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Characteristics of discontinuity spacing of Yeongdeok granite

Article  in  Geosciences Journal · June 2009

DOI: 10.1007/s12303-009-0015-3

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Geosciences Journal
Vol. 13, No. 2, p. 161 − 165, June 2009
DOI 10.1007/s12303-009-0015-3
ⓒ The Association of Korean Geoscience Societies and Springer 2009
Characteristics of discontinuity spacing of Yeongdeok granite
}
Krishna C. Devkota Department of Geology, Kyungpook National University, 1370 Sankyuk-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu 702-701,
Jung-Eun Ham Korea
Gyo-Won Kim*
ABSTRACT: Discontinuities are major geological features in the
rock mass. They can be distributed evenly, randomly, clustered or in
combinations of all these. Discontinuity spacing is one of the impor-
tant parameters in describing the quality of a complete rock mass.
Discontinuity surveys are carried out in the field by examining
recovered drill-core to estimate possible distributions for discontinuity
geometry parameters of rock masses. Discontinuity spacing and fre-
quency data obtained at a field site in eastern Korea were examined
by plotting histograms for the two parameters. The examination
clearly showed that discontinuity spacing follows negative exponential
distribution. A relationship has been established between mean dis-
continuity frequency and Rock Quality Designation (RQD) as RQDt
=100e λ (1+λt), where t refers threshold value, e is a mathematical
- t
constant and λ is an average number of discontinuities per meter.
This equation enables the utilization of different threshold values
of t in addition to the conventional value of 0.10 m. It helps to
characterize a rock mass in terms of RQD. Therefore this study
showed that the conventional threshold value is not always sensi-
tive to study discontinuity spacing in rock masses.
Key words: Rock Quality Designation, discontinuity spacing, discontinuity
frequency, threshold value
1. INTRODUCTION
Discontinuities are common anticipated features in rock
masses. It is a general term for faults, bedding planes, joints,
cleavage, foliations, lineations, schistosity and so on. The
widespread occurrences of these features have a principle
role in determining rock mass properties (Zhang, 2005, Priest
and Hudson, 1976). It is generally recognized that the behav-
ior of a rock mass is strongly influenced by the discontinu-
ities that are present in a rock mass. Discontinuity geometry
is characterized by location, orientation, spacing and persis-
tence (Kulatilake and Wu, 1984a). Geometrical properties of
discontinuities are determined by mapping the traces of dis-
continuities exposed in outcrops (Kulatilake and Wu, 1984b).
Any discontinuity present in a rock mass will strongly affect
its mechanical and hydrological engineering properties in
terms of its deformability, strength and fluid permeability
(Zhang, 2005). Therefore, it is important to characterize dis-
continuities in detail to determine the engineering properties
of a rock mass.
*Corresponding author: gyokim@knu.ac.kr
Discontinuities are three dimensional features and may be
planar, curved, or wavy (Zhang, 2005). They are never uni-
formly distributed in all orientations, but usually occur in
sets. The orientations of discontinuities usually depend upon
the former stress history of the rock mass. Generally, stresses
developed by the construction of large engineering projects
are much lower than the strength of intact rocks and thus
failures of rock mass are mainly controlled by the rock dis-
continuities (Zhang, 2005, Wines and Lilly, 2002, Priest,
1993). Therefore, three dimensional analyses of discontinu-
ities present in rock mass are important for the site investi-
gation of almost all geological engineering projects (Zhang,
2005, Wines and Lilly, 2002). Thus a sound knowledge of
rock discontinuities is fundamental in studying rock mass
behavior (Zhang, 2005, Priest, 1993).
Basically, this paper describes the nature of discontinuities
based on the statistical distributions of spacing values that
could occur along recovered drill-core. Similarly, it explains
the relationship between Rock Quality Designation with dif-
ferent threshold values and mean discontinuity spacing in a
rock mass.
2. DISCONTINUITY SPACING
Discontinuity spacing is a basic measurement of the
distance between one discontinuity and another (Wines and
Lilly, 2002). Priest (1993), in his book has stated three forms
of discontinuity spacing measurements: total spacing, set
spacing, and normal set spacing. Total spacing is the dis-
tance between two adjacent discontinuities, measured along
a sampling line but with a specified location and orientation.
Set spacing is the distance between adjacent discontinuities
from a particular discontinuity set measured along a sam-
pling line but with a specified location and orientation. Nor-
mal set spacing is the set spacing measured along a sampling
line that is normal to the mean orientation of a particular set
(Priest, 1993).
Discontinuity spacing determines the dimensions of the
blocks of rocks in a slope which influences the overall sta-
bility of the rock slope. Therefore, it is an important param-
eter in designing appropriate stabilization measures for rock
slopes such as rock bolts and rock fall barriers (Priest and
162 Krishna C. Devkota, Jung-Eun Ham, and Gyo-Won Kim
Hudson, 1976, Wines and Lilly, 2002). Similarly, disconti-
nuity spacing is one of the most important parameters to
describe the quality of a complete rock mass. It is widely
used in the rock mass classification system such as the rock
mass rating system (Wines and Lilly, 2002, Priest, 1993).
The discontinuity intersection points are evenly spaced,
clustered, randomly spaced or a combination of all of these
