts

with span of 1.2 m. The heavy supports were applied for fur

ther 38 m till Sta. 21k + 666. After Sta. 21 + 666, the

supports were reduced due to the gradually better
geological condition encountered. The top heading
excavation from this working face broke through at Sta. 21k
+ 467 on time in August 2003. During top heading, the rocks
exposed on the excavation face are similar as that expected
in design stage. Figure 2 shows the difference between the
expected rock types and the observed ones. Additionally,
the deformations of tunnel surrounding rocks were limited
in a few millimeters to a centimeter in two months after
the excavation of top heading. Although two typhoons
worsened the instability of portal slope and caused the
rock deformations an increase of 50∼100 mm inside the
tunnel, the mined tunnel section remained stable with the
rock deformation limited to within 2 centimeters in five
months after excavation. However, for administrative
reasons the tunnel construction was suspended for 7 months.
Moreover, the bench excavation and the installation of
stronger foot foundation in both sides were also delayed
for almost one and half a years. During this period,
significant deformation of rocks surrounding the tunnel
occurred with maximum convergence observed greater than
1.95 m in portal section and 0.45 m in mined tunnel section
(Fig. 3). Severe damages were reported, such as buckle of
sectional steel ribs, various cracks in shotcrete,
detachment of shotcrete, and failure of rockbolts. Figure 2
also illustrates the locations of support failure. Among
which the cut-off of rockbolts in mined tunnel section with
3 meters in length and the cave-in of their bearing plates
into shotcrete are of interest. These phenomena indicate
that: (1) the range of the EDZ should be less than the
length of the rockbolt during the occurrence of failure
such that the far end of the bolt can still provide
sufficient resistant force; and (2) the range of EDZ most
likely has continuously increased to enable excess amount
of convergence. 4 MECHANICAL PARAMETERS OF SURROUNDING
ROCKS The measured results of tunnel convergence are used
to investigate the mechanical parameters of surrounding
rocks. Three

Figure 3. Sketch on rock deformation.

monitoring stations are installed in the studied mined

tunnel

section, i.e. Sta. 21k + 666, +580 and +512 etc. The char

acteristics of the measured convergences curves from these

three stations are similar. Figure 4 illustrates the

convergence

obtained form Sta. 21k + 666. The settlement of tunnel vault

and the horizontal convergence of tunnel are less than 13

and 3.6 mm, respectively, while the working face have been

advanced 100 m away in 50 days. In the next 100 days, the

con

vergence increased gradually to 20 and 6.1 mm, respectively.

At this stage, the construction tasks were suspended and no

additional supports are applied. The horizontal convergence

occurs continuously and reaches up to 17.2 mm about 350 days

after excavation, which value are about 5 times of the

initial

convergence. After such convergence occurred, support fail

ure begins in succession, as indicated in Fig. 3. There were

164 rockbolts with length of 3–4 m failed in 600 days after

excavation. Since there is no excavation disturbance nearby

in

this period, this deformation is ascribed to the

time-dependent

behaviors of rocks surrounding the tunnel. By referring the

closure formula suggested by Sulem et al. (1987), the ratio

of

time-dependent deformation to elasto-plastic deformation is

greater than 5.

The tunnel convergence of 50, 150, 380 and 540 days

after excavation are referred to back calculate the

mechanical

parameters of surrounding rocks. The RMR evaluated from

working face is firstly translated to geological strength

index
(GSI), and the strength parameters and deformation modu

lus are then obtained according the suggestion of Hoek and

Brown (1997).The relationship between viscous elasto-plastic

behavior of rock and its uniaxial compressive strength σ t

at

time t proposed by Aydan et al. (1996) and an extension to

its

modulus of elasticity E t are applied in back analysis,

written

as follows: Figure 4. Measured convergence at Sta. 21k +

666. where σ 0 and σ u are the short term and ultimate
uniaxial compressive strength, E 0 and E u are the short
term and ultimate modulus of elasticity, and ω presents the
retardation failure time.According to results obtained from
uniaxial compressive laboratory tests and field borehole
dilatometer tests (United Geotech, Inc., 2004), σ 0 and E 0
/E u are set to 13 MPa and 0.01, respectively. Numerous
trial simulations have been carried out during the back
analysis. By comparing with the actual measured
convergence, the mechanical parameters ω= 150–200 days and
σ u /σ 0 = 0.5–0.6 are determined and are considered as
good representative figures. Figure 5 presents a comparison
of measured results and outcomes of simulation with σ 0 =
13 MPa, E 0 /E u = 0.6 and ω= 150 days. 5 THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF EDZ AND ITS VARIATION WITH TIME
According to the analysis, the quantities of rock
deformations are different to the measured results.
However, the deformation pattern and the convergence inside
the tunnel coincide

Figure 5. Comparison of measured and simulation results.

Figure 6. The variation of EDZ with escaped time after

tunneling.

with the field data. The rockbolts at the crown fail locally

because of insufficient bonding strength, and those

rockbolts

in side walls experience high stress near the tunnel

surface,

which also agree with the reality, e.g. the cave-in of their
bearing plates into shotcrete.

Figure 6 presents the EDZ of the study case initially and

its variation with time. In the beginning of tunneling, the

dis

turbed zone is roughly 2.5–4.0 m thick at the crown, and is

1.0–1.5 m in the hill-side wall and 1.0–2.0 m in the

sea-side

wall, respectively. The rock deformation is limited in a

few of

millimeters.Although the time-dependent deformation occurs

continuously, the EDZ keep the similar scope at 150 days

after

tunneling. The disturbed zone is then broadened gradually to

roughly 4.0–12.0 m at the crown area and to 2.0 m in the sea

side wall, at about 380 days after tunneling,. During this

period

the variations of vault settlement and horizontal

convergence

are 66% and 86% compared with the accumulated value.These

variations are limited and usually indicate that no

additional

auxiliary measurement is necessary for tunnel reinforcement.

However, the EDZ developed is believed to be related to the

weak strata in the near ground surface. The rock deformation

is increased significantly and resulted in the shotcrete

crack

ing and detached with sectional steel ribs as well as the

failure

Testing and analysis of steel wire mesh for mining

applications of rock surface support E.C. Morton, A.G.
Thompson & E. Villaescusa CRCMining / WA School of Mines,
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia A. Roth FATZER AG, Geobrugg
Protection Systems, Romanshorn, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: Steel wire mesh is widely used for rock surface

support in mines. Experimental studies on mesh continue to

be conducted throughout the world using different testing

configurations and simple analysis techniques to
characterise its

performance. In practice, laboratory testing can only hope

to investigate a limited range of configurations. The
response of the

mesh depends on the overall sample size, the restraints and

the loading. A testing program using two different types of
mesh

has recently been completed at the WA School of Mines. The

results of this testing are presented and the
force-displacement

responses highlight the deficiencies in previous analysis

methods. More sophisticated analysis techniques
incorporated into

computer software are used to demonstrate the potential to

predict the force-displacement response for any defined set
of

constraints and loading conditions.

1 INTRODUCTION

Wire mesh has been used as ground support in mining since

the 1950’s. The mesh may comprise welded wire, expanded

metal or woven (chain link). The wire used in manufactur

ing the mesh may vary widely in its physical and mechanical

properties. Experimental studies have been, and continue

to be, conducted throughout the world, for example, South

Africa (Ortlepp, 1983), Canada (Pakalnis and Ames, 1983,

and Tannant et al, 1997), Australia (Thompson et al., 1999,

Villaescusa, 1999, and Roth et al., 2004), Chile (Van Sint
Jan

and Cavieres, 2004) and USA (Dolinar, 2006). Each research

group has applied different methods of testing and used dif

ferent techniques to analyse and characterise the data. In

practice, laboratory testing can only hope to investigate a

lim

ited range of configurations. Thompson (2001) demonstrated

that more sophisticated analysis techniques that directly

model

the behaviour of the mesh and restraints have the potential

to

be used to simulate a wide range of loading configurations

and boundary conditions.

A recent testing program has been undertaken at the new

WASM static test facility. Two different modelling

techniques

have been used to attempt to simulate the force displacement

characteristics of both welded wire and woven mesh using

three dimensional deformations.

2 TEST FACILITY

2.1 Description

In 2005, the WesternAustralian School of Mines designed and

built a large scale static testing facility (Figure 1) to

comple

ment its existing dynamic test facility (Player et al.,

2004).This

new facility comprises a reaction beam and a frame to

support
the mesh sample. The mesh sample is assembled within a stiff

frame that rests on the support frame. A screw feed jack is

mounted on the reaction frame. The screw feed jack can be

driven at a constant speed (4 mm per minute) and allows

large Figure 1. WASM static test facility. displacements to
be imposed on the mesh. Load is applied to the mesh through
a spherical seat to a 300 mm square hardened steel plate.
The sample size is 1300 mm × 1300 mm and may be fully
constrained on all sides or restrained at discrete
locations. 2.2 Boundary conditions The boundary restraint
applied to the mesh sample is the most critical element in
testing. Two different restraining systems have been used.
The first system involved lacing 6mm wire rope through the
sample and around a frame as shown in Figure 2. The rope
was tensioned and then clamped using wire rope grips on
each end of each side. This method provided reliable
force-displacement response curves with consistent failure
mechanisms. However the initial tensions applied to the
mesh were not consistent and influenced the amount of
displacement that occurred prior to the mesh responding and
taking load.

Figure 2. Laced restraint system used as the first test

arrangement.

Figure 3. Fixed restraint system used as final test

arrangement.

In order to remove some of the inconsistencies of the lacing

method, a new sample frame was designed to provide a fully

fixed restraint system for the mesh.A system using high

tensile

bar, eye nuts and D shackles passing through the beam at reg

ular positions (Figure 3) was selected as the most

appropriate

boundary system.

2.3 Mesh types

Testing has been undertaken on two different mesh types. The

standard welded wire mesh (Mesh Type 1) used in Western

Australian mines is 100 mm × 100 mm × 5.6 mm galvanised

weld mesh. The samples were donated by a local mine site.

The second type of mesh (Mesh Type 2) was 4 mm high tensile

wire chain link mesh provided by sponsors Geobrugg.

3 MESH TESTING RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Ten tests were conducted using the lacing boundary con

straints. Eight of these tests were conducted on welded wire

mesh (Type 1). Two tests were conducted on chain link mesh

(Type 2). A summary of results is provided in Table 1.

A further 13 tests were conducted using the fixed boundary

condition. Ten tests were conducted on weld mesh with the

remaining 3 tests conducted on chain link mesh. The results

from these tests are shown in Table 2.

There are significant differences between the two mesh

types. The chain link mesh is less stiff and has been man

ufactured using high tensile wires to enable capacities over

three times greater than that of standard welded wire mesh.

With few exceptions all the welded wire mesh samples first

ruptured either through the weld or in the heat affected

zone, on

the boundary, where the wire was under direct loading.

Failure

then progressed along the boundary, alternating between two

sides beginning with the directly loaded wires. Table 1.

Summary of results from tests using the lacing boundary
condition. Displacement. Peak Displacement Test Mesh
Rupture at Rupture Load at Peak No Type Load (kN) (mm) (kN)
(mm) 004 2 137.1 343 137.1 343 005 1 46.2 242 46.2 242 007
1 46.7 249 46.7 249 008 1 35.9 222 38.9 241 009 1 34.1 209
38.4 253 010 1 28.1 216 41.4 236 011 1 44.0 228 44.0 228
012 2 120.8 311 120.8 311 013 1 45.4 239 45.4 239 014 1
33.4 222 35.4 249 Mesh Type 1 – Welded wire mesh Mesh Type
2 – High tensile wire chain link mesh Table 2. Summary of
results from tests using the fixed boundary condition.
Rupture Displacement Peak Displacement Test No Mesh Load at
Rupture Load at Peak No Type (kN) (mm) (kN) (mm) 017 1 45.0
173 45.0 173 018 2 145.6 310 145.6 310 019 2 155.0 285
155.0 285 020 1 44.1 192 44.1 192 021 1 37.9 151 37.9 151
022 1 40.9 182 43.4 195 023 2 147.2 292 147.2 292.3 024 1
38.5 150 38.5 150 025 1 46.4 181 46.4 181 026 1 44.9 188
44.9 188 027 1 40.7 195 40.7 195 028 1 29.7 209 29.7 209
029 1 41.3 181 41.3 181 Mesh Type 1 – Welded wire mesh Mesh
Type 2 – High tensile wire chain link mesh The chain link
mesh failed on the edge of the plate either as a result of
the plate cutting through the wires or as a result of the
wires cutting each other. Generally only one or two strands
broke. After the first rupture the load dropped completely
as a result of plate movement and the test was stopped.
Figure 4 shows the difference in responses for the two mesh
types and the differences between the different boundary
conditions used. The lacing boundary condition was less
stiff and thus more displacement occurred prior to the mesh
taking load. The fixed boundary condition resulted in the
mesh reacting immediately to the applied displacement. The
force-displacement responses of both mesh types showed
significant displacements at low loads. Attempts to
characterise the response for design purposes (as attempted
previously and reported by Tannant et al., 1997 and
Dolinar, 2006) have been largely unsuccessful as the
maximum force or maximum displacement for a specific test
configuration needs to be known. These analysis methods
also cannot be applied to other restraint conditions.
Regression analyses of the force-displacement curves showed
that the curves were nonlinear in nature and could be best
represented by a cubic equation. Observations during the
testing program suggest that the nonlinearities are
associated

Figure 4. Force displacement responses for welded wire mesh

and

chain link mesh with fixed and laced boundary conditions.

with geometric distortion of the mesh and the mechanical

properties of the wire; and the welds for Mesh Type 1.

4 MODELLING

Previous modelling attempts have simulated two-dimensional

deformations. Based on the WASM test results the latest mod

els have been modified to allow for three dimensional non

linear modelling. The requirements for mesh analysis, based

on testing program results and other considerations, are:

• Different mesh types.

• Variable wire diameters.

• Variable wire spacings.

• Non-linear stress-strain properties for the wire.

• Able to account for weld strength.

• Allow for slip of the mesh at the restraint.

• Allow for variable bolt tensions.

• Allow for variable bolt restraint spacings.

• Variable mesh orientation relative to bolt pattern.

• Allow for wire positions relative to the welds.

• Variable load types and areas.

• Allow for large mesh displacements.

Significant differences between welded wire mesh and

chain link mesh required two different models to be used.

4.1 Modelling of welded wire mesh

The basis of the method is to satisfy equilibrium of forces

and

moments and compatibility of displacements and rotations at

every longitudinal wire and cross-wire intersection or

‘node’
in the mesh. It is assumed the mesh is restrained at a
number

of nodes (representing plates and bolts) and subjected to

either

defined force or displacement loading at a variable number

of

nodes (representing rock loading). In the general case,

there

are 6 equations of equilibrium associated with each node in

the Figure 5. Deformed mesh with higher forces shaded
darker. Figure 6. Setup of the mesh model. mesh. It is
therefore necessary to find the solution to a large number
of simultaneous equations. The resulting equations can be
summarised in partitioned matrix notation as: where: [F a ]
= vector of applied forces [F u ] = vector of unknown
forces [d a ] = vector of applied displacements [d u ] =
vector of unknown displacements [K ij ] = ‘stiffness’
matrix relating forces and moments to displacements and
rotations at each node. Forces and displacements may be
directed in any of the three coordinate directions. Applied
displacement may be used to simulate either loading or
restraint. A rigid restraint results from zero applied
displacement. Non rigid restraints may be used to allow for
modelling the effects of flexible boundary restraints or
slip of the mesh relative to the plate as observed in
previous testing (Thompson et al., 1999). Equation 1 may be
partitioned into two separate matrix equations: These
simultaneous matrix equations are solved in two parts.
Firstly, Equation 2 is used to solve for the unknown
displacements and, secondly, the unknown forces at the
nodes may be calculated by substituting [d u ] into
Equation 3. The results for two different arrangements of
rigid restraint are shown in Figure 5. 4.2 Modelling of
high-tensile chain-link mesh For the modelling of the
high-tensile chain-link mesh, the finite element software
FARO was used.This software was developed

Figure 7. Numerical model with applied load.

Figure 8. Force displacement chart showing the results from

the

test and the simulation of the high-tensile chain-link mesh.

by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich

(Volkwein
et al., 2002) and is based on an explicit time stepping
approach.

Equilibrium is treated separately for every node in the

system.

It is not therefore necessary to satisfy global equilibrium

as

in an implicit FE approach. The software was developed for

dynamic impacts, but can also be used for the simulation of

quasi-static loads by using constant velocities.

The software is based on Newton’s Laws and involves the

following steps. The acceleration of every node is

calculated

by considering external forces, gravity and the mass associ

ated with each node. Then using a small time step interval,
the

velocity for the next time step is determined from the

acceler

ation of every node. The translation vector for the

location of

every node in the next time step can be calculated. The new

location of every node is used to calculate the elongation

of

the elements between two nodes. From these elongations and

the material laws, the forces in the single elements for

the next

time step are calculated. Finally, the resulting force on

the node

is determined, from which the node acceleration is

calculated

for the next time step.

Figure 6 shows the setup of the model and it is consistent

with the tests executed in Australia in 2002/03 (Roth et

al.,

2004). The setup consists of the high-tensile chain-link

mesh

fixed at the boundaries, four bolts with plates and a

square steel

frame for applying load.

To calibrate the model, the parameters of the mesh (flexural

stiffness, beginning of the tension behaviour, the tension

resis

tance and the normal force) were adjusted in such a way that

the model best fitted the results from the tests reported
by Roth

et al., (2004). Figure 7 shows the model with the applied

load

and Figure 8 the force-displacement charts of the test and

the

simulation.

Now that the model is calibrated, it is possible to simulate

different setups with different static loads. The entire

support

ABSTRACT: Svea Nord is the name of one of the northernmost

coalmines in the world and is owned by Store Norske

Spitsbergen Grubekompani AS. The mine is located to 78 ◦ N

in the central western part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Svea
Nord

is a longwall mine with an annual production of 3 million

tons of coal.

The mine management early accepted that stress values and

stress directions is vital information to mine in a
successful way.
The path of stress knowledge has been earned with valuable
information to mine operations from stress measurement in
the

earlier coal mines on Spitsbergen, with the first

measurement carried out in the seventies. Important
practical experience was

made in 1999 when the Svea Vest mine nearby, had to close,
almost directly because of a very unfavorable stress
pattern for

the utilized mining method. As in Svea Nord the mining

method utilized was the longwall method. For a longwall
mine it is

vital to orientate the mining area optimal to the major

horizontal stress component. Otherwise the confining
stresses can create

a bridging effect, resulting in discontinuous violent

caving and rockburst from stress build-up at the face and
pillars. Another

effect related to the stress build-up, is the development

of potentially extremely bad conditions in the roadways
encircling the

longwallpanel. The latter was the case in Svea Vest.

The stress pattern has been measured in 4 locations in Svea

Nord, using doorstoppers and 3D-cells. All the measurements

indicate the same direction of the major horizontal stress

component. In Svea Nord this component is the most
important

one related to successful operations. The major horizontal

component (10–20 MPa) is generally 10–20 times higher than
the

theoretical values, but the vertical component coincides

fairly well with theoretical values. Initially the mine
layout was changed

based on stress measurements done a short distance from the

mine entrance.

The effects of the existing stress pattern are easily

observed in the mine. Roof problems such as cutter-roof,
rock spalling,

bed separation and rock falls, generally happens in the

roadways driven perpendicular to the major horizontal
stress directions,

while the roadways driven parallel are in good condition.

The roof support has been adjusted to these experiences.

From a stress point of view, the challenge in designing the

rock support in the mine are the redistribution of stresses
related

to the longwall method and the change in stresses due to

changing geologic composition of the roof and a high
topographic,

glacier-made, relief. Realizing the huge importance of the

stress pattern on the way the roadways are supported and
safe

operations on the longwall, it would have been desirable

with a lower cost and time consuming way of measuring
stresses. This

could perhaps have made it possible to measure stresses

systematic and often by the mines own personnel.

1 INTRODUCTION

Svea Nord is the name of one of the northernmost coalmines

in the world and is owned by Store Norske Spitsbergen

Grubekompani AS (SNSG). The mine is located to 78 ◦ N in

the central western part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Svea Nord

is a longwall mine with an annual production of 3 million

tons

of coal and it is the economic driving force of SNSG today.

Over 90% of the mine area is covered by a glacier with a

thickness up to 270 m. The surface under the clacier is char

acterized by high topographic, glacier-made relief, changing

from 60–400 m over short distances.

Mining in Svea Nord started in 2000 and the mine is together

with Mine no. 7, located in the Advent Valley 100 km fur

ther north, the two only operating coalmines owned by SNSG

today. Since SNSG was formed in 1906 the company has been

operating 9 coal mines at Spitsbergen, including Svea Nord

and Mine no. 7. The mines located to the Advent Valley area

was named with a number from mine no. 1 to 6 and the mine

operated in the Svea area, before Svea Nord, was called Svea

Vest. Svea Nord is located only 5 km north-east from Svea

Vest in the same geologic region.

Svea Nord utilizes the longwall mining method to excavate

the coal seam (Figure 1). The article will focus on stresses

related to this mining method. In Svea Nord a shearer cuts

the coal in slices of 80 cm, along a 250 m longwall and
over a distance of 2500–3000 m. The area defined by this
rectangle is further referred to as a longwall panel.
Hydraulic shields protect the shearer and the operators
from the overlaying rock.The method involves caving of the
roof rock in the excavated area. A typical vertical stress
pattern is formed around an excavated longwall panel
(Figure 2). To set up the machinery described in Figure 1,
there is already driven a system of roadways in advance.
The horizontal redistribution pattern will, as the vertical
pattern, be dependent of how well the caving progress. If
the caving progresess well there will only be a minor
stress build-up up by the caving material and the stresses
will be redistributed to a highly stressed area directly
around the panel. A visual evidence is when floor lift
happens after the longwall has passed a section and high
horizontal stresses are consentrated to the floor. 2
HISTORY OF STRESS MEASUREMENTS IN THE MINES OF SNSG The
history of measuring stresses in the mines operated by
SNSG, started in the fifties when the Swedish professor
Hast measured stresses in Mine no. 4 with the so called
Hast-cell

Figure 1. Principle sketch of the longwall method in Svea

Nord.

Figure 2. Redistribution of stresses around a longwall panel

(Peng & Chiang, 1984).

(Hast, 1958). Hast was one the first to invent a way of rock

stress measurement that was practical in use and gave fairly

good results.

All the further measurement in the mines was carried out by

the SINTEF/NTH environment, under supervision by Profes

sor Arne Myrvang. In the mines located to the Advent Valley,

stresses were measured in Mine no. 3 in 1989 and in Mine

no. 7 in 1983, 1989 and 1991 (Hansen & Isaksen, 1992). The

methods used for all the measurements were some way of

overcoring technique.

In Svea Vest, stress measurements were carried out in 1978,

1983 and 1995 (Myrvang, 2000), see Figure 3. This article

has a greater focus on Svea Vest than the mines in the

Advent

Valley. Since the mine is so close to Svea Nord, it has some

kind of the same stress pattern and the mining method and

mining size is somewhat comparable to conditions in Svea

Nord.

The direction of the major horizontal stress component in

the measurements was generally NE–SW, i.e. parallel to the

valleyside and the values differed from 5–20 MPa. With a gen

eral overburden of 100–300 m the measured values were far

higher than the theoretical ones. The vertical stress compo

nent were measured to 5–10 MPa and coincided fairly well

with theoretical values.

In 1995 the development for three longwall panels was

completed. Even though the stress measurements gave clear

indications of the general direction of the horizontal

stresses,

the mine management chose to orientate the panels approxi

mately 90 degrees to the major horizontal stress component.

Figure 3. Location of stress measurements in Svea Vest. The
direction of σ H-max is marked in the locations. At that
time the decision was mainly made by historical reasons and
shape of the deposit to try to maximise the output. This
was the first time a fully mechanized longwall was operated
in Svea. History should soon demonstrate that the
experience from Svea Vest should give important information
to the planning of the Svea Nord mine. In 1999 the Svea
Vest mine had to close, more or less because of a very
unfavourable stress pattern for the utilized mining method.
As in Svea Nord the mining method utilized was the longwall
method. For a longwall mine it is vital to orientate the
mining area optimal to the major horizontal stress
component. Otherwise the confining stresses can create a
bridging effect, resulting in discontinuous violent caving
and rockburst from stress build-up at the face and pillars.
Another effect is that the roadways encircling the
longwallpanel might have extremely bad conditions related
to the stress build-up. The latter was the case in Svea
Vest. In some areas the floor lift was enormous. Due to
this phenomenon the miners had to leave 7 shields in the
tailgate end when the outermost shield was trapped between
roof and floor for panel B7 (Figure 3). To speed up the
salvation of the longwall for panel B7 it was pre-driven a
disassembling roadway in the location where the panel was
planned to terminate. The roadway was heavy supported, but
large stress build up on the face resulted in a complete
collapse of the roadway when there were only some meters of
coal pillar left between the roadway and the face area.
Because of this, all the shields tipped forward and were
almost buried in rock. With enormous efforts and inventive
use of explosives, the miners managed to save all the
shields. The mine was closed soon after this event. In the
light of belated wisdom, all the stress measurements
mentioned so far, has mainly been used as interesting
scientific results and a in a passive way of explaining the
problems in the

Figure 4. Location of stress measurements in Svea Nord.

mines. Looking at the old mine plans today, the results

seems

to a less degree been used as a base in changing the mine

layout or support system to fit the stresses in a better

way. But

since the field of rock mechanics was a new field for the
mines

in the seventies and eighties, the information was something

difficult for the miners to rearrange to practical

consequences

and perhaps the mines at Spitsbergen needed this period of

trial and error to get convinced of the importance of

stresses

in Arctic coal mining.

3 STRESSES IN SVEA NORD

3.1 Stress measuring

During the planning of Svea Nord in the nineties, the man

agement was determined to gather information of the stress

pattern at an early stage. The first attempt to do this was

measuring in a 300 m (70 m ice and 230 m rock) prospective

corehole by using the method of hydraulic fracturing in 1991

(Myrvang, 2000). The measurement was only partly success

ful because severe conditions made it possible to complete

just

one jacking at 165 m.The results indicated σ H-max of 5–6

MPa,
almost the double of the vertical stress.After this pioneer
mea

surement it was decided to carry out the next measurement

from underground, when the mine was opened.

After entering the mine, stresses was measured in two points

in the mine (Figure 4).This first 1000 m long roadway-system

was only adits to the main part of the deposit and it would
be

possible to change the layout after these measurements. With

results from the measurements and experiences from SveaVest

clear in mind, the mine layout this time was changed to be

more

favourable for the direction of the maximum horizontal

stress

component. With a compromise between the shape and the

Figure 5. Roof failure in H3/H4 and CT-8. inclination of
the deposit and the stress direction, the layout was
changed to the one illustrated in Figure 4. In the end the
panels was laid out with an angle of 30–40 degrees to the
maximum horizontal stress direction, a direction that has
proven to be successful for the conditions around the
longwall. Including the two first measurements, the stress
pattern has been measured in 4 locations in Svea Nord,
using doorstoppers and 3D-cells (locations marked in Figure
4). Problems with core-disking during the measurement with
3D-Cell in the first location lead to the use of
doorstoppers for the rest of the measurements. The
doorstoppers proved to be less susceptible to coredisking
and the rest of the results were successfully completed.
All the measurements indicate the same direction for the
major horizontal stress component. In Svea Nord this
component is by experience the most important one related
to long term stability of the roadways. The major
horizontal component (10–20 MPa) is generally 10–20 times
higher than theoretical values, but the vertical component
coincides fairly well with theoretical values. This
indicates that the horizontal stresses are mainly induced
by tectonic forces due to the spreading of the Mid-ocean
Ridge. In general the horizontal stresses are the double of
the vertical ones. The measured directions has been
verified by stress mapping in the mine showing distinct
failure systems in the roof, directly related to stress
directions. The topic is further dealt with in the next
section. 3.2 Stress related problems in the mine Due to
relatively low overburden, the vertical stresses are
generally low and there has so far been only minor
operating problems related to the vertical stress
component. Experience has demonstrated that the major
horizontal stress component is perhaps the most important
factor controlling the ground conditions in the mine.

Effects of the existing stress pattern are easily observed

in the roadways. Stress related roof-failures as

cutter-roof,

rock spalling, bed separation and rock falls, generally

happens

in the roadways driven perpendicular or semi-perpendicular

to the major horizontal stress directions, while the

roadways

driven parallel has got good conditions. In the mains,

called

H3 and H4 (Figure 5), this pattern is especially

significant.The

cross-cuts have got perfect conditions and require low

grade of

roof support. Moving into the roadway there is often an

arched

shaped roof, formed by stress failure reaching equilibrium

in an arch after cutting the coal. Even though the roadways

are heavy supported with 1,8 m rebars and 5 m cables there

normally is measured a lot of movement by extensometers in

the roof.

During the last two years the ground conditions have got

remarkably worse. Investigations have concluded that the

tran
sition to worse conditions coincides with a significant
change

in the roof geology described in Figure 7. Around cross-cut

50 in H3-main, a 50–100 cm thick rider coal seam, that

earlier

was located 12–13 m up in the roof, moves down to around

3–4 m over the immediate roof. Further into the field the
dis

tance lowers to 2–3 m. The conditions have been even worse

in the actual transition zone.

On the “good” side of the transition zone it was some cross

cuts with problems along the panel and a lot of immediate

failure after cutting in the H3-main. After this transition

the

roof-movement has increased and roof-failure has increased

massively. In the roadways called CT-8, the roof conditions

is

bad in every cross-cut. An important characteristic of

failure

after the transition zone is that the failure generally

develops

over a long period. In general there have been very few

signs

of failure, before the roof suddenly has sheared and buck

led down 6–18 months after excavation. Results from strain

gauged rock bolts and extensometers have indicated that fail

ures start in the immediate roof, progressively evolving up

into

the roof over time. When the whole beam, reinforced by bolts
finally fails, the signs tend to be visual in the roof with
cutters

along the ribs and shear or tension cracks in the mid-roof.

Experience made it soon obvious that the roof failures

related to horizontal stresses is importantly influenced by

the

roof geology, even though the failures was still to be seen

in

roadways driven normal to the major horizontal stress. But

there are always some exceptions. In the spring of 2006 a

large roof fall happened between crosscut 4 and 5 in CT-6,

over a year after excavation. In CT-6, as in all the

roadways

along the panel, the experience had been good conditions in

the roadways and bad conditions in the cross-cuts. As no

such

failure had happened without “coinciding” with the “wrong”

direction of the major horizontal stress, the early few

signs

were mis-interpreted. The shape of the roof-arch formed by

the roof-fall and the sharp edged blocks, were all signs of
stress

induced failure, but it didn’t fit into to the old

experienced fail

ure system. Further investigations of the geology, outlined

a

strong sandstone channel in the roof, directly over the

roof in

that particular area. The channel seemed to have redirected

the high horizontal stresses to a direction perpendicular

to the
roadway in just that area. As van der Merve (2000) pointed

out, horizontal stress is not “the root of all evil”.

So far it is mainly the horizontal stress influence on roof

conditions in the roadways that has been addressed. As impor

tant is how the redistribution of horizontal stresses

affects the

conditions in the face area on the longwall. In Svea Nord

the

longwall panels is oriented 30–40 degrees to the major hor

izontal stress. The direction has been favorable for

desired Figure 6. Comparison of roof conditions in
headgates and tailgates related to stress directions in
CONSOL’s Bailey mine (Hasenfus & Su, 2006). Figure 7. Roof
and floor geology for H3-main. continuously caving behind
the shields and only minor stress build-up at the face.As
pointed out by Hasenfus and Su (2006), a lot of mines have
in the last 10–15 years reported a significant difference
of the conditions in the tailgate compared with the
headgate. This phenomenon is today often related to the
concept of magnified horizontal stresses at corners of
advancing longwalls, related to the direction of horizontal
stresses (Figure 6). In Svea Nord the situation compares
with the A-panels in Figure 6, with stress relief and good
conditions on the headgate side and stress concentration on
the tailgate side. A lot of minor and major roof-falls has
happened in the tailgate, often with distinct fingerprints
of horizontal stresses as a driving force. Horizontal
stresses are undoubtedly an important factor contributing
to the roof-falls, but also in this case there is a trend
for the roof-falls to be more extensive when the roof
geology is abnormal. In CT-4 roof-falls happened around
crosscut 17 and 18. In this area the rider coal, mentioned
earlier, is moving closer to the roof (Figure 8) and act
together with the concentration of horizontal stresses.
Based on the experiences and understanding of distinct
failure systems, ground support has progressively been
adjusted to fit the expected conditions. 4 STRESS
CHALLENGES IN THE FUTURE During the spring of 2007 there
will be carried out 2 more doorstopper measurements, among
others to investigate how a deeply incised valley in the
overburden affects the stress pattern at the extraction
level. Considerable change in overburden due to steep
glacier formed relief will lower the thickness of

Figure 8. Roof and floor geology for 2-entry system, CT-4

(light

grey:sandstone, dark grey:mudstone, black:coal).

the overburden further into the field, and stress pattern

will

more likely be affected by surface topography.

Another aspect that is not fully understood is how stresses

change with time, both related to redistribution of stresses

around excavated areas and due to progressive failure.As men

tioned in section 3.2, failure in the roof has often

occurred

a long time after the area was excavated. There are strong

indications that these progressing failures could be related

to redistribution of stresses with time. In both the

locations

there will be installed modified doorstoppers for measur

ing this expected stress changes over time. The results will

be compared with values from strain gauged rock bolts and

extensometers.

When the stress measurement focus in the first part of the

mine was to consider measured stresses as absolute values,

the

focus has changed somewhat to measure change in stresses

with time. The goal is to be familiar with the stress

history

to be able to install the correct form of ground support in

the

ABSTRACT: A FLAC 3D -model was built in order to assess the

factors of influence on tunnel face stability. These
analyses

showed that the influence of the length of the unsupported

tunnel section is relatively low. In praxis an unsupported
tunnel

length of 1 m or 2 m means a difference of several

excavation classes and thus a considerably higher demand
for support, which

is not to be explained by the yielded differences of the

factors of safety. The discrepancy between calculation
results and praxis

may be explained by the influence of rock structure. The

results of the FLAC 3D calculations are, however, in
agreement with

results given by Vermeer et al. (2002). In non cohesive

rock the stability of the tunnel face showed no dependency
of depth (i.e.

the overburden height had no influence on the factor of

safety). In cohesive rock stability decreased with
increasing overburden

height. The analyses, however, showed no critical

overburden height, where the factor of safety is minimum,
as was reported

by Mayer et al. (2003).

1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Numerous tunnel collapses occur within the unsupported

tunnel length section. Therefore, the face area is of

signifi

cance concerning the stability, the safety and the

efficiency

of the excavation. Case studies of tunnel excavation

collapses

show that a critical ratio overburden (H) to tunnel diameter

(D) exists. Many collapses are observed if the ratio H/D is

about 1.5.

For better understanding a FLAC 3D -model was built in

order to assess the factors of influence on tunnel face

stability.

A circular tunnel with a diameter of D = 10 m was modelled.

The influence of overburden H, rock strength parameters c

and φ and unsupported tunnel length (d) were investigated.

24

calculations with varying values of ratio H/D from 0.5 to

3.5

and d/D of 0.1 and 0.2 were carried out for cohesive rocks
as

well as for less cohesive rocks.

2 FLAC 3D ANALYSES

2.1 Modelling procedure

The model geometry for the analyses using FLAC 3D (Itasca,

2005) is illustrated in figures 1 and 2. The model is 70 m

wide

and 35 m long.The floor of the tunnel is located 15 m above

the

Figure 1. Tunnel model grid. base of the model and the

overburden height varies between 5 m and 35 m. A circular
tunnel with a diameter of 10 m is excavated to half of the
model length (see Fig. 2). The unsupported tunnel length
(d) is 1 or 2 m. The tunnel lining is modelled with liner
structural elements. The thickness of the lining is 12.5
cm. Figure 3 shows the geometry and the material properties
used for liner elements. The behaviour of the rock was
simulated by a MohrCoulomb material model and a non
associated flow rule (ψ = 0) with the parameters listed in
Table 1. The rock strength parameters for the limit
equilibrium and the factor of safety were determined by
using the shear strength Figure 2. Model geometry,
longitudinal section. Figure 3. Liner geometry and material
properties used for liner structural elements.
Table 1. Rock properties.

E ν ϕ c

[MPa] [–] [ ◦ ] [kN/m 2 ]

90 0.35 10, 15, 20, 30 40

Table 2. Calculated factor of safety and critical shear

strength for

H/D = 1.0. η c φ c grenz φ grenz

d/D [ ] [kN/m 2 ] [ ◦ ] [kN/m 2 ] [ ◦ ]

0.1 1.31 40 10 30.47 10 1.62 40 15 24.69 15 1.94 40 20

20.58 20 2.77 40 30 14.45 30

0.2 1.22 40 10 32.79 10 1.51 40 15 26.51 15 1.84 40 20

21.75 20 2.66 40 30 15.05 30

reduction technique (Zienkiewciz et al. 1975) and an algo

rithm using the bisection method implemented in FLAC 3D

(Zettler et al. 1999).

The described procedure to calculate the factor of safety

in FLAC is to observe the velocity of the grid points. If

the

system is in motion, the maximum value of the grid point

velocity is higher than a certain minimum velocity. In case

the

system is not in motion the shear strength (cohesion and/or

angle of friction) is reduced by a shear reduction factor,

until

the system fails. The resulting factor of safety is the

ratio of

the rock’s original shear strength to the reduced shear

strength

at failure. This definition of the factor of safety is

based on
the definition of safety by Fellenius (1927):

In the current study the limit equilibrium was determined by

the reduction of the cohesion c merely (initially 40 kN/m 2

),

the angle of friction remained unchanged. The stability of

the

tunnel face was determined by using the angles of friction

(ϕ= 10, 15, 20 and 30 ◦ ) as shown in Table 1.

2.2 Results and discussion

2.2.1 Influence of the unsupported tunnel length

In order to investigate the influence of the unsupported

tunnel

length on the tunnel face stability every calculation was

carried

out with an unsupported tunnel length of 1m (d/D = 0.1) and

2 m (d/D = 0.2).

The results for a ratio of H/D = 1.0 are listed in Table 2

and

illustrated in Figure 4. The results for a ratio of H/D =

3.5 are

listed in Table 3 and illustrated in Figure 5.

The analyses yielded that smaller unsupported tunnel

lengths resulted in slightly higher factors of safety

(Tables 2

and 3). Therefore the unsupported tunnel length is of rela

tively small influence in regard to the factor of safety

(Figs 4

and 5). These results correspond with those of Vermeer &

1,00 1,50 2,00 2,50 3,00 10 15 20 25 30 f a c t o r o f s a
f e t y friction angle [°] d/D=0,1 d/D=0,2 Figure 4.
Relation of factor of safety to friction angle for a ratio
overburden to tunnel diameter H/D = 1.0. Table 3.
Calculated factor of safety and critical shear strength for
H/D = 3.5. η c φ c grenz φ grenz d/D [ ] [kN/m 2 ] [ ◦ ]
[kN/m 2 ] [ ◦ ] 0.1 1.01 40 10 39.73 10 1.44 40 15 27.77 15
1.89 40 20 21.18 20 2.75 40 30 14.52 30 0.2 0.93 40 10
43.03 10 1.33 40 15 30.01 15 1.77 40 20 22.57 20 2.62 40 30
15.26 30 Figure 5. Relation of factor of safety to friction
angle for a ratio overburden to tunnel diameter H/D = 3.5.
Ruse (2002). In praxis an unsupported tunnel length of 1 m
(d/D = 0,1) or 2 m (d/D = 0,2) means a difference of
several excavation classes and thus a considerably higher
demand for support, which is not to be explained by the
yielded differences of the factors of safety. The
discrepancy between calculation results and praxis may be
explained by the influence of rock structure. 2.2.2
Influence of the height of overburden Calculations carried
out with a small angle of friction (<20 ◦ ) and high
cohesion yielded factors of safety depending on the heights
of overburden. Large heights of overburden (H/D = 3.5)
resulted in smaller factors of safety than smaller

Figure 6. Relation of factor of safety to the ratio of

overburden and

tunnel diameter for cohesive and non cohesive rock. Table

4. Calculated factor of safety using different reference
points. Reference points H/D Tunnel roof Surface 0.5 1.56
1.51 1.5 1.47 1.48 2.5 1.44 1.41

heights of overburden (H/D = 0.5). This means that the fac

tor of safety of the tunnel face decreases with the height

of

overburden in cohesive rocks (Fig. 6).

With higher angles of friction (>20 ◦ ) and lower cohesion

(smaller than 22 kN/m 2 ) the factors of safety are

constant,

independently from the height of overburden (Fig. 6). Thus,

in nonor little cohesive rocks the factor of safety of the

tun

nel face is independent from the heights of overburden. Thus

results of Mayer, Hartwig & Schwab (2003), claiming that

the factors of safety in cohesive rock depend on the height
of

overburden, and of Vermeer & Ruse (2002), that the stability

of the tunnel face in non or little cohesive rock (angle of

fric

tion is larger than some 20 ◦ ) is independent from the

height

of overburden, are verified.

Furthermore, the analyses have shown that in general

smaller heights of overburden mean higher factors of safety

than larger heights of overburden. Smaller heights of over

burden, however, mean failure areas reaching to the surface

and therefore collapses up to the surface. In these cases

high

factors of safety are linked with high risks.

In general, the system velocities were calculated in the tun

nel roof for the limit equilibrium analysis. For comparison,

the system velocities were also calculated on the surface.

The

results of these analyses corresponded with those

calculating

velocities in the tunnel roof (see Table 4).

2.2.3 Failure mechanisms

The failure mechanism is determined by the cohesion of the

rock and by the angle of friction. Nonor little cohesive

rock

results in the formation of a bellor funnel shaped failure

area (Figure 7) and cohesive rock results in the formation

of a
chimney shaped failure area (Figure 8) above the tunnel
face.

In practice a critical relation of the height of overburden

to the tunnel diameter of about 1.5 is observed. The theory

of Vavrovsky (1987) and the numerical investigations of

Roth Figure 7. Bellto funnel shaped failure areas in
non-cohesive rock (H/D = 2.5, d/D = 0.2). Figure 8. Chimney
shaped failure areas in cohesive rock (H/D = 2.5, d/D =
0.2). et al. (2001) also showed the same critical relation.
The investigations described in this paper did not,
however, result in a critical height of overburden. 2.2.4
Influence of the flow rule Table 5 and Figure 9 show the
results using an associated (angle of dilatancy equal to
angle of friction) and non associated (angle of dilatancy
equal to zero) flow rule for d/D = 0.1. The analyses showed
that the flow rule influences the factor of safety. When
using an associated flow rule the factor of safety is
strongly dependent of the height of overburden, whereas the
factor of safety is not or little dependent when using a
non associated flow rule. Using an associated flow rule the
factors of safety are higher in case of a small height of
overburden and lower in case of larger heights of
overburden compared with using a non associated flow rule.
3 SUMMARY The analyses showed that the influence of the
length of the unsupported tunnel section is relatively low.
In praxis

Table 5. Influence of the used flow rule on the calculated

factor of

safety. Ratio overburden to tunnel diameter H/D

Strength parameters 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.5 Flow rule

ϕ= 15 ◦ 1.70 1.61 1.47 1.38 associated

c = 40 kN/m 2 1.65 1.62 1.59 1.53 non associated

ϕ= 20 ◦ 2.00 2.00 1.94 1.75 associated

c = 40 kN/m 2 1.95 1.94 1.94 1.92 non associated

Figure 9. Influence of the used flow rule on the calculated

factor

of safety.
an unsupported tunnel length of 1 m (d/D = 0,1) or 2 m

(d/D = 0,2) means a difference of several excavation classes

and thus a considerably higher demand for support, which

is not to be explained by the yielded differences of the fac

tors of safety. The discrepancy between calculation results

and

ABSTRACT: Longwall mining is one of the most commonly used

methods in underground mining. In this paper, a theoretical

method for prediction of ground settlement induced by coal

mining is presented. Effects of parameters such as length
of

longwall, angle of draw and extracted seam height have been

evaluated. The results indicate an increase of subsidence
due

to a decrease in angle of draw and also due to an increase

of parameters such as longwall length, thickness of
extracted coal

seams. However, this increase is linearly proportional to

the thickness of extracted coal seams while maintaining a
nonlinear

relationship with the latter parameters. The increase of

subsidence with respect to increasing length of longwall
has a limit,

beyond which the amount of ground settlement remains

unchanged even though the length of longwall is increased.

1 INTRODUCTION

Mine subsidence is an inevitable but predictable phenomenon

that differs depending on the mining method used and the

type

of deposits mined. Total extraction of mining layered

deposits,

including coal seems, causes a sever stress relief of the

imme
diate roof and eventually loading the unsupported mine roof

to collapse. The costs of such ground settlement damage, to

both land and structures are more than compensated by the

increased mineral recovery when no support pillars are left

in

place (Waltham, A.C, 1989). One of the most commonly used

total extraction techniques in underground mining is mecha

nized longwall working, but room and pillar working were

used much more and has older historical roots in coal min

ing as well. Schmidt, B. (1969), based on data collection

and

settlement analysis, showed that the shape of two

dimensional

subsidence profile, resembles the Gauss probability curve

pro

viding that the (L/H) < 1 , while, L = width of panel, and

H = depth of cover of the coal seam. If the ratio of (L/H)

> 1,

then the longitudinal profile looks like a harmonic function

(Farmer, I. W and Attewell, P.B, 1975). The Gauss

probability

profile was investigated by many researchers (Peek, R. 1969,

Attwell, P. B and Farmer, I. W, 1975, Arsenio, Negro. Jr,

and

Eisenstein, Z, 1981). In this paper, based on an

investigation of

subsidence mechanism, a mathematical model for prediction

of ground subsidence due to longwall mining is presented.

2 MECHANISM OF GROUND SURFACE SUBSIDENCE

prediction as compared with any other underground mining

and civil Engineering subjects are quite limited and

dispersed.

Proper choice of method of investigation to evaluate the

effec

tiveness of parameters involved in subsidence prediction is

of

great importance. Effective factors causing subsidence can

be

either endogenic, natural processes or exogenic, man-made

processes (Prokopovich, N. P, 1986, Hartman, H. L, 1992).The

purely natural processes are very slow and of limited

impact on

most engineering time scales. In contrast, man’s activities

can

induce far more rapid and serious subsidence, through mining

or fluid withdrawal. In all cases, the subsidence is the

result

of interaction between man’s activities and existing

geological

environments. In longwall mining, due to total extraction

of layered deposits such as coal seam and forward movements
of hydraulic jacks, as roof support, immediate roof behind
the jacks is allowed to collapse into the area known as the
goaf. The mechanism of roof collapse is complex but,
however, it can be attributed to tensile fracture of roof
strata ends loading the roof span to sag. Over the goaf
area, the roof breaks up and collapses almost immediately
after the face supports are advanced. The roof rocks
fracture, dilate and then close up as the movement migrates
upward and the pressure of fallen overburden increases. The
upward movement of the strata extends to surface and
appears as subsidence, vertical displacement as well as
horizontal displacement within a zone of influence. The
zone is bounded by a three-dimensional plane into a bowl
with an area much greater than that of the extracted panel.
If L = longwall length/or extracted panel width, and
H=depth of cover of the extracted panel, then, according to
Denkhaus, (1964), and the National Coal Board’s Subsidence
Engineers Hand Book, (1975) the three stages of subsidence
are characterized; subcritical, If L/H < 1.4; critical, If
L/H = 1.4; and supercritical If L/H > 1.4. According to the
latter reference, the maximum subsidence is only achieved
where L > 1.4H. 3 A NEW APPROACH OF ESTIMATING SUBSIDENCE
In this paper, a new mathematical approach of estimating
subsidence is proposed. In this approach it is assumed that
the volume of a three-dimensional bowl shape ground surface
subsidence is equal to the volume of extracted panel. If
the volume due to ground subsidence is shown by V p and the
volume of extracted panel is presented by V s , then, it
can be inferred that the two volumes and the two
corresponding areasA p andA s are equal, that is,A p =A s
(Fig. 1). In order to estimate subsidence, based on
mathematical functions, we can use a polynomial function of
order 4. Employing boundary conditions with regards to
Figure 1, the following function is proposed: After
employing the boundary conditions at points x = 0 and x = L
p , where, it is assumed that the gradients at these points
are zero, it yields: L p β β S max A p A s L H h s X Y 0

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of subsidence due to longwall

mining.

Since the slopes at points x = 0 and x = L p are zero, then

vertical displacements at two ends of the extracted panel

roof

strata are zero too. Hence, these points must be located on

the

profile which results

The maximum subsidence, due to the axisymmetrical con

dition, occurs at the middle of the profile. Assuming that

the

maximum subsidence is represented by S max , and then it can

be shown that

Solving equations (2) and (3) simultaneously results parame

ter “a” in terms of “b” as follows:

Substituting equation (5) into equation (2) parameter “c”

can

be obtained in terms of “b” as follows:

Substituting equation (5) and (6) into equation (4) yields

the

following results:

Substituting the above mentioned coefficients into equation

(1) the following equation is obtained:

By integrating equation (8), the vertical longitunal cross

sectional area along subsidence profile can be calculated in

terms of longwall length (extraction panel width) as

follows:

Where, β= angle of draw, and H = depth of extracted seam.

The vertical longitudinal cross-sectional area of the

extracted panel can also be calculated as: 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Panel, L (m) S m a
x ( m ) . (hs=0.5 ) (hs=1.0 ) (hs=1.5 ) (hs=2.0 ) (hs=2.5 )
(hs=3.0 ) Figure 2. Variation of maximum subsidence induced
by longwall mining in relation with longwall length whenβ=
26 ◦ and H = 300 m. Where h s = the thickness of extracted
seam, and L = longwall length (extraction panel width). By
equating equations (9) and (10) leads the following
equation by which the maximum subsidence can be calculated:
Where, the angle of draw, β, can be taken as equivalent to
the Rankine active state, that is β= (45 φ/2). When the
horizontal stress becomes equal to the active pressure,
there being two sets of failure planes each inclined at (45
+φ/2) to the horizontal. Hence, the angle of (45 −φ/2) to
the vertical represents the angle of draw, β, which shows
the limit plane of influence as well. 4 DISCUSSION OF THE
PROPOSED METHOD’S RESULTS In this section, variations of
subsidence with respect to depth of cover, extracted seam
height, and the longwall length (extracted panel width) at
different angles of draw have been investigated. Figures 2
and 3 represent the variations of maximum subsidence with
respect to extracted panel width at β = 26 ◦ but at two
different depths, that is, at H = 300 m and at H = 600 m
for various extracted seam height ranging from 0.5 m to 3 m
which are quite common seam thickness in coal field. As it
can be seen the maximum subsidence increases nonlinearly
with respect to the length of longwall for a given angle of
draw. However, this increase shows strong dependency to the
extracted seam height. For example for the same depth of
cover and at constant extracted panel width and at β= 26 ◦
, the maximum subsidence shows a rapid increase with
respect to increasing the extracted seam height h s .
However, this increase is less pronounced where depth of
cover is increased (Fig. 3). Figures 4 and 5 reflect the
same variational pattern as Figures 2 and 3 when the angle
of draw β= 30 ◦ . The changes in maximum subsidence also
indicate an increase relationship with respect to angle of
draw and the depth of cover as well. Figures 6 to 9
represent a linear relationship that exists between the
maximum subsidence and the extracted seam height. However,
all these figures reflect a decrease of subsidence with
respect to increase of both angle of draw and the depth of
cover as well. It this important to mention that the
maximum subsidence for a 100 m extracted panel width as

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Panel, L (m)

S m

a x

( m

) . (hs=0.5) (hs=1.0) (hs=1.5) (hs=2.0) (hs=2.5) (hs=3.0)

Figure 3. Variation of maximum subsidence induced by

longwall

mining in relation with longwall length whenβ= 30 ◦ and H =

300 m.

0.0

0.5

1.0
1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Panel, L (m)

S m

a x

( m

) . (hs=0.5) (hs=1.0) (hs=1.5) (hs=2.0) (hs=2.5) (hs=3.0)

Figure 4. Variation of maximum subsidence induced by

longwall

mining in relation with longwall length whenβ= 26 ◦ and H =

600 m.

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Panel, L (m)

S m

a x

( m

) . (hs=0.5) (hs=1.0) (hs=1.5) (hs=2.0) (hs=2.5) (hs=3.0)

Figure 5. Variation of maximum subsidence induced by

longwall

mining in relation with longwall length whenβ= 30 ◦ and H =

600 m.

compared with a 300 m extracted panel width under equal con

ditions, showed 57% less as reflected on Figure 7. However,

this difference decreases as the depth decreases too (Fig.

6).

The slope of the linear relationship that exists between S

msx

and h s decreases as the angle of draw increases.

5 PRACTICAL APPLICATION

In order to verify the proposed method of subsidence predic

tion, let us consider the measurements provided by Hartman

(1992) for a practial case of longwall mining with the fol

lowing Parameters: Depth of cover (H) = 213 m, longwall

length (L) = 152 m, Extracted seam Height (hs) = 1.83 m,

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 hs
(m) S m a x ( m ) . (L=100) (L=150) (L=200) (L=250) (L=300)
Figure 6. Variation of maximum subsidence induced by
longwall mining with respect to extracted seam height when
β= 26 ◦ and H = 300 m. 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
1.8 2.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 hs (m) S m a x ( m ) .
(L=100) (L=150) (L=200) (L=250) (L=300) Figure 7. Variation
of maximum subsidence induced by longwall mining with
respect to extracted seam height when β= 26 ◦ and H = 600
m. 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 hs
(m) S m a x ( m ) . (L=100) (L=150) (L=200) (L=250) (L=300)
Figure 8. Variation of maximum subsidence induced by
longwall mining with respect to extracted seam height when
β= 30 ◦ and H = 300 m. Coal seam slope = zero, Angle of
draw = 25 ◦ , Measured Ground settlement = 1.23 m.
Solution: Employing equation 11 and using the information
given yields the maximum settlement S max = 1.48 m. As it
can be compared with the actual measurement, the present
proposed approach shows some 20% higher values. This is
obvious, since, in this approach prediction is made for
longterm settlement when the goaf material can sustain the
original overburden load. Hence, the approach could be used
as a conservative subsidence prediction method.

0.0

0.2
0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 hs (m)

S m

a x

( m

) . (L=100) (L=150) (L=200) (L=250) (L=300)

Figure 9. Variation of maximum subsidence induced by

longwall

mining with respect to extracted seam height when β= 30 ◦

and

H = 600 m.

6 CONCLUSIONS

The results of this research work led to the following

conclud

ing remarks:

1 Mine subsidence is an inevitable but predictable phe

nomenon, which differs depending up on the mining method

employed and the type of deposits mined.

2 Characterization of type and number of parameters involved

in subsidence analysis are complex, but some major param

eters such as longwall length/ or extracted panel width,

extracted seam height and angle of draw, in these paper,

were

considered as being the most effective and determinative

parameters in longwall mining.

3 A theoretical method of prediction of ground settlement

induced by coal mining has been presented and the result

was compared with actual measurement.

4 The analysis indicate an increase of subsidence due to a

ABSTRACT: The excavation of deep tunnels could exhibit a

strong time dependent behaviour which may be critical to
the

stability of the rock mass. This is particularly true for

tunnels excavated in soft rock which could sustain large
deformations. In

this context, the forecast and the assessment of the

behaviour of the rock mass during the tunnel’s construction
stages, as well

as in the long term, require numerical modelling with the

use of appropriate constitutive models. In this paper,
current models

which are based on the viscoplasticity coupled to the

damage theory are presented. They enable the computing of
creep strains,

stress relaxation and possibly, time at failure, if the

damage process of the rock is taken into account.
Thereafter a numerical

modelling of an underground gallery is presented based on

this model. The role of the main construction
characteristics, such

as the rate of excavation and the delay for support

installations, is finally discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION
The time dependent behavior of rock has always been an issue

for underground construction. It may lead to some short term

instabilities, during or right after the construction, or

to col

lapses occurring many years or decades after the completion

of the work. An attempt to tackle this problem was presented

by Bieniawski (1979) who proposed rock mass classification

based on the Rock Mass Rating.

Short term time dependent instabilities are mainly

attributed to rock rheology (i.e. viscosity). They may

exhibit

large deformations like in the case of squeezing rock and

they may be sometimes associated with the swelling of

rock. This phenomenon of large deformations have been

observed in the past during the construction of many tun

nels (Barla et al. 2004, Einstein 1996, Panet 1995) and

more recently in the section of the Lötschberg tunnel exca

vated in Switzerland in carboniferous rocks (Sandrone et al.

2006).

Long term behavior may lead to collapses such as those

responsible for large subsidence observed in many countries

after mine closures. These events have more to do with rock

property degradations, due to chemical changes related to

the

aging of the rock.

Some other kinds of underground facilities for which time is

of the utmost importance are those designed for nuclear
wastes

repositories. In those cases the period of time under consid

eration is several centuries (Hudson 2001, Fairhurst 2004,

Pellet 2004).

2 CONSTITUTIVE MODELS FOR TIME DEPENDENT

BEHAVIOR OF ROCKS

To model the time dependent behavior of rocks, rate

dependent

models must be used. They allow one to calculate both

strains

with respect to time and time at failure. Several rate

dependent

constitutive models are available but few of them allow one

to

predict delayed failure. 2.1 Viscoplastic damage

constitutive model Damage theory is based on the concept of
effective stress (Kachanov 1959). Coupled with a
viscoplastic constitutive model, this theory is able to
express progressive and delayed failure phenomena
characterized by the tertiary creep phase (Lemaitre 1996).
However, most existing constitutive models do not take into
account the delayed irreversible volumetric strain
associated with damage development, or the anisotropy of
damage observed during laboratory tests. Improvements of
viscoplastic damage models were made to take these features
into account. Procedures for identifying the parameters and
an explanation of their physical meanings are presented,
and model performance is compared with laboratory test
results in Pellet et al. (2005b). Viscoplasticity and
damage process in a material can be linked in different
ways. In the case of Lemaitre’s constitutive model, it is
achieved by substituting the nominal stress, σ, by the
effective stress, σ˜, in accordance with the strain
equivalence principle. This leads to: Where: σ˜ eq is the
effective von Mises stress, S˜ is the effective stress
deviator, D is the damage parameter, and I the unit tensor.
It is assumed that total strain is divided into elastic
strain ε˙ e , and viscoplastic strain ε˙ vp . ε˙ e is
written as follows:
Where: σ˙ is the stress rate, E and ν are the elastic
parameters.

Assuming in addition that there is no purely plastic domain,

Lemaitre’s model leads to the following expression for the

viscoplastic strain rate:

Where: is the viscoplastic potential, K, N and M are the

viscoplastic parameters of the model.

Additionally, the strain-hardening parameter p˙ is, equal to

the cumulative viscoplastic strain.

The rate of damage is expressed as follows:

Where: A, r and k are the model damage parameters. The yield

function is given by:

ζ and ξ are the parameters of the criterion verifying:

0 <ζ + ξ < 1. Full development of this model can be found in

Lemaitre (1996).

The damage parameter D must lie between 0 and 1

(0 < D < 1). When D is 0, the rock is undamaged (intact

rock).

A value close to 1 indicates rupture of the rock.

This model requires the identification of 6 parameters:

three

viscous parameters K, M and N, plus three damage parameters

A, r and k.

The parameter K represents the viscoplastic stiffness, N

is the viscosity exponent and M is the strain-hardening. It

must be underlined that thermal and hygrometric effects can

be taken into account through the two viscous parameters K

and N.

The damage parameter, A, is called the tenacity coefficient.

The role played by A in the damage process is comparable

to that played by the coefficient K in viscoplasticity. The

parameter r is the damage exponent, and k is the progression

parameter.

A parametric study explaining the influence of each of these

parameters is given by Pellet et al. (2005b).

2.2 Strength degradation model

The strength degradation model is an alternative to model

time

dependent failure. This model is based on the Cvisc model

proposed by Itasca (2004). It is constituted by a Burger

model

plus a threshold for strength degradation.

The strength is described by a Mohr Coulomb criterion with

a non associated flow rule. An example of this model applied

to deep tunnel excavated in squeezing rock can be found in

Regazzoni (2006). Figure 1. Geometry and mesh of the

gallery under study. 3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF UNDERGROUND
EXCAVATIONS The ability of the viscoplastic damageable
constitutive model to provide solutions for rock
engineering problems is going to be illustrated by an
example which deals with the issues of underground openings
designed for radioactive waste repositories. In this
problem, one of the key points for the performance
assessment is the computation of the extension of the
Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) and its evolution with
respect to time. 3.1 Modeling of the time dependent
development of the Excavation Damaged Zone Time dependent
development of the Excavation Damage Zone (EDZ) has been
studied by Boidy et al. (2002), Hajdu (2003), Pellet et al.
(2005a) and Pellet (2006). The 2D finite element model
representing one half of the typical cross section of the
underground opening is shown in Figure 1. It is made up of
8node quadratic elements. The initial state of stress is
isotropic with a magnitude of 11 MPa. Two computations were
performed. The first for an unsupported opening and the
second for an opening supported by a concrete lining
installed one month after the excavation. The initial Young
modulus of concrete is 28 GPa, during the first hundred of
years, and then decreases linearly to reach the value of
2.8 GPa after 300 years. The numerical simulation presented
below has been performed with the Lemaitre viscoplastic
damageable constitutive model. The selected parameters,
based on calibration proposed by Fabre et al. (2006), are:
Viscosity parameters: Damage parameters: N = 25 r = 11.3 M
= 2 k = 9 K = 620 MPa.s A = 22.3 MPa.s The stress
redistributions after the excavation are represented in
Figures 2 and 3. For the unsupported gallery (Figure 2),
right after the excavation, the orthoradial stress
distribution is elastic (Figure 2a). It exhibits a maximum
value located at the wall and which is approximately two
times the initial stress (22 MPa). Then, with respect to
time, the maximum stress progressively decreases and after
ten years, a sudden stress drop appears at a distance of
1.5 times the radius from the wall

Figure 2. Orthoradial stresses (aabove) and radial stresses

(b-below) versus the distance from the wall, at different

times, for an

unsupported gallery.

Figure 3. Orthoradial stresses versus the distance from the

wall at

different times for a supported gallery.

of the gallery. This actually corresponds to the development

of a shear band. In this zone, the radial stress is almost

zero

(Figure 2b).

For the case of a supported gallery, the maximum ortho

radial stress decreases from 22 to 10 MPa and no shear zone

appeared (Figure 3).

The extensions of the Excavation Damage Zone after 300

years are represented in Figure 4 on the left hand side for

the supported gallery, and on the right hand side for the

unsupported gallery.

The displacements at the wall (mid height) are represented

in Figure 5. It can be clearly observed that the support sub

stantially limits both the convergence and the extension of

the

EDZ.

The evolution of the orthoradial stress versus strain shows

a decrease of stress which is actually partly due to the

damage

process and partly to the stress relaxation (Figure 6).

Again

the stress drop is limited when support is installed, one

month

after the excavation. Figure 4. Extension of the damage

zone 300 years after the excavation: Left side for the
supported gallery (max. 0.5 m) and right side for
unsupported gallery (max. 1.40 m). Figure 5. Wall
displacements with respect to time for a supported gallery
(with lining) and an unsupported gallery (without lining).
Figure 6. Orthoradial stress versus anelastic orthoradial
strain for a supported gallery (with lining) and an
unsupported gallery (without lining). 4 PRACTICAL
IMPLICATIONS TO TUNNEL DESIGN The numerical simulation
presented above represents a full section excavation. Other
numerical simulations have been performed by partially
excavating the section. The conclusions are that besides
obvious factors such as the rock properties, the size of
the opening (full or divided

Figure 7. Stress decrease due to excavation versus wall

displace

ments for different rock rheology and different types of

excavation
methods (NATM-NITM).

section), the rate of excavation and the time of support

instal

lation play an important role on the extension of the EDZ,

as

well as on the short term stability.

In practice, the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM)

aims to limit the size of the opening and to allow

displacements

to mobilize rock strength. The counterpart is that the rate

of

excavation is slower and the rockmass properties may have

time to deteriorate.

On the contrary, with the New Italian Tunneling Method

(NITM) the excavation is performed in a full section with

face

reinforcement. The rate of advancement is faster and

therefore

the displacements are limited. The consequence is that a

stiff

heavy support is required to be installed as quickly as

possible.

To summarize, the stand up time without support, related to

strength degradation of the rock, has to be longer than the

time

required to mobilize rock strength. Therefore, the

appropriate

method is a compromise to overcome these two phenomena,

as illustrated on Figure 7.

5 CONCLUSION
The study of the time dependent behavior of underground

structures requires appropriate constitutive models for

numer

ical simulation. These models have to be rate dependent,

including delayed failure, such as viscoplastic damageable

models or more simple models like the strength degradation

model.

In both cases, model parameters needs to be calibrated from

lab tests and in situ measurements.The selection of the

method

for tunnel construction depends on the weight of these param

eters with regard to delayed strains and to strength

degradation

related to damage processes.

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analysis of timedependent behaviour of a test gallery in
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Toward the design of attractive underground space: Coupling

human sensibility and rock mechanics N. Shimizu Yamaguchi
University, Ube, Japan A. Imaizumi CFK Consultants Co.,
Ltd., Osaka, Japan S. Takeo Yamaguchi University, Ube,
Japan S. Sakurai Construction Engineering Research
Institute Foundation, Kobe, Japan
ABSTRACT: Civil engineers usually design underground
facilities from conventional engineering points of view,
i.e., mechan

ics, cost, safety, etc. During this new century, however,

public facilities should be designed so that people feel
more of an

attraction to the facilities and a desire to revisit them.

In order to succeed in creating such attractive underground
structures,

it may be effective to employ the idea of human sensibility

during the design stage. This paper discusses an approach
which

applies human sensibility together with rock mechanics to

the design of shapes for underground spaces.

1 INTRODUCTION

Underground space is presently being used for recreation,

shopping, restaurants, sports, art, and amusement facilities

as well as for tunnels, powerhouses, energy storage, and for

developing mining resources (Laine 1986, Saari 1988, Car

mody and Sterling 1993, Sakurai et al. 1998). In order to

develop a new market in the rock engineering field for using

underground space, the structures should be designed so that

people feel more of an attraction to them and a desire to

revisit

them time and again. For this purpose, therefore, it is

impor

tant that each underground space should be designed on the

basis of not only conventional engineering viewpoints, i.e.,

mechanics, cost, safety, etc., but also alternative

viewpoints.

Let’s take a look at these alternative viewpoints.

People generally have negative impressions when they think

of being underground, namely, darkness, isolation, fear,

etc.,

although there are numerous practical benefits to utilizing

underground space for a variety of purposes. On the other

hand, people also often find they have a sense of wonder,

adventure, beauty, sublimity, and other potentially positive

impressions when they visit the underground. If such posi

tive impressions can be used to overcome the negative ones,

the underground will become a more appealing and impressive

place.

As an alternative perspective for the design of various

types

of underground spaces, it is possible to use human

sensibility

together with a conventional knowledge of rock mechanics.

This paper proposes an approach which combines human

sensibility and rock mechanics to the design of shapes for

underground structures.

A questionnaire is adopted as the method to assess

the preferable shapes for underground structures from the

Figure 1. Answer sheet of questionnaire. viewpoint of human
sensibility. On the other hand, a new index for assessing
the preferable shapes, called “mechanical sensitivity”, is
also now available. It is originally defined from the
viewpoint of mechanics. A method for designing the shapes,
which couples human sensibility and mechanical sensitivity,
is described. In order to verify the proposed method, one
example of a shape design for underground space is
illustrated. 2 USE OF HUMAN SENSIBILITY Questionnaires can
be used to assess how people feel about being in
underground structures (Shimizu et al. 2002, 2004, Imaizumi
et al. 2003). Pairs of adjectives, namely, “useful
Figure 2. Images of the underground space shapes.

Figure 3. “Pleasant” and “unpleasant” areas in the factor

score

diagram.

useless”, “regular odd”, “dynamic static”, “balanced

imbalanced”, “lively calm”, “harmonious disharmonious”,

“spectacular unspectacular”, “spacious confined”, and

“pleasant unpleasant”, are given as the “scale” in the ques

tionnaire to measure human sensibility. Seven choices are

provided to reflect the degree of each adjective chosen from

the scale (very, quite, slightly, etc.), as shown in Figure

1.

One by one, the various shapes are presented to the respon

dents. They are required to answer intuitively, not thinking

too deeply about each shape. Figure 2 gives the images of

the

underground space shapes used in the questionnaire.

The semantic differential method (Osgood et al. 1957) is

used for analyzing the answers given on the questionnaire.

Figure 3 shows the results for the eight different shapes

shown in Figure 2(f). This is the factor score diagram with

two axes for factor 1 (“useful useless”, “balanced imbal

anced”, and “harmonious disharmonious”) and for factor

2 (“spacious confined”), respectively. The space is divided

into two areas, namely, “pleasant” and “unpleasant”. Skew

shaped “G” and “B” and triangular-shaped “E” are located in

the “unpleasant” area, while the other shapes are located in

the “pleasant” area. It is recognized that shapes created

for

underground structures should be designed in such a way that

they are “balanced”, “harmonious”, and “spacious”. Figure

4. Shape of the space and nodal points i, j, and k . 3 USE
OF MECHANICS In order to assess the preferable shapes for
underground structures, from the viewpoint of mechanics, an
index called “mechanical sensitivity” is defined as follows
(Shimizu et al. 2004, Imaizumi et al. 2004). The
displacement brought about by the excavation of an
underground opening in a homogeneous and isotropic elastic
rock is generally expressed as a plain strain problem.
where u(x, y) is a displacement at a point (x, y), σ x0 , σ
y0 , and τ xv0 denote the initial stress levels, and E is
the elastic modulus. f 1 , f 2 , and f 3 are coefficients
determined by the shape of the underground space and the
Poison’s ratio of the rock. σ x0 /E, σ y0 /E, and τ xv0 /E
are defined as the initial stress levels divided by the
elastic modulus; they are non-dimensional parameters called
the “normalized initial stress”. The following strain, {ε},
is defined as the average strain of the section of space
using displacements at points i, j, and k on the surface of
the space (see Figure 4): where {ε}= {ε x ε y γ xy } T ,
{u}= {u i v i u j v j u k v k } T , and [B] is the “B
matrix” for triangular finite elements i, j, and k .
Incorporating Equation (1) into Equation (2), the following
relation is derived: where {ε ι }= {ε xι ε yι γ xyι } T is
a kind of sensitivity for the normalized initial stress. It
depends on the shape of the underground space, but it is
independent of the initial stress and the elastic modulus
of the rock. The equations of sensitivity for shear strain
γ and volumetric strain e are respectively defined as
follows: These sensitivities can be used to represent the
preferable shapes from the viewpoint of mechanics. A large
sensitivity means that the shape is flexible and possibly
unstable. Figure 5 shows the relationship between
“pleasantness”, obtained from the questionnaire, and
“mechanical sensitivity”, obtained from Equations (4) and
(5) for the various types of shapes shown in Figure 2. A
negative correlation is found

Figure 5. Relationship between “pleasant” impression and

mechan

ical sensitivity.
Figure 6. Score for the “dynamic”impression Qi/(Qi)max
(human

sensibility) of each underground space shown in Figure 2.

between them. In other words, the sensitivity of the

volumetric

strain and the shear strain are lower, while the

pleasantness

is higher. This means that people seem to feel that shapes

which have the potential for small deformations are

pleasant.

It is interesting that these results almost coincide with

human

intuition.

4 COUPLING HUMAN SENSIBILITY AND

MECHANICAL SENSIBILITY

In order to design shapes for various underground structures

by coupling human sensibility and a knowledge of mechanics,

a procedure which applies the methods described in Sections

2 and 3 is proposed here.

Figure 6 shows the shapes arranged in an order such that the

“dynamic” impression is high. The value for the “dynamic”

impression is obtained from the questionnaire (Section

2).The

“dynamic” impression is taken here as an example, because it

is a significant scale for measuring how people feel,

namely,

excited, uplifted, or any other active impression held

toward

the underground space. The lateral axis represents Q i /(Q

i ) max ;
Q i is the value for the “dynamic” impression and (Q i )
max is Figure 7. Score for the stiffness (1/e)/(1/e)max
(mechanical sensitivity) of each underground space shown in
Figure 2. the maximum value among the answers taken from
the questionnaire for all shapes. From this figure, it is
found that the shape with the largest skew angle gives the
best “dynamic” impression, and that the tall, the wide, and
the other skew shapes tend to be “dynamic” compared with
the other shapes, i.e., the horseshoe shape and the squire
shape. On the other hand, Figure 7 shows the shapes
arranged in an order such that the reciprocal value of the
“mechanical sensitivity” for the volumetric strain is
large. The shapes which have large reciprocal values for
the “mechanical sensitivity” are stiff (or stable) compared
with the shapes which have small reciprocal values. The
lateral axis in Figure 7 represents (1/e)/(1/e) max ; (1/e)
is the reciprocal value for the “mechanical sensitivity of
volumetric strain e”, and (1/e) max is the maximum value
among all the shapes shown in Figure 2. From this figure,
it is found that the shapes which have an arched roof tend
to be stiff compared with the shapes which have a flat
roof. The wide shapes and the skew shapes seem to be
flexible. In order to couple the above results, an index is
defined as follows: Figure 8 shows the shapes arranged in
order of index I e . It shows that the skew-shaped space
and the horseshoe-shaped space are found to be preferable
from the viewpoints of both human sensibility and
mechanical sensitivity. If another scale of human
sensibility is taken, for example, “harmonious”,
“pleasant”, etc., instead of “dynamic”, the answers taken
from the questionnaire for that scale are used as Q i . 5 A
CASE STUDY The series of skew shapes in Figure 2(a) is used
to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method as a
case study. Figure 9 shows the “dynamic” impression
obtained from the questionnaire, Q i /(Q i ) max , the
reciprocal value of the mechanical sensitivity, (1/e)/(1/e)
max , in terms of the skew_angle of the shape.When the skew
angle becomes large, the shape becomes flexible and
possibly unstable. This indicates that the level of safety
decreases for structures with large skew angles from

Figure 8. Total assessment (Index I e ) for the underground

space

shapes shown in Figure 2.

Figure 9. Optimum skew angle for the shape of an underground

space.
the viewpoint of mechanics. On the other hand, the “dynamic”

impression increases when the skew angle becomes large.This

means that the “dynamic” impression for shapes increases as

the skew angles become larger. Therefore, there seems to be

a

trade-off relationship between the “dynamic” impression and

the mechanical safety.

The index defined by Equation (4) has its maximum value

at a skew angle of 10 degrees. This means that a shape with

a skew angle of 10 degrees is the best among the series of

skew shapes from the viewpoints of human sensibility and

mechanics.

Although skew shapes seem to be strange, structures which

have such shapes do exist. Figure 10 shows a corridor

designed

by Antoni Goudi located in Guell Park in Spain. It is a very

attractive structure and a nice example to demonstrate the

Carmody, J., and Sterling, R. 1993. Underground space

design. Van

Nostrand Reinhold.

Laine, O. (Chief Editor) 1986. Rock engineering in Finland.

Finnish

Tunnelling Association. (Japanese translation, 1990. Kajima

Insti

tute Publishing)

Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., and Tannenbaum, P. H., 1957. The

measurement of meaning, University of Illinois Press.

Saari, K. (Chief Editor) 1988. The rock engineering alterna

tive. Finnish Tunnelling Association. (Japanese

translation, 1990.

Kajima Institute Publishing)

Sakurai, S., Chikahisa, H., Kobayashi, K., and Tsutsui, T.

1998.

Design and construction of the Takayama festival underground

art museum. Underground Construction in Modern

Infrastructure,

pp. 3–11. Shimizu, N., Imaizumi, A., and Sakurai, S. 2002,

An approach using human perception together with rock
mechanics to design the shape of underground space,
Proceedings of 5th North American Rock Mechanics Symposium,
NARMS-TAC2002, Vol. 2:1333–1338. Shimizu, N., Imaizumi, A.,
and Sakurai, S. 2004. Fusion of human sensibility and rock
mechanics in the design of underground spaces, Tunneling
and Underground Space Technology, 19:361– 362, C20 in
ITA-AITES (CD-ROM).
5 5. Earthquake engineering and rock
dynamics

ABSTRACT: The dynamic behaviour of rocks during the failure

process is not being investigated so far, although it has

very important implications on the failure response of rock

engineering structures as well as ground motions induced by

earthquakes. The authors performed some experiments under

different loading environment on various types
geo-materials

in order to enhance our knowledge and understanding on the

dynamic behaviour of rocks during fracturing. Following
some

brief information on the testing machines and testing

procedures, the experimental results are presented
according to each

experimental configuration and their implications are

discussed. The results clearly indicate that the
accelerations of the mobile

part of the loading system are always greater than those of

the stationary part.

1 INTRODUCTION

The dynamic responses of geo-materials during fracturing

have not received any attention in the fields of

geo-engineering

and geo-science. However, these responses may be very

important in the failure phenomenon of geo-engineering

structures (i.e. rockburst, squeezing, sliding) and the

ground

motions induced by earthquakes. For example, the estima

tion of the travel distance and path of rock fragments

during

rockbursts in underground excavations is very important for

assessing the safety of workmen and equipments. It is also

known that the ground motions induced by earthquakes could

be higher in the hanging-wall block or mobile side of the

causative fault as observed in the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake

(Aydan et al. 2000) and the 1999 Chi-chi earthquake (Tsai &

Huang, 2000).

The recent advances in measurement, monitoring and log

ging technologies enable us to measure and to monitor the

dynamic responses of geo-materials during fracturing. There

fore, the studies concerning the dynamic responses of geo

materials during fracturing can now be easily undertaken as

compared with that in the past.The authors have been

carrying

out such a study in recent years. The experiments have been

performed on geo-materials ranging from very soft materials

such as clay to hard rocks such as siliceous sandstone by

using

different loading schemes and loading frames. This article

describes some of these experiments and experimental results

concerned with the acceleration responses of geo-materials

during fracturing and discuss their implications in
earthquake engineering. 2 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UPS AND
MATERIALS The experiments have been carried out at the rock
mechanics laboratories of three institutes, namely, Tokai
University (TU) and Ryukyu University (RU) in Japan and
Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey. The
loading machines of the TU and the RU are low-stiffness
machines with a loading capacity of 2000 kN while the
loading machine of the METU is a servo-control high
stiffness machine with a 2000 kN loading capacity. Fig. 1
shows the experimental set-ups at three institutes. In all
experiments, the loads imposed on and displacements of the
samples are simultaneously measured through the utilization
of load cells and contact type displacement transducers
during experiments. The acceleration responses of the
samples during fracturing were measured by Yokogawa WE7000
measurement station using the AR-10TF type accelerometers
of TOKYO SOKKI, which can measure three components of
accelerations up to 10G with a frequency range of 0-160 Hz
(Aydan 2003). The accelerometers were either attached to
samples directly on top and bottom platens. However, if the
sample was large enough, the accelerometers were attached
directly onto samples. The accelerations were measured in
the direction of loading and in two mutually

Figure 1. Views of experimental set-ups.

perpendicular directions to the loading direction, one of

which

generally corresponds to the radial direction.

3 EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS

The experiments and the results obtained are described

accord

ing to their type.

3.1 Uniaxial compression experiments

Tests on samples of various rocks such as Ryukyu limestone,

tuff, granite, porphryte, andesite, sandstone etc. were per

formed.We just show two examples (Fuji-TV No.1 and Mitake

Sandstone MS2). Fuji-TV No.1 is a prismatic granite sam

ple (100 × 100 × 200 mm). The acceleration responses start

to develop when the applied stress exceeds the peak strength

and it attains the largest value just before the residual

state

is achieved as seen in Fig. 2. This pattern was observed in

all

experiments. Another important aspect is that the

acceleration

of the upper platen is much larger than that of the lower

platen.
This is also a common feature in all experiments. In another

word, the amplitude of accelerations of the mobile part of

the

loading system is higher than that of the stationary part.

Mitake Sandstone MS2 sample (Height: 93 mm; Diameter:

45 mm) is a soft rock and an accelerometer was attached to

the sample at the mid height. Fig. 3 shows the axial stress
and

acceleration response as a function of time. The failure of

this

rock sample is ductile and the maximum acceleration is much

less than that for granite sample. Nevertheless, the maximum

acceleration occurs just before the residual state, which

is very

similar to that observed during the fracturing of hard

brittle

granite sample.

Experiments on samples of sandstone of the third Shizuoka

Tunnel of the secondTOMEI highway were performed (Aydan

et al. 2005). Among these tests, three acceleration records

Figure 2. Acceleration and axial response of a granite
sample denoted Fuji-TV No.1. Figure 3. Acceleration and
axial response of a sandstone sample denoted Mitake
Sandstone (MS2). of sample A1 during failure are presented
in Fig. 4. Fundamentally, the observed acceleration
responses are similar to those of the previous examples
except their absolute values. The most striking feature is
the chaotic acceleration response

Figure 4. Acceleration responses of sample A1.

during the initiation and propagation of the macroscopic

frac

ture of the sample.This chaotic response is very remarkable

for

the radial acceleration component of the top platen in

particu

lar. Probably, this phase is associated with the small

fragment

detachments before the final burst of rock samples. The

small

fragments result from splitting cracks aligned along the

direc

tion of loading before they coalesce into a large shear

band.

Furthermore, the audible sounds of fracturing are emitted

from

the rock during this phase.

The samples of marl used in testing were gathered from

Demirbilek open-pit lignite mine in Western Turkey. Since

the testing machine was a servo-control testing machine and

rock was soft, the rock deformation was strictly controlled

and the violent failure phenomenon does not generally occur

to trigger the accelerometers. However, the failure of

Sample

No.3 did trigger the accelerometers. The results are shown

in

Fig. 5.As noted from the figure, the amplitude of

accelerations

are larger than that of those at lower side.

Sample No. 4 was accidentally subjected to a shock loading

causing the failure of the sample during which

accelerometers

were triggered. Figure 6 shows the acceleration response of

the axial components of the mobile and stationary parts of
the

loading system. The amplitude ratio for this particular

test is

about 2.4. Once again, the mobile part of the system expe

riences greater accelerations. Furthermore, the acceleration

response of the mobile part is not symmetric while the

station

ary part shows a symmetrical response.This feature resembles

to those recorded in the recent great in-land earthquakes

such

as those in Turkey, Taiwan and Japan. Figure 5.

Acceleration responses of Demirbilek marl sample No.3.
Figure 6. Acceleration responses of Demirbilek marl sample
No.4. Figure 7 shows the relation between work done
(according the definition in Continuum Mechanics) on tested
samples and maximum acceleration (Aydan 2004). It is very
interesting to note that the maximum acceleration increases
as the work done

Figure 7. The relation between work done on samples and maxi

mum acceleration.

increases. This result should probably have very important

implications in many disciplines of geoscience and

earthquake

engineering for inferring and understanding ground motions.

3.2 Experiments on tunnel models

Large rock samples of siliceous sandstone of Shizuoka 3rd

Tunnel and Ryukyu limestone blocks having a circular hole

with a diameter of 58 mm were tested. The height of samples

was 300 mm and 200 mm width. In addition to acceleration

measurements, multi-parameter measurements in model tun

nel experiments were performed on sandstone and limestone

samples as illustrated in Fig. 8.

Fig. 9 shows the acceleration responses measured on sand

stone sample (300 × 200 × 138 mm) having a circular hole

with a diameter of 58 mm. The overall acceleration responses

are quite similar to those observed in uniaxial compression

experiments. However, multiple acceleration responses with

growing amplitudes occurred before that during the final rup

ture state. This phenomenon may be related to the ejection

of

small fragments from the perimeter of the model tunnel

before

the final failure of the sample. The observations of the

exper

iments on the model tunnel in a brittle hard rock resemble

to

rockburst phenomenon experienced in rock engineering. Fig

ure 10 shows a view of ejection of the rock fragments from

the perimeter of the model tunnel.

Large rock samples of Ryukyu limestone blocks having a

circular hole with a diameter of 58 mm were tested. The sam

ples were 270 mm high, 160mm wide and 140 mm thick. In

addition to acceleration measurements, multi-parameter mea

surements in model tunnel experiments were performed on

limestone samples as illustrated in Figure 7.

Fig. 11 shows the acceleration responses measured on lime

stone sample denoted by BE-2-6-TUN. The overall accelera

tion responses are quite similar to those observed in
uniaxial

compression experiments.The mobile part of the loading sam

ple experiences larger accelerations. However, the

amplitudes

of acceleration responses of limestone sample are smaller

than

those measured in the experiment of the previous sandstone

sample.The overall strength of limestone sample with a model

tunnel is smaller than that of the sandstone sample and the

sandstone sample fails in a more brittle manner compared to

Figure 8. The layout of instruments of the samples. Figure
9. Acceleration response of a sandstone sample with a
circular hole. the limestone sample. The compressive
failure took place at sidewalls while tensile cracks
appeared in the roof and floor of the model tunnel as
expected (Figure 12). Furthermore, the failure of the
sample was less violent as compared to that of the
sandstone sample. 3.3 Experiments on pillars Tests were
carried out on pillar samples prepared from Ryukyu
limestone blocks. During experiments, load, displacement,

Figure 10. Views of the sample with a model tunnel during

the

experiment.

Figure 11. Acceleration response of a limestone sample with

a

circular hole.

electrical field, temperature and acoustic emissions were

also

measured. Two accelerometers were attached to the top and

bottom ends of the sample (Figure 13). The device was set to

the trigger mode. Figure 14 shows the measured acceleration

during failure. The peak axial acceleration of top side

(mobile Figure 12. Front and back views of the limestone
block. Figure 13. The layout of instrumentation of a pillar
sample. part) was larger that that of bottom side attached
onto the samples. This observations is also in accordance
with previous observations. Nevertheless, the radial and
tangential components of the accelerometer attached to the
bottom side were larger than those of the accelerometer at
the top of the sample. 4 CONCLUSIONS The authors presented
the outcomes of an experimental study on the acceleration
responses of geo-materials during fracturing. Experiments
were carried out under different loading environments and
using different types of testing machines. In-spite of
differences in loading environment and testing machines,
the experimental results have some striking similarities,
which may be summarised as follows: a) The amplitude of
accelerations of the mobile part of the loading system is
higher than that of the stationary part. This feature has
striking similarities with the strong motion records nearby
earthquake faults observed in the recent

Figure 14. Acceleration response of a limestone pillar

sample.

large in-land earthquakes such as the 1999 Kocaeli earth

quake of Turkey, 1999 Chi-chi Earthquake of Taiwan and

the 2003 Miyagi Hokubu earthquake of Japan (Figure 15).

Furthermore, the waveforms of the acceleration records of

the mobile part are not symmetric.

b) The amplitude of accelerations during the fracturing of

hard

rocks is higher than that during the fracturing of soft

rocks.

This is directly proportional to the energy stored in

samples

before the fracturing.

c) The chaotic responses in acceleration components per

pendicular to the maximum loading direction may be

observed. These may have some important implications for

the procedures and interpretation of measurements for the

short-term forecasting in geo-engineering and geo-science.

d) The post-failure behaviour of rocks also affects the

acceler

ABSTRACT: This paper reports the experiment about

newly-developed high sensitivity Fiber Optical Doppler
sensor (FOD

sensor). In this experiment, applicability of this sensor

to monitoring system of rock cavern was estimated from the
result of

Acoustic Emission (AE) measurement during uniaxial

compression loading with rectangular soft tuff rock. As the
result, it was

confirmed that the FOD sensor could be used in the same

manner as conventional PZT type sensor, and growth process
of cracks

was observed by the elapsed time analysis with AE

locations. By observing change in center frequency of AE
waveform, there

was a tendency that frequency decreased after failure of

the rock. Further, while the hard rock showed a constant
frequency of

AE wave before failure, soft rock showed differently larger

changing phenomena in frequency than the hard rock. And
clearer

changes was seen in seismic wave velocity (Vp) and

amplitude. We suppose that these phenomena were caused by
the growth

of micro cracks in the rock, and that it is possible to

know by using FOD sensor system, when and where the rock
will reach

the mechanical limit before failure.

1 INTRODUCTION

Fiber Optical Doppler sensor (FOD sensor) is a device that

makes use of the laser Doppler effect. It can be manufac

tured as a compact disk-type device that is thin,
lightweight,

flexible, explosion-proof and nearly free from electromag

netic noise. Especially, wideband measurement is achievable

because FOD sensor is hardly affected by frequency response

of input wave. In addition, because of its extremely low

damp

ing characteristics, it can transmit optical signals to

over 10km

away. Now this device is expected to use in various fields.

We are now trying to develop the FOD sensor so as to be

used for monitoring system of rock cavern. Then we carried

out the test in which acoustic emission (AE) generated dur

ing uniaxial compression loading of the rock specimen was

measured with FOD sensor. The specimen was rectangular

shaped soft tuff rock. The following notes the result of the

experiment especially focused on the change of the feature

of

AE waveform on the failure process.

2 FOD MEASUREMENT METHOD

2.1 Principle of the FOD sensor

Supposed that you watch a reflect point which is moving rel

atively to a viewpoint where light source is (see Figure

1), the

frequency of light from the reflect point changes because

of the

Doppler effect which is described by the following formula.

where λ is a wavelength of the light and dL/dt is a moving

velocity of the reflect point (L indicates the distance
between

the viewpoint and the reflect point). This fomula means that

the Doppler effect, that is, the shift of the frequency of

light

(f d ) arises in proportion to a moving velocity of the

reflect

point. Light Source Reflecting Object L dL dt f f ' f d =

f '- f Figure 1. Schema of the optical Doppler effect. AOM
Light Source Detector Sensing Area HM HM Output Coupler
Coupler f, f ' f f f ' f d Figure 2. FOD measurement
system. When an optical fiber expands and contracts, the
Doppler effect as well arises on the light within the
optical fiber. FOD sensor uses this mechanism. 2.2 FOD
measurement system FOD measurement system is shown in
Figure 2. The interferometer detects modulation of optical
frequency by use of the optical heterodynes interfering
method. By connecting the both ends of a FOD sensor to this
interferometer, frequency change of light within the sensor
is converted to the change of voltage, and the deformation
of the FOD sensor is detected. If an optical fiber is
pasted up with a solid, the expansion and the contraction
speed of the solid are measurable. Frequency change of
light is proportional to the transforming speed of the
optical fiber, and its speed is proportional to the solid’s
displacement rate (strain velocity). in out N R

Figure 3. Schema of the disk-type FOD sensor. 30mm 21mm

Photograph 1. Developed disk-type FOD sensors. 40m long

loop sensor Digital Oscilloscope Pulse Generator Aluminum
Specimen (300�300 �150mm) 2m long loop Sensor
Interferometer

Figure 4. Schema of the sensitivity test for FOD sensors.

3 APPLICATION OF FOD SENSOR SYSTEM TO AE

MEASUREMENT

3.1 Development of the FOD sensor

AE is a phenomenon whereby external stimuli such as mechan

ical loading generate sources of elastic waves. As the AE

wave
is extremely small, very high sensitive sensor is essential
to

detect these signals. So special disk-type sensors shown in

Figure 3 and Photograph 1 had been developed for this test.

The right-sided 21mm diameter sensor had been designed so

that a long length optical fiber (2 m loop) was put into

compact

volume to improve the sensitivity by increasing dL/dt.

Further,

having optical fiber multi-layered, the 30 mm diameter

sensor

that was a 40 m long loop was developed.

3.2 Sensitivity test of the developed FOD sensor

In order to compare these two sensors, a sensitivity test

was

carried out. The test system is shown in Figure 4, in which

the

sensitivity of each sensor is checked by receiving the pulse

wave that has been generated by PZT transmitter (150 kHz,

60V) set on the opposite side of the aluminum specimen.

