1.

INTRODUCTION

ROCK MECHANICS is:

− the theoretical and applied science of rock and the mechanical characteristics of bodies of
rock.
− the branch of mechanics that deals with rock and the response of bodies of rock to the force
fields that are caused by their physical environment.
(US National Committee on Rock Mechanics, 1964, 1974)

1.1 Background

Man’s interest in rock as a construction material began far back in the annals of time. Natural
caves were used as dwellings before anyone knew how rock should be excavated to make
tunnels and excavations. In the stone-age man learned how to manufacture simple tools and
weapon parts such as arrowheads and spearheads out of rock material. Buildings and
sculptures such as the Abu Simbel temple and the pyramids in Egypt evidence an enormous
skill in mining and working rock. In antiquity the Romans constructed a system of aqueducts
and tunnels for the supply of water to towns. For example, it may be mentioned that the
length of several of these exceeded ten kilometres. The longest was more than seventy
kilometres in length.

In Sweden, copper began to be extracted at the Falun copper mine in the eleventh century. In
the nineteenth century tunnels were constructed for railways in Sweden and the rest of
Europe. When hydro-electric dams were built on the rivers in Sweden the chambers for the
machinery were constructed in rock which was unique. This method of placing turbines in
rock was, namely, a Swedish invention. In 1948 Sweden was the first nation in the world to
store crude oil in rock excavations. This was done in a disused feldspar mine in the
Stockholm archipelago.

Developments in the mining industry have meant that it is possible to mine deposits at great
depth. Examples are the extremely deep gold mines in India and South Africa where mining
is carried out at depths of more than 3000 m. The most extreme mining depths are to be found
in some of the South African gold mines where mining is approaching a depth of 4000 m
below the surface. In a similar way open pit mining has been developed so that today (1997)
open pits which are 300 metres deep are common, both in hard and soft rock deposits. One of
the more extreme open pits, Chuquicamata in Chile, was, in 1994 more than 650 metres deep,
4.7 km long and 2.4 km wide. The final depth of mining is planned to be about 1000 m.

The petroleum industry is another sector of industry that extracts raw material from the
bedrock. In this branch too, developments have led to more extreme depths of drill-hole in the
bedrock, but also to the ocean floors becoming a potential area for the extraction of crude oil.
For example, the deep bore-hole that was drilled in Gravberg in Dalarna in Sweden, with a
final depth of about 7000 m, may be mentioned. This bore-hole was not a conventional hole
for production, but was part of an investigation into the possibility of gas production in the
Siljan area. In the North Sea field a deep production hole can be 5500 metres deep (not
counting the depth of water of several hundred metres) and with a diameter of 600 mm at the
surface and 130 mm at the deepest part.

In large towns where the price of land is very high the bedrock has begun to be utilized for
building; for example, traffic routes, subway systems, waste water systems, telephone
networks, multi-storey car parks, sand depots and tunnels for power lines. In Stockholm
concentrations below the city centre are so great that in certain areas there are up to five
different levels of tunnels. In Japan the shortage of land, the poor environment on the surface
and extremely high land prices have motivated plans that are at an advanced stage for
complete underground towns. Storage of heat, natural gas and hazardous waste in bedrock are
other examples of modern underground installations. A number of different examples of
installations in bedrock are shown in Table 1.1.

Norway is a country where the landscape is characterized by high mountains and deep fjords.
In recent years many tunnels under the sea have replaced ferries. It is as natural to build a
tunnel as to build a bridge for major roads between islands or between islands and the
mainland. When Lillehammar in Norway was awarded the hosting of the Olympic Winter
Games in 1994 it was decided that an ice hockey rink should be built in the bedrock at
Gjövik. The rink is 61 metres wide, 91 metres long, 25 metres high and has room for 5100
spectators. It is the largest excavation in rock for public use in the world with respect as far as
the width goes. Building of the rink began in April 1991 and was delivered to the contractor,
Gjövik Olympiske Anlegg, in August 1993.
Table 1.1 Installations in rock (Modified from Stephansson, 1983).

