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Complete Lecture Notes On Rock Mechanics PDF
Complete Lecture Notes On Rock Mechanics PDF
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Overview
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Rock Mechanics and
Rock Engineering
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Nature of Rock
A common assumption when dealing with the
mechanical behaviour of solids is that they
are:
· homogeneous
· continuous
· isotropic
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Nature of Rock
Homogeneous Continuous Isotropic
sandstone strength
equal in
all directions
sandstone joints
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Rock as an Engineering Material
One of the most important, and frequently neglected, aspects of rock
mechanics and rock engineering is that we are utilizing an existing
material which is usually highly variable.
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Rock as an Engineering Material
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Influence of Geological Factors
Five primary geological factors can be viewed as influencing a rock
mass. In the context of the mechanics problem, we should consider the
material and the forces applied to it.
In all of these subjects, the geological history has played its part,
altering the rock and the applied forces.
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Influence of Geological Factors – Intact
Rock
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Influence of Geological Factors – Intact
Rock
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Influence of Geological Factors –
Discontinuities and Rock Structure
The result in terms of rock fracturing is to produce a geometrical
structure (often very complex) of fractures forming rock blocks. The
overall geometrical configuration of the discontinuities in the rock mass
is termed rock structure. It is often helpful to understand the way in
which discontinuities form. There are three ways in which a fracture
can be formed:
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Influence of Geological Factors –
Discontinuities and Rock Structure
In practice, failure is most often associated with discontinuities which
act as pre-existing planes of weakness. Some examples of the way in
which the discontinuity genesis leads to differing mechanical properties
are:
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Influence of Geological Factors –
Pre-Existing In Situ Rock Stress
When considering the loading conditions imposed on the rock structure, it
must be recognized that an in situ pre-existing state of stress already
exists in the rock.
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Influence of
Structure &
In Situ Rock
Stress Together
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Influence of Geological Factors –
Pore Fluids and Water Flow
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Influence of Geological Factors – Time
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Scalars, Vectors and Tensors
There is a fundamental difference, both conceptually and mathematically,
between a tensor and the more familiar quantities of scalars and
vectors:
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Normal and Shear Stress Components
On a real or imaginary plane through a material, there can be normal
forces and shear forces. These forces create the stress tensor. The
normal and shear stress components are the normal and shear forces per
unit area.
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Force and Stress
We are now in a position to obtain an initial idea of the crucial
difference between forces and stresses.
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Force and Stress
The reason for this is that it is only the force that is resolved in the
first case (i.e. vector), whereas, it is both the force and the area that
are resolved in the case of stress (i.e. tensor).
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Stress as a Point Property
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Stress as a Point Property
Because these forces will vary according to the
orientation of ∆A within the slice, it is most
useful to consider the normal stress (∆N/∆A)
and the shear stress (∆S/∆A) as the area ∆A
becomes very small, eventually approaching
zero.
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Intact Rock
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Uniaxial Compression Test
… typical record from a uniaxial compression test. Note that the force
and displacement have been scaled respectively to stress (by dividing by
the original cross-sectional area of the specimen) and to strain (by
dividing by the original length).
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Stages of Stress-Strain Behaviour
As the rock is gradually loaded, it passes through several stages:
σaxial
σ cd
applied stress will close (σ cc).
crack damage t hreshold
Crack Volumetric
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Elastic Constants
Focussing on the interval of near linear behaviour, we can draw analogies
to the ideal elastic rock represented by our elastic compliance matrix.
Remembering that the Young’s modulus, E, is defined as the ratio of
stress to strain (i.e. 1/S11), it can be determined in two ways:
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Elastic Constants
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Elastic Constants
… typical values of
Young’s modulus and
Poisson’s ratio for
various rock types
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Compressive Strength
Another important parameter in the uniaxial compression test is the
maximum stress that the test sample can sustain. Under uniaxial loading
conditions, the peak stress is referred to as the uniaxial compressive
strength, σc.
It is important to realize
that the compressive
strength is not an intrinsic
property. Intrinsic material
properties do not depend on
the specimen geometry or
the loading conditions used in
the test: the uniaxial
compressive strength does.
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Compressive Strength
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Effects of Specimen Size
Having described how the complete σ-ε curve can be obtained
experimentally, we can now consider other factors that affect the
complete σ-ε curves of laboratory tested rock.
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Effects of Loading Conditions
… these different
strengths may be tested
either directly (e.g.
uniaxial tension test,
direct shear test, etc.)
or indirectly (e.g.
Brazilian tensile test,
triaxial compression test,
etc.).
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Effects of Loading Conditions
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Pore Pressure Effects
Some rocks are weakened by the addition of water, the effect being a chemical
deterioration of the cement or binding material. In most cases, however, it is
the effect of pore water pressure that exerts the greatest influence on rock
strength. If drainage is impeded during loading, the pores or fissures will
compress the contained water, raising its pressure. The resulting effect is
described by Terzaghi’s effective stress law:
… as pore pressure “P” increases the effective normal stresses are reduced and
the Mohr circles are displaced towards failure.
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Time-Dependent Effects
We have indicated that during the complete σ-ε curve, microcracking
occurs from the very early stages of loading. Through these processes,
four primary time-dependent effects can be resolved:
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Temperature Effects
Only a limited amount information is available indicating the effect of
temperature on the complete σ-ε curve and other mechanical properties
of intact rock.
