Although soils and rocks are both geomaterials, The intact rock, with no structural defects

(Figure 5.1a), can be treated as homogeneous and isotropic. On the

contrary, the rock mass will often be heterogeneous and anisotropic
due to the presence of discontinuities. In the case of
soils, we generally treat them as homogeneous and isotropic. While the intact rock can
show significant tensile strength, the rock
mass will have little or no tensile strength due to the presence of discontinuities.
We never rely on the tensile strength of soils. However,
in good quality rocks with no discontinuities, it is possible to rely on
some of its tensile strength. Intact rocks have very low porosity with no free water present.
Therefore, the permeability is often extremely low. In the rock mass,
the discontinuities can contain substantial free water and can lead to
high permeabilities. This is known as secondary permeability. The
presence of water in the discontinuities can lead to high pore water
pressures and hence reduce the effective stresses and shear strength
along the discontinuities. The overburden stresses within a rock mass are computed the
same way as
with soils. The unit weight of rocks can be assumed as 27 kN/m3 in computing
the overburden stresses.
In normally consolidated and slightly overconsolidated soils, the vertical
normal stress is generally the major principal stress and the horizontal
stress is the minor principal stress. Here, the coefficient of earth pressure at
rest K0, defined as the ratio of horizontal to vertical effective stress, is less
than 1. Only in highly overconsolidated soils can K0 become greater than 1,
making the horizontal stresses larger than the vertical stresses. The situation
is quite different in rocks, where horizontal stresses are often larger
than the vertical stress, especially at depths that are of engineering interest.
In addition to the in situ stresses within the rock mass, stresses are also
induced by tectonic activities, erosion and other geological factors.
In addition to the in situ stresses within the rock mass, stresses are also
induced by tectonic activities, erosion and other geological factors. The
ratio (K0) of horizontal normal stress h to vertical normal stress is generally
larger than 1 and can be as high as 3 at shallow depths, where most
of the civil engineering works are being carried out.

Engineering in and on rock has different scales, varying from a few centimetres to a fewkilometres. A borehole
can be typically around 8 cm while a mine can spread up to a fewkm. For civil engineering works, e.g.,
foundations, slopes and tunnels, the scale of projects is usually a few ten metres to a few hundreds
metres.When such engineering scale is considered, then rock in such scale is generally a mass of rock at the site.
This mass of rock, often termed as rock mass, is the whole body of therock in situ, consists of rock blocks and
fractures, typically seen.
A rock mass contains (a) rock material, in the form of intact rock plates, blocks andwedges, of various sizes, and
(b) rock discontinuities that cuts through the rock, in theforms of fractures, joints, and faults. Rock materials and
discontinuities together formrockmass. In addition, rock mass may also include filling materials in the
discontinuitiesand dyke and sill igneous intrusions (Figure 2.3.2a). Faults are often filled withweathered materials,
varying from extremely soft clay and fractured and crushed rocks
Role of Joints in Rock Mass Behaviour
Rock joints change the properties and behaviour of rock mass in the following terms:(i) Cuts rock into slabs,
blocks and wedges, to be free to fall and move (Figure2.3.3a);(ii) Acts as weak planes for sliding and moving;(i)

Provides water flow channel and creates flow networks;(ii)

Gives large deformation;(iii)Alters stress distribution and orientation;Because the rock materials between rock
joints are intact and solid, they have relativesmall deformation and low permeability. It is therefore obvious that
rock mass behaviourby large is governed by rock joints