Engineering rock mechanics practices in the underground powerhouse at JinpingⅠhydropower station

Based on the analyses of data obtained from the underground powerhouse at Jinping I hydropower station, a comprehensive review of engineering rock mechanics practice in the underground powerhouse is first conducted. The distribution of strata, lithology, and initial geo-stress, the excavation process and corresponding rock mass support measures, the deformation and failure characteristics of the surrounding rock mass, the stress characteristics of anchorage structures in the cavern complex, and numerical simulations of surrounding rock mass stability and anchor support performance are presented. The results indicate that the underground powerhouse of Jinping I hydropower station is characterized by high to extremely high geo-stresses during rock excavation. Excessive surrounding rock mass deformation and high stress of anchorage structures, surrounding rock mass unloading damage, and local cracking failure of surrounding rock masses, etc., are mainly caused by rock mass excavation. Deformations of surrounding rock masses and stresses in anchorage structures here are larger than those found elsewhere： 20% of extensometers in the main powerhouse record more than 50 mm with the maximum at around 250 mm observed in the downstream sidewall of the transformer hall. There are about 25% of the anchor bolts having recorded stresses of more than 200 MPa. Jinping I hydropower plant is the first to have an underground powerhouse construction conducted in host rocks under extremely high geo-stress conditions, with the ratio of rock mass strength to geo-stress of less than 2.0. The results can provide a reference to underground powerhouse construction in similar geological conditions.

High geo-stress distribution and high geo-stress concentration area models for eastern margin of Qinghai-Tibet plateau

High geo-stress and its engineering problems have severely affected the development of civil infrastructures in western China. The problems include high rock slope instabilities,rock burst,gas explosion and large-scale soft rock deformation in deep tunnels.This paper investigates the distribution of the high geo-stresses and the models of the stress concentration areas in the eastern margin of Qinghai-Tibet plateau so that a solid foundation can be formed to address the problems.The investigation is based on a comprehensive analysis of the previous research data of the eastern margin and uses remote sensing techniques,geophysics,geochemistry,and large scale geological surveying methods.The investigation has found that some special tectonic zones have high geo-stresses.The high geo-stresses are located at(1) the convergent boundary areas between two fault blocks with large strength differences,(2) the tectonic necks in front of active fault blocks,and(3) the intersection and/or termination areas of faults within the fault blocks.An example for(1) is the north Qilian high geo-stress area.Another example for(2) is the Minshan high geo-stress area in the northwest Sichuan.Furthermore,the investigation has summarized six basic models to characterize the high geo-stress concentration areas.The first one is the convergent stress concentration model at the boundary of two fault blocks.The other five stress concentration modes are oblique fissures or intersecting areas,areas without lower velocity layer in the crust,areas of compression induced tensile cracking,tectonic wedge areas,and tectonic neck areas,respectively.

Effect and mechanism of stresses on rock permeability at different scales

The effect of geo-stress fields on macroscopic hydro-geological conditions or micro-cosmic permeability of water-bearing media should follow some laws or principles. Cases study and tests show that: (1) At macro-geologic large scale, deformed and crashed rocks which were induced by geo-stress fields changing provided space for groundwater storage and flow. Groundwater adjusts water-bearing space and dilatants fractures by flowing and press transferring. Coupling of liquid and solid can be implemented for rocks and groundwater. Although tectonic fields witness several times of change and build-up in geological time, stress fields forming regional tectonic framework are coherent with seepage fields, orientation of the maximum horizontal stress demonstrates main seepage direc-tions. (2) At macro-geologic middle scale, zones of stresses changing sharply, quite low stresses, stress or shear concentration can be used to show locations and types of main fractures, zones of geo-stresses changing equably can be acted as normal base media zones of tri-porosity media. (3) At micro-geologic small scale, tri-porosity media include fractured rocks, porous rocks and capillary rocks. Investigations indicate that porosity or permeability is functions of effective stresses, and po-rosity or permeability changing rules of porous rocks with variation of effective stresses can be de-scribed as the index model, the model of power exponent functions is suitable for those of fractured rocks, the model of the second power parabola for capillary rocks. The porosity and permeability loss in fractured rocks, which are greater than that in porous rocks, are shown by calculation of effective compressive coefficient and closing pressure in cracks. The calculations can also explain the mecha-nism why porosity changes are always larger than permeability changes. It is proved by the thick wall cylinder theory that the second power parabola relation between porosity or permeability loss and effective stresses for capillary rocks is correct.