In the Obernberg valley, the Eastern Alps, landforms recently interpreted as moraines are re-interpreted as rock avalanche deposits. The catastrophic slope failure involved an initial rock volume of about 45 million m³, with a runout of 7.2 km over a total vertical distance of 1330 m (fahrböschung 10°). 36Cl surface-exposure dating of boulders of the avalanche mass indicates an event age of 8.6...

Finite element technique is used to model two phases of tunneling process, namely; excavation and rocklining interaction. The excavation phase is responsible for determining the pre-lining rock mass deformations and the reduced in-situ stresses. The interaction phase models the compatibility of the rock-lining system. The deformations and stresses of the rock-lining system and the final rock ma...

A 132.70-m-high tower (above foundation) has been successfully completed at Tenerife Island. The foundation of the tower, a 2-mthick reinforced concrete slab, is supported by jointed, vesicular and weathered basalt, and scoria. A three-dimensional, elastic finite element program has permitted to calculate the displacements of the tower and the stresses in the slab. The installation of rod exten...

Fluid flow in jointed rock mass with impermeable matrix is often controlled by joint properties, including aperture, orientation, spacing, persistence and etc. On the other hand, since the rock mass is made of heterogeneous and anisotropic natural materials, geometric properties of joints may have dispersed values. One of the most powerful methods for simulation of stochastic nature of geometri...

This paper presents an overview of the plate load techniques that are employed in the assessment of the in situ deformability characteristics of rock masses and the theoretical procedures that can be used to estimate the deformability of the rock mass.

Rock slope stability depends very much on the strength features of the rock and the geometrical and strength characteristics of the discontinuities (e.g., roughness, wall strength and persistence). Since a rock mass is not a continuum, its behavior is dominated by such discontinuities as faults, joints and bedding planes. Also, Rock slope instability is a major hazard for human activities and o...