Evaluation of excavation damaged zones(EDZs)in Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory(URL)

Excavation of underground caverns,such as mountain tunnels and energy-storage caverns,may cause the damages to the surrounding rock as a result of the stress redistribution.In this influenced zone,new cracks and discontinuities are created or propagate in the rock mass.Therefore,it is effective to measure and evaluate the acoustic emission(AE)events generated by the rocks,which is a small elastic vibration,and permeability change.The authors have developed a long-term measurement device that incorporates an optical AE(O-AE)sensor,an optical pore pressure sensor,and an optical temperature sensor in a single multi-optical measurement probe(MOP).Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been conducting R&D activities to enhance the reliability of high-level radioactive waste(HLW)deep geological disposal technology.In a high-level radioactive disposal project,one of the challenges is the development of methods for long-term monitoring of rock mass behavior.Therefore,in January 2014,the long-term measurements of the hydro-mechanical behavior of the rock mass were launched using the developed MOP in the vicinity of 350 m below the surface at the Horonobe Underground Research Center.The measurement results show that AEs occur frequently up to 1.5 m from the wall during excavation.In addition,hydraulic conductivity increased by 2e4 orders of magnitude.Elastoplastic analysis revealed that the hydraulic behavior of the rock mass affected the pore pressure fluctuations and caused micro-fractures.Based on this,a conceptual model is developed to represent the excavation damaged zone(EDZ),which contributes to the safe geological disposal of radioactive waste.

Seismic damage zone and width-throw scaling along the strike-slip faults in the Ordovician carbonates in the Tarim Basin

Understanding the scaling relation of damage zone width with displacement of faults is important for predicting subsurface faulting mechanisms and fluid flow processes. The understanding of this scaling relationship is influenced by the accuracy of the methods and types of data utilized to investigate faults. In this study, seismic reflection data are used to investigate the throw and damage zone width of five strike-slip faults a ecting Ordovician carbonates of the Tarim intracraton basin,NW China. The results indicate that fault slips with a throw less than 200 m had formed wide damage zones up to 3000 m in width. Also, damage zone width is found to have both a positive correlation and a power-law relation with throw of two orders of magnitude, with a ratio of these values varying in a range of 2–15. The relationship between throw and damage zone width is not a simple power-law and changes its slope from small to larger size faults. The results indicate that throw scales well with damage zone width for the studied faults, and hence these can be used to predict fault geometries in the Tarim Basin. The study of the wide carbonate damage zones presented here provides new insights into scaling of large-size faults, which involve multiple faulting stages.

Predicting excavation damage zone depths in brittle rocks

During the construction of an underground excavation, damage occurs in the surrounding rock mass due in large part to stress changes. While the predicted damage extent impacts profile selection and support design, the depth of damage is a critical aspect for the design of permeability sensitive excavations, such as a deep geological repository(DGR) for nuclear waste. Review of literature regarding the depth of excavation damage zones(EDZs) indicates three zones are common and typically related to stress induced damage. Based on past developments related to brittle damage prediction using continuum modelling, the depth of the EDZs has been examined numerically. One method to capture stress induced damage in conventional engineering software is the damage initiation and spalling limit(DISL) approach. The variability of depths predicted using the DISL approach has been evaluated and guidelines are suggested for determining the depth of the EDZs around circular excavations in brittle rock masses. Of the inputs evaluated, it was found that the tensile strength produces the greatest variation in the depth of the EDZs. The results were evaluated statistically to determine the best fit relation between the model inputs and the depth of the EDZs. The best correlation and least variation were found for the outer EDZ and the highly damaged zone(HDZ) showed the greatest variation. Predictive equations for different EDZs have been suggested and the maximum numerical EDZ depths, represented by the 68% prediction interval, agreed well with the empirical evidence. This suggests that the numerical limits can be used for preliminary depth prediction of the EDZs in brittle rock for circular excavations.