Waveform is shown in Figure 5. From the comparison of the

signal-to-noise (SN) ratio, 40 m-long loop sensor is more

than

ten times as sensitive as 2 m-long one. So 40 m-long type

sensors were used in the following experiment. 40m-long

loop sensor �4.0 �2.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 0 100 200 300 400 500
Time [sec] R e c e i v e d w a v e [ V ] �25 0 25 50 75 T r
a n s m i t t e d w a v e [ V ] 2m-long loop sensor �0.4
0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0 100 200 300 400 500 Time [sec] R e c e i
v e d w a v e [ V ] �25 0 25 50 75 T r a n s m i t t e d w
a v e [ V ] Transmitted wave Transmitted wave Figure 5. The
result of sensitivity test. PZT(A) Front view FOD (1ch)
Seismic pass 104.4 164 111.8 111.8 164 104.4 100 Load FOD
(2ch) FOD (3ch) FOD (4ch) PZT(C) PZT(B) Side view 2 0 0
100 PZT(B) Load 2 0 3 0 5 0 FOD (1ch) PZT(A) FOD (2ch)
PZT(C) Figure 6. Installation of the measurement system
components. 4 AE MEASUREMENT WITH FOD SENSOR 4.1
Measurement system components To observe whether the
developed sensor was applicable to AE measurement, AE
measurement was carried out during uniaxial compression
loading. In this test rectangular soft tuff rock called
“Tage tuff” was used, and seismic waves generated during
uniaxial compression of this specimen were recorded. In
general, the amplitude of seismic waves from soft rock are
much smaller than those from hard rock, and the total
number of seismic waves is still less because of its high
attenuation rate. So the condition of this test can be
tough for AE measurement. The system components are shown
in Figure 6 and Photograph 2. Four FOD sensors (1 ch–4 ch)
were attached on two opposite sides of specimen so that
they were on a same vertical plane and formed
plane-symmetric. In some other place three piezo
transformers (PZT) were attached to generate pulses. They
were resonant-type with central frequency of 30 kHz and
used to obtain seismic wave velocity (V p ). During loading
process, this investigation was periodically performed and
the changes of V p and more parameters such as amplitude
and frequency were analyzed. The specimen was Specimen PZT
Sensor FOD Sensor Strain Gauge PZT Sensor

Phograph 2. Rock specimen and AE sensors formation. 0 5 10

15 �1.0 �0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 Axial Strain [%] A x i a l S t r e
s s [ M P a ] v vo h ε ε ε σ c �13.2 MPa E�2760 MPa
ν�0.28

Figure 7. Uniaxial strength of test piece (Tage tuff). 1ch 0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 Axial strain [%]

A E
e

v e

n t

u m

b e

r 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 A x i a l s t r e s s [ M P a ] AE
event AE accumulation Stress-strain 3ch 0 200 400 600 800
1000 1200 1400 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 Axial strain
[%] A E e v e n t n u m b e r 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 A x i a l
s t r e s s [ M P a ] 2ch 0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 Axial strain [%]

A E

v e

n t

u m

b e

r 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 A x i a l s t r e s s [ ( M P a ] 4ch
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
1.2 1.4 Axial strain (%) A E e v e n t n u m b e r 0 2 4 6
8 10 12 14 A x i a l s t r e s s [ M P a ] AE event AE
accumulation Stress-strain AE count AE accumulation
Stress-strain AE event AE accumulation Stress-strain

Figure 8. AE events on the loading process.

H200 ×W100 × D100 size tuff rock whose uniaxial compres

sion strength was 13 MPa, Young’s modulus was 2.8 GPa and

Poisson’s ratio was 0.28 (see Figure 7).

4.2 Result of the test

4.2.1 AE event

The time history of the number ofAE events measured by each

FOD sensor at every loading step is shown in Figure 8. High

rate (the number of events per time) zone can be observed

when the axial stress achieved at its maximum, and then the

rate at 1 ch and 4 ch were particularly high. Furthermore,

by 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
1.2 1.4 Axial strain [%] A E e v e n t n u m b e r 0 2 4 6
8 10 12 14 A x i a l s t r e s s [ M P a ] AE event AE
accumulation Stress-strain Figure 9. Total AE events on the
loading process. 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 0.0 0.2 0.4
0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 Axial strain [%] F r e q e n c y [ k H
z ] 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 A x i a l s t r e s s [ M P a ]
Frequency Stress-strain Figure 10. Frequency of AE wave on
the loading process. elapsed time analysis with event
histories of 1 ch and 4 ch, the fact that the rate at 4ch
previously achieved at peak before 1 ch can be found. It is
expected that these time histories should rely on the
fracture mode, that is, such a destruction formation that
local mechanical fractures propagated from zone around 4 ch
to 1 ch would occurred. The totalAE events measured by all
of the four FOD sensors is shown in Figure 9. By the
observation of AE accumulation, you can find that AE event
had already begun to increase around the step of 0.6% axial
strain, that is, 70% stress level of maximum. 4.2.2
Frequency of AE wave Frequency of AE wave is shown in
Figure 10. Before failure, the center frequency of AE
became higher gradually along with the larger loading. And
after fracture, the frequency of AE wave decreased again.
These phenomena are explicable by strain-growing and
softening mechanism in response to internal stress. What we
should pay attention to is the fact that we can know when
softening has begun by detecting the change of frequency of
AE wave. 4.2.3 b-value The change of b-value is shown in
Figure 11. b-value is an statistical indicator calculated
by following equation. where M is magnitude of seismic wave
and n(M ) means the number of times of wave of which
magnitude is M . You can find that b-value sharply
decreased after failure. It is supposed that this change
was caused by the influence of big and long period waves
frequently arose after failure through the deformation
along cracks. 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 Axial strain [%] b v a l u e 0 3 6 9 12 15
18 A x i a l s t r e s s [ M P a ] b-value Stress-Strain

Figure 11. b-value of AE wave on the loading process. 0 20

40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
1.4 Axial strain [%]

A m

p l

i t u

d e

( A

/ A

o ) V e l o c i t y ( V p / V p o ) [ % ] 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
14 16 18 A x i a l s t r e s s [ M P a ] Amplitude (A/Ao)
Velocity (Vp/Vpo) Stress-strain

Figure 12. Velocity and amplitude of AE on the loading

process. Past AE New AE

I : ε � 0~0.75% II : ε � 0.75~0.875% III : ε � 0.875~1% IV

: ε � 1%~

Figure 13. Estimation of the AE locations.

4.2.4 Seismic wave parameters

Velocity (V p ) and amplitude of AE wave during uniaxial com

pression are shown in Figure 12. There is a tendency for V

p to

increase in response to loading, but the percentage of

increase

was 10% at most. On the other hand, amplitude (maximum

amplitude value) of AE wave increased in response to load

ing, and the percentage of the increase reached 60%.

Further,

it decreased remarkably after failure. These phenomena mean

that the rock hardening or softening arose whereby the crack

growth or the change of the void generates in the specimen

on

the loading process.

4.2.5 Source location of AE signal

The result of estimation of AE locations is shown in Figure

13.

At the early step of loading process most of location were

Comparison of in-situ stress orientations and magnitudes

determined by anelastic strain

recovery measurement and borehole breakout analysis in the

vicinity of an active fault W. Lin, W. Soh & H. Ito Japan
Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC),
Kochi, Japan E.-C. Yeh National Taiwan University, Taipei,
Taiwan M. Kwas´niewski The Silesian University of
Technology, Gliwice, Poland C.-Y. Wang National Central
University, Chung-Li, Taiwan

ABSTRACT: In order to understand the features of current

in-situ rock stresses and their relations with an active
fault, two stress

measurement techniques, anelastic strain recovery (ASR)

technique and an analysis of borehole breakouts, were
employed in

a deep scientific drilling project. Comparison of theASR

measurement and breakout analysis results showed that the
orientations

of horizontal principal stresses are quite consistent with

each other. In addition, the magnitudes of the horizontal
principal

stresses estimated from the ASR and breakout analysis were

in agreement. Moreover, we were able to obtain a constraint
for the

magnitude of the maximum in-situ horizontal principal

stress according to a combination of the estimated stress
magnitudes and

utilization of the Anderson’s faulting law. The results of

this study suggested that both the orientation and
magnitude of current

stress in the vicinity of the Chelungpu fault in boreholes

of the scientific drilling project might be influenced by
fault rupture.

1 INTRODUCTION

The 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake (Mw7.6) produced

spectacular surface faulting with vertical displacements of

up to 8 m on the Chelungpu fault (Shin and Teng, 2001). In

order to resolve issues relating to the mechanism of earth

quake generation and the rupture propagation of the fault,

the

Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project (TCDP) was under

taken approximately 5 years after the earthquake; and two

Figure 1. (a) Map of epicenter (star symbol) of the 1999

Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake (Mw7.6), surface rupture (real
line with a total length

of about 100 km) of the Chelungpu fault and the TCDP site
(solid circle symbol) [after Ma et al., 2003]. (b)
Geological cross section at the

TCDP site [after Hung et al., 2007]. boreholes, Hole A with

a maximum depth of 2000 m and the 1350 m deep Hole B were
drilled (Figure 1). Determination of in-situ rock stress in
the vicinity of the earthquake fault provided key
information for the scientific objectives of the TCDP.
Unfortunately, there is no single perfect method to measure
rock stress at a great depth, although various field and
laboratory measurement techniques have been proposed to
date. Therefore, we employed two stress measurement
techniques in the TCDP holes. The first method

Figure 2. (a) Anelastic strain recovery curves of a

siltstone specimen taken from a depth of 1112 m in Hole A.
Temperature was kept at

23 ± 0.5 ◦ C during the measurement. A dummy specimen,

which did not undergo any deformation except thermal
expansion, was used for

monitoring the drift of the strain measurement system. (b)

The determined orientations of three-dimensional in-situ
stress. The straight line

marked as “Down dip” shows the orientation of the dip of

the formation.

employed was a core-based, anelastic strain recovery (ASR)

technique (Lin et al., 2007). It was used to determine the

ori

entations of three-dimensional principal rock stresses

present

using drill core samples retrieved from the TCDP main

hole (Hole A). Using the second approach, which included

an analysis of both borehole breakouts (compressive fail

ures) and drilling-induced tensile fractures from electrical

resistivity-based images, reliable orientations of in-situ

hori

zontal principal stresses were determined in the second TCDP

hole (Hole B), which is located just 40 m away from Hole A

(Lin et al., 2006a). In this paper, we will focus on the com

parison of the orientations and magnitudes of in-situ

stresses

as determined by the ASR measurement and the breakout

analysis in the vicinity of the Chelungpu fault.

2 ASR MEASUREMENT AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL

IN-SITU PRINCIPAL STRESS ORIENTATION

Three major fault zones were encountered at a depth range

from 1050 m to 1250 m in Hole A, which was considered to

be the possible depth range from teleseismic data of the

earth

quake. The first major fault zone located at around 1111 m

is believed to be the fault that slipped during the Chi-Chi

earthquake. In the vicinity of the first fault, three

dimensional

in-situ rock stress was measured using a core-based method

ASR technique (Matsuki, 1991; Matsuki and Takeuchi, 1993;

Lin et al., 2006b).A core sample taken from a depth of 1112

m

located within the fault zone, but at its deeper part was
used

for the stress measurement. Its lithology is siltstone.

The principle of ASR stress measurement and the details

on the preparation of the ASR specimen, ASR measurement

system, testing technique and calculation of stress values

and orientations have been given by Lin et al. (2007). ASR

measurement results, curves of anelastic strain recovery vs.

elapsed time after starting the ASR measurement are shown

in Figure 2a. The capital letters beside the curves show the

strain measurement directions. The duration of the measure

ment for this specimen was approximately 10 days. During

the experiment, the thermostatic chamber in which the ASR

specimen and a dummy specimen were set worked correctly;

temperature change was controlled to less than ±0.5 ◦ C. In

addition, the acquired strain data from the dummy specimen

showed that the drift of the measurement system was very
small against the anelastic strain of the ASR specimen, and
therefore could be neglected. The orientations of the three
principal strains/stresses determined based on the results
of the ASR measurements are shown in the lower hemisphere
stereo projection (Figure 2b) corresponding to the global
coordinate system by means of the equal area method. At the
1112 m depth, the orientation of the maximum in-situ stress
(σ 1 ) is nearly vertical and the orientation of the
minimum stress (σ 3 ) is approximately horizontal and the
same as the dip orientation of the sedimentary formations.
That is, at the depth located just within the fault zone
that had recently slipped; the stress state showed the
relatively distinct features of the gravitational stress. 3
BREAKOUTS AND IN-SITU PRINCIPAL STRESS ORIENTATION ON THE
HORIZONTAL PLANE A wire logging of a Fullbore Formation
Micro-Imager (FMI) was conducted to obtain electrical
images of the borehole wall in Hole B. We analyzed both the
borehole breakouts and drilling-induced tensile fractures
by using these images. Since the breakouts and fractures
are dependent on in-situ stress conditions, we were able to
utilize their geometry information observed on the images
of the borehole wall to estimate the orientations and
magnitudes of in-situ principal stresses in the plane
perpendicular to the borehole axis. Many breakouts and a
few tensile fractures were found. We read off their
azimuths when they met certain requirements (Lin et al.,
2006a). An example of a breakout image obtained at a depth
of around 1290 m and azimuth distribution of maximum
horizontal principal stress S Hmax as determined from
breakouts and tensile fractures are shown in Figure 3a and
3b, respectively. We have reported preliminary results of
stress orientation obtained from the analysis of breakouts
and tensile fractures (Lin et al., 2006a). However, we
rechecked and re-identified all of the breakouts and
tensile fractures after some additional information
including drilling fluid density and leak-off test data
were obtained because identification of tensile fractures
is difficult by means of the images only. It can be
considered from Figure 3b that the average azimuth of
maximum horizontal principal stress S Hmax is

Figure 3. (a) An example of a breakout image obtained at a

depth of
around 1290 m inTCDP Hole B. (b)Azimuth distribution of
horizon

tal maximum principal stress S Hmax as determined from

breakouts

(BO) and drilling-induced tensile fractures (TF) in Hole B.

0 deg

azimuth indicates North.

concentrated approximately in a relatively narrow range from

120 ◦ to 130 ◦ in all the surveyed depths, except at the

depth

of around 1130 m. The azimuth of N120–130 ◦ E coincides

with the downdip direction of bedding. At a depth of around

1130 m, the orientations of S Hmax are 90-degree different,

when compared with orientations at other locations.

4 COMPARISON OF ORIENTATIONS AND

MAGNITUDES OF IN-SITU STRESS OBTAINED

FROM THE ASR MEASUREMENTS AND

BREAKOUT ANALYSIS

According to the correlation between the depths of the same

key bed formations in Hole A and Hole B, the fist major

fault

zone in Hole A at 1111 m corresponds to the one at about

1130 m (wire-logging depth) in Hole B. By comparing the

orientations of the principal stress shown in Figure 2b and

Figure 3b in the vicinity of the first major fault zone, it

can be

seen that the orientations obtained from theASR measurement

and the breakout analysis are quite consistent with each

other.

In order to discuss the magnitudes of S Hmax and minimum

horizontal principal stress S hmin as well as that of the

ver

tical stress S v , we drew a stress polygon according to the

Anderson theory of faulting (Zoback et al., 2003) and

plotted

our actual stress measurement results (Figure 4). A polygon,

which consists of three triangles representing possible

stress

areas of reverse fault (RF), strike-slip (SS), and normal

fault

(NF) regimes, was drawn for the conditions of the first

fault

zone depth, where the S Hmax orientation changed (see Fig

ure 3b) and a friction coefficient of 0.8 (Chen, 2005). The

stress state at that depth should be within the polygon.

Barton

et al. (1988) proposed a method for estimating the magnitude

of S Hmax using S hmin , the breakout width and the

uniaxial com

pressive strength of the rock. We utilized the same method

to

estimate S Hmax by using several values, two S hmin (23.5

and Figure 4. Constraint of stress magnitude from a depth
in the first fault zone. Stress polygon is based on
Anderson theory of faulting for µ= 0.8. 16.8 MPa obtained
by hydraulic fracturing tests at 1085 and 1179 m depths,
which were the nearest sites above and below the fault,
respectively), the breakout width at the depth of first
fault zone, and the minimum and maximum compressive
strengths Sc (32.9 and 44.0 MPa, respectively). Although
the breakout width is not constant, the average width was
approximately stable over several meters in the borehole.
Thus, we estimated the average width to be 40 ◦ . As a
result, we show the ranges of S hmin and S Hmax , estimated
using different combinations of S hmin and S c as a
parallelogram (Figure 4 inset). The solid square shows the
S hmin and S Hmax values obtained from the ASR test; and
the dotted line in the parallelogram shows the range of S
Hmax estimated from the ASR S hmin value and the strengths.
The stress magnitudes obtained by the ASR method, the
hydraulic fracturing experiments and the borehole breakouts
are consistent with one another. Moreover, the
parallelogram may constrain the current stress state
(post-earthquake) at the drilling site in the vicinity of
Chelungpu fault (about 1 km deep). The stress state is not
that of a reverse fault regime although reverse slip
occurred on the fault during the earthquake. We believe
that the current stress state reflects the result of a
stress state change from RF to NF or SS as a result of the
fault rupture. 5 SUMMARY Comparison of the ASR measurement
and breakout analysis results showed that the orientations
of horizontal principal stress are quite consistent with
each other. At the same time, the magnitudes of horizontal
principal stresses estimated from the ASR and breakout
analysis were in agreement. Moreover, we were able to
obtain a constraint for the magnitude of the maximum
in-situ horizontal principal stress S Hmax according to the
combination of the estimated stress magnitudes and
utilization of the Anderson’s faulting law. The results of
this study suggest that both the orientation and magnitude
of current stress in the vicinity of the Chelungpu fault in
the TCDP holes might have been influenced by a fault
rupture.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors acknowledge the principal investigators of TCDP

for their kind cooperation. This work was supported by

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Scientific Research

C:

16540392) of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

(JSPS), Japan.

Barton, C. A., M. D. Zoback and K. L. Burns, 1988. In situ

stress

orientation and magnitudes at the Fenton geothermal site,

New
Mexico, determined from wellbore breakouts, Geophys. Res.
Lett.,

15, 467–470.

Chen, C-W., 2005. The Study of the Mechanical

Characteristics

from the Host Rock of the Chelungpu Fault, M.S. Thesis, 169

p., National Taiwan University.

Hung, J-H. et al., 2007. Physical Property, Subsurface

Structure

and Fault Zone Characteristics in Scientific Drill Holes of

Tai

wan Chelungpu Fault Drilling Project, Terrestrial,

Atmospheric

and Ocean Sciences, in press.

Lin, W. et al., 2006a. A case study of determining

orientations of

in-situ horizontal principal stresses based on electrical

images of borehole failures at a deep drilling project,
Proc. Int. Symp. ISRM, EUROCK 2006, (A. van Cotthem et al.,
eds), Taylor & Francis/Balkema, Leiden, 625–630. Lin, W.,
M. Kwas´niewski, T. Imamura and K. Matsuki, 2006b.
Determination of three-dimensional in-situ stresses from
anelastic strain recovery measurement of cores at great
depth, Tectonophysics, 426, 221–238. Lin, W. et al., 2007.
Preliminary results of stress measurement by using drill
cores of TCDP Hole-A: An application of anelastic strain
recovery method to three-dimensional in-situ stress
determination, Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences,
in press. Ma, K-F. et al., 2003. Evidence for fault
lubrication during the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake
(Mw7.6), Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1244, doi:10.1029.
Matsuki, K., 1991: Three-dimensional in-situ stress
measurement with anelastic strain recovery of a rock core.
In: Wittke, W. (ed.), Proc. 7th Int. Congr. Rock Mech.,
Aachen, 1, 557–560. Matsuki, K. and K. Takeuchi, 1993.
Three-dimensional in-situ stress determination by anelastic
strain recovery of a rock core. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., 30, 1019–1022. Shin, T-C. and T-L.
Teng, 2001. An overview of the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan,
Earthquake, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 91, 895–913. Zoback, M.
et al., 2003. Determination of stress orientation and
magnitude in deep wells, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 40,
1049–1076. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Consideration on stability and collapse
at earthquake of rock slope based on a case R. Yoshinaka
Geosphere Research Institute, Saitama University, Saitama,
Japan T. Sasaki , K. Sasaki & S. Horikawa Rock Engineering
Institute, Suncoh Consultants Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT: In this paper the results of consideration on the

methods to examine about the stability and mode of collapse

of rock slope at earthquake, based on an example, are

presented. The mode of collapse is mainly toppling and
sliding of

separated blocks and caused by pre-existing

discontinuities. Numerical methods used are Multiple Yield
Model (MYM) for

small deformation and Discontinuous Deformation Analysis

(DDA) for large deformation. The method consists of
numerical

analyses based on the investigation of geographical

feature, geological structure and mechanical properties of
rock. As a result

of this study, it is concluded that the method adopted is

useful in practice.

1 INTRODUCTION

There are a lot of important infrastructures to-day such as

main roads, railways etc., constructed on rock slope, at

various

places in the world. In earthquake zone, many large-scale

slope

failures and disasters which made have been occurred every

year, which were earthquake made a trigger. As well known,

the failure mode of rock slope is complex due to existing of

discontinuities like as joints, fault, etc., and many types

of

slope failures happen like as sliding, toppling, falling,

and

their combined pattern. The prediction and/or evaluation of

stability and suitable measure are very difficult.

This paper describes the result verified how the prediction

of

stability and mode of collapse of rock slope during

earthquake

are possible by using the results of investigation of rock

mass

structure and laboratory test of rock specimens, and the

static

and dynamic numerical analyses (MYM and DDA) based on

the case, and this is approach to be a useful method.

2 A CASE OF COLLAPSE AND MODELING FOR

NUMERICAL ANALYSES

2.1 A case of collapse and the results of geotechnical

investigation

The slope concerned locates the right bank of Shinano River

as

shown in Figure 1(Niigata Prefecture, 2004). Due to the 2004

Niigata Prefecture-Chuetsu Earthquake (M 6.8, Oct.23), the

large-scale slope collapse occurred in Myoken-cho, Nagaoka

City, located in the hypocenter distance about 8 km. The

seis

mograph (NIG019) installed at distance of about 2 km from

the

slope has been recorded this earthquake motion; the maximum

acceleration of East-West was 1150 gal and Up and Down was

850 gal.

Figure 1 shows the geographical feature destructed

by a strong earthquake. The volume of debris is about

60 × 10 4 m 3. . A great amount of large size blocks which

side

lengths have a few to several tens meter and were caused

by existing joints included in debris. The investigations

such

as field inspection, borehole survey (B-1∼B-7 of Figure 1),

laboratory test etc. were carried out for remedial work.

Figure 1. The topographic map after slope collapse at Oct.
2004 Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake: 1. Collapsed area is shown
with shadow. 2. Lattice pattern near center is the plane
view of a part of abandoned mine in tuffaceous sandstone in
right half of Figure 1. 3. ____ shows access tunnel to mine
distributed in the interior. The geological conditions are
summarized in Figure 2. The slip plane of debris was found
along lower bound of tuffaceous sandstone. The formation of
making mountain is Neogene sedimentary rocks. The
dip-direction/dip angles of bedding planes are about 260/22
degrees. Most of rock consists of siltstone (sandy
mudstone, muddy sandstone and tuffaceous mudstone), but a
characteristic tuffaceous sandstone (TS) layer is
interbedded in siltstone. Inside TS layer, a lot of
abandoned openings mined polishsand about 1.5 m in height,
have been remained in whole area

which is recorded in literature and also confirmed by

borehole

survey. The excavation ratio of openings is estimated about

0.4∼0.7(see Fig. 1).

Discontinuities (joint etc.) are measured on borehole walls

and surface exposures. Figure 3 shows the orientation and

TP.0

50
100

150m 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450m River water River
deposit Siltstone Muddy sandstone Tuffaceous sandstone
Joint Prefectual Road

Figure 2. Simplified geological section of A-A’ in Figure

1: before

earthquake Oct. 2004. : Bedding joints (I) : Joint sets

(II, III) measured in six boreholes Shaded areas : joints
measured on surface outcrops : a mode of joint set A’ A P I
P II P III Bedding joints I 260/22 N E S II -2 030/70 II -1
068/70 III 350/68 W

Figure 3. Structural conditions of discontinuities on a

equal area

lower hemisphere projection ; A-A’ is a direction of

section for

consideration on stability and failure mechanism. 0 1 2 3 4

5 6 0 . 0 ~ 0 . 5 0 . 5 1 . 0 1 . 0 1 . 5 1 . 5 2 . 0 2 . 0
2 . 5 2 . 5 3 . 0 3 . 0 3 . 5 3 . 5 4 . 0 4 . 0 4 . 5 4 . 5
5 . 0 5 . 0 5 . 5 5 . 5 6 . 0 6 . 0 6 . 5 6 . 0 ~ Uniaxial
compressive strength (MPa) N u m b e r o f s p e c i m e n
s sandy mudstone muddy sandstone tuffaceous mudstone
tuffaceous sandstone tuff. sandst.(from TCT.eff.stress)
muddy sandst.(from TCT.total stress) muddy sandst. (from
TCT.eff.stress) tuff.mudst.(from TCT.total stress)
tuff.mudst.(from TCT.eff.stress)

Figure 4. Uniaxial compressive strength of tuffaceous

sandstone

and siltstone (sandy mudstone, muddy sandstone and

tuffaceous

mudstone). distribution of discontinuities. As shown in

Figure 3, they are generally divided into three sets. Set I
is bedding joints with the highest density. Sets II/III
vary widely, but intersect statistically at right angle to
Set I. From the geometrical relation Maximum Strength
Siltstone q = 0.3347q + 1.5349, R 2 = 0.845 Tuffaceous
sandstone y = 0.538x + 0.4961 R 2 = 0.9664 q = 0.5208p’
+ 0.9664 R 2 = 0.9058 ( muddy.rocks) y = 0.6043x + 0.3118
R 2 = 0.9943 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 p (MPa) q ( M
P a ) all muddy rocks (total stress) all muddy rocks
(effective stress) tuffaceouce sandstone (total stress)
tuffaceous sandstone(effective stress) Figure 5. Maximum
strength of intact rocks expressed by total stress and
effective stresses p, p ′ and q; p = (σ 1 + σ 3 )/2, p ′ =
(σ ′ 1 + σ ′ 3 )/2, q = (σ 1 − σ 3 )/2. Table 1. Mechanical
properties of intact rocks and joints. (a) Intact rock
Tuffaceous Siltstone sandstone Unconfined compressive
3.6–9.7, 5.5 strength(MPa) (average) 1.15 Tensile strength
(MPa) 0.34–1.05, 0.5 0.03 (average) Elastic modulus(GPa)
0.75–1.70, 0.3–1.8, 0.33 1.2(average) (average) Poisson’s
0.1–0.28, 0.23 ratio 0.23(average) Cohesion (MPa) 1.65 0.58
(total stress) Cohesion (MPa) 1.24 0.38 (effective stress)
Internal friction angle ( ◦ ) 22 32 (total stress) Internal
friction angle ( ◦ ) 30 35 (effective stress) Unit mass
(kN/m 3 ) 18.7(average) 18.7(average) (b) Joint properties
Stiffness Shear strength Shear Normal Cohesion Friction
(MN/m 3 ) (MN/m 3 ) (MPa) angle ( ◦ ) Siltstone 14700
140000 0.5 38 Tuffaceous 14700 140000 0.4 38 sandstone

mentioned above, it is concluded that the two-dimensional

analyses for consideration on stability of A-A’

appropriates.

Joint spacing (ISO14689-1) observed on borehole walls and

surface outcrops are from a few meter to several tens

meter, as

a whole this siltstone can be said little jointed massive

rock.

2.2 Mechanical properties of rocks

Mechanical properties for using static and dynamic analyses

were obtained from laboratory testing with intact rock and

joint specimen sampled from boring core and rock block.

Uniaxial compressive strengths of siltstone and tuffaceous

sandstone are shown in Figure 4.

Maximum strength of both rocks in terms of total and effec

tive stresses obtained from consolidated and undrained

triaxial

compression test are summarized in Figure 5. From Figure 4

and 5, it is clear that there is a large difference in

strength

under confining pressure lower than about 2 MPa. The tuffa

ceous sandstone layer is interbedded between upper and lower

stronger siltstone layers. Table 1 indicates the physical

param

eters for using static and dynamic analyses obtained from

the

investigations mentioned above and, additionally,

literatures

(JSCE 1992, JGS 1987, Yoshinaka et al 1999) closely related

to weak rocks of this site.

Figure 6. States of horizontal stress applied under 0.3 G

(with

underground excavation).: X and Y axes; meter. Unit of

number of

scale bar in MPa. 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
5.0 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340
Horizontal co-ordinate X (m) L o c a l s a f e t y f a c t
o r , F s Initial condition Non excavation under 0.3G
seismic(0.3G) Non exavation under 0.4G seismic(0.4G) with
underground excavation, gravity condition with underground
excavation under 0.3G seismic(0.3G) with underground
excavation under 0.4G seismic(0.4G)

Figure 7. Local safety factor (Fs) along tuffaceous

sandstone layer that its bottom made the slip plane during
earthquake motion. 3 RESULT AND CONSIDERATION ON STABILITY
ANALYSES AT STATIC AND DYNAMIC CONDITIONS OF THE SLOPE 3.1
Analytical result on stability of the slope by Multiple
Yield Model Multiple yield model (MYM) is a modified FEM
constituted in each strength and deformation characteristic
both of intact rock and joint sets (T.Sasaki et al.1995).
For prediction and estimation the stability under different
stress conditions, we take account of three stages: 1) The
initial state of stress by gravity only, 2) the state of
stress with underground excavation, c) the state of stress
at earthquake calculated by the seismic coefficient method.
Conventional Method, under seismic acceleration 0.3 G and
0.4 G in horizontal direction(E-W), and 0.15and 0.2 G
up-down, here G = 980gal and seismic coefficient 0.3 is
generally the maximum value in Japan. The model section for
analyses shown in Figure 2, the length of discontinuities
were supposed in medium scale (ISO 146891:2003) from field
investigation. Joint stiffness of shear and normal were
assumed with the non-linearity (Kulhawy, 1975, Bandis et
al. 1983).The parameters used analyses are in shown Table
1(a)(b). Figure 6 shows the state of stress of horizontal
stress calculated by MYM. The maximum stress in tuffaceous
sandstone is 1.5∼2 times of non-excavated condition in case
of 0.3 G. The twin openings near center of the mountain in
Figure 6 are railway tunnels. Figure 7 shows the local
safety factor (Fs) distribution along tuffaceous sandstone
layer, where Fs is defined as the ratio of shear strength
to shear stress. In any case mentioned before, Fs becomes
the minimum value near the toe of slope and increasing up
toward on slope, and rapidly down in the lower slope of the
mountain. Apparently from Figure 7, Fs of the collapsed
section about between 130 m to 250 m in horizontal axis X
is nearly one (Fs = 0.6∼1.2) under seismic coefficient 0.3
G∼0.4 G. Judging from the accuracy of input material
constants and analytical method used, Fs calculated lower
than 1.2∼1.3 suggests to failure of slope during very
strong seismic motion.

1500

1000 500 0

500

1000

A c

c e

l e

r a

t i o

( g e

l ) 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Time (sec) 1000 500 0

500
1000

A c

c e

l e

r a

t i o

( g e

l ) 15 20 25 30 35 40 Time (sec)

Figure 8. Seismograms of acceleration during the 2004

Niigata

Chuetsu earthquake recorded at NIG019.

A: Horizontal motion to E-W

B: Vertical motion.

3.2 Analytical result by Discontinuous Deformation Analysis

of slope collapse

Seismic waves recorded by seismograph (NIG019), that is,

E-W and up-down waves, was simultaneously input at the cen

ter of gravity of slope block. Figure 8 shows this

acceleration

seismogram.

Figure 9 shows the calculated results of progressive col

lapse by DDA (Sasaki et al. 2005). Herein, the slip plane of

debris bottom is the boundary between tuffaceous sandstone

and lower siltstone layers. The spacing of the bedding

joints

sets to be mixed with 5 m and 10 m, and the cross joints at

right angle sets forth to be about 10 m (see 2(2) and
Figure 2).

Mechanical parameters of rock mass for analysis are inTable

1

as same for MYM analysis.

As shown in Figure 9, the collapse initiated at the toe

of sandstone layer, and the debris moved about 50 m dur

ing 15 seconds. Velocity of debris movement become about

4∼8 m/sec, therefore, it shows that the collapse movement

was

comparatively slow. This result agrees with the eyewitnesses

reports. And also the final debris distribution structure

cal

culated by DDA is roughly consistent as the results of field

investigation described in 2.(2.1).

4 CONCLUSIONS

The estimation of stability of rock slope, mode and scale

when

the slope shall be collapsed, during earthquake, are

difficult

due to the geological and geotechnical conditions of rock

mass.

However, by using together with the static and dynamic

methods considered discontinuities like as the multiple

yield

model and the discontinuous deformation analysis, the stabil

ity and mode of dynamic collapse can estimate quantitatively

in reasonable accuracy, based on a case.

But the accuracy of analytical results highly depends on

the quality of input data, that is, conditions of
topography,

rock type and structure, distribution and orientation of dis

continuities, mechanical parameters of rock mass. It is a

very

important problem for that to systematize the investigation

ABSTRACT:The earth and rock excavation volume of the

permanent shiplock accounts for 40 percent of the total of
the whole

Three Gorges project (TGP).The supplementary study of the

excavation technique is quite systematic and comprehensive.

The finishing excavation technique adopted for the vertical

walls including the millisecond blasting technique between
deep

holes and the twice buffer blasting plus twice smooth

blasting combined with comprehensive trench blasting
technique with

non-electric initiating connection and soft padding

arrangement at bottom of holes are more reliable and much
safer compared

with the excavation mode such as with pre-split blasting to

excavate at one go or other modes. This technology is able
to satisfy

the requirements of construction quality and construction

progress, successfully facing the challenge of the
excavation of the

world-class high vertical slopes of the permanent

navigation lock.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Three Gorges navigation lock is one of the three major

components of theThree Gorges project, representing a “super

class” navigation structure in the world. It has a gigantic

construction scale, very complicated topographical and geo

logical conditions and tight construction time schedule. It
also

requires the use of high-level technologies and adoption of

complex construction procedures. Its earth and rock excava

tion volume accounts for 40 percent of the total of the

whole

Three Gorges project (TGP). The permanent navigation lock

is located on the left bank of the Yangtze River (Fig 1).

The

lock wall is much different with a conventional man-made

steep high slope. Because the four long vertical walls of

the

double-lane two-way lock chambers are excavated vertically

into very deep rock mass, with strongly influenced by relax

ing of geostatic stress in such a large area, there are no

any

precedent in theoretical research and construction practice

both at home and abroad for the man-made high rock slope

as such.

Figure 1. Layout of high slope anchor system in the

permanent

shiplock of TGP. 2 STUDY AND APPLICATION OF CONTROLLED

BLASTING TECHNIQUE The main features and difficulties in
construction summed up as the following. 1) Complex
geological conditions. 2) Complexity of the navigation lock
structure and much sensitive reaction to the geological
conditions. 3) High requirement of vertical wall finishing
technique with strict control of slope deformation. 4) Huge
volume of rock excavation, but tight construction time
schedule. 5)Great risk in safety during construction. Many
studies are processed to insure the construction success.
The study include the blasting gears and materials,
blasting mode, parameters of blasting, initiating
connection, control index of the velocity of particle
vibration of rock, thickness of lateral preserved
protective layer during trench excavation, thickness of the
protective layer of bed rock, control index of initiating
charge for single interval, assortment of explosive,
construction tools and equipment as well as construction
technology. 2.1 Two-times smooth (pre-split) blasting plus
two-times buffer blasting for navigation lock trench
excavation Through conducting site testing of ordinary
millisecond blasting method for benching blasting by
drilling deep holes. It is found that: The scope and depth
influenced by blasting on the preserved rock mass at
lateral side and in the direction of back wave are quite
big, especially surface layer of the rock mass is badly
damaged with cracking by pulling force. The stability of
the lateral preserved rock mass is hard maintain, while the
shape of excavated face by benching blasting in the
direction of the back wave is not satisfactory. The
drilling and blasting conditions for excavation of lateral
preserved layer and for next round of benched excavation
are difficult.

Based on the findings as above, the following conclusions

are drawn as below:

It is difficult to satisfy the technical requirement of the

exca

vation of lock chamber by the methods of full face

excavation

at one go.

It is difficult to make the lateral preserved rock mass

stable

by the ordinary benching blasting method.

Adoption of non-electric millisecond initiation technique

and soft padding at the bottom of hole and arrangement of

buffer blast holes can reduce the influence of vibration

induced

by benched blasting, and greatly minimize the damage of pre

served lateral rock face. As result, it can give a little

help for
the lateral preserved rock to stand up but still can not
wholly

satisfy all technical requirements.

It is still necessary to adopt the pre-split or smooth

blasting

technique for the benched blasting excavation of lateral

slope,

so as to make the lateral rock mass stand up firmly.

Therefore, for implementing the trench excavation option

it is decided to take the following technical measures of

controlled blasting technique for different operations:

To adopt the pre-split technique or smooth blasting tech

nique for benched blasting excavation at the lateral sides

and

in the direction of back wave.

To put the soft padding at the bottom of the blast holes and

to arrange the buffer blast holes for the benched blasting.

For excavation of lateral preserved rock mass, to arrange

the buffer blast holes and contour pre-split or smooth blast

holes for finishing blasting.

2.2 Pre-split blasting technique and Smooth blasting

technique

The main purposes to apply the pre-split blasting are to

form

slope surface and to absorb vibration. The width of the pre

split crack should be about 1 cm in general according to the

domestic and international documentation. In Three Gorges

Project pre-split blasting was performed for excavation of

temporary navigation lock and ship lift chamber, in common

situation the crack was less than 2 mm wide only and some

times even no crack was formed. After buffer blasting some

pre-split surfaces will be bonded together again to create

the

so called “bonded surface” phenomenon.

For the slope excavation above the level of top of lock wall

of the permanent navigation lock, pre-split blasting

technique

is adopted. The study of pre-split blasting technique is

carried

out during the trial of trench excavation blasting.

Both the testing and the construction practice show that

several problems do exist when pre-split blasting is

conducted

in the granite rock of the permanent navigation lock:

The width of crack by pre-split blasting is quite small, and

the deeper the borehole, the smaller the crack width. So the

crack can not play a full role in absorbing of the

vibration.

The effect of pre-split blasting is not satisfactory,

resulting

in a poor finishing face, poor leveling, and low percentage

of

the remained blast borehole rate compared with the result of

smooth blasting, and furthermore, it is found that the

quantity

of the exploded fissures inside the remained blast holes is

large

and long.
After blasting, “bonded surface” phenomena can be seen

everywhere, bringing a lot of troubles to deal with the

pre-split

surface.

Compared with smooth blasting, both the effect of blasting

induced vibration to the rock mass and the influence of

blasting

on remained wall are quite big. Figure 2. Smooth blasting

technique. The main causes are as the following: (1) When
the granite rock is being cut by pre-split blasting, the
geostatic stress will be released as soon as the free face
is formed, and then the stress forms concentrated stress to
push the rock mass at two side of free face to introduce
some displacements, bringing the crack to closure. (2)
Because the granite rock in the permanent navigation lock
site is formed long time ago with developed cryptofissures,
the pre-split blasting stress wave is reflected and
refracted by the fissured faces, high pressure compressed
gas produced by explosion is also influenced by the
fissured faces. So while the stress wave and high pressure
compressed gas are making pre-split faces, they also make
the crypto-fissured faces open, as a result, the energy of
explosion is dispersed, and weaken the effect of pre-split
blasting. (3) The wall face effect in the pre-split
blasting differs as different shear strength of the
structural face of rock mass and different angle between
the structural face and pre-split face. Therefore, it is
believed that in permanent navigation lock area the effect
of pre-split blasting is not as good as that of smooth
blasting in the granite rock. The smooth blasting technique
should be given a priority. Through the study and testing
at site and construction practice of the smooth and
pre-split blasting technique, the experience shows that the
smooth blasting has advantages over the pre-split blasting
in the granite rock in permanent navigation lock on the
following points: (i)Less effect of blasting induced
vibration to the rock mass, and less influence of blasting
on retained work walls; (ii) Better finishing face by
smooth blasting, and more leveling face and higher
percentage of the remained blast hole rate, and smaller
quantity and shorter length of the exploded fissures inside
the remained blast hole; (iii) There is no “bonded surface”
phenomenon basically, so it is very easy to clean the split
surface; (iv) Air face can help with the smooth blasting.
Drilling and initiating of smooth blast holes and buffer
blast holes and main blast holes can be done
simultaneously. It is easy to control the initiation and
time delay. So the smooth blasting technique is widely used
in trench excavation and good results are obtained. (Figure
2). 2.3 Buffer blasting technique The buffer blasting
technique is widely adopted in trench excavation blasting
of the Three Gorges navigation lock. One to

two rows (one row is used in general situation ) of buffer

blast

holes are arranged for bench blasting and the blasting exca

vation of lateral preserved layer, ensuring the good

quality of

pre-split blasting or smooth blasting.

The study and practice show that because buffer blast hole

spacing between the holes and rows is comparatively smaller

and explosive charge in single hole is reduced and evenly

distributed, the buffer blasting is able to play a good

role in

reducing the damage of pulling force at lateral sides and in

the direction of back wave.

Some measures are taken accordingly for the buffer blasting

operation:

(1) To make the hole spacing closer, that is to make the

spacing

of buffer blast hole is half that of the main blast holes.

(2) To reduce the burden to improve the effect of smooth

blast

ing. The burden to the buffer blast hole, that is the

distance

from buffer blast hole to the main blast hole, should be

larger than the spacing of buffer blast hole, or 1.3 times

of the spacing of buffer blast hole. If the burden is too

small, the blasting influence of the main blasting zone

will penetrate over the buffer layers.

(3) To use smaller charge than that of main blast holes,

that

is about 50 percent of that for main blast holes, and

more evenly distributed. The buffer blast holes can not

be charged with mixed explosive but only with cartridge

explosive.

(4) The charge structure is adopted as the following contin

uously charge with bagged explosive in bigger diameter

used at the lower sections, and in smaller diameter at the

upper sections, while in the sections close to stemming the

bagged explosive in smaller diameter is charged at regu

lar interval. The blasting effect of this charge structure

is

better than that of single type of bagged explosive charged

continuously.

Millisecond blasting technique with multiple intervals

between hole.

The effect of the millisecond initiating with multiple inter

vals in deep holes is very much dependent on the delay time

difference of each interval. For the granite rock at the per

manent navigation lock, if the burden is ≤2 m, the rational

delay interval should be selected based on following

analysis:
the acting process of the blasting stress wave and high pres

sure gas is divided into three time intervals: the time for
stress

wave propaganda takes 1 ms, the time for creating of crack

and separation of blasted rock completely from remained
rock mass takes about 2 to 3 ms, and the time for movement
of broken rock to move 8 to 10 cm on the rock face takes
about 3 to 10 ms. The total time for the above three
courses to compete is about 6 to 14 ms. It is thought that
the rational delay interval between each two blast holes is
about 6 to 14 ms when the burden is not over 2 m for the
granite rock of the permanent navigation lock area. When
performing the multiple interval blasting in bench blasting
excavation of the navigation lock, the time intervals
between holes are selected as below. The interval between
main blast holes ranges from 25 ms to 100 ms under normal
conditions. The initiation of smooth blast hole is 75 to
100 ms delayed after main blast holes. The pre-splitting
technique is used, the initiation time for pre-splitting
holes should be at least 100 ms in advance to neighboring
main blast holes; When smooth blasting holes or pre-split
holes are arranged at both lateral sides of the bench, the
time interval between two rows of the smooth blast holes or
pre-split holes should be at least 75 ms. Through testing
and study on site and construction practice, it is found
that the method of smooth blasting plus buffer blasting and
bench blasting has advantages over the method of
pre-splitting plus buffer blasting and bench blasting.
Compared with the ordinary millisecond blasting for bench
blasting, the farmer’s distinguishable points include the
following. Addition of smooth blasting and buffer blasting,
the parameters of the drill pattern for the last row holes
located in the direction of back wave of the main blasting
holes are properly reduced, with the charge structure for
the last row holes is similar to that for buffer hole. As
result, the lateral preserved protective layer of rock mass
is protected, and a better quality blasted face is formed
on the rock mass after blasting. 3 CONCLUSION 1) The
construction procedures of the trench excavation. the
blasting gears and materials, blasting mode, parameters of
blasting, initiating connection, control index of the
velocity of particle vibration of rock, thickness of
lateral preserved protective layer during trench
excavation, thickness of the protective layer of bed rock,
control index of initiating charge for single interval,
assortment of explosive, construction tools and equipment
as well as construction
technology, all the above items are suitable for the condi

tions of the deep trench excavation of the navigation lock

project.

2) The supplementary study of the excavation technique is

quite systematic and comprehensive.The finishing excava

tion technique adopted for the vertical walls, including the

millisecond blasting technique between deep holes and the

twice buffer blasting plus twice smooth blasting combined

with comprehensive trench blasting technique with non

electric initiating connection and soft padding arrangement

at bottom of holes are more reliable and much safer com

pared with the excavation mode such as with pre-split

blasting to excavate at one go or other modes. This tech

nology is able to satisfy the requirements of construction

quality and construction progress, successfully facing the

challenge of the excavation of the world-class high vertical

slopes of the permanent navigation lock.

3) The blasting excavation is well controlled at this

project.

The results of monitoring of the whole process show that

at the distance of 10 m to the boundary of the blasting

area the velocity of particle vibration of rock mass is less

than 10 cm/s during the trench excavation blasting. The

excavation-caused load relief zone is mainly distributed

along the surface layer of rock mass. The thickness of loos

ABSTRACT: Active seismic methods employ controlled sources

that release energy at specified times and locations. They

haven proven that they can predict the 3-D spatial

distribution of rock properties ahead of the tunnel face.
Examples are

propagation velocities of compressional or shear waves or

their reflectivities. Ground porosity or seismic
attenuation can be

estimated with lower spatial resolution. A 3-D image of

P-wave reflection strength ahead can be obtained
automatically and

continuously along a tunnel when a vibration source and

receivers are placed on the cutting wheel of a tunnel
boring machine.

A similar 3-D model is computed using seismic drilling

noise exclusively recorded on the tunnel boring machine and
shows

the same obstacle. Such passive tunnel seismology promises

predictions at less operational and hardware costs but it
requires

a different signal processing compared to active methods.

1 TUNNELSEISMOLOGY

Tunnel construction engineers need information about the

geotechnical properties of the rock ahead of the tunnel face

to allow them to adapt advance parameters and to be warned

against obstacles. Seismic methods have proven to be success

ful in predictions of rock properties ahead of the tunnel

or in

mining due to their robustness, flexibility, low cost and

com

parably high spatial resolution of the order of meters and

good

energy penetration.

Most commercial seismic systems for tunnelling in soft

ground or hard rock aim at imaging of structures that
reflect

elastic waves ahead of the tunnel or in its neighborhood.

They

all use controlled sources to initiate the wave propagation.

Kneib et al. (2000) describe a soft ground tunnel seismic

sys

tem (named SSP) that employs a vibrational source and few

one-component receivers, oriented parallel to the tunnel and

mounted on the cutting wheel of a tunnel boring machine

(tbm). Thousands of seismic traces are automatically

acquired

while drilling and go through an automatic complex seismic

processing sequence which yields a new 3-D model of the

ground ahead about every five metres of advance. A system

for hard rock exploration is Tunnel Seismic Prediction (TSP;

Sattel et al., 1992). Three component receivers are mounted

about two metres into the rock and record dozens of small

explosions that are excited also about two metres into the
rock.

Shots are initiated along profiles, usually parallel to the

tun

nel axis. Semi-automatic processing yields a prediction

about

200 m ahead using Pand S-waves.

As alternative to controlled sources we may measure the

background noise that goes along with tunnelling operations

and process and invert the noise wavefields in order to

derive
rock properties. In the seismological community these
passive

methods have recently gained attention with the advent of

seismic interferometry (Wapenaar, K. et al., 2006).

A key to successful seismic predictions in tunnelling -apart

from a suitable hardwareis a signal processing that hon

ours tunnel-specific aspects, namely the less advantageous

tunnel-bound measurement geometry, the often high levels

of background noise, the time pressure due to the advance

of the tunnel, and the economical necessity to (partially)

automate acquisition and processing. During processing the

seismic data reveals not only reflection strengths but also
other elastic properties which correlate with physical or
geotechnical parameters of the underground. Below I
illustrate this with several examples. 2 SEISMIC PARAMETERS
VIA ACTIVE SOURCES The primary quantity recorded in
seismology is amplitude as function of time. Further
quantities derive from these registrations. The bulk of
seismic energy recorded in tunnel seismology using active
sources may often comprise direct waves, tunnel surface
waves, and waves guided through the excavation damaged zone
around the tunnel (Kneib & Leykam, 2004). These wave modes
are sensitive to local heterogeneities up to few metres
away from the tunnel. But they as well as undesired
background noise should be suppressed prior to reflection
imaging. The extraction of reflected waves can make use of
the fact that the reflection traveltime reduces as the
tunnel advances and the acquisition equipment approaches
the reflector. The pressure wave and shear wave reflections
can be extracted from the seismic raw data via
multi-channel dip filtering and by covariance-based methods
to separate different modes of particle movement. Amplitude
loss due to geometrical spreading and attenuation must be
compensated. The speed of direct waves provides initial
models of body wave velocities. I use a consistency
principle in order to obtain heterogeneous 3-D models of
velocities ahead of the tunnel via prestack migration: A
correct velocity field must yield the same reflector image
position for any source-receiver combination. Wrong
velocities yield image dips in graphs of receiver position
versus image position.The sign and amount of dip can guide
an automatic update procedure for the velocity model. The
model of compressional or shear velocities ahead is a
petrophysical asset in itself but it is also the
prerequisite for reflection imaging that maps impedance
contrasts. Combining the velocity model and the reflection
image allows to interpret density variations. 2.1
Attenuation The seismic quality factor Q describes wave
attenuation and is related to the microstructure of rock,
in particular to its

Figure 1. Seismic Q along a tunnel in water-saturated

glacial

deposits. The left figure documents a geology change from

marl

(left, marked in light grey) to sand (right, marked in dark

grey) with

a transition zone in between. In sand at low depths below

about 11 m

we observe a depth-dependence of Q (dashed arrow on left

plot and

separate plot on the right).

heterogeneity and to the presence of fluids. I assume that

body waves attenuate exponentially as function of

propagation

distance with attenuation coefficients that increase

linearly

with frequency. This leads to a rock-specific and frequency

independent seismic quality factor Q estimated from signal

frequencies up to few kHz. I have investigated amplitude

spec

tra of direct compressional waves as function of propagation

distance and in many hard rock tunnels around the world and

found strong attenuation with Q-values ranging between 15

and 50. Strong attenuation (low Q) limits the possible

predic

tion range because signal amplitudes are damped until they

disappear in the background noise at specific propagation

dis

tances. A strong attenuation causes wave trains to disperse

such that reflected pulses cannot be focused via imaging.

Therefore attenuation should be compensated for by inverse

Q-filtering.

In an environment with high levels of background noise one

may favor alternative ways to estimate Q. I apply a method

that

derives Q from the decrease of instantaneous frequency with

traveltime. With this method I could continuously and auto

matically monitor Q-values ahead of a tunnel while drilling

through water-saturated glacial deposits. At least one thou

sand seismic traces recorded by the SSP along a tunnelling

distance of about 5 m where investigated to estimate each

sin

gle Q-value. Those Q-values were automatically logged along

the tunnel during the advance. The data allows a clear

distinc

tion between Q-values clustered around 80 in marl and around

115 in sand with a transition zone in between (Fig. 1).At

depths

between 11 m and 35 m there is no obvious depth dependence.

The Q-values in sand systematically decrease with decreasing

depth z at levels less than about 11 m from the surface. My

best
fitting curve is overlaid in Fig. 1 and has the form Q(z) =
129–

1665/z 2 , with z taken in metres. The decrease of

attenuation

with depth may be due to the closing of pores. The groundwa

ter level has been above the drilling depths along the whole

monitored tunnelling distance.

2.2 Porosity estimation

Porosity is an important parameter to characterize the

ground.

It is difficult to determine in situ and can hardly be

estimated

from seismic data alone. On the other hand, if we would know

porosity in fluid-saturated ground ahead of the tunnel we

could Figure 2. Seismic traces showing scattered waves
recorded on the cutting wheel after correlation with the
source signal. The waves have been excited by a vibrational
source that transmitted a sweep with frequencies from 100
Hz to 2800 Hz into the ground ahead. The analyzed data set
spans 50 m of tunnel advance. Signals at the begin (left
panel) and at its end (right panel) demonstrate that the
signal is well repeatable and depends only little on the
rotation angle which varies periodically from left to
right. Direct P-waves and S-waves are marked. compute the
mass density of the excavated material which is an
important parameter to control the rubble transport, i.e.
for a smooth tunnelling operation. During a tunnel project
in water-saturated sand in the Netherlands I could estimate
ground porosity from SSP data alone assuming that the
ground consisted only of quarz grains and water-filled
pores.About 6000 seismic records were taken automatically
during the drilling of 50 m of tunnel. The traces went
through some basic processing including crosscorrelation
with the base-plate signal (Fig. 2). Finite-difference
simulation of 3-D elastic wave propagation allowed me to
interpret the complex scattered wavefield ahead of the
cutting wheel of the tbm. I picked first arrivals and
estimated the direct-path wave velocities of compressional
and shear waves for thousands of traces and with high
accuracy.Together with some wave theory for fluid-saturated
ground and wellestablished empirical relationships I could
estimate the ground porosity with an accuracy of one
percent as has been confirmed by laboratory measurements.
Details of the method can be found in Kneib (2006). 2.3
Velocity analysis and reflection imaging Commercial seismic
systems to provide information for the tunnelling operation
use active sources to transmit seismic energy into the
ground at specific initiation times and with approximately
known wave shapes. Several thousand SSP traces were
acquired while drilling a tunnel with a diameter of about
seven metres trough sand and marl in central Europe in
depths around 30 m. During the data acquisition the tbm
approached a concrete building that forms an escape hatch
and meets the tunnel profile as a wall perpendicular to the
tunnel axis. Reflections have been automatically extracted,
the velocity has been analyzed and the data has been
migrated which resulted in 3-D models of compressional
velocities and

Figure 3. Slices through a 3-D model of P-wave velocity

ahead of

the tbm. The top presents a horizontal slice through a 3-D

model with

the tunnel axis at its centre. The bottom shows the

corresponding ver

tical slice. A white rectangle marks the outline of a

concrete building

ahead of the tunnel. Note that the transition between

water-saturated

sand (left) and the building (right) shows up by a sharp

increase of

velocity.

Figure 4. Image of P-wave reflection strength based on the

SSP

data. The top figure presents a horizontal slice through a

3-D model

with the tunnel axis at its centre. The bottom figure shows
the corre

sponding vertical slice. The black rectangle marks the

outline of the
concrete building. Note that the begin of the building
(left) is marked

by the dark shading of higher reflectivity.

reflection strengths. Figure 3 presents slices through the

wave

velocity model ahead of the tunnel. The plot displays a

sharp

transition from water-saturated sand (left and shaded light)

with wave speed around 1800 m/s to a block of concrete

(right

and shaded dark) with velocities above 2300 m/s. The

outline of the concrete building is indicated by an
overlaid rectangle in Figures 3 and 4. The corresponding
image of reflection strength (Fig. 4) is based on the
velocity model of Fig. 3 and shows the expected maximum at
the beginning of the concrete block. The end of the block
is apparently not imaged. 3 ACTIVE VERSUS PASSIVE TUNNEL
SEISMOLOGY Existing seismic systems for tunnelling use
active sources to transmit seismic energy into the ground
at specific initiation times and with approximately known
wave shapes. As a result the dynamic response of the ground
can be directly identified in terms of traveltimes and
signal amplitudes. This simplifies seismic data processing.
Another advantage is that compact sources with their
well-known positions may allow for better spatial
resolution. Finally the source signal can be adapted to the
local geology and the exploration target. Disadvantages are
that active sources go along with higher operational and
hardware costs and they must be powerful enough to exceed
the background noise that can be very strong if
measurements are taken during drilling. The prediction
distance is limited by the signal-noise ratio. Passive
tunnel seismic methods would use the drilling noise as a
powerful source signal.A physical model assumes that any
signal created by the tbm may eventually be transmitted
into the surrounding rock.The tbm signal will propagate
away from the machine and will partially be reflected back.
Recordings taken on the tbm will contain the strong
outgoing signal and a much weaker time-delayed reflection
signal. Compared to controlled-source tunnel seismology
passive methods may (1) require simpler acquisition
hardware, (2) be cheaper to operate, and (3) may allow for
larger prediction distances. Their disadvantage is that the
source signal is a priori unknown, fairly complex, and
cannot be adapted to the particular needs of tunnel
seismology. Every tool mounted on the cutting wheel of a
tunnel boring machine creates its own signal which may vary
in time and space due to changes in drilling parameters,
coupling and geology. The superposition of the tool signals
leads to wavefronts which can be considered plane waves up
to a distance some multiple of the tbm diameter away from
the cutting wheel. Therefore, the lateral spatial
resolution already limited by the tunnel-bound acquisition
geometry on principle may be even smaller for passive
tunnel seismology. But resolution also depends on the wave
type being analyzed.The drilling combines forward push
causing Pand S V waves and rotational shear creating S H
waves. Their relative strengths depend on the drilling
parameters. Figure 5 illustrates that softground tunnel
boring machines transfer high energy at frequencies up to
several kHz into the ground. This happens not just at the
cutting wheel but everywhere where the machine has contact
to the ground or to the tunnel building. Remember that a
tunnel boring machine often is more than one hundred metres
long. The registrations may contain all sorts of waves
reverberating in the tbm structure among them resonances of
the tbm and of the heavy machinery on board. The challenge
in passive tunnel seismology is to detect the signal
emitted into the forward direction and also its
reflections. 4 AN EXAMPLE OF PASSIVE TUNNEL SEISMOLOGY It
is a feature of the SSP-system that noise measurements are
taken periodically to determine the signature of the noise
and

Figure 5. Average amplitude spectrum of the recorded tbm

noise.

Spectral spikes and resonances dominate below 1000 Hz

(left) but

there is also significant energy at higher frequencies

which is better

visible on logarithmic scale (right).

Figure 6. Detail of tbm noise data at an intermediate

processing

stage. Arrows indicate interpreted linear reflection

events. Each dip

indicates another apparent velocity. The event marked by

(a) may be
an out-of-plane S-wave reflection and arrival (b) enters
the receiver

from behind the cutting wheel. The begin of a concrete

block reflects

a P-wave marked by (c). The end of this building is

indicated by

reflection (d).

to estimate the signal-noise ratio. Noise measurements were

also registered repeatedly during the advance of the tunnel

boring machine towards the concrete escape hatch building

which has been presented above and in Figs. 3 and 4. The

same receivers and similar positions were used for the noise

records as in the recording of the deterministic sweep and

its

reflections. But instead of several thousand ‘signal’traces

only

several hundred noise traces were available along a

tunnelling

distance of 28 m. Those noise traces were studied in detail

and

processed.

Figure 6 presents a subsection of the traces at an intermedi

ate processing stage. Note that several coherent wave

arrivals

can be recognized while the time interval between the reg

istrations is typically at least a few minutes. The

displayed

traveltimes go along with travel distances of several ten

metres.

The events enter the receiver from different directions as

can
be concluded from the wide range of time-space dips. Each
dip

represents a different apparent velocity. You can interpret

an Figure 7. Image of P-wave reflection strength based on
the noise data. The top figure presents a horizontal slice
through a 3-D model with the tunnel axis at its centre. The
bottom figure shows the corresponding vertical slice. The
black rectangle marks the outline of the concrete block.
Note that the begin (left) and the end (right) of the block
are marked by the dark shading of higher reflectivity. This
corresponds to the events (c) and (d) in Fig. 6.
out-of-plane S-wave ground reflection (a), a S-wave that
may have taken a path along the tbm steel structure from
behind (b), and (although weaker) the reflections from the
front (c) and back (d) of the concrete building. Detailed
analysis of the complete data set let me conclude that
P-wave velocities in the ground are close to 1800 m/s
(which is consistent with Fig. 3) and S-wave speed is
slightly above 600 m/s.The P-wave reflections from ahead
were extracted and migrated to a 3-D image. Figure 7 shows
slices through this image. They appear less focused
compared to Fig. 4. But now even the backside of the
structure can now be seen. To be fair it should be
emphasized that the active-source image has been computed
automatically by the SSP-system in real-time, whereas the
passive-source image resulted from manual processing. Also
the noise-based image took advantage of the SSP velocity
model. 5 THE ROAD AHEAD Tunnel seismology can yield
quantitative seismic predictions of dynamic ground
properties ahead of the tunnel. But this requires
high-quality specialized hardware, careful data processing
and (prior to automation) well educated personal.
Construction companies and other potential clients need to
be aware of these requirements. The necessary investment
will almost certainly pay off. The success of tunnel
seismology depends on a better understanding of the related
wave propagation phenomena, on realistic physical models,
and on sufficiently accurate and robust procedures that are
applicable in practice. We need to learn more on how to
relate the seismic observation to the needs of the
construction engineer. For example, one challenge for the
future is to derive (static) geotechnical parameters from

(dynamic) seismic parameters.Another important issue is how

to integrate seismic and non-seismic geophysical

observations
and models.

In my vision the appearance of passive tunnel seismology

may pave the way to many applications in mining and tun

nelling. Small robust receivers may be placed on the heavy

drilling equipment, transmit the recorded noise to computer

systems that automatically process the data and derive

elastic

parameters and their spatial distribution. Here, I have

illus

trated that a first step towards this goal has already been
made.

The following lists some work which remains for the future:

(1) Robust and maintenance-free receiver hardware needs to

be developed, (2) the signal transmission between receivers

and computer systems must be achieved in a flexible and

stable way, (3) the processing algorithms and the parameter

selections need to be improved, (4) we need three-component

registrations to easier distinguish between wave modes, (5)

ABSTRACT: The behavior of underground structures under

static loading has been studied since many years ago and a
lot

of research has been published in this regard. For large

caverns, the importance of more rigorous stability studies
necessitates

analysis of these structures under earthquake induced

dynamic loading. The effects of earthquake’s magnitude and
duration of

dynamic loading on safety factor, maximum shear strength

and shear displacement in the vicinity of the underground
opening

were computed in time domain with a distinct element code

and the results are compared with the values obtained from
the

static analysis. In this paper, the extension phase of

Masjed Soleiman Power Plant cavern under earthquake shaking
has been

carried out as a real example. To perform this, four

typical earthquakes which have happened in Iran during
recent century are

used as input wave forms. Although it is generally thought

that underground structures provide a safer environment
against

earthquake, but the two mentioned parameters can affect the

safety seriously.

1 INTRODUCTION

Underground power projects play very important roles in

meeting the requirements of present electricity

requirements.

Several underground structures are being built in regions

that

are highly prone to seismic risks where their failures could

cause severe damages to human lives and properties. It is

there

fore essential to design underground structures for

anticipated

earthquakes so that they do not undergo any serious damages.

It must be noted that determination of dynamic forces caused

by earthquake is very difficult due to complexities of the

mixed

analysis for accounting the effects of frequency, duration

and

intensity of the applied forces. On account of this fact,

two

dimensional dynamic distinct element method was chosen to

perform dynamic analysis of underground caverns of Masjed

Soleiman Hydroelectric Power Plant, located in South Eastern

part of Iran.

2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The underground caverns of Masjed Soleiman Hydroelectric

Power Plant are simplified and depicted in Figure 1. These

openings are located in a bedded formation consisting of

Sand

stone, Claystone, Conglomerate and Siltstone. The average

overburden height at the site is about 400 m. The height,

width

and length of the Power House Cavern are 47.5 m, 30.0 m

and 110.0 m respectively. The dimensions of the Transformer

Cavern are 21.0 × 13.6 m × 110.0 m and is located at a dis

tance of 27.5 m at the right hand side of the Power House

Cavern.

3 GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATIONS

Geotechnical investigations have been conducted to obtain

geological information and to obtain samples for performing

Figure 1. Details of underground openings at Masjed
Soleiman Hydroelectric Power Plant. All dimensions are in
meters. Table 1. Rock mass parameters of surrounded layered
materials. E φ C γ Rock Type (MPa) υ (deg) (MPa) (ton/m 3 )
Sandstone 7000 0.20 38 1.67 2.425 Clay 6000 0.25 24 0.5
2.375 Conglomerate 15000 0.20 43 2.87 2.58 Siltstone 6000
0.25 30 0.73 2.375 laboratory tests to evaluate mechanical
properties of the rock mass. Flat jack tests were also
conducted to determine the in-situ stress and modulus of
deformation. Dilatometer tests were carried out to specify
the in-situ modulus of deformation at 22 locations as well.
The summary of the rock mass properties are presented in
Table 1.
Table 2. Main parameters of the selected earthquakes. PGA*
Duration

Earthquake (g) (s)

Masjed Soleiman 0.221 30

Manjil 0.46 45

Naghan 0.53 20

Tabas 0.81 45

* Peak Ground Acceleration.

Figure 2. Accelerogram of Masjed Soleiman Earthquake.

Figure 3. Accelerogram of Manjil Earthquake.

4 SELECTION OF EARTHQUAKE INPUT

PARAMETERS

Dynamic studies have been obtained based on four seismic

events. The first one (which was the smallest event too)
struck

the region in September 2004. This event did not cause any

damages to the cavern. The aim of this study was to

calibrate

the numerical model based on this event and to perform sim

ilar analysis based on stronger events and study the extent

of

damages in case one of these typical strong events happens

at site. The next three strong events are Tabas, Naghan and

Manjil Earthquakes which are the strongest events during

last

century in Iran. The three strong earthquakes are selected

so

that makes study of strong amplitude and long duration of

the
earthquakes possible. The main parameters of the earthquakes

are presented in Table 2. Figures 2–5 also depicts

earthquake

accelerograms.

Safety factor, maximum shear strength and shear displace

ment occurring in the vicinity of the underground openings

were computed in time domain with the used software and the

results are compared with the values obtained from the

static

analysis. Although it is generally thought that underground

structures provide a safer environment against earthquake,

but the magnitude and period of dynamic loading, can be

responsible for severe instabilities. Figure 4.

Accelerogram of Naghan Earthquake. Figure 5. Accelerogram
of Tabas Earthquake. Figure 6. Static-dynamic analysis
flowchart. 5 DYNAMIC ANALYSIS The method used was based on
distinct element method and the underground openings were
modeled in two-dimensions with plane-strain assumption.
Dynamic analysis is also possible in this method.
Calculations are based on explicit finite difference method
to solve for full equations of motion, using real
rigid-block masses or lumped grid point masses derived from
the real density of surrounding zones. To perform an
accurate dynamic analysis, it is important to follow a
logical and careful trend such as the flowchart presented
in Figure 6. As it can be seen, prior to the dynamic
analysis, it is important to obtain a calibrated model for
static loading situation. For this, back analysis method
was employed with the help of field monitoring results.
Several models were conducted to obtain adoptable results
with the real in-situ behavior of the caverns. The results
of computer modeling were compared

Figure 7. Shear stress record of Masjed Soleiman Earthquake

calculated for dynamic analysis.

Figure 8. Variation of safety factor obtained from dynamic

versus
static analysis for Masjed Soleiman Earthquake.

with the monitoring results at site and finally the best

model

was chosen for executing dynamic analysis.

Damping ratio and natural frequency are important required

parameters for dynamic analysis. For soils, damping ratio is

generally in the range of 0.1 to 0.5% (Biggs, 1964). With

regards to the value of shear modulus of materials

surrounding

caverns, this ratio was chosen as 0.1%. Natural frequency of

the model was also determined with the software by dropping

the model on a rigid base and counting the number of oscil

lations per second. In this case, 6 Hz was determined for

the

model. Vertical and horizontal viscous boundary conditions

were adopted for the model to damp the reflected waves.

Acceleration data from the earthquakes ought to be multi

plied by 2ρc to obtain stress records where ρ is the

material

density and c is the P-wave velocity in the surrounding

media.

After processing the acceleration record and transforming it

into stress record, the stress record is applied to the

model.

Figure 7 shows the shear stress record of Masjed Soleiman

Earthquake with 5.5 Richter in magnitude for a period of

25 seconds.

6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The DEM analysis is carried out in real time domain corre

sponding to the duration of each earthquake’s record. Owing

to the fact that the highest effect corresponds to the

dominant

applied stress record, safety factor, maximum shear strength

and shear displacement in the vicinity of the caverns are

Figure 9. Variation of safety factor obtained from dynamic
versus static analysis for Manjil Earthquake. Figure 10.
Variation of safety factor obtained from dynamic versus
static analysis for Naghan Earthquake. Figure 11. Variation
of safety factor obtained from dynamic versus static
analysis for Tabas Earthquake. calculated and compared with
the values obtained from the static analysis. Figures 8–11
depict the variation of safety factor obtained from dynamic
versus static analysis for all four selected earthquake
records. As it can be concluded from the results, the
Masjed Soleiman Earthquake will not cause any reductions to
the safety factor which is compatible with what was
reported from

Figure 12. Variation of maximum shear stress after dynamic

loading

versus static state.

Figure 13. Variation of maximum shear displacement after

dynamic

loading versus static state.

the site visits and measurements. On the other hand, the

higher

the earthquake magnitude, the higher the decrease of the

safety

factor will be. Although, it is generally thought that under

ground openings provide a safer environment against dynamic

loading, an earthquake as strong as Tabas earthquake, can

cause a catastrophic damage to the Masjed Soleiman caverns.

Figures 12–13 depict the variation of maximum shear stress

and shear displacement after dynamic loading respectively.

As it can be seen, earthquake’s magnitude and duration of

the

event affect the maximum shear stress and shear displacement

respectively. With increase of earthquake duration, shear

dis

placement will increase. Similarly, when magnitude of earth

shake increases, the obtained shear stress will increase

which

can cause considerable damages.

It is notable that the present study is based on the

stability

ABSTRACT: Tensile strength is one of the critical

mechanical parameters of rock. It is relevant to the
evaluations of rock

deformability, fracture, crushing and fragmentation, and

governs rock mass failure in problems such as stability of
mining

roofs, laneways and other underground openings. There are

lots of experimental data in literatures with respect to
rock static

tensile strength, although there has still no general

agreement about the mechanism of rock tensile failure. On
the other hand,

spalling tests based on split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB)

setup were carried out to investigate the dynamic tensile
strength

of granite. The results revealed that the dynamic Brazilian

splitting test with the SHPB setup is a very promising
method to

determine the tensile strength of rock materials. The

specimen dimension used in the dynamic Brazilian test is
consistent with

that in the static Brazilian test. Finally, the strain rate

effect on the dynamic tensile strength was analyzed to show
that the

dynamic strength of granite can be expressed as a power law

formula with respect to its static strength.

1 INTRODUCTION

Because rocks are much weaker in tension than in com

pression or shear, tensile failure plays a very important

role

in engineering activities, e.g. drilling, cutting and

blasting

of rocks, hydraulic fracturing of a borehole or a tunnel,

exploitation of rock slopes, and stability of mining roofs

and

other underground openings. Numerous literatures in con

cerning the static tensile strength of rock samples are

available

(Berenbaum & Brodie 1959, Jaeger & Hoskins 1966, Mellor

& Hawkes 1971, Bieniawski & Hawkes 1978, Pandey & Singh

1986, Luong 1990, Butenuth et al. 1994, Okubo & Fukui 1996,

Coviello et al. 2005).

However, very few literatures with respect to dynamic

tensile tests of rock can be found. There still has no

widely

accepted dynamic tensile test method for rock. Goldsmith

(1976) measured the dynamic tensile strength of granite

using

the SHTB (Split Hopkinson Tensile Bar) setup, as shown in

Figure 1a. But for the complex shape of the specimen, this

method is considered to be high-costing, and the screw con

nection between the specimen and the elastic bars made the

results susceptible. So it is seldom used these days. Zhao

et al.

(2000) performed dynamic Brazilian splitting test (Fig. 1b)

and 3-point flexural tensile test (Fig. 1c) using a

self-made

system driven by air and oil. With the system, the dynamic

behavior of granite was discussed. Yet, there exists some

the

oretical limitation for the 3-point or 4-point flexural

tensile

tests when the Navier’s equation is used in the de

Saint-Venant

solid (Cardani & Meda 2004). So the results obtained from

multi-point flexural tests should be used carefully.

Spalling

test (Fig. 1d), which firstly used to investigate tensile

proper

ties of concrete, has attracted a lot of research interests

these

years (Cho et al. 2003, Brara & Klepaczko 2006, Schuler et

al.

2006). But the multi-spalling phenomenon made the results

rather scatter. Tedesco (1989) applied SHPB (Split
Hopkinson Pressure Bar) setup to the tensile test of Brazil
disc specimen (Fig. 1e) and gave a corresponding numerical
study. Besides, Gran (1987) invented a new experiment
method, where a cylindrical concrete specimen is first
loaded in static triaxial compression, then the axial
pressure is released rapidly to study the dynamic tensile
failure of concrete. But this method gave a very narrow
strain rate rang of 10–20 s −1 and no further application
was found in other researchers’ work. Among all these
dynamic tensile test methods, the spalling test and the
Brazil disc test seems to be the most promising ones.
Especially the Brazil disc method, where specimen has the
same dimension as the static Brazil test and SHPB dynamic
compression test, gives the potential for establishing a
selfconsistent test system. If the method is well
developed, then the results from static, dynamic
compressive and dynamic tensile for rock and rock-like
materials can be compared on the basis of same specimen
dimension. In this paper, Brazil disc tests with SHPB
device were carried out on granite to investigate its
tensile strength. At the same time, the static Brazil tests
and spalling tests were also done to give comparative
results. 2 BRAZIL TEST WITH SHPB 2.1 Experiment principle
An illustration of the Brazil test with SHPB device is same
as shown in Figure 1e. A Brazil disc specimen is sandwiched
between two steel bars. Upon the striker impinging the
input bar, the incident stress wave is generated and
travels down the bar. At the interfaces of specimen and
elastic bars, the incident wave is partially reflected and
partially transmitted. With

Figure 1. Existing dynamic tensile test methods for rock and

rock-like materials.

strain gauges glued on the elastic bars, incident,

reflected and

transmitted waves can be obtained. From these strain gauge

measurements, the stress and strain of specimen can be com

puted with basic wave propagation theory. Then the tensile

strength of rock can be calculated as,

where σ T is the peak transmitted stress obtained from

strain

gauge signals, A e is the cross sectional area of the

elastic bar,

L s is the specimen length, and D s is the specimen

diameter.

At the same time, the strain rate of specimen can be

estimated as,

where τ is the time lag between the starting time of the

reflected wave and the time of the peak point of the

transmitted wave.

2.2 Experimental parameters and test procedure

The actual experimental setup consists of two 2-meter long

elastic steel bar with diameter of 50 mm. At the middle of

each elastic bar, two strain gauges are glued diametrically

to

avoid bending influence of the elastic bar. The incident

wave

is deliberately shaped into a half-sine or slowly-rising

form to Table 1. Average static properties of Bukit Timah
granite. Wave Compression Tensile Density/ Poisson’s
velocity/ strength/ strength/ kg·m −3 ratio m·s −1 MPa MPa
2700 0.24 5600 163 10.5 Figure 2. Results of dynamic brazil
disc test with SHPB. eliminate dispersion effect (Li et al.
1994, 2000, 2005, Frew et al. 2005). The specimens were
cored from Bukit Timah granite rock mass, which have good
integrality and homogeneity. The diameter of the specimens
is 50 mm with designed length/diameter ratio of 0.5. Before
the dynamic test, static compression test and static Brazil
tensile test were also carried out on an INSTRON
servo-control machine for comparison with the dynamic
results. The loading rate for the static test was 10 −5 s
−1 and the specimen dimension was the same as the dynamic
Brazil test. The average static parameters of granite can
be found in Table 1. With different strain rates, seven
sets of specimens were tested, with 5 specimens in each
set. Figure 2a is one of the typical collected signals,
Figure 2b shows the obtained results. It can be seen that
the dynamic Brazil test gave fairly good results where the
strength values of same set were very close to each other,
and there is an obvious increasing trend of the dynamic
tensile strength with increasing strain rate.
Theoretically, higher strain rate can be fulfilled with
higher impacting stress. However, it is found in tests that
with the increase of the impacting stress, a larger failure
zone appeared at the contact surfaces of specimen
diametrically. As we know, for the static Brazil test, if
there are large premature failure zone at contact points
firstly, then the result is suspectable. For the dynamic
test, whether the results are reliable in this situation
needs further discussion, so the strain rate for dynamic
Brazil test in this paper was limited to the range of 0–100
s −1 . The validation of the data under higher strain rater
larger than 100 s −1 will be investigated and included in
our subsequent publications. After tests, the broken
fragments of every specimen were collected and recorded. As
can be seen from Figure 3, the specimen broke into two
halves diametrically with one crack under static loads.
Under dynamic load, there are usually several cracks along
the loading direction, and with the increasing of loading
rate, larger failure zones appear at both ends of loading
points. 3 SPALLING TEST WITH SHPB 3.1 Experiment principle
As shown in Figure 1d, the setup of SHPB spalling test
consists of a projectile, an elastic bar and a long
cylindrical specimen.

Figure 3. Failure pattern of Brazil disc under different

strain rate.

Figure 4. The reflection of saw-toothed wave at the free

end of

specimen.

The relation of the impact velocity and the generated stress

amplitude of projectile is determined with trial tests

firstly,

so as to chose favorite impact velocity so that the result

ing compressive stress wave has an amplitude smaller than

the compressive strength, but larger than the expected ten

sile strength of the specimen. When the projectile is

launched

by gas gun and impacts the elastic bar, the stress wave is

generated and spreads along the elastic bar into the speci

men. When the transmitted compressive wave reaches the free

end of specimen, it is reflected as a tensile wave. Due to

the

wave superposition of the original compressive wave and the

reflected tensile wave, the net tensile wave leads to

spalling of

the specimen at a certain distance from the free end, where

the
net tensile stress exceeds the critical failure stress of
specimen.

To give a theoretical illustration of the spalling process,

here

we take a saw-toothed pulse as an example.Assuming the wave

has the amplitude of σ m , time lag of T , and wave length

of

λ, and it travels in the specimen at a speed of C. Then, as

the

wave comes to the free end of specimen and is reflected, the

resultant stress in specimen at different times can be shown

as Figure 4. It can be seen that the greatest tensile

stress first

arises when half the pulse length has been reflected.

If the specimen material has a critical tensile strength of

σ F , then fracture and failure will occur in a plane where

σ F is

firstly satisfied. There are three possibilities:

If σ m >σ F , then fracture will occur at a distance of

less than

λ/2 from the free surface of the specimen, and this

distance can

be determined as λσ F /(2σ m ). At the same time, if the

fracture

length L is measured, then the material critical tensile

strength

can be determined as 2Lσ m /λ; Figure 5. Test results of

dynamic Brazil test and spalling test with SHPB. If σ m = σ
F , then tensile failure occurs just at the distance λ/2;
If σ m <σ F , then no fracture will occur at all. Of course
the wave attenuation effect and the material heterogeneity
are not considered in the above theoretical analysis. The
strain rate can be obtained from the evolution history of
stress at the time of spalling occurs. 3.2 Spalling test
procedure In test, the elastic bar is 2 m long steel
cylinder with strain gauges glued at the middle position.
The projectile is 50 mm in diameter and 50 mm in length.
The granite specimen, in the form of cylinder with a
diameter of 50 mm and a length of 750 mm, is collinear and
glued with the elastic steel bar. In order to obtain the
compressive and reflected tensile waves in the specimen,
three strain gauge stations are positioned 10 mm between
each other close to the interface of the steel bar and the
specimen. Each gauge station has two strain gauges arranged
diametrically. Wave attenuation adjustment is also carried
out for accurate analysis. Ten specimens were tested and
the result data are shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that
the results of spalling test is rather scatting, which may
be caused by the heterogeneity of the long specimen. When
the specimen is small, it can be approximately treated as
homogenous everywhere. But when the specimen has a length
of several hundreds millimeters, the structural elements of
joints and heterogeneities will prevail in the specimen. 4
STRAIN RATE EFFECT OF TENSILE STRENGTH The test results
form static brazil test, dynamic brazil test and spalling
test are all presented as data markers in Figure 5. It can
be seen that, the dynamic tensile strength of granite
increases with the increase of strain rate. This phenomenon
is usually called the strain rate effect of material, which
has been studied by many researchers (Goldsmith et al.
1976, Brara & Klepaczko 2006, Schuler et al. 2006). Usually
the effect can be expressed as the relation between the
current strength and the quasi-static strength. The dynamic
strength can be described

as a function of strain rate theoretically or empirically.

Many

excellent formulae had been put forward to describe the rela

tion. Power law expression is one of the most excellent

among

them (Grady & Kipp 1979, Li & Gu 1994), which has the

form of:

where K and n are constants for specific rock type.

Here we take K as average static tensile strength of rock.

The curves of formula with different n value are shown in

Figure 5.

It can be seen that when n equals to 0.38, the equation

gives

a good fitting of experiment data especially for dynamic

Brazil

test results. So the tensile strength of Singapore Bukit

Timah

granite can be predicted with expression of:

5 CONCLUSION

Tests on granite with brazil disc and spalling method were

carried out on SHPB setup. The results from the two methods

were compared and the strain rate effect was analyzed.

Berenbaum, R. & Brodie, I. 1959. Measurement of tensile

strength

of brittle materials. British Journal of Applied Physics,

10(6):

281–287

Bieniawski, Z.T. & Hawkes, I. 1978. ISRM Commission on Stan

dardization of Laboratory and Field Tests. Suggested

methods for

determining tensile strength of rock materials.

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nal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics

Abstracts, 15(3):99–103

Brara, A. & Klepaczko, J.R. 2006. Experimental

characterization

of concrete in dynamic tension. Mechanics of Materials,

38(3):

253–267

Butenuth, C. Freitas, M.H. & Park, H.D. et al. 1994.

Observations

on the use of the hoop test for measuring the tensile

strength of

anisotropic rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics

and

Mining Sciences, 31(6):733–741

Cardani, G. & Meda, A. 2004. Marble behaviour under mono

tonic and cyclic loading in tension. Construction and

Building

Materials, 18(6):419–424 Cho, S. Ogata, Y. & Kaneko, K.

2003. Strain-rate dependency of the dynamic tensile
strength of rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences, 40(5):763–777 Coviello, A. Lagioia, R.
& Nova R. 2005. On the measurement of the tensile strength
of soft rocks. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering,
38(4):251–273 Frew, D.J. Forrestal, M.J. & Chen W.A. 2005.
Splilt Hopkinson pressure bar technique to determine
compressive stress-strain data for rock materials.
Experimental Mechanics, 45(2):186–195 Goldsmith, W.
Sackman, J.L. & Ewert C. 1976. Static and dynamic fracture
strength of Barre granite. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Science & Geomechanics Abstracts,
13(11):303–309 Grady, D.E. & Kipp, M.E. 1979.
Micromechanics of impact fracture of rock. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences &
Geomechanics Abstracts, 16(5):293–302 Gran, J.K. Gupta,Y.M.
& Florence, A.L. 1987. Experimental method to study the
dynamic tensile failure of brittle geologic materials.
Mechanics of Materials, 6(2):113–125 Jaeger, J.C. &
Hoskins, U.R. 1966. Stresses and failure in rings of rock
loaded in diametral tension or compression. British Journal
of Applied Physics, 17(5):685–692 Li, X.B. & Gu, D.S. 1994.
Rock impact dynamics. Central South University of
Technology Press, Changsha, China. Li, X.B. Lok,T.S. &
Zhao, J. et al. 2000. Oscillation eliminationin the
Hopkinson bar apparatus and resultant complete dynamic
stressstrain curves for rocks. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 37(7):1055–1060 Li,
X.B. Zhou, Z.L. & Wang, W.H. 2005. Construction of ideal
striker for SHPB device based on FEM and neural network.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering,
24(23):4215–4219 Luong, M.P. 1990. Tensile and shear
strengths of concrete and rock. Engineering Fracture
Mechanics, 35(1/2/3):127–135 Mellor, M. & Hawkes I. 1971.
Measurement of tensile strength by diametral compression of
discs and annuli. Engineering Geology, 5(3):173–225 Okubo,
S. & Fukui, K. 1996. Complete stress-strain curves for
various rock types in uniaxial tension. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science, 33(6):549–556
Pandey, P. & Singh, D.P. 1986. Deformation of a rock in
different tensile tests. Engineering Geology, 22(3):281–292
Schuler, H. Mayrhofer, C. & Thoma, K. 2006. Spall
experiments for the measurement of the tensile strength and
fracture energy of concrete at high strain rates.
International Journal of Impact Engineering,
32(10):1635–1650 Tedesco, J.W. Ross C.A. & Brunair R.M.
1989. Numerical analysis of dynamic split cylinder tests.
Computers and Structures, 32 (3–4):609–624 Zhao J. & Li
H.B. 2000. Experimental determination of dynamic tensile
properties of a granite. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 37(5):861–866 11th Congress
of the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e
Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis
Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Dynamic
characteristics of unstable rock blocks Y. Yamauchi Kyushu
Office, Geo-Research Institute, Fukuoka, Japan Y.J. Jiang &
Y. Tanabashi Department of Civil Engineering, Nagasaki
University, Nagasaki, Japan

ABSTRACT: It is known that the time from the generation of

the displacement to the collapse of the rock block is very

short. Therefore, to evaluate the stability of the rock

blocks quantitatively, it is necessary to find a sign that
appears before

the generation of the displacement. The rock blocks

collapse by change of the state of cracks in the part that
they contacted

the cliff. These changes may give some influence to the

dynamic properties of the rock blocks. The authors measured
the

dynamic behavior of rock blocks as well as the displacement

in a cut off construction site. It was confirmed that the
spectral

characteristics change before the displacement occurs.

1 INTRODUCTION

After a tragic rock block collapse accident occurred at

Toyohama tunnel, Hokkaido, Japan in 1996, where many holy

human lives were lost, many measurements for static behav

ior of rock blocks have been conducted in Japan, to evaluate

the unstable state in such rock blocks. However, it is impos

sible to evaluate the unstable state completely by any

actual

measurements.

The authors measured the displacement of unstable rock

blocks at a cut off construction site from the beginning of

the

construction. Then the rock blocks were collapsed

artificially

and their behavior in a very unstable state could be

measured.

It is known that the time from the generation of the

displace

ment to the collapse of the rock block is very short.

Therefore,

to evaluate the stability of the rock blocks

quantitatively, it

is necessary to find a sign that appears before the genera

tion of the displacement. In this paper, a new idea for the

measurement is proposed .

The rock blocks collapse by change of the state of cracks in

the part that they contacted the cliff. The displacement

occurs

by the accumulation of these small changes in the state of

the

cracks that give some influences to the dynamic properties

of
the rock blocks. Therefore, the dynamic behavior of the rock

blocks as well as the static one should be measured. In this

measurement, three-component seismometers and highly sen

sitive vertical displacement meters were utilized to measure

the dynamic and static behavior, respectively.

2 OUTLINE OF THE CUT OFF CONSTRUCTION

The rock cliff mainly consists of andesite with many

columnar

joints in the upper part of a tunnel entrance (see

Photograph 1).

It was divided into several rock blocks with the weights

from

10 t to 100 t by several joints. It is estimated that the

rock cliff

had collapsed in the past, since its shape was overhanging

and

many fragments were found on its foot. Therefore, the cut

off

construction should be performed to stabilize this rock

cliff.

(see Fig. 1) Photograph 1. Construction site. Figure 1.

Idea of the cut off construction. 3 OUTLINE OF THE
MEASUREMENTS 3.1 Arrangement of the measurement equipments
Two rock blocks (named Block A and Block B, respectively)
estimated to be particularly unstable were chosen as the

Figure 2. Positions of the instruments.

Table 1. Characteristics of the displacement meters.

Capacity 10 mm

Sensitivity 0.01 mm

Tolerable temperature range −10 ∼+60 ◦ C

Table 2. Characteristics of the seismometers. 3

perpendicular

Measurement components

Frequency 0.07 ∼ 100 Hz

characteristics

Size 165×175×108 mm

Weight 2 kg

main measurement object.The measurement instruments were

arranged on these blocks as shown in Fig. 2. The measurement

was performed during the period from the start of construc

tion to the time the rock blocks were artificially

collapsed as

mentioned below.

Three-component seismometers and highly sensitive verti

cal displacement meters were utilized to measure the dynamic

and static behavior, respectively. The seismometers (S1, S2

and S3) were installed in two unstable rock blocks (Block

A and Block B) and one stable bedrock part under the cliff

and the displacement meters were installed in four unsta

ble rock blocks including Block A and Block B (L1, L2,

L3 and L4).

The characteristics of the displacement meters and the

seismometers are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

3.2 Frequencies of the measurements

Before the cut off construction, a prior measurement was

conducted from September to December 1999. Temperature

characteristics of the instruments were calibrated using

these

data.

The static displacement were measured every 10 minutes

using the displacement meters, and the vibration were mea

sured for 1 minutes in every 1 hour at the sampling

frequency

of 100 Hz using the seismometers. -10.0 -8.0 -6.0 -4.0 -2.0

0.0 2.0 0 100 400 V e r t i c a l d i s p l a c e m e n t (
m m ) L1 L2 L3 L4 230 Measurement period (day) 200 300
Figure 3. The changes of the vertical displacements in each
displacement meter. S1-X comp. S1-Y comp. S1-Z comp. (Sec.)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0.04 0.02 0.00 -0.02 -0.04 0.04 0.02
0.00 -0.02 -0.04 0.04 0.02 0.00 -0.02 -0.04 A c c e l e r a
t i o n ( g a l ) Figure 4. Seismic waves measured at S1. 4
RESULTS OF THE MEASUREMENTS 4.1 Results of the displacement
meter measurements The changes in the displacement meters
(L1, L2, L3 and L4) from January to November 2000 are shown
in Fig. 3. In this figure, xand y-axes indicate the
measurement period (day) and the vertical displacement
(mm), respectively. The vertical displacement of L1 began
to change on the 230th day. On the 270th day, a remarkable
displacement occurred, and the tendency of the change
continued. Therefore, the authors judged that the rock
block was in a dangerous state and artificially collapsed.
It was judged in the same way also in L2, L3 and L4 and
they were artificially collapsed. 4.2 Results of the
seismometer measurements The seismic waves measured at S1
(Block A) are shown in Fig. 4. Three components described
below were measured by the seismometers, as shown in Fig.
5: X component : acceleration perpendicular to the cliff
face; Y component : acceleration parallel to the cliff
face; Z component : acceleration in the vertical direction
In this figure, xand y-axes indicate the sampling length
(sec.) and the acceleration (gal), respectively. Fourier
spectrum values of the measured waves before the cut off
construction and just before the artificial collapse are
shown in Fig. 6. Herein, the data measured at 0:00 a. m.
were adopted to remove the vibration noise by the
construction etc. Z (+) Y(+) Cross section view X(+)
Y(+) Plain view

Figure 5. Measured components.

Figure 6. Comparisons of Fourier spectrum value.

The xand y-axes indicate the frequency (Hz) and the Fourier

spectrum value (gal*sec.), respectively.

S1 is the Fourier spectrum value by the seismometer

installed in the Block A, and S3 is the value by the one of

installed in the stable rock bed.

Before the construction start, the Fourier spectrum value

of S1 is slightly smaller than that of S3, but just before

the

artificial collapse, the former becomes larger than the

latter.

The change in the sum of the difference of the two

Fourier spectrum values [= ∑ 50Hz {FS(S1)-FS(S3)}] during

the period from the beginning of the construction to the

artificial collapse is calculated and shown in Figure 7.

2.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 2.0 1.0 0.0
1.0 2.0 0 50 100 150 200 250 30 0 2.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 0 50
100 150 200 250 30 0 Measurement period (day) T o t a l o f
t h e d i f f e r e n c e o f t h e F o u r i e r s p e c t
r u m v a l e ( g a l * s e c . ) X comp. Y comp. Z comp.
Figure 7. Change in the sum of the difference of the
Fourier spectrum values of S1 and S3. It is clear that the
sum of the difference of two Fourier spectrum values
changes drastically from around the 150th day. 5 CONCLUSION
From the measurement results, some knowledge listed below
were acquired. The first one is the changes in the Fourier
spectrum values. Comparing the Fourier spectrum values of
the stable rock blocks to that of the unstable ones, it was
found that the former was larger than the latter before the
beginning of the construction. However, the former became
less than the latter just before the collapse of the rock
blocks. The second is a difference of the time when a
dynamic change occurs. The displacement begins to occur on
the 230th day, but the change of the dynamic character
occurs from the 150th day. These changes could be inferred
as some signs of the collapse. If the mechanism of these
phenomena could be clarified, it is feasible to evaluate
the quantitative stability of the collapse of the rock
blocks more accurately in future. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The
authors express their special thanks to West Nippon
Expressway Co. Ltd. for adopting the new measurement idea.
We also express our grateful thanks to Tekken Corp. and
Tokura Corp. for their helps in performing these
measurements. REFERENCE Yamauchi Y. Jiang Y.J. & Tanabashi
Y. 2006. Measurement of the dynamic behavior of unstable
rock blocks existing in the rock cliff. Rock Mechanics in
Underground Construction p.452; Proc. 4th Asian Rock
Mechanics Symposium, Singapore, 8–10 November 2006. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Dynamic
properties of granite exposed to high temperature Shiyi Lim
& Guowei Ma School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

ABSTRACT: The dynamic properties of granite exposed to high

temperature has been studied on granite obtained from

Mandai, Singapore. The heating treatment was applied with

temperature range from 200 ◦ C to 600 ◦ C with 100 ◦ C
intervals. The

following results have been obtained: [1] Physical

properties such as density, wave velocity and Young’s
Modulus decreases

with the increase in the temperature applied. An increase

in strain rate is obtained from the same pressure with the
increase

of temperature applied. [2] The effect of high strain rate

has shown that with the increase of strain rate, there is
an increase

in peak failure stress. A more brittle failure mode is also

observed with the increase of strain rate. The experiment
samples of

same temperature treatment with a higher load rate have

displayed a similar behavior. [3] The peak failure stress
of the granite

reduces with the increase of temperature.

