• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.425-436
• /
• 2010

We established a stochastic 3-D fracture network system for fractured rock masses located in Il-Gwang Mine, Busan, to explore the relationship between the acidity of mine drainage and fracture geometry. A field scanline survey and borehole image processing were performed to estimate the best probability distributions of fracture geometry parameters. The stochastic 3-D fracture network system constructed for the rock masses was validated and deemed to be successful. The 3-D fracture network model was suitable for developing conceptual ideas on fluid flow in fractures at a field experimental site. An injection well and three observation wells were drilled at the field experimental site to monitor the acidity of mine drainage induced by the injection of fresh water. The field experiment, which was run for 29 days, yielded a significant relationship (with a high coefficient of determination) between the fracture geometry parameters and the acidity of mine drainage. The results show that pH increased with increasing relative frequency of fracture strike, and decreased with increasing fracture density. The concentration of $SO^{2-}_4$ decreased with increasing relative frequency of fracture strike, and increased with increasing fracture density.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.573-586
• /
• 2023

Joints or weak planes can induce anisotropy in the strength and deformability of fractured rock masses. Comprehending this anisotropic behavior is crucial to engineering geology. This study used plaster as a friction material to mold specimens with a single joint. The strength and deformability of the specimens were measured in true triaxial compression tests. The measured results were compared with three-dimensional numerical analysis based on the distinct element method, conducted under identical conditions, to assess the reliability of the modeled values. The numerical results highlight that the principal stress conditions in the field, in conjunction with joint orientations, are crucial factors to the study of the strength and deformability of fractured rock masses. The strength of a transversely isotropic rock mass derived numerically considering changes in the dip angle of the joint notably increases as the intermediate principal stress increases. This increment varies depending on the dip of the joint. Moreover, the interplay between the dip direction of the joint and the two horizontal principal stress directions dictates the strength of the transversely isotropic rock mass. For a rock mass with two joint sets, the set with the steeper dip angle governs the overall strength. If a rock bridge effect occurs owing to the limited continuity of one of the joint sets, the orientation of the set with longer continuity dominates the strength of the entire rock mass. Although conventional three-dimensional failure criteria for fractured rock masses have limited applicability in the field, supplementing them with numerical analysis proves highly beneficial.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 1998.05a
• /
• pp.35-81
• /
• 1998

Distinct Element Method(DEM) has a great advantage to model the discontinuous behaviour of jointed rock masses such as rotation, sliding, and separation of rock blocks. Geometrical data of joints by a field monitoring is not enough to model the jointed rock mass though the results of DE analysis for the jointed rock mass is most sensitive to the distributional properties of joints. Also, it is important to use a properly joint law in evaluating the stability of a jointed rock mass because the joint is considered as the contact between blocks in DEM. In this study, a stochastic modelling technique is developed and the dilatant rock joint is numerically modelled in order to consider th geometrical and mechanical properties of joints in DE analysis. The stochastic modelling technique provides a assemblage of rock blocks by reproducing the joint distribution from insufficient joint data. Numerical Modelling of joint dilatancy in a edge-edge contact of DEM enable to consider not only mechanical properties but also various boundary conditions of joint. Preprocess Procedure for a stochastic DE model is composed of a statistical process of raw data of joints, a joint generation, and a block boundary generation. This stochastic DE model is used to analyze the effect of deviations of geometrical joint parameters on .the behaviour of jointed rock masses. This modelling method may be one tool for the consistency of DE analysis because it keeps the objectivity of the numerical model. In the joint constitutive law with a dilatancy, the normal and shear behaviour of a joint are fully coupled due to dilatation. It is easy to quantify the input Parameters used in the joint law from laboratory tests. The boundary effect on the behaviour of a joint is verified from shear tests under CNL and CNS using the numerical model of a single joint. The numerical model developed is applied to jointed rock masses to evaluate the effect of joint dilation on tunnel stability.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.229-238
• /
• 2002

This paper introduces the surface roughness parameter, Rs to the characterization of joint roughness and quantitatively illustrates the influence of joint roughness on the joint shear strength. A new peak shear strength criterion for rock joints using Rs is suggested. The results show that the surface roughness parameter, Rs can appropriately reflect the degree of roughness for the rock joint surfaces tested in this study A measuring interval of 2mm and profile length of 5cm can be used to characterize the joint roughness of the rock core size surfaces; however, the scale of fluctuation, $\delta_\alpha$ should be considered to extend the surface roughness parameter, Rs to the large-scale field rock joint surfaces. For the smooth joint roughness, sliding of the rock cores is the principal shear mechanism; however, the breakage of roughness from the rock cores is inferred for rougher joint roughness.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.220-228
• /
• 2002

Thermal flow through jointed rock mass was analyzed by numerical methods. The effect of a single set of joints on the heat conduction was analyzed by one-dimensional model and compared with the analytical solution. When a joint is completely dry, the joint behaves as a thermal break inducing jumps in temperature distribution even at steady state. Therefore when joints are completely dry, individual joint has to be taken into consideration to get a good result. When joints are partially or fully saturated, the thermal conductivity of the joints increases drastically and the jumps in temperature distribution become less severe. Therefore the effect of joint in heat conduction can be well absorbed by continuum anisotropic model whose thermal properties represent overall thermal properties of the intact part and the discontinuities. Since the effect of joints becomes less important as the degree of the saturation increases, the overall thermal response of the rock mass also becomes close to isotropic. Therefore it can be concluded that a great effort has to be made to obtain a precise in-situ thermal properties in order to get a good prediction of the thermal response of a jointed rock mass.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.3-12
• /
• 2001

