ROCK ENGINEERING

By : Haryati Awang
 Lesson Outcomes
Student should be able to: (CO4 – PO1, PO8)

• Describe the application of rock in engineering

• Define the Q-system / Bieniawski classification
system
 INTRODUCTION
Rock engineering as a modern discipline and yet, as
early as 1773,Coulomb included results of tests on
rocks from Bordeaux in a paper read before the
French Academy in Paris (Coulomb, 1776,
Heyman,1972).
In december 1959 the foundation of the malpasset concrete arch dam in
France failed and the resulting flood killed about 450 people. ( Figure 1)

Figure 1: Remains of the Malpasset Dam as seen today.

-Photograph by Mark Diederichs, 2003-
In October 1963 about 2500 people in Italian town of Longarone were
killed as a result of a landslide generated wave which overtopped dam.
(figure 2)

Figure 2a: The Vajont dam during impounding of the reservoir. In the middle distance, in the
centre of the picture, is Mount Toc with the unstable slope visible as a white scar on the
mountain side above the waterline.
Figure 2b: During the filling of the Vajont
reservoir the toe of the slope
on Mount Toc was submerged
and this precipitated a slide. The
mound of debris from the slide
is visible in the central part of the
photograph. The very rapid
descent of the slide material
displaced the water in the
reservoir causing a 100 m high
wave to overtop the dam wall. The dam
itself, visible in the foreground,
was largely undamaged.
 The town of Longarone, located downstream of the Vajont Dam
(before the Mount Toc failuure in Oct 1963)

Figure 2c
Figure 2d : The remains of the town of Longarone after the flood caused
by the overtopping of the Vajont dam as a result of the Mount Toc failure.
More than 2000 persons were killed in this flood.
Figure 2e: The remains of the
Vajont dam perched above the
present town of Longarone.
-Photograph by Mark Diederichs,
2003-
These two disasters had a major impact on rock
mechanics in civil engineering and a large number of
papers were written on the posible causes of the
failures ( jaeger, 1972)

In 1960 a coal mine at Coalbrook in South Africa

collapsed with the loss of 432 lives. This event was
responsible for the initiation of an intensive research
programme which resulted in major advances in the
methods used for designing coal pillars (salamon and
munro, 1967)
ROCK BURSTS AND ELASTIC
HISTORY
• Rock bursts are explosive failures of rock
which occur when very high stress
concentrations are induced around
underground openings
• The problem is particularly acute in deep level
mining in hard brittle rock
Figure 3 shows the damage resulting from
a rock burst in an
underground mine
The deep level gold
mines in the The gold mines in
Witwatersrand area the Kalgoorlie area
in South Africa, in Australia

THE MINES SUFFERED

FROM ROCK BURSTS

The Kolar
gold mines The mines
in India in the Coeur
d’Alene area in
Idaho in the USA

The nickel mines

centred on Sudbury
in Canada,
 Figure 3: The results of a rockburst in an
underground mine in brittle rock subjected to
very high stresses.
 ROCK ENGINEERING
• Civil and mining engineers have been building
structures on or in rock for centuries (Figure5)
• the principles of rock engineering have been
understood for a long time.
• Rock mechanics is merely a formal expression of
some of these principles and it is only during
• the past few decades that the theory and
practice in this subject have come together in the
• discipline which we know today as rock
engineering.
• At the same time, the subject borrowed
techniques for dealing with soft rocks and
clays
• from soil mechanics and recognised the
importance of viscoelastic and rheological
• behaviour in materials such as salt and
potash.
 Figure 5: The 1036 m long
Eupalinos water supply tunnel was built in 530 BC
Geological Strength Index for heterogeneous rock
masses such as flysch from Marinos and Hoek 2000.
 Rock Mass Strength
• One major problems in engineering field for estimating the strength
of the rock mass.
• Made up of an interlocking matrix of discrete blocks.
• The blocks may vary from clean and fresh to clay covered and
slickensided.
• (Laboratory Type Testing)-> not practical for determination of the
strength of an in situ rock mass.
• (Founder Theoretical)-> Hoek and Brown (1980) who used the
results of theoretical (Hoek, 1968) and model studies (Brown, 1970,
Ladanyi and Archambault, 1970) and the limited amount of
available strength data, to develop an empirical failure criterion for
jointed rock masses. Hoek (1983) also proposed that the rock mass
classification system of Bieniawski could be used for estimating the
rock mass constants required for this empirical failure criterion.
Various grades of flysch in an exposure in the Pindos
mountains of northern Greece
• The Geological Strength Index (GSI) (Hoek, 1994)
and this Index was subsequently modified and
expanded as experience was gained on its
application to practical rock engineering
problems.
• These estimates have to be refined and adjusted
for individual conditions, usually based upon back
analysis of tunnel or slope behaviour, but they
provide a sound basis for design analyses.
IN-SITU STRESS MANAGEMENT
The stability of deep excavation depends upon strength of the rock mass
surrounding excavation & the stresses induced.
These induced stresses are function of the shape of excavation & in-situ
stresses(existed before creation of excavations).
The magnitude of pre-existing in-situ have been found depending upon
geological history of the rock mass in which they are measured(Hoek &
Brown,1980)
These theoretical predictions are considered to be unreliable hence
measurement of the actual in-situ stresses is necessary for major
underground excavation design.
‘Core disking’: A phenomenon which is frequently observed in massive
rock subjected to high in-situ stresses.
Hydrofracturing (Haimson,1978)
The only practical method for measuring in-situ stresses during
early site investigation(no underground access available)
The hydraulic pressure required to open existing cracks used to
estimate in situ levels.

