Block Cavi ak : TTA THE INTERNATIONAL CAVING STUDY STAGE | 1997-2000FOREWORD It is important that research outcomes be disseminated in a useful form to the clients of the research, and to the community at large if appropriate. The research monograph is a traditional mechanism for reporting substantial bodies of research which, taken together, advance the field to a significant degree. In 1996 the IKMRC published two such monographs, on comminution and blasting, in a series on mining and mineral processing. The present volume continues the series. Caving is a mining method which is of growing interest to companies concemed with the exploitation of massive ore deposits, because of its low cost. However the body of theoretical and practical knowledge of the factors controlling the caving process, particularly in competent rock masses, is limited, and the economic risk in developing a caving mine can therefore be higher than one would like. To remedy this situation, a number of major mining companies came together in 1997 to fund the International Caving Study, a wide-ranging research and technology transfer project. This book records in part the results of the first phase of this study. ‘The JKMRC as the lead researcher in the ICS has been fortunate in its collaborators: the nine companies who funded and directed the work, its research partner the Itasca Consulting Group, Dr. Dennis Laubscher, and a number of other consultants. All these are acknowledged in detail in the book. On a personal note, I would like to recognise the good work done by the JKMRC research staff and postgraduate students under the able direction of Dr. Gideon Chitombo, Finally, we thank our distinguished colleague Professor Ted Brown for taking on the demanding task of bringing the book to fruition, which he has completed with his customary skill and energy. T hope that the mining and geomechanics communities will find the book of interest and value. ‘TJ. Napier-Munn Director - JKMRCPREFACE Many people were involved in the International Caving Study, but without a select few, it might still have remained a thought. I can honestly say that I have been privileged during my working career to come into close contact with some notable personalities who have truly influenced my thinking. Dr Dennis Laubscher is one of them. I have over the past few decades been very privileged in not only having been able to work with Dennis, but have been able to share some private time with him, where not only caving issues were discussed, but why that fish got away. I think to anyone, who has had reason to work in a caving operation, Dennis? opinion ot written work has, in some way influenced his or her thinking, It was therefore with some trepidation a few years ago that Dr Gideon Chitombo and I sat on my patio to discuss with him our plan to start the caving study. For many years I was one of the few who had a very rough copy of notes compiled over the years by Dennis, and had on a number of occasions attempted to persuade him to write them up. This proposed International Caving Study would provide the ideal vehicle to finally document his life’s work in a Block Caving Manual. Another is Dr Peter Cundall. Back in the early 1980s I read an article on the distinct element code and sent off a telegraph to Peter, who I had never met at that stage, asking for more information, About three months later, three boxes of punch cards arrived, with a simple note thanking me for my inquiry and wishing me well (I needed it). That in some way was the start of what is today known as PFC. From that early contact, my interest in distinct elements finally Jed to a meeting with Peter in the early 1990°s and an association I truly respect. With the PFC code in place, and Dennis’ knowledge base, all that was required was his permission to review and, with modem technologies, attempt to advance his empirically derived rules. Dennis readily agreed and Peter’s parent company Itasca saw the mutual benefits of accelerating the understanding of the gravity flow process. Ideas however need finance, but with people of the calibre of Frank Russell (Rio Tinto), John Barber (PT Freeport Indonesia), the late Michael House (Northparkes Mines), John Markham, Dr Loren Lorig (Itasca) and Dr Gideon Chitombo (JKMRO), the first meeting was held and since then, their contributions to the Study have been invaluable, Subsequently this group was then joined during the Study by Noranda Inc, Newcrest Mining Limited, TVX Gold and Codelco. This consortium forms what has since been termed the International Caving Study.‘This Handbook would not have been possible without the sterling efforts of yet another associate, Professor Ted Brown. Utilising as the major reference Dennis’ contribution to the Study as well as other outcomes from the ICS I Ted, in astonishing time and in a manner ‘unique to him, compiled this book from not only the outcomes of the ICS | but from a very intensive literature review. Finally, but certainly not least, to Gideon. Without that special characteristic that only he has, the success of this whole project would not have been. To you all, thank you. Alan Guest General Manager - Geotechnical De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd February 2003SPONSORS ICS I - 1997-2000 De Beers A DIAMOND IS FOREVER De Beers Consolidated Mines Northparkes Mines PT Freeport indonesia RIO TINTO Rio Tinto Limited Technical Services ll noranda Noranda Inc vii Ca es TVX Gold Q Newcrest Mining Limited Newcrest Mining Limited CODELCO CODELCO Chile @ BHP BHP Copper (1 year only) ie ITASCA ng Group, Inc. ICS I Research PartnerICS II — 2001-2004 De Beers A DIAMOND Is FOREVER De Beers Consolidated Mines NorRT Northparkes Mines RIO TINTO Rio Tinto Limited Technical Services CODELCO IM2 LKAB viii Western Mining Corporation Limited @ ‘Newcrest Mining Limited Newerest Mining Limited (SANDVIK TTA MMIROCHK Sandvik Tamrock ANGLO AMERICAN Anglo American Technical Services (1 year only) ieee i” ITASCA Conguiting Group Zac. ICS II Principal Research ContractorACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is an outcome of the International Caving Study Stage I carried out in the period 1997-2000 by the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre JKMRC), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and the Itasca Consulting Group, Inc, Minneapolis, USA. ‘The sponsoring companies and their representatives who monitored the progress of the Study are thanked for their support. ‘The book draws heavily on the original work carried out for the International Caving Study Stage I by researchers from the JKMRC and Itasca, consultants to the Study and several JKMRC research students. I wish to acknowledge, in particular, the important contributions made by: © Dr Gideon Chitombo, JKMRC, who was the guiding force behind the Study and arranged for me, and this book, to be part of it. He wrote the first drafts of Section 4.3.6 and, with the assistance of Italo Onederra of the JKMRC, wrote Section 5.6. He made a number of valuable suggestions about the contents of several other chapters, provided a great many pieces of information that are included in the book, and managed the arrangements for the book's production; © Dr Dennis Laubscher whose Block Cave Manual, including the contributions made by Nick Bell and Glen Heslop, provided an invaluable source of information, ideas and illustrations, many of which appear in the book; * Dr Bob Trueman, JKMRC, who supervised and personally carried out much of the work reported in Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 5.5, and substantially wrote those sections; «Dr Loren Lorig, Itasca Consulting Group, who carried out the analyses for, and wrote the original versions of, Sections 3.5 and 3.6, Appendix B and, in conjunction with Dr Peter Cundall of Itasea, Appendix C; * Matt Pierce, Itasca Consulting Group, who, with Dr Bob Trueman and Ridho Wattimena, carried out the numerical analyses reported in Section 5.5; © Dr Geoff Lyman, JKMRC, who carried out the original analyses for, and wrote the initial version of, Section 2.6.3; © JKMRC PD students Neal Harries, Clare Mawdesley, Brian Eadie and Ridho Wattimena whose research work made significant contributions to Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively;* Alan Cocker, JKMRC, who developed the software for the JointStats system reported in Section 2.5.7; ¢ David La Rosa, JKMRC, who developed the software for the CaveRisk system reported in Section 11.5; and ¢ John Summers, CGSS, Berkshire, England, who, with input from Dr Gideon Chitombo and others, developed the CaveRisk system described in Chapter 11 and wrote the report on which that chapter is based. In October, 2001 and May 2002, copies of the first and second drafts of the book were distributed to the sponsors of the International Caving Study Stages I and II for comment. Tam grateful to the representatives of the sponsors for their comments and support in this final stage of the process. I would especially like to thank the following individuals for having provided valuable comments on parts of the drafts and/or additional material for inclusion in the book: © Richard Butcher, then of WMC; © Joaquin Cabello, Golder Associates; © Dr Gideon Chitombo, JKMRC; © German Flores, Chuquicamata Division, CODELCO-Chile; ¢ Dr Chris Fowler, University of New South Wales; * Dr Peter Gash, consultant to Rio Tinto Technical Services; * Alan Guest, De Beers; * Dr Antonio Karzulovic, A Karzulovic & Associates; © Andrew Logan, Newerest Mining; * Frank Russell, Rio Tinto Technical Services; © Craig Stewart, Northparkes Mines; ¢ Dr Duncan Tyler, then of Newcrest Mining; and ¢ André van As, then of Northparkes Mines.I also wish to thank those who gave their support and assistance to this undertaking in a number of important ways, especially: * Libby Hill, JKMRC, who undertook the desktop publishing with her usual skill, grace, and efficiency; * Vynette Holliday and Naomi Mason, JKMRC, who assisted Libby in this process by preparing many of the figures; the former Manager of the Dorothy Hill Physical Sciences and Engineering Library, University of Queensland, Gulcin Cribb, and Library staff member, Diana Guillemin, for their assistance in providing copies of a large number of sometimes obscure references; ‘* Rob Morphet and the partners and staff of the Brisbane office of Golder Associates Pty Ltd for providing me with facilities, encouragement and support during the writing of parts of the book; John Markham, CEO, Itasca Consulting Group, for his efficient project administration; the authors and publishers who have given permission for the reproduction of previously published diagrams and tables (see page xii); and © my partner, Dr Dale Spender AM, for her continuing tolerance of my interest in holes in the ground and for understanding that “the Earth sucks”. Finally, but most importantly, I should like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to the foundation Director of the JKMRC, Professor Alban Lynch AO FTSE, for inviting me to become involved with the work of the Centre when I joined the staff of the University of Queensland in late 1987. I also wish to record my appreciation to his disciples and successors as Directors of the Centre, Professors Don McKee and Tim Napier-Munn, who have continued to make me welcome at the JKMRC in the intervening years. Without their friendship and support, I would not have had the opportunity, or been able, to prepare this book. ET Brown Brisbane March 2003 xiACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF PERMISSIONS The author and the JEMRC gratefully acknowledge the permission kindly granted by several individuals and organisations to reproduce the following figures and tables: The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (Figures 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.7, 5.12, 5.13, 6.5, 68, 6.16, 6.19, 7.12, 7.13, 7.14, 7.15, 7.16, 8.5, 8.10, 10.8 and 10.10, Tables 1.3 and 2.1); Cambridge University Press (Figure 2.1); The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (Figure 4.1 adapted from Figure 7 published in C/M Bulletin, Vol 95, No 1058); Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment (Figure 8.4); Elsevier (Figure 2.3 reprinted from Engineering Rock Mechanics by J P Harrison and J A Hudson, 1997; Figures 5.4, 5.15, 5.16, 5.17, 5.18 and 5.19 and Table 5.4 reprinted from International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, Vol 39, 2002); Geological Society of America (Figures 9.7 and 9.8); Dr Evert Hoek (Figures 2.40, 2.41, 2.43 and 6.20, Tables 2.11 and 6.2); Professor John Hudson (Figure 8.2); Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (Figures 1.10, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 9.4, 9.13 and 10.7); Kluwer Academic Publishers and Professor Stephen Priest (Figure 2.2); National Academy Press (Table 2.3), Newerest Mining Ltd (Figure 10.11, Table 10.2); Rock Technology Pty Ltd and Dr Alan Thompson (Table 2.4); Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee, South Africa (Figure 10.9); Springer-Verlag and Dr William Dershowitz (Figures 2.22 and 2.23); Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc (www.smenet.org) (Figures!.2, 1.3, 2.39, 5.8, 6.2, 6.9, 6.10, 6.11, 7.5, 7.6, 8.1, 8.3, 8.8, 8.9, 9.9 and 9.15, Table 6.3); South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (Figures 1.4, 6.3, 6.4, 6.6, 6.7a, 6.33, 6.34 and 7.3, Table 10.1); Swets & Zeitlinger (Figures 1.8, 1.11, 2.24, 2.38, 6.24, 8.5, 8.7, 9.3 and 9.12, Table 8.1, originally published by A A Balkema). xiiCONTENTS FOREWORD .. PREFACE SPONSORS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ‘PERMISSIONS. CONTENTS........-. SOG NESEE Vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Ad 12 13 14 15 UNDERGROUND MINING METHODS. 1.1.1 General Features... 1.1.2 Classification of Underground Mining Methods. BLOCK AND PANEL CAVING. 1.2.1 Outline of the Method. 1.2.2 Basic Caving Mechanics. si 1.2.3. History of Block Caving... 12 BLOCK AND PANEL CAVING OPERATIONS. 16 1.3.1 Overview ...... a 1.3.2 El Teniente Mine, Chile. 13.3. Premier Diamond Mine, South Africa 1.3.4 Henderson Mine, Colorado, USA. RISK IN CAVE MINING... 1.4.1 Risk Factors ....... 1.4.2 Introduction to Risk Assessment. SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK. xiiiCHAPTER 2 ROCK MASS CHARACTERISATION 21 2.2 23 24 2.5 2.6 27 28 29 DEFINING THE MINING ENVIRONMENT GENERAL DATA REQUIREMENTS. 2.21 Geology... . 222 — Surface and Groundwater Hydrology 2.2.3 Topography and Environmental Constraints. 2.2.4 — Geotechnical Studies CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF DISCONTINUITIES... 23.1 Classification 2.3.2 Description... DISCONTINUITY DATA COLLECTION BY DRILLING, CORE LOGGING, DOWN-HOLE SURVEYS, SCANLINE AND CELL MAPPING... 241 Introduction...... 2.4.2 Geotechnical Core Logging 2.4.3 Exposure Mapping Methods . ‘ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DISCONTINUITY DATA. 2.5.1. Introduction 25.2 Etrorand Uncertainty in Discontinuity Analysis. 2.5.3 Discontinuity Orientation Analysis.. 2.5.4 — Discontinuity Frequency/Spacing (Intensity) Analysis 25.5 Discontinuity Persistence (Size) Analysi: 2.5.6 Definition of Geotechnical or Structural Domains 2.5.7 JK Jointstats Discontinuity Data Management System. SIMULATION OF ROCK MASS GEOMETRY... 2.6.1 Introduction... 2.6.2 Approaches to Discontinuity Modelling 2.6.3 The Development of the IKMRC 3-D Discontinuity Model. 2.6.4 The JKMRC Hierarchical Model of Discontinuity Network Geometry ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES 2.7.1. Introduction 2.7.2 RMR system (Bieniavski, 1974,1976) 2.7.3 Qsystem (Barton er al 1974) 2.74 Modified Basic RMR or MBR system (Kendorski etal 1983)... 2.7.5 MRMR system (Laubscher 1990)... 2.7.6 Revised MRMR system (Laubscher and Jakubec 2001) 2.7.7 Geological Strength Index (GSI). 2.7.8 — Conclusions ‘THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ROCK MASSES 2.8.1 Scope. 282 The Hock-Brown Empirical Strength Criterion 2.8.3 Rock Mass Deformation Modulus IN SITU STRESSES. xivCHAPTER 3 CAVEABILITY ASSESSMENT 3.1 INTRODUCTION sos 32 LAUBSCHER’S CAVING CHART v 3.21 Overview 3.2.2 The Mining Rock Mass Rati, 3.2.3 Delineation of Zones of Stability. 3.2.4 Summary...... 3.3 MATHEWS? STABILITY GRAPH APPROACH. 3.3.1 Overview 7 3.3.2. Extension of the Method. oi 3.3.3 Application of Mathews’ Method tothe Prediction of Caveability 3.4 NUMERICAL MODELLING APPROACHES 35 AXISYMMETRIC CONTINUUM MODEL .... 3.5.1 Model Formulation.............. 3.5.2 Material Parameters... 3.5.3. Results... 3.6 PFC3D DISCONTINUUM MODEL... 3.6.1 Introduction ....... 3.6.2 Model Description 3.6.3 Results of Model Observations. 3.6.4 Future PFC Modelling of Caveability. CHAPTER 4 FRAGMENTATION ASSESSMENT 41 42 43 44 45 INTRODUCTION... FACTORS INFLUENCING FRAGMENTATION. FRAGMENTATION MEASUREMENT 43.1 Overview . . 43.2 Digital Image Processing Methods 433 Examples of DIP Systems. 43.4 Validation Studies... 43.5 Application of DIP Systems to Caving IN SITU FRAGMENTATION ASSESSMENT - BCF: A PROGRAM TO PREDICT BLOCK CAVE FRAGMENTATION... 4.5.1 Modelling Approach 45.2 Primary Fragmentation... 4.5.3. Secondary Fragmentation 454 Hangup Analysis... 45.5 Discussion... xv45 47 AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF ASSESSING IN SITU AND PRIMARY FRAGMENTATION. 4.6.1 — Methodology...... 4.6.2 Tessellation Procedure . 46.3 Insitu Blocks. 4.6.4 — Primary Fragmentation CONCLUSIONS CHAPTER 5 CAVE INITIATION BY UNDERCUTTING 5.1 5.2 5.3 54 55 INTRODUCTION... so UNDERCUTTING STRATEGIES... 5.2.1 Purpos 5.22 Post-Undercutting 5.23 Pre-Undereutting..... 191 GE . 192 192 «lt 5.24 Advance Undercutting 194 5.2.5 The Henderson Strategy... 195 UNDERCUT DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT .. 196 S31 PULPOSCeeeoccceenrerseeneees 1 196 53.2 — Initiation and Direction of Undereut Advance 196 5.3.3. Shape of the Undercut Face .. 199 5.3.4 Rate of Undercut Advance..... 200 5.3.5 Undercut Height... - 202 UNDERCUT SHAPE AND EXTRACTION METHOD. ruses 204 SAL Writ G HOM scsntssnsseeteesnsessseetseesctonstncrecapcepeeseeeerresrs tte eon 204 5.4.2 Fan Undercut. 205 5.4.3. Flat Undercut.. — 206 5.4.4 Narrow Inclined Undercut....... 210 STRESSES INDUCED IN THE UNDERCUT AND EXTRACTION LEVELS.......212 $5.1 Introduction. 212 Modelling Strategy. 215 Extraction Level Stresses — Post-Underout Sequence 217 Extraction Level Stresses - Advance Undercut Sequence 217 Undercut Level Stresses. 221 Summary of Parametric Study Results. 223 Undercut Drift Support and Reinforcement... 2245.6 DRILLING AND BLASTING FOR UNDERCUTTING AND DRAWBELL CONSTRUCTION, 5.6.1 Introduction 5.6.2. Factors affecting Drilling and Blasting Performance 1227 5.6.3 Experienced based Design “Rules of Thumb” for Rock Breakage Control 229 5.64 — Undercut Drilling and Blasting 5.6.5 Drawbell Blasting 5.6.6 Drilling Equipment Selection CHAPTER 6 EXTRACTION LEVEL DESIGN 6.1 6.2 63 64 6.5 PURPOSE. 245 FACTORS INFLUENCING EXTRACTION LEVEL DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE, . 246 EXTRACTION LEVEL LAYOUTS 248 63.1 Scope 63.2 Continuous Trough or Trench Layout 63.3 Herringbone Layout 250 63.4 Offset Herringbone Layout.. 250 63.5 Henderson or Z Layout. 252 63.6 El Teniente Layout. 252 63.7 Ore Crushing and Transportation 253 DRAWPOINT AND DRAWBELL DESIGN .. 255 64.1 Gravity Flow of Caved Ore ...... 1.285 GAL2| “DiaWpollit SSC sncscnancnamaoamanmscrmanenannmnncnmnaaatY 259 64.3 Drawpoint Size, Shape and Orientation 266 644 — Drawbell Geomety.... 268 SUPPORT AND REINFORCEMENT... 65.1 Terminology 65.2 Principles... - 6.5.3 Support and Reinforcement Elements 270 270 272 274 65.4 — Stress-Strength Analyses. 275 6.5.5 Support and Reinforcement of Drawpoints 279 6.5.6 Examples a8CHAPTER 7 DRAW CONTROL 71 INTRODUCTION. 7.2. DRAW MECHANISMS 7.2.1 Basic Studies 7.22 Mass Flow. 123 Granular or Gravity Flow 7.24 Void Diffusion 7.2.5 Practical Implications.. : DRAW CONTROL DURING UNDERCUTTING AND CAVE INITIATION tS 7.4 DRAW CONTROL DURING PRODUCTION... viene 7.4.1 Manual Calculation of Draw Tonnages and Estimation of Dilution 74.2 — Draw Control Strategies and Procedures ...... 7.5 EXAMPLES OF COMPUTERISED DRAW CONTROL SYSTEMS .. 311 7.5.1 PC-BC. 752 De Beers’ Linear ee Based System CHAPTER 8 GEOTECHNICAL MONITORING 8&1 8.2 8.3 84 8.5 ‘THE PURPOSES OF MONITORING GEOTECHNICAL MONITORING SYSTEMS 8.2.1 General Considerations 8.2.2 What is Monitored?.... 8.2.3 How is it Monitored? . 8.2.4 Where and When is it Monitored? MONITORING THE INITIATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF CAVING 83.1 Why? 8.3.2 What and How?.... ¥ EXTRACTION LEVEL AND INFRASTRUCTURE MONITORING .. 84.1 Why? 8.4.2. What and How?. 84.3 Examples MONITORING SUBSIDENCE AND GROUND MOVEMENT. 8.5.1 Why? 8.5.2 What and How? 8.5.3 Examples xviiiCHAPTER 9 SURFACE SUBSIDENCE 9.1 INTRODUCTION ... sass 346 9.2 TYPES AND MECHANISMS OF DISCONTINUOUS SUBSIDENCE wesc ens RT 9.2.1 Types of Discontinuous Subsidence. 9.2.2 Chimney Caving Mechanisms... 93. EXAMPLES OF SURFACE SUBSIDENCE ARISING FROM BLOCK AND PANEL CAVING... 9.3.1 Miami Mine, Arizona, USA 9.3.2 San Manuel Mine, Arizona, USA.. 93.3 Henderson Mine, Colorado, USA35S...... 0.4 ANALYSIS OF CHIMNEY CAVING AND PLUG SUBSIDENCE 9.4.1 — Limiting Equilibrium Analysis 9.4.2 Empirical Methods... 9.5 LIMITING EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS OF PROGRESSIVE HANGINGWALL CAVING ....ccccnrsnesnneennennntn 364 9.6 SUBSIDENCE PREDICTION IN PRACTICE. 369 9.6.1 General Approach. 9.6.2 Prediction of Caving Induced Subsidence at Rio Blanco and El Teniente Mines, Chile .....csennses CHAPTER 10 MAJOR OPERATIONAL HAZARDS 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 SCOPE MAJOR COLLAPSES 10.2.1 Terminology 10.2.2 Causes 10.2.3 Effects .... 10.2.4 Prevention and Amelioration ROCKBURSTS.........- 10.3.1. Terminology .... 10.3.2 Causes. 10.3.3. Effects. 103.4. Prevention and Amelioration MUD RUSHES... 10.4.1 Terminology .. 10.4.2 Causes 10.4.3 Effects... 1044 Prevention and Amelioration xix10.5 AIR BLASTS... ssi 393 10.5.1 Terminology. 1.393 10.5.2 Causes 394 10.5.3 Effects... so 2395 10.5.4 Prevention and Amelioration... 398 10.6 WATER AND SLURRY INRUSHES. 399 CHAPTER 11 RISK ASSESSMENT FOR BLOCK CAVING 11.1 INTRODUCTION TO RISK ASSESSMENT. 11.2 DEFINITIONS... 113. PROJECT DEVELOPMENT 114 RISK ANALYSIS TOOLS AND CONCEPTS... 11.4.1 — Risk Analysis Tool... 11.4.2 Sources of Risk 11.4.3 Uncertainty... 115 CAVERISK. TL S.D Purpose insane 11.5.2 Outline of CaveRisk.... 11.5.3 Topics and Focus Issues 11.5.4 Likelihood and Consequences... . 11.5.5 Risk Determination and Risk Acceptance... 115.6 Risk Manageability 11.5.7. Risk Presentation..... 115.8 Rules Operating in CaveRisk 11.6 CONCLUSION.... REFERENCES........ . - APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY ssc 465 APPENDIX B: — RELATION BETWEEN CAVED COLUMN HEIGHT AND. VERTICAL STRESS AT THE CAVE BASE 473 APPENDIX C: NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF PARTICLE FLOW USING REBOD...... 486 APPENDIX D: — LIMITING EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS OF PROGRESSIVE HANGINGWALL CAVING sees 503 INDEX. . 510CHAPTER 1 1 UNDERGROUND MINING METHODS 1.1.1 General Features he underground mining of minerals involves three general sets of activi * the development of physical access to the mineralised zone; © the extraction of the ore from the enclosing rock mass; and © the transport of the ore to processing facilities on the mine surface. This general process requires the development of three main types of underground excavation: © permanent access and service openings or components of the mine infrastructure; © stope access and service openings, or stope development; and © ore sources or stopes through which the ore is removed from its in situ setting. The set of stopes generated during ore extraction by underground mass mining methods usually constitute the largest excavations formed during the overall mining process. This means that their zones of influence are relatively large compared to those of virtually all other mine openings (Brady and Brown 1993). ‘The method by which the stopes are supported in order to maintain their fitness for purpose then becomes a major consideration in mining method selection and mine design. Indeed, it is usually on the basis of whether or not stopes are supported, and if so how, that underground mining methods are classified (eg Hamrin 1982). 112 Classification of Underground Mining Methods. Most systems of classifying underground mining methods are based on methods of supporting the stopes. As Rossouw and Fourie (1996) have argued, the classification of underground mining methods is not as straightforward as might be supposed. In order to overcome some of the perceived difficulties with existing systems, they proposed a three-dimensional presentation which takes into account three forms of support - natural (pillars), artificial (fill) and noneChapter 1: Introduction (caving). However, Roussow and Fourie’s presentation is quite complex and has not found widespread use. The essential features to be considered are the relations between the method of working, the key orebody properties defining the applicability of that method and the country rock mass properties that are essential to sustain the method (Brady and Brown 1993). Figure 1.1 shows one version of a common approach to underground mining method classification, Not all methods of mining currently employed are shown on this diagram (eg bench stoping) but they could be added if required. The unsupported or caving methods of mining seek to induce mass failure of, and large displacements in, the country rock which will necessarily behave as a discontinuum. At the other end of the spectrum, the supported methods seek to maintain the integrity and “elastic” response of the country rock and to strictly limit its displacement. naturally supported artificially supported unsupported r cutandefin | | shrink ver longwall [ses lbtock caving stoping stoping stoping mining caving = longhole = lopen stoping cman ] ffoblevet and magnitudes of displacements in country rock strain energy storage in near-field rock Figure 1.1: Classification of underground mining methods (Brady and Brown 1993) ‘As shown in Figure 1.1, the unsupported or caving methods of mining include block (and panel) caving, sublevel caving and longwall methods. In the longwall method applied to coal mining, the mineral (coal) is extracted mechanically and the overlying strata cave under the influence of redistributed stresses and gravitational forces. The longwall methods used to mine the deep, flat dipping, tabular gold reefs in South Africa are sometimes classified as caving methods (eg Brady and Brown 1993), although the mechanism by which the overlying rock displaces to fill the void created by the extraction of the ore usually involves “clastic” displacement of the rock on the release of extremely high stresses rather than, or as well as, caving per se. In sublevel caving methods, the ore is drilled and blasted and drawn following which the surrounding waste rock caves naturally. In the block and panel caving methods with which this book is concerned, both the ore and the overlying rock cave under the influence ofChapter 1: Introduction gravity and the redistributed in situ stresses once the orebody has been undercut. In these methods, in particular, the caving and caved ore and waste rock behave as discontinuous materials. 