Module 10 : Improvement of rock mass responses

IMPROVEMENT OF ROCK MASS

RESPONSES

Content
10.1 INTRODUCTION
10.2 ROCK REINFORCEMENT
Rock bolts, dowels and anchors
10.3 ROCK BOLTING MECHANICS
Suspension theory
Beam building theory
Keying theory
10.4 UNDERGROUND SUPPORTS
Steel Arch support and steel ribs & laggings
Spiles or forepoles
Concrete lining
Steel plates
10.5 GROUTING
10.6 SHOTCRETING

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LECTURE 34

10.1 INTRODUCTION

To improve the stability of rock structures and its load carrying capacity, it is advantageous to
use supports or reinforcements. The idea is to use the inherent capability of the rock mass, so
that it becomes self supporting. In case of underground works, many a times temporary
supports are to ensure safety and permanent supports are installed subsequently. There are
two main types of supports, one is active and the other passive supports. Active supports
impose a predetermined load to the rock surface at the time of installations. Passive supports
on the other hand is not installed with an applied loading rather, develops its load as the rock
mass displaces or deforms. There are different types of supports that are used for improving
the responses of rock mass or as reinforcement. Some of them are listed here,
• Rock reinforcement (i.e., rock dowels, rock bolts, rock anchors, etc.)

• Steel ribs

• Wood or other lagging

• Lattice girders

• Shotcrete

• Spiles or forepoling

• Concrete

• Re-steel mats

• Steel mats

• Cables

• Precast concrete segments

• Grouting

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10.2 ROCK REINFORCEMENT

In rock engineering, two principal types of rock reinforcement are used, tensioned
mechanically anchored rock bolts and un-tensioned grouted or friction anchored dowels.
Tensioned rock bolts are most effective in retaining loose blocks or wedges of rock near the
surface of the excavation. Rock should be hard enough to provide a good grip for the anchor
for mechanical type reinforcement. An expansion shell anchor which is well seated will
usually allow a rock bolt to be tensioned to its maximum load-carrying capacity. In
Mechanically anchored rock bolts, tensioning of the bolts, usually to about 70% of their
ultimate breaking load, is required in order to tighten the loose blocks. Different type of rock
reinforcements like rock boilts, dowels, anchors etc commonly used in rock engineering
applications.
 Rock bolts – they are steel rods, normally held at the end of a bore hole – some time
fully grouted
 Rock anchors –they are high tensile strength bars or strands pre-tensioned by
anchoring at the end of bore hole. Rock anchors are provided when compressive,
uplift or pullout or laterial supports are required to stabilize a structure or rock mass
on ground or underground
---Un-tensioned anchors - Passive type and buildup tension progressively with
the deformation. Passive ones develop increasing support with the deformation
of rock
---Tensioned anchors - Active type, resist its movement and failure in shear.
These anchors supports fully and immediately
 Rock Dowels – these are steel rods installed without any pre-tension- forming a
column in a cement grout or resin to add to shear resistance on the failure plane or on
a joint plane.

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Figure 10.1: Different anchor/ bolt applications

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Applications of anchors include,

• To stabilize potential rock slide and rock falls

• To support sheet piles

• To resist uplift in foundation, hydraulic structure, transmission tower and other tall
structures in case of high lateral forces

• To provide reaction during pile load test

• To anchor suspension cables and guy wires for bridges

• To preload foundation

• To tie down pipe lines/wire cables with foundation under sea bed.

Dowels (a kind of Passive rock bolt)

Rock dowels are passive reinforcement elements that require some ground displacement to be
activated. When displacements along discontinuities occur, dowels are subject to both shear
and tensile stresses.

Figure 10.2: Schematic view of dowels

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Rock bolts
Rock bolts have a friction or grout anchor in the rock and are tensioned as soon as that
anchorage is attained to actively introduce a compressive force into the surrounding ground.
This axial force acts upon the rock mass discontinuities thus increasing their shear capacity
and is generated by pre-tensioning of the bolt. The system requires a "bond length" to enable
the bolt to be tensioned. Different type of rock bolts are used, like
• Mechanically anchored rock bolts
• Grouted rock bolts
• Grouted cable bolts
• Friction anchor rock bolts

Figure 10.3: Rock bolt installed with wire mesh

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Rock bolts are extensively used to stabilize significantly weathered and friable rock exposed
during site excavation. It can be mechanical anchorage or friction.