Over-coring techniques for in-situ stress measurement (Leeman &

Hayes, 1966, Worotnicki & Walton ,1976)
Can be used once underground access is available & provided
Sufficient care is taken in executing the measurements, the results
are usually for design purposes
GROUNDWATER PROBLEM

When tunneling, the presence of large volume of groundwater is an

operational problem but water pressures are generally not too serious
problem in underground excavation engineering.
Exceptions are pressure tunnels associated with hydroelectric projects.
In these cases, inadequate confining stresses due to insufficient depth of
burial of the tunnel can cause serious problem in tunnel & adjacent slopes.
The steel linings for these tunnels can cost several thousand dollars per
metre & are frequently a critical factor in design of a hydroelectric project.
The major advances that have been made in the groundwater field
during the past decades have been in the understanding of the
transport of pollutants by groundwater.
Because of the urgency associated with nuclear and toxic waste
disposal in industrialised countries, there has been a concentration
of research effort in this field and advances have been impressive.
The results of this research do not have a direct impact on
conventional geotechnical engineering but there have been many
indirect benefits from the development of instrumentation and comp
ROCK REINFORCEMENT AND SUPPORT DESIGN

Rock reinforcement
used to improve the strength and/or deformational behaviour of a rock
mass in much the same way that steel bars are used to improve the
performance of reinforced concrete.
generally consists of bolts or cables that are placed in the rock mass in
such a way that they provide confinement or restraint to counteract
loosening and movement of the rock blocks.
may or may not be tensioned, depending upon the sequence of
installation, and may or may not be grouted, depending upon whether they
are temporary or permanent.
only fully effective in reasonably frictional rock masses of moderate to
high strength. Such rock masses permit effective anchoring of the
reinforcement and also develop the interlocking required to benefit from the
confinement provided by the reinforcement.
In reinforced rock masses, mesh and/or shotcrete play an important role
in bridging the gap between adjacent bolt or anchor heads and in
preventing progressive ravelling of small pieces of rock that are not
confined by the reinforcement.
EXCAVATION METHOD IN ROCK

• Depentent on the strength of

jointed rock masses, upon the
interlocking.
• This interlocking easily destroyed
and careless blasting.
• The most common causes of
underground excavation stability.
 Can reduce amount
Worthwhile
of reinforment

CONTROLLING
BLAST DAMAGE IN
ROCK

Low cost of excavation and Well-known

support than poorly
blasted
 MACHINE
EXCAVATION

Will play more

important role in
Cause very little future
disturbance to rock Capable of working in
surrounding all types of rock
 ANALYTICAL
TOOL

Play an important role in Calculating the stresses

rock mechanics surrounding a circular hole
 DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTER
•computer has also made it much more convenient to use powerful
limit equilibrium methods and probabilistic approaches for rock
mechanics studies.

