Back Analysis In Rock Engineering

This book provides practicing engineers working in the field of design, construction and monitoring of rock structures such as tunnels and slopes with technical information on how to design, how to excavate and how to monitor the structures during their construction. Based on the long-term engineering experiences of the author, field measurements together with back analyses are presented as the most powerful tools in rock engineering practice. One of the purposes of field measurements is to assess the stability of the rock structures during their construction. However, field measurement results are only numbers unless they are quantitatively interpreted, a process in which back analyses play an important role. The author has developed both the concepts of “critical strain” and of the “anisotropic parameter” of rocks, which can make it possible not only to assess the stability of the structures during their construction, but also to verify the validity of design parameters by the back analysis of field measurement results during the constructions. Based on the back analysis results, the design parameters used at a design stage could be modified if necessary. This procedure is called an “Observational method”, a concept that is entirely different from that of other structures such as bridges and buildings. It is noted that in general, technical books written for practicing engineers mainly focus on empirical approaches which are based on engineers’ experiences. In this book, however, no empirical approaches will be described, instead, all the approaches are based on simple rock mechanics theory. This book is the first to describe an observational method in rock engineering practice, which implies that the potential readers of this book must be practicing engineers working on rock engineering projects.

Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering: From the Past to the Future contains the contributions presented at EUROCK2016, the 2016 International Symposium of the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM 2016, Ürgüp, Cappadocia Region, Turkey, 29-31 August 2016). The contributions cover almost all aspects of rock mechanics and rock engineering from theories to engineering practices, emphasizing the future direction of rock engineering technologies. The 204 accepted papers and eight keynote papers, are grouped into several main sections: - Fundamental rock mechanics - Rock properties and experimental rock mechanics - Analytical and numerical methods in rock engineering - Stability of slopes in civil and mining engineering - Design methodologies and analysis - Rock dynamics, rock mechanics and rock engineering at historical sites and monuments - Underground excavations in civil and mining engineering - Coupled processes in rock mass for underground storage and waste disposal - Rock mass characterization - Petroleum geomechanics - Carbon dioxide sequestration - Instrumentation-monitoring in rock engineering and back analysis - Risk management, and - the 2016 Rocha Medal Lecture and the 2016 Franklin Lecture Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering: From the Past to the Future will be of interest to researchers and professionals involved in the various branches of rock mechanics and rock engineering. EUROCK 2016, organized by the Turkish National Society for Rock Mechanics, is a continuation of the successful series of ISRM symposia in Europe, which began in 1992 in Chester, UK.

This book provides practicing engineers working in the field of design, construction and monitoring of rock structures such as tunnels and slopes with technical information on how to design, how to excavate and how to monitor the structures during their construction. Based on the long-term engineering experiences of the author, field measurements together with back analyses are presented as the most powerful tools in rock engineering practice. One of the purposes of field measurements is to assess the stability of the rock structures during their construction. However, field measurement results are only numbers unless they are quantitatively interpreted, a process in which back analyses play an important role. The author has developed both the concepts of “critical strain” and of the “anisotropic parameter” of rocks, which can make it possible not only to assess the stability of the structures during their construction, but also to verify the validity of design parameters by the back analysis of field measurement results during the constructions. Based on the back analysis results, the design parameters used at a design stage could be modified if necessary. This procedure is called an “Observational method”, a concept that is entirely different from that of other structures such as bridges and buildings. It is noted that in general, technical books written for practicing engineers mainly focus on empirical approaches which are based on engineers’ experiences. In this book, however, no empirical approaches will be described, instead, all the approaches are based on simple rock mechanics theory. This book is the first to describe an observational method in rock engineering practice, which implies that the potential readers of this book must be practicing engineers working on rock engineering projects.

Engineers wishing to build structures on or in rock use the discipline known as rock mechanics. This discipline emerged as a subject in its own right about thirty five years ago, and has developed rapidly ever since. However, rock mechanics is still based to a large extent on analytical techniques that were originally formulated for the mechanical design of structures made from man made materials. The single most important distinction between man-made materials and the natural material rock is that rock contains fractures, of many kinds on many scales; and because the fractures - of whatever kin- represent breaks in the mechanical continuum, they are collectively termed 'discontinuities' . An understanding of the mechanical influence of these discontinuities is essential to all rock engineers. Most of the world is made of rock, and most of the rock near the surface is fractured. The fractures dominate the rock mass geometry, deformation modulus, strength, failure behaviour, permeability, and even the local magnitudes and directions of the in situ stress field. Clearly, an understanding of the presence and mechanics of the discontinuities, both singly and in the rock mass context, is therefore of paramount importance to civil, mining and petroleum engineers. Bearing this in mind, it is surprising that until now there has been no book dedicated specifically to the subject of discontinuity analysis in rock engineering.

Analysis, Modeling & Design is the third volume of the five-volume set Rock Mechanics and Engineering and contains twenty-eight chapters from key experts in the following fields: - Numerical Modeling Methods; - Back Analysis; - Risk Analysis; - Design and Stability Analysis: Overviews; - Design and Stability Analysis: Coupling Process Analysis; - Design and Stability Analysis: Blast Analysis and Design; - Rock Slope Stability Analysis and Design; - Analysis and Design of Tunnels, Caverns and Stopes. The five-volume set “Comprehensive Rock Engineering”, which was published in 1993, has had an important influence on the development of rock mechanics and rock engineering. Significant and extensive advances and achievements in these fields over the last 20 years now justify the publishing of a comparable, new compilation. Rock Mechanics and Engineering represents a highly prestigious, multi-volume work edited by Professor Xia-Ting Feng, with the editorial advice of Professor John A. Hudson. This new compilation offers an extremely wideranging and comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in rock mechanics and rock engineering and is composed of peer-reviewed, dedicated contributions by all the key experts worldwide. Key features of this set are that it provides a systematic, global summary of new developments in rock mechanics and rock engineering practices as well as looking ahead to future developments in the fields. Contributors are worldrenowned experts in the fields of rock mechanics and rock engineering, though younger, talented researchers have also been included. The individual volumes cover an extremely wide array of topics grouped under five overarching themes: Principles (Vol. 1), Laboratory and Field Testing (Vol. 2), Analysis, Modelling and Design (Vol. 3), Excavation, Support and Monitoring (Vol. 4) and Surface and Underground Projects (Vol. 5). This multi-volume work sets a new standard for rock mechanics and engineering compendia and will be the go-to resource for all engineering professionals and academics involved in rock mechanics and engineering for years to come.

A collection of papers addressing the issue of the failure of rock engineering structures. This phenomenon occurs in different forms depending on the geometry of structure, material properties of intact rock, structure of rock mass, environmental conditions and initial state of stress.

Given the recent advances in site investigation techniques, computing, access to information and monitoring, plus the current emphasis on safety, accountability and sustainability, this book introduces an up-to-date methodology for the design of all types of rock engineering projects, whether surface or underground. Guidance is provided on the nature of the modeling to support design and the information required for design; also included is a procedure for technical auditing of the modeling and design together with the related protocol sheets. Written by two eminent authors, clearly structured and containing many illustrations, this volume is intended for consulting engineers, contractors, researchers, lecturers and students working on rock engineering projects.

Rock Engineering and Rock Mechanics: Structures in and on Rock Masses covers the most important topics and state-of-the-art in the area of rock mechanics, with an emphasis on structures in and on rock masses. The 255 contributions (including 6 keynote lectures) from the 2014 ISRM European Rock Mechanics Symposium (EUROCK 2014, Vigo, Spain, 27-29 Ma