In-situ observations of damage-fracture evolution in surrounding rock upon unloading in 2400-m-deep tunnels

The damage-fracture evolution of deep rock mass has obvious particularity,which is revealed in 2400-mdeep tunnels by field tests.The evolution of the excavation damaged zone depth is consistent with that of the fractured zone depth.The ratio of the excavation damaged zone depth to the excavation fractured zone depth is greater than 2.0 in a rock mass with both high strength and good integrity,but less than1.5 in a rock mass with lower strength or poor integrity.Zonal disintegration in a rock mass with high strength and fair integrity is more likely to occur when it contains more than two groups of primary fractures in damaged zones.Fractures develop outward in zonal disintegration but are totally different from the single-zone fracture,in which the fractures develop inward,and it is the starting position of the fractured zone when the excavation surface of the middle pilot is 7–9 m close to the pre-set borehole and it stops after the excavation surface of the baseplate is 11–14 m away.The most intense evolution occurs around 2–4 m from the pre-set borehole in the sidewall expansion stage.The research results provide a reference for the monitoring scheme and support design of CJPL-Ⅲin its future construction.

Predicting the excavation damaged zone within brittle surrounding rock masses of deep underground caverns using a comprehensive approach integrating in situ measurements and numerical analysis

Excavation Damaged Zone(EDZ)scope is important for optimizing excavation and support schemes in deep underground caverns.However,accurately predicting the full EDZ scope within the surrounding rock masses of deep underground caverns during excavation remains a pressing problem.This study presents a comprehensive EDZ scope prediction approach(CESPA)for the brittle surrounding rock masses of deep underground caverns by coupling numerical simulation with quantitative analysis of borehole wall images and ultrasonic test results.First,the changes in both P-velocity(V_(p))and joint distribution of the surrounding rock masses before and after excavation damage are captured using ultrasonic tests and borehole digital cameras.Second,the quality Q-parameters of the surrounding rock mass before and after excavation damage are preliminarily rated with the rock mass descriptions provided by borehole wall images,and the rock mass V_(p)-parameter values are determined according to the V_(p)-borehole depth curves.Third,the Q-parameter ratings are further finely adjusted by updating the related Q-values to be similar with the Q-values estimated by V_(p)-parameter values.Fourth,the initial and residual mechanical parameters for the rock mass deterioration model(RDM)are estimated by the adjusted Q-parameter ratings based on the modified Q-based relations,and the elastic modulus deterioration index(EDI)threshold to describe the EDZ boundary is determined with the V_(p)-parameter values.Finally,EDZ scope is predicted using the elastoplastic numerical simulation with RDM and EDI based on the mechanical parameter estimates and EDI threshold.Analyses of applications in Sub-lab D1 in Jinping II project show that CESPA can provide a reliable and operable solution for predicting full EDZ scopes within the brittle surrounding rock masses of deep underground caverns.

Predicting the Thickness of an Excavation Damaged Zone around the Roadway Using the DA-RF Hybrid Model

After the excavation of the roadway,the original stress balance is destroyed,resulting in the redistribution of stress and the formation of an excavation damaged zone(EDZ)around the roadway.The thickness of EDZ is the key basis for roadway stability discrimination and support structure design,and it is of great engineering significance to accurately predict the thickness of EDZ.Considering the advantages of machine learning(ML)in dealing with high-dimensional,nonlinear problems,a hybrid prediction model based on the random forest(RF)algorithm is developed in this paper.The model used the dragonfly algorithm(DA)to optimize two hyperparameters in RF,namely mtry and ntree,and used mean absolute error(MAE),rootmean square error(RMSE),determination coefficient(R^(2)),and variance accounted for(VAF)to evaluatemodel prediction performance.A database containing 217 sets of data was collected,with embedding depth(ED),drift span(DS),surrounding rock mass strength(RMS),joint index(JI)as input variables,and the excavation damaged zone thickness(EDZT)as output variable.In addition,four classic models,back propagation neural network(BPNN),extreme learning machine(ELM),radial basis function network(RBF),and RF were compared with the DA-RF model.The results showed that the DARF mold had the best prediction performance(training set:MAE=0.1036,RMSE=0.1514,R^(2)=0.9577,VAF=94.2645;test set:MAE=0.1115,RMSE=0.1417,R^(2)=0.9423,VAF=94.0836).The results of the sensitivity analysis showed that the relative importance of each input variable was DS,ED,RMS,and JI from low to high.