Iterative numerical technique

Finite element Discrete element

Boundary
element
Poor blasting in tunnel
Good blasting in tunnel
Over the past 25 years, rock mechanics has developed
into a mature subject which is built on a solid foundation
of geology and engineering mechanics. Individuals drawn
from many different disciplines have contributed to this
subject and have developed a wide range of practical
tools and techniques. There is still a great deal of room
for development, innovation and improvement in almost
every aspect of the subject and it is a field which will
continue to provide exciting challenges for many years to
come.
 Engineering rock mass classifications
• Types of the multi-parameter classifications schemes
 Wickham et al (1972)
 Bienawski (1973, 1989)
 Barton et al (1974)
• Were developed from civil engineering case histories
in which all of the components of the engineering
geological characters of the rocks mass were
included.
• In underground hard rock mining, especially at deep
levels, rock mass weathering and the influence of
water usually are not significant and may be ignored.
• Different classification systems place different
emphases on the various parameters, and it is
recommended that at least two methods be
used at any site during the early stages of a
project.
Terzaghi's rock mass classification
Classifications involving stand-up time
Rock quality designation index (RQD)
Rock Structure Rating (RSR)
Terzaghi's rock mass classification
• The earliest reference to the use of rock mass
classification for the design of tunnel support is in
a paper by Terzaghi (1946) in which the rock
loads, carried by steel sets, are estimated on the
basis of a descriptive classification.
• While no useful purpose would be served by
including details of Terzaghi's classification in this
discussion on the design of support.
• The clear and concise definitions and the
practical comments included in these
descriptions are good examples of the type of
engineering geology information, which is most
useful for engineering design.
 Terzaghi's descriptions (quoted
•
directly from his paper):
Intact rock: neither joints nor hair cracks. Hence, if it breaks, it breaks across sound rock. On account of
the injury to the rock due to blasting, spalls may drop off the roof several hours or days after blasting. This
is known as a spalling condition. Hard, intact rock may also be encountered in the popping condition
involving the spontaneous and violent detachment of rock slabs from the sides or roof.
• Stratified rock: of individual strata with little or no resistance against separation along the boundaries
between the strata. The strata may or may not be weakened by transverse joints. In such rock the spalling
condition is quite common.
• Moderately jointed rock: joints and hair cracks, but the blocks between joints are locally grown together
or so intimately interlocked that vertical walls do not require lateral support. In rocks of this type, both
spalling and popping conditions may be encountered.
• Blocky and seamy rock: chemically intact or almost intact rock fragments which are entirely separated
from each other and imperfectly interlocked. In such rock, vertical walls may require lateral support.
• Crushed but chemically intact rock: has the character of crusher run. If most or all of the fragments are as
small as fine sand grains and no recementation has taken place, crushed rock below the water table
exhibits the properties of a water-bearing sand.
• Squeezing rock: slowly advances into the tunnel without perceptible volume increase. A prerequisite for
squeeze is a high percentage of microscopic and sub-microscopic particles of micaceous minerals or clay
minerals with a low swelling capacity.
• Swelling rock: advances into the tunnel chiefly on account of expansion. The capacity to swell seems to be
limited to those rocks that contain clay minerals such as montmorillonite, with a high swelling capacity.
Classifications involving stand-up time
• The significance of the stand-up time concept is that
an increase in the span of the tunnel leads to a
significant reduction in the time available for the
installation of support.

• The New Austrian Tunnelling Method includes a

number of techniques for safe tunnelling in rock
conditions in which the stand-up time is limited before
failure occurs.

• These techniques are applicable in soft rocks such as

shales, phyllites and mudstones in which the squeezing
and swelling problems, described by Terzaghi, are
likely to occur.
• The techniques are also applicable when tunnelling in excessively broken
rock, but great care should be taken in attempting to apply these
techniques to excavations in hard rocks in which different failure
mechanisms occur.

• In designing support for hard rock excavations it is prudent to assume that

the stability of the rock mass surrounding the excavation is not time-
dependent. Hence, if a structurally defined wedge is exposed in the roof
of an excavation, it will fall as soon as the rock supporting it is removed.
This can occur at the time of the blast or during the subsequent scaling
operation.

• If it is required to keep such a wedge in place, or to enhance the margin of

safety, it is essential that the support be installed as early as possible,
preferably before the rock supporting the full wedge is removed.

