Effect of surface crack on the bearing capacity of strip footing placed on rock mass

In hilly regions,the existence of surface cracks in rock mass induces a potential threat to structural stability.Thus,the present research aims to explore the impact of surface cracks on the loadbearing capacity of strip footing placed on the rock mass.By taking into account the various boundary constraints across the surface of crack edges,the study investigates the presence of two categories of surface cracks,namely(1)separated crack,and(2)fine crack.The lower bound limit analysis is employed in conjunction with the finite element method(LBFELA)to conduct the numerical analysis.In order to evaluate rock mass yielding,the power conic programming(PCP)method is utilized to implement the generalized Hoek-Brown(GHB)failure criterion.The stability of the strip footing is analyzed by determining the bearing capacity factor(Nσγ),which is presented in the form of design charts by varying the strength parameters of rock,including the Geological Strength Index(GSI),Hoek-Brown material parameter(mi),Disturbance factor(D),and Normalised Uniaxial Compressive Strength(σci/γB),whereγis the unit weight of rock mass,and B is the width of strip footing.The study also investigates the impact of cracks on strip footings,considering different positions of the crack(LC)and depths of the crack(DC).The results demonstrate that the influence of the fine crack is only noticeable until the LC/B ratio reaches 6.However,for the separated crack,its impact remains significant even when the LC/B ratio exceeds 16.The appearance of fine crack at the edge of the footing results in a decrease in the magnitude Nσγof up to 45%,indicating a substantial reduction in the stability of the footing.The failure patterns are presented and discussed in detail for various cases in this study to examine the effect of surface cracks on the strip footing and to address the extent of the plastic collapse.

Testing method of rock structural plane using digital drilling

The rock mass consists of rock blocks and structural planes,which can reduce its integrity and strength.Therefore,accurately obtaining the characteristics of the rock mass structural plane is a prerequisite for evaluating stability and designing supports in underground engineering.Currently,there are no effective testing methods for the characteristic parameters of the rock mass structural plane in underground engineering.The paper presents the digital drilling technology as a new testing method of rock mass structural planes.Flawed rock specimens with cracks of varying widths and angles were used to simulate the rock mass structural planes,and the multifunctional rock mass digital drilling test system was employed to carry out the digital drilling tests.The analysis focuses on the variation laws of drilling parameters,such as drilling pressure and drilling torque,affected by the characteristics of prefabricated cracks,and clarifies the degradation mechanism of rock equivalent compressive strength.Additionally,an identification model for the characteristic parameters of rock mass structural planes during drilling is established.The test results indicate that the average difference of the characteristics of prefabricated cracks identified by the equivalent compressive strength is 2.45°and 0.82 mm,respectively.The identification model while drilling is verified to be correct due to the high identification accuracy.Based on this,a method for testing the characteristic parameters of the surrounding rock structural plane while drilling is proposed.The research offers a theoretical and methodological foundation for precise in situ identification of structural planes of the surrounding rock in underground engineering.

Numerical assessment of the influence of former mining activities and plasticity of rock mass on deformations of terrain surface

This paper presents the results of numerical simulations carried out to confirm the influence of former mining activities on deformation of the mining terrain.The assessment of deformation changes was carried out with the use of FLAC3 D program based on the finite difference method.Numerical calculations were carried out for the example of actual mining operations in seams 703/1-2 and 707/2 of‘‘Marcel"Coal Mine.Taking into account the influence of the model’s plastic features and the so-called activation of a higher occurring seam in conducted simulations enabled obtaining a very good description of the measured subsidence.Based on the results one may state that numerical model can be used to assess the influence of former mining activities and the direction of conducted exploitation on deformations of the mining terrain.These factors are not recognized by geometric-integral theories commonly used for predicting the influence of mining operations on the surface.The results presented in this paper confirm that the applied method of simulating the phenomenon of reactivation of post-mining goafs is correct.

Zonal disintegration phenomenon in rock mass surrounding deep tunnels

Zonal disintegration is a typical static phenomenon of deep rock masses. It has been defined as alternating regions of fractured and relatively intact rock mass that appear around or in front of the working stope during excavation of a deep tunnel. Zonal disintegration phenomenon was successfully demonstrated in the laboratory with 3D tests on analogous gypsum models, two circular cracked zones were observed in the test. The linear Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion was used with a constitutive model that showed linear softening and ideal residual plastic to analyze the elasto-plastic field of the enclosing rock mass around a deep tunnel. The results show that tunneling causes a maximum stress zone to appear between an elastic and plastic zone in the surrounding rock. The zonal disintegration phenomenon is analyzed by considering the stress-strain state of the rock mass in the vicinity of the maximum stress zone. Creep instability failure of the rock due to the development of the plastic zone, and transfer of the maximum stress zone into the rock mass, are the cause of zonal disintegration. An analytical criterion for the critical depth at which zonal disintegration can occur is derived. This depth depends mainly on the character and stress concentration coefficient of the rock mass.