1 INTRODUCTION

The global increasing need for land-space in recent years

has
give rise to the multiple-utilization of land. One such form

of multiple-utilization of land is the usage of underground

cavern. Owning to its chemical and mechanical stability,

gran

ite remains as the most ideal choice for the selection of

underground cavern.

Underground cavern has a wide variety of usage such as

storage of nuclear fuel waste, storage of LPG and LNG, trans

portation network, recreational facilities and etc. This

study

focus on usage of these underground caverns for military and

security purposes, such as storage of ammunitions.

Ammunitions are design in such a way that, when exposed

to high temperature will not explode off immediately. Some

ammunitions are known to have fire resistance as high as 6

hour. Whereas other high explosive contents, such as TNT,

are inert to heat treatment. Triggering of such device will

require electronic charges. These design consideration is so

as to safeguard the ammunitions from explosion due to high

temperature exposure.

Although immediate explosion is not expected when the

ammunitions are exposed to high temperature, the ammunition

will be render as faulty. There is a higher risk of these

faulty

ammunition exploding.

In order to simulate and assess the explosive resistance of

the granite that has been exposed to high temperature, the

response of the material to high strain rate is required.

Many studies have been done previously regarding the

dynamic compressive strength of granite and static compres

sive strength granite exposed to high temperature. Yet

little

study was done in the field of dynamic compressive strength

of granite exposed to high temperature.

This paper investigates the dynamic properties of granite

with the increase of temperature.

2 DESCRIPTION OF THE TESTED ROCK

Granite are categorized as plutonic rocks. The main minerals

found in granite are quartz and feldspar.

Properties of the Granite are as shown in Table 1. Figure

1. Crack Patterns of sample heated to various temperature.
Table 1. Physical properties of samples prior to heating.
Density Wave Velocity Young’s Modulus (kg/m 3 ) (m/s) (GPa)
2628.73 5408.07 76.883 3 SAMPLE PREPARATION Samples, rock
core of 50.5 mm in diameter, were prepare to a thickness of
30 mm. Selection of the rock core needs to be done to
ensure that there is no inherit fault line in the samples
taken from the rock core.To ensure the end surface are
parallel to each other, the end surface were ground
flat.The end surface are also ensured to be perpendicular
to the axis of the sample. These measurements ensure that
the samples were pure axially loaded. A total of 12 sets of
sample, a minimum of 3 samples each set, were prepared. 10
sets of sample were heated up to 5 different temperature
steps. Starting from 200 ◦ C to 600 ◦ C

Table 2. Physical properties of samples after heating. 200

◦ C 300 ◦ C 400 ◦ C 500 ◦ C 600 ◦ C

Density 2615.6 2611.6 2607.1 2607.0 2461.9

(kg/m 3 )

Wave 5018.7 4476.6 3889.8 2945.8 674.3

Velocity

(m/s)

Young’s 65.88 52.34 39.45 22.62 1.12

Modulus

(GPa) 0.00% 0.17% 0.19% 0.59% 1.04% 7.26%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.0% 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Temperature (˚C)

e c

r e

a s

i n

e n

s i

t y

Figure 2. Percentage decrease in density with increase of

temperature.

with steps of 100 ◦ C. The samples were heated up at a rate

of

8 ◦ C/min to the desired temperature. It is then kept

constant at

the desired temperature for 2 hours. The samples were then

cool for 24 hours to room temperature. 2 sets of sample were

not heated up so as to serves as control set.

4 PHYSCIAL PROPERTIES OF SAMPLE

Physical properties of the granite samples after heating

were

measure and record. The average density, wave velocity and

Young’s modulus for each temperature step are all observed

to

have decrease with the increase in temperature applied to

the

samples.

Figure 2 shows the percentage of decrease in the density

with the increase in temperature. The decrease in density

can

be attributed to two factors, the decrease in weight

(little vari

ation) and the expansion of the sample dimensions (more

significant) brought about by heating of the samples.

It can be seen that there is a significant decrease in the

density beyond the temperature step of 500 ◦ C.This

significant

reduction is mainly due to expansion. Figure 3 illustrates

the

factors affecting the density.

It can be seen that there is a decrease in the dimensions
when

the samples are heated up to the temperature set of 300 ◦

C. It is

proposed that the decrease is due to creep deformation

effect.

Figure 4 shows the decrease in wave velocity with the

increase in temperature. The decrease in wave velocity can

be attributed to the thermally induced cracks. The differ

ential thermal expansion caused the development of inter

nal stresses. Below at certain threshold temperature, the

expanding grains are accommodated by existing pores and

microcracks (Bauer and Handin, 1983). -1 .0% -0 .5% 0. 0%

0. 5% 1. 0% 1. 5% 2. 0% 2. 5% 3. 0% 0 100 200 300 400 500
60 0 700 Temperature (˚C) P e r c e n t a g e c h a n g e i
n p h y s i c a l p r o p e r t i e s Axial expansion
Changes in Mass Radial expansion Figure 3. Percentage
decrease in physical properties with increase of
temperature. 5365.86 5018.69 4476.65 3889.80 2945.76 674.30
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
700 Temperature (˚C) W a v e V e l o c i t y ( m / s )
Figure 4. Decrease of wave velocity with increase of
temperature. Figure 5. Setup of Split Hopkison Pressure
Bar. 5 APPARATUS AND TESTING PROCEDURES Experiments were
performed at room temperature. Split Hopkinson Pressure
Bar, SHPB, was selected for the experiment as it is able to
achieve high uniform uniaxial stress loading at high strain
rate. Although the SHPB does not have a standard design,
most share common design elements. 2 long symmetrical bars
known as the incident bar and the transmitted bar with
strain gauges mounted. Compressed gas launcher to produce
consistent compressive pulse in the incident bar.

Table 3. Variation of strain rate for the same pressure.

Control 200 ◦ C 300 ◦ C 400 ◦ C 500 ◦ C 600 ◦ C

1.5 MPa 40 s −1 48 s −1 52 s −1 65 s −1 81 s −1 330 s −1

2 MPa 72 s −1 75 s −1 78 s −1 100 s −1 118 s −1 400 s −1

Figure 6. Signal waves of sample tested with SHPB.

The sample is sandwiched between both bars. The strain

gauges measure the elastic displacement in the both bar.

Once

known, the stress-strain condition at each end of the sample

can be determined.

In order to study the effect of high strain rate, different

pressures were applied at each temperature set.

Conventionally, applying a single pressure will yield rel

atively consistent strain rate. But it is observed that the

experiment that the strain rate increase with the increase

in

temperature at the same given pressure. This increase in

strain

rate can be attributed to the decrease in the physical

properties

of the granite.

The applied strain rates for the individual sets are listed
in

Table 3.

6 ANALYSIS OF STRESS-STRAIN DATA

The stress-strain behavior of the sample can be determined

based on the principles of one-dimensional elastic wave

propagation within the split pressure bars (Figure 6).

Waves traveling in the bars are, to a good approximation,

governed by the one-dimensional wave equation,

which has the solution

where u i is the incident wave and u r is the reflected

wave.

Assuming a one-dimensional system, the strain in the

incident rod is, by definition,

Therefore strain in the incident bar can be determined by

differentiating equation (2):

The velocity of any point on the bar can be determined

by differentiating equation (2) with respect to time. From

equation (4), For the compressional SHPB test, the output

bar only has a single wave, the transmitted wave,
propagating in it (until reflection occurs at the end,
which occurs after the time of interest). Therefore the
velocity in the output bar is The strain rate in the
specimen is calculated from where I s is the instantaneous
length of the specimen. Combining equations (5), (6) and
(7), the strain rate can be calculated from the strains by:
The forces in the two bars are where A is the
cross-sectional area of the bar and E is the Young’s
Modulus. The analysis for the SHPB assumes that after some
initial ringing, the specimen is deforming uniformly and
the forces are the same on each side of the specimen.
Equating equations (9) and (10) yields Substituting (11)
into (8) gives a relationship for calculating the strain
rate in the specimen: The stress in the specimen is
calculated by dividing the force in (10) by the
cross-sectional area of the specimen: 7 EFFECT OF HIGH
STRAIN RATE Previous studies conducted on non-preheated
samples for the effect of high strain rate have shown that
with the increase of strain rate, there is an increase in
peak failure stress. A more brittle failure mode is
observed with the increase of strain rate. A diminishing
effect of high strain rate is also observed.As the strain
rate is increased higher, the peak failure stress increases
at a smaller increment. The experiment samples of same
temperature treatment were loaded at different strain rate
to study the effect of high strain rate on pre-heated
samples. A similar behavior to the non-preheated samples
was observed. Figure 7 shows that pre-heated samples with
higher strain rate has a higher peak failure stress. This
behavior is also observed with other temperature sets. 0 50
100 150 200 250 300 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.02 Strain S t r e s s
( M P a ) s/65 s/100

Figure 7. Effect of high strain rate for sample heated to

400 ◦ C. 0 50 100 150 200 250 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
Strain S t r e s s ( M P a ) Control 200C 300C 400C 500C
600C

Figure 8. Effect of temperature on Stress-Strain Curve.

8 EFFECT OF HIGH TEMPERATURE EXPOSURE

The analysis of the stress-strain data have shown that peak

failure stress of the granite reduces with the increase of

tem

perature. Although the heating have cause the increased in

strain rate applied to the samples with the increase in

temper

ature. Previous studies and experiment data shows that with

increase of strain rate, the peak failure stress is to

increase.

Thus, the statement of peak failure stress of the granite

reduces

with the increase of temperature is validated.

Figure 8 shows the stress-strain curve for the individual

temperature set. It should be noted that the strain rate

applied

to the individual temperature set is different due to the

change

in physical properties of the granite after heating. If

similar

strain rate was to be applied to all the samples, the

effect would

be more significant.

Figure 9 shows the decrease of peak failure stress with the

increase of temperature. This decrease can be attributed to

the

ABSTRACT: The influence of stress amplitudes of dynamic

disturbance on the fatigue behavior, failure mode and other

dynamic response of rock subjected to a pre-loaded biaxial

yield compressive loading were investigated in this paper.
Sine

wave cyclic loads with 2 Hz frequency and five different

stress amplitudes of 6,10,14,18 and 22 MPa were adopted as
dynamic

disturbance in the testing. The obtained results showed

that fatigue lifespan of specimen is usually no more than
several decadal

cycles under present loading conditions, is much shorter

than that when the pre-loaded biaxial compressive load is
within the

elastic limitation. Large disperse of fatigue lifespan can

be found in the tests, even for the cyclic loads with the
same stress

amplitudes. However, the total axial deformation at failure

point for the fatigue loads with the same stress amplitude
is almost

the same. It is worthy noting that the axial deformation

will decrease with the increasing of stress amplitude. For
the specimen

with a relatively longer fatigue lifespan, the variation of

axial deformation versus fatigue cyclic times can be
divided into three

stages. The accumulative deformation of three stages will

lead to the final failure of the rock specimen, the
proportion of each

stage in the whole fatigue cyclic times is greatly affected

by the stress amplitudes. Characteristic curves of axial
deformation

are quite similar to that of rock creep curves. Besides,

the obtained results also showed that failure mode and size
distribution

of rock fragments under present loading cases is stress

amplitude dependent.

1 INTRODUCTION
With the rapid increasing of demands for resources , the

shallow resources have been becoming dry up, mining has

to develop to deep underground. According to incomplete

statistic [1–3] , nearby one hundred of metal mines in the

world

have reached 1000 m underground, one of the mines in Anglo

gold Company has even reached 3700 m. It is well-known that

more serious disasters may arise, such as rock burst, lager

con

tinuous deformation of tunnel, large activity of rock caused

by high stress, collapse of stope, as well as ruinous

impulsion

will also come into being in deep mining, which will bring

large threaten to safety and efficiency mining. Now, the

prob

lems of rock mechanics related to deep mining have become

a current focus [4–7] all over the world.

Due to both the high gravitational and the tectonic stress,

virgin rock is subjected to a 3D high stress condition,

rocks

present clearly some behaviors of nonlinearity. Actually,

the

mining can be considered as a artificial unloading process,

and the excavation turned it into 2D state with two direc

tion compression and the other direction unloading

condition.

Additionally,the engineering practice indicates that in the

deep

mining process, the explosions or the earthquake caused by

artificial or nature conditions may have a great influence
on

the stability of the confining rock in stopes or tunnels due

to the existence of high confining pressure [8] .

Therefore, the

influence of dynamic disturbance on the mechanical behav

ior of 2D high stress rock can not be neglected, so it is a

critical problem for the excavation design and rock

structure

construction in deep mining.

2 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD AND PROCEDURES

To study the effect of stress amplitudes on the dynamic

Figure 1. The complete stress-strain curve under the

biaxial static

load.

2.2 Experimental design and procedures

2.2.1 Biaxial static compressive test

All biaxial static compressive tests and dynamic disturbance

tests were conducted using numerical control INSTRON ser

vohydraulic testing system. The horizontal lateral pressure

added on specimen was produced by a self-constructed inde

pendent hydraulic device, which can provide an optional

horizontal lateral pressure from 0 to 8 MPa.

The purpose of biaxial static compressive test is to obtain

the static compressive strength and yield strength of

samples

under biaxial static loading condition.The testing

procedure is
that a horizontal lateral pressure was first slowly added
on one

direction of the specimen from 0 to 8 MPa, and keeping 8 MPa

lateral pressure invariable, and then, another static load

with

0.005 mm/s displacement loading rate was added along the

axial direction of specimen, until the final failure

happened.

All the testing data, such as load ,deformation, strain

,stress,

and so on were recorded by the control computer though cor

responding transducer. Five specimens were test under this

loading case, the obtained results were calculated (average

biaxial compressive strength σ II = 37.1 Mpa, yield

strength is

about 32.9 Mpa, and the elastic moduls E II = 4.63 Gpa), and

the stress-strain curve was drawn in Fig. 1.

2.2.2 The dynamic disturbance test on the rock subjected to

high biaxial static compressive load

The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the effect

of stress amplitudes of dynamic disturbance on the failure

behavior of rock subjected to a pre-added high biaxial

static

compressive yield load. To eliminate the influence of fre

quency and waveform, only the 2 Hz frequency sine wave

cyclic loads with different stress amplitudes were adopted

in

the tests. And only the effect of stress amplitudes on the

fail
ure behavior of rock was considered. Corresponding to the

biaxial static tests, the horizontal lateral pressure in

dynamic

disturbance tests was also adopted 8 MPa, this value is

about

30% of the uniaxial static compressive strength of

sandstone.

To simulate the nonlinear characteristic of the rock under

deep

mining condition, a high axial static load of 34 MPa, which

is

about 90% ofσ II , was adopted, it is a little bit more

than the

biaxial static yield strength, and can put the sandstone

speci

men in nonlinear yield state. All the dynamic disturbance

tests

were conducted in control mode, which is shown in Fig. 2.

The character parameters of the waveform were defined as

Figure 2. The sketch of loading mode. Table 2. Testing
results of dynamic disturbance tests. No. of test group I
II III IV V Numbers of specimens 3 3 3 3 3 /block
Horizontal static pressure 8 8 8 8 8 /MPa Axial static
pressure/MPa 34 34 34 34 34 Stress amplitudes of 6 10 14 18
22 dynamic disturbance/MPa Frequency of dynamic 2 2 2 2 2
disturbance/Hz Pre-design loading cycles 100 100 100 100
100 Irreversible deformation/mm 1.01 0.75 0.69 0.63 0.60
Fatigue life/n 8 3 52 26 4 follows:σ max – the maximum
stress of cyclic load, σ min – the minimum stress of cyclic
load, amplitude of cyclic load �σ = (σ max − σ min ) /2,and
the average stress of the cyclic load σ = (σ max + σ min
)/2. The loading procedure of dynamic disturbance test is
as follows: in the first step, a horizontal lateral
pressure was added slowly from 0 to 8 Mpa on one direction
of specimen; in the second step, an axial static load was
added slowly from 0 to 34 Mpa with the loading rate of
0.005 mm/s using INSTRON testing system, in this case, rock
specimen entered into a critical nonlinear yield state; in
the third step, an extra sine wave cyclic load with 2 Hz
frequency and different stress amplitudes was added in the
same axial direction and lead finally the specimen to
failure. In the tests, five groups with different stress
amplitudes of 6,10,14,18 and 22 MPa were adopted, and three
specimens were tested in each group repeatedly to find the
potential rules. The obtained character curves of load vs.
time, displacement vs. time, and hysteresis curves and
statistic values of the average irreversible deformation
and fatigue life are listed in Table 2 for each group. 3
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS In order to investigate
the effects of stress amplitude of dynamic disturbance, a
typical specimen with a relatively longer fatigue life
under a certain stress amplitude was choosen to analyse its
dynamic response and failure behavior. Specimen No. 3-1 can
be used as an analysis example. This specimen was subjected
to a compression of 8MPa horizontal direction and 34MPa
compressive axial direction was added first, and then a
dynamic disturbance of sine wave cyclic load with 2 Hz
frequency and 18 MPa amplitude was superimposed -18 -17.5
-17 -16.5 -16 -15.5 -15 -14.5 Time Sec 1.99 3.99 5.99 7.99
9.99 11.99 13.99

i s

p l

a c

e m

e n

t /

m -130 -110 -90 -70 -50 -30 -10 10 L o a d / k N Position

mm Load kN

Figure 3. The character curves of displacement-time and

load-time.

Figure 4. The complete stress-strain curve (hysteresis

curve) of the

typical specimen.

on specimen in the same axial direction.After about 27

loading
cycles, it breaked. Its character curves of
displacement-time

and load-time are shown in Fig. 3. The complete

stress-strain

curve in the process of dynamic disturbance is shown in

Fig. 4.

3.1 The rule of character curves of displacement-time in

the process of dynamic disturbance

It can be seen from Fig. 4 that the displacement-time curve

keeps all along as the loading waveform (Sine waveform)

before specimen break, and the slope of the line connected

with crest or trough is slightly larger than 0, which shows

that with the increasing of loading cycles, interior damage

of rock specimen become more serious, rock shows a degra

dation trend. Also an interesting phenomenon can be found

from the load–time curve of each specimen that almost all

the

failure points take place near the peak of cyclic load.

3.2 The behavior of hysteresis curve in the process of

dynamic disturbance

Some behaviors can be seen from Fig. 4 that there is a large

non-elastic strain in the first cycle, and the loading and

unload

ing curve is not coincident. Form the second cycle, loading

curve of this cycle intersects with unloading curve of the

last

cycle, which makes up a nonlinear hysteresis loop. In the

first

three cycles, the hysteresis curve sparsely distributes,

while
from the fourth cycle to the tenth cycle, with the increas

ing of the cycles, hysteresis curves are becoming more and

more dense, and the axial plastic strain also becomes

smaller.

Resulting in the hysteresis loops are becoming narrow, and

its 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
24 26 28 Cycles/n A x i a l i r r e v e r s i b l e s t a i
n / 1 0 3 Figure 5. Curve of the axial irreversible strain
verse cycle times. areas are becoming smaller too, the
hysteresis loops become narrowest, and reach sable, this
may indicate a phenomenon of macroscopical
strain-hardening. Caused by cycle loading, it can be found
that with the increasing of the cycles, the hysteresis
loops become more and more wide, and the axial plastic
strain begins to augment, but the degree of augmentation is
small.It can be seen that the axial plastic strain
evidently rises, and finally lead the rock specimen
failure. The curves present an obvious three-stage
characteristic, with the hysteresis curves varing from thin
to dense and again to thin, for and the hysteresis loops in
different groups move for the increscent direction of the
axial plastic strain. 3.3 The evolution rules of the axial
irreversible deformation The fatigue damage of rock caused
by a biaxial static compressive yield load and a dynamic
disturbanceis a dynamic process, its mechanics propertiy is
quite difference with that due to static or dynamic loading
only. From view of macroscopical aspect, the fatigue damage
of rock is a cumulative course of the irreversible
deformation, while from microcosmic aspect, it is a course
of mini-crack initiation, extention and coalescence. It is
clear that the elastic portion of the whole deformation of
rock can be resumed, while the irreversible deformation
(also called plastic deformation or residual deformation)
will be reserved during the unload process of the cyclic
loading. The irreversible deformation, including its value,
rising trend and cumulation is directly related to damage
process, can be considered as an important index for the
evaluation of the fatigue damage. Therefore, it can be more
reasonable to study fatigue damage of rock using
irreversible deformation. The axial strains corresponding
to the maximum stress of cyclic load can be used as the
parameter to describe the irreversible deformation. Fig. 5
shows the variation of axial strain vserse the times of
cycle loading, which shows a three stage behavior, in the
initial stage, the axial strain rapidly increases, only
after several cycles, its growth rate becomes steadygoing;
AT the last stage, irreversible strain sharply rises and
leads to the final failure of rock specimen. It is
interesting to note that the irreversible deformation curve
is quite similar to creep curve of rock, that is, it can be
divided into three stages, initial stage,uniform velocity
stage and accelerated stage. It can be seen in Fig. 5 that
there are a great deal of irreversible strain in the first
and third stage, it is more than 80% of the whole plastic
strain. only a small part of irreversible strain is
produced in the second stage, while this stage takes the
great portion of fatigue lifespan.

3.4 An analysis of effect of stress amplitudes on

mechanical properties

The obtained results showed that fatigue lifespan of speci

men is usually no more than several decadal cycles under

present loading conditions, the fatigue lifespan of rock,

when

the pre-loaded biaxial compressive load being beyond rock

yield strength, is much shorter than that when the

pre-loaded

biaxial compressive load is within the elastic limitation.

Large

disperse in fatigue lifespan can be found in the tests,

even for

the cyclic loads with the same stress amplitudes. No

evidence

shows that the fatigue lifespan will obviously decrease with

the increasing of the stress amplitudes. Because of the good

repetition in the previous uniaxial and biaxial static

loading

tests, it can be concluded that the large disperse of

fatigue lifes

pan is not caused by specimen itself or manufacturing

method.

The results also showed that the total axial deformation at

fail

ure point for the fatigue loads with the same stress
amplitude

is almost the same. Enhancing amplitude of dynamic distur

bance will widen the width of hysteresis loop in each cycle,

denoting more energy dissipation in every cycle, which will

cause the deformation rate in each loading cycle to the

whole

plastic deformation markedly rising, and also cause the

axial

deformation decreasing with the increasing of stress ampli

tude. Obviously, fatigue lifespan is not a dependable damage

index of rock, while the axial irreversible strain as a

reson

able damage index,with which it can effectively decrease the

disperse of the dynamic cyclic loading. The present research

also showed that increasing amplitude of dynamic disturbance

could boost the average velocity of irreversible strain at

the

second stage. For the sandstone specimens used in present

test,

with the amplitude of dynamic load being 6,14, and 18 MPa,

the corresponding strain rates at this stage are 2.0 × 10 4

/s,

5.3 × 10 −3 /s and 1.5 × 10 −2 /s respectively, there is an

evi

dent elevation. In addition, enhancing the stress amplitude

of

dynamic disturbance could also rise the scale of the first

and
the third stage, but would cut short the length of the
second

stage, it would speed up the failure of process of specimen.

3.5 The effect of stress amplitudes on failure mode and

fragmentation of rock

Because of the extra dynamic disturbance, the mini-cracks

paralleling to free face inside specimen which has subjected

to a high biaxial static load in advance are more prone to

initia

tion, extendence and coalescence, so that the inner

microstru

ture is deteriorated and the damage of rock is accumulated,

gradually, rock loose resistance and failure. In the test,

most of

sandstone specimens regularly take place shear failure along

the horizontal loading direction. When enhancing the stress

amplitudes of the dynamic disturbance, the failure modes hap

pen some change which the damage degree of the specimen

presents the enlarging trend, and the the size of fragments’

grains becomes smaller and smaller. When the stress ampli

tude is large than 14 MPa, the rockbursts can be found

during

the process of dynamic disturbance, which some fragments of

rock are ejected from the free face of the specimen.

4 CONCLUSIONS

(1) Under the present loading conditions, the fatigue lifes

pan of specimens is usually no more than several decadal

cycles, and it is much shorter than that when the pre-loaded

ABSTRACT: Penetration performance of linear shaped charge
(LSC) on rock was studied by experiments.The optimal
standoff

of LSC and the vertex angle of V-shaped liner were

determined by experiments. The result of cutting
sand-cement samples

shows that the directional expansion of crack is

satisfactory and spacing interval of boreholes can approach
17.5 times of the

bore-hole’s diameter. The field experiment shows the

roughness of fracture plane is less than 50 mm and the
rates of half-hole

marks are 100%. All these indicate that the orientation

fracture blasting with LSC is a good means in directional
fracture

controlled blasting.

1 INTRODUCTION

Generally speaking, common shaped charges include two

types: one is conical and another is linear. The former is

mainly used to punch holes or mine petroleum in civil appli

cation and used as part of warhead of anti-armor weapons

in military. The latter has been widely used in the fields

of

aerospace and military since 1960’s, for instance, used in

the

self-destruction systems and separating devices of missiles

or space-shuttles, or parachute opening, which are summa

rized by authors of Beijing Institute of Technology (1979),

Bose & Robert (1993) and Guo et al. (2003). Afterward, the

linear shaped charge (short as LSC) was introduced to civil

fields, and applied in accurate destroying such as bridges

tear
ing down, salvaging sunken ships and cutting off the holders

of well drilling platforms underwater. Today, it is also

used

in cannonball destruction. What’s more, Guo et al. (2003),

Zhang (1988) and Yu (2004) mentioned that this kind of

charge had been making into flexible fuse as serial

products in

Russia for various purposes.The studies about the conical

liner

charge were often reported and there were some mature theo

ries about it. Compared with conical case, few reports about

linear shaped charge were released so far.

2 MECHANISM OF LINEAR SHAPED CHARGE

Comparing with other material cutting methods such as high

temperature burning, high pressure water flow, laser, etc.,

LSC

Figure 1. Structure of V-shaped liner and linear shaped

charge. has the advantages of convenience, high efficiency,
safety and non-environment limitation, so it is mainly used
in material cutting. Figure 1 shows the structure of
V-shaped liner and LSC. When the detonation wave from the
initiation point reaches the outer faces of liner, the
liner is extruded intensively and moves with a high speed
in the normal direction of its face, so the inner faces
collide violently each other which leads to the fact that a
mass of minute metal particles are extruded from the inner
faces to form sword-shaped jet with high velocity and
temperature and energy, i.e. cumulative energy jet, Zhang
(1988) andYu (2004) expound the mechanism in detail. When
the sword-shaped jet impacts the target, the jet reacts
firstly with the target which leads to the pressure of the
target surface suddenly reaches to several millions of atm,
so the target surface is pushed away and piled aside at the
relative position, and then made to split. 3 EXPERIMENT AND
ANALYSIS 3.1 Standoff of LSC According to the cumulative
energy theory, the satisfactory penetration effect cannot
be obtained if the standoff is irrationally determined,
even the sword-shaped jet with good performance can be
formed.The formed jet can extend enough if the standoff is
appropriate, which can effectively increase the penetration
depth. Therefore, the optimal standoff of LSC

Figure 2. Experiment curve of standoff vs. penetration

depth.

Figure 3. Curve of vertex angle vs. penetration depth.

must be determined by experiment according to the related

theory and practice.

In the experiment, V-shaped liner is made of copper plate,

its thickness is 1 mm and the generatrix of V-shaped liner

is

7 mm. RDX is used as explosive. For the sake of convenience,

vertex angle is 90o. The material of the target is 45#

steel. The

result is shown in figure 2. In figure 2, penetration depth

is

taken as y-axis and the ratio of standoff to opening width

is

x-axis.

As shown in figure 2, when the standoff of LSC is less

than 0.8 time of the opening width of V-shaped liner, with

the increment of the standoff, the penetration depth

increases

obviously. When the standoff of the LSC is 0.8∼1.05 times

of the opening width of V-shaped liner, the penetration

depth

reaches the peak scope and changes gently. After the

standoff

exceeds 1.05 times of the opening width, the penetration

depth
decreases rapidly. In short, the optimal standoff of LSC is

0.8∼1.05 times of the opening width of V-shaped liner.

3.2 Vertex angle of V-shaped liner

LSC is shown in figure 1. V-shaped liner is made of copper

plate and its thickness is 1 mm, its generatrix is 7 mm.

There

are 4 liners which are same and symmetrically installed in

one

linear shaped charge. In order to find out the optimal

vertex

angle, many V-shaped liners were made, the vertex angles

are from 45 ◦ to 100 ◦ . RDX is used as explosive. The outer

diameter and length of linear shaped charge are 35 mm and

70 mm, respectively. The target is 45 # steel plate, which

size is

150 mm × 150 mm × 10 mm. There is a circular hole in each

target in order to ensure the standoff is in the optimal

scope.

The experiment results are shown in figure 3 and table 1.

Table 1. Cutting experiment results with different LSC.
Vertex angle of V-shaped liner/ Average penetration Average
width ( ◦ ) depth/mm of cut/mm 45 8.4 8.8 50 8.7 9.2 60 9.5
9.6 70 9.6 10.7 80 10.5 11.0 85 12.0 11.5 90 11.8 11.9 100
11.5 11.6 As shown in figure 3 and table 1, it concludes
that the optimal vertex angle of V-shaped liner is in the
scope of 85 ◦ ∼100 ◦ . 3.3 Guidelines of designing the LSC
Lu and Lin (1997) put forward the following guidelines
which should be followed during designing the linear shaped
charge, as shown in figure 4. (1) the diameter of LSC must
be larger than its critical value. (2) the charging height
(A/2) should meet the critical condition: A = 3B 0 . (3)
the dimension of LSC should meet the following condition:
(A 2 + B 2 0 ) 1/2 < 2r b . (4) the standoff should equal
to or approach the focus of jet, i.e. B 0 = r b − A/2. 4
SPACING INTERVAL OF BOREHOLES Sand-cement grout samples
were made in steel model with high strength. The mass ratio
of 500# silicate cement, sand and water is 1 : 2 : 0.4. The
shape and size samples are φ 1000 mm × 400 mm. A hole,
which is φ 40 mm × 300 mm, was drilled in the middle of
each sample for loading charge. The mechanical property of
sand-cement grout sample is shown in table 2 and the
parameters of linear shaped charge are shown in table 3.
There are 3 LSCs which are installed uniformly-spaced in
series by blasting fuse in hole of each sample. The
explosive (RDX) of each LSC is 1.5 g. The sealing material
is yellow mud and the sealing length is 80 mm∼100 mm. After
the explosive is initiated, all the samples are still
undivided. There are two symmetrical cracks around the hole
in each sample. All cracks extend smoothly in the scheduled
direction (the direction of jet extending) and the
extension scope is between 350 mm and 410 mm. That is to
say, the crack can expand to 350 mm at least, which equals
to 8.75 times of the bore-hole’s diameter, therefore,
spacing interval of boreholes can approach 17.5 times of
the bore-hole’s diameter. After removing steel models and
dissecting samples in the expansion direction of cracks, it
can be seen that fracture plane is smooth and some copper
are found in the fracture plane. All these suggest that
cutting effect is good and LSC can be used in directional
fracture controlled blasting. 5 FIELD EXPERIMENT The
mechanical property of marble is shown in table 4. Spacing
interval of boreholes is 17.5 times of the bore-hole’s

Figure 4. Linear shaped charge and installation in a

bore-hole. Table 2. Mechanical parameters of mortar
specimen. Uniaxial Tensile Young’s Velocity of Dynamic
fracture compression strength/ modulus/ Poisson Density/
longitudinal toughness strength/Mpa Mpa Mpa ratio (g/cm 3 )
wave m/s N/m 3/2 18.0 1.54 10.27 0.28 2.07 3393 1.9 × 10 6
Table 3. Parameters of charges and shaped liner. Charge
V-shaped liner (copper) Density/ Length/ Diameter/ Length/
Thickness/ Cone Generatrix (g/cm 3 ) mm mm mm mm angle/( ◦
) length/mm 1.60 70 16 70 1 90 5 Table 4. Mechanical
parameters of marble. Uniaxial Tensile Young’s Velocity of
Dynamic fracture compression strength/ modulus/ Poisson
Density/ longitudinal toughness strength/MPa MPa GPa ratio
(g/cm 3 ) wave m/s N/m 3/2 117.3 7.2 41 0.21 2.7×10 3 4000
3.1 × 10 6 Table 5. Parameters of charges and shaped liner
in field test. Outer shell of charge Wedge-shaped liner
(copper) Length/ Thickness/ Inner diameter/ Length/
Thickness/ Cone Generatrix mm mm mm mm mm angle/( ◦ )
length /mm 150 1.5 20 150 1 90 6

diameter.The radial charging decoupling coefficient is 2.1.

Lu

and Lin (1997) give the theoretical calculation which deter

mines the spacing between two adjacent LSCs. According to

the theoretical calculation, there are 10 liner shaped

charges

are uniformly-spaced installed by blasting fuse. The explo

sive (RDX) of each linear shaped charge is 10 g. The

blasting

parameters are shown in table 5 and table 6. The LSCs are

fixed by bamboo splint, which ensures that the opening
direction of V-shaped liner consists with the pre-splitting
direction. The blasting net is initiated by an 8#
detonator. The experiment result is shown in figure 5.
There is no obvious damage around bore-hole, the cutting
part is taken apart and removed 20∼80 mm from source rock.
There are some copper in the fracture plane and fracture
plane are Table 6. Parameters of borehole and charge
amount. Charge amount in Linear charge Parameters of
borehole/mm Spacing of borehole/mm one borehole/g
density/(g/m) 3000 42 900 665 660 100 33.4

Figure 5. Photos of fracture blasting with linear shaped

charge.

smooth and the ruggedness is less than 50 mm and the rates

of half-hole marks are 100%. The X-ray inspection shows that

there is no damage in the internal of the cutting part. The

lin

ear density of charging is only 33.4 g/m in field

experiment,

although the cost of blasting material is low, the effect

of frac

ture blasting and yield efficiency is improved obviously. It

indicates that fracture blasting with linear shaped charge

is

good for cutting rock.

6 CONCLUSIONS

In the paper, penetration performance of LSC was studied.

The results of lab experiments show that (1) the optimal
vertex

angle of V-shaped liner is 85 ◦ ∼100 ◦ ; (2) the optimal

standoff

of LSC can be determined to 0.8∼1.05 times of the opening

width of V-shaped liner; (3) the result of cutting

sand-cement

grout samples is satisfactory and spacing interval of

boreholes

is at least 17.5 times of the bore-hole’s diameter. The

field

experiment indicates there is no obvious damage around bore

hole, the fracture plane is smooth, the ruggedness is less

than

50 mm and the rates of half-hole marks are 100%. The X-ray

inspection shows that there is no internal damage in cutting

part. Although the cost of blasting material is low, the

effect of

fracture blasting is improved obviously. All these suggest

that

the orientation fracture blasting with linear shaped charge

is

RESUME: L’expérimentation CAMI-AFT a été réalisée dans

l’objectif de caler les systèmes de télésurveillance
microsismique

en temps réel déployés sur des zones à risque résiduel

d’affaissement minier du Bassin Ferrifère Lorrain (France).
Pour ce faire,

des tirs de mine, dont la localisation et l’énergie à la

source sont connues, ont ainsi été réalisés sur plusieurs
sites souterrains

instrumentés encore accessibles. L’analyse des sismogrammes

enregistrés a permis de définir, pour chaque site, une
relation

précise de calcul d’énergie à la source. Les données ont

aussi permis de tester et caler la procédure d’analyse de
polarisation

des signaux 3D ainsi que les modèles de vitesse

multicouches. In fine, la localisation 3D automatique des
foyers de très faible

magnitude (M < 0) à partir d’un nombre réduit de sondes de

mesure a ainsi pu être améliorée.

ABSTRACT: The CAMI-AFT experiment was carried out with a

view to calibrating real-time microseismic systems
installed

on sites prone to post-mining collapse, in the Lorraine

Iron Basin (France) by improving automatic routines applied
to micro

seismic waveform processing and reliable source parameter

estimates. To this intent, mine blasts, with well-known
location and

energy source, were carried out on a few monitored sites

still accessible underground. In-depth analysis of all
recorded seismo

grams first allowed us to define a relationship for

accurate source energy calculation derived from recorded
seismograms. Data

were used to test and calibrate waveform polarization

routines as well as numerical multilayered velocity models.
Finally, auto

matic 3D localization of low-magnitude microseismic events

(M < 0) based on a small number of stations was thus
improved.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the Lorraine region of Eastern France, decades of iron

ore

mining have left extensive underground cavities beneath or

in the vicinity of urban areas. As a consequence of major

post-mining collapses that occurred in the 1990s, a strategy

of post-mining risk management, supervised by national and

local administrations, was set up. It relies on real-time

mon

itoring systems to ensure public safety whenever appropriate

risk treatment is precluded (Couffin et al., 2003; Bennani

et al., 2004). For this purpose, INERIS tested and

validated the

microseismic monitoring technique as a volumetric method

capable of detecting underground ruptures (Senfaute et al.,

2000).

Since then, the French National Monitoring Centre for

Ground and Underground Risks (CENARIS) of INERIS, has

deployed more than 30 real-time monitoring networks cov

ering the most hazardous areas of the Lorraine iron basin.

Although no major collapse has occurred in any of those

areas yet, and most of the monitored sites have proved to

be rather quiet, small microseismic events a re however

recorded as underground noise level. Usually recorded by

single 3D probes, associated seismograms show very low

amplitude (∼10 −6 mm/s), corresponding roughly to negative

magnitudes at mine level. This causes difficulties for

reliable

automatic analysis, especially source location, a

fundamental

parameter for any appropriate analysis and understanding of

stability analysis (Driad et al., 2005).

In this context a specific field experiment, named CAMI

AFT, was launched in 2005 for six instrumented zones.

It consisted of sequences of numerous small blasts in

underground mine pillars accurately controlled in terms of
location, orientation and energy of the explosive source.
This unique database of underground artificial microseismic
events was then used as a reference data set to test, reset
or calibrate different parameters ranging from overall
sensitivity of the monitoring systems to hypocenter
localization and source energy estimate. This paper first
describes the design of the field experiment that was
carried out to record artificial microseismic events. It
also presents the main characteristics of those
“blast-induced” events, as well as the general methodology
used to process and back-analyze them. Preliminary
scientific results illustrated with examples on a couple of
sites are then presented and discussed. 2 CAMI-AFT – FIELD
EXPERIMENT DESIGN The experiment consisted of sequences of
small isolated dynamite blasts in mine pillars located at a
depth ranging from 50 m down to 250 m depending on the
site. Instrumentation was based on microseismic probes
fixed into boreholes drilled down the overburden. Actually,
each microseismic station was composed of 3 probes,
integrating geophones, located at different depths. A 1D
surface probe, a 1D probe located at ∼15 m depth, and a 3D
probe located at ∼5 m depth. Interdistance between
microseismic stations and old mine workings ranged from 50
to 400 m. To produce a relevant microseismic database,
location, size, orientation and energy of the explosive
sources had to satisfy mainly three requirements.

Table 1. Basic parameters of CAMI-AFT experiment layout.

Number of Mass of Number of

Site blasts explosives seismograms

Fontoy 13 3.0 kg–12.0 kg 130

Tressange 13 2.0 kg–5.0 kg 260

Audun-le-Tiche 11 2.0 kg–9.0 kg 165

Nondkeil 10 0.5 kg–2.0 kg 140

Ottange 18 2.0 kg–10.0 kg 468

Moutiers 5 1.0 kg–5.0 kg 115

TOTAL 70 0.5 kg–12.0 kg 1278

Figure 1. Mining map of the Tressange site. Grey spots

represent

the microseismic stations. Dark crosses represent the

blasts.

First, source locations were defined to ensure the best pos

sible coverage in terms of azimuth and dip angles of

incident

microseismic signals, taking into account constraints

related

to accessibility and safety. Secondly, the size and energy

of

the explosive sources were chosen, based on empirically pre

dicted amplitudes, in order to optimize signal-to-noise

ratio

to get useable waveforms while avoiding saturation. Thirdly,

all stations of a same site had to be triggered.

Specific local source patterns (for example: successive

blasts of varying energy or orientation in a same pillar;

blasts

in upper and lower excavated layers in case of superposed

layers etc.) were also designed to study source effects and

test

capabilities of numerical routines to discriminate and

quantify

them.

The field experiment was performed between October 2005

and May 2006. A total of 70 blasts were shot, with explosive

mass ranging from 0.5 to 12 kg (seeTable 1 for details),

leading
to more than 1200 high quality seismograms.

Figure 1 illustrates the overall layout of the experiment at

the Tressange site; figure 2 shows blast-induced seismograms

recorded on one of the stations.

3 DATA PROCESSING STRATEGY

First, a systematic analysis of all seismograms per site and

microseismic station in terms of amplitude and energy was

undertaken in order to assess data quality.A relation was

deter

mined between energy of the blast, source-to-sensor distance

and energy estimated from measured waveforms. This will be

presented in section 4. Figure 2. Seismograms of a blast

recorded by a microseismic station of the Tressange network
(amplitude in mm/s versus time in s). The 3D probe is the
deepest one, the 1D surface probe is the shallowest one.
Next, all recorded 3D seismograms were processed through
polarization analysis routines to check consistency between
measured incident angles and expected values assuming
straight ray paths. These values are of the utmost
importance, given their role in source location when
dealing with a very limited number of P or S-wave arrival
times (section 5). Velocity models were then optimized by
reducing errors on estimated P–S wave travel times based on
the Monte-Carlo simulation technique. Eventually, an
automatic location procedure, based on numerical inversion
of P–S wave arrival times, incident angles and an
appropriate velocity model, was tested for performance
assessment. 4 CALCULATION OF THE SOURCE ENERGY An empirical
relationship, linking the energy recorded by the probe and
the source energy, was defined as following: with Esrc:
source energy provided by the manufacturer of explosives
(J); Ecpt: energy recorded by the probe and calculated from
seismograms (J); D: hypocentral distance based on straight
ray path assumption (m); K : constant (J 1−γ m β ). Note
that in such a formulation, unknowns are K, β and γ ,
whereβ quantifies both geometrical and anelastic
attenuations and γ potentiel radiation and non-linear
source size effects. Equation 1 leads to the following
expression: where Esrc ∗ : estimated source energy (J); K,
β and γ coefficients are determined, from equation 1, for
each experimental site. First, β is determined for a given
series of blasts of constant source energy Esrc. Figure 3
illustrates the excellent determination of [K ·Esrc γ ]
(considered here as a constant) and power law β.

Figure 3. Graphic comparison of Ecpt = [K · Esrc γ ] ·D −β

function

for a constant source energy term [K · Esrc γ ]

corresponding to 4 kg

of explosive on three different sites, i.e. 11 stations and

11 blasts.

Table 2. Comparison between true Esrc and estimated Esrc*,

for 10

blasts recorded at one microseismic station of the Ottange

network.

Q (kg) Esrc(J) D(m) Ecpt (J) Esrc* (J) Error (%)

4 1.01E+07 443 1.76E−05 1.00E+07 1

4 1.01E+07 377 4.68E−05 1.03E+07 2

7 1.77E+07 311 9.31E−04 2.40E+07 36

8 2.01E+07 446 6.42E−05 1.82E+07 9

8 2.03E+07 492 8.98E−05 2.74E+07 35

9 2.28E+07 257 8.67E−04 1.42E+07 38

9 2.27E+07 172 2.43E−02 2.25E+07 1

10 2.52E+07 116 4.88E−02 1.13E+07 55

10 2.52E+07 159 3.44E−02 2.15E+07 14

10 2.52E+07 177 1.39E−02 1.90E+07 25

Secondly, once β has been determined, K and γ coefficients

are adjusted in turn to fit all data for the studied site.
Eventu

ally, the robustness of the empirical law (2) is evaluated

from
the standard deviation between estimated Esrc ∗ and true val

ues of Esrc.The results give a mean error of ∼50%, that is

very

acceptable with regard to all considered assumptions (Table

2).

The overall quality of the microseismic data and of the

results obtained at this stage (1) demonstrates the

excellent

sensitivity of the monitoring systems, which proves the

capac

ity to detect 1 kg blasts at a distance of up to 300 m; (2)

indicates an unexpected good homogeneity of fitted param

eters between the distant sites most likely explained by the

large-scale uniform geology of the sedimentary basin and the

close geophysical properties of the different lithological

lay

ers. Most of all, this apparent homogeneity should lead to

an

extrapolated relation available for most of the monitored

sites

not included in this experiment.

However, main limit in these results is that they are

validated

for seismograms with P-wave content essentially, with few or

no S-wave, introducing clearly some homogeneity in the rough

data and then satisfactory apparent results.

5 WAVE POLARISATION ANALYSIS

Theoretically, assuming a homogeneous medium with straight

ray paths between blast source and oriented 3D microseis

mic probes, the calculation of incident P-wave angles gives

the direction of propagation. This information, when

obtained Figure 4. Plotting azimuth errors versus incidence
angles for 2 microseismic stations from Tressange network:
station 1 – grey symbols show an average error close to 0,
station 2 – black symbols show a systematic bias of ∼-200 ◦
. through polarization analysis of 3D seismograms,
represents a unique means of constraining an
ill-conditioned 3D localization problem due to the lack of
P-S arrival times or other a priori information. The
polarization formulation currently used (Dodo Amadou, 1998;
Abdul-Wahed et al., 2001) was improved by introducing
automatically calculated quality and uncertainty factors to
assess reliability of the numerical analysis, such as
rectilinearity and polarization index functions (Tarantola
and Valette, 1982; Lomax 2005). For most of the stations,
calculated and measured azimuth and incidence angles show a
very good agreement. The average azimuth error is found to
be less than ±5 ◦ with no bias, except for sub-vertical ray
paths for which sensitivity to azimuth errors is
numerically expected. The average error on the measured
incidence angles is found with a bias of 7 ◦ deeper
inclination, most likely due to straight ray paths
assumption. A multi-layered velocity model could probably
correct this bias, at least partially. These good results
can be explained by the facts that (1) all 3D microseismic
probes are fully grouted 50 to 70 m deep avoiding most of
the perturbations introduced on primary front waves by free
surface effects or tube waves from boreholes; (2)
geological overburden, although clearly stratified
sub-horizontally, remains globally homogeneous when
considering seismic wave length and short distances of
propagation. Note that for a few 3D microseismic stations,
calculated and measured azimuth angles showed an important
bias most likely corresponding to an error of measurement
during the installation of the buried probe (Figure 4). In
that case, the apparent bias may be introduced as a
definitive correction factor. 6 OPTIMIZATION OF VELOCITY
MODELS If the introduction of a numerical multi-layered
inclined velocity model in such a sedimentary geological
context is hoped to improve the accuracy of hypocenter
determination, it requires a relevant knowledge of the
field lithology as well as a P-wave velocity estimate for
each strata.In the case of the CAMI-AFT field experiment,
detailed geological description was largely available in
many mining data files. Blast reference time T 0 could not
be measured for standard hodochrone analysis. Then a
specific routine was developed in order to invert measured
arrival times, through an inclined multi-layered velocity
model, from well-known hypocenter coordinates to well-known
station coordinates. Monte-Carlo

Table 3. P-wave velocities and standard deviation (m/s)

obtained

for each of the 4 main layers of the Moutiers site.

Increasing depth → Jaumont Polypiers Haut Pont Charennes
limestone limestone limestone marl

V P (m/s) 2200 3380 3950 3300

Std (m/s) 630 410 990 1010

simulations were then computed, resulting in distributions

of

solutions per velocity class, for each layer.

Table 3 shows the best average values obtained for the

Moutiers site.Velocities are found to be consistent and in

good

agreement with other sites located in the same geological

con

text. Although this has not been run on all sites,

intermediate

results obtained show that, low contrast is found between

the

different geological strata, except for the altered surface

layer,

poorly constraint by seismic ray.

7 SOURCE LOCALIZATION

First, an absolute localization of blast-induced

microseismic

data was performed on the Nondkeil site, using a numerical

homogenous velocity field and solely P-wave arrival times.

The results showed an estimated hypocentral error in XYZ

ranging from ± 25 m to 80 m. However, with two sub-surface

stations, constraints had necessarily to be introduced to
obtain

convergence, for example by forcing hypocenter solutions

very close to the mining ore (along Z).

Secondly, in-depth blast-induced microseismic data analy

sis including waveform polarization and multilayered

velocity

model as described above has been performed.

Tests carried out when inverting homogenized and care

fully weighted data related to arrival times and incident

angles

as well as a refined velocity model closer to the geological

structure, give more stable and accurate results.

Localization

errors range from± 15 m to 50 m including relaxed

constraints

except that space solution is beneath microseismic probe

level.

Analysis is currently running on the other experimented

sites.

8 CONCLUSIONS

An exceptional database composed of more than 1200 seis

mograms was recorded during the CAMI-AFT microseismic

field experiment. This experiment aims to improve fully auto

matically real-time processing of numerous low-magnitude

events recorded by few or single three-component stations. A

high degree of reliable automated processing routines is

also

needed to guarantee the best availability of the experts to

focus

ABSTRACT:The rockbursts and earthquakes take place at the

open pit and underground mines of the Kola Peninsula more
and

more frequently in last time. The most hazardous mechanism

of mining-induced earthquakes has been identified with
regard

to their impact on underground and surface structures

resulting from large-scale mining operations in
high-stressed rock mass.

The focal mechanisms of number mining-induced earthquakes

have been analysed, registered over the recent years within
the

area of underground and open pit mining operations impact

in the Khibiny massif. The reasons and distinctions of
these events

genesis have been considered comparable in energy, though,

occurred in different parts of rock mass.

1 INTRODUCTION

Registration of kinematical parameters of seismic waves,

aris

ing under the dynamical manifestation of the rock pressure

enables one to assess its focal mechanism, which peculiari

ties are determined by the stress state of rock in the

mass. For

efficient monitoring of the stress-strain state of rocks

one can

use the technique, based on the statistic analysis of

seismic

events’ focal mechanisms, registered by the network of local

seismic stations.

2 ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE

The technique is based on summation of tensors being dyads,

built according to single vectors of normals versus the
front

of waves and the single vectors of the first arrival of

P-waves

seismic events components in the investigated area.

That is the reason why to solve the prediction tasks more

justified is to use data covering namely the seismic events

average focal mechanisms, registered within the area under

study, which makes it possible to determine its background

stressed state (Yunga, 1990).

3 PECULIARITIES OF THE GEOMECHANICAL STATE

OF THE KHIBINY MASSIF

The Khibiny massif is located in the central part of the

Kola

Peninsula in the north-west of Russia. This massif is a

highly

tectonically stressed one, which is determined by numerous

in-situ measurements and confirmed by mining operations

practices (Melnikov, 1996). The apatite-nepheline deposits

of

the Khibiny massif is developed by the Apatit JSC in three

undergrounds and four open pits mines.

Geomechanical state of the Khibiny massif is characterised

by the high heterogeneity of the stress state parameters.

Differ

entiation of these parameters in different parts of apatite

mines

is confirmed by maps of stresses, compiled for the deepest

lev
els of mines (600–800 m from the surface), where the largest

number of rockbursts has been registered. The total volume

of

the excavated and displaced rock mass in the Khibiny mines

makes over 3.5 milliard tons the total area measuring about

10 km 2 . That is why one has a good reason to believe the

level of accumulation and discharge of the stresses energy
due to displacement of the rock mass has reached a limit at
which mining-induced earthquakes are possible. The maximum
of rockbursts was observed from the late 70-ies to the
early 90-ies of the XX century. Starting from the early
80-ies rockbursts and mining-induced earthquakes began to
take place. These phenomena became the main destabilising
factor in the mining of the Khibiny deposits (Kozyrev,
1996). Shallow focus earthquakes with the magnitude of 2–4
confirm this fact. Seismic events, resulting in breaking of
workings and damage to communications in the underground
mine and to buildings on the day surface are related to
mininginduced earthquakes. The foci location analysis shows
that all earthquakes with rare exception take place in
zones of active faults and are grouped both in the direct
vicinity and in the mining operations area. A number of
seismic events were registered in the neighbourhood of open
pits and are obviously directly connected with them
(Fedotova, 2005). So far in the Apatit JSC mines there have
been registered about 60 rockbursts, which can be divided
into two types: type 1 – single ones – the volume of mass
outburst V ≤ 5 m 3 , the linear size of breaking zone L ≤
10 m; type 2 – rockbursts and mining-induced earthquakes
area having parameters, exceeding the above ones. Division
of rockbursts into two types is connected with both the
volume of outburst and the size of the breaking zone and it
is stipulated by different mechanisms of those phenomena.
Besides breakings, manifested in the workings, internal
shoves (shifts and cleavages) take place within the mass,
which are only registered by the arising seismic signals.
One can note that as the rockbursts energy grows (K ≥ 6)
the magnitude of tectonic disturbances effect increases. It
reflects the fact that stronger rockbursts and
mining-induced earthquakes take place in the zones of
tectonic fractures, disturbances and faults. 4 ANALYSIS OF
SEISMIC EVENTS FOCAL MECHANISMS AT UNDERGROUND MINING Below
you can find the results of implementation of the developed
technique for the database of seismic events, registered
within the underground mine. The average mechanism was
calculated following the specified cells, measuring

100 × 100 × 100 m and prevailing directions of the maximum

stresses action in the mass were determined by the totality

of

seismic events, getting in the specified spatial cell.

The analysis of area under investigation in the Khibiny

massif following the main stresses directions acting in the

mass at the underground mining has identified the following

peculiarities in the distribution of their orientation:

1. Overlying rock seismic events take place in the console,

under which the maximum tensile stresses are directed

along ore body strike and, respectively, the compressive

(or minimum compressive) stresses are predominantly

directed across the ore body strike.

2. In the hanging wall of the deposit within the zone of

impact of the stope, the maximum compressive stresses

are directed across the ore body strike (predominantly in

the north-east direction).

3. Directly in the ore body in the zone of the stope influ

ence, seismic events take place on the upper levels, during

which the maximum compressive stresses are directed both

across the ore body strike and along the strike (in the
north

north-east direction).

4. In the rock mass located under the stope, within deep

levels, which are not influenced by the stope seismic

events take place, during which relative tensile stresses

are directed across the ore body strike. Whereas the max

imum compressive stresses as well as in the previous

event are directed both across the ore body strike and

along the strike (however directed to the north-north-west)

(Fedotova, 2004).

As a result of the performed analysis it was found that

during

stoping operations in the hanging wall at the main fractures

formation in the hanging wall console, predominant seismic

events have the fault type focal mechanism. At that,

according

by it, the main stresses direction within the mass is

reoriented

from the chaotic one toward a linearly ordered one, directly

reflecting the main fracture formation.

5 ANALYSIS OF THE SEISMIC EVENTS FOCAL

MECHANISMS AT OPEN PIT AND COMBINED

MINING

It is a more complicated task to assess the induced

seismicity

reasons at combined open pit and underground mining. Dur

ing the underground mining behind the open pit walls and,

especially, under the pit footwall, it is difficult to

determine

the cause of the seismic events in the rock mass. It is

only pos

sible to make sure of the event genuine nature and its

genesis
by collecting a sufficient amount of data to build an appro

priate mathematical model of the rock mass, enclosing the

deposit under development. Localisation of seismic events,

taking place in the mass beyond the pit footwall closer to

the underground mining operation zone, can equiprobably be

attributed to the open pit and to the underground mining.

The

real situation should supposedly be studied with the

accumula

tion of information on seismic activity in the zone of

reciprocal

influence of open pit and underground mining.

Dynamic manifestations of the stress-strained rock mass at

open pit mining have been repeatedly registered in practice

(Mendecki, 1997). We could provide as examples the anal

ysis results of single focal mechanisms of mining-induced

earthquakes registered within open pit mine of the Apatit

JSC, because the information obtained in the calculations

characterises the stress-strained state of the mass within
a concrete local volume. The increase of the seismicity in
September 2004 is connected with the increase of the rock
saturation as a result of lengthy and intense rains, the
stressed state of the mass and the blasting operations both
in the open pits and in the underground mines. All of this,
probably, triggered a series of foreshocks, the main shock
(09.24.2004, 19:04:42), and aftershocks of the
mining-induced earthquake, registered in a working (depth
from the day surface is 140 m) under the open pit during
the period from 23rd to 27th of September 2004.The working
was strengthened with reinforced concrete bolts and
shotcrete.An ore outburst in the amount of 0.2 m 3 in the
southern wall and its conjugation with the roof to the west
from the subvertical fracture was registered on 09.25.04,
at 7:10. The rock outburst was induced by a shift, which
occurred by a fault, filled with oxidised rocks (zeolite).
There was carried out the analysis of the main shock focal
mechanisms (E = 2.7 × 10 9 J) as well as one of the
strongest aftershocks (09.25.2004 at 06:47:19, E = 7 × 10 7
J). Several variants mechanisms were calculated for the
upper half of the focal sphere for each event. The observed
pattern of emission was approximated to the one, which
corresponded to the source, located infinite homogeneous
elastic body. There were determined three variants of the
average focal mechanism for the main shock. The first
variant shift is thrust fault in the north-east direction,
the second one is thrust fault in the north-east-east
direction, and the third one is shift in the
north-east-east direction. Parameters for the event,
registered on 09.24.2004 (19:04:42) were calculated by two
stations 5200 (E = 2.7 × 10 9 J) and 6200 (E = 5.7 × 10 8
J). For the event, registered on 09.25.2004 (06:47:19) – by
three stations 4106 (E = 2.7 × 10 7 J), 5200 (E = 8.6 × 10
8 J) and 6108 (E = 1.1 × 10 7 J). There were performed
calculations similar to those for the first event. The most
reliable average mechanism is presented in the second
variant, which was confirmed by the data of the breaking
character in workings and on the surface. That is at the
time of the earthquake there occurred a shift by the fault
existing in the mass and represented with oxidised rocks.
The block above on the fault was displaced relative to the
lower block in the north-east direction affected by the
change of the mass stressed state. For the aftershock,
registered on 09.25.2004, there were determined two types
of average focal mechanism. The first one is a thrust fault
of the west-north-west direction; the second one is a shift
in the north-west direction. The most reliable seems to be
the mechanism of the second variant. It was occurred as a
shift of blocks, divided by the fault, in the north-west
direction. The seismicity activation in May 2005 is
connected with the increase of saturation of rocks due to
lengthy rains and intense snow melt. All the above reasons
triggered a series of foreshocks, the main shock
(05.25.2005, 9:47:59) and aftershocks of the mining-induced
earthquake, registered in a working under open pit (depth
from the day surface is 300 m) in the period between 24th
and 26th of May 2005. There were analysed the focal
mechanisms of the main shock (magnitude 2.3, E = 8 × 10 8
J) and one of the strongest aftershocks (05.25.2005,
13:14:27, magnitude 1.3, E = 1 × 10 8 J). For the
mining-induced earthquake of 05.25.2005 there was
determined the shift type focal mechanism in the north-west
direction. Rock failure was triggered by the displacement,
which occurred by the fault, filled with oxidised rocks.
The
support failure in the underground workings occurred due to

rock blocks displacement. That is the upper block, divided

from the mass by the fracturing discontinuity of rocks,

shifted

to the north-west. The diagram of rock blocks displacement

is

the same as the main shock of the mining-induced earthquakes

of 2004.

In 2006 the decrease of the mining-induced seismicity in

the given area of the mass was insignificant. So, from

April to

August, in the same working that in 2005, there were

registered

shocks in the mass, which were felt by the employees of open

pit and underground mines. Instrumentally were registered

two seismic events: 04.15.06 and 07.05.06.

For the event of 04.15.06 were determined the following

parameters: 15.39:19.4 (GMT); Lat 67.615; Lon 33.74; ML

(AP0) = 0.54.According by the calculated parameters of loca

tion, this event occurred within the southern wall of the

open

pit. Since the energy of that event was not significant, no

breakings were induced within the mining operations area.

That event focal mechanism was determined as the shift type

in the east-north-eastern direction. Supposedly, this event

was

induced by a shift by the existing fault, filled with

oxidised

rocks. The shift, in turn, was induced by a sharp change in

day

and night temperature during that period, which influenced

the process of freezing and melting of the loose zone.

For the event of 07.05.06 were determined the following

parameters: 8.27:38.8 (GMT); Lat 67.604; Lon 33.75; ML

(AP0) = 0.71. This event was also registered within the

joint

zone of the open pit with underground mine. Its energy was

somewhat larger, compared to that of the previous one. Nev

ertheless, no any important breakings in workings and on

the surface were registered. In the underground workings an

insignificant shake down of some smaller rock breakings took

place and insignificant slide-rocks occurred. Although the

form of the signal in some stations has a shape typical for

blasts within the mass, nevertheless this event was not con

nected with the blasting, since bulk blasting in the open

pit

on 07.05.06 was made at 19:00. Probably, this event was

also induced by the shift by the existing fault, filled with

oxidised rocks, since this event focal mechanism of was

deter

mined as belonging to the type of thrust fault with shift

in the

north-eastern direction.

Thus, within the considered area, the occurrence of seis

mic events of the increased energy class is more probable in

weaken zones.
When analysing on the whole seismic events, registered

in the Khibiny massif, which include rockbursts as well as

mining-induced earthquakes, one can draw a conclusion that

in the majority of cases, those events were triggered by the

mining operations. The directly observed breakings of mine

workings can occur at the small velocity in the form of roof

cleavage, slabbing etc. as well as instant breaking in the

form

ABSTRACT: A method of “retrieval” of boundary conditions by

the data on fields of displacements or stains at internal

points of a calculated domain has been developed on the

basis of a discrete Green function. The proposed approach
has been

conducive to estimating the stress field variation in the

south-west flank of the Baikal Rift Zone. A 3D
geomechanical model

of the Central Asia has been constructed and verified by

the GPS information.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rapid world-wide development of GPS net and higher pre

cise measurement techniques empower not only monitoring

the seismotectonic processes (Levi et al. 2005) but also

quan

titative determining the increments of stresses in the outer

Earth’s crust, which is applicable to predicting the value

of a

stored elastic energy and, consequently, estimating

potential

seismic hazard represented by an object examined.

2 CONCEPT OF USING THE GEODETIC

DATA TO ESTIMATE GEOMECHANICAL

FIELD VARIATIONS

In Cartesian axes (x, y, z), consider a domain D ⊂ R 3 such

that

equations of equilibrium are valid

and Hookes’ law holds true

where ε ij = 0.5(u i,j + u j,i ); σ ij and ε ij are the

components of

stress and strain tensors, respectively; u i are

displacements;

i, j = x, y, z; λ, µ are the Lame parameters; δ ij is the

delta

Kronecker; summation is realized by the repeated indices.

Let

the following boundary conditions be formulated at ∂D

p i and t i are, respectively, the components of external

forces

and of a normal to ∂D.

Finite element discretization of D yields D k ={x k , y k ,

z k },

k = 1, . . ., n and thereat holds (1)–(3) to solving a

system of

linear equations where S is a global stiffness matrix, B is

a vector up to the boundary forces, U = (u 1 x , u 1 y , u
1 z , . . ., u n x , u n y , u n z ) are the knot
displacements. Hereinafter, the components of the vectors
have denotation in terms of the respective small letters.
Now we introduce B as p m i = p i (x k m , y k m , z k m ),
k m are the numbers of knots at ∂D; m = 1, . . ., s;
vectors F m x , F m y and F m z are made of zeroes whiles
the components having numbers 3k m − 2, 3k m − 1 and 3k m
are ones. It follows from (4) and (5) that V m i = S −1 F m
i .Thus obtained vector set V m i is a discrete Green
function for boundary-value problem (1)–(3) in the domain
D. For now assume that in an interior of a set D k ,
displacements W = W (x k , y k , z k ), k ∈ K are known.
Let us find the boundary values p m i such that the
function be minimum. Substituting (6) into (7) and using
the least square method reduces the problem of minimization
of G to solving a system 3s of linear equations in p m i
Find a relation between the number of points s at the
boundary and cardinal number of K so that p m i is
“retrievable” at an adequate accuracy. An input geodetic
information is

horizontal movements of the daylight surface (though

attempts

to record vertical movements are known as well today (Levi

et al. 2005). For this reason, this information is of use

for

only modeling geomechanical fields in the neighbour of the

Earths’ surface. We think that the crust of Earth, on the

first

approximation, consists of elastic plates (Cox & Hart 1986)

in asthenosphere that has a much lower viscosity as com

pared to the crust (Artyushkov 1993). Having the aforesaid

in

mind, consider a two-dimensional model, proper to describe

deformation of large-scale geological objects (plates,

blocks),

which is substantiated in Nazarova (1999).

In the discussed case, the domain D is a rectangle having

dimensions L x ,L y in the respective axes. As input data

for W ,

we used a random sampling with a size N from the solution

of a

two-dimensional analogue of system (1), (2) for the

following

boundary conditions

After D has undergone discretization, we assigned random

elastic properties for the finite elements so that strains
of the

medium be lower than the elastic limit for most of rocks.

Figure 1 demonstrates one of the studied models; diagrams

of stresses are shown at the boundaries, color points out

ele

ments having higher Lame parameters, and thick lines show

the displacements W .

Calculations were performed by the finite element method

using an original code (Nazarova 1985). Each numerical

experiment involved solution M of problems (8) for random

sampling from the set W (x k , y k , z k ) k = 1,...,n with

the fixed size

N . Under the character of p m i , we took an average from

M . An

approach like this allows higher determination precision to

be

reached for p m i in case the input data have an error. A

relative

error of “retrieval” of the boundary conditions was assessed

from

where s x and s y are the numbers of points in the ∂D

sections

x = 0 and y = 0, s x + s y = s.

Figure 2 illustrates the calculation data. It has appeared

that

for comparatively small number of points at ∂D, the function

Q quickly decreases as N grows. The result is the best when

the coordinates x k and y k (k ∈ K) have a uniform

distribution

along the corresponding sections of the boundary, herewith

N = s/2 is a lower estimate of the necessary size of the sam

pling.An increase in s causes enlarged spread in values of

Q (to

3–5 orders) and degradation of accuracy though the

aforecited

dependence on N holds true.

So, having determined the boundary conditions based on the

geodetic data, we can calculate stress variation in the

Earth’s

surface-adjacent zone and, moreover, model 3D geomechani

cal fields if the geological structure of an object is

known and

vertical distribution of the horizontal stress tensor

components

is hypothesized. Figure 1. Model domain. Figure 2.

Numerical experiment results. 3 STRESS FIELD VARIATIONS IN
THE SOUTH-WEST FLANK OF THE BAIKAL RIFT ZONE We have
applied this approach to estimating increments of the
horizontal stress components near Tunkinskiy Geodetic
Proving Ground located south-westward of the Lake Baikal.
Figure 3 presents the geographic location of the proving
ground, triangulation points and the observed relative
movements of the Earth’s surface recorded in the period
from 1975 to 1986. Northward of Tunkinskiy fault, there is
a zone composed of mostly granites (Young’s modulus E =
80–100 GPa, Poisson’s ratio ν= 0.2–0.25), southward are
Irish touchstones and extrusive rocks (E = 70–80 GPa, ν=
0.3–0.35); sedimentary mantle reaches 1 km in thickness
(alluvium, E = 50–70 GPa, ν= 0.15–0.2). Modeling was
preformed by using the finite element method, a subpicture
of the digitized calculated domain D is shown in Fig. 3.
Choice of orientation for D was to conform to the
directions of principal seismic deformations.

Figure 3. Scheme of calculation domain and FEM mesh.

(Fig. 3) determined by the focal mechanisms of earth

quakes.

Once we possessed data for N = 11 points only, we studied

two variants s x = s y = 2 (functions f x and f y are

linear) and

s x = s y = 3 (f x and f y are parabolas). It turned out

that the

relative error (assessed by G) is less in the second case

by a

factor of 1.5, than in the first case, and is 22%.

As the calculations have shown, the horizontal compres

sion within the cited time period increased everywhere in

the

domain in question, while increments in the principal

stresses

changed in the ranges

(bars). This fact associates with the beginning ‘of a

period of

abnormal compression (against the background of a global

gapping in the Baikal Rift Zone) (Dyadkov et al. 2000).

4 GPS DATA-BASED VERIFICATION OF THE

3D GEOMECHANICAL MODEL OF THE

CENTRAL ASIA

Many global seismotectonic processes in the Central Asia

result from the Indo-Australian plate north-eastward move

ment with a velocity of 55 mm/year.

The kinematic analysis of the plate movement and geo

dynamic processes in areas with high seismic activity is

supported with the developed 3D geomechanical model of

the Central Asia and its neighbourhood (Fig. 4). The finite

element model is realized in the spherical coordinates. In

Fig. 5 there is discretization of the calculated domain

(Earth’s

surface) associated with the fault-block structure. Modeling

relied upon the following boundary conditions: the north

east displacement U = 55 mm is assigned at A 1 A 2 ; the

north

and east borders of Eurasia are immovable while the rest are

stress-free. Figure 4. Structural elements of Central Asia

model. Figure 5. Finite element mesh associated with fault
structure. Table 1. Elastic properties of geomechanical
model. NN Name E, GPa µ, GPa 1 Eurasia plate 75 30 2 North
American plate 75 30 3 Pacific plate 110 44 4 Arabian plate
70 28 5 Indo-Australian plate 110 44 6 Indo-Chinese plate
70 28 7 Chinese plate 75 30 8 Philippine plate 100 40 9
Amur plate 75 30 10 Okhotsk Sea plate 110 44 11 Tarim 110
44 One of the most important stages in developing models of
large-scale geological objects is to set adequately
deformation properties of the elements. In our case, we had
two stages, first we set E and µ based on the generalized
geological data about rocks that prevailed (Zonensha in &
Savostin 1979). Later, in numerical experiments, we varied
the value of E for some structural elements (where reliable
GPS data were available) so that the calculated and
observed values of the relative displacements between the
known points be close.The elastic constants selected in
that way for the some structural elements are cited in
Table 1.

5 CONCLUSION

The procedure that has been proposed for constructing a

digitized Green function to solve the direct and inverse

geome

chanical problems for reconstruction of stress and strain

fields

based on the information at finite set of points of a domain

under examination.

The study was carried out under financial support of Rus

sian Foundation of Basic Researches (grant 07-05-01020) and

Integration Project of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy

of Sciences N 6–18.

Levi, K.G. & Sherman S.I. (ed.) 2005. Actual Problems of

Central

Asia Geodynamics. Novosibirsk: Izdatelstvo SO RAN.

Cox, A. & Hart, R.B. 1986. Plate Tectonics: How It Works.

Palo Alto,

Calif.: Blackwell Scientific Publications. Artyushkov, E.V.

1993. Physical Tectonics. Moscow: Nauka. Nazarova, L.A.
1985. Stress State of a Sloping-Bedded Rock Mass around a
Working. Journal of Mining Science 2: 33–37. Nazarova, L.A.
1999. Estimating the Stress and Strain Fields of the
Earth’s Crust on the Basis of Seismotectonic Data. Journal
of Mining Sciences 1: 28–36. Dyadkov, P.G., Nazarov, L.A.,
Nazarova, L.A. et al. 2000. Modern dynamics of Baikal Rift:
episode of compression and subsequent tension. Doklady of
the Russain Academy of Sciences 372 (1): 99–103.
Zonenshain, L.P. & Savostin, L.A. 1979. Introduction into
Geodynamics, Moscow: Nedra. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Numerical estimation of rock
mass strength in underground mining operations G.B.
Sharrock University of New South Wales M. Sandy, John
Albrecht & Frans Basson AMC Consultants Pty. Ltd., Perth

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a numerical method for

estimating rock mass strength criteria in underground
mines. The

method is based upon “measuring” selected rock mass failure

events, which are then numerically back analyzed to
estimate

strength criteria. The basis of the numerical method is the

back analysis technique outlined in Martin (1997), where
the spatial

and temporal distribution of actual “failure events” are

numerically back analyzed to estimate the corresponding
mining induced

stress states. This technique is based on elastic analysis

of stress and as a result has certain limitations which are
outlined in the

paper. A key aspect to the numerical analysis is the

statistical estimation of upper and lower bound limits to
the derived failure

criteria using the error analysis philosophy expressed in

Wiles (2005). The method is in use by several mining
operations and

consultancies; the key aim of this paper is to provide a

clear overview of the method for others.

1 BACKGROUND

The accurate and routine estimation of rock mass strength

remains one the greatest unsolved problems in mining geome

chanics. It extends to all aspects of rock mechanics

including

tunnels, mines, rock slopes, waste repositories and bridge

and

dam abutments. Rock mass strength is a key factor

influencing

all aspects of excavation design, such as the routine

engineer

ing of stable excavations, excavation sequences and ground

support systems.

In mining geomechanics, a popular approach to estimating

rock mass strength is the empirical method proposed by Hoek

and Brown (1980), and refined by Hoek and Brown (1998),

and Hoek et al. (2002). A brief history of the Hoek-Brown

criterion is available in Hoek and Marinos (2006). The 2002

version is widely used by consultants and mine based engi

neers to design excavations for both new and existing mining

projects. An approach typically taken is:

1. Estimate the parameters for the Hoek-Brown criterion,

typically using the software package “Roclab”.

2. Approximate the Hoek-Brown strength criterion to a Mohr

Coulomb criterion (with tension cut-off) over the confining

pressure of interest.

3. In case of 3D inelastic analysis, the Mohr Coulomb crite

rion is further generalized to a yield surface in principal

stress space.

4. The resulting constitutive model is programmed into a

stress analysis program, with all the other parameters and

constants such as pre-mining stress states, elastic moduli,

dilation angle, and strain softening rules.

5. Models and meshes are built and run: the key outputs used

to assess the stability or effectiveness of a particular

design

might typically include:

a. Analyze factors-of-safety of modeled stress states

relative to yield surface for development, shafts, ore
passes, pillars, and stopes. b. Quantification of
excavation damage, in particular the indicated depth of
failure around development and large excavations in terms
of plastic strains, or damaged volumes. c. Computation of
displacements and strains induced in long term excavations
such as shafts, crushing stations and surface
infrastructure such as railway tracks and pipelines.
Although the above approach is widely used, there are few
studies comparing damage forecasts from numerical models
using the estimated Hoek-Brown Criterion, with actual
measurements of rock mass damage.The reason such
comparisons are rare is that measuring damage in
underground mining environments is very difficult. One
successful study that achieved such measurements is
documented in Martin and Chandler (1994) and Martin (1997).
In these studies, a high resolution (60 kHz) microseismic
system was used to record the spatial and temporal
distribution of damage around a mechanically excavated
tunnel in massive Lac du Bonnet granite. A numerical back
analysis was undertaken to determine the stress states at
each micro-seismic source location.The resulting stress
states were compared with the laboratory Hoek-Brown
strength criterion measured using triaxial testing. Martin
and Chandler (1994) found the “long term” in situ strength
was only around 70% of laboratory measured strength. They
concluded that damage resulting from micro-cracking
develops at lower stress levels in the field, than
indicated by the laboratory samples. It is worth noting the
Hoek-Brown estimate is partially based on laboratory
uniaxial compressive strength tests carried out at higher
loading rates and on smaller samples than in the field. The
findings of Martin and Chandler (1994), lead to the
question: given that many mines now have excellent seismic
systems, can a similar method be applied to determine
failure criterion from seismic sources and if so, how well
do such failure criteria compare to the corresponding
estimated HoekBrown criterion?

2 METHOD

Like Martin and Chandler’s method, the method in this paper

is

based on the assumption that stress states calculated at

seismic

events are co-incident with damage. Thus the stress states

at

these locations represent an approximation of the peak

stress

states defining the yield surface in principal stress space.

In contrast to Martin and Chandler’s study undertaken in

a relatively controlled environment at the Underground Rock

Laboratory, the mining environment introduces complexities

and inaccuracies; these are discussed with reference to the

method, in the next three sections.

2.1 Selection of the mining step interval (dt)

Unlike Martin and Chandlers study, micro-seismicity in

underground mines is closely tied to mining extraction. This

introduces two problems; the first is the mining front moves

relative to the seismic array and hence the system

sensitivity

is changing over time – this is discussed in Section 2.2.

The second problem relates to the computation of stress

states at seismic points. The mining geometry changes con

stantly and hence stress states at seismic points also

change

and each element of rock experiences a stress path.As a

result,

the excavation sequence must be reproduced in the numerical

models as a series of n mining steps; each step represents a

time interval dt n in actual time.

This leads to the problem, what values of dt n are required

to properly capture the stress path f (s 1 , s 2 , s 3 )

experienced at

the seismic points? A poor selection of dt n leads to

signifi

cant errors in the stress path, and hence poor estimates of

the

numerical failure criterion. If for example, dt n is too

large, then

seismic points could lie either too close, or within

excavations,

or alternatively too far from excavations.

In the authors experience the blasting cycle gives a good

guide to selection of dt n . If no seismicity is recorded

between

small blasts, then dt n can be increased to span blasts

(assuming

an elastic model). If however yielding or migration events

occur between blasts then smaller values of dt n are

required

to capture the changes in stress path experienced.

One practical advantage in using blasting cycles is mining

operations often record the timing and design of individual

blasts in electronic CAD packages. This makes recovering

such data, and building model geometry practically feasible.

2.2 Micro-seismic data

One important distinction between the present study and

Martin and Chandlers work is the notion of “practically

signif

icant” damage. Mining engineers are interested in damage

that

will influence design, but not all seismicity results in

practi

cally significant damage. For this reason the method

attempts

to relate measured seismicity to observed damage.

To demonstrate the importance of this concept, consider that

minor acoustic emissions following a blast might not cause

practically significant damage, but a sensitive, high resolu

tion seismic system would locate these events, and a stress

analysis would produce a criterion at this threshold of
crack

formation which would be far below the stress threshold for

practically significant damage. Another example is damage

that does not result in measurable seismicity, for example

in

weak rocks such as ultramafics. For these reasons it is

neces

sary to filter the seismic events, and make some connection

between seismicity and observations of damage. The

interpretation and filtering of micro-seismic data is a
critical stage in the method. The authors have developed a
standardized approach to preparing seismic data for
numerical back analysis. The approach relies on four stages
which are summarized as follows: 1. Pre-processing: all
seismic events to be used in the analysis are manually
pre-processed to minimum location errors, remove spurious
events. It is important to have a feel for the location
accuracy and sensitivity of a particular seismic system in
deciding which events should be included. 2. Filtering: the
seismic event database is filtered using three filtering
criteria: a. All events with location errors greater than 5
m are excluded. b. Only events triggering at least four
triaxial stations or six uniaxial stations are included. c.
Blasts and large events are removed. 3. Discretisation: the
filtered dataset is broken into datasets corresponding to
mining steps. Each of these datasets is further sub-divided
into seismic domains defined by the yielding behavior each
rock type or structural domain. 4. Interpretation and Data
Modeling: The filtered data is clustered using the methods
outlined in Hudyma (2004), and co-related to observations
of damage. The aim here is to search for co-relations
between seismicity and damage. In particular, to search for
seismic trends denoting failure events such as yielding in
pillars, rock falls, and deteriorating ground conditions.
Events lying significant distances from excavations are
removed from the analysis, as are events associated with
major faults or structures. The above procedure removes
events with spurious locations and source parameters, and
allows connection to the next data type – damage mapping.
2.3 Damage mapping One simple approach is to map the
location, severity, and timing of visible damage according
to a pre-defined damage scale. One such system used by the
authors since 2003 is fully detailed in future papers;
others are presented in Beck and Duplancic (2005) and
Kaiser (1992). Once the location, severity and timing of
damage are known, stress points are constructed at these
locations in the numerical model at appropriate mining
steps. The stress states at these points are computed as an
additional source of data. A key parameter that should be
estimated using drill hole or extensometer observations is
the depth of damage, which is used to determine the
location of stress points. Some limitations of damage
mapping include: the method is subjective, relying on
skills and diligence of the person undertaking the
observations; observations of surface damage are not always
a reliable indicator of rock mass damage; significant
extensional cracking can develop around excavations without
noticeable signs on the surface; many tunnels are now lined
with fibrecrete, which makes such observations difficult or
impossible. 2.4 Numerical back analysis Once the
micro-seismic and damage mapping data has been reduced to a
database of (x, y, z) points, a numerical back analysis is
undertaken to determine the principal stress states at
these points, at particular mining steps.

The numerical modeling method most easily applied

is the three dimensional, linear-elastic, boundary element

method.

A limitation of this method is the exclusion of yielding

effects on the stress states at measurement points. For exam

ple, consider a mine in which a pillar yields. The yielding

results in stress redistributions to the abutments, and as a

result the stress states are altered at the seismic points

on

the abutments. Since linear elastic models do not account

for

yielding, a model would return high pillar stress states and

low abutments stress states. If the pillar is removed in the

elastic model then the approximation of peak stress states

on

the abutment is improved. In a similar way small elements

of yielding rock have an impact on the stress states at
nearby

seismic points which are not accounted for in elastic mod

els. For this reason stress states computed in elastic

models

will always have errors. Our assumption is that carefully

con

structed models minimize such errors, and return indicative

estimates of rock mass strength.A brief case study is

presented

next to demonstrate the method.

One noteworthy point is the impact of pre-mining stress

field assumptions on the results, and indeed the numerically

determined strength criterion. The effect of variation in

pre

mining stress field, and data scatter related to other

parameters,

on the stress states at seismic points can be assessed

using the

statistical approach outlined in Wiles (2005).

3 CASE STUDY

The method described above was applied to 14 case studies

across 10 rock types at 7 mining operations. The rock types

range from poorly jointed, massive banded iron formation

(BIF), to well jointed pyritic shales. One of these case

studies,

based on analysis of BIF at a Western Australian Mine, will

be used to highlight the general findings across the other

case
studies.

3.1 Estimated Hoek-Brown strength criterion for BIF

A database of laboratory testing data and structural mapping

data were used to select the parameters sigci, GSI, m i ,

and d

shown in Table 1. The Hoek et al. (2002) method implemented

in the Roclab program was used to selected m b , s and a.

Figure 1 shows the empirically determined Hoek-Brown

relation plotted in principal stress space for these

parameters,

against the numerically determined linear strength envelope.

In order to compare the strength envelopes a Mohr Coulomb

fit to the Hoek-Brown envelope has been plotted over the

range

of modeled minor principal stress states.

Table 1. Hoek-Brown parameters for banded iron formation.

Hoek-Brown classification Hoek-Brown criterion

sigci 130 MPa m b 10.2

GSI 85 S 0.1

m i 25 A 0.5

d 0.8

Mohr-Coulomb fit Rock mass parameters

c 11.1 MPa sigt −1.3 MPa

phi 47.7 Degrees sigc 41.7 MPa sigcm 63.1 MPa 3.2 Numerical
strength criterion for BIF It is evident in Figure 2 that
the slope of the numerical strength criterion (slope = 1.2)
is substantially less than Mohr– Coulomb fit to Hoek-Brown
(slope = 6.4). The slope of the numerical fit is a factor
of 5.3 (or 81%) lower than the Hoek-Brown Fit. The sigcm
value returned from both methods were similar i.e.
numerically determined sigcm = 67.8 MPa, versus HoekBrown
sigcm = 63.1 MPa. Both this effect and the disparity in
slopes were noted across all 14 case studies. 3.3 Analysis
– comparisons with Martin (1997) In attempting to
understand the reasons for such differences its worth
reviewing the findings of Martin (1997). Martin found that
for Lac du Bonnet granite, three different strength
criterion (Figure 2, curves a, b, c) could be defined,
based on the intensity of crack development at different
stress states and loading rates. Criterion a is the “in
situ crack initiation criterion”, and is the onset of
stable crack formation. In Lac du Bonnet granite this was
found to occur at sigci/sigcm = 0.3 to 0.4.This relation is
linear, with slope of 1.0 to 1.5. Criterion b is the “long
term strength of rock” and is reached as increased loading
continues to accumulate stable cracks. Once the fracture
density reaches a critical state, crack interaction occurs,
initiating unstable crack growth. For Lac du Bonnet granite
this occurred around sigcd/sigcm = 0.5 to 0.6. Criterion c
is the “laboratory strength of rock”, encountered under
standard ISRM triaxial testing conditions. Figure 1.
Estimated Hoek-Brown vs Numerical Criteria.

Figure 2. Strength envelopes for (a) in situ crack

initiation (b) long

term laboratory strength and (c) Laboratory Peak Strength

(after

Martin, 1997).

These criteria are interpreted by Martin (1997) as having

the

following micro-mechanical behaviour. Criterion a defines

the onset of breakage of cohesive bonds. Similarly,

Criterion

b is controlled predominantly by cohesive bonds, but once

damage accumulates, strength is controlled predominantly by

mobilised friction (Criterion c).

If the results of the present study are considered with

respect

to Martin’s findings a number of key points emerge. Firstly,

in agreement with Martin (1997), the numerical results indi

cate a linear Coulombic relation, with sigci/sigcm = 0.4 to

0.6, and slope = 1.2. Based on Martin (1997) this would indi

cate unstable crack growth. This is consistent with variable

levels of micro-seismicity and observable damage at the seis

mic event locations. Such damage could only be observed

following crack coalescence. In addition, higher stress

states

are reported for mapped damage, in comparison with seismic

stress states (Figure 1).

Consider now the Coulombic slopes in Lac du Bonnet gran

ite, for in situ crack initiation (slope = 1.0 to 1.5),

long term

strength of rock (slope = 6.3), and laboratory peak strength

(slope = 12.5). In comparison to the massive rock considered

in Martins study, the rock types in this study are

moderately

jointed. It is interesting then to note that the stress

states from

damage back analysis are similar to stress states from

seismic

ity.This finding implies that the numerical criterion

represents

the “long term strength of rock” rather than “in situ crack
ini

tiation”. This is consistent with the anecdotal evidence

that

micro-seismic systems at the case study mines are

insensitive

to in situ crack initiation, but could measure larger

seismic

events associated with crack coalescence, slip and damage.

Another interesting point is the linearity of the numerical

criterion across a wide range of confining pressures, for

both

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study is to quantitatively

estimate the depth of blast-damaged zone by using the

discrete element code in two dimensions, PFC2D. We have

developed a method to simulate the dynamic fracture process

of rock mass by blasting considering the detonation and gas

pressures and calculated the crack length squared per unit
area as

the threshold to demarcate the damaged zone. For

Dae-gwan-ryung Tunnel #1, the damaged zone was examined to
be 0.43 m

and 0.88 m at the roof and floor, respectively. The

estimated depth favorably agreed with the measured values,
which were

based on the induced vibration by blasting.

1 INTRODUCTION

Underground such as tunnels and caverns have been con

structed in a deep rock mass and in a large scale, recently.

The need for a nuclear waste depository has been on the rise

worldwide. Excavation damage zone may degrade rock mass

properties and thus, potentially reduce safety of

structures.

Especially, the permeability of the rock mass including the

damaged zone increases considerably. For these reasons, a

damaged zone is an important consideration in the design of

a nuclear waste depository.

A blast-damaged zone is an excavation damage zone cre

ated by the drill-and-blast method for excavating

underground

structures. Many estimations on the blast-damaged zone have

been made, but most of them are mainly based on the change

of rock properties measured before and after blasting and

the

measured velocity of the blast vibration propagation.

This study aims to quantitatively estimate the depth of a

blast-damaged zone by using the discrete element code in 2-D

or PFC2D (Particle Flow Code 2D version 3.00) by Itasca.

The suggested method for generating a contact-bonded model

in PFC2D (Jong & Lee 2006) and the algorithm to simulate

the fracture mechanism due to blasting in PFC2D (Jong et

al.,

2006) are used.

The blast-damaged zone, which was created in the roof and

floor of Dae-gwan-ryung Tunnel #1, was quantitatively esti

mated using PFC2D. The estimated ranges of blast-damaged

zone were compared with the determined valued in the study

of Chang et al. (2000).

2 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF FRACTURE

MECHANISM BY BLASTING

The four basic time sequences of breakage and displacement

of material during and after a complete detonation of a con

fined charge are as follows: (1) detonation, (2) shock or

stress
wave propagation, (3) gas pressure expansion and (4) mass

movement. Although these are treated as discrete events, in

a

typical blast, one event phase can occur simultaneously with

another at specific time intervals. Jong et al. (2006)

presented

a methodology to numerically model these events in PFC2D.

According to Jong et al. (2006), the maximum detonation

pressure P d,max can be estimated by equation (1), which is

based on the ideal detonation theory, and the maximum gas

pressure P g,max by equation (2), which is based on the
AN-EOS. where ρ e = density, D e = detonation velocity and
f = specific energy of explosive, D.I .= decoupling index.
They developed a new algorithm to reproduce the detonation
and gas pressures acting on a blasthole wall in PFC2D. In
general, the pressures are converted into a body force,
with the force loaded on the inner-hole particles, which
are the particles within the blasthole boundary. However,
in the developed algorithm, the pressures are reproduced as
the corresponding contact force induced by the changing
radii of the inner-hole particles. The control of the radii
can be described as follows: (step 1) calculation of the
total contact force acting on the blasthole wall, (step 2)
calculation of a radius-multiplier for the inner-hole
particles and (step 3) calibration of the calculated
radius-multiplier. 3 GENERATION OF A NUMERICAL MODEL Chang
et al. (2000) estimated a blast-damaged zone around
Dae-gwan-ryung Tunnel #1, which is located at GangwonDo,
eastern part in Korea. The rock type was mainly granite.
After blasting, they drilled a perpendicular borehole into
tunnel wall or floor and recovered the rock core specimens.
They estimated the rock damage by various methods such as
laboratory rock tests, visual investigation with borehole
camera and vibration propagation equation and by analyzing
the changes in the measured properties at different depths.
The information about the blasting conditions and the
adjacent blasthole are presented in Table 1. Each borehole
had a diameter of 41 mm and drilled length of 2.0 m. Intact
rock specimens had an averaged UCS of 127.76 MPa (standard
deviation 11.00 MPa), P-wave velocity of 4806 m/s

Table 1. Information about blasting conditions in the K-1,

K-2,
W-2 and W-3 sections and an adjacent blasthole to a
borehole.

Micro-parameter K-1 K-2 W-2 W-3

Diameter 41 mm 41 mm 41 mm 41 mm

Drilled length 2.0 m 2.5 m 2.2 m 2.2 m

Exp. 1 ∗ 0.5 EA – 1.0 EA 3.0 EA

Exp. 2 ∗ – 0.5 EA – –

Exp. 3 ∗ 3.0 EA 5.0 EA 2.0 EA –

Charge weight 0.488 kg 0.625 kg 0.575 kg 1.125 kg

Decoupling index 2.41 2.41 2.41 1.28

Adjacent hole Contour Contour Contour Lifter

Exp. ∗ (for bottom) Exp. 1 Exp. 2 Exp. 1 Exp. 1

Exp. ∗ (for column) Exp. 3 Exp. 3 Exp. 3 Exp. 1

∗ Exp. 1: Himite 5500 (dynamite explosive).

Exp. 2: NewMite 5500 (emulsion explosive).

Exp. 3: Finex-I (explosive for smooth blasting).

Exp.: Kind of the charged explosive.

Table 2. A complete set of micro-parameters to generate a

speci

men in PFC2D.

Micro-parameter Unit Value

Ball density g/cm 3 2.60

Minimum ball radius mm 0.50

Ball friction coefficient – 0.50

Ball-ball contact modulus GPa 18.65

Ball stiffness ratio – 2.56

Contact-bond normal strength, mean MPa 85.0

Contact-bond shear strength, mean MPa 85.0

Contact-bond strength, s.d./mean – 0.21

Scale factor, SFn – 0.46

Scale factor, SFs – 0.45

(113 m/s), S-wave velocity of 2814 m/s (78 m/s) and Young’s

modulus of 62.385 GPa (13.41 GPa).

The deformation modulus and strength of a rock mass were

estimated by adopting the equations proposed by Hoek et al.

(2002). Because the target rock mass was mainly composed of

granite and the RMR was about 60, the deformation modulus

and strength of the rock mass were 13.34 GPa and 43.33 MPa,

respectively.

Jong & Lee (2006) suggested a method to determine micro

parameters quantitatively by using the above-mentioned

macro-properties for generation of a numerical model in

PFC2D. With their methodology, a complete set of micro

parameters (Table 2) was determined to reproduce the above

prescribed properties on the assumption that the rock mass

density was 2.60 g/cm 3 and the Poisson’s ratio was 0.25.

Generated specimen in PFC2D had Young’s modulus of

13.03 GPa, Poisson’s ratio of 0.262 and UCS of 43.56 MPa.

The values favorably agreed with the estimated properties of

the target rock mass.