Calibration of coupled hydro-mechanical properties of grain-based model for simulating fracture process and associated pore pressure evolution in excavation damage zone around deep tunnels

The objective of this paper is to develop a methodology for calibration of a discrete element grain-based model(GBM)to replicate the hydro-mechanical properties of a brittle rock measured in the laboratory,and to apply the calibrated model to simulating the formation of excavation damage zone(EDZ)around underground excavations.Firstly,a new cohesive crack model is implemented into the universal distinct element code(UDEC)to control the fracturing behaviour of materials under various loading modes.Next,a methodology for calibration of the components of the UDEC-Voronoi model is discussed.The role of connectivity of induced microcracks on increasing the permeability of laboratory-scale samples is investigated.The calibrated samples are used to investigate the influence of pore fluid pressure on weakening the drained strength of the laboratory-scale rock.The validity of the Terzaghi’s effective stress law for the drained peak strength of low-porosity rock is tested by performing a series of biaxial compression test simulations.Finally,the evolution of damage and pore pressure around two unsupported circular tunnels in crystalline granitic rock is studied.

Permeability and pressure distribution characteristics of the roadway surrounding rock in the damaged zone of an excavation

Research on the permeability and pressure distribution characteristics of the roadway surrounding rock in the excavation damaged zone(EDZ) is beneficial for the development of gas control technology. In this study, analytical solutions of stress and strain of the roadway surrounding rock were obtained, in which the creep deformation and strain softening were considered. Using the MTS815 rock mechanics testing system and a gas permeability testing system, permeability tests were conducted in the complete stress-strain process, and the evolution characteristics of permeability and strain were studied over the whole loading process. Based on the analytical solutions of stress and strain and the governing equation of gas seepage flow, this paper proposes a hydro-mechanical(HM) model, which considers three different zones around the roadway. Then the gas flow process in the roadway surrounding rock in three different zones was simulated according to the engineering geological conditions, thus obtaining the permeability and pressure distribution characteristics of the roadway surrounding rock in three different zones. These results show that the surrounding rock around the roadway can be divided into four regions-the full flow zone(FFZ), flow-shielding zone(FSZ), transitive flow zone(TFZ), and in-situ rock flow zone(IRFZ). These results could provide theoretical guidance for the improvement of gas extraction and gas control technology.

BRITTLE-DAMAGE ANALYSIS OF CRACKS UNDER CONDITIONS OF PLANE-STRAIN TENSILE LOADING

An abrupt damage model, taking full account of finite geometry changes, is used to study both the shapes of damage zones and the stress strain fields for a plane-strain tensile crack under the small-scale yielding condition. Two typical crack-tip damage profiles are simulated by the element vanish technique. The fracture toughness increment due to damage dissipation is evaluated in terms of the energy release rate.

Distribution characteristics and the evolution law of excavation damage zone in the large-span transition section of high-speed railway tunnel based on microseismic monitoring