Type Use Comment

Energy
Hydro-electric power Machinery houses A large number in the country
Pumping Machinery houses, tunnels Juktan
Power and heating plants Boiler rooms Uddevalla
Nuclear heating plant Machinery halls, turbine halls Ågesta
Nuclear fuel Intermediate storage of spent fuel. CLAB, Oskarshamn
Petroleum storage Storage of oil, petrol and gas Several installations in the country
Hot water storage Day, week, and seasonal storage of A test plant at Avesta
waste heat
Communications
Garage Parking of vehicles Large and medium sized towns
Sand silos Storage of sand and gravel Regional Road Administrations
Telephone Telephone exchanges Stockholm
communications
Defence
Shelters
Hangars
Bases
Accommodation
Operations rooms
Archives
Industries
Compressed air magazines Storage of compressed air Engineering industries, mines
Engineering works Premises for manufacturing AGA, Bofors, Volvo
Other
Cold store rooms Storage of foodstuffs, wine, etc. e.g. Vin- o Spritcentralen Nacka
Refrigeration rooms Storage of frozen foodstuffs e.g. GB-Glace, Nacka
Archives Storage of printed documents The National archives
Library Storage of books The National Library of Sweden
Sewage works Settling tanks, pump houses. Skansverket, Lidingö
Sports halls Sports halls and stands Holmlia, Norge
Ice rinks Rinks and stands Gjövik, Norge (Olympic stadium)
Civil Defence Communications control centre Sävastklinten, Boden
1.2 Rock mechanics

Knowledge of the field of rock mechanics is necessary for both mining and civil engineers.
Rock mechanics is a relatively new applied science. It was in the 1960s that it was realized
that new knowledge of the mechanical characteristics and of the stress situation in the
bedrock was required to be able to excavate complex underground installations, deep
underground mines, and enormous open pits in the most varied rock quality as well as to drill
extremely deep production holes for oil and gas extraction. Modern mining needs hard facts
as a basis for the various decision processes that concern the localization, dimensioning and
checking of excavations in rock, drifts, tunnels and shafts. It is the requirements and the
enormous financial consequences that are associated with the right decision at the right
moment that have impelled developments at home and abroad.

Rock mechanics deals with the stress conditions in the bedrock and the mechanical
characteristics of rock and, especially, methods for the design of constructions where the rock
is a constituent. Rock and earth differ substantially from other construction materials and this
means that the methods for designing dimensions also are peculiar to these materials.

In the case of a reinforced concrete construction, a car engine, or an aeroplane the design
engineer first calculates the external loads and then decides which material shall be used
based on specifications of strength, weight, resistance to corrosion, price and availability. The
final geometrical shape of the construction is then determined.

In rock the “applied” stresses and the materials of the construction are given. The latitude for
the construction of excavations in rock can be that the position of the excavation is changed,
that the form is altered, or that the rock is reinforced. In mining a stope can not of course be
moved as the position of the orebody is given. The bedrock can in this case be permitted to
fracture around a stope if that does not endanger overall stability or safety.

It is not easy to determine the strength of the rock as strength characteristics can greatly vary
within a relatively limited area. The result that is obtained during a laboratory test of a
drillcore or a natural fissure cannot, therefore, be considered to be representative of the
strength of the whole body of rock in which the excavation is to be situated. Regard must be
taken to the differences in load between that of the laboratory test and the actual load.
Furthermore, the influence of the shape and volume of the sample, compared with the actual
case, must be taken into account. Various fracture shapes occur which it is more or less
impossible to simulate in a laboratory environment. Rock of good quality is, however, in
many cases stronger than concrete which is one important reason for building in rock.

1.2 The role of rock mechanics when excavating a construction in rock

As rock differs from ordinary construction materials it also demands special investigations
and methods when designing and establishing mines and excavations in rock. We can group
the input of rock mechanics under four headings, each of which represents important building
blocks within applied rock mechanics.