4 CRACK LENGTH SQUARED PER UNIT AREA

PFC2D can easily check the information about cracks due to

the bond breakage between parent particles. To estimate the

depth of blast-damaged zone quantitatively with this capac

ity, we calculated ‘crack density’ (equation (4)), which was

defined by Budiansky & O’Connell (1976) and was applied

Figure 1. Radius R and thickness t of a crack created in
PFC2D. by Wong et al. (1996) and Mitaim & Detournay (2004).
The ‘crack length squared per unit area’ C d is defined by
where N is the number of created cracks, a is the length of
the cracks, < x > is the mean of variable x and A is the
area of the target model. The typical geometry of a created
crack in PFC2D is shown in Figure 1. Assuming that radius
of the crack is R i , the crack length squared per unit
area can be calculated by According to Mitaim & Detournay
(2004), the threshold C d is 0.62 under uniaxial
compression for Lac du Bonnet granite. Since this value was
obtained by laboratory rock tests, it could not be applied
as a threshold value to demarcate the damage zone in PFC2D.
Instead, we adopted the calculated ‘crack length squared
per unit area’ under uniaxial compression in PFC2D as a
threshold value. Therefore, the threshold value was set to
0.057 for the generated specimen in this study. 5 NUMERICAL
ESTIMATION OF BLASTDAMAGED ZONE The blastings for a total
of 4 sections were numerically simulated using PFC2D. Among
these sections, K-1, K-2 and W-2 sections were used to
estimate the blast-damaged zone adjacent to the contour
holes (Fig. 2). The W-3 section, however, was used to
estimate the zone adjacent to the lifter holes (Fig. 6).
5.1 K-1 section Figure 2 shows the model generated for the
simulation of a blast in the K-1 section. In the figure,
blastholes 1 and 2 are normal blastholes and 3–5 are
contour holes.The normal blastholes were charged by 1.5
Himite 5500 and the contour holes by 1.5 Finex-I. Numerical
simulation was executed under the assumption that all
blastholes are detonated at the same time. Figure 3 shows
the calculated ‘crack length squared per unit area’, which
was obtained by the simulation of the blast in the K-1
section. The blast damage was 0.08–0.41 m from the contour
holes. 5.2 K-2 section The model generated for the K-2
section was the same as that for the K-1 section (Fig. 2).
The only difference with the K-1

Figure 2. Model generated for simulating a blast in the

K-1, K-2
and W-2 sections.

Figure 3. Calculated ‘crack length squared per unit area’ C

d due to

the blast in the K-1 section.

section was that the contour holes were charged by 2.5

Finex-I

explosives.

The result of the numerical simulation is shown as Fig

ure 4. Based on the calculated C d , the blast-damaged zone

was

0.08–0.43 m from the contour holes.

5.3 W-2 section

The model generated for the W-2 section was the same as the

K-1 section (Fig. 2). The only difference with the K-1
section

was that 1.0 Himte 5500 was used in the normal blastholes

and 1.0 Finex-I was used in the contour holes.

Figure 5 shows the calculated ‘crack length squared per unit

area’ by simulation of the blast in the W-2 section. The

blast

damage was 0.07–0.42 m from the contour holes.

5.4 W-3 section

Figure 6 shows the model generated to simulate a blast in

the W-3 section. In the figure, blastholes 1 and 2 are nor

mal blastholes, and 3–5 are lifter holes. The normal

blastholes

were charged by 1.0 Himite 5500 and the lifter holes by 1.5
Figure 4. Calculated ‘crack length squared per unit area’ C
d due to the blast in the K-2 section. Figure 5. Calculated
‘crack length squared per unit area’ C d due to the blast
in the W-2 section. Figure 6. Model generated for
simulating a blast in the W-3 section.

Figure 7. Calculated ‘crack length squared per unit area’ C

d due to

the blast in the W-3 section.

Table 3. Comparison of the estimated blast-damaged zones.

(unit: mm). K-1 K-2 W-2 W-3

PFC2D 0.08∼0.41 0.07∼0.43 0.07∼0.42 0.23∼0.88

Method 1 0.50 0.30 0.40 0.80∼0.90

Method 2 0.37 0.39 0.37 0.91

Himite 5500. Numerical simulation was executed under the

assumption that all blastholes are detonated at the same

time.

Figure 7 shows the calculated ‘crack length squared per unit

area’ by simulation of the blast in the W-3 section. The

blast

damage was 0.23–0.88 m from the lifter holes.

6 COMPARISON OF BLAST-DAMAGED ZONES

The estimated depths of the blast-damaged zones in PFC2D

are summarized in Table 3 and compared to those of Chang

et al. (2000). In the table, ‘PFC2D’ represents the

estimated

blast-damaged zone by this study using the concept of the

‘crack length squared per unit area’. Both ‘Method 1’ and

‘Method 2’ represent the estimated values of Chang et al.

(2000), and ‘Method 1’ results are based on the results of

var

ious laboratory rock tests and ‘Method 2’ based on the combi

nation of the strain damage model and the Holmberg-Persson

model.

The maximum depth of the estimated blast-damaged zone

in PFC2D is 0.43 m in the roof and 0.88 m in the floor of

ABSTRACT: Research on energy characteristics of rocks under

dynamic loading is initiated by the need to observe these

characteristics for better understanding anomalous

geomechanical events in the rock mass, mainly rock bursts.
To understand

these events better, it is necessary to introduce the

observation of temperature of the test specimen in the
course of testing. From

the record of acting force and strain together with the

temperature of test specimens is evaluated in detail both
the stress-strain

characteristics of rocks under study and their energy

characteristics. These events go on dynamically by the
influence of seismic

wave propagation. In the laboratory, rock loading is

simulated similarly to seismic wave propagation in the rock
mass. The goal

of the research is to determine energy characteristics of

rocks under dynamic cyclic loading. Some results of that
research are

in the paper.

1 INTRODUCTION

Researches into energy characteristics of rocks under

dynamic

loading is aimed at better understanding the processes that

take

place at anomalous geometric events, above all rock bursts.

At the origin of anomalous geomechanical events, seismic

waves propagate through the rock mass. In the laboratory,

rock loading at the spread of seismic waves is simulated by

dynamic (cyclic) loading. The frequency of this cycling is

chosen in accordance with the frequencies that were found

at the origin of rock bursts in the Ostrava-Karvina

coalfield

(henceforth referred to as OKC).

For the cycling loading of rock specimens the test device

MTS 816 Rock Test System is used. In the first stage of

research, mechanical characteristics of rocks were observed

(Bagde & Petros, 2005). In the course of observation of

energy

characteristics, anomalies were found before achieving the

ultimate strength. They are probably caused by other ener

gies than deformation energy alone. For this reason, we are

concerned with the determination of thermal energy at the

dynamic loading of rocks. To this effect, development in the

temperature of test specimen under loading must be observed.

In the framework of this research, many tests at various

modes of loading were carried out. From the point of view of

kind of loading, the tests were done at the following

dynamic

loads:

• simple compression,

• oblique shear.

In this article, we are concerned only with the results of

simple compression measurements.

From the point of view of loading mode, the tests were

performed:

• in the rheological mode at the constant average strain

(target

set point, henceforth referred to as TSP), about which the

cycling load oscillates,

• in the mode of uniformly increasing load to the failure of

test specimen.

Dynamic (cyclic) loading was used at frequencies corre

sponding to frequencies of propagation of seismic waves at

rock bursts in OKC. For this reason, parameters of seismic

waves at rock bursts in OKC (Petros & Holub, 2003) were
evaluated. It is a case of frequencies less than 30 Hz.
Further, research was done in the rheological mode at
various values of TSP, i.e. at various levels of load.
Changes in temperature of test specimens were measured in
the following two ways: • by thermovision, • by sensors at
various depths of test specimens. 2 LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
The results of researches may be influenced by the
laboratory environment, the parameters of test equipment
and the rock material examined. Researches into temperature
changes at cyclic loading the rocks require the elimination
of other influences that cause, in the course of
measurement, changes in temperature. For this reason, the
measurements were taken in the air-conditioned laboratory
with the constant temperature of 20 ◦ C. 2.1 Thermovision
ThermaCAM™PM 695 of the company FLIR Systems AB was used.
This camera utilises the infrared camera system and
consists of IR (Infrared) camera with a built-in 24 ◦
lens.The IR camera measures and shows infrared radiation
emitted by the object. On the basis of fact that radiation
is a function of surface temperature of the object, this
temperature (temperature field) can be thus represented and
evaluated. The results of scanning can be stored in the PC
card. Repeatability-periodicity of storing the images in
the PC card can be set. This periodicity can be set from 2
seconds to 24 hours. By option Fast, the image will be
stored at the velocity of about 1 image per 1 second). When
evaluating the record, it is possible to follow various
ways. • Point evaluation – it is possible to use up to five
(independent of each other) measuring spotmeters
(measurement of temperature in a point). Each spotmeter can
be placed anywhere in the display.

Table 1. Technical parameters of ThermaCAM ™ PM 695.

Parameter Value

Range of measured −40 to +120 ◦ C, range 1

temperatures of object: 0 to +500 ◦ C, range 2

Measurement accuracy: ± 2%

Temperature sensitivity: <0.08 ◦ C at object temperature of

+ 30 ◦ C

Visual field (H x V): 24 ◦ × 18 ◦ /0.5 m

Ambient (operating) −15 to +50 ◦ C

temperature:

Weight: 1.9 kg without batteries

Size: 209 × 122 × 130 mm

Video camera: 640 × 480 pixels

• Function Oblast (Region) – measures the highest or the

lowest or the average temperature inside the rectangle or

circle, which can be formed around the centre of the image.

The measured value of temperature is then given in the table

of results as Amin, Amax or Aavg.

• Section – the function displays the horizontal or verti

cal graph of temperature with accentuation in the line of

section, depending upon the section selected.

• Isotherm – the selected isotherm function will cause that

all parts of image-thermogram of the same temperature as

the set temperature (range) of isotherm or its width, will

have the same colour. The temperature of the isotherm is

represented by the text Iso in the table of results, and

this

can also be changed (set to another value).

Technical parameters of ThermaCAM™PM 695 are shown

in Table 1.

To measure (calculate) the temperature accurately, the com

pensation of effects of various radiation sources is

necessary.

This is performed automatically by the camera Therma

CAM™695. Nevertheless, the following next parameters of

object must be set in the camera:

• object emissivity,

• ambient temperature,

• distance between the object and the camera, relative

humidity.

2.2 An apparatus for temperature measurement

For the given measurements, it is necessary to ensure a fast

response of temperature sensor to a change in temperature

in the rock. It is thermocouples that satisfy this

requirement

Other advantages of thermocouples for these measurements

are small dimensions (diameter of about 1 mm) and point mea

surement of temperature at the end of thermocouple. At the

selection of thermocouple type, the type T was selected

owing

to the lowest (but fully sufficient) temperature range.To

ensure
the high sensitivity of measurement, low-noise thermocouple

probes with connectors, type TMQSS, manufactured by the

company OMEGA were used.

To avoid temperature losses on the boundary between the

rock and the thermocouple, a special paste OMEGATHERM

OT 201 of very good thermal conductivity was applied. It

was applied to the point of contact of the thermocouple with

the rock.

The thermocouple converts a change in the temperature

of the environment to a change in electric voltage. This

non-linear millivolt signal from thermocouples sensors was

converted to a standard linear analogue output electric
signal of 4–20 mA by means of miniature converters, which
simultaneously formed a connecter to the thermocouple
probe. The converters STCTX-T1 were manufactured by the
company OMEGA as well. The modified (strengthened and
linearized) current signal corresponding to the change in
temperature was transferred to a PC via the USB interface
by means of the unit of industrial inputs DataLab IO
manufactured by the company Moravské prˇístroje Brno. This
unit was equipped by the analogue input module AI2 enabling
the processing of analogue signal (current and voltage
ones) from 8 input channels. Measuring ranges can be
defined for each channel individually and can be changed in
the course of measurement on the basis of program. The
module AI2 makes it possible not only to set the ranges of
individual inputs, but also to interrupt their measurement.
The interruption of measurement of the given input
influences the velocity at which the module provides the
data measured. The module is able to provide new data at
the frequency of 50 Hz (50 records per second) per one
channel. If the measurement for all 8 channels is
permitted, values of the channels are measured at the
frequency of 6.25 Hz. For the evaluation, visualisation and
archiving of measured temperatures a program was created in
the development environment Control Web 2000 developed by
the company Moravské prˇístroje Brno. It is a program
system for industrial automation which is able to work in
real time with operating systems Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98
and higher. The measured data from all channels observed
were each second (recording frequency can be increased)
archived into the table forming a file in the universal
data format dbf, from which the data can be converted to
the majority of programs used for subsequent evaluation.
2.3 Equipment of cyclic loading The test machine, MTS 816
Rock Test System, has a range of compressive load up to
1015 kN, stiffness of 26 × 10 8 N.m −1 , optional static or
cyclic (dynamical) load, a possibility of sensing the
stress-strain characteristics behind the strength limit,
scanning of deformations of test pieces, a possibility of
measuring under the rheological mode, and others. At cyclic
loading, a control quantity must be chosen as well – a
force or deformation. Further, the frequency of cyclic
loading, the loading curve type, the amplitude of cyclic
loading and the mean value of the control quantity, in the
vicinity of which oscillations occur, are set. The
following loading curves may be chosen: sinusoidal,
rectangular, triangular, and variously modulated basic
curves mentioned. In the course of these researches, the
rheological system of loading with test control according
to deformation was used. On the test device, the required
frequency, amplitude and a target set point (henceforth
referred to as TSP), which is a value, around which the
amplitude of cyclic loading oscillates, are set. Whereas
the frequency and TSP are values that are not influenced by
other parameters of test device, in the case of amplitude a
substantial difference between the required value and the
really attained value may occur. The real amplitude depends
on the flow rates of hydraulic unit and of servovalve. The
flow rate of hydraulic unit of our device is 40 l/min and
the maximum flow rate of servo-valve is 37 l/min. In this
way, the maximum speed of test device piston is limited. If
the required parameters of cyclic loading exceed the
presented maximum output parameters, the amplitude will be
limited.

The maximum possible really attained amplitude then depends

mainly on the frequency and setting of the required

amplitude,

partly then on the shape of loading curve and the parameters

of material examined.

3 THE METHOD OF MEASUREMENT EVALUATION

The record of tests of dynamic (cyclic) loading is

performed in
the mode of “peak-valley”, which means that the time t i ,
defor

mation �z i and force F i in the extreme points of

oscillation are

recorded. Energy characteristics at dynamic (cyclic) loading

can be evaluated in various ways. Mechanical energy between

particular recorded states of the test A ci can be

determined

from the following relation:

where �z = the deformation of the test specimen (mm);

F = acting force (kN).

Output given into particular phases of loading the test

specimen P i

The total deformation energy applied to the test specimen on

the certain state characterised by the test time t – A ct

can be

determined from the relation below:

The thermal energy A T due to heating the test specimen is

determined from the relation as follows:

where a T is the specific heat of rock (for Carboniferous

sandstone a T = 1.8 MJ·m −3 ·K −1 ); V = the volume of test

specimen (m 3 ); �T = temperature change (K).

The share of thermal energy in the total deformation energy

supplied can be expressed by the following relation:

4 MEASUREMENT RESULTS

In the described research one type of rock, namely Carbonif

erous sandstone was used for measurement. The sample was

taken from the drilling core of one macropetrographically

homogeneous rock layer. Thus, results of various measure

ments are related to the same rock. If it was possible,

different

measurements were taken on the same test specimen, which

eliminated the influence of heterogeneity in the framework

of

sample material.

4.1 Measurement results using IR camera

With IR camera two types of regime mode was used:

– rheological mode,

– uniformly increasing load to the failure. Figure 1. IR

picture with evaluation line. Figure 2. Temperature course
at 60 s of test. Figure 3. Temperature course at 120 s of
test. 4.1.1 The evaluation of rheological mode of loading
As for this mode of loading, we present an example for the
frequency f = 10 Hz, TSP = 0,1 mm, amplitude a = 0,05 mm.
Measurement results are evaluated by means of a line marked
in images of IR camera – Figure 1. This line of evaluation
was in the same position defined in images at different
times of testing. On this line, the detailed distribution
of temperature is then evaluated. Graphs at various times
of test are presented in Figures 2–6. As far as the
orientation of graphs of marked vertical lines is
concerned, the upper beginning of the line is represented
on the left side of the graph. From Figures 2–6 it is
evident that the temperature of surface of the test
specimen changes; the highest temperature occurs in the
centre. 4.1.2 The evaluation of tests to failure In this
mode of testing we wanted to verify the situation of
temperature field in the time interval at the achieving of
ultimate strength and the failure of test specimen.

Figure 4. Temperature course at 180 s of test.

Figure 5. Temperature course at 240 s of test.

Figure 6. Temperature course at 300 s of test.

These temperature fields closely before the failure is given

in Figure 7.

The detailed evaluation of temperatures was done by means

of lines running in the image of IR camera – Figure 7.

Results

of this detailed evaluation are there in graphs in Figure 8.

When scanning by this camera, the recording interval as

short as possible – 1s was used. However, for studying the

tem

perature fields at reaching the ultimate strength this

interval

is too long.

Temperature fields closely after the failure of test

specimen

are given in Figure 9.

Similarly as in previous case, the picture was covered

by three lines for detailed evaluation of temperature on the

specimen – Figure 10.

Results of this detailed evaluation are there in graphs in

Figure 11.

It follows from the above-mentioned facts that in the course

of failure, considerable heat occurs locally. Figure 7. IR

picture about 1 s before failure. Figure 8. Temperature
course in given lines before failure. Figure 9. IR picture
after failure. 4.2 The evaluation of measurements by
temperature sensors For measuring the distribution of
temperatures inside test specimens, holes of diameter of
about 1 mm were drilled to various depths in them – an
example is given in Figure 12. Measurements were taken in
the rheological mode with the following parameters: f = 10
Hz, TSP = 0,25 mm, a = 0,05 mm. Results of record of these
temperatures depending upon time are there in Figure 13. It
is clear from Figure 13 that the greatest increase in
temperature occurs in point 1. In points 1, 2, which are
situated

Figure 10. Location of lines for evaluation.

Figure 11. Temperature course in given lines after failure.

Figure 12. Sensor distributions in the rock specimen.

at the same height of sample but at various depths,

increases

in temperature are different. At greater depths, an

increase in

temperature is smaller than at smaller depths of hole.This

may

be explained by a higher increase in temperature in the

region

of acting shear stress.

4.3 Comparison of temperatures inside and on the surface of

specimen

For comparison of temperature inside the specimen and on

the surface we used another measurement, when temperature

sensor was in the middle of the specimen and the test

regime Figure 13. Temperature course in measured points.
Figure 14. Comparison of temperature changes inside of
specimen and on the surface. Figure 15. The time dependence
of total mechanical energy. was the same as during
measurement with IR camera. The comparison of highest
temperature on the specimen surface and temperature in the
specimen middle is on Figure 14. 4.4 Comparison of
deformation and thermal energy For this comparison several
tests were carried out. Testing was conducted at different
frequencies. From relation (3), the total mechanical energy
at tests with various frequencies was calculated.
Measurement results are presented in Figure 15. The
temperature inside the specimen was measured in the
specimen middle. From temperature changes thermal energy
was calculated according formula (4). The time dependence
of thermal energy for different frequencies is in Figure
16. The share of thermal energy in the total deformation
energy supplied is expressed by the relation (5). By a
comparison of thermal energy and mechanical energy, the
dependence as shown in Figure 17 is obtained.
Figure 16. The time dependence of thermal energy.

Figure 17. The time dependence of thermal energy share.

5 CONCLUSIONS

From previous results of researches into mechanical and ther

mal energy at dynamic (cyclic) loading the rock it follows

that:

• During cyclic loading the temperature of rock specimen is

ABSTRACT: Underground structures are critical elements in

transportation and utility networks. The worldwide growing
need

to further expand these networks has determined a renewed

interest for studying the vulnerability of underground
structures

to earthquake loading. Fragility curves constitute a

powerful tool for assessing the seismic vulnerability of
structures. A few

fragility relationships have however been specifically

derived for underground structures. All of them use as a
measure of strong

motion intensity the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA).

However PGA shows almost no correlation with the damage
potential

of ground motion to a structure, particularly underground

structures. In this paper empirical fragility curves are
proposed for

deep tunnels using as a measure of ground motion intensity

the Peak Ground Velocity (PGV), which is known to be better

correlated to damage.

1 INTRODUCTION

The underground structures need be thought as critical ele

ments when considering transportation and utility networks.

The importance of these structures makes the vulnerability

to

seismic events extremely relevant. In the preliminary design

stage, the seismic vulnerability assessment of underground

structures can be done by using fragility curves. These

curves

can provide the designer with a tool for deciding whether

a given problem needs to be studied with more refined analy

ses.This is a relevant issue in engineering applications

consid

ering the complexities associated with these analyses in

terms

of input data to be provided and of software requirements.

The response of underground structures to earthquake

loading is considerably different from that of above-ground

facilities since the overall mass of the structure is

usually small

compared with the mass of the surrounding ground and the

confining pressure provides high values of radiation damp

ing. As a matter of fact underground facilities are in

general

less vulnerable to earthquakes compared with above-ground

structures. Nevertheless, underground structures cannot be

considered unvulnerable to the effects of ground shaking, as

demonstrated by the recent 1995 Kobe (Japan), 1999 Chi-Chi

(Taiwan) and 2004 Niigata (Japan) earthquakes where sev

eral tunnels and underground structures have suffered severe

damages.

2 EARTHQUAKES INDUCED DAMAGE IN

UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES

The review of damage suffered by underground structures due

to earthquakes (i.e. Dowding & Rozen (1978), Owen & Scholl

(1981), Sharma & Judd (1991), Power et al. (1998), Wang et

al.

(2001), etc.) confirms that these structures are less

vulnerable

than above-ground facilities. In particular, Dowding & Rozen

(1978) grouped damages of underground structures due to

earthquakes into three main categories:

• damage due to ground shaking;

• damage due to fault dislocation; • damage due to

earthquake-induced ground failures (e.g. liquefaction and
landslides). Usually, most of the damage occurs due to the
effects of fault dislocation or landslides. However, since
the main focus of this paper is on seismic vulnerability of
deep tunnels, the latter effects are not considered. Damage
due to fault dislocation is only indirectly associated with
seismic loading and it is usually concentrated in a
relative small area that can be identified by geological
and seismotectonic studies. Damage due to shaking occurs
when one or more of the following conditions are met: •
earthquakes with large magnitude • tunnels located close to
active faults (<15 ÷ 25 km) • poor rock mass conditions •
poor construction conditions (i.e. without lining or lining
with masonry bricks) • sharp variation of mechanical and/or
geometrical properties in both the ground and the
structure. A careful review of the seismic damages suffered
by underground structures shows that most tunnels were
located in the vicinity of causative faults. The
characteristics of ground motion in the vicinity of a
causative fault can be significantly different from that of
the far-field. There is no well-defined distance over which
a site may be classified as in near-field or far-field. A
useful criterion to define the near-field zone is related
to the comparison of the source dimension with the source
to site distance. The ground motion close to an active
fault is characterized by strong, coherent (narrow band)
long period pulses and is severely affected by the rupture
mechanism, the direction of rupture propagation relative to
the site, and possible permanent ground displacements
resulting from fault slip. These latter two factors are
usually identified respectively as “rupture-directivity”
and “fling step” effects. The intense, pulse-like character
of the near-fault records is not apparent in most
accelerograms. On the contrary, a careful examination of
the velocity-time histories and displacementtime histories
reveals the unique features of these records. Typically the
peak ground velocity of near-fault motion is

Table 1. Damage criteria proposed in this work.

Damage level Damage description ∗ Functionality

None A No damage detectable by visual inspection Immediate

Slight A Light damage detected on visual inspection,

cracking of the concrete lining, interruption of local
opening of joints and obstructing of the opening, opening
deformations operations is not (crack width <3 mm, crack
lengths <5 m) strictly required

Moderate B Roof or wall collapse, falling and failure of

the tunnel lining or in un-lining section, Interruption
spalling of the concrete lining or un-lining section, liner
steel exposed, cracking of the of operation concrete
lining, crushing of the concrete lining, pavement cracks,
wall deformation, only for 2 slabbing or spalling of the
rock around the opening, bending and buckling of or 3 days
reinforcing bars (cracks >3 mm, lengths >5 m)

Severe C Portal failure, slope instability induce tunnel

collapse, shared off lining, Interruption of pavement
uplift, rising of the invert, tunnel being flooded or where
a tunnel its serviceability shows damage on ventilation or
lighting system for a long period of time

∗ w = width of crack, l = length of crack.

substantially larger than that of far-field strong ground

motion,

and the loading of structural systems is greatly affected

by this

difference (Bray & Rodriguez-Marek, 2004).

2.1 Damage classification

The definition of fragility functions requires a

classification of

damage. From the literature reviews of earthquakes-induced

damages in underground structures, one can notice a wide

variability of data, in terms of geometrical information,

rock mass parameters, earthquakes parameters, strong motion

parameters, type of damage, type of support, etc.

Therefore, it

is of foremost importance to define unambiguously a damage

criterion.

By reviewing the damage criteria used in the existing dam

age classification, two alternatives can be followed in

defining

the damage state. The first is strictly based on the

structural

damage, whereas the second is related to post-earthquake

functionality.

In this paper the damage state is defined according to Huang

et al. (1999) combined with some considerations proposed

by ALA (2001) and RTRI (2001). The damage classification

includes qualitative and quantitative damage descriptions.

Par

ticularly, this classification considers four levels of

damage

(none, slight, moderate and severe damage) grouped into

three categories A, B and C, in which the group A includes

none and slight damage. Each category includes the function

ality states defined by RTRI (2001). The adopted scheme is

shown in Table 1.
3 SEISMIC VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT

A useful tool for assessing seismic vulnerability of under

ground structures is represented by the fragility curves.

The

seismic vulnerability of a structure can be defined as its

sus

ceptibility to be damaged by a ground shaking of a given

intensity (Crowley et al., 2006). The fragility curve

represents

the relation between the probability of achieving a

specified

level of damage for a prescribed level of seismic hazard

(ALA,

2001).

Different approaches can be used to define the vulnerability

of a structure. These approaches can be classified into the

following four categories:

• empirical fragility curves

• judgemental fragility curves • analytical fragility

curves • hybrid vulnerability curves depending on the
damage information used for the generation of fragility
curves. This information is mainly obtained from
post-earthquake investigation surveys, expert opinion,
analytical simulation or a combination of these sources
(Rossetto & Elnashai, 2003). 3.1 Existing fragility curves
Relatively few families of fragility curves have been
specifically derived for underground structures. The
document ATC13 (ATC, 1985) refers to damage probability
matrices using ground motion intensity according to the
Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. The damage probability
matrices were converted into a cumulative probability
distribution using the methodology described in ASCE (1985)
(ALA, 2001). The ATC13 fragility curves were obtained from
expert judgment. The fragility curves proposed by HAZUS
(FEMA and NIBS, 2004) use as a measure of ground shaking
intensity the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA). Also included
is a description of geohazard caused by ground failure such
as landslides or fault offset.The parameter used to
quantify this hazard is the Peak Ground Displacement (PGD).
HAZUS fragility curves are to a great extent based on
earthquake experience and data reported by Dowding & Rozen
(1978) and Owen & Scholl (1981). The American Lifelines
Alliance (ALA, 2001) provides empirical fragility curves
for tunnels in rock (bored) and soil (cut and cover)
tunnels considering two possible conditions for
construction quality: poor-to-average and good. The curves
are based on the PGA database gathered by Power et al.
(1998). PGA median values and in some cases the lognormal
standard deviation of the fragility curves reported in ALA
2001, HAZUS99 and ATC-13 are shown in Table 2. 3.2 Measure
of ground motion intensity The ground motion parameter
chosen to quantify the intensity of ground shaking strongly
affects the reliability of fragility analysis. A review of
the existing fragility curves for underground structures
shows that a parameter frequently used to characterize
ground motion intensity is the PGA. As shown in Figure 1,
PGA shows a poor correlation with the damage potential of
ground motion.

Table 2. Existing tunnel fragility – median PGA and

lognormal

standard deviation. Damage states

Type of tunnel and Minor or slight Moderate

rock mass conditions damage/(β) damage/(β)

ALA 2001 Rock: poor-to0.35 g (0.4) 0.55 g (0.4) average

construction and conditions ∗ Rock: good 0.61 g (0.4) 0.82
g (0.4) construction and conditions Soil: poor-to0.3 g
(0.4) 0.45 g (0.4) average construction and conditions ∗∗
Soil: good 0.5 g (0.4) 0.7 g (0.4) construction and
conditions

HAZUS 99 Poor-to-average 0.50 g (0.4) 0.70 g (0.6)

construction and conditions (alluvial soil) Good 0.60 g
(0.4) 0.80 g (0.6) construction and conditions (rock)

ATC-13 Alluvial soil 0.44 ÷ 0.44 g 0.74 ÷ 0.84 g Rock 0.45

g 0.94 g

∗ PGA for heavy damage state = 1.1 g (β= 0.5).

∗∗ PGA for heavy damage state = 0.95 g (β= 0.5).

This poor correlation is related to the following:

• Usually underground structures undergo seismic damage

when located close to active faults. Ground motion shaking

in near-fault conditions is characterized by strong,

coherent

(narrow band) long period pulses. This intense, impul

sive character of near-fault records is clearly shown in the

velocity–time histories.

• The response of underground structures is governed by the

imposed strain field, which may be correlated to the Peak

Ground Velocity (PGV) through the following relationship:

where PGS is the Peak Ground Strain and C a represents the

apparent wave velocity of the wave considered.

For these reasons, the intensity of ground motion shaking

for assessing seismic vulnerability of underground

structures

is better quantified in terms of PGV at the free surface.

Since

a direct measurement of PGV at the location where the tun

nel is damaged is generally not available, the values of

this

ground motion parameter can be back-calculated through an

attenuation relationship purposely developed to predict PGV

in near-fault conditions.

Among different attenuation relationships proposed, that

given by Bray & Rodriguez-Marek (2004), which accounts

also for site conditions, can be used in the following

functional
form (Figure 2): Figure 1. Influence of expected surface
Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) on level of damage. Figure
2. Bray and Rodriguez-Marek (2004) attenuationcurves for
near-fault ground motion. where PGV is in cm/s, M W is the
moment magnitude, R is rupture distance in km. In order to
estimate PGV the earthquake magnitude and source-to-site
distance need be known. In near-fault conditions the fault
size is comparable with the source-to-site distance. Then,
it is necessary to consider the minimum distance to the
fault plane, which is usually called rupture distance (r
rup ). This distance may be very different from the
epicentral or hypocentral distances, usually considered in
standard attenuation relationships. The need to use the
rupture distance poses an important problem. In fact, most
of the database collecting earthquake induced damage of
underground structures (e.g. Dowding & Rozen, 1978; Owen &
Scholl, 1981; Sharma & Judd, 1991) were constructed using
epicentral or hypocentral distances, which may lead to
misleading results. However, computation of the rupture
distance requires knowledge of the fault geometry (i.e.
strike, dip, length, width, hypocentral position) and the
relative position of the damaged tunnels. Knowledge of the
complete set of these parameters is usually difficult. They
are known only for the most recent earthquakes. In this
study (Corigliano, 2007) the rupture distances were
calculated for most of the damaged tunnels of 1952 Kern
County (USA), 1989 Loma Prieta (USA), 1994 Northridge
(USA), 1995 Kobe (Japan), 1999 Chi Chi (Taiwan), and 2004
Niigata earthquakes (Japan) for a total of 121 cases. 3.3
Empirical fragility curves Fragility curves for deep
tunnels based on the empirical approach have been
developed. The empirical approach represents the most
realistic method for studying seismic vulnerability because
it is based on damage information gathered during past
earthquakes, which directly take into consideration
soil–structure interaction effects, topography, site, path
and source characteristics.

Figure 3. Fragility curves corresponding to states of “no

damage”

or “slight damage” and “moderate damage”.

Table 3. Fragility curves for deep tunnels – median PGV and

σ. Lognormal Median standard deviation

None or Slight damage 53.2 cm/s 0.84

Moderate Damage 85.5 cm/s 0.31

The fragility curves are modelled as log-normal statistical

distribution functions which give the probability of

reaching

or exceeding different state of damage for a given level of

ground motion intensity. Each fragility curve is

characterized

by a median value of ground motion (x 50 ) with an

associated

log-normal standard deviation σ. The functional form of the

probability distribution is given by the following relation:

where is the cumulative log-normal distribution function.

A graphical representation of Eq. (3) for two levels of

damage

is illustrated in Figure 3. Table 3 shows the parameters of

the

distribution.

The results of the analysis show that moderate damage

occurs when the value of PGV ranges between 40 and

115 cm/s. However within this range, there are several cases

in which no damage has been recorded. This is due to var

ious reasons. One is that the values of PGV predicted by

the attenuation relation are the fault-normal components of

ground motion which correspond to the worst possible case

of directivity effect. If a site of the database were

located in

backward or neutral directivity position with respect to the

source, the corresponding value of PGV would be substan

tially lower. Another reason is that the vulnerability of

deep

tunnels is strongly affected by the tunnel support type and

by

the nature of surrounding ground and the database of damages

considered in this study is rather heterogeneous.

4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

In this paper new empirical fragility curves for underground

structures in response to ground shaking have been proposed,

which use PGV instead of PGA as a ground motion.

The new fragility curves have been obtained from a com

posite database of earthquake-related damages of tunnels

that

ABSTRACT: Underground exploitation of hard coal deposit in

Ostrava-Karvina Coalfield which is the Czech part of Upper

Silesian Coal Basin is accompanied by induced seismicity.

This seismicity can be manifested negatively by rock bursts
occur

rence in underground workings and/or by vibration on the

surface. The magnitude of surface vibration can be
influenced by

several factors. The basic factors are geological

properties of rock mass – the thickness and the quality of
overburden of Car

boniferous strata and the level of underground water. In

the paper authors analyse possible impact of these factors
on surface

vibration in conditions of Ostrava-Karvina Coalfield. The

influence of rock burst and seismicity on surface is being
observed

by a network of standard underground and surface seismic

stations and interpreted since late 1990’s.

In previous few years the particle velocity was measured by

mobile seismic stations on Earth’s surface in selected
localities.

These values were compared with those interpreted from the

standard seismic network data. The analyses of geological

properties, in the sites where the mobile seismic stations

were situated and the assessment of differences between
measured and

interpreted velocities, give an idea how the geological

properties influence the magnitude of particle velocity on
the surface

structures. The results are also discussed in the paper.

1 INTRODUCTION

Annually several tens thousands of minor induced seismic

events are recorded in Karvina part of Ostrava-Karvina Coal

field (OKR) in Czech Republic. OKR is the southern part

of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (see fig. 1). Energetically

significant major induced seismic events are only few tens.

Some of these events are accompanied by earth tremor.This

fact is affected by several factors. Among basic factors the

following ones can be included:

• The quantity of released seismic energy and the location

of

seismic focal area activity (epicenter),

• The physical and mechanical properties of rock mass envi

ronment between the seismic focal area and the place of

seismic performance on surface,

• The properties of the strata under the surface (ground

water

level, geological structure, tectonics etc.).

The impacts of induced seismicity on the surface are

observed more or less in inhabited regions. In certain cases

Figure 1. Geographic location of Upper Silesian Coal Basin

within

frame of territory of the Czech Republic (OKR). the surface

vibration may damage buildings and other surface
constructions. The damage on a surface construction is also
affected by its current state and by the degree of its
previous damage. A result of induced seismicity can be
often combined with other negative impacts – defects in
construction’s foundations, varied properties of immediate
bedrock, high ground water level or its fluctuation,
repeated loading by technical seismicity, damaging by
undermining. In our contribution we would like to describe
the first results of our investigating the influence of
overburden thickness over Carboniferous formations on
effects of induced seismicity on the surface. 2 NATURAL
CONDITIONS Carboniferous rock formation in Karvina part of
OKR is created by Karvina and Ostrava strata (see figs 3
and 4). The coal seams of Karvina strata are recently
massively exploited. Karvina strata represent a continental
coal-bearing molasa in OKR (middle and upper Namur,
Westphal A). In contrast to lithological nature of western
part of OKR the sedimentary cycles are conspicuously longer
and moreover sandstones are prevailing. Compression
strength values of such rocks are distinctly higher ones
than those of mudstones and siltstones. In thicker banks of
rigid rock components then higher stress concentrations
occur than in other parts of rock massif. This condition
has been manifested most conspicuously in Saddle beds,
which are basal part of Karvina series of strata. The
Saddle beds are featured by several tens of meters thick
banks of rigid rocks (sandstones, sandy siltstones and
conglomerates (Dopita et al. 1997). Karviná partial basin
is created by major dip-slip faults with amplitude mostly
about tens to hundreds of metres. Most of them are combined
with horizontal strike-slip faults.There are two entirely
dominant directions: longitudinal N-S to NNE– SSW or
NNW-SSE and transverse direction oscillating around

W-E direction. By a nature of its displacement, the number

of dip-slip faults is approximate to rotation faults of

hinged

type. Minor faults mainly of dip-slip type are inserted into

this fundamental tectonic frame. Furthermore there is also

the

system of oblique-slip (thrust) faults in the Karvina

area.There

is a zone of flat dip-slip faults with amplitude 10 to 30 m

at

some places inter-layered. The origin of the thrust system

is

after recent research (Grygar et al. 2004) Variscan eastward

deformation movement.

The cover is formed in its upper part particularly by sed

iment formation of middle Pleistocen. These formations are

Figure 2. The map of thickness isolines [m] of

Carboniferous cover

in Karvina Partial Basin.

Figure 3. Cross section P1 (seismic station LUT to CHO).

represented by paleoclimatically and lithogenetically
various glacial and interglacial sediments of Elster and
Sals sedimental denudation and soil-forming cycle (Dopita
et al. 1997). The thickness of these sediments reaches from
one metre up to tens of metres. Pre-quarter sediments
create second distinct part of Carboniferous cover and they
are represented by sediments of Carpath and Baden with
thickness of 10 to 1,200 m. Particularly Baden sediments
are important. They form basal coarse-grained unclassified
clastics, which were deposited into considerable
depressions of pre-Baden relief. These clastics are sharply
covered by monotone strata of gray lime sea clays creating
their impermeable roof (Dopita et al. 1997) – see figs 2, 3
and 4. Two types of hydrogeological environment can be
important for investigated problem from hydrogeological
viewpoint. First type is an aquifer rock of Quaternary
sediment or aquifer rock originating in antropogennous
embankments of cover. Due to genesis and nature of aquifer
rock sediments, in many cases these aquifer rocks are not
developed continuously in area of large territories.
However the level of underground water of these aquifer
rocks is in number of cases ranging in shallow depth under
the surface (1–3 m). Second type is an aquifer rock bounded
to clastics of lower Baden, which is hydraulic system with
confined surface, nowadays strongly impacted by antropogen
activities (Dopita et al. 1997). 3 CONTEMPORARY ASSESSMENT
OF IMPACT Continuous measuring and assessment of seismic
effects of induced seismicity on surface is enabled by so
called seismic polygon. The basic task is continuous
monitoring, particularly of strong induced seismic events
in the system of rockbursts prevention. The seismic polygon
(SP) is a regional seismic network consisting of seven
surface and three underground three-component stations,
which are spread around Karvina part of OKR (see fig. 2).
One vertical and two horizontal sensors (N-S and E-W) with
exact orientation allow the determination of complete
vector of vibrating movement (displacement, velocity,
acceleration) on each of SP station.

The sensors register a particle velocity as a basic record;

the

acceleration is obtained by a numeric derivation of the

signal

and the displacement then by a numeric integration of

signal.

The values of particle velocity at the stations are

determined

from the records. The isolines in area of Karvina part of

OKR

are processed by the method of standard linear interpolation

from regular point array by own computer software.

Computer software allows processing of array of maximum

amplitudes of particle velocity for defined seismic event

but

also for selected group of seismic events (i.e. selection of

intensive seismic events in longer time period e.g. in one

year), in such case maximum values from all files of events

are

determined in given points. Maximal values of amplitudes of

whole point array without any reference to its selected

density
(for monitored area of approximately 8 × 10 km is commonly

used array of 40 × 40 points, i.e. points at the rectangle

of

200 × 250 m), are further specified up to the density of 5

× 5 m

for determination of absolute maximum which is located near

the epicenter of seismic event.

An example of map with isolines of particle velocity on sur

face surface ground velocity for one mining tremor is shown

on figure 5. Presented isoline array is very complicated. It

demonstrates a complicated mechanism of focus of mining

tremor origin.

The most precise data of calculated array of surface par

ticles velocities are near the monitoring points included

into

the calculation. In further areas these values can differ

par

ticularly due to application of a simplified geological

model

of Karvina area, a simple model for determination of focus

mechanism and local changes of different geological factors.

Figure 4. Cross section P3 (seismic station HAV to KAR). In

compliance with requirements of standards, it is necessary
to monitor and assess actual seismic effects for every
seismic event and concrete location of expected activities.
Table 1 gives a number summary of registered major seismic
events (selection from SP database) in years 2002 to 2006.
Table shows also the maximum value of seismic energy and
the maximum value of particle velocity in epicenter
calculated from the records of SP stations for these
induced seismic events. Figure 5. Map of isolines of
particle velocity (values of isolines were optimized by
computer program) for mining tremor on 18th June 2005,
which epicenter was located in the area of CSA mine.
Table 1. Numbers of registered major induced seismic events
in

years 2002–2006. Number of events with Maximum energy

Maximum particle seismic velocity

Year >5.0 × 10 4 J >1.0 × 10 5 J energy J mms −1

2002 83 45 6.0 × 10 6 4.7

2003 83 40 2.3 × 10 6 3.5

2004 72 33 6.4 × 10 6 7.5

2005 93 44 4.0 × 10 6 6.5

2006 96 47 8.6 × 10 6 5.7

Total 427 209 8.6 × 10 6 7.5

Overall it can be said, that the intensity of seismic

effects

caused at surface by mining seismicity depends on many

parameters and particularly on the following:

• Mechanism of mining tremor hypocenter,

• size of emitted seismic energy,

• epicenter distance and depth of mining tremor hypocenter,

• structure of rock mass through which seismic waves

propagate and local geology in location of monitored

manifestation.

4 THICKNESS OF COVER FORMATIONS VS IMPACT

OF INDUCED SEISMICITY

As a basic, the regional network of SP stations – see

description

above – is used for assessment of seismic impact on surface

constructions. Seismic stations surround the whole area with

mining activities and allow determining both, vertical and
hor

izontal components of particle velocity vector. Relations of

changes in particle velocity amplitudes to P and S-wave

groups

distance and to azimuth of their arrival to seismic

stations were

determined from the long time monitoring results. In the

area

between seismic stations the seismic impacts are

interpolated

by found relations which are published in e.g. (Holecko et

al.

2005; Kalab et al. 2006);

The final amplitude of particle velocity in the location of

construction coordinates (x i , y i , z i ) on the surface

is given by

relation (1):

where:

V i – represents the value of total vector of ground

velocity in point (x i , y i , z i ) (maximum value) for
wave group P or S [ms −1 ],

V 0 – as V i above but in reference distance of 1 km,

r i – represents the distance of the point (x i , y i , z i

) from the hypocenter,

α – attenuation coefficient of particle velocity for wave

group P or S [km −1 ],

F(azim) – multiplicative function of dependence on azimuth

(azim).

The maximum value of particle velocity for each event was

calculated according to the following equation (2): where:

V Z i , V N i , V E i represent particles velocities for
P-waves and S-waves recorded on the corresponding
components – geographically oriented seismometers, vertical
(Z) and two horizontal (E-W) and (N-S) orientation.
Up-to-date monitoring (Dolezalova et al. 2004; Holecko et
al. 2006; Konicek and Holecko 2006) further shows that in
some areas the total amplitude of particle velocity is
affected (increased/decreased) by other factors, the most
of them is the cover thickness (depth of the Carboniferous
under the surface) as well as level of underground water.
Then the relation (1) can be simply written as: where: F(h
V, h K ) – represents functions of effect of underground
water level and cover thickness (depth of the Carboniferous
under the surface) on value of total particle velocity
vector in the point (x i , y i , z i ). Determination of
the dependence of function F(h V ,h K ) on coordinates (x i
, y i , z i ) inside the area surrounded by SP stations can
be done empirically, i.e. by comparison of values V i
calculated from data of SP stations with values of particle
velocity measured in reality on a number of surface seismic
stations. Such empirically determined relation can be
included into calculations of particle velocity given for
surface construction inside the area surrounded by SP
stations. For that reason measurements by mobile seismic
stations on surface constructions are as well provided in
OKR, but only for the period of few last years. In the
paper we are presenting first comparison results of
calculations from SP stations and data measured by mobile
stations without taking into consideration the changes of
geological conditions particularly then for assessment of
dependency on changing cover thickness (depth of the
Carboniferous under the surface). Considering that we are
dealing with three dependent parameters, i.e. particle
velocity V i ( m/s), hypocenter distance D(m) and seismic
energy E(J) a simplified approach for displaying mutual
dependences was searched for. As the simplest approach
seemed to be introducing of so called scaled distance D ∗ =
D/ 3 √ E (m/ 3 √ J) − (Cube Root Scaling), which was used,
e.g., Isaac (1991); Hendron (1997), Dowding (1992) and Jiao
et al. (2003), or scaled distance D ◦ = D/ √ E (m/ √ J) –
(Square Root Scaling) – was applied in studies by Siskind
et al. (1980) and by Egan et al. (2001). We chose and
implemented both values D ◦ and D ∗ in the calculation of
scaled distance. The hypocentral distance D was calculated
according to the formula (4): where: x F , y F and z F are
coordinates of a focus, x S , y S and z S are coordinates
of seismic station. The relationship between the maximum
particle velocity V max for S-waves and the scaled
hypocentral distance D ◦ = D/ √ E and D ∗ = D/( 3 √ E) for
regional network of SP. Only data obtained between 1997 and
2006 from regional seismic stations LUT, PRS, KAR, CHO and
HAV deployed on the surface were used in the present study
– these seismic stations are shown in Figs 2, 3 and 4. All
stations are equipped with three-component short period
sensors to record particle velocity. The energetic span of
seismic events was within

Figure 6. The relationship between the maximum particle

veloc

ity V max for P and S-waves and the scaled hypocentral

distance

D ◦ = D/( √ E): Profile P1 – seismic station LUT.

the interval of E = 5.0 × 10 4 − 6.7 × 10 7 J, while

calculated

hypocentral distances D of five surface seismic stations

varied

from 5 to 12 km.

Data for individual seismic stations were plotted into

graphs

with axes in logarithmic values to present the relation

between

the maximum particle velocity V i (m/s) and the scaled dis

tances D ◦ (m/ √ J) or D ∗ (m/ 3 √ J) in groups of P and

S-waves.

Values of vector V i (m/s), in dependence on scaled hypocen

tral distance D ◦ (m √ J) or D ∗ (m/ 3 √ J) for P and

S-wave, were

determined based on acquired parameters of regression line.

Regression method of least squares dependency of V i on both

parameters of scaled distance (two parameters of scaled dis

tance were applied in the least-square regression method)

was

used.
The present study was based on the assessment of predom

inant frequencies within each group of P and S-waves at the

arrival time of the maximum amplitude of particles

velocities.

While predominant frequencies of P-waves are manifested by

a broader bandwidth of 3–10 Hz, S-waves have the maximum

value at the frequency of 2–6 Hz. Resulting values of

observed

frequencies are displayed in the form of histograms given in

e.g. (Kalab et al. 2006).

Since the rockburst occurrence were irregularly distributed

in the rock mass, seismic rays propagating from the focus

arrived to seismic stations from different azimuths.

Therefore

those data were divided into groups and assessed on pro

files between individual seismic stations. The most

interesting

results were obtained from P1 profile (see figs 6 to 9)

between

LUT and CHO seismic stations and P3 profile (see figs 10 to

13) between KAR and HAV seismic stations.

P1 profile is going through the central part of Karvina part

of OKR, where the thickness of cover formations is in sev

eral places 0 to 20 m (Carboniferous rock mass reaches up to

the surface). P3 profile crosses P1 profile and goes through

areas where increased seismicity is induced at the present

by

mining activities (high number of seismic activities, occur

rence of seismic activities with degree of energy up to 10
6 J).

OSA seismic station, where comparison of measurement with

mobile seismic equipment was provided (see figs 2 and 3), is

located near the crossing of profiles P1 and P3.

In Tables 2 to 5 are presented acquired relations of maxi

mum of particle velocity on scaled distance determined from

regression lines on Fig. 6 to 13: for stations LUT and CHO

on

P1 profile (relation 5 to 12 in Tables 2 and 3) and for

stations

HAV and KAR on P3 profile (relation 13 to 20 in Tables 4

Figure 7. The relationship between the maximum particle
velocity V max for P and S-waves and the scaled hypocentral
distance D ◦ = D/( √ E): Profile P1 – seismic station CHO.
Figure 8. The relationship between the maximum particle
velocity V max for P and S-waves and the scaled hypocentral
distance D ∗ = D/( 3 √ E): Profile P1 – seismic station
LUT. Figure 9. The relationship between the maximum
particle velocity V max for Pand S-waves and the scaled
hypocentral distance D ∗ = D/( 3 √ E): Profile P1 – seismic
station CHO. and 5). Total of 130 energetically strong
seismic events were used for P1 profile and 80 for P3
profile. Although the distances were very variable, the
data surprisingly aligned in straight-lines if D ◦ or D ∗
were used for seismic stations LUT and KAR. It was also
documented by the correlation coefficients R 2 for data
sets determined by the equations (5–8, 17–20) – see Tables
2 and 5. For seismic stations CHO

Figure 10. The relationship between the maximum particle

veloc

ity V max for P and S-waves and the scaled hypocentral

distance

D ◦ = D/( √ E): Profile P3 – seismic station HAV.

Figure 11. The relationship between the maximum particle

veloc

ity V max for P and S-waves and the scaled hypocentral

distance

D ◦ = D/( √ E): Profile P3 – seismic station KAR.

Figure 12. The relationship between the maximum particle

veloc

ity V max for P and S-waves and the scaled hypocentral

distance

D ∗ = D/( 3 √ E): Profile P3 – seismic station HAV.

and HAV, in the case of data for P-waves (by the equations

9–10, 13–14 in Tables 3 and 4) the dispersion of values V i

in

the graphs is considerable and also the correlation

coefficient

R 2 is low. Figure 13. The relationship between the maximum

particle velocity V max for P and S-waves and the scaled
hypocentral distance D ∗ = D/( 3 √ E): Profile P3 – seismic
station KAR. Table 2. Maximum particles velocities (V i )
and correlation coefficients (R 2 ) for profile P1 and
seismic station LUT. Waves V i (root scaling) ms −1 R 2 P
max (SRS) 6.159 × 10 −4 × D o−1.197 0.6743 (5) P max (CRS)
4.051 × 10 −2 × D ∗−1.562 0.6980 (6) S max (SRS) 8.945 × 10
−4 × D o−1.107 0.7133 (7) S max (CRS) 2.237 × 10 −2 × D
∗−1.264 0.6634 (8) Table 3. Maximum particles velocities (V
i ) and correlation coefficients (R 2 ) for profile P1 and
seismic station CHO. Waves V i (root scaling) ms −1 R 2 P
max (SRS) 1.155 × 10 −4 × D o−0.663 0.3534 (9) P max (CRS)
6.122 × 10 −2 × D ∗−0.731 0.2584 (10) S max (SRS) 1.107 ×
10 −3 × D o−1.166 0.6445 (11) S max (CRS) 6.172 × 10 −2 × D
∗−1.498 0.6385 (12) Table 4. Maximum particles velocities
(V i ) and correlation coefficients (R 2 ) for profile P3
and seismic station HAV. Waves V i (root scaling) ms −1 R 2
P max (SRS) 1.077 × 10 −4 × D o−0.681 0.3648 (13) P max
(CRS) 6.073 × 10 −4 × D ∗−0.760 0.2518 (14) S max (SRS)
1.395 × 10 −3 × D o−1.177 0.7625 (15) S max (CRS) 9.777 ×
10 −2 × D ∗−1.569 0.7522 (16) Table 5. Maximum particles
velocities (V i ) and correlation coefficients (R 2 ) for
profile P3 and seismic station KAR. Waves V i (root
scaling) ms −1 R 2 P max (SRS) 3.042 × 10 −4 × D o−1.010
0.5247 (17) P max (CRS) 8.459 × 10 −3 × D ∗−1.301 0.5600
(18) S max (SRS) 3.402 × 10 −3 × D o−1.359 0.6877 (19) S
max (CRS) 2.315 × 10 −1 × D ∗−1.695 0.6877 (20)

Figure 14. The relationship between the maximum particle

velocity

V max for S-waves and the scaled hypocentral distance D ∗ =

D/( 3 √ E):

P 1 – seismic station OSA.

Figure 15. The relationship between the maximum particle

velocity

V max for S-waves and the scaled hypocentral distance D ∗ =

D/( 3 √ E):

P3 – seismic station OSA.

Table 6. Maximum particles velocities (V i ) and

correlation coeffi

cients (R 2 ) for profile P1 and seismic station OSA.

Waves V i

(root scaling) ms −1 R 2

P max (SRS) 4.354 × 10 −3 × D o−1.270 0.6961 (21)

P max (CRS) 4.286 × 10 −1 × D ∗−1.789 0.8625 (22)

S max (SRS) 4.481 × 10 −3 × D o−1.086 0.8233 (23)

S max (CRS) 2.382 × 10 −1 × D ∗−1.604 0.8606 (24)

There were not significant differences in relations acquired

for both scaled distances D ◦ and D ∗ on SP stations which

are located in longer hypocentral distances from registered

seismic activities.

The relationship between the maximum particle veloc

ity V max for S-waves and the scaled hypocentral distance

D ◦ = D/ √ E and D ∗ = D/( 3 √ E) for seismic station OSA.

OSA station was established in 2006. Processing of approx

imately hundred of recorded seismic activities was done by

the same method as for the SP stations. The energetic span

of seismic events was within the interval of E = 1.3 × 10 3

−

2.6 × 10 5 J, while calculated hypocentral distances D of

seis

mic station OSA varied from 1.4 to 6.0 km for profile P1,

and E = 1.1 × 10 3 − 3.5 × 10 6 J, D = 1.4 − 3.0 km for

profile

P3. Further only values for S-waves from OSA station (see

figs 14, 15 and Table 6) are given, because it was proved

that

particle velocity on all seismic stations is significantly

higher

for S-waves than for P-waves.

Predominant frequencies were about 3 to 6 Hz for vertically

oriented seismometer, and about 2 to 5 Hz for horizontally

ori

ented seismometers for OSA seismic station. The correlation

coefficients R 2 for OSA data sets determined by the

equations

(21 – 24 inTable 6) is higher than for data from SP

stations. On

Dowding, C. H. 1992. Suggested method for blast vibration

mon

itoring. Int. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Abstr. Vol. 29, No. 2:

143–156.

Dubinski, J. and Mutke G. (2001): Assesment of the

influence of

mining induced seismic events on surface. In: Badania

geofizyczne

w kopalniach, Dubinski, Pilecki, Zuberek (eds.), IGSMiE PAN,

Kraków, 135–146. (in Polish)

Egan, J., Kermode, J., Skyrman, M. and Turner, L. L.

2001.Ground

vibration monitoring for constructiom blasting in urban

areas.

Final Report, Caltrans, Sacramento, CA: 1–11.

Grygar R., Waclawik P., Jelinek J., Ptacek J. and Konicek

P. (2004):

Easternmost Thrust Tectonic of Czech Part of Upper Silesian

Coal

Basin, Geolines, Vol.17, p 36–38, Proceedings of the 9th

Meeting

of Czech Tectonic Group, 2th Meeting of the Central European

Tectonic Group, Lucenec, Slovakia.

Hendron Jr. H. J., 1997. Engineering of rock blasting on

civil projects.

Structural and Geotechnical Mechanics, W. J. Hall (ed.),

Prentice

Hall, NJ: 242–277.

Holecko J., Kalab, Z., Knejzlik J. and Ptacek, J. (2006):

Surface

oscillation rate at Karvina section of Upper Silesian

Basin. Coal –

Ores – Geological exploration No 2/2006 (in Czech).

Isaac, I. D., 1991. Effects of constructional vibrations

upon an urban

environment. In: Earthquake, Blast and Impact – measurement

and effects of vibration, Elsevier Applied Science:

442–462. Jiao, Y. Y., Zhao, J. and Cai, J. G. 2003.
Consideration for 2-D and 3-D modeling of shock wave
propagation in jointed rock masses. ISRM 2003-Technology
roadmap for rock mechanics, South African Institute of
Mining and Mettalurgy: 583–586. Kalab Z. (2004): Impact of
Seismicity on Surface in MiningAffected Areas: General
Description. Acta Geodyn. Geomater.,Vol. 1 (133), ISSN
1211-1910, Prague, 35–39. Kalab Z., Knejzlik J., Holub K.,
Dolezalová H., Holeèko J. and Ptáèek J. (2006): Impact of
geological factors on intensity of effects of seismic
activities induced by mining on surface structures in
Karvina area. Final report of the project no. 105/03/0078,
GAÈR, Ostrava, 46 s. (in czech) Konicek P. and Holecko J.
(2006): Impact assessment of induced seismicity on surface
in conditions of Czech part of Upper Silesian Coal Basin
(OKR). In: Warsztaty Górnicze 2006, IGSMiE PAN, Kraków,
157–166. Siskind, D. E., Stagg, M. S., Kopp, J. W. and
Dowding, C. H., 1980. Structure response and damage
produced by ground vibrations from surface blasting. U.S.
Bureau of Mines. Report of Investigations 8507. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Slope
stability analysis of a large slope in rock mass: A case
study T.G. Sitharam & V.B. Maji Department of Civil
Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

ABSTRACT: The work presents the results of the slope

stability analysis in jointed rock mass using equivalent
continuum

model. The stability analysis of a large slope is carried

out using the concept of practical equivalent continuum
model using joint

factor and non-linear hyperbolic model. The natural profile

of 359 m high slope at Kauri side of Chenab river bank in
Jammu &

Kashmir, India has been considered as a case study in the

analysis. Slope stability analysis have been carried out
for both static

and dynamic/earthquake conditions. Both pseudo static

approach with appropriate acceleration coefficients and the
complex

dynamic analysis of earthquake shaking using complete

acceleration history of a real earthquake has been applied
at the base of

the slope. Factor of safety were calculated using shear

strength reduction technique considering equivalent
continuum approach
in the pseudo static approach.

1 INTRODUCTION

This paper focuses primarily on the stability of a natural

359 m

high slope in Jammu & Kashmir. In the present work, the

stability analysis of the right abutment slope at Kauri side

of Chenab river between Katra and Laole, in Jammu and

Kashmir, India is simulated using FLAC as a plane strain

prob

lem. Further seismic analyses have been done using pseudo

static approach and also by applying complete time history

of a real earthquake. Pseudo static approach is relatively

sim

ple and straight forward with less time consuming but it can

not really simulate the complex dynamic effects of earth

quake shaking through a constant unidirectional pseudo

static

acceleration. The sudden ground displacements due to the

earthquake motion induce large inertia forces in the slope

which alternate their direction during the earthquake. The

effect of these pulsating stresses, on the slope behavior

has

been studied. These inertial forces in certain zones of the

slope are sometimes high enough to bring down the factor

of safety below unity and lead to a slope failure. To

simulate

the complex dynamic effects of earthquake shaking realisti

cally complete acceleration time history of a real

earthquake

has been applied at the base of the slope. Strong motion

data

of the moderate size earthquake of occurred magnitude 6.5

in the Uttarkashi region of Western Himalayas on October

20, 1991 has been used for this analysis. The strength under

dynamic conditions is a function of the entire time history

of the stresses developed as well as the stress intensity

during

the earthquake. The magnitude of the deformations that devel

oped is dependent upon the applied time history of the

inertial

forces, therefore the knowledge of this variation of the

inertial

forces with time will certainly help in design along with

the

deformation induced in the slope due to the earthquake

forces.

2 CASE STUDY

The Chenab river forms about 360m deep gorge in a V-shaped

valley in the area between Bakkal and Kauri villages. The

width of the river is about 150 m at river bed level and the

level of river bed is 488 m. The railway link between Katra

and

Laole section in Jammu and Kashmir has been planned to have

Figure 1. Slope at the Chenab river site. Table 1. The
ratings for surface weathered and fractured dolomitic
limestone (NIRM Report, 2004). Surface weathered Fractured
dolomitic Parameter dolomitic limestone limestone RQD 49 10
Q 6.12 1.25 RMR 48 25 GSI 43 27 J v 20 60 a steel arch
bridge on Chenab river with around 950 m span at a height
of 360 m. The rail track level on the proposed bridge will
be at RL 856 m.The bridge is under construction and once
constructed it will be the world’s highest elevated bridge.
In the present work, the right slope at Chenab river in
Jammu and Kashmir (Fig. 1) is simulated with FLAC. The
rocks present at the bridge site are heavily jointed. The
main discontinuities as per geological mapping and
geotechnical report (NIRM, 2004) are one sub-horizontal
foliation joint dipping about 20–30 degrees in NE direction
and two sub-vertical joints.The subsurface essentially
consists of dolomitic limestone with different degrees of
weathering and fracturing. Properties of intact rocks
obtained from core drilling, reported from the laboratory
investigations for right abutment are adopted for the
study. The rock mass ratings for surface weathered and
fractured dolomitic limestone are given in Table 1. The
intact rock properties of the right abutment of the slope
are also presented here in Table 2.

Table 2. Intact rock properties for the slope at right

abutment

(NIRM Report, 2004).

Property Average value

Density 2762 Kg/m 3

Young’s modulus 65 GPa

Poisson’s ratio 0.15

UCS 115 MPa

Cohesion 44.44 MPa

Friction 22.76 ◦

Hoek & Brown parameter “m” 23.5

The strata possess major three sets of discontinuities which

are continuous and persistent. At places, the foliation

joint

and the other two joints intersect each other forming a

cubical

structure. The average value of RMR reported as 40, gives

a joint factor (J f ) value of 320, which is said to be

highly
jointed. For the surface weathered dolomitic limestone and

fractured dolomitic limestone, the average spacing of the

foli

ation joint is about 10 cms and 5 cms respectively. For the

other

joints are 20 to 40 cms indicating highly fractured

condition.

These joints are rough or irregular, planar or undulating

and

unaltered with occasional infilling of calcareous or

siliceous

material along them. The strata are completely dry in

nature.

The minimum value of q u reported at the bridge site from

uni

axial compression test on rock core for the surface

weathered

dolomitic limestone is 1670 t/m 2 and for fractured

dolomitic

limestone is 790 t/m 2 . The volumetric joint count (J v )

is

reported as 20 no./m 3 for the surface weathered dolomitic

limestone and 60 for fractured dolomitic limestone, indicat

ing very highly jointed. Therefore the slope is modeled as

an

equivalent continuum with reduced properties for the jointed

rock mass.

3 ROCK MASS BEHAVIOR AND PROPERTIES

The assessment of slope stability of large slopes in

jointed rock

mass requires the use of non-linear material models. In this

paper, the concept of joint factor (J f ) along with
hyperbolic

model has been used to study the stability of a large rock

slope in jointed rock mass. This model uses some statistical

relations using which the uniaxial compressive strength and

elastic modulus are obtained as functions of the joint

factor and

intact rock properties. So, knowing the intact rock

properties

and the joint factor, the jointed rock properties are

estimated

(Ramamurthy, 1993).

The stress–strain behavior of jointed rocks was modeled

based on nonlinear elastic confining stress-dependent model

following a hyperbolic relation as proposed by Duncan and

Chang (1970).

The geomechanical classification scheme for slopes in

jointed rock mass, Slope Mass Rating (SMR) (Romana, 1985)

is also adopted. As per the Geotechnical mapping at Chenab

site (NIRM report, 2004), the average value of RMR with the

adjustment for the joint orientation is reported as about 40

and classification of rock mass as “poor”. When RMR >40,

the slope stability is governed both by orientation and

shear

strength of discontinuities whereas for RMR <30 the failure

develops in the rock mass similar to soil (Robertson, 1988).

After adding factorial adjustment factor to RMR depending

on the relative orientation of joints and slope and another

adjustment factor depending on the methods of excavation

Figure 2. Numerical mesh of the slope using FLAC. the SMR
obtained was >50 which is classified as normal. The slope
seems to be partially stable and systematic support is
suggested only for excavated/blasted region of the slope
for putting foundations for the piers of the Chenab bridge
as per the description of SMR classes. Calculated
equivalent broken rock mass properties, cohesion 1.785 MPa,
friction angle 23 ◦ , Young’s modulus 4.34 GPa, and
Poisson’s ratio 0.15. The Hoek and Brown Parameter ‘m’ for
broken rock 0.59 where as the ‘s’ value calculated for RMR
of 40 is 0.00127. 4 STABILITY ANALYSIS The factor of safety
(FOS) is usually defined as the ratio of the actual rock
shear strength to the minimum shear strength required to
prevent failure. It is also known as the shear strength
reduction factor, FOS can be computed with finite elements
by reducing the shear strength until failure occurs. The
resulting FOS is the ratio of rock mass’s actual shear
strength to the reduced value of shear strength at failure.
The slope is simulated with FLAC in plane strain using
small strain mode i.e. coordinates of the nodes are not
updated according to the computed nodal displacements. The
numerical mesh, shown in Fig. 2 is 60 zones wide and 50
zones high. Relatively high discretization of more than
2500 zones for a slope height of 359 m is taken in the
analyses. Horizontal displacements are fixed for nodes
along the right and right boundaries while both horizontal
and vertical displacements are fixed along the bottom
boundary (Fig. 2). To perform slope stability analysis with
the shear strength reduction technique, simulations are run
for a series of trial factor of safety F trial with c and φ
adjusted according to the equations The value F trial at
which slope fails is found efficiently in FLAC using
bracketing and bisection method. First upper and lower
brackets are established. The initial lower bracket is any
F trial for which a simulation converges. The initial upper
bracket is any F trial for which the simulation does not
converge. Next, a point midway between the upper and lower
brackets is tested. If the simulation converges, lower
bracket is replaced by this new value. If the simulation
does not converge, the upper bracket is replaced. The
process is repeated until the difference between upper and
lower brackets is less than a specific tolerance. The
static factor of safety for the slope with rock mass
properties of cohesion 1.785 MPa and friction 23 ◦ is found
to be 1.86. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 Kh F a
c t o r o f S a f e t y c =1.785MPa and FOS=1 Ky φ=23˚
Figure 3. The variation of pseudo static factor of safety
with

horizontal pseudo static seismic coefficient.

5 PSEUDOSTATIC ANALYSIS

Earthquake induced ground shaking is one of the most fre

quent causes of slope failures/landslides. Earthquakes with

a

very small magnitude may trigger failure in susceptible

slopes.

Therefore a great need exists to quantitatively assess the

haz

ard potential caused by earthquake-induce slope failures.

For

earthquake analysis pseudo static approach is relatively sim

ple and straight forward with less computational time. It

gives

a scalar index of stability which is analogous to that pro

duced by static stability index. The accuracy of the pseudo

static approach is governed by the accuracy with which the

simple pseudo static inertial forces represent the complex

dynamic forces that actually exists in earthquake. In pseudo

static approach earthquakes can be represented by a con

stant horizontal acceleration. Analyses represent the

effects

of earthquake shaking by pseudo static accelerations that

pro

duce inertial forces, k h which act through the centroid of

the

failure mass. The magnitude of the pseudo static force is

Where a h is horizontal pseudo static accelerations, k h is

dimensionless horizontal pseudo static coefficients, and W

the weight of the failure mass.

The horizontal pseudo static forces are assumed to act

in directions that produce positive driving moments. The

dynamic factor of safety decreases as horizontal seismic

coef

ficient k h increases and there will be some positive value

of

k h that will produce a factor of safety of 1.0. This

coefficient

known as the yield coefficient, k y and corresponding yield

acceleration a y = k y g. Fig. 3 shows the variation of

pseudo

static factor of safety with horizontal pseudo static

coefficient

for the case study. It is found that with the values of

cohesion

1.785 MPa and friction 23 ◦ the factor of safety for the

peak

k h = 0.31 is 1.02.

Fig. 4 shows the maximum shear strain rate for the slope

along with velocity vectors. Failure surface is almost

circular

from top of the slope to the toe. Fig. 5 shows the

plasticity

indicator plot of the slope. They reveal those zones in

which

the stresses satisfy the yield criterion.A failure

indicated by the

contiguous line of active plastic zones that join two

surfaces.
It has been observed that initial plastic flow occurred at
the

beginning of the simulation but subsequent to stress

redistri

bution, the yielding elements are unloaded. The active

yielded

elements failed in tension and are important to the detec

tion of a failure mechanism. The yielded zone due to shear

can be seen in the Fig. 5 and as observed, it also follows a

circular/non-circular failure surface. Figure 4. Critical

failure surface. Figure 5. Plasticity indicator plot
depicting the yielded zones. -0.25 -0.15 -0.05 0.05 0.15
0.25 0.35 0 10 20 30 40 Time (s) A c c e l e r a t i o n (
g ) Corrected transverse component of acceleration Figure
6. The corrected transverse component of acceleration time
history of Uttarkashi earthquake, Oct 20,1991 02:53 IST,
used in the study. (Data from Dept.of Earthquake Engg., IIT
Roorkee). 6 TIME RESPONSE ANALYSIS The pseudo static
approach to stability analysis is simple and straight
forward but it can not really simulate the complex dynamic
effects of earthquake shaking through a constant
unidirectional pseudo static acceleration. To carry out the
full dynamic analysis with the real earthquake records, the
corrected transverse component of acceleration time history
was applied at the base of the slope. Free field boundary
has been used to minimize the wave reflection. The dynamic
inputs have been used as the transverse component of
acceleration time history of Uttarkashi earthquake, Oct 20,
1991 02:53 IST. Fig. 6 shows the corrected transverse
component of acceleration time history of Uttarkashi
earthquake, with a max = 0.31g. The total duration of the
earthquake is 39.9s with time step of 0.02s. The sudden
ground displacements due to the earthquake motion induce
large inertia forces in the slope which alternate their
direction during the earthquake. The effect of these
pulsating stresses superimposed on the initial dead load
stresses, on the slope behavior has been studied. The
inertial forces in certain zones of the slope are sometimes
high enough to bring down the factor of safety below unity
and lead to a slope failure. It was observed that most of
the displacements occurred in the initial 10 sec interval
of the base excitation and later they started ceasing due
to lesser magnitude of the acceleration value in the later
portion (Fig. 6). It has been observed that the overall
effect of continuous inertial forces may lead to
accumulation of the displacement of a particular (a) (b)
-1.6 -1.4 -1.2 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0 50 100 150 200
250 300 350 400 450 Distance from toe towards crest (m) X d
i s p l a c e m e n t ( m ) 5% damping 10% damping 15%
damping 20% damping A A B -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 Distance from toe
towards crest (m) Y D i s p l a c e m e n t ( m ) 5%
damping 10% damping 15% damping 20% damping A A B B B

Figure 7. a) and b) Horizontal and vertical displacements

along the

slope for different damping values.

section of the slope. Once the applied ground motions gener

ated due to inertia forces have ceased, no further

deformation

has occurred, as there is no marked loss in the strength of

rock. Figs.7 a) and b) show how the horizontal and vertical

displacement values respectively along the slope for

different

Rayleigh damping values. It is observed that the higher val

ues of displacements occurred at the lower part of the slope

near the toe region which decreases with the increase in

damp

ing values. The maximum x-displacement value observed at a

distance around 75 m from the toe and later shows a decreas

ing trend along the slope but again started increasing near
the

crest after following a constant for some distance. In case

of

Y-displacement, it shows slightly different trend. The maxi

mum value ofY-displacement (heaving) observed near the toe

region and goes on decreasing along the slope and at around

160 m from the toe it shows minimum for higher damping

values but for 5% damping little settlements also observed.

Beyond that the displacement value goes on increasing along

the slope and at the crest around 15 cm heaving observed

irrespective of different damping values.

7 CONCLUSIONS

The primary goal of the work is to provide an insight for

anal

ysis of a large slope in jointed rock mass using the concept

ABSTRACT: Maximum effects of rockbursts in Ostrava Karviná

coalfield occur above all in gateways provided by steel
arch

support. A research of behaviour of steel arch roadway

support at dynamic loading based on mathematic modelling
using

programming file ANSYS is described. Comparison of effects

of modelled reinforcing methods (different sections of
steel

profile, closed shape of cross section with floor arch,

anchoring of arch support with rockbolts) is important for
proposals of

effective strengthening methods.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rockbursts in course of coal winning in the Czech part of

Upper Silesian Coal Basin have represented a considerable

problem. A detailed analysis has confirmed that the events

of underground rockbursts are conspicuously more intense in

longwall gates (roadways) than they are in supported long

wall face areas at identical natural and technology

conditions.
By high load-bearing capacity of longwall powered support

types, their preload and contact with rock mass equally

their

resistance against high energy dynamic effects is

safeguarded

in contrast with roadway support.

Effects of underground rockbursts on roadways and entries

are today the gravity centre of total problematic.The

following

contribution is focused on mathematic modelling of behaviour

of very endangered support of longwall gates in burst prone

areas.

2 STRENGTHENING OF ROADWAY SUPPORT

It can be deduced that for occurrence of underground rock

bursts (in view of damaging of mine working) the resistance

of

support plays an important part. The roadways are supported

in absolute majority of cases by arch shaped steel sets of

TH

support, which is not preloaded and its contact with

adjacent

rock is not sufficient. Mostly open structures are concerned

with relatively low resistance against load from roadway

side

and from roadway floor (such load is most frequent in case

of

rockbursts).

The steel TH support can be reinforced in different ways.

We investigated following methods of strengthening: support

of the same shape and size but from heavy rolled sections

28 kg/m closed shape support including floor arch anchoring

of steel arch support to the surrounding rock mass. 3

COMPUTER MODELLING The aim of computer modelling is
detection of behaviour of steel support during the course
of dynamic response provoked by rockburst. The instrument
of computer modelling is a finite element method – FEM
which is applied by ANSYS program. As an optimum solution
the application of shell type elements appears by which,
however, bending is transferred. Due to work with permanent
(plastic) strain it is necessary to adopt bilinear material
properties of steel (Fig. 1). Principal applied load was
impulse of force (loading impulse), see Fig. 2. The time
course of loading impulse is identical with course of
acting forces. For finite element discretization of roadway
support the element SHELL181 was selected by which all
three types of non-linearity were supported (Horyl,
Šnˇupárek 2005). The boundary conditions were selected as
Figure 1. Bilinear material model.

Figure 2. Impulse of force.

Figure 3. Boundary conditions with influence of adjacent

environment.

seen in Fig. 3. It is a plane set where its left end is

clamped

and its right end is an articulated shifting one (i.e.

simply sup

ported). The computer simulations have been more exactly

specified by incorporating of influence of surrounding envi

ronment. Influence of packing of support in its left part

(up to

level of first clamp coupling) and on the other hand a

resistance

of floor (against shift of right end of support) was

considered

(Fig. 3). Both such influences were taken into consideration

in the model as a form of non-linear springs.

4 RESULTS OF COMPUTATION

The course of strain energy accumulated in support construc

tion was considered as an important coefficient of support

resistance and of reinforcing measures effects. For

detecting

of strain and kinetic energy in course of dynamic response a

proper subprogram (own macro) was created in programming

language APDL of ANSYS program. A typical course of

energies during a dynamic process can be seen in the Fig. 4.

Fig. 5 shows comparison of supports of the same shape

(14 m2) but of different rolled sections (K24, P28), where

the

final form of plastic strain of support is depicted.

Heavy support of section P28 shows higher stiffness with

about 20% less strain energy accumulated in the support.

The closed support with floor arch (Fig. 6) was firstly

considered like stiff construction with rigid connections.

Figure 4. Course of strain energy. Figure 5. Course of
energy in two types of support. Figure 6. Scheme of closed
support with floor arch. Fig. 7 illustrates that the closed
shape of support has significant influence on decrease of
energy accumulated in support. In this case the strain
energy represents only 12% of energy value in standard open
arch support. The next modelled strengthening measure was
anchoring of arch support to surrounding environment with
bolts. Firstly we modelled anchored support with 4 bolts on
perimeter (Fig. 8). Two different kinds of rockbolts were
considered – grouted steel bar bolt with 25 mm diameter and
tensile loading capacity 250 kN and expanded steel tube
bolts with 42 mm diameter and tensile loading capacity 120
kN.

Figure 7. Course of energy in floor arch support.

Figure 8. Model of anchored support.

Figure 9. Course of energy in anchored support.

The free length of bolts (distance between fixed connection

with arch support and anchored part of bolt) was 400 mm.

From results of modelling presented in Fig. 9 it seams clear

that anchoring of support occurs significantly and reduces

the

value of strain energy by 13–16 kJ which represents 36–44%

of whole strain energy in the case. More bearing grouted

bolts

have larger influence than expanded bolts but difference in

energies is much less than difference in loading capacity of

bolts. Fig. 10 shows the course of axial forces in bolts on

the

ABSTRACT: Modified SHPB tests are carried out to study wave

propagation across a discontinuous layer of granite medium.

In the tests, a sand layer is used to simulate the

infilling material in a joint of rock mass. Both the input
and output pressure

bars are made of granite and mounted with two strain gauges
with a specific spacing. A longitudinal wave is applied by
a

pendulum and the stress waves in the pressure bars are

measured using the strain gauges. A wave separation method
is adopted

in order to extend the effective loading duration and to

achieve a larger measurable strain for the sand layer,
which are normally

limited by the length of the pressure bars during the SHPB

test. Before the modified SHPB test, the input granite bar
with

a free end is used to verify the applicability of the wave

separation method. The relation between the frequencies and
phase

velocities of the granite bar is derived by solving the

Pochhammer frequency equation, in which the 3D effect of
the granite

bar is considered. Stress waves traveling from the two ends

of the pressure bars are separated based on the recorded
signals of

the attached strain gauges. The deformation and the dynamic

stresses on the two surfaces of the sand layer are
calculated. The

dynamic stress-strain relation of the sand layer is derived

based on the experimental results.

1 INTRODUCTION

Discontinuities broadly exist in rock mass, and apply a

signif

icant effect on the mechanical behavior of rock mass, such

as

the decrease of the overall strength and stiffness.

Discontinu

ities may have more significant effect on dynamic behavior

of

rock mass. The objective of the present study is to

investigate

experimentally stress wave propagation across a discontinu

ous layer of granite medium. A longitudinal pulse wave is

applied by a pendulum.

Among various experimental methods, Split Hopkinson

Pressure Bar (SHPB) tests have been used widely to inves

tigate the dynamic behavior of different materials by

studying

the stress wave propagation along aligned pressure bars. It

is a standard experimental technique nowadays for testing

material properties under dynamic loading.

The measuring technique using pressure bars relies on

the knowledge of the two elementary waves propagating in

opposite directions. Once they are known, they can be time

shifted to the desired cross-section (bar specimen

interfaces,

for example) to calculated all the mechanical values, and

the

directly measurable quantities such as strains or velocities

everywhere in a bar are the sum and the difference of the

two elementary waves. The SHPB technique uses long bars

and a short loading pulse so that the total incident pulse

and

the first part of reflected waves can be recorded

separately.

To increase the measuring duration of SHPB, some earlier

workers have analyzed multiple wave reflections in the pres

sure bars, by using a method on the basic of one-dimensional

elastic wave theory, the two opposite waves along the bars

can be separated to measure the particle velocity at two dif

ferent cross-sections in a bar, which is also called the

wave

separation technique. The technique was developed initially

to determine stresses, strains and particle velocities

associ

ated with waves traveling in positive and negative

directions.

Because of the limitation of the length of the granite bars

and
the difficulty of separating the incident wave and
reflected wave in the incident bar caused by multiple
loading, the measurable maximum strain is inadequate for a
discontinuous layer of rock mass. In order to increase the
measurable maximum strain, the technique was then used to
extend the effective length of wave duration for achieving
large strains. Lundberg and Henchoz (1977) introduced a
two-point strain measurement method, which subsequently was
used and developed by other researchers, e.g., Lundberg et
al. (1990), Zhao and Gary (1997), Bacon (1994) and Liu and
Li (2006). To study the materials behavior under dynamic
loading, Zhao and Gary( 1997), Bacon (1999), Benatar et al.
(2003) did the wave separation for PMMA bars, by taking
account the effects of 3-D and wave attenuation. Liu and Li
(2006) and Meng and Li (2003) analyzed the dynamic
properties of materials by conducting 1-D wave separation
for steel bars. In their SHPB tests, Meng and Li (2003) and
Zhao and Gary (1997) mounted the strain gauges near the
same end of the input bars, and Liu and Li (2006) designed
the same intervals among the two strain gauges and the
measured point. In this paper, short granite bars (about 1
m length each) are used to investigate wave propagation
across a sand layer. 3-D effect of the granite bars in the
modified SHPB test is firstly studied. Based on time
shifting function of wave propagation, the wave separation
equations for elastic bars are mathematically presented.
Before the SHPB test for the dynamic property of the sand
layer, the granite input bar with a free end is used to
separate two opposite longitudinal strain waves, so as to
verify the wave separation method. Then the SHPB test
having a sand layer between the input and output bars is
carried out. In the tests, two strain gauges are
respectively installed in the two bars. The two opposite
strain waves for the two ends of the bars are separated
according to the records of the four strain gauges in the
SHPB test. The strain histories of the sand layer are
calculated. Finally, the forces acted on the sand layer and
the stress-strain dynamic relation are calculated.

2 SHPB TEST BASIC THEORY AND WAVE

SEPARATION METHOD

2.1 SHPB test basic theory

Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) technique is a classi

cal tool for testing the dynamic behaviors of materials

under
different strain rates. The conventional SHPB system
consists

of input and output bars with a short specimen sandwiched

between them.A striker bar impacts on the input bar to

produce

a longitudinal compressive pulse. The incident compressive

pulse propagates along the input bar toward the specimen.

When it reaches the input bar/specimen interface, a part of

it

is reflected as a tensile pulse. Another part travels

through

the specimen. At the specimen/pressure bar interfaces, the

reflected stress wave goes back and forth and makes the
stress

along the specimen to be approximately uniform after a few

reflections, while the transmitted wave passes to the output

bar. The stress distribution in the specimen is assumed to

be

in uniaxial compression and to be uniform along the

specimen.

In a conventional SHPB set-up, a single strain gauge is

placed

at the middle of a long bar to avoid the superposition of

two

waves traveling in the opposite directions from the two

ends.

If the pressure bars can not be fabricated long enough, two

or more strain gauges should be used in order to separate

the

records in the tests and 3D effect should also be

considered.
Using a SHPB test, the stress and strain of the specimen

can be derived and expressed as

where σ is the stress acted on the specimen; ε input and ε

output

are the strains at the interface of the inputand output

bar/specimen respectively; v input and v output are the

velocities

for the two interfaces of the inputand output-bar/specimen

respectively; E Young’s modulus of SHPB bars; ε˙ strain rate

of the specimen; c 0 elastic wave velocity; L thickness of

the

specimen; and t dynamic loading time.

2.2 Wave propagation coefficient solution

Pochehamer-frequency equation (2) is used to calculate the

propagation coefficient of the SHPB bar.

where

and λ ∗ (ω) , µ ∗ (ω) are two material coefficients, ρ

density, ξ

wave number, ω frequency, a bar radius.

In Equation 2, the unknown variable is ξ, which is a complex

number, its real part reflects the relation between the

frequency

and the associated phase velocity and its imaginary part

gives

the relation between the frequency and the associated atten

uation coefficient. In this paper, the cohesive property of

the

granite bars are not taken account, and only the 3D effect
is
considered. The strain signals based on the wave motion
consists of two arbitrary functions that represent the
waveforms traveling in the positive and negative directions
along the bar axis, that is where ε P (t) and ε N (t) two
strain signals traveling in opposite directions. When
considering 3D effect of the SHPB bars, the Fourier
transform ε˜(x, ω) of the longitudinal strain ε(x, t) can
be given by By using inverse Fourier transform, the strain
signal at any position in the bar can be derived, where ε˜
P (ω) and ε˜ N (ω) are the Fourier transform of ε P (t) and
ε N (t), respectively. c phase velocity; and x distance
between the respective position and the strain gauge. The
particle velocity is 2.3 Wave separation method Considering
that there are two strain gauges in a bar, l 1 , l 0 and l
2 are assumed respectively to be the distance from the
first gauge to the upstream end, spacing of two strain
gauges and the distance from the second strain gauge to the
downstream end of the pressure bar. After the upstream end
of the input bar is impacted by a pulse load, the positive
and negative strains for the two gauge stations A and B can
be separated in the time domain as follows: (1) the
positive wave dose not reach the gauges A and B, 0 ≤ t < l
1 /c, all strains at the gauges are merely zero; (2) the
pulse wave passes gaugeA, but still not arrive at gauge B,
l 1 /c ≤ t < (l 1 + l 0 )/c (3) the pulse wave passes the
two gauges while the negative wave (right wave) have not
come back the gauge B, (l 1 + l 0 )/c ≤ t < (l 1 + l 0 + 2l
2 )/c (4) the negative wave dose not reach the gauge A, (5)
the negative wave has passed the gauge A, t ≥ [l 1 + 2(l 0
+ l 2 )]/c 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 4884.5 4884.6 4884.7
4884.8 4884.9 4885 4885.1 Frequency (Hz) P h a s e v e l o
c i t y ( m / s ) 3D 1D

Figure 1. Relation between frequency and phase velocity for

granite bar.

From above, the positive and negative waves for points A

and B can be obtained according to the strain gauges

recorded

signals. ε P (x, t) and ε N (x, t) for any point at the

pressure bars

can be derived when the phase difference between the point

and the strain gauges is obtained. If point D is at the down

stream end of the input bar, the phase difference between
the

points D and B is l 2 /c, and if the point D is the

upstream end

of the incident bar, the phase difference between the points

D and A is l 1 /c. Therefore, the strain history for the

down

stream end of the input bar can be obtained based on the

wave

separations. Using the same method, the strain history for

the

upstream end of the output bar can also be obtained.

According to Equation (1), the stress on the interface of

bar/specimen can be rewritten as

and strain rate on the specimen is

So the strain of the specimen is

2.4 3D effect

The relation between the phase velocity and the frequency

as shown in Fig. 1 can be obtained by solving Pochehamer

frequency Equation (2).

From Fig. 1, we can see that the phase velocity decrease

with the increase of frequency for a 3D problem, the

difference

between the 1D and 3D curves is not very significant if the

frequency is less than 8 kHz.

2.5 Experimental verification

In order to validate the wave separation method, a test of

the

input granite bar with a free end surface as shown in

Figure 2

is carried out. The diameter of the granite bar is 50 mm.

Figure 3 shows the recorded signals from the two strain

gauges at the points A and B on the granite bar. By using

the wave separation method described earlier, the positive

and

negative strain waves for the two strain gauges are

calculated. Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the verification
test. 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 x 10 -3 -1.5 -1
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 x 10 -4 Time (s) s t r a i n Strain gage
A Strain gage B Figure 3. Records of two strain gauges.
Figure 4. Two opposite strain waves and their sum for the
free surface. According to Eq. (9), the two opposite strain
waves and their sum for the free surface of the bar is
shown in Fig. 4. From the results in Fig. 4, it is found
that the maximum strain value on point D is only about 20%
of the positive strain wave peak value. It verifies that
the wave separation method used in the paper can be applied
for SHPB test investigation. 3 SHPB TEST SET-UP AND STRAIN
WAVE RECORDINGS In the modified SHPB test, two granite bars
are used as the input and out bars, and the sand layer is
adopted to simulate a rock joint. It is designed to
simulate wave propagation across the discontinuous medium.
The experiment sep-up is shown as Figs. 5 and 6. The
schematic diagram of the SHPB test is shown in Fig. 7. The
strain wave signals from the four strain gauges shown in
Fig. 7 are plotted in Fig. 8. Based on the wave separation

Figure 5. Granite pressure bar.

Figure 6. Sand layer.

Figure 7. Schematic diagram of SPHB tests. 0 0.25 0.5 0.75

1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 x 10 -3 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 x 10 -4
Recording for four straingages time (s) s t r a i n Strain
gage A Strain gage B Strain gage A' Strain gage B'

Figure 8. Test records for four strain gauges A, B, A ′ and

B ′ .

analysis, the dynamic stress-strain relation of the sand

layer

can be derived.
4 ANALYZING THE DYNAMIC PROPERTY OF THE

SAND LAYER

According to the measurement of the wave signals on the

input

and output pressure bars, wave separations by considering 3D

effect are then applied.

Figure 9 shows the strain wave separations at the strain

gauges A in the SHPB test. From Eqs. (8)–(11), the two

opposite strain waves and their sum on point D and D’,

which are respectively at the interface of the

input-bar/sand

layer and output-bar/sand-layer are calculated. Then, based

Figure 9. Positive and negative strain waves and the sum at
the input-bar/specimen surface. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 x
10 -4 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 Displacement (m)
F o r c e ( N ) Figure 10. Dynamic force-displacement
relation for the sand layer. on Eqs. (12)–(14), the stress
and strain for the sand layer are obtained and the relation
curve are shown in Figure 10. Parametric study on wave
propagation across a discontinuous layer in granite medium
with respect to different sand thicknesses, different water
content in the discontinuous layer and multiple
discontinuous layers, etc. is still going on and the result
will be presented in later studies. 5 CONCLUSION In order
to improve the measuring duration of an SHPB set-up so as
to get the true dynamic characteristic of a sand layer in a
SHPB test, a wave separation method is used in the paper.
The 3D effect is considered for the granite bar on the wave
propagation. Then a SHPB tests with four strain gauges in
the input and output bars are carried out to study the
dynamic property of a sand media layer as a rock joint.
From the test and analyzing results, it is found that the
method in the paper can be used for the strain wave
separation of SHPB tests. Because the frequencies of the
incident wave are litter than 8KHZ, the 3D effect of the
granite input and output bars is not obvious. Based on the
stain wave separation for the recordings of SHPB test, the
dynamic property of the sand layer can be calculated. From
the calculated result of the relation of the stress and
strain for the sand layer, we can see that the stress
increase with the increasing of the strain when the strain
is less than 12% and then the stress decrease.

Meng H. and Li Q.M. (2003) An SHPB set-up with reduced time

shift and pressure bar length. International Journal of

Impact

Engineering. 28: 677–696.

Zhao H. and Gary G. (1997) A new method for the separation

of

waves application to the SHPB technique for an unlimited

duration

of measurement. J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 45(7): 1185–1202.

Lundberg B. and Henchoz A. (1977) Analysis of elastic waves

from

two-point strain measurement. Exper. Mech. 17:213–218.

Lundberg B., Carlsson J. and Sundin K.G. (1990) Analysis of

elastic

waves in non-uniform rods from two-point strain measurement.

J. Sound Vib., 137: 483–493.

Bacon C., Farm J. Lataillade J.L. (1994) Dynamic fracture

toughness

determined from load-point displacement on a three-point

bend specimen using a modified Hopkinson pressure bar. Exp.
Mech., 34(3):217–223. Liu and Li (2006) A new method for
separation of waves in improving the conventional SHPB
technique. Chin. Phys. Lett., 23(11): 3045–3048. Bacon C.
(1999) Separation of waves propagating in an elastic or
viscoelastic Hopkinson pressure bar with three-dimensional
effects. International Journal of Imapct Engineering, 22:
55–69. Benatar A., Rittel D. and Yarin A.L. (2003)
Theoretical and experimental analysis of longitudinal wave
propagation in cylindrical viscoelastic rods. Journal of
the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 51: 1413–1431. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Study on
structural dynamics of rock slope based on eigenvalue
analysis A. Hirata & T. Inokuchi Department of Civil Eng.,
Sojo University, Kumamoto, Japan T. Sugita Limestone
Association of Japan, Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT: Permanent rock slope is gradually becoming taller

at many limestone mines in Japan. Steep slope height now

comes to 200 m over. The height makes to 500 m in future.

Study on the slope stability continues with monitoring and
numerical

analysis. This is a numerical study used by an eigenvalue

problem. Eigenvalue analysis can show the dynamic
characteristic

about rock slope. Natural frequency and the deformation

mode depend on the structure of rock slope. This paper
shows

the dynamic characteristics of simple rock slope, cover

rock type rock and slope damaged on surface. Natural
frequency

comes down with progress of damage on slope surface.

Deformation mode of cover rock type slope generates tensile
stress at

a boundary of cover rock in lower frequency mode. And,

there are many local movements on slope in higher frequency
mode.