1.2 BLOCK AND PANEL CAVING 1.2.1 Outline of the Method Figure 1.2 illustrates the general features of the block caving method. In this method, the full orebody of an approximately equidimensional block of ore is undercut fully to initiate caving, ‘The undercut zone is drilled and blasted progressively and some broken ore is drawn off to create a void into which initial caving of the overlying ore can take place. As more broken ore is drawn progressively following cave initiation, the cave propagates upwards through the orebody or block until the overlying rock also caves and surface subsidence occurs. The mechanisms by which caving takes place under the influence of redistributed stresses and/or gravity will be outlined in Section 1.2.2. Figure 1.2: Example of block caving with LHD loaders, El Teniente, Chile (Hamrin 2001)Chapter 1: Introduction ‘The broken ore is removed through the production or extraction level developed below the undercut level and connected to it by drawbells through which the ore gravitates to drawpoints on the extraction level. In most current block caving operations, the broken ore is removed from the drawpoints by Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) vehicles although some still use the more traditional gravity - based grizzly or slusher systems as discussed in Section 1.2.3. From the extraction level, the ore is transported to the haulage level and out of the mine, sometimes following underground crushing. Block caving may be used in massive orebodies which have large, regular “footprints” and cither dip steeply or are of large vertical extent. It is a low cost mining method which is capable of automation to produce an underground “rock factory” (eg Tota 1997). However, it is capital intensive requiring considerable investment in infrastructure and development before production can commence. Historivally, block caving was used for massive, low strength and usually low grade orebodies which produced fine fragmentation (Lewis and Clark 1964), Where mining is to be mechanised, the low strength of the rock mass can place limitations on the practicable sizes of the extraction level excavations. Furthermore, finely fragmented ore can “chimney” when drawn requiring the drawbells to be closely spaced so that undrawn “pillars” of broken ore do not form (Ward 1981). These factors place limitations on the sizes of the equipment that can be used. Accordingly, there is now a tendency for the method to be used in stronger orebodies which produce coarser fragmentation than did the traditional applications of the method. This enables more widely spaced drawpoints and larger equipment to be used. Panel caving and other variants of the general method such as inclined drawpoint caving and front caving, operate on the same principles as block caving. In panel caving, the orebody or mining block is not undercut fully initially but, rather, a panel or strip of the orcbody is undercut and allowed to cave. Development, undercutting and mining of the subsequent panels then follow some distance behind the first panel as illustrated in Figure 1.3. As a result, the cave front moves across the block or orebody at a constant angle to the direction of advance of the undercut. Examples of the application of this method will be given in Section 1.3 below. ‘Inclined drawpoint caving (Laubscher 2000, Laubscher and Esterhuizen 1994) is used when it is not possible to develop the drawpoints on one level, usually because the orebody has a well- defined inclined footwall. In this case, the drawpoints are developed at the footwall contact from the footwall on successive sublevels with the drifts being continued to serve as undereut drill drifts. In some cases such as that at the King Mine, Zimbabwe, illustrated in Figure 1.4, local geological conditions may lead to a “false footwall layout” being used in which the inclination of the plane of the drawpoints is flatter than the footwall contact (Laubscher 2000, Laubscher and Esterhuizen 1994), Front caving was developed from the overdraw system used on the two lower levels of the sublevel caving operations at the Shabanie Mine, Zimbabwe (Laubscher 2000). In recent years, front caving has been used at the Koffiefontein Mine, South Africa, and the King Mine,Chapter 1: Introduction Zimbabwe, where the method is referred to as retreating brow caving. Tn essence, the method involves retreating on one or more levels from an initiating slot which can be in the centre of the orebody as at Koffiefontein, or against the orebody boundary. The lower level is the production level on which so-called semi-permanent drawpoints are fully developed ahead of undercutting on the upper level. This upper level also provides initial temporary drawpoints from which the swell from each blasted ring is drawn. The undercut is retreated in stages to points above the semi-permanent drawpoints in a manner similar to that used in sublevel caving. Ideally, the method should work best with two production levels rather than one. However, this approach may be precluded on cost or other grounds, including space and layout considerations. - Y Figure 1.3: Mechanised panel caving, Henderson Mine, Colorado, USA (Doepken 1982) ‘There are many more variants of block and panel caving methods of mining than those listed above. For example, the macrotrench (or macrozanja) method developed at the El Teniente Mine, Chile, contains elements of panel, inclined drawpoint and front caving methods. Exploitation starts through a four level sublevel cave that begins from a central slot and is then retreated to both sides leaving a large trench around the initial slot. The sublevel caving is stopped in a position which leaves the upper levels and their drawpoints more advanced than the lower levels (Diaz and Tobar 2000).Chapter I: Introduction oO ‘oe Vent raise to upper levels (o) Figure 1.4: Inclined drawpoint caving, King Mine, Zimbabwe, (a) vertical section showing extraction level layout, and (b) plan showing sublevel layout (Laubscher and Esterhuizen 1994)Chapter 1: Introduction Caving methods of mining may be classified according to ‘© whether or not part of the ore column is broken by blasting or other “artificial” methods; whether or not a crown pillar is left between mining lifts; © the undercutting strategy used (see Section 1.3 and Chapter 5); and the method of ore loading used. Figure 1.5 shows an informative classification of caving methods of mining, including sublevel caving, developed on this basis by Flores and Karzulovic (2002). Figure 1.5: Classification of caving methods of mining (Flores and Karzulovic 2002) Many of the larger orebodies being mined by the caving method in fact use panel caving although the more generic term block caving may sometimes be used to describe the mining method. Generally in this book, the term block caving will be used as a generic rather than as a specific term so that the discussion will usually apply to panel caving as well.Chapter I: Introduction It will be apparent from this introductory description of block and panel caving methods, that while their capital or development costs may be relatively high, operating costs can be expected to be lower than those of other underground mining methods. It is for this reason that caving methods are attractive for the mass mining or large, lower grade orcbodies. Figure 1.6 summarises the underground mining cash costs in $US per tonne at a number of block and panel caving operations in the years 1999 and 2000. (These data were compiled by Northparkes Mines, Australia, and shared with ICS sponsors). Philex Salvador Northparkes 99-00 Northparkes 98.99 El Teniente Andina Mine San Manuel Freeport 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 Underground mining cash cost US$/tonne Figure 1.6: Comparative underground mining cash costs for block and panel caving mines in 1999 and 2000 1.2.2 Basic Caving Mechanics It must be expected that any unsupported rock mass will cave if it is undercut to a sufficient extent, As has been noted earlier, caving occurs as a result of two major influences ~ gravity and the stresses induced in the crown or back of the undercut or cave, The mechanisms by which caving occurs will depend on the relationships between the induced stresses, the strength of the rock mass and the geometry and strengths of the discontinuities in the rock mass. Much accumulated experience supports the contention of Kendorski (1978) that the successful initiation and propagation of caving requires the presence of a well-developed, low-dip discontinuity set. The structure most favourable for caving has been found to be one in which a low-dip discontinuity set is augmented by two steeply dipping sets which provide conditions suitable for the vertical displacement of blocks of rock (eg Mahtab er al 1973).Chapter 1: Introduction If the compressive tangential stresses induced in the crown of the undercut or cave are low, or tend to be tensile, blocks of rock may become free to fall under the influence of gravity or to slide on inclined discontinuities. These conditions may occur when the horizontal in situ stresses are low or where boundary slots or previous mining have relieved the stresses or redistributed them away from the block or panel being mined. Even under these circumstances, it is sometimes possible for a self-supporting arch to develop in the crown of the cave, especially if an appropriate draw control strategy is not in place. Some of the mechanisms by which caving and arching may occur under these low lateral stress conditions are illustrated by the simple and idealised distinct element simulation shown in Figure 1.7. Each pair of drawings in Figure 1,7 represent the geometric configuration of the blocks and the interblock contact force vectors at different stages in the progressive caving of the mass. Note that two apparently independent arches form where high levels of inter-block force traverse the mass. The upper arch is stronger and is sustained longer than the lower arch but both fail eventually by slip at the rigid abutments. At the other extreme, when the induced tangential stresses are high compared with the compressive and shear strengths of the rock mass and the shear strengths of the discontinuities, failure may occur at or near the boundary of the rock mass and blocks or slabs of rock may become free to fall under the influence of gravity. Under these circumstances, the dominant mechanisms of failure are brittle fracture of the intact rock and slip on discontinuities, especially those that are flat dipping (eg Heslop and Laubscher 1981). This form of caving is sometimes referred to as sfress caving. Duplancic and Brady (1999) used a seismic monitoring system to study the early stages of caving of Lift 1 at Northparkes Mines’ E26 block cave, New South Wales, Australia. From the data collected and analysed, they developed the conceptual model of caving for this case shown in Figure 1.8. The model contains five regions described by Duplaneic and Brady (1999) in the following terms 1. Caved zone. This region consists of rock blocks which have fallen from the cave back. Material in the caved zone provides support to the walls of the cave. 2. Air gap. During continuous caving, the height of the air gap formed is a function of the extraction rate of the material from the caved zone.Figure 1.7: Idealised distinct element simulation of block caving (after Voegele et al 1978) 3. Zone of discontinuous deformation. This region no longer provides support to the overlying rock mass. Large-scale displacements of rock occur in this area, which is where disintegration of the rock mass occurs. No seismicity is recorded from within this regi ‘The zone was estimated to extend 15 m from the boundary of the cave crown. 10Chapter 1: Introduction 4, Seismogenic 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 ahead of the seismic front and surrounding the cave. Pseudo-continuous domain TlisiTocnccone =Selsmogenic zone {i> - LS SH a a fone of loosening Direction of advancing undercut ——S> Figure 1.8: Conceptual model of caving (Duplancic and Brady 1999) Duplancic and Brady’s observations at Northparkes confirm the previous general finding that for boundary collapse to occur, a flat lying discontinuity set is required to act as a release mechanism. ‘A third general case must be considered. If the horizontal in situ stresses and the tangential stresses induced in the crown of the undercut or cave are high enough to develop clamping forces which inhibit gravity-induced caving, but are not high compared with the compressive strength of the rock mass, caving may be inhibited and a stable arch may develop. Under these circumstances, some form of cave induction may be required to weaken the rock mass, relieve the tangential stresses or induce slip on discontinuities (eg Kendrick 1970, van As and Jeffrey 2000). A different mechanism from those discussed so far is involved in subsidence caving in which a large mass of rock subsides rapidly as a result of shear failure on the vertical or near-vertical boundaries of a block. For this to occur the normal (horizontal) stresses developed on the vertical boundaries of the block, or the shear strength of the interface, must be so low that the total shear resistance developed is unable to resist the vertical force due to the weight of the ait ——Chapter 1: Introduction block. For such a failure to have catastrophic consequences, there would need to exist a large mined-out void into which the caving mass could fall. This circumstance would not arise in a block or panel cave if the draw control strategy used did not allow a significant air gap to develop below the cave back. Once continuous caving has been initiated, the rate of production from the block or panel will depend on the rate at which the cave propagates following draw and the creation of a small air void into which caved material may fall. In practice this rate of caving will depend on the rate of undercutting, the quality of the rock mass and the magnitude of the induced stresses. As will be discussed in Chapter 5, the direction of undercutting with respect to the in situ stress orientation is also important. Estimated caving rates for a number of mines are summarised Table 1.1. It should be emphasised that these caving rates are estimated. They are notoriously difficult to measure. Furthermore, they may vary through the life of a cave. For example, as the height of the cave and of the column of broken ore increases, the induced stresses in the cave back may change, as may the structure and rock mass strength of the orebody. Table 1.1: Estimated caving rates Operation Estimated Caving Rate (mm per day) —_| CODELCO EI Teniente Sub 6 panel cave 200 to 300 CODELCO Esmeralda panel cave 170 to 200 De Beers Koftiefontein (TKB Kimberlte) 200 to 400 De Beers Premier Mine (TKB Kimberlite) 100 to 1200 De Beers Premier Mine (HYB Kimberlite) _ 60 to 250 Henderson Mine 270 Northparkes E26 Lift 1 block cave 110 to 380 (pre inducement) Under steady-state production conditions, the average rate of draw will be a function of the rate of natural caving and the bulking factor of the caved ore. In currently operating block and panel caving mines, rates of draw vary up to about 700 mm/day with the mean in the range 200 to 250 mm/day (Flores and Karzulovic 2002b). Drawing of the difference between the in situ and caved volumes following each caving episode will ensure that cave propagation is controlled and an excessive air gap does not develop. Of course, for this controlled caving to occur, a small air gap must be created by drawing the caved ore. The major consequence of allowing an excessive air gap to develop is the danger of massive rock falls and the associated air blasts to be discussed in Chapter 10. 12Chapter 1: Introduction 1.2.3 History of Block Caving ‘The precursor of the modem block caving method of mining was developed in the iron ore mines of the Menominee Ranges, Michigan, USA, in the late nineteenth century. The Pewabic Mine was the first to use a form of block caving from which other methods developed (Peele 1941), In the Pewabic method, blocks of ore approximately 60-75 m long, 30-40 m high and the full width of the deposit (60 m) were caved in one operation. An unusual feature of the method from a modern perspective is the fact that the ore was handled by shovelling in drifts driven and kept open within the caved mass (Peele 1941). Variations of the Pewabic method were soon developed at other iron ore mines in Michigan and, from the early part of the twentieth century, in the copper mines in western USA. Before evolving to the use of full block caving, many mines initially used combined methods involving, for example, shrinkage stoping and caving methods for the subsequent mining of the pillars between the primary stopes. Peele (1941) gives several examples of these combined methods. ‘A good example of the early application of a full block caving method is provided by the Miami Copper Company's mine in Arizona. Descriptions provided by Peele (1941) and Lewis and Clark (1964), and the diagram shown in Figure 1.9, are based on a paper by McLennan (1930). (Note that the original dimensions in feet have been retained in Figure 1.9. They have been approximated in metres in the text). The flat lying orebody of considerable lateral extent varied in thickness to more than 60 m and was over- and under-lain by waste, Early mining was by top-slicing but this was replaced by shrinkage stoping with sublevel caving of the pillars and, in the 1920s, by block caving. Initially, caving practice involved undercutting and caving the orebody across its entire width of 150-200 m, starting at one end and retreating along the length of the orebody. This approach was unsuccessful and later practice was to cave and draw alternate 45 m wide panels across the entire orebody. When the waste rock had settled into the original panels and compacted, the pillar panels were caved. This method was satisfactory for moderate thicknesses of ore averaging 60 m but was modified to true block caving where thicknesses were 90 m or more. ‘The original caving blocks of the thicker ore were 45 by 90 m in plan as shown in Figure 1.9. Experience showed that 45 m square blocks gave better results and this block size became the standard. The order of mining was such that a block being mined would be entirely surrounded by either solid ore or mined-out blocks in which the capping had settled until it was quite compact (Lewis and Clark 1964). As shown in Figure 1.9, the Miami mine used a gravity system of ore transfer to the haulage level incorporating grizzlies. By the 1920s and 30s, block caving methods were being used in a wide range of mines exploiting massive, weak orebodies. During this period, the method was introduced, for example, at the King Mine which mined asbestos in Quebec, Canada, the Climax Mine mining molybdenum in Colorado, USA, and the copper mines in Chile (Peele 1941) _— 13,Chapter 1: Introduction Figure 1.9: Block caving, Miami Mine, Arizona, USA (Lewis and Clark 1964) South Africa’s first kimberlite diamond pipe was discovered at Kimberley in 1870 a few years after the discovery of alluvial diamonds at Hopetown, The early mining of this and other kimberlite pipes was by surface methods. An initial attempt at underground mining from 1884 was unsuccessful, largely because of the uncooperative attitudes of the many claim holders (Owen and Guest 1994). The consolidation of the pre-existing companies into De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888 provided the impetus for the successful introduction of underground mining at Kimberley from 1890. A complex mining method known as chambering was used until it was replaced progressively from the late 1950s to the early 1970s (Hartley 1981). Peele (1941) describes this method as a combination of shrinkage stoping and sublevel caving. A visit to North America in the early 1950s convinced De Beers mine managers of the potential of the block caving method for mining the diamondiferous pipes (Gallagher and Loftus 1960). After an experimental block cave had been mined successfully at the Bultfontein Mine it was decided to introduce block caving on a large scale at several of the De Beers mines. The first mine to change fully from chambering to block caving was Jagersfontein where the transition was completed in 1958 (Gallagher and Loftus 1960). 14Chapter 1: Introduction ‘As Owen and Guest (1994) describe, a number of different mining methods including sublevel caving, vertical crater retreat and benching have been used at the various De Beers mines but variants of block caving remain the main group of methods used currently. A feature of the evolution of the current mining methods is that not all methods introduced were successful initially and mining plans often had to be revised. Mechanised panel caving was introduced at the Premier Mine from 1990 (Bartlett 1992). Mining operations at Premier are summarised in Section 1.3.3 below. As has been indicated above, ore has been drawn throughout much of the history of block and panel cave mining by gravity or slusher methods. In 1981, Pillar (1981) listed a wide range of well-known caving mines as then using the slusher method. The availability of LHD equipment from the 1960s has provided the potential for the introduction of mechanised and trackless cave mining, especially for the more coarsely fragmenting and stronger ores in which the necessary large extraction level openings can be developed and maintained. From the 1980s, many of the major caving mines have introduced mechanised methods (see Table 1.2) although gravity systems are still used, particularly in the weaker ores. Examples of modern mechanised methods are given in Section 1.3. Table 1.2; Examples of current caving operations Mine | Country Type Ore Type Annual Tonnage Nortnparkes | Australia Block Copper-Gold | 4 Mty E26 Lift 1 Freeport |OZ Indonesia Block; LHD | _Copper-Gold 7 Mtly Palabora. South Africa Block; LHD. Copper 10 Mtly CODELCO Chile Panel; LHD Copper 35 Mtly El Teniente Division CODELCO Chile Panel; LHD Copper 16 My Andina Division Grizzly CODELCO Chile Panel; LHD Copper 2.5 My Salvador Premier Mines_| South Africa _| Panel; LHD Diamonds 3Muy Henderson USA Panel; LHD | Molybdenum 6 Muy Philex Philippines | _ Grizzly; LHD Copper Shabanie Zimbabwe | Retreating brow | Chrysotile asbestos Tongkuangyu China Block; LHD Copper 4Muy San Manuel USA Block; Grizzly Copper 15Chapter 1: Introduction 1.3 BLOCK AND PANEL CAVING OPERATIONS 13.1 Overview Because they are mass mining methods having low production costs, block and panel caving methods are currently important sources of mineral production on a world scale, Laubscher (1994) estimated that, at that time, these methods accounted for a total ore production of approximately 370,000 tonnes per day. Because of the high productivity of caving methods and the potential that they offer for mechanisation and reduced labour costs, there is a current tendency in the industrially advanced nations, in particular, to apply block caving to stronger orebodies than those to which the method has been applied in the past. This brings with it particular challenges in predicting caveability, an issue to be introduced in Section 1.4.1 and explored in detail in Chapter 3. Block caving is also being considered for the underground mining of some major orebodies previously mined by large open pits. Significant examples of this development are the Bingham Canyon mine in Utah, USA (Carter and Russell 2000) and the Palabora mine in the Republic of South Africa (Calder et al 2000). Table 1.2 lists many of the world’s major block and panel caving operations in the year 2000. The list is intended to be indicative rather than exhaustive. Because of a paucity of accessible data, cave mining operations in some countries such as China and the countries of the former USSR are not well represented in Table 1.2. Three of the major mines listed in Table 1.2 ~ El Teniente, Premier and Henderson - are described in the subsequent sub-sections as important but differing examples of modem cave mining practice, ‘These descriptions may use some terms that have not been defined so far and which may not be familiar to some readers. In these cases, reference should be made to that part of the book in which the term is introduced in more detail or to the glossary of terms presented at Appendix A. Recent accounts of a number of other block and panel caving operations are given by Hustrulid and Bullock (2001). 