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Failure Criterion
Since uniaxial and triaxial testing of rock are by far the most common
laboratory procedures, the most obvious means of expressing a failure
criterion is:
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Mohr-Coulomb Criterion
τpeak = c + σn tan φ
Where:
φ is called the angle of internal friction (equivalent to
the angle of inclination of a surface sufficient to
cause sliding of a block of similar material);
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Mohr-Coulomb Criterion
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Mohr-Coulomb Criterion
The Mohr-Coulomb criterion is most suitable at high confining pressures when
rock generally fails through the development of shear planes. However, some
limitations are :
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The Hoek-Brown Empirical Failure Criterion
The Hoek-Brown empirical criterion was developed from a best-fit curve
to experimental failure data plotted in σ1- σ3 space. Since this is one of
the few techniques available for estimating in situ rock mass strength
from geological data, the criterion has become widely used in rock
mechanics analysis.
σ1 = σ3 + (m σc σ3+ sσc2)0.5
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Discontinuities
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Discontinuities
In fact, all rock masses are fractured, and it is a very rare case
where the spacings between discontinuities are appreciably greater
than the dimensions of the rock engineering project. Very often major
discontinuities delineate blocks within the rock mass, and within these
blocks there is a further suite of discontinuities.
should exist.
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Geometrical Properties of Discontinuity
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Discontinuity Spacing and Frequency
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Rock Quality Designation
A natural clustering of
discontinuities occurs through
the genetic process of
superimposed fracture phases,
each of which could have a
different spacing distribution.
An important feature for
engineering is the overall quality
of the rock mass cut by these
superimposed fracture systems.
For this reason, the concept of
the RQD was developed.
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Discontinuity Orientation
If we assume that a discontinuity is a
planar feature, then its orientation can
be uniquely defined by two parameters:
dip direction and dip angle. It is often
useful to present this data in a graphical
form to aid visualization and engineering
analysis.
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Discontinuity Persistence
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Discontinuity Roughness
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Discontinuity Aperture
The aperture is the distance between adjacent walls of a
discontinuity. This parameter has mechanical and hydraulic
importance, and a distribution of apertures for any given
discontinuity and for different discontinuities within the same rock
mass is expected.
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Mechanical Properties of Discontinuities
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Mechanical Properties - Strength
It is normally assumed that the shear strength of discontinuities is a
function of the friction angle rather than the cohesion. This is done by
using the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, τ = c + σtanφ, and setting the
cohesion to zero.
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Mechanical Properties - Strength
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Rock Masses
Building on our examination of first intact rock behaviour and then
discontinuity behaviour, we can now concentrate on extending these ideas
to provide a predictive model for the deformability and strength of rock
masses.
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Rock Mass Deformability
As an initial step in determining the overall deformability of a rock
mass, we can first consider the deformation of a set of parallel
discontinuities under the action of a normal stress, assuming linear
elastic discontinuity stiffnesses.
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Rock Mass Deformability
The contribution made by the intact rock to the deformation, δ I, is σL/E
(i.e. strain multiplied by length). The contribution made by a single
discontinuity to the deformation, δD, is σ/ED (remembering that ED relates to
displacement directly). Assuming a discontinuity frequency of λ, there will be
λL discontinuities in the rock mass and the total contribution made by these to
the deformation will be δDt, which is equal to σ λL /ED. Hence, the total
displacement, δ T, is:
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Rock Mass Deformability
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Rock Mass Strength
In the same way as we considered the deformability of a rock mass,
expressions can be developed indicating how strength is affected by the
presence of discontinuities, starting with a single discontinuity and then
extending to any number of discontinuities.
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Rock Mass Strength
The initial approach is via the ‘single plane of weakness’ theory,
whereby the strength of a sample of intact rock containing a single
discontinuity can be established. Basically, the stress applied to the
sample is resolved into the normal and shear stresses on the plane of
weakness and the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion applied to consider the
possibility of slip.
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Rock Mass Strength
The strength of the sample thus depends on the orientation of the
discontinuity. If the discontinuity is, for example, parallel or
perpendicular to the applied loading, it will have no effect on the
sample strength. At some angles, however, the discontinuity will
significantly reduce the strength of the sample.
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Rock Mass Strength
The plot of rock strength and the discontinuity angles at which the
sample strength becomes less than that for intact rock can be derived
by substituting the ‘single discontinuity’ normal and shear stress
relationships into the Mohr-Coulomb criterion:
Substituted into
|τ| = cw + σntanφw gives:
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Rock Mass Strength
An alternative presentation
of the ‘single plane of
weakness’ rock strength
theory is via the Mohr’s
circle representation. The
Mohr-Coulomb failure loci
for both intact rock and the
discontinuity are given.
Circle A – case where the failure locus for the discontinuity is just reached,
i.e. for a discontinuity at the angle 2β w=90°+φ w.
Circle B – case when failure can occur along the discontinuity for a range of
angles.
Circle C – case where the Mohr circle touches the intact rock failure locus, i.e.
where failure occurs in the intact rock.
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Rock Mass Strength
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Rock Mass Strength – Hoek-Brown
A methodology of assessing
rock mass strength that does
not depend on the ‘single
plane of weakness’ theory is
the Hoek-Brown failure
criterion. The criterion is
especially powerful in its
application to rock masses
due to the constants m and s
being able to take on values
which permit prediction of
the strengths of a wide
range of rock masses.
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Rock Mass
Strength
… Hoek-Brown
representation and
summary of rock
mass conditions,
testing methods and
theoretical
considerations.
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Rock Mass Strength – Hoek-Brown
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Rock Mass
Strength –
Hoek-Brown
… Hoek-Brown ‘m’
values for different
rock types.
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Rock Mass
Strength – Hoek-
Brown
… estimation of Hoek-
Brown constants and rock
mass deformation constants
based on rock mass
structure and discontinuity
surface conditions.
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Rock Mass Strength – Hoek-Brown