1 INTRODUCTION

There is the characteristic called the natural vibration in

all

structures and solids. The structure itself moves and an

exter

nal force acts on it, so vibration occurs in many cases. The

vibration by the wind and earthquake of a building is an

important subject at the design (Chopra, 2001). It is impor

tant to determine natural frequency and natural vibration

mode when calculating the response characteristic of a struc

ture. Of course natural vibration characteristic exists

also in
a rock slope (Hirata, 2006). A natural vibration
characteristic

is expressed with eigenvalue and eigenvector. Eigenvalue and

its eigenvector can show the dynamic characteristic about

rock

slope. Natural frequency and deformation mode determined

by eigenvector depend on the structure of slope. Especially,

natural frequency in higher mode is sensitive to change of

slope structure, such as damage by blasting, generations of

plastic zone by stress concentration or weathering. On the

contrary, lower natural frequency is insensitively even if

the

slope height defers 100 m (Inokuchi, 2006). In consequence,

it is expected that a monitoring of dynamic characteristic

on

the slope detect the slight variation in the local

position. So,

we want to know what the dynamic responses are in many type

of rock slope.

2 EIGENVALUE ANALYSIS

The rock slope containing a base part shows elasticity, and

is

modeled with a triangle shaped finite element. In the

vibration

system which consists of a mass matrix M and a stiffness

matrix K , the problem which finds the vector x which is not

zero with the eigenvalue λ is described by equation 1:

where x = eigenvector.

The relation of equation 2 between the eigenvalue and

natural frequency f i is: Equation 1 will become equation 3
if Cholesky decomposition is applied to a mass matrix:
where L = lower triangular matrix; whose transpose L T can
itself serve as the upper triangular part. Suppose that
vector y and vector x are connected by equation 4: An
equation 5 will be obtained, if equation 4 is substituted
for equation 3: An N × N matrix A is a symmetric matrix and
has an eigenvector y and corresponding eigenvalue λ. Many
methods of solving an equation 5 are proposed (Farhat,
1988). The reduction a matrix A into a tridiagonal matrix
by the Householder transformation is adopted in the study.
The eigenvalues are calculated by the bisection method.
And, the corresponding eigenvectors can then be found by
inverse iteration. The original eigenvector is calculable
using equation 4. The eigenvalue is the same. The
eigenvalues of N exist in the model of N degree of freedom
in numerical model. There are the eigenvector sets
corresponding to the each eigenvalue. 3 NUMERICAL MODEL Our
first object is to know the dynamic characteristic of rock
slope in the sound condition. Next, it reduces elastic
moduli of surface rock affected by blasting, creep and so
on. In a limestone mine, there are many cases where a
weathering rock is behind permanent rock slope after
excavation. Such

a slope is called cover rock slope, since a limestone is

left and

excavated. Figure 1 shows a finite element model.

A base rock is 400 m in the depth and 1000 m in the width.

There is a slope on the base rock. The angle of inclination

of a

slope is 50 degrees. Slope height is set to 400 m. Both

sides and

lower end that are surrounded by point A, B, C and D in Fig

ure 1 are fixed. And, the level surfaces and the slope
between

pointA and F, between point D and E, and between point E and

F are free. The number of nodes of the analysis model is

2307,

and the number of triangle elements is 4410. Triangle

element

is formulated as a constant strain element, and stiffness

matrix

was composed. Mass was arranged in nodes.

Figure 1. Finite element model.

Figure 2. Elastic moduli of numerical model. Four cases

were analyzed. Figure 2 explains four analysis cases.
CASE-1 is simple rock model. The whole rock including a
slope is the single structure of Young’s modulus 5 GPa,
Poisson’s ratio 0.3, and density 2500 kg/m 3 . This
analysis acts as a benchmark for comparison. CASE-2 is a
cover rock model. Weak rock exists behind slope. The
inclination is 60 degrees. Young’s modulus is 1 GPa,
Poisson’s ratio is 0.35, and density is 2200 kg/m 3 . The
analysis in case that damage zone exists in the free
surface is the model of CASE-3. Depth of damage zone is
about 13 m to 20 m.Young’s modulus is 1 GPa, Poisson’s
ratio is 0.35, and density is 2200 kg/m 3 . These values
are the same as the value of the weak rock in the CASE-2.
CASE-4 is the mixture analysis of CASE-2 and CASE-3. This
model has cover rock behind weak rock and damaged zone in
the free surface. Each elastic modulus has adopted the same
value as CASE-2 and CASE-3. The damage range and a cover
rock domain are the same as CASE-2 and CASE-3. 4
DEFORMATION MODE Eigenvectors are the normalized
displacement at all nodal points in FEM model. So, it can
give a normalized stress and strain to all elements
according to a procedure how to transform from nodal
displacement. Figure 3 shows deformation modes and the
distribution of a maximum principal stress in lower modes
from the 1st mode to the 5th mode. Each displacement and
principal stress is the relative value in a model. The left
sequence is the result of CASE-1. It has arranged with
CASE-2, CASE-3 and CASE-4 in order on the right. And, each
case has shown from the top from the 1st mode to the 5th
mode.

The shade in the figures shows the size of the relative max

imum principal stress. A dark color is large in tensile

stress,

and a white color is large in compression. However, since

this

figure show one side in deformation mode in eigenvalue anal

ysis, compression and tension are reversed. It can be said
that

it is such large stress that a shade is remarkable.

Up-and-down motion excels in all cases as for the 1-st fun

damental mode. The central domain including the slope is

deforming all upward or downward. In CASE-2 and CASE-4,

stress concentration has occurred on a boundary with a weak

rock. And, in CASE-3 and CASE-4, the stress discontinuity

has occurred between a damage zone and a sound base rock.

In the 2nd mode, deformation of a lower level domain

becomes large. In CASE-2 and CASE-4, the deformation will

Figure 3. Lower deformation mode and normalized maximum

principal stress from the 1st fundamental mode to the 5th.
connect with the boundary of a weak rock. It is thought
that the state is so dangerous. In the 3rd mode, Stress
concentration has occurred in any case in the lower slope
part. Of course, stress concentration is remarkable also in
the lower part of the boundary of a weak rock incase-2 and
CASE-4. The motion becomes complicated, so that it becomes
the high order mode. As a result, stress distribution
becomes less uniform, so the shade of a figure becomes
strong. And, stress discontinuity has occurred in the
boundary of a weak rock in any mode. The neutral color of a
shade is equivalent to a node without deformation. The
boundary domain of compression and tension is a node that a
deformation does not produce in the mode. Natural frequency
in the 1st mode is 0.73 Hz in CASE1, 0.40 Hz in CASE-2,
0.73 Hz in CASE-3, and 0.39 Hz in

Figure 4. Higher deformation mode and the distribution of a

normalized maximum principal stress.

CASE-4. Cover rock model with a weak rock has a low natural

frequency. The tendency does not change in the higher mode,

either. Natural frequency falls under the influence of

damage.
The influence that it has on natural frequency is so large
that

it is the higher mode.

If it becomes the more high order mode, the motion becomes

furthermore complicated. A local and complicated motion is

dominant.The number of the node also increases with a

natural

thing. Figure 4 is examples of higher order mode. In the

50th

mode and the 100th mode, the influence of a damaged surface

and a cover rock can be seen. But, in the 500th mode, the

difference in structure cannot be distinguished.

5 CONCLUSION

This study showed effects on a cover rock and a damaged sur

face of rock slope. Fundamental natural frequency becomes

to 0.5 Hz under, if a slope height exceeds 400 m. And, natu

ral frequency comes down with elastic moduli lower of rock

mass. Eigenvalue analysis can make a dynamic characteris

ABSTRACT: The ground response and site effects of a steep

valley were verified with a two dimensional plane strain
analysis

in the time domain against recorded motions. Weak motions

(< 0.15 g) have been measured on the site with three
accelerographs

placed at the base and crests of the slopes. The instrument

at the base is on rock and the ones towards the crests on
soil. Dynamic

models were done with the finite element method (FEM ),

loading at the base the signals recorded on rock. The peak
ground

accelerations (PGA) obtained with the FEM fit with the ones
measured in situ. The comparison between the main
frequencies

of the events and the fundamental frequencies of the site

show resonance effects. The raised amplifications were
demonstrated

to be caused by geological site effects, related to the

upper geotechnical unit and not by the topography. These
results show the

importance of subsurface structure in causing resonance

effects.

1 INTRODUCTION

Numerical methods have been recently applied for back and

parametric analysis of earthquake ground response and site

effects (e.g.Athanasopoulos et al., 1999; Havenith et al.,

2002;

Lokmer et al., 2002; Paolucci, 2002; Papalou & Bielak, 2004;

Bouckovalas & Papadimitriou, 2005; Psarropoulos et al.,

2007). There are few attempts to verify measured with mod

elled data in time and frequency domains accounting for

topographic and geologic effects separately (e.g. Semblat

et al., 2005; Assimaki et al., 2005). Thimus et al. (2006)

present a theoretical verification of wave propagation with

finite differences (FDM ). Sincraian & Oliveira (2001) had

field measurements but could not find a good fit with the

2− and 3D FEM they used. Geli et al. (1988) found that

2D models underestimate field observations, caused by the

simplicity of the models. Only the 3D model in frequency

domain showed a good match. They concluded that for peak

ground accelerations (PGA) smaller than 0.24 g hills behave

approximately linear.

Users of these tools should be aware of the limits of their

applicability and benchmark results. Weak motions have been

validated with field data with a 3D hybrid approach

(indirect

boundary elements method) by LeBrun et al. (1999). They

found a good correlation on the responses for frequencies

lower than 1 Hz. On the other hand, 1 − D analysis methods

have been extensively verified as documented by Kramer &

Stewart (2004) with nearby rock-soil signals as well as

vertical

arrays.

Strong amplifications have been measured in some cases

on hills (Bouchon & Barker, 1996) and related to topograph

ical site effects, without quantifying the effects of the

local

geology.

This paper presents the comparison of the ground

responses modelled with two-dimensional (2D) linear elas

tic finite elements (FEM ) of a site with field measure

ments, comparing the site effects of topography and geology.

The site is located in a highly seismic region of Costa

Rica. Figure 1. Geotectonic setting of Costa Rica (modified

after Flueh & von Huene, 2007). 2 ADDRESSED PROBLEM
Two-dimensional (2D) plane strain numerical models with FEM
were used to verificate the ground response and site
effects of an instrumented site with in situ recorded weak
motions (PGA< 0.15 g) in time domain. The location was a
dam site in a steep valley, mainly consisting of rock with
a transitional weathering profile towards a saprolitic type
of material on top. This project is located in a highly
seismic region in Costa Rica, at the central Pacific side,
along the fore-arc region (Figure 1). The main seismic
sources are the Meso-American subduction trench
(inter-plate) along the Pacific, as well as local faulting
(intra-plate). 3 FIELD MEASUREMENTS AND MODELS 3.1 Field
measurements Three digital Etna Kinemetrics accelerographs
have been registering motions on the site since September
2005. One is at the base of the valley on rock, and one at
each abutment

Figure 2. Dam site looking in downstream direction with

sketch of

dam and accelerographs placement.

Table 1. Characteristics of the measured earthquakes.

Distance & direction Magnitude Source of Hypocentral from

Event date (Mw) rupture depth (km) dam (km)

28/12/2005 5.1 Subduction 43 24.2 NW

18/11/2006 5.0 Local fault 23.8 6.5 SW

30/11/2006 4.8 Local fault 9 23 W

Table 2. Site responses and Fourier spectra frequencies.

Peak ground acceleration (PGA) (cm/s 2 ) Fourier

Event/ spectra

Station NS EW Vertical (Hz)

28.12.2005

Base 10.99 16.82 9.53 1–10

Right crest 129.26 82.91 39.25 4

Left crest 120.18 120.15 58.05 3

18.11.2006

Base 7.26 16.02 6.42 3–10

Right crest 40.96 40.91 33.79 4–5

30.11.2006
Base 3.94 8.80 3.66 1–9

Right crest 20.75 18.84 13.91 4–6

towards each slope crest, on saprolitic materials (highly

weath

ered rock), at heights of 190 m and 135 m above the

river.They

were aligned with a North-South (NS) strike, parallel to the

dam axis (Fig. 2).

These instruments have a register capacity of 2 g amplitude,

and a frequency range from 0.12 Hz to 45 Hz. Some weak

motions have been registered, from which three near-field

events were chosen for this analyses (Table 1).

The responses at the measurement points are listed in

Table 2, with the main frequencies obtained from smoothed

Fourier amplitude spectra. The left slope is not registered

on

the last motions due to a defect on that accelerograph.

The rock motions (“base” signals) from the NS component

were the input for the numerical models The three events
had Figure 3. Measurement points at the slope crests, L:
left, R: right (equal horizontal and vertical scales) and
apparent dip of the layers. base-line correction, the same
frequency range (0.12–45 Hz) and duration (about 20 s
each). 3.2 The 2-D FEM models All the FEM models from the
valley had the same dimensions and mesh coarseness. The
elements used were 15-noded triangular, fine enough to
insure appropriate wave propagation in accordance with the
wavelength and shear wave velocities of the materials. The
models were further refined towards the surface. The
distances from the boundaries were: from the slope crests
to the lateral boundaries approximately 1300 m and from the
base of the valley to the bottom boundary 20 m depth. They
were chosen after a sensitivity assessment of the site
response under different dynamic loads to find the models
for which the responses converge, avoiding possible
reflections from the boundaries. The responses in the
models were measured at different points to control the
amplification patterns but the focus of this paper is on
the points that correspond with the accelerograph
locations.These are shown in Figure 3. “L” is the
accelerograph from the left slope, corresponding with the
slope crest, and “R” the one at the right slope, located
approximately 90 m behind the slope crest. 3.3 Ground
properties and constitutive model The site consists of a
discontinuous rock mass of turbidites (sandstones and
shales), of an Oligo-Miocene Formation (Térraba Formation).
The average bedding is 290 ◦ /25 ◦ dipping downstream
(Figure 3). Geotechnically, it is divided in three units:
(a) lower: slightly-weathered rock, (b) intermediate:
moderately weathered and decompressed rock and (c) upper:
completely weathered, transitional to soil (saprolite). The
lower unit is found at 23 m depth in the left abutment and
20 in the right approximately. It transitionally turns into
the intermediate unit, which has about 18 and 16.5 m
thickness on the left and right abutments respectively. The
upper unit (saprolitic material) is considerably weaker and
less stiff. Its thickness is 5 and 4 m on the left and
right abutments correspondingly, at the accelerographs
locations. The spatial distribution of the units is
sketched in Figure 3, and their properties are summarized
in table 3. The geotechnical characterization was done
through extensive in situ and laboratory tests (e.g. plate
bearing, SPT, triaxial), geophysical (e.g. microseismicity,
seismic refraction) and geological (e.g. drillcore,
mapping) survey.

Table 3. Geotechnical parameters of the site. Geotechnical

units

Parameter Name Unit Upper Intermediate Lower

Material Model – Linear elastic

model

Material Type – Drained

behaviour

Unit weight γ kN/m 3 18 26.5 27.1

Young’s E ref kPa 5e+4 2.5e+6 7e+6

modulus
Poisson’s ratio ν – 0.3 0.3 0.25

Shear wave v s m/s 102 596 1006

velocity

Wavelength λ m 2.3 13.2 22.4

for highest

frequency

Rayleigh α – 0.0314 0.0314 0.0314

damping β – 3.2e−4 3.2e−4 3.2e-4

constants

The left slope has a steepness of 43 ◦ and 36 ◦ towards the

crest. It is gentler than the right slope due to the

bedding dip

and strike angles towards the river in that side. The

opposite

happens on the right abutment, giving higher steepness to

the

slope (57 ◦ to 50 ◦ ).

Due to the scale of this analysis, the complexity of the

discontinuities characterization, nonlinearity,

heterogeneity

and anisotropy of the rock mass could not be incorporated

in the models. In the models the site was considered as a

homogeneous, isotropic continuum. The properties were used

following Table 3.

As the strains for these types of events are small, defor

mations range within the elastic range. Therefore, the

linear

elastic model was suitable for the purpose of this analysis.

Different geological-geotechnical scenarios were evalu

ated to discern between the geological and topographical

site

effects and to quantify it. This was done with a model with

the site topography and without the upper geotechnical unit.

This unit was substituted with the intermediate unit, giving

this model two units. Another evaluation was made with only

the lower unit.

3.4 Dynamic properties and loads

Dynamic viscous absorbent boundaries were used to avoid

reflections. The horizontal NS component of the registered

acceleration time histories from the base station on rock

were

prescribed along the bottom boundary. The peak accelerations

and main frequencies of the input signals are given in

Table 2.

The damping of the system was Rayleigh type, chosen for

the frequency band of the input signals. The resultant mass

(α)

and stiffness (β) proportional constants were estimated for

a

5% damping (Table 3).

The natural frequencies of the site were estimated from

transfer functions on a one-dimensional equivalent-linear

sys

tem with different earthquake signals from the world given

by

the software. The right side displayed a first oscillation

mode
between 5 and 6 Hz and a second around 9.5 Hz. The left side

had the first oscillation mode between 3.5 and 4.4 Hz, and

a second around 8.5 Hz. The left slope has a slightly lower
Figure 4. Oscillation modes at the accelerograph location
at the right slope. Table 4. Peak ground accelerations and
amplification factors at the right and left crests. Right
crest Left crest PGA PGA Event (cm/s 2 ) A.f. ∗ (cm/s 2 )
A.f. 28.12.2005 127.6 11.6 118.8 10.8 2 units 36.9 3.4 29.1
2.6 1 unit 28.8 2.6 32.0 2.9 18.11.2006 43.3 5.9 53.3 7.3
30.11.2006 25.8 6.5 28.9 7.3 ∗ A.f: amplification factor.
fundamental frequency due to the thicker upper unit of the
saprolite. The result of the right slope are shown in
Figure 4. 4 2-D FEM GROUND RESPONSES The site responses
from the FEM models were measured behind the crests of both
slopes and along the slope at the left margin. The outputs
from the points that correspond with the accelerographs
locations are listed inTable 4.The strongest registered
motion (December 28, 2005) was also modeled with variations
in the geology, keeping the site topography to quantify the
site effect of geology on the response (Table 4). 4.1
Amplitude The peak ground accelerations of the site under
the three motions are given in Table 4 and Figure 5. A good
match in amplitude between the field measurements (referred
as “instr.”) and the responses from the numerical models
was obtained. Figure 6 illustrates the spatial distribution
of the horizontal accelerations on the left slope. For the
left slope, a consistent trend of higher amplification
towards the slope crest was obtained coinciding with the
position of the accelerograph (Figure 5 and Figure 6). The
right slope showed a peak around 100 m from the crest for
the stronger event (approximate location of the
accelerograph, described in 3.1.2), but for the other two
motions that trend was not clear (Figure 5). More
measurement points are needed to make further conclusions.
When overlapping the time domain outputs from the model
with the accelerographs signals, it was found a good
correspondence for the stronger event (28.12.2005), but the
others showed a time disparity of 2 to 4 s, although the
signals kept similar shapes amongst them.

Figure 5. Peak ground accelerations of the three motions

along the

left slope and behind the crests of both slopes. The cero
on the “x”

axis represents the crest of each slope. “Instr.” are the

instrumental

field measurements.

Figure 6. Peak horizontal accelerations on the left slope

(in m/s 2 ).

Peak towards the crest. Response under the motion of

28.12.2005.

4.2 Site effects on the amplification

Three models with variations in the geotechnical units

keeping

the site topography were assessed to quantify the

amplification

associated to the geological site effect.

The two-units model was performed without the upper unit

(saprolite). That layer was substituted with the material

of the

intermediate unit. Similarly, the one-layer model was

carried

out considering only the response of the lower unit within

the site morphology. The peak accelerations and amplifica

tion factors of these models are given in Table 4. As

expected,

the model with one unit model gave the lowest amplifica

tions, followed by the two-units one. The difference between

the responses of these models with the real situation (three

units) is important. When removing the upper unit, the ampli

fication factors drop down 3.4 to 4 times, from 11.6 to 3.4

in the right slope, and from 10.8 to 2.6 in the left (Table
4).

The removed layer has important differences in its physical

mechanical properties and lower impedance. The one-unit

model displayed similar range and trend in its responses to

the two-units one (Table 4).

Locally, below the accelerographs locations, the fundamen

tal frequencies were estimated as 5–6 Hz at the right side

and

3.5–4.4 Hz at the left side (Figure 4). The frequency

content of

the Fourier spectra (Table 2) of the three events showed a

simi

lar range between 1 and 10 Hz at the base. The same spectra

at

the accelerographs locations displayed a main frequency peak

between 4–6 Hz at the right slope and 3 Hz at the left. Com

paring the Fourier amplitude spectrum of the site with the

fundamental natural frequencies, it is seen that under those

LeBrun, B., Hatzfeld, D., Bard, P.Y., Bouchon, M. 1999.

Experimental

study of the ground motion on a large scale topographic

hill at

Kitherion (Greece). Journal of Seismology, 3_1–15.

Lokmer, I., Herak, M., Panza, G.F., Vaccari, F. 2002.

Amplification

of strong ground motion in the city of Zagreb, Croatia,

estimated

by computation of synthetic seismograms. Soil Dynamics and

Earthquake Engineering, 22:105–113.

Paolucci, R. 2002. Amplification of earthquake ground motion

by steep topographic irregularities. Earthquake Engineering

and
Structural Dynamics, 31:1831–1853.

Papalou, A. & Bielak, J. 2004. Nonlinear seismic response of

earth dams with canyon interaction. Journal of Geotechnical

and

Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, January: 103–110.

Psarropoulos, P.N., Tsompanakis, Y., Karabatsos, Y. 2007.

Effects of

local site conditions on the seismic response of municipal

solid

waste landfills. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering,

27:

553–563. Semblat, J.F., Kham, M., Parara, E., Bard, P.Y.,

Pitilakis, K., Makra, K., Raptakis, D. 2005. Seismic wave
amplification: Basin geometry vs soil layering. Soil
Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 25: 529–538.
Sincraian, M.V. & Oliveira, C.S. 2001. A 2-D sensitivity
study of the dynamic behavior of a volcanic hill in the
Azores Islands: Comparison with 1-D and 3-D models. Pure
and Applied Geophysics, 158: 2431–2450. Thimus, J.-F.,
Delvosal, P., Waltener, S., Schroeder, C., Boukpeti, N.
2006.Analysis of seismic wave propagation in soils. In
P.Verona & R. Hart (eds.), FLAC and Numerical Modeling in
Geomechanics – 2006, Proceedings of the 4th International
FLAC Symposium, 29–31 May 2006: 181–186, Madrid, Minnesota:
ITASCA Consulting Group, Inc. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Weiterentwicklungen der
Bohrund Sprengtechnik im Tunnelbau Further developments of
the boring and blasting technique in the tunnel
construction Günther Brem HOCHTIEF Construction AG,
Frankfurt Jens Gattermann WBI W. Wittke Beratende
Ingenieure für Grundbau und Felsbau GmbH

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Die moderne Bohrund Sprengtechnik ist ein

unverzichtbarer Bestandteil des konventionellen

bergmännischen Tunnelbaus. Dieses anpassungsfähige

Verfahren kommt insbesondere bei hohen
Gesteinsfestigkeiten, wech

selnden geologischen Verhältnissen, von der Kreisform

abweichenden Tunnelquerschnitten und begrenzten
Tunnellängen zur

Anwendung. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird anhand von zwei

Ausführungsbeispielen auf die folgenden Entwicklungen und

Verbesserungen der Bohrund Sprengtechnik eingegangen:

– Tunnelbohrwagen mit vollautomatischen oder

halbautomatischen Bohrausrüstungen,

die ein positionsgenaues und richtungstreues Bohren der

Sprenglöcher erlauben.

– Pumpfähige Emulsionssprengstoffe mit hoher

Wasserbeständigkeit und geringer Schwadentoxizität,

die an der Ortsbrust aus zwei Komponenten hergestellt

werden (Chemical Gassing Verfahren).

– Nichtelektrische Zündsysteme mit der Möglichkeit einer

hohen Anzahl von Zündzeitstufen je Zündgang.

Die hierdurch erreichbare Begrenzung der Lademengen je

Zündzeitstufe führt zu einer sehr geringen

Auflockerung des Gebirges und einer deutlichen Verringerung

vom Erschütterungen.

ABSTRACT: The drill and blast method is an essential tool

of the conventional tunneling. High rock strengths,
changing

geological conditions, deviations from circular

cross-sections and limited tunnel lengths give rise to
apply this adaptive method.

In the present paper two case histories are presented

exemplifying the following developments and improvements of
the drill

and blast method:

– Drilling jumbo equiped with an automatic or

semi-automatic drilling system permitting

the drilling of blast-holes with high accuracy in position

and direction.

– Pumpable emulsion explosives with high resistance against

water and low toxicity of the

emerging gas, consisting of two constituents mixed at the

working face by chemical gassing.

– Non-electric ignition systems offering a high number of

ignition steps. Due to the limitation

of the maximum charges per ignition step such systems lead

to a minor degree of loosening

of the rock mass as well as a considerable reduction of

vibrations.

1 EINLEITUNG

Eine leistungsfähige und umweltgerechte Sprengvortrieb

stechnik ist ein integraler und unverzichtbarer Bestandteil

des modernen bergmännischen Tunnelbaus. Tunnelbauun

ternehmen, Hersteller von Bohrgeräten und Sprengstoffliefer

anten leisten jeder für sich einen Beitrag zur Verbesserung

und Weiterentwicklung, wobei nicht nur Leistungssteigerung

und damit bessere Wirtschaftlichkeit im Vordergrund ste

hen. Sprengvortriebe bei Tunnelbauwerken, die in bebautem

Gebiet liegen, müssen auch dem Bedürfnis von Anliegern

nach möglichst geringen Beeinträchtigungen Rechnung tra

gen und nicht zuletzt gilt es, die Sicherheit und den Gesund

heitsschutz der im Tunnel Beschäftigten zu berücksichtigen.

2 ANFORDERUNGEN UND VORAUSSETZUNGEN

FÜR EINEN ERFOLGREICHEN SPRENGVORTRIEB

Die wichtigsten Anforderungen an einen erfolgreichen

Sprengvortrieb sind

• Sicherheit und Gesundheitsschutz der Beschäftigten im

Tunnel • Schonung des Gebirges in der Umgebung des
Hohlraumes • Anpassungsfähigkeit an wechselnde
Gebirgseigen-schaften • Hohe Vortriebsleistung • Möglichst
profilgerechter Ausbruch • Gleichmäßige
Gesteinszertrümmerung • Minimierung von Erschütterungsund
Lärmemissionen • Wirtschaftlichkeit • Schonung der Umwelt 3
GERÄTETECHNIK Ein wesentliches Element für einen zügigen
Vortrieb ist die Zeit für das Bohren der Sprenglöcher, das
Besetzen mit Sprengstoff zusammen mit der Installation des
Zündsystems und der Sprengvorgang mit nachfolgendem
Schwadenabzug. DieseAktivitäten umfassen immerhin ca. 40%
der Gesamtzeit eines Abschlagszyklus. Die erste Generation
der Hydraulikhämmer erbrachte noch Bohrleistungen zwischen
1,10 und 1,60 Bohrmetern pro Minute, während heute mit den
modernen Bohrwägen Leistungen zwischen 2,60 und 3,50 m/min.
erreicht werden.

Abbildung 1. Bohrwagen mit computergesteuerter Bedienung der

Bohrarme.

Diese Leistungssteigerung der Bohrhämmer ist noch nicht

abgeschlossen.

Darüber hinaus verlangen Weiterentwicklungen der

Bohrtechnik auch Verbesserungen bei der Positionierung

der Bohrlöcher. Dies gilt insbesondere für die Position und

Richtung der Kranzlöcher.

In Kenntnis dieser Zusammenhänge wurde seit einiger

Zeit die Entwicklung von Bohrwagen mit einer computerges

teuerten Bedienung der Bohrarme betrieben (Abbildung 1).

Bohrbild, Bohrtiefe, Bohrrichtung und Reihenfolge der

Bohrungen sind in einem Rechner auf dem Bohrwagen

einprogrammiert, der somit das komplette Bohrprogramm

steuert.

Sollte die Geologie oder die eingebaute Sicherung

eine Abweichung von der Vollautomatik verlangen, kann

auf manuellen oder halbautomatischen Betrieb umgestellt

werden.

4 SPRENGSTOFFE

Alle im Tunnelbau verwendeten Sprengstoffe sind brisante

Sprengstoffe. Sie erfüllen damit im Gegensatz zu defla

grierenden Sprengstoffen die Anforderungen an eine

große Unempfindlichkeit gegenüber äußeren Einwirkungen,

müssen aber durch einen Initialimpuls (Zünder) zur Detona

tion gebracht werden.

Im mitteleuropäischen Tunnelbau sind lediglich die

gelatinösen Sprengstoffe und die Emulsionssprengstoffe

von Bedeutung. Aufgrund der um ca. 20% geringeren

Dichte der Emulsionssprengstoffe gegenüber den gelatinösen

Sprengstoffen ist deren Sprengkraft geringer, wodurch in

sehr

harten Gesteinen ein deutlich höherer Sprengstoffverbrauch

resultiert. Gelatinöse Sprengstoffe werden im Tunnelbau in

patronierter Form verwendet, Emulsionssprengstoffe sowohl

patroniert als auch in pumpfähiger Form.

5 ZÜNDSYSTEME

Zur Detonation der Sprengstoffe sind im Tunnelbau folgende

Zündsysteme (Abbildungen 2 bis 4) verfügbar:

• die elektrische Zündung

• die elektronische Zündung

• die nichtelektrische Zündung Abbildung 2. Aufbau eines

elektrischen Sprengzünders (monment-und Zeitzünder).
Abbildung 3. Aufbau eines elektronischen Sprengzünders.
Alle Zündsysteme verfolgen neben dem Initiieren des
Sprengvorgangs das Ziel, einzelne Sprengladungen eines
Abschlags zeitlich verzögert nacheinander zu aktivieren, um
das Gebirge um den Hohlraum herum zu schonen und
Erschütterungen zu minimieren. Wurde ursprünglich fast
ausschließlich die elektrische Zündung verwendet, zeigt
sich seit einiger Zeit die Tendenz zum vermehrten Einsatz
der nichtelektrischen Zündung. Aufgrund der größeren
Präzision der Verzögerungszeiten lassen elektronische
Zünder eine bessere Profilgenauigkeit der Ausbruchkontur
erwarten, jedoch nur in homogenen Gesteinen.Aufgrund ihrer
deutlich höheren Kosten imVergleich zu den elektrischen
Zündern sind sie zur Zeit imTunnelbau wenig verbreitet.

Abbildung 4. Aufbau eines nichtelektrischen Sprengzünders

(Nonel NPED) der Firma Dyno Nobel (DYNO NOBEL, 2001).

6 SPRENGERSCHÜTTERUNGEN UND DEREN

BEWERTUNG

6.1 Ausbreitung und Dämpfung

Mechanische Schwingungen fester Körper werden als

Erschütterungen bezeichnet [6] (DIN 4150, Teil 1). Die

messtechnische Erfassung von Erschütterungen erfolgt

durch Schwingungsmessgeräte (Geophone), mit denen die

Schwinggeschwindigkeit v über die Zeit t aufgezeich

net wird. Eine wesentliche Kenngröße für die Stärke

und Wirkung von Erschütterungen bildet die Maximalam

plitude der Schwinggeschwindigkeit max v [6; 8; 9].

Die maximale Schwinggeschwindigkeit nimmt mit dem

Abstand zur Erschütterungsquelle infolge geometrischer

Dämpfung und Materialdämpfung ab. Die geometrische

Dämpfung ist abhängig von der geometrischen Form der

Erschütterungsquelle (punktoder linienförmig), der Art der

Erschütterung (pulsartig oder harmonisch/stationär), sowie

der räumlichen Ausbreitung der Schwingung (Raumwelle

oder Oberflächenwelle) [6]. Die Materialdämpfung durch

Absorption und Dissipation hängt von der Struktur des Mate

rials (z. B. Trennflächen im Fels) ab und ist

frequenzabhängig.

An Schichtgrenzen und freien Oberflächen kommt es zu

Reflexionen [9].

Zur Beschreibung der Dämpfung der Maximalamplituden

wird die in [6] (DIN 4150, Teil 1) angegebene Abstands

Lademengen-Beziehung für sprengbedingte Erschütterungen

verwendet:

Danach sind die Maximalamplituden der

Schwinggeschwindigkeit (max v) vom Abstand zur Spreng

stelle (R) und von der Lademenge (L) abhängig. Der Dämp

fungsexponent m beinhaltet sowohl die geometrische Dämp

fung als auch die Materialdämpfung und wird wie die Param

eter k und b aus Messergebnissen empirisch ermittelt. Im

doppelt logarithmischen Maßstab beschreibt diese Funktion

ein Gerade.

6.2 Beurteilungskriterien und Anhaltswerte

Durch Sprengungen werden die einzelnen Teile eines

Gebäudes über die Fundamente in unterschiedlicher Weise

zu Schwingungen angeregt und dadurch Spannungen an den

Bauteilen erzeugt. Überschreiten diese die Festigkeit des

Materials, kommt es zur Rissbildung. Abbildung 5.
Einzuhaltende Grenzwerte für Gebäude nach DIN 4150.
Abbildung 6. Multifunktionsstelle Faido. Für die
Beurteilung kurzzeitiger Schwingungen sind die
Maximalamplituden der Schwinggeschwindigkeit max v und die
Frequenz f maßgebend. In [6] wird zwischen – Einwirkungen
auf baulicheAnlagen (DIN 4150,Teil 3) und – Einwirkungen
auf Menschen in Gebäuden (DIN 4150, Teil 2) unterschieden.
Im folgenden werden die in der DIN 4150 (Teil 3)
angegebenen Anhaltswerte zur Beurteilung der Wirkung von
kurzzeitigen Erschütterungen auf Bauwerke erläutert. Die
Anhaltswerte beziehen sich auf die Fundamente und die
oberste Deckenebene von Gebäuden und sind in der Abbildung
5 wiedergegeben. Für Wohngebäude werden beispielsweise in
Abhängigkeit von der Frequenz Anhaltswerte für die
Fundamente von 5 bis 20 mm/s angegeben. Für
Deckenschwingungen wird in horizontaler Richtung ein
Anhaltswert von 15 mm/s angegeben. In vertikaler Richtung
sind 20 mm/s zulässig. Die größten Schwingungsamplituden
sind dabei in Deckenmitte des obersten Vollgeschoßes zu
erwarten. 7 BEISPIELE UND ERFAHRUNGEN 7.1
Gotthardbasistunnel, Multifunktionsstelle Faido Von dem
15,1 km langen Teilabschnitt Faido des
GotthardBasis-Tunnels werden die eingleisigen
Streckenröhren des Haupttunnels überwiegend mit 2
Gripper-TBM aufgefahren. Lediglich die Multifunktionsstelle
Faido und die in dieser Zone befindlichen Streckenröhren
des Haupttunnels werden in konventionellem Sprengvortrieb
hergestellt (Abbildung 6). Insgesamt sind ca. 6 km Tunnel
und Stollen mit Querschnittsflächen von 40 m 2 bis mehr als
300 m 2 aufzufahren.

Abbildung 7. Sprengmobil.

Die Vortriebsorte sind mit 2-armigen Bohrwagen mit semi

automatischer Steuerung ausgerüstet (einprogrammiertes

Bohrbild mit manueller Steuerung der Bohrarme). Da die

Abschlagstiefen bis zu 4 m betragen, ist eine derartige

Bohrausrüstung vor allem aus Gründen der Profilgenauigkeit

unbedingt notwendig.

Anforderungen an eine Begrenzung von Erschütterungse

missionen und Lärmemissionen sind nicht vorhanden.

Seit März 2002 wird in Faido ein pumpfähiger Emul

sionssprengstoff eingesetzt. Gezündet wird mit nichtelek

trischen Zündern vom Typ Indetshock. Ausschlaggebend für

die Auswahl des Emulsionssprengstoffs waren:

• hohe Detonationsgeschwindigkeit

• hohe Wasserbeständigkeit

• geringe Schwadentoxizität

• vollständige Ausnutzung des gesamten Bohrlochvolumens

beim Einsatz gepumpter Sprengstoffe

Im Gegensatz zur übertägigen Anwendung erfolgt die Sen

sibilisierung der Emulsionsmatrix durch "Chemical Gassing".

Durch das Vermischen der beiden Komponenten entsteht

der eigentliche Sprengstoff, dies erfolgt unmittelbar vor

dem

Bohrloch auf dem Misch-Ladegerät das auf einem Fahrzeug

aufgebaut ist (Abbildung 7).

Der so hergestellte Sprengstoff wird mit Hilfe eines Lade

schlauches in die vorbereiteten Bohrlöcher gepumpt. Alle

Messgrößen, wie Durchfluss Gasbildungsmittel, Säuredurch

fluss, Systemdruck und Temperatur werden überwacht.

Nach gut 4 Jahren Einsatzzeit kann festgestellt werden,

dass sich das System im rauhen Betrieb der Baustelle mit

zahlreichen Vortriebsorten bewährt hat. Als positiv wird

auch die bei gepumpten Sprengstoffen reduzierte Ladezeit

gegenüber patronierten Sprengstoffen genannt, was die Vor

triebsgeschwindigkeit erhöht.
Zwei Hinweise sind jedoch angebracht:

• Auch wenn die hohe Gesteinsfestigkeit,

großeAbschlagstiefen

und zumindest teilweise Vollausbruch für sich betrachtet

schon tendenziell den Sprengstoffverbrauch erhöhen, war

der Sprengstoffverbrauch höher als erwartet.

• Emulsionssprengstoffe können zu Belastungen mit Ammo

nium führen. Bei den üblicherweise hohen pH-Werten

im Tunnelabwasser (Spritzbetoneinsatz) wird sich daraus

Ammoniak resp. v. a. Nitrit bilden. Dieses ist in Vor

flutern nur innerhalb gewisser Grenzwerte erlaubt. Je

nach Konzentration (die auch von der Menge des Abbildung 8.

Tunnel Siegkreisel, Lageplan. Bergwassers abhängt), werden
sog. "Denitrifikationsanlagen" zur Behandlung des Wassers
vor der Einleitung in den Vorfluter notwendig. 7.2 Tunnel
Siegkreisel Betzdorf Beim Tunnel Siegkreisel handelt sich
um einen ca. 380 m langen Straßentunnel (Abbildung 8). Bis
auf die beiden Portalbereich wurde der Tunnel mittels
Sprengungen bergmännisch aufgefahren. Die Abschlagstiefen
in der Kalotte lagen zwischen 1,0 und 1,5 m. Die Strosse
wurde nach dem vollständigen Auffahren der Kalotte vom
Süd-und vom Nordportal aufgefahren. Zum Bohren der
Sprenglöcher wurde ein 2-armiger semiautomatisch
arbeitender Bohrwagen verwendet. Der Ausbruchquerschnitt
variierte aufgrund mehrerer Querschnittswechsels zwischen
ca. 87 und 150 m 2 . Nacheinander waren aufzufahren: •
Aufweitungsbereich Süd ca. 150 m 2 • 3-spuriger
Regelquerschnitt ca. 138 m 2 • Verziehungsbereich von 3 auf
2 Spuren • 2-spuriger Regelquerschnitt ca. 87 m 2 •
Aufweitungsbereich Nord ca. 100 m 2 Der anstehende Fels
besteht aus Schiefer und untergeordnet auch Tonschiefer des
Unterdevons. Die Schiefer sind tonigschluffig, zum Teil
auch leicht sandig und werden lokal von dünnen,
quarzverheilten Klüften durchzogen. Der unverwittert bis
schwach angewitterte Schiefer weist eine ausgeprägte
Schieferung auf, die mit ca. 60 bis 80 ◦ in Richtung
Südosten einfällt. Das Gebirge wird durch Klüfte in
verschiedenen Richtungen durchtrennt. Des Weiteren
durchziehen mehrere Störungen mit kleinstückig zerbrochenen
bis mylonitisiertem Gesteinsmaterial das Gebirge. Die
Störungen können bis zu 2 m Mächtigkeit erreichen und
verlaufen überwiegend in Richtung SW – NO. Der Tunnel
befindet sich im Stadtgebiet von Betzdorf in unmittelbarer
Nähe von Bebauung. Als schutzwürdige Objekte der
Nachbarschaft befinden sich am Südportal 3 Bauwerke, die
besonders intensiv beobachtet wurden: – Polizeiinspektion
Friedrichstraße 21 Abstand zum Südportal ca. 40 m –
Wohngebäude Kruppstraße 1 Abstand zum Südportal ca. 20 m –
Wohngebäude Kruppstraße 11 Geringster Abstand zum Tunnel
ca. 84 m

Abbildung 9. Sprengbild und Verzögerungszeiten.

7.3 Vortrieb und Sprengsystem

Aufgrund der exponierten Lage musste im Hinblick auf

die Beeinträchtigung der Anwohner und der Gebäude scho

nend gesprengt werden. Zusätzlich durfte zur Begrenzung der

Schallimmissionen für die Anwohner nur zwischen 7:00 und

22:00 Uhr gesprengt werden.

Aufgrund der Ausbruchvolumina von bis zu ca. 100 m 3

je Abschlag und einem prognostizierten spezifischen

Sprengstoffbedarf von ca. 1,0 bis 1,6 kg/m 3 [7] ergab sich

eine erforderliche Lademenge von insgesamt ca. 100 bis

160 kg. Um die vorgegebene maximale Lademenge von

1,0 kg je Zündzeitstufe einhalten zu können, wurden für

die Sprengungen eine Kombination aus Millisekunden

Kurzzeitzündern und Langzeitzündern in Verbindung mit so

genannten Snaplines (System Nonel) verwendet, so dass je

Zündgang mehr als 100 Zündzeitstufen verfügbar waren.

In Abbildung 9 ist beispielhaft ein Sprengbild für einen

Kalottenabschlag mit einer Ortsbrustfläche von ca. 85 m 2

und einer Abschlagtiefe von 1,2 m dargestellt. Die gesamte

Lademenge betrug ca. 175 kg.

Der Einbruch wurde mit Millisekunden-Kurzeitzündern

(MS-Zünder) mit Zündintervallen von �t = 25 ms in

18 Zündzeitstufen durchgeführt. Für die nachfolgen

den Zündzeitstufen wurden Long-Period-Langzeitzünder

(LP-Zünder) mit bis zu 25 Zündzeitstufen und

Verzögerungszeiten bis 6000 ms (Zündzeitstufe 60) verwen

det. Mit Hilfe der Snaplines können die Verzögerungszeiten

der Zündintervale der LP-Zünder um einige Millisekunden

(z.B. SL 17 = 17 ms) verzögert werden, so daß sie nicht gle

ichzeitig mit den entsprechenden Zündstufen eines anderen

Bereichs detonieren. Bei Ausnutzung aller Zündzeitstufen

der LP-Zünder bis zur Stufe 60 ergibt sich damit für einen

Zündgang eine Dauer von mehr als 6 Sekunden. Insgesamt

weist das in der Abbildung 9 dargestellte Sprengbild 110

Zündzeitstufen auf.

Da mit zunehmenden Abstand der Ortsbrust von

den Gebäuden die gemessenen Schwinggeschwindigkeiten

abnahmen, konnte die Lademenge je Zündzeitstufe mit

fortschreitendem Vortrieb erhöht und damit die Anzahl der

Zündzeitstufen reduziert werden.

Als Sprengstoff kam im Kern patronierter Emulsion

ssprengstoff Emulgit LWC AL mit 36 mm Durchmesser

und in Bereichen mit erhöhter Gesteinsfestigkeit auch Pola

dyn 21 zum Einsatz. Poladyn 21 ist ein patronierter gelat

inöser Sprengstoff mit höherer Sprengkraft. Im Kranz wurde

Sprengschnur Nitrocord verwendet.

7.4 Erschütterungsmessungen und Grenzwerte

An den dem Tunnelvortrieb benachbarten Gebäuden

Kruppstraße 1, Kruppstraße 11 und Polizei (vgl. Abbildung

8) Tabelle 1. Zulässige Schwinggeschwindigkeiten zul v i an
den Fundamenten der Gebäude Kruppstraße 1, Kruppstraße 11
und Polizei. Gebäude zul v x [mm/s] zul v y [mm/s] zul v z
[mm/s] Krupp15,0 15,0 8,1 straße 1 (f > 50 Hz) (f > 50 Hz)
(f > 22 Hz) Krupp2,0 2,5 2,1 straße 11 Polizei 1,7 2,0 1,1
Abbildung 10. gemessene Maximalamplituden der
Schwinggeschwindigkeit in z-Richtung an den Fundamenten der
Gebäude K1, K11 und P in Abhängigkeit vom Abstand R und
zulässige Schwinggeschwindigkeiten am Fundament. wurden die
Sprengungen mit mehreren Erschütterungsmessgeräten
überwacht und fortlaufend ausgewertet. Für die im
Nahbereich des Tunnels befindlichen Gebäude waren die
inTabelle 1 angegebenen Schwingeschwindigkeiten an den
Fundamenten einzuhalten. Für das Polizeigebäude lagen die
zulässigen Schwinggeschwindigkeiten in vertikaler Richtung
zum Beispiel bei nur 1,1 mm/s. Die geringen Werte
resultieren aus den Grenzwerten der DIN 4150 für die oberen
Geschoßdecken. Diese wurden auf Grundlage von Versuchen auf
zulässige Werte an den Fundamenten umgerechnet. In der
Abbildung 10 sind die Ergebnisse der
Erschütterungsmessungen dargestellt. Angegeben sind die in
vertikaler Richtung (z) an den Fundamenten gemessenen
maximalen Schwinggeschwindigkeiten über den jeweiligen
Abstand R zwischen Sprengund Messort. Zusätzlich sind die
zulässigen Schwinggeschwindigkeiten für die jeweiligen
Messorte eingetragen. Es zeigt sich, dass diese, abgesehen
von einigen geringfügigen Überschreitungen am
Polizeigebäude, eingehalten wurden. In Abbildung 11 sind
die am Fundament des Gebäudes K1 gemessenen
Maximalamplituden der Schwinggeschwindigkeit in
Abhängigkeit von den Lademengen pro Zündzeitstufe und dem
Abstand zum Sprengort dargestellt. Mit der in DIN 4150

Abbildung 11. gemessene Maximalamplituden der

Schwinggeschwindigkeit am Fundament Gebäude K1 in

Abhängigkeit vom Abstand R und der Lademenge L.

Abbildung 12. Sprengvorhang am Südportal.

angegebenen Abstands-Lademengen-Beziehung lässt sich bei

Wahl der folgenden Anpassungsparameter

• Dämpfungsexponent m = 1,7

• Proportionalitätsfaktor k = 2500 mm/s

• Exponent b = 0,65

der Zusammenhang zwischen Schwinggeschwindigkeit

und Abstand Sprengort-Messstelle gut beschreiben.

7.5 Sprengvorhang

Am Tunnelportal wurde vor jeder Sprengung ein

“Sprengvorhang” aus alten Förderbändern installiert (Abbil

dung 12). Neben der Reduzierung des Steinflugs konnten

hierdurch auch Verbesserungen bei den Lärmimissionen

erzielt werden. Die Richtwerte der TA Lärm [10] für die

Tageszeit wurden eingehalten, für die Nachtzeit allerdings
überschritten. 8 SCHLUSSBEMERKUNG Die Erfahrungen mit der
Multifunktionsstelle Faido zeigen, dass die Verwendung
gepumpter Emulsionssprengstoffe folgende Vorteile bietet: •
Verbesserung der Sicherheit und des Gesundheitsschutzes
durch die geringere Schwadentoxizität, • einfachere
Versorgung der Baustelle dadurch, dass der Sprengstoff erst
vor Ort entsteht, • Erhöhung der Vortriebsleistung durch
geringeren Zeitbedarf für das Bohren der Sprenglöcher und
das Besetzen mit Sprengstoff. BeimTunnel Siegkreisel
Betzdorf standen die Minimierung von Erschütterungsund
Lärmemissionen im Vordergrund. Der Einsatz
nichtelektrischer Zünder erlaubte eine deutliche Reduktion
der Sprengstoffmenge pro Zündzeitstufe durch erhebliche
Verzögerungen der Zünder bis hin zu mehreren Sekunden.
Durch die Interpretation der Messergebnisse konnte eine
Beziehung zwischen Abstand, Lademengen und maximalen
Schwinggeschwindigkeiten abgeleitet werden. Hierdurch war
es auch möglich, die einzelnen Sprengparameter kurzfristig
anzupassen und damit den Sprengvortrieb zu optimieren. Die
gewonnenen Messergebnisse sollten nach Meinung der
Verfasser Anlass geben, die bisher für Tunnelbaustellen in
bebautem Gebiet geforderten Sprengverbote zwischen 20 Uhr
und 7 Uhr kritisch zu überdenken, zumindest diese in
Planfeststellungsverfahren nicht unnötig festzuschreiben.
LITERATUR [1] Flury, Zbinden, Röthlisberger:
Herausforderungen und ihre Lösungen beim Bau der
Multifunktionsstelle Faido des GotthardBasistunnels.
Geotechnik-Kolloquium 2005, TU-Darmstadt. [2] Andrea
Muttoni: Gotthard-Basistunnel Los Faido, Sprengen mit
Emulsionssprengstoffen. [3] Andrea Stäubli: Bewältigung von
Abwasser und Schlamm, FGUTagung Alptransit. [4]
Sprengstoffe und Zündmittel, Westspreng. [5] Dyno Nobel.
Nonel Systembeschreibung. [6] DIN 4150: Erschütterungen im
Bauwesen, Teile 1, 2 und 3. Berlin, Beuth Verlag, 2001 und
1999. [7] Tunnel Siegkreisel, Sprengtechnisches Gutachten
und Immissionsprognose, Dipl.-Ing. Schmücker. Bergheim,
Juni 2004. [8] Polczyk H., Wittke W., Küpper H.-J.:
Sprengtechnischer Vortrieb eines Kontrollgangs in einer
alten Talsperre unter Stau. In: Taschenbuch für den
Tunnelbau 1997, S. 184 – 202, Verlag Glückauf, Essen 1996.
[9] Wittke W., Kiehl J. R.: Ausbreitung sprengbedingter
Erschütterungen und deren Auswirkungen auf Bauwerke. In:
Taschenbuch für den Tunnelbau 2001, S. 41 – 64, Verlag
Glückauf, Essen 2000. [10] Technische Anleitung zum Schutz
gegen Lärm (TA-Lärm): AllgemeineVerwaltungsvorschrift zum
Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz, 26. August 1998.
6 6. Petroleum engineering and
hydrocarbon storage

Boult, P.J. 1996. An investigation of reservoir/seal

couplets in the

Eromanga Basin; Implications for petroleum entrapment and

pro

duction. Development of secondary migration and seal

potential

theory & investigation techniques. PhD thesis, University

of South

Australia.

Gravestock, D.I. & Jensen-Schmidt, B. 1998. Structural

setting. In

D.I. Gravestock, J.E. Hibburt & J.F. Drexel (eds), The

petroleum

geology of South Australia: Cooper Basin: 47–68. Adelaide:

PIRSA.

Laws, R.A. & Gravestock, D.I. 1998. Introduction. In D.I.

Grave

stock, J.E. Hibburt & J.F. Drexel (eds), The petroleum

geology of

South Australia: Cooper Basin: 1–6. Adelaide: PIRSA.

Meixner, A.J., Boucher, R.K., Yeates, A.N., Gunn, P.J.,

Richardson,

L.M. & Frears, R.A. 1999. Interpretation of geophysical and

geo

logical data sets, Cooper Basin region, South Australia.

Canberra:

AGSO.

Morelli, C.P. & Hunt, S.P. 2006. Prediction of stress

states in the

Cooper Basin, Australia. In B. Harris, W. Potter & B. Scott

(eds),

Proc. 7th young geotechnical professionals conf., Adelaide,

SA,

Australia, 18–21 October 2006. Adelaide: AGS & NZGS.

Morelli, C.P., Hunt, S.P. & Boult, P.J. 2006. Calibration

of distinct ele

ment models for the Cooper Basin, Australia – Towards

improved hydrocarbon production. In D.P. Yale, S.C. Holtz,
C. Breeds & U. Ozbay (eds), 50 years of rock mechanics;
Proc. 41st US rock mechanics symp., Golden, CO, USA, 17–21
June 2006. Golden: ARMA. PIRSA – P&G (Department of Primary
Industries & Resources SA – Petroleum & Geothermal Group)
2005. Petroleum exploration & development in South
Australia: Cooper Basin [Online, accessed 8th June 2006].
PIRSA – P&G (Department of Primary Industries & Resources
SA – Petroleum & Geothermal Group) 2006. Supply of data.
Ramsay, J.G. 1967. Folding and fracturing of rocks. New
York: McGraw-Hill. Reynolds, S.D., Mildren, S.D., Hillis,
R.R. & Meyer, J.J. 2006. Constraining stress magnitudes
using petroleum exploration data in the Cooper-Eromanga
Basins, Australia, Tectonophysics 415: 123–140. Reynolds,
S.D., Mildren, S.D., Hillis, R.R., Meyer, J.J. & Flottmann,
T. 2005. Maximum horizontal stress orientations in the
Cooper Basin, Australia: Implications for plate-scale
tectonics & local stress sources, Geophys. J. Int. 160:
331–343. Warburton Basin GIS Data Atlas 2002 [CD Rom].
Available: Department of Primary Industries & Resources SA
– Petroleum & Geothermal Group. 11th Congress of the
International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa,
Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,
London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Effect of rocks anisotropy
on deviation tendencies of drilling systems Effet de
l’anisotropie des roches sur les tendances déviationnelles
des systèmes de forage pétrolier R. Boualleg, H. Sellami,
A. Rouabhi & S. Menand Ecole des Mines de Paris, Centre de
Geosciences, Fontainebleau, France C. Simon DrillScan,
Montreuil, France

ABSTRACT: Cases history have demonstrated that inter-bedded

formations are a major cause of borehole deviation and
tortu

osity. This phenomenon induces higher torque and drag,

running tubular problems, stabilizers wear, pipe damage and
trajectory
controlling problems. In some fields, shale formations have
a tendency to cause wellbore deviations to undesired
directions.

The formation anisotropy modifies the rock-bit and the

bit-string interactions. Those interactions have to be
fully understood

in order to eliminate the undesired well deviations and

tortuosities. To do so, an experimental drilling program
has been carried

out on a full-scale bench using various commercial drilling

bits in different formations including anisotropic shale at
several dip

angles. Due to the limitation of the existing criterion to

describe the failure of anisotropic rocks, a new criterion
was developed.

It introduces the notion of fictitious isotropic material

obtained by using a linear anisotropic operator. Coupling a
3D bit-rock

model with a 3D bottomhole assembly (BHA) model, enables to

predict the occurrence of tortuosity (due to the
anisotropy)

at small and large scales (micro and macro-tortuosity) and

to evaluate feet by feet the response of the commercial
directional

drilling systems (rotary, steerable motors or rotary

steerable systems). A post analysis of some real drilling
cases showed that,

when the anisotropy of the formations is known, it is

possible to select the best drilling system minimizing the
well tortuosity.

1 INTRODUCTION

The effect of the anisotropy of drilled rock formations on

devi

ation tendencies of drilling systems has been observed

since a

long time, both in laboratories and fields (Reich et al.,

2003).
In fact, field observations showed that laminated formations

have caused well deviations from planed trajectories.This

phe

nomenon is considered as problematic by the drillers since

it requires correctional operations and the use of expensive

directional drilling systems.

Drillers have observed that drilling through inter-bedded

formations causes inevitable and unwanted undulations

around the planned well trajectory. These deviations, called

tortuosity, have been recognized as one of the critical

factors

in extended-reach wells because they induce a high torque

and drag, drillstring buckling, running tubular problems and

BHA (Bottom-Hole Assembly) wear. In specific applica

tions, excessive tortuosity in horizontal wells can even

impair

productivity. When drilling these anisotropic formations

(lam

inated or inter-bedded rock), the first cause for deviation

is

attributed to the cutter-rock interaction hence to the

drilling

bit-rock interaction.

The goal of this paper is to describe a theoretical model

developed and calibrated on full-scale drilling benches in

order to describe those interactions and show how they can

affect the directional behaviour of drilling systems. This

model uses a new failure criterion that describes the fail

ure of anisotropic rocks, during the rock cutting process,
by

introducing the notion of fictitious isotropic material.

2 CUTTER-ROCK INTERACTION MODEL

The model presented here relates to the PDC cutter (Poly

crystalline Diamond Compact) (Figure 1). The objective of

such model is to estimate the forces applied on a single
cutter knowing its geometry (back rake angle, side rake
angle, diameter, chamfer. . .) and the mechanical failure
characteristics of the rock. 2.1 Isotropic rocks In the
literature, the most models utilise shear rock failure
criterion such as Coulomb criterion in which the rock is
described by its cohesion C and internal angle of friction
φ, derived from triaxial compressive tests. Ecole des Mines
de Paris has developed a complete model, detailed in
Gerbaud et al. (2006).The model assumes that each cutter of
the drilling bit cuts the rock at a significant depth of
cut and produces chips with a given geometry. It takes into
account build-up edge of crushed materials, chamfer and
back cutter force, uses limit analysis and Mohr-Coulomb
criterion to calculate the specific energy R eq defined as
the ratio of horizontal cutting force over the cutting area
(Figure 1). R eq can be written formally as: Figure 1.
Cutting forces model.

Figure 2. Cutting configurations in laminated rock.

where ω c is the PDC back rake angle and θ f the friction

angle

between the PDC and the rock.

For laminated (orthotropic) rocks, the problem is different

because the specific energy depends also on the orientation

of the formation dip defined by the unit normal −→ e . As we

can see in Figure 2, it is logically easier to cut the rock

in

configuration (1) than configuration (2).

Since the various cutting tests conducted in laboratory have

shown that the utilisation of Mohr-Coulomb criterion can

not capture the cutting force variation in laminated rocks,

a new single cutter model has been developed based on an

appropriate transverse failure criterion.

2.2 Proposed transverse failure criterion

The general form of a failure surface can be expressed by a

scalar-valued function F(σ ) = 0, which describes the

failure

envelope in six-dimensional stress space. In order to

respect

the material frame-indifference, F must necessarily be

invari

ant relative to the material symmetry group. The material

structure can be defined by the symmetric tensor:

It can be shown that by adding the structural tensor e to

the

original arguments of F , one can construct a function

which is

invariant relative to the orthogonal second-order tensors

space

(Zheng, 1994).Thus, for transversely isotropic material, F

can

be expressed as:

where σ = �(σ, e), F and are invariant relative to the

orthog

onal second-order tensors space. Considering this generaliza

tion, one can take all the advantages of the

well-established

theory of the representation of isotropic functions. σ can

be
interpreted as the stress tensor within a fictitious
isotropic

solid. The real and the fictitious stresses are related by

the

transformation function . In this work we will use the rela

tionship established by Rouabhi et al. (2007) and which can

be expressed in terms of the first and the second invariant

of

σ as: p is the mean or the hydrostatic stress, q is the Von

Mises

equivalent stress and N and T are respectively the intensity

of the normal and the shear stress acting across the cut
plan

normal to the unit vector −→ e .

In the transformation above, the material is characterized

only by two material constants α andβ. The advantage of

using

F(σ) instead of F(σ) is to use failure surfaces developed

for

isotropic materials. In order to respect the material

symmetry, F must only depend on the principal invariants of
σ. In geomechanics, failure of isotropic material is
described, in the most case, by the well-known
Drucker-Prager and Mohr-coulomb surfaces. In this work, we
define the Drucker-Prager failure criterion for the
transversely isotropic material. In the principal
fictitious stress space, the Drucker-Prager surface is a
cone with a circular deviatoric section centered on the
hydrostatic axis: where γ and λ are two material constants.
In order to write the failure surface for the real
material, we have to replace in the equation above p and q
by their expressions in terms of p, q, T and N, and thus As
a result, we obtain a failure surface with four material
parameters (α, β, γ , λ). 2.3 Application to the
cutter-rock interaction model In order to determine the
forces applied on the single cutter when cutting a
laminated rock (Figure 2), we assume: i) A fine layer of
crushed rock exists between the cutter and the produced
chip. ii) The stress state in the chip is homogeneous and
equilibrates the cutter action and the drilling mud
pressure P b . It is expressed as: where σ 0 is the unknown
stress applied by the crushed zone to the chip and tg(θ f )
a friction coefficient. iii) The chip formation is governed
by the transverse failure criterion presented above: The
resolution of the previous equation allows us to calculate
σ 0 as a function of ( −→ e , θ f , α, β, γ , λ). The rock
failure parameters are usually evaluated from classical
triaxial compressive tests. However, for a better
description of the rock cutting process, we have designed a
special circular cutting test, taking into account the 3D
variation of dip orientation during the cutter action. This
test consists in cutting a circular groove (Figure 3) in an
orthotropic rock. During a test on a rock sample at a given
dip angle, the variation of the cutter angular position θ,
allows the cutter to load the rock in different
configurations. Thus, one test is enough to adjust the
parameters (α, β, γ , λ). Once these parameters determined
they are kept constant for any other dip angles. Figure 3
presents a comparison between the model and the
experimental result for 45 ◦ dip angle. We can note, in
this case of orthotropic rock, that the specific energy is
very sensitive to the angular position and the model can
describe well this sensitivity. 3 DRILLING BIT-ROCK
INTERACTION MODEL The aim of developing a drilling bit-rock
interaction model is to describe a relation between the
forces applied on a PDC bit

Figure 3. Model-experiment comparison at 45 ◦ dip angle

inTourne

mire shale.

Figure 4. Side force during crossing rocks interface at 45

◦ .

(Figure 4) and its resulting displacements. Based on a kine

matical approach, the model uses the cutter-rock model to

determine the force on each PDC and adds all those forces to

obtain the global forces on the bit.

For inter-bedded rocks, during the revolution of the PDC

bit, the cutters may be either on the hard rock or on the

soft one.
The model checks the radial position of each cutter
relative to

the interface and uses the adequate parameters of the rock.

For laminated rock, the model computes the orientation of

the

formations dip relative to the cutting direction of each

cutter

before force calculation.

4 DIRECTIONAL LABORATORY DRILLING TESTS

The PDC bit-rock model has been validated by various tests

on the full scale directional drilling bench of Ecole des

Mines

de Paris. The drilling bench allows testing drill bit under

simulated downhole conditions. Two sets of strain gauges

are mounted on the drilling shaft to measure the bending

moments. The total resulting lateral force value and

direction

are computed.

4.1 Inter-bedded rocks drilling tests

These tests are carried out in order to study the effects

of the

interface angle, and the bit profile when crossing a

hard/soft

or soft/hard rocks interfaces. The test procedure consists

in Figure 5. WOB and side force in 30 ◦ dip angle shale
sample. drilling a sequence of 2 different rocks with an
inclined interface, recording the forces on the bit and
measuring the deviations of the borehole. In this campaign
different rocks and bits have been used. As long as the bit
drills only through the soft rock vertically, it does not
generate a side force on the shaft, but when it starts to
cut the hard rock, the anisotropy side force is created
making it deviates. Figure 4 shows plots of the shaft side
force and anisotropic force versus the bit position. The
shaft side force increases up to a limit F max and begins
to fall as the cutting structure drills more in hard rock.
At this moment the shaft side force makes the bit back to
the vertical position. For most cases, the bit deviates
initially toward the soft rock and then moves to the hard
rock. The theoretical and experimental results showed that
more deviations are occurred when the interface between the
rocks is close to the vertical. In addition, the results
indicate that the deviation decreases when the
stabilisation gauge of the bit increases. 4.2 Laminated
rocks drilling tests The tests in laminated rocks consist
in drilling a vertical hole through a cylindrical shale
sample with a diameter 20 cm and length 45 cm.The dip angle
is changed from 5 ◦ to 85 ◦ . Figure 5 presents the
variation of the WOB (Weight On Bit) and side force
measured on the bit when drilling a shale sample with a dip
angle of 30 ◦ . These results prove clearly the existence
of a side force which is mainly due to the rock anisotropic
behaviour. The sample length is probably too short to
obtain side force stabilization. From these tests, we
noticed that at 0 ◦ and 90 ◦ dip angle the side force is
low. As the dip angle is around 50 ◦ , the side force is
maximal and reaches 16% of WOB. For most tests, the side
force direction varies from−20 ◦ to 45 ◦ around the down to
up direction. 5 TRAJECTORY PREDICTION MODEL The parameters
that affect directional system behaviour can be classified
in two groups related to: – Bit-rock interaction: bit
steerability, walk angle, rock anisotropy (Boualleg, 2006).
– Drill string mechanics: drill collars, stabilizers, etc .
. . A new 3D code, based on direct integration of the stiff
strings behaviour and equilibrium equations without using
the finite element method, has been developed at Ecole des
Mines de Paris (Menand et al., 2005). This code, enabling
to simulate any BHA or drillstring is coupled to the 3D
rock-bit model.

Figure 6. Effect of WOB on the inclination of drilled hole

when

crossing inter-bedded rocks at 75 ◦ interface angle.

The calculations are made stepwise with an algorithm in

order

to predict drilling trajectory feet by feet. This algorithm

has

been validated on data from actual wells.

5.1 Deviation in inter-bedded rocks

In order to analyse the effect of drilling an inter-bedded
rocks

on the well trajectory, we simulate the case of a BHA#1

(Figure 6) coupled with a bit having a given steerability

and

walk angle. Initially this system drills a soft rock and

enters

suddenly another one 5 times harder, at a 60 ◦ interface

angle.

Figure 6 presents the well inclination variation as a

function

of the measured depth with various WOB when crossing an

inter-bedded rocks at 75 ◦ . We note that in the soft rock

the

inclination is constant and a sudden deviation (dogleg)

appears

when crossing the interface. The well inclination increases

of 3.5 ◦ in less than 0.4 m. Three meters following this

first

deviation, a second one occurs even if the bit drills on

homo

geneous rock. Indeed, the sliding of the first stabilizer

through

the first dogleg causes a second local dogleg. These undu

lations are repeated each time the first stabilizer crosses

a

dogleg. The bit behaviour, looking like a harmonic move

ment, can be amplified or attenuated, depending on BHA, bit

and operation parameters. Figure 6 shows also that

increasing

WOB may reduce considerably the amplification of trajec

tory undulations. Other simulations have demonstrated that

the first stabilizer position has a strong correlation with

the

oscillations period as observed in the field.

5.2 Deviation in laminated rocks

The difference between inter-bedded and laminated rocks

effect on trajectory behaviour is explained by the side

force

origin. For an inter-bedded rock, the side force is created

locally and for a laminated rock it is continuously created

as the bit remains in the rock. For this reason, drilling

lami

nated rock should have a more significant large scale

effect.

Figure 7 presents the evolution of the hole inclination

with the

drilled depth for two different BHA, a dropping BHA#2 and

a building BHA#3.

The two BHAs drill in an isotropic formation and then

encounter into a shale formation with dip angle 45 ◦ , at

62 m.

We notice that the slope of the curve changes from 2.7 ◦

/30 m to

4.3 ◦ /30 m for BHA #3 and from −2.75 ◦ /30 m to 1.64 ◦ /30
m

for BHA#2. These findings show that rock anisotropy has

changed completely the behaviour of the directional systems

ABSTRACT: In order to investigate how the residual oil

saturation changes with the change of cross-sectional shape
and
wettability of pore, and with the change of interfacial
tension between oil and water, water flooding simulations
using the

lattice-Boltzmann model (LBM) were first carried out to the

simple columnar pore models of different cross-sectional
shape

and wettability. Second, in order to understand the

multi-phase flow behavior in the reservoir rock and to
evaluate the residual

oil saturation, the same water flooding simulation was

carried out to an actual pore model of Berea sandstone
reconstructed

from its micro CT images. Consequently, the phenomena

particular observed in immiscible two-phase flow of oil and
water

were well simulated by the lattice-Boltzmann model, and

followings were clarified. First, oil has a tendency to be
left at the

corner of pore especially in the case of oil wet, and oil

remains on the pore surface as a film in the both cases of
wettability.

Second, the residual oil saturation of oil wet pore is

larger than that of water wet pore. Third, the residual oil
saturation is

reduced by decreasing the interfacial tension between oil

and water. Forth, much oil is left in the actual pore model
compared

to the simple pore model because of the three-dimensional

complexity of pore structure.

1 INTRODUCTION

The condition of fluid flow in an oil and natural gas

reservoir

rock is a multi-phase flow under which oil, gas, and water

flow simultaneously. Under the multi-phase flow condition,

the interfacial tension between each phase, the wettability

of

rock pore surface, and the complicated pore structure

affect the

residual saturation and the relative permeability of each

phase.

The residual oil saturation, which determines the end point

of relative permeability of oil, must be evaluated

accurately

to estimate the recoverable oil reserve and the behavior of

reservoir fluids accurately by reservoir simulations.

However,

the quantitative research on the influence of pore structure

properties on the residual oil saturation has not been

conducted

enough.

In this study, first, in order to investigate how the resid

ual oil saturation changes with the change of

cross-sectional

shape and wettability of pore surface, water flooding simula

tion using the lattice-Boltzmann model (LBM) is carried out

to

the simple columnar pore models of different cross-sectional

shape and wettability. Second, in order to understand the

multi

phase flow behavior in the reservoir rock and to evaluate

the

residual oil saturation, the same water flooding simulation

is carried out to an actual pore model of Berea sandstone

reconstructed from its micro CT images.

2 LBM FOR IMMISCIBLE TWO-PHASE FLOW

LBM is a technique for the fluid dynamics based on statis

tical mechanics. It has succeeded in the flow simulation of

complex boundary that the conventional program codes by

Navier-Stokes equation are hard to calculate. It solves a

lattice X Y Z 3 4 5 6 7 11 12 9 10 14 0 8 2 13 Figure 1.
3D15Q LBM lattice. Boltzmann equation for an
ensemble-averaged distribution of moving and interacting
imaginary particles on a discrete regular lattice. In the
LBM, a local equilibrium particle distribution is assigned
so that the macroscopic fluid mass and momentum may satisfy
the Navier-Stokes equations. (1),(2) In this study, the
D3Q15 (3D-LBM with 15 velocities) lattice shown in Figure 1
was used for the lattice structure. In order to simulate
the immiscible two-phase flow of oil and water, the
Boltzmann equation for the colored particles, red and blue,
proposed by Grunau et al. (3) was used in this study. It is
given by the following equation. where f k i (x, t) and k i
(x, t) are the particle distribution function and the
collision function respectively. They are defined to every
kind of particle k , red and blue, and to every direction

of particle motion i at the position x and time t on the

D3Q15

lattice. c i is the particle velocity in i direction on the

lattice,

and �t is the time step during which the particles travel

one

lattice spacing.

The collision function is decomposed into two terms as

Equation (2).

The first term of the right side of Equation (2) represents

the

relaxation from the collision perturbing condition to the

local

equilibrium condition. This term determines the effect of

fluid

viscosity in the LBM simulation. The second term of the

right

side of Equation (2) represents the surface tension between

the two kinds of immiscible fluid.

The first term is defined as Equation (3) applying BGK

(Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook) collision operator.

where τ k is the relaxation time to the local equilibrium

condi

tion after collision, and f k(eq) i is the local

equilibrium particle

distribution function. In this study, in order to get the

numeri

cal stability, the value of τ k is set to 1. On the other

hand, the

second term is defined by Equation (4) applying the

interfacial

tension model proposed by Grunau et al. (3)

where A is the coefficient which controls the magnitude of

interfacial tension, and K is the coefficient determined

from

a mass conservation depending on the lattice model. In this

study, A is set to 1.0 × 10 −3 for the interfacial tension

of base

case. K is 1/3 for the 3D15Q lattice model. F is a function

called local color gradient. It is defined by Equation (5).

where ρ r and ρ b is the density of red fluid and blue fluid

respectively. This function has a contribution at the

interface

of immiscible fluids.

3 VERIFICATION OF INTERFACIAL TENSION MODEL

IN LBM

Wettability is an index how the solid surface has a

tendency to

be wet with the contacting fluid. It is estimated by the

contact

angle, θ, of a droplet on the solid surface. For the water,

oil and

rock system, the contact angle is determined from the

balance

of interfacial tensions working at the interface between

water

and oil, water and rock surface, oil and rock surface. When
a

droplet of oil contacts the rock surface in water and the

contact

angle measured through the oil is less than 90 degrees, the

rock surface must be oil wet. Conversely, when it is more

than

90 degrees, the rock surface must be water wet. Moreover,

when it is just 90 degrees, the rock surface must be neutral

wet. The wettability of reservoir rock affects the

multi-phase

flow behavior and residual oil saturation in the reservoir.

(a) Initial condition (b) Water wet (c) Neutral wet (d) Oil
wet Figure 2. Realization of wettability of rock surface by
the LBM simulation. In order to verify the interfacial
tension model in LBM, the shape change was simulated for a
cubic droplet of oil put on a rock surface in water as
shown in Figure 2(a). In Figure 2(a), the volume of the
cubic oil droplet is 10 × 10 × 10 voxels, and the water
volume outside the oil droplet is 50 × 50 × 50 voxels.
First, the contact angle was set to be 180 degrees, that
is, perfectly water wet. In this case, the cubic oil
droplet changed its shape to be a sphere as shown in Figure
2(b). Second, the contact angle was set to be 90 degrees,
that is, neutral wet. In this case, the cubic oil droplet
changed its shape to be a semi-sphere as shown in Figure
2(c). Finally, the contact angle was set to be 0 degree,
that is, perfectly oil wet. In this case, the cubic oil
droplet spread itself on the rock surface as shown in
Figure 2(d). The LBM used in this study ignored the effect
of gravity. Therefore, the lower density fluid of oil did
not move upward in the higher density fluid of water even
in the case of perfectly water wet. From these simulation
results, we can know that the interfacial tension model
used in this LBM works well, although the contact angle in
the case of perfectly oil wet looks larger than 0 degree. 4
ESTIMATION OF RESIDUAL OIL SATURATION FOR SIMPLE PORE
MODELS In order to investigate how the residual oil
saturation changes with the change of cross-sectional shape
of pore, wettability of pore surface, and interfacial
tension between water and oil, water flooding simulations
using LBM were carried out to some simple columnar pore
models having different cross-sectional shape with changing
the wettability of pore surface and the interfacial tension
between water and oil. In these water flooding simulations,
the pore was first completely saturated with oil from dry
condition, and then the water was injected into the pore.
Therefore, the initial water saturation is 0. (a) Water wet
(b) Oil wet

Figure 3. Condition of the residual oil in the simple

triangular prism

pore model under the base case interfacial tension. (a)

Water wet (b) Oil wet

Figure 4. Condition of the residual oil in the simple

triangular prism

pore model under the 1/100 of the base case interfacial

tension.

4.1 Effect of wettability on the residual oil saturation

The interfacial tension was set to the base case value, and
the

water flooding simulations were carried out to the simple

tri

angular prism pore model in both cases of wettability,

perfect

water wet and perfect oil wet. The cross-sectional shape of

it
is regular triangle whose side length ratio is 1:2: √ 3 as
shown

in Figure 3.

Figure 3 shows the condition of residual oil to each case

of wettability. In this figure, residual oil is indicated

by gray

and injected water is indicated by white. From this figure,

we

can know that oil has a tendency to be left at the corner of

pore in the case of oil wet. Furthermore, we can know that

oil remains on the pore surface as a film in the both cases

of

wettability. The oil film is not disturbed in the case of

oil wet,

but it is broken in places in the case of water wet. The

residual

oil saturation is 8.8% in the case of water wet and 10.7% in

the case of oil wet.

4.2 Effect of interfacial tension on the residual oil

saturation

The interfacial tension was set to be 1/100 of the base case

value, and the water flooding simulations were carried out

to

the simple triangular prism pore in both cases of

wettability,

perfect water wet and perfect oil wet.

Figure 4 shows the condition of residual oil to each case of

wettability. In this figure, residual oil and injected

water are

indicated by gray and white respectively. From this figure,

we
can know that the interface between oil and water becomes

wavier compared to the base case in both cases of

wettability,

especially in the case of oil wet. In the case of oil wet,

fur

thermore, we can know that the volume of residual oil at the

corner of pore decreases. As a result, the residual oil

satura

tion decreases by decreasing the interfacial tension

especially (a) Circle (b) Square (c) Triangle (d) Cross (e)
Star Figure 5. The cross-sectional shapes of the simple
columnar pore models used in this study. 0 10 20 30 40 50
60 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 G S o r ( % ) Water wet
Oil wet Actual pore model Figure 6. Residual oil saturation
(S or ) relating with shape factor (G) for water wet pore,
oil wet pore, and actual pore model. in the case of oil
wet. The residual oil saturation is 9.4% in the case of
water wet and 9.6% in the case of oil wet. 4.3 Effect of
cross-sectional shape of pore on the residual oil
saturation In order to investigate the effect of
cross-sectional shape of pore on the residual oil
saturation, the cross-sectional shape was first evaluated
by shape factor to the different five crosssectional shape
of simple pore model, and then the residual oil saturation
was evaluated by performing the water flooding simulations
to them. The cross-sectional shapes of the simple columnar
pore models are circle, square, regular triangle, cross,
and star. They are shown in Figure 5. The shape factor, G
was defined by G = A/P 2 , where A is the cross-sectional
area and P is the peripheral length of pore. (4) The water
flooding simulations were performed to both cases of
wettability, perfect water wet and perfect oil wet. Figure
6 shows the relation between residual oil saturation, S or
and shape factor, G. From this figure, we can know that the
residual oil saturation increases with the decrease in
shape factor. As the more complex pore shows the smaller
shape factor, we can say that the more complex pore has the
larger residual oil saturation. Furthermore, we can know
that the residual oil saturation in the case of oil wet is
a little larger than that of in the case of water wet. (a)
Initial oil saturated condition (b) Injected water
saturated condition

Figure 7. The result of water flooding simulation for an

actual pore

model of Berea sandstone.

Figure 8. Condition of residual oil in the actual pore

model of Berea

sandstone.

5 ESTIMATION OF RESIDUAL OIL SATURATION FOR

AN ACTUAL PORE MODEL

In order to understand the multi-phase flow behavior in the

reservoir rock and to evaluate the residual oil saturation,

the

water flooding simulation using LBM was first carried out

to an actual pore model of Berea sandstone. The pore model

was reconstructed by stacking the micro CT images of the

sandstone after binarization so that the porosity of the

model

may correspond to the measured value. The size of the pore

model used for the simulation is 64 × 64 × 64 boxels, and

the

side length is about 325 µm. In this simulation, the

wettability

of the pore was set to be water wet, and the interfacial

tension

between water and oil was set to the base case value.
Moreover,

water injected from top to bottom, and every side surfaces

were

set to be no flow boundary.

As a result of the simulation, the initial oil saturated con

dition and the injected water saturated condition are shown

by gray in Figure 7(a) and 7(b) respectively. Comparing
these

figures, we can know that water is not injected to every

pore

space. The difference between these figures indicates the

con

dition of residual oil. Figure 8 shows the condition of

residual

oil in a cross-section of the pore model. In this figure,

injected

water is indicated by white and the residual oil is

indicated by

gray. In this figure, we can observe that oil remains in

some

regions of a pore, although the regions are relatively

large.

This should be occurred by the change of cross-sectional

area

ABSTRACT: For multiphase fluid-solid coupling problems, at

present, the laboratory tests used to calibrate the
numerical

methods are very rare. Water curtain is one of the economic

and effective methods to implement the airtight for unlined

underground caverns, and the key characteristics of two

phase fluid-solid coupling problem can be studied through
it. The

author designed an equipment to simulate the performance of

water curtain. This equipment can be used to simulate many

situations of the water curtain, such as different cavern

arrangements, different cavern space and different cavern
radius under

natural ground water level with or without water curtain.

The principle of the test, devices, design of the model,
the calculation

of the air-leakage and the critical air pressure are

introduced and discussed in this paper.

1 FOREWORD

Many underground engineering relate to gas-liquid phases

fluid-solid coupling problems, for example the construction

of the air cushion surge chamber in hydropower station, the

tunnel for storaging energy resources, underground cavern

for

storaging the oil or gas, compressed air tunnels, etc.

Problems

in this field need to be researched by the complete

multiphase

fluid-solid coupling model.

In engineering field, one of the main methods to prevent the

oil or gas leaking is water dynamics sealing method. Namely,

by setting the water curtain in the top of underground cav

ern to ensure the seal of oil, gas or compressed air. Aberg,

Goodal and others spent a lot of time to research the

principle

of water curtain, and they refered to some good suggestions

(Goodall et al. 1988a; Aberg, 1989). But their research

works

are mainly based on simple numerical simulation, and then

the

researching works are localizable (Liang & Lindblom, 1994).

In present, there are two tests related to multiphase

fluid-solid

coupling, a test about water curtain performance had been

made by C.O.Soder, a Swede, 1994, another is Schield, he had

researched physical model of the pressing air tunnel. There

are also two examples to prove the numerical simulation of

multiphase fluid-solid coupling, one is unsaturated sand con

solidation test which had been finished by Liakpoulous in

1965, another is simulating test for aquifer thermal air

storage

which was made by Meiri in 1981. As for the difficulties in

controling the experiments related to multi-phase fluid, it

is

rare to find this kind of test.

Considering the actual engineering demand, the main works

discribed in this paper is related to water curtain

performance,

because it can offer more informations.

2 PRINCIPLES OF WATER CURTAIN

When the water pressure surrounding cavity is larger than

storage pressure, the stored medium will not be able to

leak,

and that is the simple work principle of water curtain. The

Kvilldal hydropower station, in Norway, had been set water

curtain, the tightness effect was well and the gas leakage
rate

reduced rapidly.

Aberg offered firstly the rule of vertical hydraulic gradi

ent, but gravity, friction force and capillary suction were

not considered in his rule. According to the rule, if only
the value of vertical hydraulic gradient is bigger than 1
the storage cavern is sealed. Subsequently based on Aberg’s
research, Goodall suggested a simpler principle. That is,
as long as the water pressure of certain distance in all
possible leakage paths increased constantly, the gas
leaking would not taken place (Goodall et al., 1988). Based
on the above principles, the author designed a test of
water curtain performance. The test is mainly to add
artifical water curtain along the leaking path in the
model, so as to realize gas tightness by producing pressure
difference. 3 TEST DEVICE AND MODEL DESIGN The test devices
can simulate the multi-cavities, different spacing interval
of water curtain, different diameter of caverns, different
locations of the water curtain above the cavern. The test
device is mainly consisted of test frame, test model, gas
supply device and measuring device (Fig. 1). The dimension
of the model is 200 cm, 30 cm and 90 cm (L ×W × H). Air
compressor supplies gas to the test cavern through a
pressurestabilizer tank. The barometer is used to monitor
the change of gas pressure. Three rows of drain holes are
arranged above the caverns. In advance, three rows of holes
are ranged radially around (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
(9) (10) (12) 1. Pressure-regulator and gas supply device
2. Barometre 3. Gas supply pipe 4. Artificial water curtain
hole 5. Unlined test cavern 6. measuring points for
pressure field 7. reaction setting 8. reaction frame 9.
drain hole 10. Pressurizing system for water curtain 11.
micrometer gauge Figure 1. Sketch of test device of water
curtain.

caverns. So as to monitor the change of pressure field in

different working conditions.

A glass board with thickness of 1cm is fixed on the model

frame, in order to observe the test phenomenon. The test cav

erns are located 15 cm above the bottom of the model frame.

The height of water bed inside the model caverns is changed

along with the size of the caverns, for bigger carven the
height

is 5 cm and 3 cm for smaller one.

4 PREPARATIONS FOR THE TEST

4.1 Model material test and facture

The model material is gravelly sand and the model is manu

factured by rammer. Through a series of model material

tests,
for example the maximum and minimum density tests, the

maximum and minimum void ratio tests, analysis test of par

ticle. It is found that the material strength will increase

and the

deformation will reduce evidently, when the specific density

of the material is 0.7 to 0.75. Then the specific density

of 0.80

is choosen for the model manufacturing.

The model is made of layered and compacted sand. Each

layer is 5 cm thickness and needs ten times tamping. After

finishing the model facture, the reaction device and a set

of

micrometers will be installed on the model. Subsequently the

model will be saturated. Generally the model settlement will

get to be steady for about 24 hours after saturated. Then

pres

sure measuring pipe and water curtain pipe will be

installed.

All pipes are made of copper and with the diameter of 3 mm

inside and 6 mm outside. Many quincunx small holes with

3 mm space and 1.5 mm diameter are drilled on the pipe wall.

4.2 Gas leakage calculation

In this test, the following method is used to calculate gas

volume and gas leakage. General state equation of ideal gas

is

Where V is gas bulk (m 3 ), n is gas molar amount (mol), R

is

universal gas constant 8.13 (J/mol k), T is absolute tempera

ture (K). gas molar amount n = m/M , where m is air

mass(kg),

M is gas molar mass (kg/mol), Mair = 0.0289, substitute n

into

(1), we obtain:

Gas volume can be calculated by Eq.2, and then air leakage

can also be obtained.

4.3 Air leakage calibration

In model test, except the gas leakage through the top of cav

erns, there is also a few gas leakage through joints, and

part

of gas will dissolve in water. The gas loss which dissolved

in

water is given by Henry’s Law:

Where X g is dissolved leakage (molar component in balance),

P s is component of actual gas pressure, H is Henry’s

constant

of actual gas. Henry’s Law only gives the gas loss

dissolved in water in steady state, for solve this problem,
in this paper, the author calibrate the gas bulk which
dissolve in water cushion also by adopting charts given by
Söder (1994). 5 MAIN RESEARCH RESULTS 5.1 Natural (stable)
water level test Figure 2 shows the relationship curve
between different working gas pressure and gas leakage for
single, double and triple cavities. It shows that the
process curve can be divided into three segments. For the
first segment, gas leakage has no change basically, and for
the second segment, gas leakage is increased a little as
the pressure increases. For the third segment, gas leakage
increases quickly. In the same working pressure, gas
leakage will increase as the number of the caverns
increase. The inflexion point of the curve where gas
leakage increased obviously occurred differently. For
single cavern, double caverns and triple caverns, the
inflexion points occurred at 0.6 m, 0.5 m and 0.4 m,
respectively. The shape of curves which working pressure
reduce are quite different from the curves which working
pressure increase. When working pressure is reduced lower
than the natural water table, the gas leakage reduce
rapidly. After this inflexion point, pressure is reduced
slowly and the curve is like the first segment of pressure
increasing curve. In practice, the process curve of
pressure increasing is more important. For processing the
curve of the pressure increase, two straight lines can be
used to describe it (Fig. 3). Where P gc is critical gas
pressure, i.e. the working gas pressure corresponding to
the inflexion in Fig. 2 or Fig. 3. When the pressure is
greater than P gc , gas leakage will increase rapidly. In
equation 4, a, b, c, d are the constants related to number
and shap of caverns. 5.2 Water curtain test Water curtain
tests can be divided into following groups: Group 1:All of
water curtain holes are connected for single, double and
triple caverns or their combination. The tests are made in
the conditions of 0.3 m, 0.4 m, 0.5 m, 0.6 m and 0.7 m
working pressures, respectively. 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0000 0.0001 0.0002 0.0003 0.0004
0.0005 0.0006 0.0007 0.0008 0.0009 Pressure increasing
Pressure reducing Cavern working gas pressure (m )
Natural water level pressure G a s l e a k a g e ( N m 3 /
h ) Figure 2. Relationship curves between gas pressure and
leakage for cavern at nature water level. 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0000 0.0001 0.0002 0.0003
0.0004 0.0005 0.0006 0.0007 Work gas pressure (m)
Natural water level G a s l e a k a g e ( N m 3 / h )

Figure 3. Gas leakage ratio test at nature water level.

Figure 4. Sketch of water curtain test for different caverns

arrangement. 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.4 0.0000 0.0001
0.0002 0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006 Pressure difference
Pd(m) Single cavern Double caverns Three caverns

Figure 5. Relationship curves between water curtain

differential

pressure and gas leakage in test I.

Group 2: The spacing of water curtain holes is changed.

Under the same conditions of working pressure of 5 kinds as

group 1, the air leakage and break condition of the gas are

researched.

Group 3: The leakage development of pressure gas and

water curtain invalidation in three unlined caverns are simu

lated in the test. Arrangement of water curtain holes is
shown

in Fig. 4. The black points mean the connected curtain

holes,

the white dots represent non-working holes.

The maculae above the cavern represent working state, i.e.

the connected water curtain hole, and the white dot

represent

non-working state.

5.2.1 Influence of water curtain to gas tightness

As shown in Fig. 5, P d is the pressure deference between

water

curtain and the pressure air. When P d is larger than 0.2

m, gas

leakage of the cavern is nearly zero. When P d is reduced to

0.2 m, the gas leakage occurs obviously. When P d is

reduced 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.4 0.0000 0.0001 0.0002
0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006 Single cavern 1 Double caverns
1 Three caverns 1 Single cavern 2 Double caverns 2 Three
caverns 2 G a s l e a k a g e ( N m 3 / h ) Pressure
difference Pd(m) Figure 6. Relationship curves between gas
leakage and water curtain differential pressure. 0 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 0.00000 0.00005 0.00010 0.00015 0.00020
0.00025 0.00030 0.00035 0.00040 Time (h) Failure Restore G
a s l e a k a g e ( N m 3 / h ) Figure 7. Gas leakage-time
curve at water curtain failure. to 0.0 m or less, the gas
leakage increases soon and air bubbles escape rapidly from
the top of the model. The centralized seepage path occurs
in the top zone of 10 cm of the model. Comparing with the
case of triple caverns, the curve of double caverns is
close to the curve of single caverns. 5.2.2 Influence of
water curtain spacing to gas tightness Fig. 6 shows the
relationship curve between P d and gas leakage of two kind
of arrangements of water curtain holes. Number 1 and 2 in
Fig. 6 represent Group 1 and 2 of water curtain hole
arrangements. Group 1 means that all of the water curtain
holes are in working state, Group 2 means that water
curtain holes is distant. It shows that, the distance of
water curtain holes can affect the relationship curve quite
obviously. In the same condition of water curtain pressure,
larger spacing interval of holes leads to more rapid
increase of gas leakage. 5.2.3 Influence of water curtain
invalidation to gas tightness The relationship between gas
leakage and the process of water curtain invalidation and
restore for the case of single cavern are shown in Fig.
7.The effect of that the water curtain pledges gas
tightness of unlined cavern is obviously. 5.2.4 Analysis
for critical gas pressure Fig. 8 shows the relationship
curve between square of working gas pressure and gas
leakage. According to Muskat theory, if the seepage area
and factor are assumed to be constant, the radial gas flow
discharge is pro rata with the gas pressure gradient. Fig.
9 shows the development of water curtain pressure deference
P d and gas leakage along with the different water curtain
pressure. The gas leakage is mainly caused by joints, when
P d value is smaller than 0.5, corresponding cavern
pressure is about 0.7 m, for the case of single cavern.

Figure 8. Relationship curves between gas leakage and

square of

cavern working pressure. 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.4
0.0000 0.0001 0.0002 0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006 0.7m
0.8m 0.9m 1.0m Pressure difference Pd(m) G a s l e a k a
g e ( N m 2 / h )

Figure 9. Relationship curves between water curtain

differential

pressure and gas leakage at varied gas pressure.

The critical gas pressure can be defined as that, at that

pres

sure, water curtain begins failure and gas leakage increase

rapidly. The pressure deference P d of water curtain at

failure

will increase along with the gas working pressure.

6 CONCLUSION

(1) Test results show that, after setting up artifical

water curtain for unlined caverns, the critical gas working
pressure will increase evidently.

Fault seal prediction in unconsolidated sediments with a

novel experimental apparatus F. Cuisiat, E. Skurtveit & R.
Cleave Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Ullevål Stadion,
Oslo, Norway

ABSTRACT: Faults that affect fluid flow in hydrocarbon

reservoirs are produced by the deformation of a large
variety of

sediment types under different stress conditions.

Deformation processes comprise grain reorientation, clay
smear and cataclasis.

Before the hydromechanical effect of faults can be

implemented into a reservoir model, it is essential to
understand the basic

mechanisms that control clay smear and fault gouge

generation, and measure how these processes affect fluid
flow. A new ring

shear apparatus has been designed and constructed at NGI to

investigate clay-smear processes and shear band formation
under

large strains and stresses. The new equipment allows for

deformation of ca. 90 cm pr round and normal effective
stresses up to

20 MPa, as well as fluid flow testing during shearing to

quantifying the effect of clay smear and other deformation
processes

on the hydraulic properties of the seal. This corresponds

to a depth of ca. 2600 m under hydrostatic conditions or
even higher in

over-pressured reservoirs.These depth ranges cover the

depth at which deformation (faulting) may have occurred for
most North

Sea reservoirs. The paper presents some preliminary results

which illustrates the capabilities of the equipment. The
samples

consist of Jurassic sand from Bornholm, Denmark mixed with

variable amount of kaolin clay sheared under 5 and 20 MPa

normal stress. After testing, thin sections were analyzed

in the optical microscope to qualitatively describe the
development
and micro-structure of the shear zone.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Hydrocarbon recovery from faulted and compartmentalized

reservoirs is highly dependent on the hydraulic properties

of

the reservoir seals. During the last decade, the understand

ing of how faults may affect fluid flow in reservoirs has

been improved by the activities of several researchers (e.g.