13.2 El Teniente Mine, Chile El Teniente is a division of CODELCO-Chile, Chile’s Government-owned copper mining company. The mine is located 130 km southeast of Santiago in the foothills of the Andes mountains. With production of about 100,000 tonnes per day, El Teniente is the world’s largest block or panel caving mine. The large copper porphyry orebody which was discovered in 1760, reaches a depth of more than 1 km below surface and almost completely surrounds a roughly 800-1000 m diameter circular breccia pipe known as the Braden Pipe. ‘The orebody is approximately triangular in plan and has a radial extent of between 400 and 800 m from the perimeter of the pipe. The major items of mine infrastructure are conveniently located within the breccia pipe. Figure 1.10 shows a schematic view of the several levels in the El Teniente mine, The early block caving production level, Teniente I, is located some 650 m above the main access level, Teniente 8, which is at an elevation of 1983 m. 16‘After simple and irregular open pit mining of the near-surface secondary enriched ore, underground mining began in 1906 using overhand stoping and room and pillar methods. From 1940, a traditional gravity flow block caving method was successfully introduced (Kvapil et al 1989). ‘The secondary ore was weak, fragmented readily and was well suited to mining by block caving. However, the quantity of the secondary ore decreases with depth so that from about 1982, mining has been increasingly in the lower grade and stronger primary ore. The primary ore is an andesite which contains pockets of even stronger diorite and dacite. ‘Mechanised panel caving using LHDs was introduced on the Teniente 4 level (at 2347 m) in 1982 (Alvial 1992). | Chapter 1: Introduction Figure 1.10: Schematic representation of levels, El Teniente Mine (Kvapil et al 1989) ‘A major factor influencing the mining of the El Teniente orebody, particularly at increasing depth in the primary ore, has been the existence of extremely high lateral in sifu stresses associated with the nearby subduction zone in which the Pacific plate is thrust under the edge of 17 aChapter 1; Introduction the South American plate. Rock bursts were first experienced on the Teniente 4 level in 1976 (Alvial 1992) and have been a continuing problem since mechanised mining began in the stronger and stiffer primary ore. El Teniente now uses mainly mechanised panel caving but there is still some production from areas which use other forms of caving (Jofre ef al 2000). Accounts of successive stages in the evolution of cave mining methods at El Teniente are given by Ovalle (1981), Kvapil er al (1989), Alvial (1992), Moyano and Vienne (1993), Rojas et al (2000b), Jofre et al (2000) and Rojas et al (2001). The following description of recent mining at El Teniente draws on the accounts of Moyano and Vienne (1993) and Jofre e¢ al (2000). ‘As has been noted, mechanised panel caving of the primary ore was introduced on the El Teniente 4 level in 1982, A conventional or post-undercutting method was used with the undercut being mined after the development of the extraction level below and the excavation of the drawpoints. (Details of the meaning and implications of post-undercutting and related terms are given in Chapter 5), In the traditional El Teniente panel caving method, the undercut level was located 18 m above the extraction level and the undercut drifts were 3.6 by 3.6 m on 30 m centres. Over time the height of the undercut has been progressively reduced from 16.6 m in 1987 to 10.6 m in 1998 (Jofte er al 2000). ‘The extraction level layout developed at El Teniente is illustrated in Figure 1.11 for the Teniente Sub 6 level. The conventional or post-undercutting sequence used until recently exposed the pre-constructed extraction level to high levels of abutment stress as the undercut advanced overhead. This resulted in damage to the extraction level pillars and, in some instances, in severe rock bursts associated with the high horizontal stresses and local geological features (Moyano and Vienne 1993, Rojas ef al 2000a). A series of major rock bursts on the Teniente Sub 6 level starting in January 1990 soon after it came into production, caused production to be stopped temporarily and the approach to mining revised. The measures introduced from 1994 to successfully control the incidence and severity of rock bursts on the Sub 6 level included reducing the height of the column of intact rock above the undercut level, ensuring an even spatial and temporal rate of extraction, mining at a slow rate especially initially, using only remotely controlled production equipment from 1995 and using the results of seismic and other monitoring to guide production planning. In 2000, the production rate of Teniente Sub 6 was about 10,000 tonnes per day and the undercutting rate was about 12,000 m? per year (Rojas et al 2000a). 18Chapter 1: Introduction Notes: 1. Haulage drift and drawpoint drifts section wide 4.00 m : high 3.60 m 2. Distance between consecutive dump points located in the same haulage drift will be that corresponding to 6 drawpoint drifts (103.92 m) Figure 1.11: Extraction level layout, Sub 6 level, El Teniente Mine (Moyano and Vienne 1993) From 1992 a pre-undercut panel caving method was tested at El Teniente. In 1997 the method ‘was brought into production on the new Esmeralda section on the Teniente Sub 5 level, In this method, the undercut level is developed and then blasted in advance of the development of the extraction level and formation of the drawbells. Thus, all extraction level development and construction takes place in a de-stressed zone below the mined undercut, The undercut drifts are 3.6 by 3.6 m on 15 m centres. Initial development on the extraction level is kept 22.5 m behind the undercut, and full construction on the extraction level occurs 45 to 60 m behind the undercut (see Figure 1.12). Experience and the results of extensive monitoring of the condition of the pillars and the extraction level installations, clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach (Rojas ef al 2000b, Jofre ef al 2000). In early 2000, the average production from the Esmeralda section was 12,500 tonnes per day with a planned peak of 15,000 tonnes per day. The pre-undercut method was also being used on the Teniente 3 Isla section. 19Chapter 1: Introduction ‘CONVENTIONAL PANEL CAVING PREPARATION ZONE G 3 ‘PREPARATION ZONE Figure 1.12: Comparison of conventional panel caving and pre-undercut activity sequences, El Teniente Mine (after Rojas et al 2000b) 1.3.3. Premier Diamond Mine, South Africa The Premier Diamond Mine is situated 45 km to the east-north-east of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. It exploits the Premier Pipe, the largest of South A frica’s kimberlite pipes having a surface area of 32 hectares. The Premier Pipe is unique geologically in that it is intersected by a 75 m thick, shallow-dipping gabbro sill which cuts through the pipe at depths of between 380 and 510 m below surface (Bartlett 1992). Figure 1.13 shows a diagrammatic vertical section and plan of the geology and of the recent and planned mining blocks. Open pit mining commenced at Premier in 1902. With the increasing depth of mining, underground mining started in 1948, initially by open benching. Following the successful implementation of the block caving method at other De Beers mines at Kimberley and Jagersfontein as outlined in Section 1.2.3, block caving was introduced at Premier in the early 1970s. Four separate caves using a grizzly system feeding slusher drifts were operated above the gabbro sill on the western side of the mine. A total of 85 million tonnes of ore was produced from these caves (Bartlett 1992). 20Chapter 1: Introduction GENERALIZED GEOLOGY OF PREMIER PIPE PLAN ree 1 one © vees@ucy ‘TPE 2(@ROWN) Figure 1.13: Diagrammatic section and plan, Premier Diamond Mine (Bartlett and Croll 2000) Mining below the sill started in 1979 using an open stoping method. This method was unsuccessful and was replaced by block caving. Cave mining using LHDs to transport the ore from the drawpoints to ore passes started in 1990 in the BAS mining block on the 630 m level on the western side of the mine (see Figure 1.13). A second cave was established in 1996 in the 21Chapter 1: Introduction BBIE block at a depth of 732 m in weaker ore on the eastem side of the pipe. Possible future mining of the C-cut (see Figure 1.13) would involve the exploitation of 170 million tonnes of ore by caving methods with a production level 1000 m or more below surface (Bartlett and Croll 2000). The remainder of this Section will discuss recent and planned caving operations at Premier as reported by Bartlett and Croll (2000). Accounts of the earlier stages of cave mining at Premier are given by Owen (1981), Bartlett (1992) and Owen and Guest (1994). Mining of the BAS block was planned as a panel retreat caving operation with a post-undercut mining sequence. With this sequence, mining of the undercut would occur after the extraction evel development had been completed. Undercut drifts were developed directly above the extraction drifts on 30 m centres. The block was undercut by drilling and blasting 120 m long by 30 m wide and 20 m high slots at right angles to the directions of the undercut and extraction level drifts. As undercut rings were blasted, broken ore dropped directly into the pre-developed drawbells. ‘As the undercut area approached that required for the onset of caving, the levels of stress on both the undercut and extraction levels increased. On the undercut level, it became increasingly difficult to drill, charge and blast the long holes and the rate of undercutting slowed. On the extraction level, shoterete linings were extensively damaged by the abutment stresses associated with the now slow moving undercut. Footwall heave was widespread, damaging concreted roadways and disrupting production. When continuous caving was established, the stress levels, stabilised but an extensive program of extraction level support and rehabilitation was required to ensure safety and uninterrupted production. The rate of caving was slower than planned and a large and potentially dangerous air gap developed. ‘The caving process was compromised by the presence of the overlying, strong gabbro sill The difficulties continued as the panel retreated to the east. It was then decided to adopt an advance undercut mining sequence in which only the production drift and drawpoint breakaways were developed and partly supported ahead of the mining of the undercut overhead. The height of the undercut was also reduced. As the zone below the advancing undercut became de-stressed, development of the extraction level, including the concreting of roadways and the application of a shoterete lining, was completed. The adoption of these measures allowed undercutting to proceed at the planned rate, support and rehabilitation requirements to be reduced and production targets to be met. The lessons learned from the BAS block were applied in planning the mining of the BBIE block (see Figure 1.13) as a panel retreat cave with an advance undercut mining sequence. Table 1.3 shows a comparison of the design and operational parameters of the BAS and BBIE blocks. As Bartlett and Croll (2000) explain, some difficulties were experienced in the BBIE block, particularly in the early stages of undercutting and cave establishment. However, once the cave was fully established and the undercut could be advanced at the planned rate, satisfactory results were achieved. Experience with the BBIE block shows that successful 22Chapter 1: Introduction caving at this depth requires detailed planning, the timely availability of resources, and careful implementation and control of the entire mining process. Maintaining the planned schedule to avoid the compaction of broken ore provided a particular challenge in this case. Table 1.3: Design and operational parameters, BAS and BB1E mining blocks, Premier Mine, South Africa (Bartlett and Croll 2000) Parameter BAS Mining Block BBIE Mining Block Column height 80 - 140 metres 148 - 163 metres Fock mass rating 45 + 65 45-55 Hydraulic radius 30 25 Mining sequence Post and advance undercut ‘Advance undercut Rate of undercutting 900 square metres per month 1100 square metres per month ‘Tons in mining block 42 million tons 23 million tons Tons per drawpoint 50 000 to 120 000 tons 100 000 to 200 000 tons Drawpoint spacing 15x15 metres 15x 18 metres Distance across major apex 22.6 metres, 23 metres: ‘Average rate of draw 180 mm per day (109 tons) 165 mm per day (120 tons) initial fragmentation 30 % >2 cubic metres 30 % >2 cubic metres Fragmentation atter 20 % drawn 12 %>2 cube metres 7 % >2 cubic metres Drawpoint support Cable anchors, rockbolts, Cable anchors, rookbolts, mesh tendon straps and shoterete__| mesh tendon straps and shotorete Brow wear (0 to 2 metres wear after 50000 tons | 1 to. 3 metres wear after 50 000 drawn tons drawn Tunnel size 4x42 metres 4x42 metres Lhd type Diesel and electric 5 and 7 yard Toros | Diesel and electric 5 and 7 yard Toros Tons per LHD per hour 118 tons 131 tons LHD average tramming 154 metres 184 metres: distance Hangup frequency 30 % of drawpoints per shift 25 % of drawpoints per shift Fragmentation Initial 80 % >2 cubic metres 30 % >2 cubic metres 20% drawn 12 % >2 cubic metres 10 % »2 cubic metres ‘Secondary blasting 40 grams per ton 30 grams per ton The C-cut mining block is being planned with a pre-undercut mining sequence to avoid extensive and possibly unsustainable damage to the extraction level at a depth of more than 1000 m, As a consequence, the mining sequence in the existing BBIE mining block is being changed to gain operational experience with this method in which the undercut is fully developed before the extraction level. The height of the cave is planned to be between 350 and 450 m compared with a maximum of 164 m in BBIE (see Table 1,3). New mine infrastructure is being installed to support mining of the C-cut, including two new shafts from surface and a new processing plant. The mine is being designed to extract and process 9 million tonnes of ore annually by 2008 (Bartlett and Croll 2000). 23Chapter 1: Introduction 1.3.4 Henderson Mine, Colorado, USA The Henderson mine is located 80 km to the west of Denver, Colorado, USA, and 3170 m above sea level on the eastern side of the Continental Divide. The top of the molybdenite orebody lies more than 1000 m below the peak of Red Mountain and the lowest excavation is at a depth of 1600 m making Henderson one of the deepest caving operations in the world. The deposit is elliptical in plan with axes of 670 and 910 m. As is illustrated in Figure 1.14, the ore is transported by conveyor from a crusher complex on the 7065 level at an elevation of 2153 m to the mill site 25 km away on the western side of the Continental Divide. This discussion of the Henderson Mine is drawn from the paper by Rech ef al (2000). Earlier accounts of aspects of the operation are provided by Brumleve and Maier (1981), Doepken (1982) and Rech ef al (1992). —, ae ory ee ee Le men mencage nen 2 06 eee ey ELS on eovcren conn» ges) SERN Si ‘roy Figure 1.14: General section, Henderson Mine (after Rech et a/ 2000) Henderson commenced operation in 1976 as a mechanised panel cave with rail haulage from the 7500 level at an elevation of 2286 m. Figure 1.15 illustrates the original panel caving method. Approximately 90 million tonnes of ore were produced from the 8100 level (at 2469 m) from 1976 to 1991. In 1992, the 7700 level (at 2347 m) was brought into production and by the year 2000 had produced more than 45 million tonnes of ore. A particular feature of the operation of the Henderson mine is that during its life, the world molybdenum market has experienced several phases of over- and under-supply with the result that the mine’s production rates have had to vary accordingly. This has required flexible planning and operation of the mine. 24Chapter 1: Introduction ‘The next production level to come into operation will be the 7225 level located 145 m below the 7700 level at an elevation of 2202 m. As is shown in Figure 1.14, the eastern section of the corebody has not been exploited from cither the 8100 or the 7700 levels. Columns of ore up to 244 m high will become accessible on the eastern side from the 7225 level (Rech et al 2000). Figure 1.15 shows a typical isometric section of the recent configuration of the operating section of the mine on the 7700 or 2347 m level. The undercut level at 2364 m is developed with 3.7 by 3.7 m drifts on 24.4 m centres. Future undercut drift spacing will be 30.5 m centres. From the undercut drifts, rings of both short and long holes are drilled on 2 m centres to mine the undercut and the drawbells simultaneously. Panels are 8 to 12 production drifts, (244 to 366 m) in width. Figure 1.15: General isometric view, mechanised panel caving, Henderson Mine (Rech et al 2000) 25Chapter 1: Introduction Figure 1.16 shows a plan view of the drawpoint and production drift layout used on the extraction level located 17 m below the undercut level. The entry angles of 56° are the sharpest that can be used with the current 7m’ LHDs. Drawpoints are concrete lined and are fitted with steel wear plates to protect the openings from degradation over their production lives. The roadways and drawpoint floors are lined with a 300 mm thickness of concrete which permits effective clean-up and reduces tyre wear. There is a ventilation level at 2333 m through which intake and exhaust air is transported on separate horizons. The truck haulage level at 2153 m consists of 6 by 6 m haulage drifts that provide access of the 72.6 tonne side dumping trucks to centre loading chutes at the bottoms of the ore passes. The trucks transport the ore to the gyratory crusher dump on this level. Extent of foor 20.57 m x 30.48 m Drawpoint spacing Figure 1.16: Extraction level plan, Henderson Mine (Rech et a! 2000) The sequence in which the development of this series of openings takes place must be well planned and coordinated. Figure 1.17 shows the general two-year sequence in the development ofa panel at Henderson. 26Chapter 1: Introduction eutching oranpent Rout acs) (Gee)? Settee” (rhea te Figure 1.17: Development sequence, Henderson Mine (Rech et al 2000) 14 RISK IN CAVE MINING 14.1 Risk Factors Decisions to exploit a particular orebody by block or panel caving methods, the design of caving mines, and the mining operations themselves, involve risks of a number of types. Some of these risks have been referred to in the descriptions of cave mining operations given in Section 1.3 above. Detailed analyses of some of the major risk factors are given in subsequent chapters. Accounts of the risks associated with cave mining have been given recently by Heslop (2000) and Summers (2000a & b). The following is an indicative but not exhaustive list of some of the risk factors requiring consideration at various stages in a cave mining project: © adequacy of the geological data used in making estimates of the structure, shape, size and grade of the orebody; e adequacy of the geotechnical data available about the orebody and country rock masses inchiding major structures, discontinuities, rock properties, in situ stresses and groundwater hydrology. These data are used in making assessments of caveability, cave initiation and propagation, fragmentation, caving performance, excavation stability and dilution; 27Chapter 1: Introduction caveability assessment usually involving a prediction of the hydraulic radius (area/perimeter) of the undercut at which caving will initiate for a rock mass having given or estimated geotechnical characteristics; cave propagation which is the ability of the cave to continue to propagate once caving has been initiated. Cave propagation depends on a number of factors including the undercut design, the rate of undercutting, the stresses induced on the boundaries and above the cave, the orebody structure and its geotechnical characteristics, and the draw control strategy employed. Because of the capital intensive, non-selective and relatively inflexible nature of caving methods of mining, the inability to initiate or sustain caving is one of the greatest risks faced in cave mining; the degree of fragmentation of the ore occurring as a result of the caving process. This factor influences drawpoint spacing and design, equipment selection and performance, the ‘occurrence of “hangups” and the need for secondary breakage in the drawpoints, the need for underground crushers and the productivity of the cave; caving performance reflects the achievement or otherwise of the planned rate of cave propagation, rate of production, degree of fragmentation, ore grades and recovery; excavation stability refers to the stability over the design life and the need for support or reinforcement of mine excavations including undercut drifts, extraction level excavations, drawbells and items of mine infrastructure. As has been illustrated by the examples given in Section 1.3, excavation stability can depend not only on the geotechnical properties of the rock masses involved and the in situ stress field, but also on factors such as the three- dimensional mine layout, the relative timings of certain development and mining activities and the rate of undercutting; major operational hazards including major excavation collapses, mud rushes, rock bursts, air blasts, and water and slurry inflows; environmental risks broadly defined involving issues such as the mine’s influence on surface water and groundwater, the treatment and disposal of mine wastes, influence on flora and fauna habitats, surface subsidence effects, land rights and archaeological issues and other areas of community concem; and risks to profitability arising from factors such as changes to cost structures, industrial relations, variations in metal prices and currency values and local political instability. 28Chapter 1: Introduction 14.2 Introduction to Risk Assessment ‘Techniques known as risk analysis, risk assessment and risk management are now applied to a wide range of engineering and other undertakings. In the present context, our concem is with the assessment and management of the risks associated with the adoption and operation of a particular mining method. A useful generalised definition of risk assessment is that given by the UK Engineering Council: “Risk assessment is a structured process which identifies both the likelihood and extent of adverse consequences arising from a given activity.” Engineering decisions of the type being considered here are subject to a number of uncertainties, the manifestation of which can result in the failure of a project to meet its objectives in full or in part. These uncertainties can be considered to be of two general types: what we know we don’t know, or parameter uncertainty; and what we don’t know we don’t know, or conceptual uncertainty Parameter uncertainty is the easier of these two types of uncertainty to account for in engineering procedures. Use of the long established concept of a factor of safety is a commonly used method of attempting to account for parameter uncertainty. Probabilistic methods are also used as an altemative approach to addressing the same issue, particularly in geotechnical engineering (eg Christian et ai 1994, Pine 1992). Conceptual uncertainty or uncertainty about how particular sets of conditions will develop and their eventual outcomes, is usually of greater concern and more difficult to address. A risk assessment and management approach seeks to understand the sources of risk associated with a given project or design, to evaluate their consequences and to put in place procedures to manage those risks. Implementing isk assessment and management processes is especially important in the early stages of a potential cave mining project when critical decisions about the adoption of a particular mining method, layout and excavation sequence are being made. In this book, and particularly in Chapter 11, a series of definitions associated with the assessment of risk will be used. Some of these definitions will be introduced here. Hazard - a potential occurrence or condition that could lead to injury, delay, economic loss or damage to the environment. Risk — the product of the probability of occurrence of a hazard and the magnitude of the consequences of the occurrence. 29Chapter 1; Introduction Risk analysis — a structured process that identifies both the likelihood and the consequences of the hazards arising from a given activity or facility. Risk evaluation — the appraisal of the significance of a given quantitative (or, when acceptable, qualitative) measure of risk. Risk assessment — comparison of the results of a risk analysis with risk acceptance criteria or other decision parameters. Risk management — the process by which decisions are made to accept known risks or the implementation of actions to reduce unacceptable risks to acceptable levels. The application of these concepts and processes to caving methods of mining will be discussed in Chapter 11, Because the emphasis of this book is on the geomechanics of cave mining, five principal forms of risk will be considered — caveability, fragmentation, caving performance, excavation stability and major operational hazards. Each of these issues has been raised in Section 1.4.1 and will be discussed in detail in subsequent chapters. 15 ‘Score AND CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK This book is intended to provide a digest of the state-of-the-art of block and panel caving from a geomechanics perspective. It reflects the outcomes of the Intemational Caving Study (ICS) Stage I, including the Block Cave Manual (Laubscher 2000) but also contains chapters on several topics that were not part of the ICS research program. Much of the information presented on current caving operations and key caving issues is drawn from papers presented at the international mass mining conference, MassMin 2000, held in Brisbane, Australia, in late 2000 (Chitombo 2000). The subsequent chapters deal with the following topics: Chapter 2 ~ Rock mass characterisation reviews the needs for and methods of collecting data for use in characterising rock masses for cave mine engineering purposes. The chapter discusses new methods of archiving, correcting, processing and modelling the data developed as part of the ICS. Chapter 3 ~ Cayeability assessment addresses a topic that is vitally important in the study and design of any potential block or panel caving operation. It reviews the available empirical and numerical methods of predicting caveability with an emphasis on the extended Mathews method developed as part of the ICS. 30Chapter 1; Introduction Chapter 4 — Fragmentation assessment reviews the factors influencing the fragmentation produced by caving, methods of fragmentation measurement and the available methods of predicting in situ, primary and secondary fragmentation, Chapter 5 — Cave initiation by undereutting discusses the factors influencing undercut design and performance, and the undercutting strategies and undercut designs used in practice. It reports a parametric study of the influence of undercut strategy on the stresses induced in the ‘undercut and extraction levels and the associated support and reinforcement requirements. Chapter 6 - Extraction level design is concemed with the layout and design (including the support and reinforcement) of production and drawpoint drifts, drawpoints, drawbells, pillars and ore handling facilities on extraction or production levels. Chapter 7 -Draw control discusses the importance of draw control in caving mines, the factors influencing the flow of broken ore, the numerical modelling of particle flow, and draw control practice including computer based techniques. Chapter 8 — Geotechnical monitoring considers the nature and purposes of geotechnical monitoring systems and their application to monitoring extraction level and infrastructure performance, surface subsidence and ground movements in caving mines. Chapter 9 - Surface subsidence discusses the mechanisms of caving to surface that may be associated with caving operations and presents methods of analysis of plug subsidence, chimney caving and progressive hangingwall caving. Chapter 10 - Major operational hazards associated with block and panel caving are taken to include major collapses, rock bursts, mud rushes, air blasts and water and slurry inrushes. The causes, effects and means of prevention or amelioration of the effects of these hazards are discussed. Chapter 11 - Risk assessment addresses the increasingly important topic of risk assessment and its application to cave mine engineering. Concepts are introduced, terms defined, the available tools outlined and their application to cave mining described through an account of the tool CaveRisk developed as part of the ICS. 31CHAPTER 2 ROCK MASS CHARACTERISATION 2.1 DEFINING THE MINING ENVIRONMENT s was noted in Chapter 1, in recent years there has been renewed interest internationally in the mining of massive, often lower grade, orcbodies by caving methods. A feature of block and panel caving methods of mining is that, while they have low operating costs, they require high levels of capital investment in infrastructure and development before production can commence. A second feature of these methods is that the mine construction and development required are not readily or economically adaptable to other methods of mining if, for some reason, the chosen mining method proves to be unsuccessful. ‘Accordingly, it is especially important that, when these methods of mining are being considered, the mining environment, especially the geotechnical environment, is understood sufficiently well to permit critical decisions to be made reliably in the pre-feasibility and feasibility study stages of a project. Not to do so invites disaster. ‘As Laubscher (1993) has suggested, the mining environment as it is being identified here must be defined, or re-defined, in a number of circumstances: © fornew mining projects on greenfield sites; for planning the mining of new mining blocks or orebodies in current operations at established mines; © where a change from open pit to underground mass mining is being considered; and © where difficulties encountered in operations require a review of the current mining method, planning parameters, layout or detailed mine design Examples of each of these circumstances have been encountered in cave mining projects and operations in recent years. In each of these circumstances, data of the types being considered here may be required for the following major purposes: 32Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation © mining method selection including caveability studies; © detailed design of mining excavations including their sizes, shapes and requirements for support and reinforcement; © fragmentation studies which influence issues such as drawpoint spacing and design and equipment selection (including crushers); production or extraction level layout and detailed design including support and reinforcement requirements; © mine infrastructure location and design; ‘© impacts of mining on the surface including the nature and extent of caving zones, interactions with water courses or storages, impacts on surface installations, and impacts on local communities; and © risk assessment, especially for major hazards such as mud rushes, rock bursts, major instabilities and associated air blasts. The data required for these purposes can be considered as falling into several categories. The general requirements in each of these categories will be outlined in Section 2.2. 