Formulation and procedure for in situ stress back-analysis from borehole strain changes measured during nearby underground excavation

Estimation of in situ stresses based on back-analysis of measured stress changes and displacements has become an alternative to the direct stress measurement methods.In order to help users conduct own measurement and analysis,this paper presents in detail a field stress back-analysis approach directly from borehole strain changes measured during nearby underground excavation.Essential formulations in major steps and the procedure for the entire analysis process are provided to allow users to follow.The instrument for borehole strain change measurement can be the CSIR or CSIRO stress cells and other borehole strain cells that can measure strains on borehole walls.Strain changes corresponding to the stress changes at a borehole location are calculated in borehole environment.The stress changes due to nearby excavation can be calculated by an analytical model for a single circular opening and simulated by a numerical model for non-circular and multiple openings.These models are based on isotropic,homogeneous and linear elastic assumptions.The analysis of borehole strain changes is accomplished by multiple linear regression based on error minimization and an integrated process provides the best-fit solution directly to the in situ stresses.A statistical technique is adopted for screening outliers in the measurement data,checking measurement compatibility and evaluating the reliability of analysis results.An application example is included to demonstrate the practical application and the analysis procedure.

State-of-the-art review of soft computing applications in underground excavations

Soft computing techniques are becoming even more popular and particularly amenable to model the complex behaviors of most geotechnical engineering systems since they have demonstrated superior predictive capacity,compared to the traditional methods.This paper presents an overview of some soft computing techniques as well as their applications in underground excavations.A case study is adopted to compare the predictive performances of soft computing techniques including eXtreme Gradient Boosting(XGBoost),Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines(MARS),Artificial Neural Networks(ANN),and Support Vector Machine(SVM) in estimating the maximum lateral wall deflection induced by braced excavation.This study also discusses the merits and the limitations of some soft computing techniques,compared with the conventional approaches available.

Effect of slope angle on fractured rock masses under combined influence of variable rainfall infiltration and excavation unloading

Intense precipitation infiltration and intricate excavation processes are crucial factors that impact the stability and security of towering and steep rock slopes within mining sites.The primary aim of this research was to investigate the progression of cumulative failure within a cracked rock formation,considering the combined effects of precipitation and excavation activities.The study was conducted in the Huangniuqian eastern mining area of the Dexing Copper Mine in Jiangxi Province,China.An engineering geological investigation was conducted,a physical model experiment was performed,numerical calculations and theoretical analysis were conducted using the matrix discrete element method(Mat-DEM),and the deformation characteristics and the effect of the slope angle of a fractured rock mass under different scenarios were examined.The failure and instability mechanisms of the fractured rock mass under three slope angle models were analyzed.The experimental results indicate that as the slope angle increases,the combined effect of rainfall infiltration and excavation unloading is reduced.A novel approach to simulating unsaturated seepage in a rock mass,based on the van Genuchten model(VGM),has been developed.Compared to the vertical displacement observed in a similar physical experiment,the average relative errors associated with the slope angles of 45,50,and 55were 2.094%,1.916%,and 2.328%,respectively.Accordingly,the combined effect of rainfall and excavation was determined using the proposed method.Moreover,the accuracy of the numerical simulation was validated.The findings contribute to the seepage field in a meaningful way,offering insight that can inform and enhance existing methods and theories for research on the underlying mechanism of ultra-high and steep rock slope instability,which can inform the development of more effective risk management strategies.

Prediction of characteristic blast-induced vibration frequency during underground excavation by using wavelet transform

Blast-induced vibration produces a very complex signal,and it is very important to work out environmental problems induced by blasting.In this study,blasting vibration signals were measured during underground excavation in carbonaceous shale by using vibration pickup CB-30 and FFT analyzer AD-3523.Then,wavelet analysis on the measured results was carried out to identify frequency bands reflecting changes of blasting vibration parameters such as vibration velocity and energy in different frequency bands.Frequency characteristics are then discussed in view of blast source distance and charge weight per delay.From analysis of results,it can be found that peak velocity and energy of blasting vibration in frequency band of 62.5–125 Hz were larger than ones in other bands,indicating the similarity to characteristics in the distribution band(31–130 Hz)of main vibration frequency.Most frequency bands were affected by blasting source distance,and the frequency band of 0–62.5 Hz reflected the change of charge weight per delay.By presenting a simplified method to predict main vibration frequency,this research may provide significant reference for future blasting engineering.