Allan, 1989; Knipe, 1992; 1997; Antonellini & Aydin, 1994;

Fowles & Burley, 1994; Childs et al., 1997; Yielding et al.,

1997; Gibson, 1998; Manzocchi et al., 1999; Hesthammer

& Fossen, 2000; Sverdrup, 2002). However, there is still a

need for improved predictability of fault zones with

respect to

their architectures (geometries, internal structures,…),

sealing

mechanisms and behaviour during production.In sedimentary

basins, faults may either behave as conduits or barriers

(i.e.

seals) for fluid flow. The resistance to fluid flow

along-across

the fault (i.e. capacity for sealing) depends on the

composition

of the faulted sedimentary sequence, the nature and

evolution

of faulting, the effective stress, and the temperature

history

(Fisher and Knipe, 1998).

Faults are produced by the deformation of a large variety of

sediment types, under different stress conditions. The

textural

development of fault rocks is affected by rock deformation

processes such as grain reorientation and packing, clay

smear

and cataclasis, as well as mineral precipitation through

fluid

flow and diffusive mass transfer (Sverdrup, 2002).

1.2 Shear band formation in sands

Much work has been devoted within geotechnique to a gen

eral understanding of the behaviour of sands in compression

and shearing. Compilation of data can be used to predict

the deformation and strength properties of sand based on

for instance porosity and relative density. Within basin
modelling, of particular interest is the deformation of
sediments during burial as well as the formation of shear
bands in sedimentary basins, since their cumulative number
can be 4 or 5 orders of magnitude higher than faults seen
on seismic surveys (Yielding et al., 1996). Cataclastic
shear bands may significantly reduce the porosity and
permeability of the sediments. Sediments may already
experience prominent grain fracturing at burial depth of
500 m when subjected to uniaxial compaction (Chuhan et al.,
2003), or at shallower depths when subjected to shear
deformations (Kvaale, 2002; Kjelstad, 2002). The texture
and petrographic properties of shear bands as well as their
effect on fluid flow have been studied in details from well
cores and outcrop, e.g. Sverdrup (2002), Antonellini &
Aydin (1994), Shipton et al. (2005). The link between
geomechanical stress-strain properties, petrographic
description of shear bands, and burial depth was
investigated experimentally by Kjelstad (2002) in a direct
shear apparatus. The experiments show similar textural
features to field observations from Bornholm, although the
samples from the direct shear experiments showed less fine
grain fragments as a result of the smaller shear
displacements. The production of fines or granular fault
gouge has been specifically investigated by numerous
authors in the literature, as very fine grained material
produced during shearing may affect dramatically both the
frictional properties and the hydraulic properties of the
gouge (e.g. Mandl et al., 1977; Scott et al., 1994; Mair et
al., 2002; Frye and Marone, 2002; Makurat, 1999). Field
observations show that the distribution of fine material in
fault gouge is power law (fractal) with an exponent around
2.6-2.7 (An & Sammis, 1994). In parallel to the experiments
much progress has been accomplished recently within
discrete element modelling of granular materials to
investigate the formation of fault and fault gouge and its
frictional property (e.g. Guo and Morgan,

2004; Abe & Mair, 2005; Aharonov & Sparks, 2004). Those

models can yield important insights into the micro-processes

operating in fault zones, such as grain rolling, sliding,

stick

slip motion and communition of grains with accumulated

shear strain.

1.3 Clay smears

Experimental studies (Weber and Mandl, 1978; Sperrevik

et al., 2000; Clausen and Gabrielsen, 2002) as well as out

crop studies of clay smears in loose sandstone-shale

sequences

(Weber, 1978; Lehner and Pilaar, 1997; Doughty, 2003), and

lithified sandstone-shale sequences (Lindsay et al., 1993),

suggest that clay smearing is strongly dependent on the orig

inal thickness of the shale beds, the competency contrast

between the shale and non-shale lithologies, the effective

stress (i.e. burial depth), and the magnitudes and rates of

fault

ing. Very shallow burial depths at the time of faulting

provide

continuous, non-cataclastic sand smears accompanied by brit

tle deformation of clays with poor clay smear development.

For deeper burial depths, cataclastic shear bands within

sand

stones develop in association with clay smears, suggesting a

critical burial depth at which sand smear is replaced by

clay

smear (Christensen, 2005).

Conceptual models based on simple mechanical consid

erations have been used to explain clay smearing (Lehner

and Pilaar, 1997; Mandl, 2000; Koledoye et al., 2003), and

no mechanic based predictive tool is yet available to model

the processes associated with clay smear due to the difficul

ties associated with the complexity of the mechanisms

(strain

localisation, large displacement, extrusion, loading rates).

Predictive models are usually empirically based, by relating

the potential for clay smearing to properties easily

measured

in well logs and seismic sections, such as amount of shale

and fault throw across the sedimentary sequence. See for

instance clay smearing potential (CSP, Bouvier et al.,

1989),

shale smear factor (SSF, Lindsay et al., 1993), and shale

gouge

ratio (SGR, Yielding et al., 1997). However, those

parameters

should be calibrated against well and outcrop data that doc

ument fault sealing. SGR, for example, has been calibrated

against across-fault pressure data from wells in diverse tec

tonic settings. A remarkably consistent value of 20% marks

the limit between non-sealing and sealing faults (Yielding,

et al., 1997; Fristad et al., 1997). Fault permeability –

SGR

relationships have been proposed for the North Sea based

on well datasets (Manzocchi et al., 1999; Sperrevik et al.,

2002). Other approaches are based on extensive experimen

tal datasets from triaxial experiments, and relate usually

fault

permeability to strain or porosity (e.g. Crawford et al.,

2002;

Takahashi, 2003). However, the experiments are usually lim

ited in terms of maximum fault displacement that can be

reproduced.

2 RING SHEAR APPARATUS FOR INVESTIGATING

FAULTING AND CLAY SMEAR

Clay smear during faulting has been studied previously at

NGI

with laboratory experiments based on a ring shear device

traditionally used for testing residual strength of soils.

The

effect of clay and sand properties, strain rate and geomet

rical aspects on the clay smear continuity in the fault zone

was investigated by Sperrevik et al. (2000) and Clausen and

Gabrielsen (2002). Similar experiments were performed by

Kvaale (2002) to study deformation processes in granular

Figure 1. Design drawing of new ring shear apparatus.
materials, in particular grain crushing and consequence for
the hydraulic properties across the shear bands
(permeability and capillary entry pressure). Because of the
limitations inherent to the apparatus, the experiments were
limited to low stress conditions i.e. shallow /
syn-sedimentary faulting, with a maximum burial depth of
ca. 100 m under hydrostatic pore pressure conditions.
Furthermore, fluid pressure and drainage conditions could
not be controlled. Hence, a new ring shear device has been
designed and constructed at the institute with the
following major improvements: • increased stress level
(max. capacity 20 MPa) • better test control and data
collection • flow measurements through separate ring
filters. A sketch of the ring shear apparatus is presented
in Figure 1. The assembly consists of a pedestal, upper and
lower frames, upper and lower rings, and inner and outer
confining rings. The sample is contained within the annular
space created between the inner and outer confining rings,
and the lower and upper rings (Figure 2). The width of the
annular space between the rings is 25.4 mm, and the maximum
height of the sample is 44 mm. The maximum height is
limited by the overlap required to hydraulically seal the
gap between the upper ring and the confining rings. The
horizontal cross-sectional area of the sample is equal to
223 cm 2 . On the upper and lower rings 48 knives (or
grooves) are evenly distributed to ensure transfer of the
torque into the specimen. The knives are 25.4 mm wide, 5 mm
thick and 5mm high. 48 orifices are evenly distributed
between the knives on the upper and lower rings for flow
measurements. The two reaction arms on the upper frame
provide reacting forces against the torque applied to the
lower assembly. Two load cells measure the reaction forces,
which in the absence of friction, sum to the equal to the
shear forces exerted on the specimen. The maximum stresses
which can be exerted onto the sample are 20 MPa in the
normal and shear directions. The

Figure 2. Sectioned sketch of ring shear cell. Arrows

indicate

direction of movement.

maximum and minimum rotation velocities are 1 tour/min and

2 degrees/min, respectively.

The shearing system is provided by a step-motor and a gear

box sitting under the ring shear assembly. The motor and
gear

box have been selected in order to have the capacity to

mobilize

the required maximum shear stress, ignoring any frictional

loss in the system. The normal load system is provided by

the

MTS ® loading frame available at NGI.

The hydraulic system is designed to connect the 24 upper

and lower orifices to upper and lower GDS pumps which could

be used to control the pore pressure imposed at the bottom

and top sides of the specimen. The pumps could also be used

to impose a back pressure as well as perform permeability

measurements with constant imposed flow rate or pressure

gradient.

The control system for the ring shear device is based

upon the LabView programming environment. The software

is called RSView, and via a graphical user interface, it:

• Reads values from the various sensors

• Controls the driving motor, regulating pumps and flow

valves

• Interacts with the user for control of the MTS machine

• Logs data to file

• Switches through a sequence of user defined stages

• Allows the user to repeat/skip/stop the automated sequence

and control the apparatus manually.

3 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM

3.1 Description of program and testing matrix

A total number of 12 successful tests were performed (Table

1).

The tests mainly focus on initial testing of the new

equipment,

repeatability of testing, and shear band formation in loose

sand. One experiment was conducted on sand mixed with 15%

clay, and one on clay smear in sand.

Samples for thin section analysis were taken after each ring

shear test for petrographic analysis at the University of

Bergen.

Oedometer tests of sand mixed with different amount of clay

have been performed in parallel to investigate the

compaction

behaviour of the mixture and its permeability. Table 1.

Overview of tests carried out. Rotation σ ′ n Objective
Sand/clay (deg.) (MPa) Test ID 1) Consistency 21B 45 5 RT01
2) Shear strain 60 5 RT02 3) Grain size 75 5 RT03 360 5
RT04 3) Grain size 17 60 5 RT05 3)Grain size 15B 150 5 RT06
75 5 RT13 4) Clay content Baskarp 450 5 RT08 75 20 RT09 45
20 RT10 Baskarp 45 5 RT11 and 15% clay (kaolin) 5) Clay
smear Baskarp, + 90 5 RT12 clay segments 3.2 Material for
testing The sands chosen for the experiments were selected
from experience gained in previous studies (Clausen &
Gabrielsen, 2002, Chuhan et al. 2003, Kjeldstad, 2002 and
Kvaale, 2002). In total, four different types of sand have
been used: • Bornholm no 21: medium grained • Bornholm no
15: coarse to medium grained • Bornholm no 17: fine to
medium grained • Baskarp no 15: fine to medium grained Due
to the difficulties in finding large quantities of clay
representative for North Sea reservoirs, Kaolin clay was
used. The permeability of Kaolin is relatively high,
compared to other clays. Hence the permeability
measurements with kaolin reported hereafter will not be
representative of field fault data. 4 RESULTS 4.1 Shear
band formation in loose sand The normalised shear stress
over normal stress (or apparent friction) for tests
RT08-RT10 is shown in Figure 3. Note the perfect
repeatability between tests RT09 and RT10 as the same
procedure has been used to consolidate the samples.At 5
MPa, there is a pronounced increase in the shear resistance
up to peak, and then reduction to a residual level. At 20
MPa there is only a gradual increase to the strength level.
In addition under high normal stress, massive grain
crushing is expected which erases initial difference in
grain distribution within the samples. 4.2 Change in flow
resistance during shearing Flow measurements performed
before and during shearing show a drastic reduction in flow
capacity with shear. The permeability reduction factor
generally increases with normal stress, and decreases with
grain size, although the number of tests is limited. The
initial permeability prior to shearing decreases when clay
content increases, but the permeability reduction factor
decreases relative to a clean sand. 0 0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8 0 15 30 45 60 75 90 Rotation ( o )

τ / σ RT08-5MPa RT09-20MPa RT10-20MPa

Figure 3. Apparent friction during shearing for Baskarp sand

(D60 = 0.17 mm). RT08 (5 MPa), RT09 and RT10 (20 MPa).

0.001

0.010

0.100

1.000

10.000 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 50 Ring
Rotation (deg), 90 o = 22cm

P e

r m

e a

b i
l i t

( D

a r

c y

) RT08 RT09 RT10

Figure 4. Permeability across sample versus ring rotation

for

Baskarp sand.

The reduction in permeability with shear is shown in

Figure 4 for a fine grained Baskarp sand. Tests RT09 and

RT10 are carried out under 20 MPa normal stress, where as

test RT08 is carried out under 5 MPa normal stress. The ini

tial permeability (prior shearing) is similar for the three

tests.

However, the permeability is drastically reduced as soon as

shearing starts. The reduction is much more important for

RT09 and RT10 due to higher intensity of grain crushing for

higher stresses.The “residual” permeability is not yet

attained,

but at least a reduction of 2–3 orders of magnitude

relative to

the initial permeability prior shearing can be expected.

Note the good repeatability in flow measurement between

RT09 and RT10, except for one low flow measurement due to

clogged filter.

The interpreted sand permeability prior to shearing is com

pared to the permeability measurements performed in the

oedometer cells on Baskarp sand. There is a relatively good

agreement between the measured hydraulic conductivity val

ues in the oedometer cells and the interpreted

conductivities

from the ring shear tests, despite the uncertainty in flow

cross

section area.

Flow measurements from RT08 and RT09 are also com

pared to the data by Kjeldstad (2002) carried out in a

direct

shear box. There is a reasonable agreement between the two

data sets, e.g. initial values prior to shearing and after

10 mm.

Larger shear displacements in the ring shear lead to much

lower permeability than obtained in the direct shear box, at

comparable stress levels. RT0 RT03 θ=75 o 0 10 20 30 40 50

60 70 80 90 10 0. 0.1 1 Gr RT01 Bo 1 θ=45 o RT02 θ=60 o 0
01 ain size (mm) P a s s i n g ( % ) - 45deg rnholm 21B
RT03 - 75deg RT02 - 60deg Figure 5. Grain size distribution
and SEM images for RT01, RT02 and RT03. Bornholm sand 21B.
Effect of shearing. 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
4000 Ringrotation ( o ) S h e a r s t r e s s τ ( k P a )
RT11-Vclay=15% RT08-Vclay=0% 15 30 45 60 0 Figure 6. Shear
strength of Baskarp sand at 5 MPa normal stress. 4.3
Characterization of shear band From post-mortem visual
inspection the thickness of the shear band seems to
increase with grain size and shear displacement. The shear
band is not pronounced before 45 ◦ rotation. The grain size
distribution of the sand has been inferred for all tests,
and the grain size is averaged over the whole sample
height. The reduction in grain size is more pronounced with
increased shear displacement (Figure 5). At higher
stresses, the grain size distribution is more or less the
same for the two samples, irrespective of shear
displacement. The proportion of fines is higher at 20 MPa
than at 5 MPa, even with larger shearing. The reduction in
grain size is more pronounced for coarser sand and without
clay within the sand. The increase of grain crushing and
filling of the pore volume with fines with increased shear
displacement is clearly visible from SEM images (Figure 5).
4.4 Effect of clay in sand The effect of a small amount of
clay added to the sand on the stress-deformation properties
of the sand is shown in Figure 6 by comparing RT08 and RT11
(Baskarp sand, 5 MPa normal stress). Note that the initial
porosity is much reduced when adding 15% clay, as expected
for such grain framework 0 500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000 Ring rotation ( o )

S h

e a

r s

t r e

s s

( k

P a

) RT12 RT08 0 15 30 45 60 75 90

Figure 7. Effect of clay smear.

Figure 8. SEM image of clay smear (courtesy ofAnitaTorabi,

UiB).

supported shaly sand where the clay particles fit within the

sand pore space (Crawford et al., 2002). The added clay may
have an apparent “lubrication effect” resulting in lower
peak

shear strength. At large shearing, the behaviour is

controlled

by the sand matrix and the two samples show similar

strength.

4.5 Clay smear during faulting

Clay smear has a pronounced influence on the shear stress –

deformation properties of the whole sample, as shown in

Figure 7. Both the peak strength and the residual strength

(or

friction) of the sample are reduced. The residual friction

angle

is equal to circa 20 ◦ , much lower than that of the pure

sand.

Visual inspection of the shear plane after testing shows the

presence of a continuous clay smear over the whole shear

plane. After a rapid reduction with shearing (i.e.

smearing),

the flow resistance is more or less constant as the

thickness of

the clay membrane does not change. There is an embedment

of the host sand in to the clay membrane over circa 2–3

quartz

grains, as shown from the SEM image (Figure 8). The thin

fractures are probably relieved fractures during unloading

and

preparation of thin sections.

The Shale Gouge Ratio (SGR) as proposed byYielding et al.

(1997) to characterize the sealing potential of faults is

calcu
lated at the end of shearing to be equal to circa 14 (=width

of clay segment over linear displacement = 3.2/22*100).

According to the SGR value, the fault would have been

defined

as non sealing. 5 DISCUSSION 5.1 Burial depth at faulting

The overall aim is to establish a link between burial depth
at the time of faulting, stress level and deformation
products within a fault zone in a sedimentary basin with
the analogue shear band model in the ring shear apparatus.
Let us first establish the stress and strain in the ring
shear apparatus during imposed shear displacement (or
rotation). After initial normal consolidation of the sample
and prior to shearing, a K o condition prevails in the
sample. The major and minor effective principal stresses
correspond to the vertical and horizontal effective
stresses, respectively. During shearing, the sample is
loaded to failure by imposing horizontal displacements and
shear stresses, which results in a rotation and change in
magnitude of the principal stresses, while the normal
effective stress remains constant 1 . At failure assuming
no volumetric deformation, the rotation reaches 45 ◦ and
vertical and horizontal stresses are then equal. The
horizontal direction is the direction of maximum shear
stresses in the sample (Nowacki, 1967). The Coulomb plane
of failure is inclined at 45 ◦ −φ/2 from the maximum
principal stress σ ′ 1 , where φ is the friction angle of
the material, and σ ′ 1 is inclined at 45 ◦ from the
maximum shear direction. The rotation of 45 ◦ of the
principal stresses was experimentally observed by Mandl et
al. (1977) with stress sensors embedded in the walls of the
ring shear apparatus they used. The friction angle is
related to the angle β, which defines the K f -line in a
Mohr-Coulomb diagram by tan β= sin φ. In a sedimentary
basin, under no lateral constraints, normal faulting occurs
as the Mohr-Coulomb slip (i.e. first Riedel shears) at an
angle 45 ◦ −φ/2 from σ ′ 1 . The major principal effective
stress is the vertical overburden stress in a basin under
tectonic extension. The vertical overburden stress can be
used to determine the overburden depth of the fault which
the ring shear experiments represent (Kvaale, 2002;
Kjeldstad, 2002). The extent of grain crushing and
permeability reduction can then be related to a specific
depth in the basin. 5.2 Apparent friction of granular fault
gouge The frictional properties of fault gouge are
extensively discussed in the literature, experimentally
(e.g., Scoot et al, 1994) or theoretically (Aharanov &
Sparks, 2004), and often expressed as the apparent
friction, defined as the ratio of the shear to the normal
stress. Scott et al. (1994) relate the apparent friction to
the “thinning ratio”, defined as the rate of change of
layer thickness with shear displacement, T , and the
friction angle at peak, sin φ for the case of constant
density in the sheared layer, or increase layer density due
to volume change during shearing. As seen in our
experiments, there is substantial porosity reduction within
the shear zone, so that change of layer density must be
taken into account. The reader is referred to Scott et al.
(1994) for the mathematical expressions. The expressions
given by Scott et al. (1994) are compared with test RT13 in
Figure 9. Initially, a model with constant density fits
reasonably well the data, with a friction angle φ of 33.3 ◦
. After some shearing the model with densification of the
layer is better at matching the data. The friction angle
required for curve-fitting has increased to 36.9 ◦ as a
result of volume reduction. 1 this condition could differ
in other experiments RT13

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

0.65

0.7 -0.45-0.4-0.35-0.3-0.25-0.2-0.15-0.1-0.050 Thinning

ratio T

p p

a r

e n

t F

r i c

t i o
n

µ a no densification, sin φ =0.55 densification, R=1.2, sin

φ =0.6 shearing

Figure 9. Apparent friction during test RT13 versus dilation

compared to model predictions from Scott et al. (1994). R =

1.2 and

sin φ= 0.6 (red). sin φ= 0.55 (green).

6 CONCLUSION

The work carried out has shown that the new ring shear appa

ratus is suitable for investigating the mechanisms of

faulting

in sediments. A methodology has been developed to establish

a relationship between stress deformation properties, grain

fracturing and porosity loss as a function of grain size,

min

eralogy based on a ring shear testing, thin section and

sieve

analysis. It is possible to quantify the amount of grain

crush

ing in sediments during burial and shear and its consequence

on single phase fluid flow. In addition, the texture of the

shear

band can be related to burial depth. Further experiments are

planned to increase our dataset on which predictive models

of

fault properties can be developed.

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Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Feasibility study of using the existing
solution-mined caverns in Jintan Salt Mine as gas storage
Yang Chunhe & Li Yinping Institute of Rock and Soil
Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China Qian
Qihu Engineering Institute of Engineering Corps, PLA
University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China Wei
Donghou Gas Storage Project Department, West-east Pipeline
Company, PetroChina Company Limited, Beijing, China Chen
Feng & Yin Xueying Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT:According to the requirement of the West-East Gas

Transmission Pipeline Project in China, 6 existing salt
caverns

in Jintan Salt Mine, Jiangsu province, were selected as

natural gas storages. In the paper, the feasibility of this
use is evaluated

through the geological investigation of salt rock

occurrence, the mechanical experiments and numerical
simulating. A positive

conclusion is given.

1 INTRODUCTION

Salt rocks are generally recognized to be the ideal geologic

host rocks for storage of gas and crude oil and are also

being considered to be used in the disposal of radioactive

waste. So far, numerous foreign researchers have already car

ried out many studies [1−11] on the strength and deformation

characteristics of salt rocks in laboratory and field and

estab

lished constitutive models of relationships among the

damage,

deformation and permeability of salt rocks.

However, the sedimentary characteristics of salt rocks in

China are much different from those in Europe and North

America. So those preexisting models can not be applied

directly to the construction of salt caverns in China. In

this
paper, the feasibility study of the Jintan gas storage
project

was in detail introduced. The project is to use some

existing

solution-mined caverns in Jintan Salt Mine as gas storages.

2 EXISTING CAVERNS IN JINTAN SALT MINE

2.1 Geologic conditions

According to the borehole data, the salt rock of Jintan Salt

Mine is relatively steady along the horizontal direction and

the vertical direction. The salt rock deposit occupies an

area of

60.5 km 2 : the long axis 12 km and the short axis 5.6 km,
with

the thickness varying from 67.85 m to 230.95 m. The central

part of the salt rock deposit, with a range of 180-230 m, is

thicker than the other parts. The depth of the top surface
is

850 m∼1100 m. From bottom to top there are three major salt

layers: I, II, and III. The average thickness of layer I is

58 m.

Layer II is uniformly distributed, with the thickness

varying

between 50 m and 80 m, averaging 64 m.This layer has caverns

to be capable of being used as gas storages. Layer III is

only

30 m∼50 m thick. In the salt rock deposit there are also

two Figure 1. East-1 cavern obtained by sonar measure.
obvious mudstone interlayers: one between layers I and II
and the other between layers II and III. The thickness of
the former interlayer varies from 0.6 m to 4.91 m, and the
thickness of the latter interlayer varies from 0.28 m to
4.84 m. 2.2 Caverns To satisfy the requirement of structure
and volume of gas storage, about 15 salt caverns for gas
storage were selected from 30 old solution-mined caverns.
Among these selected caverns, 6 caverns, namely caverns
West-1, West-2, East-1, East-2, Gang-1and Gang-2 , were
chosen as research objects for evaluating the usability of
these caverns as gas storage. The in-situ sonar measures of
the cavern boundary were carried out. As an example, the
sonar measure result of cavern East-1 is shown in Figure 1.
Caverns West-1and West2 are in Xizhiqiao well field of
Jintan Salt Mine and about 104.43 m apart. Caverns
East-1and East-2 caverns are in Donggang well field and
about 119.97 m Time (h) S t r a i n ( % ) Axial pressure
25Mpa Confining pressure15Mpa Axial pressure 20Mpa
Confining pressure15Mpa Axial pressure 10Mpa Confining
pressure5Mpa

Figure 2. Creep strain-time curves of salt rocks.

apart. Caverns Gang-1and Gang-2 are in Donggang well field,

too and about 104.65 m apart.The salt thickness in the two

well

fields is about 134.34 m and 134.65 m, respectively. Accord

ing to the distance of both well mouths and their maximum

radius, the minimum pillar width between caverns Gang-1and

Gang-2 was estimated to be about 16.7 m.

3 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND CONSTITUTIVE

MODEL OF SALT ROCK

3.1 Mechanical properties

To investigate the mechanical properties of salt rocks, a

series

of laboratory test including uniaxial compression, triaxial

compression, and creep experiment by the XTR01 Electric

fluid Serving Compression Machine were carried out. The

test rock cores were collected from boreholes Mao-11 and

Mao-10. The test results show that the elastic modulus of

salt rocks were 18.5∼21.8 GPa. The salt rocks first

presented

obvious strain softening under uniaxial compression and then

strain hardening and dilatability step by step with

increase of

the confining pressure.

The triaxial creep test results under confining pressure

5∼20 MPa indicated that the rock salt has good creep
property.

The influences of confining pressure on the creep properties

of salt rock show the following features: the more the con

fining pressure, the later the stable creep begins; the

creep

accelerates and the more obvious the second creep stage, the

more difficult the accelerating creep begins. Axial compres

sion has influences on the creep of salt rock: the more the

axial compression, the more the strain rate and the earlier
the

second and third creep stages begin; the shorter the second

creep stage lasts, that is, this stage is not obvious, the
easier

the accelerating creep begins. The strain-time curves under

different confining pressures are shown in Fig. 2.

3.2 Constitutive model

The onedimensional constitutive equation of salt rock creep

strain can be written as

where ε c is the total creep strain, ε I is the transient

creep strain,

ε II is the steady strain, and ε III is the accelerating

creep strain.
The experiment researches show that ε I +ε II can better be

simulated by using the following equation where ε˙ is the

steady creep strain rate and A and α are the material
parameters determined by experiment. According to the rock
damage theory, the accelerating creep strain ε III can be
derived from the prior creep strain: Considering the good
creep property of the rock salt studied, only the first two
stage creep, i.e., the transient creep strain and the
steady creep strain, needs to be taken into account in the
salt rock engineering. In this paper, therefore, the creep
constitutive equation can be simplified as where β, n, A
and α are the material parameters determined by experiment.
The primary creep parameters were obtained by fitting the
complete creep process including the primary creep and the
steady creep stages.To do so can avoid the problem
difficult to distinguish between the two stages and hence
no large fitting errors are produced. 4 SEALING ANALYSIS OF
SALT CAVERNS 4.1 Breakthrough pressure The
kerosene-saturated breakthrough experiments of salt cavern
roofs show that the breakthrough pressure of mudstone
varies from 0.2 to 4.0 MPa, averaging 2.32 MPa, while the
breakthrough pressure of calcareous mudstone varies from
6.0 to 11.0 MPa, averaging 7.38 MPa, much higher than that
of mudstone. The relationship between the breakthrough
pressures of water-saturated mudstone and
kerosene-saturated mudstone could be expressed as where σ
w−g is the surface tension between water and gas, 72×10 −3
N/m; σ o−g is the surface tension between gas and kerosene,
25×10 −3 N/m; p e is the breakthrough pressure of water
saturated medium, Mpa; and p o is the breakthrough pressure
of kerosene saturated medium, MPa. According to this
equation, the breakthrough pressure of the water saturated
cap rock is as 2.88 times as that of the kerosene saturated
cap rock. Therefore, the roofs of the selected six
solution-mined caverns would have a good sealing property
if their breakthrough pressure varies from 6.68 to 21.25
MPa. 4.2 Sealing analysis (1) Sealing conditions of roof
and floor As to the roofs and floors of the selected six
solutionmined caverns, the following information is known:
the roof consists of mudstone and Glauber’s salt bearing
calcareous mudstone and has a steady distribution, the roof
depth varies from 800m to 950 m, the roof thickness from 96
m to 150 m, the roof porosity from 6.5% to 16.8%, and the
roof permeability from 0.0085×10 −3 µm 2 to 0.707×10 −3 µm
2 , whereas the floor consists of gypsum, Glauber’s
salt-bearing calcareous

Figure 3. Sketch of numerical model II.

mudstone and calcareous mudstone and had also a steady dis

tribution, and the floor depth varies from 1090 m to 1240 m.

From rock cores from new wells in the vicinity it could be

observed that the roofs and floors are intact,

poor-fractured

and well sealed, so they could be used as the barrier of gas

storage.

(2) Sealing conditions of salt rock

Salt rock itself has characteristics of sealing, high

compres

sion strength and inertia.These characteristics make it

superior

to any other sorts of host rock as underground gas storage.

Core data show that the salt bed in Jintan basin is compact

and has very low porosity, varying from 1.4 to 4.05%, and

low permeability.

Besides plastic deformation, the salt rock would creep under

steady pressure lower than the elastic limit. It is just

both plas

ticity and rheological behavior that make the salt rock

difficult

to produce fractures. Moreover, the higher the temperature,

the

stronger is the plasticity and the better is the sealing

capability.

The most important is the healing capability of salt rock.

Even

if there occur fractures in salt rock, they can rapidly be

healed.
Therefore, the salt rock has a good lateral sealing
capability.

5 NUMERICAL SINULATION OF LONG-TIME

STABILITY OF SALT CAVERNS

5.1 Numerical modeling

According to the planar position, geological characteristics

and sonar log data, a 3-dimensional numerical model was

established by FLAC 3D software. Considering the planar posi

tion of salt caverns, model I simulates caverns West-1 and

West-2 as a cavern group, while model II ( Figure 3) simu

lates caverns East-1, East-2, Gang-1 and Gang-2 as a cavern

group. The equivalent gravity loading on the top surface of

the

model was accounted by the average density and thickness of

stratum. The ground stress was set to be a triaxial equal

pres

sure gravity stress field. The bottom surface of the model

was

restrained in theY-direction and the four vertical surfaces

were

constrained in the normal direction.

5.2 Simulating creep of caverns

The simulating creep was carried out under different con

stant pressures: 6 MPa, 7 MPa, 9 MPa, 11 MPa, 13 MPa and

14.5 MPa, respectively. The results show that the volumes

of the model caverns descreased with time increase. When

the internal pressure increased, the volume reduction ratio

decreased rapidly during the starting five years and then

trended to slow. At the same time, the maximum displace

ment of the model caverns reduced gradually. It follows that

the high internal pressure can constrain the volume loss of

caverns distinctly. So, to extend the service life of the

salt cav

erns, it is recommended that the caverns should not run

under

low internal pressure. In fact, the internal pressures of

the mutually connected caverns can not always keep
consistent each other during their service, but there is a
certain pressure difference between caverns. The numerical
simulation for this case shows that in the mutually
connected caverns the volume change of individual caverns
is closely related to the internal pressure of them.
Generally, the increase of the internal pressure of the
cavern with higher internal pressure can make the volume
change of the cavern with lower internal pressure to
decrease, while the decrease of the internal pressure of
the cavern with lower internal pressure can make the volume
change of the cavern with higher internal pressure to
increase. It follows that the internal pressure change of
one cavern will influence the volume change of other
caverns as that the deformation between individual caverns
is in a inhomogeneous state. This certainly will make the
damage zone of the wall salt rock and pillars of caverns to
enlarge and the service life of caverns to shorten.
Therefore, it is recommended that the adjacent caverns
should not long be work under the condition with internal
pressure difference and that if there is internal pressure
difference, the runtime should be shortened as soon as
possible. 5.3 Simulating deformation of caverns under
different gas extraction rates The deformation of caverns
under nine different gas extraction rates was simulated:
0.3 MPa/day, 0.4 MPa/day 0.5 MPa/day, 0.6 MPa/day, 0.63
MPa/day, 0.65 MPa/day, 0.68 MPa/day and 0.7 MPa/day
respectively, were simulated. When the internal pressure
decreased gradually from 14.5 MPa to 6.5 MPa during gas
extraction, the internal pressures of the individual
caverns were synchronously decreased. The simulating
results show that the maximum and minimum principal
stresses around cavern East-1 are compressive and that the
minimum principal stress around caverns East-1, East-2,
Gang-1 and Gang-2 is 5.2MPa, while that around caverns
West-1 and West-2 is 4.69 MPa. There is no tensile stress
around the two groups of cavern during the gas extraction
phase. According to Hou [12] , during a running cycle (one
year), the effective volume strain should not be more than
3% , namely the average volume loss per day should not be
more than 0.0082%. The numerical simulation shows that
under a constant internal pressure of 6.5 MPa, the volume
reduction rate is only 0.0045% per day. If the gas
extraction phase is 1/3 of the whole cycle and the volume
reduction rate in the rest time is set to be 0.045% per day
so that the volume change rate during the gas extraction
phase is not more than 0.015 per day, it is ensured that
the average volume reduction rate should not be more than
0.0082% per day during the running cycle. Therefore, it is
reasonable to the average volume reduction rate of
0.015%/day as the low limit of the volume reduction rate
during the gas extraction phase. From the volume reduction
rate of individual caverns under different gas extraction
rates it can be seen that the simulated volume reduction
rate of cavern Gang-2 is the biggest. When the gas
extraction rate is 0.63 MPa per day, the average volume
reduction rate of this cavern is 0.0156% per day. When the
gas extraction rate of the other caverns is 0.7 MPa, their
volume reduction rate is 0.015% per day. For the
workability of the gas storage caverns, therefore, it is
suggested that the maximum gas extraction rate adopted
should not be more than 0.55 MPa per day.

6 CONCLUSIONS

Through the above studies it is concluded that all of

caverns

West-1, West-2, East-1, East-2, Gang-1 and Gang-2 could be

utilized as gas storages.

(1) The creep characteristics of rock salt, mud-bearing

rock salt and salt-bearing mudstone are similar Under dif

ferential stress of 15.0 Mpa, the steady creep strain rate

is

2.5∼5.0)×10-5 for of salt rock, 1.9∼3.8×10-5 for mud

bearing rock salt, and 0.5∼1.0×10-5 for salt-bearing mud

stone. The steady creep strain rates of the three rocks are
of
the same order of magnitude, so there theoretically should
be

no disharmonic creep deformation in the cavern cap rocks.

(2) The breakthrough pressures of the cavern roofs are

between 6.68∼21.25 MPa, providing the caverns with a good

sealing capability. In addition, all faults in the cavern

area

are small ones if existed. Moreover, the six caverns are far

from faults. They would not have serious effects hardly on

the

stability and sealing capability of cavern gas storages.

(3) The numerical simulating results show that the increas

ing of the internal pressure could restrain obviously the

reduction of the cavern volume reduction. So, in order to

pro

long the service life of gas storages, the running time

under the

low internal pressure should be reduced as soon as possible.

(4) The numerical simulating results also show that the

allowable pressure difference between the individual caverns

during running depended on the designed service life and the

minimum running pressure. If the running pressure is con

trolled between 6 to 14.5 MPa, the running pressure

difference

should not exceed 3.0 MPa.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The first author acknowledges the financial support from

National Natural Science Foundation of China (50374064,

50334060) and the Project of National Basic Research Pro

ABSTRACT: To provide a safer and cost effective solution, a

new concept of storing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a

lined rock cavern with containment system has been

developed. It consists of protecting the host rock against
the extremely

low temperature and providing a liquid and gas tight steel

liner. Moreover, the moderated and controlled frost
development in

the surrounded rock mass contributes to creating an ice

ring, which acts as a secondary barrier against any
possible leakage. To

demonstrate the feasibility of this concept and to validate

the numerical modeling and calculations, a pilot plant was
constructed

at KIGAM in the Daejeon Science Complex in 2003, which had

been under operation for storing LN2 (Boiling Temperature:

−196 ◦ C) since January 2004, and now been decommissioned.

In this paper, measured in-situ rock mass responses from
the

operation of Daejeon LNG storage pilot cavern are presented

and analyzed on rock mechanical point of view. The obtained

results from the pilot test confirmed that both

construction and operation of underground LNG storage in
lined rock caverns

are technically feasible. The Daejeon LNG storage pilot

cavern represents a further important step in the
validation of the

technology of underground LNG storage in the lined rock

caverns.

1 INTRODUCTION

To provide a safe and cost-effective solution, a new concept

of storing LNG in a lined hard rock cavern (LRC) has been

jointly developed by Geostock, SKEC and SN Technigaz with

the help of KIGAM. The basic concept is based on the combi

nation of a containment system to ensure for LNG with rock

protection against thermal shock and a drainage system dur

ing the early months of the storage operation and before the

freezing of the surrounding rock. It consists of protecting

the

host rock against the extremely low temperature by using a

containment system with gas-tight steel liners and

insulation

panels as illustrated in Figure 1.

The drainage system will be used to drain water around the

cavern and prevent hydrostatic pressure from acting against

Figure 1. Concept of LNG storage in a lined rock cavern.

the containment system. When sufficient thickness of rock
has been chilled around the cavern to absorb the
hydrostatic loads, the drainage pumps are stopped to allow
water to seep into the cold rock and form, in a controlled
manner, an impervious ring of ice, forming a double thermal
barrier concept. This paper presents the measured in-situ
rock mass responses under very low temperatures from the
operation of the pilot cavern including heat transfer,
deformation and thermo-mechanical stability of rock and
rock joints. 2 OVERVIEW OF THE PILOT CAVERN 2.1 The Daejeon
pilot plant for storing LNG In order to verify the
technical feasibility of such a storage concept, a pilot
plant was constructed in 2003 and had been operated by
storing liquid nitrogen (LN2, Boiling Temperature: −196 ◦
C) since from January through August, 2004. The cavern has,
more recently, been decommissioned. The pilot cavern is
located in Daejeon, about 200 km south from Seoul, in an
existing research cavern implemented within the KIGAM
research facilities. Figure 2 shows a bird’s-eyeview of the
pilot cavern for LNG storage.The rock type around the
cavern mainly consists of fresh granite with RQD of 80– 86
and with the most frequent Q value of 12.5. Therefore, it
is proper to adapt rock bolting to stabilize main cracks of
the existing cavern and ensure the stability of possible
crack position. The access to the pilot cavern was provided
through an existing horizontal tunnel and the cavern roof
lies at a depth of about 20 m below the ground. The large
major joint passing diagonally through the roof of the
cavern was distinguished from the other joint sets. After
the completion of local enlargement, joints mapped on the
rock surface are slightly different compared to the past
result. That is, joint set 1 was almost the same but set 2
(set 3 in the past

Figure 2. A bird’s-eye-view of the Daejeon pilot cavern.

N40E 60SW N61W N61E 29NW J1 J2 J3 N 40SE N81E

Figure 3. Major joints estimated from the site

investigation.

analysis) was slightly different. On the other side, joint

set 3

was newly classified in this analysis (Figure 3).

2.2 Geotechnical monitoring system

The pilot cavern and its surrounding rock mass were equipped

with various geotechnical instruments to monitor temperature

profiles and temperature induced displacements in the rock

around the cavern, reopening of rock joints on the cavern

sur

face, load on rock bolts, settlement of the ground surface,

pore pressure distribution in the rock mass and the

variation

of the ground water level. All the instruments were equipped

with thermal sensors to measure the temperature at the depth

of the monitoring points. Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram

of the locations of the installed instruments at a

representative

section.

2.3 Geotechnical issues

There are several geotechnical issues to be solved from the

geotechnical monitoring during the operation of the pilot

stor

age as follows: 1) Monitored temperature distribution in the

rock be estimated by the numerical calculation at the design

stage 2) Are the direction and the magnitude of the rock dis

placement compatible with the containment system? 3) Is the

opening of rock joints tolerable even at a low temperature?

4) Can the cavern reinforcement maintain its stability at a

very low temperature in the rock?

Such questions have been solved from the analysis of

monitored results. Figure 4. Location of geotechnical

instruments in the cavern. 2 4 6 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 8 2 4 6
Figure 5. Temperature profiles around the cavern. Dashed
line indicates 0 ◦ isotherm. 3 MONITORED RESULTS 3.1
Temperature Figure 5 shows the temperature profiles around
the cavern with monitored data during cooling and thawing
stages. After 6 months of cooling, the 0 ◦ C isotherm
propagated up to 4.4 m from the floor, 4.0 m from the side
and 3.2 m from the roof (Fig. 5a). Even after one month of
thawing, the 0 ◦ C isotherm maintained a similar profile at
the side and the bottom rock of the cavern. However, in the
roof rock, the distance was reduced to 1.82 meters from the
roof of cavern (Fig. 5b). Cooling of rock mass has occurred
after operation according to the specified insulation
system, and the cold front propagates toward the inner rock
mass. Cooling rate of the rock above the roof was slower
than that of the other sides because the temperature inside
the storage submerged with LN2 was kept constant at −196 ◦
C, and the temperature on the upper part of the storage,
filled with boiled off gas, was about −100 ∼−120 ◦ C.
Figure 6 shows the temperature history during cooling and
thawing stages. The temperature of JMS-2 reaches minimum
−28 ◦ , while the temperature of JMS-4 installed on the
roof reaches only −8 ◦ before stopping of LN2 filling.
Compared with the cooling stage, the temperature rose
quickly in a linear manner during the thawing stage.

Figure 6. Temperature profiles in rock joints.

Figure 7. Displacement histories measured from rock mass.

3.2 Displacements
To monitor the rock displacement, six extensometers with 6

measuring points were installed in the cavern and the ground

surface, and fixed to the rock by borehole grouting.The

length

of each extensometer is 15 meters from the surface. Figure 7

shows the typical displacement of the rock mass at various

points of the extensometers, on the sidewall (E5) and floor

(E3). All the displacements occur towards rock mass (+) due

to contraction from cooling down during the cryogenic stor

age, but no significant displacements occurred at 4.5 m from

cavern wall (0.2 mm). It is very important to note that the

direction is not towards the containment system. It means

that

cooling down of the rock has no impact on the containment

system. During the thawing process, the rock displacements

do not respond as quickly compared to temperature changes.

3.3 Joint separation

Five joint meters were installed across the main joint sets
on

the excavation surfaces. Joint apertures are opened in a

linear Figure 8. Hysteresis of joint separation with
temperature on the excavation surface. Figure 9. Change of
rockbolt loads during the operation. manner by cooling due
to LN2 filling though their magnitudes are small (0.2 mm)
as shown in Figure 8. The apertures were closed as
temperature was raised during thawing stage. It is
important for the joint opening to show the elastic
hysteresis even at the temperature cycling, which means
that the rock around the cavern is elastic even at low
temperature of −30 ◦ C. 3.4 Rock bolt load To monitor rock
bolt loads due to cooling down, four instrumented rock
bolts were installed on the roof. Tensile force gradually
increases during cooling down, but the load disappears
quickly during the thawing stage as shown in Figure 9. The
rock bolt load is very small, maximum 1.3 tonf compared
with failure load of 10 tonf. It means that the rock bolts
maintained sufficient support capability even at low
temperature. 3.5 Pore pressure Pore pressure cells were
installed on each specific main rock joint. Typical pore
pressure evolutions are shown in Figure 10 by converting
pressure to head. Heads of all measured points kept 0 m or
slightly negative values until the drainage stopped. This
means that the rock mass near the cavern area remained dry
during this stage, and the drainage efficiency can be
confirmed by measuring the pore pressure around the cavern.
After the drainage system stopped, the water level rose
quickly up to 6 m from the cavern roof due to infiltration
from the surface by the rainfall. Pore pressure decreased
for one and half of months after the drainage restarted.

Figure 10. Pore pressure evolution around the pilot cavern.

4 CONCLUSION

The results from the pilot test confirmed that both

construction

and operation of underground LNG storage in lined rock cav

erns are technically feasible. Major conclusions of the

study

can be summarized as follows:

a) Thermo mechanical response of rock mass are confirmed in

terms of stability based on geotechnical monitored results.

b) Thermal stress-induced displacements occurred toward

inner rock mass, which is favorable to stability aspects of

ABSTRACT: Drilling experiments under pre-existing

true-triaxia l stress in an oil-producing limestone and
several sandstones

revealed three distinct modes of failure leading to

borehole breakouts. The failure micromechanism in Austin
Chalk limestone

begins at the borehole wall, where two conjugate shear

cracks initiate, straddling the σ h springline, and advance
toward each
other along shear stress paths. A V-shaped breakout is
formed when the two conjugate fractures intersect. SEM
images of failed

boreholes in arkosic sandstones show that borehole

instability begins behind the borehole wall along the σ h
springline, where

a cluster of extensile microcracks subparallel to the

borehole wall develop, and then follow a shear stress
trajectory toward the

borehole wall. The microcracks dislodge thin layers of

sandstone, which are flushed off by drilling fluid,
creating a V-shaped

breakout. In quartz-rich sandstones, grains are bonded by

sutured contacts, and breakouts are slot-shaped, aligned
with σ h

springline. Failure begins with the localized grain

debonding along the σ h springline. Loosened grains
compact, forming a

compaction band. Debonded grains at borehole wall are

flushed off by the drilling fluid, creating a slot-shaped
breakout, similar

in width to the compacted band, and can therefore be

described as an emptied compaction band.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock failure around boreholes leading to borehole cross sec

tion elongations called breakouts is a common phenomenon

in reservoir rocks such as sandstones and limestones. Numer

ous theories have been employed to explain the mechanism

responsible for borehole breakouts. Pressure-dependent elas

ticity, microstatistics, elastoplasticity, bifurcation

process, and

fracture mechanics are just some of the approaches taken

to explain borehole instability, and most are discussed in a

comprehensive review by Germanovich & Dyskin (2000).

Extensive laboratory drilling experiments in typical oil

producing sandstones and a limestone, varying in porosity

between 15 and 30%, led to a better understanding of the

correlation between in situ stress and breakout dimensions,

and on the process of breakout formation (Haimson & Song,

1993; Haimson & Lee, 2004; Sheets, 2004). The present

paper reports on observations of grain-scale mechanisms that

bring about borehole breakouts, based solely on optical and

scanning electron microscopic studies of specimens tested in

the laboratory during a multi-year research program at the

University of Wisconsin.

2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND PROCEDURE

Drilling experiments at the University of Wisconsin were

designed to simulate more realistically actual field

conditions

in which rock is already under in situ stress prior to

drilling.

Hence, rather than applying external loads to specimens con

taining pre-existing boreholes, central vertical holes are

drilled

in rock blocks already subjected to three unequal principal

stresses. Drilling experiments are conducted on rectangular

prismatic rock samples (typically 127 × 127 × 178 mm 3 ). An

electric drill rig is mounted on top of a loading frame that

enables the application of the vertical stress to the

sample.
The typical drilling bit used is a diamond-impregnated
coring

bit that creates a 22 mm (in dia.) central borehole along

the largest sample dimension, although tests have also been
conducted using bi-cone bits as well as other borehole
diameters (ranging from 16 to 38 mm). The loading frame is
unique in that it enables vertical drilling into a
rectangular prismatic specimen that is subjected
simultaneously to three unequal mutually perpendicular
loads, simulating the most general in situ state of stress
(Figure 1). The hydraulic actuator attached to the lower
reaction beam of the frame produces the vertical load to
the specimen. The two horizontal loads are applied through
a biaxial pressure apparatus. The latter consists of a
thick hollow cylinder housing two pairs of facing hydraulic
actuators for the application of Biaxial cell (σ H' σ h )
Hydraulic cylinder (σ v ) Coring bit Electric drill
Vertical guide Depth gage Rock specimen Flow meter Fluid
inflow Fluid outflow Figure 1. Schematic of the University
of Wisconsin apparatus for drilling into rock blocks
subjected to a true triaxial state of stress.

two independent horizontal loads to the rock sample. Copper

shims coated with a thin layer of a stearic acid and

petroleum

jelly mixture are placed between the loading pistons and the

sample in order to minimize friction.

Carefully prepared rock specimens, meeting the dimensions

and orthogonality requirements are inserted into the biaxial

cell. Three independent servo-control units, activated by a

test

programming software package run on a personal computer,

are used to apply the prescribed loads in each of the three

principal directions. Drilling of a central vertical hole

is com

menced only after the external loading has been completed.

Tap water is normally used as drilling fluid for the

purpose of

cooling the bit and removing debris.

Upon the completion of drilling, the external loads are left

unchanged for some 30 minutes to allow for the potential

bore

hole breakout to stabilize. The specimen is then dried, and

the

drilled borehole is filled with a low viscosity epoxy so as

to preserve its condition. This is followed by sawcutting

the

specimen into thin slices across the borehole axis in order

to

observe borehole condition and the shapes and dimensions of

breakouts if any. Representative sections are further

prepared

for optical and/or scanning electron microscopic studies of

the

failure process.

3 STRESS CONDITIONS AROUND BOREHOLES

The state of stress in the vicinity of a borehole, with the

assumption of linear elasticity and isotropy typical of

brittle

rock, is given by the Kirsch equations for a hole in an

infinite

plate, modified for the case of plane strain, and including

the

effect of borehole and pore fluid pressures (Fairhurst,

1968):

where compressive stresses are positive; ?σ r , σ θ , σ rθ?

and σ z

are the radial, tangential, shear, and vertical stresses,

respec

tively, acting around the borehole wall; σ H and σ h are the

maximum and minimum in situ (far-field) horizontal prin

cipal stresses; σ v is the vertical in situ stress; r is

the radial

distance from the axis of the hole, a is the borehole

radius, θ is

the angular direction measured counterclockwise from the σ H

direction; ν is the Poisson’s ratio of the rock; �P is the

excess

borehole fluid pressure P w over the pore pressure in the

rock

P p (Fig. 3).

Based on equations (1) the largest principal compressive

stress at the borehole wall is the tangential component, σ

θ ,

acting along the σ h springline, i.e. at θ = 90 ◦ and 270 ◦

. More

over, σ θ is the maximum stress along the σ h springline for

some distance away from the borehole. Equations (1) are cor

rect strictly for far-field stresses acting at very large

distance

from the borehole, but they are also approximately

representa

tive of the conditions in the present experiments since the

ratio

between the hole radius and the width of one half of

specimen

lateral faces is about 1:6. 4 BOREHOLE BREAKOUTS IN AUSTIN

CHALK: SHEAR FAILURE Austin Chalk, also known as Cordova
Cream limestone, is a lightly bedded, porous (19%) oolitic
limestone found in Texas and Louisiana, USA. The National
Oil and Gas Assessment conducted by the United Sates
Geological Survey (USGS) in 1995 determined that the Austin
Chalk is the U.S. largest onshore domestic continuous-type,
unconventional (i.e. cannot be developed by traditional
methods) oil resource. Laboratory tests of basic mechanical
properties yielded a density of 1920 kg/m 3 , uniaxial
compressive strength of 13 – 21 MPa, Young’s modulus of 17
– 22 GPa, and Poisson’s ratios of 0.25 – 0.27 (Haimson &
Song, 1993). These recorded properties suggest that Austin
Chalk is generally a weak and rather soft limestone. The
axial stress-axial strain and axial stress-lateral strain
relationships are both surprisingly linear almost all the
way to the point of compressive failure. A series of
drilling experiments were conducted in which the far-field
vertical and least horizontal stresses were kept constant
throughout (σ v = 10 MPa and σ h = 5 MPa, respectively).
The largest horizontal stress σH was increased steadily
from test to test. Thin sections prepared of cross sections
of boreholes drilled under different levels of σ H were
studied under an optical microscope. At levels approaching
σ H = 30 MPa no breakouts or microcracks developing behind
the borehole wall are observed. Such clusters of extensile
cracks subparallel to σH direction along the direction of
the least horizontal stress (σ h springline) always develop
prior to breakout occurrence in crystalline rocks such as
granite (Lee and Haimson, 1993). However, at σ H = 31 MPa a
breakout initiating crack is observed on the borehole wall
in an area roughly aligned with θ = 90 ◦ or 270 ◦ , i.e.
along the σ h springline (Fig. 2a). The crack appears to
have initiated at the borehole wall and has advanced into
the rock along a shear stress trajectory. A closer look
reveals several loose grains trapped within the crack. They
appear to have been dislodged from the rock matrix by
frictional shear between the crack walls. A wing of the
shear crack seems to have turned into an extensile fracture
subparallel to the borehole surface. In the extensile
branch of the crack no loose grains are found. At higher
stress differential (σ H = 32 MPa) a conjugate shear
microcrack develops and both microfractures advance toward
each other along a shear stress path, about to form a
V-shaped breakout with its point aligned roughly with the
direction of the σ h springline (Fig. 2b). Both microcracks
are propped open by abundant loose grains and fragments,
suggesting intergranular shear dislodging grains and
crushing some. No evidence is found of extensile
microcracks behind the borehole wall along the σh
springline. A final breakout was observed on both sides of
the borehole wall along the σ h springline when σ H reached
38 MPa for somewhat larger σ h (= 10 MPa) and σ v (= 15
MPa). As Figure 2c shows, the breakout isV-shaped or ‘dog
eared’, analogous to breakouts in granite and other rocks,
but a result of an entirely different micromechanism. 5
BOREHOLE BREAKOUTS IN ARKOSIC SANDSTONES: EXTENSILE CRACK
FAILURE Drilling experiments were conducted in several
arkosic sandstones, having a grain mineral composition
consisting of

Figure 2. Sequence of breakout formation in Austin Chalk

limestone. Shown are only segments of borehole cross
sections straddling the σh

springline. (a) Incipient breakout on the form of a shear

microcrack emanating from the borehole wall and extending
into the roc k along a

shear stress trajectory. Loose grains propping the

microfracture open provide evidence of frictional shear (σ
h / σ v / σ H = 5/10/31 MPa). (b) At

a higher (σ H − σ h ) differential a conjugate microcrack

emanates from the other side of the σ h springline (σ h / σ
v / σ H = 5/10/32 MPa). Loose

grains in both cracks suggest shear rupturing. (c) At a

higher yet stress differential (σ h / σ v / σ H = 10/15/38
MPa) the conjugate shear fractures

intersect and a V-shaped breakout is formed.

Figure 3. (a) Electron backscatter image (mosaic) of a

borehole cross section in Boise sandstone subjected to σ h
/ σ v / σ H = 30/40/50 MPa.

Shown is an incipient breakout along the σ h springline.

Multiple extensile microcracks subparallel to the borehole
wall are seen along the

springline (A). Microcracks readjust their direction away

from the springline to one along the shear stress
trajectory approaching the borehole

wall. Thin layers, just a few grains thick, are in the

process of detaching from host rock, initiating the
breakout. Cracks are both interand

intra-granular. The dotted line demarks the expected final

shape of the breakout under higher differential far -field
stresses, based on visible

microcracks. (b) Photograph of a borehole cross section

showing a mature breakout (σ h / σ v / σ H = 30/40/80 MPa).

Figure 4. Photograph of a borehole cross section in

quartz-rich St. Meinrad sandstone, showing a typical
slot-shaped breakout along the

σ h springline. (Dark stain is from epoxy pored into

borehole after the test to preserve its condition during
sectioning and preparation for

microscopic observations).

25–50% feldspar and the rest mainly quartz, clay and other

minor minerals. We report here on micromechanism of break

out failure in one such rock, the Boise (or Tablerock) sand

stone, the mechanical behavior of which is representative of

the Berea and other oil reservoir sandstones.

The Boise sandstone, which has been extensively used

as an oil bearing rock in oil industry-related experiments,

comes from Boise, Idaho. It is composed primarily of quartz

(55%) and feldspar (37%), and its angular grains are

cemented

by microcrystalline quartz. Grains are well-sorted and aver

age 0.2 mm in size. The sandstone has a high porosity

(28%), medium uniaxial compressive strength (40 MPa), and

a modulus of elasticity of 15 GPa.

As with theAustin Chalk, breakout failure micromechanism

of the Boise sandstone was studied from the condition of the

breakout tip and its surroundings at the end of the drilling

experiment. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) backscat

ter images of polished sections reveal intraand

trans-granular
dilatant microcracking immediately ahead of the breakout
tip,

along the σ h springline, where stress concentration is the

high

est (Fig. 3). Microcracks are simultaneously subparallel to

the

maximum principal stress σ H and to the borehole wall (A in

Fig. 3). They extend to both sides of the σ h springline,

where

they gradually reorient toward the borehole wall following

shear stress trajectories, thus shaping the breakout (B in

Fig.

3).This process releases the first layer of grains adjacent

to the

borehole wall, creating the incipient breakout.As the

breakout

grows, the stress concentration shifts forward and

additional

microcracking occurs, releasing more grain layers, and

length

ening the failed zone. The breakout narrows as it

progresses,

because some fragments on both sides remain locked in place

and prevent removal of additional cracked grains behind

them.

The failure mechanism in Boise sandstone is dilatant, since

the extensile microcracks (Fig. 3) create an increase in

total

rock volume, and is similar to that observed in previous

experiments in granite and Indiana limestone (Lee and Haim

son, 1993, Haimson and Herrick, 1986), as well as in Berea

sandstone of 17% porosity (Haimson, 2003).

6 BOREHOLE BREAKOUTS IN QUARTZ-RICH

SANDSTONES: LOCALIZED COMPACTION

FAILURE

A separate series of drilling tests were carried out in six

dif

ferent high-porosity sandstones characterized by 90% or

more quartz grains.They exhibited a distinctly different
micromechanism of failure leading to breakouts of an
entirely unexpected breakout shape. We highlight here one
such rock, the St. Meinrad sandstone, quarried in Perry
County, Indiana (Sheets. 2004). St. Meinrad sandstone
contains 90% quartz, and minor amounts of mica, feldspar,
and iron oxide. Grains are subrounded and average 0.13 mm
in size. Grain bonding is primarily through sutured
contacts, with little if any noticeable cementing material.
Basic mechanical property measurements reveal an effective
porosity of 25%, uniaxial compressive strength of 39 MPa,
and modulus of elasticity of 11 GPa. Generally, these
properties are not too different from those of Boise
sandstone. The only major differences are in the
concentration of quartz grains and grain bonding. All
previous drilling experiments in granite, limestone, and
arkosic sandstone, yielded V-shaped or dog-eared breakouts,
irrespective of the micromechanism of failure. Drilling
into quartz-rich sandstones, represented here by the St.
Meinrad, brought about breakouts that looked drastically
different: slotshaped, narrow, tabular and extending over
long distances from the borehole wall (Fig. 4). The
breakout in Figure 4 resembles an open fracture, which,
counterintuitively initiated and grew perpendicular to σ H
direction (along the σ h springline). A distinct
characteristic of these slot breakouts is that they
maintain an approximately constant width (around 10 grain
diameters) regardless of the far-field stress applied. The
only dimension that grows with increase in (σ H − σ h )
differential is the length of the breakout. Slot breakouts
in St. Meinrad sandstone are particularly spectacular
because of the small grain size, which increases the aspect
ratio of the breakout. The micromechanics leading to the
unexpected breakout shape was studied through electron
backscatter images of the breakout tip zones in selected
sections of tested specimens. Just ahead of the breakout
tip a localized band of cracked and crushed grains is
observed. The band is approximately as wide as the breakout
(Fig. 5b). The absence of significant grain breakage on
either side of the narrow breakout and of the damaged grain
band reinforces the observation that slot breakouts are the
result of a localized failure along the σ h springline,
where the maximum stress concentration occurs. The length
of the grain damage band was found to be proportional to
the (σ H − σ h ) differential. The far end of the
crushed-grain belt gradually morphs into another zone
within the same narrow width consisting

Figure 5. (a) Photograph od a borehole cross section of St.

Meinrad sandstone that has been subjected to far-field
principal stresses:

σ h / σ v / σ H = 40/50/80 MPa. The electron backscatter

image of the tip of the slot breakout on the right (marked
by white rectangle) is depicted

in (b). Also shown in (b) are three zones marked by white

rectangles. Rectangle A encompasses the localized band of
shattered and crushed

grains immediately in front of the breakout tip, having the

same width as the breakout. Rectangle B is the band just
behind A, in which grains

are debonded, but not otherwise damaged. The measured 2-D

porosity of B was 19%. Rectangle C is a zone outside of the
influence of the

breakout. The 2-D porosity there is 24%. (The dotted circle

below rectangle B demarks a suspected missing grain. Any
such black areas of

comparable dimensions could indicate similar missing

grains, removed inadvertently during section polishing).

of debonded, yet primarily intact, grains. The prevailing

com

pressive stress concentration in this area, farther away

from

the breakout tip along the σ h springline (equation 1), is

not

sufficient to fracture the quartz grains, but high enough to

break the weak suture contacts, thus loosening the grains

and
enabling grain compaction.This zone ends where intact grains

have mostly undamaged grain contacts(Fig.5b).

The slot breakout develops when fragments of grains in

the damage zone start falling into the borehole, aided by

the

circulating drilling fluid. As the narrow breakout forms,

the

high stress concentration along the σ h springline shifts

for

ward ahead of the advancing breakout tip and the damage zone

lengthens. The breakout continues to grow until grains cease

to dislodge from the breakout tip, either because of the

devel

opment of a ‘stable arch’ by grain fragments, or because the

circulating fluid does not reach the breakout tip when

breakout

length becomes sufficiently great.

Mollema & Antonellini (1996) identified a new geologic

structure in the Navajo sandstone, known as compaction band,

a long and narrow tabular deformation zone, extending per

pendicular to the maximum compressive principal stress,

characterized by pure grain compaction and reduced poros

ity with no signs of shear offset. Olsson (1999) suggested

that slot breakouts like the one shown in Figure 4 are emp

tied compaction bands. Klaetsch & Haimson (2002) supported

Olsson’s suggestion by discovering that in St. Peter

sandstone

a narrow band develops ahead of the breakout tip the

porosity

of which is substantially reduced, typical of a compaction

band. Using a commercial imaging software, the 2D porosity

of the zone just behind the crushed grains in St. Meinrad
sandstone was determined to be 19% (Fig. 5b). The zone of
damaged grains was not used for porosity assessment because
some fragments of an already fine-grain rock had been
dislodged during specimen polishing, precluding the ability
to obtain a correct measurement. For comparison, a similar
area in the undamaged rock matrix away from the breakout
tip yielded a 2D porosity of 24% (Fig.5b). This is a 21%
drop in porosity, reinforcing the claim that the tabular
zone ahead of the breakout is a compaction band. This
observation strongly supports previous findings in other
quartz-rich sandstones (Lee, 2005) that tabular breakouts
form from the removal of debonded and shattered grains
developed within a localized compacted band straddling the
σh springline as a result of the high compressive stress
that concentrates there (equation 1). 7 CONCLUSIONS Grain
scale mechanics leading to borehole instability and
breakouts can differ depending on rock type, mineral
composition and grain cementation. The paper demonstrates
that, based on extensive laboratory drilling experiments,
shear rupturing initiating at the borehole wall along the σ
h springline brings about V-shaped breakouts in soft, weak
porous limestones like the Austin chalk.

Sandstones rich in feldspar (25–50%), are typically well

cemented, and develop clusters of extensile microcracks par

allel to the borehole wall along the σ h springline. These

microcracks extend laterally away from the springline, and

bend toward the borehole, releasing thin layers of grains

into

the borehole. Subsequent layers are shorter than previous

ones,

leading to V-shaped breakouts.

The most unusual, and unexpected breakouts occur in

quartz-rich sandstones (90–100%), in which grains are weakly

bonded. Excessive in situ stresses lead to localized

debonding

of grains along a narrow band straddling the σ h springline.

Loosened grains are free to compact reducing the porosity in

the band, thus creating compaction bands. Loose grains at

the

borehole wall are dislodged from the host rock and into the

borehole, initiating and extending the breakout, which takes

the form of the compaction band, i.e. tabular with very

narrow

width and considerable length, resembling a slot or an open

fracture.

Fairhurst, C. 1968. Methods of determining in-situ rock

stresses at

great depth.Tech. Rep. I–86. Missouri River Div., U.S.Army

Corps

of Engineers.

Germanovich, L.N., & Dyskin A.V. 2000. Fracture mechanisms

and

instability of openings in compression, International

Journal of

Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences. 37:263–284.

Haimson, B.C. 2003. Borehole breakouts in Berea sandstone

reveal

a new fracture mechanism. PAGEOPH, 160:813–831. Haimson,

B.C, & Herrick, C.G. 1986, Borehole breakouts a new tool
for estimating in situ stress? In Stephansson O. (ed.).
Proceedings of the First Int. Symp. on Rock Stress and Rock
Stress Measurement. Lulea: Centek Publications, 271–281.
Haimson, B.C. & Song, I. 1993. Laboratory study of borehole
breakouts in Cordova Cream: a case of shear failure
mechanism. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences. 30:1047–1056. Haimson, B, & Lee, H. 2004.
Borehole breakouts and compaction bands in two
high-porosity sandstones. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences. 41:287–301. Klaetsch, A.R, &
Haimson, B.C. 2002. Porosity-dependent fracturelike
breakouts in St. Peter sandstone, Hammah R, Bawden W,
Curran J, Telesnicki M. (eds,) Mining and Tunneling
Innovation and Opportunity, Univ. of Toronto Press.
1365–1372. Lee, H. 2005. Borehole breakoutas in arkosic
sandstones and quartzrich sandstones, PhD thesis,
University of Wisconsin. 240 p. Lee, M. & Haimson, B.C.
1993. Laboratory study of borehole breakouts in Lac du
Bonnet granite: a case of extensile failure mechanism.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences. 30:1839–1845. Mollema P.N., & Antonellini, M.A.
1996. Compaction bands: a structural analog for anti-mode I
cracks in aeolian sandstone. Tectonophysics 267:209–228.
Olsson, W.A. 1999. Theoretical and experimental
investigation of compaction bands in porous sandstone.
Journal of Geophysical Research 104(B4):7219–7228. Sheets,
R.J. 2004. Effect of drilling variables on the
characteristics of fracture-like breakouts in two
reservoir-type sandstones. MS thesis, University of
Wisconsin.154 p. 11th Congress of the International Society
for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann
(eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Oil and gas reservoirs compaction–induced
production decline – influence of rock parameters M.B.
Geilikman & S.W. Wong Shell Exploration and Production,
Houston, Texas, USA

ABSTRACT: Compaction-induced production decline is treated

in the framework of open-system geomechanics of petroleum

reservoir as of a system with variable mass. Variables of

state are chosen as mass and strain (undrained variables)
whereas pore

pressure and porosity are considered as functions of state,

and are expressed in terms of state variables. The model
accounts

for pressure depletion and permeability degradation due to

compaction. Evolution of production rate, reservoir
pressure and

porosity is formulated via approximate “bulk” production

equation. Production decline vs. time is found to be either
power-like

(on the earlier stage) or exponential. Power-like decline

is linked to permeability-porosity dependence. This
approach provides
explicit dependence of production rate and decline time on
such rock parameters as fluid and bulk compressibilities.

1 INTRODUCTION

As pointed out by Cleary (1978) and others, temporal

response

of fluid-saturated porous medium can include at least three

characteristic regimes. Generally, at a very fast loading

rate,

porous medium exhibits a stiffer response in the elastic

range

and lower ultimate load capacity, whereas a very slow

loading

rate, the excess pore pressure is adequately dissipated and

the

solution converges to the conventional uncoupled (i.e.

without

solid-fluid coupling) non-linear mechanics solution. It can

be

observed that there is a smooth but non-linear transition

in ulti

mate load capacity from slow loading rate to the fast

loading

rate. However, there is no yet analytical solution for

transient

behavior during elasto-plastic compaction.

One more transient time in petroleum reservoirs is time

of production decline. Despite many empirical scenarios of

decline rates in petroleum reservoirs, substantiated

theoreti

cal models of decline rate were predominantly developed for

gasand water-drive depletion (Fetkovitch et al, 1996). At

the

same time, it is known that compaction drive mechanism may

account for significant part of total recovery (Merle et

al, 1976;

Dake, 2002).

Compaction-induced depletion time is qualitatively dif

ferent from pseudo-steady state time, t pss = (φµC t A/k),

which is well known in reservoir engineering (µ= viscosity,

k = permeability, φ= porosity, C t = total reservoir

rock/fluid

compressibility A = flow area). The physical difference

between these two characteristic times is that the pseudo

steady state time is the time of reaching steady-state flow

into

wellbore inside quasi-constant pressure (far-field) boundary

which can be imposed either by natural limits such as faults

or by neighboring wells. The depletion time is the charac

teristic time of variation of the pressure at those

boundaries.

The assumption is that pseudo-steady state time is smaller

than characteristic time of variation of the pressure at

those

boundaries.

Because compaction-drive-induced production is due to

mechanical interaction between reservoir and country rock,

it significantly depends on rock parameters. It is impor

tant to understand how rock properties measurement, carried

out in laboratory experiments, can be used in prediction of

production decline in compaction-drive-petroleum
reservoirs. 2 OPEN-SYSTEM GEOMECHANICS Petroleum reservoirs
present an example of open systems, which exchange mass
with exterior. Incremental mean stress induced by variation
of fluid mass in reservoir can be expressed as follows:
where ε ν = volumetric strain, and K u = undrained bulk
modulus of porous medium, and volumetric eigen-strain is
equal to (see Rice & Cleary, 1976; Charlez, 1997):
Generalizing eq. 2 for sand-producing reservoirs, we
replace it by: where B = Skempton coefficient, m f = M f /V
b , m s = M s /V b and M f , M s and ρ f , ρ s = mass
variation and density of fluid and solid respectively, V b
= reservoir volume, B s = a constant. Substantial
compaction can occur even under elastic interaction of
reservoir with country rock merely due to fluid and solids
mass production (mass loss) from reservoir. Later on
compaction may become plastic, reaching compaction “cap” on
failure diagram (see e.g. Settari, 2002). Compaction of
sand-producing reservoirs will be considered in another
paper. Complete expression for stress as a function of
strain and mass reads: where K u = undrained bulk modulus.
Stress turns to zero, when the strain equals to
eigen-strain as it should be.

2.1 Variation of fluid pressure

Variation of pressure under variation of stress and fluid

mass

can be found as follows (Rice, Cleary, 1976; Charlez, 1997):

where K b = drained bulk modulus, Biot’s constant

K s = grains bulk modulus, and Skempton coefficient:

where K f = fluid bulk modulus.

Pore pressure in terms of strain and fluid mass reads:

where we used relationship between drained and undrained

bulk modules (see e.g. Charlez, v. 1, 1997):

2.2 Variation of porosity

Variation of porosity can be expressed via mean stress and

fluid pressure as follows (Biot, 1941; Geertsma, 1957; Rice

and Cleary, 1976; Charlez, v.1, 1997):

which gives after utilization of eqs. (1) and (5) :

or in terms of strain (for the case of nearly incompressible

grains K s >> K b , and α≈ 1):

Obviously it is necessary to determine also volumetric

strain.

It can be done either locally or as an average over the

reservoir

volume. It depends on the nature of the specific problem of

interest.

Complete solution of this model requires also implemen

tation of local mass transfer and stress equilibrium

equations

formulated earlier (Rice & Cleary, 1976): 3 AVERAGE

(FAR-FIELD) VOLUMETRIC STRAIN, POROSITY, AND PRESSURE IN
RESERVOIR If we are interested in average, or more exactly
“far-field” volumetric strain of reservoir, it can be found
as a result of inclusion-type approach, taking into account
reservoir interaction with surrounding rock. This
interaction is described by Eshelby-type inclusion approach
(Eshelby, 1957; Mura, 1987). This approach allows us to
express volumetric strain via eigen-strain as follows
Factor S generally speaking depends on reservoir
(inclusion) shape. However if elastic properties of
reservoir and country rock are the same, the factor S does
not depend on reservoir shape (Eshelby, 1957): Using eqs.
(8) and (15), variation of fluid pressure can be also
expressed via mass and temperature variation (for the case
when K s >> K b , Biot’s coefficient α= 1): Using eqs. (2),
(12), and (15) we obtain for variation of porosity: If
country rock is significantly softer than reservoir rock,
the reservoir is virtually free in its incremental
variations with respect to initial lithostatic equilibrium,
whereas if reservoir rock is much softer than the
surrounding rock, the reservoir is significantly
constrained in its evolution during production, which may
lead to earlier depletion. 4 BULK PRODUCTION EQUATION AND
PRODUCTION DECLINE As mentioned above a complete solution
of production decline requires extensive numerical
simulations. Instead we obtain approximate estimation of
evolution of average pressure, porosity, and cumulative
production. As soon as average pressure and porosity are
expressed via mass of fluid according to eqs. (17) and
(18), it allows us to estimate variation of fluid
production rate. Indeed rate of fluid production can be
approximately expressed as follows:

where M p = mass of produced fluid, q i = production rate of

individual wells. If they are the same then

where h = thickness of producing interval, k(φ) =

permeability

as a function of porosity, r w = effective well bore

radius, skin

factor included, r e = radius of inflow contour, µ=

viscosity

of fluid.

In the right-hand side of the equation we assumed that

production is carried out through N equidistantly spaced

identical wells but analogous equation can be written in

arbitrary case.

Because fluid pressure and porosity have been expressed

above in eqs. (17) and (18) in terms of fluid mass, we

arrive at the following closed-form equation for cumulative

production:

which together with equations for variation of average poros

ity φ(M p ) and pressure �p(M p ) forms a closed-form set of

equations for the mass of produced fluid M p .

4.1 Permeability vs. porosity

Explicit form of equation for produced fluid mass M p will

depend on how permeability depends on porosity.

In the power-like dependence of permeability vs.

porosity:

where χ is a parameter. If χ=φ 0 and n = 3, then it

coincides

with Carman-Kozeni formula for low porosities:

Generally speaking exponent n is considered to vary from 0

to 10.

If parameter χ is proportional to the exponent n:

χ= const · n, then for large n, the general formula becomes

exponential, and can be represented in the form which is

also used for reservoir engineering simulations (Beattie et

al,

1991):

If we assume that as it was found for shear failure

permeability

increases by 50% for 25% porosity increase (Dusseault et al,

1988), then λ= 0.97 if initial porosity is 25%. 4.2

Production decline for power-like permeabilityporosity
behavior Now we consider specific case when permeability is
a powerlike function of porosity with exponent n : where
where M 0 = initial fluid mass in reservoir, p w = wellbore
pressure. In order to simplify formulas, it is convenient
to introduce dimensionless time where A ≡ (V b /hN ). Bulk
production equation (25) can be explicitly integrated but
result is rather cumbersome. Let us consider first some
particular cases, which can clarify general behavior. 4.2.1
Production decline is predominantly due to pressure
depletion Assuming that decrease of permeability is not
significant for this case, production equation can be
written approximately as follows: Solution of this equation
for volumetric cumulative production leads to exponential
decline: where characteristic depletion time : We use
relationship between drained, K b , and undrained bulk
modulus, K u , given by eq. (9) for the case of α= 1:

The rate of decline is obtained from eq. (29):

This solution is valid if

Dimensionless depletion time is defined from eq. (30) as

follows (see Fig. 1):

4.2.2 Production decline is predominantly due to

degradation of permeability

For this case we may neglect pressure decline, and

production

equation is reduced to:

Solution for cumulative production is straightforward and

leads to power-like decline with an exponent which is stip

ulated by dependence of permeability on porosity:

where characteristic time production decline due to degrada

tion of permeability equals to:

The rate of power-like decline is the following:

This solution holds true if Figure 1. Depletion time vs.

relative compressibility; C f and C b = fluid and bulk
compressibility respectively; φ – porosity; PR = Poisson’s
ratio. Figure 2. Production rate vs. time; C f and C pp ≡ C
b /φ= fluid and pore compressibility respectively; φ –
porosity. Formula (38) provides a link between
permeability-porosity exponent n and production decline
exponent D: if the exponent D from eq. (38) is found as
follows: For Carman-Kozeny permeability n = 3, and decline
rate q(t) ∼ t 3/2 . 4.2.3 General production decline for
the case of Carman-Kozeny permeability (n = 3) As mentioned
before eq. (24) can be explicitly integrated but the result
is rather cumbersome.We present solution in graphic form
(Fig. 2). Dimensionless time used at Figure 2 is defined by
eq. (27).

4.3 Permeability degradation is exponential according to

eq. (24).

Production equation reads for this case:

and again can be explicitly integrated, yielding the

following
result:

where Ei(x) = exponential integral function.

For the case when λBSQ 0 << 1, solution is again domi

nated by pressure depletion, and defined by the formula

(29).

Because all the factors in this product less than unity,

the com

bination λBSQ 0 < 1, so that the exponential eq. (29) is a

rather

good approximation even if λBSQ 0 is not very small.

5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

It seems to be convenient to formulate geomechanics of pro

ducing reservoirs as that one of open systems because of

their

non-constant mass caused by either production or injection.

As discussed before (Cleary, 1978; Zimmerman, 1991)

there are in general three regimes of transient response of

porous medium. If perturbation is due to a wellbore then it

is described by the pseudo-steady state time is expressed as

follows

where A = area of fluid flow around the wellbore, and the

total

compressibility

where C pp = pore compressibility, and C f = compressibility

of pore fluid. That type of transient time is responsible

for

relaxation of fluid flow after start-up (bean-up) of

production

wells (see e.g. Geilikman et al, 2005). In the case when com
pressibility of grain itself, (C s = 1/K s ) is much lower
than

bulk compressibility (C bs = 1/K b ), the following

relationship

is fulfilled (Zimmerman, 1991):

so that the pseudo-steady state time can be expressed as

Mura, T. 1987. Micromechanics of Defects in Solids,

Dordrecht:

Martinus Nijhoff Pub.

Rice, J.R., Cleary, M.P. 1976. Some Basic Stress Diffusion

Solution

for Fluid-Saturated Elastic Porous Media with Compressible

Con

stituents. Review of Geophysics and Space Physics, v. 14,

no. 2,

227–241.

Seo, K., Mura, T. 1979. The elastic field in a half space

due to ellip

soidal inclusions with uniform dilational

eigenstrains,Transaction

of the ASME, v. 46, September, pp. 568–572. Settari,A.

2002. Reservoir compaction. DistinguishedAuthor Series.
JPT, August, pp.62–67. Walsh, J.B. 2002. Subsidence above a
planar reservoir. J. Geoph. Res., v. 107, no. B9, 2202.
Wang, H. F. 2000. Theory of linear poroelasticity.
Princeton series in geophysics. Princeton: Princeton
University Press. Zimmerman, R.W. 1991. Compressibility of
Sandstones. Development in petroleum science, vol. 29,
Amsterdam, Elsevier. 11th Congress of the International
Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla &
Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Pressure diffusion and ion diffusion
properties of terciary shales S.A.B. da Fontoura & E.S.
Muniz Group of Technology and Petroleum Engineering,
PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil R.F.T. Lomba Petrobras
Research Center
ABSTRACT: Shales are the cause of many drilling problems.
The source of these problems is believed to be associated
with

the nature of the interaction between the clay minerals

present in the rock structure and the water phase of the
drilling fluid.

The present paper describes experimental tests designed to

investigate the nature of such an interaction. Two
mechanisms of

interaction are studied: pressure diffusion throughout the

rock and the ion diffusion associated with the contact of
saline drilling

fluids with the shale. A pressure transmission cell was

developed for carrying the tests and tests were carried out
applying

hydraulic and chemical gradients along shale samples.

Offshore shale samples from brazilian offshore basins and
from the

North Sea were tested in order to obtain the coefficient of

diffusivity and the membrane efficiency or coefficient of
reflectivity

of each shale. A methodology was developed and applied to

many shale samples. The paper describes the test results
and also

the methodology for obtaining the material properties.

1 INTRODUCTION

Muniz et al. (2004), described an apparatus designed to eval

uate shale-drilling fluid interaction. The testing set-up

is such

that both hydraulic and ionic gradients can be imposed on

to the shale sample, in order to estimate shale

permeability,

its coefficient of reflectivity (membrane efficiency) as

well

as ionic diffusion coefficient. These parameters should be

used as input in borehole stability programs that consider
the

physical-chemical interactions. The tests described were car

ried out using saline, aqueous solution to mimic water-based

fluids.

However, as pointed out in Muniz et al. (2004), the ideal

drilling fluid concerning stability of wells must keep the

confining effective stresses around the well high enough to

preclude rock failure. This can be achieved by at least

three

distinct manners. Firstly, by avoiding pore pressure

increase

due to fluid penetration, through the use high-entry

pressure

fluids, i.e., oil-based-like type of fluid. Secondly, by

play

ing with the osmotic effects caused by water-based, saline

fluids. Thirdly, by the use of invert-emulsion fluids,

(Schlem

mer et al. 2003), that combine the two previous mechanisms.

Therefore, it is important to understand how real drilling

flu

ids, not pure saline, aqueous solutions, interact with

shales

and which shale and fluid parameters are relevant to

describe

the process.

Four pressure transmission tests were designed in order to

contribute to such an understanding. Four shales (three from

Campos Basin, offshore Brazil, and one from the Norwe

gian North Sea) with different pore structure and mineralogy

were used. The tests were carried out in order to evaluate

both the transmission pressure and the osmotic potential of

a water-based mud consisting of xantam gum, 7.13 kg/m 3

(2.5 lb/bbl), and HPA, 17.12 kg/m 3 (6.0 lb/bbl). For the
ion

diffusion phase, sodium formate and Potassium chloride were

added in the water-based mud. The shale mineralogy and pore

size distribution are presented in order to help

interpreting the

test results. 2 SHALE DESCRIPTION The shale samples used in

this work come four different locations: one from the
Norwegian North Sea and three from Campos Basin, Brazil.
Descriptions of these shales were presented elsewhere
(Muniz et al. 2004, 2005, Rabe 2003) and repeated below.
The shale sample from Norway is referred to as shale N and
the Brazilian shale samples are named shales B, B-S and
B-L. A semi-quantitative mineralogical analysis was carried
out combining data from X-ray diffraction that gives the
main minerals present in the rock, and the chemical
composition of each mineral.This methodology (Chakrabarty &
Longo 1997) uses an optimization procedure in order to
obtain a quantitative estimate of the mineral composition
that is presented inTable 1 except to shale B-L which study
was not concluded yet. It can be noticed that the shale B
has only 21.0% of clay minerals while shales N and B-S
have, respectively, 48.1% and 61.6%. Concerning expansive
clay minerals, shale N is constituted by 20% of smectite,
while this clay mineral is present in Campos Basin shales
in the form of mixed-layer mineral. The cation exchange
capacity, CEC, presented in Table 2 was determined by
ammonium acetate test (Khalil et al. Table 1.
Semi-quantitative mineralogical composition of shales.
Shale Main mineral B Quartz (30%), Chlorite (6%), Pyrite
(5%), Kaolinite/Illite/smectite (15%), Calcite (29%) and
Feldspar (15%) B-S Quartz (15%), Chlorite (6%), Pyrite
(5%), Illite/smectite (22%), Kaolinite (33.6), Calcite
(17.2%) and Dolomite (1.2%) N Quartz (38.1%), Smectite
(20%), Chlorite (6%), Illite/smectite (13.6%), Illite
(8.5%), Pyrite (7.6%), Calcite (3.5%) and Feldspar (2.7%)
B-L Quartz, Calcite, Kaolinite and Pyrite

Table 2. Cation exchange capacity (meq/100 g) and

interchange

able cations of the shales (Rabe 2003). Interchangeable

cations (meq/100 g)

Shale CEC Na + Ca ++ K + Mg ++ Sr ++ Ba +

B 26.20 12.3 2.4 9.7 1.4 0.42 Tr

B-S 38.42 22.4 10.4 3.6 1.8 0.15 0.07

N 37.17 18.7 3.3 12.7 2.4 0.04 0.03

Figure 1. Curve of cumulative intrusion volume.

Figure 2. Curve of incremental intrusion volume.

1993, Gall et al. 1981) following the sample preparation

technique and methodology described by Perez (1997). The

great advantage of this test is the identification of the

type of

interchangeable cation.

Shales N and B-S presented high CEC total values. Ana

lyzing shale N, it can be observed that 31.4 meq/100 g was

due to the exchange of Na + and K + , characteristic of the

high

percentage of smectite and illite. Shale B has the lowest

CEC

value when compared with the other shales. Therefore, tak

ing into account only the mineralogical composition, shale B

can be, initially, considered the less reactive shale of

the ones

tested.

In order to evaluate the shale pore size distribution, tests

were carried out using the mercury injection technique.
These

tests were performed at CENPES (Petrobras Research Center)

using the model 9220 Autopore III with maximum injection

pressure of 400 MPa. Muniz et al. (2005) and Rabe (2003)

described the methodologies used in these tests.

Figures 1 and 2 show the distribution of pore size through

the curve of cumulative intrusion volume and the

incremental Figure 3. Pressure transmission system. Table
3. Index properties of the tested shales. Shales B B-S N
B-L Parameters CP14 CP39 CP01 CP02 Length (mm) 16.7 15.4
15.9 15.4 Diameter (mm) 38.2 37.9 37.7 38.0 Initial water
content (%) 12.5 25.1 35.6 8.2 Weight (g) 42.0 34.9 31.8
41.9 Specific gravity 2.70 2.69 2.42 2.74 Total unit weight
(g/cm 3 ) 2.19 2.00 1.78 2.40 Void ratio 0.383 0.678 0.836
0.234 Degree of Saturation (%) 88.14 99.9 100.0 96.38
Porosity (%) 27.69 40.4 45.6 18.94 intrusion volume,
respectively, for the four shales tested herein. A
remarkable difference exists among the pore size
distribution of these shales. Shale N has pore diameters
above 1 µm, and 50% of the pores have diameter greater than
10 µm. Shale B-S has about 90% of its pores smaller than
0.15 µm and 25% of its pore space is within the range
0.10–0.15 µm. Shale BL presents the lowest median pore
diameter value (0.017 µm) when compared with shale B (0.044
µm) B-S (0.079 µm) and shale N (9.814 µm) and 69 % of its
pore space is within the range 0.010–0.015 µm. 3
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS The set of tests presented herein was
carried out in order to evaluate the transmission pressure
and the osmotic potential of four distinct shales when in
contact with water-based mud. Figure 3 presents the
pressure transmission system used to carry out the tests.
During the transmission phase the difference in pressure
diffusion using a water-based fluid composed by xantam gum
7.13 kg/m 3 (2.5 lb/bbl) and HPA 17.12 kg/m 3 (6.0 lb/bbl),
was investigated. When the ion diffusion phase starts, 57
kg/m 3 of KCl and 40% w/w of sodium formate is added to the
water-based fluid, respectively, for shales B-L and B, B-S
and N. The testing methodology described by Muniz et al.
(2004, 2005) was used to carry out the tests presented
next. Table 3 presents the index properties for the 4 shale
samples tested. It can be noticed that the porosity and
void ratio obtained to shale B-L are lower than the ones
corresponding to the other shales.
Figure 4. Pressure transmission test on shale B-S (CP39).

Figure 5. Pressure transmission test on shale N (CP01).

This fact only already is an indication of more imbricate

pore

structure.

3.1 Saturation and consolidation phase

During the saturation phase, each sample was subjected to

periodic undrained increments of confining pressure in order

to obtain the pore pressure parameter B (Skempton 1954). The

process of sample saturation was considered to be

satisfactory

when the same B value is obtained after three consecutive

stages. The B parameters values obtained for the samples

CP14, CP39, CP01 and CP02 were, respectively, 0.90, 0.95,

0.92 and 0.89.

Immediately after saturation, the isotropic consolidation

phase was initiated. All the samples were allowed to consol

idate with both top and bottom drainage under backpressure

in a test time not inferior to 20 hours.

3.2 Pressure and ion diffusion phase

The pressure diffusion phase consists of applying a pressure

gradient between top and bottom of the sample and wait until

equilibrium is reached. After that, the fluid in contact

with the

top of the sample (water base mud without salt) is replaced

by saline water-based mud initiating the ion diffusion

phase.
Figures 4 to 7 present the complete test results that
include both

pressure diffusion phase and osmotic pressure development

phase, for samples CP39, CP01, CP14 and CP02, respectively

During the pressure diffusion phase the rock permeability

(K) is determined through back analyses of the experimental

data using a 1D version of the program FPORO © ( Frydman &

Figure 6. Pressure transmission test on shale B (CP14).
Figure 7. Pressure transmission test on shale B-L (CP02).
Figure 8. Numerical analyses using FPORO © : (CP02). Table
4. Shale permeability values. Shale K B (CP14) B-S (CP39) N
(CP01) B-L (CP02) K (m 2 ) 8.0 × 10 −22 4.0 × 10 −20 1.9 ×
10 −20 5.5 × 10 −22 K (nD) 0.81 40.50 19.25 0.56 Fontoura
2001). This process consists of running the program for
different values for the permeability until the numerical
result fits the experimental bottom pore pressure curve as
indicated in Figure 8. Table 4 presents the permeability
values obtained for the shales.

Table 5. Parameters obtained for the samples.

Shale �(kPa) �Posm α

B (CP14) 28835.2 2335 0.0810

B-S (CP39) 28835.2 314 0.0109

N (CP01) 28835.2 153 0.0053

B-L (CP02) 3180.0 1190 0.3740

Through these tests, it is possible to obtain the values

of experimental osmotic pressure (�P osm ) that corresponds

to the difference between the pressures at the bottom and

at the top, after the stabilization. Knowing the theoretical

osmotic pressure (�) and the experimental osmotic pressure,

the reflection coefficient can be determined for each sample

using Equation 1 (Tan et al. 2002, Ewy & Stankovich 2002,

Van Oort et al. 1996).

Considering the equipment layout and testing methodol

ogy, the theoretical osmotic pressure can be obtained using

Equation 2, where R = gas constant, T = absolute tempera

ture ( ◦ K), V w = partial molar volume of water, A df =

water

activity of drilling fluid. The water activity of the

water-based

mud from samples CP14, CP39 and CP01 measured using a

thermo-hygrometer is 0.81 and 0,98 to sample CP02. Table 5

presents these parameters for all samples.

It can be noticed that shale B-L showed the greater

reflection

coefficient of all tested shales, followed by the shale B.

The

value obtained for shale B-S is the same that the ones
obtained

by (Muniz et al. 2004) where calcium chloride solutions were

used. Shale N, with the greater amount of reactive clay min

eral, presented a very low experimental osmotic pressure and

the smaller reflection coefficient.

As a whole, the test results showed that the pressure trans

mission behavior of shales is much more influenced by its

index properties and pore size distribution than its

mineralogy

and amount of clay minerals.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In spite of the fact that it has the smaller clay content,

Campos

Basin shale B presented the higher reflection coefficient

when

compared with shales B-S and N, both with greater reactive

clay content. However, shale B shows the smaller average

pore

size of all 3 shales.That suggests that the reflection

coefficient

of shales is more influenced by its pore size distribution

that by

its clay content.This trend was confirmed by the shale B-L

test

that presents the higher reflection coefficient and the

smaller

Computer Graphics Technology Group (Tecgraf), Pontifical

Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil E.A. Vargas Jr. Department of Civil
Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de
Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil W.W.M. Lira
Department of Structural Engineering, Federal University of
Alagoas (UFAL), Alagoas, Brazil L.F. Martha

Computer Graphics Technology Group (Tecgraf), Pontifical

Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil Department of Civil Engineering, Pontifical
Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil

ABSTRACT: This work presents the three-dimensional

numerical simulation of flow and solute transport in
fractured media.

The simulation involves all modelling stages, such as

generation of geologic surfaces, generation of fracture
networks, generation

of finite element meshes, numerical analysis of flow and

solute transport and visualization of results. In this work
a greater

emphasis is given to the numerical analysis of solute

transport in fractured media. A numerical program has been
developed

using the Finite Element Method to solve the flow governing

equations. The analysis is performed in steady-state or
transient

conditions, in saturated and in unsaturated conditions. In

the solute transport, the advection, dispersion, diffusion,
sorption and

decay mechanisms are also considered. For the solution of

the transport linear equation system, the preconditioned
conjugate

gradient method has been adopted. An example is presented

to demonstrate the developed tool.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rocks, particularly those close to the surface, can present

geologic features such as bedding planes, faults, fissures,

fractures, joints and others. These features are, in this

work,

referenced to as fractures.

Sets of fractures form what is called fractured media. In

these media, fractures cut each other, so that, in general,

the

flow does not occur only in a single fracture or in a single

fracture family (sets of fractures with similar

characteristics).

The flow actually occurs in a connected fracture network, as

shown in Figure 1a.

Therefore, it is not possible to work individually with each

fracture or fracture family present in the rock. Fractures

and

fracture families must be dealt with as an integrated

fracture
network.

In some cases, fracture networks can be inserted in porous

rock that conducts fluid. In this situation, the media is

called

fractured porous media. In these, fluid exchange between the

fractures and the rock matrix can occur, as presented in the

Figure 1b.

This situation is frequently found in petroleum reservoirs,

where oil, water and gas are formed by diverse chemical and

physical processes and are stored in the porous rocky

matrix.

