CHAPTER 5

ROCK MASS STRENGTH

5.1 INTACT ROCK

Two main mechanical components of a rock
mass:
a) the intact rock material
b) the fractures
(e.g:faults,joints and
bedding planes)

5.1 INTACT ROCK (CONT)

Intact rock, which refers to the unfractured
blocks that exist between structural
discontinuities

 In engineering, the rock type is classified

according to its potential mechanical
performance and a rock quality is determined.

So, the rock is described by its strength,

stiffness, anisotropy, porosity, grain size and
shape etc.

DID YOU KNOW?

Stonehenge is one of the examples of sandstone
with a siliceous matrix that able to resist 5000
years of British weather. Factors how the rock
can be degraded with time include:
Exposure to water
Freeze-thaw cycles
Chemical effects

5.2 ROCK MASS

Rock mass" is defined as the rock material
together with the three dimensional structure
of discontinuities

5.2 ROCK MASS

Failure of a rock mass occurs when a combination of
stress, strain, temperature and time exceeds a
certain critical limit. There are three different
primary rock failure mechanisms that can be
observed in hard rock

- tensile failure,
- spalling (extensional failure), and
- shear failure.

5.2 ROCK MASS

Instability of rock masses is often characterized by:
Block failure structurally controlled failures (loosening,
block fall).
Failures induced from overstressing
-overstressing of massive rock (spalling, popping,
strain burst)
-overstressing of jointed rock (shear failure, buckling)
- overstressing of granular materials (soils, heavily
jointed rocks
Instability in faults and weakness zones. For large scales, a
fault or weakness zone can be treated as a joint.

ROCK QUALITY DESIGNATION (RQD)

In 1964 D. U. Deere introduced an index to
assess rock quality quantitatively, called rock
quality designation (RQD)

The RQD is a core recovery percentage that is

indirectly based on the number of fractures in
the rock mass that is observed from the drill
cores.

DID YOU KNOW?

The RQD is defined as the percent ratio of the
sum of core pieces with higher than 10cm
(4 in) length to the total drill run.
Based on the percent or RQD from 0-100% the
rock mass quality can be assessed.
For example based on the proposal by Deere,
rock mass with RQD<25% is characterized as
very poor. If RQD is higher than 75% it is
classified as Good.

HOW TO OBTAIN SAMPLES OF INTACT

ROCK?
Samples of the intact rock can be obtained from surface outcrops or from
borehole cores obtained during a site investigation.
Using a coring drill bit, a cylindrical sample of the intact rock can be
obtained from boreholes as shown in Figure

RQD EXAMPLE 1

RQD EXAMPLE 1 (cont)

RQD
The advantages of RQD are its
simplicity,
quick determination,
and
inexpensive

RQD

RQD

A simple relationship which may used to

convert Jv into RQD for clay-free rock masses
is:

RQD = 115 3.3 Jv

Where Jv is represents the total number of joints

per cubic meter or the volumetric joint count
.

Jv has been described by Palmstrom(1986) as a

measure for the number of joints within a unit
volume of rock mass defined by:

Where Si is the average joint spacing in metres

for the joint set and J is total number of joint
sets except the random joint set.

The core recovery percentage(%)

Lengths of rock pieces in a 60 cm rock core are measured
to be 2, 3, 1, 4.5, 5.5, 2, 6, 8, 3, 2, 15 cm.
Solution
STEP 1: Find the recovery percentage.
The total length of all the pieces is added to be 52 cm

ROCK QUALITY INDEX (RQI)

Calculate RQI,Q based on the following information

Data

Value

Rock Quality
Design,RQD

60%

Undulating rough joint

Joint Set Number

Small fraction of clay in the joint

Stress Reduction
Factor, SRF

Water flows into the tunnel at a medium

rate

Data

Value

Rock Quality
Design,RQD

60%

Undulating rough joint

Joint Set
Number

RQD = 60
Jr = 3 (Table 1)
Jn = 4

(Table 2)

Small fraction of clay in the

joint

Ja = 3 (Table 3)

Stress
Reduction
Factor, SRF

SRF = 5

Water flows into the tunnel

at a medium rate

Jw = 0.66 (Table 4)

Q = (RQD/Jn) x (Jr/Ja) x (Jw/SRF)

The known values are as follows.
RQD = 60%. Since there are two sets of joints, Jn = 4 (Table 2). From
Table 1, for undulating, rough joints, Jr = 3. From Table 3, since
most joints are filled with silts and sands, Ja = 2. From Table 4,
Jw = 0.66. From the text above, SRF = 5. Hence

Q = (60/4) x (3/3) x (0.66/5) = 1.98

(ROCK MASS RATING) RMR

The Rock Mass Rating (RMR) System is a
geomechanical classification system for rocks,
developed by Z. T. Bieniawski between 1972 and
1973.
It combines the most significant geologic
parameters of influence and represents them
with one overall comprehensive index of rock
mass quality, which is used for the design and
construction of excavations in rock, such as
tunnels, mines, slopes and foundations.

The following six parameters are used to classify a rock

mass using the RMR system

Uniaxial compressive strength of rock material

Rock quality designation (RQD)
Spacing of discontinuities
Condition of discontinuities
Groundwater conditions
Orientation of discontinuities

Each of the six parameters is assigned a value corresponding

to the characteristics of the rock. These values are derived
from field surveys and laboratory tests. The sum of the six
parameters is the "RMR value", which lies between 0 and 100.

RMR CONT.
These parameters are evaluated in the field &
given the respective point scoring.
Numerical rating on the 6 parameters
(according to observation) gives RMR value 0
100 & this range of values classifies rock
mass into 5 main groups:

RMR CONT.

Group I: RMR = 80 100 (RMR rating)

Group II: RMR = 60 - 80
Group III: RMR = 40 - 60
Group IV: RMR = 20 - 40
Group V: RMR = < 20

RMR CONT.
Higher rock mass rating indicates better rock
mass condition/quality.
In terms of quality & strength rock mass,
Group I is more suitable for excavation of
tunnel or slope relative to group II or III.

RMR APPLICATIONS
Most of the applications of RMR have been in
the field of tunnelling but also in various types
of slopes for slope stability analysis,
foundation stability, caverns and different
mining applications.