Hybrid stacking ensemble algorithm and simulated annealing optimization for stability evaluation of underground entry-type excavations

The stability of underground entry-type excavations(UETEs)is of paramount importance for ensuring the safety of mining operations.As more engineering cases are accumulated,machine learning(ML)has demonstrated great potential for the stability evaluation of UETEs.In this study,a hybrid stacking ensemble method aggregating support vector machine(SVM),k-nearest neighbor(KNN),decision tree(DT),random forest(RF),multilayer perceptron neural network(MLPNN)and extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost)algorithms was proposed to assess the stability of UETEs.Firstly,a total of 399 historical cases with two indicators were collected from seven mines.Subsequently,to pursue better evaluation performance,the hyperparameters of base learners(SVM,KNN,DT,RF,MLPNN and XGBoost)and meta learner(MLPNN)were tuned by combining a five-fold cross validation(CV)and simulated annealing(SA)approach.Based on the optimal hyperparameters configuration,the stacking ensemble models were constructed using the training set(75%of the data).Finally,the performance of the proposed approach was evaluated by two global metrics(accuracy and Cohen’s Kappa)and three within-class metrics(macro average of the precision,recall and F1-score)on the test set(25%of the data).In addition,the evaluation results were compared with six base learners optimized by SA.The hybrid stacking ensemble algorithm achieved better comprehensive performance with the accuracy,Kappa coefficient,macro average of the precision,recall and F1-score were 0.92,0.851,0.885,0.88 and 0.883,respectively.The rock mass rating(RMR)had the most important influence on evaluation results.Moreover,the critical span graph(CSG)was updated based on the proposed model,representing a significant improvement compared with the previous studies.This study can provide valuable guidance for stability analysis and risk management of UETEs.However,it is necessary to consider more indicators and collect more extensive and balanced dataset to validate the model in future.

Unloading responses of pre-flawed rock specimens under different unloading rates

Based on the stress redistribution analysis of rock mass during the deep underground excavation, the unloading process of pre-flawed rock material was simulated by distinct element method (DEM). The effects of unloading rate and flaw inclination angle on unloading strengths and cracking properties of pre-flawed rock specimens are numerically revealed. The results indicate that the unloading failure strength of pre-flawed specimen exhibits a power-function increase trend with the increase of unloading period. Moreover, combined with the stress state analysis on the flaws, it is found that the unloading failure strength increases with the increase of flaw inclination angle. The cracking distribution of pre-flawed specimens under the unloading condition closely depends on the flaw inclination angle, and three typical types of flaw coalescence are observed. Furthermore, at a faster unloading rate, the pre-flawed specimen experiences a sharper and quicker unloading failure process, resulting in more splitting cracks in the specimens.

Seismic performance of tunnel lining of side-by-side and vertically stacked twin-tunnels

The dynamic interaction between tunnel lining and its surrounding soil is a complicated issue as the magnitude of seismic wave from bedrock to the structure can be easily influenced by the geometrical layout and structural stiffness of the tunnel.A series of numerical analysis was conducted to study the dynamic response of the tunnel lining of side-by-side and vertically stacked double-tube tunnel since the inertia and kinematic interactions between the tunnel lining and the surrounding soil during an earthquake could induce excessive stresses to the lining itself due to the stiffness variation between the lining and the soil.Real earthquake ground acceleration was used as an input motion in the dynamic analysis.The interactive behavior of bending moment and axial forces,and the displacement of the tunnels were used to evaluate the effect of tunnel geometrical layout on the performance of the lining.It is found that the effect of earthquake on the axial thrust of the lining is insignificant,and there is a reduction of the bending moment in the lining due to the redistribution of the surrounding soil after the earthquake.

A coupled elastoplastic and visco-plastic damage model for hard clay and its application for the underground gallery excavation

The numerical modelling of the excavation of an underground gallery in hard clay has been discussed in current article.A constitutive model is proposed to describe poromechanical behaviour of the hard clay.The main features of the hard clay observed in laboratory and in-situ experimental investigation have been taken into account in the proposed constitutive model,in particular the plastic deformation,the visco-plastic deformation,the damage,etc.The influence of the initial in-situ stress and the pore pressure has been taken into consideration.The numerical modelling of the underground excavation has been implemented by using a fully coupled hydro-mechanical finite element calculation code.The performance of the model is examined by comparing numerical simulations with in situ measurements.The proposed model and the calculation procedure for the modelling of the excavation of an underground gallery have the capacity to reproduce well the excavation damaged/distributed zone and other main features and phenomena observed during the excavation process.However,the in-situ observed convergence could not be reproduced correctly.More effort on the discontinuous problem should be made for the reproduce the observed convergence.

A review of unloading-induced fault instability

Induced seismicity associated with underground space creation and resource extraction has become a matter of global concern.However,our ability to predict and mitigate anthropogenic geohazards is still woefully inadequate.This review provides an overview of unloading-induced seismicity and highlights the mechanisms behind fault instability from a view of rock mechanics.Based on numerous fault instability cases,reduction and rotation of in situ stresses on pre-existing faults are possible causes of excavation-induced seismicity.Fault instability during resource extraction is related to many geological and operational factors,including mining depth,pore pressure,stress distribution,and production rate.Most of these cases can be explained by the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion,and some exceptional cases could offer us new clues to improve the understanding of the mechanisms behind and the ability to predict and mitigate the induced seismic events.The current challenges include how to control remote triggering of fault instability and how to manage unseen threat of undetected faults.Emerging technologies,such as data analytics and machine learning,combining with physical models could be the next frontier for fault instability research.