The fracture presence in these reservoirs exerts an

important

role in the petroleum exploration. In reservoirs, the rocky

matrix presents high storage values and low hydraulic conduc

tivity values. Fractures, however, can present high

hydraulic

conductivity and very low storage capacity, making them

excellent migration channels. Oil migrates from the rocky

matrix into fracture networks, which take the fluid to the

pumping wells. Figure 1. (a) Flux in the connect fracture

network, (b) Flux in the connect fracture network and the
rocky matrix (Telles, 2006). However, the presence of the
fractures in rocks not always presents advantages. In
contamination problems, the migration channels formed by
the fractures can spread contaminants faster inside the
fractured rock aquifer. An aquifer can be

Figure 2. Solute transport in the porous and fractured

media.

contaminated in a short amount of time due to the high

percola
tion of the water in these channels.This kind of
contamination,

depending on the contaminant, can be of difficult

remediation.

In some situations, the only possible treatment is time,

that is,

the action of the natural attenuation.

Serious aquifer contamination problems occur when the

involved contaminant is DNAPLE (Dense Non-Aqueous

Phase Liquid). These substances, being denser than the

water,

can cross the water table and reach the porous media or the

fractured media. In the fractured media, these composites

can

infiltrate and enter and deposit in the fractures,

transforming

them into a contamination source. The Figure 2 illustrates

this

process.

The cases mentioned above attest to the importance of

the modelling of fractured media. This modelling provides a

deeper understanding of the hydraulic behavior of the media.

In this way, for example, it is possible to estimate the

damages

caused by an aquifer contamination, to determine the

water/oil

pumping well influence in the system where they are

inserted,

to choose the best location for pumping wells and to assist

the study of remediation of contaminated areas (Telles et

al.,
2006).

The fractured media modelling is performed using com

putational programs that are responsible for the generation

of

fracture networks, for the generation of finite element

meshes,

for the numerical analysis and for the visualization of simu

lation results. The combination of these programs forms an

integrated computational system to flow and solute transport

modelling in fracture media.

In the literature it is possible to find some of these

systems.

For example, Napsac (Hartley et al., 2002) and FracMan (Frac

Man, 2005). These are commercial systems that have been

developed mainly for the modelling of fracture networks of

petroleum reservoirs.

In a previous work, Telles (2006), was proposed an inte

grated computational system composed of five programs.Two

of these were developed for the work (FracGen3D and FTPF

3D) and the remaining three were integrated to the system

(Gocad, MG and Pos3d).

Gocad (Gocad, 2005) is responsible for the surface genera

tion representing the geologic structures as, for example,

the

bedding geologic that defines the regions and the fractures.

The FracGen3D (Three-dimensional Fracture Generator) is

a three-dimensional interactive program responsible for the

fracture network generation (Telles et al., 2005). The
geomet

ric modeler MG (Coelho et al., 2000) is responsible for the

representation of fracture geometry and its attributes, as

well

as for the finite element mesh generation.The FTPF-3D (Sim

ulating Flow and Solute Transport in Porous and Fractured

Media – Three-dimensional) (Telles, 2006) is responsible
for the three-dimensional numerical analysis of flow and
transport (solute/particles) in fractured and porous media.
Finally, the Pos3D (Pos3D, 2005) is responsible for the
visualization of results (total head, pressure head,
velocity field and concentration). The system proposed,
Telles (2006), can be used, for example, in studies of
hydrogeologic, of petroleum reservoirs and of transport. In
this work is presented the solute transport module of the
numerical analysis program in fractured media. An example
is presented to demonstrate the developed tool. 2 SOLUTE
TRANSPORT IN FRACTURED MEDIA For the description of solute
transport in the fractured media, it is necessary to
describe the fracture governing equation. This equation is
presented in the following section. 2.1 Transport equation
The equation for two-dimensional solute transport in an
unsaturated fracture can be deduced from the equation
describing solute transport in saturated fracture (Therrien
and Sudicky, 1996). Its form is: In the equation 1, C f is
the solute concentration in a fracture, D fij is the
hydrodynamic dispersion coefficient of the fracture, λ is
the first-order decay constant, 2b is the fracture
aperture, S wf is the water saturation for the fracture, R
f is the retardation factor in the fracture, and q fi is
the fluid flux in the fracture. The retardation factor is
given by equation 2, where K ∗ d is a fracture-surface
distribution coefficient. The fluid flux term is given by
equation 3. In the equation 3, K f ,ij is the unsaturated
hydraulic conductivity of a fracture, ψ f is the pressure
head within the fracture, and z f is the elevation head
within the fracture. Equation 1 does not consider loss (or
gain) of solute mass across the fracture-matrix interfaces.
In this case, all of the solute transport occurs in the
fracture media. In this work, the solute transport in the
fracture is represented by the equation of two-dimensional
solute transport in the unsaturated porous media (equation
4). This equation has been used in order to consider both
the fractured and the threedimensional porous media. This
allows the solute transport to occur in all media
(fractured, porous, fractured porous or in a combination
between the media).This work, however, demonstrates only
the transport in fractured media. More information

about simulation in fractured and porous media can be found

in Telles (2006).

In equation 4, C is the solute concentration, D ij is the

hydro

dynamic dispersion coefficient, R is the retardation

factor, and

q i is the fluid flux.

The retardation factor is given by equation 5. In this

equation, ρ b is the bulk density, and K d is the

distribution

coefficient.

The fluid flux term is given by equation 6.

In the equation 6, K ,ij is the unsaturated hydraulic conduc

tivity, ψ is the pressure head, and z is the elevation head.

The component of the dispersion of equation 4 is given by

Bear (1972):

In this equation 7, D d is the ionic or molecular diffusion

coefficient in free water, τ is the tortuosity factor, δ ij

is the

Kronecker delta function, α L is the longitudinal

dispersivity

and α T is the transverse dispersivity.

For transport solution (equation 4) the finite element

method is used. All the numerical formulation derived from

equation 4 can be found in Telles (2006).

2.2 Numerical programs for solute transport simulation

In the literature, it is possible to find some

computational pro

grams for the analysis of solute transport in fractured

media.

Some of these programs are described in the work of Diodato

(1994). Telles (2006) presents a summary of programs for

three-dimensional analysis of transport in fractured media.

In Telles (2006), a program called FTPF-3D was developed

(Simulating Flow and Solute Transport in Porous and Frac

tured Media – Three-dimensional), used for flow and solute

transport analysis and particle trajectory in

three-dimensional

porous and fractured media. This program was developed

based on SWMS3D (Simunek et al., 1995) that simulates flow

and solute transport in porous media.

The numerical method used to solve the governing equa

tions is the Finite Element Method.The numerical analysis

can

be carried in steady-state or transient conditions, in

saturated

or unsaturated conditions. In the solute transport, the

advec

tion, dispersion, diffusion, sorption and decay mechanisms

are

considered.

The program uses the modified Picard method to solve

the non linear equation of unsaturated flow. For the

solution
of the system of linear equations of flow the precondi

tioned conjugate gradient method (Mendoza et al., 1991)

or Gauss elimination method is used. For the solution of

the system of linear equations of solute transport package

ORTHOMIN (preconditioned conjugate gradient method) is

adopted (Mendoza et al., 1991).

The developed program is able to simulate flow and solute

transport in porous media, fractured media, fractured porous

media, or in a combination between the media. Table 1.

Fracture families features and parameters. Size Orient. Ap.
K Ss Family Nf (m) (dd/d) (mm) (m/dia) (m −1 ) 1 3 47.0 0 ◦
/ 0 ◦ 0.06 2.5 × 10 2 4.5 × 10 −6 2 4 42.0 135 ◦ / 45 ◦
0.06 2.5 × 10 2 4.5 × 10 −6 3 2 38.0 270 ◦ / 70 ◦ 0.06 2.5
× 10 2 4.5 × 10 −6 4 4 36.0 90 ◦ / 80 ◦ 0.06 2.5 × 10 2 4.5
× 10 −6 Legend: Nf – number of fractures Orient –
orientation dd – dip direction d – dip Ap. – aperture K –
hydraulic conductivity Ss – specific storage Figure 3.
Finite element mesh and the location of the contamination
source. 3 EXAMPLE This example presents the results of a
numerical analysis of flow and solute transport in a
fractured and saturated region. This example is divided in
two stages. In the first stage the flow analysis is in
steady-state condition. In the second stage the flow and
solute transport analysis is in transient conditions and
considers a contamination source located on one of the
horizontal fractures, as illustrated in Figure 3. The
region modeled presents the dimensions of 72.0 × 63.0 ×
43.0 m, and it contains four fracture families. The
fractures features and parameters of flow are presented in
Table 1. The region and fracture families are created in
the FracGen3D program. The finite element mesh generated by
MG has 3121 nodes and 6880 elements. Figure 3 presents the
finite element mesh of the model. First stage In the first
stage, as said previously, the flow analysis is in
steady-state condition. Some information of this stage is
presented below: • Flow initial conditions: 0.0 m of
pressure head in all model; • Flow boundary condition: –
200.0 m constant total head in the face represented by
xmin, and – 100.0 m constant total head in the face
represented by xmax; Figure 4 and Figure 5 present the
results of total head and velocity field, respectively. The
flow occurs from the left to the right.
Figure 4. First stage: result of total head.

Figure 5. First stage: results of velocity field.

Second stage

In the second stage is performed the flow and solute trans

port analysis. A contamination source located on one of the

horizontal fractures is considered. Some information of this

stage is presented below:

• Flow initial conditions: obtained from the first stage

• Flow boundary condition:

– 200.0 m constant total head in the face represented by

xmin, and

– 100.0 m constant total head in the face represented by

xmax;

• Transport initial condition: 0.0 mg/l of concentration;

• Transport boundary condition: 1000.0 mg/l constant con

centration in the source;

• Transport parameters:

– 10.0 m of longitudinal and transverse dispersivity in the

fracture plane;

– without retardation;

– 0.0 of diffusion coefficient; and

– 0.0 of first-order decay constant;

• Total time of simulation: 5000 seconds; and

• Analysis performed in transient condition.

Figure 6 presents the results of concentration in the time

of

5000 second. The contamination occurs from the left to the

right, following the preferential flow way.

In the figure above it is possible see the contaminant scat

tering in the fracture where the source is located and in

the

fractures that intercept this fracture.

4 CONCLUSION

This work presented the three-dimensional numerical sim

ABSTRACT: Simultaneous production of solid particles

originating from the surrounding rock mass frequently
occurs

during production stages of an oil well. This process is

called sand production. Stress concentrations around the
borehole

may cause loss of cohesion of the rock, thus creating a

region of loose granular material susceptible to drag by
seepage forces.

This paper deals with X ray CT scan studies in real time,

carried out with a special cell, of the early stages of
sand production,

primarily the ones related to the damage processes around

the borehole.

1 INTRODUCTION

Sand production is the denomination given to the simultane

ous outflow of oil and solid particles during production

stages

of a well in an oil producing field, bringing with it a

number

of operational problems and considerable money loss. This

problem may occur both in poorly consolidated rocks (mainly

sandstones) and consolidated rocks. In the latter case, sand

production is associated with stress concentrations around

the

borehole. Sand production processes in boreholes are gen

erally preceded by the formation of damaged zones around it

(Dusseault et al., 1992).The present paper reports on the

study

of the formation of breakouts/damage around boreholes in

soft

rocks. The experimental program is carried out by simulating

on a rock sample the stresses arising during excavation

stages.

The sample is typically a poorly consolidated sandstone or

an artificially assembled material simulating sandstones.

This

process is carried out inside a especially constructed cell

which

is inserted into an X ray CT scanner. The images are

obtained

in real time during the tests. The paper presents details of

the procedures and equipment employed in the experimen

tal program plus a summary and discussions of the obtained

results.

2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM

2.1 Characterization of the sandstone and artificial

sandstone samples

Samples of Rio Bonito sandstone were used in the context

of the present work. These samples were collected from out

crops of Paraná river basin, in the state of Paraná in

southern Table 1. Characteristics of the materials tested
and stress values corresponding to the start of failure in
the TWC tests carried out Start of Failure (MPa) Porosity
UCS Confining Axial Sample (%) (MPa) pressure stress 698-RB
18.4 23 (brittle) 20 10 V8-2 23.8 10(ductile) 20 10 Brazil.
The synthetic sandstone samples produced were composed by
sand, Portland cement (constituting therefore a silica rich
cement) and water. The selected sand was rather
homogeneous, having round and coarse grains. Thick walled
cylinder (TWC) samples were extracted from both materials
(Figure 1). TWC samples have the intention of simulating
the behaviour around an oil producing borehole. The
external diameter of the samples was approximately 50 mm.
The ratio between external and internal diameter was equal
to 3.1. Compression tests both unconfined and triaxial were
carried out in order to characterize the mechanical
properties of both materials. Table 1 presents some data
and characteristics of the tested materials. 2.2
Experimental setup A especially designed cell was built in
order to carry out the experimental program described in
the previous section (Figure 2). The self contained
pressure cell is capable of applying both axial and radial
pressures to the sample. The cell also allows for fluid
circulation either axially or radially

Figure 1. Synthetic sandstone sample (on the left) and Rio

Bonito

sandstone sample (on the right).

in the sample, although flow was not taken into account at

the present stage of the research. The body of the pressure

cell is made of high strength aluminium, normally used in

the aircraft industry. Aluminium was used for being

relatively

transparent to X rays, thereby allowing for the

visualization of

the processes occurring inside tested samples. The remaining

parts of the cell are made of steel. The cell was designed
for

internal pressures of 40 MPa and 25 t of axial load. No

instru

ments for measuring the sample deformations were used in

the tests. The medical X Ray CT Scanner used in the present

work was the PICKER-PQS model having 1200 detectors,

installed at the X-Ray CT Scanner Laboratory of CENPES,

the Research Division of Petrobras located in Rio de

Janeiro,

Brazil.

2.3 Test methodology

Four samples, two of the Rio Bonito sandstone and two of the

synthetic sandstone, were tested in the context of the

research.

The present paper will focus only in samples V8-2(synthetic)

and 698-RB(Rio Bonito), one of each material, whose basic

characteristics are described in Table 1. A methodology was

developed for assembling the samples inside the cell (Santos

2004) and for the positioning of the cell inside the scanner

(Figure 3).

2.4 X Ray CT Scan Analyses and Discussion

After the cell containing the sample is positioned inside

the

X-Ray CT Scanner, a radiographic test is made. This test,

denominated pilot test, consists of a longitudinal examina

tion of the sample. Next, the CT Scanner transversal images

were obtained, initially with no pressure applied to the sam

ple followed by pressure changes in planned loading stages

until failure of the sample. In the case of sample V8-2, the

sequence of confining pressures used was: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25

and 40 MPa whereas for the 698-RB sample the correspond

ing sequence was 10, 20 and 30 MPa. In each of these stages,

CT Scanner images were acquired as presented in Figure 4.

The software Ensight (CEI-Computational Engineering Inter

national, USA) (Santos et al, 2004 and Santos 2004) was used

to reconstruct the sample in three dimensions based on the

transversal images of samples. This is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 2. Pressure cell used in tests. Table 2 presents a
sample of literature data available on TWC tests followed
by CT scan of samples. All images were obtained after
completion of the tests, in already unloaded samples except
for the case of the present work images which were obtained
from samples under load. The table shows that different
types of failure mechanisms can be found in tests: borehole
enlargement, formation of ’dog-ear’ type breakouts and slip
lines. In the present work, only the borehole enlargement
mechanism was encountered. It appears that this type of
mechanism occurs more often in softer materials. In
borehole enlargement, no apparent localization of
deformation is noticed. This can be seen in Figure 4 where
the evolution of failure mechanisms along the test is
depicted.

Figure 3. Positioning of pressure cell inside CT Scanner.

Table 2. TWC tests associated with CT scan of samples

described

in the literature. Test

Reference Test material type Failure mechanism

Papamichos Red Wildmoor With Borehole

(1999) Sandstone radial breakouts UCS = 12 MPa flow

(“dogears”) Synthetic Borehole sandstone Enlargement UCS =
2 MPa Core C Borehole UCS = 9 MPa Enlargement Core E Shear
bands UCS = 30 MPa or slip lines

Vardoulakis Synthetic With Shear bands (slip

et al (2001) sandstone radial lines) + enlargement UCS = 2

MPa flow borehole Mean size grain = 0.18 mm

Present work Synthetic Without Borehole sandstone flow

enlargement UCS = 10 MPa Grain size = coarse Rio Bonito
Sandstone UCS = 23 MPa Grain size = Fine
In the case of the synthetic sandstone (Figure 4b), one is
able

to notice that the failed zone (in blue colours) maintains

itself

relatively stable with little erosion. This may be due to

the fact

that the synthetic sandstone presents a ductile behaviour

when

tested in compression (Santos, 2004). On the other hand, Fig

ure 4a shows that a considerable portion of the central zone

of the Rio Bonito sandstone sample was eroded. Rio Bonito

sandstone presents on the other hand a brittle behaviour

when

loaded in compression (Santos, 2004). It should be remem

bered that the tests were carried out without flow. It is

believed

that the introduction of flow may have influence in the type

of failure mechanism encountered. This is however a topic

for

further research. Figure 4. Transversal section images from

various loading stages of samples. The corresponding
confining pressures are included in the figure (in MPa) (a)
sample 698-RB (b) sample V8-2. 3 CONCLUSION The results
obtained with the experimental program carried out,
although preliminary, shows that the described methodology
can be extremely useful in the characterization of failure
mechanisms around boreholes In particular this was due to
the fact that the tests were carried out in real time
inside an X-Ray scanner. Only a limited number of
experiments was carried out so far. The research proceeds
with experiments with different types of sandstones and
with introduction of radial flow concomitant with the
application of stresses.

Figure 5. Pilot images before and after tests for sample

V8-2. Fig
ure also shown the 3D reconstruction of sample using the
software

ABSTRACT: A three-dimensional hydrogeological modelling

method for the large LPG storage project is developed in

order to predict the hydraulic behaviors around the caverns

precisely for the observational design and construction
from a

hydrogeological point of view. The Namikata LPG storage

cavern under construction, one of the world’s largest LPG
storage

caverns is the subject of this study. More than a thousand

of hydraulic conductivity data have already been obtained
from the site

investigation. The geostatistical technique is employed to

deal with a large amount of the spatial data that can be
obtained at each

stage of the project. The ordinary kriging (OK) is

implemented to obtain a spatial distribution of hydraulic
conductivity and that

of its estimation error at each stage. The sequential

indicator simulation (SIS), one of the widely used
geostatistical simulation

methods, is also implemented to assess the uncertainty of

hydraulic conductivity. A set of realizations, which are
generated

using different series of random numbers, gives a map of

the upper tail probability above a specific threshold
value. This map

is convenient for the risk assessment related to the

uncertainty of hydraulic conductivity. Furthermore a new
hybrid modelling

methodology considering geostatistical and hydrogeological

correlations between a pair of spatial data at different
locations is

proposed to obtain a geostatistically and hydrogeologically

relevant model that can enable to predict the hydraulic
behaviors in the
subsequent stage of the project precisely.The models based
on the realizations of SIS are used to simulate the
observed hydraulic

behaviors of the site by Finite Volume Method. The most

relevant model is identified and validated by comparing the
measured

and the computed values of pore pressure at the specific

positions. The validated SIS model shows lower
hydrogeological con

nectivity than the OK model that has an unfavorable

smoothing effect and is apt to overestimate the
hydrogeological connectivity

due to that effect. In fact the computed pore pressure from

the validated SIS model shows better agreement with the
measured

value than that from the OK model. Thus the higher

performance of the modelling method is clarified.

1 INTRODUCTION

The constructions of the Namikata and the Kurashiki LPG

storage caverns are two of the world’s largest underground

LPG storage projects being operated by JOGMEC in Japan.

To maintain the air tightness of the storage caverns at

normal

temperature and high storage pressure, JOGMEC designed

the water containment system. The system of water curtains

is established above the LPG storage caverns and provides

higher surrounding water pressure than storage pressure to

maintain the air tightness, instead of using concrete and

steel

of lining works.

The LPG storage pressure is designed as 0.95 MPa for

keeping the propane (boiling point is 15 ◦ at 0.75 MPa) in

liquid phase at normal temperature. To ensure the air tight

ness of LPG tank and the water containment ability of water

curtains, it is important to grasp the hydrogeological struc

ture in site-scale. Thus, the Namikata and the Kurashiki

projects apply the observational design and construction sys

tem from hydrogeological viewpoint and obtain the numerous

hydrogeological data from the various types of

investigations

during the design and construction phase. However, to make a

reasonable groundwater control strategy progressively, it is

important to analyze the obtained data systematically and

EL-125m EL+4.3m EL+4.3m EL-180m Access tunnel Operation
shaft Water gallery Water gallery Butane/propane cavern
Water curtain boreholes Propane cavern EL-180m Figure 1.
The Namikata LPG underground storage facilities. obtain a
hydrogeologically relevant model. Therefore, this study
attempts to propose a new hybrid three-dimensional
hydrogeological modeling methodology based on both of
geostatistical simulation and groundwater simulation to
obtain a hydrogeologically relevant model that can enable
to predict

the hydraulic behaviors in the subsequent stage of the

project

precisely.

2 ESTIMATION OF HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY

DISTRIBUTION BY GEOSTATISTICS METHOD

Firstly, the authors constructed the site-scaled

hydrogeological

model based on the measured data derived from the in-situ

hydraulic tests by geostatistical method. The ordinary

kriging

(OK) method and the sequential indicator simulation (SIS)

method were employed to estimate the hydraulic conductivity

distribution at each stage.

2.1 Estimation of hydraulic conductivity distribution by

ordinary kriging

An initial hydraulic conductivity model is generated based

on the results of the hydraulic test in the investigation

bore

holes by OK. Then, as new hydraulic conductivity data are

obtained during the excavation of the water galleries and

the

water curtain boreholes, the upgraded model is sequentially

generated in each step of the excavation. Figure 2

illustrates

a series of the estimated value (left) and the estimation

errors

Figure 2. Upgraded OK estimation results with the

excavation of

the water galleries and the horizontal water curtain

boreholes (Depth

-120 m, the elevation of the water galleries). (right) of

hydraulic conductivity distribution at the depth of EL-120
m (the elevation of the water galleries). The figures show
that the estimation error is decreasing with addition of
the measured data, also indicate that the estimated value
is gradually upgraded in reasonable. This implies that it
is quite essential to perform the observational design and
construction from hydrogeological viewpoint. The
distribution of estimation error provides a checking on the
estimation accuracy and is efficient to prevent the
oversight of defects. Figure 3 shows the three-dimensional
hydraulic conductivity distribution estimated by OK after
the excavation of water galleries was completed. 2.2 Value
at risk map of hydraulic conductivity by SIS Geostatistical
simulation is a probabilistic approach to evaluate the
uncertainty of the target variable by generating many
realizations that obey spatial random structure and
calculating descriptive statistics concerning those
(Chiles, 1999). The utility of conventional variogram and
ordinary kriging for geostatistical analysis is limited by
particular assumptions (Lloyd and Atkinson, 1999). The
principal problems concern normality (although the
techniques are fairly robust) and the independence of the
estimation variance on data values. Sequential indicator
simulation is one means of overcoming both of these
limitations. There are some favorable aspects associated
with the use of the simulation approach. For instance,
every estimate calculated by sequential indicator
simulation has consistency with the spatial random
structure; while the estimation calculated by ordinary
kriging does not have such consistency in general.
Sequential indicator simulation involves the designation of
several thresholds, for example the deciles of the sample
cumulative distribution that are used to transform the data
to a set of binary variables. After determining the
location (block) for estimation using uniform random number
(Figure 4(a)), the indicator transform i(x; z l ) (at
location x) with cut-off conditional cumulative
distribution function z l for datum value Z(x) may be given
as (Figure 4(b)) Variogram associated with i(x; z l ) is
given by 1.0 × 10 -6 1.0 × 10 -5 Hydraulic conductivity
[cm/s] Figure 3. Three-dimensional hydraulic conductivity
distribution estimated by OK.

where h = distance between a pair of samples. By computing

the weights based on the variogram of the data, the

probability

that the estimate is less than cut-off value z l is

obtained:

The distribution function is estimated from the calculation

of lower tail probability of any cut-off value using

equation

(3). The estimates at location x can be obtained by setting

uni

form random number to the inverse function of the

distribution

function (Figure 4(c)).

Sequentially, the location of the estimation point is deter

mined by referring random number and the same technique

is utilized to calculate the estimate at this location.
Such esti

mation continues to be conducted until all the block value

has

been estimated, and then one realization of random function

is generated.

As performing this procedure using the different random

number generators, a set of realizations can be made.

Finally,

lower tail probability of a given threshold, which allows

mak

ing the probability map for risk analysis, is computed at

each

estimation block

where N R (x| ∗ ) = number of realizations that satisfy the

condition ∗ .

A set of realizations, which are generated using different

series of random numbers, gives a map of the upper tail prob

ability above a specific threshold value. Figure 5

illustrates

the VaR (value at risk) map of hydraulic conductivity higher

than 10 −5 cm/s.This map is convenient for the risk

assessment

related to the uncertainty of hydraulic conductivity.

3 HYBRID HYDROGEOLOGICAL MODELLING BY

SIS AND GROUNDWATER SIMULATION

The authors examine the applicability of the estimated three

dimensional OK model to the prediction of groundwater

behaviors by groundwater simulation first, and then propose

a new hybrid three-dimensional hydrogeological modeling

methodology based on both of SIS and groundwater simula

tion to obtain a geostatistically and hydrogeologically

relevant

model that can enable to predict the hydraulic behaviors in

the

subsequent stage of the project more precisely. 1 0 0 1 0 ?

block for estimation ? (a) (b) z 1 z 2 z 3 estimate pz 1 pz
2 pz 3 ? Apriori block (c)

Figure 4. Schematics of sequential indicator simulation.

3.1 Groundwater simulation method In this study
three-dimensional finite volume method is employed to
analyze the groundwater behavior of the site. The value of
hydraulic conductivity that represents each element voxel
is an estimate at the center of the element voxel by
geostatistical method. Firstly, all the horizontal and
vertical faces are given in constant head as the boundary
condition and steady-state simulation is conducted under
the initial groundwater conditions. Then the groundwater
flow during the excavation of water galleries is set as
variable boundary conditions for conducting an
unsteady-state simulation. In detail, the procedure is as
follows; 1. Set the measured groundwater outflow during the
excavation of water galleries as the boundary condition. 2.
Implement a 30days unsteady-state simulation. 3. Set the
simulated result in 2 as the initial condition of the
subsequent simulation. 4. Repeat the step 1 to 3. 3.2
Simulation based on OK model The groundwater simulation
mentioned in 3.1 is implemented based on the OK model.The
pore pressure distribution derived from the
three-dimensional groundwater simulation is compared with
the measured results in the boreholes No.15 and No. 16 (see
Figure 2). Figure 7 shows the comparison between the
measured and the computed variations in pore pressure. The
computed values are lower than the measured ones although
the decreasing trend is almost similar. It is considered
that this estrangement between the measured and computed 50
100 0 100 200(m)0 Probability ty Figure 5. VaR map of
hydraulic conductivity (VaR is 10 −5 cm/sec). 1.0×10 -8
1.0×10 -5 1.0×10 -6 1.0×10 -7 Hydraulic conductivity [cm/s]
Figure 6. Simulation model analyzed by finite volume
method. No.16(EL:-130m) No.15(EL:-110m) computedmeasured
Month/2004 Month/2004 P r e s s u r e [ M P a ] 2.0 0 0.4
0.8 1.2 1.6 J u n J u l A u g S e p O c t N o v D e c P r e
s s u r e [ M P a ] 2.0 0 0.4 0.6 1.2 1.6 J u n J u l A u g
S e p O c t N o v D e c

Figure 7. Comparison between the measured and the computed

(OK model) variation in pore pressure. No.15(EL:-110m) P r

e s s u r e [ M P a ] [ 2.0 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 J u n J u l A
u g S e p O c t N o v D e c realization-3measured
No.16(EL:-130m) P r e s s u r e [ M P a ] 2.0 0 0.4 0.6 1.2
1.6 J u A u g S e p O c t N o v D e c J u n J u l D e c
realization-4 realization-5 realization-1 realization-2
Month/2004 Month/2004

Figure 8. Comparison between the measured and the estimated

(SIS

models) variation in pore pressure.

values dues to the presence of the conductive high permeable

zone generated by the overestimation of the spatial

correlation

by smoothing effect.

3.3 Simulation based on SIS realizations

Considering unfavorable feature of OK estimation mentioned

in 3.2, the authors develop a new hybrid three-dimensional

hydrogeological modeling methodology based on both of SIS

and groundwater simulation.

In general, the spatial correlation is always effective in

everywhere in SIS realizations, while it is not effective

between the estimated values in OK models. Therefore, a SIS

realization strictly reproduces the specific spatial

distribution

in everywhere, and avoids unfavorable smoothing effect that

causes the overestimation of spatial correlation.

Here, we identify and validate the most reasonable SIS

realization to express the measured groundwater behaviors

with the help of groundwater simulation. The 30 different

1.0×10 -6 1.0×10 -5 Hydraulic conductivity [cm/s] Figure 9.
The validated hydraulic conductivity distribution based on
SIS method and groundwater simulation. No.20(EL:-134m)
No.5(EL:-60m) computed (OK) Month/2004 Month/2004 computed
(SIS) measured P r e s s u r e [ M P a ] 2.0 0 0.4 0.8 1.2
1.6 J u n J u l A u g S p e O c t N o v D e c P r e s s u r
e [ M P a ] 2.0 0 0.4 0.6 1.2 1.6 J u n J u l A u g S p e O
c t N o v D e c Figure 10. Comparison between the measured
and the computed (OK model and the validated SIS model)
variation in pore pressure. realizations of hydraulic
conductivity distribution are generated by SIS with
different series of random numbers. Then the 30 sets of the
groundwater simulations are implemented using those
realizations. Figure 8 illustrates the comparison between
the measured and the computed variations in pore pressure
in the boreholes No.15 and No. 16. 5 of 30 computed
variations are plotted in this figure as illustrations. All
the computed variation show decreasing trend as well as the
measured one, however the magnitude of value varies widely.
From the calculation of chisquare the realization-3 would
be identified and validated as the optical model from 30
realizations. The hydraulic conductivity distribution of
the realization-3 is shown in Figure 9.The validated SIS
model shows lower hydrogeological connectivity than the OK
model that has an unfavorable smoothing effect. Figure 10
shows the comparison between the measured and the computed
(OK model and the validated SIS model) variation in pore
pressure in the boreholes No.5 and No. 20. The computed
pore pressure from the validated SIS model shows better
agreement with the measured value than that from the OK
model. Thus, the higher performance of the modelling method
is clarified.

4 CONCLUSION

A three-dimensional hydrogeological modelling method for

the large LPG storage project is developed in order to

predict

the hydraulic behaviors around the caverns precisely for the

observational design and construction from a hydrogeological

point of view.
A new hybrid modelling methodology considering geosta

tistical and hydrogeological correlations between a pair of

spatial data at different locations is proposed to obtain a

geo

statistically and hydrogeologically relevant model that can

enable to predict the hydraulic behaviors in the subsequent

stage of the project precisely. The models based on the real

izations of SIS are used to simulate the observed hydraulic

behaviors of the site by Finite Volume Method. The most

relevant model is identified and validated by comparing the

computed and the measured values of pore pressure at the

7 7. Safety evaluation and risk management

ABSTRACT: As an efficient and optimal analysis of tunnel

design, various estimation techniques have been applied to

subsurface geological, borehole logging and geophysical

exploration data. It is possible to acquire quite accurate
subsurface

information with high quality by improving site

characterization techniques. Characterization of rock mass
quality is one

of the most important data, and should be properly assessed

by integrating the field data, which give indication of the
rock

mass properties in consequence of geophysical and borehole

surveys. In this study, rock mass rating (RMR) information
for a

tunnelling site was estimated by using the three

dimensional anisotropic indicator kriging approach in
combination with field

data like borehole and geophysical data. Also, the

probability of occurrence of each RMR classification was
calculated by use

of the cumulative probability density function from each

cell. Through this calculation, a method how to assess
uncertainty of

the estimated RMR was quantitatively proposed.

1 INTRODUCTION

Recently, the geostatistical approach has been widely

applied

to estimate RMR and properties of rock mass from an region

having no explicit field data (Marinoni 2003, Ryu et al.

2003,

Hong & Jeon 2005, Koo et al. 2006). However, it is diffi

cult to assess the RMR values owing to the lack of field

data
due to the limited budget and time. Also, the deterministic

unique solution determined by ordinary kriging prohibits the

uncertainty assessment of RMR estimation.

This objective of this study is to apply indicator kriging

method in the tunnelling site to improve the accuracy of

tradi

tional kriging method. The indicator kriging method was

first

suggested by Yoo (1998, 2003). A rock mass rating data from

the region where is no data can be estimated by the combina

tion of given limited quantitative borehole data and

qualitative

geophysical data. An indicator transformation coefficient

can

be proposed by the correlation analysis of RMR and

electrical

resistivity data.Also, the probability related to the RMR

classi

fication was quantitatively evaluated by use of the

cumulative

probability density function from each cell.

2 THEORY

Kriging is based on the assumption that the parameter being

interpolated can be treated as a regionalized variable.A

region

alized variable is an intermediate between a truly random

variable and a completely deterministic variable. It could

be

expressed as formula (1).

where z ∗ = estimated value; z i = known data; λ i =

weighting

factor.

Applied indicator kriging is a non-parametric statistical

method that uses indicator transformation when the field

data do not comply with normal distribution. It could be
expressed as formula (2). where, v t = indicator threshold;
V(x) = input value. In this study, four indicator
thresholds (ν t,1 = 20, ν t,2 = 40, ν t,3 = 60, ν t,4 = 80)
were introduced for the analysis with consideration of RMR
classification data. To minimize the variance of error and
calculate the unbiased estimator, Lagrange objective
function, as given by formula (3), can be used. In this
study, we transformed a known RMR and electrical
resistivity as an indicator. After solving for the
weighting factor by using formula (3), we assessed the
estimated RMR. where, σ 2 ij = Cov(z i , z j ); σ 2 oj =
Cov(z o , z j ); �= Lagrange factor. 3 ANALYSIS OF INPUT
DATA 3.1 Study region The study area was a tunnelling site
of 1600 m in length, located in Kimhae City, Kyeongsang
Province, Korea. This

Figure 1. The location of boreholes (a plane view).

Figure 2. The 3D visualization of RMR distribution measured

in

borehole.

Figure 3. Survey line for measuring electrical resistivity

in geo

physical prospecting (a plane view).

site was selected for the followings reasons. First, the

degree

of RMR variance was expected to be wide because of com

plex rock formation like as tuff, andesite and granite at

this

site. Second, this site was suitable for assessing 3D

analysis,

because the tunnel was designed with a curvature.

Three dimensional indicator kriging was analyzed for

the domain of the circumference of a rectangle of

1600 m × 500 m × 220 m in size, as shown in figure 1. The

intervals of the grid were set to 10 m, 10 m and 5 m for

the x-direction (East-West), y-direction (North-South), and

z-direction of tunnelling, respectively.

3.2 Borehole logging and resistivity data

Boring and core investigation was executed along the planned

tunnelling line of 1600 m with 17 holes, as shown in figure

1.

Figure 2 shows the 3D visualization of the RMR distribution

measured in the borehole.

Resistivity survey was also executed along the planned

tunnelling line, as shown in figure 3. Resistivity data were

continuous values, and reduced to the 5 m interval in the

tun

nelling direction and 2 m interval in the depth direction

for the

kriging analysis. Figure 4 shows the 3D view of the

resistivity

distribution.

3.3 Indicator transformation

That quantitative RMR data obtained from the borehole sur

vey showed no uncertainty. However, electrical resistivity

data

often showed severe deviation because the obtained values

were highly affected by the frequency of discontinuity and

level of groundwater. Figure 4. The 3D visualization of

resistivity distribution measured in geophysical
prospecting Figure 5. Diagram showing the relationship
between the RMR and the resistivity. Table 1. The values of
cumulative probability density function according to the
range of resistivity. Resistivity(� · m) C 20 C 40 C 60 C
80 3500∼ 0 0 0 0.600 3000∼3500 0 0 0 0.308 2500∼3000 0 0 0
0.389 2000∼2500 0 0 0 0.353 1500∼2000 0 0 0.0690 0.483
1000∼1500 0 0 0.194 0.722 ∼1000 0 0.167 0.611 1 Qualitative
resistivity data is expected to occur in the range of two
or three rock mass classifications. From the definition of
the indicator kriging in formula (2), an indicator complies
with the probability provided that the input value is less
than the threshold. It also, corresponds to the cumulative
probability density function. The correlation between RMR
data and electrical resistivity is shown in figure 5. Based
on cumulative probability density, the evaluated indicator
transformation coefficients were obtained, as shown in
table 1. Theoretically, the indicator transformation
coefficient of lower resistivity should be a higher value
than that of the upper resistivity. To minimize the
numerical error, the indicator transformation coefficients
were corrected, as shown in table 2. 3.4 Variogram modeling
by anisotropic approach The variance of horizontal RMR
might be higher than that of the vertical RMR, because of
the general characteristics of the geological structure
within the rock mass. To consider this feature, theoretical
variograms of horizontal direction and vertical direction
are evaluated in each indicator threshold. And the degree
of anisotropy can be determined by using the ratio of the
range corresponding to the theoretical variograms of the

Table 2. The correlation associated with resistivity and

indicator

transformation coefficient.

Resistivity(� · m) v t,1 v t,2 v t,3 v t,4

3500∼ 0 0 0 0.154

3000∼3500 0 0 0 0.308

2500∼3000 0 0 0 0.331

2000∼2500 0 0 0 0.353

1500∼2000 0 0 0.0690 0.483

1000∼1500 0 0 0.194 0.722

∼1000 0 0.167 0.611 1

Table 3. The parameter summary of theoretical variogram
model

ing for each indicator thresholds. v t,2 v t,3 v t,4 xz

dir. xy dir. xz dir. xy dir. xz dir. xy dir.

N ∗ 0.00215 0.00330 0.00425 0.0372 0.0011 0.0767

S ∗∗ 0.00543 0.00635 0.0509 0.0781 0.0919 0.147

R ∗∗∗ 78 362 88 189 106 284

(m)

where N ∗ = Nugget; S ∗∗ = Sill; R ∗∗∗ = Range.

xz and xy directions for each indicator threshold. The

theoret

ical variograms closely approximated to the spherical model

which highly fit the experimental variogram in each indica

tor threshold. The coefficients of the theoretical

variograms

in each indicator threshold listed in table 3.

4 RESULT

4.1 3D RMR distribution

Based on the theoretical variogram determined by four indica

tor thresholds, the ordinary kriging estimations are

conducted

four times with each threshold to obtain four estimated val

ues. These four estimated values indicate the cumulative

probability density of four thresholds at each cell.

The estimated values from each indicator threshold are

V ∗ t,1 , V ∗ t,2 , V ∗ t,3 , and V ∗ t,4 , therefore the

estimated RMR at each

cell can be calculated by using formula (4) according to the

definition of cumulative probability density.

Two problems can occur when formula (5) is used for RMR

estimation. First, the estimated values from each indicator

threshold should be V ∗ t,1 ≤ V ∗ t,2 ≤ V ∗ t,3 ≤ V ∗ t,4 ,

but the estimated

values could be inversed because this technique is

separately

estimated by ordinary kriging analysis from each indicator

threshold. To solve this problem, the indicator transforma

tion coefficient is corrected from section 3.3 to reduce the

occurrence of problems and difference between two values.

However, a definite standard must be established for calcula

tion. In this case, based on the lower threshold, the

estimated

value of the upper threshold could be regarded as the

estimated

value of the lower threshold for conservative RMR

estimation.

Second, a problem can occurs because it is able to evaluate

only up to 90 from 10 in range of RMR by using formula (4).

Because there are no measured RMR data smaller than 10 in

Figure 6. The estimated RMR distribution in 3D region.
Figure 7. Diagram showing the difference between the
measured RMR and the estimated RMR. Figure 8. The
distribution of RMR in the range of 90% confidence interval
and 95% confidence interval. this study, for a conservative
RMR calculation, formula (4) can be used without
modification. Based on the above studied method, RMR in the
region where is no boring data was estimated, and figure 6
shows the estimated RMR distribution in the study region.
4.2 Verification of indicator kriging approach For
verification of the indicator kriging method, RMR data from
eight boreholes were eliminated from RMR data of a total of
17 boreholes and identical analysis was carried out using
same estimation method proposed in this study. The
comparison of the difference between the measured RMR of
the eliminated boreholes and the estimated RMR is shown in
figure 7. The analysis result in the range of 90%
confidence interval is shown on figure 8. (a). About
90.345% of the measured RMR is located within the 90%
confidence interval. The measured RMR outside the
confidence interval was a value at low depth or at several
randomly heterogeneous locations. In the case of measured
RMR at low depth, measurement could have been executed
inappropriately because of the logging of the disturbed
sample. In case the measured values at low depth are
eliminated, the measured values within the confidence
interval increase to 93.103%.

Figure 9. The probability distribution of occurrences of

1st class

RMR and 2nd class RMR in 3D region.

Also the analysis result in the range of 95% confidence

interval is shown in figure 8. (b). As shown in figure 8.

(b),

95.862% of the measured RMR is located within the 95%

confidence interval. When the measured values at low depth

are eliminated, the measured values within confidence

interval

increase to 97.931%.

4.3 Uncertainty assessment of rock mass classification

By using cumulative probability density function at each

cell,

the probability of occurrence of each RMR classification can

be calculated to assess the uncertainty of RMR

classification,

quantitatively. Figure 9. (a), and (b) show the probability

dis

tribution of the occurrences of 1st class, and 2nd class. In

this study, probability along the planned tunnel route and

in

the entire study region is analyzed. These data can be used

as

supplementary data for risk quantification in tunnel design

or

construction.

5 CONCLUSION

In this study, 3D indicator kriging method considering

anisotropy was applied to estimate the RMR in an undrilled

region, and the probability for uncertainty assessment is

pro

posed quantitatively. The major conclusions from this study

are as follows:

1. The indicator transformation coefficient that was entered

with the random values by rough correlation between rock

mass classification and electrical resistivity, was proposed

by the correlation analysis between RMR and electrical

ABSTRACT: During a urban subway construction, the stratum

deformation will cause safety risks for ambient buildings
no

matter what kinds of construction methods. There are great

differences in safety risks and their control methods due
to the

different stratum conditions, construction methods and

environment characteristics. It is generally thought that
the safety risks

involve the safety of the project itself and of its

surrounding environment, and more attentions are paid on
the latter one.

Thereby this paper mainly aims at the environmental safety

problem. During the subway construction, environmental
safety
risk management is based on a whole-process control for the
risk sources (e.g.: important buildings) including five
procedures:

(1) Determine the settlement and deformation control

standards for existing structures according to the
assessment of their

safety risks at present situations. (2) Analyze the

additional influences on the existing structure in order to
design a reasonable

construction program. (3) According to the displacement

analyses, determine the control standards of the
deformation for

existing structures during construction. (4) Based on the

information construction principle and the comparison
between

monitoring results and existing control schemes, adjust the

construction programs and control standards. (5) Make the
safety

assessment of the existing structures after the project

completed, and make some repairs if necessary. The main
character of

these procedures is to emphasize the procedural control and

the repair to the existing structures. According to the
principles and

methods above, the environmental safety risks control of a

shallow tunnel station has been proved to be a success.
Consequently,

by using this management method we can offer a direct

guidance to a subway construction and other underground
projects so

as to improve the technical level of information

construction.

1 INTRODUCTION

No matter what kind of construction method is adopted dur

ing urban subway construction, the surrounding engineering

environment will be inevitably influenced and will be liable

to safety risks. There are great differences in risks and

their

control methods due to different stratum conditions,

construc

tion methods and environment characteristics. Many accidents

have turned up in recent years (as shown in Fig 1) and bring

great challenge to the national urban subway development.

Therefore how to guarantee the safety of subway project

being

constructed is a major restriction factor to underground

space

development.

The intensive analysis must be made to understand the

mechanism of risk and then to put forward effective

technique

measures. Only in this way can we reduce and avoid the emer

gence of accident fundamentally and improve the technique

level in a subway construction.

Figure 1. Some accidents during subway constructions. 2

BASIC CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY RISK MANAGEMENT
Environmental safety risk management is the whole-process
control of the risk sources (e.g., important buildings and
other structures) during urban subway construction. This
process generally includes five procedures mentioned below:
(1) Making the settlement and deformation control standards
of existing structures according to the assessment of their
safety risks and present situations, in another word the
control standards are the bearing capacity limit of the
existing structure. (2) Additional influences on the
existing structure are analyzed in order to get a
reasonable construction program. (3) According to the
displacement distribution, the schemes to control the
deformation of the stratum and the existing structure are
then made and implemented. (4) Based on information
construction principle and the comparison between
monitoring results and existing control schemes, the
construction programs and control standards should be
adjusted to achieve timely control targets. (5) The
assessment of the existing structures should be carried out
even after the project completed, and some repairs should
be made if necessary. According to the principles and
methods above, environmental safety risks in a shallow
tunnel have been controlled successfully in Beijing subway
construction, which can offer guidance directly to subways
and other underground projects construction. Here is a
practical example involving risk -70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20
-10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Construction
Sequence A c c u m u l a t e d S e t t l e m e n t ( m m )
method 1 method 2 method 3

Figure 2. The max settlement of the existing structure in

the case

of different construction methods.

control of a newly-built subway station traversing beneath

the

bottom of the existing subway.

3 ASSESSMENTS OF THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE

EXISTING SUBWAY

A newly-built subway traversing beneath the bottom of the

existing subway will definitely cause settlement to the

existing

structure. Excessive settlement will lead to structure incli

nation and deterioration in tunnel working condition, even

can destroy the structure and endanger the train’s safety in

the existing subway. Therefore as for the existing

structure,

all restrictions including tunnel section and boundary size

have to be considered to determine the standard of minimum

settlement.

Chongwenmen Station in Beijing metro Line 5, for exam

ple[1], the newly-built station passes beneath the bottom of

the existing loop line. Combing various kinds of destruc

tion modes of existing structure, each of possible

settlement

patterns induced by tunnel construction was analyzed syn

thetically so as to give settlement control standards for

the

movement joints of the existing structure, meanwhile the

desired running conditions of a train, such as superelevated

height, should also be considered. Accordingly, the maxi

mum settlement of the existing structure was set to be less

than 40 mm. Considering further settlement and safety after

construction, the settlement standard was amended to be less

than 36 mm finally. Other control standards for the existing

structure were made with reference to this one.

4 ADDITIONAL INFLUENCE ANALYSES AND

TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION METHODS

OPTIMIZATION

Generally three kinds of construction methods can be adopted

for a large cross-section tunnel: pilot-drift pillar arch

method,

central-carven pillar method and side-carven pillar arch

method. Each method has different impacts on existing struc

tures. In order to optimize the tunnel construction method

including detailed optimization during tunnel construction

process, we need to analyze each construction method inten

sively.

The settlement situations of existing structures induced by

these three methods are shown in fig 2. It is obvious that

Pilot-drift pillar arch method causes the least settlement

while

Side-carven pillar arch method causes the most.

The plastic zones of each method are shown in fig3, and it

is

also shown that Pilot-drift pillar arch method has the

minimum

impact on the existing structure. Figure 3. Plastic zone

distribution under different construction methods. Take the
two comparisons above into account we can draw the
conclusion that with the least amount of excavation in
early stage, the primary lining of Pilot-drift pillar arch
method can be installed and brought to work earlier than
any other methods. So this method can be regarded as the
best method to control the settlement of the existing
subway. However, it is found that different excavation
sequences of the four pilot drifts still have different
influences on existing structures in Pilot-drift pillar
arch method. By numerical analysis, we got the most
reasonable sequence which causes the least settlement: left
lower pilot drift → left upper pilot drift → right lower
pilot drift → right upper pilot drift. 5 DETERMINATIONS AND
IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS CONTROL SCHEME During
urban subway construction, the deformations of the stratum
and structure have obvious space-time effect.The final
settlement is accumulated by each construction
stage.According to the deformation process and the existing
structure deformation characteristic, control standard for
each construction stage was made, which is the guidance for
subway constructions. The settlement control standard for
the existing structure at each stage in Chongwenmen Station
is shown in Fig. 4 curve 1.

Figure 4. The prediction and monitoring result comparison

graph

for existing structure settlement during tunnel

construction.

6 MONITORING AND CONTROL DURING

CONSTRUCTION

In this example, in order to guarantee the safety of the

running

train in an existing subway, a monitoring system was

installed

to perform a real-time monitoring. The measured parameters

included the settlements of the existing structure and

rail, dif

ferential settlements of construction joints and so on.

Based

on the monitoring results we were able to make judgment to

the working situations of the existing structure and start

the

emergency system if necessary.

During the practical construction of this newly built subway

project, the real settlement is pretty uniform with the

predic

tion (fig 4). At the end of December, 2004, the settlement

of

the existing structure was over 30 mm after the installation

of the pipe roof above the side cavern, and the train’s
speed

decelerating to 25 km/h. So as to improve this bad

situation,

grouting was adopted under the existing structure which ulti

mately had a distinct effect with about 16 mm elevated at

the

place with the maximum settlement.

In Fig. 4 curve 1 presents the prediction result of maximum

settlement tendency of existing structure, while curve 2

gives

the real settlement at each construction stage. Considering

the

grouting effect (16 mm) during construction, the monitoring

settlement value was modified as shown in curve 3, which

indicated to us that without the grouting elevating

measures,

the ultimate settlement value would have approached 35 mm.

From the fig we can see that the actual settlement was
uniform

with the prediction result. 7 THE ASSESSMENT AND REPAIR FOR

THE EXISTING STRUCTURE AFTER TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION A tunnel
construction will inevitably influence existing structures.
According to the assessment of the necessity,
practicability and rationality of the repair for the
existing structure, some repair methods will be made. For
example, after the construction of the new subway in
Chongwenmen Station, we adopt a repair method to uplift the
existing structure shown in Fig. 4 curve 1. 8 CONCLUSIONS
AND SUGGESTION (1) Subway excavation will definitely induce
ground deformation, which acts in two chief patterns
according to various strata conditions: integral settlement
pattern and arched settlement pattern. As their settlement
range and influence to environment are not same, different
control principles and measures should be adopted. (2)
Urban subway environmental safety risk management is to
control the whole-process of risk sources, including these
procedures: (1) making a assessment of existing structure’s
safety risks and present situations, (2) making a
construction program based on the additional influences to
the existing structure, (3) making settlement control
standards according to the displacement distribution, (4)
adjusting control methods during construction based on
monitoring data, (5) repairing the structure after
construction if necessary. (3)According to the displacement
distribution principle and risk characteristics of strata
and existing structures, the risk control of existing
structures has been implemented successfully during
Chongwenmen Station construction beneath the existing Loop
Line in Beijing Metro Line 5. (4) Safety risks during
subway construction have drawn a broad attention. The chief
problem to be solved is to make risk management more
scientific and to pay more attention to the feasibility of
control measures. REFERENCE Wang Meng-shu. Shallow
tunneling technology in underground engineering. Hefei:
education press in Anhui province, 2005. 11th Congress of
the International Society for Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e
Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor & Francis
Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Risiken bei
TVM-Vortrieben in klüftigem Fels Risks at TDM drivings in
jointed rock E.W. Wittke & P. Wittke-Gattermann WBI Prof.
Dr.-Ing. W. Wittke Beratende Ingenieure für Grundbau und
Felsbau GmbH

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Maschinelle Tunnelvortriebe in klüftigem

Fels, der zumindest bereichsweise eine Sicherung der

Hohlraumwand erfordert, sind nach derzeitigem Stand der

Technik noch mit Risiken verbunden. Beim Einsatz einer
Gripper

TBM besteht das Risiko, daß die Verspannkräfte vom Gebirge

nicht abgetragen werden können. Beim Vortrieb mit einer

Tunnelbohrmaschine mit Schild kommt der Verpressung des

Ringspaltes und der Wahl des Verpreßmörtels eine
entscheidende

Bedeutung zu. Soll eine TBM mit erddruckgestützter

Ortsbrust eingesetzt werden, so müssen die Fragen der
Verbreibarkeit

des anstehenden Gesteins und der Verrollung im Vorfeld

geklärt sein. Auch druckhaftes Gebirge kann zu erheblichen

Schwierigkeiten beim Vortrieb führen. Mit der

Spritzbetonbauweise, die sehr anpassungsfähig ist, lassen
sich solche Unter

grundverhältnisse sicher beherrschen. Wesentlich für den

Erfolg eines maschinellen Vortriebs im Fels ist die Auswahl
eines

geeigneten Maschinentyps. Diese muß auf der Grundlage einer

umfassenden Erkundung des Baugrunds, der Kenntnisse auf

dem Gebiet der Felsmechanik und Felsstatik sowie der

Erfahrung der Beteiligten erfolgen. Nur so können, bei
Tunneln ab einer

bestimmten Länge, die Chancen einer im Vergleich zur

Spritzbetonbauweise kürzeren Bauzeit genutzt und der
maschinelle
Vortrieb wirtschaftlich durchgeführt werden.

ABSTRACT: According to the current state of the art,

mechanized tunneling in jointed rock, which at least
locally requires

support of the tunnel contour, bears risks. In case a

Gripper-TBM is used, there is a risk that the corresponding
gripper forces

cannot be taken over by the rock mass. In case of heading

with a shielded TBM, the annular gap grouting as well as
the

characteristics of the grout are of decisive importance. In

case an earth pressure balanced shield machine is used, the
potential

to transform the rock into an earth mud as well as the risk

of torsion of the TBM need to be clarified in advance. Also
squeezing

rock mass can lead to tremendous difficulties during

heading. The shotcrete method can easily be adapted to
various conditions

so that also difficult ground conditions can be managed.

Essential for the success of mechanized tunneling in rock
is the

selection of an adequate tunnel boring machine. This

selection needs to be based on an extensive ground
exploration, on a

good knowledge of rock mechanics and rock statics as well

as on the experience of the involved engineers. Only then,
and for

tunnels from a certain length onwards, it is possible to

take the chance of a shorter construction time in
comparison with the

shotcrete method, and to carry out an economic TBM-heading.

1 EINLEITUNG

Im maschinellen Tunnelbau ist der Einsatz von Hartgesteins

maschinen (Gripper-TBM) in standfestem Fels und der

Einsatz von Schildmaschinen im Lockergestein weitgehend

Stand der Technik. Dagegen sind maschinelle Tunnelvor

triebe in klüftigem Fels, der zumindest bereichsweise eine

Sicherung der Hohlraumwand erfordert, noch mit Risiken

verbunden.

Andererseits bieten maschinelle Vortriebe in solchen

Gebirgsverhältnissen auch die Möglichkeit von im Ver

gleich zur Spritzbetonbauweise kürzeren Bauzeiten. Wenn

man diese Chance nutzen will, so müssen die potentiellen

Risiken allerdings bereits im Zuge der Vorerkundung und der

Entwurfsbearbeitung erkannt und durch die Wahl des Vor

triebsverfahrens bzw. derVortriebsmaschine auf ein Minimum

begrenzt werden.

Da maschinelle Vortriebe im Vergleich zur Spritzbeton

bauweise weniger anpassungsfähig sind, ist hier der Aufwand

für die Erkundung und Voruntersuchungen höher anzusetzen.

Schließlich stellt auch der Bau einer geeignetenVortriebsmas

chine eine Vorinvestition dar, die bei der

Spritzbetonbauweise

nicht in dem Umfang notwendig ist und aufgrund der der

maschinelle Vortrieb erst ab einer bestimmten Tunnellänge

wirtschaftlich ist. Stehen beide Verfahren im Wettbewerb,

so sind außer den Kosten und der Bauzeit auch die Risiken
zu berücksichtigen und entsprechend zu bewerten. Das kann
beispielsweise in Form einer Risikoanalyse geschehen
(WITTKE-SCHMITT et al., 2005). Das Anliegen dieses Beitrags
ist es daher die Risiken für maschinelle Vortriebe in
klüftigem Fels aufzuzeigen und die Unterschiede zur
Spritzbetonbauweise herauszustellen. Einleitend wird hierzu
zunächst auf die Spritzbetonbauweise und die dabei
bestehenden Möglichkeiten zur Sicherung des Hohlraums im
Arbeitsbereich eingegangen. 2 SPRITZBETONBAUWEISE
(KONVENTIONELLE BAUWEISE) Bei der Spritzbetonbauweise wird
der Fels i.A. sprengtechnisch oder mechanisch, wie z. B.
mit einem Tunnelbagger, gelöst. Die Sicherungsmittel
bestehen aus bewehrtem Spritzbeton, Ausbaubögen, Ankern und
bei Bedarf aus einer vorauseilenden Sicherung, wie z. B.
aus Spießen, Ortsbrustankern oder Rohrschirmen, deren
Umfang und Intensität kurzfristig an die angetroffenen
Verhältnisse angepaßt werden kann. Die leistungsund
kostenbestimmenden Arbeiten des Ausbrechens und Sicherns
werden nach DIN 18312 (1992)

Bild 1. Vortriebsklasse 4A nach DIN 18312.

Bild 2. Vortriebsklasse 5A nach DIN 18312.

durch sogenannte Vortriebsklassen definiert. Im Ausschrei

bungsentwurf werden auf der Grundlage von Erkundungen,

Standsicherheitsnachweisen und Erfahrungen den verschiede

nen aufzufahrenden Tunnelabschnitten bestimmte Vortrieb

sklassen zugewiesen.

Ein Ausbruch der eine Sicherung erfordert, bei der das

Lösen und Schuttern nicht behindert wird, wird der Vor

triebsklasse 2 zugeordnet. Die Vortriebsklasse 3

kennzeichnet

einen Ausbruch, der eine in geringem Abstand, i. d. R. bis

zu

20 m, zur Ortsbrust folgende Sicherung erfordert, für deren

Einbau das Lösen unterbrochen wird, jedoch die Ortsbrust

weitgehend standfest ist. Die Vortriebsklasse 4 erfordert

eine

unmittelbar jedem Ausbruchvorgang (Abschlag) folgende

Sicherung der Tunnellaibung mit bewehrtem Spritzbeton,

Ausbaubögen und Ankern. Wenn aus Gründen der Stand

sicherheit oder baubetrieblichen Gründen eine Unterteilung

des Querschnitts erforderlich wird, kommt die

Vortriebsklasse

4A zur Anwendung. Bei einem Kalottenvortrieb erfolgt

die Unterteilung des Querschnitts beispielsweise in Kalotte,

Strosse und Sohle (Bild 1).

Bei nicht standfester Ortsbrust kommen die Vortrieb

sklassen 5 bzw. 5A zur Anwendung bei denen zusätzlich auch

die Ortsbrust, z. B. durch eine Spritzbetonversiegelung und

die Anordnung von Ortsbrustankern, zu sichern ist (Bild 2).

Bei nicht ausreichender Standfestigkeit der Firste ist zum

Schutz des Arbeitsraums an der Ortsbrust eine vorauseilende

Sicherung, z. B. mit Spießen, erforderlich (Vortriebsklassen

6 bzw. 6A, Bild 3). In Fällen in denen die Spieße keine aus

reichende Sicherheit bieten, können Rohrschirme eingebaut

werden (Bild 4). Eine solche vorauseilende Sicherung bewirkt

auch eine Entlastung der Ortsbrust.

Die Vortriebsklassen 7 bzw. 7A beinhalten sowohl eine

Ortsbrustsicherung wie auch eine vorauseilende Sicherung

(Bild 4). Bild 3. Vortriebsklasse 6A nach DIN 18312. Bild

4. Vortriebsklasse 7A mit Rohrschirm nach DIN 18312. Die
Spritzbetonbauweise wird auch bei schwierigen
Baugrundverhältnissen, z. B. im Lockergestein, erfolgreich
eingesetzt, sofern der Tunnel oberhalb des
Grundwasserspiegels zu liegen kommt bzw. der Boden
vorauseilend entwässert wird (WITTKE et al., 2002). Die
Spritzbetonbauweise zeichnet sich wie bereits erwähnt durch
eine große Anpassungsfähigkeit im Hinblick auf wechselnde
Baugrundverhältnisse und Querschnittsformen aus. Ein
Wechsel der Vortriebsklasse, d. h. eine veränderte
Ausbruchart oder Querschnittsunterteilung sowie eine
Anpassung der Art und des Umfangs der Sicherung, ist bei
einem solchen Vortrieb in der Regel ohne größeren Aufwand
möglich. Bei vergleichsweise großen Tunnellängen und einer
optimalen, auf die Untergrundverhältnisse abgestimmten
Auswahl des Maschinentyps bietet ein TVM-Vortrieb
allerdings die Möglichkeit die Bauzeit im Vergleich zur
Spritzbetonbauweise erheblich zu verkürzen. 3
HARTGESTEINSMASCHINE (GRIPPER-TBM) Bild 5 zeigt
beispielhaft eine Gripper-TBM für den Lötschbergtunnel
(HERRENKNECHT, 2001). Hinter dem Bohrkopf sind Teilschilde
(Spannschild und Fingerschild) angeordnet. Dahinter können
Firstbögen und Netze als Kopfschutz gesetzt werden. Mit dem
Bohrgerät können radiale Erkundungsbohrungen ausgeführt und
Anker gesetzt werden. Eine systematische Sicherung mit
bewehrtem Spritzbeton und Ankern ist allerdings erst 10 bis
15 m hinter der Ortsbrust ohne entscheidende Behinderungen
des Vortriebs möglich. Bei einer Gripper-TBM werden die
Vortriebspressenkraft und das Drehmoment des Bohrkopfes
über die Verspannung der Gripper-Plattenpaare (Pratzen) in
den Fels abgetragen.

Bild 5. Gripper-TBM.

Bild 6. Lösen von Felskeilen infolge Verspannkräften.

Die durch die Verspannkräfte hervorgerufenen horizontalen

Zugspannungen im Gebirge oberhalb der Firste dürfen allerd

ings nicht zum Ablösen und Herabfallen von Felskeilen

führen. Auch sollte die Gebirgssteifigkeit nicht zu einem

Grundbruch im Bereich der Ulmen führen (Bild 6).

Der Spannungszustand im Gebirge, die Festigkeiten

des Gesteins sowie Trennflächen und Gefügeebenen mit

reduzierten Zugund Scherfestigkeiten sind in diesem Zusam

menhang von großer Bedeutung (WITTKE-SCHMITT,

2005). Treten Ablösungen von Kluftkörpern bzw. plastische

Zonen an den Ulmen in größerem Umfang auf, führt dies zu

einem erhöhten Sicherungsaufwand und damit verbunden zu

einer Verringerung der Vortriebsleistung.

Am Beispiel des ca. 19 km langen Wasserüberleiterstol

lens Misicuni in Bolivien soll im folgenden veranschaulicht

werden, wie wichtig die Erfassung der Raumstellung und

der mechanischen Eigenschaften der Trennflächen für den

Erfolg einer Tunnelbaumaßnahme ist. Der Wasserüberleiter

stollen wurde mit zwei offenen Gripper-Vortriebsmaschinen

aufgefahren. Der Ausbruchdurchmesser betrug 3,5 m. In

dem anstehenden Sedimentgestein sind drei Trennflächen

scharen ausgebildet. Neben einer flach nach SE einfallenden

Schichtung treten zwei steil stehende, annähernd parallel

und

senkrecht zur Tunnelachse streichende Kluftflächenscharen

auf. Bei geringer Durchtrennung des Gebirges nach der

Schichtung und Klüftung war im Zuge des Ausbruchs nahezu

keine Sicherung der Ausbruchkontur erforderlich. War der

Fels jedoch stark nach Schichtung und Klüftung zerlegt,

Bild 7. Wasserüberleiterstollen Misicuni (Bolivien),
Vortrieb in geklüftetem Fels. Bild 8.
Wasserüberleiterstollen Misicuni (Bolivien),
Vortriebsklassen und -leistungen. entstanden aufgrund der
ungünstigen Raumstellungen der Trennflächen in der Firste
des Tunnels Felskeile, die in den Hohlraum hineinfallen
konnten, wenn dieser nicht gestützt wurde. Infolge des
geringen Ausbruchdurchmessers von 3,5 m und der
eingesetzten Gripper-TBM waren die Platzverhältnisse beengt
(Bild 7). Daher war die Sicherung im Bereich der Ortsbrust
sehr schwierig und zeitaufwendig. Im Bild 8 sind
dieVortriebsgeschwindigkeiten dargestellt, die bei
unterschiedlicher Intensität der Klüftung des Felses und
dem sich daraus ergebenden, verschieden hohen
Sicherungsaufwand erzielt wurden. Die Geschwindigkeiten
betrugen ca. 60 m/d bei nahezu ungeklüftetem Fels mit
geringem Sicherungsaufwand (Vortriebsklasse I) und ca. 2
bis 5 m/d bei stärker geklüftetem Fels mit hohem
Sicherungsaufwand (Vortriebsklasse IV). Leider wurde nicht
oder gering zerklüfteter Fels nur in geringem Umfang
angetroffen. Ungünstig auf die Vortriebsleistung wirkten
sich auch die verhältnismäßig große Zahl von Störungszonen
aus, die im Zuge des Vortriebs angetroffen wurden. Bei
Anwendung der Spritzbetonbauweise hätten sich bei diesem
Projekt sicherlich größere mittlere Vortriebsleistungen
erzielen lassen. An diesem Beispiel wird deutlich, daß die
Erkundung des Baugrunds, sowie die Anwendung der
Erkenntnisse und Erfahrungen der Felsmechanik und der
Felsstatik wesentliche Voraussetzungen für den Erfolg
maschineller Vortriebe

Bild 9. Tunnelbohrmaschine mit Schild (TBM-S),

Prinzipskizze.

darstellen. Eine Fehleinschätzung des Baugrunds und eine

daraus resultierende Auswahl des Maschinentyps, der für die

anstehenden Baugrundverhältnisse ungeeignet ist, beinhal

ten das Risiko großer Bauzeitverlängerungen und der damit

verbundenen Kostenüberschreitungen.

4 TUNNELBOHRMASCHINEN MIT SCHILD (TBM-S)

Eine TBM mit Schild kann auch bei nicht standfester Aus

bruchlaibung und der Gefahr von Nachbrüchen aus der Firste

eingesetzt werden. Der Schild dient dabei der temporären

Sicherung des Gebirges. Als endgültiger Ausbau werden

vorgefertigte Segmente aus bewehrtem Beton, die als Tüb

binge bezeichnet werden, verwendet. Die Tübbinge werden

dabei im Schutz des Schildschwanzes, d. h. im hinteren Bere

ich des Schildes, eingebaut. Die Vortriebspressenkraft wird

anders als bei der Gripper-TBM über den bereits

fertiggestell

ten Tübbingausbau abgetragen (Bild 9).

Der Zwischenraum zwischen dem Tübbingausbau und der

Ausbruchlaibung, der sogenannte Ringspalt, wird meist über

im Schildschwanz integrierte Verpreßleitungen mit Mörtel

verfüllt (Bild 9). Durch den Mörtel im Ringspalt wird eine

Bettung desTübbingrings erreicht, die sich mit demAbbinden

deutlich verbessert. Eine gute und vollständige Bettung des

Tübbingausbaus ist notwendig um die Biegemomente und die

Verformungen im Ausbau klein zu halten. Außerdem ist die

Bettung erforderlich, um die Kräfte aus den Vorschubpressen,

insbesondere auch bei Kurvenfahrten, aufnehmen zu können.

Ferner wird der Schubverbund zwischen Tübbingausbau und

Gebirge zur Abtragung des Antriebsdrehmoments benötigt.

Um ein Eindringen des Mörtels in den Schild zu verhin

dern, wird zwischen Schildmantel und Tübbingausbau eine

sogenannte Schildschwanzdichtung eingebaut (Bild 9).

Bei einer weitgehend standsicheren Hohlraumlaibung (Bild

10) kann der Verpreßmörtel nicht nur in den Ringspalt, son

dern auch in den Steuerspalt zwischen Schildmantel und

Ausbruch-laibung eindringen. Wenn der Verpreßmörtel im

Steuerspalt erhärtet, kann es zu Behinderungen beim

Vortrieb,

ja sogar zum Festsetzen des Schildes kommen.

Um zu erreichen, daß der Mörtel einerseits den Ringspalt

vollständig ausfüllt, andererseits jedoch nicht in nen

nenswertem Umfang in den Steuerspalt mit geringerer

Spaltweite eindringt, muß er im nicht erhärteten Zustand

entsprechende Fließeigenschaften aufweisen. Es empfiehlt

sich, Mörtelmischungen für die Ringspaltverpressung zu ver

wenden, bei denen als Voraussetzung für das Fließen eine

Bild 10. Hohlraum im Bereich des Schildes weitgehend
stabil. Bild 11. Eindringen des Mörtels in den Steuerspalt.
Anlaßspannung überwunden werden muß. Das ist beispielsweise
bei Bingham’schem Fließverhalten der Fall. Hier tritt, wie
im linken Diagramm im Bild 11 dargestellt, zähes Fließen
erst nach Überschreiten einer Scherspannung τ 0 , die als
Fließgrenze bezeichnet wird, ein. Das Fließverhalten von
Bingham’schen Flüssigkeiten wird somit durch zwei
Kennwerte, die Viskosität η und die Fließgrenze τ 0 ,
bestimmt. Die Reichweite einer Verpressung in einem Spalt
ist von der Spaltweite 2a i , von dem wirksamen effektiven
Verpreßdruck p i ’ und von der Fließgrenze τ 0 abhängig
(WITTKE, 1969). Für einen Ringspalt der Dicke 15 cm und
einen Steuerspalt der Dicke 5 cm ist im Bild 11 gezeigt,
daß die Fließgrenze τ 0 ca. 5 kN/m 2 betragen muß, damit
der Mörtel nicht zu weit in den Steuerspalt eindringt,
gleichzeitig aber den Ringspalt satt ausfüllt. Vor dem
Einsatz eines Verpreßmörtels sollten deshalb dessen
Fließeigenschaften durch Versuche geprüft und
gegebenenfalls durch eine Veränderung der
Mischungskomponenten und –verhältnisse optimiert werden.
Das Risiko, daß der Mörtel in den Steuerspalt eindringt,
nimmt zu, wenn das Gebirge im Bereich der Ortsbrust nicht
standfest ist (Bild 12). Durch die dann infolge von
Ablösungen und Nachbrüchen im Bereich der Firste
entstehenden Hohlräume vergrößert sich der Steuerspalt. In
einem solchen Fall kann ein Eindringen des Mörtels in den
Steuerspalt kaum verhindert werden. Es besteht das Risiko,
daß sich nicht nur der Steuerspalt sondern auch der
Bohrkopf zusetzt, was längere Stillstände zur Folge haben
kann. Ein weiteres Risiko besteht in einem
maschinentechnisch bedingten Einreißen der Ortsbrust, bei
dem sich bei stärker

Bild 12. Ringspaltverpressung, Umläufigkeit des Schildes.

Bild 13. Ungesicherter Hohlraum im Stubensandstein.

zerklüftetem Fels Keile aus der Ortsbrust lösen und in den

Abbauraum hineinfallen. Ein solches Einreißen der Ortsbrust

tritt beispielsweise auf, wenn das mit den Rollenmeißeln

gelöste Gestein nicht ausreichend mittels der am Bohrkopf

angeordneten Räumer abgefördert wird. Hierdurch können

sich größere Mengen an losem Ausbruchmaterial zwischen

Ortsbrust und Bohrkopf ansammeln. Dieses Material wird

dann über die Ortsbrust “gerieben” und kann zu dem oben

genannten Phänomen führen.

Lösen sich als Folge des Einreißens der Ortsbrust auch

oberhalb und seitlich des Bohrkopfes Felskeile, so bildet

sich wie bei instabiler Ortsbrust (s. o.) ein Hohlraum ober

halb des Schildes aus (Bild 12). Welche Form dieser haben

kann wird an dem im Bild 13 dargestellten Beispiel eines

ungesicherten, im Sprengvortrieb hergestellten Hohlraums

in einem Sedimentgestein deutlich. Mit dem zur Verpres

sung des Ringspalts zwischen Gebirge und Tübbingaus

bau eingesetzten Mörtel lassen sich dann die entstandenen

Bild 14. Verformung des Tübbingrings infolge unzureichender
Bettung. Hohlräume bzw. Auflockerungszonen nicht wirksam
verfüllen. Als Folge kann die bei der einschaligen Bauweise
notwendige Bettung des Tübbingrings nicht sichergestellt
werden, und derTübbingring kann sich infolge Eigengewichts
und einer eventuell wirksamen Auflast durch einen oder
mehrere Felsblöcke verformen. Hierdurch können sich in den
Tübbingringen die seitlichen Längsfugen öffnen. Die
Vorspannung der Dichtungen geht verloren und es besteht das
Risiko von Undichtigkeiten (Bild 14). Im Falle von großen
Wasserdrücken besteht zudem das Risiko, daß die aus dem
Wasserdruck resultierenden Lasten vom verformten System
nicht aufgenommen werden können. Die Folgen mangelhafter
Bettung werden in einem Beitrag von WITTKE-SCHMITT und
LORENZO MARTIN (2006) beschrieben. Bei einem Vortrieb im
Fels unterhalb des Grundwasserspiegels, strömt dem Tunnel
im Bereich des unverpreßten Ringbzw. Steuerspalts i. d. R.
Grundwasser zu. In einem klüftigen Fels fließt das Wasser
überwiegend in den Trennflächen. Hierbei treten z. T. hohe
Fließgeschwindigkeiten auf. Dabei besteht das Risiko, daß
beim Verpressen des Ringspalts das Verpreßmittel nicht
rechtzeitig erhärten kann und mit dem Wasser weggespült
wird (WITTKE-SCHMITT, 2005). Die sich hieraus an die
Ringspaltverpressung ergebenden Anforderungen sind eine
hohe Stabilität des Verpreßmittels gegen Sedimentation und
das Aufrechterhalten des Verpreßdrucks über längere
Zeiträume, zumindest bis zum Beginn des Erhärtens des
Mörtels. 5 TUNNELBOHRMASCHINEN MIT SCHILD UND
ERDDRUCKGESTÜTZTER ORTSBRUST (TBM-S5) Bei einer TBM mit
erddruckgestützter Ortsbrust, die hier in Anlehnung an die
entsprechenden Schildmaschinen (SM-V5) mit TBM-S5
bezeichnet wird, erfolgt die Stützung der Ortsbrust durch
einen Erdbrei, der durch Umwandlung des an der Ortsbrust
gelösten Baugrunds durch das Einwirken der Abbauund
Misch-werkzeuge gebildet wird. Bei Tunnelbohrmaschinen mit
erddruckgestützter Ortsbrust ist die Abbaukammer durch eine
Druckwand gegen den Tunnel abgeschlossen (Bild 15). Der
Stützdruck des Erdbreis muß mindestens dem horizontalen
Gebirgsdruck und einem eventuell vorhandenen Wasserdruck
das Gleichgewicht halten. Der Druck wird über die Druckwand
und die Vortriebspressen auf den Erdbrei übertragen und
mittels Druckmeßdosen, die über die Druckwand verteilt
sind, gemessen.

Bild 15. Tunnelvortriebsmaschine mit erddruckgestützter Orts

brust.

Bild 16. Einsatzbereiche eines Erddruckschildes.

Der Erdbrei sollte idealerweise aus einem bindigen Boden

mit weicher bis breiiger Konsistenz, hohem Wasserbindever

mögen und geringer Wasserdurchlässigkeit bestehen.

Zur Überführung des gelösten Baugrunds in einen Erd

brei können Wasser, Tonsuspensionen, Polymersuspensionen

oder – lösungen und Schäume, die als Konditionierungsstoffe

bezeichnet werden, in der Abbaukammer oder auch bereits

vor der Ortsbrust beigemengt werden.

Der Einsatz von Erddruckschilden (SM-V5) in Lock

ergestein ist häufig erprobt worden. Die Einsatzbereiche in

Verbindung mit geeigneten Konditionierungsstoffen sind in

Abhängigkeit von der Korngrößenverteilung des Bodens im

Bild 16 wiedergegeben (MAIDL, 1994).

Beim Einsatz einer TBM-S5 im Fels stellt sich die Frage

der Verbreiungsfähigkeit des gelösten Gesteins. Die Ver

breiung muß während der relativ kurzen Verweildauer in der

Abbaukammer abgeschlossen sein.

Erste orientierende Untersuchungen der Verbreiungs

fähigkeit von Gesteinen sind im Labor von WBI an Gestein

sproben aus dem Stuttgarter Raum durchgeführt worden.

Dabei handelt es sich um Versuche mit Wasser als Kondi

tionierungsstoff (WITTKE et al., 2003; GATTERMANN &

KIEHL, 2004).

Im Bild 17 ist der Versuchsaufbau dargestellt. Für die

Versuche wurden Kernstücke aus Erkundungsbohrungen auf

Korngrößen von ca. 1 bis 3 cm zerkleinert. Die Korn

verteilungskurve des Ausgangsmaterials entspricht der eines

Bild 17. Versuchsaufbau zur Verbreiung von Gestein. Bild
18. Verbreiungsversuche an Gesteinen. enggestuften Kieses
(GE) mit einer Ungleichförmigkeitszahl U < 2. Für die
Versuche wurde ein Ausgangswassergehalt der Proben von
jeweils 30% festgelegt. Dazu wurde den Proben unter
Berücksichtigung des natürlichen Wassergehaltes eine
entsprechende Wassermenge zugegeben. Nach dem Versuch wurde
die Korngrößenverteilung der Probe durch Siebung bestimmt.
Gegebenenfalls wurde am Feinanteil eine Schlämmanalyse
durchgeführt. Im Bild 18 (unten) sind ein Bohrkernstück aus
den Unteren Bunten Mergeln, die für den Versuch
aufbereitete Probe und die Probe nach der
Versuchsdurchführung dargestellt. Offensichtlich ist hier
die Verbreiung mit Wasser nur unvollständig gelungen. Im
Bild 18 (oben) ist ein entsprechender Versuch an einer
Probe aus dem ausgelaugten Gipskeuper dokumentiert. Hier
ist eine Verbreiung offensichtlich gelungen. Bei diesen
Versuchen betrug die Versuchsdauer 10 min. Die
Einwirkungsdauer, in der das Gestein in-situ in einen
Erdbrei umgewandelt werden muß ist zwar geringer,
allerdings wurden in den Versuchen auch keine chemischen
Konditionierungsstoffe eingesetzt. Zumindest bei bindigen
Böden sind Polymerschäume im Hinblick auf eine Verbreiung
wirksamer als Wasser (MAIR et al., 2003). Eine wichtige
Rolle bei der Überführung des Gesteins in einen Erdbrei
spielt auch die Zerfallsbeständigkeit bei Zugabe von Wasser
(WITTKE et al., 2003). Bei einer ungenügenden Verbreiung
des gelösten Gesteins können sehr große Drehmomente
erforderlich werden, um die aus dem Drehen der
Abbauwerkzeuge auf der Ortsbrust und aus dem Drehen im
Erdbrei resultierenden Widerstände zu

Bild 19. Verrollung, Einwirkungen.

überwinden. Können diese Drehmomente nicht aufgenom

men werden, so kommt es zu einer Rotation der TBM auf

ihrem Schildmantel, der sogenannten Verrollung.

Beispielhaft für die bei einem erddruckgestützten Schild

vortrieb im Fels vorhandenen Risiken soll nachfolgend die

Problematik der Verrollung beschrieben werden (GATTER

MANN & KIEHL, 2004).

Für den Fall, daß als Abbauwerkzeuge ausschließlich

Diskenmeißel verwendet werden, kann das erforderliche

Drehmoment zur Überwindung der Widerstände aus dem

Drehen der Abbauwerkzeuge aus der Summe der Rollrei

bungskräfte F Ri der einzelnen Disken i multipliziert mit

dem

Abstand r i der jeweiligen Diske zur Drehachse ermittelt wer

den (Bild 19). Die Rollreibungskraft einer Diske ergibt sich

aus der Multiplikation der Anpreßkraft F ai der Diske an die

Ortsbrust mit dem Rollreibungsbeiwert µ Ri . Die Rollrei

bung zwischen dem Diskenmeißel und der Ortsbrust sowie

die erforderliche Anpreßkraft sind im wesentlichen von der

Festigkeit des Gebirges und der Penetration abhängig.

Die bei einer Drehung des Bohrkopfs in den Erdbrei einge

tragene Schubspannung ist von der Konsistenz und dem

Fließverhalten des Erdbreis abhängig. In seiner Konsistenz

liegt der Erdbrei im Bereich zwischen einem Lockergestein

und einer zähen Flüssigkeit mit Fließgrenze. Für diese bei

den Grenzfälle kann das Scherverhalten des Erdbreis in guter

Näherung durch die folgenden Modelle beschrieben werden

(Bild 19):

• Lockergestein mit Mohr – Coulomb’schem Bruchkriterium

und den Kennwerten Reibungswinkel ϕ und Kohäsion c.

• Bingham’sche Flüssigkeit mit den Kennwerten Fließgrenze

τ 0 und Viskosität η.

Mit Hilfe dieser Modelle können die zu überwindenden

Drehmomente für die Abbauwerkzeuge M AW und für den

Erdbrei M E ermittelt werden, aus deren Summe sich das

erforderlicheAntriebsdrehmoment M S ergibt. DiesesAntrieb

sdrehmoment muß über das Gebirge und gegebenenfalls auch

über den bereits eingebauten Tübbingausbau abgetragen wer

den können, um eine Verdrehung der TVM (Verrollung) im

Zuge des Vortriebs zu vermeiden bzw. zu minimieren. Dies

geschieht im wesentlichen über die Reibung zwischen Schild

mantel und Gebirge und ggf. auch durch eine Schrägstellung

der Vortriebspressen.

Im Bild 20 sind die der Verrollung entgegen wirk

enden Kräfte bzw. Momente dargestellt. Die Schildmantel

reibung F R resultiert dabei nur aus dem Eigengewicht G der

Schildmaschine, da bei weitgehend standfestem Gebirge ein

Bild 20. Verrollung, haltende Kräfte und Momente.
Gebirgsdruck nicht in Ansatz gebracht werden kann.
Multipliziert man die Reibungkraft F R mit dem Radius R, so
erhält man das haltende Moment M F infolge Schildreibung.
Die entgegen der Drehrichtung wirkenden Komponenten der
Pressenkräfte P t ergeben multipliziert mit dem Abstand a
zur Maschinenachse, das haltende Moment M P infolge
Pressenschrägstellung. Sofern die Summe der haltenden
Momente M R größer ist als die Summe der einwirkenden
Momente M S , die wesentlich durch das Widerstandsmoment M
E des Erdbreis bestimmt werden (Bild 19), tritt keine
Verrollung auf. Aus dieser Bedingung ergeben sich
Anforderungen an eine geringe Scherfestigkeit des Erdbreis.
Rechnerische Untersuchungen zeigen, daß bei einem
kohäsionslosen Erdbrei mit Mohr-Coulomb’scher
Bruchbedingung ein Reibungswinkel von ϕ≤ 15 ◦ erforderlich
ist um eine Verrollung zu vermeiden (GATTERMANN & KIEHL,
2004). 6 DRUCKHAFTES GEBIRGE Bei großen Überlagerungshöhen
und geringen Festigkeiten des Gesteins wird nicht nur die
Festigkeit auf den Trennflächen sondern auch die des
Gesteins überschritten. In diesen Fällen spricht man von
‘druckhaftem Gebirge’. Bei druckhaftem Gebirge sind die auf
einen Tunnelausbau wirkenden Lasten so groß, daß eine
wirtschaftliche Bemessung eines steifen Ausbaus in der
Regel nicht möglich ist. Im Tunnelbau wird daher bei
druckhaftem Gebirgsverhalten ein nachgiebiger Ausbau
vorgesehen. Hierbei wird zunächst eine begrenzte
Radialverschiebung der Tunnellaibung zugelassen, die zu
einer Spannungsumlagerung im Gebirge und damit verbunden zu
einer deutlich geringeren Belastung des Ausbaus führt. Bei
stark druckhaftem Gebirge sind bei großen
Tunneldurchmessern z. T. Radialverschiebungen von mehreren
Dezimetern notwendig, um einen wirtschaftlichen Ausbau zu
ermöglichen. Ein maschineller Vortrieb mit nachgiebigem
Ausbau für Radialverschiebungen in der genannten
Größenordnung wurde nach Kenntnis der Autoren bisher nicht
ausgeführt. Eine denkbare Lösung ist im Bild 21
dargestellt. In den Ringspalt zwischen der Ausbruchlaibung
und dem Tübbingring wird eine nachgiebige Hinterfüllung,
z.B. aus Blähton, eingebaut, die die erforderlichen
Radialverschiebungen der Ausbruchlaibung zuläßt. Für einen
Tunnel in Griechenland wurden beispielsweise erforderliche
Radialverschiebungen von ca. 1,2 m ermittelt
(WITTKE-SCHMITT, 2005; SCHMITT, 2006, Bild 21). Um
Radialverschiebungen dieser Größenordnung zu ermöglichen,
muß die nachgiebige Hinterfüllung eine entsprechend größere
Dicke aufweisen. Unter

Bild 21. TBM-Vortrieb mit nachgiebiger Hinterfüllung,

Prinzip.

Berücksichtigung des Verformungsverhaltens z.B. von Bläh

ton ergibt sich diese für das genannte Beispiel zu etwa 2,4
m

(Bild 21).

Die zuverlässige Prognose der erforderlichen Verschiebun

gen ist schwierig und stellt bei diesem Konzept ein großes

Risiko dar (WITTKE-SCHMITT et al., 2005).

Einen besonders kritischen Zustand stellt bei einem solchen

Konzept ein möglicher Stillstand der Maschine dar. In diesem

Fall würde sich der Steuerspalt zwischen Ausbruchlaibung

und Schildmantel infolge Radialverschiebungen schließen

und der Schildmantel würde durch nahezu den vollen

Gebirgsdruck belastet. Zum einen müßte der Schildmantel

für diese Belastung bemessen werden, zum anderen müßte

sichergestellt sein, daß die aus der Radialbelastung resul

tierenden Reibungskräfte entlang des Schildmantels durch die

Pressenkräfte überwunden werden können und ein Wiederan

fahren der Maschine möglich ist.

Ein weiteres Risiko stellen wechselnde Gebirgsverhältnisse

dar. Falls nur geringe aufzufahrende Tunnelabschnitte druck

haftes Gebirgsverhalten aufweisen ist der Querschnitt der

Maschine auf diese Verhältnisse auszulegen. Die nicht druck

haften Abschnitte müssen ebenfalls mit dem vergrößertem

Durchmesser aufgefahren werden. Dies führt zu einem erhe

blichen Mehrausbruch, der für das im Bild 21 dargestellte

Beispiel �R = 2,4 m beträgt.

7 SCHLUSSFOLGERUNGEN

Die aufgeführten Risiken bei maschinellen Vortrieben im Fels

zeigen, daß die Auswahl eines für die geotechnischen und

baubetrieblichen Randbedingungen geeigneten Maschinentyps
entscheidend für den Erfolg eines Tunnelvortriebs ist. Dies
ist darauf zurückzuführen, daß ein TVM-Vortrieb im
Unterschied zur konventionellen Bauweise nur bedingt an
wechselnde Baugrundverhältnisse angepaßt werden kann. Ein
Umbau einer Tunnelvortriebsmaschine während einer
Baumaßnahme ist nur mit einem hohen Aufwand an Zeit und
Kosten möglich und kann daher nur eine Notlösung
darstellen. Aus diesem Grund kommen bei TVM-Vortrieben im
Fels der umfassenden Erkundung des Baugrunds, Kenntnissen
auf dem Gebiet der Felsmechanik und Felsstatik sowie der
Erfahrung entscheidende Bedeutung zu. QUELLENNACHWEIS DIN
18312 (1992):VOBTeil C:ATV für Bauleistungen, Erdarbeiten.
GATTERMANN, J.; KIEHL, J. R. (2004): EPB-Vortriebe im Fels
– Verbreiung des Gesteins, erforderliches Drehmoment und
Verrollung. In: geotechnik 27, Nr. 2, 208–213. HERRENKNECHT
AG (2001): Technische Unterlagen. MAIDL, U. (1994):
Erweiterung der Einsatzbereiche der Erddruckschilde durch
Bodenkonditionierung mit Schaum. Dissertation, Herrenknecht
GmbH, Schwanau. MAIR, R.; MERRIT,A.; BORGHI, X.;YAMAZAKI,
H. (2003): Soil conditioning for clay soils. In: Tunnels &
Tunneling International, April 2003, 29–33. SCHMITT, D.
(2006): Bau und Planung des Kallidromo Tunnels auf der NBS
Athen – Thessaloniki. In: geotechnik 29 (2006), Nr. 2.
WITTKE,W. (1969): NeuesVerfahren zumVerpressen von
klüftigem Fels mit Pasten auf der Basis von Zement. In:
VDI-Z. 111, Nr. 22, 1568–1575. WITTKE, W.; PIERAU, B;
ERICHSEN, C. (2002): Statik und Konstruktion der
Spritzbetonbauweise. Geotechnik in Forschung und Praxis,
WBI-PRINT 5, Verlag Glückauf, Essen. WITTKE, W.; TEGELKAMP,
M.; KIEHL, J. R. (2003): Zerfall von Tonsteinen als
Voraussetzung für die Verbreiung beim Einsatz von
EPB-Schilden. In: geotechnik 26 (2003), Nr. 4, 262–268.
WITTKE-SCHMITT, B.; GATTERMANN, J.; WITTKE, W. (2005):
Risiken bei konventionellen und maschinellen Vortrieben
sowie Maßnahmen zur Minimierung. In:Taschenbuch für
denTunnelbau 2006, Verlag Glückauf, Essen, 49–92.
WITTKE-SCHMITT, B.; LORENZO MARTIN, F. (2006): Entwurf von
fünf maschinell aufgefahrenen Felstunnels der Bahnstrecke
Genua – Ventimiglia. In: geotechnik 29 (2006), Nr. 2. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3 Risk Analysis
for tunneling projects using Bayesian Networks R. Sousa &
H.H. Einstein Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Cambridge, USA

ABSTRACT: In Risk Analysis decisions have to be made, which

are based on uncertain information. Most of the existent

risk analysis systems deal only with the effect of random

(“common”) geological and construction uncertainties on
time and

cost of construction, not specific geotechnical risks. In

order to be able to consider these risks a system needs to
be able to

capture expert knowledge. This can be done using a

knowledge based system (KBS). The traditional knowledge
based systems,

the so-called ruled based systems suffer from significant

deficiencies handling decision making under uncertainty.
Bayesian

networks are more suitable to handle uncertainty in this

context. They were developed as a decision support tool
originally

used for purposes of artificial intelligence engineering.

They have been replacing the traditional “rule based”
systems when

dealing with uncertainties. Bayesian networks are so-called

normative systems that model the domain of uncertainty
using

classical probability calculus and decision theory. The

goal of this paper is to present the potential of the
application of

Bayesian Networks to Risk Analysis for tunneling projects.

A numerical example of this methodology applied to the
situation
of excessive deformation at the surface is presented.

1 RISK ANALYSIS USING BAYESIAN NETWORKS

1.1 Introduction

In Risk Analysis decisions have to be made under

uncertainty.

The existing systems do not deal with the specific

geotechnical

risks, such as heading failure, excessive deformations or

rock

falls. In order to consider these risks it is necessary to

capture

expert knowledge. Bayesian Networks are a technique that

models the domain of uncertainty using classical probability

calculus and decision theory (Faber, 2006).

This paper will focus on the description of the Bayesian

Network technique and its principles. A numerical example

of this methodology applied to the domain of tunneling will

be presented.

1.2 Bayesian Network

Over the last decade, Bayesian networks have become a popu

lar representation for encoding uncertain expert knowledge

in

expert systems (Heckerman et al., 1995). Bayesian networks

can be used at any stage of a risk analysis, and may

substitute

both fault trees and event trees in logical tree analysis.

While

common cause or more general dependency phenomena pose

significant complications in classical fault tree analysis,

this is

not the case with Bayesian networks. They are in fact

designed

to facilitate the modeling of such dependencies. Because of

what has been stated, Bayesian networks provide a strong

tool for decision analysis, including prior analysis,

posterior

analysis and pre-posterior analysis. Furthermore they can be

extended to influence diagrams, including decision and

utility

nodes in order to explicitly model a decision problem

(Faber,

2006).