Numerical simulation on deformation character of surrounding rock masses of Changjiashan tunnel through the gob of coalmine

Based on the construction project of the Changjiashan tunnel of the freeway,the variety rule of surrounding rock masses of the tunnel through the gob of coalmine wasstudied by using of finite element methed(FEM).The status of the stress and strain,thevariety of the plastic area were simulated in the whole rock mass before and after thetunnel was excavated.The characters of stress and deformation of surrounding rockmasses were analyzed when the tunnel was built.It concluded from the numerical simula-tion that the influence on the tunneling is great when the tunnel passing through the gob ofcoalmine is excavated,and the relative measures should be taken.

Non-complete relief method for measuring surface stresses in surrounding rocks

The measurement of surface stresses in surrounding rocks with the use of a relief method of annular hole-drilling was studied by numerical analysis. The stress relief process by hole-drilling was then simulated with the use of finite element method. The influences of the borehole diameter(d), the initial stresses and the ratio of the initial principle stresses on the variations of the remained stress and the released stress in function of the relief depth(h) were discussed. The relation between the non-dimensional ratio of the released principle strains and that of the initial principle stresses, and the effect of the elastic modulus and the Poisson ratio of the rock mass on the stress relief curves were studied. The results show that the stress relief behavior formulated with the non-dimensional ratio of the released stress and the ratio of h/d is only sensitive to the ratio of the initial principle stresses and the Poisson ratio. The stresses are completely released when h equals 1.6d, and the tensile stresses take place on the bore core surface in the relief measurement process. Finally, a non-complete relief method of annular hole-drilling for measuring surface stress in surrounding rocks is proposed and the procedure is presented.

Rock mass structural recognition from drill monitoring technology in underground mining using discontinuity index and machine learning techniques

A procedure to recognize individual discontinuities in rock mass from measurement while drilling(MWD)technology is developed,using the binary pattern of structural rock characteristics obtained from in-hole images for calibration.Data from two underground operations with different drilling technology and different rock mass characteristics are considered,which generalizes the application of the methodology to different sites and ensures the full operational integration of MWD data analysis.Two approaches are followed for site-specific structural model building:a discontinuity index(DI)built from variations in MWD parameters,and a machine learning(ML)classifier as function of the drilling parameters and their variability.The prediction ability of the models is quantitatively assessed as the rate of recognition of discontinuities observed in borehole logs.Differences between the parameters involved in the models for each site,and differences in their weights,highlight the site-dependence of the resulting models.The ML approach offers better performance than the classical DI,with recognition rates in the range 89%to 96%.However,the simpler DI still yields fairly accurate results,with recognition rates 70%to 90%.These results validate the adaptive MWD-based methodology as an engineering solution to predict rock structural condition in underground mining operations.

Rheological characteristics of soft rock structural surface

There are two mechanisms of the coarse surface asperity resistance effect and rubbing resistance effect in the course of the soft rock structural surface creep,of which the former plays a dominant role in hindering the deformation in the starting creep phase,so that the structural surface creep usually displays the strong surface roughness effect,and so does the latter when the asperities in the coarse surface were fractured by shearing.Under the low stress condition,there are only two phases of the decelerating creep and the constant creep for the soft rock structural surface,and as the stress increases and overcomes the rubbing resistance,the accelerating creep failure of the structural surface will happen suddenly.Therefore,a multiple rheological model,which combines the nonlinear NEWTON body(NN) of a certain mass and the empirical plastic body(EM) with the classical SAINT VENANT body,NEWTON body,KELVIN body and HOOKE body,could be used to comprehensively describe the creep characteristics of the soft rock structural surface.Its mechanical parameter values will vary owing to the different surface roughness of the structural surface.The parameters of GH,GK and ηL are positively linearly correlative to the surface roughness.The surface roughness and m are negative exponential function correlation.The long-term strength τS is positively correlative to the surface roughness.