Purpose–The microseismic monitoring technique has great advantages on identifying the location,extent and the mechanism of damage process occurring in rock mass.This study aims to analyze distribution characteristics and the evolution law of excavation damage zone of surrounding rock based on microseismic monitoring data.Design/methodology/approach–In situ test using microseismic monitoring technique is carried out in the large-span transition tunnel of Badaling Great Wall Station of Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway.An intelligent microseismic monitoring system is built with symmetry monitoring point layout both on the mountain surface and inside the tunnel to achieve three-dimensional and all-round monitoring results.Findings–Microseismic events can be divided into high density area,medium density area and low density area according to the density distribution of microseismic events.The positions where the cumulative distribution frequencies of microseismic events are 60 and 80%are identified as the boundaries between high and medium density areas and between medium and low density areas,respectively.The high density area of microseismic events is regarded as the high excavation damage zone of surrounding rock,which is affected by the grade of surrounding rock and the span of tunnel.The prediction formulas for the depth of high excavation damage zone of surrounding rock at different tunnel positions are given considering these two parameters.The scale of the average moment magnitude parameters of microseismic events is adopted to describe the damage degree of surrounding rock.The strong positive correlation and multistage characteristics between the depth of excavation damage zone and deformation of surrounding rock are revealed.Based on the depth of high excavation damage zone of surrounding rock,the prestressed anchor cable(rod)is designed,and the safety of anchor cable(rod)design parameters is verified by the deformation results of surrounding rock.Originality/value–The research provides a new method to predict the surrounding rock damage zone of large-span tunnel and also provides a reference basis for design parameters of prestressed anchor cable(rod).

THE DAMAGE PROCESS ZONE CHARACTERISTICS AT CRACK TIP IN CONCRETE

This paper presents a comprehensive derivation of fracture process zone size which closely parallels similar work in fracture of metals and anisotropic solid, but is adapted to conrete. Some nonlinear mechanics models of concrete materials will be discussed by using uniaxial stress assumptions. For uniaxial stress assumption, energy model and fracture model will be presented for nonlinear softening models. Finally, we make a comparison with those models.

Impact of spatially varying rock disturbance on rock slope stability

Degradation of rock mass produced by rock blasting,stress relief,and other causes is an important factor in the assessment of rock strength.Quantified as a disturbance factor,such degradation varies depending on blasting control,stress state and stress relief,and rock mass quality.This study focuses on the impact of disturbance on the safety of slopes.The disturbance in the rock mass is characterized by the geometry of the disturbed zone,its size,the magnitude,and the decaying rate with the distance away from the slope surface.A method accounting for decay of rock disturbance is presented.A study of the impact of rock disturbance characteristics on the quantitative stability measures of slopes was carried out.These characteristics included disturbed zone geometry,its thickness,the maximum magnitude of the disturbance factor,and the rate of disturbance decaying.The thickness of the disturbed zone and the maximum factor of disturbance were found to have the greatest impact.For example,the factor of safety for a 45slope in low-quality rock mass can decrease from 1.96 to 1.09 as the thickness of the disturbed zone increases from 1/4 of slope height H to the double of H and the maximum disturbance factor increases from 0.5 to 1.Uniform thickness of a disturbed zone was found to yield more conservative outcomes than the triangular zones did.The critical failure surfaces were found to be shallow for high rates of disturbance decay,and they were the deepest for spatially uniform disturbance factors.

Optimal depth of in-situ pressure-preserved coring in coal seams considering roadway excavation and drilling disturbance

Using pressure-preserved coring technique to determine in-situ gas content provides a more precise assessment of gas resource reserves and safeguard of mining safety in coal seams. How coring technique and depth affect the determination of gas content is unclear due to borehole zoning rupture caused by roadway excavation and drilling disturbance. To this end, a proposed coupling model of stress distribution and gas migration was simulated and validated by FLAC^(3D) and COMSOL Multiphysics considering superposition effects of roadway excavation and drilling disturbance. The findings indicate that the roadway surrounding rock displays distinct zoning features including stress relief zone, stress concentration zone that is composed of plastic zone, elastic zone, and original stress zone;and the broken situations depending on the borehole peeping are consistent with the corresponding simulation results.On this basis, this study proposes a set of drilling coring depth calculation and prediction model for the gas desorption affected area under engineering disturbance. Optimal depth of coring drilling is not only approach to the in-situ coal bulk, but also can get the balance of the drilling workload and cost controlling. According to the typical mine site geological conditions and the numerical simulation results in this study, if the roadway excavation time is ~1 year, it is recommended that the pressure-preserved coring depth should be greater than 17 m.