2.2 GENERAL DATA REQUIREMENTS 2.2.1 Geology It may be assumed that the regional geology will have been assessed during the exploration stage of a new project or will be well established and understood on continuing projects (eg Howell and Molloy 1960). The local mine geology must be known and understood in some detail for the purposes identified above. Knowledge is required of issues such as: © orebody shape, size and the distribution of grades; . location and nature of the contact of the orebody with the country rock; * the nature of the country rocks and of any weathered or transported overburden materials; and © structural features such as faults, shear zones, dykes, sills and folding. 33Chapter 2; Rock Mass Characterisation Generally, the information available from exploration drilling is incomplete with the result that planning and production engineers may find themselves "mining blind" (Hood et al 1999) Poor detailed knowledge of the orebody geometry in underground metalliferous mines can result in dilution or incomplete ore recovery or both, Developing the ability to "see" through the rock mass in order to gain a more detailed knowledge of the ore grades and boundaries, and of the rock structure and strength, would bring immense benefit. Geophysical techniques using seismic and electromagnetic methods, for example, are considered likely to provide an effective means of supplementing the information available from drilling (Hood ef al 1999), It is especially important that both major and minor faults and shear zones intersecting the orebody and the nearby country rock be identified. ‘The classification of faults and shear zones is considered in Section 2.3.1 below. ‘The potentially deleterious effects of faults intersecting, or in close proximity to, mining excavations have long been recognised and dealt with. The nature and magnitudes of these effects may vary with the orientation of the fault, the geomechanical properties of the adjoining rock, the nature of the fault material and fault surfaces (friable or broken material, clay or other filling, slickensiding), the size of the excavation and the presence of water. Some of the observed effects of faults on underground mining excavations include: © off-setting of the orebody; © slip on the fault leading to a re-distribution of stresses around the excavation; * fretting or chimneying of friable fault and surrounding material above the back or hangingwall; * isolation of large blocks or wedges that become free to slide or fall into the excavation; * general sloughing of destressed or unrestrained rock leading to dilution; © inability to form a satisfactory anchorage for, or to complete the installation of, reinforcing elements such as rock bolts and cable bolts; and © the provision of a conduit for water flows into the excavations, Sourineni et al (1999) recently carried out a study of fault-related sloughing in open stopes and gave several examples of major fault-induced failure. Heslop (2000) points to several effects of faults in block caving operations while Laubscher (2000) notes particularly the potential for faults to isolate large wedges which may "sit down" on major apices or drawpoints and inhibit uniform draw and cave propagation. 34Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation 2.2.2 Surface and Groundwater Hydrology Surface and groundwater management is of little concern in some caving operations but is vitally important in others. It is necessary, therefore, that issues such as the location of surface water courses and storages, rainwater drainage and groundwater hydrology (including the potential for recharge) are evaluated in the feasibility study stage. If in caving operations, the ingress of water into the caving zone can be prevented, the mining excavations will serve to drain the surrounding rock mass with the result that the mine will be dry. However, in other cases, including areas of extremely high rainfall and where there are adjacent water storages and tailings dumps, water control and mud rush problems can be of concern (eg Barber ef al 2000, Butcher ef al 2000). These issues will be discussed in Chapter 10 2.2.3. Topography and Environmental Constraints The topography in the area of the orebody will have a major influence on the locations and costs of surface infrastructure and underground accesses. The local topography will also have an influence on the hydrological issues just discussed, on the local in situ stresses (see Section 2.8) and on the way in which any caving zone eventually ‘propagates to surface (eg Brown and Ferguson 1979). Obviously, the existence of communities and of utilities such as roads, power lines and pipe lines of various types in the zone likely to be affected by the mine must be established and taken into account. There are many examples of the positive impacts of new mining projects on local communities by providing jobs, improved services and custom for local businesses. ‘The social and environmental impacts of mining have become of major concern in recent years. They are noted here for completeness and will be considered no further. A particular issue in some parts of the world, including Australia, is native land rights and the existence of sacred and archaeological sites in the area influenced by mining, Expert studies of all of these issues are usually required to inform the definition of the mining environment of any mass mining project. The Century Zine Project in North West Queensland, Australia, provides an especially 200d example of the successful resolution of issues of this type (Williams 1999). 2.24 Geotechnical Studies Most of the key issues referred to in Section 2.1 outlining the uses of the data required to define the mining environment, require geotechnical data for their resolution. Accordingly, the emphasis of the remainder of this chapter will be on the collection and assessment of geotechnical data for rock mass characterisation. As well as the general geological and hydrogeological data referred to above, the geotechnical data required for the purposes being considered here includes: i 36Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation * discontinuity survey data obtained through core logging, downhole logging of boreholes or scanline mapping of exposed faces. The data required are the locations, orientations, nature and condition of all discontinuities encountered and, in exposures, their terminations, ‘These data are vitally important in caveability, fragmentation and excavation stability studies; © measurements of the physical and mechanical properties of the lithological units making up the orebody and the immediate country rocks. These include - unit weights, ~ uniaxial compressive and tensile strengths, - _ shear strengths of discontinuities, - shear strength parameters of intact rocks, - _ stiffnesses and deformation moduli of discontinuities and intact samples, and - hardness, toughness, abrasivity and drillability indices. Standard methods of measuring these properties are given by Brown (1981). © rock mass classification of all lithological units using one of the established methods such as those due to Barton ef al (1974), Bieniawski (1976) or Laubscher (1977, 1994) ‘These values are used in caveability studies, empirical methods of stability assessment and in estimating tock mass strengths using methods such as those developed by Laubscher (1977, 1994) and Hoek and Brown (1980, 1997); and * measurements or estimates of the regional and mine site in situ stresses. The stresses induced around mining excavations have major influences on excavation stability and, importantly in the current context, on cave propagation (Kendrick 1970, Krstulovic 1979, van As and Jeffrey 2000). This geotechnical data collection phase is not always carried out adequately in terms of the nature, quantity or quality of the data collected or the time at which it becomes available for use in feasibility and subsequent mine design studies. The remainder of this chapter will concentrate on geotechnical data collection and its use in rock mass characterisation, A general review of the field will be given with emphasis on those topics to which particular contributions have been made as part of the International Caving Study Stage I as reported by Harries (2001). 2.3. CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF DISCONTINUITIES 23.1 Classification The term discontinuity refers to any mechanical discontinuity in a rock mass having zero or low tensile strength. It is a collective term for most types of joints, weak bedding planes, weak 36Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation schistosity planes, weakness zones and faults. It contrasts with more specific terms such as bedding plane, joint or fault which describe discontinuities formed under particular conditions and mechanisms. Rock mass discontinuities can be classified using a number of criteria, A useful geometric classification used by structural geologists is to describe the discontinuity as a penetrative or non-penetrative structure. A particular structure is said to be penetrative if, on the scale under consideration, that structure is repeated with much the same spacing and orientation pattern, from one sample of the rock mass to the next. Otherwise the structure is non-penetrative; that is, the same structure may occur within different samples in different regions of the rock mass, but its distribution, spacing and orientation are not similar from one sample to the next (Hobbs . 1993), Penetrative rock mass structures that can influence the mechanical properties and hence the behaviour of a rock mass include the bedding surfaces of sedimentary rocks, flow foliation of igneous rocks and foliation of regionally deformed metamorphic rocks. Typical non-penetrative discontinuities that influence the rock mass behaviour are joints and faults. It has been argued by Hobbs (1993) that "many engineering geologists have a preoccupation with joint surfaces as potential failure planes, to the exclusion of all other structures. While such a preoccupation with fracture systems is probably safe enough in weakly deformed sedimentary and igneous rocks, it can potentially lead to disaster if a keen appreciation of the penetrative structures in metamorphic rocks is not also actively maintained”. Penetrative structures such as slaty cleavage or schistosity could be important in determining mechanical responses such as | caveability and fragmentation, For engineering applications the most useful geometric classification of discontinuities is by scale, Discontinuities can be divided into two classes by size (Cruden 1977) | © major discontinuities such as faults, dykes, contacts and related features with a size of the same order of magnitude as that of the site to be characterised. The position in space, physical properties and geometrical characteristics are usually established deterministically for each of these major discontinuities; and © minor discontinuities such as joints, minor shears and bedding planes which, for practical purposes, represent an infinite population in the area of design. As a result, their geometrical characteristics and physical properties must be estimated by measurements of a representative sampled (smaller) population. This division of discontinuities is important as it separates those features that may be represented deterministically from those that must be represented statistically. For minor discontinuities, representative sampling, sample size and the definition of structural domains are important aspects of a rock mass characterisation program. Structural domains ate zones 37 MaChapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation of @ rock mass in which the geometrical and physical properties of the discontinuities can be treated as being statistically homogenous. Discontinuities may also be classified according to their origins. Joints (minor fractures) Joints are the most common result of brittle fracture in the Earth’s crust. They are ubiquitous geological structures, occurring in a wide variety of rock types and tectonic environments. They also have a dominant effect on the mechanical and hydrological responses of rock masses to engineering activity. In discussing minor fractures Goints), Price and Cosgrove (1990) comment that one of the topics that bedevils fracture interpretation is nomenclature. Griggs and Handin (1960) classify discontinuities as faults if they exhibit shear displacement and as joints if they are dilatational features which exhibit no shear. In practice, this approach could lead to the misinterpretation of geological data. The shortcoming of the definition is that the scale at which the observation is made is not specified. Geologists who are unable to demonstrate a shear displacement on a fracture may be tempted to classify such a fracture as a ‘joint’ resulting only from extension. Quartz SE Calcite Figure 2.1: Photomicrograph of quartz and calcite filled discontinuities (Price and Cosgrove 1990) Figure 2.1 shows a photomicrograph of intersecting micro-fractures. The photomicrograph of the rock section under crossed polarised light quite clearly shows two quartz filled fractures (both showing undulose extinction) oriented vertically and a single horizontal calcite filled fracture showing high order birefringence. From this photomicrograph, it can be seen that the calcite-filled vein displaces the quartz filled veins (by approximately 0,025 mm). This small displacement can only be inferred because of the infill of the fractures and the use of 38Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation microphotography. The two earlier quartz veins are dilational (je extensional) features and the later calcite vein is a hybrid extension/shear fracture. It is likely that from a field observation, the shear movement would be missed and all three fractures would be identified as joints using Griggs and Handin’s definitions, On the basis of field experience, Harries (2001) has suggested that, in order to avoid such problems, the term joint should be used to describe any minor fracture which does not exhibit a shear displacement of greater than 0.01 m (10 mm). The term fault is used where a shear displacement of greater than 0.01 m is observed along the discontinuity plane during mapping or core logging. Joints often display spatial and orientational relationships with folds, anticlines, synclines and faults formed during some period of tectonic activity (Price 1966, Price and Cosgrove 1990). ‘An example of the jointing associated with folding is shown in Figure 2.2. Veins, or cemented joints, as illustrated in Figure 2.1, are mineral infillings of joints or fissures. ‘They may be sheet-like or tabular or irregular. ‘They are generally of igneous origin but may also result from sedimentary processes. They are commonly associated with metalliferous orebodies and have been found to have important influences on orebody caveability and fragmentation. They may be weaker or stronger than the wall rock of the joint or fissure and should be taken into account in rock mass characterisation schemes (eg. Laubscher and Jakubec 2000). For example, at the El Teniente mine, Chile, the stronger primary ore contains large numbers of veins or filled joints. These veins are described in order of decreasing strength as. (Flores and Karzulovic 2002a): © quartz filled joints; « anhydrite-chalocpyrite filled joints; © anhydrite-gypsum filled joints; or © joints with soft fillings (eg. sericite, oxides). oblique or shear joints tension joints Figure 2.2: Jointing associated with an asymmetrical anticline (Priest 1993 after Price 1966) 39Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Faults and shears As discussed above, a fault is defined as a discontinuity dividing portions of rock that have been displaced one past the other in shear. Faulting of rock can occur along a single plane or along many planes within a zone. A fault zone is a closely spaced group of parallel or anastomising faults. A zone in which blocks of rock have been displaced but do not display visible fault structures, is termed a shear zone (Hobbs et al 1976). Although shear displacements on discontinuities can range from micrometres to several hundred kilometres, the term fault is reserved for the more extensive features that show significant displacement (70.01 m, for example). Faults are usually classified on the basis of shear direction, with three main types of fault being defined: © normal faults in which the hangingwall has moved down with respect to the footwall; © reverse (thrust) faults in which the hangingwall has moved up relative to the footwall; and strike-slip (transcurrent) faults in which the movement is predominantly sideways along strike It is assumed that a fault is induced when changing tectonic stresses produce a shear stress that exceeds the shear strength developed on a particular plane in the rock mass. The type and characteristics of the fault will be controlled by the shear strength of the rock mass and the in situ stress conditions at the time of fault formation. Minor shears and joints will often form as secondary features of the main fault (Kersten 1990). Their orientation, persistence and thickness, and the nature and strength of the infilling materials, influence the effects of faults on mining operations, For a given fault, these features may not be uniform with depth. For example, at the El Teniente and Andina mines in Chile, several examples exist of faults with thicknesses of, say, 1.5 m on the surface, having thicknesses of only 15 cm at depths of 1000 m (Flores and Karzulovie 2002a). Cleavage or schistosity Cleavage or schistosity is predominantly a planar rock fabric (foliation) produced by preferred alignment of platy minerals (generally phyllosilicates). This alignment is not perfect, but is of a statistical nature. Cleavage imparts a special property to the rock, in that it splits preferentially in a direction parallel to the cleavage planes (Ramsay and Huber 1983). The most common type of cleavage is flow cleavage, which is caused by the recrystallisation and realignment of platy minerals during tectonic deformation. This is often associated with low grade regional metamorphism. Fracture cleavage describes incipient, cemented or welded parallel discontinuities that are independent of any parallel alignment of minerals (foliation). Fracture cleavage is another product of high deviatoric stresses developed during tectonic deformation. 40Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Bedding Bedding is typically a continuous plane that divides sedimentary rocks into beds or strata Similar structures can also occur in igneous rocks from lava flows or the deposition of pyroclastic material, They are created by changes in such factors as grain size, grain orientation, mineralogy or chemistry during deposition. Bedding does not always create discontinuities; in many cases it forms only a slight change in colour or texture in an otherwise intact rock material (Priest 1993). Bedding planes may exist as open fractures or as closed planes along which the rock may part easily (Gerrard 1988). At depth bedding planes are often closed but the release of stress in the rock immediately adjacent to a newly formed excavation may allow bedding planes to part and discontinuities to form (Beer ef al 1983). Although initially horizontal and generally planar, bedding can be tilted, folded and even inverted to a complex range of orientations, Bedding features can be recognised by the fact that they are generally parallel, even when tilted or folded, Sometimes there may be minor stratification planes known as cross-bedding, oblique to the major bedding planes. 23.2 Description In the ‘Suggested methods for the quantitative description of discontinuities in rock masses’ of the International Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM 1978), ten parameters are identified as being required for the quantitative description of discontinuities and rock masses. These parameters are illustrated schematically in Figure 2.3 Filling Figure 2.3: Discontinuity parameters (Hudson and Harrison 1997) 41Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Five of the ten parameters (orientation, spacing, persistence, number of sets and block size) may be considered to be ‘geometric’ parameters. They will define the geometry of the rock mass structure, the size and shape of rock blocks formed and the nature of intact rock bridges in the rock mass. The other five parameters (roughness, aperture, filling, wall strength and seepage) may be regarded as ‘strength’ parameters because they influence the discontinuity’s shear strength and stiffness. 2.4. DISCONTINUITY DATA COLLECTION BY DRILLING, CoRE LOGGING, DowN-HOLE SURVEYS, SCANLINE AND CELL MAPPING 2.4.1 Introduction The geometric and mechanical characterisation of discontinuities is a vitally important pre- cursor to engineering design in rock masses. Ideally, the complete characterisation of a rock ‘mass would include a description of each fracture in the rock mass as well as the determination of its geometric and mechanical properties. Currently, this cannot be achieved for a number of reasons: © the visible parts of discontinuities are usually limited to discontinuity traces only; discontinuities distant from the exposed rock surfaces and drill core cannot be observed; and © direct and indirect (eg geophysical) measurements of discontinuities have limited resolution and accuracy. For these reasons, the discontinuities in a rock mass are usually described as an assemblage, rather than individually. This assemblage is modelled stochastically simply because the discontinuity characteristics vary in space (Dershowitz and Einstein 1988). The methods used to collect rock mass discontinuity data can be divided into four main categories: © geotechnical core logging and borehole imaging: © face exposure (planar) mapping; © geophysical or indirect mapping; and © aerial and photogrammetric techniques. The fourth category will not be discussed here as it has little relevance to rock mass characterisation for cave mine engineering other than in the exploration stage. Aerial photography can identify major lineaments and the orientations of large-scale discontinuities. Photogrammetric methods have proved usefull for rock mass characterisation for open pit mines (Tsoutrelis et al 1990). 42Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation 2.4.2 Geotechnical Core Logging | ‘The recovery of core by diamond drilling allows information to be obtained from volumes of a rock mass which cannot be observed directly. It is one of the most important and valuable methods of sub-surface exploration and, in some cases, is likely to provide the only direct sampling or observation of much of the rock mass that is to be mined. A large assortment of drilling rigs, core barrels and drill bits are available to provide drill core at diameters from 20 to 150 mm at varying depths and from rocks of varying strength. Hoek and Brown (1980) and Brady and Brown (1993) discuss the principal types of drill rigs, core barrels and drill bits used in diamond drilling. Most of the core drilled during the feasibility and planning stages of a block caving operation will be used to determine the rock types, ore grades, ore textures and geological structures required to develop a geological model of the orebody. Nevertheless, for engineering purposes, valuable information concerning the rock ‘mass can be obtained by a critical examination of core, providing that the examiner is aware of those geological features that are of significance (Deere 1964). The quality of the core record that is obtained and logged is dependent on a number of factors, including: © the rock strength and behaviour of discontinuities during drilling; © the drilling equipment and core diameter used in the coring process; © the competence of the drill rig operators; and © how the core is handled and stored. These four factors have been discussed in detail by Onederra (1999) and earlier in the seminal paper by Rosengren (1970). After drilling, wherever possible, the drill core should be oriented before being logged geotechnically. Drill core orientation and the determination of discontinuity orientation are important because of the impact that discontinuity orientation has on the caveability, fragmentation and support requirements of a rock mass. During a drill run, the core will tend to rotate within the core barrel. ‘Thus, the true orientations of discontinuities within rotated core will remain unknown unless they can be correctly reoriented to their original positions within the borehole. The techniques that can be used to assist with the reorientation of core include: © — down-hole orientation instrumentation; © the use of reliable reference planes; © the use of cameras and geophysical visualisation techniques; and © the use of multiple holes and stereographic techniques. These techniques will be discussed in turn. 43Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Down-hole orientation instrumentation Down-hole orientation devices assist with orienting sections of the core into their correct positions within the drill hole. If the plunge and trend of the borehole are known, the measured orientation of the discontinuity in the borehole can be used to determine its true orientation, Sullivan ef al (1992) compiled a useful summary highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the main down-hole core orientation techniques used in Australia (see Table 2.1), Table 2.1: Core orientation techniques (after Sullivan et al 1992) | Technique | cost* | Complexity | Advantages | Disadvantages | inuse fe Cihistensen- | High | Moderate Can be used iniow | Requires Hagel strength rocks and | conventional vertical holes | dhiling and is Craelius | Moderate | Moderate | Marginal | Yes | Simplein use, | Can be subject me negligible driling | to damage. Not | delays accurate for high | i | angle detects _| | Spear | Negligible | Verylow | Marginal | Yes Simple in use, Reliability of ~ negligible driling result | os deta _ | Clay imprint | Negligible | Low | Marginal | Yes | Simple inuse, Requires | minimal éiing | interpretation of _L | [ delays imprint Acid etcn | Moderate | Moderate | Yes | Yes] Provides core | Time consuming | | orientation and | additional borehole i fe | _survey ane Rocha | Very high High | Excellent | No | Can beusedin | Expensive and extremely low requires | strength rocks specialist. | equipment | ~* Both initial outlay and delay n dling ¥* Due to 1op of core run being disturbed during drilling 44Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Sullivan et al (1992) reported that the most common and reliable of the core orientation methods used in Australia was the clay imprint technique. However, there is a trend for drilling contractors to use the down-hole spear technique. The advantages of the spear technique are the almost negligible costs and delays to the drilling operation. As most exploration drilling contractors are paid primarily by the metre drilled, any delay in drilling is seen to be a waste of money. During the geotechnical drilling campaign at Mont Porphyre, Canada, Coulson ef al (1998) and Nickson ef al (2000) compared five core orientation methods. ‘They found that the Core Tech Canada diamond drill core orientation system, which uses an acid etching technique, gave reliable orientation results. The clay imprint method worked with some success but at depths greater than 1200 m difficulty was experienced in obtaining an adequate imprint. A third system used scribes three lines on the core in a known orientation. Problems were found in using this technique because of the high rock hardness and the induced rotation of the core tube in the barrel. The other methods considered were a borehole camera and the orientation to known bedding, both of which will be discussed below. Because of the depth of the Mont Porphyre orebody (1000 to 1700 m below surface), operational difficulties were experienced in orientating the drill core, The high cost of rilling at such depths and the small number of holes drilled, meant that the cost and time associated with one of the more advanced core orientation systems was acceptable at Mont Porphyre. However, this is unlikely to be the case in other operations which have a greater number of holes, shallower drilling depths and direct underground access to the orebody from exploration drifts, for example, enabling reliable discontinuity orientation data to be obtained. Utilising reference planes of known orientation If the rock mass contains a planar fabric that is consistent throughout the site (eg bedding planes or a regionally consistent cleavage), and if the orientation of the fabric is known, the true orientation of the discontinuity can be established. As long as the reference plane is consistent and the borehole direction (trend and plunge) is known, the angle measured between the reference plane and the discontinuity can be used to determine the dip and dip direction of the discontinuity. The method described by Priest (1985) makes use of the stereographic projection technique. Ideally, another orientation method should be used to check the results obtained using this technique. If there is a major deflection of the reference fabric, perhaps due to faulting or folding, then gross errors can be produced in the estimated discontinuity orientation Utilising instruments such as cameras or geophysical visualisation techniques Downhole cameras or geophysical techniques that can measure discontinuity orientation can be used to examine the sides of a borehole. Discontinuities intersecting the borehole can be analysed and their orientations determined. ‘These discontinuities can then be related to the 45Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation corresponding structures found in the core at the same depths. Although this is a slow process for determining discontinuity orientation, it may be of use where no other orientation methods are available or where processes such as core washing and cote blockage have damaged the core to such an extent that traditional orientation methods cannot be used. Using stereographic techniques and multiple holes with different orientations The true orientations of sets of discontinuities can be determined using the orientations of two or more non-parallel boreholes. Using the angle between the core axis and the discontinuity normal, vital information on the discontinuity orientation can be obtained. Rotation of the core during drilling and handling may mean that the true orientation of the discontinuity cannot be determined using this measurement alone. The angle represents a locus around the drilling direction of possible discontinuity orientations, However, using a number of measurements of this angle for the same discontinuity set, made at different drilling directions, the orientation of the discontinuity set can be calculated. Priest (1985) provides a description and an example of the use of this technique to determine discontinuity orientation. Reorienting the core and establishing a reference line are the next steps required in preparation for core logging. Using the core orientation information, the core is rotated into position with the reference line placed on top. Discontinuities or broken pieces of core are put into their correct positions so that the reference line can be extended over discontinuities and drilling-induced fractures. Problems can occur if a large section of broken core or a zone of washed away fault gouge means that the core pieces cannot be fitted together. Geotechnical core logging is intended primarily to provide information on the rock mass discontinuities. There are a number of other basic steps or procedures that should be carried out prior to the detailed geotechnical logging of core, namely: © the core should be examined to determine the structural boundaries and the geological features to be measured. Markers indicating the depths of the geological horizons and start and end of drill runs should be checked (Brown 1981); © core recovery should be established. This parameter may be determined for individual core runs or rock types or for entire boreholes. Recovery in a rock mass of poor quality will be strongly dependent on the drilling equipment used and the skill of the drilling crew; and © an assessment should be made of the degree of fragmentation of the drill core. This assessment can be made quantitatively using a number of indices including the Total Core Recovery (TCR), Solid Core Recovery (SCR), Rock Quality Designation (RQD), Fracture Index (FI) and Core Loss (CL) (Windsor and Thompson 1997). The most commonly used measures are the RQD and the Fracture Index (or Fracture Frequency) which find widespread use in rock mass classification schemes and in engineering design. 46Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation When determining discontinuity frequency indices care must taken to distinguish between natural discontinuities and fractures caused by the drilling and handling processes. A trained engineering geologist or geotechnical engineer can usually identify natural discontinuities because of the presence of mineral coatings, smoothness, staining and/or weathering of the surrounding rock. Three methods may be used for determining the lengths of core pieces for RQD calculations - tip to tip, centre-line and fully circular (see Figure 2.4). Tip to tip measurements involve double counting at each end of a core piece, while fully circular measurement ignores core pieces that happen to have been drilled with a small subtended angle to one discontinuity in otherwise massive rock. Consequently the centre-line method is recommended (Brown 1981). A discussion of the calculation of RQD is given in Section 2.7.2 below. Figure 2.4: Different interpretations of the length of core pieces (after Brown 1981) Following the definition of geotechnical domains and the calculation of core recovery and discontinuity intensity measures, the actual logging of the core can proceed, The amount of information concerning rock mass discontinuities that can be obtained from logging drill core will depend on whether or not the core has been oriented. The ten specific parameters described under the ISRM suggested methods (Brown 1981) are listed in Table 2.2. If the core is not oriented, only three of the ten parameters can be recorded reliably. The more disturbance the core has undergone during drilling and handling then generally the less the information that can be obtained on the rock mass discontinuities. For example, care needs to 47Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation be taken when assessing discontinuity filling. Discontinuity filling and mineralisation may be washed away by drilling fluids. In some situations drilling mud may be deposited into open discontinuities Table 2.2: Discontinuity parameters measurable from core record (Harries 2001) Discontinuity Parameter | Oriented Core | Unoriented Core __(ISRM 1978) 1. Orientation Yes No (possible) 2. Spacing Yes No (possible) 3. Persistence No No 4. Roughness Yes Yes 5. Wall Strength Yes Yes 6. Aperture No No 7. Filling Yes Yes 8. Seepage t No No 9. Number of Sets Yes No (possible) “10. Block Size No No Even when the core has been successfully oriented, the errors associated with sampling in one direction only always need to be considered. A ‘blind zone’ will be present even when a perfect drilling operation is achieved. Only by the use of multiple drill holes at different orientations can this sampling issue be resolved. The main drawback of characterising discontinuities from drill core is the lack of information available on persistence. Because of the small volume of the rock mass contained in the core, it is unlikely that many observations on discontinuity termination will be made or much information obtained on discontinuity shape or size. Optical imaging of the drill hole walls is also used in rock mass characterisation. A variety of techniques are available including photoelectric transformers, conventional cameras operated remotely from a wireline, television cameras operated remotely using coaxial cable and digital borehole scanners. Discontinuity detection applications are sometimes limited because the imaging techniques used require clear borehole fluids, and because they commonly image the borehole at oblique angles using local illumination sources that produce shadows which imerfere with discontinuity detection and interpretation (Paillet er al 1991). Furthermore, some data may not be in digital form initially, and so not amenable to sophisticated processing. ‘The digital borehole scanner (DBS) is a logging tool which provides optical, true-colour images of a borehole wall. The Borehole Image Processing (BIP) system was developed by the Raax Company of Kitaku, Sapporo, Japan (Kamewada et al 1990). The digitally recorded data yield high resolution images, enabling detailed measurement of discontinuities, identification of 48Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation discontinuity mineralisation, and observation of other microscale properties not generally available with other instruments, However, the sampling issues (orientation blind zone and lack of persistence information) associated with logging oriented geotechnical drill core also apply to borehole imaging techniques. 2.4.3 Exposure Mapping Methods Mapping of natural (outcrop) or artificial (excavated) rock mass exposures, can enable discontinuity parameters to be characterised in greater detail than is possible from drill core logging. In particular, important information about how discontinuities terminate, the sizes of discontinuities and reliable measurements of discontinuity orientation can be obtained from exposure mapping. Mapping techniques can be divided into three main classes: © spot mapping; © lineal mapping; and © areal mapping. ‘The technique used in a given rock mass characterisation campaign depends on the degree of detail and hence the sampling effort required. All techniques will suffer from some degree of sampling bias (see Section 2.5.2), because discontinuities having three dimensional parameters (size, shape and orientation) are being sampled in a two dimensional section (plane). The mapping technique used will determine which analysis techniques can be used to correct for these sampling biases. Spot mapping Spot mapping is a technique in which the observer selectively samples only those individual discontinuities that are considered important. An example of the application of this technique is shown in Figure 2.5. The actual traces observed in the exposure are shown on the left of the figure. The discontinuities depicted on the right of the figure are those that have been mapped because the mapping personnel have considered them important. The value of the results obtained using this technique depends on the judgement of the observer. By recording the characteristics of only those discontinuities thought to be "important", the volume of data, and thus the mapping effort required, are greatly reduced. However, because the user biases the data, the repeatability is poor. Individual users may consider different discontinuities to be important. ‘This may be the case particularly when those performing the mapping are collecting the data for different engineering purposes (eg caveability analysis, fragmentation analysis, cable bolt design). The use of this method is advised only for preliminary ‘reconnaissance’ style data gathering exercises where there is a need to gather some initial orientation data quickly. This can provide useful input into planning more comprehensive and objective mapping exercises (eg by scanline or window mapping). 49Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Original exposure plane Spot mapping Figure 2.5: Spot mapping technique (Harries 2001) Lineal (scantine) mapping Lineal mapping involves measuring or recording the geometric and mechanical characteristics of all discontinuities that intersect a given sampling line. Examples of lineal or scanline mapping techniques are given by Piteau (1970), Priest and Hudson (1981), Villaescusa (1991), Priest (1993), Windsor and Thompson (1997) and Harries (2001). When carried out correctly lineal mapping can provide significant amounts of data from a sample of the rock mass in a structured and objective way. This technique is illustrated schematically in Figure 2.6. The left of the figure shows the original rock mass discontinuity traces and the right of the figure shows those discontinuities selected during mapping. All discontinuities that intersect either of the horizontal or vertical sampling scanlines and are larger than a designated "cut off” limit are mapped and characterised systematically. Original exposure plane Line mapping Figure 2.6: Scanline mapping technique (Harries 2001)Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation ‘A typical scanline mapping sheet is shown in Figure 2.7. ‘The header information for the scanline survey includes the coordinates of the mapping location, scanline orientation and elevation, wall information, date and personnel involved in the scanline mapping. The scanline (tape measure) is set up on an appropriate clean wall. ‘This may require the wall to be cleaned. If the outcrop is too weathered or the exposure too blast damaged to enable the discontinuities to be mapped, another location should be selected. After selection of an appropriate site, starting at one end of the scanline, every discontinuity that intersects the scanline tape is measured. The discontinuity parameters measured will depend on the scheme adopted. Using the Villaescusa (1991) scanline mapping format, the following information is collected for each discontinuity intersected: © distance of intersection along the tape; number of endpoints observed in the plane (0, | or 2); ‘© — discontinuity type (joint, fault, vein, bedding, shear); © orientation (dip and dip direction of the discontinuity); © roughness (smooth, rough, slickensided); planarity (planar, wavy, irregular); © trace length (length of discontinuity seen in the sample plane); and © termination types (intact rock, another joint or hidden) y Bench face/wal dip. Pager of, East Bench facelwall dip dl Ceasoring levels (m): up, down__ Location: Fok, [eedpotnt cations] otractere Type | _Rengonee | Punariy | Ti Crermination) 72 TT pom |e eecding RY vous [PJ planar [AU [another aint | [ow ade (0 V[ van_[s | enear [S| snoour wey [AR sata ek [Ht [high ane 27] ZT containes | F | tautt | © | contact | SL] alickensided | 1 [ireguiar| FC |foor censored] UN[ unknown, [rot censored Figure 2.7: Scanline mapping sheet (adapted from Villaescusa 1991) Simple notation and abbreviations are used to optimise the detail of the observations and increase the speed of mapping. Discontinuity parameters are assessed using simple tools and observations. Discontinuity orientation is usually measured using the Brunton ot Clar compass 51Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation The trace length is measured using a tape measure and the other parameters can be assessed visually. The ‘remarks’ column can be used for any other general observations or explanation such as the nature of discontinuity mineralisation or alteration. ‘The length of the scanline is normally extended until a prerequisite number of observations are obtained. What is a prerequisite number? Numbers varying from 40 per discontinuity set and from 150 to 350 total discontinuities per scanline have been suggested, Priest (1993) suggests, that between 150 and 350 discontinuities should be recorded. The lower number would be sufficient for a ‘simple’ rock mass containing just three discontinuity sets and the higher number for a more complex rock mass containing up to six discontinuity sets, Savely (1972) found that at least 60 observations were required to stereologically define a discontinuity set along a given sample line, Villaescusa (1991) suggests that at least 40 discontinuity observations are required per set to provide a sound statistical database of the discontinuity set characteristics Areal (window) mapping ‘Areal mapping involves collecting all data from within a specified area of a rock face, often referred to as a ‘window’. Pabl (1981) gives a discussion of the window mapping technique The preliminaries and measurement techniques for window mapping are the same as those for scanline mapping, except that all the discontinuities that are above a given “cut off” size are recorded (see Figure 2.8), Original exposure plane Window mapping Figure 2.8: Window mapping technique (Harries 2001) Although this method is more time consuming than scanline mapping, the amount of data collected is even greater and in some cases the amount of geometric bias may be reduced. 52Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Geophysical techniques Geophysical techniques can be used to gain a measure of the geological sequence and structure of the rock mass. These techniques measure various geophysical properties of the rock mass that can be related to its lithological and geotechnical properties. Most of these geophysical methods can measure discontinuities only indirectly. ‘Typically, the reduced data from each method (eg seismic travel times) must be inverted to yield estimates of local rock properties (eg seismic velocities). Normally these rock properties are not discontinuity properties (eg discontinuity density). Rather, the discontinuity properties must be deduced indirectly from the rock properties. This deduction requires strong idealisations of discontinuity geometry. ‘These discontinuity properties are not always the properties of direct interest in many engineering applications (eg discontinuity intensity or in situ block size). ‘The required properties must be interpreted from the deduced fracture properties. This interpretation requires higher levels of subjectivity than the first (inversion) or the second (deduction) steps (National Research Council 1996) Geophysical methods naturally divide themselves into three distinct scales: © large scales associated with surface soundings; © intermediate scales associated with surface to borehole and borehole to borehole soundings; and ‘* small scales associated with measurements made on rock immediately adjacent to a borehole or tunnel. Table 2.3: Geophysical discontinuity detection methods (atter National Research Council 1996) Method | Length scale (resolution) _ Elastic methods: seismic band | 100 to 5000m | zero shear modulus in fracture fluid is critical (10-100 Hz) | to — Elastic methods: sonic band | 0.1to 10m | zero shear modulus in fracture fluid is critical (2-20 Hz) Elastic methods: ultrasonic | 0.1 to 10m fracture aperture is critical band (2( ) — Electrical methods 10 to 300m Electromagnetic methods 10 to 300m ___Radar methods _ ntrasting resistivity of fracte Conventional well logs _| _0.1.t0.10m_ near borehole environment _ Large scale geophysical measurements such as those used in the petroleum industry can be used to identify major discontinuities. Major discontinuities such as large fracture zones and faults 53Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation can be characterised by seismic, electrical and electromagnetic methods, Minor discontinuities are extremely difficult to detect using these large scale geophysical methods. Intermediate scale methods involving surface to borehole and borehole to borehole soundings have many advantages over the larger scale surface geophysical methods. In many cases, overburden acts as a filter because of its attenuation properties and high contrast, requiring the use of complex correction procedures to obtain useful information. Boreholes and tunnels provide access to measurement points below the surface, allowing many of the problems arising from overburden to be avoided. Compared to surface surveys, borehole measurements sometimes require complex (and compact) sensors. Remote sensing is done with sources and receivers placed in the same borehole, or one in the borehole and the other at the ground surface (National Research Council 1996) Geophysical systems consisting of a downhole probe (or tool) attached to a multi-conductor electric cable often referred to as a ‘wireline’, can also be used to characterise rock masses. ‘The wireline is attached at the surface to a winching assembly that controls the lowering or raising of the probe. Generally, several types of geophysical devices are combined to form one downhole logging tool. The main types of geophysical wireline logging tests include seismic velocity, seisveiwer, electrical resistivity, gamma-gamma and self potential. ‘The applicability of these techniques in assessing discontinuity parameters is outlined in Table 2.4. None of the ‘measurement techniques directly measure discontinuity parameters but some have a correlation between the test result and the discontinuity parameter. Table 2.4: Wireline logging techniques (after Windsor and Thompson 1997) Type of test Discontinuity Parameter | |" Orientation | spacing | Type ___| Separation | Filling Seismic | nocorrelation | some | nocorrelation | no correlation | no correlation Velocity | correlation Seisviewer or direct direct no correlation direct some acoustic | correlation | correlation correlation | correlation scanner Electrical some no correlation | no correlation | some resistivity correlation correk | correlation Gamma- | nocorrelation | some —_| nocorrelation | nocorrelation | some | gamma__| | correlation | correlation Selt-potential_| no correlation | no correlation | no correlation | no correlation | no correlation | In all cases, the emphasis on using the above techniques is to determine the properties of the rock, the in situ locations, orientations and nature of the discontinuities and the hydrological conditions that exist within the rock mass. ‘To ensure the best results, these techniques should 54Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation be compared with descriptions of sections of the core, and if necessary compared directly with the core. Rock material properties that may be needed in the geophysical data reduction can then be obtained. This allows the geophysical testing to be calibrated to the observed rock mass conditions, Recently, the acoustic scanner has been shown to be an excellent tool for providing oriented images of borehole walls at very fine resolution (Hatherly and Medhurst 2000) Hatherly (2001) suggests that the geophysical tools of relevance in the detection and measurement of defects are acoustic scanners (televiewers), optical scanners (for dry holes), dip ‘meters and full waveform sonic logs. Those methods which rely on the detection of water- filled discontinuities by electrical and electromagnetic methods may not always be suitable for hard rock mining applications. 