National University of

Malaysia

Engineering Geology
(A Glimpse of Engineering Geology
and Rock Mechanics)
Wan Zuhairi Wan Yaacob (Assoc. Prof, PhD)
Faculty of Science and Technology
National University of Malaysia
43600 Bangi, Selangor, MALAYSIA.

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Contents
• Introduction
• Fundamentals of Engineering Geology
• Case studies

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Introduction
ALL Civil Engineering works Tunnel in Wales, UK
are carried out on or in the
ground

Hoover Dam, Colorado Underground mining

“An engineer is a person who can do for one dollar what any fool
can do for two” Matthewson, 1981.

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Geology & Civil Engineering

Malaysia

GEOTECHNOLOGY
Engineering in earth materials

Engineering Geology
Civil Engineering
(Geological Engineering)

Mining Engineering

A. Roberts (1977). Geotechnology: An Introduction text for students and engineers.

B. Pergamon Press.

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ENGINEERING GEOLOGY Malaysia

(Geological Engineering)

Engineering geologist as a “two-faced” professional looking back

at geologic processes and forward to engineering products

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Fundamentals of Engineering Geology

• Lithology / Rock Type Rock Type

• Rock Structure
• Rock Weathering

Rock weathering

fresh

weathered

Rock structures
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Rock Type
(Lithology)

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3 Major Rock Types

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Definitions of rocks:
• Architect
– Rock is a type of building material, dimension stone
• Engineer
– Rock as a hard or brittle material that requires
BLASTING to excavate.
– A permanent, durable material for erosion control
or engineering uses.
• Geologist
– Rock is an earth material produced by the rock
forming processes; OR
– Rocks are natural earth materials composed of
aggregates of one or more minerals
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Two main engineering properties of National University of
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rock :

• (1) Rock Substance

– The properties of the intact, unfractured rock
specimen.

• (2) Rock mass

– The entire rock body
– Incl. fractures and discontinuities

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Rock Substance

Rock mass
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Rock material
Malaysia

View under the microscope

Interlocking of minerals
Cemented grains/minerals

Core samples
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Rock Mass

Rock materials + discontinuities (i.e. joints, fractures, faults, folds, planes)

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Strong vs weak rocks

Malaysia

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Rock Structures
(or discontinuities)

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 Earth forces & the deformation National University of
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of rocks
• Stresses (TEGASAN); (P = F/A)
– Compression
• Acts to compress objects
– Tensional
• Acts to stretch objects
– Shear
• Complex kind of stress
• Opposite sites

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 Elastic-plastic deformation National University of
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(In Laboratory)
Material A

Plastic fracture

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In the field… Malaysia

SESAR / FAULT LIPATAN / FOLD

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TYPE ???
WHY ???

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How to describe discontinuities:

• 1. Orientation
• 2. Spacing
• 3. Persistence
1
• 4. Roughness
• 5. Wall strength
• 6. Aperture 3
2

• 7. Filling
• 8. Seepage (water)
• 9. Number of sets
• 10. Block size

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5
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Discontinuity and dams

Malaysia

• Orientation (1)

Axis of dam

(favorable) (unfavorable)

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Discontinuity and slope

• Orientation (2)
Inclination towards the
Inclination away from road (less stable)
the road (stable)

Unstable block

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Weathering

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Weathered Granit
(Grade III-IV)

Fresh Granit (Grade I)

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Soil
Rock

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Engineering Rock Classification

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Rock mass classification

Malaysia

• Rock mass classification is a

means of evaluating the
quality (strong/weak) and
expected behavior of rock
masses based on the most
important parameters that
influence the rock mass
quality.

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1. Rock Quality Designation (RQD) system Malaysia

(Deere et al, 1967).

• The cumulative length of intact core

pieces longer than 10cm in a run divided
by the total length of the core run.

Sum of lengths of core sticks > 10 cm long x 100

Total length of core run

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Core recovery
Malaysia

• The ratio of the length of core recovered

to the length drilled
• Ranges from 0% (no core recovery) to
100% (total recovery)

% Core recovery = total length of core samples (1,2,3) x 100

core run length

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10cm Core recovery

= (2.0)/(2.0) x 100%

= 100%

2.0m

RQD

= (2.0)/(2.0) x 100%

= 100% (Excellent!)

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Rock Quality Designation

RQD Rock Quality Classification

<25% Very Poor

25-49% Poor

50-74% Fair

75-89% Good

90-100% Excellent

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2. ROCK MASS RATING (RMR)

• Proposed by Bieniawski (1981)
• The South African Geomechanics Classification (SAGC)
RMR = JA1 + JA2 + JA3 + JA4 + JA5 + JB
• SIX parameters are required:
1. Uniaxial compressive strength (JA1)
2. RQD (JA2)
3. Discontinuity spacing (JA3)
4. Conditions of the discontinuities (JA4)
5. Groundwater (flow and general conditions) (JA5)
6. Rating adjustment for discontinuity orientations (JB)

• Based on ratings (total of 6 ratings)

• Total ratings (0-100) will give rock mass classes (I to V).

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RMR

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Case study: St. Francis Dam Failure

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dam

CASE STUDY: St. Francis Dam, US

•12 March 1928

•500 dead
•Geological factors
•The science of Eng. Geol

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dam

Dipping 50o
San Francisquito fault: a branch of
San Andreas fault

•12 March 1928

•500 dead
•Geological factors
•The science of Eng. Geol

dwzwy2004_2005
An engineering geologist knows a dam site better !!
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• “this substrate was totally inappropriate

for a dam footing, and failure of
fractured and weathered conglomerate
was the major cause of the dam failure”.

• “Don’t blame anyone else, you just

fasten it on me. If there was an error in
human judgment, I was the human.”
(William Mulholland, dam’s chief engineer & architect).

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Thank you

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