• In a highly stressed rock, failure will generally be induced by some change

in the stress field surrounding the excavation. The failure may occur
gradually and manifest itself as spalling or slabbing or it may occur
suddenly in the form of a rock burst. In either case, the support design
must take into account the change in the stress field rather than the
‘stand-up’ time of the excavation.
 Rock quality designation index (RQD)
• The Rock Quality Designation index (RQD) was
developed by Deere (Deere et al 1967) to provide
a quantitative estimate of rock mass quality from
drill core logs.

• RQD is defined as the percentage of intact core

pieces longer than 100 mm (4 inches) in the total
length of core. The core should be at least NW
size (54.7 mm or 2.15 inches in diameter) and
should be drilled with a double-tube core barrel.
• The correct procedures for measurement of
the length of core pieces and the calculation
of RQD are summarised in Figure 1.
• Palmström (1982) suggested that, when no core is available
but discontinuity traces are visible in surface exposures or
exploration adits, the RQD may be estimated from the
number of discontinuities per unit volume.

• The suggested relationship for clay-free rock masses is:

RQD = 115 - 3.3 Jv (1)
• where Jv is the sum of the number of joints per unit length
for all joint (discontinuity) sets known as the volumetric
joint count.

• RQD is intended to represent the rock mass quality in situ.

• When using Palmström's relationship for exposure

mapping, blast induced fractures should not be included
when estimating Jv.
 Rock Structure Rating (RSR)
• Described a quantitative method for describing the quality of a rock mass and for
selecting appropriate support on the RSR classification.

• The significance of the RSR system is that it introduced the concept of rating each
of the components listed below to arrive at a numerical value of RSR = A + B + C.
1. Parameter A, Geology: General appraisal of geological structure on the basis of:
• a. Rock type origin (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary).
• b. Rock hardness (hard, medium, soft, decomposed).
• C. Geologic structure (massive, slightly faulted/folded, moderately faulted/folded, intensely
faulted/folded).

2. Parameter B, Geometry: Effect of discontinuity pattern with respect to the direction of the
tunnel drive on the basis of:
• a. Joint spacing.
• b. Joint orientation (strike and dip).
• c. Direction of tunnel drive.

1. Parameter C: Effect of groundwater inflow and joint condition on the basis of:
• a. Overall rock mass quality on the basis of A and B combined.
• b. Joint condition (good, fair, poor).
• c. Amount of water inflow (in gallons per minute per 1000 feet of tunnel).
• Three tables from Wickham et al's 1972 paper
are reproduced in Tables 1, 2 and 3.
• These tables can be used to evaluate the
rating of each of these parameters to arrive at
the RSR value (maximum RSR = 100).
Table 2 gives the rating for B = 24 for driving with dip (defined below)

• The value of A + B = 46 for joints of fair

condition (slightly weathered and altered)
and a moderate water inflow of between
200 and 1,000 gallons per minute, Table 3
gives the rating for C = 16. Hence, the final
value of the rock structure rating RSR = A
+ B + C = 62.

• A typical set of prediction curves for a 24

foot diameter tunnel are given in Figure 2
which shows that, for the RSR value of 62
derived above, the predicted support
would be 2 inches of shotcrete and 1 inch
diameter rockbolts spaced at 5 foot
centres. As indicated in the figure, steel
sets would be spaced at more than 7 feet
apart and would not be considered a
practical solution for the support of this
tunnel.
• Figure 2: RSR support estimates for a 24 ft. (7.3 m) diameter circular
tunnel
 Geomechanics Classification
• The following six parameters are used to
classify a rock mass using the RMR system:
– 1. Uniaxial compressive strength of rock material.
– 2. Rock Quality Designation (RQD).
– 3. Spacing of discontinuities.
– 4. Condition of discontinuities.
– 5. Groundwater conditions.
– 6. Orientation of discontinuities.
• The Rock Mass Rating system is presented in
Table 4, giving the ratings for each of the six
parameters listed above.
• It should be noted that Table 5 has not had a major revision since 1973. In many mining and civil engineering applications, steel fibre reinforced
shotcrete may be considered in place of wire mesh and shotcrete.
 Modifications to RMR for mining
• Laubscher (1977, 1984), Laubscher and Taylor (1976) and
Laubscher and Page (1990) have described a Modified Rock
Mass Rating system for mining. This MRMR system takes
the basic RMR value, as defined by Bieniawski, and adjusts
it to account for in situ and induced stresses, stress changes
and the effects of blasting and weathering.