2.5 ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DISCONTINUITY DATA 2.5.1 Introduction The objective of rock mass discontinuity analysis is to estimate the characteristics of the discontinuities and to determine how they vary over the mine site. The estimate of rock mass discontinuity properties or rock mass model, is merely one representation of the results from the collected sample data. Unfortunately, the true characteristics of the rock mass discontinuities can never be known exactly. This would require all of the discontinuities in the rock mass to be measured accurately and their engineering properties established by testing. Major discontinuities such as faults, dykes, geological contacts and unconformities may be analysed deterministically in cave mine design. For all practical design purposes, minor discontinuities represent an almost infinite population. Their characteristics will be assessed by analysis of a much smaller sample population. ‘The objective of this statistical sampling is to infer the characteristics of a large population without including all its members in the sample. Itis the statistical treatment of these minor discontinuities that will be discussed here. In order to establish the best estimate of discontinuity properties, the measurement of discontinuity characteristics should be unbiased and objective. A number of biases introduced during sampling should be accounted for either before or during the analysis process. The method of data collection is the most important factor influencing the objectivity of the discontinuity analysis; some methods are inherently more subjective than others. This subjectivity in the data collection is reflected in possible errors in the analysis. It is important to realise that it is much harder to account for error due to subjectivity than for systematic sampling errors. 55Chapter 2; Rock Mass Characterisation 2.5.2 Error and Uncertainty in Discontinuity Analysis Einstein and Baecher (1982) have defined three main sources of uncertainty and error in engineering geology and rock mechanics: * the innate, spatial variability of geological formations, where wrongly made interpretations of the geological setting may be of significant consequence; © errors introduced in measuring and estimating engineering properties, often related to sampling and measurement techniques; and © inaccuracies introduced in modelling physical behaviour, including the use of incorrect or inapplicable types of calculations or models. Uncertainty and error will be associated with any rock mass characterisation study. While uncertainty can never be removed completely, it should be reduced to a minimum. An acceptable level of uncertainty can be quite difficult to establish. In an engineering study, what has been left out of the analysis cannot always be known. According to Binstein and Baecher (1982) most of the major failures of constructed facilities have been attributed to omissions. Furthermore, real rock masses will have properties and variability that can never be accounted for fully in characterisation, rock mass classification or design analyses. Uncertainties caused by inherent geological spatial variability The geological subsurface is spatially variable in that it is composed of different materials which are stratified, truncated, and in other ways separated into more or less discrete zones. It is, impossible to account for all zonation of the rock mass because much of it will be unknown, especially in cave mine engineering where a majority of the orebody will have been characterised from drill core only. This limited sampling will hinder the development of a highly detailed geological model. ‘The other spatial variability occurs within an apparently homogenous body because material properties may vary from point to point. While this variability can be precisely characterised with sufficient observations, the numbers of observations available are usually limited. ‘Thus, uncertainty will remain about the material properties or classifications at points that have not been observed or sampled. Error arising from variability in the geology can never be avoided. It can be reduced by the use of experienced geologists having extensive knowledge of the region concerned and by directing specific investigations towards possible key geologic structures (Palmstrom 1995). Measurement errors and sample biases ‘The main measurement error that occurs in discontinuity characterisation is in the measurement of discontinuity orientation. West (1979) carried out a study of measurement errors in discontinuity mapping by examining the reproducibility of frequency and orientation measurements made during scanline mapping at a quarry in the Lower Chalk in Oxfordshire, 56Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation England. He concluded that the orientation of a well-defined joint could be determined to within about 46° for dip direction and 5° for dip angle. Subsequently, Ewan and West (1981) examined the reproducibility of joint orientation measurements using six different observers performing 10 m long scanline surveys. ‘They found that the orientation of particular joints recorded can have a mean maximum variation of +10° for dip direction and +5° for dip angle without there being any real difference in the joint orientation, However, joint orientation diagrams created for the collected discontinuity data identified the same major joint sets irrespective of observer. In this case, many of the measurements were taken in a full-face machine bored tunnel having smooth walls. It is difficult to obtain measurements of discontinuities from smooth walls because there may not be sufficient discontinuities exposed to enable accurate orientation measurements to be made directly. In these cases a notebook or other planar device is used to project the discontinuity plane from which a measurement can be made. ‘There are four main types of sampling bias in discontinuity measurement: © Orientation bias — the frequency of discontinuities intersecting a particular window, scanline or drill core depends on the orientation of the sampling geometry relative to the orientation of the discontinuity set. If a discontinuity set is oriented parallel to a window, then few discontinuities in this set will intersect the window. * Size bias — the larger the scale of a discontinuity the more likely it is to be sampled by a given drill core, scanline or mapping window. © Truncation bias — a truncation or size cut-off is usually used in scanline or window mapping. For example, fractures that are less than 50 mm in length may be ignored. Although using such a small cut-off will usually have little effect on the overall discontinuity statistics, if a comprehensive, rigorous analysis is undertaken with the aim of fully describing the distribution of discontinuity sizes then the truncation size cut-off must be taken into account. * Censoring bias — this bias is associated with the artificial boundaries that are imposed when performing rock mass characterisation. Typically in underground mines the most limiting boundary is the height of the drives in which mapping takes place. The restriction in height of the mapping window limits the trace lengths that can be observed. Censored trace lengths provide a lower bound estimate of the true trace lengths. For an unbiased structural analysis, the measurement process needs to be objective. Biases can be reduced by the appropriate selection of rock mass characterisation methodologies and sites. For example, if three mutually orthogonal scanlines are used, the bias due to orientation will be greatly reduced. However, it is not possible to account for all biases, which must then be removed using analytical or numerical methods. 57Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Modelling errors Models used in assessing discontinuity parameters and modelling rock mass discontinuity geometry are based mainly on observations of discontinuities and a number of assumptions made about the geometry and characteristics of the discontinuities. As they are simplifications of reality, modelling errors are introduced, An example of this kind of error is the use of a rock mass model that models all discontinuities as orthogonal planes of infinite persistence (eg Snow 1965). However, it must be recognised that a degree of simplification is required in the development of any model. 2.5.3 Discontinuity Orientation Analysis ‘The main aim of an orientation analysis is to establish a statistical model of the orientational arrangement of the discontinuities contained within the rock mass. The underlying premise is that geological processes have generated one or more sets (or clusters) of nearly parallel discontinuities in the rock mass. From the discontinuity orientation data collected, a statistical model that represents the discontinuity orientation characteristics of the rock mass can be constructed. The discontinuity orientation characteristics that are of most interest in rock engineering include © the number of discontinuity sets in the rock mass; © the mean orientations (dip and dip direction) of these discontinuity sets; © the spread or dispersion of orientations around a given set’s mean orientation; and © the amount of data that lies outside defined discontinuity set limits. ‘The first step in the analysis is to determine the number of discontinuity sets in the rock mass and to define the limits of those sets. The main technique used in the identification of discontinuity sets involves presentation of the data in a graphical format. Prior to the widespread use of computers for the plotting and contouring of orientation data, orientation analyses were conducted manually. This manual technique is described by Hoek and Bray (1974) and Priest (1985). A number of computer programs have become available to assist in the plotting and analysis of orientation data, including DIPS (Rocscience Inc. 1999), SAFEX (Windsor and Thompson 1990) and CANDO (Priest 1993). Whether a manual technique or a computer program is used, the best way of representing orientational data graphically is with respect to the surface of a reference sphere using the stereographic projection, Discontinuity orientation data are usually represented by unit vectors normal to the discontinuity planar surface. The discontinuity unit normals are recorded unambiguously by polar coordinates using two angles, the trend, o, and the plunge, B. In the development of rock mechanics and rock engineering, there has been an almost total adoption of equal-angle lower hemisphere projection (Hudson and Cosgrove 1997). An example of an equal-angle lower hemisphere projection is shown in Figure 2.9. 58Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation ° Poles Eval Anglo Lowa Hemisphere 1 Poles Sy ee an enmies s Figure 2.9: Example of a stereographic projection of discontinuity unit normals (from Roescience Inc. 1999) ‘The discontinuity normals (or poles) can be seen to cluster into three distinct groups which represent discontinuity sets. ‘These independent discontinuity sets need to be identified and analysed separately. Design set boundaries for each of the discontinuity sets need to be identified. A technique that can aid in the definition of discontinuity sets and their boundaries involves contouring the data. The data shown in Figure 2.9 have been contoured using the widely used DIPS program (Roescience Inc. 1999) with the results shown in Figure 2.10. The same discontinuity sets can be identified in the contoured data. A representative or mean orientation of the discontinuity set can then be calculated. The Fisher (1953) distribution is usually used to characterise the distribution of discontinuity orientations about some ‘true’ mean. It is relatively easy to implement and provides a measure of dispersion about the mean discontinuity orientation, called Fisher's constant, K. It is, however, a symmetric distribution and therefore provides only an approximation for asymmetric data. Watson (1966) and Einstein and Baecher (1983) provide a number of asymmetric models, such as the Bivariate Fisher, which can provide better fits for asymmetric orientation data. A detailed discussion of the Fisher distribution is given in Section 2.6.3, ‘A study by Dershowitz and Einstein (1988) conducted on several distributions using data from a number of sources concluded that none of the currently used distributions were statistically acceptable in all cases. ‘The Fisher, Bivariate Fisher and Bingham distributions provided equal numbers of good fits. The added complexity of asymmetric orientation distributions does not improve the fit of real data to modelled orientation distributions.Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation SS Fisher Ne Concentrations % oftotal per 1.0% area Set 2 0.00 ~ 2.50% 250 500% 500~ 750% 750~1000% 1000 ~ 12.50% 1250 ~15.00% 1800 ~ 17.50% 1750 ~ 20.00% 20.00 ~22.50% 2250 ~ 26.00% Set3 / No Bias Corecton aS Equal Angie é Lover Homage FS Set | Se ot Poles ‘oenttes pa § Figure 2.10: Contoured stereographic projection (from Roescience Inc. 1999) 2.54 Discontinuity Frequency/Spacing Analysis The discontinuity frequency is a fundamental measure of the degree of fracturing of a rock mass, Discontinuity frequency can be expressed as the number of discontinuities observed or predicted within a unit volume (volumetric discontinuity density), a unit area (areal discontinuity density) or a unit length (linear fracture frequency). Discontinuity spacing is a measure that is linked to the discontinuity frequency. At its simplest, the discontinuity spacing is the distance between one discontinuity and another, or the reciprocal of the linear fracture frequency. The volumetric discontinuity density, ,, is the most fundamental of the three measures of discontinuity intensity (Priest 1993). It is based on the assumption that discontinuities can be represented by the occurrence of a point located at the centroid of the discontinuity. The volumetric frequency, 2, is the average number of points per unit volume of the rock mass (m"). The measure can be applied to all the discontinuities contained in the rock mass, Ay, or individually for the density of each discontinuity set, 4,", where n represents the discontinuity set number. Although 2, is an attractive measure of discontinuity intensity, its direct ‘measurement would require the rock mass to be dissected in a non-destructive manner. ‘This is currently impractical, Accordingly, the volumetric frequency must be estimated from areal or lineal density measurements, following methods described by Baecher et al (1977), Warburton (1980) and Villaescusa (1991).Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Discontinuity areal frequency, A,, is the average number of points that occur in a unit area of a section through the rock mass. This parameter can be measured from a sampling plane using ‘a wall mapping technique. The problem of using an areal intensity measure is the need to consider the possible orientation bias of the sample plane. A simple geometric correction introduced by Terzaghi (1965) can be used to relate the true discontinuity frequency to the apparent discontinuity frequency: Aa =A, S8iDY (2.4) where oy is the apparent areal discontinuity frequency and 7 is the angle between the mean discontinuity plane orientation and the vector normal to the sample plane. There are also sample biases associated with censoring and truncation effects imposed by exposures of limited extent and issues associated with the shapes of discontinuities. As a fesult of these complexities, areal discontinuity frequency is not a measure of discontinuity intensity that finds much practical use. The linear fracture frequency is the simplest and most commonly used measure of discontinuity frequency. It is used in the MRMR rock mass classification system (Laubscher 1990), in estimates of in situ block size (Palmstrom 1996) and is recorded in drill core logging. Linear fracture frequency is also often used to estimate the RQD parameter (needed in most classification systems, see Section 2.7) in a correlation proposed by Priest and Hudson (1976). The widespread use of linear fracture frequency as a measure of discontinuity intensity owes much to the use of scanlines and drill core as the major discontinuity characterisation techniques. The linear fracture frequency, %, will be dependent on the orientation of the sampling line unless the discontinuity network is isotropic, which is unlikely. The linear fracture frequency of a particular discontinuity set n, %4°, represents the linear fracture frequency of the set perpendicular to the discontinuity plane (in the direction of the mean unit normal). The apparent linear fracture frequency for a particular discontinuity set) 2", will be that sampled by a scanline or drill hole oriented in a particular direction (see Figure 2.11). ‘The true and apparent linear discontinuity frequency are related by the Terzaghi (1965) correction given by Equation 2.1 with y being the angle between the mean discontinuity plane orientation and sample line direction, Using this result and by combining the results of the number of discontinuity sets contained in the rock mass, the estimated rock mass fracture frequency (A) for different sampling directions can be estimated. Discontinuity fracture frequency data for a rock mass, in particular the fracture frequency extrema (maximum and minimum fracture frequencies), have been investigated by Hudson and Priest (1983) who produced some useful results for obtaining loci of discontinuity frequency. 61Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation True discontinuity set fracture frequency Apparent discontinuity set fracture frequency (Ar) Os) Figure 2.11: True and apparent discontinuity set linear frequency Discontinuity spacing is a widely used measure of discontinuity frequency. It is used in all the rock mass classification schemes and a number of the techniques used to predict in sitt block sizes outlined in Chapter 4. A number of different measures are used to define discontinuity spacing. The ‘Normal Set Spacing’ is the perpendicular distance between sub parallel discontinuities from the same set (the reciprocal of 2", see Figure 2.11). The ‘Apparent Set Spacing’ is the spacing between a pair of immediately adjacent discontinuities from a given discontinuity set, measured along a line of any specified location and orientation, ‘The ‘Rock Mass Spacing’ is the spacing between a pair of immediately adjacent discontinuities (regardless of what discontinuity set they belong to) measured along a sampling line. Although the mean spacing of a discontinuity set or of the whole rock mass does provide a useful measure of discontinuity intensity, a greater understanding of rock discontinuity properties can be gained from investigating the full distribution of discontinuity spacing. If a sufficiently large number of individual spacing values are obtained (Hudson and Harrison (1997) suggest more than 200 individual measurements), they can be plotted in histogram form to gain an understanding of the shape of the distribution. On the basis of field measurements, Priest and Hudson (1976) concluded that the distribution of total discontinuity spacings for a variety of sedimentary rock types could be modelled by the negative exponential probability density distribution. This finding has been supported by other investigators (eg Call et al 1976, Binstein et al 1980, Baecher 1983) who worked on a variety of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. If the occurrence of a discontinuity along a scantine or drill core is entirely random, then the location of one discontimuity has no influence upon the location of any other. In this case the discontinuity intersections are said to obey a one-dimensional Poisson process. When this 62Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation occurs the probability density distribution of total discontinuity spacings is negative exponential with a mean spacing of 1/A;. The fact that a large number of discontinuity set spacings examined follow the negative exponential distribution suggests, but does not prove, that in a statistical sense discontinuity occurrences are random, Hudson and Harrison (1997) emphasise the fact that discontinuities are not random events, even though the Poisson process of random events can be expected to apply to field data, They suggest that spacing values converge when successive spacing distributions of any type are superimposed on the sampling line. The negative exponential distribution is expected as a result of a suite of superimposed geological events, each of which produces fracturing of a given distribution, Roleau and Gale (1985) similarly analysed an extensive discontinuity spacing data base from drill core from a granitoid rock mass. They evaluated the goodness-of-fit of three statistical models, the negative exponential, the log-normal and the Weibull distribution, ‘The results quite clearly showed that the negative exponential distribution did not fit their data but that a log-normal distribution fitted the data very well. Other researchers (eg Bridges 1975, Barton 1977) have also fitted logarithmic spacing distributions to their observations. In reviewing the work of Rouleau and Gale (1985), Mohajerani (1998) noted how the data points which did not fit the negative exponential distribution had mean spacings values of about one metre or larger. He suggested that the distribution of spacing values may be assumed to be either negative exponential or log-normal, depending on the rock type and spacing range (between the maximum and minimum values). This tends to agree with the the superposing theory of Hudson and Harrison (1997); if there are enough geological events to create a number of discontinuity sets and a small total spacing, then the spacing distribution will follow a negative exponential distribution. Where only a few geological events have caused fracturing, or existing discontinuity sets have become healed, a larger total spacing and log-normal distribution of discontinuity spacings may result, Whether a discontinuity spacing distribution follows a negative exponential distribution or a log-normal distribution also depends on the sampling regime adopted. If a truncation level is adopted (ie discontinuities below a certain size are disregarded) then it is likely that small discontinuity spacings will be lost. As a result, a negative exponential distribution would appear as a log-normal distribution. Inaccuracy associated with a calculated mean discontinuity spacing occurs where the estimated value is consistently in error. One particular inaccuracy is that caused by small sampling scanlines. If the length of the scanline is short compared to the mean spacing then a biased result will be obtained. This type of bias can be produced in areas where only short scanlines can be established, In particular, this is a problem in vertical scanlines that are carried out in drives and tunnels. ‘The effect of short scanlines on mean discontinuity spacing calculations is discussed by Sen and Kazi (1984). They produce graphs that illustrate the effect of scanline Iength on the calculation of mean discontinuity spacing values for negative exponential and log- 63Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation normal spacing distributions, These graphs can be used to estimate population mean spacing values using the sample mean (and sample standard deviation in the log-normal case), length of scanline and type of distribution. Priest and Hudson (1981) describe a method of calculating the precision of the estimate of the population mean spacing value from the sample of size n, using standard statistical methods based on the central limit theorem. ‘The central limit theorem states that the mean values, X, of random samples of size, n, taken from a population that follows any distribution and has some definite but unknown mean value, j1,, and variance, 6,2, will tend to be normally distributed with a mean, Hy, and a standard deviation (or standard error of the mean) of 0, / /n(o? / n) This central limit theorem technique for analysing discontinuity spacing is particularly useful when applied to the negative exponential distribution because the mean and standard deviation are equal in this case (Priest 1993). It can be used in a number of ways. For example, it could be used to determine for a given sample, the degree of confidence (eg 90% probability) with which it can be said that the unknown population mean, {, lies within some range of the sample mean, X. Another use would be to specify the given precision of the spacing population estimate that is required and to use this to calculate the sample size that will give the desired precision. Some drawbacks of using the central limit theorem in discontinuity analysis are that the technique is applicable only to discontinuity spacing values (Priest 1993) and that the analysis is still prone to biases such as those associated with small scanlines and orientation bias. Where rock mass discontinuity frequency is anisotropic, the estimate obtained of the range of mean total discontinuity spacing values using a given confidence limit, is only applicable to the orientation for which the sampling was carried out. 2.5.5 Discontinuity Persistence (Size) Analysis Discontinuity persistence refers to the lateral extent or size of a discontinuity plane. In practice, the persistence of a discontinuity plane is almost always measured by the one-dimensional extent of its trace length on a sample plane. It is clear that no direct estimation of persistence is possible from borehole core, although an estimate of persistence can be made from geological inference (Hudson and Harrison 1997, Henry et al 1999). The distribution of trace lengths obtained from sampling a rock face depend to a great extent upon the degree to which length ‘measurements are truncated and censored. The most commonly used measure of discontinuity persistence in engineering analyses is mean trace length. There are two main problems associated with estimating a mean trace length - precision and accuracy (Priest and Hudson 1981). In the case of precision, it is assumed that as the number of trace length samples is increased, the sample mean trace length will tend towards the true population mean as long as there is no bias in the sampling. The truncation and 64‘Chapter 2; Rock Mass Characterisation censoring biases common in sampling trace lengths require a correction to allow an accurate measure of the trace length parameter. There has been considerable debate as to whether trace lengths have a negative exponential distribution or a log-normal distribution, ‘The results of a number of investigations carried out on discontinuity trace length distributions are summarised in Table 2.5. It is likely that some of the differences have arisen from trace length sampling bias (Hudson and Harrison 1997). Table 2.5: Discontinuity trace length distribution and shape characteristics Reference Trace Length ‘Shape Robertson (1970) ‘exponential equidimensional McMahon (1974) log-normal : Bridges (1976) log-normal oblong Call et al (1976) ‘exponential ~ Baecher et al (1977) log-normal equidimensional Barton (1977) log-normal equidimensional Cruden (1977) censored exp. : Baecher & Lanney (1978) log-normal or exp. : Herget (1982) ‘exponential : A number of techniques have been developed to estimate the mean discontinuity trace length. Some of these techniques account for the sampling biases and a number of them require some assumptions for their use. A number of the most relevant contributions are outlined below. Cruden (1977) proposed an original method to estimate the length of censored discontinuities as a function of the observed number of discontinuity end points and the observed discontinuity trace segment appearing above the sampling line (the semi-trace length). ‘The advantage of the semi-trace length approach is that the uncensored distribution of trace length can be obtained without involving a point process of discontinuity trace centres. The problem is that semi-trace lengths are monotonic decreasing functions, insensitive to changes in the underlying trace length distribution (Villaescusa 1991). Warburton (1980) developed a stereological interpretation of discontinuity trace data. He was one of the first researchers to analyse discontinuities in three dimensions rather than two. The statistical model defines the analytical distribution of discontinuity diameters from observed trace length distributions. Unfortunately, the problem of discontinuity censoring is not addressed. Laslett (1982) developed a technique to estimate the parameters of the underlying trace length distribution from line sampling data collected in two dimensions. The technique corrects for bias incurred when incomplete observations form part of a data set. His work was limited to two dimensions. Villaescusa (1991) coupled Warburton’s stereological relationships to 65Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Laslett’s theory, to give a three dimensional determination of a maximum likelihood estimator of discontinuity size. Kulatilake (1988) developed a corrected equation to obtain unbiased estimates of spacing and intensity from finite scan lines. Procedures were also developed for orientation bias correction for finite size discontinuities intersecting finite size sampling domains, using a variety of discontinuity shapes (circular, rectangle, square and right angle triangle) and sampling geometries (Kulatilake et al 1990). Priest (1993) presented a graphical technique which is trace length distribution independent. This involves constructing a histogram of semi-trace lengths and drawing a best fit curve through the midpoints of the class intervals. Using the intercept of the graph, sample size and histogram class interval, an estimate of mean trace length can be obtained. The problem associated with this technique is that different interpretations of the histogram shape (by choosing different size class intervals) will result in different estimates of the underlying mean trace length. Mauldon (1998) provided new estimators of mean discontinuity trace length and density that correct for the effects of bias and censoring, A stereological estimator of mean trace length was developed which requires rectangular windows and parallel traces, and is similar to earlier methods which use a stereological methodology. Another estimator called the end-point estimator of mean trace length can be used in any convex window with variably oriented traces. This method is independent of the underlying trace length distribution in all cases and is independent of the trace orientation distribution when applied to circular sample windows. Zhang and Einstein (1998) developed a technique for estimating mean trace length from observations made using finite, circular sampling windows. It uses information on the number of end points observed in the circular sampling window and the sampling window dimensions. ‘The advantage of the technique is that the trace lengths, the underlying distribution of trace Iengths and discontinuity orientation measurements are not required. ‘The disadvantage of the technique is the practical difficulty associated with sampling using a circular mapping window. This brief review shows that a great deal of progress has been made in increasing the accuracy of mean trace length estimates. However, little progress has been made in calculating the precision of these mean trace length estimates, perhaps because of the sampling biases inherent in the estimation of mean trace length. 