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A New Yielding Bolt for Rock Support in High Stress Rock Masses

Article  in  Applied Mechanics and Materials · October 2012

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.204-208.366

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Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 204-208 (2012) pp 366-369
© (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.204-208.366

A new yielding bolt for rock support in high stress rock masses

Gang Wang 1, 2, a, Xuezhen Wu 2,b and Yujing Jiang 2,c

1
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Disaster Prevention and Mitigation,
Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China
2
State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Mine Disaster Prevention and Control, Shandong
University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China
a b c
wanggang1110@gmail.com, 503211360@qq.com, jiangyjcn@gmail.com

Keywords: Yielding bolt; High stress conditions; Energy-absorbing; Drawing operations.

Abstract. High stress in the surrounding rock mass causes serious stability problems. The applied
support system used in this conduction should be able to carry high loads and also accommodate large
deformations without experiencing serious damage. In this paper, a brief overview of the history of
yielding/energy-absorbing rock bolts is provided. And then, a new yielding bolt invented by the
author is introduced in detail, including its layout and principle. Theoretical analysis shows that the
bolt has large load-bearing and deformation capacities, thereby absorbing a large amount of energy to
maintain the stability of surrounding rock.

Introduction
The increased demand for minerals over the past few years has driven mine development to deeper
levels and into areas which have previously been considered inaccessible and unstable. At the same
time tunnelling for road and rail and energy expands into more sensitive areas as the need for further
infrastructure extension continues [1].
The essential difference between rock at depth and rock near the surface is an increase in the in situ
rock stresses. As a consequence of this increase in the rock stresses, rock burst may occur in hard
rocks, or large squeezing deformations may appear in soft and weak rocks [2]. It is observed that some
of conventional bolts fail due to only small amounts of shear and opening displacement at rock
joints/fractures [3]. The premature failure of the rebar bolts implies that rebar is too stiff to sustain
rock dilations in high stress rock masses. The conventional support devices are not suitable as large
deformations conditions or dynamic conditions prevail [4, 5].
Cook and Ortlepp [6] first suggested the use of yielding support in the deep gold mines of South
Africa. The applied support system used in deep mines should be able to carry high loads and also
accommodate large deformations without experiencing serious damage; that is, they should be
capable of absorbing a large amount of energy prior to failure.
In this paper, a brief overview of the history of yielding/energy-absorbing rock bolts is provided. A
new yielding bolt invented by the author is then introduced in detail, including its layout and
principle. Its deformation characteristics are demonstrated by theoretical analysis.

A review of yielding/energy-absorbing rock bolts

The yielding bolt has been studied over the twenty years around the world. In 1992, professor
Windsor CR and Professor Thompson AG first proposed the concept of an ideal reinforcement device
[7]. The device should have the strength of rebar and the deformation capacity of Split Set bolts (Fig.
1), with the ability to be rapidly mobilized to a load level similar to the strength of the material. It
should be capable of deforming over a long distance while the load remains high. This concept has
been recognized early, but it has been difficult to technically achieve such devices.

All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP,
www.ttp.net. (ID: 119.167.70.28-07/08/12,11:42:12)
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 204-208 367

Since 1980, extensive research and development work on yielding rock support has been
conducted. Some yielding bolts have been successively developed and applied in mines. At present
there have been dozens of yielding bolt, which can be summarized as steel deformation bolt and
structural components sliding bolt according to the yielding mechanism.

250
Pull load(KN) Idea bolt-Energy-absorbing bolt
200

150 Rebar-Strength bolt

100

50
Split set-Ductile bolt
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Displacement(mm)
Fig.1. Concept of the ideal bolt and definitions of strength, ductile and energy-absorbing rock bolts.

The first energy-absorbing rock bolt, the so-called cone bolt, was invented in South Africa [8]. The
cone bolt consists of a smooth steel bar with a flattened conical flaring forged onto one end. The bolt
is fully encapsulated with either cement grout or resin in a borehole. The dilation of the rock between
the cone and the bolt plate will induce a pull load in the bolt shank. The cone is designed so that the
conical end ploughs through the grout when the pull load exceeds a predefined value. Thus, the bolt
does work and absorbs energy from the rock, but its performance is closely related to the interaction
between the cone and the grouting agents which in turn is significantly influenced by the properties of
the grout material, the diameter of drill hole, mixing efficiency and encapsulation condition. In most
cases these factors are not completely under control, the performance of a cone bolt (or modified cone
bolt) therefore is less consistent and reliable.
Roofex is another energy-absorbing bolt that was developed by Atlas Copco [9]. The bolt is based
on a steel-steel interaction with a high quality steel bar travelling through a patented energy absorbing
element (energy absorber) fixed with resin or cement grout inside the borehole. The energy absorber
receives a total of six steel pins on two levels which are all slightly engraved into the steel bar and
perform a cold rolling process, deforming the original round shape to a hexagonal shape, whilst the
steel bar is travelling along its sliding path.
Roofex is a rock bolt that can absorb movements with excellent performance and predictability for
both yielding and rock burst prone grounds. While，the complex structure of “energy-absorber” unit
makes the bolt inherently costly. As steel pins are slightly engraved into the steel bar, structural
damage of the bar was inevitable. There are more and more industrial requirements on developing a
performance-reliable and cost-effective yielding rock support.