This paper presents the proposed methods of DE (distinct element) modelling to estimate the stability of tunnels in jointed rock masses. First, the criterion to select the joint set(s) contributed to the discontinuous behaviour in a tunnel section is proposed. Selected joint set(s) is(are) considered to form the edges of distinct elements (rock blocks) and the others to modify the elastic properties of rock blocks. The complex DE model with the average and the deviation of joint orientation and joint length for each joint set was compared to the simple model with only the average of joint orientation and the assumption that joint length is infinite. As a result, the latter is suitable to the purpose of tunnel design because it can show the consistent behaviour of a jointed rock mass such as the locally discontinuous failure and the global anisotropic behaviour.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.317-327
• /
• 2024

When a non-persistent joint system is formed in a large-scale rock slope, slope failure may occur due to presence of a the stepped sliding surface. Such a surface can be divided into joint-to-joint sliding surfaces or joint-to-rock bridge sliding surfaces. In the latter case, the rock bridge provides shear resistance parallel to the joint and tensile resistance perpendicular to the joint. The load of the sliding rock can lead to failure of the rock bridge, thereby connecting the two joints at each ends of the bridge and resulting in step-path failure of the slope. If each rock bridge on a slope has the same length, the tensile strength is lower than the shear strength, resulting in the rock bridges oriented perpendicular to the joint being more prone to failure. In addition, the smaller the ratio of discontinuity spacing to length, the greater the likelihood of step-path failure. To assess the risk of stepped sliding on a rock slope with non-persistent joints, stability analysis can be performed using limit equilibrium analysis or numerical analysis. This involves constructing a step-path failure surface through a systematic discontinuity survey and analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.217-228
• /
• 1999

The three methods of analysis (i) REV(representative elemental volume), (ii) non-REV and (iii) joint network analysis are introduced in this paper to analyze the groundwater flow in jointed rock mass and the inflow into underground excavations. The results from those methods are compared one another to reveal their characteristics by varying the number of joints and the diameter of the opening. The pre-processor, the so-called sequential analysis, is introduced to predict the equivalent hydraulic conductivity of a jointed rock mass having a number of intersecting joints. Using the finite element mesh, joint map and sequential analysis, the equivalent hydraulic conductivities are calculated for all 445 elements. The hydraulic inhomogeneity and the determination of the representative properties of jointed rock masses are discussed. In the REV analysis where the entire rock mass is homogenized through the representative properties, the inflow is increased regularly and consistently by increasing the joint density, the opening size and the conductivity contrast value. Though the non-REV analysis showed irregular variation of the inflow due to the local inhomogeneity allowed to individual elements, the inflow approached the REV results as the characteristic length increases. The joint network analysis showed the most sensitive reaction to the joint density, the opening size and the presence of the network crossing the opening. The reliability of the network analysis depends on the geometric data of individual joints. In view of the limited field data on joint geometry and possible uncertainty the REV and non-REV methods are considered more practical and rational than the joint network analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.30 no.7
• /
• pp.17-26
• /
• 2014

Tunneling-induced displacement in a jointed rock mass is an important factor to control tunnel stability and to secure a demanded space and construction quality. The magnitude of the inducible displacements is significantly affected by an elastic modulus and therefore, in a rock mass where a joint controls tunnel behavior, it is very important to estimate an elastic modulus of jointed rock mass reliably. Elastic modulus of jointed rock mass is affected by many factors such as rock type, joint condition, and loading condition. Nevertheless, most existing studies were focused on rough empirical relationships based on compressive loading conditions, which are different from tunnel excavation loading conditions, without a systematic approach of rock, joint, and loading conditions together. Therefore, this study considered rock and joint conditions systematically to estimate an elastic modulus of jointed rock mass under tunnel excavation loading. The controlled factors considered in this study are rock types and joint conditions (joint shear strength, joint inclination angle, number of joint sets, and joint spacing). Numerical parametric studies have been carried out with a consideration of different rock and joint conditions; the results have been compared with existing empirical relationships; and charts of elastic modulus change of different rock and joint conditions have been provided. The results are expected to have a great practical use for estimating the convergence induced by tunnel excavation in jointed rockmass.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.61-71
• /
• 2017

The effects of joint density and size distribution on the hydrogeologic characteristics of jointed rock masses are addressed through numerical experiments based on the 2-D DFN (discrete fracture network) fluid flow analysis. Using two joint sets, a total of 51 2-D joint network system were generated with various joint density and size distribution. Twelve fluid flow directions were chosen every $30^{\circ}$ starting at $0^{\circ}$, and total of 612 $20m{\times}20m$ DFN blocks were prepared to calculate the directional block conductivity. Also, the theoretical block conductivity, principal conductivity tensor and average block conductivity for each generated joint network system were determined. The directional block conductivity and chance for the equivalent continuum behavior of the 2-D DFN system were found to increase with the increase of joint density or size distribution. However, the anisotropy of block hydraulic conductivity increases with the increase of density discrepancy between the joint sets, and the chance for the equivalent continuum behavior were found to decrease. The smaller the intersection angle of the two joint sets, the more the equivalent continuum behavior were affected by the change of joint density and size distribution. Even though the intersection angle is small enough that it is difficult to have equivalent continuum behavior, the chance for anisotropic equivalent continuum behavior increases as joint density or size distribution increases.