2.5.6 Definition of Geotechnical or Structural Domains Geotechnical domains are essentially regions of structural homogeneity. These regions are identified as areas of the rock mass that contain discontinuity characteristics that are more or less structurally and statistically homogeneous. If the heterogeneous ‘whole’ can be divided into homogenous parts then engineering analysis can be carried out for each design region. 66Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation In the pre-feasibility stage of a project, before any comprehensive site investigation has been carried out, the amount of structural data available may be limited. Usually, the information collected will have concentrated on the lithologies present and the major structures contained in the region of interest. This information will be used to define the initial structural domains in the rock mass. Initial structural domain boundaries will usually be identified from: geological boundaries between rock types; major faults; data from different levels of an underground mine; and major changes in weathering and alteration (eg unweathered rock mass and the near surface weathered zone). eee In the initial analysis, it may be apparent that the rock mass discontinuity parameters found in one domain are very similar to those found in an adjacent domain. In such a case, there is no reason for maintaining the boundary between the structural domains which can be combined. ‘Alternatively, with additional data it may become apparent that two or more zones of different rock mass discontinuity parameters may exist in the same ‘initial’ structural domain and further subdivision of the domain will be warranted, To exhibit statistical structural homogeneity a domain should have the same number of discontinuity sets and each identified discontinuity set should display similar distributions of orientation, spacing, trace length, termination index and discontinuity conditions. Quite frequently, a comprehensive set of discontinuity data containing all these parameters is unavailable. In particular, it is the number of discontinuity sets and the orientations of these sets that are used to define structural domains. ‘The determination of homogeneous domains is often performed by visual estimation, Although subjective, visual estimation can be a reliable technique especially where an individual is familiar with the geology of the site (Bridges 1990). If visual estimation techniques are found to be inadequate, a statistically based technique may be used to cluster orientation data, An advantage of using numerical techniques is the implicit objectivity of the approach. ‘The main disadvantage arises from the difficulty in applying statistical techniques to orientational data, particularly because of the problems associated with sampling. In order to compare two regions to establish if they are statistically structurally homogeneous, the sampling of the two regions should be identical, Even then, because of the possible poor precision in estimates of discontinuity characteristics, it is possible that identical regions may be identified as being statistically heterogeneous. 2.5.7 JK Jointstats Discontinuity Data Management System The JK Jointstats discontinuity data management system provides the tools required to perform three important functions necessary in providing discontinuity data for subsequent engineering analysis, namely, discontinuity data input, discontinuity selection and discontinuity set definition. Once these tasks have been completed the front end program is used to initialise the appropriate analysis module. The central discontinuity database uses a Microsoft Access 67Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation database. The widespread industry use of Microsoft Access facilitates the transfer of data to the discontinuity database and allows the data to be exported if required. Discontinuity data input Discontinuity data can be entered in different modes. Several modes are predefined and included in the program, including a number of mapping and core logging techniques. ‘The minimum data entry mode involves only the intercept distance along the line and basic orientation data. A user-defined mode allows the user to select which discontinuity parameter fields will be used in mapping. Clearly, the data entry mode used will have great impact on the Viability of the statistical calculations and models. For example, to use advanced statistical tools a measure of discontinuity trace length is required. If an attempt is made to use this module with limited discontinuity data that does not contain a measure of discontinuity trace length, a message is generated warning that such an option is unavailable. Discontinuity data can also be imported from Microsoft Excel via the MS Windows clipboard. ‘An example of discontinuity data entry is shown in Figure 2.12. This example uses the JKMRC fall scanline mapping method. Data recorded in the field can be either added directly by keyboard or if it exists in electronic form (as in field based hand held computers) it can be input via an MS Excel spreadsheet. It is possible for the user to develop mapping templates to satisfy project requirements as in the example shown in Figure 2.13. Firstly, when selecting the data collection method the ‘User Defined’ option is selected. Then the discontinuity parameters that are routinely recorded during logging or mapping are added to a blank template to create the active data sheet. & mH ® is 70 a = 7 7 St @ 78 Figure 2.12: JKMRC full scanline data entry 68Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation FFowtece_Lenah bi iP Dip_Directon pistance er) Inne Rock ype Roughness Large x Simat_Scale_Ptonany- (tm) [rep Termination Bolom Termieaion tom Termination Angle Persstanca Jw Agere.) fype_o nt ll-Contact lateraton liser [Comments Retrorce pistance en) bie Figure 2.13: Creation of a user defined mapping method Discontinuity selection Discontinuity data are organised in a hierarchical manner and presented to the user in a tree view (as in MS Windows Explorer). ‘The tree view represents an underlying database structure that stores the objects involved in discontinuity data collection in their logical relationship. ‘These objects can be summarised as: * mine; © mining unit (eg pit, panel, block or bench); © domain (a logical grouping of discontinuity data); © plane (the face from which the data were collected); * scanline (the line along which data were collected); and © discontinuity. ‘Note that cores sit at the same level as planes in the structure. This structure comprises a series of one-to-many relationships (eg one mine can contain many mining units) and referential integrity is enforced (when a scanline is deleted, all the discontinuities that belong to it are automatically removed). A typical tree view with an open ‘menu is shown in Figure 2.14. 69Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation ET BG Mining Units 5B Test Unit Se Domains 4... Test Domain £3 Planes gf 1100€ Crosscut EastWal | Ga ScanLines {735330 8. Perimeter Drive South Wall -& ScanLines {Bi Hoos. Bia Figure 2.14: Data tree view ‘A key issue is the definition of a domain, A domain is a logical (rather than a geographic) grouping of discontinuity data, It is a region of the rock mass for which discontinuity statistics are accepted as being statistically homogenous (same orientations, size and frequency) for engineering applications. When a new mining block is created, it is automatically assigned a single new ‘hold-all’ domain. As data are collected, natural groupings will become apparent. The hold-all domain can then be split into more meaningful domains with descriptive names. Planes and cores can be cut and pasted between domains. It would be irrational to perform a statistical analysis of all the discontinuity data contained in the database, as it could contain many mines and a number of different structural domains. Discontinuities at any level from domain downward can be ‘selected’ to partition the data. Selection is achieved by clicking on the appropriate toolbar button or by toggling the selection item in the context menu. The context menu is shown after right clicking on a highlighted object and can be seen in Figure 2.14. This means that the user can toggle the selection of a given domain ‘on’ and automatically select all the discontinuities in that domain. It is possible to then manually deselect individual scanlines in the same domain to fine-tune the selection. The filter builder tool in the software package can be used to further investigate the discontinuity data for properties other than orientation (Figure 2.15). For example, it may be important to segregate the data by discontinuity type. Using such a filter the differences 70Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation between faults, joints and veins could be assessed. Another useful exercise would be to filter the trace length parameter. Some engineering applications require only large scale discontinuities to be taken into account, so a filter could be applied to identify only those discontinuities having a discontinuity size above a set value. Filter Builder Reference End_Point_Class HTraca_Lengih_Above [Trace_Lenath_Below Total_Trace_Lanath Dip Figure 2.15: Discontinuity data filter builder Since selection is not permitted across domains, any new selection that violates this rule generates a warning message. The user can then choose to replace the old selection with the new or abort the process. The selected data can then be plotted on a stereographic projection. Polar plots of discontinuity poles can be drawn in lower or upper hemisphere projection and in equal area or equal angle space. Discontinuity set definition ‘The stereographic plot is then used to define the different discontinuity sets that exist in the rock mass. This is done by clicking on a start point, holding down the mouse button, and dragging a selection mask clockwise and outwards around the discontinuity poles. Discontinuity poles that fall inside the selection mask will turn from white to black. An option to show the Fisher distribution during set definition is provided. When the selection mask crosses the plot perimeter (je discontinuity planes cross 90°), the mask will flip over to the ‘antipole’ region and the Fisher distribution corrected accordingly. This is equivalent to ‘merging upper and lower hemisphere information and is valid because poles have no real termination. This transition is shown in Figure 2.16. 71Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation ar Projection - Lower Hemisphere - Equal Angle Figure 2.16: Set definition with context menu Sub-horizontal sets are selected using a circular selection mask which opens from the pole. The transition from a circular to a segment selection mask is determined by the user as one of the program options. Once the set has been defined, right clicking brings up a context menu that includes an option to store the set parameters. Selecting this menu option will open the set manager form. The user is required to enter a colour for the set (so that its discontinuities can be readily distinguished in subsequent plots) and a set name. If no set name is entered, the unique ID number for that set is stored in the name field as a default. The same set manager form is also used ‘offline’ to edit or delete already established sets which are then selected from a drop-down choice box. The data set manager is shown in Figure 2.17. A variation on the data plot can be displayed along side the set manager as different sets are selected. In this mode, the plot will show only those discontinuities assigned to the current sot in the stored set colour, together with the set definition mask. 72Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Figure 2.17: Discontinuity data set manager Photograph gallery manager Best practice dictates that images of logged core and mapping faces are obtained during the data collection phase. The best method of storing such data is in an electronic form which allows images to be observed while the collected data are being analysed. This methodology has been incorporated into JK Jointstats by using a digital gallery manager that is linked to the discontinuity database, Images associated with the appropriate scanline or core can be easily examined using the gallery function. A number of thumbnail pictures that contain a description of the images can be viewed at once when the gallery option is selected. An example of core photographs obtained at the Newcrest Ridgeway Project is shown in Figure 2.18. The appropriate tile is simply selected to obtain a close up view of an image. 73Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Core 68/1U Section 38 - 123 Figure 2.18: Discontinuity photograph gallery Once discontinuities have been selected and assigned to sets, the program can run simple statistical calculations on the information. ‘These are shown on a multi-tabbed form containing, tables and histogram plots. Any plot can be copied to the clipboard, printed or dumped to file. Any table can be transferred to MS Excel via the clipboard. A number of simple statistics are available as outlined below. Rock mass spacing (average discontinuity spacing in the rock mass) ‘The discontinuity spacing for all the selected discontinuities, whether assigned to sets or not, is displayed on the second tab of the Basic Statistics module (see Figure 2.19). This gives an impression of the overall discontinuity spacing in the rock mass and an appreciation of the potential in situ block size. The average fracture frequency in the rock mass is also estimated. 74Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation 0.200.406 08 1.01.2 141618202224 26 28 3+ Figure 2.19: Rock mass discontinuity spacing Corrected discontinuity spacing by set Given that the orientations of the discontinuity planes are known and the mean orientation of each set has been calculated, the apparent (measured) discontinuity spacing can be corrected for relative orientation and plotted for each set. ‘This apparent spacing can then be converted to a true or corrected spacing, The statistics of the discontinuity set spacings are calculated and the results are shown graphically as illustrated in Figure 2.20. Using the pull-down set selector near the top of the form (see Figure 2.20), it is possible to review and compare the results for the discontinuity sets selected in the analysis. 75Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Figure 2.20: Corrected discontinuity spacing per set Trace lengths by set and for random discontinuities Statistics for the recorded trace lengths can be displayed and plotted for each set and for those discontinuities selected but unassigned to sets (termed ‘random’ discontinuities). An example for random discontinuities is shown in Figure 2.21. The plot takes the form of a stacked histogram, the elements of which are designed to show a qualitative assessment of ‘confidence’. This is necessary because discontinuity trace lengths can be censored by the observation window limits at either the top or bottom (shown in grey shades) or at both the top and bottom (shown in black). Clearly, the censored discontinuities will tend to occur at the greater trace lengths (depending on the window limits) so the data are less meaningful towards the right of the plot. However, this remains potentially useful information because it is known that such trace lengths fall outside the lower bins. Thus, it is important to show such data as long as some impression of confidence is included. 76Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Figure 2.21: Trace length statistics for ‘random’ discontinuities In the Basic Statistics selection the censoring classes provide a qualitative measure of confidence in the trace length statistics. The information on the censoring class of the Aiscontinuities is vital when the advanced statistics option is selected as it is used in the estimation of the mean size parameter of the discontinuities. It is only by utilising the advanced option that a quantitative measure of confidence on discontinuity parameters can be obtained. 2.6 SIMULATION OF ROCK Mass GEOMETRY 2.6.1 Introduction: The simulation of a rock mass geometry involves the construction, with the aid of a computer, of a graphical representation of the rock joints within the rock mass. ‘The graphical representation may be a 2-D section through the rock mass, effectively showing the traces of the joints on a face, or it may be a full 3-D model in which the assembly of joints may be viewed from various angles or the observer may ‘fly’ through the rock mass, inspecting the joints and their intersections. Simulations of @ rock mass must be based on some conceptual model of the rock joints and the manner in which they occur in the rock mass. ‘The conceptual model effectively provides the rules according to which the joints are placed into 3-D space. ‘Thus the geometric features ofChapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation the simulation and any geomechanical consequences that they may have are a function of the model and will be only as valid as the model itself. A number of models may be conceived of as being plausible (Dershowitz 1993). ‘The extent to which any one model actually mimics nature must be established by the collection of data and comparison of the data with the predictions of the model after it has been matched to the data as well as possible. ‘There are a number of reasons why it is useful to be able to simulate a rock mass geometry. Firstly, it is an aid to the visualisation of the joints in the rock mass. Given the belief or even reasonable evidence that there are particular joint sets in the rock mass at particular densities and with particular size and orientation distributions, the use of the computer to view the inter- relationships of the joints allows the engineer to confirm mental constructions of the joints. The interaction of joint sets in a rock mass is a complex process. The complexity derives not so much from the model as from the fact that there are many joints of many possible orientations and sizes. And, since it is generally taken that the jointing is a stochastic phenomenon, the possibilities for joint interaction are effectively infinite. The interaction of joints in the rock mass controls the formation of rock blocks. ‘The existence of discrete, fully formed blocks is of vital interest for the design of reinforcement or for the design of block caves. The in situ fragmentation (the size distribution and volumetric concentration of formed blocks prior to the commencement of mining) is important not only for assessing the stability of the rock mass once mining commences but also for the purpose of estimating the size distribution of the ore at the draw points following secondary fragmentation. The 3-D network of joints also defines pathways for fluid flow through the rock mass, Simulation of discontinuities in a rock mass, in general, is a computational problem of varying tractability; the level of tractability depends on the rules chosen to define the way in which the discontinuities occur. The random disk model is perhaps the simplest of all models as all disks are independent. The more complex the rules, the more difficult is the program simulation and the longer the execution times to complete a simulation in a given rock mass volume, 2.6.2 Approaches to Discontinuity Modelling Introduction Models of rock discontinuity networks are a fairly recent development in rock engineering. The first conceptual models such as Snow’s (1965) orthogonal model were developed as relatively simple tools for hydrological modelling. More advanced methods such as the Poisson location models (Baecher ef al 1977), tessellation models (Veneziano 1978), hierarchical methods (Lee et a! 1990), fractal approaches (Barton and Larson 1985) and geostatistical methods (Gervais et al 1995), have allowed more realistic representations of in situ discontinuity network geometries to be created. Some of these approaches are outlined below. 78Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Random disk (Poisson location) discontinuity models ‘The fundamental feature of the random disc model (Baecher ef al 1977, Warburton 1980, Villaescusa 1991, Hadjigeorgiou et al 1998) is the assumption of circular or elliptical discontinuities. The size of circular discontinuities is defined completely by a single parameter, the discontinuity radius R;. The discontinuity radius may be defined deterministically as a constant for all discontinuities, or stochastically by a distribution of radii £(R)). Appropriate distributional forms for discontinuity radius include the exponential and lognormal distributions, both of which produce lognormal distributions of discontinuity trace length (Baecher 1983). Discontinuity location may be defined by a regular (deterministic) pattern or by a stochastic process. The simplest stochastic assumption is a Poisson process, in which discontinuity centres are located randomly and uniformly in space. Discontinuity orientations may be defined by any orientation distribution, or by a constant orientation. As a result of the discontinuity location, shape and size process of the Baecher model, discontinuities intersect each other and terminate in intact rock (Dershowitz and Einstein 1988). An example of this model is shown in Figure 2.22. Figure 2.22: Random disk model (Dershowitz and Einstein 1988) The mutual independence of discontinuities is the biggest disadvantage of the random disk model, in that the discontinuity termination often seen in rock mass exposures cannot be modelled. Interestingly though, this independence of discontinuities is also the source of the greatest strength of the random disk model. It permits the application of a number of statistical techniques in conjunction with the rock mass model which rely upon the independence of 79Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation elements. This allows a link to be developed between two dimensional discontinuity properties measured in the field (spacing or frequency and trace length) and those three dimensional discontinuity properties modelled (intensity and size). Although the model was initially developed using circular disks, there is no reason why other shapes cannot be used to represent discontinuities. The Poisson location seeding and orientation process remains unchanged. However, the shape of the discontinuity does affect the analytical techniques developed to relate trace length properties with the discontinuity size properties but this can be overcome by using a forward modelling technique. Random coplanar polygon discontinuity models Random coplanar polygon discontinuity models use a tessellation approach to model rock mass discontinuities. A tessellation is a division of a plane into polygons, or of space into polyhedra. When discontinuities are sufficiently connected to produce completely defined rock blocks, a tessellation approach may be appropriate. The generation of a Veneziano (1978) rock discontinuity system model requires three consecutive stochastic processes: © discontinuity planes generated as infinite Poisson planes, distributed in space by a uniform distribution with any distribution of orientation allowed; © a Poisson line process on each discontinuity plane divides discontinuity planes into polygonal regions; and © a portion, PA, of these polygons is randomly marked as jointed, while the remainder are marked as intact rock where PA corresponds to persistence Discontinuities are modelled using polygonal shapes, and discontinuity sizes are defined by the intensity of the Poisson line process and the proportion of the polygons marked as discontinuities. The Veneziano model resembles the Baecher model, except that discontinuities are represented by coplanar line segments rather than independent circles (lines in two dimensions). In the Veneziano model, an independent Poisson line process defines discontinuities in each plane. This process means that discontinuities in one plane are completely independent of discontinuities in adjacent planes, so termination at another discontinuity cannot occur except by chance (Dershowitz and Einstein 1988). One of the problems associated with the Veneziano model is in the production of in situ blocks. Discontinuities are defined as Poisson lines on previously defined Poisson planes. Intersections between discontinuities on different discontinuity planes, therefore, do not often match discontinuity edges. Rock blocks can be created with Veneziano models if the discontinuities are 100% persistent and unbounded but the resulting infinite persistent discontinuity planes provide an unrealistic assumption for the modelling a rock mass. 80Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Figure 2.23: Dershowitz random coplanar polygon discontinuity model (Dershowitz and Einstein 1988) The development of the Dershowitz (1984) model overcame some of the problems of the Veneziano model. Dershowitz locates the discontinuity planes in space in a manner similar to that used in the Veneziano model but the polygons are formed by the intersections of the Poissonian flats (see Figure 2.23). A portion of the polygons are marked as broken and the remainder as intact rock. ‘This model improves the previous one, since all the discontinuities can terminate against discontinuity edges. Although this model can define distinct blocks at any scale (block faces are either completely broken or intact), an increase in the Poissonian flat density may produce a problematically large number of small polygons (Dershowitz and Einstein 1988). Dershowitz has further advanced tessellation models to develop porosity analyses of fractured rock masses (Dershowitz, 1993), An advantage of the Dershowitz (1984) model is that distinct rock blocks are defined. Another advantage is that by using a flexible orientation distribution a variety of polygonal discontinuity shapes and polyhedral block shapes can be modelled. It is possible to create discontinuities terminating in intact rock (and hence intact rock bridges) by modelling with a virtual discontinuity set which has zero persistence. Random coplanar discontinuity polygon models do not model the inherent statistical properties of discontinuities (size, shape, intensity and orientation) which is a significant disadvantage. Another disadvantage outlined by Dershowitz and Einstein (1988), is the fact that polygonal block face sizes are controlled by the intensity of intersecting discontinuity plane processes. AS 81Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation the intensity of the plane process increases, the number of intersecting lines on each plane increases, and therefore the size of the polygons defined by the line decreases. If joints are defined as a constant percentage of each plane, the increase in plane process intensity results in a larger number of smaller polygons. Fractal based discontinuity models Fractal geometry is a way of quantifying the spatial or temporal dispersion of a quantity, and how this dispersion may change with the scale of observation, Its attraction for discontinuity patter characterisation lies in its simplicity, the less rigorous data requirements (than geostatistical approaches) and its correspondence to certain geometric features in natural discontinuity patterns. An early application of a fractal based discontinuity model was a two dimensional model of jointing at the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, USA (Barton et al 1985). One of the characteristic features of fractal models is that large discontinuities are not often found near other large discontinuities; rather, they are spaced at large intervals, so that, on average, the size of the fracture is proportional to the spacing. This autocorrelation of discontinuity trace length would be picked up using geostatistical models of trace length semi- variograms. Empirical evidence does not unequivocally support the existence of autocorrelation, so to use a model whose main strength is the ability to model autocorrelation of discontinuity properties may be pre-emptive until further study in this field is undertaken, ‘The fractal nature of a discontinuity network is examined using discontinuity trace maps. The reliance on trace maps to characterise the fractal nature of the discontinuity network may limit their use in cave mine engineering, due to the extensive use of core logging as a source of discontinuity characterisation information, Although promising, the application of fractal geometry for engineering design purposes is largely untested. For example, no verification exists that fracture networks derived from fractals produce model input that predicts the behaviour of a flow experiment any more accurately than other methods (La Pointe 1993). Hierarchical discontinuity models In hierarchical models the discontinuity sets are described and modelled in hierarchical order to account for dependencies among discontinuities of the same set or of different sets. The Hierarchical Fracture Trace Model of Lee et al (1990) was one of the earliest hierarchical models. The sequential gencration and correlation of discontinuity sets corresponds to what happens in nature. The main features of the model are: © The spatial variation of trace density is represented through a double stochastic point process. This class of procedure is quite versatile and is especially appropriate when the variation of trace density is due to external factors (eg state of stress, rock strength). 82‘Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation ¢ A new method, based on maximum likelihood theory, is presented for the unbiased estimation of trace length distribution using outcrop data, 2 When several trace sets are present, these sets are analysed sequentially, according to a hierarchical (ideally, chronological) order. Each set is represented through a conditional stochastic process, conditioning being with regard to the lower-order sets. This is perhaps the most innovative feature of the model. ‘* Methods from multivariate point processes are adapted to the estimation and validation of line-segment processes in tessellation. ‘The model contains several interesting features that would be desirable in a rock mass model for cave mine engineering. Unfortunately, the model would have to undergo further development before becoming a useful caving rock mass characterisation tool. The advances required would include extension of the model into three dimensions and the analysis of patterns with more than two trace sets for structurally complex rock masses. A recent hierarchical model specifically designed to model real geological fracturing processes, is the MIT geologic stochastic fracture model (Meyer ef al 1999). ‘The model is hierarchical since the fractures produced are grouped into hierarchically related fracture sets. It uses tessellated Poisson planes which have been subdivided into fractured and unfractured rock, and uses the geological history of the discontinuities to recreate the geometric network seen in the field. Although applied to large scale discontinuities, namely crustal scale shears and large scale faulting, it nevertheless applies some novel techniques to obtain a good representation of fracture geometry. In the example discussed by Meyer ef al (1999), four stages of faulting are modelled progressing from a simple to a compound arrangement of strike-slip fault zones. Probability is used to determine whether a new fault crosses through a previously existing fault when an intersection occurs. Geostatistical discontinuity models In reviewing traditional stochastic discontinuity geometry models, Gervais ef al (1995) found that discontinuity patterns observed in real rock masses were not adequately recreated in the models because of the variable discontinuity density and clustering of discontinuities occurring in nature. They proposed a geostatistical model of discontinuity geometry. This model features a hierarchical model of discontinuity networks, utilising a statistical characterisation and a geostatistical approach. Semi-variograms were developed to describe the spatial behaviour of the regionalised variables of the discontinuity network, and thus of the underlying random process. Semi-variograms of cumulated length of discontinuity traces per square meter were computed to study the spatial correlation of discontinuity density. For each discontinuity set, the variogram shows a structure along the direction of the mean orientation of the set. Spatial correlation of discontinuity intensity exists in this orientation. This is because well defined 83Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation corridors of discontinuities line up with cach discontinuity set. Variograms constructed perpendicularly to the direction of the mean of the set, show a pure nugget effect with no structure. To model the geometry of the discontinuity network, the first discontinuity set was generated with the classical method (random distribution of discontinuity centres, log-normal distribution of trace lengths), after which the other sets were generated successively and conditionally upon the previous ones, in order to reproduce the geometrical relations between sets and the discontinuity termination types observed in the field (Gervais et al 1995). The Gervais ef al (1995) model was developed on discontinuity trace sets of a bedding plane in a limestone quarry, where extensive discontinuity trace maps could be used as the basis of discontinuity characterisation. As a result, the study is highly detailed but entirely two dimensional. Although geostatistics can be an extremely useful tool in characterising the spatial variability of discontinuity intensity, it must be applied in three dimensions to allow for its application in underground mining. However, it is even more important to realise the limits imposed by the generally poor sampling of rock masses in cave mining operations, which will rule out the possibility of developing accurate semi-variograms of discontinuity set parameters. Forward modelling techniques Forward modelling is a method of obtaining parameters for constructing three-dimensional discrete models of discontinuity systems. In these models, each discontinuity is represented individually and has unique properties (as in the Baecher random disk model), ‘The properties of the model are derived from iterative conditioning to observed data (La Pointe et al 1983). ‘The forward modelling approach is illustrated in Figure 2.24, The method used to collect the structural data is simulated together with the biases described previously. This results in a simulated set of field data which can be compared directly to the field measurements. The goodness of fit between the field and simulated data can be evaluated visually, by statistical comparison, or by the use of statistical tests such as the 4? and Kolmogorov-Smimov tests (Dershowitz 1995). Based on the results derived from the comparison, the statistical description of discontinuities (orientation, size, shape, spatial distribution) can be modified and the process repeated to obtain a satisfactory match between field and simulated data, Knowing that modelled discontinuity measurements match the in situ discontinuity measurements provides greater confidence in the discontinuity model analyses. Dershowitz (1995) also illustrates other advantages of forward ‘modelling approaches over mathematical approaches such as that used by Villaescusa (1991), ‘The most important is the ability to directly account for known bias, censoring and truncation processes. The forward modelling approach directly simulates the methods of data collection, and therefore automatically accounts for these biases. 84Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation ‘Assumed Geometric Properties ‘of measurement used in-situ Simulated In-situ In-situ Measurements Measurements Adjust assumptions for Compare better match + Simulated and Field ‘Measurements Good match Generate additional alternative conceptual “Accept Possible moiseepponrie | Conceptal Motel ‘Geometric Properties Figure 2.24: Forward modelling approach (adapted from Dershowitz 1995) 2.6.3 The Development of the JKMRC 3-D Discontinuity Model This account of the JKMRC 3-D discontinuity model developed as part of the ICS Stage I, is based on the reports of Lyman (2000) and Harries (2001). The simplest model of rock joints that does not have infinitely persistent joints is the random disk model which is a Boolean Random Set (BRS) model. The term Boolean set is used because a set clement is or is not present at a point in space. Set elements are placed entirely independently at Poisson points in space and are allowed to overlap or interpenetrate freely. Consider the simple example of spheres placed randomly in space. Having first decided on a volume of space in which the random set is to be constructed, the space is populated with Poisson points of a chosen spatial density, or number of points per unit volume. A set element is then placed at each one of these points. Assume that the volume is a cube 10 m on each side and the spheres have a constant radius of 1 m as shown in Figure 2.25. 85Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Figure 2.25: BRS of spheres in a cubical volume If the simulation is to be entirely valid within the cube, the sphere centres have to be located in a volume slightly larger than the cube to avoid edge effects. In fact, to consider sphere centres, the volume is found by extending the cube by one sphere diameter in all directions. The easiest method in this case is simply to consider a cube 12 m on edge, centred on the 10 m cube. By definition, if Poisson points have a spatial density of P (points per cubic meter), then the probability of finding a point in a small volume dV at an arbitrary location is pdV. The expected number of points to be found in a finite volume V is A, = pV (2.2) and the actual number found in V follows a Poisson distribution with expected value 7,. The numbers of points occurring in different volumes in the space are mutually independent. If the spatial density chosen is say 2 m°, the correct way to put the points into the 12 m cube is to first generate a Poisson random number having the expected value =2x12 =24 Say this random number tums out to be 29. Choosing 29 triples of random numbers that follow a uniform distribution between 0 and 12 provides the coordinates of the points. The random number generator used for this has to be a good one (see Press ef al 1992). 86Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation The centres of the spheres are placed on the points. This is now a realisation of the random set. Any number of independent realisations can be generated and the extent to which the spheres make contact can be investigated for cach realisation and an average measure of the number of touching spheres determined by averaging over many realisations. The set elements used in the above example had a constant diameter; it would be quite legitimate to define the sphere diameters according to some statistical distribution. The distribution could be a discrete one with a particular average or expected proportions of, say, four different diameters. Alternatively, the distribution could be a continuous one quantified by a probability density function g(D) such that the probability of finding a sphere of diameter Dto D+dD is g(D)dD. To generate a realisation of spheres whose diameters follow such a distribution, the probability distribution function corresponding to g(D) is calculated, providing the probability that a sphere has a diameter smaller than a given value. This probability is G(D’))=Pr{D The function G(D) must rise monotonically from 0 to 1, Therefore, a sphere of diameter D, can be chosen from g(D) by choosing a random number 7; uniformly distributed between 0 and | and using the function G(D) as shown in Figure 2.26. To make the random set with the sphere diameter probability density ¢(D), simply choose a sphere diameter as illustrated in Figure 2.26 before placing the point in space. If disks are used as the random set elements, an additional factor comes into consideration, namely the disk orientation, The sphere is a completely symmetric object and so has no detectable orientation. A very thin disk has only one axis of symmetry and so needs two numbers to specify its orientation. 87Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation G(D) dD Figure 2.26: Illustration of a probability distribution function and the sampling of values from a specific density function ‘As has been noted previously, the orientation distribution most commonly used for jointing is the Fisher distribution (Fisher 1953). The Fisher distribution is the counterpart of the normal (Gaussian) distribution that is suitable for the topology of the sphere, Figure 2.27 shows a unit sphere and the two angles necessary to specify a point on its surface. Figure 2.27: Unit vector from origin to surface of unit sphere showing definition of angles ‘A unit vector from the origin to a point on the unit sphere can be defined by the angle 0 between the North-directed y-axis, measured clockwise when looking from above and the angle 6 between the z-axis and the vector. The vector is then defined as u=sindsin6i+sin 5 cos0j+cos dk -—m= Figure 2.33: The 2-D sample plane showing the same two fracture sets as in Figure 2.32 97Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation ‘There are no limitations to the number of planes that can be modelled in the 3-D model. For the sake of visual clarity only one plane is shown in Figure 2.32. Usually multiple planes are modelled with different orientations. Some plane orientations will be sub-parallel to the modelled discontinuity sets and consequently these sets will be poorly sampled. By using a large number of differently oriented planes, this geometric sampling bias can be reduced. Every discontimuity intersecting the sample plane contains information pertaining to the fracture set number, the trace length, the end point vertices, and information concerning the start and end termination codes. These termination codes are initially set to zero (representing intact rock termination) as the 3-D model does not consider termination, The fracture endpoint termination codes are used later in the termination modelling. Ordering of discontinuities to mimic structural history ‘An organisational chart illustrating the hierarchical modelling process is shown in Figure 2.34. The first step involves ordering the fractures to model the structural history of the rock mass. Unterminated and Unordered Fractures ¥ Stacia ity and Orden of races ¥ Cael Face Too angi Sais ¢ Mode Sequel Paseneat of Faas [¢———] Nau Face Dac Face Gos Pr ing Pass A vss xo [Resor tay ofan | xo Mei na * welll, | | owns Six Fracture Terminates | | No Termination [———> Fraciwres or Probability aiid of Termination v YES * Cone Taco Whee Posie ¥ Change Endpoint Cots and Endpoint Codes v Catone Tce Snes Acepabe Fi ¥ NO Cael Terinaton Sass Accept we] ‘ol Prepare for Primary Fragmentation Modelling and Calculate Engineering Indices Figure 2.34: Organisational chart of the hierarchical modelling (Harries 2001) 98Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation The hierarchical model uses field structural geological data to designate the historical order of formation of the different discontinuity sets (see Harries 2001). Where no hierarchical structure can be identified, a simple ordering by joint length is required. The longest fractures are more likely to be the earlier fractures formed (Hudson and Cosgrove 1997) and so are modelled first. Where multiple structural events are being modelled, a more intricate sorting routine is required. A number of procedures have been devised to order the fractures firstly by structural history and then by length. Fractures are ordered by length from the longest to the shortest within the different structural history groupings. After the fractures have been sorted in this manner, the discontinuity data are ready for the termination modelling. Fracture termination model ‘The fracture termination model uses geometric processes to model mechanical processes that ‘occur in nature, namely fracture intersection and termination. After the ordering of the fractures, the next step is to determine the trace length statistics. The trace length mean, standard deviation and sum are calculated. These are used later to ensure that the termination model does not significantly alter the trace length statistics. Fractures are then placed in the order designated by the structural history and length considerations. The first fracture placed has no chance of intersecting another fracture because it is the only fracture on the plane. As subsequent fractures are placed into the simulated plane they are checked to see if they intersect any previously placed discontinuities. Since the fractures are modelled as planar traces, intersections can be checked using plane equations and by checking the limits of the discontinuity traces. In Figure 2.35 the new fracture j is placed into the simulation and checked with the previous fracture i, Firstly, the coordinates of the intersection point are calculated using a vector method. When the intersection coordinates have been found, a check is performed to see if the intersection coordinates fall between the limits of both lines. Where the intersection is not within the limits of both lines (case A) no termination has occurred. Conversely, where the intersection coordinates fall between the limits of both lines (case B) then an intersection must have occurred, When an intersection occurs, a stochastic process is employed to decide whether to terminate the fracture or not. Initially the discontinuity set number of the fracture j is looked up from the data matrix. A randomly generated number is used to determine the outcome of the termination event using the probability of termination associated with the relevant discontinuity set number. When a termination occurs, a correction procedure is invoked to retain the discarded trace length. ‘The final action is to update the endpoint coordinates and change termination codes for the affected discontinuity. 99Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation Intersection Intersection coordinates i coordinates Start End (A) No fracture intersection (B) Fracture intersection Figure 2.35: Check for fracture intersections ‘This method is used several times so that every added discontinuity in the simulation is checked with every existing discontinuity. This uses the previously ordered data list, starting with the carliest existing fracture, When all the existing fractures have been checked, the next fracture on the list is introduced into the simulation, When all fractures have been modelled, the termination part of the program is finished and a check on the discontinuity statistics is initiated to make sure that the new rock mass simulation has an acceptable statistical fit to the original modelled data, 2.7 ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES 2.7.1 Introduction Usually during the feasibility and preliminary design stages of a project, very little detailed information is available on the rock mass properties or on the stress and hydrologic regimes applying. In these cases, rock mass classification schemes may be used in an attempt to extrapolate previous experience gained in the rock mass concemed or elsewhere. These classification schemes seek to assign numerical values to those properties or features of the rock mass considered likely to influence its behaviour, and to combine these individual values into one overall rating for the rock mass. ‘Through correlations with previous experience, rock mass classification schemes can be used to make initial estimates of support requirements and of the strength and deformation properties of the rock mass. A number of the more widely used rock mass classification schemes have been applied in engineering design analyses for caving mines. The systems that have been utilised in this way include the RMR (Bieniawski 1974, 1976), Q (Barton et al 1974) and MRMR (Laubscher 1990) rock mass classification schemes. The use of these classification systems in cave 100Chapter 2: Rock Mass Characterisation engineering and the rock mass characterisation data required for their application are outlined below. 2.7.2 RMR system (Bieniawski 1974, 1976) The Geomechanics Classification or Rock Mass Rating (RMR) system introduced by Bieniawski (1973, 1974) provided, partly on a subjective basis, a measure of the quality of rock masses for the purpose of preliminary support design in tunnelling, The RMR system has since been modified a number of times by Bieniawski (1976, 1979, 1989) and extended by a number of authors ostensibly to render it more suitable for particular applications (eg Romana 1985, Laubscher 1990), To classify a rock mass using the RMR system the rock mass is separated into a number of geotechnical zones of structural units having similar rock material and discontinuity properties. ‘The boundaries delineating these zones will most often be geological contacts, major faults, and weathering profiles. Each unit is then rated separately according to the intact material strength (uniaxial compressive strength or point load strength), the RQD (Deere 1964), the discontinuity spacing and condition, and ground water inflow. Each of these parameters is given a rating (see Table 2.6) and the summed ratings give the basic RMR of that rock mass. This basic RMR can then be modified according to discontinuity orientation with respect to the excavation, ‘One application of the RMR system, which uses the 1976 version of the system (which will be referred to as RMR;»), is in the derivation of the Hoek and Brown (1980, 1997) rock mass strength parameters, m ands. Another application of the RMR system is in the estimation of tunnel support requirements (Bieniawski 1976, Hock and Brown 1980), Table 2.6: The 1976 version of the RMR system (Bieniawski 1976) Strength (UCS)__ Rock Quality Designation (RAD) _ Discontinuity Spacing —__ 1 Discontinuity Conditions Groundwater ‘The procedure for calculating the RMR for the rock mass is to assess the spacing and condition for each of the identified discontinuity sets separately. For example, if there are three 101