Disadvantage of mechanical anchoring

• There is a tendency for anchors to slip progressively with time, probably as a result of
vibrations.
• Another problem relates to rusting of the bolts in rock masses with aggressive
groundwater, for example, inmassive sulphides.
• Sometimes, the life of an unprotected bolt may be less than one year under such
circumstances and, where long term life is required, the bolts should be grouted in
place.

1. anchor plate 2. hex nut

3. thread bar 4.cement grout

Figure 10. 4 Grouted rock bolts

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Figure 10.5 Mechanically anchored rock bolts

Figure 10.6: Friction anchor rock bolts (Swellex)

“Swellex” rock bolt manufactured by Atlas-Copco. The bolt comprises a tube of ductile steel
which is deformed by being partially folded within itself so as to reduce its effective diameter
by around 40%. The hole drilled in the rock face is arranged to be of larger diameter than the
deformed tube, but of smaller diameter than the enlarged tube. Following insertion of the
deformed tube into the hole, pressurised fluid (typically water) is passed into the tube,
causing it to unfold itself and expand into contact with the wall of the hole.

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10.3 ROCK BOLTING MECHANICS

There different ways a rock bolt can fail. it can be due to failure of surrounding rock, along
the inter surface of rock and grout , along the inter surface of grout and steel tendon or due to
failure of steel tendon or its anchorage to the surface. Irrespective of the failure, there are
different mechanics which is responsible for the bolts to work. Based on the different basic
mechanics and the failure modes, the bolts can be designed for the rock structures. The main
function of roof bolting is to bind together stratified or broken rocks such as sedimentary
rocks containing bedding planes, rocks consisting of natural joints and fractures, or rocks
with artificial fractures and cracks. Various theories behind bolting namely are suspension
theory, beam building theory and keying theory.

Suspension theory
In this if a weaker strata is overlain by a sound strata, weakers layers can be suspended
through the sound stratum.

Figure 10.7: Rock bolting with suspension to the strong and thick (massive) strata

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Beam building theory

This theory works as the flexural stiffness improves drastically if the thinner layers are bolted
together to give rise to a thicker beam. Theoretically, assuming that all the thin layers are of
same material, the maximum bending strain at the clamped ends of the composite beam is

E = Young’s modulus;
L = Length of the immediate roof;
t = Thickness of the composite beam;
w = Unit weight of the immediate roof.

This equation shows that the thicker the beam, the smaller the maximum strain induced at the
clamped ends. In other words, the clamping action produces a beam building effect. Beam
building effects increase with decreasing bolt spacing, increasing bolt tension, increasing
number of bolted laminae and decreasing roof span. In most situations, where the immediate
roof consists of laminated strata, both suspension and beam building effects co-exist. Beam
building apparently increases the bending strength of the composite beam. It also increases
the bending stiffness as well. The bending strength of the bolted beam increases by ‘n’ times
compared to that of the unbolted beam, while the bending stiffness increases by n2 times. The
improvement of bending strength is always good for roof stability. However, under certain
conditions, increasing bending stiffness may cause extra load from the overlying strata acting
on the beam. The beam may not fail in tension because of the increased bending strength, but
may fail by shearing at the two ends once the accumulated shear forces exceed the shear
strength of the composite beam.

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Keying theory - The keying effect mainly depends on active bolt tension or, under favorable
circumstances, passive tension induced by rock mass movement. It has been shown (Gerrard,
1983) that bolt tension produces stresses in the stratified roof, which are compressive both in
the direction of the bolt and orthogonal to the bolt. Superposition of the compressive areas
around each bolt forms a continuous compressive zone in which tensile stresses are offset and
the shear strength are improved.
When the roof strata are highly fractured and blocky, or the immediate roof contains one or
several sets of joints with different orientations to the roofline, roof bolting provides
significant frictional forces along fractures, cracks, and weak planes.

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