• Cummings et al (1982) and Kendorski et al (1983) have also

modified Bieniawski's RMR classification to produce the
MBR (modified basic RMR) system for mining. It involves
the use of different ratings for the original parameters used
to determine the value of RMR and the subsequent
adjustment of the resulting MBR value to allow for blast
damage, induced stresses, structural features, distance
from the cave front and size of the caving block.
Rock Tunnelling Quality Index, Q
• The first quotient (RQD/Jn), representing the structure of the rock mass, is a crude measure of the
block or particle size, with the two extreme values (100/0.5 and 10/20) differing by a factor of 400.

• The second quotient (Jr/Ja) represents the roughness and frictional characteristics of the joint walls
or filling materials.

• The third quotient (Jw/SRF) consists of two stress parameters. SRF is a measure of:
– loosening load in the case of an excavation through shear zones and clay bearing rock
– rock stress in competent rock
– squeezing loads in plastic incompetent rocks.

• It can be regarded as a total stress parameter.

• The parameter Jw is a measure of water pressure, which has an adverse effect on the shear strength
of joints due to a reduction in effective normal stress.

• Function of only three parameters which are crude measures of:

– Block size (RQD/Jn)
– Inter-block shear strength (Jr/ Ja)
– Active stress (Jw/SRF)
• The crusher station discussed earlier falls into the category of
permanent mine openings and is assigned an excavation support ratio
ESR = 1.6. Hence, for an excavation span of 15m, the equivalent
dimension, De = 15/1.6 = 9.4.

• The equivalent dimension, De, plotted against the value of Q, is used

to define a number of support categories

• From Figure 3, a value of De of 9.4 and a value of Q of 4.5 places this

crusher excavation in category (4) which requires a pattern of
rockbolts (spaced at 2.3 m) and 40 to 50 mm of unreinforced shotcrete.

• Assuming that the RQD value for the destressed rock around the
crusher chamber drops to 50 %, the resulting value of Q = 2.9.

• From Figure 3, this value of Q, for an equivalent dimension, De of 9.4,

places the excavation just inside category (5) which requires rockbolts,
at approximately 2 m spacing, and a 50 mm thick layer of steel fibre
reinforced shotcrete.
 Using rock mass classification systems
• When using either of these methods, two approaches can be taken.
• One is to evaluate the rock mass specifically for the parameters included in
the classification methods
• the other is to accurately characterise the rock mass and then attribute
parameter ratings at a later time.
• The latter method is recommended since it gives a full and complete
description of the rock mass which can easily be translated into either
classification index.
• In Figure 4 which is reproduced from field notes prepared by Dr. N.
Barton on a project.
• In this particular case, the rock mass is dry and is subjected to 'medium‘
stress conditions (Table 6.6.K) and hence Jw = 1.0 and SRF = 1.0.
• Histograms showing the variations in RQD, Jn, Jr and Ja, along the
exploration adit mapped, are presented in this figure.
• The average value of Q = 8.9 and the approximate range of Q is 1.7 < Q <
20.
• The average value of Q can be used in choosing a basic support system
while the range gives an indication of the possible adjustments which will
be required to meet different conditions encountered during construction.
Rock Quality Designation (RQD) and
Fracture Index
RQD (%) Number of Description
Fracture
90 - 100 <1 Excellent

75 - 90 1-5 Good

50 - 75 5-8 Fair

25 - 50 8 - 15 Poor

0 - 25 > 15 Very Poor

 Fracture State
Criteria Indices

Total Core Recovery Ratio of core recovered (solid or non-intact) to

(TCR) (%) length of core run (in 1.5 m length).

Solid Core Recovery Ratio of solid core recovered to length of core run
(SCR) (%) (in 1.5 m length).

Rock Quality Ratio of solid core pieces longer than 100 mm to

Designation the length of core run (in 1.5 m length)
(RQD) (%)

Fracture Index A count of the number or spacing of fractures over

an arbitrary length of core of similar intensity of
fracturing. Commonly reported either as Fracture
Index (FI, number of fractures per metre) or as
Fracture Spacing (If, mm).
-Engineering classification of intact rock

-Engineering test for strength and

durability