• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.388-396
• /
• 2009

Rock bolt is one of the most important supports for tunnelling to prevent excessive ground relaxation at the primary tunnel excavation stage. It forms a ground arch band by confining the ground around a tunnel. Rock bolt has various effects, such as support or hanging effect, internal pressure effect, arching effect, ground improvement effect etc. Most studies on rock bolt focused on the concept of support, but only a few researches on the ground reinforcing effect by pre-tensioning a rock bolts. In this study, large scale model tests are performed to investigate the ground reinforcing effect of rock bolts for regularly jointed rocks. Simple beam model was built to find out the reinforcing effect of jointed rocks, which was reinforced by pre-tensioned rock bolts. Settlement of model beam was analyzed through measuring its sagging for various installation intervals.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.95-106
• /
• 2009

Numerical analysis of the progressive failure of a rock slope was conducted using a 3-D rock joint element considering fracture mechanics and subcritical crack growth of asperities in the rock joints. Even though the stress state in the rock slope is not changing, the elapse of time causes subcritical crack growth to break asperities in the joints. The increase of broken asperities causes failure of joints in the rock slope and the increase of failed joints results in failure of a jointed rock slope. As a result, the progressive failure of a jointed rock slope due to the gradual breaking of small asperities along joints generated by subcritical crack growth occurs at a lower stress than if rock failure occurred by exceeding the static strength or fracture toughness.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.30 no.7
• /
• pp.41-53
• /
• 2014

This study examined the magnitude and distribution of the earth pressure on the support system in a jointed rock mass by considering different joint shear strength, rock type, and joint inclination angle. The study particularly focused on the effect of joint cohesive strength for a certain condition. Based on a physical model test (Son and Park, 2014), extended parametric studies were conducted considering rock-structure interactions based on the discrete element method, which can consider the rock and joint characteristics of rock mass. The results showed the earth pressure was strongly affected by the joint cohesive strength as well as the rock type and joint inclination angle. The study indicated that the effect of joint cohesive strength was particularly significant when a rock mass was under the condition of joint sliding. This paper investigates the magnitude of joint cohesive strength to prevent a joint sliding for each different condition. The test results were also compared with Peck's earth pressure, which has been frequently used for soil ground. The comparison indicated that the earth pressure in a jointed rock mass can be significantly different from that in soil ground. This study is expected to provide a better understanding of the earth pressure on the support system in a jointed rock mass.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.58-64
• /
• 1997

A pilot plant of underground cold storage for food has been excavated as a R&D program. For the stability assessment of underground cold storage opeinengs in shallow jointed rocks, three kinds of stability problems were analyzed by numerical methods. For the analysis of unstability by rock block movements, DEM was used considering the statistical distribution of rock joints. Concerning thermally induced cracking, FDM was used with thermomechanical stress analysis. Finally, in order to evaluate the joint failure during the thawing process, BE algorithm was applied. Numerical examples applied for the pilot plant show that the possibility of unstable failure of opeings exists but can be avoided with proper rock reinforcements provided.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2009.03a
• /
• pp.58-63
• /
• 2009

Biaxial compression test was conducted on a transversely isotropic synthetic jointed rock model for the understanding of the fracture behaviors of a sedimentary or metamorphic rocks with well developed bedding or foliation in uni-direction. The joint angles employed for the model are 30, 45, and 60 degrees to the horizontal, and the synthetic rock mass was made of early strength cement. From the biaxial compression test, initiation propagation of tensile cracks at norm to the joint angle was found. The propagated tensile cracks eventually developed rock blocks, which was dislodged from the rock mass. Furthermore, the propagation process of the tensile cracks varies with joint angle: lower joint angle model shows more stable and progressive tensile crack propagation. The experiment results were validated from the simulation by using discrete element method PFC 2D. From the simulation, as has been observed from the test, a rock mass with lower joint angle produces wider damage region and rock block by tensile cracks. In addition, a rock model with lower joint angle shows a progressive tensile cracks generation around the opening from the investigation of the interacted tensile cracks.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
• /
• 2007.10a
• /
• pp.269-279
• /
• 2007

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 1995

The behavior of a jointed rock mass depends mainly on the geometrical and mechanical properties of joints. The failure mode of a rock mass and kinematics of rock blocks are governed by the orientation, spacing, and persistence of joints. The mechanical properties such as dilation angle, shear strength, maximum closure, strength of asperities and friction coeffiient play important roles on the stability and deformation of the rock mass. The normal and shear behaviour of a joint are coupled due to dilation, and the joint deformation depends also on the boundary conditions such as stiffness conditons. In this paper, the joint constitutive law including the dilatant behaviour of a joint is numerically modelled using the edge-to-edge contact logic in distinct element method. Also, presented is the method to quantify the input parameters used in the joint law. The results from uniaxial compression and direct shear tests using the numeical model of the single joint were compared to the analytic results from them. The boundary effect on the behaviour of a joint is verified by comparing the results of direct shear test under constant stress boundary condition with those under constant stiffness boundary condition. The numerical model developed is applied to a complex jointed rock mass to examine its performance and to evaluate the effect of joint dilation on tunnel stability.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.15 no.3 s.56
• /
• pp.185-194
• /
• 2005

Recently, the surrounding rock mass is understood as the major support system for the tunnel constructed in the rock mass. Generally, the rock mass contains many discontinuity planes such as joints, and thus, the tunnel behavior in the rock mass is governed by the characteristics of the discontinuity planes. In this study, the behavior of tunnel in jointed rock mass is studied by model tests and numerical analyses. The results shows that the behavior of tunnel depends on the different initial stress conditions, in case that the tunnel is excavated in the ground without any joints. When a joint is located near the tunnel, the pound stress and displacement tend to increase between the tunnel and the joint.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.123-133
• /
• 1995

A two dimensional visco-plastic finite element model capable of handling the multistep excavaton was developed for investigating the effect of excavation-support sequences on the behaviour of underground openings in the jointed rock mass. Ubiquitous joint pattern was considered in the model and joint properties in each set were assumed to be identical. Passive, fully-grouted rockbolts were considered in the model. Visco-plastic deformations of joints and rockbolts were assumed to be governed by Mohr-Coulomb and von Mises yield criteria, respectively. With the ability of removing elements, the model can von Mises yield criteria, respectively. With the ability of removing elements, the model can simulate the multi-step excavation-support sequences. The reliability of the model to the stability analysis for the underground excavation in practice was checked by simulating the behavior of underground crude oil storage caverns under construction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.471-482
• /
• 2018

A flat-jointed bonded-particle model (BPM) has been proved to be an effective tool for simulating mechanical behaviours of intact rocks. However, the tedious and time-consuming calibration procedure imposes restrictions on its widespread application. In this study, a systematic approach is proposed for simplifying the calibration procedure. The initial relationships between the microscopic, constitutive parameters and macro-mechanical rock properties are firstly determined through dimensionless analysis. Then, sensitivity analyses and regression analyses are conducted to quantify the relationships, using results from numerical simulations. Finally, four examples are used to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed systematic approach for the calibration procedure of BPMs.