Dynamic response and failure of rock in initial gradientstress field under stress wave loading

Once an opening is created in deep underground,the stresses surrounding the opening will be redistributed,inducing a gradient stress field.To understand how the ground rock in such a gradient stress field responses to dynamic stress loading,the gradient stress distribution at a circular opening was first analyzed and the propagation of 1D stress wave in rock mass under gradient stress field was theoretically derived.By using an implicit to explicit solution method in LS-DYNA code,the dynamic mechanical behaviors of rock in gradient stress field were numerically investigated.The results indicate that the damage is mainly produced at or near the free face,partly due to the straight action of compressive stress wave and the tensile stress wave generated at the free face.The range of the induced damage zone is narrowed under the conditions of higher gradient stress rate and lower dynamic stress amplitude.However,under lower gradient stress field and higher dynamic stress,the damage becomes severer and wider with discontinuous failure regions.

Laboratory tests and numerical simulations of brittle marble and squeezing schist at Jinping II hydropower station,China

Four 16.7 km-long tunnels with diameters ranging from 12.4 to 14.6 m are now under construction at Jinping II hydropower station along the Yalong River.The tunnels pass through Triassic rocks below Jinping Mountain.The tunnels are characterized with high overburden,long alignment and complex geological conditions.Brittle failure in marble and squeezing in schist are the primary problems in tunnelling.This paper introduces the studies of laboratory tests on Jinping II marble as well as numerical prediction of excavation damaged zone (EDZ) of tunnel section in brittle marble and determination of reinforced concrete lining thickness for restraining time-dependent deformation in the schist tunnel section.Laboratory tests indicate that Jinping II marble presents a complex brittle-ductile-plastic transition behavior of post-peak response with increasing confining pressure.Such behavior can be described numerically with the Hoek-Brown model.The EDZ was calibrated and predicted using both fast Lagrangian analysis of continua (FLAC) and particle flow code (PFC).The predicted result of EDZ in sections with different qualities of rock mass under various overburden pressures is quite helpful in understanding EDZ characterization and support design.A power-law creep model was used to support the lining design,especially in determining the lining thickness.Field convergence measurement data over 19 months were used to calibrate the creep model properties,followed by a sensibility analysis of reinforced concrete lining thickness that was launched to present the maximum lining compressive stress.

TIMODAZ:A successful international cooperation project to investigate the thermal impact on the EDZ around a radioactive waste disposal in clay host rocks

Disposal of spent nuclear fuel and long lived radioactive waste in deep clay geological formations is one of the promising options worldwide. In this concept of the geological disposal system, the host clay formation is considered as a principal barrier on which the fulfillment of key safety functions rests. Between 2006 and 2010, the European Commission project TIMODAZ, which gathered 15 partners from 8 countries, has investigated the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical （THM） effects on clay formations for geological disposal of radioactive waste, and specific attention was paid to investigating the thermal effect on the evolution of the damaged zone （DZ）. Three types of potential host clay formations were investigated： the Boom Clay （Belgium）, the Opalinus Clay （Switzerland） and the Callovo-Oxfordian argillite （France）. Intensive experimental （laboratory and in situ in underground research laboratories） and numerical studies have been performed. Multi-scale approach was used in the course of the project. High degree of similarities between the failure modes, sealing process, stress paths, deformation, etc., observed in laboratories and in situ has been obtained, which increased the confidence in the applicability of laboratory test results and up-scaling perspective. The results of the laboratory and in situ tests obtained allowed the parameters for numerical models at various scales to be derived and provided the basis for the simplified performance assessment models that are used to assess the long-term safety of a repository. The good cooperation between the numerical modeler and experimenters has allowed an in-depth analysis of the experimental results and thus better understanding the underlying processes, and consequently increased the capabilities to model the THM effects in claystones. This paper presents the main achievements obtained by TIMODAZ project and shows how a European scientific community investigates a problem of concern in a collaborative way and how the obtained main results are applied to the performance assessment of a geological repository.