New methods of safety evaluation for rock/soil mass surrounding tunnel under earthquake

The objective of this work is to obtain the seismic safety coefficient and fracture surface and proceed with the seismic safety evaluation for the rock mass or soil mass surrounding a tunnel,and the limitation of evaluating seismic stability is considered using the pseudo-static strength reduction.By using the finite element software ANSYS and the strength reduction method,new methods of seismic safety evaluation for the rock mass or soil mass surrounding a tunnel are put forward,such as the dynamic finite element static shear strength reduction method and dynamic finite element shear strength reduction method.In order to prove the feasibility of the proposed methods,the results of numerical examples are compared with that of the pseudo-static strength reduction method.The results show that 1) the two methods are both feasible,and the plastic zone first appears near the bottom corners; 2) the safety factor of new method Ⅱ is smaller than that of new method I but generally,and the difference is very small.Therefore,in order to ensure the safety of the structure,two new methods are proposed to evaluate the seismic stability of the rock mass or soil mass surrounding a tunnel.A theoretical basis is provided for the seismic stability of the rock mass or soil mass and the lining surrounding a tunnel and also provided for the engineering application.

Numerical analysis on stability of surrounding rock mass around deep roadway

Numerical simulations of the deep roadway were carried out through application of the strain-softening constitutive model. Differences between the deep and shallow roadway of the rock bearing structure were analyzed. Influences of the supporting resistance on the rock bearing structure at the deep roadway were discussed. The results show that there is alternation of strong and weak strength-softening region in the surrounding rock of deep roadway. However, the increase in the supporting resistance cuts down the size of strength-softening region of surrounding rock, decreases its strength-softening degree, and im- proves the stress distribution condition of the surrounding rock mass. It is concluded that the supporting resistance can raise the self-supporting ability of surrounding rock through controlling its strength-softening so as to make the rock bearing structure of deep roadway stable.

Structural Characteristics and Mechanical Properties of Rock Mass in the Field of Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, China

The structural characteristics and mechanical properties of the rock mass are important parts of the feasibility study on the nuclear power engineering field. In this study, by means of in situ investigation and statistics, the structural plane and joint fissure features of the rock mass were analyzed and discussed at different plots and different depth scopes in the Tianwan Nuclear Power engineering field, the rock mass integrality and its weathered degree were evaluated respectively, and especially, the unfavorable geological phenomena of strongly-weathered cystid existing in the field were studied. According to the results of indoor rock mechanical tests, in combination with drilling, the shallow seismic prospecting, sonic logging and point load tests, the statistical results of physical and mechanical indices of rocks at key plots of the field were analyzed, and the design parameters of the field were calculated. It provided scientific basis for the foundation design of the nuclear power plant.

Discussion of Research Related to Structural Plane of Rock Mass Slope

In this paper, firstly, the rock slope and rock mass structure are introduced. And then, two aspects of the study of the structural plane are discussed： The first aspect is method for determining mechanical parameters of structural plane; The second aspect is analysis of shear strength of structural plane.

Mechanism of anomalous low friction phenomenon in deep block rock mass

Deep rock mass has the unique ＂self-stressed＂ block-hierarchical structure, anomalous low friction （ALF） was one of the typical nonlinear get-mechanical and dynamic responses in deep block rock mass, which occurred as the result of movements of large-scale get-blocks under the impact of external pulses （such as a deep confined explosion, earthquakes, rock bursts and etc.）. ALF phenomenon obtained its name to describe the curious phenomenon that the friction between interacting get-blocks qua- si-periodically disappears at some discrete points in time along the direction orthogonal to the direction of the external pulse. With the objective to confirm the existence of the ALF phenomenon and study the get-mechanical conditions for its occurrence experi- mentally and theoretically, laboratory tests on granite and cement mortar block models were carried out on a multipurpose testing system developed independently. The ALF phenomenon was realized under two loading schemes, i.e., blocks model and a working block were acted upon jointly by the action of a vertical impact and a horizontal static force, as well as the joint action of both ver- tical and horizontal impacts with differently delayed time intervals. We obtained the rules on variation of horizontal displacements of working blocks when the ALF phenomenon was realized in two tests. The discrete time delay intervals, corresponding to local maxima and minima of the horizontal displacement amplitudes and residual horizontal displacements of the working block, satis- fied canonical sequences multiplied by （√2）＇. Some of these time intervals satisfied the quantitative expression （√2）＇ ,alva. At last, 1D dynamic theoretical model was established, the analytical results agreed better with the test data, while the quantitative expression drawn from test data was not validated well in theoretical analyses.