in a linear survey (Wines and Lilly, 2002). Priest and Hud-
son (1976) studied the distribution of discontinuity spacing
along scanlines through a rock mass in three different sed-
imentary rocks in the UK. They suggested that in the absence
of a large predominance of evenly spaced discontinuities, any
arrangements of evenly spaced, clustered or randomly posi-
tioned discontinuities lead to a negative exponentially dis-
tributed curve relating spacing values to the number of
occurrences expressed as
Fig. 1. Location map of the study area.
f(x) = λe-λx (1)
where f(x) is the frequency of discontinuity spacing x, and
λ, is the average number of discontinuities per meter. Both
the mean and standard deviation of the distribution are equal
to 1/λ. Priest and Hudson’s conclusions (Priest and Hudson,
1976) have been supported by several authors, notably Wal-
lis and King (Wallis and King, 1980) working on a porphy-
ritic granite, and Einstein and Baecher (Einstein and Baecher,
1993) working on a variety of igneous, sedimentary and
metamorphic rocks.
2.1. Discontinuity Spacing in the Study Area
The study area, Figure 1, is located in the south eastern
part of Korean Peninsula. The investigation site is comprised
 Characteristics of discontinuity spacing of Yeongdeok granite
Fig. 2. Discontinuity Spacing Histogram.
of granite and granitic gneisses. Changsu granite, Yeongdeok
granite and granitic gneiss are the major rock types of the
study area. A total of 12,444 fractures were measured from
the investigation site. From the data obtained at investigation
site, the occurrences of discontinuity spacings were plotted
in the form of a histogram, using a discontinuity spacing
class interval of 0.05 m as shown in Figure 2. This Figure
was plotted solely by using the sum of all the drill-core data
obtained from investigation site. It clearly shows that the
curve follows a negative exponential distribution. The cor-
relation coefficient of the curve is 0.99, which clearly illus-
trates the random distribution of the discontinuities at the
investigation site.
2.2. RQD and Discontinuity Frequency
Discontinuity frequency is the inverse of discontinuity
spacing. Frequency can be defined in terms of occurrence
per unit volume, unit area or unit length. Linear discontinuity
frequency is the simplest and most commonly used method
(Wines and Lilly, 2002, Hudson and Priest, 1983) and is
defined as the number of discontinuities intersecting a unit
length of a sampling line such as a scanline or drill core
(Wines and Lilly, 2002).
Hudson and Priest (Hudson and Priest, 1983) mentioned
that discontinuities are never similarly distributed in all
directions and as a result, spacing values depend on the
direction of the drill core. They established the relationships
that allow the estimation of discontinuity frequency along
any orientation for a given discontinuity set of known ori-
entation and spacing. This relationship allows detailed anal-
ysis of frequency variation and can be used to estimate the
directions and magnitudes of the maximum and minimum
frequency values for a given rock mass (Wines and Lilly,
2002, Hudson and Priest, 1983).
Rock Quality Designation was developed by Deere to pro-
163
vide a quantitative estimate of rock mass quality from a drill
core log (Deere, 1964). It is the percentage of intact core
pieces longer than 0.10 m in the total length of the run and
is fundamental to different rock mass classification schemes.
The value of 0.10 m has been referred to as the threshold
value.
The relation between theoretical RQD (RQD*) and linear
discontinuity frequency, λ, has been derived for different
discontinuity spacing distribution forms by various authors,
particularly, Priest and Hudson, 1976; Sen and Kazi, 1984;
Sen, 1993. Priest and Hudson (1976) derived the following
relationship Eq. (2) between the RQD* and linear disconti-
nuity frequency per meter (λ) where discontinuity spacing
follows an exponential distribution.
RQD* = 100e-0.1λ (0.1λ +1) (2)
According to Wallis and King (1980) the advantage of RQD*
is that different threshold values can be deployed. In other
words, the percentage of the drill core comprising intact
lengths that are equal to or longer than any minimum thresh-
old value, not necessarily the standard 0.10 m, can be
assessed (Wallis and King, 1980). Therefore, Eq. 2 can be
written as:
RQDt = 100 e-tλ (tλ + 1) (3)
where t, is any threshold value. So, from Eq. (3), the per-
centage of scanline containing intact lengths above any
required threshold can be found. Priest and Hudson (1976)
have discussed the theoretical basis for these relations and
the statistical precision of the resulting estimates and have
shown that the negative exponential distribution does in fact
apply to discontinuities in the sedimentary rocks (Wallis and
King, 1980, Hudson and Priest, 1983).
2.3. RQD with Different Threshold Values for the Study
Area
RQD of the study area was calculated by using Eq. 3. Dif-
ferent threshold values used for the RQD calculation were
0.05 m, 0.10 m, 0.15 m, 0.20 m and 0.30 m respectively.
The relationship between RQD of different threshold values
and mean discontinuity spacing, 1/λ, has been plotted indi-
vidually as shown in Figures 3a-e. Then correlation coeffi-
cient of each case was calculated. Similarly, five different
RQD equations were derived in terms of different threshold
values referring Eq. 3. The correlation coefficient and derived
equation for each case is listed in Table 1 with respective
threshold values.
3. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
From Figure 2, it is clearly observed that the total discon-
tinuity spacing of the study area follows the exponential dis-
tribution as has been established by earlier authors (Priest
164 Krishna C. Devkota, Jung-Eun Ham, and Gyo-Won Kim