A Bayesian network is a graphical representation of knowl

edge for reasoning under uncertainty. It is a concise repre

sentation of the joint probability of the domain that is

being Figure 1. Bayesian Network. represented by the random
variables. It is a graph that consists of (Russell &
Norvig, 1995): – A set of random variables that make up the
nodes of the network. – A set of directed links between
nodes. (These links reflect cause-effect relations within
the domain.) – Each variable has a finite set of mutually
exclusive states. – The variables together with the
directed links form a directed acyclic graph (DAG). –
Attached to each random variable A with parents B1, . . . ,
Bn there is a conditional probability table P(A | B1, . . .
, Bn), except for the variables in the root nodes. The root
nodes have prior probabilities. Figure 1 is an illustration
of a simple Bayesian network.The arrows going from one
variable to another reflect the relations between
variables. In this example the arrow from C to B 1 means
that C has a direct influence on B 1 . Specifically, a
Bayesian Network (BN) is a graphical and concise
representation of a joint probability distribution over all
the variables, taking into account that some variables are
conditionally independent. The simplest conditional
independence relationship encoded in BN is that a node is
independent
of its ancestors given its parents, i.e. that a node only
depends

on its direct parents. Thus, the Joint probability of a

Bayesian

network over the variables U = {A 1 , . . . A n }, can be

represent

by the chain rule:

where parents (A i ) is the parent set of A i .

1.3 Inference in a Bayesian Network

Since a Bayesian Network defines a model for variables in a

certain domain and its relationships and can be used to

answer

probabilistic queries about them.

The most common types of queries are the following:

– A priori probability distribution of a variable.

where A is the query-variable and X 1 to X k are the

remaining

variables of the network.

– Posterior distribution of variables given evidence

(observa

tion). This query consits of updating the state of a

variable

(or subset of variables) given the observation.

where e is the vector of all the evidence, and A is the

query variable and X 1 to X k are the remaining variables of

the network.

There are two main groups of inference algorithms: Exact

inference methods and approximate inference algorithms.The

most common exact inference method is theVariable Elimina

tion algorithm that consists of eliminating (by integration
or

summation) the non-query, non-observed variables one by one

by summing over the product.The approximate inference algo

ritms are used when exact inference may be computationally

infeasible, such as in temporal models, where the structure

of

the network is very repetitive, or in highly connected

networks.

1.4 Decision graphs or influence diagrams

Bayesian networks can serve as a model of a part of the

world, and the relations in the model reflect causal impact

between events. However the reason we are building models

is to use them when making decisions (i.e. the probabilities

provided by the network are used to support some kind of

decision making). Decision graphs or influence diagrams are

an “extension” of Bayesian Networks. In addition to nodes

for

representing random variables, influence diagrams also pro

vide node types for modeling alternatives and utilities.

Besides

chance nodes that denote random variables, and correspond to

the only node type available in belief networks, decision

nodes

are also modeled. A decision node indicates a decision

facing

the decision maker (similar to decision nodes in decision

trees)

and contains all alternatives available to the decision

maker

at that point. The third node type provided by these

diagrams

is the utility node. These nodes represent the utility

function

of the decision maker. In utility nodes, utilities are

associated Figure 2. Influence diagram P (BV) P (DT) P
(DL | BV, DT) Figure 3. Excessive deformation model. with
each of the possible outcomes of the decision problem
modeled by the influence diagram. Directed links between
nodes represent influences. Links between two chance nodes
have the same semantics as in belief networks. Other links
in an influence diagram may also represent a temporal
relation between the nodes involved. For example, a link
from a decision node to a utility node not only indicates
that the choice of action influences the utility, but also
that the decision precedes the outcome in time. Influence
diagrams are useful in structuring a decision problem.
While, for example, decision trees are more effective at
presenting the details of a decision problem, influence
diagrams more clearly show factors that influence a
decision. Figure 2 illustrates a simplified scheme of an
Influence Diagram. 2 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE 2.1 The model The
following example intends, in a very simplified manner to
represent the problem of excessive deformations at the
surface during tunnel excavation. The network is developed
from the perspective of potential damage to buildings
located at the surface. Essentially damage to the buildings
depends on the deformations on the ground and on the
vulnerability of the building. The latter will depend on
other variables such as type of building; some structures
are more sensitive to deformations than others, and whether
or not the building is within the area of influence of the
tunnel. The deformations depend also on other variables
such as type of construction method and type of ground.
However these variables won’t be included in the simplified
version of the problem. Figure 3 represents Table 1. P
(BV). BV =Type I 0.30 BV = Type II 0.70 Table 2. P (DT). DT
= Low 0.20 DT = Medium 0.70 DT = High 0.10

Table 3. P (DL|BV, DT).

DT = Low Medium High

BV = I II I II I II

DL = No Damage 0.90 0.99 0.75 0.85 0.10 0.20

DL = Level 1 0.10 0.01 0.20 0.14 0.50 0.50

DL = Level 2 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.01 0.40 0.30

Figure 4. Diagram showing prior probability calculations of

P

(DL) (probabilities in %).

the Bayesian Network and its associated local probability

dis

tributions are presented in tables 1, 2 and 3. In the

example

the variables can have the following states:

• Building Vulnerability (BV): Type I (more vulnerable) or

Type II (less vulnerable).

• Deformation Threshold (DT): Low, Medium or High.

• Damage Level (DL): No Damage, Level 1 or Level 2.

where BV = Build_Vulnerability, DT = deformation thresh

old and DL = Damage Level.

2.2 Application of the model

Based on the model defined in 2.1 it is possible to

determine

the a priori probability of Damage, P (DL), using the

Variable

Elimination method, by using the software Hugin Lite 6.5.The

results are shown in Figure 4.

Once new information is available it is possible to update

the probability of Damage, P (DL), previously calculated.

Fig

ure 5 shows the results of the update of the probability of

Damage, when a high level of deformations was observed,

i.e. P (DL|DT = High), the a posteriori probability of DL.
It

is possible to observe that the probability of damage

(level 1

and level 2) has increased considerably. Figure 5. Diagram

showing a posteriori probability calculations of P (DL|DT =
High) (probabilities in %). Figure 6. Influence diagram for
deformation at the surface. Figure 7. Influence diagram for
deformation at the surface. High level of deformation. 2.3
Influence diagram Based on the previous results one may be
interested to know what decision to take in the situations
presented in Figures 3, 4 and 5. For this it is necessary
to extend the previous network and include a decision and a
utility node. The decision node contains two possible
measures: Advance without any additional measure
(No_Action) and Advance with reinforcing of the ground
(Reinforce). The utility node represents the utilities
associated with each situation. Figure 6 represents the
situation prior to any observation. In this case, based on
model defined previously, the decision with highest utility
is not to take any action. If a High level of deformation
is observe, the Network can be updated and in this
situation the decision with the highest utility associated
is to reinforce the ground, before excavating, as shown in
Figure 7. Mitigation measures are not always 100%
effective. It is possible to model the uncertainty of the
measures by introducing a new node that translates the
reliability of the mitigation measures. This is shown in
Figure 8.

Figure 8. Influence diagram for deformation at the surface.

High

level of deformation and considering the reliability of a

mitigation

measure.

3 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

This paper presented a technique for modeling decisions

under

uncertainty, Bayesian Networks and their “extension” to

Influ

ence Diagrams. An example applied to tunneling induced

deformations was presented, with the intent of illustrate
the

advantages and potential of this technique when applied to

real problems.

Bayesian Networks are a very powerful tool for deci

ABSTRACT: The Lärchberg-Galgenwald landslide in Austria is

situated in the south western slope of the Rantenbach
valley,

2 km upstream of the town of Murau. The slope is made up of

marbles some 300 m thick lying on a phyllite base some 140
m

thick. Numerical analyses of possible rock mass falls up to

50,000 m 3 by the Particle Flow Code (PFC) have shown that
rock

blocks are not able to cross the dam protecting the road.
However, the unprotected farm “Fritz” is endangered by
single rock

blocks. Further simulations showed that an overall volume

of up to 10,000,000 m 3 might bury the road in the valley
and dam

up the Rantenbach River, causing a debris flow which may

endanger the town of Murau.

Investigations of the risks of the scenarios and of the

costs of mitigation measures have shown that sealing of the
surfaces

of the roadways, drainage and diversion of precipitation

and the realization of a watershed management project are
highly

economical. The excavation of a by-pass tunnel for the

Rantenbach river in the opposite slope, as well as a toe
weight at the

bottom of the slope in connection with a covered tunnel for

the Rantenbach River, appear not to be economical from the
present

point of view.
1 INTRODUCTION

The Lärchberg – Galgenwald landslide (Fig. 1) is part of

the south-western slope of the Rantenbach valley about 2 km

upstream of the town of Murau. The main scarp at 1060 m

above sea level of some 70 m length and up to 10 m width

has repeatedly given rise to a need for investigations (Pohl

1983, Becker 2001). In April 2001 some rock blocks, the size

of some cubic meters, hit the 50 to 70 m broad zone next to

the main road to Murau. Consequently this zone was declared

prohibited by the local authorities, allowing only

residents of

the farm “Fritz” to pass on special terms.

As a first monitoring step, 10 wire extensometers and a

precipitation measuring device were installed in the early

sum

mer of 2001. Additionally, following a coordination meeting

between the provincial authorities and the service for

torrent,

erosion and avalanche control, the federal road administra

tion had a dam of the length of 300 m and the height of 5 m

constructed for the protection of the main road against rock

falls. Due to the results evidenced by the wire

extensometers,

a monitoring and investigation project was initiated by the

administration of the Province of Styria, department 19B. 2

GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS, MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND
GEOMECHANICAL INTERPRETATION Parts of the Rantenbach
valley, including the slopes of Mount Lärchberg, indicate
an area prone to landslides, due to erosion and melting
down of a Quaternary glacier.The slope is built up by a 300
m thick formation of mylonitic and strongly foliated
marbles (Poisel et al. 2003). These marbles rest on
phyllites interlayered by graphitic schists. The border
between phyllites and marbles is more or less horizontal.
At Mount Lärchberg, three areas of different landslide
morphology were mapped (Hermann 2004). These landslides are
arranged concentrically and indicate both different
landslide mechanics as well as different landslide
activities: 1. A rotational rockslide (activity zone 1),
cutting the lower section of the marbles and the basal
phyllites, is more likely to show high landslide activity.
There, a rock mass of about 900,000 m 3 moves down 0.30 m
per year. The main scarp does not follow pre-existing
joints and shows features of high activity. Rotation of
this zone is indicated by

Figure 1. Landslide Lärchberg – Galgenwald near Murau.

the dipping of the phyllite – marble border into the slope

by some 30 ◦ .

2. Low landslide activity corresponds to undulated morphol

ogy that is characterized by open cracks and gashes, a

tearing trench parallel to the slope dip, uphills and major

cut-off structures (activity zone 2). The volume of this

zone

is estimated up to 10,000,000 m 3 .

3. A creeping mass, hardly if at all moving at present,

encloses

activity zones 1 and 2. This creeping mass covers the entire

north – east facing slope of Mount Lärchberg and extends

up to 2.5 sqkm.

These observations indicate that the slope is a system of

hard

rock lying on a soft base. The competent part of the system

consists of a 300 m thick formation of mylonitic and

strongly
foliated marbles. This block rests on a soft, ductile 140 m
high

base of phyllites interlayered by graphitic schists. Due to

the

squeezing out and yielding of the incompetent base material,

the competent block is subjected to tensile stresses, is

therefore

fractured intensively and thus shows various zones of moun

tain tearing and a disintegration into huge blocks (Poisel &

Eppensteiner 1988).

Generally these blocks may

1. slide downhill translatoric and upright,

2. form a rotational slide together with the moving base

material (internal rotation) or

3. topple downhill (external rotation; most dangerous case

leading to sudden rock avalanches).

Murau and its environs adjoin the seismically active Mur

Mürz fault zone (Lenhardt 1995). There, several earthquakes

with intensities up to Io = 6 according the European Macro

seismic Scale 1998 were reported during the last century.

The

largest earthquake at that fault was reported at 1201 with

an intensity of Io = 9 (evaluated). Thus, landslides may be

triggered by seismic events. -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

90 100 110 120 0 6 . 0 6 . 2 0 0 1 2 9 . 0 8 . 2 0 0 1 2 1
. 1 1 . 2 0 0 1 1 3 . 0 2 . 2 0 0 2 0 8 . 0 5 . 2 0 0 2 3 1
. 0 7 . 2 0 0 2 2 3 . 1 0 . 2 0 0 2 1 5 . 0 1 . 2 0 0 3 0 9
. 0 4 . 2 0 0 3 0 2 . 0 7 . 2 0 0 3 2 4 . 0 9 . 2 0 0 3 1 7
. 1 2 . 2 0 0 3 1 0 . 0 3 . 2 0 0 4 0 2 . 0 6 . 2 0 0 4 2 5
. 0 8 . 2 0 0 4 1 7 . 1 1 . 2 0 0 4 0 9 . 0 2 . 2 0 0 5 0 4
. 0 5 . 2 0 0 5 2 7 . 0 7 . 2 0 0 5 1 9 . 1 0 . 2 0 0 5 1 1
. 0 1 . 2 0 0 6 time c l o s u r e [ c m ] o p e n i n g
Figure 2. Opening of the main scarp of activity zone 1 over
time. 3 MONITORING RESULTS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION Since
the early summer of 2001 the changes in width of the main
scarp (wire extensometers) of activity zone 1 as well as
amounts of precipitation, spring deliveries and air
temperature have been monitored. In spring 2002 wire
extensometers also in the upper part of activity zone 2, a
servotheodolit on the opposite slope of the Rantenbach
valley and signals (reflectors) in all three activity zones
were installed. The positions of the signals are determined
and saved every six hours and passed on by mobile phone
(Gillarduzzi 2004). The results of the wire extensometer
measurements show that the main scarp of activity zone 1 is
opening up by 30 cm per year, mainly between July and
December (Fig. 2). Statistical investigations by means of
multivariate analyses have demonstrated that the
displacements depend heavily on the amount of
precipitation. The wire extensometers in the upper part of
activity zone 2 show opening velocities of the fractures

Figure 3. Displacement vectors from servotheodolite

measurements.

of some cm/year (about 1/10 of those of activity zone 1).

This

corresponds to the observations of morphological features in

activity zones 1 and 2: activity zone 1 is more active than

activity zone 2.

The observations by means of a servotheodolit (Gillarduzzi

2004) revealed an area of maximum displacements identical

with activity zone 1 (Fig. 3). The distribution of displace

ments over time is identical with that determined by the

wire

extensometers. The uppermost signals show steep vectors, the

lowest signals of the base show only small, low-angle

dipping

vectors. Thus, the observations by means of the

servotheodolit

also indicate that activity zone 1 is a rotational

rockslide.

4 RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION OF NUMERICAL

MODELS

Analyses by means of the programmes FLAC und FLAC 3D

(Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua) of the ITASCA

Consulting Group have shown that at the beginning of the

movements only activity zone 1 is moving (Lang 2002). Sub

sequently the displacements expand, finally affecting all of

activity zone 2, which results in a reduced opening of the

main

scarp of activity zone 1. The positions of the main scarps

of

activity zones 1 and 2 resulting from the numerical analyses

coincide with the positions in reality.

The failure mechanism is determined by tension fractures

in the marble and shear zones in the phyllites. That means

that a marble block with a volume of up to 5.10 6 m 3 moves

downwards on a creeping phyllite block. Finally the complete

activity zone 2 (up to 10.10 6 m 3 ) is affected by this

kind of

movement.

According to the analyses by FLAC 3D the movements of

the base at the Rantenbach valley bottom extend to an area

of 250 m Northwest and Southeast of the farm “Fritz” in the

final state. This corresponds with the results of the

geological
investigations (activity zone 2). The FLAC 3D analyses have

also shown that tensile stresses develop not only in slope

dip

direction, but also in horizontal direction, which might

offer

an explanation for the tearing trench in slope dip

direction in

activity zone 2 (Fig. 1).

The Particle Flow Code (PFC) of the ITASCA Consulting

Group models the displacements and interactions of loaded

assemblies of sphere shaped particles being in or getting

into

contact with wall elements. The particles may be bonded

together at their contact points to represent a solid that

may Figure 4. Final state of PFC 2D simulation. fracture
due to progressive bond breakage. Every particle is checked
on contact with every other particle in every time step.
Thus PFC can simulate not only failure mechanisms of rock
slopes (Preh 2004) but also the run out of a detached and
fractured rock mass (Roth 2003, Poisel & Roth 2004). The
results of the numerical simulations by means of PFC 2D und
PFC 3D showed agreement with the results of the numerical
simulations by means of FLAC und FLAC 3D concerning failure
mechanisms (Poisel & Preh 2004) and detachment scenarios.
According to the results of the numerical simulations by
means of PFC, the failure mechanism is determined by
tension fractures in the marble and shear zones in the
phyllites originating in the valley bottom as well. At the
beginning only activity zone 1 is in motion, followed by
the extension of movements to the border of activity zone 2
(Pouzar 2003). Digital extensometers in the numerical
models monitoring the main scarps of activity zones 1 and 2
showed decreasing widths of the main scarp of activity zone
1 and increasing widths of the main scarp of activity zone
2. No indications for a toppling downhill of huge marble
blocks (volume some 10 6 m 3 ) and consequently for rock
avalanches could be found. These results again correspond
well with the results of the geological and morphological
investigations, which revealed that activity zone 1 can be
interpreted as a rotational rockslide. The PFC models have
also shown that there will be no sudden rock avalanches of
marble of a volume larger than 50,000 m 3 . The slope
failure causing a danger for the valley occurs by a
continuously sagging downwards of marble blocks on creeping
phyllite shear zones with an overall volume up to 10 × 10 6
m 3 (activity zone 2). Thus, a damming up of the river
Rantenbach by mainly fine grained phyllite masses is
possible. The height of the run out cone forming after a
sudden shearing through of the activity zone 2 phyllite
base is difficult to prognosticate. The PFC 2D – analyses
yielded a height of some 15 m (Fig. 4). 5 DANGER SCENARIOS,
THEIR CONSEQUENCES AND THEIR OCCURRENCE PROBABILITY At the
moment there are various indications, evidenced by the
geological and morphological investigations, as well as by
the monitoring results so far and by the numerical models
that the Lärchberg – Galgenwald landslide is at an early
stage and that there is time to set measures for risk
reduction. These conclusions, however, are based on a
relatively short period of

Figure 5. PFC simulation of a rock avalanche up to 50,000 m

3 ; wall

element mesh and ball elements in the detachment area.

observation, which means that long term tendencies might be

completely different. Thus, long term monitoring is

essential.

Both the geological – morphological investigations and

numerical modelling indicate that the essential failure mech

anism is to be expected as a sagging downwards of marble

blocks on creeping phyllite shear zones.At the time being

there

are no indications for the toppling of huge marble masses.

Sudden rock avalanches of marble of a volume smaller than

50,000 m 3 are, however, considered possible.

The following danger scenarios have been derived from the

considerations described above:

1. rock block falls

2. rock avalanches up to 50,000 m 3

3. run out of activity zone 1 (volume some 900,000 m 3 ),

probable destruction of the road

4. run out of activity zone 2 (volume up to 10 × 10 6 m 3 ),

closing up of the valley, damming up of the river Ranten

bach, erosion of the dam, flood wave and/or debris flow

catastrophe.

Scenarios 1 and 2 can take place without warning by

monitoring results. Warnings by increased block falls and

by monitoring results deviating from the general trend are

expected for scenarios 3 and 4 (e.g. significant elongation

of

wire extensometers in activity zone 2).

The consequences of rock block falls have been investi

gated by Mölk (2004) using Rockfall 6.1. The consequences

of rock avalanches (rock mass falls) up to 50,000 m 3 have

been

investigated using PFC 3D (Frühwirt 2004, Huber 2006). The

investigations showed correspondingly that

• single rock blocks as well as

• rock avalanches up to 50,000 m 3

will not cross the protection dam but will endanger the farm

as well as the road in this area (Figs. 5, 6). Thus the dam
has

to be lengthened at the farm.

The consequences of the run outs of activity zones 1 and

2 have been investigated by using PFC 2D and PFC 3D . These

models showed that the run out of activity zone 1 will most

probably

• destroy the road and the protection dam and

• reach the river without, however, causing any considerable

consequences. Figure 6. Result of a run out simulation

using PFC (solid line: foot of existing dam, dashed line:
foot of necessary dam extension). According to the models
the run out of activity zone 2 will • close up the valley,
• dam the river Rantenbach up to a height of some 15 m.
Erosion of the dam and a flood wave and/or debris flow
catastrophe, destroying parts of the town of Murau are
possible. The occurrence probability is one over the
occurrence time span. The occurrence time span is the time
span in which an incident (avalanche, debris flow) is
likely to happen on average. Regarding incidents only
happening once, such as a landslide, the occurrence time
span is the time span at the end of which the failure is
expected. The failure probability of 1% related to a time
span of 1 year means that 1 slope out of 100 slopes fails
per year. This statement is purely statistically identical
to the statement that the failure of one particular slope
is expected in every 100 years. Thus, the time span before
failure (occurrence time span) and therefore the occurrence
probability could be deduced from the failure probability.
However, in this consideration e.g. the reduction of
strength over time is not taken into account, which has
great influence on the occurrence time span and
consequently on the occurrence probability. Therefore the
time span before a slope failure has to be deduced from •
an extrapolation of monitoring results (e.g. Fukuzono
1990), if the displacements have a tendency over time, or •
from the probability of earthquakes triggering slope
failures and similar approaches. In the case of the
Lärchberg-Galgenwald landslide, investigations by Lenhardt
(2004) showed that an earthquake with an intensity I = 7
has an occurrence probability of 1/100 years and may
trigger the run out of activity zone 1 (danger scenario 3).
The run out of activity zone 2 (danger scenario 4) may be
triggered by an earthquake with an intensity I = 8 which
has an occurrence probability of 1/1,000 years (about 1/10
of the occurrence probability of activity zone 1; this is
the same relation as the relation between displacement
velocities and between volumes). An estimation of the time
till the landslide is triggered by large displacements
proved similar results.

Table 1. Risk mitigation measure costs and resulting risk

differences. Cost Resulting risk per year difference

Danger scenario Mitigation measures (€/year) Effect on

damage (€/year)

run out of sealing of the roadway surfaces, realization

3.260,occurrence probability reduction 9.000,

activity zone 1 of a watershed management project to 1/200

years

run out of sealing of the roadway surfaces, realization

2.810,occurrence probability reduction 18.500,

activity zone 2 of a watershed management project to

1/2.000 years

run out of excavation of a by-pass tunnel for the 75.000,No

damage (no damming up of the river) 32.400,

activity zone 2 Rantenbach river in the opposite slope

run out of sealing of the roadway surfaces, real. 77.810,No

damage (no damming up of the river) 34.700,

activity zone 2 of a watershed management project, as well

as occurrence probability reduction excavation of a by-pass
tunnel to 1/2.000 years

6 DAMAGES

The damage due to the run out of activity zone 1 will be the

cost for reconstruction of the road and of protection

measures,

which will be necessary again. These costs are estimated up

to €1,8 M.

The damage due to the run out of activity zone 2 (closing

up of the valley, damming up of the river Rantenbach, ero

sion of the dam, flood wave and/or debris flow catastrophe

endangering the city of Murau) consists of:

residential buildings and industrial estates € 30,7 M

water and power supply € 1,2 M

roads and bridges € 4,1 M

reconstruction of the river bed € 1,0 M

total damage ca. € 37,0 M

7 MEASURES FOR RISK REDUCTION

Experience has shown that, in general, measures which

decrease seeping of precipitation into the ground water and

increase evapotranspiration (sealing of roadways surfaces,

drainage and diversion of precipitation, realization of a

water

shed management project), reduce landslide displacement

velocities to 1/5 up to 1/10 (e.g. Gradenbach landslide,

Downie

slide etc.). In the case of the Lärchberg – Galgenwald land

slide, these measures are expected to reduce displacement

velocities by only one half, due to the intense fracturing

of

the rock mass because of the special landslide mechanism

“competent on incompetent”.

The reduction of displacement velocities to one half also

applies to the triggering by an earthquake, because a

decrease

of infiltration also reduces the susceptibility of the land

slide to be triggered by an earthquake and therefore also

the

occurrence probability.
The effectiveness of a drainage gallery in the phyllite base

is expected to be very low, due to the high degree of

fracturing

of the rock mass. Furthermore, the excavation of a drainage

gallery in the phyllite base may weaken the toe area of the

moving mass and thus may accelerate the slope movements

and may trigger a slope failure.

The excavation of a by-pass tunnel for the Rantenbach river

in the opposite slope and a possible diversion of the road

are

merely security measures in case a larger rock mass comes

down. They do not influence the slope movements. A toe

weight at the bottom of the slope in connection with a
covered tunnel for the Rantenbach river may however
stabilize the slope movements and thus minimize the risk. 8
RISK ASSESSMENT The risk of a danger scenario amounts to
its damage times its occurrence probability. Thus the risk
of the run out of activity zone 1 is €1,8 M × 1/100 years =
€18.000/year. Sealing of the roadways surfaces, drainage
and diversion of precipitation, realization of a watershed
management project (improvement of the forest situation)
are expected to reduce displacement velocities to one half.
Thus occurrence probability is reduced to 1/200 years and
the risk is €1,8 M × 1/200 years = €9.000,-/year. The risk
difference resulting from these risk mitigation measures is
therefore € 9.000,-/year. The risk of the run out of
activity zone 2 is € 37 M × 1/1.000 years = € 37.000/year.
The risk difference resulting from the risk mitigation
measures mentioned above is € 18.500/year. 9 PROFITABILITY
OF MEASURES FOR RISK REDUCTION The profitability of
mitigation measures can be assessed by comparing their
costs per year with the resulting risk difference (Table
1): • The residual risk after realization of mitigation
measures • plus the costs of these measures per year • may
not exceed the initial risk (Einstein & Karam 2001). Table
1 shows that sealing of the surfaces of the roadways in
activity zones 1 and 2, drainage and diversion of
precipitation and the realization of a watershed management
project are highly economical, because the costs of these
measures per year are lower than the difference of the
initial risk and of the residual risk after realization of
the mitigation measures (the resulting risk difference).
The effectiveness of a drainage gallery in the phyllite
base is expected to be very low due to the high degree of
fracturing of the rock mass. Furthermore, the excavation of
a drainage gallery in the phyllite base may weaken the toe
area of the moving mass, may thus accelerate the slope
movements and may trigger a slope failure and is therefore
not recommended.

The excavation of a by-pass tunnel for the Rantenbach river

in the opposite slope, as well as a toe weight at the

bottom of the

slope in connection with a covered tunnel for the Rantenbach

River, appear to be uneconomical from the present point of

view.

However, this comparison

• is based on knowledge at a certain point of time, is

therefore

variable and has to be constantly repeated, based on the

results of a long term monitoring programme and

• does not take into account the psychological harm to the

residents being evacuated, losing their homes etc. due to a

flood wave. It is up to the responsible authorities to take

these incalculable values into consideration.

Taking payment of interest into consideration is highly spec

ulative because nobody can estimate economic development

over such long time spans. However, a rough estimation of

the influence of rates of interest showed that they have no

significant influence on the results of the assessment of

the

profitability of measures for risk reduction in principle.

Indirect costs (e.g. decreases of values) were not taken
into

consideration, due to the long periods of time considered,

over

which the development of such costs is dubious. It is up to

the

responsible authorities to evaluate all the amounts given

in a

political sense.

10 CONCLUSIONS

Consequently the following measures are paramount:

1. lengthening of protection dam

2. the continuation of the monitoring programme for

• observation of the course of movements,

• provision of a basis for the assessment of the future

development of the slope movements,

• check and actualization of danger scenarios and of

occurrence probabilities,

• actualization of risk assessment,

• control and adjustment of the alarm plan (determination

of critical displacement velocities).

The sealing of roadway surfaces, drainage and diversion

of precipitation and the realization of a watershed manage

ment project (improvement of the forest situation) are

strongly

recommended.

Becker, L. 2001. Gutachterliche Stellungnahme zur Massenbewe

gung Galgenberg. Unpublished report. Einstein, H.H. &

Karam, K.S. 2001. Risk assessment and uncertainties. Int.
Conf. Landslides. Causes, impacts and countermeasures.
Davos, 2001. Verlag Glückauf, Essen. Frühwirt, Th. 2004.
Numerische Untersuchung von Felsmassenstürzen im Bereich
der Großhangbewegung Galgenwald bei Murau mittels PFC3D.
Master’s Thesis, Institute for Engineering Geology, Vienna
University of Technology. Fukuzono,T. 1990. Recent studies
on time prediction of slope failure. Landslide News No 4,
ed. Kyoto University of Japan. Gillarduzzi, K. 2004.
Ergebnisse der Beobachtung der Großhangbewegung Lärchberg –
Galgenwald mittels Servotheodolit. Unpublished report.
Hermann, S. 2004. Geologisch-geotechnische Kartierung des
Felssturzes Lärchberg-Galgenwald (Murau/Steiermark).
Unpublished report. Huber, G. 2006. Numerische
Untersuchungen zum Einfluss der Block-Block Dämpfung auf
dieAusbreitung von Felsmassenstürzen mittels PFC 3D .
Master’s Thesis, Institute for Engineering Geology, Vienna
University of Technology. Lang, Th. 2002. Numerische
Untersuchungen zur Hangstabilität im Galgenwald bei
Murau/Steiermark. Master’s Thesis. Vienna University of
Technology. Lenhardt, W.A. 1995. Regional earthquake hazard
inAustria. Proc. of “10th European Conference on Earthquake
Engineering”, Duma, G. (ed.), Balkema, 63–68. Lenhardt,
W.A. 2004. Erschütterungspotential hinsichtlich
Hangbewegungen im Bereich Lärchberg-Galgenwald
(Brandstättereck). Unpublished report. Mölk, M. 2004.
Beurteilung der Steinschlaggefahr im Bereich der
Großhangbewegung Lärchberg – Galgenwald. Unpublished
report. Pohl, W. 1983. Ingenieurgeologisches Gutachten über
einen instabilen Hang im Rantengraben bei Murau/Steiermark.
Unpublished report. Poisel, R. & Eppensteiner, W. 1988. A
contribution to the systematics of rock mass movements.
Proc. “5th Int. Symposium on Landslides”, Lausanne, 1988,
Vol.2, pp. 1353–1357. Poisel, R., Hermann, S., Kittl, H. &
Preh, A. 2003. Die Großhangbewegung Lärchberg-Galgenwald
bei Murau. Felsbau 21, Nr.5, pp. 110–119. Poisel, R. &
Preh, A. 2004. Rock slope initial failure mechanisms and
their mechanical models. Felsbau 22, pp. 40–45. Poisel, R.
& Roth, W. 2004. Run out models of rock slope failures.
Felsbau 22, pp. 46–50. Pouzar, R. 2003. Numerische
Modellierung der Massen-bewegung Murau mittels des Particle
Flow Codes (PFC). Master’s Thesis. Vienna University of
Technology. Preh, A. 2004. Modellierung des Verhaltens von
Massenbewegungen bei großenVerschiebungen mit Hilfe des
Particle Flow Codes. PhD Thesis. Vienna University of
Technology. Roth, W. 2003. Dreidimensionale numerische
Simulation von Felsmassenstürzen mittels der Methode der
Distinkten Elemente (PFC). PhD Thesis. Vienna University of
Technology. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Rock mass monitoring as a hazard
assessment tool in deep Merensky and UG2 stopes D.F. Malan
Groundwork Consulting Pty (Ltd), Johannesburg, South Africa

ABSTRACT: This paper describes continuous closure

measurements recorded in UG2 and Merensky Reef stopes in
the

Bushveld Complex of South Africa. Significant

time-dependent closure is recorded in these panels. Earlier
publications by

the author presented data from stopes in gold mines, while

this current paper focuses on recent measurements conducted
in

platinum mines. The results confirm earlier findings that

the detailed monitoring of stope closure profiles can
provide a useful

design and hazard assessment tool. An important practical

application of closure measurements is the possibility of
providing

some prior warning of large collapses occurring.

Deteriorating panel conditions are typically preceded by
acceleration in the

rate of steady-state closure. Examples of this behaviour

from UG2 and Merensky Reef panels are shown in the paper.
Since

robust and reliable equipment to measure continuous closure

is not readily available, the paper also briefly describes
electronic

measuring devices that have been developed to facilitate

the required measurements.

1 INTRODUCTION

Platinum mining in the Bushveld Complex in South Africa

has gained much prominence in recent years. This production

is set to increase further as the eastern limb of the

Bushveld

Complex is currently undergoing a significant expansion pro

gramme. Based on the economic importance of these mining

activities to South Africa, it is vital that engineers are
provided

with the most appropriate tools to ensure the optimum design

of mine layouts and cost-effective support systems.

Some of the key problems facing rock engineers on mines

in the Bushveld Complex are the design of stable panel spans

(Watson & Noble, 1997; Watson & Roberts, 1999), optimum

pillar dimensions (Ryder et al, 1997) and assessing hanging

wall stability (Akermann et al, 2003). Historically, panel

spans

and pillar dimensions were designed largely through trial

and

error and knowledge of designs that were successfully used

in

the past. Although tools such as numerical modelling (Day &

Godden, 2000; Joughin et al, 2000; Roberts et al, 2002), var

ious rock mass rating systems (Hartman, 2000) and pillar

design methodologies (Wesseloo & Swart, 2000; Ryder &

Jager, 2002) greatly assist in this process nowadays, quan

titative characterisation of the variable rock mass

conditions

and the link with panel stability remain largely unsolved

prob

lems. This inability to characterise the rock mass

occasionally

leads to spectacular panel collapses and significant

financial

loss where panels need to be abandoned or re-established.

Improved design and monitoring tools will therefore greatly

assist in improving the profitability of mines in the
Bushveld

Complex and in ensuring that safe working conditions are

maintained.

In-stope monitoring shows promise in significantly enhanc

ing the design and risk assessment tools available to rock

engineers. These instruments are currently used on only a

very limited scale due to cost, frequent failures of complex

instrumentation in harsh underground conditions and a lack

of resources to routinely monitor and analyse the data. A

fur

ther problem with in-stope monitoring is the need to

frequently

install new instrumentation or move existing instrumentation

as the stope faces move forward. In contrast, this problem

is not encountered when installing seismic systems with
geophones or accelerometers in fixed positions. Routine
in-stope monitoring nevertheless holds significant promise
to complement existing design tools and might present
itself as a revolution in South African rock engineering.
Of the various types of in-stope instrumentation, routine
monitoring of stope closure on a large scale is probably
the most viable as it is relatively easy to install
monitoring equipment and no expensive drilling is required.
Moving the closure instruments forward as the stope faces
move away can also be done with relative ease. Of
particular interest is earlier work (Malan, 2003) in the
gold mining industry, which illustrated that continuous
closure measurements are a valuable diagnostic measure of
rock mass behaviour. 2 STOPE CLOSURE BEHAVIOUR A
comprehensive overview of stope closure behaviour and the
measurement thereof is given by Malan (2003). In summary,
the relative movement of the hangingwall and footwall
normal to the plane of the reef is referred to as closure.
Convergence refers to the elastic component of closure.
These definitions of closure and convergence do not agree
with the original terminology proposed by the ISRM, but as
the meaning of these words has changed with time in reports
and publications in the South African industry, the
definitions given above were adopted. If a continuous
record of the stope closure is plotted, profiles similar to
that illustrated in Figure 1 are obtained. It should be
noted that these continuous closure measurements contain
much information that is lost with the more conventional
daily or longer period closure measurements obtained
manually using pegs installed in the rock. The continuous
closure behaviour typically consists of an instantaneous
response at blasting time, followed by a primary phase of
decelerating closure lasting approximately 5 hours, and a
steady closure phase. The rate of steady-state closure is
calculated for the period from 10 hours after the blast
until 24 hours after the blast (or until the next blast
occurs, whichever comes first; Malan, 2003). This pattern
is repeated after the next blast. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 500
1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 Time (minutes) C l o s u r e
( m m ) BLAST BLAST SEISMIC EVENT Magnitude 0.7
STEADY-STATE CLOSURE PRIMARY CLOSURE INSTANTANEOUS CLOSURE

Figure 1. Typical continuous closure measurements in a

tabular

excavation. Panel S1 Panel S2 Panel S3 Panel S4 Clockwork

closure meters Clockwork closure meters

Figure 2. Installation positions of the closure meters in

the various

panels.

This time-dependent behaviour is the result of the rheologi

cal behaviour of the fracture zone or jointed rock mass that

surrounds these excavations.

3 CLOSURE MEASUREMENTS PRECEDING

A COLLAPSE ON THE MERENSKY REEF

Extensive closure measurements were conducted at a partic

ular mine situated in the northwest portion of the Bushveld

Complex. The layout and positions of the instrumentation

at this site are given in Figure 2. Breast mining occurs

on the Merensky Reef at approximately 1400 m below sur

face. The reef dips at 20 degrees to the south-east. Mapping

within the panels identified three dominant sets of disconti

nuities. The discontinuities are generally steeply dipping,

but

one of the sets has an intermediate dip and tends to occur

in

well-defined zones.

All the discontinuities are assumed to be of geological ori

gin and no mining-induced stress fractures were noted. The

intersection of these joint sets in panel S3 produced very

poor

hanging wall conditions as shown in Figure 3. The high rate

of

closure observed in these panels caused extensive damage of

the support units as shown in Figure 4. A typical continuous

closure curve from this area is given in Figure 5.

The following sequence of four closure curves illustrated

the rapid increase in closure experienced in Panel S3

during Figure 3. Zones of closely spaced and intersecting
discontinuities causing blocky hanging wall conditions.
Figure 4. Typical conditions in the panels. The high rate
of closure caused the failure of the elongates in the
foreground. Note the closure meter in the background. 0 5
10 15 20 25 30 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000
16000 Time (minutes) C l o s u r e ( m m ) 4/01/2005 9h55
14.7 m to face Panel S1 17/01/2005 9h56 17 m to face Blast
Blast Blast ? Gully blast Rate of steady-state closure 2
mm/day Figure 5. Typical data collected in the Merensky
Reef panels. late November 2005. This data was initially
used to motivate the stopping of blasting activity in the
panel and then to completely evacuate the panel after the
accelerating rates of closure shown in Figure 9 were
observed. A collapse in the face of the panel was reported
after 30 November. The full extent of the fall is not
known, however. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 1000 2000 3000 4000
5000 6000 7000 8000 Time (minutes) C l o s u r e ( m m )
17/11/05 10:11 12.1 m to face 22/11/05 09h36 14.2 m to face
Figure 6. Closure in panel S3 for the period 17/11/2005 to

22/11/2005. Note the rate of closure in the absence of

blasting. 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
3500 Time (minutes) C l o s u r e ( m m ) 22/11/05 10h03
14.2 m to face 25/11/05 08h31 17.1 m to face Rate of
steady-state closure 24.3 mm/day Rate of steady-state
closure 13.7 mm/day

Figure 7. Closure in panel S3 for the period 22/11/2005 to

25/11/2005. The rate of steady-state closure increased

significantly

after the blast on the 22nd. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 Time (minutes) C l
o s u r e ( m m ) 25/11/05 08h47 17.1 m to face 28/11/05
17.1 m to face 19.1 mm/day

Figure 8. Closure in panel S3 for the period 25/11/2005 to

28/11/2005. The high rate of steady-state closure persisted

in the

absence of any blasting. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 0 500

1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 Time (minutes) C l o s u r e ( m m
) 28/11/05 10h07 17.1 m to face 30/11/05 09h03 17.1 m to
face 28.6 mm/day 18.9 mm/day

Figure 9. Closure in panel S3 for the period 28/11/2005 to

30/11/2005. The rate of steady-state closure accelerated

further in

the absence of any blasting. Based on this information, the

mine

decided to evacuate and abandon these panels. Figure 10.

UG2 panels mining towards and below a Merensky remnant (the
arrows show the outline of the remnant). Figure 11. Good
conditions in the UG2 panels in overstoped ground. 4
CLOSURE MEASUREMENTS OF HANGINGWALL INSTABILITY ON THE UG2
REEF Extensive closure measurements were also conducted in
UG2 panels at the same mine. The depth is approximately
1200 m below surface. The middling between the UG2 and
Merensky Reef is only approximately 18 m with the UG2 the
lower of the two reefs. Significant ground control problems
are experienced in the UG2 panels if these are mined below
any remnants left on the Merensky Reef horizon. An example
of a typical problem geometry is shown in Figure 10. The
outline of the Merensky remnant is shown by the arrows. The
UG2 panels (1N to 5N) were mining towards and below this
Merensky remnant. In overstoped areas far away from the
remnant, the conditions in the UG2 panels are very good
(Figure 11) and the rate of closure is low (Figure 12).
Close to and below the remnants, the conditions in the
panels, however, deteriorate rapidly and the rate of
closure increase significantly. Figures 13 and 14
illustrate the onset of instability with joints opening up,
small falls of ground and support units showing evidence of
high rates of closure. In these UG2 panels, the continuous
closure measurements were found to be very useful to
indicate proximity to the remnants as well as hazardous
conditions. The sequence of closure curves below
illustrates the rapid increase in closure for a panel below
a Merensky remnant. Based on this data, 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 Time (minutes)

C l

o s

u r

( m

m ) 14/11/06 10h21 13.9 m to face 21/11/06 09h54 19 m to

face

Figure 12. Low rate of closure in the UG2 panels in

overstoped

ground.

Figure 13. Poor ground conditions in the UG2 panels when

mining

occurs in close proximity to the Merensky remnants.

Figure 14. Open joint in a UG2 hangingwall. This panel was

below

a Merensky remnant.

the mine decided to abandon this particular panel. The rapid

increase in closure was caused by the opening of two major

joints (one on strike and one on dip, Figure 14) which inter

sected in the face area of the panel.This caused a major

section

of the hangingwall to become unstable.

5 INSTRUMENTATION TO MONITOR CLOSURE

An overview of the type of closure instrumentation used in

the South African industry can be found in Malan (1999).

Due to the hostile conditions underground, electronic

closure 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
12000 14000 Time (minutes) C l o s u r e ( m m ) Value
20.34 mm Rate of closure 3.73 mm/day Phase 1 Phase 2
24/01/07 09h30 17.8 m to face 05/02/07 09h39 25.6 m to face
Figure 15. Continuous closure recorded for the period from
24/01/2007 to 05/02/2007. Note the rapid increase in
closure towards the end of the graph. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
40 45 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 Time
(minutes) C l o s u r e ( m m ) 09/02/07 09h55 19.6 m to
face 12/02/07 09h54 21.6 m to face Figure 16. Continuous
closure recorded for the period from 09/02/2007 to
12/02/2007. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 0 500 1000 1500
2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 Time (minutes) C l o s u r e ( m m
) 12/02/07 10h09 14.8 m to face 15/02/07 09h25 14.8 m to
face Rate of closure 18.0 mm/day Figure 17. Continuous
closure recorded for the period from 12/02/2007 to
15/02/2007. Note the very high rate of steady-state closure
compared to that in Figure 15 before the failure. Based on
this information, the mine decided to abandon this panel.
meters have never being very successful and the most
reliable data has been obtained from mechanical clockwork
closure meters (Figure 18). As the data is recorded on
graph paper, data analysis is a very tedious and
time-consuming process using these meters. As a typical
mine might install a number of these closure loggers,
effective data management becomes a critical issue.
Appropriate software was therefore developed to capture
critical information (Figure 21) and to automatically
generate the required closure profiles (Figure 22). To
overcome these problems, Groundwork Consulting initiated
the development of an electronic closure logger. An example
of the electronic closure logger is shown below in clock
rotating drum needle on graph paper To hangingwall To
footwall needle pivot spring base fixed to lower pipe
needle guide fixed to upper pipe
Figure 18. Mechanical clockwork closure meters used
previously

to collect continuous closure data.

Figure 19. The electronic closure logger.

Figure 20. Download unit for the loggers.

Figure 21. Example of one of the windows of the closure

logger

software. This software ensures effective data management.

Figure 19. The closure data is stored using an onboard data

logger and downloaded via a radio communications link. The

download unit is shown in Figure 20. To obtain the required

level of robustness, the electronic components of the meter,

as well as the battery, are sealed during manufacture. As a

battery life exceeding six months is achieved, the units are

designed to be discarded after this period. An important

safety

Joughin, W.C., Swart, A.H. & Wesseloo, J. 2000. Risk based

chromi

tite pillar design – non-linear modelling, In: Proceedings

SANIRE

2000 Symposium.

Malan, D.F. 1999. Closure measurements in tabular

excavations:

Avoiding the pitfalls. In: Hagan, T.O. (ed.) Proc. SARES99,

Johannesburg, pp. 238–250.

Malan, D.F. 2002. Rocha Medal Recipient: Simulating the time

dependent behaviour of excavations in hard rock. Rock Mech.

Rock Engng., vol. 35, no. 4.

Malan, D.F. 2003. Guidelines for measuring and analysing
continu

ous stope closure behaviour in deep tabular excavations.

SIMRAC

publication, ISBN 1-919853-10-3.

Roberts, D.P., Canbulat, I. & Jack, B.W. 2002. Numerical

modelling

of pillar systems and investigation of controlling

parameters. In:

Proceedings SANIRE 2002 Symposium.

Ryder, J.A. & Jager, A.J. 2002. A textbook on rock

mechanics for

tabular hard rock mines. SIMRAC. Ryder, J.A., De Maar, W. &

Ozbay, M.U. 1997. A methodology for estimating the strength
of hasrd rock support pillars, In: Gurtunca, R.G. & Hagan,
T.O. Proc. SARES 1997, Johannesburg, pp. 435–439. Watson,
B.P. & Noble, K.R. 1997. Comparison between geotechnical
areas on the Bushveld complex platinum mines, to identify
critical spans and suitable in-panel support. In: Gurtunca,
R.G. & Hagan, T.O. Proc. SARES 1997, Johannesburg, pp.
440–451. Watson, B.P. & Roberts, D. 1999. A new approach to
designing safe panel spans on the Merensky Reef. In: Hagan,
T.O. (ed.) Proc. SARES99, Johannesburg, pp. 324–330.
Wesseloo, J. & Swart, A.H. 2000. Risk based chromitite
pillar design – application of locally empirically derived
pillar formula, In: Proceedings SANIRE 2000 Symposium. 11th
Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics –
Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds) © 2007 Taylor &
Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-45084-3
Serviceability-based slope factor of safety using the Shear
Strength Reduction (SSR) method R.E. Hammah & T.E. Yacoub
Rocscience Inc. J.H. Curran Department of Civil Engineering
and Lassonde Institute, University of Toronto

ABSTRACT: This paper will apply the Shear Strength

Reduction (SSR) method to the determination of slope factor
of safety

based not only on collapse, but also on exceedance of a

defined serviceability limit. There are several instances
in which
serviceability issues, such as excessive movements or
rotations, are critical. The paper will discuss how the
Finite Element SSR

method can be used to calculate factors of safety against

serviceability limits.

1 INTRODUCTION

This paper intends to demonstrate that the Finite Element

based Shear Strength Reduction method (henceforth referred

to as the FE-SSR), which has been used to determine safety

margins against slope collapse, can be extended to the

determination of serviceability limits as well.

Geotechnical excavations and structures, such as retain

ing walls, bridge abutments, rail embankments, and caverns,

are often required to not only avoid ultimate collapse, but

to also satisfy serviceability limits. Serviceability

limits are

performance criteria such as displacements, deflections,

rota

tions, etc. that must be met to guarantee that excavations

and

structures carry out their intended tasks. For example, for

mine open pits and in landslide studies, significant

emphasis

is placed on slope displacements (Lorig & Varona 2003).

The paper will discuss how the capability for serviceability

analysis of the FE-SSR arises from the fact that the Finite
Ele

ment Method (FEM) satisfies equilibrium and compatibility

conditions. Through an example, the paper will demonstrate

practical use of FE-SSR to determine the margin of safety

against a serviceability failure. The exercise will also

high

light one of the primary advantages of the FE-SSR method

over conventional limit equilibrium slope stability methods.

2 FE-SSR AND FULL SATISFACTION OF SOLUTION

CONSTRAINTS

The Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) method (Dawson et al

1999, Griffith & Lane 1999, Hammah et al 2006, 2005 a, b,

2004, Matsui & San 1992) is a technique that enables the

factor

of safety of slopes to be calculated with numerical methods

such as the FEM and Finite Difference Method FDM). In

conventional SSR analysis, a factor of safety is obtained by

systematically reducing (or increasing) the shear strengths

of

slope materials until the slope is brought to the very

limit of

failure.

It has been demonstrated that the FE-SSR method works

for a wide range of problems, including stability problems

in

blocky rock masses (Hammah et al. 2007). 2.1 FEM

satisfaction of constraints of stress-strain analysis In
order to solve for non-arbitrary distributions of stresses
and strains induced in continua as a result of loading
and/or excavation, the following conditions have to be
satisfied (Brady & Brown 1993): 1. Boundary conditions 2.
Differential equations governing static stress equilibrium
3. Constitutive equations that relate stresses to strains
for the different materials, and 4. Equations regarding
strain compatibility. The FEM, the most widely used
numerical analysis method, ensures satisfaction of all the
above-outlined constraints. Among the many reasons that
account for method’s popularity are the abilities to: 1.
Handle multiple materials in a single model (material
heterogeneity) 2. Readily accommodate non-linear
constitutive behaviours, and 3. Model complex boundary
conditions. As a result of the FEM satisfying all the
constraints that have to be met in the solution of
stress-strain problems, the FE-SSR enjoys several
advantages over conventional limit equilibrium methods of
slope stability analysis. These advantages include
(Griffiths & Lane, 1999): 1. Elimination of a priori
assumptions on the nature (shape and location of failure
surfaces) of failure mechanisms 2. Elimination of
assumptions on the inclinations and locations of interslice
forces 3. Capability to model progressive failure 4.
Calculation of deformations at slope stress levels, and 5.
Robustness – ability to perform successfully under a wide
range of conditions. The example problem, described in a
later section of this paper, highlights one of the
principal strengths of SSR analysis: the ability to account
for stress-strain behaviour and different material
stiffnesses. These factors are important

particularly in problems in which the contrasts in material

stiffnesses and behaviour are large.

2.2 Determination of safety margins against ultimate

collapse

The solution of an FEM model is stable when all equilibrium

conditions are satisfied, and unstable or non-convergent oth

erwise. As a result, in the FE-SSR method the convergence of

the FEM solution is used as the criterion for determining

the

onset of ultimate slope failure.

Non-convergence within suitably specified number of itera

tions and tolerance is an appropriate indicator of slope

failure.

Lack of convergence indicates that stress and displacement

distributions that satisfy equilibrium conditions cannot be

determined for a given problem. This state of collapse is
pre

cisely what occurs during real slope failures, and forms the

underlying assumption of limit equilibrium analysis. In FE

SSR analysis, such failure is often characterized by a

sudden

increase in displacements.

The SSR technique is best described with the Mohr

Coulomb strength criterion, due to the simplicity and

linearity

of the criterion. For this criterion, the shear strength

envelope

(defined by the cohesion, c′, and friction angle φ′) can be

reduced by a factor, F , and a new cohesion, c ∗ , and fric

tion angle φ ∗ determined for the factored shear envelope.

Mathematically, this is accomplished by rewriting the

equation

where c ∗ = c′ F and φ ∗ = arctan ( tan φ′ F ) are the new

factored

Mohr-Coulomb shear strength parameters.

The steps for systematically searching for the critical

factor

of safety value F that brings a previously stable slope (F

≥ 1)

to the verge of failure are as follow:

Step 1: Develop an FE model of a slope with the initial

material deformation and strength properties. Compute the

model and record the maximum total displacement.

Step 2: Increase the value of F (or SRF) and calculate fac

tored Mohr-Coulomb material parameters as described above.

Enter the new strength properties into the slope model and

re-compute. Record the maximum total displacement.

Step 3: Repeat Step 2, using systematic increments of F ,

until the FE model does not converge to a solution, i.e. con

tinue to reduce material strength until the slope fails. The

critical strength reduction value which brings the slope to

failure (non-convergence) is taken to be the factor of

safety.

For a slope with a factor of safety less than 1, the

procedure

is the same, except F values less than 1 will be systemat

ically decreased (translating into increments in the

factored

strength parameters) until the slope becomes stable. The

crit

ical value at which stability occurs would be the factor of

safety.

Although the recorded maximum total displacements

recorded in the algorithm are not directly used to determine

factor of safety against total collapse, a plot of these

values

against strength reduction factor provides important infor

mation. Often, the plot reveals that deformations

drastically

increase when failure occurs. Figure 1. Slope with cavern

with geometry of material layers. Figure 2. Geometry of the
cavern. Note points A and B for which a differential
settlement of 5 cm is the serviceability limit. 2.3
Determination of safety margins against serviceability
limits Because the FEM fully accounts for constitutive
behaviour, the FE-SSR method can be used to determine
factors of safety against serviceability limits (these
limits can be in the form of displacements, strains,
stresses or differential settlements). Similar to the
determination of safety margins against ultimate collapse,
this can be done by plotting values of the required
quantity against strength reduction factors. The factor at
which the quantity of interest is attained is the factor of
safety against the serviceability limit. The example
described next illustrates the procedure. 3 SIMPLE EXAMPLE
OF FE-SSR APPLICATION TO SERVICEABILITY This example
examines the stability of a slope into which a cavern is to
be excavated. The cavern will have a concrete liner with
aYoung’s modulus, E, of 30,000 MPa and Poisson’s ratio, µ,
equal to 0.2. The liner is assumed to exhibit linear
elastic behaviour. The geometry (slope, material layers,
and shape of cavern) of the problem are provided in Figures
1 and 2. The properties of the slope materials are as
described in Table 1 below. In this problem, it is
important to limit differential settlements (vertical
displacements) between points A and B on the

Table 1. Properties of slope materials

Material Properties*

Upper layer E = 650 MPa, µ= 0.2 Generalized Hoek-Brown

strength: σ c = 25 MPa, m b = 0.19 s = 0.002, a = 0.515 and
dilation angle ψ = 0 ◦

Weak middle seam E = 1000 MPa, µ = 0.4 Mohr-Coulomb

strength: σ t = 0.5 MPa, φ= 20 ◦ c = 0.5 MPa, and dilation
angle ψ = 0 ◦

Lower layer E = 1000 MPa, µ= 0.4 Mohr-Coulomb strength: σ t

= 10 MPa, φ= 35 ◦ c = 10 MPa, and dilation angle ψ = 0 ◦

∗ All the materials are assumed to have elastic perfectly

plastic stress

strain behaviour.

Figure 3. Contours of maximum shear strain showing the

failure

mechanism of the slope.

floor of the cavern to no more than 5 cm. The following two

questions need to be answered:

1. What is the safety margin against ultimate collapse? and

2. What is the factor of safety against exceedance of the 5

cm

settlement limit?

For this problem, even the first question cannot be effec

tively answered with limit equilibrium methods; those meth

ods would not be able to consider failure surfaces that

traverse

the cavern. As well they would be unable to account for the

supporting influence of the cavern liner.

The FE-SSR method, on the other hand, has no difficulties

providing an answer to the problem.The SSR algorithm imple

mented in the 2D Finite Element program Phase 2 (Rocscience

2003) was used to perform analysis.

The failure mechanism determined by the FE-SSR method

is visible on the contours of maximum shear strain shown

on Figure 3. A close-up of the mechanism around the cavern

is displayed on Figure 4. The figures also show the manner

in which the cavern deforms. The failure mechanism does

not simply consist of a single continuous shear band, but of

three bands that define two wedges. This ultimate collapse

mechanism has factor of safety equal to 3.48.

Figure 5 gives the plot of strength reduction factor versus

differential settlement used to answer the second question.

From the plot, the factor of safety against exceedance of

the
5 cm differential settlement is estimated to be around 3.1.

Several other serviceability factors of safety could have

been

Dawson, E.M., Roth, W.H. & Drescher, A. 1999. Slope

Stability

Analysis by Strength Reduction, Geotechnique, vol. 49, no.

6, pp.

835–840.

Griffiths, D.V., & Lane, P.A. 1999. Slope Stability

Analysis by Finite

Elements. Geotechnique, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 387–403.

Hammah, R.E.,Yacoub, T.E., Corkum, B., Wibowo, F. & Curran,

J.H.

2007. Analysis of Blocky Rock Slopes with Finite Element

Shear

Strength Reduction Analysis. In Proceedings of the 1st

Canada

U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium. 2007. Vancouver, Canada.

Hammah, R.E., Yacoub, T.E., & Curran, J.H. 2006.

Investigating the

performance of the shear strength reduction (SSR) method on

the

analysis of reinforced slopes. In Proceedings of the 59th

Canadian

Geotechnical and 7th Joint IAH-CNC and CGS Groundwater Spe

cialty Conferences – Sea to Sky Geotechnique 2006.

Vancouver,

Canada.

Hammah, R.E., Yacoub, T.E., Corkum, B. & Curran, J.H. 2005.

The Shear Strength Reduction Method for the Generalized Hoek

Brown Criterion. In Proceedings of the 40th U.S. Symposium

on

Rock Mechanics, Alaska Rocks 2005, Anchorage, Alaska.

Hammah, R.E., Yacoub, T.E., Corkum, B. & Curran, J.H. 2005.
A comparison of finite element slope stability analysis
with conventional limit-equilibrium investigation. In
Proceedings of the 58th Canadian Geotechnical and 6th Joint
IAH-CNC and CGS Groundwater Specialty Conferences – GeoSask
2005. Saskatoon, Canada. Hammah, R.E., Curran, J.H.,
Yacoub, T.E., & Corkum, B. 2004. Stability Analysis of Rock
Slopes using the Finite Element Method. In Proceedings of
the ISRM Regional Symposium EUROCK 2004 and the 53rd
Geomechanics Colloquy, Salzburg, Austria. Lorig, L. &
Varona, P. 2001. In Rock Slope Engineering by Duncan, C.W.
& Mah, C.W., pp. 218–244. Spon Press: New York. Matsui, T.
& San K.C. 1992. Finite element slope stability analysis by
shear strength reduction technique. Soils and Foundations,
vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 59–70. Rocscience Inc. 2005. Phase2
v6.0 – Two-dimensional finite element slope stability
analysis. 11th Congress of the International Society for
Rock Mechanics – Ribeiro e Sousa, Olalla & Grossmann (eds)
© 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN
978-0-415-45084-3 Zonation of the landslide hazards based
on weights of evidence modeling Wang Zhiwang State Key
Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources,
China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China Li Duanyou
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical Mechanics and Engineering of
MWR, Yangtze River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan,
China Cheng Qiuming Department of Earth and Atmospheric
Science, Department of Geography, York University, Toronto,
Canada

ABSTRACT: This paper applies RS and GIS technology to study

zonation of the landslide hazards in the study area from

Badong county to Zigui county in TGP reservoir region. The

causative factors involves lithology, distance to faults,
slope

angle, slope aspect, elevation, drain distance to river and

distribution of plant, which are derived from geological
map, Spot

imagery data and Digital Elevation Model (age network, DEM)

based on RS and GIS technology. We analyze the zonation of

the landslide hazards by the algorithm of weights of

evidence modeling. Based on frequency of known landslides
in the classes
of causative parameters, weight values were assigned in to
classes of parameters, then the landslide hazards zonation
map was

produced by summation of assigned weight values. The

research result is very coincident with the occurrence of
the known

landslides in the study area.

1 INTRODUCTION

There are usually many landslide hazards in the reservoir

region of the hydroelectric project, which often have poten

tially harmful effects on the environment and social

economy.

For example, there are more than 3000 known landslides or

instable slopes in the TGP region. It’s very difficult to

get

enough money to deal with all the landslide hazards at the

same time. So it’s very useful for minimizing the loss to

study zonation of the landslide hazards and to deal with the

most dangerous regions at first (Huang et al.1992; Wu et al.

2001).

In recent years, researchers attempt to apply the advanced

RS and GIS technology on zonation of the landslide haz

ards. However, the study is still too inefficient to meet

the

need of the actual prevention project of the landslide

hazards

because the procedure involves lots of data and most pro

cess was still handled mainly by hand. At the same time, the

present methodology couldn’t analyze the actual conditions

accurately.

This paper attempts to apply the advanced RS and GIS

technology to study zonation of the landslide hazards in the

study area in TGP reservoir region. The causative factors

involves lithology, distance to faults, slope angle, slope

aspect,

elevation, drainage network, distance to river and distribu

tion of plant, which are derived from geological map, Spot

imagery data and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) using RS

and GIS technology. We analyze the zonation of the landslide

hazards by the algorithm of weights of evidence modeling.

The research result is very similar to the actual field

condi

tions, which shows that the methodology is very useful and

accurate and that the approach is appropriate for zonation

of

the landslide hazards. 2 STUDY AREA AND DATA SETS 2.1 Study
area TheThree Gorges have been formed by severe incision of
massive limestone mountains, of lower Palaeozoic and
Mesozoic age, along narrow fault zones, in response to
Quaternary uplift. Between the gorges, the rocks are much
less resistant (consisting mainly of thinly interbedded
permeable and impermeable strata) and the valley is wider
with less steep slope angles than in the gorges. River bank
erosion, terrain dissection and slope failures tend to be
concentrated in these ‘intergorge’areas (Du et al. 1990).
The study area is 1188.9 km 2 and is located in Hubei
Province from Zigui to Badong counties.There are most of
the stratums from the Pre-Sinian system to the Quaternary
system except for the lower Devonian system, the upper
Carboniferous and part of the Cretaceous and tertiary
system in the area. The basement of the study area is a
crystalline, pre-Sinian layer, with a supra-crustal
Sinian-Quaternary sedimentary cover. The Huangling
anticline forms a major NNE-SSW oriented structure in the
area, about 50 km in length, to the southeast of Zigui, and
its core is composed of pre-Sinian metamorphic and magmatic
rocks. The strength and stability of this anticlinal
structure are the principal reasons for the sitting of the
Three Gorges Dam in its location, near Sandouping town
(about 60 km west toYichang city). The main faults have
Jiuanxi fault, Xiannushan fault, Tianyangping fault, Xinhua
fault, etc. The average precipitation in the area is
100–150 mm per month and the spring-summer (March–August)
average can be as high as 200–300 mm per month. And it’s
relatively even in the whole area.

Figure 1. The distribution plan of known landslides in the

study

area.

There are many landslides (as shown in Figure 1), for exam

ple, Xintan landslide, Huangtupo landslide and Huanglashi

landslide, which are usually located in the section with

“hard”

rock and “soft” rock jointly and along the bank of the
river.

The landslides often cause serious damage to the area. For

instance, the Huangtupo landslide has forced the new town of

Badong county to be relocated to Xirangpo, about 6 km to the

west of Huangtupo. Another recent landslide, on 3rd March

2002, moved more than 20 million cubic meters of debris down

slope, threatening the new town of Wushan county(Wu et al.

2001).

2.2 Data sets

It is known from the statistical data and case studies of

typical

landslides that there are four major factors that

contribute to

the occurrences of landslides: (1) rock types and structure;

(2) valley slope geometry and landform; (3) hydrogeological

conditions; and (4) dynamical factors. The dynamical factors

normally include rainfall, earthquake and river bank

erosion.

The former statistical data and studies show that the

rainfall

is almost the same everywhere in the study area and that the

earthquake is too low to affect the stability of the

slopes. So

rainfall and earthquake are kept out of the factors for

analyz

ing zonation of the landslide hazards. And the former

studies

show that Normal Different Vegetation Index (NDVI) could

be the index of the hydrogeological conditions to some

extent.

So the main factors for analyzing zonation of the landslide

hazards in this study area involves: (1) rock types and

struc

ture (lithology, fault); (2) landform (aspect, slope,

elevation

and drainage network); (3) hydrogeological conditions (Nor

mal DifferentVegetation Index, namely NDVI); (4) dynamical

factors (distance to river).

The data for this study comes from three types of data sets.

The first one is the 1:50,000 scale digitized geological

map,

from which landslides location map, lithology map and fault

map were obtained. The cumulative distance from faults and

the cumulative distance from faults interface were acquired

from the fault map. The second one is the 1:50,000 scale

DEM, from which aspect, slope, elevation and drainage net

work were calculated.The cumulative distance from drainages

and drainage network density were acquired from the drainage

network map. The last dataset is the 15 m SPOT5 images,

from which Normal Different Vegetation Index (NDVI) and

the main river were derived using remote sensing

technology. Figure 2. The flow chart of picking up factors
on analyzing zonation of landslide hazards. And the
cumulative distances fromYangtze river were acquired from
the main river distribution map. The flow chart of picking
up factors on analyzing zonation of landslide hazards are
shown in Figure 2. 3 METHOD OF WEIGHTS OF EVIDENCE MODEL
The methodology involves the application as data
intergrator of the weight of evidence model, a log linear
form Bayes Rule with conditional indepence. This method
allows the user to explore the spatial relationship between
known landslides and input datasets from a variety of
sources. It is advantageous to generalize the maps to a
small number of classes, often to binary classes. The
process of evaluating weights and reclassification gives
invaluable insights into the spatial associations present
in the data (e.g. selection of optimal distances for
buffering linear features, etc.). Evidence-of-evidence
procedure consists in the calculation of the posterior
logit from the prior logit and sum of weights, one for each
map (Bonham-Carter et al. 1988). The posterior logit is
evaluated over the map region and is usually converted to
posterior probability for display. The effects of various
sources of uncertainty on the final result can be modeled
such as the variances of weights and variance due to
missing data (incomplete surveys). These operations are
briefly described below: If the study area is broken down
into T unit cells with the same proportion and there are D
unit cells containing an occurrence and D unit cells
without a landslide, the weights for an evidence factor are
defined as

Where W + is the weight of evidence of occurring factor; W −

is the negative weight of evidence of the factor.

Under conditional indepence, the posterior logit of con

taining the landslide for the k unit cell is defined as Q,

then

Then the posterior probability P is

Where

w k j is the weight value of the j-th evidence factor

C = w + − w − , stands for the correlation between the

evidence

factor and the occurrence of the landslide.

The themes used as evidence of landslides in this study were

derived from the raw data sets that consisted of the

digitized

geological map, DEM and remotely sensed data.

4 RESULTS

Using the spatial analysis technology of GIS, the study

area is

divided into 7461 unit cells measured at 400 m × 400 m. Each

map of factors are transformed into binary map. Then the

rela

tionship between each factor and the occurrence of the known

landslides was analyzed and the weights for each evidential

factor (evidential theme) are calculated, as shown in

Tables 1

to 8. In Tables 1 to 8, the class stands for the

classification of

the evidence factor. W + is the weight of evidence of

occurring

factor, W − is the the negative weight of evidence of the

factor.

The weight value is more and more large and the evidence
factor has more and more important influence on occurrence

of the landslides while the W + value is more and more

large.

The calculated results shown in Tables 1 to 8 indicate:

(1) The weights of evidence vary widely with different

factors

of evidence. The weights of evidence for lithology and for

cumulative distance from faults interface are relatively

very

large, but they are smaller than that for cumulative

distance

fromYangtze river. The weights of evidence for cumulative

distance fromYangtze river are the largest, which indicates

that the river erosion is the most important factor for the

occurrence of landslides in the study area, which is coin

cident with the actual fact that the landslides in the study

area are mostly located along the banks of Yangtze river.

The calculated results in Table 5 show that the evelation

is also a important factor for the occurrence of landslides

Table 1. Variation of the weights of evidence for
lithology. Class tjs tb jt js2 W + 1.4034 0.7293 0.9031
−0.2128 W − −0.0727 −0.1268 −0.1241 0.0225 Class js jn
P_cds W + −0.5126 0.4762 0.3794 W − 0.1611 −0.0782 −0.0132
Table 2. Variation of the weights of evidence for
cumulative distance from faults interface. Class 1 km 2 km
3 km 4 km 5 km W + 1.4221 −0.0459 0.7745 1.2518 0.4462 W −
−0.0155 0.0007 −0.0312 −0.0939 −0.0270 Table 3. Variation
of the weights of evidence for slope. Class 0–5 ◦ 5–20 ◦
20–35 ◦ 35–50 ◦ 50–65 ◦ W + −0.3725 0.0096 0.2575 −0.5013 0
W − 0.0118 −0.0033 −0.3284 0.1863 Table 4. Variation of the
weights of evidence for aspect. Class 0–45 ◦ 45–90 ◦ 90–135
◦ 135–180 ◦ W + 0.3527 −0.2204 −0.1843 −0.0089 W − −0.0640
0.0297 0.0256 0.0012 Class 180–225 ◦ 225–270 ◦ 270–315 ◦
315–360 ◦ W + 0.0426 −0.1681 0.1384 −0.0078 W − −0.0055
0.0220 −0.0219 0.0010 Table 5. Variation of the weights of
evidence for elevation. Class 0–100 m 100–500 m 500–1000 m
1000–1500 m >1500 m W + −0.5949 1.2835 −1.6172 −2.6788 0 W
− 0.0126 −1.8312 0.5599 0.2341 Table 6. Variation of the
weights of evidence for drainage network density. Class
5–262 262–519 519–776 776–1033 W + −0.6473 −0.0950 −0.2863
−0.1668 W − 0.0553 0.0225 0.0639 0.0331 Class 1033–1291
1291–1548 1548–1805 1805–2320 W + 0.3373 0.1368 1.2113
0.3647 W − −0.0725 −0.0193 −0.0723 −0.0047 Table 7.
Variation of the weights of evidence for cumulative
distance from Yangtze river. Class 0.5 m 1 km 1.5 km 2 km
2.5 km 3 km W + 2.1654 1.5334 0.9978 0.3630 0.2791 −0.2953
W − −0.3390 −0.1606 −0.0760 −0.0194 −0.0142 0.0108 in the
study area. The calculated results in Tables 3,4 and 8 show
that the aspect, slope and NDVI have some influence on the
occurrence of landslides , but the influence is relatively
very weak.

Table 8. Variation of the weights of evidence for NDVI.

Class 105–160 160–210 210–260

W + 0.0667 0.3250 −2.4002

W − −0.0057 −1.2055 0.3007

Figure 3. Zonation of landslide hazards in the study area.

(2) There is much difference in the weights of evidence

among

the different classes of the same factors of evidence. For

example, the calculated results of Table 1 show that the

weights of evidence for lithology of Jialingjiang group

(Tjs) of lower Trias, Badong group (Tb) of middle Trias,

Tongzhuyuan group (Jt) of lower Jurassic, Niejiashan group

(Jn) of middle Jurassic and the 500 m distance from inter

face between Permian and Carboniferous, Devonian and

Silurian period are much higher than any other lithology,

which is coincident with the actual fact that the landslides

are mostly located in the above lithology in the study area.

The calculated results of Table 4 indicate that the river

ero

sion becomes more and more violent and the slope becomes

more and more unstable while the distance from the river is

nearer and nearer, which is coincident with the occurrence

of the known landslides.

After check for their conditional independence quantita

tively, based on occurrence of known landslides in the

classes

of causative parameters, weight values were assigned in to

classes of parameters, then the landslide hazards zonation

map

was produced by summation of assigned weight values. The

predictive result is a map of posterior probability with the

value range from 0 to 1 (as shown in Figure 2).

According to the landslide hazards zonation map, there are

three potentially dangerous areas with landslides in the

study

area.The first one is the region between Xietan and

Huanglashi

where there are such famous landslides as Huanglashi land

Author index

Abu Bakar, M.Z. 155

Agui, K. 563

Ahmadi, M. 951

Akai, T. 1225

Akutagawa, S. 987

Al-Ajmi, A.M. 475

Albrecht, J. 1159

Alejano, L.R. 905

Allodi, A. 1281

Almeida, P.G. 311

Alonso, E.E. 775

Anagnostou, G. 829, 963,

975, 983

Andrade Pais, L. 207

Angerer, H. 1305

Antão, A.M. 513

Antikainen, J. 335

Aoki, K. 273, 925, 1273

Aoki, T. 761

Arabzadeh, M.H. 1075

Arai, T. 277

Arai, Y. 277

Arbanas, Ž. 597

Armand, G. 33

Arshadnejad, S. 845

Arunakumari, G. 243

Asakura, K. 83

Asakura, T. 819, 897, 921, 943

Ashjari, R. 951

Assis, A.P. 787

Aydan, Ö. 1095
Ballivy, G. 711

Bao, H.R. 435

Bao T. 285

Barbero, M. 377

Barla, G. 415, 971, 1173

Barla, M. 415

Barroso, E.V. 1269

Barton, N. 109

Basson, F. 1159

Bastos, M. de P. 315

Basu, A. 385

Beer, G. 751, 769

Bellendir, E. 555

Berdugo, I.R. 775

Bestyn´nski, Z. 913

Bich, G. 555

Bigarré, P. 69, 1147

Bilgin, A. 1095

Blümel, M. 455

Bogner, B. 1071

Bonini, M. 377

Booysen, H. 1003

Bornert, M. 59

Borri-Brunetto, M. 377

Bortolucci, A.A. 385

Boualleg, R. 1221 Boulon, M. 327 Boult, P.J. 1217 Brandl,
J. 891 Brem, G. 1209 Bronshteyn, V.I. 1015 Bruel, D. 343
Cˇadež, J. 741 Cai M. 281 Cai, M. 381 Cai, Y. 633, 765
Campos, E. 1269 Camusso, M. 415 Cantieni, L. 829, 975, 983
Carter, T.G. 161 Carvalho, J.L. 161 Castelli, M. 1281
Castro, J.T. 1269 Cavaleiro, V.M. 311 Celestino, T.B. 385
Chalhoub, M. 251 Chaminé, H.I. 307 Chang, C.S. 273, 925,
1273 Chang, S.-H. 799 Chang, Y. 791 Charlety, J. 343 Chen
B. 281 Chen, C.-H. 857 Chen F. 1139, 1241 Chen, Q. 23 Chen
X. 133, 169 Chen Y. 131 Chen Y.R. 575 Cheng Q. 1321 Cheng
Y. 601 Cheon, D.S. 331 Cherkez, E. 555 Chino, K. 897 Cho,
T.F. 551 Choi, J.W. 551 Choi, J.-Y. 1285 Choi, S.K. 123
Choi, S.O. 319, 865 Choudhari, J. 815 Christiansson, R. 55,
935 Chuang, Y.C. 959 Chun, D.S. 11 Chung, S.-K. 499, 1245
Chung, S.K. 833 Chunlin Li, C. 1041 Cleave, R. 1233
Clément, C. 69 Coelho, A.G. 685 Coelho, S. 187 Coggan, J.S.
201 Contrucci, I. 1147 Córdoba, D. 905 Corigliano, M. 1173
Correia, A.G. 909 Costa, C.A. 615 Cravero, M. 701
Cruchaudet, M. 33 Cuadros, J. 905 Cui X. 1143 Cuisiat, F.
1233 Culshaw, M.G. 41 Curran, J.H. 1317 Dai H. 1113 Daido,
M. 1095 Davis, G.N. 719 Deb, D. 1047 Debecker, B. 269
Deisman, N. 485 Delgado, J. 729 Derek Martin, C. 935
Dervaricˇ, E. 741 Deschamps, B. 589 Dethy, B. 661
Diederichs, M.S. 161 Ding, Y.-C. 1057 Dinis-da-Gama, C. 347
Docrat, Y.S. 585 Dong Z. 677 Doostmohammadi, R. 443
Douglas, K.J. 481 Driad-Lebeau, L. 1147 Duarte, I.M.R. 451
Dünner, C. 69 Dünser, Ch. 769 Durand, P. 715 Duray, S. 589
Dyadkov, P.G. 1155 Eberhardt, E. 629 Eguchi, T. 619
Einstein, H.H. 1301 El Malki, T. 711 Elkin, A. 555 Emami
Tabrizi, M. 365 Erguler, Z.A. 265 Erichsen, C. 27 Erichsen,
L. 1025 Erlikhman, S.A. 1009 Esaki, T. 373, 765 Estaire, J.
289, 671 Esteves, C. 991 Eytard, J.C. 59, 365 Fahimifar, A.
559 Fairhurst, C. 485 Fang Q. 1289 Fardin, N. 461 Fedchun,
A. 555 Fedotova, Yu. 1151 Feng J. 623 Feng Q. 299

Feng, X.T. 931

Ferreira Gomes, L.M. 207

Ferreira, P. 967

Ferrero, A.M. 543

Fink, A.K. 1009

Fisher, B.R. 629

Flansbjer, M. 55

Flynn, Z.N. 201, 231, 293

Foged, N. 967, 1025

Fontoura, S.A.B. da 1261

Ford, N.T. 231

Forlani, G. 543

Fourie, P. 1003

Fowell, R.J. 63, 155

Franz, J. 633

Frayssines, M. 1281

Freiberg, E. 555

Freitas, R. 685

Fritz, P. 653

Fu, B.-J. 849

Fu J. 1143

Fujieda, M. 563

Funatsu, T. 439

Gagnon, J. 711

Gaich, A. 533, 1019

Galler, R. 891

García-Wolfrum, S. 339

Garzonio, C.A. 117

Gattermann, J. 1209

Gaziev, E.G. 517

Ge, X. 403, 1035

Geilikman, M.B. 1255

Gekeler, A. 27
Gens, A. 775

Gharbi, H. 59

Ghazvinian, A. 247

Ghomghaleh, A. 1075

Ghorbani, M. 947

Giot, R. 323

Giraud, A. 73, 323

Golshani, A. 509

Gonçalves, C. 1269

González de Vallejo, L.I. 147

González Gallego, J. 637

Gonzalez-Garcia, A.J. 579

Goshtasbi, K. 951

Grasso, P. 543, 979

Gravel, C. 711

Grgic, D. 73

Grošic´„ M. 597

Gu, J. 435

Guan, Z. 825

Gunzburger, Y. 69

Guo, Q.L. 37

Gwynn, X.P. 201

Ha, T. 369

Hack, H.R.G.K. 299, 725

Hack, R. 105, 1203

Hagedorn, H. 917

Haimson, B. 1249

Hakala, M. 91

Hakami, H. 399

Halphen, B. 365 Hammah, R.E. 1317 Han, K.C. 11 Han, W.F. 37

Handley, M.F. 645 Hansen, T.F. 1065 Harrison, J.P. 469
Hashemi, M. 747 Hassani, F.P. 175 Hassani, H. 845 Hatzor,
Y.H. 609 Hauck, C.-D. 27 Hauser, M. 653 Havaj, J. 1189 He,
M. 169, 623 Hebblewhite, B. 633 Heinemann, U. 77 Hencher,
S. 223 Hijazo, T. 147 Hirata, A. 1199 Holecko, J. 1177
Homand, F. 73, 323 Horikawa, S. 1109 Horyl, P. 1189 Hou, Y.
1289 Hsieh, Y.-M. 491 Hu, S. 281 Huang, S. 677 Huang, T.-H.
491, 857 Hudson, J.A. 91 Hunt, S.P. 1217 Iabichino, G. 701
Igarashi, T. 83 Iida, H. 987 Ikemi, H. 373, 765 Ilyin, M.M.
1009 Imagawa, H. 83 Imaizumi, A. 1083 Imani, M. 559
Inokuchi, T. 1199 Ishida, T. 1225 Ishikawa, M. 439 Ito, H.
1105 Ito, Y. 563 Iwano, K. 1101 Jackson, P. 1025 Jacobsson,
L. 55 Jafari, A. 939 Jakobsen, L. 1025 Jamali, M. 681 Jang,
M.-H. 369 Jansson, T. 55 Jasinge, D. 123 Jefferson, I.F. 41
Jeng, F.-S. 127, 491 Jeon, S. 331, 1163 Jeong, J.-H. 369
Jiang, Q. 931 Jiang, Y. 677 Jiang, Y. 825 Jiang, Y.J. 765,
1131 Jimenez-Rodriguez, R. 407 Jing, L. 47 Johansson, E. 91
Jong, Y.-H. 1163 Jung, Y.B. 179, 833 Juric´-Kac´unic´, D.
597 Justo, E. 715 Justo, J.L. 715 Kadlec, Z. 1167 Kaiser,
P.K. 381, 971 Kalcher, T. 1305 Kaneko, K. 83, 101 Kang H.
303 Karparov, K.N. 645 Karpinskaya, A.G. 1009 Kato, M. 351
Kavur, B. 967 Kawamoto, T. 1095 Khoshrou, S.H. 681 Kido, K.
619 Kihm, J.H. 97 Kikuchi, K. 563 Kikuyama, S. 1101 Kim,
D.H. 319 Kim, D.Y. 355 Kim, H.-Y. 499, 1245 Kim, J. 319,
419 Kim, J.D. 865 Kim, J.G. 151 Kim, J.M. 97 Kim, K.S. 865
Kim, S. 151, 419 Kim, W.-B. 369 Kim, Y. 419 Kim, Y.J. 551
Kittl, H. 1305 Kiyama, H. 641 Klein, E. 1147 Klose, C.D.
407 Kneib, G. 1117 Knipe, R. 223 Kobayashi, T. 563
Kodikara, J. 123 Koga, T. 23 Kojima, Y. 819, 921, 943
Kolichko, A.V. 517 Konicek, P. 1177 Kovács, L. 197 Koyama,
T. 47 Kozlov, O.V. 1009 Kozyrev, A.A. 1151 Kramadibrata, S.
705 Krenn, F. 891 Kuchta, M. 837 Kulatilake, P.H.S.W. 255
Kumar, Rakesh 427 Kurzweil, H.-Ch. 891 Kusumi, H. 525, 861
Kwas´niewski, M. 237, 351, 1105 Labiouse, V. 657, 999 Lai,
C.G. 1173 Lai, Z.H.F. 481 Laigle, F. 995 Lamos, A.W. 795
Lamos, R.A. 795 Latilla, J.W. 1003

Laughton, C. 837

Leal-Gomes, M.J.A. 347

Lee, C.-I. 1163, 1285

Lee, D.-H. 499, 1245

Lee, G.H. 551

Lee, H.-S. 1245

Lee, J.H. 987

Lee, J.S. 151

Lee, Y.-K. 799

Lee, Y.N. 355

Lehtonen, A. 335

Li, D. 1321

Li, H.-H. 491

Li J. 1193

Li L. 19

Li, Q. 439

Li, S. 677, 1091

Li, X. 1139

Li, X. 351, 1127

Li, Y. 1241

Li, Z. 849, 1229

Li, Z.X. 37

Liang, G.P. 169

Liang, N.H. 285

Liao, Y. 1229

Likar, J. 741

Lim, S. 1135
Lima, C. 991

Lin J. 303

Lin, M.-L. 127

Lin, P. 567

Lin, W. 1105

Lira, W.W.M. 1265

Liu, C. 131

Liu H. 1229

Liu, Q. 547

Liu, S.-T. 1057

Liu, X.R. 285

Liu, Y. 575

Lizzadro, L. 539

Lo, W. 1057

Lomba, R.F.T. 1261

Lorenzo Martín, F. 869

Lu, M. 19

Lu, X. 601

Lu, Z. 677

Luis Fonseca, R.J. 637

Luo, X. 1035

Luo, Y. 1143

Luong, M.P. 365

Ma, C. 1139

Ma, G. 1127, 1135, 1193

Ma, Q. 281

Machijima, Y. 1101

Mackay, F.E.E. 787

Madhavi Latha, G. 243

Maejima, T. 925, 1273

Majdi, A. 1075

Maji, V.B. 1185

Malan, D.F. 1311

Manzella, I. 657

Marques, E.G. 315

Marsella, M. 539 Martha, L.F. 1265 Martinotti, M.E. 415 Mas

Ivars, D. 485 Masoudi, R. 947 Mathier, J.-F. 999 Matsui, H.
273 Matsuki, K. 277 Matsunaga, T. 819, 943 Matsuoka, T. 525
Maurenbrecher, P.M. 725 Medved, M. 741 Melnikov, N.N. 1151
Menand, S. 1221 Mendes, E. 207 Merrien-Soukatchoff, V. 69
Migliazza, M. 543 Minami, M. 273 Miranda, T. 909 Mitani, Y.
373, 765 Mitarashi, Y. 761 Mito, Y. 273, 925, 1273 Mizuta,
Y. 23 Mörén, L. 87 Moffitt, K.M. 391 Mollaee, M. 939
Mononen, S. 335 Montero-Olarte, J. 579 Moosavi, M. 443,
1123 Morel, J. 33 Morelli, C.P. 1217 Mori, T. 1101 Morton,
E.C. 1061 Mostyn, G. 481 Muniz, E.S. 1261 Muralha, J. 431
Murata, S. 1225 Mutschler, Th. 443 Nakajima, M. 1101
Nakamura, M. 861 Nakatani, K. 277 Namin, F. S. 901 Nara, Y.
101 Nateghi, R. 947 Nazarov, L.A. 1155 Nazarova, L.A. 1155
Nguyen Minh, D. 59 Nikudel, M.R. 247 Nishimura, T. 641
Niunoya, S. 273 Nordlund, E. 883 Nunes, A.L.L.S. 615 Obara,
Y. 51 Oda, M. 509 Ogawa, K. 211 Ohmura, K. 277 Ohtsuki, S.
525 Okano, N. 897 Okui, Y. 509 Olalla, C. 289, 339, 529
Olofsson, O. 955 Ooyabu, K. 619 Ormaetxea, V. 3 Osan, C.
443 Ouellet, J. 175 Pan, Y. 447 Pápay, Z. 465 Park, C. 179,
331, 499, 499 Park, E.-S. 499, 1245 Park, J. 255 Park,
J.-W. 1053 Park, S.U. 97 Pellet, F.L. 1079 Pereira, A.M.B.
751 Perman, F. 955 Perri, G. 809 Perucho, A. 529, 671, 853
Petros, V. 1167 Pierce, M. 485 Pimentel, E. 143 Pine, R.J.
231, 293 Pinho, A.B. 451 Pires, A.C. 307 Pistone, R.S. 685
Plasencia, N. 991 Poisel, R. 1071, 1305 Pöllinger, M. 1305
Pötsch, M. 455, 533, 1019 Pouya, A. 251 Preh, A. 1071 Qian
H.S. 169 Qian, Q. 1241 Qian, Z. 601 Quinta-Ferreira, M. 513
Quintanilha de Menezes, J.E.T. 667 Rabbi, E. 543
Radziszewski, P.H. 175 Rahmani, I. 327 Rahman-Nezhad, R.
747 Rakesh Kumar, 427 Ramamurthy, T. 757 Ramoni, M. 963
Rangasamy, T. 779 Ranjith, P.G. 123 Read, S.A.L. 359
Rebours, H. 33 Rechitski, V.I. 517, 1009 Rehbock-Sander, M.
917 Rejeb, A. 1031 Ren J. 403 Reshetnyak, S.P. 1151 Ribeiro
e Sousa, L. 909, 967 Ricca, A. 539 Richards, L. 359
Riikonen, S. 91 Riscado, J.F. 311 Rivard, P. 711
Rodrigues-Carvalho, J.A. 451 Rogers, S.F. 391 Roggenthen,
W. 837 Romana, M. 139 Romero, E.E. 775 Roncella, R. 543
Roosefid, M. 1079

Rosengren, L. 955

Röshoff, K. 299

Roth, A. 1061

Rotonda, T. 539

Rouabhi, A. 1221

Rousseau, B. 711

Russo, G. 979

Rutqvist, J. 1031

Ryu, D.W. 7, 11

Sagong, M. 151

Saiang, D. 883

Saiedtarrah, B. 747

Saito, T. 563, 1225

Sakurai, S. 1083

Samadhiya, N.K. 815

Sancer, J. 1167

Sandoval, G. 853

Sandrone, F. 999

Sandy, M. 1159

Santos, J. 685
Santos, J.B. 1269

Sarfarazi, V. 247

Saroglou, H. 191

Sasaki, K. 51, 1109

Sasaki, T. 1109

Sato, A. 15

Savich, A.I. 517

Sawada, A. 15

Saydam, S. 585

Scavia, C. 1281

Schieg, T. 455

Schmitt, D. 803

Schmitz, R.M. 593, 661

Schroeder, C. 661

Schubert, W. 533, 1019

Sellami, H. 1221

Serón, J.B. 729

Serrano, A. 289, 339, 529,

671, 853

Seto, M. 439

Seywald, C. 455

Shahriar, K. 901

Shamsi, H. 939

Shang, Y. 227

Shariati, V. 901
Sharifzadeh, M. 947

Sharma, K.G. 427

Sharrock, G.B. 1159

Shi, Y. 227

Shigeta, Y. 819, 921

Shim, H.-J. 1053

Shimizu, K. 897

Shimizu, M. 897

Shimizu, N. 439, 1083

Shin, K. 211

Shou, K.J. 959

Sigarán-Loría, C. 1203

Silva, P. 967

Silver, C. 1003

Simangunsong, G.M. 705

Simon, C. 1221

Singh, B. 815

Singh, M. 815 Sitharam, T.G. 1185 Sjöberg, J. 87, 91, 955

Skurtveit, E. 1233 Slob, S. 299 Šnupárek, R. 1189 Soares
Cardoso, A.I. 667 Soh, W. 1105 Song, J.-J. 1053 Sossai,
F.J.M. 315 Souley, M. 327 Sousa, P. 685 Sousa, R. 1301
Sousa, T. 967 Stadelmann, R. 917 Štambuk Cvitanovic´, N.
967 Stead, D. 693 Stefanizzi, S. 971 Stefanou, I. 503
St-Pierre, L. 175 Sturzenegger, M. 693 Su, G. 931 Su, K.
323 Sugita, T. 1199 Sui, B. 1091 Sulem, J. 503 Sulistianto,
B. 705 Sun, Y. 227 Sunwoo, C. 7, 833 Suzuki, Y. 51 Synn,
J.H. 179, 331 Syrjänen, P. 91 Takahashi, M. 237, 351, 509
Takemura, T. 351, 509 Takeo, S. 1083 Takeuchi, R. 277
Takeuchi, S. 277 Tanabashi, Y. 825, 1131 Tanaka, M. 1101
Tang, C. 447 Tani, K. 1225 Tanimoto, C. 761 Tasaka, Y. 925
Tastet, J. 1147 Tavallali, A. 269 Taylor, J.A. 63
Tegelkamp, M. 77 Tegtmeier, W. 105 Telles, I.A. 1265 Thiel,
K. 913 Thompson, A.G. 183, 423, 1061 Thoraval, A. 327
Tobing, A. 705 Tokashiki, N. 1095 Tomás, R. 729 Tonon, F.
215 Török, Á. 465 Trcˇková, J. 877 Tsai, L.-S. 127
Tsesarsky, M. 609 Tshibangu, J.P. 589 Tsiambaos, G. 191
Tsuji, T. 897 Tsukada, K. 819 Tsukui, M. 619 Tsusaka, K.
761 Turner, A.K. 299 Ulusay, R. 265 Um, J.-G. 255 Uno, H.
1273 Ustinov, D.V. 1015 Valès, F. 59 Vallier, F. 373 van
Cotthem, A. 661 van Wijk, J.J. 1003 Ván, P. 411
Varadarajan, A. 427 Vardoulakis, I. 503 Vargas Jr., E.A.
1265, 1269 Váró, Á. 197 Vásárhelyi, B. 139, 197, 411
Vasconcelos, H. 967 Verma, A.K. 1047 Vervoort, A. 269 Viana
da Fonseca, A. 187 Villaescusa, E. 1061 Vrkljan, I. 967
Wang, C.-Y. 1105 Wang K. 1229 Wang, T.-T. 857, 1057 Wang,
X. 37 Wang, Z. 571, 881, 1321 Wanne, T.S. 495 Wattimena,
R.K. 705 Wei, D. 1241 Wei, X. 1193 Weng, M.-C. 127
Wetherelt, A. 201 Wileveau, Y. 33 Windsor, C.R. 183
Wittemans, S. 589 Wittke, W. 1293 Wittke-Gattermann, P.
1293 Wittke-Schmitt, B. 869 Won, K.S. 551 Wong, S.W. 1255
Wu, X. 131 Wu, Z. 547 Xiao S. 677 Xu J. 1139 Xu J.H. 19 Xu
P. 165 Xu Y. 447 Yacoub, T.E. 1317 Yamauchi, Y. 1131 Yan,
M. 693 Yang, C. 1241 Yang, H.-S. 369 Yang, Q. 133, 567, 575
Yang, R. 567 Yang, Z. 19 Yang, Z.F. 165 Yashiro, K. 921

Yazdani, M. 605

Yazdani, S. 605

Yeh, E.-C. 1105

Yi, N.P. 395

Yin, X. 1241

Yokota, Y. 987

Yokoyama, T. 211

Yoshikawa, K. 921

Yoshinaga, Y. 51

Yoshinaka, R. 1109

You, K.-H. 151

Young, R.P. 495

Yu, G. 447

Yu, M.H. 41
Yuan, G. 227 Yuan, P. 677 Yuan, S.C. 469 Yue, Z.Q. 19
Yufin, S.A. 1015 Zamakhaev, A.M. 1009 Zamani, H. 1123 Zeng,
L. 1229 Zertsalov, M.G. 1015 Zhang, D. 1289 Zhang J.-J. 849
Zhang, L.Q. 165 Zhang, M. 447 Zhang, X. 1091 Zhang, X.G.
395 Zhang, Z. 1035 Zhao H. 37, 677 Zhao, Z.Y. 435 Zheng J.
19 Zhou, W. 567 Zhou, Y.F. 169 Zhou, Z. 1127 Zhu, B. 547
Zhu H. 1113 Zhu, W. 1091 Zhuang, X.Y. 169 Zhukov, V.N. 1015
Zimmerman, R.W. 475 Zlatanova, S. 105