Laboratory tests were performed on 54 large size specimens of jointed rock mass under uniaxial loading conditions. Based on this experimental study, a methodology has been suggested to estimate strength and tangent modulus of rock masses through a weakness coefficient. The methodology involves mapping of joints in the field and laboratory testing of intact rock specimens to arrive at rock mass ...

successful application of a tbm in a project requires investigating both the ground conditions and the machine and backup system design features. prediction of the machine performance is very important as it has a big effect on the duration of the project and the costs. in this respect, both penetration rate and advance rate must be estimated. utilization factor, which depends on the type of op...

Wall displacements and ground pressure acting on the lining of a tunnel increase with time. These time-dependent deformations are both due to face advance effect and to the time-dependent behavior of the rock mass.  Viscoelastic materials exhibit both viscous and elastic behaviors. Thorough this study, the effect of different linear viscoelastic models including Maxwell, Kelvin and Kelvin-Voigt...

Understanding and estimating the rock stress state has become increasingly important as nowadays numerical models are mainly used as rock engineering design tool. The objective in determining rock stresses may, in many cases, be seen as an interactive process. The type of data needed may change, depending on at what stage an underground project is in. Further more, preliminary measurements may ...

Original scientific paper Rock burst is a common serious geological hazard in underground engineering, which seriously affects the progress of projects. The mechanism of rock burst can be explained by the distribution law of rock fragments and its fractal characteristics. A simulation experiment of rock burst was conducted with the granite samples under a biaxial loading machine system to analy...

The migration process of contamination materials in the porous rock mass was visualized and analyzed by X-ray CT image data. In this study, Kimachi sandstone, which had approximately 26% porosity, was used as a rock sample. Here two cases of diffusion phenomena were analyzed. One is the case that solute diffuses into the porous rock mass from the crack surfaces, and it simulates the contaminati...

Slope stability is one of the most important issues in open pit mining design. The main purpose of any open pit mine design is to propose an optimal excavation configuration, considering safety, ore recovery and financial return. An accurate pit slope design which accounts for the mine geology, structural geology, rock mass properties, and hydrogeology models of the mine area, drastically enhan...

When examining a rock mass, joint sets and their orientations can play a signiŽ cant role with regard to how the rock mass will behave. To identify joint sets present in the rock mass, the orientation of individual fracture planes can be measured on exposed rock faces and the resulting data can be examined for heterogeneity. In this article, the expectation–maximization algorithm is used to Ž t...