Förundersökning
− geologisk-bergmekanisk kartering (bergarter, strukturer, klassificering etc.)
− geofysisk undersökning
− diamantborrning
− bergspänningsmätning
− parameterbestämning

Pilot studies
− geological and rock mechanics mapping (rock types, structures, classification, etc.)
− geophysical studies
− diamond drilling
− rock stress measurement
− determination of parameters

Analysis (Design)
− continuum mechanics
− discontinuum mechanics
− failure criteria
Support
− rock bolting
− grouting
− guniting
− other methods

Rock monitoring
− stability monitoring
− deformation measurement
− stress measurement

For the end result to be as good as possible none of these building blocks may be neglected.
See the representational picture in Figure 1.1.

An analysis requires relevant input values for the result to be of any use. Furthermore, based
on pilot studies and analysis one can predict where and what reinforcement will be needed.
Finally, the analysis and design of support and reinforcement can be of use when selecting
methods and positioning of instrumentation for monitoring of rock.

Control

Support

Analysis

Pre-investigation

Figure 1.1 Building blocks within applied rock mechanics (Modified from Stephansson,
1981)
1.3 Typical cases in rock mechanics

Problems in rock mechanics can be sub-divided into three typical cases with the load on the
rock as the starting point (Figure 1.2):

− Bedrock under load

− Slopes
− Underground excavations

When laying the foundations of constructions (dams, bridges, large buildings) on the bedrock
one usually does not have to study the characteristics and behaviour of the rock as long as the
foundation is not very large, the rock is not weathered, nor that the construction shall be
positioned on a slope of rock.

The design engineer must of course always pay attention to active faults and large
discontinuities that can cause landslides. Subsidence of a body of rock, especially in those
cases where constructions are statically indeterminate, can give rise to crack formation and
other problems that impair the function of the construction. The greatest challenges to rock
mechanics with regard to constructions which have their foundations on rock are large
concrete dams. High stresses from the dam construction itself combine with the impact and
the load caused by enormous volumes of water. The collapse of such a dam can have
immensely tragic consequences.

Embankments for road cuts, canals and open pits are designed mainly with the aid of
experimental and analytical studies of discontinuities. It is extremely important that the right
fracture mechanism is studied. Great savings can be made if the embankment for a road cut or
a canal can be optimized based on rock mechanics perspectives, which is not always possible
in practice. In certain difficult cases one should consider the possibility of building a tunnel as
it can then be possible to achieve a construction that is stable with respect to the natural
cracks. When designing slopes for open pit mines the engineer is faced with two conflicting
requirements: i) steeper slopes which mean lower costs for waste mining, and ii) safe slopes
to prevent landslide. The ultimate solution will therefore be a compromise where both these
aspects are taken into account.

Figure 1.2 Rock mechanics typical case: a) Loaded bedrock, b) slopes, c) underground
excavation.

Vid utformningen av berganläggningar och gruvor under jord ingår dels de delar av
bergmekaniken som är av betydelse för de ovan behandlade bergmekaniska typfallen, dels
tillkommer inverkan av de primära och sekundära spänningarnas storlek och riktning.

In the design of excavations in the bedrock and mines underground are included, firstly, those
parts of rock mechanics that are of importance for the typical rock mechanics cases dealt with
above, and secondly, there is in addition the influence of the size and direction of the primary
and secondary stresses. Another difference is that underground one also has a roof, the
stability of which, due to gravity, is especially critical. A fracture in the roof can entail the
beginning of a rockfall. As the rockfall means that the shape of the cavity alters it can in
unfavourable circumstances lead to the fracture propagating itself deeper and deeper into the
surrounding body of rock with further rockfalls as a result. A rock mechanics analysis at the
design stage gives information concerning how the excavation shall be shaped to minimize
the risk of stress-related fracture, that is to say high concentrations of stress at the edge of the
excavation. Furthermore, this analysis indicates the dominant directions of cracks. This
information comprises a foundation for an optimal design and orientation of the excavation.
However, its purpose in many cases requires a design and an orientation that is not optimal
with regard to the stress situation and the geological structures. The starting point for the
design of an underground installation, however, always must be that it shall be stable with the
least possible support.