Layout and Principle of the new yielding bolt

Since 2010, the authors have been conducting extensive research and testing to develop a new
yielding rock bolt suitable for both dynamic and large convergence ground conditions. Its appearance
is similar to Roofex, but the structure of “energy-absorber” unit is simpler and more stable, which can
provide a larger resistance (a load level similar to the strength of the rod material). The new bolt
utilizes the plastic properties of steel during drawing operations. It is designed to dissipate and control
large amounts of energy liberated from the rock mass deformation process and therefore suitable for
extreme conditions potentially occurring at depth.
368 Progress in Industrial and Civil Engineering

As shown in Fig.2, the new yielding rock bolt mainly consists of drawing die and drawing rod. The
drawing rod is a metal bar with different diameters. The drawing die which also functions as an
anchoring point is fixed inside the borehole with either cement grout or resin. The drawing rod is
coated with a thin layer of lubricant media such as wax, so that it easily detaches from the grout under
pull loading.
Anchoring point Deformation

T
F

Drawing die Drawing rod

Fig.2. Layout and working phases of the new yielding bolt Fig.3. Drawing schematic

Drawing operations involve pulling metal through a die by means of a tensile force applied to the
exit side of the die. The plastic flow is caused by compression force, arising from the reaction of the
metal with the die. This mechanical mechanism is applied to the new bolt for elongation device.
The dilation of rock will induce a pull load in bolt and then there will be relative sliding trend
between the drawing die and rod. As the drawing die orifice diameter is smaller than the thick end of
drawing rod, there will be extrusion pressure between them. If the pull load exceeds the defined
drawing force, the rod will be pulled out slowly. Fig. 2 also shows the working phases of the bolts.
The new bolt can be specifically designed to behave like a stiff rock reinforcement member until
the defined drawing load. The drawing rod can provide large deformation to accommodate rock
dilations. The deformation amount is variable and can be fully adjusted to customer requirements to
the specific rock mass environment and behaviors of the mine. In the process of drawing, the bolt can
be capable of absorbing a large amount of energy to maintain the stability of surrounding rock.
In addition to the constant resistance and the large deformation, another beneficial effect of
drawing operations is a substantial increase in rod’s tensile strength. During the installation process,
appropriate pre-stress would be generally imposed to support the rock mass actively which can
improve the supporting effect significantly.

Calculation of yielding load

According to metal plastic mechanics, there are many theoretical methods to calculate the drawing
load such as the average principal stress method, sliding line method, upper-bound method and finite
element method.
The drawing schematic is shown in Fig.3. According to the average principal stress method, the
drawing stress may be expressed as

 2f

 tan α    D1  tan α  4 3 L
σ L = σ s 1 +  1 −   + σ s tan α + 0.15 f d σ s . (1)
 f    D0   9 D1
 
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 204-208 369

Where σ L is the drawing stress, or the working stress of the bolt, that is the rod axial stress at the
exit of drawing die; σ s is average deformation resistance before and after the drawing; α and f are
the die angle and coefficient of friction; D0 , D1 , Ld are the diameter of undrawn rod, diameter of
drawn rod, length of sizing zone, respectively.
The constant support pressure that the yielding device provides is expressed as

π
F =σL ×
2
D1 . (2)
4
According to the equation (1) and (2), as tensile strength of drawing material increase, the drawing
stress will increase linearly. Also, there is almost a linear relationship between drawing stress and area
reduction rate. The resistance is constant and close to the strength of the rod material.
Conclusions
The new bolt utilizes the plastic properties of steel during drawing operations which is able to carry
constant loads that is close to the strength of rod material. The relative motion between drawing rod
and drawing die can provide large deformation to accommodate rock dilations. Compared to other
bolts, the ingenious design of the new rock bolt can provide controlled performance, predictability
and hence more reliability.
Theoretical analysis verified that the load-carrying components of the new bolt are reliable when
loaded. In the process of drawing, the bolt can be capable of absorbing a large amount of energy to
maintain the stability of surrounding rock. It is suitable for extreme conditions potentially occurring at
depth.
Acknowledgments
This study has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51009086), the
Research Award Fund for Outstanding Middle-aged and Young Scientist of Shandong Province
China (No. BS2010HZ015) and the Project of Shandong Province Higher Educational Science and
Technology Program(NO.J10LE08).

References
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Mining and Construction. 2008, 3(08): 24-25.
[2] Li CC. A new energy-absorbing bolt for rock support in high stress rock masses [J]. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 2010, 47: 396–404.
[3] Li CC. Field observations of rock bolts in high stress rock masses [J]. Rock Mech Rock Eng,
2010, 43: 491–496.
[4] Stillborg B. Professional users handbook for rock bolting, 2nd ed [M]. Trans Tech Pub, 1994.
[5] Hoek E, Kaiser PK, Bawden WF. Support of underground excavation in hard rock[M].
Rotterdam: Balkema; 1995.
[6] Cook NGW, Ortlepp WD. A yielding rock bolt. Chamber of Mines of South Africa. Research
Organization Bulletin, no. 14, Aug. 1968.
[7] Windsor CR, Thompson AG. A new friction stabilizer assembly for rock and soil reinforcement
applications [J]. Rock support in mining and underground construction, Rotterdam: 1992, 523–529.
[8] Jager AJ. Two new support units for the control of rockburst damage In: Kaiser PK, McCreath
DR, editors. Rock support in mining and underground construction. Rotterdam: Balkema; 1992,
621–31.
[9] Salzburg. In-Situ pull testing of a yieldable rock bolt, Roofex. Controlling Seismic Hazard and
Sustainable Development of Deep Mines[J]. 2009, 1081-1090.

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