Prediction of overbreak depth in Ghalaje road tunnel using strength factor

It is well known that the overbreak caused by the blasting damage during tunnel excavation increases costs associated with filling the collapsed area with shotcrete and results in filing of a claim by the contractor. This paper outlines a new approach for prediction the overbreak depth during tunnel construction. Hence, firstly excavation damage zone(EDZ) are determined by average specific charge in each zone. Numerical modelling is used to simulate the EDZ around tunnel boundary and the overbreak depth are calculated by the rock strength factor. The predicted overbreak depth compared with observed field data from a case study. The results show that there exists an approximately up to 40% difference between the prediction and the observed volume of overbreak depth. Therefore, the method can be well used to predict the overbreak depth to estimate more precision of shotcrete and concrete volumes in tunnelling cost during design phase.

Fracture development around deep underground excavations: Insights from FDEM modelling

Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing interest in the development of numerical modelsthat can realistically capture the progressive failure of rock masses. In particular, the investigation ofdamage development around underground excavations represents a key issue in several rock engineeringapplications, including tunnelling, mining, drilling, hydroelectric power generation, and the deepgeological disposal of nuclear waste. The goal of this paper is to show the effectiveness of a hybrid finitediscreteelement method （FDEM） code to simulate the fracturing mechanisms associated with theexcavation of underground openings in brittle rock formations. A brief review of the current state-of-theartmodelling approaches is initially provided, including the description of selecting continuum- anddiscontinuum-based techniques. Then, the influence of a number of factors, including mechanical and insitu stress anisotropy, as well as excavation geometry, on the simulated damage is analysed for threedifferent geomechanical scenarios. Firstly, the fracture nucleation and growth process under isotropicrock mass conditions is simulated for a circular shaft. Secondly, the influence of mechanical anisotropy onthe development of an excavation damaged zone （EDZ） around a tunnel excavated in a layered rockformation is considered. Finally, the interaction mechanisms between two large caverns of an undergroundhydroelectric power station are investigated, with particular emphasis on the rock mass responsesensitivity to the pillar width and excavation sequence. Overall, the numerical results indicate that FDEMsimulations can provide unique geomechanical insights in cases where an explicit consideration offracture and fragmentation processes is of paramount importance. 2014 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting byElsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Field application of non-blasting mechanized mining using high-frequency impact hammer in deep hard rock mine

A non-blasting mechanized mining experiment was carried out with a high-frequency impact hammer,and the daily mining performance was recorded to explore the applicability of the high-frequency impact hammer in deep hard rock mines.Before the field application,the scope of the excavation damage zone was monitored,and rock samples were obtained from the ore body to be mined to carry out a series of laboratory experiments.Field application results show that the overall excavation efficiency reaches 50.6 t/h,and the efficiency of pillar excavation after excavating stress relief slot reaches 158.2 t/h.The results indicate that the non-blasting mechanized mining using high-frequency impact hammer has a good application in deep hard rock mines,and the stress relief slot is conducive to mechanical excavation.In addition,the high-frequency impact hammer also exhibits the advantages of high utilization rate of labor hours,small lumpiness of spalling ore,little dust,and little excavation damage.Finally,according to the field application and laboratory experiment results,a non-blasting mechanized mining method for hard rock mines based on high-frequency impact hammer is proposed.

Numerical modeling for the coupled thermo-mechanical processes and spalling phenomena in sp Pillar Stability Experiment (APSE)

In this paper, the coupled thermo-mechanical （TM） processes in the AEspoe Pillar Stability Experiment （APSE） carried out by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company （SKB） were simulated using both continuum and discontinuum based numerical methods. Two-dimensional （2D） and three- dimensional （3D） finite element method （FEM） and 2D distinct element method （DEM） with particles were used. The main objective for the large scale in situ experiment is to investigate the yielding strength of crystalline rock and the formation of the excavation disturbed/damaged zone （EDZ） during excavation of two boreholes, pressurizing of one of the boreholes and heating. For the DEM simulations, the heat flow algorithm was newly introduced into the original code. The calculated stress, displacement and temperature distributions were compared with the ones obtained from in situ measurements and FEM simulations. A parametric study for initial microcracks was also performed to reproduce the spalling phenomena observed in the APSE.