Fig. 3. RQDt (where t=5, 10, 15, 20, 30) and mean discontinuity spacing.

and Hudson, 1976, Wallis and King, 1980). Therefore, it
showed that discontinuities acquired in granitic rocks were a
combination of evenly spaced, clustered or randomly dis-
tributed discontinuities. The correlation coefficient of 0.99
obtained for the curve illustrates that the discontinuities are
randomly distributed at the investigated site. This phenom-
enon enabled the use of exponential distribution of spacing
to evaluate the rock mass behavior in terms of discontinuity
spacing. Likewise, the relationship between RQD with dif-
ferent threshold values and mean discontinuity spacing is
significant in all cases. The correlation coefficients of all
cases are significant to calculate RQD. These relationships
 Characteristics of discontinuity spacing of Yeongdeok granite 165

Table 1. Correlation coefficient and derived RQD equations with Hudson, J.A. and Priest, S.D., 1983, Discontinuity frequency in rock
respective threshold values masses. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Threshold Value Correlation Sciences & Geomechanics, 20, 73−89.
Derived Equations Kulatilake, P.H.S.W. and WU, T.H., 1984a, Estimation of Mean
(m) Coefficient
Trace Length of Discontinuities. Rock Mechanics and Rock
0.05 76 RQD = 74e λ (0.05λ + 1.45)
-5

Engineering, 17, 215−232.

0.10 81 RQD = 76e λ (0.1λ + 1.45)
-10
Kulatilake, P.H.S.W and WU, T.H., 1984b, The Density of Discon-
0.15 84 RQD = 62e λ (0.15λ + 1.93)
-15
tinuity Traces in Sampling Windows. International Journal of
0.20 79 RQD = 51e λ (0.20λ + 2.59)
-20
Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics, 21,
0.30 75 RQD = 55e λ (0.30λ + 2.41)
-30 345−347.
Priest, S.D., 1993, Discontinuity analysis for rock engineering. Chap-
man & Hall, London, 473 p.
Priest, S.D. and Hudson, J.A., 1976, Discontinuity spacings in rock.
showed that the use of different threshold values, in addition International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences &
to standard 0.10 m, is also consistent in determining RQD. Geomechanics, 13, 135−148.
This was demonstrated by employing threshold values of Sen, Z., 1993, RQD fracture frequency chart based on a Weibull dis-
0.05 m, 0.15 m, 0.20 m and 0.30 m individually. Thus, this tribution. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
study examines an insightful use of discontinuity spacing Sciences & Geomechanics, 30, 555−557.
and different threshold values to study rock mass according Sen, Z. and Kazi, A., 1984, Discontinuity spacing and RQD esti-
mates from finite length scanlines. International Journal of Rock
to the purpose of investigation. Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics, 21, 203−212.
Wallis, P.F. and King, M.S., 1980, Discontinuity spacings in crystal-
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This paper was funded by the Korea line rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Institute of Construction and Transportation Technology Evaluation Science & Geomechanics, 17, 63−66.
and Planning under the Ministry of Construction and Transportation in Wines, D.R. and Lilly, P.A., 2002, Measurement and analysis of rock
Korea (Grant No. 04-C01). mass discontinuity spacing and frequency in part of the Fimiston
Open Pit operation in Kalogeria, Western Australia: a case study.
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