THE THEORY OF SUPPORTING BROKEN ZONE IN SURROUNDING ROCK

The first topic discussed in this paper is to evaluate the present supporting theories,among which the typical two are collapse arch and elasto-plastic theories. The former is rather limited in practical application,and the latter is built up on some assumptions which is inconsis-tent with the reality,for it is of no need to support a roadway of which the surrounding rock is in elasto-plastic state. The second topic is to prove the objective existence of the broken zone in surrounding rock(BZSR) by a series of laboratory experiments and field measurements. The paper indicates that the object to be supported mainly is the bulking or expanding force resulted from the development of BZSR. This is remarkably different from the existing points of view which have been generally recognized nowadays. So far ,this theory has been tested in supporting more than ten thousand meters roadways located in various strata and has proved itself to have a great technoeconomical benefit.

Experimental Study on Mechanical Characteristics of Cracked Rock Mass Reinforced by Bolting and Grouting

The stress hardening characteristics of the reinforced rock mass in uniaxial compression tests were revealed by means of the experimental study on mechanical characteristics of cracked rock mass reinforced by bolting and grouting. And the load-beating mechanism of the reinforced rock mass was perfectly reflected by the experiment. The results can offer some useful advice for support design and stability analysis of deep drifts in unstable strata.

The principle of stability control of surrounding rock-bearing structures in high stress soft rock roadways

Through the description of the deformational features of the surrounding rockaround high stress engineering soft rock roadways,the coupling stabilization principle ofinner and outer structures in surrounding rock was put forward.The supporting principlesof high stress engineering soft rock roadway (high resistance and yielding support,timelysupport,high strength and high stiffness supports) were proposed,which were applied inengineering practices,and obtained better achievements.

Estimation of Fracture Geometry Parameters and Characterization of Rock Mass Structure for the Beishan Area,China

The accurate estimation of fracture geometry parameters and the characterization of rock mass structure are two important topics in the geological disposal system of high-level radioactive waste(HLW).The Beishan area,as the current preselected area for China’s HLW disposal,has three subareas considered to be the key survey area at the stage of site selection.In this paper,a comprehensive survey method conducted on the outcrop is developed to estimate fracture geometry parameters.Results show that fracture occurrence obeys a Fisher distribution,fracture trace length obeys a normal distribution,and the distribution of spacing obeys a negative exponential distribution.An evaluation index,Rock Mass Structure Rating(RMSR),is proposed to characterize rock mass structure for the three subareas.The results show that the Xinchang area is more suitable to act as China’s HLW disposal repository site.At the same time,the index can also be applied to characterize surface rock mass structure and rock mass integrity at the site selection phase of HLW disposal.

Study on engineering geological stability of rock mass at Shanmen silver deposit

The natural balance conditions will be disturbed and produce a series of problems when mineral deposit has mined.This paper has researched the engineering rock masses have been researched in this study,structural planes,the distribution characteristics of tectonic geological factors and the stability of engineering structures according to the theory and research methods of rock mechanics,it will provide the engineering geological evidence for mining area exploited,meanwhile pledge the safety production.Shanmen silver deposit is a large epithermal deposit,it is controlled by NE to NNE strike faults.The stability of rock mass is acted on the tectonic movement and hot metalliferous brine in long-term.Especially,strength of rock mass becomes softened,muddy and loosed under the action of water,so the lower stability of rock mass is,the easier it can take place for harm of disaster threatening production safe of mining.For this reason,it is very important that drawing up a plan to lower harm for mine and protect.

A three-dimensional numerical study on the stability of layered rock spillway tunnels in alpine canyon areas

Rock masses in alpine canyon areas exhibit strong heterogeneity,discontinuity,and are subject to strong tectonic effects and stress unloading,leading to extremely complex distribution of in-situ stress.In addition,the occurrence of layered rock masses makes it more complex,with obvious anisotropic mechanical properties.This study proposes a comprehensive method for evaluating the stability of layered rock spillway tunnels in a hydropower station in an alpine canyon.First,the failure criterion and mechanical model of layered rock masses considering the anisotropy induced by the bedding plane and the true triaxial stress regime were established;an inversion theory and calculation procedure for in-situ stress in alpine canyon areas were then introduced.Finally,by using a self-developed numerical tool,i.e.CASRock,the stability of the layered rock spillway tunnel in a hydropower station was numerically analyzed.The results show that,affected by geological structure and stratigraphic lithology,there is significant differentiation in the in-situ stress in alpine canyons,with horizontal tectonic stress as the main factor.The occurrence of layered rock masses in the region has a significant impact on the stability of surrounding rock,and the angle between the bedding strike and the tunnel axis as well as the bedding dip both exert a significant influence on the failure characteristics of the surrounding rock.